Best vacation? I'm in the midst of mine...

The only time I felt scared when I was over there was the gypsies in Portugal and some smaller places in Spain. They would send kids directly at you and throw sand in your face and when your hands went up, they would try to steal your bags... It was pretty insane... Luckily, my mom had given me this bag that you could strap to your chest to keep your money (travelers checks) and passport in. When the gypsies hit me, they only got a bag where I had some food and souvenirs in. There was one person in our group who lost everything and it took him a few days to have stuff reissued...

We didn't feel like targets for the same reason you said, I'm 6-3 and was probably 240 at the time and there were guys in our group who were bigger than me, but the gypsy kids weren't intimidated by anyone...

The people I know who have been recently, were told to avoid most of the Eastern European countries. Apparently Prague is still OK, but the further south you go, the more dangerous it gets... I always think of the movie Hostel when I think of those countries...

 

I mentioned Hostel when I first wrote my post (Taken, too) and deleted it because I didn't want to lead your response. While that's a worst-case scenario, it's interesting that that's where both our minds went.

Some of our sketchier experiences were in Eastern Europe. We went to what we thought was a titty bar in Budapest that wound up being a pretty transparent whorehouse. We made the stupid move of talking to one of the hawkers on the streets and going to the bar. We got out of there pretty quickly and nothing bad happened. We also spent a night out in a small town in Romania where the four of us were the only ones (out of a dozen or so from the hostel) that didn't go home with prostitutes.

I never felt unsafe over there (except for the aforementioned Budapest brothel) but I was 22 years old and naive. (I'm also the high end of the height/weight range I mentioned, so I rarely feel unsafe.)

 

I had a cruise where we went island hopping in Greece. That was a blast. And I spent about 5 days in Barcelona once that is a close second. That city is incredible, and beautiful.

 

I swear to god, I am having a hard time choosing between Boise and Biarritz.

 

What about our trip to Cumberland?

 

Crazy shit can happen anywhere. I had a roommate in college who went to a topless bar in England and they charged him something like $1800 and told him if he didn't put it on his credit card they wouldn't let him leave. He ended up signing it, he fought it and lost. Apparently, that was a popular scam with college-aged kids.

The first time I went Eurailing, it was the first night or so we were there and we were on a train from Brussells to Munich and we met another college student who told us how earlier in his trip he was seduced by some hot girl on one of the sleeping cars only to wake up to find her and all of his stuff gone... Apparently, that was a very popular trend... That scared the shit out of us and kept us on our toes...

We had people in our group who spoke German, French and Spanish and that helped tremendously. There was one incident in Paris where a tour guide was trying to rip us off, and was talking about doing it in French right in front of us. One of the guys in our group understood him and just urged us to get the hell out of there...

 

Hostel should be required viewing for anyone planning on hitting the Eastern European Countries.. There are so many college kids who go there just looking for that kind of thing and they're such easy targets for scams and criminals...

 

I took a cruise out of Miami with two high school buddies about 18 months ago. Every aspect of it was a great experience.

With about two weeks to go before we left I bumped my flights up a few days in order to catch the second-to-last shuttle launch. On a whim, I applied for NASA credentials and somehow was granted them. So I rented a big ass camera lens from Orlando. Landed in Fort. Lauderdale the night before, drove up the coast that night, to Orlando in the morning to pick up my lens. Got about 10 miles down the highway to the Cape when I saw a sign over the road announcing the launch had been scrubbed.

I was devastated, but suddenly had 36 hours to kill in a state I'd only visited once before. I spent the night just south of Miami, then drove to Key West in the morning. Made about one loop of the island, stopped to quickly tour a fort, paid to tour a Coast Guard ship because I felt bad for the guy keeping an eye on it, and drove back. It was super fast, but I stopped for great food on the way down and way back and loved every second of it. I haven't done many vacations in my life where I have literally no plans.

Picked up my friends at the airport, hit South Beach that night and got on the cruise ship. Every stop there was amazing, too. We picked just the right activity every time. We went Scuba diving for the first time in Grand Cayman, just incredible. We did ziplining in Honduras, went to Mayan ruins and at some amazing chicken with rice and beans in Belize and, by following a Mexican guy trying to sell us some crap down a dark alley, stumbled across an incredible bar to waste away at in Cozumel.

And, I met my girlfriend, who a month ago moved from Philadelphia across the country for me.

 

My best real vacation was to New Zealand in December, 1999, then flying to Australia on Dec. 31 for a New Year's Eve party at a house overlooking Sydney Harbor.

The South Island of New Zealand is absolutely amazing if you like outdoors sorts of things - mountains, glaciers, rainforest all within a few hours drive.

 

Awesome to see the Cook Islands mentioned here. I stayed for 3 weeks after my year in Australia and it was fantastic, no building higher than a Palm Tree is allowed to be built, beautiful people and super hospitable people. I went into the bank and all of the staff were wearing cargo shorts and loose shirts as a uniform, nobody was wearing shoes.

I can't say enough good things about that place.

 

Oktoberfest, Munich, 1980.
Me and four others flew Freddy Laker to London. Couple days there, then the ferry across to Holland. Few days in Amsterdam, Eurail to Germany, few days there. Continued the loop into Switzerland, then France then back to London.
17-day beer-trip. Every day had some culture included (museums, landmarks, Dachau, ugh.). Every night had beer, beer and more beer.
One recollection was the journey from London to Holland. Had a 6 a.m. train to the coast, beer for breakfast. The ferry across to Holland was about 6 hours, beer for lunch. Then the train into Amsterdam. Beer for dinner. Got there and found rooms and it was about 9 p.m. "So whatta ya wanna do? Long day, get some sleep?" "WE DIDN'T COME HERE TO SLEEP." So we hit the party area, closed a couple of bars and finally made it back to the room at 4 a.m. The next morning I was expecting to have to be scrapped off the floor. No hangover!!! The beer was so good and so pure it didn't screw you up. What a great day.
Leaving Amsterdam, we Eurailed to Koblenz, Germany, to start a Reine cruise. That night we met a guy in a bar who was a university professor and he suggested renting a car and doing our own Reine tour instead of the cruise. He gave us a list of the best castles to see and wineries to visit. It was a great idea. Spent the day going a couple hundred miles to Mainz.
The next day was Munich and Oktoberfest.
The best way to describe the festivities in Munich is Disneyland with beer. The central area is a big carnival with rides and amusement games. And then there are huge beer halls, the size of a decent high school gym. All with beer and rotisserie chicken.
Whole trip was great.

 

Just got back from mine. All you people who have been to the Caribbean need to check out Bermuda. Pink sand beaches, crystal blue water and no one hassling you for money. Less than two hours from New York, Biston or Philly. Wife and I had such a great time, we are already planning the next trip.