Any Travel Plan for 2019?

[PawPrint53]

Leaving this week for two weeks in Hawaii, half in Kauai and half visiting my cousin on the Big Island where we've never been.

Two weeks in England in late April doing another Cotswolds walk that ends in Bath, then a few days in Oxford because we didn't get to see as much as we wanted last fall.

Heading to northwestern Washington again in July to escape the heat for a month. Lots of hiking!

[Teacher Terry]

1252 that’s awesome about your daughter!

[Souschef]

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Originally Posted by PawPrint53 Leaving this week for two weeks in Hawaii, half in Kauai and half visiting my cousin on the Big Island where we've never been. Two weeks in England in late April doing another Cotswolds walk that ends in Bath, then a few days in Oxford because we didn't get to see as much as we wanted last fall. Heading to northwestern Washington again in July to escape the heat for a month. Lots of hiking!

While in Oxford, visit Blenheim Palance if you have not been there. For something different, go to the Kidlington Aitport near there and rent a plane and pilot to get an aerial view. I did it and loved it.

[Scuba]

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Originally Posted by 6miths In my experience, hoping for good weather in the UK is setting oneself up for disappointment. One of my theories as to why they came to control half the world was because everyone wanted to escape the weather.

[emoji23]

[Chuckanut]

If you're looking for an somewhat unusual tourist experience you might want to try a new type of tour - one to the rundown parts of the cities.

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2...-the-anti-tour

This is offered in the city of Porto in Portugal.

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They show people around the city’s disused factories, old railway lines, empty lots and down-at-heel backstreets. The highlight? A downtown shopping mall that went bust in the mid-1990s, now offering cheap rent to cafe bars and practice studios for local bands.

[Nemo2]

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Originally Posted by Chuckanut If you're looking for an somewhat unusual tourist experience you might want to try a new type of tour - one to the rundown parts of the cities. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2...-the-anti-tour This is offered in the city of Porto in Portugal.

Love it! (Wait up...this is almost what we do now. )

Krakow 2017:

[Chuckanut]

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Originally Posted by Nemo2 Love it! (Wait up...this is almost what we do now. )

Wander around enough in any city and you will find the less than high-class sections. Try taking a subway or tram to the edge of some famous city, way out far from the touristy old-town center. Sometimes it's a big bore, at other times it's very interesting.

[NW-Bound]

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Originally Posted by Chuckanut If you're looking for an somewhat unusual tourist experience you might want to try a new type of tour - one to the rundown parts of the cities. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2...-the-anti-tour This is offered in the city of Porto in Portugal.

Ugh! We will be in Porto in about 2 months. Not sure if I want to take the tour.

I recall the time riding the train going into Rome. Right outside the city, the train passed through some neighborhoods that would not look out-of-place in border towns of Mexico.

[NW-Bound]

More recently, I passed by Genoa in our 2017 auto trip, and allowed time to park the car at the seaside port and walk from there to the famous Via Garibaldi. Along the way, we took some shortcuts unknowingly, and walked through grimy alleys where prostitutes were hanging out waiting for business.

And this was happening only a few hundred feet from that Via Garibaldi street. I half expected to be mugged anytime going through those alleys.

[Nemo2]

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Originally Posted by NW-Bound More recently, I passed by Genoa in our 2017 auto trip, and allowed time to park the car at the seaside port and walk from there to the famous Via Garibaldi. Along the way, we took some shortcuts unknowingly, and walked through grimy alleys where prostitutes were hanging out waiting for business. And this was happening only a few hundred feet from that Via Garibaldi street. I half expected to be mugged anytime going through those alleys.

Where we lived in Genoa:

[NW-Bound]

I remember you writing that Genoa was one of your favorite places. You did not say you lived there in one of those alleys.

[Nemo2]

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Originally Posted by NW-Bound I remember you writing that Genoa was one of your favorite places. You did not say you lived there in one of those alleys.

We (almost) always live in alleys. This particular pic is of the "Don't Touch Store" which I mentioned way back.....the owner wouldn't let anyone handle the merchandise, until I greeted him in Arabic...then it was "Pick whatever you want".

A little OT here, but you mentioned the prostitutes, and I thought of this guy while reading the 'Alcoholism' thread:

- In the latter part of the 1960s I worked for a small importing company, (musical instruments and sporting goods), in Toronto, and a recovering/recovered alcoholic transferred from Vancouver to handle the sporting goods sector; really nice guy and we became good friends.

Since he was doing everything as cheaply as possible while putting his life back together, he rented a room in a low priced hotel on Jarvis Street in Toronto, (hooker haven in those days...perhaps still).

There was a little bar in the hotel basement where he'd do his paperwork, and where the 'girls' hung out between 'assignments' - when his wife, who was finalizing their move in B.C., came to visit they went down there for a coffee.

As his wife told me sometime later. every hooker who came in said "Oh, hi Larry".

[brett]

We are in Thailand at the moment. Our fifth winter here.

Each year we seem to see more and more older North American men parading their much younger Thai brides or live ins about as if it is some sort of prize. Many of them clearly do not know what the score is...especially the ones that appear to be with bar girls or ex bar girls. Oftentimes the women appear so disinterested. Sad really.

[Sunset]

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Originally Posted by brett We are in Thailand at the moment. Our fifth winter here. Each year we seem to see more and more older North American men parading their much younger Thai brides or live ins about as if it is some sort of prize. Many of them clearly do not know what the score is...especially the ones that appear to be with bar girls or ex bar girls. Oftentimes the women appear so disinterested. Sad really.

I'm unclear what you mean.
I could guess you mean, the girls are there only for the money ?
Or that there is a longer game going on, that the men will later be obligated under some penalty to pay huge sums for some reason. ?

[brett]

Absolutely. For the money.

Why else would a 25-30 year old attractive Thai woman be interested in a 55-65 and older overweight, balding North American?

The other place we really noticed the same was the Philippines.

[meleana]

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Originally Posted by brett Absolutely. For the money. Why else would a 25-30 year old attractive Thai woman be interested in a 55-65 and older overweight, balding North American? The other place we really noticed the same was the Philippines.

There is a lot of sex slavery situations in Thailand and the Philippines and men from North America (and elsewhere) go there for that reason.

[Nick12]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brett Absolutely. For the money. Why else would a 25-30 year old attractive Thai woman be interested in a 55-65 and older overweight, balding North American? The other place we really noticed the same was the Philippines.

Something to add some girls want to marry Americans which a number of them do and end up living a better life when they relocate to the USA.

[Scrapr]

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Originally Posted by Nemo2 Since he was doing everything as cheaply as possible while putting his life back together, he rented a room in a low priced hotel on Jarvis Street in Toronto, (hooker haven in those days...perhaps still). There was a little bar in the hotel basement where he'd do his paperwork, and where the 'girls' hung out between 'assignments' - when his wife, who was finalizing their move in B.C., came to visit they went down there for a coffee. As his wife told me sometime later. every hooker who came in said "Oh, hi Larry".

LOL...ruh roh Larry

[GravitySucks]

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Originally Posted by 1242Vintage I have two more trips coming up. Rochester NY in May to celebrate our kids university graduation. Have a VRBO set up on one of the finger lakes nearby and a few extends family joining us for a long weekend and mini reunion. Dear daughter, youngest of 3, will be headed to graduate school for an MS in Nursing this Fall in Baltimore and I’ll be taking a trip to Maryland to help her get settled. Love seeing the kids pursuing and achieving their dreams. In the next 24 months she will become our states first deaf nurse!

DD#1 is also a grad of RIT (making an assumption here). Congrats!
Fingerlakes are absolutely stunning that time of year. Reisslings on the south shore of Keuka are worth the drive.

[brett]

Nemo..are you by chance referring to a bar, Larry’s Hideaway that used to be near or around Alan Gardens. Years ago we would walk or cycle by that area on the way to U of T or to Sick Kids. We lived in Cabbagetown for three years.

Never went in but one could not miss the neon sign.