Travel thread ... ?

[neurosis]

My favorite cities are Lisboa and San Sebastián.
But San Sebastián is small so I’d recommend including it on a tour to other places.

Lisboa is more my thing. You can plan a full trip using that as your base. Use it to move to Sintra or thereabouts, hang in a camping site or Airbnb and then come back for another couple of days before you fly home.

Central and South America are fun too.

If beaches are not a requirement you could go to Munich and travel around the lakes and villages on the outskirts too. That’s another trip I’d recommend.

 

[CanserDYI]

I've never even left the continental united states. I've lived quite a boring life I see. Even my wife has been all over. It's not like I don't want to travel, I just...haven't?

 

[jaxadam]

I've never even left the continental united states. I've lived quite a boring life I see. Even my wife has been all over. It's not like I don't want to travel, I just...haven't?

Start off easy and go somewhere like Seychelles.

 

[spudmunkey]

I've never even left the continental united states. I've lived quite a boring life I see. Even my wife has been all over. It's not like I don't want to travel, I just...haven't?

My girlfriend had gone to Hawaii when she was single-digits-old, but then when it came time for a "real" vacation, I think she was about 36 or 37, it was her first time out of the country.

We spent two weeks in europe. We wanted to ease into things, though, so we stuck to countries that spoke english natively, sort of natively, and then was a touristy-enough place where everyone spoke english. So we went to London, took a train to Edinburgh, Scotland, then a short flight to Amsterdamn. It was a lot of fun, and Amsterdam let us dip our toes into navigating in a country where the signs weren't always in english...but most were (since we stuck to the touristy areas).

I had been fortunate enough to have been sent to London and Dublin for work, and paid for my own hotel over a few extra days every time I went. I did that in the US, too, any time I traveled. Amusingly, and I didn't even realize it until our 4th day in London, but the hotel we were staying in was one block down from the one I had stayed in for work. It's just that I had always walked in one direction for work towards the business district, and while on vacation, we always walked towards the business areas, and the routes didn't cross paths until we happened to take a "take the long way home" walk one day.

 

[MFB]

Start off easy and go somewhere like Seychelles.

Honest to God, I thought you would've immediately suggested Tiajuana

 

[odibrom]

My favorite cities are Lisboa and San Sebastián.
But San Sebastián is small so I’d recommend including it on a tour to other places.

Lisboa is more my thing. You can plan a full trip using that as your base. Use it to move to Sintra or thereabouts, hang in a camping site or Airbnb and then come back for another couple of days before you fly home.

Central and South America are fun too.

If beaches are not a requirement you could go to Munich and travel around the lakes and villages on the outskirts too. That’s another trip I’d recommend.

I live in Lisboa... it's cool to know you like my city...

 

[Robslalaina]

I live in Lisboa... it's cool to know you like my city...

Spent a week in and around Lisboa in 2017 and really loved it. Visited Cascais, Belem and Sintra as well. I gotta say what I liked the most were a) the food and b) how genuine most people were. My wife and I walk an awful lot when on vacation and by total chance one night we ended up in a Lisboa restaurant called A Ladeira where the waiter really made us feel at home despite the language barrier (we did try to communicate in portuguese via Google Translate though) and the food just KILLED. Makes me drool just to think of it!

 

[wheresthefbomb]

I went to Spain in high school and I absolutely want to go back. Museums, cathedrals, castles, and lots of other cool architecture. Also my first alcohol experiences hahaha. I was the only one who spoke spanish so it became my job to get us into bars. The bartenders would all tell us to go away, but come back after midnight. I've also been to Mexico as a teen on family vacay (13, just a little too young and well-behaved to enjoy it properly), driven through western Canada a few times, and most of the western US.

If you come to Alaska, I can show you the stuff they don't put on the travel brochures

 

[odibrom]

Spent a week in and around Lisboa in 2017 and really loved it. Visited Cascais, Belem and Sintra as well. I gotta say what I liked the most were a) the food and b) how genuine most people were. My wife and I walk an awful lot when on vacation and by total chance one night we ended up in a Lisboa restaurant called A Ladeira where the waiter really made us feel at home despite the language barrier (we did try to communicate in portuguese via Google Translate though) and the food just KILLED. Makes me drool just to think of it!

The Linha de Cascais (or the Lisboa to Cascais coast line) is very scenic and enjoyable. It became more popular by the mid/end of the 19th century when the royalty and its court started to build their summer houses (small palaces) near the coast. The beach was a peasants thing before that, a place for fishermans but by that time, the royalty enjoyed some swimming in the ocean by the summer... hence the late romantic architecture found all over the coast line and specially arriving at Estoril and Cascais.

Sintra village is also very enjoyable, very fresh when compared to Lisboa.

We like to say that the generic Portuguese man/woman is genuinely welcoming and tender, we've had a complete politic coop (coup d'etat?) from a dictatorship state to a democratic one without casualties (less than 10, I think at the coop day) and made by the army forces!... go figure... we like to say that we're a mild-mannered people...

Regarding our food, traditional food is very genuine, without processed ingredients which makes all the difference... and seasoned with olive oil as most Mediterranean cuisine..

 

[neurosis]

The Linha de Cascais (or the Lisboa to Cascais coast line) is very scenic and enjoyable. It became more popular by the mid/end of the 19th century when the royalty and its court started to build their summer houses (small palaces) near the coast. The beach was a peasants thing before that, a place for fishermans but by that time, the royalty enjoyed some swimming in the ocean by the summer... hence the late romantic architecture found all over the coast line and specially arriving at Estoril and Cascais.

Sintra village is also very enjoyable, very fresh when compared to Lisboa.

We like to say that the generic Portuguese man/woman is genuinely welcoming and tender, we've had a complete politic coop (coup d'etat?) from a dictatorship state to a democratic one without casualties (less than 10, I think at the coop day) and made by the army forces!... go figure... we like to say that we're a mild-mannered people...

Regarding our food, traditional food is very genuine, without processed ingredients which makes all the difference... and seasoned with olive oil as most Mediterranean cuisine..

I think Portugal rocks. My love for Lisboa is how it felt close to the lifestyle that was possible in Madrid while I was growing up. Every time we went I was like aha so this stuff is still possible. Look at that.
I love Madrid. It's my hometown. But it has grown too much and transformed into this massive metropolis. Lisboa is the only peninsular city that is growing but still has charm. You guys have it figured out (or at least last time I checked you did).
It also helps that you're driving distance from awesome villages and natural sights once there–if the cultural offer of such a historic city is not enough somehow,

 

[eddyrox]

Tokyo, Seoul, and London for me. Home-countries (well at least one )

 

[odibrom]

I think Portugal rocks. My love for Lisboa is how it felt close to the lifestyle that was possible in Madrid while I was growing up. Every time we went I was like aha so this stuff is still possible. Look at that.
I love Madrid. It's my hometown. But it has grown too much and transformed into this massive metropolis. Lisboa is the only peninsular city that is growing but still has charm. You guys have it figured out (or at least last time I checked you did).
It also helps that you're driving distance from awesome villages and natural sights once there–if the cultural offer of such a historic city is not enough somehow,

Madrid is awesome too, very alive and culturally rich. Compared to Lisboa, I can say Spanish people favors artists way more than the Portuguese. An artist here is looked with disdain and scorn... it saddens me...

 

[Bandersnatch]

Try looking into Mauritius. It might be a long flight, but we have a team that works out there and it's pretty much paradise.

EDIT: I recently went to Cancun and it was really nice there to. Just don't stay at the Ocean Coral and Turquesa.

 

[neurosis]

Madrid is awesome too, very alive and culturally rich. Compared to Lisboa, I can say Spanish people favors artists way more than the Portuguese. An artist here is looked with disdain and scorn... it saddens me...

We could have a long chat about this. I don't think that's true. Maybe the way we have ensured the protection of a lot of the patrimony and cultural goods leads you to think that but in terms of support for the arts it's a slippery slope. There's a lot of subsidized stuff but not all of it is good and it's a pretty closed circle of people who manage and participate in it. Culturally, being an artist is still not seen as a worthy career choice.

Madrid has changed drastically over the years. There time I spent away the more apparent it was. It's also become massive. Lisboa in comparison has more of the street level charm. You can still find a lot of it in Madrid but the vibe is different now.

 

[odibrom]

We could have a long chat about this. I don't think that's true. Maybe the way we have ensured the protection of a lot of the patrimony and cultural goods leads you to think that but in terms of support for the arts it's a slippery slope. There's a lot of subsidized stuff but not all of it is good and it's a pretty closed circle of people who manage and participate in it. Culturally, being an artist is still not seen as a worthy career choice.

Madrid has changed drastically over the years. There time I spent away the more apparent it was. It's also become massive. Lisboa in comparison has more of the street level charm. You can still find a lot of it in Madrid but the vibe is different now.

You may be right there, last time I was in Madrid (not just passing by) may have been before to 2004... however, the charm you're referring to in Lisbon is slowly desapearing, mom&pop shops can´t compete with big corp's money (Zara and so on)...

However, the Portuguese never cared much for the arts... in my opinion that is...

 

[neurosis]

You may be right there, last time I was in Madrid (not just passing by) may have been before to 2004... however, the charm you're referring to in Lisbon is slowly desapearing, mom&pop shops can´t compete with big corp's money (Zara and so on)...

However, the Portuguese never cared much for the arts... in my opinion that is...

yeah forget it. Madrid around that time had already changed but in particular the nightlife that was established at the time was still trying to come up against new regulations and such. 2008 with the crisis things really started to change and now it's nothing like what you could have experienced around the 2K mark.
In terms of commerce it's the same you describe for Portugal: the small shops losing ground to the macros. But I'd argue Madrid still has a lot of that, just not front and center. In Spain there's a lot of small business it's just really hard to make it thrive. I am not sure Portugal squeezes the small ventures as much. From what I hear there's even grants to bring in talent from abroad, right?

 

[odibrom]

yeah forget it. Madrid around that time had already changed but in particular the nightlife that was established at the time was still trying to come up against new regulations and such. 2008 with the crisis things really started to change and now it's nothing like what you could have experienced around the 2K mark.
In terms of commerce it's the same you describe for Portugal: the small shops losing ground to the macros. But I'd argue Madrid still has a lot of that, just not front and center. In Spain there's a lot of small business it's just really hard to make it thrive. I am not sure Portugal squeezes the small ventures as much. From what I hear there's even grants to bring in talent from abroad, right?

The Portuguese mentality post April 25th, 1975 (the date of the pacific revolution that made the transition from a dictatorship to a democratic republic) was and still is very disbelieving on national products and quality and it has only got worse... but we've got our sun so we're cool...

 

[neurosis]

The Portuguese mentality post April 25th, 1975 (the date of the pacific revolution that made the transition from a dictatorship to a democratic republic) was and still is very disbelieving on national products and quality and it has only got worse... but we've got our sun so we're cool...

I think Spaniards are a bit like that too. Lots of skepticism and opinionated. Very independent minded and somehow VERY reliant and focused on politics.

 

[p0ke]

A couple of hours of sleep before we jump in the car and drive to the airport to fly to Split, Croatia!
Stoked af, even though the forecast still looks pretty bad.

 

[p0ke]

Returned from Split. Great trip, I can wholeheartedly recommend the place! The first few days were rainy, but we were prepared so it wasn't really a problem, and it wasn't cold anyway.

The bigger issue was that the airline broke our stroller, so on the way to the accommodation I had to push it on 2 wheels which was a huge pain in the ass. Then I borrowed a hammer, and managed to straighten some of the parts a little Then it was somewhat OK for the rest of the trip, though I had to stop a few times to reattach one of the tires. I have travel insurance which includes luggage, and we have another stroller to use at home in the meantime, so no huge issue there...