Tagged With "Cream Can"
Reply
Re: Trains in Cuba
Thanks for the info. I too love Mark's site. I will try my damnedest to do a train journey if I can so I can send you details. Wilbur.
Reply
Re: Boston in the fall - suggestions please!
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...
Reply
Re: Boston in the fall - suggestions please!
Agree with PHeymont. Plan your trips around the leaf watching. Lots of pretty small towns around New England, although many will be pretty booked. I'd leave at least 3-4 days for Boston. Lots to see and do there, including many items relating to the rebellious Yankees throwing off the ties with old King George. And great museums and restaurants and such. We can get into more details if you'd like, but you'll definitely want a good guide book. Many people find a day in Salem (famous for its...
Reply
Re: Boston in the fall - suggestions please!
Glad you're traveling again, Mac. Boston is my home town, and October is THE BEST MONTH. Where are you staying in the city? I'd walk the Freedom Trail if you're feeling up to it. Go down to the waterfront. Boston Common and Charles Street are fun places to hang out. Newbury Street is fancy shopping and also has a few fun bistros and coffee shops. The Science Museum is excellent. Plenty of seafood to be had. New England clam chowder is great if you have sweater-weather. Go whale-watching...
Reply
Re: Boston in the fall - suggestions please!
Wow! HistoryDigger that is fantastic information, thank you, I will now 'dig' more (pardon the pun) on the web and put some plans into place around those excellent suggestions!! Please - a crucial question for us - would we be "safe" to just book hotels for the arrival and departure days of our tour and simply rely on finding local accommodation as we progress round - or is it really SO busy in this season that I must book every stop along the way? We prefer the 'flexible' approach as it can...
Reply
Re: Wonders of the Modern World
The London Crossrail picture looked amazing, but I wasn't sure just what the project is, so I looked it up on Wikipedia. It's really amazing, it's a railroad project that goes 89 miles from west of London through the city and out the other end to the south. In the center of London it's got 13 miles of the tunnel in the picture! You can see more in Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossrail
Reply
Re: Wonders of the Modern World
The Soviets have never been completely transparent about Chernobyl, but this is the story as best as I was able to synthesize it: It seems that the alarm system was malfunctioning (going off all the time) so it was turned off by the tech monitoring the system. He had the fuel rods pulled out of their cooling chambers for maintenance work, was distracted (remember, the alarms are off), then by the time he focused back on the task at hand the rods had begun to melt and couldn't be reinserted...
Reply
Re: The Best Things To Do In Boston
From Logan Airport you can take the Metro into the City. When you've seen enough at the first stop - get back on the Underground system and come up to ground level at the next stop. Repeat as often as time will allow. Great way to spend 8 hours between flights. Only the Bostonian's would drink green beer on Paddy's Day.
Reply
Re: Crashing the geocache
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...
Reply
Re: World's scariest hiking trail?
Actually, the Hua Shan (Mountain Hua) is close to the city of Xi'an (where Terracotta warriors museum is located). I visited both in a same trip few years ago. Regarding to the Hua Shan trial, there was a local advise "if you want to climb to the tea house, better do it during night, because you do not see what is around you, ha ha! ". Of course, now a days, you can get there comfortably by riding a Gondola.
Reply
Re: Whom did you say was flying this plane?
The Air France flight 447 that went down with all souls lost, out of Rio, Brazil in 2009 would have benefitted from a greater system override of the pilots misinterpretation of their flight 'status'. Anything that can reduce pilot error OR system error has to be desirable.
Reply
Re: Whom did you say was flying this plane?
Originally Posted by Bling: Have there been problems with the Google car ? It is interesting technology. As for wanting a human in the aircraft, we can all tell stories of car "accidents" that involved human error, not the mechanics of the machine. Maybe, maybe not. But there's only a couple or so of those on the road for testing. Whole lot different in a sky full of people, don't you think?
Reply
Re: How'd We Live Without Travel Apps?
I love Yelp as well, and there is a app called Happy Hours. It shows me restaurants with their own happy hours and happy hour menu. I also like hiking trail apps. Those apps tells me hiking trails in the cities I am traveling in (in the US). I recently tried Wishbeen. It is a web application though. It's a travel planning and sharing web. I like it a lot because it helps me browse travel itineraries made by other travelers, and I can easily modify them for my own trip. It also has a map...
Reply
Re: How'd We Live Without Travel Apps?
Translation app is easy! Google Translate is free, and runs on Android, iOS, Mac and Windows (and probably everything else, too.) It allows you to see or hear the translation, it can translate your incoming text messages, and by using the camera, you can have it translate signs, menus, etc.
Reply
Re: How'd We Live Without Travel Apps?
A lot to be said for what might be the ultimate travel app category: Maps and GPS. I know people have their favorites (Google's not the only one, according to my wife...) but almost everyone uses some version on their phone or tablet. Another good one is local transit. Most big cities have a route-finder on their transit site, but you have to find it. But Google Maps and HopStop and some others have transit info for most big cities. One downside: Apple is as bad as Google about business;...
Reply
Re: Classic American Cars #5
Oh good ! I can now take a week in the land of plenty - then a week in the land of rice and beans ! Wonder how much the flights are ?
Reply
Re: Classic American Cars #5
Maybe one of you car guys can help figure out what this fine looking machine is: https://www.travelgumbo.com/blo...n-the-road-in-sweden
Reply
Re: Films that affected your Travel destinations
This is going to seem odd, I guess...but as a kid I really enjoyed the Road to.... pictures with Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. Nothing really serious about them on the surface...but all of them play in some way with the idea of different cultures and how not understanding them can lead to strange circumstances. Of course, in the Road films, no really bad consequences ever happen, but still...they did make me curious.
Reply
Re: Films that affected your Travel destinations
Oh, yes, indeed - The Road pictures had a quirky playfulness that made one curious to get out and see things. You thought "if those mixed-up people can do it, I can do it.". Casablanca had that "je ne sais quoi" that made you want to see "Paris...before the war". Thanks for the memories about the movies.
Reply
Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Sadly, that $4K isn't going to go a real long way in UK...it's a pretty expensive place. You'll need to find seriously cheap lodging and really mind your pence! If you're not really stuck on UK, you might look at other places where English will do, including Jamaica and Puerto Rico or even Guyana. If UK is really IT, though, you should look into hostel costs, and into sharing sites like couchsurfing.com. Depending on when you're going, you might find some luck with college spaces that are...
Reply
Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Hi Hank, I've actually found the UK a pretty reasonable destination in recent years, especially outside of London.(My budget was way under yours for a month long trip to Europe last June.)A lot of museums are free. Transportation costs within the country can be reasonable too.Not only do they have advance cheap train tickets but they have bus and budget air choices.And of course there are some good budget hotel chains as well, such as Travelodge and the Tune Hotel Have fun and keep watching...
Reply
Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Staying in the UK is no more expensive than being a tourist in the USA. You wont get a month in London. Same as me travelling from the UK to New York. Silly Prices ! So decide on what you want to do over here and start planning, Have a look at the YHA web site. Youth Hostels Association. Forget the Youth reference. My Kids aren't Youths anymore. And I use them too! They are used by Travellers like yourself - and me - across Europe. They are Family groups and Ramblers ( Countryside Walkers)...
Reply
Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Wow! This has been very helpful, especially the tip about the Youth Hostels. I'm definitely going to look into that. I think staying at a hostel can help me stay within my budget. I'd really like to go to the UK if at all possible. I know there are cheaper places, but there's only one England and I've always wanted to see it. I think I'd like to spend maybe a week in London then head into the country, maybe doing a circuit to include parts of Wales and Scotland. I need to do some thinking...
Reply
Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Getting around the UK is very easy using Public Transport. Students travel around the country all the time - going to Uni and back home for the weekend. Friends going to weddings and folks going to London. London - like big Cities in the US - is a Traffic Nightmare ! Fortunately the UK is about the same size as a US State. Maybe Florida ? So its only a few hours by road. Trains are much faster - but more expensive, You're choice. So... look at http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx They're...
Reply
Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Again thanks, this is incredibly helpful!! So I think I'll look at trains for trips from bigger cities to other cities, and fill in the gaps with bus if the pricing works out. A little more planning is needed. Even though it's expensive, I do want to spend around a week in London. Being an architect, there's just so much to see and do there, like seeing the Houses of Parliament and Westminister Abbey. I plan on being on the go almost all day each day there -- can rest later, maybe in the...
Reply
Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Starting to get things planned now Hank ! You have the choice of flying into Edinburgh in Scotland. Manchester in the North of England. Or Gatwick / Heathrow which both serve the London area in the South of England. You can get a Train to Paris to end your tour with a few days of Culture in a foreign language ! Fly back to the US from Paris will save you hundreds of Dollars because you wont pay the UK "Departure Tax" but not vital ! Liverpool is less than an hour on the Train from...
Reply
Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Wow, this is turning into a real education!! I checked with my uncle and yes, I can fly Chicago to Manchester and return from either London or Paris to Chicago. The ticket is free to him and he said he would cover any fees as a "graduation gift to me" (he's a pretty cool dude!), but I don't want to burden him with a heavy departure fee, so maybe Paris would be the way to go. I'd like to leave about Friday, May 9th and return 4 weeks later, June 6th. A few days later and returning a few days...
Reply
Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
That's helpful too, Rob. So with your guys advice, I'm thinking of the following plan, which still has holes I need to fill. I actually like the idea of Paris more than Scotland for this trip, plus I worry about the cost of travel to Scotland back so unless I can get a really cheap plane ticket or train ticket to Edinburgh, I think I'll drop that and focus on eastern UK and then on to Paris. So this is where I'm at now: 1) Arrive in Manchester. Maybe ??2 days 2) Travel Liverpool. 3 days 3)...
Reply
Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Hank, While you're in London you can get a Coach (Bus) Tour that will show you Stonehenge and Bath and The Cotswold Villages - very pretty and very old. Leeds Castle (not in Leeds, close to London). Stonehenge is not an overnight stop - remember what I said about distances in the UK being smaller? If you need to fill a gap take the Train (or Bus) to York. Very old - lots of History and a Museum that will take you back 150 years walking the streets of Victorian England. Go into Old Shops and...
Reply
Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Everyone's been very helpful! I can't tell you what a great welcoming and helpful group of people you are. My uncle is an employee of Delta, so he has some kind of free ticket that requires me to fly on Delta only (no partners). I will have him check into the dates. I like the idea of flying up to Manchester, slowly working my way to London then returning from Paris. I think going to Amsterdam is more than I can bite off now, plus I want to spend the time seeing stuff, not traveling all the...
Reply
Re: Traveling for Local Food
The best resource for good "american food" while on the road that I know of is www.roadfood.com . The website focus on quality non-chain restaurants, often mom and pop places, with good and often unique menu selections. Check it out. Not only can they help you in Colorado, they're useful throughout the USA. Just about the best tip to give someone traveling in the USA.
Reply
Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Its been a pleasure helping you Hank ! We all want you to do well in your Education first. Come back anytime - its been fun sharing your plans ! PS. Say Hi to Mom for us and say "We can work it out" She may just sing it for you !
Reply
Re: Traveling for Local Food
I took a look and it looks like just what I need. I can even use the info to plan our route. I had my mom look at it, too, and she said it reminds her of when she was a kid and my granddad had a book called Duncan Hines that had local places all over. I wonder if that's the same Duncan Hines as the cake mix?
Reply
Re: Renting an apartment in Europe
Hi Dreamer I can only tell you about my experiences... 1) How long? It depends. Apartment rental have been around in Europe for a long time. It used to be mostly for a week from Saturday to Saturday, but mostly anything goes now. 2) Buyer beware - It will be up to you to research the neighbourhood. You can do that many ways. Perhaps the easiest is using google streetmaps 3) There is no one way to check in. Sometimes you meet the owner or manager and they will give you the key. Sometimes...
Reply
Re: Renting an apartment in Europe
John mentioned the Google street maps...really a very good way to check out a neighborhood, since it has more than just the maps! On top of the zoom scale on the map, you'll see a little orange man. Drag him onto a street on the map, and you'll see photos of the street. It takes a couple of moments to get used to maneuvering, but you can go up and down the streeet, turn and face the opposite direction, "walk" around corners, and zoom in and out. You can use the Windows snipping tool or other...
Reply
Re: Renting an apartment in Europe
CICAK, may I suggest you encourage your wife to see the big picture. When you're in a hotel room you are not required to savage the minibar. When you're in an apartment you aren't required to cook. The kitchen just exists quietly should you desire it. What you're there for is to spread out, have privacy with all the comforts of home, possibly be in a more interesting neighborhood & surrounded by people who interest you and who may even be interested in you and any number of other...
Reply
Re: Renting an apartment in Europe
Good tips about Google Maps street view. I guess I should have thought of it, like as a good way to scout out an area. But I guess I still don't know if that is a safe area. How can you see of a place is safe. PortMoresby has a good point. I like having space in a room and being able to spread out. That doesn't mean you have to cook.
Reply
Re: Renting an apartment in Europe
Armed with the street address, online maps and Streeview you can certainly see all you need to know about a neighborhood. If it looks spiffy and interesting it's a safe neighborhood. If, on the map it's in close proximity to something you'd rather not be near then look on. See well dressed residents on the sidewalk and inviting bistros? Good neighborhood. Auto repair shops and shady-looking characters? Maybe not. It's not difficult.
Reply
Re: Renting an apartment in Europe
AirBnb, and the other major rental agencies, have cancellation policies upfront that give you some choice. AirBnb has several levels ...one allows you to cancel almost up to the last minute, others have shorter deadlines. An advantage of using an agency that works this way...pretty much like a hotel booking site...is that the intermediary is holding your deposit and that can save hassles. Obviously, rules about dissatisfaction vary also, but usually if it can't be ironed out, you'll get at...
Reply
Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Hi everyone! I'm back. Just arrived at my parents home for Thanksgiving. Not had a lot of time to work on this trip since I last visited TravelGumbo, but some progress to report. I have a firm ticket reservation for Manchester, returning from Paris, though a few days off the dates we talked about. But 29 days in Europe! Whooppeee!! I have a guidebook from the Library which I'm going to go through this long weekend (one by Fodors). I think this will help. Anyone know of a good pocket size...
Reply
Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Hi guys, hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. It was good to be with my family again. Visiting and catching up with everyone took longer than I'd thought, but did do a little research into the trip and came out with this plan. Basically, with GarryRF's advice, I think I'll focus my time in the north to save money cause my budget is limited. After that I'll finish my vacation in London and Paris. I need to find places to stay but more important now just to frame the trip. The details I...
Reply
Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
You're doing fine Hank ! I presume you're travelling solo ! Lots of Hotel Chains you can stop with. Days Inn. Hilton. Travelodge. Dolby. Just Google any "City " + "Hotels" and you get hundreds to choose from. Your plan looks fine !
Reply
Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Hi Everyone! Hope you had a good Christmas. I spent mine with my parents, which was nice. I've been busy planning this trip that you've helped me with and I think I'm making good progress. Largely starting to arrange places to stay and developing a list of "must see" things for myself. Using the hostels and airB&B I've been able to get decent looking and affordable places for me. I still need to find something for London and Paris, but the rest of the trip is mostly worked out. Might...
Reply
Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Hi Hank. If you enjoy hiking and the weathers fair then you can go up to the Snow line and above. Take the Train up, then continue on foot to the peak. Train from Llandudno Junction on the North Wales coast Plenty of info here: http://www.nationalparks.gov.u...arks/travelsnowdonia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utjPQZVpOiY for the Mountain Railway .
Reply
Re: Renting an apartment in Europe
Originally Posted by Bling: We have considered renting an apartment. We are never quite sure how to handle the deposit. Some owners seem very firm about having a non-refundable deposit upfront. We can understand their need to guarantee bookings but we also know that plans change, flights get cancelled, and, perhaps the place will not be to our liking. Should we only book with owners and agencies that allow the deposit to be paid on arrival ? What is the standard procedure for this ? What is...
Reply
Re: Renting an apartment in Europe
Hi, I've been renting apartments in Europe, mainly Germany, for years, and the only problem I've had was a complete rip-off booked through Ah-Paris. I've rented from probably 3 different people in Berlin and have paid the deposit up front and cash on arrival. Made me nervous at first, but I was never disappointed. Renting apartments is the way to go. Not only do you get much more space, but you can have your coffee in your jammies, the way I like to start my day. Happy travels!
Reply
Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Summer months are best - between May and September. Snowdon is 3,560 feet high. Temperature drops 5.4 F per 1,000 feet of elevation. This winter has been very warm so far. So the snow will clear early if it continues to be warmer than usual. You'll see the current Temps before you go up clearly displayed. The weather can change suddenly so pack for wind, rain, sun and snow ! The Mountain doesn't warm up. It depends on which way the wind blows. From the South = warm From the North =cold...
Reply
Re: Share Your Budget Tablet and Laptop Picks
The Nexus 7 is good ? I have been looking at that as well as the Kindle Fire HD-7. Guess I should go with whichever has the best price that I can find. Thanks !
Reply
Re: Share Your Budget Tablet and Laptop Picks
Yes, you can install Flash on the Nexus, TravelRob. Here's a video showing you how to do it. Believe Apple is the company with a boycott on anything Adobe related.
Reply
Re: Bye Bye Sky-High Rental Car Fees
This is very much great and hope fully nice blog. Every body can easily found her need able information. I am visit first time but I fond many use full article. I will back again when get time.