Travel: where have you been? Where would you like to go?

[Sombolia]

Sorry if there's already been a thread like this, I couldn't find one, though. I know a lot of people on this forum have done quite a bit of traveling, so I thought it would be fun to talk about the places you've been, why you went there, where you'd like to go and why, etc ^^ Travel is a favorite topic of mine, so sorry if I ramble a lot... xD

I'll start;

Places I've been:
* Los Angeles -- well, obviously, since I live here!
* San Francisco -- I'd love to go back, it's actually one of the cities I'm looking into moving when I transfer schools.
* Washington, DC -- I went (along with the next two spots) on a school trip. I'd love to go back here too; as a journalism student and a politics/history nerd, it holds a lot of intrigue for me ^^
* Philadelphia, PA
* New York City -- did a lot, but not even half the stuff I wanted to; I'd love to go back! And it's another city that I definitely wouldn't mind living in, though I know it's expensive as heck.
* Munich -- (this and all the European cities below were part of a post-graduation high school trip)
* Schwangau, Germany -- home of the famous Neuschwanstein castle, which Disney's castle was based on. Not only the castle but the surrounding area was breathtakingly gorgeous, I definitely wouldn't mind returning (and touring the other castle in the area).
* Lido di Desolo, Italy -- a tourist-trap beach town near Venice, for a bunch of dumb American kids that had just graduated high school, it was pretty much our first opportunity to party, meet people, drink, etc And swim in the Mediterranean, of course, the beaches there were gorgeous!
* Venice -- this was #1 town to visit, and it completely lived up to my expectations. Going on a gondola ride was like a dream come true =) My only complaint is that I only got to spend less than one day there, so there's still so much left to be seen, I definitely want to go back!
* Milan
* Lucerne, Switzerland
* Engelberg, Switzerland -- it's a small ski resort town, but we went in the off season, so it was pretty deserted and what few shops there were closed early. It was still breathtakingly gorgeous, though, what with the rolling green hills and rivers and stuff. Definitely would go back
* Paris -- I like to think I'm not overly idealistic about Paris. Of course any big city is going to have its share of danger, rude people and dirty areas, and my former French teacher lived there for many years and had plenty of horror stories to tell, not to mention our hotel wasn't exactly in the safest area itself. But even after all that I still (perhaps naively) hold a quite romantic view of the city, and I'd love to visit again or even study abroad there for a semester. And... go to EuroDisney, of course, hehe.
* Austin, TX -- I went there for a convention but I ended up utterly falling in love with the city. I'm definitely going back next summer for the same con, but it's another city I'm looking into to transfer schools there (I know, all my dream cities are really expensive, shh, I'm a dreamer!)

Places I'd love to go:
* London
* Berlin (probably #1 on my list)
* Helsinki
* Moscow
* Munich-- for Oktoberfest
* Rome
* Prague
* Tokyo
* Amsterdam
* --I'm sure there are places I'm forgetting, but that's all I can think of right now

But yeah! What about you guys?? Tell us some interesting travel stories

[nathalie]

Doesn't really matter if I name some places, they are very unfamiliar to most of you I think

Some bigger cities I have been:
- Cologne (Germany)
- Aachen (Germany)
- Essen (Germany)
- Rotterdam (Holland)
- Amsterdam (Holland)
- Maastricht (Holland)
- London (UK)
- Echternach (Luxemburg, the country)

I've been to many many many places in Germany & Holland (because I live very close to both borders)

I've also been in so many places in Germany, Holland, France purely for concerts, but never actually saw something of those cities.

And well, I've been in every big Belgium city, I guess that's normal
(Hasselt, Liége, Bruges, Antwerp, Brussels)


Would love to visit:
- Ireland
- Spain
- Portugal
- Czech Republic
- Finland
- Sweden
- Norway
- Denmark
- U S of A
- Hong Kong & Tokyo Disneyland ^^

Mostly for history & nature purposes, I'm not a beach/sun person.

[Leorgathar]

Oooh interesting read I'll split this list in countries

Mexico:
-Chihuahua (My current home)
-Cd. Juarez (Border city with the US)
-Cuauhtémoc
-Creel (Where the awesome Copper Canyon is)
-Aldama (Home of the Uncle Albert's Cabanas and water park xD)
-Delicias
-Durango
-Monterrey (A major city in Mexico, and a great place to visit for concerts)
-Torreón
-Saltillo
-Guanajuato
-Aguascalientes
-Guadalajara
-Mazatlán (A seaside city I've been going to countless of times during my childhood)
-Puerto Vallarta (I have so many lovely memories from my trip with KS there ^^)
-Manzanillo (Another seaside city from my childhood, really relaxing place)
-Cancún
-Playa del Carmen (Simply the best beach in Mexico, rich in Mayan culture history and celebrations. Also a place full of good memories with KS )

U.S.
-El Paso, TX (Border city with Mexico, I've been going there ever since I have memory :P)
-San Antonio, TX
-Ruidoso, NM (Great place to ski)
-Santa Fe, NM
-Carlsbad, NM
-Durango, CO
-Pagosa Springs, CO (Both this and Durango are awesome places for skiing)
-Tucson, AZ
-Phoenix, AZ
-Las Vegas, NV
-Los Angeles, CA
-Orlando, FL

Poland:
-Poznan (I lived there for 10 months during 2004-2005)
-Warsaw
-Krakow (Awesome castle, and full of so much history. It's also close to the old Auschwitz concentration camp)
-Wroclaw
-Zakopane (Where I celebrated New Year 2005. Also where I tried hot red wine for the first time, excellent for the cold. Yay good memories xD)
-Lublin

Germany:
-Berlin
-Essen (Yes Nathalie, I've also been in Essen, nice place ^^. A friend of mine lives there, so I went to visit her during the year I lived in Poland)

Switzerland:
-Bern (An exchange student who came here for a year lives there, she stayed at my house for a while in exchange for my sister when she went on her exchange year to France. So I went to visit her too after visiting my friend in Essen. Her family took me to ski in the Alps, an unforgettable experience ^^)
-Lucerne

Austria:
-Vienna

Hungary:
-Budapest

Czech Republic:
-Prague (Awesome city, but my camera was stolen there then )

Slovakia:
-Bratislava

Norway:
-Oslo
-Hønefoss (Yet another exchange student that came here I went to visit xD)

Spain:
-Barcelona (My cousin lived there for many years, and invited me to go to his place once)

UK:
-Doncaster (Where mah KS lives ^^<3)
-London (Where I lost my TLKoB virginity xD)
-Manchester
-Coventry (Where I got to meet This Land, Kanu, and Stu )
-Sheffield
-Nottingham
-Whitby
-Liverpool
-Edinburgh (Scotland)
-Fort Augustus (Scotland, where Loch Ness is. Many lovely memories from that trip ^^)

Places I'd like to visit: (Sooo many, but I'll name a few)
-Kenya (I won't die without having gone to a real Safari xD)
-Egypt
-Brazil
-Perú (Machu Picchu, of course!)
-Australia
-New Zealand (LotR locations, yeah! xD)
-Japan
-Mexico City (Yeah, it's ironic that I've never really been in Mexico City :P maybe once when I was a toddler though)
-And many other places I can't think of right now....

[King Simba]

^Don't forget you've been to Sheffield as well. There are probably many other places you've missed but I can't think of them right now.

I'll post here later. I've been to a lot of places that I'll probably be here all day, plus I'm using my phone right now, so it's better if I post from a computer.

[cleargreenwater]

Wow, you're all so well travelled. o_o I'd love to hear more about the things you each saw & did at these places, so I can "arm-chair travel" and live vicariously through you all

I'll do my list/real post later, it's a tad boring though, lol.

[nathalie]

Ugh, I'm so jealous of you guys ...

We didn't have any money growing up, heck, we lived in a garage that was converted into a "home".
So we never went anywhere.
(besides an amusement park every summer)

The places I've been, I would hardly call them "traveling" (besides Disneyland Paris & London).
Most places, are just "around the corner" because I live 10 minutes from Holland, and 30 minutes from the German border.

[ThiagoPE]

The only two places I have visited outside brazil Was Santa Cruz de La Sierra (Bolívia) and Rosário (Argentina)

Inside Brazil, I have been in Several Cities: São Paulo ,Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Aracaju, Campo Grande, Maceió, João Pessoa, Natal, Mossoró, Teresina, São Luiz, Açailândia, Campina Grande, Caruaru.

Inside Brazil, I still want to visit: Curitiba, Florianópolis, Salvador, Fortaleza and Belém

Outside, I place that i really wanted to visit is Japan. But i would like to visit USA and some places of europe.

[lionloversam]

For me, inside the United States, I have been to:

Ohio

West Virginia

Virginia

Maine

Florida

South Dakota ( don't remember it. I was really young)

Maryland (live there)

Tennessee

Pennsylvania

New York

(If just passing through counts and not actually visiting/residing I have been through every state up and down the East Coast. As in the states that actually touch the Atlantic Ocean. )

Outside the States:

The Bahamas ( Nassau and Freeport)

Ukraine

Israel

Hungary ( only for a bus ride to Ukraine and then back to the airport later)

Germany (if you count not leaving the airport)

Countries I want to visit:

Ireland

England

Scotland

Norway

Sweden

Finland

Iceland

Kenya

Australia

India

[Kasei]

Well, prior to this past summer my list was pretty boring. But now I have some places to list!

Places I've been:
States: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Florida, Virginia, New York, DC (not a state, but still), Colorado, Nebraska, Arizona, New Mexico
Northern Ireland
Ireland
Scotland
England
The Netherlands
France
Germany
Switzerland (I want to go back and hike more, aaauuughh so pretty)
Belgium
Denmark
Czech Rep.
Finland
Mexico
Rwanda

Places I'd like to go:
Kenya
New Zealand
Australia
The Amazon Rainforest
Canada
Alaska
Yellowstone
Iceland
Antarctica
Mars

I'll come back and update later, but almost all of this travel has been done in the paste few years, in my childhood we never really went anywhere other than the neighboring states...which is a significant amount of driving time in any direction since Texas is so huge. e_e Just getting down to the Gulf of Mexico takes about 8 hours and it's all the same stat

[Sombolia]

Wow Leor, you've been so many places! Why were you living in Poland? =o (if you don't mind me asking lol)

This thread reminded me, I'd like to visit Mexico too! It's funny, one time we were driving down south and almost ended up crossing the border by accident lol, but I've never actually been there I'm not sure where I would like to visit there... maybe the Mayan ruins, or some of the famous beaches =)

I'd like to go to Iceland too! It looks absolutely gorgeous

I'll post some armchair travel pictures for CGW, sorry if I look weird, it was a few years ago

Germany: me outside Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau Castle, some forest we hiked through, driving on the freeway, Neuschwanstein, Neuschwanstein again, some beautiful Bavarian countryside (Schwangau)

Italy: me in Venice (I look so unhappy xD), gondolas in the canal, my friends laughing about something while I filled up my water bottle in Venice, the beach, taking a gondola ride, the Grand Canal, a backstreet in Jesolo, more Venice, me with all the pigeons in Venice, Venice Disney Store!!!, the view from our hotel balcony in Jesolo, sidestreet in Venice

Switzerland: Engelberg, some nice scenery (this might actually be in Austria lol... we drove through there), some more scenery (it was foggy hence the gloom)

France: in front of the Arc de Triomphe, shopping on Champs-Elysee, Fontaine Saint-Michel, me in front of the Eiffel Tower, at the Louvre

...haha it was fun to see those again

[Leorgathar]

Wow, you have some really gorgeous pictures there, Sombolia. I'd love to add Italy to my list of places I'd like to visit

Wow Leor, you've been so many places! Why were you living in Poland? =o (if you don't mind me asking lol)

I don't mind, no xD I went there as part of a youth exchange student program by Rotary International when I was 18. Basically, a family sends a young son or daughter to live with another family in a different country for a year, and at the same time, they recieve a youth from another family from another country, and so on. In 2004, me and my brother were both sent away. I went to Poland while he went to France, and in our place my family recieved a girl from Switzerland and a girl from Brazil.

It was a great year, and I was so glad I got to stay with a really nice Polish family. And of course, I didn't know then if I would ever be able to be back in Europe, so I did as much travelling as I could during that year, visiting some of the exchange students that went to Mexico in the year before, and such.

After coming back, I didn't think I'd be going back to Europe again in a long time, but then 5 years later I went to England to meet KS for the first time, and I kept going there since then ^^

Don't forget you've been to Sheffield as well. There are probably many other places you've missed but I can't think of them right now.

Oh, right xD I'll add it, thanks ^^ I also forgot Nottingham, so I'll add that too xD

[Sadiki]

Hmm... I don't think I should start putting cities in as that would take forever as most of the time when I travel I go to multiple cities...

Countries I been in:
Finland
Sweden
Norway
Denmark
Estonia
France
England
Germany
Spain
Greece
U.S.A ( California, Oregon, Washington, Florida and Hawaii. Nevada, Colorado, Massachusetts and New Jersey if you count airports )

And also Belgium and Netherlands if you count airports.

[King Simba]

I'll just put a list of countries here now. I might add cities later.

Europe:

UK (England and Scotland)
Spain (Majorca, Menorca, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Gomera)
Malta
Sicily
Greece (Crete, Rhodes, Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakynthos, Paxos, Anti-Paxos)
Cyprus
Turkey
Belgium
France
The Netherlands
Finland

Africa:

Morocco
Tunisia
Egypt
The Gambia
Senegal
Kenya

The Middle East:

Israel

The Caribbean:

Dominican Republic

North America:

USA (Florida, Georgia, Texas, New Mexico)
Mexico

South America:

Brazil

Places I'd like to visit:

South Africa
Australia
New Zealand
Las Vegas, NV

I'm pretty sure I missed something, but I'll come back and change that if I think of it... xP

[Revo]

Countries I've been to:

Finland
Sweden
Norway
Russia
Estonia
Bulgaria
Ireland
Greece
France
Hungary
USA (Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Washington DC)

Also UK if airports count :P

Countries I'd still especially like to visit:

Japan
Australia
New Zealand

Seeing as I've been studying Japanese for 2 years now, I'd like to have a chance to go test my skills there, possibly as an exchange student. Although the work ethic there is ridiculous, I don't know if I could handle the amount of school hours I hear other exchange students have been having. Also I guess some part of Africa would be nice to visit. And French is very pretty and I studied it in high school, so it might be fun to pick that back up once I finish me Japanese studies.

[Azerane]

Countries I've been to include:
Singapore - we did a short bus tour during our airport layover
Germany - student exchange, small towns in Bavaria, Nürnberg, Berlin
Austria - skiing in the Alps = best thing ever
U.S.A - various location in Florida, Medford OR to visit Audra and Petteri and Philadelphia and the Pocono Mountains

Places I've been in Australia:
QLD - Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise
VIC - Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road, Halls Gap and the Grampians
NSW - We drove through some of it to get to QLD, oh and I was in Sydney airport once, lol.
SA - My home state, I've been quite a few places, Flinders Ranges, Victor Harbor, Kangaroo Island, Innes National Park and many places camping. The furthest West I've been is a little town called Ceduna on a school trip to see the total solar eclipse back in 2002 or 2003.

Places I'd like to visit:
In the U.S.A. probably Yellowstone and Sequoia National Forest, skiing in the Rockies, and really any place I can see new birds/wildlife.
Other countries include Tanzania/Kenya for the whole African Safari experience, otherwise I don't really have too much interest in travelling overseas.
In Australia there's lots of places I would love to go, south-west WA, central anywhere for the arid zone/desert, Strezlecki track, Cameron's corner, central NSW, far north QLD, Great Barrier Reef, Alice Springs and Uluru, Lake Eyre, Kakadu National Park, I could go on but it's endless.

[cleargreenwater]

Well, ok. I've never been out of the country unless you count Niagara Falls as real Canada, and I don't lol. I don't have a passport, I should probably get one but at $150 unless its necessary for the immediate future it's going to have to stay on the back burner.

For within the US, though, I've gotten around a decent bit:

--NYC (live about an hour outside of it, so I still count it, I'm not there ALL the time and only go about 3-6 times a year total because it's a friggin $30 trip just to get there so it's still an event.)
--Philadelphia & other eastern points, Pennsylvania
--Bar Harbor, Maine
--assted Connecticut
--New York State & Upstate
--Boston & other eastern points, MA (Salem was my very first road trip when I got my license. I do not recommend driving in Massachusettes to anyone of ANY age ever, it was definitely an immersive driving experience :-P ....)
--Savannah, GA
--Charleston, SC
--assted Florida
--assted Vermont
--assted Virginia
--Washington DC
--San Antonio, Austin, Houston, & southeast TX
--Lake Charles area, LA
--Las Vegas, NV
--Grand Canyon & Flagstaff area AZ
--San Francisco, CA
--Various points Southern CA (an uncle used to live there)
--San Jose, CA (where above uncle currently lives)
--Alaska (the vacations winner so far!)

States that I still want to visit:

--the North West states (Washington & Oregon)
--Montana
--Manhattan, Kansas (don't ask. I was supposed to go on a road trip there to help move a friend but their business there fell thru and I felt cheated out of the experience, lol. So yes...me and Manhattan, Kansas, we are ON one day.)
--New Mexico

For other places on my "Someday" list:
--Nova Scotia, Canada
--Australia (did a project on it in elementary school & its been on my very short list ever since, so Azerane & Safila, if you ever feel like suggesting things to do & see in your regions, even if I won't be using any of the info soon I'd still love to hear suggestions. If you ever feel like it, lol, I know I always CRINGE when people ask me questions about New York City--IDK man, I don't KNOW these things, haha.)
--Kenya (but of course)
--Egypt


That's not all, if I think about it enough there's a ton other places but.

For some reason though, I have zero interest in visiting the Far East. I don't know, I just don't feel it at all

[cleargreenwater]

D'oh, seeing lionloversam posting reminded me, I've been to Baltimore, MD many times, I actually have extended family that lives in the suburbs of the city in a rather rough area that my mother & I pool our mental resources and visit as a team every-other year or so. Combine and conquer family obligations!

[Azerane]

Oregon isn't a north east state

And yes, you must come to Australia, so much to do, so much wildlife to see and vegemite to try

[cleargreenwater]

Oregon isn't a north east state

*head-desk* Proofreading, it's A Thing, huh?

[juhouh]

I've been only in Spain for several times ('cause my grandparents used to live there)

I wish I could visit in South Africa, Kenya or USA (NYC) one day