The Travel Thread

[bleep]

so my trip to China that was supposed to take place this summer got pushed to this winter instead. trading in the heat for the cold. brrrrr. but i'm excited as fuck.

i'm looking for recommendations on places to eat in Beijing and Shanghai for anyone that has been. i've picked up some tips from Bourdain's No Reservations China special, but i'm looking for more.

[sonofhal]

Off to Paris in Dec. Will be taking in a Battles/Flying Lotus show while I'm over there.

I will also be eating snails.

[bleep]

I will also be eating snails.

i'll probably be doing the same in China. except with black bean sauce in lieu of butter.

man, i just got hungry again.

[chiapet]

I'm suspicious of No Reservations after he did the SF show. The places he picked were not very good ones. Maybe the asian ones are more trustworthy. It seems like he just picks places where his friends work, in the US.

[faxman75]

I just purchased my tickets to Glasgow and booked a day tour to the Cliffs of Moher. It's getting so close.

Wednesday 11/25 arrive dublin 7:05AM free day, no plans
Thursday 11/26 fly to Glasgow 8:00am site see, explore the city go to Rodrigo y Gabriela
Friday 11/27 Fly back to Dublin then at 11:30PM go see Monotonix at Crawdaddy's.
Saturday - Cliffs of Moher day tour
Sunday - ??
Monday - ??
Turesday- fly back to the Phoenix

Are there any must see places in Glasgow? Good pubs or places to grab a bite?

[Courtney]

I'm suspicious of No Reservations after he did the SF show. The places he picked were not very good ones. Maybe the asian ones are more trustworthy. It seems like he just picks places where his friends work, in the US.

This is true. I think he was really honestly trying to give a glimpse into the way locals eat when he did his last Hawaii episode, but he just didn't pick very good places.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

so my trip to China that was supposed to take place this summer got pushed to this winter instead. trading in the heat for the cold. brrrrr. but i'm excited as fuck.

i'm looking for recommendations on places to eat in Beijing and Shanghai for anyone that has been. i've picked up some tips from Bourdain's No Reservations China special, but i'm looking for more.

Get the LONELY PLANET books!

I went to Japan and Hong Kong a couple years ago and the LP books were a lifesaver! We ate and drank very well

[gaypalmsprings]

I'll be in New Orleans in a couple of weeks. Yummy food!

[stinkbutt]

I'll probably be going to Australia this winter. I don't really know much about it so any advice will be greatly appreciated. Any good music festivals? Shows? Sites that would have that info?

[chiapet]

Mark, that sounds awesome. A pretty busy itinerary but lots of fun. I don't recall what places I went to in Glasgow, so I have no advice, but enjoy

[CuervoPH]

This is true. I think he was really honestly trying to give a glimpse into the way locals eat when he did his last Hawaii episode, but he just didn't pick very good places.

Was it an Anthony Bourdain Hawaii episode where he spent a ridiculous amount on a Hawaiian shirt and then went to the place that served spam in so many different ways? Or was that an Andrew Zimmern show? Either way, it almost made me not want to visit Hawaii and I've wanted to visit Hawaii for as long as I can remember.

[CuervoPH]

I'll be in New Orleans in a couple of weeks. Yummy food!

I miss being near New Orleans. I went down there for my birthday this year. My boss is down there now for a meeting. He asked me to recommend some places for him to eat. He's texted me several pictures of the food he's having. Bastard.

[JClemy]

Watching Anthony Bourdain in the US is never as good as overseas. Watching him in Montana was less about food and more about him hanging out with random people I didn't care about.

I find the Rough Guides to be as good if not better than Lonely Planet. Lonely Planet also gets preachy at times. I've seen times when the writers will put that "This place used to be great until we reported on it and then it just became too overrun by tourists. It's got good food still but the tourists have ruined the local flavor". Basically telling people that they've reported on the place and the readers ruined it.

[TomAz]

I am in Milwaukee. This is one dreary city.

[Young blood]

[faxman75]

I am in Milwaukee. This is one dreary city.

Just hit the bars on water street. One at a time knock em' out.

[faxman75]

So it looks lke for spending cash i'm going to have about $600 for 6 nights. That's after i've already paid for my hostel, tours, concert tickets and flight to Glasgow.

Hopefully $100/ day is good for food/drinks and other small purchases.

[Sleepingrock]

So I'm going from Costa Rica north to Belize/Guatemala.... Any tips or sights to go to? Any advice would be groovy!

[faxman75]

Uh oh, looks like my trip to the left coast to see the Cliffs is in danger.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1123/weather.html

I sure hope this doesn't cause a cancellation. I'm leaving in less than 24 hours. I managed to get everything packed into a carry on. No checked luggage.

[captncrzy]

I have four guest passes (aka buddy passes) left for the year; if they don't get ticketed to someone by January 15, they will be lost.

1) Be willing to be flexible because they are standby passes

2) Pay for the ticket by January 15-you'll have until January 2011 to use it (fees vary by destination...most expensive is $180-that's from the west coast to the east coast and back). If you don't know where you are going, I can ticket the pass in your name by booking you a cheap round trip (which would be like $100) and then cancelling the trip. You'll still have the ticket in your name, and you can pay the difference once you determine where you're going.

3) If I don't know you-don't bother responding. These are attached to my employer, and I simply can't risk losing my flight benefits (or worse) on someone that I don't know's bad behavior.

PM me if interested; I would have PM'd everyone but you can only do five people at a time and it's too much of a hassle.

[faxman75]

Went to Newgrange today. 1,000 years older than Stonehenge.



I fly back to the states tomorrow. You can see a few photos from my trip on facebook or you can see me posting here in a couple days.

[sonofhal]

Paris has been nice. Good weather, nice food and a kick ass show from Battles. Nabbing some free wifi in crepe place before heading back to London on the Eurostar. I get back pretty late, and then it's off to ATP 10 Yrn first thing tomorrow. Didn't take too many photos in Paris, but I'll post a few next week.

[unknown]

I'm taking off for London next week to visit my uncle and my little cousin! I'll spend my time in Farnham Common and when I'm in Scotland I will be close to Aberdeen. I believe my uncle purchased tickets and booked a place to stay in Edinburgh for their new years celebration. Shakermaker recommended some places to check out in Edinburgh but I'm not too sure what else to do around London. This will be my 4th time going but since it is my first time with my brother I think we will spend a few days doing some touristy things together. I think I'm content with just seeing where the days take me - there is nothing that I *must* do and my brother has been to London before so we may just wander around aimlessly.

As far as shows go - I was pretty excited when I saw that Hudson Mohawke will be at Fabric on Jan 8th but then I saw Hospitality going down with High Contrast, London Elektricity and more on the same night so I'll probably attend that show and hope for Hudson Mohawke another time. Everything else I found has to do with drum n bass. Not sure how many of those events I will make it to since I'm not sure on the exact dates I'll be in London. My uncle is the type to plan a last minute trip to Ireland, Paris, Amsterdam so I wouldn't be surprised if we end up taking off for a couple days to one of those places. I'll be gone for 4 weeks and I'm looking forward to drinking a ton of beer, scotch, and eating some filling grub while trying to keep warm. I'm freezing my ass off and I'm in southern California!

[chiapet]

Sounds like fun! I loved Edinburgh and need to go back for a longer stay sometime. How long are you in London and how old is your brother?

The last time I was there, I was with friends who'd never been to London, we did a few of the tourist things together for the first couple of days while they got their bearings, but then I sent them out with directions and (transit) travelcards, while I did other stuff. It worked out well, they had fun and I got to do some stuff they weren't interested in.

[unknown]

Heidi - I'm really excited! I haven't been out to the UK since summer of 98. My brother is 16. He's leaving next Tuesday, I leave Wednesday and will be out there for almost a month. My uncle has a sheep farm in Scotland and a flat outside of London. His son lives with his mother in London close to my uncle's place so we'll be down there to see him and go up to the farm a few times. Last year I gave my brothers some travel books on London. Maybe I will try to find those things and do some planning on the flight.

[chiapet]

A month?! I'm jealous. It's been a couple of years since I've gotten to take a long trip. For shows in London, I haven't been to many venues but like shepherds bush empire, which is apparently now the O2 Empire. It's very close to transit. There are a couple of so-so shows over the next month (modest mouse, swell season, devendra banhart - http://www.o2shepherdsbushempire.co.uk/

Brixton Academy is okay too - you're just missing soulwax but there might be other stuff over the next month - http://www.o2academybrixton.co.uk/

There are a ton of smaller clubs of course....

[unknown]

Thanks for the links, chiapet. I plan to grab one of the publications out there with all the listings... forgot what it's called but I remember finding most club events that way my last trip out. My uncle's flat outside of London looks to be pretty far outside of London which kind of sucks. Last time I went, he lived in Chiswick which was very close to everything. Looks like I'll be seeing a lot of the countryside too since he has us driving between Montrose, Edinburgh, and London a couple of times. I still need to pack!

[captncrzy]

Have fun. Did you get my link for the Electric Theatre?

[jazzz]

I'm taking off for London next week to visit my uncle and my little cousin! I'll spend my time in Farnham Common and when I'm in Scotland I will be close to Aberdeen. I believe my uncle purchased tickets and booked a place to stay in Edinburgh for their new years celebration. Shakermaker recommended some places to check out in Edinburgh but I'm not too sure what else to do around London. This will be my 4th time going but since it is my first time with my brother I think we will spend a few days doing some touristy things together. I think I'm content with just seeing where the days take me - there is nothing that I *must* do and my brother has been to London before so we may just wander around aimlessly.

As far as shows go - I was pretty excited when I saw that Hudson Mohawke will be at Fabric on Jan 8th but then I saw Hospitality going down with High Contrast, London Elektricity and more on the same night so I'll probably attend that show and hope for Hudson Mohawke another time. Everything else I found has to do with drum n bass. Not sure how many of those events I will make it to since I'm not sure on the exact dates I'll be in London. My uncle is the type to plan a last minute trip to Ireland, Paris, Amsterdam so I wouldn't be surprised if we end up taking off for a couple days to one of those places. I'll be gone for 4 weeks and I'm looking forward to drinking a ton of beer, scotch, and eating some filling grub while trying to keep warm. I'm freezing my ass off and I'm in southern California!

Nice! I would kill to see London Elektricity and High Contrast on the same night!

[whynotsmile99]

I have two weeks vacation time from my job and very much looking forward to some time off. I've went back and forth for weeks as to where I wanted to go. I was looking at Boliva, Brazil, Nicaragua, World Cup South Africa and even volunteering in Nepal. For a two week vacation however it all felt a bit too much, that I would be stretching myself too thin.

I'm now 90% sure I want to go to Spain next month. I was in Barcelona for 3 or 4 days when I was a teenager and loved it. It remains my favorite city I have ever stepped foot in. I've yet to see any other areas of Spain and this seems to be the perfect time. As I said, I'm looking at going in February, clearly not the best time to go to Spain. I like winter however, I get enough sun in LA and it's not like my pale ass is going to sunbath anyway. Plus airfare is cheap and it's not filled with tourists.

Any tips/advice, things to see/skip, festivals, concerts regarding Spain in February would be appreciated. I'm looking at flying roundtrip out of Barcelona, hitting Madrid, Seville and Cordoba. is Bilbao in the north worth going to?
I'll most likely give Ibiza a miss unless I hear otherwise.

Also, I'm looking at traveling exclusively by couchsurfing. I heard all about the website when I was in Thailand and it seems like a great way to save money and get out of shitty hostels, while meeting cool locals that could take you around.. Any experience with the website?

cheers