Tocky on 15/3/2010 at 00:41

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They ticket like that in New Orleans as well and there is absolutely nowhere to park. I've been to Florida on a Harley but never that far south. Most of it was whitesandbeachpartytown after more of the same but the Keyes would be worth it to see Papas hangout I guess. Never travel motorcycle in summer south of the M-D line BTW unless you enjoy heat prostration. It will suck the life out of you.

I only mention that because YOU GOT TO TRAVEL EUROPE ON A HARLEY YOU LUCKY BASTARD. I tip my hat at that.

And I don't know about my support john. It wasn't for raping kittens was it?

Tonamel on 15/3/2010 at 03:54

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So I just got back from my latest sojourn to San Francisco, and while I know there have been some posts describing it as a big pile of 'meh,' if you go you MUST visit (http://jejuneinstitute.org/) The Jejune Institute and take their free introductory workshop.

It is the most surreal walking tour on earth, and it's 100% awesome.

june gloom on 15/3/2010 at 20:36

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That's fucked up.

steo on 19/3/2010 at 23:01

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My brother and I did two and a half weeks around the Balkans over summer. I think Bosnia & Herzegovina is my favourite country to visit, bar perhaps Cuba. I spent a few days in Sarajevo the summer before, which was brilliant. The people were all very friendly, the old woman at the internet cafe would dish you out a big bowl of soup/stew and bread for about a euro. We also met a Bosnian student who took us to an awesome bar run by an ageing rock and roller. We ended up staying there until about six in the morning - we were pouring our own beer by that point - and we got to see and play some of the man's outstanding guitar collection.

Another day, a friend and I went for a walk up into the hills, from which you get a great view of the city - and the huge graveyards that surround it. We also came upon a completely bombed out building which looked like something out of Stalker, only more ruined. The floors were covered in rubble, the stairs had fallen to pieces and there were holes in the walls and floors. Despite the signs saying 'Danger - Mines' and 'building not safe', we went in and had a look around. One wall I found was covered in scrawled mathematical calculations and I believe the place was used as a sniper/mortar nest during the siege. The museum of the siege is also well worth seeing - I find it very interesting and scary that a war was fought so recently for no reason other than attempted genocide, in a country not so far from home. What's more, most of the people my age that I talk to about it don't know the first thing about what happened.

This year we went to Mostar, which was equally as good as Sarajevo. We stayed at Majdas hostel, which was awesome, the best part of it was the all-day tour of Mostar and the surrounding area which Majdas' brother did - he also had some harrowing tales about the war and how he narrowly escaped execution. Because of the tour, we got to see a great deal of the surrounding area which would have otherwise been impossible, from some spectacular waterfalls, to a mountain town with terrific views, to a dervish monastery built at the point where a raging river springs from the side of a cliff-face. I had originally intended to jump off Stari Most, the old bridge running over the river (there are videos of people doing it on youtube), but when I asked Majdas' brother, he said the last person to try it without training fractured three vertebrae and had to be airlifted to Sarajevo Hospital. Given that this was only three or four days into our trip, I decided to give it a miss.

The other place I'd highly recommend would be Montenegro. Firstly we went to Kotor and, well, I'll let the (http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/3650/2009europe144e2.jpg) picture speak for itself.

We then went to the capital, Podgorica, which lonely planet had a really scathing review of, but we found to be extremely friendly - when looking for our hostel we stumbled upon an electrician's office. They invited us in, gave us a map, offered us water, beer or wine (they were sitting around drinking beer at four in the afternoon), and then let us use a computer to find the hostel website. When we had the address, one of them told us it was just round the corner and walked us there. Granted, there wasn't a huge amount in the way of sites to see, but we met some nice people and had a good time. We went out drinking with an eighteen year old Belarussian guy who lived with the old American hippie backpacker who ran the hostel. He introduced us to a girl who had an almost identical taste in music to my brother, right down to the obscure little bands out of Portland, and led us to an unmarked door on a street corner. We entered to find a room thick with smoke, and a track off The Doors, The Doors was playing. Just the kind of club I wish I could find in England.

The lowlights of our trip were Belgrade and Bratislava. We found the people in Belgrade to be somewhat unfriendly, and it was big and hard to get around, particularly since our map had street names in the Latin alphabet but they were all in Cyrillic on the road signs (we did eventually learn the alphabet). It's also very polluted and we didn't really find that much of worth to do there. The view from the fort on the hill was rather good though.

I think when my brother went to Bratislava a few years ago, he had quite a good time, but these days in summer it's overcrowded with backpackers - we had quite a bit of trouble finding a hostel with room, and it's pretty overpriced for eastern Europe. Prague is certainly a nicer city, but it's full to the brim of regular tourists as well as backpackers. I get the feeling it's turning into the new Amsterdam as well, with a lot of beer tourism and prostitution.

Summer 2011 I plan to go with my brother to the US, buy a car and do an epic road trip. I'm sure people of done similar trips before, care to share some wisdom? Is it easy for UK citizens to buy a car/insurance in the states for the purpose of a couple months worth of road trip? We don't really have any idea of the route as of yet, but will probably be visiting Portland for sure. We've both been to the states before a few times, seen San Francisco, Death Valley, Yosemite, parts of Arizona, Nevada and Utah - the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and some other Canyons and desert and Las Vegas. I've also seen Miami, the Florida Keys and New York. That's not to say we wouldn't be up for seeing those places again.

Tonamel on 20/3/2010 at 02:39

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If you plan on going through South Dakota, make sure you know when (http://www.sturgis.com/) Sturgis is. We had to drive another five hours to find a hotel that wasn't booked.