Travel thread 3.0

[Billy Dean]

Anyone solo travellers out there? I'm planning on my first Euro solo trip next year and I'm thinking Amsterdam (not for those reasons!!). Finding it quite daunting to even think about, happy to go anywhere in the UK solo, but Euro is a whole new ball game. Any better suggestions?

I've travelled solo before, in Europe and South America. It's daunting beforehand definitely. I always stayed in hostels when solo travelling as they are very social places so it's easy to meet other people. If you're not in a hostel there are other ways to meet up with other travellers or locals too.

 

[Pazza]

Lots of good suggestions already.
The Met is fantastic. Definitely worth visiting if you like museums and want to get out of the cold for a day.
Some other things you might like to try:
NY bagels and black and white cookies
Junior’s in Brooklyn or midtown for cheesecake
If you’re interested in ice hockey or basketball, you can catch a game at MSG (not sure if the Rangers and Knicks will play at home during your visit)

Bagels are top of the list. We have actually bought some tickets to see the New York Giants on the 1st. We couldnt see tickets for basketball so assumed it was off season maybe.

 

[grandjoeblue]

Anyone solo travellers out there? I'm planning on my first Euro solo trip next year and I'm thinking Amsterdam (not for those reasons!!). Finding it quite daunting to even think about, happy to go anywhere in the UK solo, but Euro is a whole new ball game. Any better suggestions?

If you drink organised bar crawls aren't a bad way to meet some people for a good night out. Usually quite heavily advertised online and tends to be quite a lot of solo travellers

 

[Bedfordblue]

Right heading to New York with my other half and son who is 16. We are there 29th December to 2nd Jan. Want to pack as much as we can in. We have a NFL game booked for 1st evening. What else shall we go and see? Recommendations much appreciated. Appreciate it will be freezing but thermals will be bought!

DUMBO, Williamsburg and Flatbush are good for a change of pace / scenery.
NYC is bigger than you might realise so you may find with what you have planned already and the more obvious sights, you don’t make it off Manhattan.
The high line and the vessel are worth an explore, best thing I can recommend is go with an itinerary and plan / map your trip maybe even with an idea of what are definite ‘wants’ to see and other stuff that is just nice to see. Last thing you want to be doing is going upper Manhattan / Central Park then going down to the WTC or for a ferry to Ellis Island, you may find yourself spending more time on the Subways than taking in the city.
Probably my favourite city in the world.

 

[Pazza]

DUMBO, Williamsburg and Flatbush are good for a change of pace / scenery.
NYC is bigger than you might realise so you may find with what you have planned already and the more obvious sights, you don’t make it off Manhattan.
The high line and the vessel are worth an explore, best thing I can recommend is go with an itinerary and plan / map your trip maybe even with an idea of what are definite ‘wants’ to see and other stuff that is just nice to see. Last thing you want to be doing is going upper Manhattan / Central Park then going down to the WTC or for a ferry to Ellis Island, you may find yourself spending more time on the Subways than taking in the city.
Probably my favourite city in the world.

Thanks for this. We are looking at an itinerary. So far it looks like this.
30th - morning Staten island, afternoon world trade centre, early evening Top of the Rock
31st - walk to times Sq in the morning. Wander round. Evening as we are staying by Central Park plan is to find somewhere to eat and walk to watch the fire works at Central Park.
1st - Need to fill morning and afternoon , evening watching New York Giants.
2nd - Need to fill morning. flight back at 6pm

When I write it down not much time at all!

 

[Billy Dean]

If you drink organised bar crawls aren't a bad way to meet some people for a good night out. Usually quite heavily advertised online and tends to be quite a lot of solo travellers

Walking tours are a good way to get chatting to people too - in fact any kind of organised tour

 

[Bedfordblue]

Thanks for this. We are looking at an itinerary. So far it looks like this.
30th - morning Staten island, afternoon world trade centre, early evening Top of the Rock
31st - walk to times Sq in the morning. Wander round. Evening as we are staying by Central Park plan is to find somewhere to eat and walk to watch the fire works at Central Park.
1st - Need to fill morning and afternoon , evening watching New York Giants.
2nd - Need to fill morning. flight back at 6pm

When I write it down not much time at all!

This is what we did over 4 days (not in any order) and we covered some serious ground doing so. Can’t remember exactly but think it was around 100km over 4 days. Obv this is main sites and excludes eating and wandering the shops etc! Katz Deli is worth it if you can find time but there’s loads of pizza joints by the slice or burger places. If you have seen any restaurants you fancy then go for it, but there’s plenty of $2-5 dollar pizza slices that are more than enough to keep you going and are pretty good eats! Don’t feel obliged to eat at a proper restaurant every night!
Swerve the Intrepid though, not worth the time unless you are a big fan of Military or film sets
Certainly on the 30th you might want to consider WTC or 9/11 museum, both I’d recommend, the museum is grim but fascinating. When at that end you could pass The Bull of Wall Street (literally walk past and take photos), and explore the financial district stock exchange etc. There’s a clipper at one of the docks down there, the Wavertree or SS Liverpool (can’t recall) that’s a nice touch.

 

[Taifi gorm]

Could be in the states next month either Washington or Chicago. Thinking of taking 10 days or so and driving to Vegas possibly thru Kansas and adding an NFL game in somewhere. Would any of our American brethren recommend it during November?
Been a decade since I was in the States but have driven the west coast and Chicago to Seattle before including snowy conditions before just wouldn't be sure on trusting a rental in some of those conditions.

 

[wm02]

Could be in the states next month either Washington or Chicago. Thinking of taking 10 days or so and driving to Vegas possibly thru Kansas and adding an NFL game in somewhere. Would any of our American brethren recommend it during November?
Been a decade since I was in the States but have driven the west coast and Chicago to Seattle before including snowy conditions before just wouldn't be sure on trusting a rental in some of those conditions.

Sounds like a great road trip to me. If you start from Chicago, you may see get some snow in Colorado. Think we have a couple Colorado Blues on the site that will have better info. If you start from Washington, D.C., it’s a more southerly route and I think the only spot you may see some snow is in West Virginia.
I live just outside of DC so feel free to reach out if you have any questions about the area.

 

[atrottel]

Could be in the states next month either Washington or Chicago. Thinking of taking 10 days or so and driving to Vegas possibly thru Kansas and adding an NFL game in somewhere. Would any of our American brethren recommend it during November?
Been a decade since I was in the States but have driven the west coast and Chicago to Seattle before including snowy conditions before just wouldn't be sure on trusting a rental in some of those conditions.

We did Denver through to Vegas, including some of the national parks in Utah. (We only went to Vegas because it started snowing heavily for the last scheduled park.) Moab is a good spot for exploring that aspect of the state.

Car hire in the USA will try to tell you that anything but an SUV is not suitable for the Rockies. We ended up with a Suzuki Swift despite their protests (which is the same model we had for many years in the Alps) and were perfectly fine. Rentals will have winter gear (chains) anyway.

You could try the Broncos (home against the Raiders) but that is full-on rivalry so tickets might be tough to get. Also maybe try the college games (Buffs in Boulder, CSU in Fort Collins, or Air Force in Colorado Springs).

Rather than going through Colorado, avoiding the mountains if the weather is bad could lead you into Wyoming on I-80 and then to Salt Lake City. Wyoming is flatter but has its own 'western beauty'. Note that parts of southern Utah and northern Arizona are getting into the weirder Mormon areas (fundamentalist polygamous communities).

 

[Taifi gorm]

Rather than going through Colorado, avoiding the mountains if the weather is bad could lead you into Wyoming on I-80 and then to Salt Lake City. Wyoming is flatter but has its own 'western beauty'. Note that parts of southern Utah and northern Arizona are getting into the weirder Mormon areas (fundamentalist polygamous communities).

So that's probably good tinder country then?

 

[atrottel]

So that's probably good tinder country then?

I suppose so, if you are into heavily-armed bearded preachers...

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

Anyone solo travellers out there? I'm planning on my first Euro solo trip next year and I'm thinking Amsterdam (not for those reasons!!). Finding it quite daunting to even think about, happy to go anywhere in the UK solo, but Euro is a whole new ball game. Any better suggestions?

Ah, just dive on in. Amsterdam is a nice way of easing into it, a lot is signposted in English and a significant portion of the Dutch speak English as well.

 

[Taifi gorm]

I suppose so, if you are into heavily-armed bearded preachers...

Had a look and this is a quote from the first bio. Preachers always have daughters ?

"Practicing polyamory for 4 years with my nesting partner of 8 years. We date separately and enjoy kitchen table polyamory".

 

[Billy Dean]

Back from Rome last night. Amazing place. 2 days nowhere near enough. Had a good night out in Trastevere - thanks for the recommendation @Runub