If you could go anywhere...?

3278 · Post by **3278** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 12:31 pm

I don't know about Philly, but Pennsylvania is absolutely beautiful. Lots of rocky forests and wooded mountains, lowlands, coal mines. [Depending on your idea of "beauty." I like them all.] And if that's not enough, there's this town that's going to be on fire for several thousand years that I went to with Teja, that's worth the trip by itself. [So's the bed and breakfast we stayed at.]

I may be a midwesterner, but I think there's a lot to see on the East Coast.

Ampere · Post by **Ampere** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 12:35 pm

As a non-city-guy, Philly was...scary.
Pennsylvania though is cool. Saw Gettysburg last time out there (March) and it was pretty damn cool.

Jeff Hauze · Post by **Jeff Hauze** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 1:47 pm

3278 wrote:I don't know about Philly, but Pennsylvania is absolutely beautiful. Lots of rocky forests and wooded mountains, lowlands, coal mines. [Depending on your idea of "beauty." I like them all.] And if that's not enough, there's this town that's going to be on fire for several thousand years that I went to with Teja, that's worth the trip by itself. [So's the bed and breakfast we stayed at.]

I may be a midwesterner, but I think there's a lot to see on the East Coast.

Centralia almost makes up for the rest of Southeastern PA's lack of everything else. I'll give you that point. It's getting more and more difficult to get into the town every few years I go up though.

Gettsyburg...bah. That should be part of another state. PA would do a lot better off if it were split into East and West PA.

Crazy Elf · Post by **Crazy Elf** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 3:08 pm

Antarctica.

DV8 · Post by **DV8** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 3:12 pm

Crazy Elf wrote:Antarctica.

A few years ago, Eva, a friend of ours and I looked into going there. We were very excited, until we saw what that little adventure was going to set us back.

Liniah · Post by **Liniah** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 5:57 pm

Yeah, I was looking at a penguin-watching tour. Then I saw the price and put down the pamphlet.

Jeff Hauze · Post by **Jeff Hauze** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 6:18 pm

Okay, I guess for a change I can stop being a dick. Yeah, I like picking on PA. I live there. Where's the fun if you can't pick on the place you live? Yes, the East Coast does have a lot to see. Hell, even my little old podunk hometown had some kick ass industrial ruins that the Module would have loved. (Until they tore it down to build a fucking old bags home.)

Centralia - Always a huge recommendation.

Autumn - Driving the PA Turnpike (and even better if you take some of the highways in the upper part of the state) in fall is pretty damn stunning.

Pittsburgh - I only managed to spend two days there, but there was some great urban exploration in that city. I was really pissed I didn't have a digital camera after I came back from there. Additionally, if you can get someone who knows the city, there's almost as much kick ass tagging and graffiti in Pittsburgh as there is in parts of Kensington. (Unfortunately, most of those parts of Kensington require a fair amount of balls and firepower to get through. I still have no idea how I got talked into taking that tour with a former coworker. She's utterly fucking fearless.)

Hawk Mountain/Pinnacle - Not far from my home base, and runs along a portion of the Appalachian Trail. I'm very much not an outdoors person. But I still make the trip with my dad about once a year if we can. I'm horribly out of shape now, so it is usually the shorter trail to the Pinnacle, rather than all the way up Hawk Mountain (I don't believe that's the official name for it, but it is what the locals call it). The wildlife has always been good viewing up there, and the avian look out spots are top notch in many cases. Fall hiking isn't as good as you would expect, and I've noticed in the last two years that the trails have been hurt by allowing off-road motor vehicles and mountain biking on them.

Lancaster County - If you have never experienced the Pennsylvania Dutch, this is always a blast of a ride to take friends from out of town through. Especially if said friends are city folk who have no idea what to expect.

Philly - For me, the city is hit or miss. There's a few spots on the waterfront that make some very cool night time urban viewscapes. There's also a whole lot of uninteresting shit. Sorry, the Liberty Bell doesn't really do much for me when they replaced the damn thing with a fake. When you live around the area, Willy Penn, the steps of the Art Museum, the Liberty Bell/Independence Hall really don't have quite the same effect on you. As mentioned previously, some of the tagging spots in Kensington are really amazing. Though I'll note, it's been about two years since I went down through there. And if you can get folks from out of town there on a real particular night, the Grape Street Pub can be an amazing venue to see folks perform at. Chris Cornell was recently through there, and I'm so utterly pissed I missed that show. Real intimiate setting for maybe 300 or 400 people with most high-profile acts doing accoustic sets for a long period of time. Very cool stuff.

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 3:50 am

St. Petersburg, Russia. But only if I had the money and the time.

Istanbul, Turkey. Same thing.

The South Pacific. Can I crash land here with some hot chicks who are desperate for fat pasty men? And a bunch of MP3's, and a limitless supply of rum, batteries, lube and sun block? Thanks Control.

Uruguay. Jong lives here. So doe the RPG Pundit. PLus it looks like some pretty sweet country.

Rio De Janerio. Sure I'll die of REMCAIDS, but it'd be worth it.

Johnny the Bull · Post by **Johnny the Bull** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 9:16 am

DV8 wrote:
Iantha wrote:I would LOVE to take a vacation in SE Asia or the Middle East once (if) things get settled down and more stable in that part of the world.
South East Asia is pretty stable, isn't it?

As is the Middle East except Iraq and Iran. The Gulf and Levant are fine.

Cash · Post by **Cash** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 10:48 am

3278 wrote:I'd like to see more of northern California, as well as the Pacific Northwest, although the things I like about those areas are mostly present in Michigan, making it somewhat pointless.

Does Michigan have redwoods? Thought not.

I'd love to go through Europe...especially Norway and southern France to visit the places of my ancestors. My sis toured through Central and South America for 6 months and I'd love to go on a 6 month trip with her and her bf. I looked at Antarctica also until I saw the price. Anothe crawl through Victoria, Australia would be great as well. Hawaii for the snowboarding (heck...even the Alps for the same reason). Finally, there's a special place in the Sierra Nevada's that I love to backpack to. I need to go back.

Jeff Hauze · Post by **Jeff Hauze** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 1:37 pm

Cash wrote:Finally, there's a special place in the Sierra Nevada's that I love to backpack to. I need to go back.

Dude, just buy more weed. Let it go man. The stuff you left there is already wasted.

Reika · Post by **Reika** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 1:47 pm

In a more serious response...I'd love to be able to just taking a driving tour through all of the continental US and parts of Canada.

Though one of the haunted castles tours of the British Isles would be pretty cool as well.

TLM · Post by **TLM** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 2:55 pm

I can highly recommend taking a ghost-tour of Venice. The place is dead creepy at night! The moment you're off the main streets, it's all twisting, narrow alleys and hidden spaces. And since there're no cars, it's almost completely silent. Add in someone talking about ghosts and ghoulies and bloody murders, it actually got to me.

Reika · Post by **Reika** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 3:09 pm

That sounds like a great deal of fun. I'll add that to my wishlist.

Angel · Post by **Angel** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 5:25 pm

TLM wrote:I can highly recommend taking a ghost-tour of Venice. The place is dead creepy at night! The moment you're off the main streets, it's all twisting, narrow alleys and hidden spaces. And since there're no cars, it's almost completely silent. Add in someone talking about ghosts and ghoulies and bloody murders, it actually got to me.

Do you have a link to the ghost tour operator? It sounds fantastic, I might just add it to our European tour next year.

Liniah · Post by **Liniah** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 5:54 pm

As for another trip, I've had a western road trip in mind for a while now. I've only been in the eastern half of the US. I want to get out to the 4 corners states, Cali, Oregon, and Washington.

TLM · Post by **TLM** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 5:59 pm

Angel wrote:
TLM wrote:I can highly recommend taking a ghost-tour of Venice. The place is dead creepy at night! The moment you're off the main streets, it's all twisting, narrow alleys and hidden spaces. And since there're no cars, it's almost completely silent. Add in someone talking about ghosts and ghoulies and bloody murders, it actually got to me.
Do you have a link to the ghost tour operator? It sounds fantastic, I might just add it to our European tour next year.

Certainly! Here it is: http://www.tours-italy.com/tours/Venice ... t_walk.htm

We found out about it through our hotel, with no problems getting into a group, though that was in early may last year, before the main tourist-season. Avoid Venice like the plague during the summer, at least the popular places like saint Marks Sqaure, because the amount of tourists is simply staggering.

jo_alex · Post by **jo_alex** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 10:22 pm

TLM wrote:Avoid Venice like the plague during the summer, at least the popular places like saint Marks Sqaure, because the amount of tourists is simply staggering.

Plus it smells badly then - takes away the romantic part for me. Amsterdam's canals are way better that way.

Rev · Post by **Rev** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:10 am

Iantha wrote:I would LOVE to take a vacation in SE Asia or the Middle East once (if) things get settled down and more stable in that part of the world.

I really want to go on a trip after the wedding next summer but we'll see where our finances are.

I went to Thailand almost a year ago. Go. It's not dangerous. It is cheap. It is wierd. It is hot. Bangkok is slightly like bladerunner.

The main danger to tourists is car accidents, a taxi ride is reasonably thrilling.

Your plane ticket will be expensive, mine was about $900, but I was there for 14 days, partly in Bangkok partly on an island on the west coast, and spent under $1000 with no care to my budget. So double that for two people, oh and a bit more as the dollar continues to sink, maybe another 20%. If you wanted to go cheap you could cut living expenses in half easily, but the plane ticket really sets the price of the trip anyway unless you can go for a really long time.

Oh, don't go to SE asia for just a week. The plane trip is around 20 hours.

I'm hoping to go to the Yukatan in mexico in a couple weeks, but it's wedged in with moving to San Francisco, so there is still a chance I won't be able to manage it.

jo_alex · Post by **jo_alex** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 8:05 am

Rev wrote: I went to Thailand almost a year ago. Go. It's not dangerous. It is cheap. It is wierd. It is hot. Bangkok is slightly like bladerunner.

Was in Thailand, Laos and Singapore last Nov-Dec. I felt totally safe there. And it's incredibly cheap. You live like a king spending less than you daily do back at home. I wasn't so crazy about Bangkok, but all the rest was incredible.

Rev wrote:The main danger to tourists is car accidents, a taxi ride is reasonably thrilling.

So true.

Rev wrote:Oh, don't go to SE asia for just a week. The plane trip is around 20 hours.

One week will definitely just leave you craving more.

Angel · Post by **Angel** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 11:18 am

jo_alex wrote:One week will definitely just leave you craving more.

One of my girlfriends from Sweden came here for a visit two weekends ago (she used to live here too), and we were talking about how one week (or a few days) is never enough to see any place you go to for vacation. Normally I only take long weekend type of vacations, but this year I resigned myself to longer vacations, starting this year in Turkey. I want enough time to really enjoy each vacation and not come back wishing that I could have had just a few more days.

jo_alex · Post by **jo_alex** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 6:08 pm

Angel wrote:I want enough time to really enjoy each vacation and not come back wishing that I could have had just a few more days.

Well, I always want just a few days more. And then another few days. And then another.

Spending a weekend away can be sufficiently relaxing if the drive/flight there doesn't take you too long. Proper holidays though should be at least two weeks long IMHO.