Where to travel next...?
 

I'm looking for ideas on where to take my next international trip...so far certain ideas on the table include:

Japan (again)
Costa Rica
Amsterdam
Athens
Hong Kong

The stipulations involve a reasonable price, Hong Kong would have somewhere free to stay. Japan is nice because we know a lot about it already. Costa Rica would be great since Matt has been there before as well. Personally I would love to go back to Europe...especially since this will probably be my graduation trip in either December or January.

Of course..if we go all the way to Europe I would really want to see as much of it, again, that I can while getting to enjoy the art I've been studying for the past couple years. How would one even go about planning a Europe trip, on the cheap over a couple weeks? The thought of planning this is kinda stressful.

Other suggestions of new places would be great! Just open to all sorts of ideas. We went to Hawaii in March and Japan in December of 2009 so I'm kind of wanting to go somewhere I haven't been. I also want to feel like a tourist.

nobody ever comes my way...

hong kong is great. i loved it. i know charlatan loves it every time he goes there too. its clean cosmopolitan city, its modern, public transport works great and you still get to see culture working at its best.

the plane ticket may be prohibitive if you're flying such a long way though. i guess you have to weigh that out with the free accomodation.

id also check out the weather during that time of year. it may be summer and sticky then, so just keep an eye out for that.

My suggestion? Trans-Siberian Railroad from St. Petersburg to Beijing. If you do it without getting off the train, it will take you 7 days. It's not that expensive (you'd pay a lot more for 7 days of hotels) and the cities at each end (and in between) are centers of civilization. St. Petersburg has some of the most important 17th, 18th and 19th Century art (based on the collections of Catherine the Great), not to mention some beautiful buildings. And Beijing is something completely different. The Russians are much better about English than the Chinese, but brushing up on the Cyrillic alpahbet before you leave is probably a good idea.

If I were in your situation, I'd do it again, even though I've already done it once.

Prague - stunning architecture, wonderful people, decently priced and plenty of beer

I can not emphasize the architecture enough, one of the very few European cities to not have sustained any damage during both World Wars. Google it for pictures. Take a side trip to Kutna Hora. Google it, bizarre to say the least. Did I mention the beer? :thumbsup:

Awesome suggestions guys! Matt has mentioned Hong Kong to be a lot like Houston in the wrong time of year. When it comes to the trip, we made it through Japan just fine so I don't think an extra couple hours would be too daunting. Prague sounds amazing. Honestly I would love to take a month to see Europe, I'm going to look into it.

If you do decide to do Europe, with Amsterdam as a destination, consider staying outside of Amsterdam. Haarlem is a 15-minute train ride away, the trains run late, and Haarlem is a much more pleasant city to sleep in. Further, some of the things you want to do in Amsterdam, such as visiting a coffeeshop, can be done in any Dutch city. Since you say you want to go to see the art there, staying in Haarlem and going into Amsterdam to see the museums is a better way to do it, possibly even cheaper.

You could possibly do both Amsterdam/Athens on the cheap if you booked a flight through one of the low-cost European airlines such as Ryanair.

Some areas of Prague have some shady people, like most other countries do. As soon as I stepped outside of the train station in Prague and was waiting for another train to take me around the city, I noticed I was getting cased by a few people. The Gypsies are known for being pick-pockets in Prague, just a warning. Other than that, the American dollar is alot stronger than the Czech Koruna, so it'll be cheaper there than most other European countries. That's the way it was a year agao at least, I doubt it's changed much. The Prague Castle offers an amazing view of the city, absolutely breath-taking.

Berlin has some great modern architecture. There's new buildings all over the place, along with some older examples of architecture like the university and the church.

If I was you, I'd find a travel agency to help you plan everything. It might cost a little more than doing it yourself, but they really help with logistics and general tips. Also, it's important to compare flight destinations and departure cities to find the best price. When I took a trip to Europe, it was cheaper to fly to Amsterdam and then take a train to Berlin than it was to fly directly to Berlin. It was cheaper to fly back to Houston from London than it was Dublin. If you're going to visit multiple cities, planning is the most important single thing you can do.

Denver. Duh.

Paris, France
Venice, Italy

I've been to Paris and Venice, I would love to go back!

Go somewhere you both haven't been. They say it's a small world, but it's not. Not unless you've been everywhere. Besides, some places change, while others stay the same.

Go into it with a sense of adventure. That's what I'd do.

That sounds great Baraka, I think I'm going to push for Amsterdam. I love Europe and I could see some of the art during the trip. Either there, or Hong Kong.

no way, go to Amsterdam. Stay on the woermastratte (sp), see the girls in the red lights, the coffee shops, the dutch masters in the museums, the wonderful canals, the beer, the populace. then use it as the excellent hub that it is and take some incredibly cheap (50-100$) flights to Madrid, Dublin, Berlin and have yourself the time of your life. Wait to go to Hong Kong until you have the money to do it right.

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PS I did europe on 40 euro a day for two months with no problems. as long as you're not too hung up on staying in nice hotels, hostels can be done on the CHEAP. Also you can't eat out at fancy restaurants for every single meal. but you still can see museums, check out landmarks, go see 1000 year old churches, etc. and most of it doesn't cost a dime.

I would say Rome, because I love Rome, but it is fuckin' expensive there. Same with London, which is my favorite city, but....

A couple of possibilities:

Israel. It gets a bad rap in the press. It's a beautiful country, and it's extremely, extremely easy to simply avoid the places where it gets a bit risky. Jerusalem is a great city, with amazing art and historical buildings and stuff; Tel Aviv's nice-- good beaches. Haifa is great. Eilat is a fun little resort town. The fish in Tiberias is great, and so's the shawarma. The Dead Sea is an amazing little trip, and you can go wine-tasting in the Galilee. And it's really pretty reasonable, the whole way around.

Andalusia/Catalonia (Spain). I hear the prices have gotten a little more in control there. Toledo's beautiful, and so's Seville, and Barcelona. Good art, great historical buildings. Great wine.

Tour North Africa a little. Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria. See Gibralter. You gotta be a little careful in North Africa-- some places are sketchy-- but it's lovely there, and the food's amazing. And you can totally do it for cheap.

Argentina. BA is a terrific city: great couture and shopping, excellent night life. Great wine in Argentina, and amazing food. The glaciers in Patagonia are incredible, and well worth the trip.

Cruise Alaska. My wife and I just did this. It kicked ass. It was really a lot less than I thought it would be (though still not really cheap), but the scenery was mindblowing, and we saw whales up the yin-yang.

Tour the East Coast of Canada. Picturesque towns. Gorgeous countryside. Incredible seafood. Funny accents. Lots of beer. Can't miss.

Bahamas. They actually have a decent standard of living there, so it seems less colonialist to vacation there. Good seafood. Wicked cocktails. Beach, beach, beach. Not too expensive. Bring lots of sunblock.

Also, I haven't been, but I hear Turkey's nice, and not too expensive.

ive been to all 3 of these places in the past 2 years.

southern spain is amazing, but its euros and may be expensive unless you did it in cheaper hotels or self contained apartments. you could checkout my 'g'day from andalusia' thread a few weeks back now

morrocco is great, but some areas are too touristy. Fez is by far my favourite place is morocco. its the spiritual capital of morrocco and the medina rich in history and colour....as for sketchy, the lonely planet books usually cover this, but places like tangier arent touristy places, just places you pass on your travel. check out my 'gday from morroco' thread for pics

turkey is one of the best countries ive been to. its stuck between the east and west and is the only country to be on two continents. a great mix of east meets west. lots to do and see. plenty of history and the food is amazing. ist probably a lot cheaper than doing europe, but feels like you're there anyways. again check out my 'g'day from istanbul' thread if you're interested.

Brazil!!!!!!!!!!

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Also, if you are looking to save money, you can't go wrong with Asia. I've been to a bunch of places there. My favorite is the Philippines, but thats because of where my family is from...Thailand was amazing as well.