vacation advice superthread

[rome1]

Dominican Republic, for around 800 bucks you can get a flight and all inclusive (booze and food is paid for) for around 4 or 5 days.

[constant struggle]

No where, the US DOLLAR IS HRORIBLE

[bones.]

No where, the US DOLLAR IS HRORIBLE

Your grammar is horrible, son.

[dutchxoven]

What would your budget once there/how long do you want to be there?

probably would wanna stay for close to 9-13 days...as far as budget...hmmm, not exactly sure how much i want to spend yet.....maybe around 2 grand is what i expect to spend, food , drinks, entertainment, sightseeing and so on. but i really want to stretch that 2 grand to the max.

[mtl20v]

Jump on a plane to amsterdam for 6-7 days. You could pull it off for 4000$ for both of you all included, and thats having a good time.

[Tisswat]

somewhere tropical or hot would be perfect.

Jump on a plane to amsterdam for 6-7 days

Do you know what the weather is like here in november? You might get lucky with some sunny (but cold) weather, but this ain't the tropics.

dutchxoven, It sounds like the Carribean will be your best bet.

Or.. if you can handle the long flight - Mauritius.

[dutchxoven]

Do you know what the weather is like here in november? You might get lucky with some sunny (but cold) weather, but this ain't the tropics.

dutchxoven, It sounds like the Carribean will be your best bet.

Or.. if you can handle the long flight - Mauritius.

i know Mauritius is gorgeous , how does the American dollar fare there? its off the coast of Madagascar yea? do you think it is somewhere three guys around the age of 25-26 would enjoy for an extended amount of time?

[poly800rock]

i drove oslo to bergen, fucking amazing. best part of norway trip actually, everything else much too expensive there. but seeing the fjords out the car window is quite spectacular

[lestat]

Thailand... theres nothing them lady boys wont do...

[Tisswat]

i know Mauritius is gorgeous , how does the American dollar fare there? its off the coast of Madagascar yea?

It lies about 1000km east of Madagascar, next to Reunion (which is very expensive). The dollar fell about 10% to the Mauritian rupee in the last 12 months. But to give you an idea, you can find a room for two persons from as cheap as about 20-30 bucks a night - including a simple kitchen and a 100m strawl from the beach.

Plenty of stuff to rent on the island if you want to avoid staying in a hotel. A few months ago I received a quote for a villa for 6-8 people with a swimming pool, balcony looking out over the ocean and the works for $750 a week. I think it was via www.homelidays.com but I'm not sure. Anyway, there are plenty of people posting on Virtualtourist that are offering their services to find you something cheap. Just ask around the travel forums for reliability and past experiences from other travellers.

do you think it is somewhere three guys around the age of 25-26 would enjoy for an extended amount of time?

I wouldn't worry too much about that! Because it's so affordable, there are many young tourists on the island. You can do anything from surfing, kitesurfing, scuba diving, sea fishing, etc. etc. I think 9-13 days will more likely be too short than too long. Plenty of nightlife too (

, a DJ gig by David Guetta).

[sybaritical]

You want cheap.

Thailand. Get out the city and head ... anywhere else. Not perfect weather yet but Ok enough, specially up north.

Laos is the same only more mental.

And what about Vietnam?

etc.

[Kasper]

check that out for car

http://goeurope.about.com/od/transportation/a/buy_back_leases.htm

we did that with some friends for a summer and it's much better than a regular rental. and you can thrash the car as much as you want and don't care about it since insurance is included and there's no deductible.

parking is very very expensive in europe, we ended paying much more than we budgeted. and be carefull about fucking photo-radar, these bastards are everywhere, i'm so glad we don't have that shit in canada.

[staggst]

Warm, ridiculously cheap, gorgeous women, wonderful food/beer/wine/drugs, reasonable airfares and some time in Punta del Este will fulfill your beach/bikini needs.

There's also very little poverty, so it's completely guilt free living like a king. I spent February of 2005 there living very well for peanuts and loved everything about it. Check it out.

[aan den rijn]

Cheap and warm in the winter? Why not just Mexico or even Los Angeles?

[aan den rijn]

don't the faroe islands have these fucked up custom whereby a boy becomes a man by killing fuckloads of whales until the sea turns a deep red?

cool.

Whale-killing is certainly a community event and yes the sea does end up running red, but recently they figured out that eating excessive amounts of whale blubber during pregnancies might cause birth defects and that's really putting a damper on the blubber culture, so to speak. Doesn't mean you shouldn't have some while you're there though.

[alex_844]

watch "no reservations: iceland" episode. pretty interesting i guess, they drink lots of some high proof liquor... but its probably super expensive like all scandinavian countries.

also they have loads of hot springs there right?

[totally epic]

I was just in Iceland last month. I'll have some tips for you shortly.

[mojinho]

iceland rules. i was in reykjavik in 2000 for a few days. nightlife is off the hook but from what i remember mostly restricted to weekends. everything is insanely expensive, more so than sweden, where i was coming from. get some flyers (which you won't be able read) and then ask people what's up.

the hot springs all the tourists go to is the Blue Lagoon. you take a bus there from reykjavik. it was pretty cool, i definitely recommend going.

[catcatcatcatcat]

Go to Stockholm! It's a bit pricy but worth the money.

Make sure you see some of eastern europe, especially former yugoslavia, it's so fucking beautiful. stay the fuck out of prague though unless you're in to rude people and hookers.

[fatchino]

stay the fuck out of prague though unless you're in to rude people and hookers.

You can't say that about the stag party's of our islands ... can you?

[poly800rock]

bring a lot of money

[isdenn]

iceland is beautiful and reykjavik is a very cool town. it's also definitely an expensive town. hotels get pricey during tourist season so check out hostels and whatnot. the closer you are to laugavegur the better - thats where the shopping, bars, etc are mainly concentrated.

as far as food, i mostly ate seafood while i was there because it was pretty much all great quality. they also have good lamb. food is expensive though - if you want to save money, hit up a bonus supermarket or live on hot dogs or pizza.

as far as shopping is concerned, there are some cool boutiques and whatnot but they are ridiculously expensive. dont buy anything you can get at home.

rvk is a great town to party in - friday and saturday nights you will see the entire town out on laugavegur - things dont really kick off til after midnight. get started by hitting up vin bud (official liquor stores) because drinks in bars can deflate your wallet quickly.

everyone i met in rvk was super friendly and spoke fluent english. the concentration of good-looking honeys is also higher than most places ive been. maybe i just got lucky on the nights i was out, but i think everyone is just beautiful there.

as far as things to see in rvk...any tourist book will probably tell you the main shit. the view from the top of hallgrimskirkja is cool.

the only other towns i went to in iceland were akureyri (the "reykjavik of the north" - not terribly much worth seeing there but it's a pretty chilled town) and husavik (tiny whaling town on the northern coast, home to the iceland phallological museum and a very cool cultural center. downside: the whole town reeks of dead sea creatures)

speaking of dead sea creatures, make sure to try some hakarl (chase with a shot of brennivin and a pint)

im too lazy to type anything else right now but yeah iceland is definitely a good time.

[poly800rock]

iceland is beautiful and reykjavik is a very cool town. it's also definitely an expensive town. hotels get pricey during tourist season so check out hostels and whatnot. the closer you are to laugavegur the better - thats where the shopping, bars, etc are mainly concentrated.

as far as food, i mostly ate seafood while i was there because it was pretty much all great quality. they also have good lamb. food is expensive though - if you want to save money, hit up a bonus supermarket or live on hot dogs or pizza.

as far as shopping is concerned, there are some cool boutiques and whatnot but they are ridiculously expensive. dont buy anything you can get at home.

rvk is a great town to party in - friday and saturday nights you will see the entire town out on laugavegur - things dont really kick off til after midnight. get started by hitting up vin bud (official liquor stores) because drinks in bars can deflate your wallet quickly.

everyone i met in rvk was super friendly and spoke fluent english. the concentration of good-looking honeys is also higher than most places ive been. maybe i just got lucky on the nights i was out, but i think everyone is just beautiful there.

as far as things to see in rvk...any tourist book will probably tell you the main shit. the view from the top of hallgrimskirkja is cool.

the only other towns i went to in iceland were akureyri (the "reykjavik of the north" - not terribly much worth seeing there but it's a pretty chilled town) and husavik (tiny whaling town on the northern coast, home to the iceland phallological museum and a very cool cultural center. downside: the whole town reeks of dead sea creatures)

speaking of dead sea creatures, make sure to try some hakarl (chase with a shot of brennivin and a pint)

im too lazy to type anything else right now but yeah iceland is definitely a good time.

why do scandinavians love hot dogs?

[moondog]

thanks man, im defintly spending a month solo in the scandanvian countries...i just want to party with fellow blondes.

UH-yeah yeah.

[seanhaus]

thanks man, im defintly spending a month solo in the scandanvian countries...i just want to party with fellow blondes.

UH-yeah yeah.

Be prepared for awkwardness. Seriously.

I'd recommend checking out the Iceland community on Livejournal or Facebook. As lame as they are, there are tons of little great tips for what's going on - especially for local bands, etc, etc.

[moondog]

cool thanks man

my family is from the scandanvian region so i imagine i will blend in somewhat more then most westerners.

[axe]

Hi everyone,

I've realized I live a pretty boring life, and instead of just saying, "I'm going to travel one day" - I've decided to actually start looking into going somewhere. Even if it's only for a week or two. I want to start planning.

I figured SuFu would be a great place to ask, seeing as how we have people from all over the world here who enjoy the best of the best.

So if people would contribute their own, "this is a place you HAVE TO visit!"** I would really appreciate it. It doesn't matter where it is.

Also, any kinds of suggestions for traveling abroad would be much appreciated. (hostels, things to bring, what not to do, etc.)

**oh yeah, if you say something like Paris France could you give me places in Paris I should visit?

Thanks in advance everyone, I look forward to hearing your suggestions - and no, they don't necessarily have to be outside of the US (where I am located). Thanks again!

[Cue]

well, this is so subjective

for me, the main cities of Europe were essential places to check out.

Overall I have been a bit underwhelmed by some of the 'seven wonders' ...

So, um, yeah...

oh - and always travel light - it's a cliche, but makes travelling so much more enjoyable.

[Comma H]

Id love to see Dubai.

Most of the world has something interesting about it.

[multicolor]

I don't travel much because I don't have tons of money and i'm in school, but I have been to paris.

a few tips, which apply to a lot of places you might go.

research before you leave some great things to do. It is easy to say "we will just go and explore.. and find things to do"... but it is much easier to just find a bunch of things to do before you go. Plus, you might find some places online that you wouldn't have found on your own.

Like for example, we went to the Paris catacombs.. it was a really fun and interesting experience, which many tourists probably don't know about, i think..

same with stores. if you are into fashion, definitely search for some good boutiques... they are harder to find than you might think.

also... many stores or interesting places/exhibits you want to visit might be closed when you finally track them down... I could have saved a lot of time by researching this beforehand we got lost several times btw (which isn't exactly a bad thing.. we had some strange experiences while lost) ... but you might want to buy/rent a bycicle. Even if you are there for just a week, it will save you a lotttt of time.

anyway, this doesn't really asnwer your question, but I thought this might help anyway.. for anyone reading.