Archived threads in /trv/ - Travel - 187. page
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I'm going to vegas for the first time in two months. What should I expect?
>>1047615
A shithole of a city. If you have $, there's lots of fun to be had but the $ will disappear faster than you can blink
>>1047652
And if you're going on New Years, expect th casinos to be crowded shoulder to shoulder and the line to get a drink taking up to 45 min
If you like clubs, check out Omnia. If you like bomb food check out these food places, Taco Ey Taco, Raising Canes, and Bachi Burger. If you like hiking check out Red Rock. If you want to do something fun and random one night go to the pinball Hall of Fame.
hey /trv/, first ever post here
me and a friend are going to Iceland for a week and a half in the middle of December to try and give ourselves the best chance of seeing the aurora. I know we won't be able to do too much other sightseeing because of how short the days are, but is it really that bad? like, do we need to bring a portable floodlight or something to navigate our way around town?
>>1047560
http://www.timeanddate.com/sun/iceland/reykjavik?month=12
You can just google this shit. You'll have about 4 hours of sun a day. And I'm pretty sure they have streetlights in Iceland.
Yes it is that bad. But fuck you for thinking this is a third world country.
>>1047560
I don't think the day length is your biggest obstacle to "doing something" but rather the weather, and the fact the winter things to do are centered in the city. A city with only 2 days to see describes Reykjavik well. Its a 1 day city, desu. With all the tourists at home, and the rest of the country hunkered down for winter at their city home, activities center around the opera, a music festival, working out at the gym, dining, soaking, working at the office, or maybe shopping. There are 2-3 museums of note, but I don't know the winter hours. The buses on the ring road stop. The rental cars need to be retrofitted with snorkels or other safety gear at this time, and as a renter, you'd need your survival equipment in the car and desu a Satellite phone. But, with money, you could fly around (Icelandair has videos for that).
The most amazing aspects of Iceland is the landscape that you aren't around driving around to see in the winter, such as lava tubes, sheep and horses, roads to waterfalls, boats to see whales and migratory birds, geysirs, etc. While you do drive around, you can immerse yourself in the fantasy a bit, as it is the landscape that gave rock shapes to the myths of trolls and such, and the sometimes literary truths with settlement history of the sagas. You can see some mountains with blownoff tops from volcanoes from Reykjavik over the water, but you won't be climbing it without a guide, I'm sure. It's stunning and beautiful if weather is clear. You can see northern lights from the city, but lights will "dull" them. A short drive away is best. The city is cute, with great street names, decent shops and cafe culture, and a pretty small but lively nightlife, and language isn't a barrier, very english friendly.
Icelandair to/from N. America and Europe...can give enough of a Blue Lagoon jet lag cure to mean anyone should try it on winter. But, I'd go back in summer too.
im hoping to move to washington (state) at the end of this year. im looking particularly for urban areas, dont have to be huge though. id consider more of a smaller town if it was really unique and cute and artsy and naturey. so, basically im looking for just unique, interesting, creative cities/towns, with beautiful nature around. i definitely DEFINITELY dont want anything suburbian and cookie cutter. yuck. i want a place with a great personality that will match mine. i really want seattle, but of course im broke af and cant afford it. here are some other places i want to research, anyone know about them?
port angeles (pretty interested in this one, whats the vibe here?)
bellingham
is tacoma really as crappy as its cracked up to be?
wenatchee
olympia- whats going on with this place? cool?
everett- looks neat to me
bellevue- is this place suburby? i feel like i heard that its suburby..
auburn- is this any kind of substantial place or is it just a suburb?
anacortes- looks smallish but interesting
spokane- also looks cool, whats it like there?
federal way- ???
pullman
kennewick
lakewood
bremerton
everett
so, yeah, if any of you guys know abotu the places i listed, or about any cool places that i dont know about yet id be more than happy to hear any insight
>>1047077
Bellingham and Olympia are all right.
They're cheaper than Seattle and have some character and are big enough to have all the conveniences of a city.
Bellevue is definitely a suburb but it is cool IMO.
I'd stay away from any town on the Olympic Peninsula (e.g. Port Angeles) because that region is pretty economically depressed. The access to nature is nice out there though.
Spokane is in the middle of nowhere and has a lot of methheads.
Tacoma is as bad as you've heard. Everett also sucks.
Overall Seattle and its suburbs are the best parts of Washington and you should try to be there if you can.
>>1047077
Stay the fuck out of Federal Way it is way too expensive to live there for how shitty it is
>>1047077
Nut up and live in Tacoma or the poorer parts of Kent and commute to Seattle like the rest of us.
What is the cheapest air company for a European to travel abroad?
>>1046947
1. Ryanair
2. Wizzair, EasyJet, Pegasus, FlyBe
3. Transavia, Vueling, Norwegian, WOWair, AirBerlin, Germanwings, AirBaltic, Condor
>>1046947
Depends on from where to where you want to go.
surprisingly, for my last few inner-european flights, lufthansa was always the cheapest option.
The infomaous ryanair does indeed offer some really, really cheap tickets, but if you got to spend 100€ and half a day to actually get to your shitty airport in bumfuck nowhere to start, and the same to get from your destination airport to your real destination, their ticked aint so cheap anymore.
>>1046947
It depends on where you are (and where you are willing to fly out of) and where you want to go.
RyanAir might offer cheap flights to Istanbul from Dublin but that doesn't help if you live in Germany and want to go to Cambodia.
>in japan because bored and why not
>winter rolls in, my apartment gets really cold
>use translucent plastic as an insulator for easy ghetto warmth
>out buying plastic before winter sets in
>super qt3.14 cashier asks why I'm buying so much plastic
>tell her about my ghetto-ass window trick
>she's intrigued, asks if it works well, as her apartment gets cold too
>offer to help put up some plastic on her windows
>she agrees
>she actually fucking agrees to allow some random-ass american come over and help with an easy task
>fuckyeah.jpg
>go over to her apartment later that week
>put plastic on all of the windows in her apartment
>leave
>never saw her again
whelp
You were expecting it to turn out like a JAV film?
>>1046374
>Japanese cashier engaging in chit-chat and asking questions
Suspect, tbh m8.
>>1046388
Idk I've had short conversations with cashiers here....
hi there, I'm looking for some neat stuff to do in Scotland. From seeing Skye or seeing a local musical.
Any scots have a recommendation or two?
>>1046179
Rent a boat on the union canal.
Whisky?
When are you there and where are you starting your Scottish journey?
>>1046385
Dundee
Are there any work/volunteer programs abroad that don't suck ass or cost $5000? I want to travel and actually /do/ something, whether it's wildlife conservation or being an au pair, but everything I've looked for is always hyper expensive or "work teaching children for 16 weeks with no pay in sierra leone".
Has /trv/ ever found a good place to find overseas work that doesn't require an advanced degree or thousands of dollars?
>>1045687
>Are there any work/volunteer programs abroad that don't suck ass or cost $5000?
There a bunch of them, but most expect you to have specific useful experience or skills. Three of the best, in increasing order of difficulty to get into:
1. Volunteers in Asia--I believe you have to pay for these, but the org and the postings are legit. Have both student/young-and-useless and professional programs. viaprograms.org.
2. VSO -- Voluntary Service Overseas. UK-based, but global. Tons of countries. Aimed at professionals who can do the thing they do professionally for free in the developing world for a while, but they pay expenses and a stipend. vsointernational.org.
3. UN Volunteers. unv.org. They have a list of the things they need people to do--very wide range, from development project stuff to disaster relief. Has short-term postings (3 mo or less).
http://matadornetwork.com/change/10-volunteer-opportunities-for-free-travel/
These are two volunteer possibilities that I did, just as example:
The peace project in Nicaragua
ACI in Costa Rica
They both have different types of work such as teaching to children or taken care of nature, and they're not expensive. Check them out!
>Hate University
>Bored of my country
>INTENSE DESIRE TO JUST USE MY LOAN AND GO TRAVEL AND END UP WORKING IN SOME COUNTRY IN THE EU
DO I DO IT? I'M SO FUCKING BORED, I KNOW IT'S IRRATIONAL BUT DO I DO IT?
Do it.
>>1044932
Presuming your from the United States' it is very unlikely that that will work out. Wait until you earn your degree first then work domestically for a few years. That will easily make you eligible for an EU Visa and you will be able to enter a stable job market in a country of your choice (though you may have to learn a language).
>>1044941
IM IN THE EU
DO I DO IT??
Sup /trv/ me and a friend are planning on going to South-Korea.
What are the best cities for sightseeing and night-life, the best peroid to go in terms of weather, the best way of transportation, should we do it by train or just rent a car and i terms of places to sleep, got any recommendation for hostels/ hotels/ w/e ?
Gibe tips, share stories/experiences. Thanks in advance.
Depends on what you like, really. It's capitalist paradise, also the number of restaurants per capita is quite high, so prepare your stomach and wallet. Mostly your stomach, be ready to eat non-stop.
There's accommodation from guesthouses with ondol, templestays, hostels, hotels, airbnb, couchsurfing, whatever you like. Oh, and love motels are actually a pretty good value for the price, just ignore the condoms and stuff.
March-April is supposed to be the nicest, but I really enjoyed the winter time I've spent there, too. Just avoid summer.
Seoul you couldn't avoid even if you wanted to... Daejeon you want to avoid. If you just spend a few days, Seoul and Busan should be enough. Near Seoul my fave was Suwon with the fortress and the Public Toilet Tour. The toilet with the best view goes to the one in the fortress obviously, but the rest are also fun.
Okay, back to nightlife, Hongdae, Itaewon, Gangnam, these are probably the best within Seoul for that.
KR pass was relatively cheap a few years back, and you probably only want to visit the part of Korea that is covered well by trains... T Money is another keyword to remember for public transport and taxis.
If you want to stalk Yoona, Gangnam is the place again.
http://kpoplists.com/post/3637677540
Be more specific to get a better response.
>>1044107
We were planning on moving from south to north so Busan to Seoul and we are going for 2 weeks so i think we'll have plenty of time to do lots of stuffs. From what i've gathered so far in both Busan and Seoul are ok if you only speak english but the people dont seem to be keen on spontaneous conversation and the way i feel about travel is the people you meet and the conversations you have with them are what makes the journey a success. So how do you deal with it ? Do you just keep trying until you find some people who are more open about the "western way" of socializing ? and yee, sorry for the shoddy OP, first time posting on /trv/ so.. Thanks for the reply tho im looking forward to the public toilet tour, sounds like fun!
>>1044111
They don't? I don't know, it might be just me, but I had people come up and talk to me everywhere (outside of Seoul). Their English wouldn't be great, but then again, mine is also far from perfect, so I just kept on talking even when we didn't get each other. Conversations started 2 ways mostly:
Where are you from?
God, you really don't know how to eat that dish, do you. Let me help you. How do you like it? Which Korean dish is your favorite so far?
...and then I took the conversations as far as I wanted, really. I still have some of those people on messenger.
The Busan fish market is a must. I'm not really into fish, but I kinda had to forget about that, it's that much of an event. They sell fish soups next to a lot of stands in the outside area, that is probably the more foreign stomach friendly option. You see the fish being packed at the back of the stands. And then in the indoors areas you can go and pick and let them prepare you whichever fish you want.
The shopping mall next to it has some chain coffee shop on the roof terrace, with a great view. In case you don't want to go to the tower everyone's supposed to go to in Busan.
If I were you, other then regular itinerary, I'd prepare a list of foods I want to try in Korea. It may be just my addiction, but... Eating in Korea always seemed like an event. When it was just a toast stand on the side of the road, or a Gangnam restaurant... In both cases it seemed like a ritual.
Just thinking about it makes me want to go back.
Sup /trv/,
Last year, after I went to the Russian and Georgian Caucasus, I made a travel report thread on here, as some people had expressed interest in it before I left. As it was, /trv/ did like the thread - some of you may even remember it. And, truth be told, the travel report threads here are personal favourites of mine as well. Or, TL;DR travel report! I went back to the Georgian Caucasus, and made my first trip to Romania right before it.
First things first, Romania. Went with three friends, to hike and attend a festival. A festival we had gotten to know on a trip to Finland in January, where two of the four of us went to see a band and hike. Music's a good reason to travel and hike, as far as I'm concerned. For Romania, we - well, I - had picked the Făgăraș Mountains as our designated hiking location. Quite close to the festival, supposedly very nice, and it'd give us a shot a climbing Romania's highest peak, Moldoveanu.
We left early in the morning, and flew to Bucharest. Tickets to Cluj were absurdly expensive when we booked the trip a few months in advance - but, as a local later told me, it's far better to ignore Bucharest, buy your tickets to Cluj rather last minute, and save ~€100 because prices drop dramatically shortly before departure. Checked it later, and found it to be true, you may want to keep that in mind.
Pic is the Făgăraș, which indeed turned out the worth a visit.
>>1037496
Anyway, we arrived in Bucharest and found it to be quite hot, the temparature being well over 30°C. Only took one pic to be honest, as we were mostly busy figuring out public transport, buying food and finding an outdoor store to buy gas or fuel (which we ended up finding in a small store called Montrek). For those interested, bus 780 and 783 will get you from the airport to the city centre, to Piaţa Unirii and Gara de Nord respectively. The first one is where you'll want to be to buy whatever it is you fancy, as well as eat and drink, the second one is the main train station. If I recall correctly, bus 138 connects the two. So after we had all the shopping, eating and drinking done, we headed for Gara de Nord and got train tickets for the overnight train to Sibiu. I was, however, told there's no sleeping carriages on the train. Crap, and immediate regrets as we entered the train. While it was clean (and cheap) enough, and the seats weren't uncomfortable to sit in, the train was very noisy, extremely hot, and the seats weren't exactly suitable to sleep - over 7 hours of discomfort it was.
That said, the train did arrive in Sibiu on the exact fucking minute it was supposed to arrive there, at 7:22 am. Somehow, I managed to sleep quite well - as the only one of our group. We had a few hours to kill in Sibiu as our train to Ucea de Jos and Victoria, our entry point into the mountains, wouldn't depart before 11 something am.
>>1037501
Sibiu - also known as Hermannstadt in German - is one of the so-called Siebenbürgen, cities founded by Saxon Germans during the middle ages. The city centre consist almost entirely of Renaissance style buildings painted in pastel colours and, as a result, is a quite enjoyable place to stroll around. Would recommend, and what I've seen of the other Siebenbürgen, Sighișoara and Brașov, makes me thing all of them are worth a visit if you enjoy historical towns.
Amusingly, we encountered a (former) celebrity from our home country there.
>>1037503
Also, Ask Me Anything obviously, will answer to the best of my ability.
Anyway, after a hearty breakfast and playing the tourist for a while, we headed back to the train station and took the train to Ucea de Jos, from where there is a minibus to Victoria. The two connect fairly well, so we were told by local Daniel. As far as people and language goes, by the way, Romanians tend to be a rather friendly lot on the whole, and the younger generations usually speaks English fairly well. That said, I must say the Romanian I learned did come in handy when trying to communicate with older people, or in more rural areas. Romanian isn't all that hard if you've learned other Romance languages before - or if one of them is your native tongue.
Having arrived in Victoria, we set out for either Podragu or Turnuri cabana. Romania, having been isolated behind the Iron Curtain for decades, has developed an extensive system of internal tourism, which is still intact and functional. As a consequence, there's more waymarked hiking trails over the country than you can imagine, and the waymarking standard beats any I've seen, including more famous hiking destinations like New Zealand, Finland, Ireland and so on. There's also many mountain huts where one can buy food and accomodation for a very reasonable price (cabanas in Romanian) as well as unmanned huts.
Also, minutes after having started walking, our friend M got caught in a small tornado right after he'd applied sunscreen. Despite being caught in it as well - not nearly as bad as him, however - I did have a good laugh.
Pic's the view to the Făgăraș.
I'm in the US on vacation right now and I want to be American and shoot some guns, play base ball, and play USA football.
How do I do this?
>>1048305
where in the Us are you?
>>1048305
> Gun Range, they will loan some out.
> Baseball, busy park or college campus.
> Football, see #2
I clicked here on accident. I hope you guys are having a good day.
Safe travels.
>>1048186
I used to have that exact pokemon card, then it went through the wash. My 8 year old self was heartbroken.
I want to travel up north and see the borealis sometime too. Boreal forests and taiga in general just seem really neat.
>>1048239
deep..
These are the only two cards I still own.
What a coincidence
Lets talk about islands. I guess 'red pill me' is the phrase I want to use.
If you look up so-called 'island paradises', all you see are perfect paradise images which obviously are not representative of the real places. Like I often hear Bali is overpopulated but you only find praise and pictures like this on google.
What 'island paradises' across the pacific and indian oceans are actually as-advertised, and which are overrun or overrated? Is it necessary to pay out the ass for these tiki hut resort things to find these nice parts?
Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Fiji, Tahiti, Bora Bora, Vanuatu, Samoa, Aitutaki,(Malaysia) Tioman, Langkawi
(Thailand) Phuket, Ko Samui, Ko Tao, Ko Phi Phi
I lived on Oahu for three years and the North Shore is as advertised bruh. Every page has two sides, that is certain, but the side we are shown is definitely not inaccurate. It actually looks like that. e.g. Waikiki beach is a shitty fat fuck homeless fest but the beaches everywhere else are 100% glorious
Many of the Thai islands are shit holes. Especially Phi Phi. Stick to the less densely populated islands that invariably harbour less tourists.
Don't forget some of the Greek and Italian islands. They are absolutely stunning and the smaller ones aren't commonly visited by tourists.
>>1048117
I shouldve figured thai wouls be like that.
Yeah i definitely have a list of greek islands im going to visit, and theres obviously a ton in the caribbean but im focusing a bit on remote-ish places in the pacific and indians oceans
So most of the threads here are about hostels, but what about /comfy/ hotels?
Maybe it's just me being British and being used to being totally ripped off, but holy fuck. Some countries have some incredible deals on hotels.
For example, I'm going to Brazil next week. Rio, the Green Coast, Iguazu falls. Every hotel I'm staying at is basically 5 star luxury. Rooftop pools. Spa. Gym. Multiple internal restaurants/bars. One of them has 6 different outdoor pools.... and the cost for all of this? For 2 weeks? £700 (about $1000). For the same standard in London. It would probably cost about £20k+
Where are the best places to go for getting this sort of good value?
I know Vegas can be very expensive, but I've also heard a number of stories where people have gotten good deals in great hotels. Or that they've been upgraded or offered additional nights for free at some of the casinos.
If you're going to Vegas with another person (or a few people), and I assume you are, there's a nice, clean reasonable hotel with suites that include a full kitchen, washer and dryer, etc.
I stayed there myself earlier this year. It's just off the strip, but they have a free shuttle you can use. Also free breakfast, and a laundry room (coin-op).
King suite will run you about USD $140/night.
Staybridge Suites: http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Review-g45963-d1197075-Reviews-Staybridge_Suites_Las_Vegas-Las_Vegas_Nevada.html
I was traveling a bunch earlier this year. I tried to stick to $50-100 a night, and mainly did that. I stayed in one hostel and while it was OK, it helped remind me why I prefer a /comfy/ hotel. Mainly cuz I have a hard time sleeping, and I like sticking to a kinda boring schedule.
Anyway, it seemed like my money went furthest in Bangkok and Italy. I stayed at this really nice place in Bologna with good breakfast, heated floors in the bathroom and shit for maybe $60/nt. A place in Rome with coffee brought to my room fro around the same. The BKK place was enormous and had a nice ass breakfast buffet.
Japan has some pretty reasonable and comfy business hotels. They're tiny, but they work. The place I stayed at in Sapporo was pretty nice, a Best Western north of the station. Though that could also just be the exchange rate talking.
London is definitely the worst. I stuck to my budget and was in a total shithole. The people who ran the joint were Russian or something so even the "English" breakfast sucked.
>>1048132
I once had a "hotel room" in London that I could--literally, and I mean literally--touch both walls with my outstretched arms.
I've started university this October, but I'm completely unmotivated to continue. I'm not certain if I want to study what I'm studying and I have constant thoughts of just going abroad (currently thinking about the UK) and living there and working for some time and then traveling for a bit with the money I saved up. I've worked in Scotland this year for a month in a restaurant just for the summer and met a lot of young people my age in their 20's who aren't in university and are sort of in the same position in life as me, not really sure what they to do and just trying to find themselves, enjoying the present moment.
Has anyone done something like this? Would this be a bad idea and should I just stay in university?
On one hand I feel like this force inside me urging me to do it, to experience something extraordinary. Seeing the world, experiencing other cultures, meeting people from various countries, etc. is something absolutely amazing for me. I've had a lot of surreal experiences such as hitchhiking through a few countries to visit people that I met out drinking that were in my city for a few days and invited me to visit them. I feel like if I don't do this now it will just get harder later on as right now I don't have any obligations.
However I'm worried that this is just a stupid dream that I have that will lead to nowhere other than some cool experiences and leave me struggling when I need to settle down and find a career.
I was once in the same position as you. I chose to remain in university. I should have traveled when I had the chance.
you can do it after school, or else, after job, u save some money and have like 1 year own holidays
>>1047879
hey man, here's my advice to you, don't drop out of school, that's pretty dumb.
stay in school get a good paying job and use that to travel to your hearts content instead of having to scrape pennies at a minimum wage job just to make traveling feasible.
you can actually make a lot of money travelling, and ive had a blast doing it.
im 23 now, and my best travel experience was the year I did studying abroad in Australia, it was fucking unreal. seriously, it was magic.
use school to your advantage
