I have around two months to kill, primarily in northern America and Europe, where should I go, and why? This is in August/September, and I will be avoiding cold at all costs, so please don't mention an awesome ice festival in Greenland.

Currently on the cards:
NYC
Florida for shuttle launch
Caribbean cruise
Edinburgh Tattoo
Greek Isles cruise
South France and Spain beaches

Suggestions?

New York is awesome, but I wouldn't recommend going in summer, it's hot and humid and in a big smelly city that's just not that fun, also with summer brings all the tourists and holiday-makers and the footpaths get unbelievably crowded. You just end up desperately trying to find places that are cool and away from the crowds... Might be ok by end of August/September though.

L.A. and Vegas, on the other hand, are perfect in summer. L.A. is just made for summer, with great beaches.

In Vegas I could practically feel myself evaporating whenever I stepped into the sun. This, coupled with the awesome resort-hotels with gigantic swimming pools they have made me wish I was staying much longer than I did (also, accomodation is much better and cheaper in Vegas than the rest of the country cause they expect you to gamble everything away). The Grand Canyon's not too far away either which is pretty spectacular.

Already done LA and Vegas - definintely agree about vegas thought!! Absolutely love the heat. Can't say the same for LA, couldn't wait to leave.

If I were to ignore your NY advice, what would you suggest I see while I'm there?

Yeh a lot of people hate on LA, but I went with my granddad a few years ago and we did a more cultural circuit, seeing art museums and stuff, and it was f***ing awesome.

The only places I have been to that you don't already have on your list are Rome and Japan. Both are great. Only bother with Rome if you're interested in the history and art, and only bother with Japan if you can hack no one being able to understand you.

More Roman ruins in Turkey then Italy ... also Gallipoli.

Edinburgh Tattoo

Isn't that both massively expensive and hard to get tickets for ?

It's funny, the first time I went to L.A. I was the same, but I didn't know where to go or what to do (I actually went to the CBD, haha :P).
The second time I went we hired a car (a mustang, woo!) and cruised all over the city just sort of hanging out instead of trying to do the tourist thing and it was SO much fun. If I ever heard someone was going to L.A. I would tell them they have to hire a car or it's not worth it.

It's tough to recommend what to see in New York cause there's just so damn much, I'd really need to know what kind of things you're into. There's the obligatory free Staten Island ferry past the Statue of Liberty (haven't bothered to actually go to the statue directly, didn't feel like I was missing out on much), Ground Zero, and I suppose the Empire State Building observation deck. Though if you want my insider tip, the deck there is higher but a highly inferior view compared to the one from the top of Rockefeller Center (called Top of the Rock) which gives you almost a full 360° view of the city, AND you get to look AT the Empire State Building! It has way shorter lines, way less tourists, and is even better at night.

Central Park was the best place to be in summer, find yourself some Indians for a PUG of cricket. ;)
The Guggenheim was awesome, but for me that was mainly for the exhibit they had on at the time, which I doubt is still there.

I'm sure I'm forgetting things. Way too much to list really, do a bit of reading and see what sounds like you might like (those 'Top 100 things to do in New York' where they just have a line or two about each one are great for picking and choosing).

Edit: (couple of ninja edits)

Even that general run down was awesome, thanks kos. I really don;t know much about nyc, except for the feeling I need to see it!

Isn't that both massively expensive and hard to get tickets for ?

Yes and yes, but it's more than worth it for me. I am in love with Scottish culture and pipe bands, plus my dad's side of the family is from Scotland and a brother played in the tattoo a few years back.

Gallipoli is a great suggestion. Not big into history and art exhibitions though (aka rome/most of europe). More interested in modern cultures. That and anything involving the sun.

I am scared of the Northern Hemisphere. The toilets flush funny.

Not to mention their seasons are all back to front.

Although I am super keen to hit up NYC at some stage.

Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August is awesome. Great buzz over the city and heaps to do and see. Parties every night. But yeah, Scotland... it's cold.

If you want modern you should hit asia. Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, HK, KL.

Go to alaska, i went right near christmas a few years ago and it was AWESOMe. though camping in -30 degree weather might not be your bag?

More interested in modern cultures

so no go for the pyramids of Egypt

Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August is awesome. Great buzz over the city and heaps to do and see. Parties every night. But yeah, Scotland... it's cold.

Yeah, was planning on seeing that while I'm there. Plus this year is some sort of 'Scotland' Celebration going on all round the country, for the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns' birth. It will be warmer in Aug than it was when I went in December last time :|

If you want modern you should hit asia. Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, HK, KL.

I said, modern, not insane.

so no go for the pyramids of Egypt

Not my cup of tea.

How bout Dubai? I had a friend that's been there in the last couple days, he said it's awesome.

sparrow tokyo is AWESOME, its not nuts, very easy to get around, everything is in english. DO IT.

i recommend you stop wasting your money on travel and buy shares

I went to Austin on the weekend - simply the bomb. I can't recommend it enough. It's like a parallel universe, a bizzaro world of Brisbane. I've never felt so welcome, makes you really appreciate the simple stuff. - it's such a warm, vibrant place.

check out my photos - http://picasaweb.google.com/whitepa/AustinTX8th9th10th2009?feat=directlink

This is a pretty good 'stuff to do' resource.

Austin is pretty cheap living, although, you do need to tip.

ibiza - if u want to burn through some cash

^^ indeed.

Bank of America Shares are up to $11, from under $2.
Superform was spot on with his estimation it seems!

Got balls? Get yourself onto the Trans-Siberian Railway and then head through eastern europe

Pfft, buying shares and travel are not mutually exclusive.

yah what jadz0r said, vladivostok to moscow, st petersburg, berlin, munich, maybe amsterdam, london, barcelona, greek islands, ny, chicago, la, san fran, tahiti on the way back home

ok 2 months is not enough for that :(

I don't have much time to do any sort of justice to this at the moment, so PM me and I will hit you back with some ideas in the next few days (land back in Brisbane on Thursday morning). I've been to 20+ countries in Europe in the last 2.5 years, so may be able to give you some help.

Got balls? Get yourself onto the Trans-Siberian Railway and then head through eastern europe

dont need balls. my old mans done it twice. i came home the other way.

depends what you want to do and when you want to go. NY is the bomb. Vegas, 3nights min. Miami is ok too, the rest of the states i have no time for.

berlin, rykavic, riga, bergen and warsaw are somewhere up the time of my fav destinations.

if you want to bang loose women, get to the greek islands.

if you want to take drugs & rave, get to ibiza.

f*** u sit at home - buy shares - watching it slowly grow over time f*****s.

GO AND LIVE UR LIFE AND ENJOY THE WORLD ffs

If you're still away at the end of september - oktoberfest in munich. See you there!

august and september are really great in germany, something, schutzenfest, oktoberfest in bavaria

Cool thread, good timing...

I was made redundant on Friday, so I am going traveling over the Euro summer and already had some ideas, was already thinking of Trans-Siberian Railway.

Given me a few ideas alright

nowai!

s*** must be serious in the big money world heards eh?

ya it's f***ed :/

9.5 years with the company....

Nice phat payout though and in euro's :D

I'll take 6 months off and then look for a job in the new year back home

I'm going to Japan next year. Anyone got any tips? Will be there for two weeks.

Youre in Dublin Heardy? Know a few people there in the same boat or have been job hunting since late last year :/

Oktober fest rocks, deffo do that. And try get out of the city. Theres an awesome little monistary about 45mins (15min on autobahn) drive away... best pork knuckle ever, and have these massive spew sinks. gold.

trans sib would be awsome, if you had a few mates. deffo do some home stays too. old man keeps raving about it.

mate, chess board, bottle of 50p vodka, and watch the world go buy. awseome.

...and have these massive spew sinks. gold.

Hehe, spent some time in a frat house in Erlangen last year, they had the same thing. They called it the pope (Because you'd kneel down in front of it). Germany is great.

+1 to Barcelona. points for berlin also. If you want a change of pace try Marrakech (Morrocco) went there for a bit recently. If you have a bit of time do a trip through the atlas mountains into the saharah. its pretty pro.

Yah did running of the bulls and Oktoberfest last year, totally kicks ass.

Trans-Sib is something I am considering.

Yeah Infidel based in Dublin, I am just going to travel for a couple of months then head home late Aug/early Sept, take a few more months off and worry about a job in the new year.

I want to get up to Helsinki and Stockholm and places like that as well as the usual Spain, Italy, Russia stuff.

Turkey was f***ing unreal was there for ANZAC day (in Galipoli no less!) ANZAC cove is something else, go and look at that, one of the best things I've ever done!

last edited by HeardY at 22:10:56 19/May/09

Ok, have a bit of time up my sleave so can make a bit of a go at this.

Firstly Heardy, that sucks mate. I got made redundant in December, and haven't been able to find anything full time since, hence why I'm going back tonight. The Ireland job market is mega tough at the moment - I know my former company (recruitment for the banking sector) are thinking of closing their office there as it's just not performing. However, having the freedom to do what I want and travel of the last few months has been great, so yes defo make the most of it!

Now, travel wise, places I can recommend:

Highly
Greece - Athens is vastly different to the Islands, but defo worth seeing. A little pricey, but for the sheer age of the sights you will see it's hard to beat. As for Islands, we went to Santorini - spectacular. Brilliant scenery, a live volcano you can climb, hot springs, beaches, MEGA TASTY food, and you can hire quad bikes, scooters, etc to cruise around the island in.

Barcelona - so so good. It's pretty huge too, so you will not run out of things to see and do. And there always seems to be some sort of festival on as well. Again, great food, unbeatable weather and some nice beaches.

Denmark - it's small enough for you to do the whole thing in a week. Would probably make sense to hire a car to cover it, but in summer time it's absolutely brilliant. Without a doubt the HOTTEST people on earth too - my neck was sore for several days after following so much eye candy around. It's a bit pricey (as is all of Scandinavia) as they have a 25% tax across the board on everything. But the quality of life there is unsurpassable.

Stockholm - didn't really know what to expect when I got there as it was my first Scandinavian trip, but it was well worth it. Great mix of old school, heritage stuff and cutting edge design. Food was good, not brilliant (big focus on seafood from memory) but again incredibly attractive people, a pretty sweet river you can do a cruise on, and this enormous national park right in the middle of town that is an open air museum of the history of Sweden. It also has a pretty cool zoo too - I saw a Lynx!

Other places I would recommend are:

Paris (at least 4-5 days to do it properly)
Brugges and maybe Brussels, although it is a little boring.
Lisbon
Italy - anywhere except Naples (although you have to go through it to see Pompei)
Berlin (pretty good, but probably 5-10 years away from being THE place to go to)
Prague
Vienna
Budapest (could probably do the last 4 in a row via train/coach fairly easily)
Driving tour of Scotland/Ireland

There's a few other places I've been, but nothing I would necessarily say is a must do. My girlfriend has been to Iceland (cheap as chips at the moment due to their s***ty economy), Turkey and Egypt, and loved all of them.

the real question is where is the best place to get a decent r00t?

Dont say BangmyKok.

If you're still away at the end of september - oktoberfest in munich. See you there!

f*** yes, I'll be there for this! Probably my last stop on the way home.

infidel, looks good, cept I'm going in the opposite direction - starting in western Canada and working my way east.

I think I might save the Trans-Siberian Railway for another trip - would like to do china at one end, but not this time around.

HeardY, have any suggestions where I should go in Ireland? I have about a week there, and another week or two around scotland (not including Edinburgh festivals).

This is all great, keep the ideas coming!!

Sparrow, hit up the Ring of Kerry (and Cliffs of Mohr or however it's seplt) and Cork (South West Ireland), Galway is awesome too, Kilkenny and Dublin on the West Coast and the Giants Clausway up the North is something else, make sure you see that!

stop saying defo you fags

pork knuckle sounds disgusting

the real question is where is the best place to get a decent r00t?

Ok, let me tell you a little something about the Greek Islands. Consider the following,
1. Now im not the best looking bloke around, but Im no way the ugliest.
2. I went there with 30 blokes, who where all trying to f*** your r00t up. By that i mean one guy pissed on a girls foot in the night club.
3. I didnt shower for a week. I wore the same footy jersey to the clubs each nigh, and just had a swim for a wash..
4. Every bloke was maggotted. Pints with breaky everyday, drinking till 6am.
5. I shared a room with 2 other smelly blokes.
6. One night as punishment, I wasnt allowed to talk to any girls. I had to communicate via writting on a notebook.

Now considering all the above, I still got 5 from 5. All over a 6/10. One bird a cop, pretty hot.

One guy "Dan" had crashed out early. This hotty bar tender asked me about 3am, where is Dan, I want to f*** him. I took her to his room. He didnt even have to leave his room to pull.

Thanks for the mooby, that completely turned me off Greek Isles.

Anyone been to Croatian Islands?

Croatia is meant to be kick ass... you can do a cruise/sail around Croatia, I am looking at doing it myself.