World Travelers

That are some stories Tim, wow. You need to be experienced it seems. I can't imagine hiking for 18 days.

Just got back from Riga. Yikes, I tried to keep up my old & usual "heavy drinking and eating" routine despite a number of health issues, which wasn't very smart of me. Difficult to control oneself when there's "group pressure".

Still, it was a great trip - a beautiful, underrated little capital with good nightlife, cozy old town, great selection of beer and food (and not too expensive), nice parks and canals and monuments. We explored, discoed untill 5 in the morning (poor tinnitus!), took a boat trip, drove to the beach town of Jurmalla just outside the city, shopped, some went for a spa while others drank all day long.

It's heartily recommended for those who crave an inexpensive city long weekend with lots of money value!!

I was jealous of everyone going to all these magnificent world heritage sites and so decided to go to one of the great tourist spots of the world, Benidorm. This was for my friend's stag (aka bachelor) party, for three nights.

A quick summary of the highlights:

- A group of girls attached themselves to our group on one of the nights. One of them was a real stunner. We started to wonder whether she might be a stripper or something, since she had the body for it and seemingly the attitude towards sex as well. A bit later another chap walked up, got his phone out and held a picture up to her and said "Is this you?" It was, and it was a picture of her with nothing on, sitting on his lap, apparently taken a few weeks earlier. She was in fact a lap dancer. After this she started taking clothes off at regular intervals.
- Another group of girls we started talking to in the swimming pool asked where we were from. Most of the group is from Wales and so that was the answer given. "Oh, where's that?" This wouldn't be amusing were it not for the fact that they came from Bristol (a small number of miles from Wales).
- A Scottish gentleman came and sat with us, said "Hello lads" and then just sat there for a while. We had no idea who he was. It took a good 15 minutes before he asked "Am I sitting with the wrong group?"
- After a meal, the waitress asked us whether we wanted dessert. "What do you recommend?" "The fresh fruit salad. Well, it's not actually fresh fruit."
- I am not, contrary to popular belief, a big drinker most of the time. I suspect I drank as much in these three days as I would do in a month, usually. Didn't go to bed before 5:30am. I really didn't think my body would be able to do that any more, but evidently it can. Excellent news!

I shall report on the various museums and other cultural exhibits we visited in a separate post.

Hilarious! And I wanna hear about more, lots more!!!

Awesome, James! I'm not sure where Benidorm is, but who cares if you've got swimming pools, naked girls and lots of booze!

I think I am a world traveler.

I am from the Netherlands visited the countries in Western Europe (except Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Spain)
Canada (Ontario)
USA (25 states)
Singapore
New Zealand (North and South Island)

My next trip will be West USA again, including the John Williams Concert at the Hollywood Bowl.

So if anyone wants to have more information about my experiences just let me know

Yes most east until now would be Poland / Ukraine border.

But indeed south east Europe is still on my list to visit

25 states in the USA!

A couple of road trips I presume?

Is Hawaii part of those 25?

Interestingly that the one state in the US I am most interested in visiting.

I think you just hurt several others with that image Tim.

A bit surreal though, such stop in between, and then moving forward again.

Damn....that's some holiday right there! The master of "off-tourist-pist" trips strikes again!

I want to come tooo


Have a great time and of course photos photos photos!!!!

Yes, definitely! Although a week would probably be too much. 2-3 days are perfect. You'll get everything from canal trips to a visit to the "skyscraper" to the seeding, thriving, BLADE RUNNER-like atmosphere of Khao San Road and its co-streets. A must-have! Not that expensive either, if you spend the night in some of the cheaper B&B-type places there. We slept at the D&D inn the first night, which was a bit expensive, perhaps (relative-wise), but loved our stay at a place (forgot its name) in a neighbouring street. Cheap and nice, even a pool on the roof top.



You could go to Ko Phi-Phi Don island (and a visit to its neighhbouring national park island Phi Phi Le, where THE BEACH was shot), but it's changed a lot since the days Timmer was there. It's not the chill place with few tourists anymore. It's got massive tourism now (I was there in 2009), and a bit crowded at times. Lots of Scandinavians (esp. Swedes). Avoid Phuket and Krabi too. Not too sure about Ko Samui at the east coast, which is also a popular destination. Might be easier to find a less crowded place there. There might be other smaller islands that are more laidback, but we didn't explore them.

Either way, Thailand is awesome. You won't regret it.

Yes, and I stress the LATEST!!

We had one from 2006, and even that was WAY out-of-date in 2009. The tourism on Phi Phi, for example, had expanded radically since 2006.