Did you travel lately? Brag about it here!

[shawn]

I drove to Halifax this weekend and played Diablo 3.


I need a life. *sigh*

[RD]

Didn't you stay with a friend? It sounds like you have a life. Anyway, I find when my social life is really active, I kind of can't wait for it to die back down. I definitely need a balance of having a life and being a total loser.

I uh... I'm going to Brooklyn this weekend (that's like three subway stops lol).

[shawn]

Yes, multiple friends, but it sounds more pathetic if I say it the way I did.

[Domitilde]

I'll have to be contented with living through everyone's travels.

[Viti Ligo]

This is where we usually spend vacations lately, mainly because we bought an apartment there: http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=...7-778b8e15f08b

[Lady Rhonwyn]

For my honeymoon:
First New York (or better, just Manhattan), I still don't know if I liked it, maybe not, I'm not really in the american life style. We move to Toronto for visiting the Niagara falls. Awesome. The falls, not Toronto. Sorry, but I didn't like it even a little bit, maybe because I wasn't feeling secure walking in the late afternoon around.
Then a long trip in Canada by car (or maybe a french like place they call Quebec) from Gaspè to Quebec city, lot of trees, animals and whales.
Nice country, great people, if only there weren't so many
"sorry, i don't speak english, only french"!
Anyway, Canadian people are strange, but nice.

Almost my exact experience, except I rather did like Toronto, for as much as I like cities (as I usually ignore them...) I didn't have too much trouble with those silly Canadians who don't even speak the language of the majority of the country, as I was mostly staying in Halifax, Nova Scotia...

Seeing Beren lives in Tuscany makes me remember one of my most interesting holidays... actually 20 years ago. Tuscany was great, a good mix of culture (e.g. seeing Michaelangelo's "David" in Florence) excitement (being in Siena during the Palio) fun (Ferragosto in Viareggio) and relaxing with a glass of wine in warm summer nights .... *sigh*

You know, Italy and Portugal are about the only non-Former-Eastern-Europe countries I've not really visited... I don't count that little trip from last summer when we went to the very north part of Italy, as they speak German there and call their part of the country "South Tirol". I encountered more Italian in the south part of Switzerland...


Oh, Alaris, how did you like Lucerne? That's the only city I've visited multiple times and really like...

[Beren Iluthiel]

You know, Italy and Portugal are about the only non-Former-Eastern-Europe countries I've not really visited... I don't count that little trip from last summer when we went to the very north part of Italy, as they speak German there and call their part of the country "South Tirol". I encountered more Italian in the south part of Switzerland...

*mad eyes on*
Tirol is not Italy!!!! They simply take a lot of money from italian taxes as they are "special" region, but believe me if I say they are italian like I'm sweden.
I really, really, really want you all to visit Tuscany. There are so many little jewels here and there, away from crowded and expensive cities you can visit.
Example? Volterra, San Gimignano, Castagneto Carducci only to name a few. Imagine this: late august or better september, warm nights cooled by a gentle breeze, a glass of good wine and the sight of the sweet hills of the Tuscany country.
If you want, I can help you in organizing your alternative routes, Tuscany is not Florence only.
Do you like sea? No problem, come to my house and you'll be in water swimming like a dolphin in less than 5 minutes.
Good things are meant to be shared. Come! Come now!! -I don't work for any turists organization-

[Lady Rhonwyn]

*mad eyes on*
Tirol is not Italy!!!! They simply take a lot of money from italian taxes as they are "special" region, but believe me if I say they are italian like I'm sweden.

Hey, that's why I said I didn't count that trip as a trip to Italy

I really, really, really want you all to visit Tuscany. There are so many little jewels here and there, away from crowded and expensive cities you can visit.
Example? Volterra, San Gimignano, Castagneto Carducci only to name a few. Imagine this: late august or better september, warm nights cooled by a gentle breeze, a glass of good wine and the sight of the sweet hills of the Tuscany country.
If you want, I can help you in organizing your alternative routes, Tuscany is not Florence only.
Do you like sea? No problem, come to my house and you'll be in water swimming like a dolphin in less than 5 minutes.
Good things are meant to be shared. Come! Come now!! -I don't work for any turists organization-

The problem with Italy, I don't speak Italian, and those Italians I did encounter (not the one in South Tirol) didn't speak English nor German. And I tend not to go to countries where I can't make myself clear... So, no France for me either (though, we went there a lot when I was younger) and Spain I only visited because my in-laws live there (the same with Hungary).

And you can keep the wine, as neither of us drinks

But we were planning on a trip to Spain this year, but postponed it till next year. Simply a camping trip where the drive itself is more important than the destination, if you know what I mean. That's what we did last year as well and we loved it. Let me see if I can get my route in google...

Edit:

ok, google can't handle the amount of points (we had our GPS tracking device on the entire 4000km...)

But this is the Alps part...


Alps.jpg


You can see we hugged the Austrian border there


Edit 2:

Ok, the entire trip:

Trip.jpg

And a detail view of the Stelvio Pass: (we did about 12 passes that trip, if I remember correctly)

Stelvio.jpg

[Alaris]

On language: I think people can really go a long way communicating using sign language and maps and stuff. As long as people are helpful, then I am willing to go to countries where I don't speak the language. It's actually fun trying to communicate with people without using a common language.

[RD]

A lady once asked me for directions, so I showed her Google maps on my phone and tried to direct her and she said "Oh, I can't read a map, can't you just tell me where it is?"