Official MM Travel Thread

[G.Irish]

Recently I've been thinking about doing a month in Panama and thought a fun thread would be for us to share tips on travel for those looking to go abroad (or stateside) next year. I'll share some stuff about Panama since that's the most recent foreign travel I've done but I'll post about Japan sometime soon here too.

Panama

Anyway, my family has a house in Panama so if anyone else wants to go for a week or two they could stay there for free. Tickets for January are going for around $300-400 so you could have a pretty damned good time for cheap. Lemme know if you're interested.

What to do there
*Tour the Panama Canal*
It's a pretty impressive piece of engineering but you can do the canal locks on the Pacific side in a couple of hours. There are tours where you can ride through them but I wouldn't recommend going that far.

*Beaches*
Plenty of really nice beaches in Panama and they're not going to be nearly as crowded as popular Caribbean or stateside beaches. Most of them are about 1 or more hours outside of Panama city. Some of the new beach resorts are really nice and are all-inclusive so you can really live it up on the cheap.

*Surfing*
There's good beaches on each coast for surfing but I don't surf so don't ask me which ones. All I know is that you can do it if that's your thing.

*Snorkeling/Scuba Diving*
This is the big thing I want to do when I'm out there next. Most of the good diving is on the Atlantic/Caribbean side of Panama so you'll have to spend a few days on that side to get some good diving in.

Isla Coiba (Pacific side) is one of the most famous places in Panama to dive because it has a lot of deep ocean fish congregating around it (including sharks). Spearfishing is really good there.

*Jungle/Eco/Bird-Watching Tours*
Panama has over 900 species of birds so even if bird-watching is not your specific goal you'll see a lot of amazing birds if you do a jungle tour. The Smithsonian has several research facilities around that you can visit and see a lot of wildlife.

I never did any of the jungle hikes while I was out there but suffice it to say there's a lot of ground to cover and a lot of crazy stuff to see (poison arrow frogs, monkeys, snakes, toucans, caimans, sloths).

*Whitewater Rafting/Kayaking*
The main river to go rafting or kayaking on is the Chagres, which includes some class 5 rapids. Sea kayaking in some areas is also fairly popular. There's an archipelago of islands on the Caribbean side that would probably be the best place for sea kayaking.

*Nightlife*
As you'd expect, in Panama City there's a good amount of nightlife, replete with cheap alcohol and hot women. Taxis are stupid cheap there ($5-10 can get you basically across the city) so no worries about getting to or from the venue.

Best time to go

By far I'd recommend going during dry season, which runs from about late December to March. In the dry season it literally may only rain once every 3 or 4 weeks and the ground cracks from being so dry. So every day is a clear day and you have a lot of breeze to keep you cool, making days at the beach perfect.

Getting there
There's a direct flight from Washington-Dulles via Copa Airlines that leaves at about 5 am and arrives 4-5 hours later. I took this flight last time and it was perfect. You get up early, get on the plane, sleep, wake up and you have a full day to enjoy. You also avoid the hassle of Miami International.

Otherwise, Continental and America are typically the cheapest carriers.

Getting around
Taxis and buses are an easy way to get around in Panama City, but be prepared. A lot of the buses are seriously from the 50's.

Regional flights to remote regions can save you a ton of time. Driving to places like Bocas del Toro (gorgeous archipelago) might take 8 hours but it's a one-hour prop plane ride. You can also take a chopper ride to some of the islands from near Panama City.

There's a train that crosses the isthmus but I'd almost say it's easier to drive. But...

If you drive...
The drivers in Panama are very aggressive. People will often pull out in front of you forcing you to slow down to let them join traffic. You pretty much have to do the same to get out of side streets. The speed limit isn't really enforced so you've gotta be careful about getting t-boned from a car you didn't even see coming.

I'll have to see if I can find some good pics to post. Post up your vacation spots if you've got 'em.

[rezarxt]

Dude thats sick. Im going to nicaragua for spring break. Im excited for it.

[G.Irish]

Sweet, I really want to hit up the other parts of Central America to get a better picture of the whole region. What's your plan for Nicaragua?

[ScottyB]

i did a writeup of the USVI that i'll just copy into this thread once i find it

[Apoc]

Pasted from my blog.

Japan: Final Thoughts

Japan is an interesting place and it's not one that people generally put at the top of their vacation destinations. It's also a country that seems to have a fair number of misconceptions about it. Other than talking to people who had been, I couldn't find an all encompassing assessment of visiting there from an American point of view. My trip having ended, I should probably offer some thoughts on the whole experience. Were I to pick one word to describe Japan, that word would be dichotomy. Here's why...

The People

It's an understatement to say the people of Japan are polite. Generally speaking, they're very welcoming and there are times when their graciousness is downright uncomfortable. It wasn't all that uncommon to get help from a complete stranger, without asking for it, and on more than one occasion we were thanked for traveling all that way to see their country. They don't expect you to know Japanese and most who don't know any English have adapted ways to catering to non-Japanese tourists (like using a calculator to give you totals). They are appreciative of any effort you make to assimilate but don't necessarily go so far as to be patronizing.

It's also a bit of an understatement to say the Japanese have a tendency to be xenophobic. I overheard the term gaijin a handful of times and knew enough to understand it wasn't always in a flattering manner. I also had the lovely experience of being on a crowded subway, with people standing, and the only empty seat in the whole car was next to me. If you aren't blissfully unaware of of your surroundings, you'll also get sick of being stared at. If you're different (read: overweight white guy traveling with the fairest of blonds), you're going to be aware of the fact that you're different.

The Culture

It is without question that Japan has one of the most amazing cultures, past and present, of the countries I've visited. Like any country more than a few hundred years old, the wealth of history and historical sites abound. Many things there are far older than the US itself and you're steeped it in pretty much everywhere you go. The long standing native religion, Shinto, is more a lifestyle than it is a religion and it's beliefs permeate throughout every day life. Buddhism is also widely practiced and when you combine it, Shinto and a love of their history you can't help but feel you're seeing something larger than yourself by being in Japan.

Despite a much stronger connection to their past than America, I also believe Japan does a better job of avoiding the downfalls of a modern, technological society. People hold elevators, they don't talk on cell phones on trains, they wait patiently for their turn to cross the street, they take care in their appearance and they don't mind sharing public spaces with their fellow citizens. In a country that is so technology-laden, so ahead of the curve, it's impressive they refrain from disconnecting from the world or one another so well. If I lived there, I probably wouldn't leave the comfort of my heated toilet seat.

The Food

There is no question the Japanese love their version of fast food. If you can't read Japanese and don't have anyone to make recommendations, you're going to end up with a lot of tempura and udon. The cheap and easy food in Japan, while delicious, gets old after two weeks. It's not much different than eating at Friendly's and Appleby's for two weeks, only the dishes are different and a bit less varied. Chances are it will come in one bowl, it will make you thirsty, and the portion size won't be what you're used to. (None of those are necessarily bad, in my opinion.)

Conversely, the Japanese food you experience when someone is ordering or cooking for you is a world away. For the most part, Japanese food is light, relies heavily on animals from the sea and meals consist of a multitude of very small dishes served together. It's not uncommon to have sashimi and miso soup at most meals, including breakfast, but they were two of a dozen (or more) dishes. You get only a few bites of each thing, the flavors of each tending to greatly contrast one another, but each complex in it's own way. The yakitori was simply fantastic and, aside from enjoying the traditional Japanese meals (kaiseki) for their variety, was easily my favorite food.

The Transportation

When you first get to Japan, chances are all the train options are going to be overwhelming. Imagine being able to travel the entire eastern seaboard by train, bus and cable car with multiple companies operating not only in different geographical regions, but also with overlapping routes. Okay, so it's not really all that different than the multiple city subway systems being connected by Amtrak... but the sheer number of stops and ways to getting to those stops are probably four times higher. Combine that will the names of everything being in Japanese, even if they're written in romaji, and you have the makes of a very confusing system.

The reality of it is the Japanese mass transit system is brilliant. Once you learn the quirks of the design and how to read the various maps, you quickly realize it's far superior to anything in the US. In two weeks of major travel, a train was late only once and that was probably because of the snow. The trains stop in the same spot so reliably, they've painted lines on the floor to tell you where to queue. What's even more helpful is they tell you how many minutes you are from the various stops (accurately) and which car you should get on to be the closest to the exit you want. That would be like telling you where to stand on the Vienna platform so that when you get off at Metro Center, you're right at the escalator for the transfer to the Red Line. Coupled with deals like the Japan Rail Pass, you really can't go wrong.

The Experience

There is no doubt in my mind Japan helped me grow as a person. As I mentioned previously, Japan forces you to step outside your comfort zone if you want to do pretty much anything of value. There were times where I'd considered skipping meals because I didn't want to deal with the stress of being unsure what I was doing or the struggle of asking for help in Japanese. If I wanted to make the most of our visit, I had to face those challenges and risking making a fool of myself instead of hiding from them. In addition, the wealth of differing experiences to be had in Japan woos you to make the most of your time there.

At the same time, visiting Japan is not like visiting the third world. Japan is very much a first world country and not nearly as much a shock to the system as visiting India. All the modern conveniences of life are there so your travel becomes more about what's different in the "bigger picture" (i.e. culture) rather than the little things (i.e. concentrating on not drinking the water). Compared to America, it's all very different, yet so very similar.

The Verdict

One might be led to believe I love Japan more than I do my own country. While I consider it superior in many ways, I distinctly remember wishing for home towards the end of our time there. I came close to living there after college but I'm not sure I'd commit to that any more. It's different enough that I eventually grew tired of not fitting in, whether that's real or perceived.

In many ways, Japan is awesome. The people believe in something, they're polite, the "system" really seems to work, technology is applied in sensible ways, the food is amazing and the history is relatively unmatched. I loved bring there and doing so was as close to a fulfillment of a life-long dream I'll probably have. With unequivocal ease, I can whole-heartedly recommended Japan as a tourist destination... I'm just glad to be home.

[Feersty]

I am going to Houston for business next week, and have gotten an idea about how the area is different from where I am now in San Antonio. I'll write a little bit about the Gulf Coast region and South Texas, in a few days.

Great idea for a thread Gerald.

[HAULN-SS]

Leaving tomorrow for South Dakota

Stuff to do there: Buy like a square mile of land and raise your family the straight and narrow way. Go to Sturgis and go to the bike rally (BTDThat). Rapid City is actually the closest big city to Sturgis, and I would totally live there. Gorgeous city, kind of still has that 'old west' feel, but lots of naturey type things to do. Pheasant Hunt.

Time to go: During Bike Rally season, or right now, which is I'm leaving tomorrow.

Stuff to see: Rushmore, Crazy Horse (i think that's SD?), the black hills, the great plains, pheasant in your site(what i'll be doing on this particular trip).

Grade: B-

[Ole]

I'm going to West Virginia!!!

[HAULN-SS]

Is it fair for me to then say your vacation is my life?

[G.Irish]

I am going to Houston for business next week...

One of my favorite restaurant chains in the whole country is Pappadeaux's (Cajun food). There are a good number of them in Houston (I think there's one in the airport) so make sure you try it. Also, Whataburger is the best fast food in Texas.

[Ole]

Goode BBQ Co. (on the south side of 1-10 just west of the loop) Best brisket sandwich anywhere

[ScottyB]

i'll need to rehost the pictures somewhere but anyway, from a post in 05..

St. Thomas and St. John, US Virgin Islands

well as most of you know, i got married on the 16th. we were initially supposed to be going to the Mayan Riviera (right next to Cancun) for our honeymoon but hurricane Emily said "all your beach are belong to us", so Jen and I were on the horn with our badass travel agent for the next 3 days before the wedding trying to figure out where we could go as an alternative for the same amount of money. thankfully we had traveler's insurance, so the whole process was relatively painless :thumbup:

we settled on St. Thomas, USVI, as our destination. we stayed all inclusive (the only way to go, honestly) at the Wyndham Resort in Sugar Bay, St. T. we were there from wednesday to monday, and it was by far the best vacation i've ever had, and next to coming through the trees on the access road at VIR and seeing that awesome track, probably the most beautiful place i've ever seen :lol:

after driving to our apartment in atlanta from roanoke on monday the 18th, we took tuesday to settle and pack up, and then caught an early as hell flight out of atlanta on wednesday, and flew to charlotte for the connecting flight to St. T. it was all pretty streamlined, we didn't hit any delays, and although going through all the customs BS is annoying we still managed to get to St. T 30 mins. ahead of schedule. Jen took this picture from our 757 as we were coming in to land. you can see how steep the terrain is, the highest point on the island is 1600 feet. on an island only 3 miles wide at best, you can imagine how steep the mountain range running down the middle of the island is in order to be that altitude.



the airport on St. T is really different from anything i've ever experienced. open air, very relaxed security, and advertisement/sales for duty free stuff (especially booze) everywhere. the humidity really feels like a brick wall when stepping out of the A/C of the plane! our baggage made it safely and we hooked up with the Tropic Tours desk by baggage claim....they were in charge of taxi'ing us across the island to the resort. unfortunately, Tropic Tours wasn't expecting so many people to be coming in on this flight for some reason or another (we came to find out that a HUGE amount of people had their vacations detoured to St. T). after we got in the van to go, there were some paperwork mixups and the driver wanted to turn around and go back. when he radioed in to the dispatcher at the desk, we could hear the guy frantically telling the driver to just go, because they needed all the vans they could get. woops! driving through Charlotte Amalie (the main city named after a Dutch queen) was an eye opener....the cars all drive on the "wrong" side of the road despite having normal left-side controls, and the infrastructure of the island is pretty poor. everything is so old, but because the island's population is expanding so much, it's very difficult for them to update and repair things. the island is truly choking on way too many cars, and the driver's drive like they're on crack. this turned out to make for a fun experience when riding in their "taxis", which are really just pickup trucks with benches in the back and a wooden roof over the benches. it's all open air, no seatbelts, mountain drifto stage fun!

the resort was amazing. it was set up like a small village and everyone was very friendly. our room was a huge suite (bigger than i expected) with an amazing view of the water between St. T and St. John, the biggest neighboring island. the coast was literally 30 feet from our window...very nice to fall asleep to the water crashing on the rocks. we spent most of the time at the pool area, which connected to the resort beach. the pool was a freshwater pool that they somehow filter, so there was no chlorine smell or stinging in your eyes. it also had 3 waterfalls and alot of palm trees for shade, but those things were hard to pay attention too when you've had 4 margaritas before lunch, haha. which brings me to my next point....open bar! being at the resort was great for many reasons, but one of my favorite was that it was totally acceptable to have alcohol for breakfast and be wasted by noon. and the bartenders were goooood too. i watched Jen ask one for a rum and punch that was a "little strong", and the bartender literally filled the cup 3/4 with rum. rum, btw, is very popular to put in everything since the Cruzan distillery is on St. Croix, so it's real cheap (duty free, remember) here. best drink we had was on St. John, called the bushwhacker. it had like 7 flavors of rum in it and tasted like a pina colada/mudslide.....all i can say is that it was awesome. oh, and don't ever let your wife con you into asking the male bartender for a "sex on the beach". it was very embarrassing, but hey i love my wife and i'm not the brightest guy. anyway, this is a view from the buffet area, right next to the bar.



and a view of Coki Bay, right next to our resort beach. this is a view from the patio of our room, no less.



so when we weren't drinking, or frying out by the pool we were on the beach. mostly we stayed on the resort beach, it was big and very pretty so there was little reason to take the $8 death-ride via taxi to some other beach. there was alot of wildlife hanging out by the pool and beach too, we had to watch our food on the beach because if the seagulls didn't get it, the iguanas would! they were pretty tame though, as you can see:

croc hunter Jen!


we went snorkeling on thursday after riding to an adjacent bay on a sailboat. the boat ride was awesome (so silent) and the snorkeling was phenomenal. i'm very interested in marine biology (some of you know about my hobby of keeping a salt water tank) so i was going ape shiz when i saw some of the reef life. truly amazing. unfortunately, all the pictures i took were on a disposable underwater camera and i havent been able to scan the pictures yet.

friday we went to St. John, right next door to St. T. the ferry ride over was interesting....the lady selling tickets (and pretty much the local populace in general....i don't know how they accomplish anything. must be the heat) was so freakin lazy, she wouldnt tell us anything and kept halfway falling asleep. so getting a ticket was a mess, if there was any alternative, i'd recommend it. then when we finally got on the boat we saw a bright red sign on the cabin that said "today's terrorist activity level: high". well that's just great. we finally landed in Cruz Bay, on St. J. the place is incredible, very quaint and clean. apparently back in the day, the island was pretty much owned by the Rockefellers, and when he died he had his property on the island willed to the US parks agency or what not. so 90% of the island is park land that you can't build on....which is great, because it will preserve the beauty of this wonderful place. Jen and i hopped around some of the shops, which are all painted in eccentric colors and are generally really nice to look around in:



we bought a little jerk seasoning and carribean grill rub from a spice shop, and that was about it. most stuff there is pricey and we wanted to save most of our money for some duty-free booze on the way out 8) . we then caught a taxi to Hawks Nest Bay, the most beautiful place i'd ever seen. it was very sheltered so the water was calm and incredibly clear. we had recieved recommendations from many locals to go here and we were not dissapointed. thankfully i had signed out some snorke gear from our resort and toted it along, so we took full advantage of it and snorkeled until our legs hurt. it was so worth it though, even better than our trip on thursday. we saw corals that towered to nearly the water's surface, schools of cuttlefish, and even a mass of small minnows being attacked by what looked like mackeral. as you can see, the water is like being in a pool:



after that amazing time we hit up a taxi again and caught the ferry back after getting soaked by a squall that was gone in 5 minutes. oh well, good thing we had our bathing suits on.

the next two days were spent just chilling out at the resort, we decided after two days of spending money and trying to time schedules we had seen what we wanted and felt like taking it more easy (if that's possible). so not much to say about that, just that it's hard to beat spending an afternoon in a better way than laying in a chaise lounge under a mangrove tree on the beach with a tasty libation in hand and no where to go! later in our stay it was even clearer than usual at night and i caught this shot off of our balcony:



we flew out on monday after an incredible stay, and i have to say reality sucks. our trips back were just as uneventful (we did pick up two liters of Cruzan Rum and a liter of Sheridan, some kind of awesome coffee liquor) and we got back home late on monday night. thankfully we didnt have to drive from charlotte to atlanta, that would have been awful. all of our luggage made it back too, i was pretty happy about flying with USAir.

i have only good things to say about St. T, if you ever have a chance, go! i also thought 5 days was plenty of time to see everything, i wouldn't bother staying longer than that. also read Mike's review, it came in pretty handy....thanks for writing it dude.

sorry for such a long post, i can't help writing novels.

[Mike]

<--- visiting st john next week for an entiiiiire week.

recently went to anaheim and nyc, need to write those both up. and then i have japan, london, and scotland trips i can post too.

[ScottyB]

<--- visiting st john next week for an entiiiiire week.

sumnabitch!

oh hey, you know that St. John spice they only sell on that island? if you get me a thing of it i'll paypal you back whatever it is.

[Ole]

Sens-bud?

[Mike]

<--- visiting st john next week for an entiiiiire week.

sumnabitch!

oh hey, you know that St. John spice they only sell on that island? if you get me a thing of it i'll paypal you back whatever it is.

will do.

[John]

Will try and post something on my recent trips to Kodiak, Anchorage, and Hawaii when I have some time later. I can always write up something on my previous escapades to Eastern Europe, the Balkans & Albania, and Turkey if time permits...

Will be heading to Stuttgart, Vienna, Bahrain, Kuwait, Japan, Saipan, and Guam over the next few weeks (and hopefully New Zealand, Melbourne, and Tasmania over the holidays)... hopefully something will merit a decent story somewhere...

[Feersty]

Will try and post something on my recent trips to Kodiak, Anchorage, and Hawaii when I have some time later. I can always write up something on my previous escapades to Eastern Europe, the Balkans & Albania, and Turkey if time permits...

Will be heading to Stuttgart, Vienna, Bahrain, Kuwait, Japan, Saipan, and Guam over the next few weeks (and hopefully New Zealand, Melbourne, and Tasmania over the holidays)... hopefully something will merit a decent story somewhere...

Tell me most of this is for business, if not, someone is Baulin'.

[John]

Will try and post something on my recent trips to Kodiak, Anchorage, and Hawaii when I have some time later. I can always write up something on my previous escapades to Eastern Europe, the Balkans & Albania, and Turkey if time permits...

Will be heading to Stuttgart, Vienna, Bahrain, Kuwait, Japan, Saipan, and Guam over the next few weeks (and hopefully New Zealand, Melbourne, and Tasmania over the holidays)... hopefully something will merit a decent story somewhere...

Tell me most of this is for business, if not, someone is Baulin'.

Most for business, yes.

[ScottyB]

Will try and post something on my recent trips to Kodiak, Anchorage...

please do. Jen and I are looking to do a celebratory vacation in AK after she gets out of grad school, and we don't know a thing right now except we think we'd like it.