Let’s talk about travelling! Where would you like to go? Where have you been? What would you recommend?
That kind of thing.
Places that I’ve been that I would recommend?
— Chile. Mainly Patagonia and all those big mountains. Very nice.
— Japan. Kyoto is very cool. Tokyo is a cool place to visit as well.
— Italy. Lake Como. Man. That place doesn’t even seem real. It’s like a theme park.
Places I want to go?
— North Korea. I dunno why. I just want to go.
— Tran-Siberian railway. I like trains.
— Berlin. I’ve actually never been to Germany at all.
That’s my list! Let’s hear yours.
Comments
66 responses to “Off Topic: Favourite Places To Travel”
I’m a bit of a Disney fanboy and have been to eight Disney parks across the world. So good. Absolutely love Paris and New York too. <3
I just drove America coast-to-coast and didn’t go to a single Disney park. I think that makes me a monster?
Oooooh, road trip! I wanna drive from LA to Vancouver!
Will you join me on my theme-park trip across the US?
I want to hit all the biggest ‘coasters.
Just need to find someone to bankroll it. >.>
To Kickstarter!
Here’s the path we took. 3 weeks, actually had plenty of time to spare.
I drove from LA to Portland, Oregon a few years back. Delightful trip. DO IT!
Japan is awesome. Been there 3 times, looking for an excuse to go back again.
Hong Kong is probably my favourite. Parents used to live and work there, so been a bunch of times. Never seems to get old either. Just a really vibrant, busy place. People, smells, sounds – it’s like a living thing. Had just enough western culture injected that it’s retained it’s identity, but sort of morphed into a really unique thing.
Japan is great, been twice. Tokyo is incredible too. Although as much as I love Japan, there’s a certain feel about it I don’t really enjoy sometimes. It’s probably the least culturally diverse place I’ve ever seen – which is also one of the reasons it’s so unique – it hasn’t been diluted in the slightest. But at the same time, I’ve never felt more excluded or out of place anywhere in the world as I have there. It feels very…. sterile and clinical.
Got some convoluted family history with Japan that I won’t go into, so it’ll always have a place in my heart, and I’ll be certain to go back – but at the moment, I just can’t wait to get back to Hong Kong.
It’s funny you mention the attitudes in Japan… something that I saw said quite frequently and unashamedly when I was looking for help finding work there (a good decade ago, I don’t have such plans now) was, “Japan is for the Japanese.”
Which is hard to argue with, really. It’s not how most of us would like things to operate here (political extremists aside), and I think that we often expect that this counts as ‘enlightened’ and would like to extend how we think to other places, imposing our values on them. I’m undecided as to whether that’s actually morally right, though. “If you don’t like how we do things, go somewhere else,” only works if the people who want to do something else have somewhere to go.
Talking to a friend who got to work there on a translator gig (which I am WAY too old to ever, ever get into – you need to have got started as a kid, really), he did say that the attitude was friendly, inclusive, and after a while they may even seem to forget that you’re ‘other’… but it’s only ‘seem’ to. It’s not actually ever forgotten, which can come up a LOT if you decide you might want to start a family.
It really reminded me of the infamous Ashley Williams ‘dog quote’ from Mass Effect.
I still loved my time in Japan and can definitely see trying to put up with being noticeably regarded as an outsider, to live there for a while.
Pretty much spot on. It’s a fantastic place. Just so hard to get a read on things at times. Some people are probably being genuine, but a lot of others are only being super nice and super polite to you because it’s their custom to do so. Whereas other places i definitely didn’t feel like a native, or anything – but I felt less an outsider, and more a guest. Which is a much nicer feeling.
Want to go: Japan, Spain, Peru/Venezuela/South America.
Recommend: The Seychelles. And not just because it’s half of my heritage. Beautiful islands, every one of them.
The Trans-Siberian is really cool, I went from Beijing to Moscow via Ulaanbaatar & Listvyanka just under 2 years ago. The upside of train travel is that it’s way more comfortable than anything else, the downside is that you do spend a lot on a train. Which is good if you want to sit down and read, or watch the scenery, or have chats with Russian children where you cannot understand a single thing they say, but you definitely need to pace it.
Since most of my travel is done for the purpose of skiing, I’m going to put down a blanket call on “Canada” (sometimes being able to speak the language is just really, really nice, also there’s pretty rad snow there) as a place, and also Italy. Holy crap, Italy. Going there at the end of 2009, after AssCreed 2 dropped, I got to see all these places I’d sort of seen, admire all the architecture, and get sick of goddamn Cathedrals.
Avoid Naples though. It’s a beautiful city, wonderful buildings and sights, but Christ it’s a shithole.
To my desk to play games.
I’d love to do a tour of NW USA and Alaska.
New Orleans and the South for some serious soul food would be great too.
My brother and his wife had their honeymoon in Italy and Malta with a stop in Dubai. They only say great things about that trip.
Closer to home, I love our pre xmas break to Echuca – dunno why, but getting the whole clan together for a few days with the kids and just shooting the breeze is super relaxing. Love it.
Chile is fucking cool. I did the other part- the Atacama desert and the Valle de la Luna- and I loved loved loved it.
Cambodia is a country that’s got serious social problems, but I really enjoyed my visit. Angkor Wat is magnificent, and Sihanoukville is a total beach bum town. I also visited the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng, which I wouldn’t call enjoyable in the slightest but I think are an important emotional experience.
I like how you visit less…popular(?) destinations & change it up.
I’m jealous, wish I’d got my shit together before having a kid so I could have done similar.
I’m daydreaming about Mongolia currently.
Also, more seriously: I want to be a total hipster and experience stuff that’s not only new to me, but also that I haven’t seen a whole bunch of holiday snaps of.
Well yeah, I get kinda shocked that people travel to go shopping. It made more sense before the internet was a thing.
Seems like a waste of a learning opportunity to me.
The thing that really struck me about Cambodia were their buskers. Having lost various limbs/senses etc to landmines, many formed bands and sat on street corners belting out tunes on traditional instruments.
Girl I lived next to who was a few years older than me did a student exchange/ambassador/whatever thing to Cambodia in the early 90s.
She didn’t tell us terribly much about her time there apart from how she was somewhat traumatized by watching from the window as soldiers drove along the streets, shooting the homeless and tossing the corpses into the back of a truck. Apparently this was a regular thing in those days.
I hear it’s nicer now. I have no idea what they were doing sending a young Aussie girl to live someplace with that kind of rep, though.
They have tourism now, economy is heavily reliant on it.
Corrupt as hell though.
Want to go to Japan. #1 on my list.
I’m not very well travelled so there’s loads of countries I could list but will probably not get to in the next decade or two. Going to at least cross Japan off that list next year.
Same here. Japan is #1 on my wish list, even more so because during my studies I had the option of picking up a scholarship to either France or Japan. After much soul-searching I chose France and went on to live there for two years. I still love Japanese language, history and culture and want to spend an extended holiday there. Maybe after the kids are grown up… *sniff*
Best place I’ve ever visited is Zermatt in Switzerland – a town in the mountains near the Matterhorn. Place is simply breathtaking.
Cinque Terra in Italy is a close second. Hiking between the 4 towns along that incredible coastline is one of my more memorable days.
I’m going to Thailand in a few days.
So that should be good.
Thailand is good. Sun sand and cheap cocktails.
I was there in March (Ko Samui island). During the fisherman’s market (a huge night-time market) my father-in-law was waiting in a cafe when in front of him two gunmen drew pistols and shot dead local shady businessmen. Right in front of my inlaw, the poor bugger was is 72 and hoofed it double time out of there!
But you get that shiz anywhere, bikies shoot up each other in cafes in Adelaide too.
Enjoy your trip and be smart on the roads. Take note of how many ambulances you hear!
Don’t get hit by a car.
I’m thinking of walking the Bibbulmun Track in December, so we’ll see how that goes.
The whole thing? I’ve done a couple sections and would like to do the whole thing one day. Putting aside 6-8 weeks being the biggest hurdle.
I’m really not sure how long it will take to complete, so I’ll probably only end up doing half, or even a quarter.
Places I’ve been that I have great memories of.
-Barcelona: I had the best time in Barcelona. Such an awesome place.
-Rome: I could spend weeks wandering around Rome. So much history.
-Amsterdam: Another awesome place to just wander around, always find something interesting.
-Florence: Bit more personal here. I met up with family, who I’d never even talked to before. But they let my friends and I stay with them. Had a massive family dinner. it’s true, Italians love food. Also just an amazing city.
So many places I’d love to go to.
I’d love to travel around more of Italy, and meet up with other parts of my family.
I think I could just go anywhere, or everywhere in Europe. I love all the history.
I’d still love to go to Egypt for the pyramids. Africa for a safari.
Bali or Thailand, cheap grog, cheap food, grouse for aussies
Bali’s a bit of a pit at the moment. The bogans figured out that there was more to Bali than Kuta, and have started invading Seminyak as well. It isn’t quite as bad as Kuta, but it isn’t as great as it was 5-10 years ago.
That being said, the other 99% of Bali is fantastic. Lose the crowds and you won’t regret it.
Get up to Ubud quickly. They haven’t taken over there yet!
Hong Kong
I enjoy heading to Malaysia to visit the inlaws.
The wife and I would really like to visit Japan sometime.
I like popping into the Minotaur store in Melbourne’s CBD from time to time.
If I could, I’d prefer to travel to different countries every time.
As it is, I visit Taiwan every other year. Great place & I still haven’t seen it all.
Would be nice to go back to Europe… haven’t been there since I was a kid, and would be cool to travel around and see the sights when there’s not a war going on… 😛
Yeh I was in Kiev back in 2012 for the Euro’s. Great place, sad to see how it is now.
Been to 21 different countries. All of them were amazing, but honestly my favorite place to travel is our own backyard: Australia.
Favourite city – New York by a country mile. As far as the west coast of the US goes, San Francisco is nice, LA is a dump.
Also loved Japan, probably going back again next year.
If I just want to laze around by a pool somewhere warm and tropical then Thailand and Malaysia (usually Langkawi) are my preferred destinations for doing nothing.
Langkawi is definitely the definition of a tropical paradise.
I played a round of golf on an international standard course there and it was incredible. I lost like 15 balls (and two litres of sweat) but I loved it.
Lake Bled in Slovenia
My favourite place if France, particularly south-western parts including the Lot valley and the Dordogne. Paris is probably my favourite city, for all its museums, galleries, monuments and restaurants.
Japan – specifically, Nagano – specifically … No, I won’t divulge. I want to keep it to myself.
As a snowboarder all my travel since I discovered it had been based around going down things extremely quickly. Our going around things as quickly as I dare. Or jumping off things incredibly cautiously. I haven’t boarded anywhere else, and as much as I’d love to try out Canada or Colorado, I love the familiarity I have with my favorite resorts and knowing “the back way”.
Vietnam was amazing – I spent a month backpacking my way from South to North about ten years ago and, of all the places I’ve been, it’s by far my second favorite.
Borneo was awesome as well, although I only spent five days there. I climbed Mt Kindabalu (the highest peak in South-East Asia) and that was an incredible experience. Highly recommended.
Tasmania simply because it is home and i miss it. Also mainly because i have very little money and no passport and all trips have to be to see family and not for fun (boo).
South island of New Zealand. I never want to leave every time I go there.
My favourite travel location by far is any twisting, winding, secluded road with minimal public and police attention. Iv travelled up and down the eastern side of Aus looking for the perfect road to enjoy the drive.
That’s my perfect destination
Oh hey, I’ve done that too! Absolutely loved it!
One of the most memorable parts was the legs between Orbost-> Eden, then Eden->Bateman’s bay. First time I did it in my XD falcon, windows down with the sun shining through the trees, while pushing it pretty hard the whole way. Absolute bliss. The transmission gave up the ghost when I got to Sydney after the days of hard use. But it was worth it. Managed to limp it back to Melbourne, too.
I’ve got a much newer, nicer handling and much quicker car these days. Would love to do that drive again!
Hong Kong, Changmai, Shanghai were all awesome. Singapore is interesting.
I adore going to Papua New Guinea but I can’t recommend it as a place to go without someone who’s already been.
Off the top of my head.
Within Australia – Sunshine Coast, specifically the Maroochydore/Mooloolaba/Caloundra area. Great beaches, great selection of shops and good food. It’s not as much of a tourist trap as Noosa is, so it still has the beach town feel.
Internationally.
New York – Cliche, but it really is an amazing city to visit.
Florida – Specifically Kennedy Space Center, very enjoyable day can be had at the KSC. Staff there know their spaceflight, and you get to see a lot of what makes NASA awesome. Haven’t been since before Atlantis got moved to her new home on the grounds. Shame they shut down the launch pad tours, you really don’t have any idea how big the VAB is until you see it up close!
Cleveland – Rock’n’roll hall of fame alone makes the city worth a look. They also have the only remaining example of an American WW2 Gato class sub in her wartime config. So the USS Cod is worth a look too.
New Orleans – Seriously do I need to go into what makes this city awesome? Bourbon St, just go there and you can pub crawl to your hearts content. The music and food are great too!
Boston – Litte more expensive, but it is one of the oldest cities in the US and you can kill a lot of time visiting all the sights like Harvard, MIT, the Boston Navy Yard, Bunker Hill, Boston Commons, Fenway Park etc. I fell in love with the place.
Still more to see in the US, and Europe yet but that’s future me’s problem.
I’ma ruins junky. Happiest deep in a jungle walking amongst the last relics of a lost civilisation. City of Troy, Angkor Wat (Ta Phrom is better), Ephesus and quite few others not so well known. So this year I hit a big one; Macchu Pichu. And while it was great, I actually saw some as good ones on the Inca Trail on the way there, just none as large.
All of this is to say, I was looking forward to that, but if I was going to Peru I wanted to go into the Amazon basin as well, so we booked a private tour into the 16million hectare (!?) Manu Nature Reserve.
One day travel by jeep through the Andes, the second day travel by motorised canoe up a river until we hadn’t seen another living soul for hours. Then tramped to our grass thatched hut deep in the jungle and spent the next days walking the jungle. Three species of pirhana in the lake out front, jaguars in the undergrowth and insects/flora bigger than have right to exist.
Before sun-up you could hear light aircraft flying overhead. We were a long way from any airfield…our guide told us the size of the park makes it easier for the cartels to hide their coke production facilities. Lifted straight to Columbia under cover of darkness. Then he reminded us of the rules; alert him if we saw anyone else in the jungle.
I have never done anything like it. It blew my mind. Do recommend.
Jealous as hell. I was in Brazil for the World Cup last year and had a few nights in Manaus so I saw a bit of the Amazon on a tour but really needed more time.
Definitely want to go back to Sth America for the sort of experience you wrote about.
Sounds tremendous. I’m pretty into ruins as well. I’ve been to Mexico twice in the last 2 years and I’m itching to go back already. In 2013 I checked out all the Zapotec ruins in the Oaxaca valley, amazing stuff there, and last year I spent some time in the Yucatan Peninsula and checked out some Mayan stuff. Best experience was getting up early one morning while the wife and kids were still sleeping and offering a cab driver some cash to drive me 40 mins out to the ruins at Ek Balam, wait for me to have a look around and bring me back to town. I got there at about 7.30am and was the only person around. Alone in the jungle except for a pack of stray dogs sleeping on the steps of the big pyramid. I joined them and sat there in the sun listening to the birds and felt like I’d stepped back in time 1000 years or so, or even off the planet completely.
Cambodia – great experience, people are beautiful!!
Vietnam – interesting history
Thailand – good cheap fun
Malaysia – great food and people
USA – beautiful scenery, best burgers in the world
Mexico – interesting to say the least, cheap beers
NZ – Awesome just awesome
I really want to go to Peru and experience Macchu Picchu for my 30th! Wife wants to do Morocco and Africa, signed up for Wyndham timeshare so that helps a bit and also helps to rent RVs and campers etc so we aren’t just hunkered down in one spot
Yeah… Got married and had a kid before I had the chance to travel. Ship’s sailed unless something awesome happens, I fear.
I love Edinburgh… there’s just something about that city.
If I had the money, I’d happily move there.
London too.
I’d love to do the Trans-Siberian, Moscow to Vladivostok… catch a ferry to Japan and go skiing there. Maybe in a few years.
I want to visit Scotland soon. I’ve got quite a few relatives there, it’s the home of my family name. I like the cold and rain and grey skies and rocky beaches and dark forests and mountains and scotch whisky. Scotland apparently has most of these things.
It’s amazing.
I’m over there every few years and it never disappoints.
Kyoto or Munich are 2 places I’d definitely recommend. Especially Kyoto around Christmas and New Years, or Munich around christmas. The atmosphere is something special.
Heidelberg is pretty swell as well
Been to New Zealand (only around Wellington though, would love to see more), Thailand (only Bangkok, with a day trip to Kanchanaburi) and Fiji (spent a week in Suva and a week in Lautoka, but got tonsilitis, so didn’t enjoy myself as much as I could).
Dream trip is South Korea (have friends in Daegu), Japan and Hong Kong. If I could afford to do nothing but travel, I would. So many places I want to visit.
South Africa – The Kruger National Park is amazing. As is the Stretch from Nelspruit to Durban.
Malaysia – Specifically Penang & Georgetown for me. Huge heritage listed UNESCO site in the old quarter of the city was great fun to explore.
New Zealand – We did the north island for 3 weeks from Auckland to Wellington, had a blast.
Rottnest Island – Tiny bit of rock about 20km off the coast of Perth, great for a cheap weekend getaway.
Chile is definitely on my short list, along with Sri Lanka and Japan. Will knock those off in the next few years.
I’ve been all over Mexico, Vietnam, the US, Spain and Egypt and if I had to make a top 5 it’d go something like that. I’ve been to 21 countries but I know that’s just a drop in the bucket. So many interesting places in the world. I get excited just going to NZ once a year to visit my Father-in-law and eat oysters & kina.
Hong Kong. Been there a number of times. The city is always so alive, and theres always a tonne to see and do. Amazing food, amazing public transport, and it has a great mix of prominent and popular hangouts & more underground hidden away places. Never get tired of the place, and hope to live there permanently one day. Has this amazing infusion of Western and Eastern influence, and has a really large expat community there as well.
2nd best after Hong Kong would probably be London or Berlin, but Hong Kong stands ahead by a pretty large margin for me.