What place would you most like to go back to?

For me it would have to be Berlin.

The city is one steeped in history and great beauty. I would also like to get the tour guide we had back, because he was amazing!

That trip was the best one of my life, with all me school, and being on top of the Reichstag at night, with the lights of Berlin all around, and all we were bothered about was looking at my mates phone to find out the Norwich vs Liverpool score lol. Good times.


Anyways what place would you most like to return to one day?

I would say Australia, but given that I'm heading back there in May I'll say Norway.

I found it to be a fascinating country, beautiful scenery, excellent food, extremely friendly people.

The one downside of a place like Oslo is the cost, which to most people will be extraordinarily high. It is a difficult place to stay for more than a weekend on your average Western European wage. The benefit of that, though, is that the city is immaculate. Transport is otherwordly in comparison to that of the UK, particularly the trains, and the quality of planning and finish to the streets and buildings of the city scream out 'money'.

Well worth a visit.

I'd say Rome in Italy, everything about the place was fantastic. From the food to the scenery. Everyday I'd have at least 5 slices of pizza from anywhere it was sold because it was just as good as the last if not better at times.

The transport was excellent, tube trains were spacious and air-conditioned which was a nice feature because of how hot it was during the summer. Around the city there were open taps where you could fill up your water which was great because of how water I drank just trying to keep cool.

The hotel was excellent, the breakfast buffet they provided was always top-notch.

Very good place to visit and I can't wait to go again this summer or next.

When I win the lottery I'll summer in Saratoga, NY, and winter in Australia & New Zealand.

BENIDORM

The womb.

aja424 wrote:BENIDORM

Ha, a fine choice.

Went there with a bunch of mates for my stag-do.
Afriend of a friend was an ex public school boy, very well spoken and clearly educated well but not snobery was apparent at all.

Anyway a couple of months later he went on a weekend to Valencia with his GF.
He done a day of the usual sight seeing but then said to her that they should get a train to Benidorm an hour away.
Both admitted they loved it, particularly 'Sticky Vicky'.

Electric Demon wrote:The womb.

It'd be best for all of us (apart from your ma) if you did Demon

Doesn't cost an arm and a leg to stay warm!!

Dublin. I love it. Oh and I'm going next week!

Bergamo in Northern Italy. I first went there in 1997 when I was interraling around France and Italy.

It's a two-tiered town joined by a funicular. Wonderful food and awesome architecture and history. It has a great atmosphere, especially in the early evening.

Cyril, thanks for that, would love to hear about your inter-railing experience, thinking of doing it for a couple of weeks next year - where did you go, what did you do, for how long etc?

Cheers

FoF,

I went with a mate for 3 weeks in 1999 (I was wrong in saying '97 because it was the year France won the World Cup in football and we arrived in Paris on Bastille Day the day after they lifted the trophy - busy and loud and quite an experience!).

I can't remember all the finer details but here's a bit of info.

I bought a zonal ticket which covered France, Italy, Slovenia and Greece - although we spent so much time in France and Italy that we never made it to Slovenia or Greece. A shame, but you can only fit so much in. I think the ticket cost around £200 back in '99 (I had a Young Person's railcard so that may have been with a discount - but prices will have changed a fair bit obviously). That ticket covered all regular rail travel except for the French high-speed trains (TGVs).

We only booked accomodation for the first couple of nights in Paris (because we knew it would be so busy) and then played it by ear. We didn't really have a set plan but after the first two days we wanted to keep on the move, unless we found somewhere we really liked and wanted to spend more time there. We tried to keep the train journeys fairly short between towns/cities so that we weren't spending ages on the trains and generally booked into either youth hostels or cheap hotels on spec. We had a few guidebooks for recommendations (the days before smartphones!) but also just asked at Information Points at stations. We often saw two different places in one day for variety.

Main towns/cities visited (that I can remember): Paris, Avignon, Lyon, Arles, Saint Marie De La Mer, Marseille, Ventimiglia, Genoa, Florence, Bologna, Parma, Verona, Venice, Bergamo, Milan.

We did a combination of different things while we were there: the usual tourist things like castles, city walls (Avignon/Bergamo - both lovely places) cathedrals (Florence etc), a bit of culture like the Dali Museum/exhibition in Florence. We had a bit of a beach weekend at Saint Marie de la Mer which was a nice rest before we headed east to Italy. We hadn't planned on staying that long, but missed the last bus on a Sunday and got trapped! My mate was really into his wildlife and photography so he loved some of the nature reserves in the South of France. As I mentioned I loved Bergamo as it was a nice change from the hustle and bustle of places like Venice, Florence and Milan, especially as we were there in the height of the tourist season. Food was obviously fantastic in both countries and even on a fairly modest budget we were getting great picnic lunches to take out with us.

My French was ok for basic stuff like ordering food, tickets and directions and my mate was pretty fluent. Our Italian wasn't so good but it was never really a problem.

I think I was just lugging round an 80 litre rucksack and I guess the worst bit of the trip was probably feeling hot, sweaty and unwashed a lot of the time. Make sure you've got plenty of bottled water if you're out and about in summer. You don't have a base so you need to plan what you're going to take quite carefully although obviously you can get stuff laundered en route. I'm not sure we did though... If you are planning on going in somewhere a bit swish in the evening you quite often find most of your clothes are at the bottom of your rucksack, creased, covered in sand with the aroma of donkey.

As I mentioned, we went for 3 weeks and I think the ticket was valid for longer, but I needed to get back to work. It was a fantastic experience and a really good way of seeing a fair chunk of Europe in a reasonably short space of time. I think the key is finding a balance between tearing around and not really seeing that much of each place and staying too long in a few places and wasting your ticket on not seeing enough variety. If I was to do it again I wouldn't have gone at that time of year as it was VERY busy in most places and a bit too hot for lugging a rucksack around all the time.

Usual safety precautions apply obviously especially as you've almost always got all your valuables on you.

Good luck if you choose to go and let me know if you have any queries. Obviously my info is a good few years out of date now.

Thanks Cyril, sounds like a great trip. Will think of any questions I might have beforehand.

Fists of Fury wrote:Thanks Cyril, sounds like a great trip. Will think of any questions I might have beforehand.

No probs

Going back is a difficult one as there is the danger that you won't have as good a time again and there are so many more places to see that you won't have been to before.

Having said that I don't feel that I had enough time in Vegas or new York to rule out going back.

A few years ago I went to the Rhine valley as well and only briefly passed through part of the black forest. That is definitely somewhere I would like to explore further as the scenery was stunning.

I can't however comprehend people that go to the same place over and over again when there is so much more out there

Abruzzo. There is a place on the Adriatic coast called Pineto. It's not the most beautiful place in the world but it hasn't been discovered by us yet and the sea is warm and placid. just great memories. All around that area is really lovely. There's a small medieval town called Atri which has to be seen.


I also have great memories of Perm in Russia but it was damn scary. If you ever get the chance to go, do it. they are mental but really friendly.

Id like to go back to Boracay, a little island in the Phillipines I spent some time on when I was travelling back in 1990-91. Completely unspoilt, very hard to get to and just full of other travellers. Just living day to day in a beach hut and getting drunk on local beer for a couple of dollars a day.
Sadly Im now 45 not 23 and the island from what I here is an exclusive Japanese resort with a fair few proper hotels. Id probably still have a great time but it would probably also break my heart in many ways as well.

Pamplona and Biarritz are both fantastic, love the Basque country and northern Spain. Also enjoyed staying in Bayonne.

Malaga and Fuengirola are nice but there's way too many Brits down there to have a really good holiday abroad.

I was in Stockholm last month(Sewden- Rep Of Ireland) game.

Loved the city, great bars, very nice along the river.

People were friendly.
The fact that it was for a footie match made it a bit better.
But I loved the place itself.

Wouldnt mind going back.

Istanbul – Was lucky enough to spend two months in Turkey 3 years ago and fell in love with the place.
Istanbul had a fantastic mix of history and nightlife.

Nepal – Same trip from 3 years ago. Trekking routes were well marked to the extent that me and the wife could walk without a guide. Mountain scenery was spectacular and I got to witness vultures eating a dead horse (cooler than it sounds)

Costa Rica or Colombia.

Princeville/Hanalei on the North shore of Kauai (the most North Westerly of the Hawaiian islands). Stunning scenery, some of the worlds best unspoilt surf beaches, 2 great golf courses, plenty restaurants and a good chilled out vibe.

Having just completed a three week holiday in England ( flying back to Australia tomorrow) I still have the urge to return to Exmoor again - despite having had three visits which included the area in the last few years. Must have been imprinted on me as a boy and every time I leave there is a touch of sadness in knowing I won't be seeing those hills again for a while...
Hasten to say there are many other places in the UK which appeal - and a few I've not yet visited but are "on the list" ; but Somerset/Devon just gives me a feeling of happiness I can't quite replicate anywhere else : plus herself is besotted with the place and keeping her happy is an end in itself !
ps thanks for the lovely weather these last few weeks

Hull. The women are pure filth there lol

Been there a good few times, but always like to go back to Kenya.