where have you been

[Tank]

8 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Big history fan, tanker? 

absolutely. also happen to teach history.

had really good teachers in jr. high and high school that made history so fascinating. got my college degree in social studies (would've been a history degree but i needed to take a lot of foreign language classes in a very short amount of time, and just couldn't fit it into my schedule).

[Tank]

should also mention that my grandfather was from a small island off the coast of greece. born there, came to the US, and returned there after he divorced my grandmother.

 

plus i'd like to break my plates at a restaurant and not be hassled by management for once.

[notherhalo]

Those salt flats in Bolivia look crazy, apparently you see the night sky, well

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salar_de_Uyuni

 

 

[Homebrewer]

@mrwicked 

You don't even need a passport to see the Northern Lights, if that really is a bucket list for you. Buy an open R/T to Fairbanks on Alaska and watch any solar website like 

http://www.aurora-service.eu/ 

When the flares happen you have about 48 hours to get somewhere where the polar magnetism bends the cosmic radiation enough for them to be visible

1 stop in Anchorage, might not even change planes. 5-6 hours, less on the clock since you are flying west 3 time zones...and you're there.

Even better than Squarebanks would be the short commuter flight from Anchorage to Talketna, Just outside of Danali NP. Lot's of wine and cheese BnBs there, which is probably more your style.

If you have never seen the Aurora B...It's absolutely something you have to see. 

 

 

[Homebrewer]

51 minutes ago, Tank said:

should also mention that my grandfather was from a small island off the coast of greece. born there, came to the US, and returned there after he divorced my grandmother.

 

plus i'd like to break my plates at a restaurant and not be hassled by management for once.

Greece and Portugal. If you love good food, great food,simple, healthy amazing food.. mild weather, warm water, cheap booze, loose women, and and love to travel cheap..all the things I have lived most of my life searching for....

 

[ten ocho recon scout]

1 hour ago, Tank said:

should also mention that my grandfather was from a small island off the coast of greece. born there, came to the US, and returned there after he divorced my grandmother.

 

plus i'd like to break my plates at a restaurant and not be hassled by management for once.

Thats all of our dreams i think.

[ten ocho recon scout]

39 minutes ago, notherhalo said:

Those salt flats in Bolivia look crazy, apparently you see the night sky, well

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salar_de_Uyuni

 

 

Thsts it! Thats my 2017 trip, if it all goes right. A buddy went and sent pics, they were insane

[Homebrewer]

Patagonia and the rest of the area comprising the southern tip of SA, Tierra Del Fuego, Straights of Magellan, the southern tips of Argentina and Chile...  

Not a bucket list for me, as I've been there, but it should be for anyone who hasn't. Not an area for anyone on a schedule who needs to be somewhere at a certain time on a certain day. I was down there for 4 almost 5 months and saw very little of what I thought I had planned to see. Spent a lot of time on freighters, most of the time tied to docks,( freighter tourism is very comfortable, affordable, and worth checking out if you have flexibility, time, and patience) fishing, eating, drinking and playing cards and dominoes.. with crewmen, and women, from everywhere in the world. Took day trips on old fishing boats and over gravel and sand roads in ancient, rusted out VW's and other small buses of indeterminate origin (military all wheel drive kinda things)....to some of the most remote and hauntingly beautiful places imaginable...with people who would be offended if you didn't accept the offer to have dinner, get drunk, and spend the night with them and their family before going back the next day to find your ship had left an hour early... Well you get the idea.

After wandering, very slowly, "through and around the horn" of SA, I took a 4+ day long, desolate, high mountain switchbacks to make you dizzy, stopping to buy and butcher goats in the middle of nowhere and cooking them and potatoes on the roof of the bus with hot rocks from a BBQ like brazier thing that they never allowed to go out ... bus ride to Santiago, Chile...which was like a paradise of civilization after that amount of time on the cape...and from there took the local style, budget priced,(underground in that I avoided many of the restrictive rules, reservations, permits, and steep tourist fees) decidedly non eco-tourist trip to the Galapagos. I traveled to the islands with people that lived and worked in the service industries there.

That's another story and I've rambled on too long as it is.

I bet nobody, after reading this, has added the tip of SA to their list of must see areas of the world. 

 

[nate]

@Angel Dog and Beer I would love to visit French Polynesia

[NJHalo]

11 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Itsly is rad, but id recommend training it out of rome, then renting the car...dont drive in rome. Or near rome.

Agreed. We are renting the car when we leave Rome. I will not try to drive there, or Florence, which I hear is worse. 

[Tank]

"I'm hoping to hit the trifecta this winter - no, not horse racing . . . San Fernando, Pacoima, and Sylmar. Please share this in the travel thread. Thanks, Adam."

[ten ocho recon scout]

13 minutes ago, Tank said:

"I'm hoping to hit the trifecta this winter - no, not horse racing . . . San Fernando, Pacoima, and Sylmar. Please share this in the travel thread. Thanks, Adam."

And santas village.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Ok, i think homebrewer just mic dropped the thread.

Ive actually been to patagonia too, but not as long as that. Your story sounds amazing though. If i ever hit the lotto, my money would go to that far before a new car or house. Id disappear for a year, only randomly checking the internet to like the jokes about nate not getting to eat at INO.

[NJHalo]

1 hour ago, Tank said:

"I'm hoping to hit the trifecta this winter - no, not horse racing . . . San Fernando, Pacoima, and Sylmar. Please share this in the travel thread. Thanks, Adam."

Barstow, Baker, and Salton City would make one hell of a triple crown

[ten ocho recon scout]

Hey homebrewer, post some pics of that trip if you have them.

And tips on gallapagos because thats on my list for my bday trip

[Tank]

we did a caribbean cruise this summer, and the views of the water and islands were outstanding. i'd love to go back on my own and have time to snorkel and even learn to scuba. that would lead me to want to try the great barrier reef down by oz's house.

i'd also love to go back to hawaii and some exotic place like fiji.

[Homebrewer]

5 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Hey homebrewer, post some pics of that trip if you have them.

And tips on gallapagos because thats on my list for my bday trip

That trip was in (winter here, summer there) 86-87, before the dawn of the digital camera. I do have some pictures, taken with disposable Instamatics. Remember those? I bet there are people on this board that never heard of one. I  took 3 or 4 of them with me, and if I remember right, only 1 made it through the conditions well enough to be developed. There were times on that trip I doubted I would make it back myself. It was far from what most people would call a vacation, and there wasn't anything close to luxury. It was backpacking without the walking part.

The Galapagos are completely different now than they were back then. Travel there now is very restricted and expensive. Just to get the permits required takes a lot of time, years in some cases, unless you have a lot of $$$. In those days the world was not as open to tourism, there were no such thing as eco-tours and places like SA were much less accessible. I wasn't planning on going to those remote islands (and they are still very remote). I just fell into a spot on a ship that was headed there, because that was how I was traveling and my original plans got shot all to hell in the first few weeks.

I've looked into going back there, but unless I hit the lotto or go back to work in the travel industry, I don't think it'll ever happen.  

[Homebrewer]

7 hours ago, NJHalo said:

Barstow, Baker, and Salton City would make one hell of a triple crown

Occotillo Wells, Landers, and Twentynine Palms

[ten ocho recon scout]

Thats rad, homebrewer. Love the whole travel without a plan thing. Would kill to do it just once. Maybe when i retire. Im looking to get my dive cert and dive there someday

[Stradling]

Just got back from two weeks in Italy, what an experience.  We did Rome, Florence, Venice then back to Rome.  Saw most of the things you are supposed to see.  I love the history of it all and will learn even more about it now.  When I go back I'll probably spend most of my time near Florence, I really loved it there.  

Ive been to Rome and Venice before, so I wasn't really looking forward to Venice this time, but it was pretty great.  Our hotel was good, right on the canal, but that's not what made it good.  What made the hotel is it was a short walk from a "piazza", where the locals hung out.  Our first night there we had dinner there and at the restaurant next to ours they were having a wedding reception so music was playing and it just had an amazing non scripted atmosphere that was simply beautiful.  

The next day we go back to that area for gelato and we were there around the time school got out (around 5pm), so everyone was there picking the kids up from school, but it was different than how we do it.  There everyone is on foot, obviously, so the kids are all running around the square while the parents and grand parents talked with each other.  Simply incredible.  

It wasn't a perfect trip, I should have upgraded our flights, got some bad advice on that.  I also lost my back pack (left it on the train from Venice to Rome) which had two iPads, a kindle, all my chargers for phones and devices. 

All in in all it was an experience I won't soon forget.  I'm sure I'll get on here and post about the other cities throughout the week.  

 

[Stradling]

In the post above I mentioned staying in Rome twice on this last trip.  One hotel, The St. Regis was a great hotel, decent size room for European standards, good size bathroom and good service.  The best part was the location, right in the middle of the city, less than a ten minute walk to the train station.  

The second hotel we stayed at was The Waldorf.  This was an amazing resort.  The rooms were massive even by our standards.  The beds were the most comfortable beds I've ever had in a hotel.  The damn place had a pillow menu!  Two downsides, one incredibly expensive food if you wanted to just relax at the hotel.  Drinks were hotel drink prices.  Second, location was awful.  Nothing was within walking distance.  They did offer a free hourly shuttle into the main part of the city, which was great.  

The best overall hotel experience was in Florence, we stayed at Hotel Bernini.  Very well located and incredible service. 

[NJHalo]

15 hours ago, Tank said:

we did a caribbean cruise this summer, and the views of the water and islands were outstanding. i'd love to go back on my own and have time to snorkel and even learn to scuba. that would lead me to want to try the great barrier reef down by oz's house.

i'd also love to go back to hawaii and some exotic place like fiji.

I cannot say enough about St John, USVI.

Not easy to get to, but so worth it

[Blarg]

I've been interested in taking that trip. No passport needed and all of the same Island perks of diving, fishing, getting a wicked sunburn sleeping on the beach as more expensive and exotic places.

[notherhalo]

met an old rich dude, ran luxury train rides through the Patagonias 

https://luxurytrainclub.com/trains/private-rail-cars/

apparently there are private groups that do long, expensive trips many places, it was a good podcast on jet setter radio

 

 

[ten ocho recon scout]

On 10/8/2016 at 10:38 AM, notherhalo said:

met an old rich dude, ran luxury train rides through the Patagonias 

https://luxurytrainclub.com/trains/private-rail-cars/

apparently there are private groups that do long, expensive trips many places, it was a good podcast on jet setter radio

 

 

That would be rad. Ive looked into doing a crazy train ride. Norway is one that kind of calls my name.

Watched Castaway last night for the first time in years. Made me wonder if ive already "gotten away" with overseas travel long enough.