Britbong in Houston. First time in US. What do/see/eat? Should I buy Kevlar?
>>1092512
>Britbong in Houston. First time in US. What do/see/eat? Should I buy Kevlar?
Locals own cars. Rent a car. It's really the only way around Houston safely (and comfortably in the heat). It's a huge sprawling city, with the kind of violent crime that kills you for your Rolex. You avoid that by not being on foot, ever.
Buy some authentic, or even better, some custom cowboy boots to last you a lifetime, such as:
http://houston.cbslocal.com/2013/04/11/best-cowboy-boot-stores-in-houston/
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/west_university/opinion/rocky-carroll-texas-legendary-boot-maker/article_ce9885f2-ce05-5ba4-81d0-255caf368fb8.html
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/01/politics/presidential-cowboy-boots/
Dine at the top 10 bbq brisket joints, hear live music, cajun food, mexican food. There will be a lot of choices, go for the oldest, and highest rated, something that will be in business on your next visit.
http://www.houstonpress.com/restaurants/5-houston-area-barbecue-joints-top-texas-monthly-list-of-50-best-bbq-spots-6439375
There's a brennan's sister restaurant now, and you'll want to have boudin as well as some beinets. Right now is the BEGINNING of peak crawfish season, so have a 3lb platter with some Shiner beer, or a Tito's vodka.
About an hour southeast of Houston (listen to this guy: >>1092523 and rent a car) is Galveston, which is on a little island on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. It's one of the oldest cities in the state and has several things that would interest tourists. They have the old part of town called the Strand, which has tons of restaurants and bars housed in old brick buildings.
They also have the recently-opened Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier, and their one steel coaster is legit. It's run by Landry's which runs several restaurant chains including Rainforest Cafe and Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.
They also have a unique, intriguing attraction: an oil rig parked just a few yards away from the water's edge called the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig & Museum. You can get to it and look inside via a pedestrian bridge.
Ghost tours are also very popular in Galveston. It's supposedly haunted by pirates, wounded Civil War soldiers, and victims from the 1900 Hurricane, the deadliest natural disaster in US history.
>>1092530
Great info from this anon. I haven't been in a couple of decades, sounds like it's got more to do! OP don't be afraid of the dark sand, that's what it looks like from the mud from the Mississippi. It gets prettier the more towards Destin.
And on the way, op might wanna check out the Johnson Space center which is halfway the distance from Houston to Galveston.
Johnson was mission control, if I recall, and I think due to weather, half the shuttles landed in TX, not Florida.
http://spacecenter.org/visitor-information/
In June I'm going to SE Asia alone for 6 months (I might also visit India during the trip). I've been reading lots of horror stories online about malaria, Japanese encephalitis and dengue fever. Should I be worried about catching these diseases or am I just being pathetic?
nah, it's gonna be alright.
protip: when reading up, pay attention to frequency of occurrence of events, aka statistics, rather than individual (horror) stories. When you are reading individual stories try to assess how typical they are.
>>1092508
Nothing to do about dengue but avoid mosquito bites, anyway. But if you get it, yes, you will regret it. Good friend of mine got it in Chiang Mai a few years ago, and she was bedridden and miserable for at least two weeks. We were working there at the time, so it was less trouble for us than it might have been for a backpacker, but two weeks when you can't get out of bed would wreck many trips.
I advocate caution w regard to Japanese encephalitis, too, despite the fact that I lived there for years without getting vaccinated for it and did not get sick (I did eventually get vaccinated for both that and Hep).
The risk of JE is almost vanishingly small. But the consequences are so bad that it's worth avoiding. You won't get it, but if you do, you have a 25% chance of it killing you and a great risk of brain damage if you survive.
>Lviv
>Vienna
>Bratislava
>Zagreb
Which of these cities would be the best to visit for 3-4 days after/before seeing Budapest? I am mostly interested in historical shit and I am kinda leaning to Lviv, however it is the most out of the way.
>unrelated but interesting map
>>1092484
Vienna is great for several days of sightseeing palaces, museum content, and great shopping and food. If by "history" you mean medieval intact buildings stuff you can't get much better than war-protected Prague, but you should stop somewhere inbetween the two cities or take a day trip out of either.
Ex. Melk or Salzburg, Austria, or Cesky Krumlov or Karlovy Vary, Czech Rep or maybe even Dresden, Germany.
It's a pretty common itinerary to do Prague-Vienna-Budapest, as a 3 city tour in about 10 days. They are all distinctly different from each other.
How long will you be in Prague?
>>1092490
I went to Prague in January so I am not going back this trip. I did Prague and Krakow.
Lviv just seems really complicated to get to compared to other cities.
I've only been to Lviv out of all these, so that's what I'll recommend!
It's like Krakow, but less western tourists though it might be more popular now. I went there last year and really enjoyed it!
Also it's in UA so it's very cheap there!
Hi Travelers.
Heading to NYC from Kansas in july, 15-18th to be precise. I''ll be flying into La Guardia, hostel is on the upper west side of manhattan, about 1/4th of a mile from central park. I'm just traveling for fun, have a few things I'd like to do, but no real game plan. Money not really an issue, so there's that.
My Questions:
Best way to get from airport to hostel in a timely manner?
Where can I find street vendors, similar to like they have in south east asia?
Are there any dingy hole in the wall bars I should check out?
Advise/questions/comments?
>>1092460
Not many hostels in NYC. It's not a hostel city. There are three airports so you have a choice. Newark is the closet to midtown Manhattan. Airbnb rentals are illegal here though they are listed on the site. Most vendors sell food:hot dog carts,food trucks,halal(Muslim kosher)food. They are all over Manhattan. Get a Metrocard to use on the subways and bus. Don't even think of renting a car here. Go to mta.info for transit information.
If your hostel is Jazz - it is an excellent choice, congratulations.
The best way to get from LGA to Jazz is Uber. Or if you can't get Ube, get a yellow cab. Don't take unlicenced cabs, they're dangerous.
The second best is to take Q60 SBS bus from LGA to 125 St and then change to another bus headed downtown. It will only cost $2.75, and will be just slightly slower than Uber. However NYC bus and luggage don't mix well.
Street vendors are all over town... but most of them aim to rip off tourists and aren't really a good deal. UWS will have lots of them along Broadway.
Do make a plan - decide what you're interested in, then figure out using hr internet what it is you want to see. Otherwise you'll waste a lot of them.
Check out La Superior in Williamsburg (hole in the wall Mexican place)
>>1092597
NYC airporter bus. Takes luggage and goes to Grand Central and Port Authority bus terminal.
Hey guys,
I'm overthinking my plans for the trip around the world I'm planning. There are two ways I could go:
1. New Zealand -> Fiji -> Vancouver -> New York -> Reykjavik -> Frankfurt
2. New Zealand -> French-Polynesia -> Lima/Santiago/somewhere in the Amazonas region -> Frankfurt
I'll fly in Mai or June next year and the second option would cost about 1000-1500$ more than the first option. The thing is, I REALLY would like to see either the Andes or Amazonia. Also, I'd rather go to French-Polynesia than Fiji. Which route would you guys recommend for this time of the year? I like hiking, wildlife and landscape photography and adventure holiday in general. Is the second route worth my investments?
Also, world travel thread
Oh I forgot something: my trip ends in September. Therefore I'll have about 4 months to explore
>>1092129
>French-Polynesia
You should. It's the tits.
The best places are outside of Noumea, which requires a car or bike, but they're really fuckin good.
Also, are you a Kiwi or is that just the first destination?
>>1092149
Thank you for your reply! I thought about going to the Society Islands, because they are a good connection between NZ and America. Have you been there?
Actually I'm German and no Kiwi. The first half of my trip is already booked, but for the part after New Zealand I'm quite unsure where to go. I could also fly via French-Polynesia instead of Fiji and then do the rest of the first option. That would cost about 700$ more. Should I do it?
Hey /trv/,
I'm working for an NGO and I'll be sent to Suriname for about a month. I'm leaving on the 25th of March, coming back the 22nd of April. My boss gave me a pretty exhaustive list of thins to bring/not to bring so I'm covered on that front. The NGO I'm working for is Dutch (as am I) so language should not be a problem.
What are some cool things to do in the country? Or in Guyana/French Guiana? I should have weekends off. I'll be based in Paramaribo but I'll be flying/boating into the jungle pretty often, so I'll be doing some hiking, swimming etc. for "work" already.
Any cool towns, beaches or hiking trails I should check out?
Bumb, cause interesting!
>>1090991
I've never been there, but I have a good friend who's from there. He made it seem to me like there isn't that much to do. A lot of the beaches aren't very pretty and there are indigenious people there who don't want to be disturbed. The country only has half a million inhabitants so I guess there really aren't that many towns other than Paramaribo.
Sounds like a very cool experience anyway, working in the jungle and shit. My friends also told me that ild wmonkeys used to throw stuff at him and giggle when he was waiting at the bus stop. Anyway, if you want to visit a lot of there maybe you should visit other countries in the Carribean.
>>1091140
>there really aren't that many towns other than Paramaribo
Yeah, I knew that, but maybe there were some tranquil beach towns. Oh well, Paramaribo it is.
>other countries in the Carribean
I don't think either my budget or my time allows for that. Which is a pity, because I've never been to South America or the Caribbean. Oh well, Guyana will have to do. Maybe I'll pop over into Venezuela for laughs.
Has anyone here ever bought an Amtrak USA Rail Pass (https://www.amtrak.com/take-the-trains-across-america-with-usa-rail-pass) and traveled around America?
What was it like and would you recommend it? Or perhaps people who have traveled long distance via Amtrak without a pass could chime in?
I'm a teacher so I have long summer vacations and I thought this might be a cool way of traveling around the country [starting in New York and going west] since I don't have a car, though maybe it is actually terrible?
>>1091544
Amtrak is complete shit and slow as fuck everywhere except traveling up and down California and traveling the northeast corridor.
Everywhere else it should only be used to travel back and forth between neighboring cities and even then most of the time the bus is just as fast. If you have any need to travel great distance you'll need to fly
>>1091544
Not gonna even click the link, but yeah, trains are super slow, plus east-west routes are pretty shit.
Amtrak is cool as an experience in and of itself. But outside weird circumstances, I would hesitate to rely on them for travel.
>>1091544
Amtrak is shit. Should be dismantled and make way for high speed trains or the hyperloop
So /trv/, I've come into a small amount of money in the past couple of days and I'm considering setting off in three weeks for a five-month trip around Asia.
My itinerary would probably be one month each (or thereabouts) in Thailand, then Cambodia, then Laos, the India then Sri Lanka.
I would be doing this alone, without much preparation. So my questions are as follows... in terms of visas and vaccinations, could I manage those needs as I travel? Eg, could I pick up visas as I go, and could I get any relevant vaccinations when I arrive in Thailand? Which vaccinations would you recommend? Just the basic typhoid etc? I don't imagine that I would be spending too much time in the wilderness so Jap Enc and Rabies probably wouldn't be necessary I would assume...?
My second question is, would this be doable alone? I've been on a couple of short trips alone and recently travelled around Eastern Europe alone for three months... would this area of the world be more problematic or would it be manageable? I've also previously been to Thailand and Vietnam with family.
I'm really excited by the prospect of such a long trip but I just want to make sure that I'm not getting in too deep or lacking proper preparation before I set off.
Cheers /trv/!
>Vaccinations
Why would you wait to get them in Thailand, you think they're cheaper there? It's an interesting theory; may be true. Otherwise, why not get them all at once in the States, instead of wasting vacation time?
I hate vaccinations because you can never get a straight answer about the risk. Travel doctors are the only reliable people to ask and it's their job to say "don't risk it". As far as trusting advice from strangers on the internet, fuck that.
As far as rabies goes, most people get it because the emergency, post-infection vaccine is super expensive. The real danger in SEA is monkeys, which are everywhere, not just in the forest. I was only in Sri Lanka for ten days and I got in a fistfight with a macaque. With that experience in mind I said 'no thank you' when our Ha Long Bay our operator offered to drop us off at a place called Monkey Island. As soon as the other tourists landed on the island a swarm of monkeys burst out of the bushes; I remember watching from the boat as they were chased up and down the beach. one dude got his back clawed up.
But there's no denying the jab is expensive to get in the first place.
>would this be doable alone?
I found travel in SEA really stressful and fatiguing, and I had my GF with me for support. But maybe when you're alone the little annoyances matter less and one doesn't worry so much? Still, there are millions of white 20-somethings all over south Asia; if you're an outgoing guy you'll find company when you need it.
The most valuable thing about having a buddy while traveling in Asia is that you've got another pair of eyes and ears to look out for potential scams, and to support you while you haggle for prices.
But if you're not too gullible, there's no real need for a buddy.
>>1091126
I'll be leaving in three weeks so I was thinking I might not have time to get vaccinations at home if the doctor is booked up. I'd rather get them at home but Thailand is an option. Which vaccinations did you get? Strangely, I've never met anyone who has had the rabies jab!
I'm very outgoing and sociable and can make friends very easily but I'm just a bit aware that travel arrangements etc can be somewhat difficult in Asia (bus/train cancellations/amendments) and I wouldn't like to get outrageously lost while alone, which I know is fairly likely. Also, the idea of getting ill and being alone isn't appealing.
In Europe, I always do, and always will, travel alone... but in the potential chaos of Asia, the insurance of having a buddy might be nice, both for comfort and for ease.
Hey /trv/,
I made an India general a few months back that did pretty well. Now that I've just come back from several months in the Subcontinent, I've decided to use some of my free time to answer what questions I can and continue dwelling in the past. I won't pretend to be an all-around expert on every region, but, having worked in tourism and lived in Delhi, I do have an idea of what I'm talking about.
Stupid questions and troll replies will happily be ignored.
Just to get this one out of the way:
>are Indian girls easy?
Some are, some aren't. If you're planning to just bounce around from city to city, stay in hotels, and do the normal tourist thing, you'll probably get laid about as much as the average foreign traveler, which is, so far as I can tell, not at all.
Questions about dating and social customs are welcome, but I don't want to have a thread about sex. Save that shit for the Thailand generals, please.
As always, OP, you're an invaluable resource. Thanks for making these threads. Anyway, questions...
Good day trips from Delhi and Agra? Anything really but especially somewhere to see animals.
I couldn't seem to reserve trains so I guess I'll have to use buses instead. Any advice on which ones to reserve?
I'm 24, will folk in Delhi and Punjab bother to card me when I order drinks? I'm white and I've got facial hair .
>>1084515
>animals
I'll get back to you on that. I was supposed to go to a bird sanctuary outside of Delhi with a few friends, but we never got around to it. I think it's about an hour drive from the city itself - I'll give him a message on WhatsApp in the morning and ask him for the name. If you're into zoos, the park in Delhi isn't half bad. However, if you'll be in India for a while, some of the best opportunities to see all kinds of exotic wildlife exists in the Northeast of the country, around Guwahati and in Assam.
For an actual day-trip, you could go somewhere in the vicinity of Jaipur. They have a lot of desert trekking companies set up there. I'd also suggest Agra itself as a day-trip, given that the city has almost nothing to offer aside from the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort.
Use RedBus.in to check for buses.
You can't avail the Foreign Tourist (FT) quota on the Indian Railways website - you have to go in person to a Foreign Tourist Bureau. The closest option they have online is the tatkal quota, but I'm not sure if they even accept internationally-issued cards. Nevertheless, you should be able to reserve most journeys with minimal planning, unless you're trying to go to a city during a big festival. The Foreign Tourist Quota ensures that a certain number of seats are set aside only for foreign tourists on every journey, although not every route and train has FTQ seats.
The chances of you getting carded are virtually nonexistent. In the last three years, I think I've been asked to show my ID a grand total of two times. Some chain restaurants and pubs card, but most other establishments don't. Liquor store cashiers don't give a fuck.
Pic is the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata.
What can you tell me about West Bengal? I like the idea of the whole Bengal area (including Bangladesh), "the land of 1,000 rivers", the Bengali Renaissance, and I like Bengali food too.
Is West Bengal worth visiting compared to other areas of India, and compared to Bangladesh?
Figured I'd give /trv/ and shot with this question. But what are everyone's top ten must see places (worldwide) to visit before you kick the bucket?
Nonfictional of course, I'm scripting up a list to knock out beginning after high school graduation and for my senior trip I've already committed to. Its a partner exchange to Munich and Berlin, Germany in 2017. So why stop there? There is a time and place for everything and anyone. Witnessing first had as many possible regions would surely open up a new perspective on life by a seeker such as everyone here.
Please list 1-10, 1 being most 10 being least. Your comment is greatly appreciated, Thank You.
Samarqand is high on my list.
Only ones that I haven't been? Gonna be a mixture of countries, cities and places:
1. Galapagos Islands
2. Istanbul
3. Budapest
4. Patagonia
5. Antarctica
6. Nepal
7. Norway
8. Madagascar
9. New Zealand
10. The moon (I hope to live 80 more years and I'm a dreamer)
Already traveled pretty extensively through the US, Southeast Asia, and Western Europe
If I could only go to 10 places that I haven't already been to, then in no particular order
1. Moscow/St. Petersburg, Russia
2. Egypt
3. Cusco/Machu Pichu
4. Siem Reap/Anghor Wat
5. Hawaii
6. London
7. Munich
8. Kiev/Chernobyl
9. Morocco
10. Damascus
Any of you guys been to Morocco? Whats it like
Arid.
I've been eight times; can answer any actual questions you have.
>>1093278
Dude you start this same thread every goddamn week.
Hey, I'm travelling to Portland, OR. What are some good placea to eat or things worth seeing?
Nothing, don't visit
>>1090455
What's so bad about it?
>>1090422
Pied Cow Coffee house was my go to coffee/chill spot. The staff can be stuck up assholes, but the coffee, ambiance, and food are good.
Hello, Please help me. I have 55 years and my wife is 52. My wife unfortunately die in 2 weeks , and the dream of the two is to walk together for a field. Not mongolia, no south dakota or north dakota(USA). No trees, only field.
Where do you live where there are no fields? The Amazon?
>>1094205
Amazon's been 50% field since forestry bro
Big Buddha edition
General info:
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/China (preferred, the 'new' one)
http://wikitravel.org/en/China
Hotels:
http://hotel.elong.net/
http://english.ctrip.com/hotels/
Buses:
http://bus.ctrip.com/
http://www.chinabusguide.com/
Trains:
http://www.cnvol.com/
http://www.travelchinacheaper.com/how-to-buy-china-train-tickets-online
Expat restaurants/supermarkets/bars:
http://listings.echinacities.com/
Apps:
Pleco (dictionary)
baidu maps/google maps
VPNs:
Astril/VPNNinja
4chan: get a pass or use a vpn or both (might be blocked now)
(VPNs might get you b& on 4chan if used outside of /trv/)
Old thread at: >>1075030
The Big Buddha (this one anyway) is in Leshan, a smallish city a few hours south of Chengdu.
still relevant
>>1080726
>>1084273
Why would you need to pay for sex you loser. if you're white and even remotely handsome or average it's a cakewalk
>oh yeah I went to [location]
>the people there are the nicest you'll ever meet!
When will this meme end?
>>1093341
The same day people start believing that peruvian guides fucked their now
wife.
It's nice. People meet foreigners and hey! They're people too, not so bad, generally pretty alright actually! Not like on the news at all.
Yeah, there's this thing going on where the people they meet tend to be service staff who are actually paid to be pleasant, but I think it points to an underlying fact that people are alright. No need to be quite so cynical.
>>1093341
>When will this meme end?
When folks stop being so gosh darned nice anon.