[onlooker]

Just thought we can talk about something pleasant and totally unrelated to our normal suite of topics. My favorite was a cruise I took some years back with my biological family and my wife. It was on the Celebrity Cruise line. It was for the golden 50 year anniversary of my parents. It was stupendous, the attentiveness, the myriad of activities and entertainment, the copious and delicious food. And of course the special occasion. I love the Ocean also. Unforgettable

[Newfie]

Retirement!

[asg70]

Not unrelated...i.e. Plantagenet's many CO2 belching jaunts to locations such as Greece despite his so-called concern for AGW.

BTW, cruises are incredibly polluting.

https://psmag.com/news/how-cruise-ships ... our-oceans

Enjoy your ecological moralizing, Onlooker, now that the truth has been revealed that you're just as much a hypocrite as Plant.

[Shaved Monkey]

When a plane or a boat is already going somewhere how much more polluting is it to sit in one of the seats ?

Ive had so many great vacations
I spent a year travelling around the world
Started in Bangkok then to Cairo down the Nile then off to the UK
Bought a VW camper van and drove around Europe for 8 months
Sold the Van
Then flew to NY caught a bus to Florida bought a car and a tent and drove to California for 3 months
Sold the car
Then spent a month in Mexico came back to Vegas then SF then Hawaii and home.

Did a 2 month quick European tour a few years later a week or so in a few different places
Bangkok,London,Paris,Athens,Santorini, Seville, Jerusalem,Dublin,NY,Vegas,SF,Hawaii home.

Then did another year in Europe and a few weeks in the states
Bangkok,London,France, Italy,Ireland,Miami,Vegas, SF,Hawaii home.

Went to India for 5 weeks
Thailand for a month twice last year
Travelled all over Australia a million times for days weeks and months
Vietnam and Bali for a month each this year Japan and Malaysia or Bali for a month each next year
and probably Malta Spain Portugal Italy Croatia and France for a year the year after that

Never had a bad vacation and trying to slip a few more in while I am still alive can afford it and still enjoy it

[onlooker]

Monkey, sounds super exciting and enjoyable. Only thing is maybe a bit of stress in trying to avoid being a crime victim

[Shaved Monkey]

Monkey, sounds super exciting and enjoyable. Only thing is maybe a bit of stress in trying to avoid being a crime victim

Never been robbed/mugged yet

Only real troubles Ive had, have been in the States, when I felt threatened a few time

[Cog]

Most relaxing vacation I ever had was a week in a rural cabin, No internet, limited phone, but did have central air and flush toilets(I like my comfort). The quiet and isolation was very refreshing. When we did leave the cabin, it was to buy some groceries to cook back at the cabin, visit wineries, and poke around antique shops.

I dislike schedules when I'm on vacation.

[Tanada]

Taking the cruise on the riverboat tour down the Tahquamenon river to see the high falls from the upper bank was a very relaxing and enjoyable day spent with my spouse.

[Plantagenet]

I can’t pick a favorite. From camping at Wonder Lake right below Denali on a quick weekend trip at home to visiting Lhasa in Tibet on a three week long work related project for the federal government it’s all been grand.

Right now I’m in Normandy in France. Went to Mont St Michel two days ago and have train tickets to Bayeux to see the Bayeux Tapestry tomorrow.

And the best part of it all is the peace of mind that comes from knowing that since asg/ennui/mos stays home and watches TV all the time, she emits no CO2 herself and personally offsets my CO2 emissions.

It’s a Win-win.

Cheers!

[Plantagenet]

1. Tanada—-Where is the Tahquanemon River?

2. Shaved Monkey——-yeah getting mugged is the ever present risk on some trips to off the grid places. People know travelers have cash, credit cards, etc. Im pretty careful but I was attacked in Kamchatka and once had a gang in India try to break into my room at 3am. They had a master control from the hotel to unlock the door which they were operating from outside but i had latched the chain and screaming bloody murder until they went away. Even now I’m in a very cheap room in Caen——so cheap that everybody else here seems to be a recent immigrant of Arab and African descent. Folks were nice enough at the local Halal restaurant where i had dinner but there was no French spoken only Arabic. i went to my room early and locked the door.

Cheers

[Shaved Monkey]

Most relaxing vacation I ever had was a week in a rural cabin, No internet, limited phone, but did have central air and flush toilets(I like my comfort). The quiet and isolation was very refreshing. When we did leave the cabin, it was to buy some groceries to cook back at the cabin, visit wineries, and poke around antique shops.

I dislike schedules when I'm on vacation.

When I bought my place here
It had barely any tv and no mobile phone and only a dirt road in and out.
I rented a house down the road for a few weeks then bought this one and rented it for a few weeks before settlement.
Shops were a 3 hour round trip.
I ended up staying for about 6 months.
Planting fruit trees and sorting out water tanks and irrigation.
Then flew off to London
Came back a years later and the TV worked, the mobile phone worked and the road was bitumen and they built some shops down the road.
Its still nice though

[mmasters]

Beach for me.

[Tanada]

1. Tanada—-Where is the Tahquamenon River?

Cheers

It is the longest river in the Upper Peninsula section of Michigan flowing through the Hiawatha National Forest and various state parks for much of its length. We got on the boat near Soo Junction and the trip down river and them back up was about 8 hours with an hour off for a hike from the far end dock to the two viewing platforms bracketing the top of the falls. A private family bought a full section from Uncle Sam after it had been clear cut by loggers back in the 1950's. They hauled in a large tourist boat in pieces on logging trucks and welded it together at the banks of the river and are still using the same boat, updated, half a century or more later. They even have a little cheesy "train" that is on 2' gauge rail that hauls you from the parking lot through the forest to the river bank where you board the boat. Very peaceful and relaxing, no cell service through most of the forest lands and most of the river bank is undeveloped except for scatter wilderness cabins owned by hunters who access them down the fire roads in 4x4 vehicles. We went in July, no hunting season then so most of the river cabins were empty and quiet, not that there are a large number of them. More a situation of a cluster with four or five where a fire road approaches the river, then a mile or more of pristine river before the next cluster of cabins.



The high falls are a good distance down stream from Newberry/Soo Junction and the Low Falls are about ten miles up stream from where the river enters Lake Superior. Michigan claims the Tahquamenon High Falls are the second largest waterfall east of the Mississippi after Niagara Falls. The water is filled with tanic acid from forest debris so the water going over the falls in both sets resembles root beer in coloring and foaming action.

[Shaved Monkey]

very touristy especially in Patong and on the Island tours

[MD]

Anything nature related that I have not yet experienced. It's a fairly short list: arctic/antarctic, Deep desert/oasis, Barrier reefs/coral reefs shallow diving, active volcanoes, deep topical rain forests.

The next list includes pyramids, taj, Parthenon, and other human antiquities like the yucatan and south east asia stuff

The deep interior of Asia intrigues me. Upper mongolia and the Gobi. not sure what's there but that's what draws my attention.

Old Europe might be ok after that.

Long bucket list. I doubt I will check many off, but will be happy to experience each and every one I can manage

[Newfie]

I had a long dry spell of no vacations with my first wife but with second we have had many. For a long time we would travel to Bavaria to visit family. We also did trips to PR and Belize and Newfoundland.

Retirement is a bit like continuous vacation, except it’s how we now live. So it is less exciting, more relaxed. And I still gotta do the chores.

If we ever get out of Florida we are heading down chain to Grenada this year. Western Carribean next year.

[onlooker]

Sounds like you like the mysterious MD. Indiana Jones haha. I have been recently interested in Tibet and the legacy of spirituality that colors that region. All things related with a sense of spirituality interest me. Stonehenge thus would be a site on my bucket list

[ROCKMAN]

MD - You might want to research Costa Rica. Can hit a lot on your list: most active volcano in the western hemisphere (though not terribly dramatic), great nature preserves on Pacific coast and a short drive to great snorkeling on the Caribbean coast. Very friendly folks. Easy/cheap to get to from US.

But still my favorite is Banff Nat. Park. Probably because I grew up in flat and hot S Louisiana. LOL

[MD]

The first on my list is coming this spring. Alaska, dying glaciers, and whale watching from a small cruise liner. perfect for old people like me. Decadent and unapologetic. I paid my fees forward.