Skip to main content

Tagged With "Outdoor living"

Comment

Re: An Englishwoman's Home in France

DrFumblefinger ·
What a great place to live! Definitely more my style than a huge city.
Comment

Re: Antarctica, part 3. Antarctica Rocks!

DrFumblefinger ·
Hi Kirsten, Behind in my emails, but did want you to know that the last of your series on Celebrating Nature went live today. I want to personally thank you so very much for sharing your tremendous talents with our audience. I enjoyed reading -- and learned a lot -- from your posts and greatly enjoyed your wonderful photography! I'm sure many others did, too. If you have more material you'd like to post on TravelGumbo in the coming months, it would be our pleasure to host it. Hope you had a...
Comment

Re: Qantas eyes more UK-Oz nonstops

GarryRF ·
After sitting on an airplane seat for 12 hours it's an absolute pleasure to ride an exercise bike in Kuala Lumpur Airport - before my onward journey to Oz. Just for 20 mins so the lower part of my body regains the will to live. I thought a few minutes jogging would help me - until I realised I had presented myself as a moving target to the Airport Police. The thought of a 17 hour direct flight in cattle class is awful. Maybe travelling in business class - with room for my arteries to...
Reply

Re: Boston in the fall - suggestions please!

Paul Heymont ·
That's good news, Mac! OK...the leaves start turning first in the north, moving south as the weather changes...but timing is always tricky because it depends on each year's combination of temperature and humidity. Here's a link to a site I've found useful in the past...it's from Yankee magazine, and includes a live map of the progress of the leaves as well as itineraries and more. http://www.yankeefoliage.com/ We haven't had a good leaf-peeping piece on Gumbo yet, so I'm looking forward to...
Comment

Re: Palais Garnier: Opera House in Paris

Samantha ·
Thanks guys. It is such an amazing place and I can't image how incredible it would be to see a live performance. Maybe someday Thanks again.
Comment

Re: Money Savings Tips, for your Big Trip - Part 1

TravelingCanuck ·
Thanks Samantha. All great tips. Some we do now and some (public transit) we do not since we live outside Edmonton and both work in the city. A 15 minute commute would turn into over an hour on transit. We actually just redid our cable subscription, obtained a better plan and updated internet with a reduced monthly cost. With our kids now moved out we are able to save a good bit on our utilities, phone costs and especially food costs. All extra coin for the next trip.
Comment

Re: Money Savings Tips, for your Big Trip - Part 1

Samantha ·
Thanks for the comment. Glad you were able to get a new contract with your cable company. We had Comcast and they don't care about retaining customers, only getting new ones Such a shame. Thanks for the comment and happy travels.
Comment

Re: Belfast: An Uneasy City

Paul Heymont ·
Garry, I'll live with judgemental, but without taking it as a bad thing. Travel and observation involves judgement, even at the simplest level (am I having fun? would I come back here?), but sometimes the circumstances require a deeper look and thought. In that way, for instance (and perhaps unfairly) it is possible to visit Dublin, and have only a historic thought to 1690 and 1916; they're woven into history and customs, but only at a level that does not consciously intrude—but to visit...
Reply

Re: What's the Best City in the World to Eat in?

Paul Heymont ·
I won't claim any city to be the best in the world—at least not until I have time to visit them all! I'm always skeptical anyway about "the best" "the most" and so forth. That said, I'll also add that the best is not always the most expensive or famous. And I'm pleased to see that he's not pushing posh places, but rather inexpensive curry houses and a 24-hour cafe. His point seems to be that London is the best city to eat in because it is, his opinion, the best city to BE in. So, I'll...
Comment

Re: Why I Travel

GarryRF ·
My early travels in the US were all done with maps. I've been lost many times. So I bought the American Maps for my UK TomTom Sat Nav. Best thing I've done in years ! I love taking roads that aren't tourist routes - and getting lost - now. Explore the back woods and the one horse towns. Explore where the rich folks live and the poor. Taking photo's of local characters. Folks that have worse teeth than the Brits ! Show me the tourist route and I'll go the other way !
Comment

Re: Where Gumbo Was #14: A Sewer Journey

Paul Heymont ·
It's true that it's an acquired taste (and Mrs. Gumbo has sworn off any more visits of this sort) but it's really more about the history of how we've learned to live than it is about sewers in and of themselves...
Reply

Re: Crashing the geocache

Janine ·
Hello TatToo, I live in Europe especially Germany. I do know Geocaching and of course the game is known here. If you don't have a GPS device with a European card in it you can use your mobile phone as long you have the geocaching app. Before your son goes to Europe just with that mobile phone, make sure he looks for geocaches in areas he will be first and download the map and the cache itself. Even if you don't have an Internet connection they can use it via GPS. I did it in USA and it has...
Comment

Re: Everglades raccoon

DrFumblefinger ·
Those are all good resources, TravelandNature, and I certainly believe in responsible pet ownership. Lord knows we own enough pets and my wife just rushed the dog to the vet because he tore off his toenail (and was bleeding badly, poor boy ) Make sure you have a deep wallet or access to a lot of meat if you adopt a python. The python consumes 25 lbs of meat per year for each of its 225 lb adult size. Steaks and live catch preferred.
Reply

Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,

Hank ·
Forgot to mention that my classes and exams are over the first week of May. So I'd like to go after than. When I get back home I need to move to my new job and find a place to live, so I'd like June to do that.
Comment

Re: Frommer's New EasyGuides: A Future for Print

GarryRF ·
A review for London ? Haven't been there for 40 years Paul. Really don't like big Cities and the "too busy to care attitude of people who live there" It's just my personal opinion. On the Tube Train into London people don't make eye-contact or talk to strangers. Here in Liverpool you'll be in conversation with 3 or 4 strangers and share a few laughs on the journey ! Someone falls on the street here ( and most of Northern England ) and folks rush to help. London they step over you. Rant over...
Comment

Re: A Visit to Ireland: Part 1) An overview of the Country and its People

GarryRF ·
When I go to my local Pub in Liverpool I'll have a choice of Beers. Heineken Dutch Lager - San Miguel Spanish - Carlsberg Danish - Stella Belgian - Fosters Australian - Sagres Portuguese. Plus many local brews. Old Speckled Hen, Bishops Finger and my favourite Newcastle Brown Ale. Served in a Pint - 20 ounce - Bottle. With a half pint glass. It keeps cooler in the bottle ! Liquid Toffee ! Not a light Beer. Lots of Flavour and quite potent. I've found bars around Ocean City Maryland who serve...
Comment

Re: Frommer's New EasyGuides: A Future for Print

DrFumblefinger ·
Like GarryRF, I'd rather be in wide open places. But that said, I do love snippets of big cities. A week at a time is about enough to satisfy my need for hustle and bustle for awhile. I know others can't live without the constant adrenaline rush of a city. The beauty of a free world is that everyone can pick what they want.
Comment

Re: A Visit to Ireland: Part 1) An overview of the Country and its People

DrFumblefinger ·
I didn't know that there were so many Irish in Liverpool. There are certainly many of them in Canada and the USA as well. One wonders how many more Irish live abroad than on their home island.
Comment

Re: The Worst Train in the World

PortMoresby ·
If I live it won't be my last. Just prior to that one, same trip, I'd gone from Guilin to Nanning, then after lunch got on another, overnight to Hanoi. Later overnight again, Hanoi to Hoi An. Now that I think about it I realize they got progressively worse as I went along, culminating in The Worst. I hadn't thought about it until just this minute, hindsight is a wonderful thing that way. A great disappointment to me several years ago was the apparently permanent cancellation of the Hanoi to...
Comment

Re: Family Takes Year Off to Travel the World

Former Member ·
They did not take a year "off"; they took a year "on" to live life. What lucky kids ! What lucky parents ! Bully on this family for making that "luck" happen.
Comment

Re: Idaho's Craters of the Moon National Monument

GarryRF ·
Yellowstone National Park has over 500 Geyser's - so I guess that counts as a "Hot Spot" (I just Googled it) I remember the smell of sulphur being one of the giveaways to a live site so I'll sniff my way about! Thanks for the info DrF.
Reply

Re: Finally some good news! Whistler or Banff

DrFumblefinger ·
I don't ski either (bad knees), but I've visited both of these destinations. There are pros and cons to each. Both is a little over an hour's drive from their closest major airport, Vancouver for Whistler and Calgary for Canmore. Whistler is close to the coast, but high up. So they usually have good snow, but depending on the year, it can get soggy by spring and sometimes ice crusted. Banff area is far more likely to have nice light powder during the spring break season. Some people swear by...
Comment

Re: Greenland from six miles high!

GarryRF ·
The Vikings were the first to live in Greenland - they described it as a "Green and pleasant land - with pastures and animals" Maybe when we get some serious Global Warming we'll all go back with our Cameras and the latest Frommers' Guide .... Greenland - Land of the Surfers and the 24 Hour Sun
Comment

Re: Venice's ban on huge cruise ships suspended

Paul Heymont ·
The only alternatives I can see are to build a new cruise port outside the lagoon. Chioggia might be too far, but perhaps just north of the main way into the lagoon, across the inlet from the Lido. That would provide land-based alternatives for other day trips from the boats, and could also be served by vaporetto-sized boats heading into Venice itself. Of course, I haven't consulted the folks who live there and run campgrounds there...
Comment

Re: The Beautiful Pools and Geysers of Yellowstone National Park

DrFumblefinger ·
DrY is away on vacation this week, PHeymont, so he'll get back to you on his return. But I believe a lot of these colors are due to the highly specialized microorganisms that live in this environment.
Comment

Re: The Beautiful Pools and Geysers of Yellowstone National Park

DrFumblefinger ·
Hi Andre, and welcome. As DrY is away on vacation, I'll try to answer your question before he gets back. Yellowstone National Park does sit on what is known as the "Yellowstone Hot Spot". You see this in its geysirs and hot water pools. This does have the potential to become a massive volcano and cause a tremendous eruption. As big as any volcano in recorded history and then some. The jet stream would carry the ash and smoke mostly east (towards the Atlantic Ocean), so those areas would be...
Comment

Re: Fabulous fountain show at the Bellagio, Las Vegas

GarryRF ·
There's a few families of Ducks live in that water. They take cover before the light and fountains start the show. But how do they know ?
Comment

Re: Paris warned: bigger floods will happen

Paul Heymont ·
Actually, part of the problem is that the Seine, like many others, is no longer a "natural" river. It's had its banks turned into walls, its flood plains turned from farms to cities, and more. And that requires, yes, experts to figure out how we can live with that when it rains. In the U.S., we have a similar issue with the Mississippi River, which has been so altered that floods that once spread over wide areas of land or were contained in marshy areas, and which fed fresh soil to farms and...
Comment

Re: Italian town bans barking

DrFumblefinger ·
If this ban will be enforced, it is effectively a ban on having dogs in that town, because by their nature, dogs will bark. Some do it more than others, but they all will bark sometime. You can try to control and discipline them, but that will have limited success. People love their dogs. I know that's true of me and it's true of many others. Doesn't sound like the kind of place I'd want to live in.
Comment

Re: Ultimate outdoor vacation: a year without walls

DrFumblefinger ·
I love being out of doors, including some time roughing it. But I also love showers, a nice meal and a comfortable bed. Glad to know there's adventuresome folks out there!
Comment

Re: JetBlue at JFK: A most unusual rooftop lounge

DrFumblefinger ·
Is it a "frequent flyer" only lounge, or open to all JetBlue passengers?
Reply

Re: Air Miles vs Low Fare Airline

PortMoresby ·
I can live indefinitely with 2 sets of clothes, 1 to wear & 1 to wash, 1 extra pair of shoes, all in a day pack. I wouldn't necessarily WANT to do it, but I could, rather than stop flying if, say, the airlines reduced baggage limits to 10 pounds altogether. It's the same old story, I figure, if for any reason, you can't or won't travel (time, money, fed up, whatever), you just don't want to enough. One excuse is as good as another. Good to hear about Norwegian. I repeated the exercise...
Comment

Re: Copenhagen's missing tour bus found, busnapper arrested

George G. ·
Our son and his family live in the beautiful rural Jutland Peninsula of Denmark. Though Denmark is still one of the safest countries in the world, they have seen a dramatic rise in criminal activity by immigrant gangs, so no matter where you travel, you should always be cognizant of your surroundings.
Comment

Re: Canada's 10 Best Kayaking Destinations

DrFumblefinger ·
Great suggestions! Another excellent place to Kayak is Johnston Strait, on the inside passage between Vancouver Island and the mainland. Several pods of Orcas live here so your chance of seeing them is excellent!
Comment

Re: Canada's 10 Best Kayaking Destinations

Floating Authority ·
Thank you for that Suggestion! I'll have to keep it in mind. Canada has so many amazing places to paddle there could be at least 50 that could feature on this list!
Comment

Re: Terry Fox Monument, Thunder Bay, Ontario

DrFumblefinger ·
Thanks for sharing this story with our audience, Ottoman. I remember Terry Fox well. His run across Canada became an important news story, and the image of him hoping on his good leg before stepping with his prosthesis has always remained with me. He was a remarkable brave young man, and it's sad that he didn't live to see the profound influence that one life can have. A reminder how how cancer can strike anyone. No age, no sex, no race, no social class is immune from its reach. I really...
Comment

Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day: May 6th, 2014. Cairo Roadside Cafe

DrFumblefinger ·
You've truly got a slice of everyday life as the "locals" live it, Islandman! thanks for sharing this.
Comment

Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, June 4th, 2014: Humming Birds

DrFumblefinger ·
I enjoy these birds, although like guys speeding by on motorcycles (affectionately called "organ donors" in Germany) they seem to live on the edge. Life in Fast-Forward x12! One year we discovered a hummingbird nest in one of our bushes. Its eggs were amazingly tiny! The entire nest wasn't much bigger than my thumbnail (wish I'd taken photos of it) And PHeymont, we need to get you out of the city more. I know NYC is famous for its big cockroaches, but if you can't tell a bird from an insect,...
Comment

Re: Cruising California's 17 Mile Drive

DrFumblefinger ·
Far be it for anyone to say you are selfish, Garry! It is one of the most expensive places to live in California, but I suspect all those drivers going through help subsidize the neighborhood more than that homeowners might want to let on. And I'm not sure most of us could afford the taxes, even if we wanted to. Being an average guy, this is just not my scene.
Comment

Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, November 25, 2014: Fall colors at Upper Kananaskis Lake, Alberta

DrFumblefinger ·
Hi GarryRF, Yes, this part of the world includes vaste stretches of wilderness. Lots and lots of unspoiled mountains, valleys, forests, rivers and lakes. It is only an hour's drive from west Calgary, so lots of those of us who live here spend our weekends in the Rockies. Much like those in Denver. Camping is wonderful in the summertime, as the weather is mild and the days very long. It's also great to hike here at that time. Camping in the winter is only for the brave of heart. You need to...
Comment

Re: Memphis, Tennessee: 1) Graceland

GarryRF ·
You've put together an interesting tour DrF. I never knew you got that up close and personal on a tour . You mentioned the 2nd floor. Do the family still live there ? I'm surprised to see there's no mention of his manager. 50% - wow - that's some fee. Heard stories but never knew that was the figure. There have been other cases of artists - of that time - being mis-used too.
Comment

Re: Finding Reiner #7: Shrapnel & Bones

Paul Heymont ·
I can't help thinking, as I read your descriptions, and the memories of the people you met, at the people, old and young, caught up in Palestine and in Iraq in circumstances not very different. It is sad that we continue to live in a world where their wishes and hopes are of so little consequence to those who call the shots. Literally.
Comment

Re: Gumbo’s Pic of the Day, August 22, 2014: Postcards from Greece - The Donkeys

PortMoresby ·
When I stayed on Santorini 10 years ago, on a walk around Oia, I saw the donkeys used to collect trash. I sincerely wish they'd adopt the practice where I live. I'd so much rather wake to the sound of hooves than the crash and roar of garbage trucks.
Comment

Re: And life was never the same again: How Barcelona stole my heart

Jonathan L ·
I love Barcelona. It is one of the few cities that I feel I could live in, if I were to leave NYC. Large enough to have an active cultural and social life that is not dependent on tourists, small enough to be able to get around and do things without a car. Lovely things to look at. Great food.
Comment

Re: And life was never the same again: How Barcelona stole my heart

Paul Heymont ·
I'll second Jonathan L on that...one of the two or three cities I'd be willing to live in, besides Brooklyn...and you found my favorite tapas place, too!
Comment

Re: AirBnB vs New York. Update

Paul Heymont ·
As a frequent Airbnb renter (about 16 times) I obviously think it's a valuable thing and want it to succeed. I also think that there's room for reasonable regulation that's sensitive to local needs, and that a reasonable compromise can be found. Let's take the case of New York City...there is a real shortage of affordable housing. While it's not caused by Airbnb, but rather by a series of market issues that I won't rehearse here, it's reasonable for the city/state to ban short-term rentals...
Comment

Re: AirBnB vs New York. Update

PortMoresby ·
Everything you say, P, is logical and fair. The problem becomes compliance and enforcement, not a separate issue. A segment of people will always try to game the system and it's impossible to enforce these kinds of regulations in such a complex and populous place. Even here, where I live in a relatively rural place, I suspect I'm the only one in a large county collecting and paying the short-term occupancy tax. I do it, not because I'm honest, but because I don't want to think about possible...
Reply

Re: Contemporary philosophers

GarryRF ·
“To move, to breathe, to fly, to float, To gain all while you give, To roam the roads of lands remote, To travel is to live.” Hans Christian Anderson
Reply

Re: Impression about Perth, Australia

GarryRF ·
My 3 kids lived and worked in Australia for a year. I loved going to Oz to visit them. Once in summer and once in winter. We accept young folks from Australia to live and work here in the UK as part of the Commonwealth of countries. Like Oz does for our kids. As you say Aussies are proud of their convict heritage and are often disappointed to find they have ancestors who merely migrated. I have lots of relatives in Oz today - mostly found using the internet. Its surprising when we swop...
Reply

Re: How loooong does it take to get to your airport?

TravelGirlJenn ·
I think it depends on where one lives. Yes, those three cities may be faster; however should someone live IN Oakland, it may take them mere minutes using public transportation to get to the Oakland airport. And, using Oakland as an example, it takes me less time to get to the Oakland airport from my house using public transport than it would if I were to take my car simply because of traffic. However, to travel to my home to San Francisco (SFO) it is actually longer to take public transport...
 
×
×
×
×