NationStates Jolt Archive

So, this'll prolly be my last thread here and I wanted it to be something better than Chinese economy or abortion.

So, tell us about your best vacation. Where was it? Met any awesome people? Adventures?

Never been on a real vacation. Would like to, but travelling abroad is absurdly expensive.

Well the overall best experiences were in Italy. I have been there a few times. However the first time was the best. Flew into Milan with a girlfriend in tow. Three days in we ended up arguing to much and I left the hotel to get some air and a drink. Ended up meeting an Italian girl at a club. Called the hotel got a hold of the girlfriend and told her that she was on her own. So the ex flew home mad as hell. I befriended this Italian college student and we ended up driving all over Italy. Spent nearly two weeks with her touring. Was a great time. After that she showed up in the states about 6 months later and I showed her around California. Worked out well. I miss the days of youth sometimes. :tongue:

The most relaxing trip i've ever had was on a trip to Tiree with friends in October. There were plenty of storms off shore so the surfing was amazing, if a touch cold, and it also meant that the ferry got cancelled (due to being unable to dock) for the return trip so I got stuck there for an extra couple of days. It's not the most exotic of places i've ever been too but it's the only one that has completely cleared my mind of any thoughts of home.

So, this'll prolly be my last thread here and I wanted it to be something better than Chinese economy or abortion.

So, tell us about your best vacation. Where was it? Met any awesome people? Adventures?

Well I went to Paris. Funny story: my friend Jen decided it would be hysterical to make things awkward for me, so during a ceremony inside this cathedral (not Notre Dame, it was another one, dunno the name though) she proceeded to straddle me, began dry humping and had a series of fake orgasms. Didn't phase me at all, just amused the living hell out of me at the look on all the old hardcore Catholics faces :D

What's this "vacation" you speak of?

Best holiday? Hmm

Spain with friends was pretty fun.
France was alright
India was interesting

This summer though some friends and I are hitting Amsterdam. Now that will be a laugh.

Best holiday? Hmm

Spain with friends was pretty fun.
France was alright
India was interesting

This summer though some friends and I are hitting Amsterdam. Now that will be a laugh.

Amsterdam is great! I've been to, as I've said earlier, Paris in France, but also to China (all over), Russia (all over), Mongolia (all over), and...well...thats it...I'm going to Thailand, I believe, over the summer though!

Amsterdam is great! I've been to, as I've said earlier, Paris in France, but also to China (all over), Russia (all over), Mongolia (all over), and...well...thats it...I'm going to Thailand, I believe, over the summer though!

A few of my friends have been before and have told me how great it is. I have become jealous and so they will help me experience Amsterdam.

A few of my friends have been before and have told me how great it is. I have become jealous and so they will help me experience Amsterdam.

haha have a good time dude. Just be careful in the redlight district, since there are really bad places there where the police basically just accept that anything goes. Alot of foreigners get hurt that way. Be care bud! Just watchin' out for you ;)


If you keep out of the really bad places, you'll be golden.

My best vacation was when I went to AirVenture in Oshkosh WI in 2006. It was the best week of my life! Nothing but aircrafts and junk food for the entire week! I got a tan and I actually lost some weight despite my diet of soda, hotdogs and burgers! :D

LAS VEGAS!!! Five straight days of drunk. Hookers and hilarity ensue.

Best vacation ever was my honeymoon to Amsterdam. It's nice being able to smoke legally... :) well, as legal as it gets.

My best vacation was when I went to AirVenture in Oshkosh WI in 2006. It was the best week of my life! Nothing but aircrafts and junk food for the entire week! I got a tan and I actually lost some weight despite my diet of soda, hotdogs and burgers! :D


Its from all the puking you did immediately afterwards ;)

My best vacation was to Chicago. Coming from the northern Great Plains ... it looked like Chicago was built in a forest, and this was late February/early March. If you ever go to Chicago, make sure you stop by a little store at the end of the Magnificant Mile. It's called the Moonstruck Chocolate Cafe, and when chocolate lovers die, that's what heaven looks like.

Scenery/History - Sri Lanka or India - both awe inspiring
Best City - Seattle....loved the bars and markets (yes, even the men throwing fish around)
European - Croatia - a little bit of Eastern Europe but now cleaner and safer (again, good bars!!)

Saying that, anytime I leave Northern England I consider it good:tongue:

Amsterdam is great! I've been to, as I've said earlier, Paris in France, but also to China (all over), Russia (all over), Mongolia (all over), and...well...thats it...I'm going to Thailand, I believe, over the summer though!

You must be loaded.

You must be loaded.

Thailand can be pretty cheap if you do the whole backpacking thing in the right way (or live on bread and jam for weeks at a time like I did)

Hiking the pacific coast rail, vancouver canada, beautiful!!!

<3 Berlin

I'd consider living there if job market wasn't shite

After that she showed up in the states about 6 months later and I showed her around California.

I so started to read that story as ending so much worse :tongue:

You must be loaded.

traveling is cheap as chips tbh

and you prolly haven't seen this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNF_P281Uu4) (the story is he saved up money as a game developer and traveled the world eventually being sponsored to do it)

traveling is cheap as chips tbh

and you prolly haven't seen this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNF_P281Uu4) (the story is he saved up money as a game developer and traveled the world eventually being sponsored to do it)

It's probably not as expensive for Europeans since their countries are a lot closer to each other than to the U.S. Plus there's the Chunnel, etc.

I've had quite a few really good holidays, can't decide which was best.

It's probably not as expensive for Europeans since their countries are a lot closer to each other than to the U.S. Plus there's the Chunnel, etc.

you have a giant continent to the South of you and the Caribbean (Jamaica is surprisingly affordable even for Eurotrash)

just er...try not to act American if you please

you have a giant continent to the South of you and the Caribbean (Jamaica is surprisingly affordable even for Eurotrash)

just er...try not to act American if you please

I don't speak much Spanish or Portuguese, so South America's out of the question. Jamaica's not that safe.

Also, what's with the "Eurotrash" remark? I wasn't implying Europeans were poorer, or "trash," just that it's probably less expensive for you guys to travel to certain places.

I don't speak much Spanish or Portuguese, so South America's out of the question. Jamaica's not that safe.


Why do you need to speak the language to travel somewhere? I prefer actually going places where I don't know the language (that's a hell of a lot of places)

Why do you need to speak the language to travel somewhere? I prefer actually going places where I don't know the language (that's a hell of a lot of places)

I want to be able to converse with locals, be able to read signs, etc.

I want to be able to converse with locals, be able to read signs, etc.

You speak English. The vast majority of the world will be able to communicate with you so I wouldn't worry too much. Just make the effort to try and speak their language too and you'll do fine

You speak English. The vast majority of the world will be able to communicate with you so I wouldn't worry too much. Just make the effort to try and speak their language too and you'll do fine
I spent 10 days alone in Prague for no reason whatsoever once, and I didn't speak Czech. However, I did practice how to pronounce the phrases in my English-Czech phrase book. I got the accent down by watching Czech movies a lot. Then I got to Prague and found that nobody believed I couldn't speak the language because my pronunciation was so good. I walked around the whole city reading the frigging phrase book to people and explaining to the cops who ticketed me for jaywalking that I couldn't speak Czech, in apparently perfect, unaccented Czech. I got laughed at a lot, but the Czechs seemed to enjoy it, and I had a good time as a result.

Actually, I can think of several.

The first vacation without parents. I was 14 and my then best friend, her family and I drove from Fresno, CA to Victoria, B.C. with a stop in Seattle for the World's Fair. We went to the top of the Space Needle, took the ferry to Victoria, saw Butchart Gardens and did a lot of shopping.

My first vacation without husband and kids. A friend and I drove from Riverside, CA to the Tewa Pueblo Reservation in New Mexico. We camped in Sedona, AZ for a couple of days, stayed over in Santa Fe, NM and then camped at a Tewa run camp-site on the reservation. I noticed a huge difference between the the campsite in Sedona (filthy, no amenities, crowded and noisy) and the one on the reservation (clean, sites spaced well apart, uncrowded, quiet, clean toilets).

A vacation in Norfolk, VA (where my daughter was stationed) at Christmastime. I toured her ship (a destroyer tender). We also spent two days in D.C. and went to Colonial Williamsburg.

I spent 10 days alone in Prague for no reason whatsoever once, and I didn't speak Czech. However, I did practice how to pronounce the phrases in my English-Czech phrase book. I got the accent down by watching Czech movies a lot. Then I got to Prague and found that nobody believed I couldn't speak the language because my pronunciation was so good. I walked around the whole city reading the frigging phrase book to people and explaining to the cops who ticketed me for jaywalking that I couldn't speak Czech, in apparently perfect, unaccented Czech. I got laughed at a lot, but the Czechs seemed to enjoy it, and I had a good time as a result.

Exactly. The language barrier isn't insurmountable at all and it makes things way way more interesting

The south of Spain a couple of years back. Beautiful part of the country with top weather.

I've enjoyed pretty much all my vacations, though I've never gone anywhere really exotic or challenging. I just like going to a place and getting immersed in the regular life there. Prague was great -- I'm dying to go back, maybe do some art business there some day. Naples, Italy, was terrific -- like spending a week in a really noisy, dirty, but relaxing spa. Santa Fe, New Mexico, was luxe, really enjoyable. And the rest is just around my local region, New England. I never get tired of New England. The lobsters and clams. The apples. The crazy-ass Lovecraftian shit tucked in every corner.

I don't speak much Spanish or Portuguese, so South America's out of the question. Jamaica's not that safe.

you seem to think Europeans speak English, how naive :tongue:

also you could totally go Bermuda

Jamaica's not that safe.

unless your gay its fine

Also, what's with the "Eurotrash" remark? I wasn't implying Europeans were poorer, or "trash," just that it's probably less expensive for you guys to travel to certain places.

I'm joking honey :tongue:

also you could totally go Bermuda

Just watch out for the triangle... ;)

unless your gay its fine

I'm not, so I should be safe. :p

I'm joking honey :tongue:

Ah, my apologies. Hard to tell sometimes over the internet. :tongue:

Exactly. The language barrier isn't insurmountable at all and it makes things way way more interesting
I think sometimes the best way to overcome the language barrier is to acknowledge it and reach across it. The Praguers are completely jaded and usually fed up with the hordes of tourists who overrun that city every year, but I got the feeling they really liked that this one tourist out of the vast herd was making an effort to sort of come to them, language-wise, instead of forcing them to have to speak a foreign language when they already have enough to think about during the day. So, even though I had no idea what I was saying, the waitstaff, hotel staff, cops, shop clerks, random people on the street, etc, all seemed perfectly happy to stop and help me, get into chatting and socializing, even grab a coffee or beer with this crazy stranger with the phrase book.

Just watch out for the triangle... ;)

now you know why Bermudans are hammered on fine rum 24/7

I'm not, so I should be safe. :p

pay the kids to fight each other for shits and giggles

Oh man, all those European vacations, I so wanna go to Europe.

Some twenty years ago I drove from Nairobi to Marrakech via Tanzania, Rwanda, Zaire (as it was then), the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria, Niger, and Algeria.

I had more adventures in that 6 months alone than I've probably had combined since (and I've been a fairly adventurous traveller in the 20 years since, too).

A small cross-section of highlights include....

Rwanda before the genocide.

Hiking up to the mountain gorillas on the Rwanda / Zaire border.

Teaching a bunch of stoned Congolese pygmies how to sing Monty Python's lumberjack song.

Getting attacked by a horde of baboons in northern Nigeria.

Convincing an Algerian border guard that he'd much prefer to take half a bottle of Nigerian whiskey off me than rape one of the women I was travelling with.

Some twenty years ago I drove from Nairobi to Marrakech via Tanzania, Rwanda, Zaire (as it was then), the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria, Niger, and Algeria.

I had more adventures in that 6 months alone than I've probably had combined since (and I've been a fairly adventurous traveller in the 20 years since, too).

A small cross-section of highlights include....

Rwanda before the genocide.

Hiking up to the mountain gorillas on the Rwanda / Zaire border.

Teaching a bunch of stoned Congolese pygmies how to sing Monty Python's lumberjack song.

Getting attacked by a horde of baboons in northern Nigeria.

Convincing an Algerian border guard that he'd much prefer to take half a bottle of Nigerian whiskey off me than rape one of the women I was travelling with.
I need to see a movie of that trip. I want to pay for a ticket to a movie of that trip. :D