vacation plans

Heading to NYC on Sunday for a few days. Mostly work stuff but with enough Me Time to walk around the city and eat some great food.

Headed to the coast of North Carolina for a week. Beach, beers, and bbq!

Nick wrote:Heading to NYC on Sunday for a few days. Mostly work stuff but with enough Me Time to walk around the city and eat some great food.

Let me know if you wanna get a slice Nick.

Been in Portugal for a couple of weeks playing golf. Eating lots of seafood, drinking lots of port. Weather is perfect...not too humid, hot but with a cooling Atlantic breeze. I could happily spend a long time here.

cool sunsets too..

that's gorgeous; golf in portugal sounds wonderful

I was in Portugal in late August. Loved it and definitely a less stifling climate than inland Spain (where we had arrived from).

Spending the next few days in LA. Doesnt look like great weather. I've got this afternoon to myself before some work shit tonight. Tomorrow heading to the Malibu Oaks Winery for a "corporate event".

Not really a vacation, but I'm moving to Maine next month for a job. I'm working in Augusta but I don't want to live there so I'm looking for a room in the Portland or Brunswick area. Anyone here familiar with or have any thoughts about Maine? I've been once, but that was camping out in Acadia Natl Park.

in Maine, go to Oxbow Brewery first chance you get.

i'm heading to dusseldorf/cologne/amsterdam/paris for honeymoon in a couple of months.

yeah i think i'll be spending a lot of time there and at maine beer co

Haven't been overseas ever. Been to Mexico a handful of times and Maui once. Have spent the vast majority of my life within California, but all over it. I'm leaving mid-April for a trip traveling from Budapest to Prague through Austria w/ my brother and mom, and then heading to Northern Italy in early June on a wine-focused trip hosted and more-or-less entirely funded by importers, Italian winemakers, and my employer. I'll be gone a total of 22 days. Think this could cross-post in Crushing it, mk. whatever, but it's also somewhat overwhelming.

I'm insanely jealous.

My favourite thing to do in Prague was to not attempt to see anything other than the scenery and just walk around gazing at streets and buildings. You're gonna have a great time.

Spent today driving around the Lexington, Kentucky area. Went to the Four Roses distillery and The Woodford Reserve distillery. If you have the chance to check out The Woodford Reserve tour it is worth it and a fantastic place to visit.

The horse farms in the surrounding area are amazing to look at. Ate at Ramsey's Diner which I guess is one of those places you have to try on a Lexington visit and had the Hot Brown sandwich along with some great West Sixth Brewing beer.

Kentucky seems like a nice place.

Michael K. wrote:Haven't been overseas ever. Been to Mexico a handful of times and Maui once. Have spent the vast majority of my life within California, but all over it. I'm leaving mid-April for a trip traveling from Budapest to Prague through Austria w/ my brother and mom, and then heading to Northern Italy in early June on a wine-focused trip hosted and more-or-less entirely funded by importers, Italian winemakers, and my employer. I'll be gone a total of 22 days. Think this could cross-post in Crushing it, mk. whatever, but it's also somewhat overwhelming.

My first trip out of the US was to Quintana Roo, Mexico last year. It was phenomenal! I am extremely California through and through, too.

I need to go to Lisbon this summer though, right?

yes, go to Lisbon!

Soma wrote:I'm insanely jealous.

My favourite thing to do in Prague was to not attempt to see anything other than the scenery and just walk around gazing at streets and buildings. You're gonna have a great time.

Thanks. That's more or less the plan - and to eat the local food and drink copious amounts of beer. Really excited to see Europe.

Michael K. wrote:yes, go to Lisbon!

How would you rate the difficulty of flying to Lisbon by myself, enjoying the city for 3-5 days, jaunting off to Spain for 3-5 days, and heading home without speaking a lick of Portuguese or even conversational Spanish? Seems fairly doable, though I'm sure I'd have some struggles.

For a potential Spanish visit I'm deciding between a) South Coast, perhaps Malaga and some smaller towns, b) Barcelona, duh, or, c) Bilbao & San Sebastian, Basque country seems magical.

I'm also weighing a Nice-Lyon-Paris trip as my first European adventure.

Any misc thoughts on any of that are appreciated.

I spent a little over a week in Spain a few years ago. Others may have had a different experience but I found that the locals didn't speak much English. Or didn't want to speak much English. San Sebastian is great.

Hola! Me llamo Jasper. Soy un american de California. Yo no hablo espanol bien, pero yo puedo practique contigo. Quiero tapas, cabron.

Does that work?

if you're ok being lonely

I spent like three weeks traveling from London to Istanbul entirely by myself last summer. I made stops in Berlin, Prague, and Buadpest on the way. At that point in the trip I had already been away from home for like three months so it wasn't quite as jarring as it otherwise would have been. But yeah, a lot of strolling around aimlessly and being confused and lonely. I can't say I didn't enjoy myself because at times it was really fun but I definitely wouldn't do it again either.

Then again, I'm a pretty shy and introverted dude so I'm not one to strike up conversation with locals/strangers. I would assume that if you are a pretty courageous fella you would probably get along just fine. I'm also assuming that if that previous description suits you we wouldn't get along very well at all in real life. But whatever.

Michael K, I regret to inform you that The Czech Republic probably has the worst food of any country in the world. Drink the beer by all means.

Their food is specifically made to soak up beer...making it simultaneously the worst and best in the world!

When I get some time off work and kittens I'll send you some travel recs