Oh the Places You'll Go

[Rich]

I figured The Tottenham at Oxford street would be more appropriate ?

Don't like Tottenham, to many hi-fi shops tempting me to part with my money

 

[Ron_dK]

to many hi-fi shops

Oh yes McDonald Electronics, but that's not Hifi or ....
If you're there can you buy me a Quad 405 II please

 

[Rich]

If you're there can you buy me a Quad 450 II please

Since I can't afford one for myself, NO!
but then I always thought Quads were more in tune with classical than just the noise of your tastes

 

[Ron_dK]

I would not consider Jazzpana or Pat Metheny or Zappa or Julian Bream classical noise !

 

[lmnop7854]

I have never been outside of the North American continent. I have been to or through just about every major city on the Eastern seaboard. My family and I have stayed in Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head, SC; and the Outer Banks, NC; and I have been to Orlando and Fort Myers, FL to visit my parents. We like the ocean.

My boyfriend and I took a major cross-country trip 2 years ago, and drove from Rochester, NY to San Diego, CA. We did it in 4 days. We were able to stay with relatives all along the route, so we visited St. Louis, MO; Denver, CO; Moab, UT (our personal favorite); and San Diego, CA. Utah was the most beautiful state ever, and if you have a chance to get to any of the national parks in Utah (Bryce was mentioned here earlier, we went to Arches, and there is also Canyonlands and Zion), I would make it a must see. Pictures you see in magazines and books don't even do it justice. If you travel there in the summer, bring lots of water!!!

I have also been to Las Vegas, and got to stay at Caesars, which I thought was beautiful. I was alone there for a conference, so I wasn't brave enough to venture out to the other hotels and casinos. I also had a really hard time gambling, even to play slots. It just seemed like a gigantic waste of money to me. I noticed that the food was pretty expensive, but my viewpoint of vacation is to shoot the moon. What I really did like about Las Vegas was the lights. I have a thing for city lights, and Las Vegas is the winner when it comes to that. I had my mouth hanging open all the way from the airport to the hotel. The shuttle driver asked me if it was my first time.

San Diego is the most beautiful city in the land. I long to live there, if I can ever afford it. The weather is fantastic all the time, and no matter where you are, you can smell the ocean. And you can get to Las Vegas and the canyons in the west much easier than you can living in the East.

Other cities visited - Toronto, Canada (another beautiful city); Ann Arbor, Michigan (for racing, but they also have a fantastic art show at the end of July that is worth going to); Washington, DC (my girlfriend lives outside the city, so I go there all the time - I recommend Dupont Circle for the eclectic food); and New York City once (went to Times Square, and that was about it).

Lisa

 

[tony h]

If you want to travel differently then try www.globalfreeloaders.com but treat it with respect. Some fantastic people.

 

[chthomas]

Kerala

Try Kerala, India. You people will love the place.

http://www.keralatourism.org/

 

[Ally]

What some great posts!

Well, my list is:

• Majorca
• Menorca
• Bruges (lovely chocolate!)
• Philippines (Island of Cebu)
• Canada (Vancouver)
• Italy - tour of: Rome, Florence, Venice, Tuscany, Verona, Pisa (I think that was it)
• California (Buena Park near LA) - went to my penfriend's wedding - was great seeing a very different style of wedding.
• France (Paris, Cape d'Ag, Albertville near Lyon and Carcassonne)
• Netherlands (Amsterdam, and somewhere else I think was called Zolle??)
• Cyprus (Latchi - about an hour from Paphos - but away from the crowds1)
  
  Whilst on cruise ships:
• Miami
• Bahamas (Nassau and Freeport)
• Costa Rica (San Juan)
• Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo) - great coffee
• St Thomas (bit touristy for me)
• Curacao
• Aruba
• Panama Canal
• Mexico (Acapulco) - wonderful fish!
• Uganda

I think that's it!

and I'm going to Israel in April!!! (Can't wait)

Tess: Can't remember many specifics re hotels etc re Italy as it was a group holiday all in. But, St Peter's Basillica in Rome cannot be missed! Even if you're not "religious" I feel - I don't particularly like visiting "churches" per se, but just as I walked in there it was jaw to the floor time. Also, I liked the shopping in Rome and got a lovely pair of shoes!

Venice is beautiful and very romantic. We were there in June time I think and there wasn't a problem but I've heard from other people that it can get a bit smelly. Gondola ride's a definite - and you need to barter! Some of our group who were in couples stayed in Venice for the evening and they said it got better - plan to go back now I'm married.

Some of the places we visited were only for a day so not enough time to get a real feel of the place, but hope that helps a little.

When I was on ships I sometimes only got to see the ports, but those where I did go further, I loved Acapulco and Aruba - 2 very different places. In the Bahamas, (I think it was Nassau, but not 100% sure) there's a wonderful place call the Poop Deck which is a restaurant which does the most wonderful Conch fritters. These were common over there, but this place, they just melted in your mouth! (Trust me to think of food!) Would love to be able to get them here - but spose it wouldn't be the same!

I loved Vancouver - absolutely beautiful scenery.
I loved the Philippines - I was spending time with friends who live there and did a lot with the church but still got to do some sightseeing, but also spending a lot of time with the people who live there which was very special. We went to one place called Kawasan Falls - a beautiful place with a wonderful waterfall where you can swim and sunbathe and just chill!

Cyprus was wonderful - first time was honeymoon part a and we had a day trip to Egypt planned but the motorbike/ankle/hospital incident put paid to that. When we went back for honeymoon part b we could only go for a week, so we'd like to go to Egypt together another time.

The thing I notice about a lot of places also, especially in Africa and Asia are the people and their way of life. They are wonderful, generous people - very laid back. That's a whole other story really.

Oops - bit of a long posting!

 

[TessB]

Ally,

MMMMMMMMMMMWAH!
(Big kiss)


Excellent pointers!

 

[Ron_dK]

[*]Netherlands (Amsterdam, and somewhere else I think was called Zolle??)

Guess you mean Zwolle, but what on earth would people look for in Zwolle other than the Blues cafe called Bourbonstreet ?

 

[Ally]

Guess you mean Zwolle, but what on earth would people look for in Zwolle other than the Blues cafe called Bourbonstreet ?

Well it was over 10 years ago when I was a Venture Scout leader and we went on something called EuroVenture which was a fab week. It was nationwide, so there were about ?4000 or so of us. We were split into 4 groups and got sent to mystery destinations and our group of about 1000 ended up in ?Zwolle. So basically there was a huge field where we camped and there was a beach of sorts a 5 minute walk away and since it was the hottest July since 1835 that was ideal as we just jumped in the water off a pier type thing - was great! Did a couple of trips to a cheese factory and some sort of old village.

Then all of us ended up in Paris for a few days with a trip to EuroDisney.

 

[Rich]

Well it was over 10 years ago when I was a Venture Scout leader and we went on something called EuroVenture which was a fab week.

Are you still with the scouts Ally?

 

[Ron_dK]

.... we just jumped in the water off a pier type thing and ended up in Paris
for a few days with a trip to EuroDisney.

wow, did you swim all the way to Paris ?

 

[Ally]

wow, did you swim all the way to Paris ?

Yeah! ...

 

[TessB]

Making hotel reservations for Vegas. A bunch of us are trying to all be there at the same time at least for a few days of the week. Leaning toward reservations for MGM Grand... either a tower room or the West Wing.

Anyone ever stayed there in either of those two rooms?
Worth the money? (almost $200 a night)

Thanks
Tess

 

[MrsGorilla]

As a side note, this late May, we have a sprint to Vegas planned. We've never been, we're not gamblers. We want to see the Bellagio fountain and we're taking a day trip to the Grand Canyon. We don't have reservations for a hotel yet. We don't want to stay in a closet sized hotel room and we don't want to pay out the nose for anything either. We just want clean, comfortable and up to date lodging. I'm certain there are people who have been there. Any suggestions for a place to stay? We'll be there from Wed May 31 to Sun June 4.

Oh... and if you want to bump into me there, let me know.

What a coinkydink!!!! My husband and I just started planning late last month for a trip to Vegas during the same time period. I was thinking that I remembered someone saying they were going but I was thinking they must have already gone so I was going to see where they stayed, what they did, etc. Then I looked up your old thread only to discover it's you going and we'll be there at the same time!

My husband is going to be lifting in the APF (American Powerlifting Federation) Nationals there on June 3rd, so we'll be flying in late afternoon on the 1st and leaving out on the morning of the 5th. It was kind of a short notice for us to decide to go (relatively speaking) but we've already got our airfare paid for. I'm working on the hotel now.

So, where have you decided to stay? I think we'll probably be at the Luxor. We committed to going there because a friend thought he could help us out with a room, but that fell through. We still think it will be nice to stay there though, and fun for Emily too.

 

[pbaldy]

The big hotel casinos in Vegas move their prices around a lot. If there are big conventions in town, you'll pay $200-300 for the same room you can get for $50 in an off week. The Luxor is nice, and the elevators in the main building are cool (they go up at an angle, roughly following the line of the hotel itself). MGM is nice, but not $200 nice. The Rio is a fun place to stay, and the rooms are nicer than average (all suites).

 

[MrsGorilla]

The big hotel casinos in Vegas move their prices around a lot. If there are big conventions in town, you'll pay $200-300 for the same room you can get for $50 in an off week. The Luxor is nice, and the elevators in the main building are cool (they go up at an angle, roughly following the line of the hotel itself). MGM is nice, but not $200 nice. The Rio is a fun place to stay, and the rooms are nicer than average (all suites).

I've heard that about the Rio, but this is our first time going so we were pretty sure we wanted to stay somewhere on the strip. The Rio is just off the strip, isn't it?

 

[pbaldy]

Yes it is, and while some would say it's walking distance from the strip, the walk is over a freeway with no good place to walk, so I wouldn't walk it. They do run a shuttle over to the strip, but it would certainly be easier to stay on the strip if you want to be able to walk around to the different casinos.

Here's the kind of price thing I was talking about:

 

[MrsGorilla]

I've noticed that they all pretty much double and triple in price for the weekend nights.