re: An idiot abroad (or locally!) - The travel thread

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In the last five years I have done long trips to Colorado, Seattle, Vero Beach-Palm Beach,Orlando, 30A, Vancouver, Whistler, Kauai (twice), Maui and London. I like going to the Redneck Riviera as much as the next SEC guy.

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In the last five years I have done indonesia, zambia, south africa, panama, colombia, mexico, amsterdam, spain, costa rica, nicaragua, peru, london (x2)

domestically, orlando, miami, tampa, a few other spots in fl, san diego(x3), LA (x2), san fran, austin, SLO, new orleans (x5), hell even baton rouge, atlanta. Forgot Toronto on that last.

Next big trip is to patagonia. Small trips to alaska and honduras. we will do 2-4 domestic trips a year too.

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I really can't afford International travel with the whole family. I wish I could though...

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Travel is free(ish)

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VA do you have anything in the works? found any interesting blogs?

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I'm just beginning my research on Argentina now. It's a trip that is high on our list though and I'm happy to share information as I gather it.

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I've been living in Colombia the last 2 months so if anyone has any questions I would be happy to help. I'm currently in Medellin and love it.

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Wow, nice. How safe is Colombia? Always wanted to go there and it is so easy to get there on awards, but I've always thought of it as too unsafe unless you're in a group. Also, how many days is long enough in Medellin? How many days to cover most/all of Columbia? How does the USD hold up there? In other words - is it cheap?

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Wife and I are looking to do a 14-16 day trip to Australia in October/November, looking for any advice or tips! I'd like to do Uluru/Alice Springs, but I know my wife wouldn't enjoy it and I feel like we are already traveling a lot once we get to the country

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I studied abroad in Brisbane so hopefully I can chime in with some suggestions.

Uluru is definitely worth it. I did a 3 day hiking/camping trip that started in Alice Springs, went to Kata Kjuta, Kings Canyon, Kings Creek, then Uluru. There were nasty thunderstorms at night while I was there (it hardly ever rains in the middle of the country) and I remember seeing Uluru with waterfalls off the sides, great memories. Once the storms cleared you could see the southern cross along with thousands of other stars at night, once in a lifetime opportunity. This is the company I went with (The Rock Tour) LINK. I flew into Alice Springs and at the end of the tour flew out of the Uluru airport, but there's an option to go back to Alice Springs if you want.

As far as Cairns, I went there for the equivalent spring break in october or november. You could do some bungee jumping or skydiving up there, pretty crazy experience . I did a snorkeling tour of the barrier reef that was great, people were scuba diving off the same boat so there's definitely options of doing either.

Sydney you've got all the beaches like Coogee and Bondi that should be nice in november. The blue mountains aren't that far away and are gorgeous, plenty of wineries up that way as well. I'd suggest going on some of the tours so you get a feel for the city before diving into local stuff, company I went with was Activity Tours Australia and they were fine/reasonably priced.

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I generally take one International trip per year with Mrs Pimp.And two domestic trips with the kids. I really can't afford International travel with the whole family. I wish I could though...

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Super impressive! I doubt we would do that if we had kids.

We do one international trip a year as a couple. An alternate between big trips (3+ weeks) and small trips (2 weeks).

I generally get to do 2-3 work international trips a year and try to add time at the end of each.



We have engineered our life to travel. We don't have kids, don't drive fancy cars, all we do is plan trips.

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There are so many awesome places to see I don't think you can scratch the surface in a week. Medellin is a magical place and I would highly suggest visiting. English is not spoken much here so it is important to brush up on some basis Spanish.

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we loved colombia. But the spanish thing is key. we went to several places where no one spoke english. Hell, we checked into an international airport and the check in person didn't speak english.

we found colombia to be safe but not so cheap. The lodging was reasonable but we found food to be expensive. transportation was cheap, as was drinking and activities.

Welcome!

You came to this thread just to troll me? :)
Good. Spread the word. Someone else may find value where you see none

What is this no-go zone in Malmo you talk about? Educate me please.

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Wife and I are talking about taking our first international trip. Neither of us has been out of the country. We're not interested in art or historical monuments, but don't want to "rough it" either. Australia and Ireland have both come up as possible destinations. Any opinions on best bang for the buck or best first trip?

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how long? How much budget?

Don't do australia for 2 weeks, it will kill you.

Ireland is awesome. I would highly recommend it.

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Any opinions on best bang for the buck or best first trip?

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If we can find you some cheap airfare deals I'd say Australia just because there's a lot to do and it'd be a great first trip(note I've never been to Ireland). The USD to AUD is around $1.32 right now which is the highest it's been in about 6 or 7 years. For ireland the conversion is around $0.89 to 1 euro.

Right now airfare is around $895 from Los Angeles (there's even a stopover in Fiji), we can get you to LA from New Orleans for about $200 so total $1100. Cheapest I'm finding to Dublin is about $809 from MSY