Has Anyone Booked a Holiday Yet?

[lifted*fox]

Just now, Izzy Muzzett said:

Looks awesome Daz. Glad you had a great time.

 

Is that you on the first set of pics above by the tree with that deer?

 

thanks mate - trip of a lifetime for sure! 

 

yep! the deer were amazing. you could buy little rice cakes for them and then you bow at them and they bow back and then you give them a cracker. 

 

there were some that hung around by the cracker vendors and as soon as you bought some they properly tried to rob them all off you right away, little ****ers. 

[Costock_Fox]

5 minutes ago, lifted*fox said:

no snow monkeys mate but lots of deer! 

 

they had a real habit of posing for photos 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Could have saved a wedge and just gone Braggy Park  

[Jattdogg]

3 hours ago, Costock_Fox said:

Could have saved a wedge and just gone Braggy Park  

Ordered some sushi for dinner and watched some japanese content on youtube.

[Samilktray]

3 hours ago, lifted*fox said:

 

ah man, it was amazing. very full on and absolutely knackered as were up at 6am most days until 12am most nights; just trying to pack everything in! 

 

loved tokyo, kyoto was awesome as were hiroshima and osaka - all different vibes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

just a few of my favourite photos so far. got over 900 in two weeks - lots of choosing and editing to do. these are all a little low quality as they're instagram uploads. 

 

 

 

 

What's your Instagram? Some great photos and a big fan of the NMDs. Would love to get to Japan 1 day 

[Alf Bentley]

On 3/26/2018 at 11:01, Finnegan said:

Has anyone been to Ronda near Malaga? I'd never heard of it until I saw it on a windows lock screen and it looks amazing. I want to go. 

 

Curious to see if anyone has been. 

 

On 3/26/2018 at 11:23, Buce said:

 

Yeah, I've been, Finners.

 

It is well worth a trip (though I dare say it gets more day-trippers than when I went there, 30-odd years ago - you know what it's like once somewhere is 'discovered'). There is enough in the place itself to hold your interest for a couple of days, but if you're into walking there's some magnificent hiking around there. The bullring is particularly worth a visit (I seem to recall it is possibly the oldest surviving in Spain?) which you can do without having to attend a bullfight. It has (or again, did have) loads of genuine Spanish tapas bars and restaurants. I'm guessing the Windows lock screen showed the bridge over the ravine?

 

Edit: Actually, I now realise it was 39 years ago that I was there. Christ, that makes me feel old. 

 

I've been to Ronda slightly more recently than Buce - only about 17 years ago. Doesn't sound like it had changed much then.

 

Definitely worth a visit: spectacular gorge-top location, some handsome buildings & an architecturally beautiful bullring (like Buce, I wandered around it without any ongoing bloodshed).

The town was still very quiet when I visited (in mid-summer, I think), maybe because it wasn't that easy to reach by public transport as I recall (slow train from coast or Córdoba?). There was the odd tourist coach, but not swamped.

A couple of days would be long enough, as it's quite small - unless you're hiking or want a quiet week or something.

 

I remember also visiting nearby villages with cave dwellings and houses built into rocky cliffs. I gather that there are also ancient cave paintings nearby, but didn't visit them.

[Alf Bentley]

6 hours ago, daddylonglegs said:

I'm taking my girlfriend for a couple of days to Paris in June. Never been before - no idea where to stay. 

All suggestions welcome! 

 

I've not stayed in Paris for 8-9 years, so my info might be out of date, but from memory....

- Latin Quarter (5th/6th arrondissement): Very central, atmospheric area even though a lot of tourists, lots of bars/restaurants, rooms cheaper than you'd expect given location, though often small rooms in old, creaky hotels - but decent

- Montparnasse: Bit further south, but still not far from centre (a few stops on Metro), less atmospheric area (though close to catacombs if you're ghoulish), but more modern hotels, probably larger, cheaper rooms 

- Marais: Also central, just north of river, younger trendier area, probably pricier, trendy bars/restaurants, fair few gay bars

- Gare du Nord/Pigalle: Cheaper, downmarket area, probably not the area for a romantic visit (think King's Cross, prostitutes etc.)

- Much further out: Paris has a lot of big chain hotels further out (often beyond the 20 arrondissements) if you like places like that - often functional places in bland areas, but with fast public transport links to centre.

 

"Rough Guides" will have fuller info.

 

[Unabomber]

7 hours ago, daddylonglegs said:

I'm taking my girlfriend for a couple of days to Paris in June. Never been before - no idea where to stay. 

All suggestions welcome! 

I took mine in Feb and we stayed at hotel Caron in le Marais district. Would recommend it, it’s a really cool area although it is quite pricy. 

[Buce]

1 hour ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

 

I've been to Ronda slightly more recently than Buce - only about 17 years ago. Doesn't sound like it had changed much then.

 

Definitely worth a visit: spectacular gorge-top location, some handsome buildings & an architecturally beautiful bullring (like Buce, I wandered around it without any ongoing bloodshed).

The town was still very quiet when I visited (in mid-summer, I think), maybe because it wasn't that easy to reach by public transport as I recall (slow train from coast or Córdoba?). There was the odd tourist coach, but not swamped.

A couple of days would be long enough, as it's quite small - unless you're hiking or want a quiet week or something.

 

I remember also visiting nearby villages with cave dwellings and houses built into rocky cliffs. I gather that there are also ancient cave paintings nearby, but didn't visit them.

 

Did you visit any of the other 'White Towns' in the region, Alf? At the time I visited Ronda, Franco had only been dead 18 months or so and Spain (particularly Andalucia) was extremely underdeveloped - in the rural areas it was like a third world country - and some of the villages around Ronda could only be reached by mule tracks over the mountains. As I recall, Ronda itself hadn't long been connected to the road network. Really quite remarkable when you look at Spain today.

Edited 9 April 2018 by Buce

[Alf Bentley]

31 minutes ago, Buce said:

 

Did you visit any of the other 'White Towns' in the region, Alf? At the time I visited Ronda, Franco had only been dead 18 months or so and Spain (particularly Andalucia) was extremely underdeveloped - in the rural areas it was like a third world country - and some of the villages around Ronda could only be reached by mule tracks over the mountains. As I recall, Ronda itself hadn't long been connected to the road network. Really quite remarkable when you look at Spain today.

 

I did visit 2-3 villages that time, though I cannot remember names and it was a brief tour. As I recall, I flew into Malaga, went to Ronda and a few nearby villages (at least one with houses built into cliff faces), then went to Seville/Cordoba to meet the wife and mother-in-law. That was about 2001, I think, so much later than your visit.

 

I can well believe what you say about Andalucia 18 months after Franco died. Indeed, the scale of development in Spain (and Ireland) since the 1970s is a point that I've made in favour of the EU in other threads, counter-balancing some of the EU's failings. Sounds as if you're in an even better position than me to make that point from personal experience. I first visited Spain in 1981 and only visited Northern areas that time (Aragon, Navarre), then Andalusia about 3 years later. Even then, rural areas seemed like the third world at times. Spain still has problems - not least permanently high unemployment & under-employment - but it seems to have developed enormously since the 70s/80s. 

[martyn]

Off to Ukraine this Thursday with a couple of mates as weve always had the (somewhat strange) desire to go to Chernobyl. So got a day trip there on Saturday.

 

Rest of the time we'll be in Kiev so any suggestions for things to do and decent places to eat and drink in Kiev would be gratefully received.

[Buce]

31 minutes ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

I did visit 2-3 villages that time, though I cannot remember names and it was a brief tour. As I recall, I flew into Malaga, went to Ronda and a few nearby villages (at least one with houses built into cliff faces), then went to Seville/Cordoba to meet the wife and mother-in-law. That was about 2001, I think, so much later than your visit.

 

I can well believe what you say about Andalucia 18 months after Franco died. Indeed, the scale of development in Spain (and Ireland) since the 1970s is a point that I've made in favour of the EU in other threads, counter-balancing some of the EU's failings. Sounds as if you're in an even better position than me to make that point from personal experience. I first visited Spain in 1981 and only visited Northern areas that time (Aragon, Navarre), then Andalusia about 3 years later. Even then, rural areas seemed like the third world at times. Spain still has problems - not least permanently high unemployment & under-employment - but it seems to have developed enormously since the 70s/80s. 

 

My inspiration for travelling through Spain at that time was the book, As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (Laurie Lee) and although tourism had begun to take hold on the Costas, it was still in its infancy and didn't really have any impact economically or culturally on Spanish life. The Spain that I saw was essentially the Spain Lee had described some 40 years previously. Despite the obvious benefits that development has brought, I actually feel rather privileged to have seen it as it was then.

[Alf Bentley]

5 minutes ago, Buce said:

 

My inspiration for travelling through Spain at that time was the book, As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (Laurie Lee) and although tourism had begun to take hold on the Costas, it was still in its infancy and didn't really have any impact economically or culturally on Spanish life. The Spain that I saw was essentially the Spain Lee had described some 40 years previously. Despite the obvious benefits that development has brought, I actually feel rather privileged to have seen it as it was then.

 

An excellent book by Laurie Lee. I loved "Cider with Rosie", too. Did that at school as a set book and I was about the only one in the class who liked it - read it again as an adult and still loved it, likewise "As I walked out". Didn't think the third book in the trilogy was as good. Likewise, my jaunt through Latin America in 90-91 was inspired by reading Paul Theroux's "Old Patagonian Express".

 

I know what you mean about seeing a place before it develops (a good thing in so many ways): almost like visiting a previous time. I imagine that people who've traveled at all widely in China in recent decades will feel the same. Shame my Dad isn't around to join in the conversation. He cycled all over Spain in the 1950s, before I was born. I remember him saying how he visited Benidorm when it was just a small fishing village (Franco started to develop the tourist industry rapidly from 1960s, though I presume the impact was very localised to the Costas).

[Buce]

8 minutes ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

An excellent book by Laurie Lee. I loved "Cider with Rosie", too. Did that at school as a set book and I was about the only one in the class who liked it - read it again as an adult and still loved it, likewise "As I walked out". Didn't think the third book in the trilogy was as good. Likewise, my jaunt through Latin America in 90-91 was inspired by reading Paul Theroux's "Old Patagonian Express".

 

I know what you mean about seeing a place before it develops (a good thing in so many ways): almost like visiting a previous time. I imagine that people who've traveled at all widely in China in recent decades will feel the same. Shame my Dad isn't around to join in the conversation. He cycled all over Spain in the 1950s, before I was born. I remember him saying how he visited Benidorm when it was just a small fishing village (Franco started to develop the tourist industry rapidly from 1960s, though I presume the impact was very localised to the Costas).

 

I’d have loved to have had that conversation with your dad - I find endless fascination in travellers’ tales. How long did he spend there?

 

Yeah, even in the late seventies tourism was very much restricted to the Costas. Inland was a different world - in some of the more isolated villages that I visited  I was viewed as an object of curiosity as a foreigner. Your father must have experienced it even more so. 

[Alf Bentley]

19 minutes ago, Buce said:

 

I’d have loved to have had that conversation with your dad - I find endless fascination in travellers’ tales. How long did he spend there?

 

Yeah, even in the late seventies tourism was very much restricted to the Costas. Inland was a different world - in some of the more isolated villages that I visited  I was viewed as an object of curiosity as a foreigner. Your father must have experienced it even more so. 

 

Couple of weeks at a time he was there, I think - holidays from work.

 

Still some adventure left in us yet, Buce, old gits though we be... 

[Buce]

22 minutes ago, Alf Bentley said:

Still some adventure left in us yet, Buce, old gits though we be... 

 

Absolutely, mate. 

[daddylonglegs]

15 hours ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

I've not stayed in Paris for 8-9 years, so my info might be out of date, but from memory....

- Latin Quarter (5th/6th arrondissement): Very central, atmospheric area even though a lot of tourists, lots of bars/restaurants, rooms cheaper than you'd expect given location, though often small rooms in old, creaky hotels - but decent

- Montparnasse: Bit further south, but still not far from centre (a few stops on Metro), less atmospheric area (though close to catacombs if you're ghoulish), but more modern hotels, probably larger, cheaper rooms 

- Marais: Also central, just north of river, younger trendier area, probably pricier, trendy bars/restaurants, fair few gay bars

- Gare du Nord/Pigalle: Cheaper, downmarket area, probably not the area for a romantic visit (think King's Cross, prostitutes etc.)

- Much further out: Paris has a lot of big chain hotels further out (often beyond the 20 arrondissements) if you like places like that - often functional places in bland areas, but with fast public transport links to centre.

 

"Rough Guides" will have fuller info.

 

Thanks! 

 

13 hours ago, Unabomber said:

I took mine in Feb and we stayed at hotel Caron in le Marais district. Would recommend it, it’s a really cool area although it is quite pricy. 

I was looking at that hotel & area. Seems that regardless of where you go in Paris you're going to be paying a premium, much like people coming over to London. 

 

Anyone know the price of a pint?? 

[Alf Bentley]

2 minutes ago, daddylonglegs said:

Seems that regardless of where you go in Paris you're going to be paying a premium, much like people coming over to London. 

 

Anyone know the price of a pint?? 

 

A few years since I've been, but will be more expensive than here - probably quite a bit more, due to the sterling/euro exchange rate.

 

In central Paris, they always used to have 3 different prices for drinks, from cheaper to dearer: at counter, served at table and served on terrace.

Some places also used to put the prices up after 10pm.

 

Places off the main drag will be noticeably less expensive.

[Buce]

10 minutes ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

A few years since I've been, but will be more expensive than here - probably quite a bit more, due to the sterling/euro exchange rate.

 

In central Paris, they always used to have 3 different prices for drinks, from cheaper to dearer: at counter, served at table and served on terrace.

Some places also used to put the prices up after 10pm.

 

Places off the main drag will be noticeably less expensive.

 

Countries joining the Euro spoiled a lot of places for the British traveller. I remember travelling around Greece circa 1981 and living off about £3 a day.

[Costock_Fox]

14 hours ago, martyn said:

Off to Ukraine this Thursday with a couple of mates as weve always had the (somewhat strange) desire to go to Chernobyl. So got a day trip there on Saturday.

 

Rest of the time we'll be in Kiev so any suggestions for things to do and decent places to eat and drink in Kiev would be gratefully received.

Kiev is a great city, I loved the time I spent there for the euros.

 

Have you booked Chernobyl? We went, it’s hands down the strangest place I’ve ever visited but worth it.

 

Things to do- The war museum is really good, loads of military vehicles to have a look at.

 

The monastery is good as well, well worth a walk around.

 

As far as good places to eat and drink, I’ll be honest we didn’t find that many from memory. There is a place that brews their own beer on Khreshchatyk Street.

 

A few pics from Chernobyl and Prypriat...

 

 

Edited 10 April 2018 by Costock_Fox

[martyn]

2 hours ago, Costock_Fox said:

Kiev is a great city, I loved the time I spent there for the euros.

 

Have you booked Chernobyl? We went, it’s hands down the strangest place I’ve ever visited but worth it.

 

Things to do- The war museum is really good, loads of military vehicles to have a look at.

 

The monastery is good as well, well worth a walk around.

 

As far as good places to eat and drink, I’ll be honest we didn’t find that many from memory. There is a place that brews their own beer on Khreshchatyk Street.

 

A few pics from Chernobyl and Prypriat...

 

 

Yeah booked the tour a while back through Solo East. Very much looking forward to it.

 

Will check out the brewpub as my apartment is on Khreschatyk about a 5 minute walk from Independence Square and we're always up for decent beer. Google leads me to believe it might be this one http://kiev.shato.com.ua/en/?

 

War museum looks interesting, one of the group is big on Military Aviation and is forcing us to the Ukraine State Aviation Museum on Sunday so might be overkill if we do that as well, but thanks for the tip!

 

 

Edited 10 April 2018 by martyn

[Costock_Fox]

18 minutes ago, martyn said:

Yeah booked the tour a while back through Solo East. Very much looking forward to it.

 

Will check out the brewpub as my apartment is on Khreschatyk about a 5 minute walk from Independence Square and we're always up for decent beer. Google leads me to believe it might be this one http://kiev.shato.com.ua/en/?

 

War museum looks interesting, one of the group is big on Military Aviation and is forcing us to the Ukraine State Aviation Museum on Sunday so might be overkill if we do that as well, but thanks for the tip!

 

 

To be honest that might be the one I’m talking about anyway, it’s up in the hills under the massive statue.

 

That bar is the one, funny that all the beers are called Slavutych which is the name of the hotel we stayed and just heading that word makes me shudder .

 

Public transport is an experience over there, the buses are tiny and to pay you need to just pass your cash down the bus. The metro was dirt cheap, something like 20p a journey so that’s worth using.

[Costock_Fox]

19 hours ago, Jattdogg said:

Ordered some sushi for dinner and watched some japanese content on youtube.

Yeah just put a bit of Takeshis castle and get a YoSushi in job done.

[Unabomber]

8 hours ago, daddylonglegs said:

Thanks! 

 

I was looking at that hotel & area. Seems that regardless of where you go in Paris you're going to be paying a premium, much like people coming over to London. 

 

Anyone know the price of a pint?? 

Between €7-€10 for a large beer. And that’s the pricy part! 

[Costock_Fox]

Just back from Berlin, first time I’ve been to Germany and it’s fair to say I loved it.

 

So clean, public transport is faultless, incredible beer, incredible food, great atmosphere at the football.

 

I come back from nearly every place I visit thinking I could live there and Berlin is no different. Shame I was only there for a couple of nights.

[isaidno]

Spent this Friday in Luxembourg and Saturday in Cologne. Luxembourg city is a hidden gem. Great scenery, good food and decent beer.