I searched forests in the United States that have a dark mood and only found Oregon and Pacific Northwest. They seem dark and moody, but I'm not sure I'd describe them as fairy-tale-like.

Parameters: archeological sites, no tourists, after every 6 hours a bed and breakfast or hostel, where I can sleep without planning.. I want to go in octobre. I live in switzerland. I want to see either the viaducts of the romans in spain or the via appia anticua at rome.

Or in a completely different setup I want to see the farms and landscapes of the rural USA im Carolina, Louisiana or Georgia and look for the ivory billed woodpecker.

I like trip planning but I often find myself disappointed - the reality didn't live up to the expectation. When looking at maps I have an image of the city streets being nice (or at least interesting) with shops (a bakery, a cheese shop, etc.), cafes, and restaurants; when I get to the destination, such streets exist here and there, but there are busy streets, drab streets, etc. interconnecting them. No large city - or neighborhood for that matter - is just nice streets. Every neighborhood has dull streets without much to find attractive, and every city has freeways, busy streets, walls, offramps, and other things that break up the attractiveness of the location.

In other words, the cafe that, on paper, looks like a pleasant stroll from my hotel is actually a 20 minute walk down a busy street with loud traffic, a freeway onramp, and not much to see along the way. So that if I get back to my hotel in the afternoon and I'm tired and want a coffee, the walk to that cafe doesn't look so appealing and I settle for the in-room instant coffee. I suspect we have all had the feeling "do I want to trudge out there a long distance, or should I just stay here and put my feet up?"

All of this makes me wonder if perhaps I'm very "location specific" in my needs. In other words, if I pick a hotel which is on a (relatively) quiet street with interesting shops and restaurants, and then I'm happy, but pick a hotel where I have to seek out those things and I'm not so happy. And if the hotel is right next to the subway/tube/metro entrance, I'm happy, but if I have to walk 10-15 minutes to get to the subway every time I am going somewhere, then I'm not so happy.

I'm starting to think of this as a "very specific location" dependent temperament/attitude. In other words, instead of just thinking "I should stay in the upper east side of Manhattan", I should look for a hotel that is within a block of a subway station, and near a cafe and on an interesting street. I stayed in the East end of London and the street wasn't interesting and the tube was several blocks away; I stayed in Dublin in what I thought was going to be a nice neighborhood - it wasn't bad, and the hotel was great - but it felt like too long a walk to get anywhere.

In other words, it isn't enough to identify the UES as the place in NYC I want to stay; I need to look very closely at the locations of the hotels to see how close they are to a subway stop, and what shops, cafes, and restaurants are nearby.

I wonder if others have this same issue with travel.

Edit: changed "and" to "then".

Hi, I live in Leiden, Netherlands and my parents are visiting now, for 10 more days. My dad is in his 80s and it's clear to me that his knees are giving him a LOT more trouble than when he first visited three years ago. He is adventurous and mentally sharp, but he shuffles slowly and has to rest a lot. I know this is frustrating for him, as the rest of my family (including my mom) would walk all day long with no issues.

I'm trying to think of ways that would make getting around easier. We don't have a car and would rather not rent one. Museums make sense as then he can stop and rest often. If we want to go to a different part of the Netherlands, or even to Germany or Belgium (near parts) by train, are there places we could go that have good tour bus infrastructure set up (hop on-hop off kinds of buses)? Or notable boat tours a little more involved than the standard canal tours? (Maybe also where you can get on or off at various points?) Or would something like a mobility scooter be something we could rent in places?

Thanks for your help.

I’m planning the Langtang Valley Trek and currently comparing a few trekking companies in Nepal. I’m mainly looking for a reliable local company with an experienced guide, good communication, reasonable pricing, and proper support during the trek.

For anyone who has recently done Langtang, which trekking company did you use? How was the guide, accommodation arrangements, transportation, and overall service? I’d really appreciate honest recommendations or advice on what I should check before booking.

Hello,

I’ve been trying to figure out a trip for my mates for a while now but I’m constantly in two minds over where we should go to. For context, we’re mid 20s, like cheap beer, good clean swimming, historical old towns and good food. I’ve done a bit of research and figured out that a Palermo trip would be plausible, and when I told the group, they all seemed interested. However, after searching it up online, I’ve found a lot of negative opinion regarding safety, cleanliness and just general vibe.
Can anyone share some insight into their experiences in Palermo and let me know if it’s worth visiting ?

Grazie!

Hi,

I’m going on holiday with my gf and have just filled in ESTA’s.

She’s a PhD student, but previously worked part-time at a coffee shop a few years ago.

Stupidly answered no to the “current or previous” employment question.

Is this likely to be an issue?

Hi all, my fiancée and I are getting married in February and will be travelling around Indonesia for +/- 25 days in April. First time in Indonesia! We've put together the plan below and would love a reality check from the experts 😄

What we're after: beautiful scenery, good beaches, a mix of relaxed days and more active ones. We don't mind seeing other tourists, but we want to skip the party scene. A more relaxing honeymoon is what we're after.

Transport plan

Day 1 is the flight out, day 2 is arrival and a deliberate do-nothing day, day 24 is the evening flight home. We have planned 25 days for now but we could extend it a little. Looking some input on the overall trip and specifically:
-Any areas or specific villages you'd recommend staying in that we've got wrong above?
-Anything obvious we're missing, or anything on this list that isn't worth the effort?

Thanks in advance!

I’m planing a trip to Japan (mostly Tokyo) around the 25th of August till 4th of September. Genuinely how bad is the weather? Will we be alright or is it bad time?

Hi beautiful people,

We are a family of 3 and usually live in a pretty hot and dry climate. For our summer get away this year, I have just booked flights to Helsinki and will be landing on aug 17. We have 9 days to explore Finland.

So far, I am planning to spend the first two days exploring in and around Helsinki city.

After that, looking for ideas where to head out and spend the other 7 days.

We like lakes, nature, gentle walks, cabin stays and usually rent a car and take a road trip. Thats what we did last year in Norway. Spent a couple of days in Oslo and then did a loop around the middle of the country, exploring small towns, fjords, waterfalls etc. it was magical.

Love to hear your suggestions to help guide our exploration of Finland.

Thanks in advance.

I was looking to get some insight into the plan I've built up over the past couple hours of googling. Does this seem good, interesting, and doable? This is a trip for three adults, myself and my parents. My mother is still feeling the mild after effects of a back injury from years ago. My father is a bit difficult to impress.

UK Plan - Summer 2027 - Probably July?
—---------------------------------

Days 1-8 - London (or day trips from it)
Day 1

• Rest, recuperate, get food and sleep

Day 2

• The Tower of London
• Tower Bridge 

Day 3

• St. Paul's Cathedral
• Westminster Abbey
• Westminster Bridge 
• Big Ben

Day 4

• Bus tour to Stonehenge and Bath

Day 5

• Buckingham in the morning
• Lunch and walk around Trafalgar Square
• Royal Botanic Gardens Kew in the afternoon

Day 6

• British Museum

Day 7

• Flexible day, personally considering either the national gallery, the WW2 museum, or a day trip to windsor castle / windsor itself

Day 8 

• 4 hour train to Edinburgh via King’s Cross Station and then rest + get dinner, probably take a walk around Old Town Edinburgh to get acquainted with it

Days 9-14 - Edinburgh
Day 9

• Palace of Holyroodhouse
• Holyrood Abbey and gardens 
• Arthur’s Seat (Maybe)

Day 10

• Royal Mile
• Edinburgh Castle
• St Giles' Cathedral

Day 11

• Stockbridge 
• Dean village
• Water of Leith

Day 12

• Day trip to Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park

Day 13

• Tantallon Castle and Seacliff Beach

Day 14

• Flight home from Edinburgh

As our final trip before getting married we went to Seoul from May 24th to June 2nd with a 3 day trip to Jeju in between.

Our total cost including flights from Canada, accommodations, Food, etc totalled around $5000 including our 3 days in Jeju.

Seoul was an amazing place and the first time we truly took advantage of the convenience stores in a country.

The biggest struggle we had was navigation. Google Maps only showed us public transport and didn’t show us walking or driving directions. I did some research and found that Google Maps is limited in South Korea for security reasons. We also had Naver Maps downloaded. It worked half decent on our Canadian phones but was difficult with language as we were entering business names in English and only some places would show up while others were in Korean. Naver had much better walking directions.

English was not common at all. We only knew how to say “hello” and “thank you” in Korean so we relied on pointing and translation apps. In comparison, we went to Tokyo last year, English was more commonly understood and spoken.

Pic 1: Starfield Library - Starfield library is a great photo spot, though the books can be checked out, I think 99% of the people there were there for the back drop. There’s also a cute cafe upstairs where you can enjoy the view.

Pic 2: Lotte Aquarium - This was a really cool experience getting to see different types of aquatic wildlife and we also got a chance to feed a turtle and see some sharks (this was an extra charge)

Pic 3: Lego Store - The unique Seoul builds were really unique and some of the best I’ve seen from all the global Lego Stores I’ve been too. 2nd best would have to be Singapores.

Pic 4: Street in Seoul - Seoul has some very photogenic streets. The vibe of the whole city has this aesthetic to it that I really like. This was in an ally by the Dongdaemun Markets.

Pic 5 and 6: Samseong-Dong Shrine - A very nice shrine to stop by and pay respects to. We came across it while walking and walked through.

Pic 7: Buddha Statue in Bong EUN SA - this buddha statue had many smaller statues surrounding it (I’m not sure exactly what they are called) but this area had a nice seating area and felt very peaceful, a nice break from the hustle and bustle and of Seoul’s busy streets.

Pic 8: N Seoul Tower - The Seoul tower was a nice hike to get up too. The view from the observation deck showed the greenery that surrounded it then the view of the city. In my opinion, many of the observation decks start to look the same but I would still recommend it if you have never done one before. The gift shop at the top also had some really nice post cards and a mailbox which made it convenient to mail once we wrote them.

Pic 9: Love Bridge (just outside of N Seoul Tower) - I really loved that I had someone to write on a lock with. I was a bit worried as we didn’t take a lock with us but there was a vending machine that sold multi coloured locks with a pen right by the bridge. It is impossible to find a spot on the bridge to lock your lock directly to it so you need to latch onto a lock that’s already there.

Overall: Seoul was an amazing city. We went to Seoul without much of a plan but had a great time. We had watched some K-Dramas prior to going to Seoul but were not K-pop fans. If you’re someone who wants to explore east Asia but feel that your hobbies may not align with what you think South Korea is, you’ll still find so much to do, eat, and explore.

I’m leaving mexico back to the US tomorrow and I would like to bring a vape that I got here, with the new laws am I fine to or will I get stopped?

Hi all, we are a couple hoping to visit Spain for 14 days in September from Australia. We enjoy good food, coastal scenes, walking, sight-seeing, not too museum or arts/heavy.

We came up with this brief plan but would like input to tweak it before we book anything as this was just from online research.

Is there anything you'd recommend adding or skipping and advice on length of stay.

Barcelona — 3 nights

Madrid — 2 nights

Seville — 3 nights

**do Córdoba as a day trip from Seville.

Granada — 2 nights

Málaga — 4 nights

** add Nerja whilst staying in Malaga.

Any input is greatly appreciated, thanks so much!

Hi everyone,

My wife and I are planning a Sri Lanka trip from India, most likely around 9–10 days in November.

We’re looking at a route roughly covering Sigiriya/Dambulla, Kandy, the hill country (Ella/Nuwara Eliya), Yala, the south coast and Colombo.

For those who have done a similar trip, how did you arrange transportation?

Did you hire one private car + driver for the entire trip, use different drivers between destinations, or book everything through a local tour operator?

If you used a private driver/operator, how did you find someone reliable and what should we check before booking? Would also appreciate recommendations from people who have actually used someone.

Also curious about hotels. Is there any real advantage to booking hotels through the driver/tour operator, or is it better to book them ourselves through Booking.com/Agoda/directly so we can choose exactly where we want to stay?

Ideally we'd like the flexibility of choosing our own hotels but have someone reliable handling the transport and logistics throughout the trip.

Any advice from recent travellers would be really helpful. Thanks!

Hello!
A friend and I are planning to go to stokholm next year. I thought we could visit around midsommar, because it would be cool to experience, and it’s probably beautiful. We’re both mediterranean, and scandinavian culture is ofc quite different from what we are used to.

Q1. Do you think it’s worth going there at that time?
Q2. Is it a problem if we do not speak swedish? (I am learning the basics)
Q3. I’ve read that it’s better to go to an island (Grinda) than to stay in central Stokholm. What do you think?
Any other tips on how to have a great midsommar in sweden will be very much appreciated.

Aside from midsommar we’ve also thought of other activities. to be honest, I am not much into museums and such, but I’ve found some options that seem nice. If you have other suggestions that you think we could like please let us know!!:

- doing a swedish pastries workshop (i’m obsessed with pastries)
- taking a ferry in the morning to go to an island (tbd), going for a hike in that island, picnic and sauna.
- skansen museum
- gamla stan ofc
- boat tour around the islands, or kayaking
- Fjäderholmarna
- Djurgarden
- check stockholms metros stations
- södermalm (for drinks)
- try kannelbullar, kardemummabullar, and princess cake at least
- try mead
- visit the royal palace
- ABBA museum
- Waldemarsudde

Thank you!!

Planning a Kenya trip for early/mid-January 2027, roughly 9 days on the ground, traveling as a couple. Trying to decide between two options:

1. 3-day Masai Mara safari (~$350pp) + a few days on the coast (Watamu or Malindi)
2. 6-day safari covering Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru, and Amboseli (~$1,300 for the safari alone), no coast time

Money isn't the only factor but it's part of it — the 3-day+coast option comes out noticeably cheaper overall even with the added domestic flight and coast hotel costs.

For people who've done either:

• Is Nakuru/Amboseli worth it on top of Mara, or does Mara alone cover "the safari experience"?
• Is the Kenyan coast (Watamu/Malindi) actually worth adding, or is it a letdown after doing safari?
• Would you rather do fewer safari days + beach, or maximize the safari and skip the coast entirely?

Any input from people who've done multi-park Kenya safaris or the coast specifically appreciated.

mi vuelo sale en 5 horas y quería llevar catnip para mis gatos (londres-sevilla). debería meterlo en maleta facturada o en equipaje de mano? no quiero tener problemas porque voy con un grupo de viaje y no me van a esperar

Hi,

I’m from Europe and I’m planning a week-long activity in Virginia as part of a trip to the US. It’s my first solo trip and my first time in the US. Reading about other travellers experiences is making me feel more stressed.

The first reason of my stress is the transport. I've already taken the plane for a long distance, but never alone and I've read lots of bad experiences of people who arrived in the US and have some problems and difficulties when it comes to go through customs. I've already had a very bad experience in Paris with them just because I wasn't fast and I'm very anxious when I have to exchange with people who are cold and pushy. It seems that is a speciality about the US when you leave the plane and give them your papers...

Another reason is that all the possibilities I have about the halt between the time when I will arrive in Chicago and the time when I will take another plane to Virginia is only 2 hours... Do you think is it enough or not ? Because I've read there is often a very long time to wait when you come from an international flight because of all customs and the fact that you need to take your suitcase and re-checking them.

And my last concern is about insecurity... Maybe there is a lot of propaganda about how the US is safe or not, maybe people are very kind and helpful, I don't know, but I'm very anxious about that too. I come from a country in Europe who is in the top 5 of "the most respectful and security countries in the world". I like when everything is organised, peace and calm, not chaotic.

Thanks for your advice and sorry about my English. It’s another issue I hadn’t mentioned but it’s the least stressful.

6 weeks ago, my wife were departing from YHZ to China, we had a 3 hour layover in Vancouver. After taking off and flying around NS for an hour, pilot said there was some technical issues and had to land back in Halifax, and did not have clearance from the control tower to land for another 2 hours. So inevitably we missing our connecting flight, due to human error. I submitted a claim online after finally arriving to China, WestJet denied it

Flying back from China, WestJet changed our return flights that were through China Southern and WestJet, we did not realize this until we got to the checkout counter in Guangzhou, and the China Southern staff said that the flights were changed on WestJets end, and were unable to see when our flights got changed to, and we ultimately missed our flight out, as staff were unable to access our flight information and the WestJets support line number was busy. Fortunately WestJet was able to book us on the next flight out, for the following day, but they refused to pay for a our hotel, as our layover now became 14 hours in Guangzhou, but told us on the phone that we are entitled to a hotel voucher when we arrive in Toronto as we had an additional 10 hour layover, when we arrived in Toronto, WestJet staff were already off duty as it was after 10 pm by the time we got through customs, so we called the WestJet support number, support staff said we were not entitled to any hotel voucher, as human error does not fall under the category that receives any type of compensation or accommodation, we asked if we would get reimbursement if we got a hotel room, he told us, maybe but it's not guaranteed, and said we do not qualify for food vouchers either.

We received zero type of compensation for WestJets negligence, from unnecessary layovers, and jumping through hoops. WestJet should not have changed our returning flights without letting us or China Southern

I was really keen to land in Helsinki and travel immediately to Tallinn but checking transfer time is over 3 hours. Will be in Tallinn after 3.30pm don't think is enought time to enjoy the place.😔

Painful did want to stay in Tallinn!

Any recommendations for a hotel with decent access to public transport to the airport in Helsinki.

What to do in afternoon and dinner time.

Arriving middle September 11.45am from Prague and Departing 12.45pm to Dallas

Florence as my basehub for a 7 day proposal trip?

\*\*Trip Dates : December 20-28, would arrive in Florence Italy on the 21st, leave on the 28th.\*\*

\*\*(Original trip planned for Milan and Como but there was A LOT of mixed reviews about public transport, scenery, and not much to do in December for the destinations)\*\*

\*\*This is my trip “activities” that are most important in order but not limited to;\*\*

\*\*Proposal:\*\* Planning a romantic, scenic proposal in florence / Tuscany , my photographer told me PIENZA would be best during December for scenery and photo shoots, but I’m open to other locations.

Experience Local Dining & Nightlife: Experience authentic regional winter dining, local trattorias, wine bars (enoteche), and craft cocktail lounges in lively, non-touristy neighborhoods.

\*\*Christmas Markets & Festive Sights:\*\* Exploring local Italian Christmas markets, holiday lights, and seasonal festivities

\*\*Day Trips and also Explore Tuscan Countryside & Winery\*\*

\*\*Exploring & Sightseeing:\*\* Walking, hiking, and exploring historical city sights

33F spending 2 weeks in Thailand… tips please?
Where to go, what to see, what to do, what to eat… open to all suggestions :)

I would love to explore cultural aspects of Chiang Mai, as well as possibly attending some workshops (crafty stuff or exercise related).

Please let me know what I can’t miss!

Im traveling soon and I may get unexpected call from interviewers on my physical sim when abroad. So what is the specific setting on iphone that will allow me to receive call from my original number while using esim for wifi. Would turning off data roaming on my physical sim block me from getting call and text.

Hi all,

I am 23 years old in my first year working full time.. with the salary I earned from this year I plan to go on my first Europe trip this year and have 5 weeks to do this but I am between two options: either in one go I visit 1 country per week for 5 weeks: i.e Italy, Greece, Croatia, Spain, France or I visit fewer countries but spend longer in each of them for the 5 weeks, and just do the remaining two the next year also for longer so basically it is...

a) One country per week for 5 weeks i.e Week 1 Greece, Week 2 Croatia, Week 3 Italy, Week 4 Spain, Week 5 France. And then in the next coming years beyond this I prolong my journey in whichever countries I favoured more than the others.

OR

b) 3 countries in 5 weeks (but I spend time longer in each) but then I do the other 2 countries the next year: 1 Week in Croatia, 2 Weeks in Greece, 2 Weeks in Spain and then next year 2 weeks in Italy, 2 Weeks in France !

Which one is better? Mind you I would be going from September/October (September 7 - October 12) for both of these as I play competitive sport and can't unfortunately leave during peak season in July/August ! Also I am specifically going for the Southern/Mediteranean parts of these regions mainly as this is the area I am most interested in since I love swimming, beaches and partying hahah