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The Travel Experiences Thread
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20-08-2010 4:00pm#1I'm always reading about C&Hers travels around Ireland, Europe and elsewhere. So here's a spot to share all your travel experiences - photos, anecdotes, favourite place you've ever been, where you want to go, travel advice etc. It'd be awesome to hear of the places people have been and to even share tips on where to go/what to do etc.
My best ever holiday was last Summer when I went interrailing across Europe for a month. We visited Budapest, Krakow, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, Amsterdam, Bruges and Brussels and it was an incredible experience. I could go on at length about all the places but I'll save that for later posts :P
My favourite city was Krakow. I was very skeptical about going to Poland - I think I envisaged some dark, dreary country but it totally exceeded all my expectations! The weather was beautiful - hot but less humid than the desperate heat of Budapest. Krakow is a students city and there are hundreds of bars, clubs, restuarants and hostels so the night life was very enjoyable. We went to the Salt Mines and Auschwitz which were fantastic experiences (although the salt mines were a tad tedious). Food, drink and accomodation were SO CHEAP which was pretty damn awesome
The giant sideways head in the town square which some drunken students attempted to steal a few years ago. They were found by the police who assisted them in getting it into a truck... they did this because everyone in Krakow hates this statue :P
Not a great picture but this is inside the salt mines. The entire room is made out of salt - the floor, the walls, the furniture, the stairs, the statues, the carvings on the walls - everything! Pretty impressive :eek:
On the way to a club one night a fiddle playing crazy man invited us onto his little hippie bus parked in one of the city squares. This is a photo from inside the bus. It was quite an awesome bus 15
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On the way to a club one night a fiddle playing crazy man invited us onto his little hippie bus parked in one of the city squares. This is a photo from inside the bus. It was quite an awesome bus
Did someone lay an egg in the cubicle? :eek:
That's pretty weird about Krakow btw, one of my friends was trying to persuade me to head there next year.
Went to some music festival in Germany last year and met lots of awesome German people, including a strange but utterly hilarious Captain Beefheart-like person. Best part of the trip (besides seeing two of my favourite band in one evening) was watching some drunk German guy singing along to Emilia's Big Big World.:D:D 0 -
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I've always wanted to go interrailing. I'm all jealous now.
Anyway, places of note I've been to are Munich, Paris (both on school tours), London (with my sisters and bro. in law) and Geneva (with the college Physics society)
Munich I don't really remember too much of - there wasn't a whole lot to do there tbh (though I was only 13 so I assume I'd enjoy it a lot more if I went there now.) I was amazed at how clean the city was though, compared to any city in Ireland. And it was snowing, so it was all nice and picturesque.
Paris was great except for the horrible organisation; among the things we missed were The Louvre, L'Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame and the Champs Elysees :mad: Definitely going back to Paris someday to catch up on all the stuff we missed.
London was cool, we did most of the touristy things. We stayed away from the major shopping areas though, as it was so close to Christmas and they would have been packed. We also didn't get to experience any of the nightlife. I'll probably go back someday - it isn't too far away, after all.
Geneva is a nice but sleepy city. It's the only foreign city I've ever been on a night out in and it was a rip-off; the price of entry fee and two drinks amounted to somewhere between €30-€40! :eek: I'd love to explore other parts of Switzerland though; shame the country is so dear because it seems like a really beautiful place.
Other than that, been to Wales a few times and always enjoyed it. My favourite spots around Ireland would be on the east - had many nice holidays in Wexford and Wicklow as a kid.
As for the future, I wanna visit every country in Europe at least once, and I have a big list of cities I really wanna go to. Top of my list are Amsterdam, Berlin, Reykjavik, Copenhagen and Stockholm. Hopefully I'll get to them someday.0 -
KnifeWRENCH wrote: ».Geneva is a nice but sleepy city. It's the only foreign city I've ever been on a night out in and it was a rip-off; the price of entry fee and two drinks amounted to somewhere between €30-€40! :eek: I'd love to explore other parts of Switzerland though; shame the country is so dear because it seems like a really beautiful place.
Bloody hell that's expensive! :eek:
In comparison, half a litre of Smirnoff is about 4/5 euro in the supermarkets in Krakow - and you can get cheaper brands than that. The alcohol there is ridiculously cheap >_< Most of the bars were free entry while the clubs were about 3-6 euro to enter. Drink prices are more expensive than in the supermarkets but still a hell of a lot cheaper than here.
Always wanted to go to Switzerland though. There and Italy are my main European priorities atm. Japan of course is the country I MOST want to visit in the entire world.
*dreams of Japan* 0 -
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Bloody hell that's expensive! :eek:
I think it was 20 Francs to get in but you got a free drink (a cocktail - I went with Kamikaze). Then when I went to get another one that was another 20 Francs.
So 40 CHF all together, which works out to €30.4375 (just checked it there)
Hmmm not as bad as I remember actually but still pretty expensive. They might have ripped us off because we were foreign though
Japan of course is the country I MOST want to visit in the entire world.
*dreams of Japan*
Oh yes, I'd love to go to Japan too. My other ambition, other than the one to visit every country in Europe, is to visit at least one country in every continent.
So Japan, South Korea, China, UAE (Dubai), Egypt, Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada are all on my list of countries I want to visit. (haven't decided where in South America I wanna go yet.)0 -
Bumped into a bunch of classmates in college the other day, chatting away, blah de blah, when one of the guys comes out with:
"Ye've all had such cool summers, everyone's been in Canada or India or Africa or something..."
*cue me getting ready to nod and co-whine that summer had been decidedly domestic*
"...all I did was go to Turkey
"
The most annoying part being, when I exclaimed sarcastically/indignantly that I'd only been in Cork for a couple of days (first place that sprang to mind), they all took a polite interest and asked me where I'd stayed and for how long.
>_<0 -
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I was in Croatia for a week this Summer with my best friend, and it was wonderful.
We booked cheap flights, but no accommodation, and us being, well, us ended up in some very weird and wonderful situations.
An American backpacker who sat next to us on the plane ended up becoming a really weird tag along for a few days, following us to our hotel, getting us drunk and eventually talking us into jumping into the sea, completely wasted at like... 1am or something. He was naked. Super naked.
We took an 8 hour bus to Dubrovnik from Zadar, and went to Bosnia. We took lifts with random Croatian strangers in strange places, we accepted 14 drinks off an old man in a club, we (well, I) made friends with a barman who gave me a whole bottle of Marachino (a random cherry liquor) in shot form for a night... for free! Also, my friend's Visa card got cancelled and many other very odd and rapey things happened to us.
Also, we fitted in much cultural things. Visited a National park, Krka, which was the most beautiful place in the world. Pottered around beautiful towns and villages, went to art galleries, museums, took an island cruise and lobbed ourselves into the sea at every chance. We dined in some awesome places, and tried just about everything. We drank in a student bar attached to a Croatia university and I had great banter with a rake of Science students... and Philosophy ones. Too much. I also sent Craguls a postcard at one point. Personal highlight. I'll attach some awesome photos.
The country was unreal cheap. Like, so cheap. And so beautiful.
(Sorry for extreme amount of photos. I took millions...)
I've never been outside Europe. I've been to France, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Germany, The Canary Islands, Minorca and now Croatia and Bosnia. C'est tout. I think. I plan on going somewhere awesome next Summer. Hopefully India, as I have a place over there I can stay for free. The place I want to visit most is defo South America. Not exactly sure where, but I'd LOVE to go. Also, Iceland.0 -
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Ooooh this is shiny and new! I cannot wait until I haz moneys to go travelling more, my list of countries is quite small but after 3rd and 4th year we get to go volunteering in hospitals around Africa and Asia, cannot wait
Paris in January of this year with the bf, it was snowing, around -12 degrees at times, but still gorgeous:
(his photo not mine unfortunately!)
We couldn't resist:
View of the Champs-Elysses from the top of the Eiffel Tower:
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^ Those are really beautiful pics. Almost like postcards.
Oh yeah when I went on that schooltour to Paris we went to Disneyland too. Myself and my friend were stuck in the middle of a queue for almost two hours when one of the rides broke >.<
Disneyland was cool, but don't go around Halloween - WAY too crowded.0 -
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KnifeWRENCH wrote: »^ Those are really beautiful pics. Almost like postcards.Woah Queenie, those are gorgeous pictures! Specially the first one!
Good job challenegmaster, at least you're useful for something
Hehe, thanks guys. I'll post some more later when I dig them up 0 -
QueenOfLeon wrote: »Compliment the only one I didn't take eh?? :P
ChallenEGmaster? Master of eggs?
Yes.
He is the master of eggs.
Glad we've cleared that up anyway.0 -
I have been lucky to travelled quite a bit. I have been to Jamaica, Haiti, Cayman Islands, Sweden, US, Spain and Germany. I don't have pics of any of the Carribbean countries and Sweden on this laptop, using my old computer while my laptop is being fixed. Will try to dig up pics when I get it back.
I was lucky enough to represent Ireland in a FIFA video game tournment in 2006. I got quarter final World Cup in 2006 in Berlin. Really like the city, shame I didn't get to see enough of it as I surrounded by football constantly. I went with my dad, were both interested in WW2 history, we went to a few WW2 muesuems and the Reichstag. However in Berlin they're incredible strict with cameras, I was frisked going into the Reichstag! This left me just with football related pics :mad: :mad: :mad:. I am dying to go back, I missed alot of stuff due only being 16 at the time. Anyways here's some boring football pics my dad took...
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I love travelling. Have been to a fair bit of Europe; Belgium, Czech Republic, Malaysia, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Menorca, Majorca, France, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, England, Scotland and Wales.
Most of them were with my family. Apart from Germany/Switzerland/Austria which was a skiing trip with Girl Guides, Paris with school, Belgium, London, Gran Canaria with friends.
One of the most spectacular places I've been has to have been Penang in Malaysia. It was completely not what I was expecting. Going from the nice hotels section of the island to the city, was such a contrast. We were told not to bring any bags with us, in case they would get robbed. We went the most obscure day trip ever, a taxi driver brought us on a tour of the island which included, a fruit farm, a butterfly farm, a national park, various Buddhist temples and driving around the island. It was an incredibly beautiful place.
That was followed by a trip to Sydney for my cousins wedding. It was somewhere I'd always wanted to go, and it was amazing. We went on a day trip to the Blue Mountains which were unbelievable.
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Also went to Amsterdam in February with my class. Again, freezing and snowing but its a lovely (if not very strange) city A lot of the pics are, lets say, not all that suitable for the innocent minds of C&H, but these should be ok
Really pretty houses:
This was hilarious:
:pac:
Theres also a random boob in the ground:
Went to Italy in TY, visited Rome, Florence, Pisa, Bologna and a few small towns but it was back in the days of normal camera so all I have is printed photos! (Plus I'm way too snap happy, should stop posting photos now
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Ok.... as I happened to leave my laptop charger at home like the idiot I am, i can't edit/upload more pics from recent travellings. I will however put up what's already online.... unfortunately, they may not ALL be from outside of Ireland >_>
Salthill, Galway (****ing freezing to jump off that, even more craic when you can't swim )
Poolbeg, Dublin. Was really part of my first exploration of Dublin as part of work experience oh so long ago...
Beijing, China
Great wall of China
Hong Kong
All of the above were part of taken when I got my first "Proper" camera. Was quite a short stay over there, but I really enjoyed it. So different over there, and you'd be amazed at the cost of things, and the ways of life....people CYCLING around the place with full sitting room suites attached every which way to the bike...Pure madness. I'd love to go back at some stage, but I think America is first on the list of places to re-visit. It's been about 6 years now and I've really no pics to show from that....
When I manage to get a charger for my laptop I'll get more pics up 0 -
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Forget about the Eiffel Tower, this is the view from Le Tour Du Montparnasse
And behind Notre Damme there's an amazing underground marble chamber that was built as a memorial to all the Jews killed in the seconf World War;
And OR COURSE the Louvre, my favourite section has to be the Ancient Egyptian collegtion because of....
Coolest thing I've ever seen. Ever. Like, seriously.
Munich Zoo is savage, especially when it's Easter Sunday and you're four years of age
There's a really cool Dinosaur Park in Britanny in France somewhere, can't remember off the top of my head. Life size models of all different scenes from prehistoric times! Something I found kind of funny was there was loads of tiny newts and lizards running around the place, mini-dinosaurs 0 -
SarahBeep! wrote: »And OR COURSE the Louvre, my favourite section has to be the Ancient Egyptian collegtion because of....
<piccy>
Coolest thing I've ever seen. Ever. Like, seriously.
Wish I saw all of the Louvre. We spent hours there but only got through 1 wing of it (out of 4!). Listening to the audio tour was really really good 0 -
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challengemaster wrote: »Second is HK...
I kinda feel bad, I'm posting so much here >_>
Whisht! You're photos are teh awesome, and EXACTLY the sorta stuff I was looking for in this thread
Keep posting! Seriously wanna go to China now 0 -
Haven't really been anywhere special, Manchester, London, Madrid, and a couple of sun holidays to Lanzarote..
Apart from that there's just the school trip to Belgium/Germany/Holland I went on in March...
Havent got any great pictures, these are the best I've got...
Brussels
Highlights of Brussels trip were the Wiener Bus:
And the Ass Plate:
The next day we went to the Lindt factory in Cologne, which is literally built on the Rhine (at least I think it's the Rhine, but I honestly don't know)...
GIANT MILKA COW 0 -
Spent under a month doing the thai islands(phi phi, phuket, koh tao, koh samui, koh phangan) and bangkok - def wana do all of south east asia next year its amazing - favourite islands were Koh Phi Phi (don) close by is phi phi leh but no one inhabits it (its where the beach was filmed -its even more beautiful in real life!!) and also Koh Phangan we did the full moon party which was drunk and messy but we went to other parts of the island which were amazing (bottle beach and another place i cant spell)
Stayed at the end of a quiet beach on phi phi in a hut at the foot of a giant mountain which had monkey caves - every morning the monkeys came down on our hut and stole anything we left outside - they were crazy - heres a pic from window/door ...
pic from the lagoon near maya beach i.e "the beach" -we got life jackets and just floated around here for ages and had the craic
and of course the Full Moon experience - i made it out alive - just barely
and also a much nicer part of Koh Phangan ...bottle beach
Under a month was a great first start to travelling - makes you realise what level of hygiene/sanitation you can handle and the type of people you wana travel with and the greatest of all? spent less then people who went on drinkin 2 week hol to crete 0 -
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Pic from inside the louvre....if you manage to spot anything wrong with the photo...it's because there's at least 10 photos merged to get rid of silly people in the way. Probably somewhere in the region of 2 hours in photoshop... so I'm fairly happy with it now 0 -
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I did it last year - cost about 1200-1300 altogether.
Twas awesome.
Route: Budapest - Krakow - Prague - Dresden - Berlin - Amsterdam - Bruges - Brussels - Home. 4 weeks altogether.
Thankees! Any chance you could be even awesomer and give us an estimate of the breakdown of that, flights, trains, accommodation? :P 0 -
QueenOfLeon wrote: »Thankees! Any chance you could be even awesomer and give us an estimate of the breakdown of that, flights, trains, accommodation? :P
The things I do for you
Now this is all off the top of my head but as far as I can remember:
Interrail ticket: 240 euro (the one that allows you to travel on any 10 days within 21 days)
Flights: Eh, it was about 50 over to Budapest and 35ish back from Brussels I think.
Accomodation: 300-350. Shít gets expensive once you hit Berlin/Amsterdam >_< You can get awesome hostels in Budapest & Krakow for 8 euro a night
General spending money: 800-900 for 4 weeks.
Budget for the maximum cost for everything as a precaution - it's much nicer to come home with 300 euro rather than run out of money with a week left to go.0 -
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Ah i see, thanks. I'll try and avoid the night trains so, they don't sound the best, going with the 10 day pass so was planning to get them but they sound like more hassle than they're worth. Now to start saving and try and decide where to actually go and whatnot.
Did you have any issues getting hostels when you were there or had you booked it before you left?
We booked hostels for the first 2 destinations before we left and then booked the majority of the others along the way - like, 2 or 3 days before we planned to arrive there. We didn't book a hostel in Dresden or Bruges and spent hours in both places walking around looking for a hostel Very frustrating, tiring, boring and it made everyone cranky >_< Then in Amsterdam we left it very late to book a hostel and only very expensive ones were left. We all agreed that booking hostels in advance was the way to go - yes it takes out a little of the spontaneity but it's MUCH preferable to wasting half a day dragging bags around a city trying to find somewhere to stay and then paying way more than you would have if you'd book :0 0 -
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Thought I'd dig up this thread!
Few pictures from London a few weeks ago. Pictures aren't the greatest as it was pouring rain the first day so I couldn't take too many, and my poor camera is being held together with bits of paper =P
Buckingham Palace:
Big Ben and Houses of Parliament across the river:
I randomly found out that the ceremony for the Queen's birthday was 2 weeks after I was there, and there were rehearsals on during the week I was there...it was really cool!
Kate and Williams ACTUAL CARRIAGE!! Ahh!! It was on display in the Royal Mews.
Kensington Palace:
Windsor Castle: (obsessed with Royals? Not at all...)
Trafalgar Square, with a countdown to the Olympics in the corner:
Tower of London: (I meant to get a picture of this from across the river, but didn't get the chance. The buildings that make it up are really lovely, but this pic is from a really bad angle)
View of the Tower Bridge from inside the Tower of London:
Aaaand...I really like this photo
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Vietnam is a beautiful country. People are friendly, money is amusingly worthless, scenery is lovely. Food is hideous.
PLEASE share more about Vietnam! I'm slightly obsessed with that countey, can't wait to go there some day! What part did you visit?
Edit: Didn't realise this thread was so old, sorry
Edit I've been to France, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, the US, the UK and Hungary. Nowhere very exotic
Most recent was Budapest, in January. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it definitely surpassed it! Even though it was fairly cold when I was there (about -2 to -4 during the day, apparently it was -20 the week before :eek:) I really enjoyed it. It's a gorgeous city with some amazing achitechture and history. I found the people generally friendly and helpful, and welcoming towards tourists. There's loads of museums and interesting touristly stuff to do there, and most of the museums are quite cheap if not free. Shopping is good too, many of the same clothes shops as Ireland, except bigger with better selection
There's loads of good restaurants too and food is generally cheaper than here. The public transport is also great - always punctual and relatively cheap. I found it a little funny seeing how well they manage in cold conditions when Ireland basically comes to a standstill at the first sign of snow :rolleyes:
I miss Budapest. If I were to go again, I'd wait until Spring or Autumn when it's warmer. I'll add some pics when I locate them!0 -
Oh god.. when I read threads like this... I realize that I won't be going to college for a long, long time :pac: Just... a few MOAR gap years to travel
Never went on a foreign family holiday, but I've been to Paris and Barcelona with my school.
Paris was absolutely beautiful. Didn't like the people so much! Drivers were a bit mental, too. Other than that, I loved it. We only did very tourist-y things, but I'd love to go back some time and just hang out. I remember one evening we went to eat in this tiny little arts square, think it was near Montmartre, and it was just totally idyllic. Artists everywhere, totally chill atmosphere, beautiful evening, and a stunning view of the Eiffel Tower.
Don't remember a whole lot about Barcelona. We spent more time just hanging out as a class than paying attention to the city. We did however go on a bus tour, and I remember some of the architecture being fascinating. La Sagrada Familia is one of the most wonderfully strange and beautiful buildings I've ever seen. Shocking to think that it still won't be finished in our lifetimes. I was DYING To go up in the elevator, but we didn't have time.
(Not my pic, but for anyone who doesn't know what it looks like...)
Whatever about the French drivers, the Spanish are a million times worse. You'd be afraid to cross the street sometimes :pac: I remember we walked to the beach one day, stopped for a Cornetto every 5 mins (it was very, very warm for an Irish person!). Beach was grand, but there's a massive dip after you go in a couple of feet. One minute the water is around your ankles, the next you're neck-deep Port Aventura was deeeeeeeadly, as expected. I think we spent more time having a laugh in the hostel than sight-seeing Can barely remember what we did. We went to Newcamp, but I've no interest in soccer, so I didn't give a toss :rolleyes:
Still haven't gotten my photos developed from either trip (2nd year + TY)
Moving to the UK before July. Going to London for a day in July. Hoping to go to Gamescom in Cologne later this year. Also hoping to go to PAX Prime in Seattle. I can't see myself doing anything other than inter-railing next summer.
Need. MOAR. Travels.0 -
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