Where've You Been On Your Travels?!

[fedup!]

OK folks, you know I love hearing about you lovely lot on here xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

We are all too aware of how crappy this world can be sometimes, but let's talk about the lovely places we have been too.

Where have you been? Why did you go there? Did you see some beautiful scenery/architecture/art?

Did you visit beautiful landscapes or bustling cities? Did you get a feel for the people you met, their culture, language, likes and dislikes? their sense of humour?

Pics always welcome!

I will kick off with saying I am so so pleased I have stood amongst the pyramids in Egypt. you can stick today's technology - if ever I feel disappointed in this world, I always think back to the trip I had to Egypt and standing in awe, looking up at the pyramids. How did they do it? What the hell?! A truly inspiring place.

One of my fave cities I have visited has also been Prague. I felt every time I turned a corner I fell upon yet another beautiful building. I felt so emotional that people had took time and energy to make their city look so beautiful.

The beer was nice too!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[marc-74]

OK.....this is gonna take a while, so for todays installment, I'll begin with telling those that dont know, that I was born in Hong Kong, I lived there with my mum,and stayed until I was seven, I went to school there for two and a half years. My mum didn't want to do the usual ex-pat thing, so I went to the local school, I was the only white kid in the school.Even at such a young age it taught me a lot about people. People are wonderful and wankers in almost equal measures wherever you go.

[catsmother21]

I was born in Malta - I am British - my father was stationed out there with the RAF and sadly we came back before I had any memories of the place - I'd love to go back.

[catsmother21]

The most memorable place that I've been to is Egypt - there is a memory from there that will stay in my mind forever.

We were actually on holiday in Cyprus and while we were there we were supposed to go on a 3 day cruise to Israel and Egypt. However, it was too dangerous to go to Israel so we couldn't go there but we still went to Egypt.

We got off the cruise ship and onto a coach and we had to close the curtains and keep our heads down but I could see soldiers with guns and I thought oh shit what on earth have we come here for but once we were out of the port - I relaxed.

Firstly, we went to the Tutankharmun museum but didn't really get to see much of what was there because we were running after our tour guide - so that was quite disappointing that we didn't get to spend more time in there but there was some amazing and beautiful artifacts in there.

Then we got back on the coach and were told that we were know going to be driving through Cairo and out to the pyramids and I thought this would take ages because I imagined that they would be miles away but you could see the tops of the pyramids as we were driving through Cairo - they were literally on the outskirts of the city!

We went in one of the pyramids but it was quite disappointing when we got to the room because obviously everything had been taken out and it was just a stone room! We got someone to take a photo of us in there and this is really spooky, when I got my photos back from the developers I wasn't on this photo everyone else was on it but where I was it was just like a blurred mist - that really spooked me out.

Then we went to the Sphynx and this is the place that I will NEVER NEVER forget. I was sat on a bench in front of it on my own while the others were mooching about somewhere else and I have never felt such a sense of peace and serenity sat there in front of it. I could have sat there forever but I had to be dragged back to the coach because we were going somewhere else. I really didn't want to leave that spot it was an amazing feeling - this was 18 years ago and I can still remember it clear as day.

I do not have the words to explain just how AMAZING the feeling was. :)

[fedup!]

Cats I did a three day trip from Cyprus too!! Everything - EVERYTHING - you described is exactly what I did and how i felt!! I agree with the atmosphere near the Sphinx and I too remember my first sighting of the pyramids - I felt really giddy because we drove past a Spar and then spotted the pyramids - talk about cultures and time colliding! xxxxxxxxxx

[donnam]

i have been to egypt and hong kong too, some of my relatives lived in hong kong so went out to visit them, then france, spain, germany, portugal, america, lotsd more places too

[fedup!]

Where did you like and why cad? xxxxxxxxxxx

[blackdagger82]

I hve been very fortunet in my travels.

I won a holiday to Iceland from the drink company that made Metz (the one with the judderman advert), went to the blue lagoon and the gysers. I went on a University trip to Prague for 10 days (not that I remember much LOL) so I went back the next year for 4 months to study at the University of Economics and whilst I was there I went on a weekend trips to Vienna and Krakow.

I have also been to Thailand for three weeks with the Girl Guide Association, where we did some volunteer work as well as seeing the amizing sights there and spending time with the Thai Guides.

I went on a "relationship last hope" christmas trip to Geneva - it failed miserably and we broke up a couple months later, loved Geneva though

I took myself on holiday last year to New Orleans and Morrocco, both of which were gorgeous. Spent 4 days travelling by Camel across the sahara in Morrocco and did a jazz cruise up the mississippi whilst in new orleans.

With my school I went to Madrid on a conference and was due to go to Milan but as I no longer work for htem that trip is out of hte question.

And currently I am living in Luxembourg.

Never went on holidays abroad with my family, they waited till I had left home before doing things like that.

[Dice]

I have been to Purple Donkey world, Why did I go??? Because it is a fun place to go... And while I was there I seen a monkey riding on one of the purple donkeys ... Oh and I have been to Lala Land too, Why did I do there??? Because it is my home land ...

[marc-74]

India, part one.

I've got loads of stories about my time in India. So i best start at the beginning.

I flew out of Moscow on a proper rust bucket, and was sat next to a lunatic of a woman, best way I can describe her is,a Picasso painting of a drunk Maggie Thatcher.She was quite amusing for the first couple of hours,but after that,I was praying for some hijacker to spring into action.

Sat a few rows up from me where a bunch of very tough looking Russians, having a proper drink. They kept looking over,and could clearly see she was slowly helping me in the process of losing my mind. Eventually one of them waved me over, put a plastic cup in my hand and told me to sit down, filled the cup with some very rough whiskey. We all proceeded to get quite pissed.

We arrived at Mumbai airport at about 9am and I shared a cab with a couple of them into the city. First thing I did after I found a guest house was go and get my head shaved,it was 50c by 11am.

Mumbai is fucking mental,everything seems to be going at breakneck speed, until you step back and look a bit deeper. I was just wandering around and found a basement bar with a sign above the door that said"any caste welcome". Now thats the sort of place that I like.I wondered in and had a few beers with some of the locals,they made me feel very welcome, and told me that not many tourists come in there. One of the guys,his name was Sandi, Invited me to his place to have dinner with his family. I accepted ,he took me outside,and pointed to the cinema across the street. That was where he worked ,and told me to meet him outside at 5pm.

As I was walking around,it did cross my mind that ,I don't really know anything about this guy,this is my first day in fecking India.....ON MY OWN. But I thought "fuck it" and went along. I'm so glad I did, we went up the fire escape on the side of the cinema,all the way to the roof.There was a small brick building on the roof, and thats where he lived with his wife and four children. His wife had made an incredible dinner for us. After we finished eating, he got his boys to take all the chairs outside a put them up on the roof of their little home, Sandi disappeared for about ten minutes and came back with a tub of ice cream from the cinema.We all sat on the very top of the building eating ice cream, with the most amazing view across the city. He then walked me back to my guest house.

I lay there on my bed feeling so happy, and could hardly wait to get up and do some more exploring of this wonderful place.

[catsmother21]

Cats I did a three day trip from Cyprus too!! Everything - EVERYTHING - you described is exactly what I did and how i felt!! I agree with the atmosphere near the Sphinx and I too remember my first sighting of the pyramids - I felt really giddy because we drove past a Spar and then spotted the pyramids - talk about cultures and time colliding! xxxxxxxxxx

ooo wouldn't it be weird if we were there at the same time - the Sphinx was completely mesmerising and and been thinking about this all day xx

[fedup!]

Fab fab stories........

BDagger - I am s-l-o-w-l-y starting to do some travelling alone and I absolutely love it. Can I ask if you went to some of these amazing places on your own?It sounds as though you did in Morocco and New Orleans? If so, how was it?

marc - fab stories! Love your description of mumbai being off it's conker until you scratch below. best way of doing that is to surely have a beer or 5 and an ice cream with the locals!

Dice - show me the pics of the purple donkeys!

Cats - I think I was there in '92?? How about you? xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[marc-74]

India part 2

I woke up early on my second day in India, I needed a fizzy drink desperately, my gob was so dry it felt like Bin Laden had left his flip flop in my mouth. I got dressed and went for a walk.

The streets were almost empty,a huge contrast from when I arrived the day before.the sun was still fairly low, but it was getting hot already. It didn't seem real,I can still remember the smell, the kind of heat and the dusty haze in the air. As I was walking up the street,I came across a tiny little cat having a showdown with the biggest rat I had ever seen,the whole scene looked like a kitty rat version of West Side Story,and remember wishing the cat good luck,as there looked like there'd only be one outcome to that battle.

Finally after about twenty minutes walk I found a little kiosk just opening up,and bout myself a pack of smokes,two bottles of Pepsi and a bunch of bananas.

On my walk back to the guest house, I could hardly believe my eyes,The kitty had battered the rat, and was tucking in to his rodent breaky, I must admit,I felt very proud of that little cat.

I sat down on a wooden box beside the cat,cracked open a bottle of Pepsi,and tucked into a banana.As I was sat there,I spotted a cow wandering across the street without a care in the world, she stopped halfway,looked over at me,and then came over and sat down beside me and the cat.I said "alright cow,how you doing today"and gave her a banana. she munched it down,I gave her another,she then just got up looked at me gave a little "MOOOOO" and wondered off down the street.

I then got up , said goodbye to the Rambo Kitty, and made my way back to the guest house ,thinking to myself"I fucking love this place"

[catsmother21]

I think I was there in either '93 or '94 - we just missed each other!!!

[catsmother21]

I'm loving your story as well Marc :)

[Dice]

Dice - show me the pics of the purple donkeys!

This is Feddy the purple donkey with his Monkey friend Simon...

[Christine001]

Been to south america.bolivia and peru, iceland, venice, paris, florence, various other european cities, travelled around turkey, tunisia, canoed down dordogue, years ago now though, Loved travel once upon a time. i did a fair bit as part of a travel group called Explore, a couple on my own and a few cities with friends.

[fedup!]

Loving the India tales too - keep em coming!!

[marc-74]

glad you're liking the Indis stories, got lods of em, will put another day in india up very soon.

marc x

[donnam]

i love portugal where we stay, village up from villa real, so peaceful, and other fav is florida, seeing the kids face light up

hong kong was when i was 6, i remember the rain was hot.

germany think i would have liked more if not on those foreign exchange things

fraance on the school trips, never really gelled with the kids at school.

would love to go back to hong kong, and would love go to canada, holland etc

[marc-74]

I only stayed in Mumbai for a few days before heading south to Goa.

I was trying to find out how to get a train down there,and this guy told me that there were no trains to Goa for another week, and like the naive tourist I was,I believed him. So I ended up paying some guy in a shop way over the odds for a bus ticket. Getting ripped off every now and then is the only way you learn,and I never really got pissed off about it,these people didn't have much and where just trying to hustle a few rupees for their families.

I'm glad I did take this bus journey now, it was a very eye opening experience.When we got to the outskirts of the city, we pulled over, underneath a huge motorway bridge.

We were picking up some people,and loading up loads of creates and boxes.The driver said we'd be there about an hour.I got off the bus for a little wonder around. It was then that I noticed a high fence around the bridge,and on the other side were hundreds of ramshackle huts. Then loads of people started coming over to the fence. I took a closer look,and the place was a leper colony. At first i was frightened to get any closer.But it felt wrong just standing there staring at these poor people.As I was making my way back to the bus, a pickup truck loaded with boxes of veg came bouncing along the rough path leading to the gate.Then a huge box of onions tipped over and spilled all over the path.When the truck stopped at the gate I waved at the driver and pointed to his onions on the ground. I started gathering them up and and man and woman came over with some bags.

It turned out that the woman was a Nun,and she wasn't too far from where I was brought up in Ireland.After all the onions were put into the bags, she asked me if I wanted a cup of tea.I accepted. She went off and brought back a big pot of tea and asked if anyone from the bus wanted some.Not many accepted.Suppose they were just weary of the place the same way I was.

I sat talking for about half an hour,and learned a lot. I found out that the disease is nowhere near as scary these days as people think,about 80-85% of cases are NOT contagious,and many of these can be cured.She pointed out to me a separate section that was for the people that are contagious,and was explaining how they are looked after.

Before thinking too much about it,I asked if I could volunteer for a little while.She said"but what about your trip to Goa" "Goa will still be there in a couple of weeks." I then went and got my bag off the bus and went into the colony.Again on this trip,it did cross my mind,"what the fuck are you getting yourself into Marc"

I stayed for just over two weeks.My day to day tasks were helping cook and serve meals and going into town to bring back supplies.I'd love to tell you more about this place,But this post is getting a bit long,so I'll stop for now.I may write more about later.

Marc x

[fedup!]

I love this thread xxxxxxxxxxx

cad - I love how you can reflect on your own travels, but can also now see the pleasure they give your children.

marc - keep the India tales coming, I love how you prove that a chance meeting with a person can send your plans spinning off to a new direction. ANd you can meet some amazing people along the way.

I always think that despite the fact that governments believe it's a great idea to knock shite out of less powerful nations, as humans we have more similarities than differences. We all want to be loved, to be heard and to have a good laugh xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**fedup! appears to have turned into Kofi Anan**

[fedup!]

PS Dice!!! Just saw the purple donkey pic haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! xxxxxxxxxxx

[marc-74]

X-Box Bus Ride

I eventually got that bus to Goa,and what ride that was. I bought a sleeper space on the bus, and I can honestly say,during that 17 hour bus ride,I did not sleep for a second.

The space I had on the bus was nice and cozy on the top bunk, and before the sun went down,and before we hit the mountain roads it was all pretty chilled and good fun.

As soon as the sun set,it became quite clear just how completely and utterly, 110%, fucking nuts Indian drivers are.There only seemed to be three rules of the road for these head cases.

1 Blast you horn no less that every 1.5 seconds.

2 Drive with your foot to the floor at all times.

3 Get in front of whoever is ahead at any cost.

oh....and I almost forgot, Blast out Bhangra Music at full volume all night to keep the driver awake, along with the rest of the passengers so they can get a real idea of what it's like actually think that you may die at any second.

Every four or five hours we'd pull up at a rest stop for some tea,and a chance to do an impersonation of the Pope and kiss the ground.Then the nightmare would continue.It was like being trapped in an X-Box game ,with and ADHD speed snorting Red Bull guzzling maniac at the control. Every now and then I'd lean into the the aisle and could see us approaching another bus,............yeah game on. The driver would find another few MPH from somewhere and pull up alongside his rival mentalist,and neither would want to give an inch.During this duel,you'd think it was scary enough looking out the window,and seeing a huge,steep drop right on the side of the road.That would be until you'd notice another bus coming the other direction.

How we got to Goa alive,I'll never know. I never what to do that bus route again, but I'm glad I did. There really is nowhere like India,and everyday has something happen that'll just make you think "what the fuck".