The Travel Thread

i imagine 20-30k would go quick in Europe. Asia or South American would be a far better bet for serious long term stay. You would live very comfortably for a good amount of time with 20k no doubt.

Between being work at slow, and me still living at home and currently reading "Into the Wild" I'm about ready to jump on the next plane somewhere far.

I met an Expat in Laos who was a pro poker player in Europe, saved up a few grand and has been living in South East Asia for the last few years, not doing much of anything but traveling around.

Eastern Europe is pretty affordable (or was -- I haven't run the numbers lately). When it comes down to it, being that I live in SF, most of Europe would be cheaper for me. Mostly because I wouldn't try to keep up the standard of living I have here. ;)

Mark, I had a few moments of "I'm rich!" while I took the check to the bank but did not have the balls to take off with the money. That being said, my grandmother died a few years ago and left me a small bit of money; not wanting to make the same mistake twice, I did blow that on a long vacation. ;)

you could live very comfortably in south america with 10k a year. brazil would probably cost some more though. last time i backpacked south america i met a girl from seattle who was living in buenos aires. she had quit her job and moved right away over there.

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Originally Posted by chiapet

Tom, Andalucia is my favorite of the places I've visited so far, so it's definitely on the list and hopefully we'll be spending about two weeks in Spain, focused on Andalucia, Costa del Sol and Barcelona. I've never been to Italy at all so that is the part I'm most excited about.

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sevilla is my favorite city in spain, barcelona being second. that trip looks great; andalucia has a beautiful history.

just got back from hawaii last week. i never thought i'd miss the roosters so much.

In October I will be catching Depeche Mode in Buenos Aries. Will be there for 10 days then going to Uruguay for 3 days. Any recommendations?

Just got back last night. Prior to getting home I only slept for about 3 hours total in the last 48 hours. Just slept for 12 hours and am still tired. Had a nightmare of a time comming home... however none of that matter. I had an incredible trip. I have almost a 1000 pictures to go through. I am considering either doing a short write up on the trip and posting a few pictures here, or doing a giant ass write full of details and more pics and making a thread out of it. Not sure. I don't want to annoy people by creating a new thread, but I feel inspired to do a detailed write up on this trip.

Ayways, long story short.

I thoroughly enjoyed London. Chris was a more than gracious host. Meeting Stef was great too. I enjoyed both the touristy and non touristy bits of London. The Specials were great, however the crowd for the most part sucked so that was a downer. Also, V Fest as a festival was awful.

I enjoyed Paris much more than I thought I would. The touristy areas suck and are uncomfortable, but the rest of Paris was fantastic.

Rock En Seine was awesome. The festival itself was pretty great, not amazing, but a well put on festival. Faith No More were incredible. They didn't let me down one bit. Madness were absolutely mad. It was one of the most fun shows I have ever seen in my entire life. It was everything I had hoped for and wanted. I went to a "mystery band" who were billed as "Les Petit Pois" (The Little Peas), because of a hunch and I was right. It turned out to be Them Crooked Vultures and they kicked so much ass it was rediculous. I cannot wait for the album. Also The Prodigy in Europe was an experience of its own. People go NUTS for them over there. So that was a blast.

Marseille was, well, hard to explain. I stayed in a hostel just outside of Marseille and throughly enjoyed my time there. It was mostly full of german backpacker and they were all awesome. I spent a lot of time with them. The city of Marseille I didn't actually enjoy that much... but the areas just outside of Marseille were incredible. Les Calanques, Casis, Isle du Frioul... all incredible. Marseille, not so much. So besides Marseille, I had an incredible time in Marseille.

Thats all for now. It feels weird to be back.

Stef who?
So did you get any pics of the FNM set?

Leaving in the morning for Boston/NY for ATP.

I have the day to myself in Boston on Wednesday and not sure what to do. Hmmm.

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Originally Posted by rage patton

Just got back last night. Prior to getting home I only slept for about 3 hours total in the last 48 hours. Just slept for 12 hours and am still tired. Had a nightmare of a time comming home... however none of that matter. I had an incredible trip. I have almost a 1000 pictures to go through. I am considering either doing a short write up on the trip and posting a few pictures here, or doing a giant ass write full of details and more pics and making a thread out of it. Not sure. I don't want to annoy people by creating a new thread, but I feel inspired to do a detailed write up on this trip.

Ayways, long story short.

I thoroughly enjoyed London. Chris was a more than gracious host. Meeting Stef was great too. I enjoyed both the touristy and non touristy bits of London. The Specials were great, however the crowd for the most part sucked so that was a downer. Also, V Fest as a festival was awful.

I enjoyed Paris much more than I thought I would. The touristy areas suck and are uncomfortable, but the rest of Paris was fantastic.

Rock En Seine was awesome. The festival itself was pretty great, not amazing, but a well put on festival. Faith No More were incredible. They didn't let me down one bit. Madness were absolutely mad. It was one of the most fun shows I have ever seen in my entire life. It was everything I had hoped for and wanted. I went to a "mystery band" who were billed as "Les Petit Pois" (The Little Peas), because of a hunch and I was right. It turned out to be Them Crooked Vultures and they kicked so much ass it was rediculous. I cannot wait for the album. Also The Prodigy in Europe was an experience of its own. People go NUTS for them over there. So that was a blast.

Marseille was, well, hard to explain. I stayed in a hostel just outside of Marseille and throughly enjoyed my time there. It was mostly full of german backpacker and they were all awesome. I spent a lot of time with them. The city of Marseille I didn't actually enjoy that much... but the areas just outside of Marseille were incredible. Les Calanques, Casis, Isle du Frioul... all incredible. Marseille, not so much. So besides Marseille, I had an incredible time in Marseille.

Thats all for now. It feels weird to be back.

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I'm excited for London. I just booked our rail tickets. I thought Stef was in San Diego? Chris is Sonofhal, correct? Also, glad you made it back.

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Originally Posted by rage patton

Just got back last night. Prior to getting home I only slept for about 3 hours total in the last 48 hours. Just slept for 12 hours and am still tired. Had a nightmare of a time comming home... however none of that matter. I had an incredible trip. I have almost a 1000 pictures to go through. I am considering either doing a short write up on the trip and posting a few pictures here, or doing a giant ass write full of details and more pics and making a thread out of it. Not sure. I don't want to annoy people by creating a new thread, but I feel inspired to do a detailed write up on this trip.

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Definitely create a new thread. But it has to be on the level of Brandon's Goes To Bonnaroo, Sees Texas

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Originally Posted by obzen

Stef who?
So did you get any pics of the FNM set?

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Stefinately Maybe

Yes. Only a few though.

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Originally Posted by captncrzy

I'm excited for London. I just booked our rail tickets. I thought Stef was in San Diego? Chris is Sonofhal, correct? Also, glad you made it back.

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Stef moved the day after. He met up with Chris and I in Camden town.

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Originally Posted by kingsblend420

Definitely create a new thread. But it has to be on the level of Brandon's Goes To Bonnaroo, Sees Texas

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If I do the write up, I certainly won't half-ass it. Im still working on pictures right now, there are a lot of them.

Also, I just realized I fail at taking pictures. There isn't a single picture with me and Chris, nor Stef.

Do create a new thread. I want to hear all about Rock en Seine. :)

oh, I loved Camden when I stayed in London. I'm itching to go back ASAP. The UK is pretty much the most amazing place I've ever been. (Yes, including over Paris.)

wb josh.

also, 'told you so' re: Marseilles. did you make it to Aix? i love Aix

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Originally Posted by kitt kat

oh, I loved Camden when I stayed in London. I'm itching to go back ASAP. The UK is pretty much the most amazing place I've ever been. (Yes, including over Paris.)

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Camden was great. I was only there for a couple hours though. I meant to make it back before left, but that didn't happen.

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Originally Posted by TomAz

wb josh.

also, 'told you so' re: Marseilles. did you make it to Aix? i love Aix

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You did tell me so. You were very right.

However, I am very glad I went there. Like I said, all the areas around Marseille were fantastic. Its just the city itself. And no, I did not make it out to Aix. I tried to fit in as much in this trip as possible without overwhelming myself. I will make it back to France again one day as there are many places there I still need to visit.

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Originally Posted by rage patton

Also, I just realized I fail at taking pictures. There isn't a single picture with me and Chris, nor Stef.

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Photoshop!

Also, welcome back.

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Originally Posted by kitt kat

oh, I loved Camden when I stayed in London. I'm itching to go back ASAP. The UK is pretty much the most amazing place I've ever been. (Yes, including over Paris.)

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Completely agree.

Josh, it feels weird to be back, yeah? It took me about four days to get over the time difference and adjust to the states again.

I never have trouble with the time difference when heading over to the US, but it always kills me coming back this way.

Ha, I had the opposite experience. But I did stay up for about two days partying it up before traveling back. That had to have played a significant role.

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Originally Posted by sonofhal

I never have trouble with the time difference when heading over to the US, but it always kills me coming back this way.

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Originally Posted by boarderwoozel3

Ha, I had the opposite experience. But I did stay up for about two days partying it up before traveling back. That had to have played a significant role.

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I also have the opposite experience. Going to Europe I find I get adjusted in a day or two. Back to the states takes me a week. I wonder if it is an adrenelin thing? Excited to be going away etc?

We get back at 7pm and then have a wedding to go to at 1pm the next day. We're totally fucked, right?

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Originally Posted by captncrzy

We get back at 7pm and then have a wedding to go to at 1pm the next day. We're totally fucked, right?

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better 1 pm than a 7 pm wedding.

My experience as been the same as sonofhal's - going to Europe is tough for me, I'm very tired the first day or two. Most times I just plan to sleep the first day, at least a several hours nap. I usually can't sleep much on planes, so I'm worthless by the time I land and get settled.

The time change coming back is much easier for me. I try to book flights that bring me home early evening, so I can just go to bed when I get in and force myself to stay in bed until a proper hour in the morning. I press my vacations to the limits and come back the night before I have to return to work. :)

anyone who's familiar care to share their experience w/ China Airlines? i need to make a trip to Southeast Asia this December and their flights are coming up the cheapest. never flown on this airline before.

I love coming to this thread. You totally need to post a thread for your trip Josh.

I'm coming up to the end of my year here in Japan. I leave October 23rd to come back. I get to spend a day in San Fran on my way back so I'm pretty stoked. I've done a lot of the touristy stuff in SF so I think I'm just going to enjoy being back in a place where lots of people actually understand what I'm saying. I think we're going to hit the Zoo while we're there. Anyone recommend places to go?

We leave Hokkaido at 7:50 am on Oct 23rd and we arrive in Tokyo at 9:25 am. We get most of the day in Tokyo since we don't leave till 4:05. I think we'll hit Akiba for one final trip of small weird and wonderful things of Japan. The nice thing is we leave at 4:05 from Tokyo on the 23rd and arrive at 9:20 am in SF on the 23rd. We get to spend the 23rd in Tokyo and SF. I'm sure we'll be tired but oh well. We leave SF on the 24th at 6:55 so we got some good time in SF and then we get back to Calgary ending our year away.

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Originally Posted by bleep

anyone who's familiar care to share their experience w/ China Airlines? i need to make a trip to Southeast Asia this December and their flights are coming up the cheapest. never flown on this airline before.

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I've never heard anything but check airlinequality.com for reviews and seatguru.com for seat maps and seat reviews.

I have only flown with them twice, but in my experience China Airlines is fine. They are pretty much comparable to any major airline. Nothing special, but nothing horrendous either. The only notable thing that I remember is that their flight attendants wore skin-tight uniforms.

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Originally Posted by bleep

anyone who's familiar care to share their experience w/ China Airlines? i need to make a trip to Southeast Asia this December and their flights are coming up the cheapest. never flown on this airline before.

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I've never flown on China Airlines personally, but asked my mom who is a travel agent. China Air (or Air China) is a good, safe and reliable airlines. If it's significantly cheaper go for it. Most of the major Asian airlines are amazing, far better than their American counterpart. I flew Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong and the flight was a blast, nearly comparable to the first class of nearly all of the American based airlines, only major difference being leg room. My friend flew to South Korea on a Korean Airlines and that too was exceptional. Singapore Airlines is very top end as well. So yea, grab up that China Airlines one.

HOw much are you seeing flights for? Obviously if you can do it in Novembr or wait till January fares will be cheaper than December. With travel agent's mom help I was able to fly LAX>Hong Kong>Singapore with with minimal layover time for $850. My buddy spent around a grand but got screwed with an 11 hour layover in Korea. I left mid October, he left early November.

Where are you going in Southeast Asia? I went two years ago for a few months to Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos. If it's your first time and you have any questions for my mom or me let me know.

I've always been a fan of Cathay Pacific. They used to have an air pass for like $1,100 for unlimited travel to 25 asian cities for up to 21 days. Included the flight from LAX. Not sure if they still have it.

$1499 now and you can do up to 2 other flights to different cities once you are there in a week period.