Travel

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I've always been puzzled by the wonder of travel. This is really just notes for my own references of travels I've done or planning to do.

Tools

Travellogs

Adventure inspiration

Exploration

  • wikitravel.org - Lots of recommendations and listings of places to check out
  • maps.google.com - Explore cities using street view
  • 360cities.com - Get to know the places beforehand to save time navigating
  • tripadvisor.com - Reviews and discover places where to go
  • Rough Guides - Alternative to the other travel guide series
  • Lonely Planet - Legendary travel guides, use as indirect reference for exploration
  • Twitter hashtag, e.g. #amsterdam for everything happening in that city

Flight - Wordwide

Use a well known airliner for continental flights and low price domestic airliners for shorter hops around the continent or country.

  • skyscanner.net - Combines independent flights into otherwise not obvious ones
  • lowcostroutes.com - Instantly figure out all the low-cost airlines covering a flight or region, perfect for city hopping, replaces airninja.com [3]
  • rome2rio.com - View the differnet options available, on a clean interface with a map and price points [4]
  • kayak.com - Flight search, map explore feature to discover price differentials, car rental search
  • hipmunk.com - Map-based interface with color-coded bar graphs to find the ideal flight
  • expedia.com - Search for single or return flights, deals
  • orbitz.com - Option for multi-city flight search
  • travelocity.com - Combine multi-city and airline flight, save money

Flight - Norway

Only search for flights on Tuesdays after 15:00, the airlines are then done updating the prices after the weekend rush and competing airfairs

Resources

  • worldnodmads.com - Advice on safety, insurance, questions and answers, other handy tips
  • CDC - Medical advice for most countries including vaccines and medications to bring
  • apotek1.no - Map overview and list of recommended vaccinations for different countries (Norwegian)
  • reisemedisin.no - Tips on food, hygiene, malaria and recommendations of essential kit to bring (Norwegian)
  • whatsdavedoing.com - Excellent advice for backpacking in South-east Asia
  • seatguru.com - Makes it easy to pick the most comfortable seat on a long flight
  • flightstats.com - Watch your flight for changes or stats, or discover other possible airline connections
  • seat61.com - Train and rail resource for any itinerary around the world, great tips on how to find the cheapest deals
  • ihatetaxis.com - Every detail you need when arriving at an airport, from basic information about the airport to the best trains, bus and car rental options
  • airtreks.com - Create your entire itinerary and get a real quote from an actual person
  • tripbase.com - Cool widgets for calculating travel cost per city and weather prediction
  • Travel full-time List of excellent tips on saving money while traveling
  • flightradar24.com - Get a live overview of all flights in a region on a map, find other potential flights
  • Google's people also searched - handy tool to get a quick outline of a place or a spot, also references to other nearby points of interest

Gear/packing

Budgets

Hostel/Hotel

  • hostelbookers.com - Great resource for comparison, special offers, refund option
  • hostelworld.com - Easy to read overview of hostels in a city/country, use in conjunction with TripAdvisor
  • hotline.com - Find last minute the-day-before deals
  • tripadvisor.com - Great independent visitor reviews
  • finn.no - Norwegian search portal
  • expedia.com - Easy to spot deals
  • The website of hostel or hotel of interest

Apartments/bed

Apps

Handy apps to get around, explore a location and keep in touch.

  • TripAdvisor City Guides - Get offline version of major cities
  • Tripso - Retrieve collection of travel information from Wikipedia, Wikitravel, World66 and other sources
  • Hipmunk - Find the trip with the least hassel
  • Google Maps - Extremely handy, in situations with wifi access (expensive over cell network)
  • Photosynth - Create panoramas in a fling
  • yr.no - Graphical weather details for any location
  • DropBox - Access your travel notes and key information quickly
  • Skype - Free calls over the Internet to other Skype users

Other

Travels

Preferences

  • Classic Apartment - Great studio apartments with balcony in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Berlin
  • Metropolitan Hotel - Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Berlin

Routine:

  1. Check Hotwire for deals
  2. Check Booking.com for deals

Next travels

General recommendations:

Specific recommendations:

  • Things to remember for next London trip Ask Slashdot [7] [8]:
    • DJ shops - Phoncia, BM Soho, Rough Trade
    • Bletchley Park - Enigma codebreaking and early computing
    • Science Museum
    • British Museum
    • Hummus Bros [9]
    • Just Falafels [10]
    • Adadgio Teas Regent Street
    • Mildreds Vegetarian Restaurant, Soho [11]
    • Spuntino, Soho - Eat around a big bar [12]
    • Cycle around Camden, Hampstead Heath, West End, Oxford street
    • Caffe Vergnano 1882 - Best hot chocolate [13]
    • Brick Lane Beigel Bake - great pastry [14]
    • Honest Burgers [15]
    • Byron Burger [16]
    • Monmouth Coffee [17]
  • United States trip:
    • Use roadtrippers.com to plan
    • Route 66 - Original highway from Chicago to Los Angeles
    • Oceanspray Cranberry Trail Mix - Delicious chocolate covered berries [18]
    • Mario's Pizza, Greenville, IL - Twit
    • Post Corner Pizza, Darien, CT - Tom Merrit
  • California trip:
    • Pacific Coast Highway [19]
    • Redwood National Park - Scene location of the Return of the Jedi
  • San Francisco trip:
    • The Long Now museum - mechanical computing
    • Apex Electronics, Sun Valley - Surplus electronics store
    • TechShop - tinkerer's perfect playground
    • Amoeba Music - Large independent music store
    • Highway 1 - road close to the coast, lots of cliffs, best south of Carmel [20]
    • Pick-a-peck - marinated carrots, asparagus, and green beans [21]
    • Computer History Museum, Mountain View - not your regular type museum [22]
  • Norway things:
    • Svolvær wedged stone [23]
    • Hellersvann, biketrail on smooth rock face [24]
  • New York trip:
    • Gray's Papaya - Hot Dog specialists
    • Saint's Alp bubble tea [25]
  • Las Vegas trip:
    • Stay at Vdara - non-gaming, non-smoking [26]
  • Wisconsin trip:
    • House on the Rock [27]
  • Trip to Japan (English friendly japan):
    • Experience Golden Week - A FULL week of vacation for Japanese people [28]
    • Matcha Kit Kat chocolate
  • Trip to Tokyo:
    • Find a good apartment near a metro line
    • Akihabara, lots, lots of electronics shops videos of some of them
    • Tokyo tower
    • Shinkansen express train
    • Kyoto
    • Osaka
    • Green tea icecream
    • Eat on other than first floor, quieter, better food [29]
    • Midori Sushi, apparently best sushi restaurant ever, queue [30]
      • Shinjuku
    • Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium
    • Komeda Coffe - Lots of small dishes, nice atmosphere
    • Nekobukuro - Pet cats for a fee
    • Nagashima Spaland - Amazing park with lightshow at night
  • South America trip:
    • Rio De Janeiro
  • Trip to Chile:
    • Atacama Desert - Explore the Very Large Telescope (VLT)
    • Las Barrancas, Coquimbo Region - Desert by the ocean [31]
    • The Three Towers, Torres Del Paine National Park[32]
  • Trip to France:
    • The Great Dune of Pyla - Gigantic sand dune at the coast stretching 3 km [33]
    • Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix - Mountain in the Mont Blanc massif, cable car from 1035 m to 3842 m [34]
  • Trip to Spain:
    • Caminito del Rey - Old walkway used for maintenance of a hydroelectric power plant, epic heights and deterioration [35]
    • Basílica De Montserrat, Barcelona - nestling in the towers and crags of the mountain
    • Mercat de la Boquería - Large public market in Barcelone
    • El Teide, Spain's highest mountain [36]
  • Trip to China:
    • Beijing:
      • (Tourist traps) Forbidden palace and Tiananmen square, the temple of Heaven and the beautiful Beihai park, the Great Wall at Badaling [37]
      • Old Hutongs of Beijing - back lanes of the city
      • Made in China a.k.a. Grand Hyatt - Perfect Pekin' duck, reservation recommended [38]
      • Shanghai’s Wet Market on Lianhua Lu in the Minhang District [39] - Guide service [40]
    • Shenzhen:
      • Hau Qiang Bei, electronics marked [41]
    • The Bridge of Immortals, Huangshan, China [42]
  • Trip to Canada:
    • Biosphère in Quebec - unique and spectacular structure [43]
    • Vancouver - Lovely city
    • Poutine - French fries and cheese curds [44]
  • Trip to Switzerland:
    • Zermatt, hike up to Hörnli Hut, 3260 m, try the Goulash [45]
    • Karwendel, lovely valley on the border of Swiss and Germany [46]
  • Next trip to Amsterdam:
    • Cycle around the old town and the outer sticks
    • Mercan Patisserie - try lahmacun (Turkish pizza) [47]
  • Trip to Croatia:
    • Zadar - City on the Adriatic coast [48]
    • Plitvice Lakes National Park - Beautiful forrest and lakes [49]
  • Trip to Latvia:
    • Riga - Check out LIDO, marked, old town
  • Trip to Kuala Lumpur:
  • Utah trip:
  • Colorado trip:
    • Uncompahgre Peak [52]
  • Trip to Austin:
    • Schlotzsky's - Dark whole wheat sandwiches
  • Trip to Bulgaria:
    • Buzludzha, abandoned momument on top of mountain range [53] [54]
  • Trip to Sabah:
    • Borneo Treeforest Lodge - Walkway hung between canopys, 300m long [55] [56]
  • Trip to Singapore:
    • SkyPark, Marina Bay Sands - Pool and observation deck on top of a casino
    • Sim Lim Square Electronics Market, 1 Rochor Canal Rd - Singapore's Akihabara [57] [58] Google map Maker Fair data layer
    • Hotel 81 Bugis - great hotel [59]
    • Tasty dishes on sheet stalls and markets [60]
  • Trip to Australia:
    • Uluru - large sandstone rock formation in the middle of the country
  • Trip to Sidney:
    • EEVblog Dave [61]
    • Bondi Beach - iconic breach, ferry trip to Watsons Bay and a bus to Bondi [62]
    • Walking from Tamarama Beach to Coogee Bay [63] [64]
    • Fish&chips at Watsons Bay [65]
    • Woolloomooloo - For the sake of it, what a name! [66]
  • Trip to Azores:
    • Nine volcanic islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean - Excellent for hiking and running
  • Trip to Fiji:
    • Yasawa Islands - series of small islands, excellent for island-hopping
    • Paulsami - baked taro leaves marinated in lemon juice and coconut milk with some meat or fish filling, bit of onion or garlic [67]
    • Kokoda - fish or other seafood marinated in lemon and coconut milk [68]
    • Anything cooked in a lovo or pit oven
    • Kava - famous peppery, earthy tasting drink made from the root of the pepper plant, mildly intoxicating [69]
    • See a local rugby match
    • Take the local bus to get around the largest Viti Levu island - cheap, safe [70]
    • Stay at Bamboo hostel in Nadi - spacious, clean, free wifi [71] [72]
  • Trip to Los Angeles:
    • Amoeba Music - Independent record shop, vinyl! [73]
    • In 'n Out Burger - Some higher grade hamburgers and milkshakes [74]
    • Trader Joe's - Many organic products with no preservatives [75]
    • Hollywood Wax Museum - Longest running wax museum in the US [76]
    • Griffith Observatory - Extensive array of space and science-related displays, great views over Hollywood and LA [77] [78]
    • Walk of Fame - Homage to thousands of famous movie, radio, theatre, and TV personalities [79]
    • Mulholland Drive - Breathtaking views across Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley [80]
    • Pink's Hot Dogs - Servin' the most famous hot dogs in Los Angeles since 1939, try their chili dog [81]
    • Pinkberry - Frozen yogurt chain, choose from vanilla or green tea yoghurt [82]
    • Buca di Peppos - Italian restaurant [83]
    • Tacos Manzano - 1 dollar tacos [84]
    • Republic of Pie - Cafe spot [85]
  • Trip to Italia:
    • Cinque Terre - Amazing place along the Italian rivera [86]
  • Trip to Bolivia:
    • Salt flats in Uyuni - World's largest surface made of salt [87]
  • Trip to Vietnam:
    • Ha Long Bay - Huge mountainous pillars [88]
    • Hang Son Doong - 4 km long underground cavern [89]
  • Trip to Berlin:
    • Volkspark Friedrichshain - Berlin’s oldest public park, founded in 1840 [90]
    • Meta Mate Bar [91]
  • Trip to Caribbean/Netherlands outpost:
    • Saint Maarten Airport beach [92]
  • Trip to Hong Kong:
    • Hot Toys
    • Apliu Street Flea Electronics Market [93] [94]
  • New Zealand trip:
    • Hot water beach
    • Mares Leg Cove - tunnel - Cathedral Cove [95]