Official MM Travel Thread

[John]

Alaska - recap analysis - bad ass

Background: Flew to Kodiak for work for two days, spent two days on the return trip in Anchorage and environs in mid-Sept. Terrain was unrreal, but due to the time of year, it was their rainy season (with the biggest raindrops I've ever seen).

I was in Kodiak for an audit, which ended up being pretty short and left us with some free time. The island is pretty spartan, largely employed by halibut and crab fisherman (yes, like you see on the Deadliest Catch). It being the beginning of the silver (Coho) salmon run, we rented some tackle and hit Buskin Creek. Results were pretty unimpressive, but we tagged a decent sized fish and then a Kodiak brown (considered medium size at 900lbs) tore out of the bushes and decided to take a bath just below our position. We stood fast as he/she turned downstream and ended up charging some flyfisherman who were being a little too stubborn with mother nature.

I flew to Anchorage the next day to explore the environs, almost hit a 1500lb moose, and drove to the Kenai peninsula for a cruise in Resurrection Bay at Seward. The cruise yielded the basics like countless bald eagles, incredible terrain, glaciers, sea lions, et cetera.

Alaska isn't cheap, as it's one of the last vestiges of wilderness in our country with minimal infrastructure - however, it does come with some great food, interesting people, and amazing sights and wildlife. Bald eagles there are like pigeons in the continental US, moose are as common as deer, and there's an endless supply of sealife to keep your eyes and stomachs busy. Stay isn't cheap, neither is the food and gas, but it's largely fresh and tasty.

My recommendation - Alaska can't be fully experienced in one full visit. There are several options here...

Recommendations for future visits

1) Rent and RV and explore the interior. I love camping, but with the amount of bears and remoteness of Alaskan sites, I'd recommend an RV and drive from Anchorage down the Kenai - then east to the Wrangell area, then north through Fairbanks region and/or Denali, then back.

2) Cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage - experience all the glacial activity and sealife of the SE coastal region

3) Adventure to Ketmai park to see the bears - requires a bush pilot, but you'll be one with the largest non-polar bears on the planet.

All can be experienced with side trips to do halibut and/or salmon fishing (time of year pending, and king salmon being the most rewarding)... I can't wait to plan a trip back...

[rezarxt]

I want to go to alaska. My brother currently lives there. I know he carries a .357 magnum when he goes on hikes. Not much but better than nothing in case he runs into a grizzly.

[Apoc]

2) Cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage - experience all the glacial activity and sealife of the SE coastal region

All can be experienced with side trips to do halibut and/or salmon fishing (time of year pending, and king salmon being the most rewarding)... I can't wait to plan a trip back...

Plus one. As tacky as it is, cruising Alaska with a land portion in the interior is one of the best ways to experience it. Now that I've seen the highlights, I'd love to go back and plan my own trip.

[John]

Who here has a recommendations of things to do/see in Tokyo for 2-3 days? I fly in Thursday night and out Sunday afternoon - and I have absolutely no plans at this point. Things I like - sushi, history, and other local oddities (I have no interest in togues or visiting lame car parts stores).

[Apoc]

You can pick out some of my recommendations. My top two food suggestions are sushi at the fish market and a high end yakitori restaurant. If you have questions about specifics, let me know.

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[HAULN-SS]

Rappongi for booze.

[G.Irish]

So we went to Panama for a week long vacay last week. For the first part we stayed at an all-inclusive on the beach, blah, blah, blah.

For the second part we checked out Nitro City action sports resort.



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The idea is a beach resort focused on action sports activities so there's jetskiing, motocross bike rentals (with a track), kite boarding, wakeboarding (with a tow line and lake), water jetpack, skateboard park, atv's, paddleboarding, etc. etc.

I didn't stay there overnight because I figured it wouldn't be very fun for the pregnant wife to sit around all day while I go play, but we stopped by to check things out and ride a little motocross. I had not ever really ridden motocross so at first riding around their little course was really tiring but after some of my dirt track lessons came back to me it started to get easier (and faster). The staffer suggested that I take it out on the beach, so I spent some time riding around the peninsula in 4th gear and doing some slides.

Unfortunately the rental protective gear was in kind of bad shape and el dude didn't even bring out the armor or goggles ('You'd burn up') so I rode a lot more conservatively than I normally would have. Which who knows, might've been a good thing, I didn't know how close the nearest hospital was.

From the little taste I had I'd love to do some of the other activities but judging from the Tripadvisor reviews the property has a lot of management issues they need to address before I plan on doing a real trip there. Maybe the best bet is to stay at another hotel in the area (which we did) and do a day trip to Nitro City.

Still, the concept is fucking awesome, I sincerely hope they get things figured out, or other places like it open elsewhere and really live up to the potential. This is the kind of thing that is kind of made for people like us. Shit, I wish I could start a motorsports/action sports beach resort of my own.

[GTBrandon]

Bringing this thread back from the dead.

I have decided that the few months after I graduate should be cherished rather than rushing into the working world. Because of this, I figure I might as well go to all the countries I've always wanted to go to. Let me start this by saying the only countries I have ever been to were taking a bus into Canada during high school and going to the Dominican Republic to sit on the beach for a week. Needless to say, I have little out of country travel experience, and definitely, need to renew my passport from my old high school picture.

I'm thinking I want to do two trips, one during this winter break, and another in May until June. So since December is right around the corner, what are some recommendations on where to go during those Winter months? I'm thinking somewhere warm like Australia, New Zealand, etc. Should I be rethinking that? Paris on Christmas morning sounds pretty cool as well.

Any good sites to find plane tickets, travel deals, lodging on? I want to do experiences out of the norm. Touring museums is fun for about an hour, and then I get bored. I want to go jump off cliffs into the water, tour the countryside on a rented motorcycle, see wild animals on a safari, etc.

How much do y'all budget for experiences/food/etc once you get there? Do you plan everything out beforehand down to an itinerary, or make rough plans and try to do as much as you can?

Finally, recommendations on going alone vs going with others? I hopefully will have some friends who want to do something like this, but part of me wants to travel a little on my own. Has anyone done this and can speak to it?

[Jake]

Bringing this thread back from the dead.

I have decided that the few months after I graduate should be cherished rather than rushing into the working world. Because of this, I figure I might as well go to all the countries I've always wanted to go to. Let me start this by saying the only countries I have ever been to were taking a bus into Canada during high school and going to the Dominican Republic to sit on the beach for a week. Needless to say, I have little out of country travel experience, and definitely, need to renew my passport from my old high school picture.

I'm thinking I want to do two trips, one during this winter break, and another in May until June. So since December is right around the corner, what are some recommendations on where to go during those Winter months? I'm thinking somewhere warm like Australia, New Zealand, etc. Should I be rethinking that? Paris on Christmas morning sounds pretty cool as well.

Any good sites to find plane tickets, travel deals, lodging on? I want to do experiences out of the norm. Touring museums is fun for about an hour, and then I get bored. I want to go jump off cliffs into the water, tour the countryside on a rented motorcycle, see wild animals on a safari, etc.

How much do y'all budget for experiences/food/etc once you get there? Do you plan everything out beforehand down to an itinerary, or make rough plans and try to do as much as you can?

Finally, recommendations on going alone vs going with others? I hopefully will have some friends who want to do something like this, but part of me wants to travel a little on my own. Has anyone done this and can speak to it?

I thought you were gonna buy a whole condo building or something

[SlimKlim]

[Senor_Taylor]

Is this thread not replaced with the bus in Switzerland thread?

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[Apoc]

Maybe an admin should merge them?

[JPolen01]

Is this thread not replaced with the bus in Switzerland thread?

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

I thought so too.

[GTBrandon]

Just searched travel and found this, forgot about the bus thread. I’ll look into merging.