Holidays

[mystical_goat]

Got back the other day from 5 months away in USA, Peru, and Ecuador.

We road-tripped the USA from New York to California, over 2 months. Stopped along the way in Philly (crap after NYC, cheese steak was good though), Shenandoah National Park, Asheville, Nashville (incredible music scene), Memphis (shithole, though we did visit Sun Studios and Graceland), New Orleans (loved it, nice and sleazy too), Houston, Dallas (Six Flags rollercoasters), Big Bend National Park, Albuquerque, Grand Canyon (absolutely mind-blowing, needs to be seen), Vegas (celebrated my birthday here in style, and met David Haye who was an utter cock), San Diego, LA (possibly my favourite, got a license for weed from the doctor), San Francisco (never seen so many nutters in one place in my life).

Would love to do something similar but going on the Northern route which has a lot of good nature stuff around the lakes and North West.

Peru was great too, ate chicken heart, and guinea pig, did white water rafting, mountain biking down a volcano, climbed the volcano, trekked colca canyon, Machu Picchu, the amazon. In the Galapagos we saw so many wacky animals. The great thing is that the creatures have never really had any predators or been hunted by humans, so are more or less without fear, meaning you can walk right up to sea lion pups, and swim with sharks and giant sea turtles. It was like being in Planet Earth.

I have no money now, and am unemployed. Ah well!

[tans]

You'll be able to apply for the Oxford job soon MG

[grubby]

How did you find Albuquerque? I spent 6 months there working.

[Dostoyevsky]

Got back the other day from 5 months away in USA, Peru, and Ecuador.

We road-tripped the USA from New York to California, over 2 months. Stopped along the way in Philly (crap after NYC, cheese steak was good though), Shenandoah National Park, Asheville, Nashville (incredible music scene), Memphis (shithole, though we did visit Sun Studios and Graceland), New Orleans (loved it, nice and sleazy too), Houston, Dallas (Six Flags rollercoasters), Big Bend National Park, Albuquerque, Grand Canyon (absolutely mind-blowing, needs to be seen), Vegas (celebrated my birthday here in style, and met David Haye who was an utter cock), San Diego, LA (possibly my favourite, got a license for weed from the doctor), San Francisco (never seen so many nutters in one place in my life).

Would love to do something similar but going on the Northern route which has a lot of good nature stuff around the lakes and North West.

Peru was great too, ate chicken heart, and guinea pig, did white water rafting, mountain biking down a volcano, climbed the volcano, trekked colca canyon, Machu Picchu, the amazon. In the Galapagos we saw so many wacky animals. The great thing is that the creatures have never really had any predators or been hunted by humans, so are more or less without fear, meaning you can walk right up to sea lion pups, and swim with sharks and giant sea turtles. It was like being in Planet Earth.

I have no money now, and am unemployed. Ah well!

Lucky bastard, apart from the last bit. How much did you save up for this experience out of interest?

[slinky]

Would also be interested in how much you spend during this trip as would love to do something similar.  Did you work at all while you were over there?  Also where did you stay hotels or hostels?

[Bob's Orange]

I think I might give Asia a try next year. Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia all sound really interesting.

[Flashheart]

I think I might give Asia a try next year. Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia all sound really interesting.

I wouldn't bother with Laos.

There's very little to see there. Other countries in the region have much more to offer.

[Gethimout]

I wouldn't bother with Laos.

There's very little to see there. Other countries in the region have much more to offer.

Don't people use Laos for a day or two to extend staying in the surrounding countries?

[nochee]

I've heard the tubing in Laos is ace.

[Bob's Orange]

I wouldn't bother with Laos.

There's very little to see there. Other countries in the region have much more to offer.

Thanks for the feedback Flash, will keep that in mind when we book.

[Flashheart]

Don't people use Laos for a day or two to extend staying in the surrounding countries?

Pretty much yeah. That's the only reason I go there, although I did work there for a while. Saw some really quite surreal things in my time there, mostly drug related.

[mystical_goat]

How did you find Albuquerque? I spent 6 months there working.

We drove through the main part of the town and stayed in a great little bit just before you leave. The B&B was a mad little place, it looked like something from the late 1800's, creaky old wood everywhere, skins on the beds, piss pot, loads of character. And apparently there are lots of stories about the building being haunted and famous criminals having stayed there. We only stopped for one night but had a great steak across the cobbled streets.

Lucky bastard, apart from the last bit. How much did you save up for this experience out of interest?

£10,000 to cover flights, tours, and everything else. The USA was fucking expensive overall, but we didn't hold back and did everything we wanted to/ate in whichever restaurant we wanted to (though their top restaurants probably cost 50% or more less than ours). We weren't living like Kings or anything, but did some pretty sweet stuff.

Would also be interested in how much you spend during this trip as would love to do something similar.  Did you work at all while you were over there?  Also where did you stay hotels or hostels?

Didn't work, I volunteered as a teacher in Peru for 2 months but had to pay to do that.

We stayed almost always in hostels, the only hotels where in the National Parks (lodges), New Orleans (lack of hostels), Vegas. It's cheaper and a better way to socialise.

I've heard the tubing in Laos is ace.

I think they've finally stopped that now, too many people were getting battered and drowning. I've only heard good things about Laos - two of my friends went separately to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos and said Laos was the best.

[Amir]

You can still tube in Laos, its a bit shit though really, drunk British everywhere.  Depends what you like really, we wouldn't have gone if it wasn't on the road between Luang Prabang and Vientienne.  Laos is a great country, but difficult to travel around because of the size of it and more importantly the state of the roads.  We did a great trip into the countryside for three days, cycling, walking, and kayaking.  You'd struggle to get see anything so untouched in Thailand/Malaysia/Vietnam.

We're off to Sri Lanka for a month in February, then Cambodia to see friends for a week before heading to Malaysia to live.

Very jealous of your trip, Goater.  That sort of thing is my next big trip, except for the teaching thing, done enough of that without being paid.