The Places You Could Travel To

[lady narcissa]

This past month I have seen so many pictures on twitter and instagram by people who live in rural parts of Scotland and England and are able to social distance with no problem and just go out wandering for miles amidst gorgeous landscape and not run into anyone.  Seeing as I can't walk outside without having to walk past 50 people in a couple of blocks, I am alternatively loathing and envying them.  This one lady on the Isle of Lewis with her pictures just makes me want to jump on a plane...or maybe a really large private yacht...so I can get there for the rest of the shutdown.  So right now I pretty much want to go to the Outer Hebrides or the Shetland Islands or some back corner of Cornwall or Somerset.

This year was actually the first year in a very long time that I didn't have any vacations planned.  I had actually really started trying to plan something for this summer in February but never got anywhere with that.  Looks like it was for the best.  I think the most I can hope for this year is going somewhere somewhat local around the Midwest or somewhere we can drive.  Until we get more testing or a vaccine, I don't see wanting to get on a plane or any other contained space.

But assuming once again we can go forth and wander about again, I'd really like to go to Norway and Sweden.  I also would really like to go to Iceland but I am somewhat convinced that a volcano would erupt while I was there or before I was supposed to go there, preventing the trip from happening or getting me stuck on the island for multiple extra days without being able to go outside.

[BigFatCoward]

12 hours ago, lady narcissa said:

 

But assuming once again we can go forth and wander about again, I'd really like to go to Norway and Sweden.  I also would really like to go to Iceland but I am somewhat convinced that a volcano would erupt while I was there or before I was supposed to go there, preventing the trip from happening or getting me stuck on the island for multiple extra days without being able to go outside.

Norway is amazing, my sister lives on a fjord just outside Oslo, but it is eye wateringly expensive. 

It is also home to the most attractive people on earth, everyone looks so healthy it makes you feel sick. 

[Theda Baratheon]

On 4/15/2020 at 5:56 PM, HelenaExMachina said:

I find myself visiting the museums more than anything else when i go to London now. Had a very memorable and enjoyable day with my friend and his little girl going around the Natural History Museum. Absolutely gorgeous building, loads of interesting stuff and great for kids because of how interactive it is. I love the V&A though, absolutely wonderful.

Agreed on the British Museum, you can spend so long there.

in terms of UK places I want to visit - return to Cornwall (I would love to go back to the village I went to last time actually - shoutout to @Theda Baratheon because as i recall its very close to where she is from), Oxford, the Scottish Highlands...so many olaces.

For me its the physical features because i was a geography nerd in school  

Excuse me if you ever come back say hi! I love showing people cool places in Cornwall. 

[Maithanet]

On 4/15/2020 at 11:47 AM, Jaxom 1974 said:

Oh. Also this. But mainly because I've heard the food scene in Reykjavik I'd supposed to be outstanding.  

Actually, the food scene is my primary reason for wanting to travel to particular places, now that I think about it.  Try new things. 

The food scene in Reykjavik is very expensive, and IMO fairly one note in a meat-and-potatoes kinda way.  It is hard to pay $40 for a burger, even if it is a tasty burger.  I definitely wouldn't go to Iceland for the food. 

That said, Iceland does have a lot of beautiful things to see that are fairly close together.  My wife and I went in November, and it was nice that the hotels were like 30% off, but it was already cold enough that being outside for hours and hours would get unpleasant.  I think if you go in summer the crowds would be unpleasant, because it was still fairly busy even in November. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

3 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Norway is amazing, my sister lives on a fjord just outside Oslo, but it is eye wateringly expensive. 

It is also home to the most attractive people on earth, everyone looks so healthy it makes you feel sick. 

Norway is certainly on my bucket list, though I'm not entirely sure what I'd like to see. It's a life goal of mine to visit all the countries my family came from, but that will take some time as I come from some Western and Eastern European mutts, whose forefathers and mothers never seemed to think country of origin was a barrier to having relationships. 

There are many places I have to see. 

[Filippa Eilhart]

Norway is expensive (although compared to Luxembourg it’s not that bad, lol) but all hotels we stayed in had free breakfast and some even had free dinner. So that’s something to look at when you book. 

[Paxter]

Agree on the Reykjavik food scene being nothing special (eye-watering prices aside). Many restaurants also serve whale and puffin which is kinda...questionable at the very least for a country that likes it market itself as eco-friendly. 

It is a breathtaking country though from a scenic standpoint. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

23 minutes ago, Filippa Eilhart said:

Norway is expensive (although compared to Luxembourg it’s not that bad, lol) but all hotels we stayed in had free breakfast and some even had free dinner. So that’s something to look at when you book. 

Expensive is relative though. I went to Uruguay and found it to be one of the cheapest places I've ever been to, but a quick wiki search suggests it has one of the best economies in the region, per capita at least. 

I think the shot glass I bought in Colonia del Sacramento cost less than a dollar, which is pretty cheap from my experiences (I tend to buy one in each new country I visit). The photos I got are precious though. I sorta broke into an old bull fighting arena and took some incredible shots, among many other things. 

[polishgenius]

On 4/15/2020 at 5:12 PM, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

As a senior in High School I got to go to London for a week.  The British Museum is amazing!

 

I don't typically love museums, though I appreciate both their appeal and their value (and some I enjoy of course) but the British Museum in particular always makes me massively conflicted because it's, well, a repository of stolen cultural heritage.

Anyway, for myself, I also get distracted by the windows frontpage frequently. Landscapes and hiking are most of my dream destinations. One of my more concrete, albeit far-away, long term plans is to go hiking along Corsica for example. Would also like to do some somewhere in the Rockies and a couple other US places, and down in NZ. Closer to home, and more immediately achievably probably, I wanna go to Paklenica National Park in Croatia coz I was right there in Zadar a couple years ago but couldn't get to Paklenica coz of terrible organisation, and also Sarek national park in Sweden coz it looks fuckin badass.

[HexMachina]

3 hours ago, Theda Baratheon said:

Excuse me if you ever come back say hi! I love showing people cool places in Cornwall. 

I may just have to take you up on that offer! Such a beautiful place. I could quite happily have just kept walking along the coast all day. There was one day i spent the entire afternoon just sitting in the garden of our little cottage taking in the view. 

We were the South-East coast I believe (St. Austell). It was over 10 hears ago now but still got great memories of it. Went with my parents so they had the car, we went to the Eden Project, drove over to Perranporth beach one day, visited Newquay (and saw the hotel from the Witches, will never not be thrilled by that), spent a day in Fowey (there was a Regatta on at the time), visited a lot of castles and gardens...so much and i feel i barely scratched the surface. 

Ah, happy memories.

[lady narcissa]

10 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Norway is amazing, my sister lives on a fjord just outside Oslo, but it is eye wateringly expensive. It is also home to the most attractive people on earth, everyone looks so healthy it makes you feel sick. 

This reminds me when I was in Finland - every incredibly attractive person I met turned out to be from Sweden. So sounds like there would be great scenery all around if visiting both Norway and Sweden!

But seriously, incredible outdoor scenery and landscape is high on my list.  And Norway looks like it has some incredible landscape.  When flying back from Finland I had a pretty clear view of Norway (unlike Sweden which hid behind clouds) and it looked gorgeous.

When it comes to gorgeous landscape, however, nothing beats Cornwall for me...

4 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

I may just have to take you up on that offer! Such a beautiful place. I could quite happily have just kept walking along the coast all day. There was one day i spent the entire afternoon just sitting in the garden of our little cottage taking in the view. 

We were the South-East coast I believe (St. Austell). It was over 10 hears ago now but still got great memories of it. Went with my parents so they had the car, we went to the Eden Project, drove over to Perranporth beach one day, visited Newquay (and saw the hotel from the Witches, will never not be thrilled by that), spent a day in Fowey (there was a Regatta on at the time), visited a lot of castles and gardens...so much and i feel i barely scratched the surface. 

Ah, happy memories.

Ah seriously I love Cornwall so much.  On multiple trips I have hiked a lot of the coastal path from the north coast round Land's End to the south coast and it is all gorgeous.  On another non-hiking trip, I rented a National Trust cottage one time on the north coast near the Rumps - which is probably my favorite part of the coast - and I could have just stayed there permanently.  Also very partial to the inner parts and wandering around seeing the prehistoric stones and the moor.  I have not been to the Fowey area yet which I would really like to visit because of DuMaurier and Menabilly/Manderley.

[DireWolfSpirit]

15 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

. It's a life goal of mine to visit all the countries my family came from, 

I so relate to that. Both Grandmothers were Irish and it seems I'm one of the few family members that hasn't made it to Ireland yet. We have hosted relatives from Donegal who've came over for several reunions and vice versa where family has made the trip there. But unfortunately I haven't had the chance to go yet.

Also have Scandinavian roots on Dads side so Denmark and Sweden are on my list. Sweden has a city that I share my last name with and that town has always interested me.

Only recently been made aware we may have had some lineage out of Finland as well, so now I'm thinking I'd include that destination. It's kind of coincidental that I've ended up in this region and it's heavily populated with Finnish-Americans.

Those are all Northern destinations, separately I would love to do some serious beachcombing in the S.Pacific eventually as well.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

16 hours ago, polishgenius said:

 

I don't typically love museums, though I appreciate both their appeal and their value (and some I enjoy of course) but the British Museum in particular always makes me massively conflicted because it's, well, a repository of stolen cultural heritage.

Anyway, for myself, I also get distracted by the windows frontpage frequently. Landscapes and hiking are most of my dream destinations. One of my more concrete, albeit far-away, long term plans is to go hiking along Corsica for example. Would also like to do some somewhere in the Rockies and a couple other US places, and down in NZ. Closer to home, and more immediately achievably probably, I wanna go to Paklenica National Park in Croatia coz I was right there in Zadar a couple years ago but couldn't get to Paklenica coz of terrible organisation, and also Sarek national park in Sweden coz it looks fuckin badass.

Yes. The manner the collection of the BM was gathered troubles me now but I genuinely enjoyed it in 1988 when I was 17 years old and didn’t know the story of how  the collection arrived there.

[Buckwheat]

On 4/17/2020 at 7:46 PM, Tywin et al. said:

 never seemed to think country of origin was a barrier to having relationships. 

Wait, is it or should it be? I was not informed of that.

As a Slovene person, it is kind of odd that I have never visited any of the other Ex-Yu countries apart from Croatia, so I would like to also see Belgrade and Sarajevo and other cities in the east Balkan countries.

[polishgenius]

10 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Yes. The manner the collection of the BM was gathered troubles me now but I genuinely enjoyed it in 1988 when I was 17 years old and didn’t know the story of how  the collection arrived there.

 

Sure, I'm not knocking anyone for enjoying the British Museum as an actual experience, and I wasn't intending to single you out specifically, yours was just the post I happened to key off.

 

I do think it needs to be mentioned though when the Museum is being discussed because it shouldn't exist as it is now.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

33 minutes ago, Buckwheat said:

Wait, is it or should it be? I was not informed of that.

As a Slovene person, it is kind of odd that I have never visited any of the other Ex-Yu countries apart from Croatia, so I would like to also see Belgrade and Sarajevo and other cities in the east Balkan countries.

That's largely always been the way of the world.

My four paternal great-grandparents each came from a different country in Eastern Europe, I believe the countries are Ukraine, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary, with some obvious Russian influences, among others.

Like I said, I have many places to see. 

[A True Kaniggit]

On 4/15/2020 at 12:28 PM, Tywin et al. said:

I had plans, tentatively, to go with some family to Egypt. We were going to do a long cruise down the Nile, ending in Cairo. The trip was largely so my mom could check off a bucket list item, so hopefully we can revisit that in the years to 
 

If you do end up going to Egypt, be careful of the Great Pyramid. While we were in it my dad farted just to be an asshole. His stink may still linger. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

If I make it to Egypt I would visit Ramses the 2nd temples at Abu Simbel.

All the amazing sites of antiquities would be amazing to see.

Like the following which many believe inspired the Library of Alexandria:

8. The Library of Ashurbanipal

The Royal Library of Ashurbanipal refers to the collection of tablets and fragments containing texts from the 7th century BC. It’s named after Ashurbanipal, the last great king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The library’s discovery is a topic of debate but it is mainly credited to Austen H Layard. Considered the oldest surviving library, it holds around 30,000 cuneiform tablets. It holds the Epic of Gilgamesh which is now considered the oldest literary work. Archaeologists believe that Ashurbanipal’s library inspired the idea behind the Library of Alexandria and many other famous ancient libraries.

[Theda Baratheon]

On 4/17/2020 at 9:43 PM, HelenaExMachina said:

I may just have to take you up on that offer! Such a beautiful place. I could quite happily have just kept walking along the coast all day. There was one day i spent the entire afternoon just sitting in the garden of our little cottage taking in the view. 

We were the South-East coast I believe (St. Austell). It was over 10 hears ago now but still got great memories of it. Went with my parents so they had the car, we went to the Eden Project, drove over to Perranporth beach one day, visited Newquay (and saw the hotel from the Witches, will never not be thrilled by that), spent a day in Fowey (there was a Regatta on at the time), visited a lot of castles and gardens...so much and i feel i barely scratched the surface. 

Ah, happy memories.

YEah snozzel (St Austell) is my hometown  gets a bad reputation but I think there’s loads of lovely places around here! I’m glad you thought so too! 

[S John]

On 4/18/2020 at 8:07 AM, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Yes. The manner the collection of the BM was gathered troubles me now but I genuinely enjoyed it in 1988 when I was 17 years old and didn’t know the story of how  the collection arrived there.

I had been to both Egypt and Greece before I ever went to the British Museum and got an earful in both places about some of the things the Brits are in possession of.  I do sympathize, but as a regular person (and a foreigner at that) I really don’t feel an ounce of guilt about going in there and looking at the collection.  It’s free, so it’s not like I’m funding anything and I’m not the one who stole any of that shit.