Official Travelling Thread!

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Party Boy said:
When I was 22, I lived in the US for a year - the job I had was relocating cars around the US. I lived in Chicago but spent most of that year travelling around. We used to get paid 17 cents a mile. Doesnt sound much but in a country the size of the US, you can earn quite a bit.

Anyways, definitive list of countries I've been to (am from Ireland originally - a wandering nation).

UK
France
Spain
Switzerland
Netherlands
Sweden
Norway
Germany
Hungary

Kenya
Tanzania
Zambia
Malawi
Zimbabwe
Botswana
Namibia
South Africa

US
French Polynesia (Tahiti)
Cook Islands
Fiji
New Zealand
Australia
Indonesia
Thailand
Viet Nam
Laos

Trinidad & Tobago
Antigua

Thats it! Going back to Australia in April for 3 weeks to see one of my sisters and some friends who live out there.

Next stops, really want to see Cuba (have heard lots of good things) and Central America - Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua etc.

One of my uncles is a Franciscan Monk and spent decades in Nicaragua/El Salvador during civil wars of 1970's - he was actually placed under house arrest and interrogated for hiding revolutionaries (anti-government forces) in his monastery, so have always wanted to see them. Then South America... just need to find the $$..

You are so lucky! I am jealous!:sad:
 
Justin24 said:


You are so lucky! I am jealous!:sad:

Hi Justin,

To be honest, travelling has been the making and the curse of me. Its made who I am because of what I have seen, experienced and lived through - its the best education you can get for real life ever - seeing people touch you for the first time because they never saw white skin before is a very humbling experience.

Its a curse because when you have experienced something like that, how can you go back to your old life. Instead you continue living from place to place - spending a certain amount of time in a certain city or town with one eye constantly looking for the next place to move to.

I wouild have been quite a homebird (at least male version!) before I went travelling. Ever since I started travelling seriously about 9 years ago, its made me who I am now - which is not necessarily a good thing. The thought of settling down and getting married and doing the normal things someone in their 30's should be doing scares me to hell. Mainly because I know at some point in the next few years I will want to get up and go again.

In saying that - there are lots of people who see the world and can easily slip back into their old lifestyle. I envy them - gits!! :)

Travel as much as you can before you get snowed under with mortgages, kids etc.
 
TheQuiet1 said:
:hmm: I wonder what would happen about things like your NHS number and National Insurance number if you ever moved back to the UK. I mean being born here you'd have them but living abroad for so long would you have to reapply? (Yes, I do think about random things like this all the time. I spent a lot of yesterday wondering about the Lancashire cotton famine of 1861-1865. I kid you not. Yes, I also think I am totally crazy, but I prefer the term 'engagingly eccentric' :D )

You can get an NHS number quite easily. Once your in the country legally, you can get a temporary one while waiting for your official one. However, you do need to be working/living there. As far as I know, you cannot get an NHS number while living in another country.

In saying that, I just moved from the UK to Canada with work. I assume whatever NHS number I had is still in place but de-activated. If I ever returned to work in the UK, it might be a simple case of re-activating it?:hmm:
 
anitram said:


Manhattan's "Chinatown" is rather shitty actually. If you want good and cheap Chinese food, go to Flushing instead. No Chinese person I work with preferred Manhattan's Chinese food over it.

I'm going to France, Italy and Spain in June and July.

Has anyone been to Cinque Terre or the Amalfi coast (specifically Positano)?

Hi Anitram,

Your probably right - however compared to the Chinatowns that exist in London (UK), Manhattan's Chinatown is 100 authentic.

For what I was used to, it seemed pretty good to me.

I guess its like asking an Irish person what a decent Irish pub is - 99% of Irish pubs that seem to exist outside of Ireland would not make the grade :)
 
im going to england, france, and maybe ireland in october. i dont really want to go to ireland, but i dont really not want to go either. so i shall. because i can. on a boat. no flying for this geographically isolated australian!

:drool:

i think i am going to stay in france for the rest of my life though. no one will notice me.
:shifty:
 
Party Boy said:


I guess its like asking an Irish person what a decent Irish pub is - 99% of Irish pubs that seem to exist outside of Ireland would not make the grade :)

Haha!

The San Fran Chinatown is alright but it's really expensive. Even dim sum there is expensive compared to everywhere else. Vancouver and Toronto are definitely cheaper, although Toronto's downtown Chinatown is dead on its feet right now with Markham, where all the good restaurants have gone.
 
Strangely enough, I am going to Chinatown in Toronto tomorrow for a meal and drinks with some friends - I'll report back on Friday :)

Dim Sum:drool:

So what is Markham like? I keep hearing it come up in conversation here amongst people - is that where the bright lights are at the moment?
 
Wow, you guys are lucky! This might sound dumb, but travel is actually something I'm very self-conscious of. Most of my friends have been to many countries, but the first time I got on a plane was a year ago. I don't really talk about travelling a lot, because people who don't know me well assume that I think I'm too good to go anywhere, when the truth is my parents spent all their money on our high school education and cashed out the insurance for some emergency surgeries, so we've never, ever travelled as a family, not once. It's something I will always regret. I'm so proud of my dad though because he has a relatively new job and now goes all over Europe and Israel! (this is someone who struggled in school and never even finished college). I feel so conflicted because I hate people that live in bubbles and aren't game for anything new, but I feel so stuck here and constantly belittled by myself and others because I've gone nowhere.

I've been to road trips to several US States all on my own accord: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida (mainly going up and down between Michigan and Florida with friends). I've been to Sarnia, Ontario twice for gymnastics meets, but I barely count that because it's closer there than going to Chicago. Besides that, the only other country I've seen is Tanzania (well, stopping in Amsterdam, but I don't count that since I didn't leave the airport).

Coolest things I've done/seen on my limited travels:

the Everglades
hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro
the Serengeti
Lake Manyara
swimming in Lake Victoria
Ngorongoro Crater
Oldupaai Gorge
Sleeping Bear Dunes (my favorite thing in my homestate, no other dunes like them)
hiking in the Smokey Mountains
African sunrises
Gulf coast sunsets

I'm so proud I finally have a passport! :D Now if only I could ditch the four jobs, $60,000 in debt and put it to some use!!

I would go to:

Scotland
the Netherlands
back to Tanzania
South Africa
Australia
Banff in Canada
New England coast (Mass., Maine)
 
There are 3 large Chinese concentrations in the GTA (take away Mississauga, it's minor). Scarborough, Markham and downtown. Downtown was the original one, with your classic fruit stands open in the summer time, selling fish on the sidewalk, where you can buy DVD bootlegs and so on. It's okay but the restaurants are not great by any means. They are cheap but old, and kind of decrepit. Basically what you think of when you think of cheap Chinese food.

Scarborough is also cheap. Markham is where all the middle class and upper middle class Chinese moved to. There are TONS of restaurants, some very cheap (good food, cheap b/c of competition not quality), and some very expensive. There is also Pacific Mall and that new mall they are building which will be the largest Chinese mall outside of China. They are basically huge indoor Hong Kong-style malls, not outdoors stands like downtown. You can get anything there, mod chips for your Playstation, designre Diesel jeans, etc. But it's a more modern take than the classic Chinatown that's downtown.
 
Ah ok - thanks Anitram - One of the things I noticed about Toronto is the huge chinese population living here, which normally means a great thriving Chinatown. Unlike London, where Chinatown is concentrated in a small area - most towns/suburbs would have their own local chinese restaurants. It seems Toronto is a bit different then - having 3 relatively big areas with a high concentration.

As I love Asian food, I'm going to enjoy trying each area out. Some one sent the name of the restaurant where we are eating tomorrow night to me - ill post it here tomorrow to see if you recognise it.
 


Ngorongoro Crater
[/B]


Isnt Ngorongoro Crater (never sure how to spell it right) great? It was unfortunate when we went there that most of the animals were gone. I was lucky enough though to see a cheetah stalk and then attack its prey - although the whole process took nearly 2 hours.

Amazing scenery - esp. the lake in the middle which has all the flamingos. I have tons of photos I must get scanned and stick in my journal.

Did you go to Zanzibar at all while in Tanzania?
 
Party Boy said:


Isnt Ngorongoro Crater (never sure how to spell it right) great? It was unfortunate when we went there that most of the animals were gone. I was lucky enough though to see a cheetah stalk and then attack its prey - although the whole process took nearly 2 hours.

Amazing scenery - esp. the lake in the middle which has all the flamingos. I have tons of photos I must get scanned and stick in my journal.

Did you go to Zanzibar at all while in Tanzania?

Animals gone? Where? That sucks! But cheetahs are my favorite thing in the whole world! We saw everything, even a white rhino with a baby. We saw a zebra give birth, several cheetahs, a pride of lions with cubs, etc. The soda lake was cool...

photo153.jpg


We did not go to Zanzibar or Dar, just flew over. We started in Arusha and moved northeast on the safari, then Mwanza, then across the lake to Bukoba, then WAY up to Kigarama (basically the Ugandan border). I was there for a monthlong study on development, so it wasn't so much travelling for fun, but school. I want to go back because I was very sick for over two weeks, lost 12 pounds, and had to try really hard to stay alert and positive, being in a new place for the first time and sick. I'd like to go back and see Dar, Zanzibar, and Lake Manyara again.

These are some of my pictures:

http://www.dutchbingo.net/TanzaniaJanuary2005/index.html
 
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LivLuvAndBootlegMusic said:


Animals gone? Where? That sucks! But cheetahs are my favorite thing in the whole world! We saw everything, even a white rhino with a baby. We saw a zebra give birth, several cheetahs, a pride of lions with cubs, etc. The soda lake was cool...

amazing photos - some brought back great memories, especially Arusha. I was only in Tanzania for about 2 weeks, Zanzibar for a week and Dar for a few days. Was part of 4 month trek from Kenya all the way down to Cape Town in South Africa. I love the continent - the people are so friendly and the scenery...:drool:

Most of the animals had migrated to greener pastures - we were there in the off season. Luckily enough when I went to Okovanga Delta in north Botswana and Atosha National Park in north Namibia, I saw rhinos, lions, leopards, elephans, zebras, massive snakes, crocs, etc. Everything you can imagine. We went to a cheetah sanctury in western Namibia -basically farmers capture (instead of kill) cheetahs found on their land and hand them over to this sanctury, who at the time were building a massive fenced in area - I think they had about 20-25 fully grown wild cheetahs at the time. They also had 3 tame ones whom they had reared from cubs. Having a cheetah lick your hand is like having someone rub wet very rough sand paper across you.

Amazing continent :)
 
Ooooo, I know all about that cheetah place in Namibia! I want to go there and work there forever, that's my secret dream. Secret's out :reject: They've really got a handle on cheetahs and what needs to be done. They're keeping good bloodlines for breeding cheetahs, since most healthy male cheetahs have only 1/10 the amount of good sperm as a domestic cat. Now what they're doing is giving farmers Anatolian shepherd dogs because they are such good guarders and bond with their herds, not humans. So the dogs scare off cheetahs (actually, that place you went proved that cheetahs rarely attack livestock, they prefer wild prey). Cheetah's are very tame and very easy to socialize with humans. They're often more tame and less aggressive than your average family domestic dog. Sorry, I'm such a cheetah :nerd: Funny thing is, I never much cared for them until I first saw them in the wild, this guy here:
photo155.jpg
 
Party Boy said:
btw how did you take your 180 degree composite shot of the crater?

I've got Canon EOS and I am sure its possible - however i neither have the technical ability or patience to figure it out!

Canon PowerShot S1-IS, using the PhotoStitch (the function comes on the camera so you can properly line up each shot, and then you also get software for the computer that generates the final image).
 
Cool you have heard about the place in Namibia. I was there back in early 2002 so I imagine everything has progressed a great deal - they were still in the process of trying to raise money for all the fencing etc. For the life of me I can't remember the name of the place i stayed in - it was pretty much the only one of its kind. I just did a search and found this link:

http://www.cheetah.org/?nd=25

Not sure if its the same place - it doesnt seem the same from looking at the site, but as I said, its over 4 years ago now so a lot may have changed.

When we helped feed the wide cheetahs, while they growled and roared etc, they seemed more afraid of us then we were of them! Feeding them was such good fun however.

I was thinking of going back to Namibia this year - apart from the Cheetahs, its my fav. place in the world I have ever been to.

Now you have triggered memory, might try and look the place in the link above :)
 
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