headed off on another adventure

[Trev_GFC]

STOP RIGHT THERE!...Unless you just are better at jet lag than me a 10 hour train ride is hell after a redeye 8 hour flight.

A train journey from Kings Cross up the East Coast to Edinburgh is only 4 1/2 hours, while a journey up the west coast from Euston will take 5 1/2, but I agree that even a 2-3 hour journey is a mission after a transatlantic flight. It's also often cheaper to get a red-eye flight up there, even though flying is the worst form of transport around. York (East Coast) and Liverpool/Lake District (West Coast) are well worth breaking up your train journey for, although York and Lake District are pretty near Scotland anyway.

London Underground can get crowded and you may be unnerved at the lack of personal space, but don't worry: no eye-contact or attempts at social interaction is made ;) Also I've never seen or even heard of groping or anything else on the Tube. Have common sense with your valuables, although to be fair it's more to stop you forgetting items or letting them fall out of your pockets rather than pick-pocketing which isn't particularly common at all. Finally on London: the tube is fast and convenient, but London's a fast and pleasant walkable City. This map tells you how long it takes to walk between stops.

[Happy Panther]

A train journey from Kings Cross up the East Coast to Edinburgh is only 4 1/2 hours, while a journey up the west coast from Euston will take 5 1/2, but I agree that even a 2-3 hour journey is a mission after a transatlantic flight. It's also often cheaper to get a red-eye flight up there, even though flying is the worst form of transport around. York (East Coast) and Liverpool/Lake District (West Coast) are well worth breaking up your train journey for, although York and Lake District are pretty near Scotland anyway.

 

Uh yeah that isn't as long as I thought it was. And when I said Leeds I definitely meant York lol. 

 

Leeds is probably exactly where you don't want to visit

[Trev_GFC]

Eurostar from London to Brussels run every 2 hours and takes less than 2 hours (turn up 30 mins before). Your ticket to Brussels includes a journey elsewhere in Belgium - Bruges, Gent and Antwerp are beautiful cities which are a short train journey from Brussels. If you're staying in Belgium then there's no excuse not to visit one of those places, although even a day trip from London is possible.

Brussels to Amsterdam on the Thalys train takes less than 2 hours (Eurostar, Thalys, TGV, Renfe in Spain and some ICE in Germany are all high speed and go 200 MPH), with stops along the way at some of the Belgian cities I mentioned. Brussels to Cologne in again less than 2 hours which is another beautiful (and drinking!) city which is your portal to all of Germany. Berlin is supposed to be awesome.

I'm off to Budapest in two weeks time - it's supposed to have beauty and a nightlife to match Prague, but is cheaper and less tourist-trappy.

Have a great time :)

[Trev_GFC]

Uh yeah that isn't as long as I thought it was. And when I said Leeds I definitely meant York lol.

Leeds is probably exactly where you don't want to visit

Leeds is good for a night out although you have to tread carefully. I'm not a fan of going to places like there and worrying about what pubs and clubs I'll be going in, or being conscious that I don't speak with a northern accent.

York has that Canterbury feel to it :) :

[Happy Panther]

Leeds is good for a night out although you have to tread carefully. I'm not a fan of going to places like there and worrying about what pubs and clubs I'll be going in, or being conscious that I don't speak with a northern accent.

York has that Canterbury feel to it :) :ImageUploadedByCarolinaHuddle1400518220.890677.jpg

Yeah York is awesome.

 

Leeds was where we switched trains to get to North Yorkshire from London. Would always have a pint in a pretty sweet bar near the station that looked like a Cathedral. That was all i needed to see of Leeds.

 

This is back when they had a premier league football team.

[Cat]

Sounds like you will be a good source for our upcoming trip.  Next year is our 15th wedding anniversary, and I'm looking at London and then on to Eastern Europe. Brugee, Sweden, St. Petersburg, Denmark, Estonia 

[Trev_GFC]

This is back when they had a premier league football team.

People who come to Europe should definitely try and go to a football match. I took this video at Leeds, was a spine-tingling feeling especially seeing Elland Road full: http://flic.kr/p/8j9ntn

London prem and Championship matches are worth going to, and Newcastle is one of the grounds I've always wanted to go to. Avoid Scottish football like the plague, but German football is a must-do. European football in General is far cheaper than British football, and depending on the country/club you'll get a better atmosphere and more interesting game. In Spain the chances are everyone around you will be tourists too.

[Trev_GFC]

Sounds like you will be a good source for our upcoming trip. Next year is our 15th wedding anniversary, and I'm looking at London and then on to Eastern Europe. Brugee, Sweden, St. Petersburg, Denmark, Estonia

Bruges I hope to visit in two weeks shortly after a day or two to recover from the Bachelor party in Hungary as I have a few days Annual Leave to waste. My friend went there for valentines day and recommends a pretty cottage-style place to stay in (I think that's how she described it!).

All of the main cities in Scandinavia are expensive but beautiful.

For more information on short trips or next legs of journeys around Europe there's a great website:

http://www.seat61.com/index.html

[Cat]

Bruges I hope to visit in two weeks shortly after a day or two to recover from the Bachelor party in Hungary as I have a few days Annual Leave to waste. My friend went there for valentines day and recommends a pretty cottage-style place to stay in (I think that's how she described it!).

All of the main cities in Scandinavia are expensive but beautiful.

For more information on short trips or next legs of journeys around Europe there's a great website:

http://www.seat61.com/index.html

 

 

I'm leaning towards a Baltic/Scandinavian cruise. I think it's going to be the best way for me me to visit so many different countries.  I'm not sure I like the idea of a cruise though. I would rather do rail.

[Porn Shop Clerk]

People who come to Europe should definitely try and go to a football match. I took this video at Leeds, was a spine-tingling feeling especially seeing Elland Road full: http://flic.kr/p/8j9ntn

London prem and Championship matches are worth going to, and Newcastle is one of the grounds I've always wanted to go to. Avoid Scottish football like the plague, but German football is a must-do. European football in General is far cheaper than British football, and depending on the country/club you'll get a better atmosphere and more interesting game. In Spain the chances are everyone around you will be tourists too.

 

Germany vs Britain would be awesome.

 

WE WON THE WAR.  WE WON THE WAR.  WE WON THE WAR.

 

nothing in american sports can even begin to compare to that rivalry

[RoaringRiot]

the long and short of it is that five years ago i quit my job, sold my poo, and bought a one-way ticket to australia, my first time ever out of the country, with a bicycle and a backpack and spent months trekking around the australian coast and mountains, and up into southeast asia where i met various and sundry people and adventures and saw indescribable beauty and stomach-pitting poverty.

 

two years ago i tried to write a book about it: using the story of the journey itself (entertaining and enjoyable in its own right) as a literary vehicle to explore some great social and existential issues. this latter part was a nebulous enterprise, and when i started writing i did so on a ship from long beach bound for sydney australia, knocking out 230 pages in a month at sea, but it was all the meat of the story and none of the skeleton. when i came home i was quickly marooned at that stage and then started an undergrad program in anthropology and i haven't really touched it since… but now that i've graduated i've really developed a direction that i want to go with it, something that gives the book a transcendent meaning.

 

when i win the pulitzer i won't forget you guys 

 

 

Fug yeah...I want a signed copy.. 

[PhillyB]

Biggest thing about the UK is remembering which way to look before stepping onto a street.

Also if you're taking your daughter, be weary of a situation I experienced... The underground gets crowded... super crowded at rush hour times. The crowd moves slow at times. However, the escalators move at a constant speed. People will get piled together rather forcefully.

Are you going any more east than Istanbul? I've been on the Turkish side of its border with Iraq. FYI...do NOT wear any jewelry, sunglasses, or anything that can be snatched by kids who run much faster than you.

 

yeah i doubt we'll be messing with the railroads at all (we're considering taking a train from glasgow back to london though, just for the scenery.) as for istanbul, that's as far east as i'm heading. i'm only going there because it's the cheapest airline hub to get to southeast asia… istanbul > kuala lumpur is only $500. (well that and the fact that it's old constantinople and i really want to see the hagia sophia.)

 

 

A train journey from Kings Cross up the East Coast to Edinburgh is only 4 1/2 hours, while a journey up the west coast from Euston will take 5 1/2, but I agree that even a 2-3 hour journey is a mission after a transatlantic flight. It's also often cheaper to get a red-eye flight up there, even though flying is the worst form of transport around. York (East Coast) and Liverpool/Lake District (West Coast) are well worth breaking up your train journey for, although York and Lake District are pretty near Scotland anyway

 

we've got disappointingly little time so we're going to have to forgo the rest of england and just plop down in the scottish countryside for 9 days. my daughter is going to be 13 months old when we go, so the trip isn't exactly conducive to just wandering around all willy-nilly

 

 

Eurostar from London to Brussels run every 2 hours and takes less than 2 hours (turn up 30 mins before). Your ticket to Brussels includes a journey elsewhere in Belgium - Bruges, Gent and Antwerp are beautiful cities which are a short train journey from Brussels. If you're staying in Belgium then there's no excuse not to visit one of those places, although even a day trip from London is possible.

Brussels to Amsterdam on the Thalys train takes less than 2 hours (Eurostar, Thalys, TGV, Renfe in Spain and some ICE in Germany are all high speed and go 200 MPH), with stops along the way at some of the Belgian cities I mentioned. Brussels to Cologne in again less than 2 hours which is another beautiful (and drinking!) city which is your portal to all of Germany. Berlin is supposed to be awesome.

I'm off to Budapest in two weeks time - it's supposed to have beauty and a nightlife to match Prague, but is cheaper and less tourist-trappy.

Have a great time :)

 

i'm still in the process of figuring out how i'm going to get to istanbul from london. i may just jump on a cheap flight if time is pressing (it probably will be) but i really want to take trains across europe to get there. if i do that i'd start with the train to brussels and then work my way down into germany, austria, and then the quickest route to istanbul (probably through slovenia, croatia, serbia, and bulgaria.) i'm jealous about budapest, i was debating taking the hungary route southeast but it just doesn't make sense… i want to dick around in eastern europe as much as possible but i'm on a mission here.

 

 

Sounds like you will be a good source for our upcoming trip.  Next year is our 15th wedding anniversary, and I'm looking at London and then on to Eastern Europe. Brugee, Sweden, St. Petersburg, Denmark, Estonia 

 

very nice. i'll be more in southeastern europe than eastern proper, but if you dip down south of the czech republic maybe i can help you out. i don't even know if i'll be able to offer much on london… we're peacing out for glasgow as soon as we arrive and not returning until the night before they fly home and i head east :(

 

 

Fug yeah...I want a signed copy.. 

 

for sure. i have invested an awful lot of time and energy into writing this goddamn thing so i will consider anything less than publication by a major publishing house and stocking in brick-and-mortar bookstores as an utter failure

[Johnny Rockets]

it's been a year since i've been out of the country, which is a long-ass time for me, but that's what happens when you have a kid. luckily that dry spell is coming to an end… on june 10 my wife and daughter and i are flying to london and taking a train to scotland, where we'll kick back in some B&Bs for a week and a half.

 

after much discussion internally and among family and friends i've decided that this summer i'm going to finally finish up my book. i spent a lot of time and money two years ago on a boat in the middle of the pacific ocean banging out the majority of it and that's going to go to waste if i don't finish it up… i start grad school in the fall, so i know if i don't get it done this summer it's going to be at least another two years before i can think about it at all.

 

that being the case, after my wife and daughter fly home i'm going to take a few weeks doing some wandering and finishing it up. i've always found that i always write the most effortlessly and inspiredly in the midst of some great adventure, so i intend to wander across eastern europe for a couple days in route to istanbul, fly to malaysia (with a layover in kazahkstan, which excites me) and then take a week or two exploring the far-flung isles of indonesia. borneo, java, old makassar, south sulawesi, and then a schooner east bound for the old spice islands, overgrown dutch fortresses, past the kai islands to the mysterious aru islands, home of the legendary bird of paradise and the mecca of alfred russell wallace, whose footsteps i'd be tracing over enchanted waters 150 years later… and perhaps beyond, to irian jaya and the dani tribes… maybe i'll get a penis gourd. 

 

oh yeah and there's an island covered in komodo dragons. i'll probably go there too.

 

i will return home with a finished book ready for publishers and a slew of carolina huddle phillyb travel threads in my wake.

 

Oh yeah....well I am going to Folly's Beach SC this weekend.

 

<drops mic>

[Happy Panther]

 

 

we've got disappointingly little time so we're going to have to forgo the rest of england and just plop down in the scottish countryside for 9 days. my daughter is going to be 13 months old when we go, so the trip isn't exactly conducive to just wandering around all willy-nilly

 

Keep off the moors, stick to the roads.