BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi I'm Stella from Texas. I've travelled throughout the US. Many trips around the US on a school bus converted into a tour bus with my ex's band. So I've been able to combine my two greatest loves, music and travel.

This summer I'm going on my long awaited trip to Europe. I waited and waited for the opportunity to go and decided just to make it on my own. So I'm plenty excited and thanksful to find such a great board to get top advice.

Stella

Welcome to page number 40 of the BootsnAll thread and congratulations on navigating this far.
Dave, 26,- (western PA) After College graduation I stumbled into a job as an applications engineer despite having really no interest in the position. Almost 3 mindnumbing years later it's obvious that a dose of travel is exactly what I need to wake me up from this prolonged slumber.

It might not be adventurous as some, but a 6 week largely unplanned European backpacking trip will certainly be a major challenge and the thrill of a lifetime for me thus far. I've been to Germany once before, but I'll be flying solo this time. Besides the attraction of Amsterdam, Prague, and the running of the bulls in Pamplona the big pull for me will be the World Cup in Germany following the US through (Gelsekirchen, Kaiserlautern and Nurnberg). The atmosphere will be intense and the action will be fiercely competitive and I'll be right in the middle. Haven't booked any hostels or anything in Germany yet which could either be a major mistake or just a minor hurdle (I'll probably be sleeping on a park bench).

Anyone have any spare tickets by the way?
Actually I hear it's impossible to scalp tickets b/c each ticket has a chip with information about the ticket purchaser.

Anyways I'll be leaving June 6th so I'll be spending a decent amount of quality time on this site w/ all the questions I currently have running through my head. It feels pretty sweet being apart of such an eclectic group (BootsnALL that is)

Hey everyone, my name's Williesha, I'm 27 years old and I was born and raised in South Carolina. I can't believe it, but I'm STILL living at home. (I had a brief stint away from home after college.) I'm currently working as a features editorial assistant (or an intern with benefits) at The State newspaper.

I've had a chance to do a lot of domestic and international travel through my old church, so I've seen Washington, DC, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Belgium, France, England and Denmark through them. I've also been to the "usual" places - San Fran, LA, NYC, Florida, Bahamas, St. Thomas, San Juan, GA, NC and VA.

I studied for three months in Australia with Boston University while I was a junior at the U. of South Carolina. (Yes, yes, the "REAL" USC.) We stayed the summer before the Olympics so I did a brief internship with Olympics.com. I studied Australian film, history and literature with about 20 other folks. While I was there, I got to travel to Melbourne, Adelaide and parts of Victoria. I'm one of those rare folks who understands that Canberra is pronounced CAN-burra and Cairns is pronounced like Cannes. hahaha

I'm still convinced that South Carolina has some of the best beaches on the planet, even though I've been to a couple in Oz.

Yar! I be SloDave, anyone up for the rape, pillage,and burn scene ? join up now or forever be conquered!

my name is dave. born and raised in nowheresville, BC, canada.been interested in travel since before my horns sprouted . traveled a bit;nowhere exciting, just family roadtrips and gatherings. out to take the world with the tip of my broadsword

my lineage is mostly norse(norvegian and scot) with a bit of euro-mutt in there as well so u can understand the horns and broadsword mentality

in reality im a pretty laid back, easy-going guy with whatever will be will be attitude. 24 ys old, started cookin for a living straight out of highschool cause it gave me the chance to play with fire(can u say pyro ). love the outdoors, Dh mtnbiking, snowboarding, you know the type(part-time ADRENALINE JUNKIE)

quote:

Those who know where they are going in life may never get the chance to go anywhere else

quote:

death comes quicker to those who accept it as an ineviability

Hi all, I'm Douglas Yu and I live in Plattsburgh, New York. That's way Upstate, almost at the Quebec/Canada border. Just across Lake Champlain is the state of Vermont.

My backyard is the great Adirondack Mountains of New York. Also, I happen to work for the Adirondack Regional Tourism Council where I am the Marketing and Information Specialist. We are the official destination promotion agency for the Adirondack vacation region. My second hat is supervisor of an I Love NY Gateway Information Center. So, you could say that I have some knowledge of the area.

My family and I are avid travelers and outdoors enthusiasts. I prefer the bike, the wife prefers the kayak, the kids just go along. Our 'local' explorations include the Adirondacks, Lake Champlain Valley, Montreal and environs, Quebec, and Vermont. Our families live on the West Coast and Spain so we bounce back and forth regularly.

I blog about local tourism issues and life in general at the Adirondack Base Camp.

Hi. We're the Two Crabs (me and my wife). We live in London but I'm originally from Washington, D.C. and she's from Baltimore. We're on a one-year work assignment in the UK which hopefully will soon become permanent.

We're a "child-free" couple and probably a lot older than most of the members on this board (34 and 40) but that hasn't curtailed our passion for traveling. We've been all over Europe, North America and Mexico. For work, I've been all over the Middle East area including Iraq and Afghanistan, etc. Our next trip is to Spain Morocco this weekend.

My dream trip after that would be traveling from London to Tokyo: over land! I'd also like to do a round-the-world trip hitting Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia and South America.

You can check out our blog at www.twocrabs.com

Cheers!

kia ora. my name is Margot. i am in south korea teaching english at present and am heading to spain to start the whole europe thing. i am horrifed to see that when i go to look at hostels for La Tomatina they are all booked out in Valencia. can anyone give any advice of where maybe one can stay, or maybe, are there backpackers that are not listed? am a wee stressed now!!!! also has anyone been to this festival and has any do's and don't or good advice?

anyway nice to meet you all and i hope to start some chats soon, cheers, Margot

Hi everyone, my names Tyler, and I'm from Seattle, WA.

I've travelled a couple of times abroad (Thailand, Prague, France, Barcelona, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Jamaica), but only for a couple weeks each trip (its been 4 trip total).

I got married last August, and my wife and I have decided when want to go for one last big trip before we settle down, buy a place and start reproducing. So, to that end, we are both planning on quitting our jobs next Feburuary and then travelling around the world for 6 to 7 months.

Right now, I'm only in the early stages of planning, but have already found this place to be a valuable resource. Now, I figured it was time to take the next step and actually join the board community to ask questions, and provide some answers (if I can).

Look forward to getting to know you all more!
-Ty

Hey all!I'm Kate from Dalian,a harbour in the Northeast of China.
I've just finished my master degree in Sydney and have traveled around Australia.The On-the-Road stories are much more beautiful than the certificate
The best thing is through travel I've gotten to know more about myself,a much more independent version of me.
Life is a box full of changes and I'm 100% open to it.

Hello, I've been a Bootsnall Forum troll for a few months now, just haven't yet posted...

My name is Brian, I'm 23 and born and raised in Kings Park, New York. I have to admit I am a little overwhelmed with all the information, valuable information, I have read on these forums.

I've graduated college and am about to enter the working world but before I begin work, I'd like to take my first solo trip, probably for about a month. I've saved close to $3500 for travel purposes, including airfare. The problem I am having now is where to go?

I only speak English, and I have been to England, Ireland,and Italy and being the young buck that I am I would like to do something a bit more adventurous. Any suggestions?

Thanks to everyone for their continued knowledge of travelling, I hope to someday travel like the rest of you!

Hi, I'm Erinna from Wollongong which is about an hour's drive south of Sydney, Australia.

I'm currently planning my second trip to Europe - although for the first time ever I'll be travelling solo. I have succesfully dragged my husband along on all previous trips (Europe, Canada & Malaysia as well as several around Australia) but this year he decided he wanted to spend some quality time at home during his holidays. I couldn't face not going anywhere this year hence my solo mission! Am (somewhat apprehensively) heading off for 6 weeks on the 19 August flying into Amsterdam and out of Prague.

I am looking forward to being in Europe when it isn't cold! My husband is a school teacher which means any trips longer than 2 weeks have to be taken in our summer (Dec/Jan) which makes for some very cold travelling! On the upside it also makes for some excellent European and North American skiing I absolutely LOVE the beach though so will be great to finally get to swim in Europe!

I graduated from uni about 3 years ago and am now stuck in the workforce I make it through the daily grind by looking forward to and planning my trips. I've been getting lots of assistance from this site so thanks to all!

Long time reader ... first time posting

So after finally deciding to actually fulfill my dream of hiking/backpacking/traveling Europe in the next few years, I finally decided to take the plunge and become a member.

Currently I am a stressed out engineering student at Purdue University (Indiana) trying to figure out what to do after undergrad. Hopefully I'll get to use my minor in German as a way of working internationally.

Wanderlust started early for me, as a child my family went on lots of little road trips and car camping. In fact we never flew anywhere till just the past 4 years. And it's always seemed like my two goals in life were to backpack Europe and do a cross country road trip.

Then in eigth grade I got the chance to go overseas to Australia as a student ambassador for 3 weeks, thus taking my first real flight and time away from home. Technically I've been to the Carribean, but I wouldn't call a spring break family cruise a huge travel itinerary. The most recent international experience I've had was living in Freiburg, Germany for 6 weeks. Now my heart aches to get back to the nice little town, where I can smoke cubans on Schlossburg, actually sit in outside cafe's, and eat the amazing schnitzel there. If you couldn't tell, I realy love Freiburg, if you've been there (or are going to be) let me know so I live vicariously through you.

Hopefully, being a professional engineer won't kill my chances of seeing more parts of the world or to explore the little parts of the US.

It's Grannygold: granny because I'm 60 and a half years old, gold because I'm a Buddhist nun without community, now making a living as a college professor. As soon as I can start collecting social security, and when the last of my four children (ages 40 to 19)is in her own apartment, I will be stepping into freedom, and my first destination is Portugal for, who knows? a year? six? I'll have to live on $919 a month for the rest of my life, but this is not as daunting as it sounds. I was born in Appalachia, I've never had any money or property, and I've spent three years in Hawai'i, six years in southern Africa (Lesotho; South Africa; Namibia, where I got heat stroke in the dunes; Botswana; and Swaziland), a year (back in the 70s) in France, Switzerland, and Ireland; about fifteen trips to Mexico (let me tell you about Palenque, my favorite!); and maybe six trips to the UK, which I dearly love, and where I did research for my Ph.D. in theatre history. I'm tuning in to this forum in hopes of finding someone who has recently been to Portugal and has some tips on traveling light and cheaply, and in hopes some of my experiences can be helpful to my fellow-wanderers on the many paths spiralling around the one mountain. Here we go!

Hi, am Pradeep an east Indian native now living in the portland Metro, Oregon. I've been on the road ever since I came to the US a couple of years back. Have accumulated nearly 250,000 miles thanks to my job . Visited places as exotic as Alaska and most recently El Salvador and Bahamas. Joined this forum mainly to network with travellers and share my travel stories. Am not a luxury traveller even while on business, I deny the free upgrades and fly coach. For vacationing I prefer either backpacking or staying in motels, keeping it simple and spending most of the time outdoors. I do maintain a Travel Blog which I started a few months back. I'll do my best to keep the blog updated inspite of my hectic work schedule. Am a photography enthusiast, mostly interested in nature and wildlife photography. So thats about me. Thanks for reading and letting myself get introduced.

Hi, my name's tiffany, im from ireland. im 24 and heading off to asia in less than a month. finished college and spent a year saving so not really sure what the plan is, just flying out to singapore and taking it from there. bootsnall has been a brilliant help, joined months ago but for what ever reason, only got around to posting today. anyway, thats all for now

Thorn Tree Refugee
Posted 12 April 2006 15:27
Hi there my name is Sol Pearson from Johannesburg, South Africa im 36 years old. I travelled Europe the Middle East and Africa(Southern and Northern) from 1993-1996. Yeah its been a while but this is the reason. During that period I had no qualifications and had to to all the SH*T work,I had to work longer and harder to earn enough to get my next travel fix. I vowed that the next time I went travelling I would be more than adequatly trained and have enough money to travel for the rest of my life. Its taken a while but here is my list of qualifications:
1)PADI master scuba diver trainer(MSDT)
2)European Golf Teacher fedration Teaching Professional
3)Photographer
4)Aircon & Refidgeration Technician (working on yachts)
5)Commercial Skipper Power Boats
6)Real Estate Agent (it was a good way to make big money)

In this time I started a dive centre called BLUMOON DIVERS AND KYALAMI BACKPACKERS both in Johannesburg I have sold those now but it was the only way of keeping my travel thirst quenched and that was with dealing with backpackers instead of being one myself.

I managed to save a couple hundred thousand US dollars to supplement my travels and maybe aliitle for when I am very, very old.So the traveling for the rest of my lif happens in 5 months to the day my ticket is booked to London 15 Sept 2006.

Hope to meet all you interesting like minded folks in the Global village. I am six foot tall and six feet wide(well okay 3 feet)you will know me when you meet me.

NAMASTE

BIG SOL

Let me be FREE !!!!!!!!

My name is Geoff Kessler. I live in Portland, Oregon, but have spent a few wonderful years down in San Diego. My travels include 3 years in Geneva, Switzerland, which I don't remember because I was a baby. When I was in high school I spent a couple months in Australia playing basketball with a team from here in the Portland area. My recent travel experience was 3 months in SE Asia by myself. It started off like so many other people I met. My job in San Diego sucked, and I was in a cubicle staring at a computer screen all day every day. I told them to fuck off, packed up my shit and bounced to Bangkok with no plans and not much money. I fell in love with it over there, and I plan on going back.

I am currently planning an adventure to Panama, Costa, and Nicaragua for next Winter/Fall. Anyone's totally welcome to roll.

Hello everyone... My name is Troy Mason, born and raised in Whyalla, south australia, moved to Tasmania and lived there for about 8 years until i separtated from my wife and moved back to Adelaide where i live at the moment.
I work in retail but am sick of the whingy general public and am planning a 12-18 month escape around the northern hemisphere... I'll be starting in Toronto about new years 07 and meet up with my brother who is going to be on exchange over there with Uni. from there i am open to suggestions!
At this point i think i'll get my UK dual citizenship and work over there for a while. I'm planning on doing a bar course (yeah, i know, all of the bartenders in the UK are from Australia...) and maybe some sort of course in massage as well.
Then i might wait for a cheap flight back to the us and do one of the contiki style tours across the country in the spring/summer. then back to europe and work my way around... i have to visit switzerland as i apparantly have some relatives there... but other than that its pretty open to which way the wind blows...

so... anyway, am looking forward to getting some hints and tips from the rest of you and getting to know some people with similar interests/experience...


Troy

"I don't need a compass to tell me which way the wind shines" - Mr Furious (Mystery Men)

Hi,

My name's Hari - I live in Bangalore, India. Got the travelling bug after being downsized (ahem) from work a couple of years ago. Have studied and worked in the US, travelled to Germany, Canada, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea and Japan on business trips. More recently have been to Sri Lanka, Kenya and Thailand.

Now am on the lookout for scenic places to go paragliding - recently returned from Vagamon - a new mountain site in God's Own Country (TM), formerly known as Kerala in south India - check out paraglidingkerala.com ...

Hoping to visit Lake Maninjau in West Sumatra for a pg fly-in next month.

Cheers
Hari

Good evening fellow travellers

My name is Adrian, and i live in the best part of soth west England, Devon (hence the name Devonian).

I am a coach driver, and go all over Europe, although mainly based in UK last years travels took me to Barcelona 3 times, Switzerland twice, French Alps twice, Austria, Ardeche (France) and Costa Brava (Spain) twice. Although i get a lot of time off at these places it is still work. Some of the places i would not dream of taking a holiday, and some like Lake Geveva (Switzerland) i definitely would.

I am in the early stages of planning a "REAL" trip next year. Going from London to Hong Kong by train. This will be via Cologne (Germany), Moscow and Beijing. The reason for this trip, we (my wife and me) have not had a holiday for many years, kids and money being the two main reasons, so with the opportunity for a bit of freedom approaching (kids left home, just about free of debt), we decided to do something different. Not into the package holiday scene.

I have vound this site to be very useful and informative. It has information on places as it should be, not as holiday brochures want you to see them.

If anyone uses the Natex network in the UK you may bump into me one day, i do mainly Devon-London and London-Manchester area when not doing continentals (mainland Europe)

Wherever in the world you are, enjoy your travels

Devonian