Travel

[Brullnux]

I don't think there is a thread for this in the forum, or at least I cba to resurrect it, so I decided to make one.

So, what are your dream destinations? Or exotic locations which you've been to? Or even the simplicity and the beauty of the country you live in now. pictures are nice too.

 

[RedheadDane]

The nerd in me would really like to go the New Zealand, mainly to visit the various locations from LoTR and the Hobbit.

The most "exotic" place I've ever been to is Greenland, just went there for a two-week vacation at the end of July. Which I'm not entirely sure is really exotic...

 

[BigMac]

Greenland would certainly qualify as a special place in my book. Must have been great, even its capital and largest city is small, so pretty much in tune with the wild and virgin environment of the whole thing. I'd love to go there as well as Iceland. Must say I don't like the heat very much. Went to Angola once as my mother is from there and don't plan on returning soon. Other than that I don't travel much outside Portugal.

On my to-go list are places like the Basque Country, which is relatively near, and the northwestern states, mainly Washington and Montana. Would travel Canada from Halifax to Vancouver if I ever got the chance.

 

[Echoes]

I can't afford traveling abroad now. Did it often in childhood.

However I still contemplate migrating to French Canada. I've been there as a teen, some fifteen years ago and the people I've met there were the most welcoming and sympathetic I've ever seen in my life. And also much more cultured then in Europe. Especially in Acadia, New Brunswick. Wonderful people.

So if I could settle in Quebec (especially Gaspesia), Acadia (whether the New Brunswick or Nova Scotia part), the Metis land in the Prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba), I think I'd be happy.

If I ever chose to resume traveling it has to be to cold countries for I can't stand heat any more than Tim Wellens does or than Charly Gaul did. It's terrible for me.

So Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Feroe Island, already been to Sweden (got relatives there), Finland, Denmark, Scotland (unless they revote to split from UK), Russia, Patagonia, Antartica, Kerguelen Island.

And of course, I love Ireland, its people and history. The great resistant to British rule, rebellious people.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

Greenland would certainly qualify as a special place in my book. Must have been great, even its capital and largest city is small, so pretty much in tune with the wild and virgin environment of the whole thing. I'd love to go there as well as Iceland. Must say I don't like the heat very much. Went to Angola once as my mother is from there and don't plan on returning soon. Other than that I don't travel much outside Portugal.

On my to-go list are places like the Basque Country, which is relatively near, and the northwestern states, mainly Washington and Montana. Would travel Canada from Halifax to Vancouver if I ever got the chance.

Well, the largest town we were in - for longer time - was Ilulissat.
And... I should probably warn you; it can get plenty warm on Greenland. The difference between being in the sun and in the shade is quite noticable, especially when paired with wind/no wind.

 

[BigMac]

Warm by Dane or Portuguese standards?

 

[May0maniac]

Iceland is awesome I was there for 9 days durning late spring with a group of friends, it was fun and renting a car is pretty cheap.
In 2015 I went to Saint Petersburg and Moscow. Saint Petersburg is an awesome town, the best thing about Moscow was probably seeing the big victory day parade.
My most interesting trip was probably going to Belorussia and Ukraine in May 2013, that was a pretty interesting trip. Kiev sucked, we got harassed by the police multiple times, it made Minsk look like a nice Western city, Chernivtsi on the other had is a really nice town.
I'd love to visit Iran and Central Asia, mostly the towns alongside the Silk Road.

 

[Brullnux]

I agree that Iceland is awesome. Initially it is just surreal, and then the smell of sulfur takes over for a bit.

I would like to explore the cities of Europe more, especially Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Berlin and the like. The architecture there is stunning. Also all of Spain, Portugal and more of Italy, Belgium and France, Europe wise. I go to Scotland fairly often as I live fairly near, and I can assure you that if cold is your thing, then it is the place to go .

Further afield I'd love to visit NZ, Cuba and Costa Rica especially. But I am pretty sure I am never going to get round to those, maybe just one if I am lucky. Galapagos too. Attenborough convinced me.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

Warm by Dane or Portuguese standards?

Danish... which I guess is still cool by Portuguese.

 

[Echoes]

Re:

Berlin and the like. The architecture there is stunning.

Hmm well have been there in 2000 and don't have fond memories. The architecture is ultra-modern, it's a big noisy city with a drill at every street corner. Potsdam was nice, especially the Sans-soucis Castle but once I got in Berlin, I suffocated.

If you want to come to Belgium, I'd recommend you Bruges, Leuven, Mechelen or the Ardennes. Keep away from Brussels, Liege, Namur or Charleroi. If you want to go to the Belgian coast, keep away from Ostend and rather choose De Panne or Koksijde. The beach there is much larger than in Ostend and the town is much more respirable as well.

By the way, have you seen Nessie in Scotland?

Danish... which I guess is still cool by Portuguese.

Would you believe it's been 30+°C in Belgium yesterday and today? I'm suffering terribly, lol. Friend of mine said summer is just coming lol. I was so glad we had a cold summer. Nowadays, geographical situation no longer means a lot. It can be hotter here up north than in the Med countries. :Neutral:

 

[RedheadDane]

Of course I believe it, they said so during the coverage of GP de Wallonie.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Re: Re:

Would you believe it's been 30+°C in Belgium yesterday and today? I'm suffering terribly, lol. Friend of mine said summer is just coming lol. I was so glad we had a cold summer. Nowadays, geographical situation no longer means a lot. It can be hotter here up north than in the Med countries. :Neutral:

Maybe you should reconsider those plans for French Canada; normally the summers there are hotter than they are in Belgium due to a continental climate.
Though this summer in Belgium is pretty crazy indeed! Several extended periods over 30+ degrees, not normal!

For me the favourite places that I've visited are Rome, the Wallis area in Switzerland and the Low Tatras in Slovakia. For cities I prefer history, so Rome is the best for that. I haven't visited that many big cities, but I definitely prefer Rome over, say, Paris or Budapest, to name some other cities that I've visited. I love mountains, so Switzerland and Slovakia are pretty obvious. The mountainous scenery in Switzerland is maybe better than in the Low Tatras, but somehow the Low Tatras feel much 'wilder' than Switzerland. In Switzerland you meet lots of people when hiking, in the Low Tatras if you don't pick the most popular tracks you can hike up the central mountain ridge and meet like two people throughout the entire day. (In my experience).

As for future plans, my sister moved to Australia for work last year, I have a good friend living in India (he came to Europe to study, which is how I met him) and I have another good friend who was raised in Curaçao and plans to emigrate back there again, so I have enough excuses to waste money on travelling to exotic destinations in the future. (That being said, I do need to actually have the money in order to be able to waste it on travelling, which means some of these plans might not be for the immediate future.)

 

[Echoes]

Re: Re:

Maybe you should reconsider those plans for French Canada; normally the summers there are hotter than they are in Belgium due to a continental climate.

It's true. I was there in summer 2001, for three weeks. Seasons in Canada are more distinct than in Europe, hotter summers and more severe winters. I would really love to see Canada in winter and most of all in Autumn with those beautiful tree colours. From my trip I remember two really hot days: one in Montreal, the first day. But Montreal is a big city where I'd never feel at home anyway and one in Caraquet, New Brunswick. That's a shame because we visited the "Village historique acadien" which was really interesting with its historical reconstruction but the main thing I remember was the unbearable heat, shame. Oh and that's also rare I saw how kind these people are. I remember an old lady playing a supernumerary in the "village" with historical suit and she would ask me "Tu es comment grand toi?" ("How tall are you?") in ungrammatical French, as though literally translated from English. Very warm-hearted people. In Quebec City the weather was way cooler but up there the St-Lawrence is a gulf, so it gives fresh air, I guess.

But there's more reason than the climate for me to migrate to French Canada. First there are a lot of jobs on offer for Francophones who are fluent in English, it's a fashionable destination for that kind of workforce, including for Francophone coming from Africa, whether Saharian or Sub-Saharian. Usually they would settle in non-Quebec Canada, typically in New Brunswick which is officially bilingual, about 40% of the population is Francophone (mainly the Acadians). Last year I attended a conference about Canadian immigration in Brussels, employers and diplomats were promoting the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia provinces to Belgians, unfortunately it didn't work for me but I still consider it.

Then there's their kindness, their culture, their colourful accent and their history also fascinates me. Something I recently discovered is that there are still Francophone communities everywhere in Canada from one ocean to the other and even in the North. It should really be noted that the French Canadians are the only people who came to Canada as guests of the First people, they have never sought to conquer their lands and they intermarried. Most of the present-day Montreal population have Amerindian heritage somewhere in their genealogy. It's something amazing to read. Who knows that? I didn't know that until a few years ago. It's never taught at school.

For me the favourite places that I've visited are Rome, the Wallis area in Switzerland and the Low Tatras in Slovakia. [...] I love mountains, so Switzerland and Slovakia are pretty obvious. The mountainous scenery in Switzerland is maybe better than in the Low Tatras, but somehow the Low Tatras feel much 'wilder' than Switzerland. In Switzerland you meet lots of people when hiking, in the Low Tatras if you don't pick the most popular tracks you can hike up the central mountain ridge and meet like two people throughout the entire day. (In my experience).

Good call on Wallis. The best place in Switzerland. I consider myself lucky to have seen the most beautiful mountain top that there is, namely the Matterhorn. I wish I could have seen the Eiger though. Also there is a lovely village called Grimentz, which has kept its typical Walliser architecture over centuries, which they carefully protect. It's in the Evolene valley I think. The Grand Raid BCVS finishes there, a mountainbike tour which former cyclocross star Albert Zweifel rode several time.

The family has had housing around Anzère & Crans-Montana, so I know the region pretty well. Thereby I can tell from experience that the 2009 edition of the Tour of Switzerland which Cancellara won definitely had mountains because the climb to Ayent/Anzère is real hard! But going to Switzerland nowadays is quite hard because life is now expensive again.

Never been to Slovakia though. I don't think I'd like to. Perhaps Sagan has disgusted me from the whole country.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Madrid. I love Spain, the language, the culture, the weather. Such an awesome city and definitely better than overrated Barcelona. They have this nice chain offering a pequeno beer and sandwich for 1 euro.... sold.

My family's travel destination through my childhood was Piemonte, northwest Italy. For a cyclist, altho not high Alps, that was pretty awesome and still is. I love Piemonte and have watched Le Tour a couple of times, I remember Pra Martino in 2011. The year Eddy the Boss was a monster. Super hilly, good food etc.

 

[42x16ss]

Re:

I agree that Iceland is awesome. Initially it is just surreal, and then the smell of sulfur takes over for a bit.

I would like to explore the cities of Europe more, especially Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Berlin and the like. The architecture there is stunning. Also all of Spain, Portugal and more of Italy, Belgium and France, Europe wise. I go to Scotland fairly often as I live fairly near, and I can assure you that if cold is your thing, then it is the place to go .

Further afield I'd love to visit NZ, Cuba and Costa Rica especially. But I am pretty sure I am never going to get round to those, maybe just one if I am lucky. Galapagos too. Attenborough convinced me.

New Zealand is stunning, amazing mountains, endless countryside, a great place to visit. Cuba is very cool, the music, the food, the people, the nightlife, it's awesome - just make sure you know where not to go.

 

[Jagartrott]

Re: Re:

Greenland would certainly qualify as a special place in my book. Must have been great, even its capital and largest city is small, so pretty much in tune with the wild and virgin environment of the whole thing. I'd love to go there as well as Iceland. Must say I don't like the heat very much. Went to Angola once as my mother is from there and don't plan on returning soon. Other than that I don't travel much outside Portugal.

On my to-go list are places like the Basque Country, which is relatively near, and the northwestern states, mainly Washington and Montana. Would travel Canada from Halifax to Vancouver if I ever got the chance.

Well, the largest town we were in - for longer time - was Ilulissat.
And... I should probably warn you; it can get plenty warm on Greenland. The difference between being in the sun and in the shade is quite noticable, especially when paired with wind/no wind.

I've been on a field trip (with students) to Kangerlussuaq (well, on a hill halfway between the town and the ice sheet). Very, very impressive to be there. I've also visited Svalbard/Spitsbergen. Also impressive, and much colder/harsher.

 

[Christian]

The most "exotic" place I've been to is São Tomé and Príncipe. That was a great experience and would love to go back there some day.

The next place I am traveling to is Bogotá, I'm excited to discover this city!

 

[armchairclimber]

Swedish Lapland. Unbelievably beautiful wilderness .... in the summer. Some great towns too ... I particularly love Skelleftea.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

Greenland would certainly qualify as a special place in my book. Must have been great, even its capital and largest city is small, so pretty much in tune with the wild and virgin environment of the whole thing. I'd love to go there as well as Iceland. Must say I don't like the heat very much. Went to Angola once as my mother is from there and don't plan on returning soon. Other than that I don't travel much outside Portugal.

On my to-go list are places like the Basque Country, which is relatively near, and the northwestern states, mainly Washington and Montana. Would travel Canada from Halifax to Vancouver if I ever got the chance.

Well, the largest town we were in - for longer time - was Ilulissat.
And... I should probably warn you; it can get plenty warm on Greenland. The difference between being in the sun and in the shade is quite noticable, especially when paired with wind/no wind.

I've been on a field trip (with students) to Kangerlussuaq (well, on a hill halfway between the town and the ice sheet). Very, very impressive to be there. I've also visited Svalbard/Spitsbergen. Also impressive, and much colder/harsher.

All I saw of Kangerlussuaq was the airport...

 

[hrotha]

I'm considering going to Helsinki on my own for a few days. I'd stick to the city itself, possibly with the customary boat trip to Tallinn. Any recommendations?

 

[King Boonen]

Re:

I agree that Iceland is awesome. Initially it is just surreal, and then the smell of sulfur takes over for a bit.

I would like to explore the cities of Europe more, especially Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Berlin and the like. The architecture there is stunning. Also all of Spain, Portugal and more of Italy, Belgium and France, Europe wise. I go to Scotland fairly often as I live fairly near, and I can assure you that if cold is your thing, then it is the place to go .

Further afield I'd love to visit NZ, Cuba and Costa Rica especially. But I am pretty sure I am never going to get round to those, maybe just one if I am lucky. Galapagos too. Attenborough convinced me.

Oi!

 

[Brullnux]

Sorry, I love Scotland though. Just a shock in August getting there with a crazy cold wind from the north sea

 

[King Boonen]

North Sea you say? Oh, that's ok then, that's the crap side

 

[ferryman]

Re:

Sorry, I love Scotland though. Just a shock in August getting there with a crazy cold wind from the north sea

Here on the Fife Riviera we call that a late/light summer breeze If you want cold, come in January with a nice Northerly blasting down from goodness knows where :sad:

 

[ferryman]

Re:

North Sea you say? Oh, that's ok then, that's the crap side

Oi you!! You are now, officially, no longer welcome back to Fife