Archived threads in /trv/ - Travel - 151. page

Forgot to mention I'll be traveling solo or with a single friend at the very least. Also, forgive me for the autistic intro, I'm quite high right now.

>>1238776
>From what I read Tokyo is the bigger city and has a ton of attractions, while Osaka is more 'peaceful' and has better food.

Eh, that's not really true. Osaka is a big city like Tokyo, with the same vibrant lifestyle and big city feel. Foodwise it depends where you go really, you can find good and bad Japanese food there in both.

>I'm hesitant to go to Tokyo as I'm scared it'll be overhyped like most tourist traps and it'll be more expensive

I think you have a wrong image of Tokyo. There are "tourist traps" in the city (e.g. Robot Cafe in Shinjuku) but generally it's just a normal city that many people live in.

If you have any more questions, asking in the Japan General might also help

>>1238776
Both Osaka and Tokyo are great. Osaka is slightly cheaper. Both have great night life, both have great food, Osaka probably has a slight edge on the food side.

You could just fly between the two, how many days are you in Japan for ?

>>1238678
Research the country's past and future. There a Salone(that's what they called the country)videos and news spots on Youtube. Also get the Lonely Planet guide to West Africa. Talk to expats and locals.

>>1238678
I went to Lumley beach/Freetown a few years ago it's an awesome city, everybody speaks english for the most part and qt girls throw themselves at you even if you're a black guy from the West.

Outside of that area I wouldn't go anywhere because of rebels/crime/disease galore. If you're filming out in the bush don't wander too far from your security there's landmines and shit there too. Bring a bunch of mosquito nets

>>1238678
Oh, and if you're going anywhere in W. Africa need to brush up on common scams, like the guy who sits down at your table after you've run up a large bar bill and claims he is the waiter/manager and walks off with all your money or the guys who bump into you on the street and drop their phone claiming you broke it. Plus the guys who drop a wallet in front of you and wait for you to pick it up "There was one thousand dollars in here! Mbutu you took it"

If you're with a film crew I assume you have a local fixer/guide I would always go out with them

Watch some air crash investigations and realise how many crashes happen purely due to maintenance and human error and that fear should come right on back

>>1238596
>how many crashes happen

Cant be more than 2 or 3 a year.

>>1238599
thing is, you only need to get lucky once

>>1238513
Well, a cruise lets you experience the best of some islands (daytime beach pursuits) with a new location each day. They're also quite inexpensive double occupancy (which you are not). They can be a touch lonely if you get introspective and feel weird dining alone. Immerse in a book or tablet, and you'll be fine, though. What's nice about the islands? Their private island experiences are very well thought out and utterly safe and relaxing. They are what the Caribbean could be if there were no crime or hassles. I think I like RC's island best. If you do nassau you can do a floating day at Atlantis.

Best snorkeling is Grand Cayman. With "The Wall" dropoff nature of the island (it's the extreme top of an underwater mountain), the reef is immediately offshore right on the beach, longstandingly protected from fishing and abuse, and full of friendly released turtles. You can add the Stingray City experience as well. Take a boat out with a guide if you want to do actual diving (and why not? it's a safe place to do it with the regulated industry required skill in your guides and the barometric chamber), or you can take the submarine down the Wall.

Next favorite is probably Key Largo's Pennekamp or Looe Key or maybe take a catamaran out of Key West to snorkel. Combine a drive down into the Keys with a couple great nights in Miami Beach, and you'd have a good time as a single person all week.

Next favorite would probably be St. John. Another rental car needed kind of thing, but Trunk Bay's underwater signs and friendly fish is great, and when you combine it with a day's drive through the national park and sugar mill ruins, and a little hike filled with mongoose sightings you'd be happy. You could do a couple nights at a treehouse kind of eco lodge there, and then hit up Magen's Bay or other beaches on St. Thomas before your week is up.

If you can do without the snorkeling, the west coast of Florida is full of top beaches and cold springs both.

>>1238513
Cozumel Mexico is great for snorkling, you can stay in Playa Del Carmen and take a ferry over there for the day. You can also scuba the reefs there too http://www.reefquestdiversmexico.com/ or take a day trip to Isla de Mujeres for snorkling.

Playa there is really only one major street 5th ave where all the restaurants and bars are located so you just find some other tourists and hang out with them, they'll prob be from Argentina or DF Mexico or other Americans.

Otherwise there is Cuba since you can go there now if American (I think in Sept?), Eagle Beach Aruba, or US virgin islands like Trunk Bay.

Puerto Rico is full of beaches too. Just know what a Manchineel Tree (beach apple) looks like, they grow all over the beaches of Antigua/Florida and the caribbean and you don't want to accidentally touch one or even be near it if it rains/burns they're highly poisonous.

>>1238524

I was told that cruises have mixer dining tables for single people and it's quite easy to make new friends. It's also reasonably easy to get laid if you're halfway good looking. True?

It's really difficult to say for sure, but for the love of christ don't assume that bringing them as unmarked pills will make it any easier for you. It won't.
Because if you have a ziplock bag of 40-50 unmarked pills (which they'll see btw), best case scenario is that they confiscate it. But I would count on being questioned formally about it as well, maybe even detained since the Swiss are pretty strict about border policing. HMRC and the UK Border Force aren't any different to be honest.
Just pack them inside the boxes they came in, marked Armodafinil or something like that. They're not going to ask for a prescription if it's a marked, brand name drug that's of no interest to the Police (it has no real value as contraband).
Just bring it as if it were something you had a prescription for. Trying to hide, unmark or anything of the sort will attract attention and get you in shit. Guaranteed.
Maybe place half of them in your hold luggage too (if you have the ability). 2 small packs of Armodafinil in both of your luggage items won't attract any attention whatsoever. This is coming from someone who knows people that takes heaps of prescription drugs with them on holiday (2-3x your amount) and never get bothered since they're all packaged properly.

>>1238492
Go see a doctor, explain that
1) you've been diagnosed in the past for this disorder ADD
2) you haven't taken meds past the first couple pills but did find that brand/strength to be just right
3) you have gotten some again...uhhh that you found in your old bathroom box from when you moved and forgot you had it
4) you took them this past week and YIKES running out of them (do not explain what you've been doing that isn't prescribed to you EVER)
6) get a prescription and become legit.

I was worried about my antihistamines even when I first started travelling, so I kept them in their original packaging...
Since I got benzos and some other strong stuff in Cambodia due to reasons (all perfectly legal from a hospital), and not even Singapore asked anything... I don't care.
You're more likely get stopped at a festival entrance for it than an airport in ny experience. (I always get questioned cause of antihistamines at festivals.)

Been there, cheap stuff, nice beach, SHIT sea water aka you'll think you're in a lake.

If you don't care about sea quality, go for it

Otherwise, try Greece

>>1238468
I went in the 90s as a teenager with my family. It was really nice and memorable because theyd recently finished being communist, so it seemed really strange to me having never even been abroad before
Nesebur is a short bus ride up the coast, its a little town with some byzantine architechture and some cottagy looking buildings.

I would have reccommended it but for having seen the documentary Sunny Beach. If you like pissed up retarded British people by their thousands, rough seas (I almost drowned in a few feet of water after falling over because of the strong backdrag or whatever its called, and then tumbled over and over) and pine trees, go for it.
Also I developed severe hayfever due to said pine trees. ive never been in proximity to so many of the things, the country from the air looks like its carved out of a pine forest. If youre from a similar country, again go for it.
If youre a fellow southern brit, steer clear.

>>1238674
I saw the documentary a couple of years ago and was really surprised by how much it had changed.

I've been there. Anything in particular you want to know?

Not OP but also interested.

>safety
>costs
>ease of getting around
>food/drinks/parties
>girls

>>1238410
Pretty much what this guy
>>1238414
Said

Let me give you an advice:
Safe yourself the hassle of a long drive. It's not worth travelling much with such a young babby.

Just take a tent, something to eat and drive into a nearby forest to do some camping.

In your marked area there are not really many possibilities. Since I am from Germany, I can tell you that most german cities in your marked area are not really worth driving to. Hamburg can be nice but wouldn't recommend with a small child.

If you really want to travel somewhere though and you like outdoorsy stuff, I can recommend the Black Forest in Germany. It is slightly out of your range but the best bet for a young couple with a child.
Especially now the forest and the mountains are beatiful. You can go hiking everywhere and there are restaurants at every corner. So when your babby is sperging out, you can rest a while and get some wipes and shit.

>>1238379
go camping in the belgian ardennes, or if you want to stay closer to home, the veluwe

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Harz region is great. But maybe save this for a later trip.

>relaxation
>Soviet-era sanatorium

Don't get me wrong, anon, it's going to be amazing, but like... More interesting than relaxing.

Just bumping

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>>1238523
>More interesting than relaxing.
I've got visions of electrodes and equipment that looks suspiciously like a Tesla coil, and a 400lb "Massage Therapist" called Boris.

Ah well, as usual I'm just going to launch headlong into it, see what happens, and have a few good shots of Kyrgyz cognac.

Some soviet-style sanatoria in Russia are now converted into 5*-level hotels and are really worth visiting...
>Jeti-Oguz, Kyrgyzstan
oh, nevermind

seem to be making the most of costa rica with only a week

san jose sucks
it's a mountain valley with half the country riding around 2 cycle motorcycles to get around import taxes on vehicles, it's very dirty

go to cartago instead, try to get up irazu, usually better weather than arenal and there's more on the mountain, a couple of alpine villages

unless you speak spanish nightlife is limited in sj, there is a good sex worker scene if that's your thing

going from the airport to cartago can take up to two hours, it doesn't look very far, but traffic is messed up

>>1238160
>Is it worth spending time in San Jose proper, or should we find a town on the outskirts to visit instead?

Native here, don't waste your time in SJ, go to alajuela, heredia or cartago instead.

>>1238464
Hello native. In your opinion, what's the best beach in Costa Rica? Choose one on the Pacific side and one on the Atlantic side. Also, where are some great places to hike through a rainforest? What are the best places to hike with waterfalls and big trees and all that? I've Googled these questions before but I would love to hear what a native CR person says.

>>1238125
Edinburgh is a must, Glasgow for nightlife, places like St Andrews and the Cairngorms are lovely too

>>1238131
My father isn't big on night life, he loves the sights and food though. I plan on taking him for about 3 weeks to a month. I've traveled throughout East Asia and South East Asia but I've never been to Europe so I know nothing about it, thanks for the advice though. I will look into Edinburgh.

Why not combine the two and do Northern Ireland?

>>1238081
>>>/out/990889

>>1238081
>I'm also bumping this because I'm sick of those fags on /trv/ saying "jus use your phone and Google maps"
NO. It doesn't work like that. If you are on a mountain trying to follow a trail in some 3rd world country you can't just whip out your phone and expect to get step by step walking directions from a fountain in your city park to the nearest Five Guys.

>I want a device that will point me towards my target and keep me on track with a colored map view anywhere in the word and a smartphone ain't gonna cut it.

>>1238322
Why would you even go to places that don't have 4G/LTE?

It's 2017.

>>1238010
The cheapest. But for a long trip, don't go with one that is local or regional -- you want them to have cars and offices and shit near you as you travel along, just in case.

>>1238010
Have you considered buying a used car instead? It might be more practical depending on the length of your trip.

>>1238382
This, renting a car is expensive as fuck and you have to be 25 to rent a car in America for some reason.

>>1237722

Japanese regulations permit a private vehicle import relatively easily.

http://www.customs.go.jp/english/c-answer_e/keitaibetsuso/7306_e.htm

>>123772 Don't they drive on the right in Japan? How can it be street legal?

>>1237744
>How can it be street legal?
In the same way that I can legally take my car to France from the UK and drive it as normal, and it's why some JDM cars can be imported to the US. Consider it a rare piece of international co-operation.

It does make overtaking slightly harder though, thanks to more limited visibility when pulling out.

P.S the Japs drive on the left.

>>1237596
Varanasi, Pushkar or any of the other pilgrimage sites in India though lot's of burning going on so bring your gas mask.

Bhutan, though costs $250 USD a day to be a tourist there.

Luang Prabang in Laos

Israel obviously and Jerusalem

Japanese shrines in the forests

All the Sufi shrines in Pakistan and Turkey you prob can't go to right now due to exploding terrorism

All the crazy elaborate shrines in Iran

Numerous oasis desert monasteries and ancient shrines in Egypt you can't go to either.

Pattaya

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>>1237611
I found the meaning of life in a sacred space in Bangkok called Soi Cowboy. I believe "Cowboy" means "Enlightenment" in Sanskrit.