Travel talk - share your thoughts

A post was made about his travels by Uber Tard before GU crashed, that wound up getting deleted due to forum thread render issues. I thought now might be a good time to re-start something similar.

As he mentioned, there are lots of us abroad now. Either living overseas, or travelling, and that it might be a good opportunity to share our stories and experiences with everyone here at GU. I have no idea exactly what he said now, I trust he'll re-post when time allows, but I thought I'd get the ball rolling...

I'm living in London presently - have been here since the end of October, 2008.

My opinion is that London itself is a bit of a hole. Cold, dirty and cramped. The snow is half-arsed, just like the service industry who are endlessly rude. The food is appalling, the price of petrol will make you nautious, the health care system is so flooded you can't actually see a doctor when you're sick... oh and the McDonald's Quarter Pounder burgers are smaller. If you're deeply interested in history or the monarchy then you would probably think it's fantastic, but I'm not particularly interested in either.

If you're an architecture buff, don't lie to yourself; London is boring and uninspiring. The architecture here, for the most part, is no more exciting than what you might see in Sydney or Adelaide, bar the odd bit and piece such as The Gerkin and St. Pauls.

There are positives, however. The pound has turned to shit, meaning my Australian dollar buys more. And the beer, broadband and junk food was already cheaper here to begin with.

We've spent a week in Paris, a day in Reims and half a week in Reykjavik, Iceland. Paris is amazing - the people are great, the food is great, the architecture is unworldly and there's an immediate sense of pride and respect when walking the streets. Reims, in the Champagne region, was a country town version of Paris. But with cheaper Champagne... no complaints there. Iceland was particularly memorable... scenery that would bring a tear to eye.

We're off to Dubai in 9 days which will be a great break from the below-zero temperatures in London lately. At the end of March we'll probably be visiting Ireland (although may wait for Res/Nismo's Ireland trip in Juneish), then in may I'll be in New York and Vegas. Somewhere between May and August (our summer) we want to fit in Greece, Italy and Spain and Portugal. Come August I'll be in Belgium for the F1 (and beer/chocolate), and then Scotland around end of year.

We don't have any return date yet, but at this stage it looks like we'll hit Africa for the World Cup (July 2010), then pass trough Tokyo and Hong Kong on the way home.

I've attached some snaps, but check out my Facebook for all of the full albums.

Nice photo's, sound like your having fun.

Wheres the 2nd last photo from?

edit - Used the quick reply and a download for newreply.php poped up. Pretty sure that has happened a while back.

Oh wow beaut photos there Rec, especially that one of the Eiffel Tower.

Quote from Rec:
My opinion is that London itself is a bit of a hole. Cold, dirty and cramped. The snow is half-arsed, just like the service industry who are endlessly rude. The food is appalling, the price of petrol will make you nautious, the health care system is so flooded you can't actually see a doctor when you're sick... oh and the McDonald's Quarter Pounder burgers are smaller. If you're deeply interested in history or the monarchy then you would probably think it's fantastic, but I'm not particularly interested in either.
You have summed London and England for that matter up perfectly!
Snow.. yeah its not like it used to be apparently, although I was only just over 5 years old when moved to Aus, parents have some great photos of us and snow storms.. I went back in 04 for a few months but it just rained, except Christmas Day would you believe.

Did you get a chance to head over Wales way? I'm really not a country person but it's actually quite a nice place to go to. My grandparents used to live out there before coming down under. The Welsh are an odd bunch, if you can make sense of what they are saying.. though that's probably the alcohol more then their silly language.

I also took off down to Alicante down in Spain, great area, bit of a pommy favourite, well Benidorm more so which is further north, went there for a day took look around. Foods good, women are better.

Have dual citizenship still so I may consider moving back if the opportunity arises. Either way it's nice to know I can just go with no issues.

Edit: oh and might I just say, true about the architecture, but you have to remember when all of this was built, head to places such as Canterbury Cathedral and Dover Castle and when you realise that they were built in like 1000-1200 times, pretty much more then 500 years before australia was "found", it's really quite amazing from all points of view.

Jono; yeah I have dual citizenship too, which is convenient. But I feel bad... someone who actually likes London should have it, not me. :P

We do plan to hit up Wales, probably in the same trip as either Ireland or Scotland.

Tachi; the second last photo was taken at The Blue Lagoon, Iceland.

Yea I love your photos rec :D

Where is ubertard I'm curious to know?

Well I'm in Canada. We left Darwin at the start of March last year I spent a month in Florida with my family and went cruising the carribean for a bit which was awesome and if you ever want to do the cruise I reccomend Late April/May the weather is great and its the cheapest price since summer is high season I guess spring most people are working/finishing studying since its the end of the american school year. So we went to Haiti, Ochos Rios Jamaice, Cayman Islands & Cozumal Mexico. Jamaica was a bit of a letdown but I would like to go back there into a less touristy destination. Jamaicans are not as relaxed as they make out they all want your money and walking down the main street I got offered pot three times.

While we were in the US our dollar was at its highest which was awesome for us! It didnt drop until we were already working in Canada

After the cruise we drove up the United States and stayed in New York city for two weeks. As some of you know my mother is from New York so I have family all around the US. We took in the sights. I really love New York City. Ive been there quite a bit and would never live there but its a really wicked city.

We then flew over to calgary and spent about a month road tripping Canada. About June 28th we settled down to work in Banff, Alberta and have been here ever since. The snow here is the best!! I have since taken up snowboarding and getting pretty good at it still need to practice heaps. I have climbed mountains and seen some pretty amazing things. Lots of wildlife there is deer running through the streets. There is this one deer who loves to veg out in our backyard! We bought a car and are pretty much old hats at driving on the wrong side of the road! Its easier to deal with then you think.

Future travel plans? Well End of feb we are driving up to Anchorage, Alaska to see the big dog sled race Iditarod. We will be in Banff till June then heading over east Canada to check out everything there. I am pretty keen to see Montreal, Niagra falls etc. We will probably come back west in september since the recession has hit Canada hard in the east and work somewhere here for the winter preferably a ski resort. Then when we finish with canada in May 2010 we will be road tripping through the west coast of USA before driving through central america and spending some time in South America.

My plan is to be home by Christmas 2010!!!!

Oh and travellers/backpackers I reccomend you sign up to CouchSurfing - Participate in Creating a Better World, One Couch At A Time its been a lifesaver for my trip to alaska. The road there only has hotels ranging upwards of "00CA and we are basically getting free accomodation and meeting some great people!

Czech, its beer. Okay, maybe more beer. Wait yeah...... its like more beer. Oh **** this shit is cheap.

Oh yeah, american dudes + beer + weed = win, major win and fuken fun. Oh zhit, going out....

Heh, yeah I posted this sometime in early Jan:

Quote from me:
So there appears to be a few GUers travelling at the moment, Rec's in Eurotrashland, Spero's in the states, etc. So I thought I'd start a thread for people to say where they are and what what they're doing.

Myself - I'm currently in Cancun, Mexico. We were in LA for a few nights which was both worth seeing and a huge waste of time at the same time if that makes any sense

Cancun is a lot of fun but a tip for anyone who comes here: don't stay in the over priced hotel zone where it's basically little America. Stay in town - cheaper everything, better food and you can get down to the hotel zone/clubs on 24h buses which cost 7 peso (maybe 80odd cents - too lazy to look up the rate!)

Heading to Panama tomorrow, looking forward to that. Really wanna see the canal and the sights around there. I've heard Panama is actually fairly wealthy as South American cities go. After Panama we're going to Costa Rica which I'm really looking forward to. Wanna go fishing, apparently it's really good there.

Hope Aus/where ever you are is treating you well, will post again.

Oh and I ran into a Darwin guy, he had some silly stories to tell about a club you guys have called Discovery or something? Sounded hilarious.

Since then I was in Panama City for 5 days. Seeing the Panama Canal was unbelievable, got to sit there and watch them raise and lower the docks for a bunch of ships going through. My favourite was a cruise liner where all the people were on the deck of the ship waiving to us as they went through. Though there really isn't enough to do in Panama City to justify staying there for 5 days, if you ever go to Panama stay in Panama city for 2-3 tops then get out to somewhere nicer.

After Panama we spent 5 days in Costa Rica which was pretty cool. We stayed in a place called Jaco Beach which is basically like Byron Bay in NSW but full of Costa Ricans =) It was a laid back little surfing town so we just spent our days having a bit of a surf and our nights having a few quiet drinks or smokes... You can't walk 50m in Jaco without someone trying to sell you the green stuff. A funny/random story from Jaco: I got sack whacked by a tranny... I know how that sounds will explain myself another time, internet time in South America is not abundant!

After Costa Rica we went to Cuba. Havana is an absolutely amazing place, probably the best place I've been so far this trip. There are pro-communism posters and billboards everywhere it's crazy. Che Guevara (sp?) is their national hero and they worship him and Fidel. The architecture there is really cool, and the mojitos are awesome! The only downside is the food which is pretty terrible. After Havana we went to a town called Varadero which was nice but nothing special.

After Cuba we are now in Cartagena, Columbia. Only just got here today so don't know too much yet but it seems pretty cool. Tomorrow we're heading off to some island for an arvo in the sun. Really want to check out the old city too which has this giant Spanish fortification built around it (still all standing) built after the town got sacked by pirates, think it might have been Francis Drake or someone from memory... Wiki it for me =)

Took me a fair while to reply cause internet can be hard to come by round here (in Cuba it was basically non-existant), but will try to update again soon. After 3 days in Cartagena we're heading off to Peru to check out some amazon rainforest then trekking (yes, walking) up to Macchu Picchu and back. After that I'll be heading home but the mates I'm travelling with will be heading to Brazil for Carnival (bastards).

Cuba is also hosted off the GU server, that's why you had no net for awhile there dude.

I hear Conroy is consulting to "improve" the net situation over there.

Hey Uber I'd love to see your photos.. do you have them up on facebook or something?

Got a heap but they're all still on camera at the moment, probably won't be able to put em online til I get home in 2.5 or 3 weeks. Will put them on facebook and a few of the better ones up here.

Off to Lima, Peru today. Can't wait for Macchu Picchu :D

We're in Dubai now, for those that care. I did a blog at Jamie and Elle: World on Fire just recently, and will do another one in 2-3 hours with the interesting bits and pieces from our desert safari.

2 UAE albums are up on my Facebook, but here's my favourite so far...

It looks like a rocket ship from that angle.

also, very nice photos man.

Not much to add. Just returned from my 'usual' destination.
There are too many photo's to post all up, and post processing hasn't been completed or even started on most.

Kagetsu Travelog

heh dont you ever get sick of japan :D

I am now... There's always so much to do there though.
My next trip is Singapore/Thailand for a week... After that, I think somewhere tropical next year, or Antarctica... Haven't decided. Still Japan for a week over christmas though. ^_~

How's the US? Are you back yet?

Beijing

This warning will go for any country

Dont allow the taxi driver to give you a price use the Counter, i got ripped off in beijing

friend forgot me at the airport he had to muh to drink night before so i made my way to his place i paid more then i should of 150 yuan more but i thankful i found a taxi driver that wanted to rip me off because he walked me to the door of the address i was looking for which was great i guess)

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(i think it will only work for people signed into facebook :S add me if you wanna view)

Singapore

No bad Experience yet ive been there 5 times, i did get sick 1 time but i think it was due to chilli not sure.

Great people, but like any asian country beware wallet snatches a friend of mine got done.

I was just walking around in wet shorts & thongs after a soak in an outdoor hottub thinking what a nice night it was...

oh and it was 5C

the territorian in me is missing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It has been a perfect 27 degrees pretty much every day so far in the UAE, with night temperatures of around 15 degrees.

We're now in a town about 2 hours North of Dubai, the contrast is incredible. As per usual, our blog has been updated and albums added to Facebook.

Kagetsu; as for Antarctica, from what I've heard, Alaska or Greenland is a better choice if you're wanting to experience those sorts of extremes.

I've heard that too... I'm thinking of doing a little 'work' there though. ^_~

family friend is working in Antartica.... mad man.

He told me you dont have to worry about getting up to piss in the night you just pee in bed and brush the ice out of the sheets in the morning..

i told him to much information...

In singapore at the moment and we got bored after 2 days so we are flying to KL tomorrow morning at 6 am :) woo haha..

Quote from Korny;360988:
family friend is working in Antartica.... mad man.

He told me you dont have to worry about getting up to piss in the night you just pee in bed and brush the ice out of the sheets in the morning..

i told him to much information...

lol i think he is joking dude. How can you sleep when your bed is freezing!

lol spero i guessed he was being silly, i dont think i could do it even if it was true i would get too use to doing it all the time and i would need rubber sheets if i returned home lol...

well my last night in singapore was a blurr before we flew to KL i know we went to a wicked club in clark quay paid $28 to see some aussie dj dancers or something and drank to much then some how we got on a plane to KL man oh man dont fly drunk its bad mmmkay

heading home today for RnR and to recharge the cash flow :).

Footage compilations from Paris and London.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?fmt=22&v=JUqmtuK5il4"]YouTube - Sights and monuments in Paris[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?fmt=22&v=XXu5ArJ4CP4"]YouTube - Friday night in London[/ame]

we are off to alaska next week and bought a really sweet GPS. I let my boyfriend control the settings...

My gps now sounds like Darth Vader

come on you can tell the truth you made it sound like Darth Vader.

Just finished up our first day & night in Brussels...

Photos

Kasteel!?!? WTF!

We said never again!

It was the Brune. :D

[Image: http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v290/234/47/578109353/n578109353_511455_8807.jpg]

^ New Zealand, great place.

Plans are in motion for Northern India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet late this year.
Can't wait.

Terrific photos Rec, love the one of the streets of London(?).

Photos from Bruges are up: wee!

nice place.. they crap on your napkins for you

Travelled the Cornwall region before leaving the UK (photos at jamieandelle.com), and am now at LAX drinking shitty Bud and eating shitty Hershey's on the way to Vegas. Then onward to New York.

Oh and V Australia is awesome. Great international airline.

Photos up soon.

I would be interested in knowing how much basic cost of living was in some of these countries :)

mention the sort of places that are cheapest to eat at (safe too)

Eg
Basic beer in singapore is $3SGD for a large tiger beer bottle
Basic meal in food courts $2.50SGD - $4SGD
Basic Taxi fares (airport to the city $20SGD which is nothing if your compare it to AUS taxi's

Hotels "00 - $400+ AUD
Or Cheaper (Dodgy hotels $55 - 70 AUD)

well usa is pretty cheap unless you go to big cities. eg Manhatten will charge "0us for a screwdriver. On the other hand in Florida i would get two drinks for $4. Really just depends where you go :)

and would also depend if your male or female :p

yeah boobies get discounts :( unless they are mans haha.

Depending on where you're living in Europe (in one of the EU countries or one that skirts the EU, and not on the currency) can make a huge difference.

It's suprisingly cheap in non EU countries, but then pay is also incredibly low. It's incredibly expensive in the EU countries though, so be prepared.

Japan is about as pricey as Australia... You simply have to change the way you live, and what to expect. So long as you can live with personal space, there's no reason you can't get as much out of life as you would here.

well im about to drive from Banff to Ontario spending two weeks driving through the USA, montana, south dakota, minnesota, illinois. Im driving with two complete strangers i met from putting signs up. My poor car the suspension is so low with all my stuff... im an expert driving on the right hand side of the road to now!!

Quote from Aegis;362703:
nice place.. they crap on your napkins for you

Haha :p