Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Leaving on a jetplane

It's almost 7am here in California and I'm about to head out to the airport... estimated arrival in Norway 10:35am Thursday...

It's been an incredible month. I've been on the road for almost 8,500 miles and seen almost everything I set out to see and a lot more besides, talked to dozens of people all over the country and I've got tons of pics and memories that will remain with me forever. I don't know when I'll be back... time and money will decide, and I don't know when I'll be able to see my two remaining states - Alaska and Hawaii - but I do know I'll be back in the US as soon as it's practical. I love this country, warts and all, and I always have a great time here.

I still don't know what to do with the rest of my summer holiday. My first work day is not until Monday Aug 17, so I still have a good three weeks (and some money!) left. Scotland? Prague? Someplace else? I'm open to suggestions, good people!

2 comments:

Tine said...

Why not try something a little bit more exotic?

Like Siberia. I've never seen tourist pictures from there. Or maybe Kiruna? Same same, but different. (No pun intended).

Jan said...

Thanks for blogging about your trip! Your combination of history lessons and personal observations makes for very interesting and entertaining reading, so I always enjoy reading about your travels.

”I still don't know what to do with the rest of my summer holiday. My first work day is not until Monday Aug 17, so I still have a good three weeks (and some money!) left. Scotland? Prague? Someplace else? I'm open to suggestions, good people!”

If you have the time and money, it would (in my opinion) be silly not to take advantage and go somewhere. You’ve just been to Scotland and Prague, so how about trying something new? Assuming you don’t want to go too far away, you still have plenty of options. Some suggestions that may, or may not, interest you:

Ryanair to Dublin. Do a roundtrip of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Beautiful scenery (Giant’s Causeway, Connemara, Cliffs of Moher etc) and very interesting history. I especially find the divided cities of Belfast and Derry/Londonderry fascinating, although the politics and history are deeply tragic.

Ryanair to Liverpool or Birmingham. Do a roundtrip of Wales. Wonderful scenery, beautiful villages. Ride on some of the narrow gauge steam railways.

Ryanair to Birmingham or London. Do a roundtrip of southwest England. The scenery along the coast is wonderful and Cornwall has a quite special identity.

Ryanair to Bergamo, Pisa or Bologna. Thousands of options. Visit Venice or do a roundtrip of Tuscany. Stay in the many of the magnificent medieval Tuscan hilltowns (San Gimignano, Volterra, Monteriggioni etc – all delightful). Or venture further south and visit Pompeii (in my opinion the greatest attraction in Italy) and drive along the stunning Amalfi coast.

Ryanair to Trapani. Do a roundtrip of Sicily. Unique culture, lots of ancient history, Mount Etna etc…

Ryanair to Alghero. Do a roundtrip of Sardinia. Take the ferry to Corsica (yeah, I know it’s French, but you will soon discover that many Corsicans don’t consider themselves French at all), if only to visit the stunning Bonifacio.

Admittedly, it is not the perfect time (i.e. in the middle of the tourist season) for either of these places, but I would guess you would still enjoy them. By travelling on particular dates, you should be able to get (relatively) cheap flights, though.

If you decide not to go anywhere, I believe there are some older trips which you haven’t finished blogging about. Updating your blog with these would surely be an enjoyable way to spend the rest of your summer holiday.