Did a plane spotting trip to Beijing and Shenzen a few years back although only visited the airports. However, did soak up a bit of culture in Shenzen while walking from the ferry terminal to teh airport and found it fascinating - very apparent that out of the main drags it is a poor country with people wading waist deep in a muddy pool to catch fish, trawling for seaweed on a boarded up pallet and scabby dogs looking very nervous. Lovely people though and like Japan, great food, polite and couteous people and a bustling atmosphere. Would like to visit Shanghai at some point in the future.
Most of my travels have been because of work - much to the wife's disappointment - so I've been lucky enough to visit a number of places. Favourites have to be: - Cologne - Vienna - Brussels - Barcelona - Fez - Nice - Monaco - Hong Kong - Tokyo - Fukuoka To name but a few. Places I couldn't necessarily recommend but am glad I've visited are: - Detroit - Nagasaki - Rome
Interesting list Jammis My top ten would be: Venice Sydney Calgary Sienna London (truly a great city and very much overlooked) Bergen Paris Florence New Orleans Rome Valletta Top 5 countries: Canada Italy Australia Norway Malta
I highly recommend New England in the Autumn Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachutsets, Connecticut are all absolutely gorgeous with the white clapboard houses and dazzling array of autumn Golds, Reds, Browns, Yellows and the mellow mists in the mornings. God it makes you feel just great to be alive and you will be in absolute awe at the dazzling beauty that mother nature can bestow!
Have done fair bit of New England myself, but in the late summer, but it's still a nice place. Particularly enjoyed Boston. Americans are nice people, particularly in California and New England. The mental ones are in the Bible belt, and the rude ones are in New York. One thing I hate about America is the tipping! It's a completely different culture over there. I never liked it when the person serving me hinted at, or asked for a tip. It also surprised me when a barman asked for a tip. All he had done was open a can and poured the drink into a glass! Going back on topic, has anyone been to the UAE? Been to Dubai interesting place, and good for shopping, the Burj Khalifa - the worlds tallest building at the time, but I think it's been overtaken now, is very difficult to look at!
The one thing I liked in restaurants/diners out there Carla is the endless free refills! Just try doing that overhere in a Starbucks or whatever!
Inded I did. Maybe I should have said 'on' rather than 'in'. Spent a lot of time there 20 years ago and loved every minute
I had a bit of a downer on Vienna earlier, although to be fair to it I didn't have enough time to visit Schonbrum, which I was disappointed about. If I was to return to Austria though, I think Salzburg would be my next destination. I only passed through it last summer, but the scenery was absolutely breathtaking, some of the best I've seen in Europe. I'm torn between a summer trip with the intent of hiking, or a winter trip and hopefully ski. Seeing as this thread has gone down so well, would anyone like it if we kept the OP updated with a list of where people are after tips for, and a list of places that have been mentioned, with links for easy reference?
a bit further afield, but visited belize in central america 2 years ago fo 3 weeks. supurb! tiny country, but has so much, carribean beaches,second longest coral reef in the world (great snorkling),mayan cites and brilliant wildlife plus ex british colony so they speak english. found people friendly and not to expensive once you are there
Still working my way round Spain, done Barca, Madrid, Segovia, Granada, Ronda, Toledo and Salamanca, just booked 4 nights in Cordoba (Wifes birthday). Did Majorca recently, looked up a decent restaurant and found " Sa Punta" described by Rafa Nadel as his favourite eating place, turned out it's owned by his Dad who on the night was our waiter.
We stayed at the parador which is next to the high bridge and overlooked the huge valley next to Ronda Awesome
an ex-army friend of mine was telling me about his time in Belize, he said that if he hadn't been on tour it would have been great!
The best 'spontaneous' flamenco I ever saw was in a club in Cordoba. Magnificent how the entire place suddenly gets to its feet as soon as they play some 'Sevillanas' flamenco - their own local 'musical dialect'. The Mezquita and the Juderia are obvious targets but hell's teeth, monarch, you won't regret this trip Andalucia rocks.
Budapest is an amazing place I like how it's two separate towns which have developed into a city, it's great crossing the Danube and seeing how either side of the city has a really different feel. We stayed in Pest which I found a lot more interesting then Buda, I really liked the Baroque architecture and the avenues which Pest offered also it was a lot more lively and less touristy. Buda was great with the castle etc but I found it a bit Hansel & Gretel it seemed like a central European village. My major bit of advice with the metro is stamp your ticket using the orange validation boxes, we ended up getting fined by the transport police!
know the parador in ronda well canary max. when i was there last there were a pair of eagles flying BELOW us in the gorge! we stay at a great little hotel near the old arab baths. wonderful views and tapas
a couple of ex forces guys have said the same to me about belize,that it would have been great if they were not training! i am surprised not more brits go as it is an ex colony and they speak english. i have been to cuba and i prefered belize
