Pink Poogle Toy Forum

I absolutely love travelling, but sadly my family cannot afford to. Therefore, I decided to open this thread to discuss about great vacation spots. Also feel free to post pictures and whet my appetite.

I love travelling too, but not for too long. I will be going to either Beijing or Taiwan this coming April althought I prefer Japan.

Every non-british citizen should for their own benefit and peace of mind should...


Post a letter in a Royal Mail Postbox.



Take a ride in a double decker bus.



Phone home with a phone box.



Flag down a black cab.




and of course take back an acme thunderer whistle!

. Yep yep.

And don't forget the lovely, unpredictable british weather. In one day you can get sun, snow, rain, hail, thunder, clouds and much much more!

That's why they invented the umbrella. You can stay in the shade, keep off the rain, snow & hail without ever worrying.

Oh wait, everyone should buy a tin of Colman's mustard, too!

You only need to watch "Lord of the Rings" to see one of the most beautiful places and one of the best (IMO) vacation spots in the world. Yes, New Zealand (depending on which island you're on) really does look like that. I personally liked Rotorua (all the thermal parks), the Waitomo Caves (lots of glow worms, rock formations and lighting effects) and the gorgeous forest type landscapes on the way to both these places from Auckland. Beeeeautiful!

I love travelling too but can't currently afford it either

And there is the uncanny way that just the shop you need pops up in front of you just when you need it. Like when I went, everytime I got hungry I'd look up and there'd be a nice little place to get food, or one day it was raining really hard and my socks and shoes were wet, then I look up and there is a Sock Shop (no I'm not kidding) right in front of me.

I've been to Japan and Paris. Out of the two I'm leaning toward saying Japan is my favorite, but that's because I went in 5th grade and it's major nostalgia for me. I love the vending machines there, you can get all kinds of wonderful drinks. And pocky. And occasionally ice cream. And I saw one vending machine with underwear and batteries.

I do think I liked Paris more, though. I went in the fall of sixth grade, so that was...threeish years ago? Me, my parents, and my friend. It was awesome. Baguettes for 67 cents, they were the best EVER, and all the little marketplace things, and the crepe lady who at first didn't like us dumb Americans but at the end ended up liking us because we made an effort to learn how to say 'a little bit of cheese' in French. w00t.

I don't have pictures. *frowns* I should look for some.

Kenosee Lake is probably one of the most peaceful, beautiful, and awesome places in the world.

http://www.pin.ca/knoc/oct2000/main.jpg
Moose Head Inn. This place is "haunted" according to what the locals and owner tells you.

I wish I could find a picture of the Kenosee Inn, but I can't o_o It's a couple miles south of Wawota, which is a little town that has never had a murder EVER. So it's in a pretty good place.

The Islands in Greece.

Specifically Santorini and Rhodes and Crete. Holy moly... what I wouldn't give to go back.
Rhodes was just amazing! The old fortress/castle type thing blew me away, and we went up to the Parthenon in Lindos, Rhodes (by donkey I may add!) and it was so cool! Met a really nice cat there, named him "Charles Mustelano Winston Kitty the Third" (my friend and I used to be excessivly odd), rode Donkeys back down, bought the BEST fresh bread i've ever eaten and then went to a China shop, bought illegal plates (they're lead based paint, tee hee.), and then went back to the main area. It was just... so gorgeous. I want to go back and stay for awhile, paint... it's just amazing there. It was so green, and the people were so nice...

Santorinis just a lot of fun, what with the massive cliff that you can run up, ride up (on donkeys/mules) or take a gondola up. It's a brilliant view. The water there is so gorgeous. Shopping there was great... but it's more touristy... then what i'd like.

And Crete?
You can't go wrong, with the palace of Knossos. It was beautiful, and haunting there. When we went, it was about 6 in the morning and misty... and the cyprus trees were just massive. And in them, as we waited for our tour, were these peacocks, and they kept screaming. It was very eerie. I loved it. The Palace itself is just amazingly beautiful, the artwork, the construction... it really makes you appreciate everything that the Minoans made.

Mmm.

Pompeii was really cool as well. I wanted more time to look around, but wasn't able too. However, tourists need to be super careful if they go to Naples. Naples... can be a scary place (which is unfortunate, because it's right by Pompeii).

Egypts neat. (how could it not be?) but if you're female, you need to travel there with a male. Someone tried to buy me for 80 camels (i'm not joking.) because i've got big hips (grr) and blonde hair. Someone offered 30 for my friend. (ha ha ha ha ha). But despite that, it's a really gorgeous place. We got to take a tour, on camel back (I notice a lot of my trips end up with riding) and these riders zoomed past on full blown desert arabians... in traditional costume. Made me drool. Also made me hate my camel... but thats besides the point.
The pyramids are really cool, though it's kinda sad to see how commercialized they're becoming (they're lit up at night... in a really weird way). And yeah.
*shrugs*

In the US, my favorite vacation spots are NYC and San Fran. I'm also a big fan of the Philmont Scout Ranch, but then, that's really only for invited guests. It's a great time, though, if you're a Boy Scout and like backpacking.

Big fan of Jamaica and Bahamas, too.

Los Angeles. Went there this summer, and everything was GREAT. The beaches are beautiful, or accomodation was great, the people were really nice, and the weather was perfect, especially for a Brit like me

One place you have to go before you die is Puerto Rico. Seriously. And you must spend at least a month there.

Start out in San Juan, and explore the streets in Old San Juan. Go see the Castillo de San Marcos, and walk around through it. See the Mayor's Mansion, and stay at El Convento at least one night. That's an old convent that was converted into a hotel. It's great.

Then drive around to the east coast. See the beaches, although I'm not a real huge fan of them, but they're okay...

Go to El Yunque next. It's the huge rainforest in Puerto Rico. It's just forest, undisturbed. Stay at the Casa Cubuy Lodge (http://www.rainforestsafari.com/cubuy.html). It's at the top of a huge mountain in the middle of the forest, and is the second-to-top building on it. I love it so much. It's this great bed-and-breakfasty place with only a few rooms, so you get to know the guests. It's very open, but they do have enclosed rooms. Make sure that you close your sliding door at night. I've had many experiences fighting off bugs that have crawled their way in. Make sure you go swimming in the waterfalls, but not that long because I discovered there were worms or bugs or something in them (but it's a great experience nonetheless). Also, go exploring on your own (when I say that, I mean with someone else because if you get lost you'll not find it back ). And every 30 minutes or so it will start raining, then stop again, but there's hardly any thunder. Also, make sure you get a CD of the coqui music. The coqui are little frogs that make this croaking noise throughout the night. You start to love it after the second night or so.

Then you can start driving through the mountains. This is an adventure in itself, because the roads are long and windy (windy as in snake-like), and very narrow, so if you see an 18-wheeler... Seriously, we almost got knocked off a mountain once. Make sure you stop at a roadside stand and get tons of fatty empanadas. And eat tons of tostones (fried plaintains - really good) and mofongo (mushed plaintains ).

Drive to La Parguera. This is in the south. They have a Bioluminescent Bay, in which you can take a really fast boat (it's really safe ) that will go out into the middle of the bay. A young man will jump out and swim, and you will see the water glowing with this eerie blue. This is because it's filled with dinoflagellates, which are disturbed when he swims and emit light. But this is only at night. Get back to your hotel soon though, because there are dogs and stuff wandering around (like, seriously; I almost got killed because I was walking and intruded on some dog's territory).

Then go north to Arecibo. There is a huge telescope here. And there is some nature thing I think. I forget where that is...

That's pretty much it for Puerto Rico. Unless someone wants to add something.

Some other recommendations:

-Spain
Don't go to Madrid, unless you want to sit in traffic all day. Go to Asturias. It's beautiful there, if you like the countryside.

-France
Get lost in Paris, and see the Sacre Cour, the Notre Dame, and unless you really want to, don't go up to the top of the Eiffel. Also, stay for a week to see the Louvre. At least a week. Then, go out to the countryside, and try to stay at an old chateau.

You could do a typical New Zealand touristy thing.

-Queenstown -Ski around and stuff.
-Milford Sound - Look at all the prett fjords.
-Kaikoura - Watch some Whales.
-Abel Tasman park - Tramp about in the beautiful scenery (not beautiful if you hate tramping).
-Catch the Ferry to North Island - Traditional lurching experience.
Wellington - Take photographs of parliament and visit crappy Te Papa Museum, use reverse Bungy jump in the middle of the city.
-Kapiti Island - Have your lunch stolen by an authentic native bird.
-Waitomo - Look at the shiny gloworms and rocks and make friends with other foreigners.
-Rotorua - Smell the place, visit bubbling mud, geysers, volcanic land, hot springs. Go on Luge. Visit buried maori village.
-Auckland - Shop, go up sky tower, visit various volcanic places.
-Northland - Go to sunbath. Visit historic spots.
-Waitangi - Meet the CUTE fantails that come up really close to you and are so cute and screw the historical significance.

London r0x0rs. XD