Were you in Bruges? I loved Belgium, too... a canal ride through the city has to be one the serenest things in the world... so romantic.
What countries have you visited, and how would you describe them?
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Were you in Bruges? I loved Belgium, too... a canal ride through the city has to be one the serenest things in the world... so romantic.
There are plenty of dirty cheap restaurants in NYCNot a fan of the subway, I take it?If you're at Penn, and want to get to Port Authority, all you have to do is take the A, C or E trains uptown. It's the next stop!
You're kidding, right? NYC has like 18,000 restaurants. It's impossible NOT to get awesome food. No matter what kind you like. There's this, for example.
I'm not a fan of the NYC subway. Most others are nice enough (DC, Boston), the New York one is a dump.
The problem isn't finding food, the problem is paying for the food. Second most expensive McDonald's I'd been to. The first one was in Rome, and it was palatial with marble floors. This one was a dump.
. Manhattan is huge, with places where you can have a meal for $5.Oh, and please don't compare Boston's T Train to DC metro. It stinks and more confusing compared to DC.
I will say that the DC Metro has the nastiest, meanest pricks as passengers than any other train I've ever been on. Clean trains, asshole passengers.
Only trouble I ever had with the Boston T is when I was at Fenway a few years ago and nearly got trampled trying to get into the subway station at Kenmore, which was under heavy renovations at the time.
Only trouble I ever had with the Boston T is when I was at Fenway a few years ago and nearly got trampled trying to get into the subway station at Kenmore, which was under heavy renovations at the time.
Were you in Bruges? I loved Belgium, too... a canal ride through the city has to be one the serenest things in the world... so romantic.
I was gonna say, I feel like I've been "In Bruges" just from watching that film.
Were you in Bruges? I loved Belgium, too... a canal ride through the city has to be one the serenest things in the world... so romantic.
Yes..right off the ferry from Dover...
http://www.cruisereviews.com/images/ports/europeportreviews/BelgiumPictures/BruggesfromCathedral.jpg
Very nice..
Travelling doesn't need to be expensive. I've been a student deadbeat for the last decade, and hostels and cheap food have taken me a long way.Sadly, I have never been out of Australia
The main reason is because I haven't been able to afford to travel. I especially would love to go to Iceland but I don't think i will ever get there.
When I said I haven't been able to afford to travel it has been because of
a) the cost of the airfares from Australia to anywhere else
b) the fact that when I was well enough to travel I had three children to worry about. I would have had to either take them along or would have had to pay someone to look after them while I was gone. Either would have added immensely to my costs
Now that I might be able to afford to travel ill-health makes it difficult.
England: Been to London, Canterbury, Oxford. Wonderful people, good transportation. Great culture and nightlife.
Italy: Rome, Florence, many hill towns in Umbria. I was a study abroad student for two months. Best food I've ever had; the people are charming. I felt I was in a dream, it was so wonderful. I have to go back some day.
Canada: Toronto. Felt like NYC to me! Very polite natives, loved the different neighborhoods.
France: I visited for about two days; if you don't know the language, I found it hard to get by. You're SOL if you only know English. Spent most of the time in the museums and doing the touristy things.
Trinidad and Tobago: I have family there; we visit every other year or so. Love the Indian food, the people are laid back and pleasant. Best beaches in the Caribbean, imho. I would never want to drive there, though. Crazy drivers!
I live in MN, but I've visited many states and big cities in the US. My favorites would be New York City (the food, the subway, the theater! I never felt unsafe and I was a single female traveler), Chicago (great pizza, wonderful architecture and the shopping was fabulous), and San Francisco (Golden Gate Bridge, the progressive citizens, cable cars, wonderful Bay views).
Italy: Rome, Florence, many hill towns in Umbria. I was a study abroad student for two months. Best food I've ever had; the people are charming. I felt I was in a dream, it was so wonderful. I have to go back some day.
Canada: Toronto. Felt like NYC to me! Very polite natives, loved the different neighborhoods.
France: I visited for about two days; if you don't know the language, I found it hard to get by. You're SOL if you only know English. Spent most of the time in the museums and doing the touristy things.
Trinidad and Tobago: I have family there; we visit every other year or so. Love the Indian food, the people are laid back and pleasant. Best beaches in the Caribbean, imho. I would never want to drive there, though. Crazy drivers!
I live in MN, but I've visited many states and big cities in the US. My favorites would be New York City (the food, the subway, the theater! I never felt unsafe and I was a single female traveler), Chicago (great pizza, wonderful architecture and the shopping was fabulous), and San Francisco (Golden Gate Bridge, the progressive citizens, cable cars, wonderful Bay views).
Well, there's your problem. You clearly didn't see New York, just a few touristy spots. You didn't eat New York food, you ate McDonald's, and you're letting one bad experience waiting for a train color your opinion of an entire city. Neighborhood to neighborhood NYC is varied and rich in sights, culture, music, food, architecture, and so on. And all of it can be enjoyed very cheaply.I suggest exactly the opposite.I love New York. It's the only place I go on vacation. And I thought that even before I got hooked on baseball (people keep asking me why I'm a fan of both the Yankees and Mets? There's your reason).
Getting stuck at Penn Station for 12 hours and trying to find Port Authority in a rainstorm at 1 AM will sour your opinion somewhat. And then trying to get food in Manhattan?
Ultimately I think its dirty, overcrowded, and waaaay too expensive.
Last year. And paying ten dollars for a damn thing of McFood isn't what I call fun.
But the real problem is that the theatre district borders Hell's Kitchen. So 'The Lion King' and 'Crazy Joe's Used Porno' are right next to each other. And thats got to cause some awkward questions for parents.
In New York you can get a huge falafel sandwich for $3.50, a slice for a buck, authentic Mexican tacos (you know, with radishes and sour cream, not the Americanized stuff), for 50 cents a piece, vegan Indian cuisine for two for $7, tea eggs 5 for a dollar and hot coconut buns in Chinatown for 60 cents. You can walk through the nature trails at Prospect Park in Brooklyn for hours without catching sight of a man-made structure. You can visit the cloisters in the spring -- fields of wildflowers amongst which are the old stone ruins -- you'd never guess you were in Manhattan. You can walk the winding, cramped streets downtown and take in the history, or wander the East Village where you'll find murals, sculpture, and mosaic popping op from the most unexpected places. You can go to Morningside Heights and see one of the biggest cathedrals in North America (where the secular Earth Day mass is one of the most beautiful examples of performance art one could ever want to see). You can see all of this for free.
My advice to anyone visiting NYC is to exactly the opposite of what you did. Avoid the tourist areas like the plague. Times Square is dull, expensive, and commercialized (who goes to NYC to eat at Olive Garden?!). If you want to see the Statue of liberty, take the Staten Island Ferry instead of paying for the stupid tourist boat. The only tourist destinations in NYC that are really worthwhile are the Brooklyn Bridge and the museums (the Met and the AMNH are pay by donation, by the way, so, more free to almost free fun stuff). The point is, travel smart.
And as for dirty, being a native Seattlite I thought NYC was dirty at first too, but then I remembered what New Orleans was like, or Cairo, or Mexico City, or Mumbai
As for me:
USA: I've been around a bit -- NYC, all over Washington State, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, New Orleans, Connecticut, Chicago, etc. As others have said, the culture and scenery vary so greatly in this huge country.
Canada: Only BC. I love BC. Vancouver's like a cleaner Seattle.
Mexico: Mexico City and Puebla City. I really enjoyed my time in Mexico. I was there for a month and got to really experience life in Puebla. The city was beautiful, the cathedrals were stunning, each so different from the others.
Netherlands: I was only in Amsterdam for a few hours -- long enough to have lunch and wander for a short time. It was beautiful and I would love to go back.
Egypt: I spent time in Cairo and Aswan. I found Cairo to be a fun and exciting city. Aswan was beautiful, (and the trip on the Nile was wonderful), but I was harassed a lot. It was such a lovely place, but I feel I missed out on a lot of it being a single girl; I couldn't wander around alone and that's how I really like to explore a city.
India: I spent a month in Mumbai last summer, during the monsoon season, and I loved it. People were generally friendly, the food was amazing. I had a great time hanging out for hours at a little juice bar with a couple of Kenyan men. I learned a lot about the culture. One of the funniest things I experienced was trying to explain that I am Atheist to Indians. It seemed one of the first questions anyone I'd meet would ask was what religion I was. When I replied, "Atheist," I was met with blank stares. Trying to explain Atheism just seemed to boggle the minds more. As one of my best friends, Sonia (who is from Delhi) told me when I returned, "You can't go to a country with literally thousands of gods and say you don't have even one!"
Here's an awesome thing that happened to me in NYC once. I lost my cellphone on a crowded subway in the middle of the afternoon. That night, I get back to my aunt and uncle's place to find that somebody has found the phone; they called to let my relatives know that I could come and get it. (number was in the phone's contact list) So the next day, I went and got it! A very nice clinic nurse had found the phone and gave it back to me. All it took was a trip to Union Square. 
Kind of shoots the old "New Yorkers are mean" rumor all straight to hell, doesn't it? (They're not mean, BTW. No one in NYC has *ever* been mean to me. Not even when I ask touristy questions.)
Kind of shoots the old "New Yorkers are mean" rumor all straight to hell, doesn't it? (They're not mean, BTW. No one in NYC has *ever* been mean to me. Not even when I ask touristy questions.)
Nah, they only pretend not to speak it.
Well, well, the list of countries I've visited is reasonably long but I'll keep my descriptions to (hopefully) pithy one-liners to compensate...
Andorra- can't remember much.
Barbados - beaches and cocktails. What's not to like?
France - Paris is pretty, the Riviera is relaxing, the bits in the middle make good wine and are picturesque
Greece - my mother's country, so a sentimental attachment. Love the culture and history; alas the present is not quite as nice due to overdevelopment/pollution
India - Give it 15-30 years. Then it will be great. Too transitional at the moment.
Italy - Bad drivers, beautiful scenery and towns/cities
Japan - bizarre yet awesome. I'm fonder of it than logic should dictate.
Lichtenstein - I think I've been here. It was either here or another tiny country like San Marino... make of that what you will.
Mauritius - see Barbados. Pretty much the same thing really from a tourist perspective.
Monaco - parking lot cum casino, albeit with a view.
Spain - wanted to like it; not really my kind of vibe. Toledo was my highlight.
Turkey - see India. Still quite liked it though. Quirky, for sure
UAE (Dubai) - bad shopping mall and mediocre beach in the middle of nowhere. Cheap petrol tho'.
UK - live here; wouldn't want to emigrate, which tells you all you really need to know.
USA - my other nationality alongside British, so am naturally fond of the place. Been on holiday to a handful of states on both coasts, but was actually born in the middle. Americans have a wonderful sense of the power of words.
Vatican City - a goldmine, literal and cultural. Pretty insane, really.
Well, given that I've been to over 40 countries, I don't want to list and describe them all. Way too tedious and no one would read it anyway. So I'll sort of reverse things and just do the a Best/Worst List:
General Good Time:
Best - Italy (if you can't have a good time in Italy, you are utterly incapable of having a good time)
Worst - Switzerland (seen one mountain, seen 'em all. Now lets go shopping for overpriced watches!)
Food:
Best - Italy (nowhere else is even close), Vietnam, Thailand
Worst - UK (with the notable exceptions of fish & chips and scones w/clotted cream)
Museums - Art:
Best - Italy, Russia, France
Worst - Cambodia (no money to keep them up)
Museums - Artifacts/History:
Best - France, UK
Worst - Uzbekistan
Historical Sites - Ancient History:
Best - Italy, Cambodia, China, Uzbekistan
Worst - US, Canada
Historical Sites - Modern History:
Best - Russia (Soviet/Russian Revolution/Famous people), Vietnam ("American" War), Japan (Hiroshima)
Worst - Switzerland (I got nuthin')
Historical Sites - Religious:
Best - Italy (Christianity), Japan (Buddhist/Shinto) Uzbekistan (Islam), China (Buddhist)
Worst - US
*Most Sobering Historical Sites/Museums: Auschwitz (Poland), The Killing Fields (Cambodia), Tuol Sleg Genocide Museum (Cambodia), Anne Frank Museum (Holland), Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park & Museum (Japan), Hanoi Hilton (Vietnam)
*Most beautiful vistas:
Hong Kong from Victoria Peak (day or night) - Hong Kong, China
Yangshou boat ride - outside of Yangshou, China (cool mountains)
Amalfi Coast Drive - Sorrento, Italy area
Turnagain Arm Drive - Anchorage, Alaska area, US
Promenade des Anglais Run - Nice, France (awesome place to go running)
Barcelona (& the sea) from Parc Guell - Barcelona, Spain
Paris at sunset from Sacre Coeur - Paris, France
Architecture:
Best - Spain (would win on Barcelona alone), Czech Republic (mainly Prague),Russia (for the churches/monasteries)
Worst - Poland (not their fault since the Nazis bombed them to bits, and the Russians were the ones to 'rebuild')
Beaches:
Best - Thailand, The Bahamas
Worst - Canada (what beaches? )
Mountains:
Best - US (Rockies, Alaska Range), Canada (Canadian Rockies), China (around Guilin/Yangshou), Switzerland, Germany, Austria
Worst - Holland (but they got everyone beat on the windmills!), Belgium
Sanitation/Good Plumbing/Probability of Hot Water:
Best: Switzerland, Austria, Germany
Worst: Uzbekistan, China, Mexico
Transportation - Overall Reliability & Infrastructure:
Best - Japan
Worst - Cambodia, Uzbekistan
*Best Metros - Tokyo, Moscow, New York City, Paris, London
*Best International Airport - Hong Kong
General Good Time:
Best - Italy (if you can't have a good time in Italy, you are utterly incapable of having a good time)
Worst - Switzerland (seen one mountain, seen 'em all. Now lets go shopping for overpriced watches!)
Food:
Best - Italy (nowhere else is even close), Vietnam, Thailand
Worst - UK (with the notable exceptions of fish & chips and scones w/clotted cream)
Museums - Art:
Best - Italy, Russia, France
Worst - Cambodia (no money to keep them up)
Museums - Artifacts/History:
Best - France, UK
Worst - Uzbekistan
Historical Sites - Ancient History:
Best - Italy, Cambodia, China, Uzbekistan
Worst - US, Canada
Historical Sites - Modern History:
Best - Russia (Soviet/Russian Revolution/Famous people), Vietnam ("American" War), Japan (Hiroshima)
Worst - Switzerland (I got nuthin')
Historical Sites - Religious:
Best - Italy (Christianity), Japan (Buddhist/Shinto) Uzbekistan (Islam), China (Buddhist)
Worst - US
*Most Sobering Historical Sites/Museums: Auschwitz (Poland), The Killing Fields (Cambodia), Tuol Sleg Genocide Museum (Cambodia), Anne Frank Museum (Holland), Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park & Museum (Japan), Hanoi Hilton (Vietnam)
*Most beautiful vistas:
Hong Kong from Victoria Peak (day or night) - Hong Kong, China
Yangshou boat ride - outside of Yangshou, China (cool mountains)
Amalfi Coast Drive - Sorrento, Italy area
Turnagain Arm Drive - Anchorage, Alaska area, US
Promenade des Anglais Run - Nice, France (awesome place to go running)
Barcelona (& the sea) from Parc Guell - Barcelona, Spain
Paris at sunset from Sacre Coeur - Paris, France
Architecture:
Best - Spain (would win on Barcelona alone), Czech Republic (mainly Prague),Russia (for the churches/monasteries)
Worst - Poland (not their fault since the Nazis bombed them to bits, and the Russians were the ones to 'rebuild')
Beaches:
Best - Thailand, The Bahamas
Worst - Canada (what beaches?
)Mountains:
Best - US (Rockies, Alaska Range), Canada (Canadian Rockies), China (around Guilin/Yangshou), Switzerland, Germany, Austria
Worst - Holland (but they got everyone beat on the windmills!), Belgium
Sanitation/Good Plumbing/Probability of Hot Water:
Best: Switzerland, Austria, Germany
Worst: Uzbekistan, China, Mexico
Transportation - Overall Reliability & Infrastructure:
Best - Japan
Worst - Cambodia, Uzbekistan
*Best Metros - Tokyo, Moscow, New York City, Paris, London
*Best International Airport - Hong Kong
Alright... After reading other posts, I'd like to make a more serious post about my travels.
Canada: It was just a hop across the Vermont border, into the Quebec countryside. I did it twice, the last time in 2009. It was pleasant. It looked a lot like northern New England...mainly because I was pretty much within 20 miles of the border most of the time.
Germany: It was a family trip during the winter of 1994. We flew to Munich. It was neat watching the olympics in Norway, live from a ski lodge in Bavaria. The food was great. The sights was awesome.
Austria: It's a beautiful country, with little villages and castles and mountains. It was on the same trip I took to Germany. It'd be awesome to do the same trip in the summertime.
France: High school. Paris for the most of the time. I could see why some said it was a dump. But it was still an intersting experience, especially the food. The subway was scary. I could have sworn I saw someone who looked like an ape, lying in a hallway. The drive in the countryside was incredible, especially in Brittany where we saw the ruins left over from the World War Two.
Mexico: It was in high school. But it was a cool experience that took me from Mexico City to the Gulf Coast and down to within 30 miles of Guatemela then up all around the Yucatan Peninsula all the way to Cancun. We saw the ruins, all kinds of towns, awesome food. We transversed deserts, mountains, thick jungles, jagged coasts, rainforests and open forests.
Curacao: Spring Break in college But suffice to say that it wasn't an ideal spring break designation. The guys planning the trip didn't do their homework well. Let me say this, the island is more suited for scuba divers and those who like Dutch architecture. But we managed to find one beach where we were able to have fun. All of us came home with a lot of traveller's cheques uncashed.... (in case you are wondering, Curacao is the island next to Aruba)
Canada: It was just a hop across the Vermont border, into the Quebec countryside. I did it twice, the last time in 2009. It was pleasant. It looked a lot like northern New England...mainly because I was pretty much within 20 miles of the border most of the time.
Germany: It was a family trip during the winter of 1994. We flew to Munich. It was neat watching the olympics in Norway, live from a ski lodge in Bavaria. The food was great. The sights was awesome.
Austria: It's a beautiful country, with little villages and castles and mountains. It was on the same trip I took to Germany. It'd be awesome to do the same trip in the summertime.
France: High school. Paris for the most of the time. I could see why some said it was a dump. But it was still an intersting experience, especially the food. The subway was scary. I could have sworn I saw someone who looked like an ape, lying in a hallway. The drive in the countryside was incredible, especially in Brittany where we saw the ruins left over from the World War Two.
Mexico: It was in high school. But it was a cool experience that took me from Mexico City to the Gulf Coast and down to within 30 miles of Guatemela then up all around the Yucatan Peninsula all the way to Cancun. We saw the ruins, all kinds of towns, awesome food. We transversed deserts, mountains, thick jungles, jagged coasts, rainforests and open forests.
Curacao: Spring Break in college
But suffice to say that it wasn't an ideal spring break designation. The guys planning the trip didn't do their homework well. Let me say this, the island is more suited for scuba divers and those who like Dutch architecture. But we managed to find one beach where we were able to have fun. All of us came home with a lot of traveller's cheques uncashed.... (in case you are wondering, Curacao is the island next to Aruba)
Yep, strolled through that, stopped on a side street just off that for lunch...
Still have yet to see the film myself... wonder if it's any good?
Just about makes me cry it's been so long since I've had a tea egg. We used to buy them out of bubbling black cauldrons in chinatown and admire the tea stained patterns the cracks made. We also used to buy huge dill pickles out of barrels on the lower east side. Whenever I remember them a voice in my head says that Australia's food hygiene laws would never allow such a thing, more's the pity.
So yeah, NYC is a FANTASTIC PLACE in every possible way.
Now to the list..
USA, been all over that, incredibly varied.
Canada, Less varied than the USA, more trees. I love the way the country disintegrates at the top.
Amsterdam, like a big playground of canals and bridges and fringe folk.
England, loved London and lived there for over a year. However the weather is a bummer.
Mexico, went there often as a child and all my memories are multi colored.. beautiful and wonderful food. Wouldn't go there now though because of the crime rate.
Australia, I love Melbourne but I would shoot myself if I had to live in a country town. Humorous place to live. Excellent coffee. Australian's best quality is not taking themselves too seriously, unlike the US.
I've been to other places very briefly, this is the list of anywhere I spent some time in.
I didn't know about your ill health. Still, I believe travel for someone living in the Western world is becoming easier and cheaper by the day. Air Asia has amazing discounts for flights between Asia and Australia. Even budget flights between Europe and Asia are becoming more common.Travelling doesn't need to be expensive. I've been a student deadbeat for the last decade, and hostels and cheap food have taken me a long way.Sadly, I have never been out of Australia
The main reason is because I haven't been able to afford to travel. I especially would love to go to Iceland but I don't think i will ever get there.
When I said I haven't been able to afford to travel it has been because of
a) the cost of the airfares from Australia to anywhere else
b) the fact that when I was well enough to travel I had three children to worry about. I would have had to either take them along or would have had to pay someone to look after them while I was gone. Either would have added immensely to my costs
Now that I might be able to afford to travel ill-health makes it difficult.
I don't know enough about your situation to say anything meaningfull, but don't be discouraged by anything. Travelling may be hard for you, but its not impossible.
There are plenty of dirty cheap restaurants in NYC
Oh, and please don't compare Boston's T Train to DC metro. It stinks and more confusing compared to DC.
Unfortunately its hard for an outsider to find anything in the theater district.
And IIRC, the Red Line in Boston was good while the Orange was bad. IMO of course.
Really? I haven't had that experience at all. And I'm a college student there. Were you on the bad side of town?
I walked through Manhattan about 35 blocks. I saw plenty. And in my mind most large American cities are the same. Porn, Starbucks, crowds, and grime. Its probably more of a 'I hate cities' thing than a 'I hate New York' thing. But simply put, I don't really like cities. Washington DC is the exception to that rule for me.
I happen to live in the Southwest, so authentic Mexican food goes without saying in my world.
As to dirtiness, when you go to Mexico its to be expected. Its not a first world country. Tijuana is a dirty place, but in a quaint sense. New Orleans? Its extremely old for the most part. So I can accept it for the history. But NYC is supposed to be some glistening jewel. Instead its an overcrowded area surrounded by carbon-copies of soviet-bloc apartments.
All IMO of course. I just want to make it abundantly clear I'm not a 'tourist.' I'm a purpose-driven traveler. The first time I was in New York it was because Amtrak suspended all service. The second time was to catch a musical.
^Well, that's fair then -- it sounds like it does ultimately come down more to a dislike of cities in general. Some people look at a city and all they can see is the crowds and the piles of garbage on the sidewalks. I see something different. NYC especially is more like a collection of tiny towns, some only a few blocks square, but each with their own personality and style. Like a tidepool, sometimes you have to lift away the cover and peer underneath to find the wondrous life.
To each his own. I guess I just prefer scenery.
The exception? Venice. Its both scenery and city.
The exception? Venice. Its both scenery and city.
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