The Travel/Holiday/Vacation thread.

[MrHT]

Originally Posted by Azyiu

COVID ruined lots of fun and vacation opportunities.

Agreed. I haven't gone away in over three years! I was hoping to go away this year, but Covid is still around and infecting many people. It's beyond frustrating!

[red_5ive]

We normally take an annual fishing & mountain biking trip to Mammoth, CA, but we're skipping this year as we'll be heading to Hawaii in September.

We were last in Oahu September of 2021 and had a blast touring the island. Took a guided e-mountain bike tour at Kualoa Ranch and got to ride through the area where they filmed the "Gallimimus" scene in Jurassic Park. I highly recommend if you're ever out there. There were a few other movies shot in the area, too, including Kong: Skull Island and 50 First Dates.

Easily one of the prettiest areas I've ever seen anywhere. Here's a shot I took.

[Show spoiler]
I can see the Gallimimus flocking this way!

[Namuhana]

So I did end up going to Paris/northern France at the end of March and beginning of April for about 15 days. It was not my favorite trip I've taken in the past year, for a variety of reasons. The weather was not great; it was often rainy, cold, windy, and overcast which kind of made it all rather gloomy. Perhaps I should've gone this month (May), though I was trying to avoid high season. I also had to contend with rail strikes, so I missed getting to see Versailles (which looking back now was okay) and had to quickly change plans to get to another city I desperately wanted to visit. It caused a bit of a headache and definitely wasn't something I had anticipated when I started planning my trip last fall.

As for Paris itself...it was kind of meh. I wasn't super impressed like I was with the other European capital cities I've been to recently (Dublin and Rome). It just didn't feel like it had a vibe or much charm--unless all of that was at night, in which I was already back at my Airbnb sleeping haha. I don't think I had high expectations for it or anything but I left underwhelmed, which kind of sucked because I spent like a total of 8 days there. Even places I was excited for, like Shakespeare & Co. and the Tuileries, were kind of a let down (I've honestly been to better bookstores and the Tuileries was basically 90% gravel/dirt and 10% grass you couldn't even walk on). And of course they're still renovating Notre-Dame so that was a miss too. I did however quite enjoy the other places I went--Troyes, Lille, Rouen, and Étretat. They all had some obvious charm and had some really cool shops and stuff. Étretat was especially a godsend as I needed a respite from city life; it was like a salve.

I would definitely like to go back to France in the future as I've really only seen the eastern half of the country, so the western half would be what I'm after. I'd like to see the French Riviera as well. As far as my next trip goes, my family is thinking of visiting Oahu, since my dad has always said he's wanted to visit Pearl Harbor, so we might do that this year.

[Dunemoon]

Like to go outside North America next year. Haven’t been to Japan or South Korea in almost 15 years. Or, Italy, England & Scotland (25 years).

[RageATL]

Booked a week-long trip to Costa Rica for my 50th birthday.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by RageATL

Booked a week-long trip to Costa Rica for my 50th birthday.

Happy 50th Rage! And hope you have a great time!

[RageATL]

Originally Posted by red_5ive

Happy 50th Rage! And hope you have a great time!

Thank you my mans, but still got a little bit (towards the end of October)!

[Azyiu]

I will be spending 5 days in Copenhagen in late September. I will also be doing a day trip across the Öresund Bridge toward Malmö, Sweden. This will be my first trip to both countries.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by RageATL

Thank you my mans, but still got a little bit (towards the end of October)!

I figured I was early, but yeah have a great time celebrating at Costa Rica!