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TheGunnShow

A travelling/holiday thread

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Just realised after bringing the Faroe Islands up in the Adshead sale thread (a bit off topic), I wasn't sure if I'd seen a thread for this, so thought why not start a thread in the Non-Football section instead!

What trips have you done / are you going to do? 
Which countries have you all visited / do you want to visit?

I'll be off to Finland and Åland again in a couple of weeks, then to Warsaw in early September for probably my favourite half-marathon (Polmaraton Praski), Vilnius the week after that, then up in Inverness at the start of October, and a long weekend in Dresden at the end of the same month. Will not travel for a bit after that, just wondering whether to aim at Malta in late February or just restart with Prague at the start of April.

Most off-beat place I've been is Greenland, although Svalbard will push it close.

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Good thread 👍

Sounds like you're off to some interesting places/have visited a fair few.

I'm going to Istanbul for 6 days in August. Lived in Ankara for 6 months in 2009 and fell in love with istanbul and spent most weekends there. Been back once in 2014, and not managed to get back there since so I'm really excited to be heading back to the shores of the Bosphorus. Have a really good friend who lives there so looking forward to catching up with him, and spending some time visiting the sites I have never got to visit.

Been to quite a few countries, Thailand and Cambodia was my favourite trip. Went all over Thailand, spent some time at the elephant sanctuary (not one of the horrible abusive trekking camps) and spent 4 days with a private guide visiting the temples around the Siem Reap region (Angkor Wat and various others, private guide allowed us to access some very remote non-touristy ones).... Heidelberg in Germany was also a great trip - lovely city.

Least favourite trip was China. Did 3 weeks there in 2018 and would never go back. Food was awful, culture was very unpleasant and the sights were all disappointing except for the Great Wall which was stunning.

Edited by kick it off
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4 minutes ago, kick it off said:

Good thread 👍

Sounds like you're off to some interesting places/have visited a fair few.

I'm going to Istanbul for 6 days in August. Lived in Ankara for 6 months in 2009 and fell in love with istanbul and spent most weekends there. Been back once in 2014, and not managed to get back there since so I'm really excited to be heading back to the shores of the Bosphorus. Have a really good friend who lives there so looking forward to catching up with him, and spending some time visiting the sites I have never got to visit.

Been to quite a few countries, Thailand and Cambodia was my favourite trip. Went all over Thailand, spent some time at the elephant sanctuary (not one of the horrible abusive trekking camps) and spent 4 days with a private guide gisiting the temples around the Siem Reap region (Angkor Wat and various others, private guide allowed us to access some very remote non-touristy ones).... Heidelberg in Germany was also a great trip - lovely city.

Least favourite trip was China. Did 3 weeks there in 2018 and would never go back. Food was awful, culture was very unpleasant and the sights were all disappointing except for the Great Wall which was stunning.

Not made it outside Europe yet, but got a few friends who love Thailand / Cambodia. Heidelberg is certainly supposed to be attractive, just oddly enough despite my native-standard command of German it's just not a part of Germany that's right up my own personal radar so I've not seen it in person. Lived in Bonn for several months, as well as an eastern border town called Guben, which is near my favourite part of Germany, namely the Spreewald (think a forested, sparsely-populated version of Venice - a large forest where canoe is the main form of transport). The Bodensee (Lake Constance) around Friedrichshafen and Lindau is stunning too.

Gotta admit, if there's somewhere in Germany I haven't seen that I'm hankering to see, it would be some of the northern islands. Probably Usedom, Rügen, Sylt, in that order. Could probably chuck Saxon Switzerland (the rocky landscapes south-east of Dresden close to the Czech border) in there too, but I'm off to Dresden at the end of October so might be able to get a day in there.

Got unlucky in the pandemic, I had half-marathons or marathons lined up in some really interesting spots (then injury stopped a few more). Had Mont-Saint-Michel, Reykjavik, Iasi, Prishtina, Lisbon, Jesolo (near Venice), Galway, Paris and Copenhagen (and a few others, but in cities I'd already ran in) all lined up and all fell through.

For the record, I've ran/visited in England, Scotland, Wales, Faroe Islands, Poland, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Greece, Estonia, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Spain. I'm low-key looking to clock up half-marathons in all European countries.

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In the dim and distant past I travelled across the US in a leisurely fashion in a converted bus, from San Francisco to New Orleans and back.  Two highlights stand out:

Floating naked in a warm volcanic lake in the Arizona desert at midnight in early February, steam rising, no light pollution, no noise, gazing up at a myriad of stars which seemed almost close enough to touch.

Trying to explain Test Cricket to a young American fellow passenger:  "Well, it's a little bit like baseball, you hit a ball with a bat and get as many runs as you can."  " Okay, so what's a good score?"  "300 isn't bad for starters."  "THREE HUNDRED!!  Wait a minute, how long does this game last?"  "Five days, but they stop for lunch and tea." " Five DAYS!! . . ."  Classic.
 

Edited by benchwarmer
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1 hour ago, TheGunnShow said:

Not made it outside Europe yet, but got a few friends who love Thailand / Cambodia. Heidelberg is certainly supposed to be attractive, just oddly enough despite my native-standard command of German it's just not a part of Germany that's right up my own personal radar so I've not seen it in person. Lived in Bonn for several months, as well as an eastern border town called Guben, which is near my favourite part of Germany, namely the Spreewald (think a forested, sparsely-populated version of Venice - a large forest where canoe is the main form of transport). The Bodensee (Lake Constance) around Friedrichshafen and Lindau is stunning too.

Gotta admit, if there's somewhere in Germany I haven't seen that I'm hankering to see, it would be some of the northern islands. Probably Usedom, Rügen, Sylt, in that order. Could probably chuck Saxon Switzerland (the rocky landscapes south-east of Dresden close to the Czech border) in there too, but I'm off to Dresden at the end of October so might be able to get a day in there.

Got unlucky in the pandemic, I had half-marathons or marathons lined up in some really interesting spots (then injury stopped a few more). Had Mont-Saint-Michel, Reykjavik, Iasi, Prishtina, Lisbon, Jesolo (near Venice), Galway, Paris and Copenhagen (and a few others, but in cities I'd already ran in) all lined up and all fell through.

For the record, I've ran/visited in England, Scotland, Wales, Faroe Islands, Poland, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Greece, Estonia, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Spain. I'm low-key looking to clock up half-marathons in all European countries.

Sylt is touristy but the train ride is fun, if I remember, with the sea on both sides of the track. North-east Slovakia, a bit off the beaten track, I found fascinating, with Bardejov a very pretty little town, heartbreaking war memorials on the road to the Dukla Pass, and a museum dedicated to Andy Warhol, whose father emigrated from there to the US.

Also a bit out of the way, the north-east coast of Poland looks interesting, in what used to be East Prussia, with long thin spits of land semi-enclosing lagoons, but not been yet.

Edited by PurpleCanary

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Just back from Turkey and Cypress and Mrs and I both have contracted Covid, some **** coughing away a few rows behind us on the plane, bit of advice for all travellers, wear a decent mask and dont worry if fellow travellers look at you as if you are mad. We didnt wear one and now regret it.

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I am due back in the UK for a few days in a couple of weeks. Fly to Heathrow, train to Manchester, hire a car to travel to Norfolk and back for 2 days, train or plane from Manchester to Gatwick, fly back home. Could be interesting.....🤔

Other than that, and another trip back in September, nothing planned 

Might head to The Faroes. Might have a week around Iceland (again), might try a few days in Norway. I like to stay north

Hope you are feeling better soon @Van wink

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12 hours ago, kick it off said:

spent 4 days with a private guide visiting the temples around the Siem Reap region (Angkor Wat and various others, private guide allowed us to access some very remote non-touristy ones).

I’ve done this too, I told the guide some soldiers were walking through the jungle. He asked how I knew they were soldiers and I said that I hoped they were as they were carrying ak47s 😁. He then asked me if I fancied firing an AK. I said yes, ten minutes later I’m on the Cambodian 9th infantry firing range 😁

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1 hour ago, How I Wrote Elastic Man said:

I am due back in the UK for a few days in a couple of weeks. Fly to Heathrow, train to Manchester, hire a car to travel to Norfolk and back for 2 days, train or plane from Manchester to Gatwick, fly back home. Could be interesting.....🤔

Other than that, and another trip back in September, nothing planned 

Might head to The Faroes. Might have a week around Iceland (again), might try a few days in Norway. I like to stay north

Hope you are feeling better soon @Van wink

If you're flying from Manchester I'll just say best of luck. Was carnage going out to the Faroes back on the 11th. Flight was at 7am, got there with hand luggage at 4:30am or so, and was in security for yonks.

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Just got back from Kefalonia, a breathtakingly beautiful Greek Island in the Ionian Sea and completely undeveloped, no garish, massive all inclusive to be seen.

Off to France in a few weeks, driving to Brittany, but only just the other side of Normandy.

Been to a good few places on trips or holidays but the only real travelling I've done was back in 2008, flew into Boston and worked my way day most of the US East Coast before flying out of Miami two months later. The exchange rate then was £1 to $2 so it was unbelievably cheap to do stuff then.

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15 hours ago, How I Wrote Elastic Man said:

I am due back in the UK for a few days in a couple of weeks. Fly to Heathrow, train to Manchester, hire a car to travel to Norfolk and back for 2 days, train or plane from Manchester to Gatwick, fly back home. Could be interesting.....🤔

Other than that, and another trip back in September, nothing planned 

Might head to The Faroes. Might have a week around Iceland (again), might try a few days in Norway. I like to stay north

Hope you are feeling better soon @Van wink

If anyone ever fancies the Faroes, these holiday lets are my accommodation of choice. Stayed at the Swan in 2018, and just been at the Puffin this time around.

Homepage - Faroe (holidayfaroeislands.com)

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14 hours ago, Midlands Yellow said:

Did Ingodmells, Chapel Saint Leonards and Skeggy back in the 80s. I keep meaning to return but haven’t got round to it. 

My sister used to live in Chapel-must have taken you about 5 minutes to go round the whole place 😀

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21 hours ago, TheGunnShow said:

If you're flying from Manchester I'll just say best of luck. Was carnage going out to the Faroes back on the 11th. Flight was at 7am, got there with hand luggage at 4:30am or so, and was in security for yonks.

I once went to Manchester airport, that's why I'm flying to London and getting the train up!

Though I'm thinking of flying Manchester to Gatwick on the way back instead  of the train, maybe it's easier for internal flights?

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I thought i might take a trip to California today but made a wrong turn at Scratby.

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Iceland is really nice. Altho it was 20 years ago and I was shocked at paying £5 a pint then! 

Been to Prague a couple of times. A lovely city. Was a lot more full of stag parties the second time. 

Also Brno. The second biggest city I think. Lots of nice architecture. Great people. Good beer. We went to see Brno FC or whatever they're called play. Was a fun afternoon. Their ultras made alot of noise. Altho the nazi flags put us off getting too close. It was noticeable that the majority of other fans avoided them too! It's got a cool castle with a nuclear bunker underneath.

Dublin is great. I never want to hear the fields of athenry again. It seemed compulsory for it to be on in every pub! The scenery in the Wicklow mountains nearby is fantastic. 

Canada is my favourite country I've been to. If any of you want to introduce me to a Canadian wife/give me £3m/make me intelligent so I can emigrate immediately thatd be great...

Toronto is probably my favourite city. I even did a half marathon there a few years ago (any excuse to go!) Niagara falls isn't too far away. And I'd happily trade by city season ticket for a raptors (NBA) one. 

Vancouver was also cool. Mountains overlooking it. Bears/wolves love in them but we went at the wrong time of year. Seeing orcas swimming about in the island harbour was pretty epic. As well as the bald eagle just sitting in a tree in the park like a normal bird!!! Went further up the coast one day to a place where hundreds were nesting! Went snowboarding (badly) in Whistler near it. They held the winter Olympic skiing there. The scenery was spectacular. You're surrounded by mountains. It was just a shame it was basically full of rich poser coked up kid trying to look cool with no interest in skiing or boarding .

 

Think that's about it for abroad.

Denmark (Legoland) when I was a kid but I don't remember that!

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11 minutes ago, The Raptor said:

Toronto is probably my favourite city. I even did a half marathon there a few years ago (any excuse to go!) Niagara falls isn't too far away. And I'd happily trade by city season ticket for a raptors (NBA) one. 

Hi Raptor, just back from Toronto and Ottawa. Toronto is probably the friendliest city I've been to, everything is so easily accessed, great chilled vibe and it's a brilliant city to just wander around. Caught a Blue Jays game, which was fantastic and a slightly different matchday experience. 🍕🍟🍺🍯🤣

Went up to Ottawa and back through the Algonquin National Park, a wonderful place and totally recommend it. 🇨🇦😎

Apples

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1 hour ago, The Raptor said:

Toronto is probably my favourite city. I even did a half marathon there a few years ago (any excuse to go!) Niagara falls isn't too far away.

Heh, did you read my opening post? 😉

Half-marathons are my excuse to go and visit places! And I should be starting in a race here (albeit only 12km this time) on July 9th, exploring the Aland Islands in summer instead of in October like I usually do.

May be an image of tree, road and text

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Well, that's four sets of flights all paid for and organised, so that's the flying done for the rest of this year. Trips to Riga and Prague are definitely in for 2023. Warsaw will make an appearance at the end of August/start of September. Torshavn will be entered as soon as the entries are up. The wildcard will be Svalbard, as I won't be racing there.... the aim is the village of Pyramiden and both times I've been for the half-marathon it's been too early for the ice to thaw in the Billefjord.

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On 22/06/2022 at 22:17, TheGunnShow said:

Just realised after bringing the Faroe Islands up in the Adshead sale thread (a bit off topic), I wasn't sure if I'd seen a thread for this, so thought why not start a thread in the Non-Football section instead!

What trips have you done / are you going to do? 
Which countries have you all visited / do you want to visit?

I'll be off to Finland and Åland again in a couple of weeks, then to Warsaw in early September for probably my favourite half-marathon (Polmaraton Praski), Vilnius the week after that, then up in Inverness at the start of October, and a long weekend in Dresden at the end of the same month. Will not travel for a bit after that, just wondering whether to aim at Malta in late February or just restart with Prague at the start of April.

Most off-beat place I've been is Greenland, although Svalbard will push it close.

I’m going to the Faroes next year!. Flying from Edinburgh though as there isn’t any other U.K. airport that flies from there!.

Anyways, before Christmas I’m off to Copenhagen for a week and we will also spend the day in Malmö, as it’s not far away at all!.

Been to many places like Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Austria, Cz Republic, Slovakia, Australia, Japan, USA (New York), Canada (Toronto and Niagra), Morocco, Germany, Italy, Vatican, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Hungary, Greece, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Albania, Croatia, Spain, Estonia and Malta.

Nice thread idea, better than all this doom and gloom of Covid and “uplifting” Brex-sh*t which keeps getting bumped. Let’s hope this one stays on the first page for much longer.

Edited by KernowCanary

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Places worth going to.

Slovenia and its lakes. Stunning place.

Dubrovnik and very north Montenegro (Kotor). Other parts of Montenegro it seemed like all the decent beaches had been privatised so was a tad disappointing.

Krakow. Beautiful city with some very dark history that needed to be visited.

Turkey. Did a great trip around the west, Istanbul, Ephesus and Gallipoli. Beautiful country, food and people and so much history.

Nafplion in Greece. Lovely little town in the Peloponnese, good beaches and more history than you can shake a stick at. Near the towns of the legendary Argos and the Mycenae, home of Agamemnon. (Athens was a bit of a mess at the time, so I wasn't overly impressed.)

Far west of Ireland, Dingle and Kerry. Beautiful part of the world. Could be paradise if it stopped raining.

Berlin is cool.

LA is a horrible place.

 

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1 hour ago, KernowCanary said:

I’m going to the Faroes next year!. Flying from Edinburgh though as there isn’t any other U.K. airport that flies from there!.

Anyways, before Christmas I’m off to Copenhagen for a week and we will also spend the day in Malmö, as it’s not far away at all!.

Been to many places like Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Austria, Cz Republic, Slovakia, Australia, Japan, USA (New York), Canada (Toronto and Niagra), Morocco, Germany, Italy, Vatican, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Hungary, Greece, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Albania, Croatia, Spain, Estonia and Malta.

Nice thread idea, better than all this doom and gloom of Covid and “uplifting” Brex-sh*t which keeps getting bumped. Let’s hope this one stays on the first page for much longer.

Yeah, Atlantic Airways fly there from Edinburgh, but you're often better off flying to Copenhagen and coming in from there, depending on what days you want to visit. Was easier to go via Edinburgh before Flybe went bust.

@Herman - ran in Dubrovnik and agree that Berlin is good. An underrated way of seeing Berlin is by boat. There were tours starting from near Friedrichstrasse railway station that were a very pleasant way of spending a few hours when I went there a couple of years ago. 

Then again, for me Berlin's an excuse to clear off to the Spreewald, which is only an hour or so away on the train (Lübbenau is the place to stop there) if you arrive at the new airport.

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@Herman The East of Turkey is well worth a look too. Capadoccia, nemrut daği and Lake Van.

Found out yesterday that I am off to Iceland next Feb. School trip so its working rather than a straight up holiday, but I've been meaning to go for ages, so I'm happy. Fingers crossed I can tick the Northern lights off my bucket list on that one!

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10 hours ago, kick it off said:

@Herman The East of Turkey is well worth a look too. Capadoccia, nemrut daği and Lake Van.

Found out yesterday that I am off to Iceland next Feb. School trip so its working rather than a straight up holiday, but I've been meaning to go for ages, so I'm happy. Fingers crossed I can tick the Northern lights off my bucket list on that one!

I was watching an old episode of Rick Stein when he was out in far east Turkey. It did look fantastic, and because it was him, the food was superb. (Even something simple like hummus was so much better than what we get.)

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Slovenia is also on there for me, one place I missed out was Romania, went to Sibiu which was once the European Capital of Culture and once part of Transylvania.

Would love to return to Poland and go to Krakow.

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Bulgaria under Communism was quite an experience.  I'm an adventurous type and was on one of the first tourist flights in 1976 from the UK to Varna on the Black Sea.  Arrived at the hotel about 2.30am and there was a lot of paperwork, but they said we could leave our passports at reception and go to bed.  Next morning mine was missing. 

Big problem.  I had to be interviewed by the police but I spoke no Russian or Bulgarian and they spoke no English.  Fortunately our courier went with me. 

I had to go to Sofia about 300 miles away to get an exit visa.  That was OK as I was able to fit in a number of tourist sites en route, including Rila Monastery up in the mountains.  Stayed in a hotel built right on the edge with spectacular views; that night a violent thunderstorm split the viewing window from top to bottom! 

I was looking forward to Sofia but spent most of my two days there at the British Consulate.  Why?  I arrived on the Queen's official birthday and it was closed.  Yes, really.  Chewed the fat for a while with a fed-up lorry driver from Preston who had outstayed his visa after his truck broke down, then got my exit visa the next day.

Getting out of Bulgaria was not straightforward.  I was held back in departures and the plane was ready to leave but our brilliant courier made a fuss and I finally got through.  What happened to my passport?  I never found out but I think I can guess.

Edited by benchwarmer
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4 hours ago, KernowCanary said:

Slovenia is also on there for me, one place I missed out was Romania, went to Sibiu which was once the European Capital of Culture and once part of Transylvania.

Would love to return to Poland and go to Krakow.

Missed Iasi twice, once due to the pandemic and this year the friend I was planning to visit over there warned me that it was desolate due to thousands upon thousands of refugees coming over from south-western Ukraine and also through Moldova, as Iasi is literally ten kilometres or so away from the Moldovan border.

Krakow's always been on the edge for me but I've always found another place to run instead. That said, I absolutely love Warsaw which is a very underrated city IMO, so tend to go back there (have raced there six times and will be there again in September for a seventh).

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Pulled myself out of the trip to Inverness as training's been horrendous over the last six weeks (not been able to, too much work). Still, Warsaw will see me again for the seventh time at the start of September. Hopefully it won't be a dreadful heatwave unlike the last visit, so three trips left this year, Warsaw, Vilnius, Dresden in that order. Vilnius is new territory for me, the other two are not.

Starting plans for next year. Riga and Prague are already reserved. Torshavn will be revisited, as will Warsaw. Sniffing around at Malta at the end of February (accommodation is already reserved but can be freely cancelled if the race isn't going ahead) and the run at the end of October should be fun. Might go to Venice as I've not ran in Italy yet. Can only keep my eyes on prices for flights up to Svalbard in very early July bearing in mind that's twice I've been up there and twice I've not been able to visit Pyramiden.

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