vacation advice superthread

[seraphim]

Puerto Escondido in Mexico, stay at the Hotel Rockaway.

talk to the lifeguards on Zicatela beach, they deal.

enough said.

[fade to black2]

Cuba. Stay in Varadero, buy a pack of Monte No. 2's and take a ride to Havana to get your groove on.

[swisloc]

Puerto Escondido in Mexico, stay at the Hotel Rockaway.

talk to the lifeguards on Zicatela beach, they deal.

enough said.

which state is this in?

oh and, to above posters, money is not necessarily an issue, but i, as anyone, always like to get a good deal.

[seraphim]

oaxaca, on the south coast. It's a surf town, as far as I remember they hold Mexican pipeline there.

[swisloc]

Cuba. Stay in Varadero, buy a pack of Monte No. 2's and take a ride to Havana to get your groove on.

and to everyone saying "cuba", did you do the all-inclusive thing (which i've never been much for, but could understand why), or just set everything up yourself? My main reason, if i'm gonna go to Cuba for 5 days (which i'm now seriously considering), i don't want to have to waste time dealing with accomadations, which, i've been told, can be difficult. i've heard you have to show proof of stay in a state sponsored hotel upon entering the country...

[swisloc]

oaxaca, on the south coast. It's a surf town, as far as I remember they hold Mexican pipeline there.

last i knew oaxaca was in a state of unrest. students had seized control of the university. travel was "not advised". but i've been wanting to go there forever, love the food, land of the seven moles...

[seraphim]

I think that's just in Oaxaca city, which, yeah, isn't a great place to holiday. But the coastline (takes 8 hours by coach through the mountains from oaxaca city, not the best part of the journey, especially in monsoon season) is as close to paradise as you can get without flying to the bahamas or something.

[Kasper]

and to everyone saying "cuba", did you do the all-inclusive thing (which i've never been much for, but could understand why), or just set everything up yourself? My main reason, if i'm gonna go to Cuba for 5 days (which i'm now seriously considering), i don't want to have to waste time dealing with accomadations, which, i've been told, can be difficult. i've heard you have to show proof of stay in a state sponsored hotel upon entering the country...

i've never heard of someone going to Cuba without an all-inclusive package. the package are so cheap that they usually cost less than the price of a round-trip plane ticket so i don't see why someone would want to do everything by himself. at least from Canada, big travel companies buy so much plane ticket that they are able to kept ticket bought without a package so high that you'd have to be stupid to do that. i'm also not a fan of the all-inclusive thing and would not do it anywhere else in the world, but in the case of so called "sun destinations", it's worth it, espiecially if you are only going for 5 days. and +1 on Varadero and visiting Havana, renting some scooters is crazy cheap and real fun. and smoke some cigar there...

[fade to black2]

when i was in varadero, it wasn't all inclusive, but i don't know if the resort i stayed at had that option. actually that whole trip is a blur to me now, it was 6 years ago and didn't end so amicably.

but it would make sense to do the all inclusive thing if you're goin to a lot of these caribbean resort places...the food may not always be the best, so make sure you stay at a 5 star hotel.

[simsays]

i've never heard of someone going to Cuba without an all-inclusive package. the package are so cheap that they usually cost less than the price of a round-trip plane ticket so i don't see why someone would want to do everything by himself. at least from Canada, big travel companies buy so much plane ticket that they are able to kept ticket bought without a package so high that you'd have to be stupid to do that. i'm also not a fan of the all-inclusive thing and would not do it anywhere else in the world, but in the case of so called "sun destinations", it's worth it, espiecially if you are only going for 5 days. and +1 on Varadero and visiting Havana, renting some scooters is crazy cheap and real fun. and smoke some cigar there...

I went to Cuba 2 years ago w/o any package whatsoever. No resorts in Havana so you can't really fly in with a package deal. Then again, I wasn't really interested in going to a resort. Stayed in a clean 2 bedroom apartment in Habana Vieja for 60 CUC per night for 3 people. The owners lived in the apartment above and were super helpful. Havana is an amazing city.

and to everyone saying "cuba", did you do the all-inclusive thing (which i've never been much for, but could understand why), or just set everything up yourself? My main reason, if i'm gonna go to Cuba for 5 days (which i'm now seriously considering), i don't want to have to waste time dealing with accomadations, which, i've been told, can be difficult. i've heard you have to show proof of stay in a state sponsored hotel upon entering the country...

You don't really have to show proof. You just have to write down the name of the hotel on the immigration forms. You can just write down the name of one of the bigger hotels and they could care less where you're staying.

[Dick Danger]

Bolivia, take a bus from La Paz to Corroico.

[CityHunter]

Hey peoples

Quick questions. I need your opinion.

I was planning a trip to Europe, I'll be there for about a week. Where would you say would be the best overall place to go (shopping, sights, etc)?

London, Paris, or Berlin?

I was leaning towards London just because I don't have to bother learning phrases in other languages, but I hear everything is expensive there.

And Berlin has the lowest airfare, but I have no idea what to do there!

And Paris...is Paris.

opinions? Thanks!

[Tisswat]

See this thread: http://www.superfuture.com/supertalk/showthread.php?t=10207

Edit:

And Berlin has the lowest airfare, but I have no idea what to do there!

LOL, it's only one of the coolest cities in Europe.

[CityHunter]

See this thread: http://www.superfuture.com/supertalk/showthread.php?t=10207

Edit:

LOL, it's only one of the coolest cities in Europe.

hhahahaha, sorry! That post is basically what I was asking! what a coincidence...

[faust]

what are you like? what do you like?

I haven't been to Berlin, but I wouldn't even think twice about taking Paris over London. I say Paris. And forget your American phobia of anything foreign, honestly, it annoys the shit of people. Learn three phrases in French, "bonjour", "merci", and "parlez vous anglais?", and you'll be fine.

[Felix]

you'd love berlin!!

[isoform]

i don't know you, but i loved Berlin. and germans, especially the ppl you'd probably meet, have their own handle on english so there's no real need to worry. there's a lot of stuff to do in Berlin, free tours about the city and history, museums, good-cheap food and drinks, daytrips out of the city (there are palaces outside the city and a concentration camp), excellent public transportation, great art/fashion scene, blahblahblah. Go to Berlin.

[mike lowrey]

if you go to Paris or London you could easily go to the other one for a day or two. the train takes less than 3 hours.

or maybe fly to one and fly out from the other? I dont know how it is from the US, but atleast within europe one way flights are quite cheap nowadays. for example I'm going to paris and coming back from germany (train in between), the flights ended up costing a bit less than a roundtrip to either one.

[Aeros]

Hey guys. Thank you so much for all of your advice and help, but something came up and I won't be able to go on a EuroTrip this summer. But it is all good, because I will be going to TKO and HK instead.

[poly800rock]

anyone ever do a round the world? If things go well, I might have the chance to go next year. Don't really care about places for shopping, but if anyone has done this, did they buy a ticket in Bangkok? Maybe this might be better posed in thorntree.

[todesengel]

I know several people that have, one out of the US, one out of Australia, one out of the UK. They each had about 3-4 months, 15-20 stops. They all loved it, but they also all agreed that spending more time concentrated on one region is a bit more fulfilling of an experience. Doing a round the world, you end up spreading yourself around too much, and you don't get a great sense of any one place (apparently).

That said, I've always wanted to do one, but if I did I'd want to spend at least a year doing it. How long were you planning on going for?

EDIT:

Do you mean getting a round the world plane ticket deal? Or just going all the way around the world like the above poster?

[Pogi]

I don't like round the world trips for the reasons above, also airlines/travel agents have a limited amount of 'miles'/'kms' for each round the world trip.

I like to go at my own pace but you definitely need plenty of time, including time to package all the stuff you bought and ship em home.

[poly800rock]

i'd probably do most of it overland, but going from continent to continent might be cheaper if you buy at once? i don't know. That's why i asked. year would be ideal...but maybe 8-9 months more realistic.

[todesengel]

i'd probably do most of it overland, but going from continent to continent might be cheaper if you buy at once? i don't know. That's why i asked. year would be ideal...but maybe 8-9 months more realistic.

Well, depending on how hardcore you want to do it, you'd really only need one big flight (USA to Asia). I thought you were talking about getting a round-the-world plane ticket deal at first.

I've talked to a bunch of people who've done Thailand->China->India->Stans->Mid East->Europe or some variation of that. If you want to do more overland traveling, buying plane tickets when you need them would probably be cheaper. Outside the states and parts of Europe, buying plane tickets on the fly isn't that much more expensive than booking way ahead. Also, those package deal things have a shitload of restrictions, and require firmer iteneraries than it sounds like what you're planning.

[2000dB]

My dad has been doing it for a year and half and he still has almost two year on his plan. He's really taking his time, staying sometimes 6 months in one country. Also does a lot of walking around (camino de santiago, trails in the himalayas, etc).

[swisloc]

i'd probably do most of it overland, but going from continent to continent might be cheaper if you buy at once? i don't know. That's why i asked. year would be ideal...but maybe 8-9 months more realistic.

i really hope you do this... i'm so jealous as i've wanted to do this for as long as i can remember.

[RAISED BY WOLVES]

When I was in Alaska on the ferry up the coast this past summer/fall, i met a gang of aussies/kiwis who were all doing this. I asked how the fuck they managed to afford it, and they all said they had just saved up money, and "chucked" their jobs. One couple had been on the road for over 5 years!

They bought their main tickets (continental) in advance, and had a general plan of what to do in different places, but allowed room for change in itinerary, and mailed shit too and from home as the seasons changed to travel light.

Talking to them made me want to hit the road for a year or two straight. Its been too long...

[englandmj7]

When I was in Alaska on the ferry up the coast this past summer/fall, i met a gang of aussies/kiwis who were all doing this. I asked how the fuck they managed to afford it, and they all said they had just saved up money, and "chucked" their jobs. One couple had been on the road for over 5 years!

They bought their main tickets (continental) in advance, and had a general plan of what to do in different places, but allowed room for change in itinerary, and mailed shit too and from home as the seasons changed to travel light.

Talking to them made me want to hit the road for a year or two straight. Its been too long...

It seems to be the case with alot of non-Americans. I swear that 99% of the time, when I meet young foreigners traveling, their situation is that they work in a mediocre job for a year or so, quit, use the money to travel for as long as they can, then go back home and try to get another job. Repeat cycle. Crazy bastards..........

[groovbusta]

you'd be surprised how cheap an around the world plane ticket can cost... my friend did a 6 month trip and it was about 2000 USD... london, russia, turkey, india, china, se asia, australia, hawaii, sf, ny.

http://www.independenttraveler.com/resources/article.cfm?AID=9&category=6

[Analyst]

It seems to be the case with alot of non-Americans. I swear that 99% of the time, when I meet young foreigners traveling, their situation is that they work in a mediocre job for a year or so, quit, use the money to travel for as long as they can, then go back home and try to get another job. Repeat cycle. Crazy bastards..........

Most travelers I meet are mostly Australians, Kiwis, Japanese, Israeli or from Western Europe. It's more the exception rather than the rule to see Americans traveling, aside from youth tour groups (i.e., Pleasent Hill Baptist Church Missionary Tour 2005 with the t-shirt to boot) or senior citizens on buses.