Holidays
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I go to London, Northern Ireland, Holland, Belgium and camping so much or at least annually I don't class them as holidays.
A month abroad was essentially as the last new place I went to was Madrid, about five years. I loved it so hard I went twice in six months."Better than a tech demo. But mostly a tech demo for now. Exactly what we expected, crashes less and less. No multiplayer."
- BnB NMS review, PS4, PC -
Next month away will be New Orleans for NYE & January."Better than a tech demo. But mostly a tech demo for now. Exactly what we expected, crashes less and less. No multiplayer."
- BnB NMS review, PS4, PC -
That sounds like a corker Beano.
Decided I am going to really start putting the effort into travelling more. The epic travelling "find yourself" stuff doesn't float my boat, but a month somewhere really appeals, especially the states and Canada having sampled them before. -
Sorry, I just meant essential not essentially. But yeah, I think the message got through. Berlin had been on my bucket list since I was maybe just a few shy of being a teen and my friend speaking to me about it.
I think the poorest 1% with kids should be sent on holidays.
Travelling is a necessity for us all otherwise we dither and never mature as best we can.
Can I ask why Gothenburg?"Better than a tech demo. But mostly a tech demo for now. Exactly what we expected, crashes less and less. No multiplayer."
- BnB NMS review, PS4, PC -
I'm on holiday tomorrow.
Er -
I'm on holiday tomorrow to. In my house. -
beano wrote:Can I ask why Gothenburg?
Sure.
Pure chance, my housemate has been offered a DJ gig there and asked if I wanted to go along. -
I really wanna go to Sweden, I've heard alcohol is really expensive but Swedish girls must balance that out. -
That is my thinking.
Plus it can't be THAT much more than some places in London. -
Ace, being the DJ's mate raises your stock. Being from another country too.
I predict a share spike."Better than a tech demo. But mostly a tech demo for now. Exactly what we expected, crashes less and less. No multiplayer."
- BnB NMS review, PS4, PC -
I like that prediction.
I see his role as the fishing net and mine as the filter after. Along with myself and my DJ mate we also have a mate who girls seem instantly attracted to. He is like Noxy but more innocent. He is the bait. -
Got a mate like that, all the women wanted the shy one. Excellent play. I think guys like that have the best ruse."Better than a tech demo. But mostly a tech demo for now. Exactly what we expected, crashes less and less. No multiplayer."
- BnB NMS review, PS4, PC -
Totally he is shy too. He has an accent that melts girl's hearts. He is from Chester, it has the right mix of scouse confidence with welsh poetry.
That and he is a furniture designer with an infatuation for all things italian.
Bastard! -
It's amazing how much me and my mate get interrupted here by people from all walks of life. "Sorry, I have to say I have been listening to you both talk and I love the accent. Are you Scottish or Irish?"
Anglophophile's a plenty too."Better than a tech demo. But mostly a tech demo for now. Exactly what we expected, crashes less and less. No multiplayer."
- BnB NMS review, PS4, PC -
I think we may have sussed Noxy's secret AND the reason he doesn't want to leave Berlin.
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He's not Scouse tho."Better than a tech demo. But mostly a tech demo for now. Exactly what we expected, crashes less and less. No multiplayer."
- BnB NMS review, PS4, PC -
Oh the latter. I gets ya."Better than a tech demo. But mostly a tech demo for now. Exactly what we expected, crashes less and less. No multiplayer."
- BnB NMS review, PS4, PC -
They're mostly Israeli these anglophiles I've found.
Sidetrack met a Berliner who owns a bar, called Steve. Speaks with a yourkshire accent. Supports Leeds. Comes over four or five times for games.
Thought he was taking the piss, born and raised in Berlin. You can't tell. Though I know Dutch folks who speak with a Scouse accent and there is nothing they can do about it. So benefit of the doubt and all that."Better than a tech demo. But mostly a tech demo for now. Exactly what we expected, crashes less and less. No multiplayer."
- BnB NMS review, PS4, PC -
Oh yeah.
I'm English. I have the best form of southern English accent. It sounds home counties to us but to a foreigner sounds like cockney. A good mix of understandable/ trustworthy and del boy.
I have a UK Gold accent. -
Ended up getting shafted for work no is, I got £200 less than suggested, girlfriend was lied to and didn't get a penny, so we've got £500~ to book a holiday.
This doesn't seem enough. -
I have a very light Australian accent. It does not help me at all.
New Orleans for NY should be a blast Beano. I loved that city. You'll probably have more fun on Frenchman St that Bourbon St though as it gets a bit too touristy rowdy on Bourbon whereas Frenchman is where the locals go.
Either way I'm pretty sure it'll be mental there. -
No doubt- people keep telling me it's high-crime mo'fo'! So I am a bit apprehensive now.
Berlin is at an end, I am just waiting to check out from my apartment. Leaving a very large part of my heart here and taking piece of Berlin in place.
It's not the cleanest or most aesthetic metropolis but as metropoleis go, it's certainly the most welcoming and endearing I've ever been part of. Quite emotional leaving. Not looking forward to getting back because people get drunk and start fights and streets feel variably unsafe of an evening."Better than a tech demo. But mostly a tech demo for now. Exactly what we expected, crashes less and less. No multiplayer."
- BnB NMS review, PS4, PC -
Warning, big rambling section of text ahead. Kind of a summary/thoughts on my trip in the highlands for @nina because I said I would. If you want to know anything else just let me know:
The highlands of Scotland is probably one of the best drives in the world I think. Something that everyone should see at some point. It’s amazing how quickly the Scottish landscape goes from fairly standard fields and hills to wide open lochs and giant craggy mountain ranges.
After having my original route fine tuned by some friends I set out in my rental car to see as much of the highlands as I could in 3 days. My route would take me up the west coast from Glasgow past Loch Lamond and Rest and Be Thankful to the Isle of Skye. From there I’d travel East to see Nessy and go through Inverness onto the coastal route for a little while before swinging down through the forest to nearly the other side of Loch Lamond and the town of Stirling. The last trek was to the Old Course at St Andrews and the coastal road there before driving across the impressive Forth Road Bridge and finally past the Falkirk wheel and back to Glasgow.
After taking the first wrong turn I’d take within the first 10 minutes which set me back a good 20 mins due to it being on the highway I managed to start heading towards the highlands. It doesn’t take long before the landscape starts to get mountainous and fairly spectacular, although the best was yet to come.
I think I was lucky to be driving in the down season as there wasn’t much traffic about which let me easily pull over and sight-see whenever something caught my fancy. I have a feeling that when it’s not -3 degrees outside that it would be a bit more crowded. Although on the opposite end of that it seems that the down time is used to do roadworks on all of the roads in the highlands. I think I averaged about 5 roadwork blocks a day. Lucky for me they never took too long to get past due to the lack of traffic.
Loch Lomond was pretty nice but it wasn’t until Rest and Be Thankful that the truly spectacular stuff started. I love the mountains and I wasn’t disappointed. Over the course of the whole trip I sort of compared the landscape to a mix of New Zealand and America in terms of having so much different stuff in a small area like NZ but still very epic in scope like America.
The windy roads were easy to drive on (and fun!) and due to the constant roadworks it seems they manage to keep it all in good condition which I imagine would be a must for a motorbike trip. There’s quite a few good spots to stop and take in the view or just have a break so whilst it can be a while between major landmarks you’re never short of something worthwhile to look at if you just need to take a breather. The only place that didn’t really have that was Glen Coe which was a shame as it is probably the one place that I’ve never experienced anything like before. Such a weird and eery area. Made me think of the swamps in Lord of the Rings.
Of the whole trip I think the drive up the west coast to the Isle of Skye was the best. It really is incredible and was terribly distracting as I constantly wanted to look at the surroundings instead of the road. There’s plenty of castles littered about the place to have a wander around and they’re usually placed in particularly picturesque locations. The little seaside/lochside villages are all lovely too as you can tell they have a long and interesting history.
If I’d had the time I would have done a whole loop of the Isle of Skye as I think it is one of the best examples of what you can see in the highlands but just doing the one walk up the Old Man of Storr was good enough even though I was a little disappointed I didn’t have time to look at the dinosaur stuff they have there.
As I was being cheap I just slept in my car both nights. The first night was at the Old Man of Storr carpark and the second was at another forest walk car park that had sign specifically saying no overnight parking. But I’m a rebel so I threw caution to the wind. Because it was in the middle of nowhere on the first night it took me a while for my brain to stop thinking on all the horror movies I’d seen which were freaking me out a little. I figured I’d be able to hear somebody sneak up anyway. I was wrong because I woke up with another car in the carpark with me. Luckily they weren’t murderers and were also lazy as they didn’t wake up in the time it took me to do my walk so I had it all to myself.
If you aren’t a cheapskate like me then there’s plenty of B&Bs in the highlands. No idea on the pricing of them but the Isle of Skye in particular was littered with them. If you are going to be a cheapskate then take a warmer sleeping bag than I did because I froze my ass off even with all my clothes on. At least it forced me into early starts.
After the Isle of Skye I headed towards the east coast. After Loch Ness the landscape becomes a bit more standard. Well standard if you’ve lived near the coast for most of your life. It’s still pretty but it wasn’t as amazing as the west coast had been. I still enjoyed the little towns and their beaches and landmarks but it was more the forests, lochs and mountains that I wanted to see which I would when I headed back towards the center which had some lovely lochside drives.
I didn’t have time to stop in Inverness so I can’t comment on it. It seemed pretty nice though.
Unfortunately I had to drive into the night a bit on the second night so I think I miss some views but I needed to cover that ground otherwise I wouldn’t make it. I tried haggis in a local pub (was very tasty) and continued along the fairly hairy, slim windy roads until I found a small town with a car park hidden off the main road.
The final day of driving was quite busy but I managed to cover everything. I didn’t get to see the Stirling castle as it wasn’t open yet when I got there but I think I would have spent too much time to make the rest of my journey anyway. One of my favourite stops on the east coast was St Andrews which was not only great because of the golf courses but also because I thought the town was quite pretty. I was a bit disappointed I couldn’t find a parking space to let me explore the broken down church.
Another con for driving in the off-season was that some of the tourist spots were closed like the Secret Bunker which I really would have liked to see. I washed away the disappointment with the “Best Fish and Chips in the UK” at Anstruther which were quite tasty but the chips left a bit to be desired. I’ve had better back home.
It was a bit of a race back after that as I journeyed across the impressive Forth Road bridge, crammed in an ice-cream and headed back towards Glasgow after making the obligatory stop off at the Falkirk Wheel. I was running short for time in getting the car bag to the place and getting to my train so taking the wrong exit at Glasgow and then having to navigate my way through the horrible and busy one-way streets was not an ideal way to end the trip. Luckily it all worked out and I managed to even fit in a pint with Gav before my train.
In conclusion after that horrible rambling mess I just wrote I must say that even though my journey was incredibly rushed it was still amazing. The highlands are definitely one of the best places I’ve been lucky enough to travel to and I’m looking forward to coming back one day and spending some more time doing some proper hikes as well as playing a few rounds of golf on the many lovely looking courses I passed. I would also like to see Ben Nevis when it’s not totally clouded over. I highly recommend a similar trip to anyone who is thinking of doing it. If you’re strapped for time though I’d suggest just covering the west coast but if you have week or so then covering the whole of it shouldn’t be too much of a hassle. -
Really nice post Shabbs.
My Mum's family have had an ancient holiday cottage on the coast (near Lochgilphead, about half an hour's drive from Inverary) and it is a stunning place to visit. The roads are great fun too, if driving / biking is your thing.
Wife and I have been collecting airmiles like motherfuckers for the last few years (top tip: you can get fuckloads from Tesco) and we've got enough to fly first class to New York, so we're off in a couple of weeks. Have been getting some odd emails from BA concerning what champagne we'd like on the flight, and our pyjama sizes(!), awesome.
Neither of us have been to NY, and it's only for a few days, but any tips would be extremely gratefully received! Especially recommendations for food / drinks, maybe a club or two, and what not to bother with out of the standard tourist fare. -
I'm off to Rome tomorrow night for 4 days. It's for a conference at a Uni, but time for a bit of wondering about too. Never been before. -
@SMcC - That is my favourite part of the world too. I've cycled around much of the Highlands and around Skye and Arran and I've climbed quite a few of the munros too, including Ben Nevis. Just breathtakingly beautiful, majestic and all the rest.
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Shake shack Funk! I'm gutted I forgot about it and won't be in London when the one opens in Covent garden. Five Guys is supposed to be good too. Both burger places.
Otherwise Central Park is awesome for a stroll and a movie location spot fest. Hopefully there'll be some fireflies floating about for you.
If you don't want to pay to see the Statue of Liberty then you can get the Staten Island ferry for free and get as close to it as you would without paying. Apparently the wait to climb it is atrocious anyway.
Otherwise it is just an amazing city to wander through as you hit the major spots like Times Square. It has the highest density if hot women I've ever seen too. But, uhhhh, that won't be your focus I'm sure. -
Ah cool Igor. How long do you normally cycle for? I imagine it can be quite hairy on some of those shoulder less roads.
Ah, munros. I remember the hot scot girl I almost picked up talking about those, a Scottish term innit? -
JonB wrote:I'm off to Rome tomorrow night for 4 days. It's for a conference at a Uni, but time for a bit of wondering about too. Never been before.
I went in 09. It is one of my favourite places in the world. Go for a walk and get yourself lost. It really is full of wonderful little surprises. -
Sounds just right. I'm good at getting lost.
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