Vacation 2023

[Stargrunt6]

Has anyone been on vacation? I see some of you on TwitterBookTube have posted pics of your trips.  What about those who are of the socials?  Do you have any plans?

So far, I went to the Alabama coast with my family, which is a few hours away.  Water was beautiful, it was hot as hell.  We tried charter fishing, but since it was a short excursion for newbie anglers, we only caught poverty fishes.  My niece caught the biggest one, first time fishing too, but it wasn't in regulation so we had to toss it back. 

Her and I tried playing golf but it was so hot we made every hole a par 3.  If there were no chilled water coolers, we'd have left.  Still, she loved it.  

[sunday]

I&I plus small excursion to Warsaw here.

Already have a beach in walking distance, but I find beachgoing a bit boring.

[Josh]

Denmark to Sweden to Estonia. Wasn't my first choice, but my girlfriend and I had tickets for an extended family reunion (she has family in Sweden) dating back to just before COVID that had to be used up, and we couldn't change which airports we were flying into and out of. I'd never been to Northern Europe before so it was pretty fun and educational, but extremely expensive. I usually like third world tropical locations where my dollar goes further and I can pack super light.

[Stargrunt6]

9 minutes ago, Josh said:

Denmark to Sweden to Estonia. Wasn't my first choice, but my girlfriend and I had tickets for an extended family reunion (she has family in Sweden) dating back to just before COVID that had to be used up, and we couldn't change which airports we were flying into and out of. I'd never been to Northern Europe before so it was pretty fun and educational, but extremely expensive.

I usually like third world tropical locations where my dollar goes further and I can pack super light.

I've been eyeing the crap out of Paraguay for that reason, plus my recent fascination with the place.   And from the capital, you can already visit like 3 other countries on the road.  

[bojan]

Going tomorrow to Zabljak, Montenegro for about week, if all goes well next year I will finally have tiny summer house there, in the shade of those two 100+ years old mapple trees:

 

[Angrybk]

I'm a workaholic so don't take much vacation (which is really stupid because I also tend to burn out). Went to Ljubljana for a week for work (beautiful city, great food and beer, Lake Bled is gorgeous). My wife's family is from Quebec and own a lake house a few hours' north of Montreal where they summer -- beautiful there too but it's a pretty insular community and not much to do, so I tend to only last about a week or so. 

[alejandro_]

12 minutes ago, bojan said:

Going tomorrow to Zabljak, Montenegro for about week, if all goes well next year I will finally have tiny summer house there, in the shade of those two 100+ years old mapple trees:

Good luck, a few years ago I visited Kotor and I really enjoyed it.

[Ivanhoe]

I have a one-week workation to help a relative in a couple of months. After that, I will still have nearly two weeks to burn before 2359 hrs on 2023-12-31. I hadn't been tracking my sick leave and vacay time, kinda snuck up on me.

I hope to do at least multiple 4-day weekends down on the Gulf, see if I can catch a redfish or three. 

If I have any vacation headed for the use-it-or-lose-it bin in December I may head down your way the week before Xmas. We can make it a ron-day-voo and do the ammo swapping we've discussed previously. This time, the .380 will be for me, not my malignant narcissist now-ex-GF.  

 

[Stargrunt6]

4 hours ago, bojan said:

Going tomorrow to Zabljak, Montenegro for about week, if all goes well next year I will finally have tiny summer house there, in the shade of those two 100+ years old mapple trees:

I've been watching the youtuber "Living Ironically in Europe," and I saw his vid about Montenegro.  The countryside looks like something out of LOTR.  Here's to your hacienda *cheers*

4 hours ago, bojan said:

5 hours ago, sunday said:

I&I plus small excursion to Warsaw here.

Already have a beach in walking distance, but I find beachgoing a bit boring.

I love the beach.  Not sure if in my future I want to move to Texas or Florida. 

4 hours ago, bojan said:

4 hours ago, Angrybk said:

I'm a workaholic so don't take much vacation (which is really stupid because I also tend to burn out). Went to Ljubljana for a week for work (beautiful city, great food and beer, Lake Bled is gorgeous). My wife's family is from Quebec and own a lake house a few hours' north of Montreal where they summer -- beautiful there too but it's a pretty insular community and not much to do, so I tend to only last about a week or so. 

 

I heard Slovenia is underrated as a tourism spot. 

 

 

[Josh]

4 hours ago, Stargrunt6 said:

I've been eyeing the crap out of Paraguay for that reason, plus my recent fascination with the place.   And from the capital, you can already visit like 3 other countries on the road.  

Ah…that reminds me, last fall I was in several places in Brazil. If you hit Paraguay, make sure you make the trip to Igazu falls on the Brazilian/Argentinian border. You wouldn’t be that far away.

[Stargrunt6]

Just now, Josh said:

Ah…that reminds me, last fall I was in several places in Brazil. If you hit Paraguay, make sure you make the trip to Igazu falls on the Brazilian/Argentinian border. You wouldn’t be that far away.

I've seen the pictures. It's no less jaw-dropping than Machu Pichu IMO.  

I watched this documentary about the Chaco Region. Holy Crap. 

 

[urbanoid]

13 hours ago, Stargrunt6 said:

I heard Slovenia is underrated as a tourism spot. 

Now is not the best time though, floods affected 2/3 of the country:

Quote

Slovenia floods kill at least six in ‘worst natural disaster to ever hit’ the country, says PM

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/07/europe/slovenia-floods-intl/index.html

[Allan W]

Spent a week in June in Colorado.  4 nights in Denver and 3 in Glenwood Springs.  We had a great time.  Denver is an interesting city with good museums and a great theater complex where we saw The Book of Mormon (highly recommended).  Wings over the Rockies and the Colorado Rail Museum were also very good.

Glenwood Springs was a nice break.  The hotsprings were spectacular as was the scenery.  We would definitely go back, although if I never drove I-70 again it would be too soon...

[urbanoid]

19 hours ago, sunday said:

I&I plus small excursion to Warsaw here.

Already have a beach in walking distance, but I find beachgoing a bit boring.

Pretty much the same, except the beach nearby, which I also find boring.

[RETAC21]

Cartagena

https://patrimoniocultural.defensa.gob.es/es/centros/museo-cartagena/piezas-destacadas

https://patrimoniocultural.defensa.gob.es/es/centros/museo-naval-cartagena/portada

Alicante (on gay pride weekend 🙄...)

https://www.alicanteturismo.com/castillo-de-santa-barbara/

Cadiz with a detour to San Fernando

Budapest

time to rest now...

[Harold Jones]

8 hours ago, Allan W said:

Glenwood Springs was a nice break.  The hotsprings were spectacular as was the scenery.  We would definitely go back, although if I never drove I-70 again it would be too soon...

Take the train next time.  It's very scenic and the station is across the river from the hot springs pool.

[Harold Jones]

I did the I&I, a week in Florida (south of Pensacola on the coast) with my wife and a long weekend in South Dakota checking out a friend's newly acquired farm.  

[Allan W]

37 minutes ago, Harold Jones said:

Take the train next time.  It's very scenic and the station is across the river from the hot springs pool.

We went to Iron Mountain rather than the main hot springs.  It was less crowded and looked to be less overrun with kids. 

We're off to Montreal and Quebec City this weekend.  I'm looking forward to the Citadel and the Vandoo's regimental museum in Quebec City.

[Stargrunt6]

I watched this video about a guy who took the City of New Orleans all the way to Chicago.  It was enough to make me want to do the same. I've heard Amtrak has come a long way.

 

 

[BansheeOne]

Mandatory companion music:

 

[Stargrunt6]

4 minutes ago, BansheeOne said:

Mandatory companion music:

 

Lol he mentioned that in the vid.  He said when you hear that song while riding, it has a big impact.  

[sunday]

1 hour ago, Stargrunt6 said:

I watched this video about a guy who took the City of New Orleans all the way to Chicago.  It was enough to make me want to do the same. I've heard Amtrak has come a long way.

(...)

 

That is one French guy that has pretty good train trip videos.

OTH, be careful to watch the videos of this other, as you would end wanting a trip in the Trans-Siberian...

 

[Harold Jones]

My plan for next year sometime (October?) is to ride the Rocky Mountaineer to Vancouver to celebrate our 30th anniversary and my 60th birthday.  

[urbanoid]

2 hours ago, Harold Jones said:

My plan for next year sometime (October?) is to ride the Rocky Mountaineer to Vancouver to celebrate our 30th anniversary and my 60th birthday.  

Anniversary and birthday on the same day? If yes, well played indeed.

[Ivanhoe]

57 minutes ago, urbanoid said:

Anniversary and birthday on the same day? If yes, well played indeed.

I always figured that if I ever got married, it would be on Valentine's Day. Simply impossible to forget, due to America's red-and-pink explosion roughly a week out.