Travel Tips

[Tessar]

Originally posted by RÃ*an
I agree with Starr

See? Everyone agrees with her!

Pack some skirts.

[sun-star]

Originally posted by Khamul
We'll be flying in to London and after a day or two, making our way through Canterbury on our way to Dover where we'll board a ferry to cross the Channel.

Well, that's the best part of the country, obviously Canterbury is a lovely city - visit the Cathedral if you can. If you're only passing through Dover you may not get any time to go to the castle there, but if you do it's worth a visit - history all the way from the Anglo-Saxons, through the Napoleonic Wars, all the way to the Dunkirk evacuation and WW2. And don't be disappointed if the famous White Cliffs are actually grey

Originally posted by Valandil
Twista - I think everyone in America just wants to see the moors because it's the setting for the Sherlock Holmes story 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'.

Psst - The Hound of the Baskervilles is set in Exmoor/Dartmoor - Southern England, not Scotland

[Earniel]

Originally posted by RÃ*an
In Britain - watch out when crossing streets! We Americans tend to look to the left before stepping into a street, and you gotta switch it around in Britain - look right! In fact, in touristy parts of London, when I was there, there were giant arrows painted on the streets by the corners saying something like "look right"

Oh, the gazillion times I thought on the bus in Scotland: "Oh my god, we're going to crash on that car!" Not the mention the time I thought: "Hey, he's driving on the wrong side of the road!"

I can tell you that the switching with driving left or right can be mightily scary.

[Twista]

Originally posted by jerseydevil
As for Loch Ness - I would like to go there too - there is a cool castle that overlooks the lake - although I don't know if it's open to the public. Is it open to the public?

Yes i belive it is, only a certain number of days a year though... Only been once myself, nothing but stuffed Nessie's and a cafeteria lol. The Castle it's self though is nice, old and medevil..

Originally posted by Elvengirl
Twista, the Moors must be beautiful. I would love to see them

Yes they are, but still boring none the less lol. Good for a long walk, but nothing to see really..

Originally posted by azelea
The moors! Not just Hound of the Baskervilles, but also The Secret Garden. That book really romanticizes the moors, and makes you want to go and run on them, with the wind blowing your hair out behind you!

And the rain drowning you in some marsh just of the town of Bonybrigg. Blah blah lol. You'll find the Moor's dont resemble the The Secret Garden scenes you imagine, there much more dingey lol..

BUT its still a great place to go.... lol. Dont let it put you off

[Valandil]

Originally posted by sun-star
Psst - The Hound of the Baskervilles is set in Exmoor/Dartmoor - Southern England, not Scotland

Oops!

A pox upon me for a lousy varlet! (or however that goes)

Well... I didn't know exactly WHICH moors... just remembered that word from HotB. We don't really use the word here in the US.

[Starr Polish]

Oh, wow, Rian, that's very cool. I plan on going backpacking sometime after college and living in hostels.

And I adore the way the restaurants are more relaxed, at least in Spain. I really like the Spanish lifestyle overall, though. It was nice to be able to take a siesta to help recover from our jet lag and not miss out on too much going on in the city.

[Radagast]

Originally posted by sun-star
Well, that's the best part of the country, obviously Canterbury is a lovely city - visit the Cathedral if you can. If you're only passing through Dover you may not get any time to go to the castle there, but if you do it's worth a visit - history all the way from the Anglo-Saxons, through the Napoleonic Wars, all the way to the Dunkirk evacuation and WW2. And don't be disappointed if the famous White Cliffs are actually grey



Psst - The Hound of the Baskervilles is set in Exmoor/Dartmoor - Southern England, not Scotland

Indeed it is, the Gothic Cromer Hall in Dartmoor was the inspiration for Sir Henry Baskerville's Baskerville Hall.

[Khamûl]

Originally posted by BeardofPants
Hey Khamul, you gonna tell us why you're going over there? Who's paying? And can they pay for me as well?

I'm going over there on an educational tour from EF Tours. I was supposed to go last summer as a graduation present, but with the outbreak of war with Iraq and the SARS scare, my cautious parents and my high school French teacher decided that we'd put the trip off for a year. So the time has finally come to go. You should learn to say "Give me your pants" in French and come along.

Originally posted by sun-star
Well, that's the best part of the country, obviously Canterbury is a lovely city - visit the Cathedral if you can. If you're only passing through Dover you may not get any time to go to the castle there, but if you do it's worth a visit - history all the way from the Anglo-Saxons, through the Napoleonic Wars, all the way to the Dunkirk evacuation and WW2. And don't be disappointed if the famous White Cliffs are actually grey

The Cathedral is on the itinerary. I can't wait to see where Becket was killed. However, I'm not sure if we'll get to see the castle or not. And thanks for the warning about the cliffs. Maybe I won't be too disgruntled.

[Millane]

Originally posted by jerseydevil
The other time was when this French woman all through the Grand Cayon - I passed by her about 4 times - would go up to people who she knew weren't American and bitch about the country. When i first met her - she was bitching to a British couple - who were very rellieved when she left them alone finally. I have some of what she said to them on video tape. Then she met up later on with some scandanavians and bitched to them about America. Then she went up later to some Asian Indians and told them how she loved India and how much the US sucked and then she made a comment about American culture and stuff. It was just one thing after the other. After that last exchange - I flipped her off. I was in my own country - and she was an arrogant bitch.

i love reading the hardcore side of JD, i couldnt help but giggle when i pictured you following a french lady to hear what she had to say about America, did you say anything to her coz it wouldve looked pretty wierd if you just "flipped her off" for no reason hilarious...
When i was in HK a few years back the handiest thing was the Octopus card, ingenious little thing that you could use for everything you would normally need money for.
I dont think its necassary to change your style of clothing just to fit in, you are a tourist, its better to pack clothes that will suit the climate (if it was me on my way to England the thermies would be the first thing i packed ) Also, and im not sure if this is relevant to your trip, but its way better when you dont just do the tourist ****, in HK there was the very classy British/european part of the city with its fancy restaurants and jewelry shops, and then there was the true Chinese part which included the markets and the way better restaurants...

[The Gaffer]

Originally posted by jerseydevil
Is it open to the public?

Castle Urquhart - yes it is open to the public, and to film crews (e.g. Monty Python and the Holy Grail).

Twista, it seems you subscribe to the Trainspotting school of thought regarding Scotland's scenery, which certainly has some currency, though Rannoch Moor (and the West Highlands in general) is stunning - one of the last proper wilderness areas in Europe. It's also the venue of an annual slaughter of tourists by the mighty midge (a tiny mosquito which does no harm but drives you mental).

My recommendation for London is to go on the London Eye, which is GREAT, then walk along the South Bank of the Thames to the Tate Modern (via the restored Shakespearean Globe Theatre) then across the Millenium Bridge to St Paul's. One of the world's great city walks.

The only thing I've seen not mentioned is travel insurance, which I presume your tour party will be sorting out, Khamul. Not that you'd need it here (you'll get anything you need on the NHS, though you have to pay for prescriptions) but you will elsewhere.

Other boring tips would be to split your money, and carry plastic or travellers' cheques rather than cash.

Pity you're not going to get out of London, though, as it's a bit of a toilet compared with, say, Oxford (he said with not a trace of bias).

Anyway, have a great time and we'll look forward to your postcards in the Holidays thread

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Millane
i love reading the hardcore side of JD, i couldnt help but giggle when i pictured you following a french lady to hear what she had to say about America, did you say anything to her coz it wouldve looked pretty wierd if you just "flipped her off" for no reason hilarious...

Where did I say I was following her? The area around the Grand Canyon isn't all that big and you are able to see the SAME people over and over again during the course of a 14 hour time period. I had past by her several times. The last time the first time I saw her was when I was at the southern over look and she got off her tour bus talking to the people from Britain. The final time I was sitting for about a half hour just watching the colors of the sunset wash the Canyon in red - while I was watching that - she came by and stopped the Indian couple.

And no - I didn't say anything to her - and I don't know if my flipping her off was noticiable or not. It was a reflex after her comment "culture - oh what culture" - *spit*.

[Beruthiel's cat]

Originally posted by jerseydevil
And no - I didn't say anything to her - and I don't know if my flipping her off was noticiable or not. It was a reflex after her comment "culture - oh what culture" - *spit*.

I don't suppose flipping her off would give any validity to her comments????

People like that are best ignored, JD. They do enough damage to their own reputations by their actions and words without others feeding the flames. She was showing her own intolerance and ignorance and I'm sure the other tourists realized after awhile that she was a complete jerk. You didn't need to prove her comments right by an inappropriate hand gesture.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Beruthiel's cat
I don't suppose flipping her off would give any validity to her comments????

People like that are best ignored, JD. They do enough damage to their own reputations by their actions and words without others feeding the flames. She was showing her own intolerance and ignorance and I'm sure the other tourists realized after awhile that she was a complete jerk. You didn't need to prove her comments right by an inappropriate hand gesture.

You weren't there. So it's really good to judge my actions right?

Oh and I know they thought she was an idiot - because I heard them talking about her after she would move on. I don't care that I flipped her off - I was tired of her crap after having listened to it everytime I passed her by. The thing that got me was that she had been living here for over 20 years - that also annoyed me. if she hated it so much she should have gone back to France where it was oh so much better.

[Beruthiel's cat]

Originally posted by jerseydevil
You weren't there. So it's really good to judge my actions right?

I'm old, so I'm entitled to use an old cliche':

Actions speak louder than words.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Beruthiel's cat
I'm old, so I'm entitled to use an old cliche':

Actions speak louder than words.

Doesn't mean you were there or saw it - or how it was a underhanded reflex. I'm not even sure if anyone saw it the way I did it. So I don't really care what you think. You could have judged it - if you were there.

And I don't really care if you are 80 years old.

[Starr Polish]

I've been living in the US my entire life, and mostly in small towns, and I'm sick of listening to the people I live with and go to school with bash countries like Italy and England just because they're different, or rag on legal first generation immigrants who have trouble with the language. I've been dealing with it for eighteen years and I've yet to flip someone off for disagreeing with me about whether or not the US "culture" (which, since we are a melting pot, is very vague for the most part) is superior. And ask any of my friends, I am an extremely argumentative person...

Maybe she couldn't leave because of financial reasons and other commitments? It was pretty rude of her to go on and on about how awful the country is, but it is probably not the best of ideas to go reinforce her opinion of rude, unrefined US "culture."

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Starr Polish
I've been living in the US my entire life, and mostly in small towns, and I'm sick of listening to the people I live with and go to school with bash countries like Italy and England just because they're different, or rag on legal first generation immigrants who have trouble with the language. I've been dealing with it for eighteen years and I've yet to flip someone off for disagreeing with me about whether or not the US "culture" (which, since we are a melting pot, is very vague for the most part) is superior.

Oh - I live in the most diversified part of the US, I love it here for it's diversfication and various ethnic groups. Foreigners or outsiders, or other cultures is not a problem for me.

As for your opinion that I flipped her off for not thinking that the US was superior to other cultures - you are 100% abslutely wrong. I flipped her off because after hearing her all day go on and on - I just turned around and flipped her off real quick. It wasn't like I went up to her and flipped her off or cursed her out - it was not a NOTICIABLE thing.

And ask any of my friends, I am an extremely argumentative person...

Maybe she couldn't leave because of financial reasons and other commitments? It was pretty rude of her to go on and on about how awful the country is, but it is probably not the best of ideas to go reinforce her opinion of rude, unrefined US "culture."

Again - you were not there - so you didn't see how I flipped her off. I'm sure with your opinion of me - you are thinking I went up to her face and flipped her off - which is the FURTHEST thing from the truth. But it's whatever - I don't give a damn what you think. You can think your superior - because god you would never have done such a thing. I'm sure you have never flipped someone off that has really really pissed you off. You're all such angels it's unblievable.

[The Gaffer]

I'm intrigued. What does "flip her off" mean exactly?

I'm guessing it involves the middle finger, though that doesn't help me with the torrent of cheap innuendo that I'm desperately trying to hold back here....

... someone help me, please...

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by The Gaffer
I'm intrigued. What does "flip her off" mean exactly?

I'm guessing it involves the middle finger, though that doesn't help me with the torrent of cheap innuendo that I'm desperately trying to hold back here....

... someone help me, please...

What do you mean? It seems as if you understand perfectly. It means giving her the middle finger - giving her the bird, flipping her off, etc.

[The Gaffer]

PHEW! That's what I thought...

Now that WOULD be a useful travel tip: obscene hand gestures around the world. The old middle finger is pretty much the lingua franca these days, but it's so nice if one can join in with the locals.

I've heard it said that Italians have a particularly complex set of hand gestures. Apparently you can fill in your tax return purely through the medium of Fingerbobs.