It's not that I have a plan to go anywhere, it's just that I don't want not having a passport to be an obstacle to making a plan.
I'm not really interested in traveling anywhere until I get my eyes fixed (next February), but I'm thinking once I can see what should feel like amazingly well, I'm going to want to get around and look at things. Whether any of these things will ever be out of the United States, I do not know.
What places would you suggest I consider?
November 11, 2018
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«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 221 of 221Kew Gardens outside London, Viva Sackville West’s white gardens at Sissinghurst Castle and everything about Bath is extraordinary. I also loved Budapest
See my profile photo? That is from my passport photo. When I show people my passport, the usual response is: "you'll never get back into the states".
I live in Ronda Spain part-time and it is a remarkable place. Also the Alhambra in Grenada has the best preserved Arabic architecture and wonderful gardens. In the US I live in the Blue Ridge Mts of North Carolina, the mountains really appear to be blue and there are streams and waterfalls everywhere. Great for rafting. I’m not up late or early, it is nearly 2pm in Europe.
There are guides and guides. In foreign places, I like to arrange for a private guide for Mrs. Tank and me (and the kids, if they are there too). You get a different guiding experience that way, much more personal, including, if you get along well, a lot of information about what living there is really like, where to eat away from the tourists (ironically enough), their favorite cheese monger at the market, etc.
Had a great guide experience in Siracusa where the guide and I discussed the battle there from Thucydides, and she showed me the land and sea routes used by each side. I think she enjoyed it as much as I did.
Of course, you could always get a dud, but I found pretty much all of our guides were very knowledgeable and enjoyed their jobs.
"I found you via Glenn Reynolds in 2009. I’ve been a daily reader ever since, but I’ve never commented. The Instapundit’s mother Glenda Childress was my librarian at Sam Houston Elementary School in Maryville, Tennessee. She always let me check out more books than I was supposed to have. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a special place that I have taken for granted. I live outside Nashville now and miss the beauty of the mountains, lakes, and waterfalls."
Thanks for commenting.
Great Smoky Mountain is on the list places we're thinking of moving to (specifically, Asheville, NC).
And thanks for reading!
@Freeman
Thanks for the meetup in Europe invitations.
Meetup in Europe — sounds like a slogan.
There are guides and guides. In foreign places, I like to arrange for a private guide
That's the way to go if it fits your budget. You get more of a conversation than a lecture. For private tours I end up mostly answering questions instead of giving a running commentary.
I've never been out of the country but my wife backpacked Europe a couple of times and visited several other times including doing an internship at Lloyds of London for a year. She says she liked Lisbon the best so we are talking about going there in the next couple of years. She's fluent in Spanish which influences our decision, at least for me since I'm not even that fluent in English.
Great Smokey Mountains. Yes.
We did the Blue Ridge Parkway on motorcycle 40 years ago. By car would be fun also. Lots of hiking. Scenery captivated me for the 4 nites we stayed on the Parkway. Skyline drive on north end adds another 100+ miles. Start or finish in Gatlinberg. Yes it is crowded, tourist gotta tourist a little bit. But it is the hillbilly Honeymoon capital of the South East. You two are still on your Honeymoon!
I've stopped in Asheville in the summer several times, and darned if I can remember how bad the humidity is, but it was/is a summer resort area, so it can't be too bad.
wary, I think you left out the link text here: "URL"> </a
What is the point of going anywhere if you hate traveling and view new experiences with suspicion and dread?
Places to avoid: Vienna, Paris, Kwajalein.
@rhhardin - what’s your complaint about Vienna? Hate gluhwein and kasekrainers?
@Althouse, a quick question. You might be bored with formal gardens, but perhaps Meade would like to see the great formal gardens of Europe.
Mount Rushmore and Custer State Park and the Badlands (all in South Dakota).
Hey, Mid-Life -- you know Lisbon is in Portugal, where they speak Portuguese, right?
Since you enjoy walking I too recommend the UK...especially the west counties. Time Team's (and Black Adder) Tony Robinson has a series of historic walks that cover the country.
Or rent a narrowboat and drift along and walk or cycle when the urge strikes.
Have you ever been to Prague? If so, stay in the old part of the City in one of those lovely art deco hotels. You'll love it!
It's a European city that has never been destroyed in war. Some of it still follows Medieval travel patterns. Spectacular glass. Very walkable.
- Krumhorn
And I don't like over-dramatic landscapes (e.g., mountain trails where you could fall to your death).
I suppose climbing the Sydney harbor bridge is then out of the question. Too bad because it is spectacular.
- Krumhorn
It's good to know you have a plan to "get out of Dodge".
If you are extremely nearsighted with astigmatism like I am, the three to four weeks between surgeries is unnerving. You will see well out of one eye or the other but not both. You'll be more comfortable staying home until both eyes are healed and you have new glasses with the final correction--at the very least a correction for close vision, but you may still need a slight correction for far vision as well. Until then you won't want to do any detail work like organizing tax paperwork. I was amazed that everything from my white walls to screens to sinks was significantly brighter.
As far as travel: Any of the countries in northern Europe are wonderful to meander through in a convertible--or SUV if you prefer comfort--and always an automatic. Then switch to subways, trains and buses in the big cities so you don't have to fight for a parking space. Northern Europe is many times safer than Southern Europe, and cleaner than any of the European cities you've been to. You don't necessarily want to avoid the Autobahns and the big cities--if you go to Germany, you should see the Kölner Dom--but there is so much more to a country than what it's famous for. I enjoyed Copenhagen, but I liked exploring the Jutland more. Go in the shoulder season, either spring or fall, and you will have many of the off-the-beaten-path locations all to yourself. Stay in small, owner-occupied hotels (we stayed in a Catholic girls dorm in Salzburg once) and eat in small restaurants where the waiter doesn't speak English. Both the cheapest and the nicest place to stay in Interlaken is the youth hostel (and it was still the most expensive room that trip). My late husband and I drove the back roads of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, using Rick Steves' books as a guide. Plan to stay for awhile so you can adjust to their time zone--we never went for less than 3 weeks. Any small town in any European country will have sights and sounds that you will won't encounter anywhere in the U.S. Unless you religiously read up on a landmark ahead of time, I suggest a tour guide once in a while as they can offer valuable info. On our first trip, the ratio of famous sites to non-famous was probably 70 to 30. On our last trip, it was the other way around. Finally, go without a schedule or agenda. If we liked a town, we stayed; if we didn't we moved on. And as far as this continent, I agree with the posters who suggested Banff, Santa Fe and the Blue Ridge Mountains. I disagree with the poster who said you should see Tivoli Gardens, but perhaps he was joking.
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