BootsnAll Travel Community

Have you ever spent just a few hours in another county, having simply crossed the border for a few hours to explore, before going back?

Here are a few of mine:
* Vatican City (did this several times)
* Honduras (went to see the Copan Ruins)
* Spain (a picnic)
* Mexico (Stopped in Nuevo Laredo for lunch)
* Burma (crossed in from Mae Sai)
* Macau (not really a country, though)

Believe it or not, a few hours is all I've ever spent in England. I had a 5 or 6-hour layover in London, just enough time for an impromptu John Singer Sargent exhibit at the Tate and a really yummy Indian meal.

I spent about 10 minutes in the Czech Republic while climbing a mountain that borders it and Poland.

When I was in Austria with my parents 11 or 12 years ago, we went to Italy and Slovenia for a day. I don't remember much of the Italian part, but in Slovenia we went to lake Bled and drove though the Julian Alps, so that was quite cool.

Drove through England and Wales to get to Ireland. Also drove thorugh Luxemburg a couple of times on the way to France or Germany, never stopped for more than an hour.

Last june I flew to Helsinki and then got the overnight train to Moscow about 5 hours later. I really enjoyed the short time I had in the city.

Also walked from Poland to the Czech Republic and back in the Karkonosze last summer. And I passed though the Czech Republic on the way to/from Slovakia a couple of times.

I was in Brussels for about 3 hours, and it was the only stop in Belgium for me. Had enough time to see the major parts of the city, eat good food, have a few beers, and top it off with the best tasting thing ever...a fresh-made waffle topped with Belgian chocolate! Drool. I don't know if I could contain myself if these existed in the states.

I had a 30 minute layover in Denmark, but I don't count that as a visit since I had no time to leave the airport.

Copenhagen, Denmark - had a 3 hour train layover, so I loocked my pack in the luggage store and walked about town and watched some breakdancers in a city square

Will be in Macau on monday for a day trip from HK.

Was in Andorra for a day while I was holidaying in Spain. Went to luxembourg for an hour and also monaco for a day. Other than that, full vacations

I tell a lie, was in london on a stop over for about 4 hours on monday

We stopped in Colombia for about an hour during a river trip in Venezuela.

I went to Monaco and played 1 Franc in the slot machines in the casino. Very intimidating place! Also visited the aquarium which was great, but these guys are responsible for allowing an alga to escape that now chokes up the Med if memory serves...

Damascus, Syria where we stayed overnight (the airline paid) and one of my teachers took me along to visit some activist friends -- all of whom carried Kalashnikovs...

Greece where we stopped off the boat to Alexandria for two hours to eat a very oily meal by the harbour. I nicked an orange from a tree by the roadside. It was mouthpuckeringly sour but it was the first orange I ever saw growing on a tree and I was thrilled!

I'm sure there were more, but I forget.

I went to Uruguay only for the day, and the day was so hot that I didnt visit the city, I spent all the day in a hotel with a nice swimming pool and came back to Buenos Aires

The last time I was in England, I went to Calais for the day on the ferry. I was there just long enough to wander around, have lunch, and sit in a cafe for a while

I was in Vienna for a day trip on my way from Budapest to Switzerland. I could have spent much more time, but a full day was still a great experience.

I also spend several one day trips in Brussels. Good chocolate!

Technically, you could... uh... cheat and "visit" a lot of countries by going to some capital city and visiting a lot of embassies. The embassies are technically sovereign territories of the countries they represent!

the first time i went to amsterdam I was 18 and was there for 10 hours. I can remember approximately 10 minutes of it! Good thing i have had lots of opportunities to go back!!

Also went on a day trip to vienna. total waste of time - spent most of the time trying to find food and chilling and managed to not get a feel for the place at all!!

Took a night train from Amsterdam to Paris, spent probably less than 6 hours in Paris (most of which was spent getting lost on the Metro), and then took another night train to Madrid!

I was in Brazil for one day. I came from Argentina and crossed into Paraguay - on the way, I visted the Iguazu Falls...on the Brazilian side. Afterwards I headed back to Argentina and the next day on to Paraguay (actually, again through Brazil...for about 30 minutes).

Adrian

I had a 1 1/2 days in Taipei last year. I'd like to go back, but next time I'd like to miss the wet season.

I spent an afternoon wandering about Vienna once whilst waiting to change trains. Only time I've ever been to Austria.

When I was younger, my mom brother and I drove into Mexico from California (can't remember where we crossed).

It didn't take long for us to end up in a traffic circle in a dodgy part of town and in the course of trying to get out of it we were almost sideswiped several times. My mom isn't exactly a timid woman, but she was shaken enough by the experience that we ended up cruising right back to the border without ever setting foot out of the car.

We did have a very exciting two hour wait to get back into the US though.

I once took the train from Basel to Paris, and spent just one whole day exploring what I could...... One of the best days of my life!