travels

[weez]

i'm heading to france (mostly staying in paris, and a couple of cities by the alps), london (to party for the first day or two of the olympics), tibet and nepal (to trek the himalayas) this summer. any places you can recommend from experience that cannot be missed?

[Heather_D]

If you are in London & it's a clear day, I highly recommend the London Eye. It's absolutely amazing.

[thegoodmrbrodie!]

yeah. london eye is boss. book in advance though, as it'll be super busy i'd imagine.

british museum is pretty rad.

[ms.peachy]

Sounds like an awesome trip.

When you are in Paris, be sure to visit Deyrolle. (http://www.pbase.com/al309/paris1) You will never forget it.

[Frenchbgirl]

In London, I really like Camden Town, you should definitely go check it out.

In Paris, well it depends how much time you have. Last time I was there, I went to the cimetière du père lachaise (http://www.pere-lachaise.com/), which is a huge cemetery. You can go put some flowers on Jim Morrison's grave...

If you don't have much time, you can go on a "bateau mouche" (boat), they do small tours where you can see the main buildings from the river (la Seine): the Louvres museum, the cityhall, the Eiffel tower...

[Adam]

I sometimes sell coffee beans in Camden Lock market.

Have you booked accommodation in London for the Olympics? It ain't cheap - try Couchsurfing, Airbnb and Housetrip.

Below are links I give to our London guests/couch surfers etc

Useful links about London in general:
http://www.timeout.com/london/ - Time Out London
http://www.timeout.com/london/feature/1424/free-london - Time Out guide to free London
http://www.gosomewhere.co.uk/greaterlondon/ - Go Somewhere London at-a-glace
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2643743 - London weather
http://wikitravel.org/en/London - Wiki Travel London

Kim and Adam’s favourite places:
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/ - Science Museum
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/ - Natural History Museum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brick_Lane - Brick Lane (wiki link)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoreditch - Shoreditch (wiki link)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Borough_of_Southwark - Southwark (wiki link)
http://wiltons.org.uk/ - Wilton’s Victorian music hall
http://www.the100club.co.uk/ - The 100 Club

[trailerprincess]

I am off to Argentina tomorrow so if anyone has any fun tips, please drop me a note!

[weez]

Yeah, that london eye looks awesome, and I'm scared of heights, so that will be a cool adventure.

I enjoy cool museums, so I'll check that if I get a chance.

Yeah, it's going to be an awesome trip, for sure. Deyrolle looks crazy, so that's on the list. I'll be in paris for two or three weeks, and my friend works during the week days, so I'll be on my own to explore during the days.

I'll try for camden town, and I'll have to go get drunk at jim's grave.

I haven't booked accoms in london, yet, but I have a friend I'm staying with, who live outside of the city, so I plan on crashing with her, for the couple or few days I'm there. I'll look out for coffee bean sellers, haha.

I'd like to hit scotland, too, but I don't know anyone there, and I'd like to do a a more long-term trip there and ireland, some other time.

Haha, and I'm not soley into first hand info, if you've heard of a cool spot around those places, I'm down to check them out.

Thanks for the info.

[Heather_D]

I love, love, LOVE Argentina! Buenos Aires is beautiful. They call it the Paris of South America but I liked it better. If you have time, take the ferry over to Colonia, Uraguay. Beautiful little seaside town. And, if you eat meat, I reccomend Cabana Las Lilas. I had the best steak there (& it didn't cost more than $10 USD). Also, if you're looking for something unique, visit the only Kosher McDonalds outside of Isreal.

More suggestions for London: Avoid Madame Taussaude's. Way too touristy & the lines are usually way too long. I went one time just cos it was something I hadn't done. If you happen to be a Beatles fan, there's a pretty nice store on Baker St (I was last there in '06 & it was there, anyway). If they're not your thing, the Elvis store is 2 doors down. I love London & miss going there. I have never had a bad time whilst there.

[Adam]

Yeah, that london eye looks awesome, and I'm scared of heights, so that will be a cool adventure.

I enjoy cool museums, so I'll check that if I get a chance.

Yeah, it's going to be an awesome trip, for sure. Deyrolle looks crazy, so that's on the list. I'll be in paris for two or three weeks, and my friend works during the week days, so I'll be on my own to explore during the days.

I'll try for camden town, and I'll have to go get drunk at jim's grave.

I haven't booked accoms in london, yet, but I have a friend I'm staying with, who live outside of the city, so I plan on crashing with her, for the couple or few days I'm there. I'll look out for coffee bean sellers, haha.

I'd like to hit scotland, too, but I don't know anyone there, and I'd like to do a a more long-term trip there and ireland, some other time.

Haha, and I'm not soley into first hand info, if you've heard of a cool spot around those places, I'm down to check them out.

Thanks for the info.

I'd offer you space here if we hadn't already booked up that period.

If you are planning a few tourist things in London then consider getting a deal like this https://secure.londoneye.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&catalogId=14554&storeId=10656&productId=41103&altEntryPoint=&visitDate= It'll work out loads cheaper.

I need to go to Scotland. It's criminal I've never been especially when I love hills and cold weather (seriously).

[Heather_D]

Yeah, that london eye looks awesome, and I'm scared of heights.

I am too, but it wasn't bad. The capsules are mainly glass & roomy, so you don't feel som closed in. Also, if I remember correctly, they don't shove a ton of people into the capsule. So you can walk around. It also goes really slow so you have some time to adjust to the change in height. This is silly, but I almost felt like Mary Poppins flying over London when I went.

Scotland is nice too. I only spent a day or 2 in Glasgow, but it was nice. Never made it to Ireland, but I did go to Wales, which was also nice.

If you're looking for some good resources, Loney Planet has great guide books & website.

[weez]

I'd offer you space here if we hadn't already booked up that period.

If you are planning a few tourist things in London then consider getting a deal like this https://secure.londoneye.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&catalogId=14554&storeId=10656&productId=41103&altEntryPoint=&visitDate= It'll work out loads cheaper.

I need to go to Scotland. It's criminal I've never been especially when I love hills and cold weather (seriously).

thanks, man. bigger man than me, i wouldn't want a dirty stranger in my house, haha.



I am too, but it wasn't bad. The capsules are mainly glass & roomy, so you don't feel som closed in. Also, if I remember correctly, they don't shove a ton of people into the capsule. So you can walk around. It also goes really slow so you have some time to adjust to the change in height. This is silly, but I almost felt like Mary Poppins flying over London when I went.

Scotland is nice too. I only spent a day or 2 in Glasgow, but it was nice. Never made it to Ireland, but I did go to Wales, which was also nice.

If you're looking for some good resources, Loney Planet has great guide books & website.

cool. i did a lot of lonely planet website surfing, and got a lot of good info. t-minus eight hours until i leave, and i'm drunk and have yet to pack. i'd like to say this was the first time, but...

[Adam]

thanks, man. bigger man than me, i wouldn't want a dirty stranger in my house, haha.

It help keeps the bills down (http://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/284710). But sometimes it's nice to allow free loading couch surfers here too. Plus the kindness you shows in giving a room to someone helps with the kindness when you are looking to travel - I recommend it to all.

We've been booked up about 60% of time (we don't want 100%) since November last year and I say we've had two annoying guests. One downright rude and another just loud and annoying - these were one and four night stays.

We travelled america on Airbnb and Couchsurf and it was all fairly nice - the place we stayed in Boston was fairly dirty though but I have been in worse hotels.

Basically, I'm saying it's the new way of travel - people are still kind in couch surfing but failing that helping those who rent their room out times of austerity is better than giving to any hotel.

[weez]

I'm not much for planning, so I only ended up in London for eight hours, and walked around for a few with my 75 lbs packs (from the Trafalgar Squarish area to London Bridge). London was busy with the Olympics, but it was cool to see the sights. The rest of the trip was awesome. Thanks for the input.