• 🇬🇧󠁿 🇸🇪 🇿🇦 🇮🇪 🇬🇭 🇩🇪 🇪🇺
    European & African
    Drug Discussion

    Welcome Guest!
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
  • EADD Moderators: Pissed_and_messed | Shinji Ikari

The Travel Thread - I am lovely and respectful to all in my path PLUR <3 xxxxx

I have been looking at flights to Caracas, as that is where I plan on starting my travelling in 2 years. As far as I can see I can only book flights as far in advance as April next year. Is there anyway that anyone knows of to book flights for April or May 2013, or is that pretty much impossible?
 
You couldn't pay me to go to Caracas, you do know it's sketchy as fuck, people get robbed in broad daylight in the city centre, the tourist police plant drugs on folk at the airport and then extort cash out them or beat them up, all the street kids have guns and will use them. It sounds horrific. Why do you want to go there? It's such a strange place to start your South America travels, makes more sense to start in Rio / Sao Paulo or BA and doing a loop. Cheaper flights too I'm sure.

It's pretty standard to only be able to book about 12 months in advance, you'll not likely get 2013 flights.
 
Didn't really know that about it to be honest, maybe I should change my planned starting place. Not really decided where and in which order I want to go. I originally thought of Venezuela to start at because it is right at the top of South America and I could then go round anticlockwise, also want to go to Angel Falls and that is in Venezuela, although quite far from Caracas.
 
Andy tells his friend, Charlie, about the town of Caracas, South America, where there are eight women to every man.
Click to expand...

Gregory's Girl 1980
 
Spade in another thread said:
Looking at the vatican from the outside was the most interesting bit. Queuing up for hours in the blazing sun to get in wasn't too much fun and neither was any of the stuff inside. There's only so much religious symbols I can look at. I met the pope though, he shook my hand.

No point in asking me where you should be based, I stayed in this campsite / hostel place a bit out of town in a wooden shallet type thing, was great place. Swimming pool, restaurant, bar, club etc. Fun times. Not for you and that poncy husband of yours I wouldn't think, he'll be wanting to fly business class and stay in a 5 star hotel with limo service to the coliseum and vatican no doubt so he doesn't have to wander the dirty streets or mingle with poor people.
Click to expand...
no no no... you've got me all wrong. we just got a limo to and from the airport. ;)

Rome was brilliant. it's amazing how compact the main centre is with all the interesting bits; it was really easy to walk everywhere and we saw nearly everything we wanted to see, from the outside at least. there was no way we were gonna stand in the blazing sunshine for hours outside the Colosseum when we were only in town for 3 days; we were happy enough to just be outside it and see it for the first time in our lives. fucking amazing. ditto the Pantheon, free entry and not what either of us were expecting at all.

it's kinda like a compressed and more ancient Paris: literally every single street has something worth looking at. the architecture is mindblowing in its own right, but when you figure in the age of things and think about the history, it's quite overwhelming. there's no way you could ever do it justice in 3 days so we will definitely go back. need to read up on more Roman history, it's totally fascinating.

lovely people, great service, no problems anywhere not being able to speak Italian, excellent food, plenty access to Guinness. ;) the only bad points were the euro/uk exchange rate and the daylight robbery surrounding the biggest tourist attractions (especially the vatican), but you always have the choice to spend 8 euros on a bottle of Heineken OR just go elsewhere.

in short: ROME: DO IT. :)
 
The Colosseum is much better from the outside anyway, we went in but paid a guide to help us skip the queue and we never really saw the guide again once we got in there, she charged off ahead and spoke through these shitty walky talkys everyone had. Mines didn't work, couldn't hear much from my mates and I'm not sure what language she was speaking in but sounded fuck all like English or Italian. Was cool inside but more epic from out.

What did you think of the Vatican?

Only downside of Rome (at least when I was there) is people smoking everywhere. The ATM nicked some cash off me so I went into the bank to sort it out and the cashier behind the counter was smoking a fucking cig as he served me!
 
hah, yeah it's almost compulsory to smoke there, which suited me fine. ;) the receptionist at the hotel even told us it was no-smoking but it was fine to smoke out the window. :D

i found the vatican to be slightly underwhelming, but again, we didn't have the time/couldn't be fucked queueing to go inside along with thousands of other people. lovely architecture in St Peter's Square of course. there was also a free Pope JP2 exhibition in the building on the left hand side of the Basilica, which was quite impressive. i have no doubt that the Basilica and Sistine Chapel & gardens are amazing, but I know what you mean about all the religious stuff. it kinda comes with the territory, however. ;)
 
Right, vague travel question for you lot. Assume you were going to spend a few months (2-3) travelling round Europe. You have a reasonable budget. Where do you go? What do you do? (Note: taking drugs and extreme sports aren't a particular priority, nor is lying on a package holiday beach. Anything else is cool). Have been to Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Prague, Rome, Florence, Venice, Porto, Lisbon, so looking for other suggestions. Open to anything, tell me your favourite places.
 
You travel round the Balkans / former Yugoslavia particulary Bosnia and get blown away by just how much history is contained in this place. WW1, WW2, 90s war, communism, east meets west etc.
 
Nice, anywhere specific?

(Also bear in mind, this is for me seeing the best of Europe, and probably not coming back for a long long time).
 
come over to Ireland.plenty to see over here and a few BLers to help you.

how about the Baltic states.i have being to Vilinus and what a beautifull city,the rest of the area is ment to be the same.plus it is better value for money than many other places.

my 3rd choice would be to hop around a few Greek islands.
 
In Bosnia jest? Mostar & Sarajevo, stunning, historic, beautiful, is one of the most interesting places I've been in the world.
 
Cheers Spade.

Bogman, definitely need to get over to Ireland, more to see people than for tourism as such. Hoping to make it there this summer, but might not get a chance (Cork, Dublin and Belfast).
 
^ Depends on what you are looking to get out of the experience?

1) Culture/History
2) Beaches, Scenery, Nature
3) Gastronomy
4) Less frequented touristic areas to get a feel of how the locals are
5) Clubbing etc
 
1, 2, 4, 3 in that order, though 3 is nice to have, rather than essential. Not worried about clubbing, drugs, drinking, anything like that

Not too worried about sports, adventure tourism, etc. (your suggestions in the other thread are the sort of things I'm looking for).
 
Well you can't leave Europe without having been to the Greek islands. You have three choices probably due to time constraints, but I will make an assumption that you will be traveling whenever you get time off work. So if you get 5 days off combined with two weekends you could the following.

1) Aegean islands - The Cyclades
2) Crete
3) Combine two islands for that time period in the Ionian

Crete is huge and realistically you need two weeks to get a feel for the island. Same applies to the islands in the Ionian. Large islands with much to see. Thus I will suggest a bit of island hoping in the Cyclades, with a mix of well known and less known, at least to non-Greeks.

I have made this recommendation in the past to friends for many reasons. The islands in the Cyclades are small, and you get the feeling you are on an island all the time. They are easy to get around, have stunning small villages, nice beaches and a very different vibe compared to Crete and the Ionian.

I would get a direct one way flight from the UK to Santorini and spend two days there. It is expensive, but it is rated as one of the best places to visit in the world. I would avoid eating at restaurants or taverns here. Eat simple, i.e souvlakia, pitas etc, and save your money for eating out in the less commercialized islands below.

I would then go to Amorgo for two-three days. The Big Blue was filmed there and has become a bit popular over the past few years with the 20-30's that avoid over commercialized islands. The Chora (Main Village) is great with friendly people. The local specialty is raki psimeni, or Amorgiani. You might have tasted raki in a Turkish restaurant in London, but this is different and is served with honey or the local version with spices. Don't get fooled by the taste, it is almost 30% alcohol. The camping site on the island is popular and has good facilities if you are into that.

Next stop for two days, Koufonisia. The island is small, you can walk around it in an hour! The Chora here is small, nothing like Amorgo's or Santorini's. The island has become popular with the young professional crowd 25-35 who want to get away from reality for a few days. The island has a few small cafes and restaurants and ONE bar! The food on the island is amazing. It is probably the only place in the Aegean where you will not pay prices for fresh fish comparable to gold. The island is well know for its fishermen and thus the few taverns - restaurants will always have fresh fish. From the Chora you walk to the beaches or take one of the small fishing boat taxis...

For your next stop I would let you decide between Paros or Folengadros. Depending on which of the previous islands you preferred you would make your choice. Folegandros is like Koufonisia whereas Paros is like something in between Santorini and Amorgos. Unless you are traveling in August you should be able to find accommodation upon arrival.

I would leave by taking the ferry to Athens, stay there for two days and get a flight back to London. Athens's centre is full of history and activity. If you do ever decide to make it I would happily show you around the local spots in the center and give more specific details for the islands, i.e. where to eat, stay, tips etc.

The islands in the Cyclades are interlinked with ferries so getting from one to another is relatively easy. You could do all the above in 10 days.

Pictures of Koufonisia

Pictures of Amorgos

Santorini

http://www.greeka.com/cyclades/paros/paros-pictures/members-1.htm
 
Anyone reccommend a good travel backpack/website selling them cheaper than in store?

Im going around in circles with the huge number of different styles and brands available.
 
Ghostface, that was awesome and exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for. Thanks :) I'm up for more suggestions (I'm trying to plan a ~3-4 month trip that covers as much as possible).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top