[quote=āBubba 2 Gunsā]Russia and Ukraine by train
Iād better get busy! [/quote]
Travel buddy?
Russia and continental Europe - Train from Vladivostok to Moscow. Then onwards by train or whatever works best per country through to Portugal. Always been a dream of mine.
UK and Ireland - For the ancestors.
Italy and Greece - Historical sites.
Turkey - Especially Istanbul (Constantinople). Historical significance and apparently itās a damn awesome country to visit.
Egypt - The Pyramids and the Valley of the kings etc. Guess a Nile cruise would do nicely.
South America - Love the place, havenāt seen it extensively and would like to travel through as many countries as possible in one go.
SANZAR - Follow the Springboks on a Tri-Nations tour from SA to NZ and Oz (Would be ideal to do the same thing for the UK and Ireland deal on a Grand Slam tour).
Hong Kong - Never been to the HK Sevens. Would love to go there with the boys from the rugby threads.
I think it would be cool to take a train across europe and just stop as much as I like along the way. I really want to visit Spain again.
New Zealand for the beauty of it and to see some good friends.
Africaāfascinating in many waysāEgypt for one, the Nile, the wilds.
Iceland because Iāve heard itās so beautiful.
Latvia because a friend went not long ago and made it sound cool.
Ireland and Scottlandājust have a thing for the ruddy good looks of lots of the boys thereāand the beautiful land.
I could spend a few more days in Japan.
Anywhere and everywhere in S. America. Well, Iām not sure about Columbia, but the rest for sure.
Thereās still a lot of Asia I havenāt seen. Indonesiaās been on my list for more than a decade.
Everywhere, really.
[quote=ābismarckā][quote=āBubba 2 Gunsā]Russia and Ukraine by train
Iād better get busy! [/quote]
Travel buddy?
Russia and continental Europe - Train from Vladivostok to Moscow. Then onwards by train or whatever works best per country through to Portugal. Always been a dream of mine.
[/quote]
In 2.5 years (2 more 1 year contracts) Iām planning a trip to Mongolia/Lake Baikal. My current plan is to leave Taiwan then and Iām considering taking the train to Moscow and then continuing onto Europe chasing the last good weather before winter comes. I figure any kind of flight from Siberia/Mongolia will be quite expensive and even though the train trip wonāt be cheap Iāll get to travel more and spend some time in Europe (Iāve never been there). And I really like traveling by land transport. Maybe time consuming and uncomfortable at times but you see a much different perspective. Iāll just fly from Europe to the US though.
unrelated but a comment to housecatās list - when I was in Peru/Ecuador my friends had good things to say about Columbia. But I havenāt been there yet. I would love to do Peru again but this time go on a long cruise (1-2 weeks) down the Amazon. In addition of course to hiking the big mountains near Huaraz (imo - better than Macchu Pichu which was great). And then head south to patagonia stopping many places on the way. But this trip is in the distant future because of geographic issues. IāM IN ASIA.
[quote=āAbacusā]
unrelated but a comment to housecatās list - when I was in Peru/Ecuador my friends had good things to say about Columbia. But I havenāt been there yet. [/quote]
Colombia is awesome, according to my brother (who recently spent three weeks there), but scary as hell; not kinda-scary like a rough neighborhood in London on a Saturday night, but scary-scary, all the time. Dead people on sidewalks in broad daylight kind of scary.
My friend Ricardo who was born in BogotĆ” and lived there until he left for college in the US admits that he will not go back without hiring three or four bodyguards; he recommended that I do the same if I wanted to go (and also offered that I could tag along with him next time he goes). It could be heaven on earth and that would still be too much stress for me to enjoy itā¦ Iād rather go elsewhere in South America instead.
On the positive side, hiring bodyguards in BogotĆ” is apparently both easy and cheap, though I imagine youād want a trustworthy local to help you arrange it; otherwise, it seems like a great way to get hooked up with some ābad guysā after paying money for the privilege!
[quote=āDiaFunā][quote=āAbacusā]
unrelated but a comment to housecatās list - when I was in Peru/Ecuador my friends had good things to say about Columbia. But I havenāt been there yet. [/quote]
Colombia is awesome, according to my brother (who recently spent three weeks there), but scary as hell; not kinda-scary like a rough neighborhood in London on a Saturday night, but scary-scary, all the time. Dead people on sidewalks in broad daylight kind of scary.
My friend Ricardo who was born in BogotĆ” and lived there until he left for college in the US admits that he will not go back without hiring three or four bodyguards; he recommended that I do the same if I wanted to go (and also offered that I could tag along with him next time he goes). It could be heaven on earth and that would still be too much stress for me to enjoy itā¦ Iād rather go elsewhere in South America instead.
On the positive side, hiring bodyguards in BogotĆ” is apparently both easy and cheap, though I imagine youād want a trustworthy local to help you arrange it; otherwise, it seems like a great way to get hooked up with some ābad guysā after paying money for the privilege![/quote]
Have and ex-Colombian boyfriend who described just such stuff. Thatās why Iām pretty well off the place as a tourist stop. He eventually found someone to marry so he wouldnāt have to go back.
Though Iāve heard that Cartagena is OK. Itās possible to take a Caribbean cruise with Cartagena as one of its ports of call. Iād do that.[/quote]
tbh - I would stay as far away from Bogota and other large cities in the poorest countries. I hated Quito but loved some of the smaller cities in Ecuador (banos and Vilcabamba are two of them). I remember my friends talking about beaches but I forget the city and a jungle tour that they did.
I come from the ex-colonies. It must be the land of Shakespeare and Austen. I want to flounce about or be lovelorn on the heath.
This would sincerely be my first choice, but as I grow older, the wanderlust wanes. I suspect there are idiots everywhere and I may as well learn to live with those close at hand.
[quote=āAbacusā][quote=ābismarckā][quote=āBubba 2 Gunsā]Russia and Ukraine by train
Iād better get busy! [/quote]
Travel buddy?
Russia and continental Europe - Train from Vladivostok to Moscow. Then onwards by train or whatever works best per country through to Portugal. Always been a dream of mine.
[/quote]
In 2.5 years (2 more 1 year contracts) Iām planning a trip to Mongolia/Lake Baikal. My current plan is to leave Taiwan then and Iām considering taking the train to Moscow and then continuing onto Europe chasing the last good weather before winter comes. I figure any kind of flight from Siberia/Mongolia will be quite expensive and even though the train trip wonāt be cheap Iāll get to travel more and spend some time in Europe (Iāve never been there). And I really like traveling by land transport. Maybe time consuming and uncomfortable at times but you see a much different perspective. Iāll just fly from Europe to the US though.[/quote]
If youāre in the market for a travel partner around that time let me know.
[quote=ābismarckā][quote=āAbacusā][quote=ābismarckā][quote=āBubba 2 Gunsā]Russia and Ukraine by train
Iād better get busy! [/quote]
Travel buddy?
Russia and continental Europe - Train from Vladivostok to Moscow. Then onwards by train or whatever works best per country through to Portugal. Always been a dream of mine.
[/quote]
In 2.5 years (2 more 1 year contracts) Iām planning a trip to Mongolia/Lake Baikal. My current plan is to leave Taiwan then and Iām considering taking the train to Moscow and then continuing onto Europe chasing the last good weather before winter comes. I figure any kind of flight from Siberia/Mongolia will be quite expensive and even though the train trip wonāt be cheap Iāll get to travel more and spend some time in Europe (Iāve never been there). And I really like traveling by land transport. Maybe time consuming and uncomfortable at times but you see a much different perspective. Iāll just fly from Europe to the US though.[/quote]
If youāre in the market for a travel partner around that time let me know. [/quote]
Oh how I would love to do that trip, especially the train from Vladivostokā¦lets touch base in 2.5 years and see if I can make it then .
Hmmm, Forumosans in Russia, Anthony needs to hurry up with those tees.
I travelled across Russia back in 2002. If you take the Trans-Siberian or Trans-Mongolian (thereās also another that comes out of Central Asia I believe), itās more expensive and you kind of get herded onto a tourist train. Those trains also donāt stop everywhere en route. Back then, I managed to blag my way into a business visa, which meant I could go where I liked. So, I stopped at a whole bunch of cities (some memorable only for how awful they were) and took local trains, taking about a month to get to the European part of Russia. I met more of the locals that way, though I did have some fucked up moments, such as sleeping with a whole bunch of people in the train station in Kazan because there were no trains working and the hotels wouldnāt take walk in customers (what the fuck?) and then having to take a long distance bus (which was several steps down from the train).
Australia. Also Africa. Two continents that I havenāt been to. Iāve never been to the Southern Hemisphere. Since Iāve been to Taiwan, Iāve met some really cool people from both continents. In the USA, Iāve met a lot of people I consider to be really cool that come from Ohio. Iād also like to go there to see whatās in the water or what?
[quote=ābismarckā]
If youāre in the market for a travel partner around that time let me know. [/quote]
Well plans change and I will forget but Iāll probably be talking about it on the boards before I leave. It does sound like an incredible (although at times very uncomfortable) trip. I do like the idea of taking the less touristy train and seeing more sights along the way. The Russian visa thing is a little tricky from what I hear.
On my Nepal/Tibet trip Iāve also considered traveling across the Tibetan plateau and entering Pakistan (and the Karakoram) from the northeast and then traveling down to India. Another incredible trip but visas start getting a little tricky and itās a long trip (more money). But the Karakoram are possibly better than the Nepal/Tibet part of the Himilaya. So many places, so little time/money.
New Zealand: Iāve been (twice), but would love to go back for a longer stretch of time.
Ireland: To see the land of my ancestors and to visit good friends.
Chile: Because it looks absolutely beautiful.
Bhutan: To find out why people there are so happy and to marvel at its beauty.
Switzerland: Iāve had a childhood fantasy to visit ever since I read Heidi.
Definitely US. I have been there many times and every time I find new and amazing reasons to visit this country back. And importantly New York fascinates me the most showcasing lots of magnificent places to visit. :America: :yay:
[/quote]
.
