Venice

[BillyStubbsTears]

I’ve only been to Timisoara in Romania. Taxi driver pulled a face like thunder and made w**ker signs when I mentioned Bucharest. Don’t know if that helps!

[GazLaz]

I’ve only been to Timisoara in Romania. Taxi driver pulled a face like thunder and made w**ker signs when I mentioned Bucharest. Don’t know if that helps!

All sounds very positive!

[Donnywolf]

Doesnt Devilmaycry come from Romania ?

EDIT .... yes I was right and only posted a few days back so he may see this and comment !

You could PM him ? Have you got your Super6 on ?

[hoolahoop]

Doesnt Devilmaycry come from Romania ?

EDIT .... yes I was right and only posted a few days back so he may see this and comment !

You could PM him ? Have you got your Super6 on ?

Yes he does and I'm pretty sure from Bucharest too  ; perhaps you could take him a signed shirt or summat ? You could smuggle him back - he's desperate to live here. Hmm perhaps that's not a good suggestion in the current xenophobic climate .

[hoolahoop]

I’ve only been to Timisoara in Romania. Taxi driver pulled a face like thunder and made w**ker signs when I mentioned Bucharest. Don’t know if that helps!

I had never heard of it before but out came the atlas and then Google images - it looks like a lovely little city .

[IDM]

My favourite places have been ones that have some big historical background to them.

Brandenburg Gate in Berlin
Tiananmen Square in Beijing
Dante’s villa  in Ravenna
Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.
Vesuvius in Naples.
Green Line in Nicosia.

Places where you can breathe in the things that have happened in the past.

Best one of the lot for me was the ramparts facing the sea at Valetta in Malta. Picturing the Sultan’s navy besieging them 500 years ago, or the Axis Air Force trying to bomb them into submission in WWII. Everything calm and peaceful today, but knowing that there was a turning point in history at that very spot in the past.

Liking your tangent BST..

This might not be a conclusive list, but from memory the places of "historical interest" I can add:

Pompeii
Christ the Redeemer - Rio
The cafe/bar where "The girl from Ipanema" was written (same trip)
Raffles hotel Singapore
Ground Zero NYC (from 9/11)
Guy Gibson's dog's grave (Dambusters) at RAF Scampton

Plus more I can't remember or may be too common to many..

[Pancho Regan]

Using your list Donnywolf I have;

Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Antigua and Barbuda
Armenia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Estonia
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Grenada
Hungary
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Kenya
Kosovo
Latvia
Libya
Lichtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malta
Mexico
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
Morocco
Netherlands
Norway
Panama
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russia
St Kitts and Nevis
St Lucia
St Vincent and the Grenadines
San Marino
Serbia
Sint Maarten
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Ukraine

England/Scotland/Wales  (of course)

And a few dependencies which are not on the list, such as
British Virgin Isles
Guadeloupe
Cayman Islands

That's insane SM!

I thought I'd travelled a bit but your list makes me look like a stay-at-home!

[DRFC-Hanksie]

If you get on a Gondola, try get one on the side streets if there's any water there at the moment.

Water Taxi's are super expensive, avoid.

[Filo]

Don't forget to buy a Cornetto 😀

[auckleyflyer]

Their harder to drive /move than they look!! Respect to the owners

[Filo]

Their harder to drive /move than they look!! Respect to the owners

Have you nicked one like? 😀😀

[idler]

We paid and it was a right rip off. It was sold as be serenaded as you travel through the canals of Venice. Queued for over 30 minutes to share a gondola with a mother and teenage son. We then joined a convoy of 5 or 6 others. We went onto the grand canal where a guy with a guitar in the lead boat sang to everybody. We then had a ten minute toddle round uninteresting areas with the gondolier on his mobile most of the time not hearing the guy singing at the front. He put is phone away just before the end to take a cornetto type ice cream and start eating it. I was more annoyed than the wife and not only didn't leave a tip but felt like kicking the tip bucket into the canal. This was from the gondola station round the corner from St Mark's square. Make sure what you have paid for before handing over the cash.

[Donnywolf]

A bit like some Rovers games eh ?

[idler]

Like a Rovers game John, apart from that bit I will go back.🙂

[BillyStubbsTears]

And the bars were dearer...

[idler]

They were Billy. We also stopped at a cafe/patisserie and looked at prices in the window. They looked good and reasonable but when we sat inside and payed it was a lot more than what must have been the take away price.
We still loved our four night break. Like anywhere there are expensive and reasonable places to eat.

[turnbull for england]

Would love to  go back to Florence, only had a few hours there and was amazing Fiorentina club shop was very smart too in city centre

[Dutch Uncle]

Not directly relevant but thought this picture was interesting:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-43119445/photographer-stephen-wilkes-shows-day-to-night-in-one-image

[hoolahoop]

We paid and it was a right rip off. It was sold as be serenaded as you travel through the canals of Venice. Queued for over 30 minutes to share a gondola with a mother and teenage son. We then joined a convoy of 5 or 6 others. We went onto the grand canal where a guy with a guitar in the lead boat sang to everybody. We then had a ten minute toddle round uninteresting areas with the gondolier on his mobile most of the time not hearing the guy singing at the front. He put is phone away just before the end to take a cornetto type ice cream and start eating it. I was more annoyed than the wife and not only didn't leave a tip but felt like kicking the tip bucket into the canal. This was from the gondola station round the corner from St Mark's square. Make sure what you have paid for before handing over the cash.

Yep got ripped off in a similar way - they are adept at it, possibly some of the best in the world.

[silent majority]

Using your list Donnywolf I have;

Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Antigua and Barbuda
Armenia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Estonia
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Grenada
Hungary
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Kenya
Kosovo
Latvia
Libya
Lichtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malta
Mexico
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
Morocco
Netherlands
Norway
Panama
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russia
St Kitts and Nevis
St Lucia
St Vincent and the Grenadines
San Marino
Serbia
Sint Maarten
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Ukraine

England/Scotland/Wales  (of course)

And a few dependencies which are not on the list, such as
British Virgin Isles
Guadeloupe
Cayman Islands

That's insane SM!

I thought I'd travelled a bit but your list makes me look like a stay-at-home!

Hi Pancho,

I hate to say this but I've just added two more countries to my list, in the last two weeks I've managed to visit Thailand and Laos. I did actually step on Myanmar territory too, although only made my way in by about 30m or so. I would find that one difficult to claim as it wasn't official as such.

[Pancho Regan]

Hope you enjoyed Thailand & Laos SM. I visited Thailand 30 years ago and loved it.

Here's my list:

Barbados
Belgium
China
Cyprus
France
Germany
Greece
Holland
Ireland
Hong Kong
Indonesia (Bali)
Italy
Kenya
Luxembourg
Macau
Malta
Monaco
Poland
Singapore
Spain
Switzerland
Thailand
Vietnam

[silent majority]

I loved it Pancho! Its taken me a long time to persuade my wife to go in that direction rather than heading west towards the Caribbean at this time of year. To be fair she thoroughly enjoyed it too and I must admit some of it was a real eye opener for us.

[NickDRFC]

I loved it Pancho! Its taken me a long time to persuade my wife to go in that direction rather than heading west towards the Caribbean at this time of year. To be fair she thoroughly enjoyed it too and I must admit some of it was a real eye opener for us.

Ping pong shows eh?

[hoolahoop]

Have a look on Airbnb, there's some nice apartments on there. I use it a lot when I'm abroad and even when I'm travelling through the UK.

Good advice just used them last year for Budapest, just booked for Amsterdam and looking at Copenhagen now . April a nice time of year to go . Been twice to Venice got burnt twice once really badly on Jesolo beach mid-summer.

[hoolahoop]

Have a look on Airbnb, there's some nice apartments on there. I use it a lot when I'm abroad and even when I'm travelling through the UK.

Good advice there Andy , will be going to Malmo as well in August . Our young'un in Copenhagen for about 9/10 months. So there will be other trips there


Good advice just used them last year for Budapest, just booked for Amsterdam and looking at Copenhagen now . April a nice time of year to go . Been twice to Venice got burnt twice once really badly on Jesolo beach mid-summer.

If anyone ever gets a choice between Copenhagen or Stockholm, do Copenhagen - more to see, less expensive (slightly, as Scandanavia isn't cheap) and more to do. If you get bored of Denmark, Malmo is only a hop over the Oresund as well.

[bahrain rover]

Hope you enjoyed Thailand & Laos SM. I visited Thailand 30 years ago and loved it.

Here's my list:

Barbados
Belgium
China
Cyprus
France
Germany
Greece
Holland
Ireland
Hong Kong
Indonesia (Bali)
Italy
Kenya
Luxembourg
Macau
Malta
Monaco
Poland
Singapore
Spain
Switzerland
Thailand
Vietnam

Pancho,  How how was Vietnam? This is on my visit list along with South Korea and many more out here, due to the proximity to me in the Philippians. 

[Donnywolf]

Using your list Donnywolf I have;

Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Antigua and Barbuda
Armenia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Estonia
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Grenada
Hungary
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Kenya
Kosovo
Latvia
Libya
Lichtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malta
Mexico
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
Morocco
Netherlands
Norway
Panama
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russia
St Kitts and Nevis
St Lucia
St Vincent and the Grenadines
San Marino
Serbia
Sint Maarten
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Ukraine

England/Scotland/Wales  (of course)

And a few dependencies which are not on the list, such as
British Virgin Isles
Guadeloupe
Cayman Islands

That's insane SM!

I thought I'd travelled a bit but your list makes me look like a stay-at-home!

Hi Pancho,

I hate to say this but I've just added two more countries to my list, in the last two weeks I've managed to visit Thailand and Laos. I did actually step on Myanmar territory too, although only made my way in by about 30m or so. I would find that one difficult to claim as it wasn't official as such.

Just noticed being nosey - have you omitted to put USA ?

Seems unusual to have such an ecclectic mix but without USA (or Canada) - or are you a conscientious objector ?

Signed Nosey Parker

[hoolahoop]

It does well spotted John , i too think it may be an ommission .

Looking at all the lists it does go to show what a well travelled lot we are .
Incidentally if I have been to Hong Kong and Macao can I technically claim them as China ?

[silent majority]

Oops!!

Yes I did, but not sure how I did that.

I've been thinking about this list for quite some time ever since I took the trouble to type it out. As I said then I had no idea what it would look like when I started it and was surprised just how it turned out. But my thoughts recently have been on how this list fails to acknowledge the true nature of how some of us travel. For instance we can all list Spain as a destination but does that really acknowledge our experience of Spain? Personally I've done the Balearics, the Canary Islands, most of the Costas, Madrid, the north west of Spain including Santiago de Compostela and the surrounding region. And not just once but several times!

Some countries crop up on numerous occasions for all kinds of reasons, and we visit multiple times, shouldn't we find a way of acknowledging that?