Travel Thread

[ShrekDawg]

Okay, in the UK do you drive to the different cities or fly or take a bus or? Or do you kinda just pick one city to visit? Just curious cause I wanna see London but I also wanna see Scotland and Ireland and stuff and London is like soooo far away from every other city haha so do you just pick one at a time or?

 

[Sapphire Sebright]

I've never been out of the country or even more than a day's travel from my state, but I would like to take a trip to Japan someday -- partially for the cuisine, partially for the sights, and mostly just because it seems like a really neat place. I'd like to see the Aokigahara Forest, climb Mount Fuji, travel to Hokkaido in the north, and Iriomote Island in Okinawa down south, among other things.
I still need to make time to learn the language -- both spoken and written -- and I certainly won't be traveling anywhere until I can get a proper job and work it for a while to save up money and vacation time.
It will be a while, if it ever happens.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I've never been out of the country or even more than a day's travel from my state, but I would like to take a trip to Japan someday -- partially for the cuisine, partially for the sights, and mostly just because it seems like a really neat place. I'd like to see the Aokigahara Forest, climb Mount Fuji, travel to Hokkaido in the north, and Iriomote Island in Okinawa down south, among other things.
I still need to make time to learn the language -- both spoken and written -- and I certainly won't be traveling anywhere until I can get a proper job and work it for a while to save up money and vacation time.
It will be a while, if it ever happens.

Japan really does seem like an amazing place!!

 

[Aunt Angus]

I would love to Ireland someday, also to the West of America.

Come on over!

 

[Aunt Angus]

I've been to a few places. I'm very, very good at traveling for cheap. I should probably do videos or write a blog or something. Like, seriously cheap.

I've been to almost every state, except the very northeast. I hope to go there soon.

As far as traveling abroad, hubs and I opt for kind of weird experiences because I don't travel to stay at resorts with a bunch of tourists. I want to experience local life. I've been to Mexico, Canada, Iceland, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Chile, Australia, Turkey, Taiwan, China, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam. We try to stay with locals or indigenous people whenever possible. We are headed to Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and England in October. And hopefully Wales. Europe isn't the most exotic locations for us Americans, but I love the history.

I really want to go to Antarctica and an African country. I'd love to go to Ethiopia, but not right now. So maybe Zimbabwe. And I have always wanted to go to Russia, but definitely not right now...

 

[ShrekDawg]

I've been to a few places. I'm very, very good at traveling for cheap. I should probably do videos or write a blog or something. Like, seriously cheap.

I've been to almost every state, except the very northeast. I hope to go there soon.

As far as traveling abroad, hubs and I opt for kind of weird experiences because I don't travel to stay at resorts with a bunch of tourists. I want to experience local life. I've been to Mexico, Canada, Iceland, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Chile, Australia, Turkey, Taiwan, China, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam. We try to stay with locals or indigenous people whenever possible. We are headed to Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and England in October. And hopefully Wales. Europe isn't the most exotic locations for us Americans, but I love the history.

I really want to go to Antarctica and an African country. I'd love to go to Ethiopia, but not right now. So maybe Zimbabwe. And I have always wanted to go to Russia, but definitely not right now...

If you ever did write a blog or something, I’d totally read it! You’re amazing!

 

[Aunt Angus]

Okay, in the UK do you drive to the different cities or fly or take a bus or? Or do you kinda just pick one city to visit? Just curious cause I wanna see London but I also wanna see Scotland and Ireland and stuff and London is like soooo far away from every other city haha so do you just pick one at a time or?

Flights between the cities are not very expensive. We're flying from Glasgow in October. And trains, too, are cheap.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Flights between the cities are not very expensive. We're flying from Glasgow in October. And trains, too, are cheap.

Thanks! That’s helpful. I always forget trains are much more of a thing elsewhere hahah they suck here

 

[Aunt Angus]

If you ever did write a blog or something, I’d totally read it! You’re amazing!

I really should. I used to think travel was ridiculously expensive, but our first long trip was to Costa Rica. Flights cost under $800 for both of us if we took red eye flights and went during the green season, which isn't the busy tourist season. Lots of rain. I looked up itineraries on travel agency sites and found one that seemed like something we'd enjoy. Then I found inexpensive hotels or vacation rentals to stay in. We packed light and washed our clothes as we went. We ate in local shops (called "sodas"), shopped in local stores, and cooked in the places we stayed.

The hardest part was figuring out how to get from place to place. It was very convenient that I speak Spanish, let me tell you (Asia was tricky - esp Vietnam). We took a shuttle from the airport to the first town. From there, we took a bus to a port town. We took a water taxi to the next town. Then we took a bus. We had to catch the bust at 1am because any later and the roads would get washed out by the afternoon rains. No bus stops - locals just told us to wait by the side of the road. The bus picked us up. It was also the mail delivery bus, so that's why it was so cheap. From the last stop, we walked for about 3 miles. Then we hired a fisherman to take us up the river to the next town. Then we hitched a ride with a plantain farmer named Mauricio (such a cool guy) to the closest municipal airport and took a very small plane to get to the capital. We were in the country for almost 3 weeks. We spent under $1400 total, including food, accommodations, airfare, and activities.

Since then, I've always done similarly: find a travel itinerary, find cheap accommodations, figure out local transportation, travel in off seasons, wash laundry, cook meals.

For the trip in October, we're staying for free because we are doing a house swap. And I used my credit card miles. We will be gone for 3 weeks, and I've spent $800 total on tickets. That's it.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I really should. I used to think travel was ridiculously expensive, but our first long trip was to Costa Rica. Flights cost under $800 for both of us if we took red eye flights and went during the green season, which isn't the busy tourist season. Lots of rain. I looked up itineraries on travel agency sites and found one that seemed like something we'd enjoy. Then I found inexpensive hotels or vacation rentals to stay in. We packed light and washed our clothes as we went. We ate in local shops (called "sodas"), shopped in local stores, and cooked in the places we stayed.

The hardest part was figuring out how to get from place to place. It was very convenient that I speak Spanish, let me tell you (Asia was tricky - esp Vietnam). We took a shuttle from the airport to the first town. From there, we took a bus to a port town. We took a water taxi to the next town. Then we took a bus. We had to catch the bust at 1am because any later and the roads would get washed out by the afternoon rains. No bus stops - locals just told us to wait by the side of the road. The bus picked us up. It was also the mail delivery bus, so that's why it was so cheap. From the last stop, we walked for about 3 miles. Then we hired a fisherman to take us up the river to the next town. Then we hitched a ride with a plantain farmer named Mauricio (such a cool guy) to the closest municipal airport and took a very small plane to get to the capital. We were in the country for almost 3 weeks. We spent under $1400 total, including food, accommodations, airfare, and activities.

Since then, I've always done similarly: find a travel itinerary, find cheap accommodations, figure out local transportation, travel in off seasons, wash laundry, cook meals.

For the trip in October, we're staying for free because we are doing a house swap. And I used my credit card miles. We will be gone for 3 weeks, and I've spent $800 total on tickets. That's it.

Oh wow you really are so amazing! And dedicated! I’m not sure I could do that, fully immersed or whatever like that. But it seems awesome. I just would be too chicken lol