Author Topic: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread  (Read 145119 times)

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Online Natsinpwc

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Finally got off my duff and am in Portugal now. First stop is in Porto. Absolutely amazing. Seriously considering moving here.
Have a friend who went to Portugal last fall. Said he loved it.

Online wj73

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Finally got off my duff and am in Portugal now. First stop is in Porto. Absolutely amazing. Seriously considering moving here.


I have a couple of friends there now who are seriously scouting for a place to live permanently. They absolutely love it.

Online imref

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Had some friends there last week. Looked beautiful

Offline Count Walewski

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Portugal JUST passed a bunch of laws making it harder for foreigners to move there. Before that they had one of the easiest golden passport programs in the EU.

I myself am going to Portugal in July. I want to see detailed trip reports on Portugal!

Online Natsinpwc

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We were thinking about stopping in Portugal on the way back from Rome in June.  But opted for Reykjavik.  Maybe next trip.

Online wj73

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We were thinking about stopping in Portugal on the way back from Rome in June.  But opted for Reykjavik.  Maybe next trip.


Speaking of Reykjavik, we’re leaving for there tomorrow! We’ve rented a car for a leisurely 3 week trip driving the entire Ring Road. We’ve never been there before. So excited about this trip!


Reykjavik will apparently be a bit of a zoo when we arrive, as there is a large Council of Europe summit being held there. Representatives of 46 European countries will be there. There’ll be lots of street closures and restrictions, but of course all of us in the DC area are familiar with the kinds of disruptions these international conferences can cause. Fortunately we’re just in Reykjavik overnight and leave the next day to start our drive. We planned a couple of extra days in Reykjavik at the end of our trip, so things should have calmed down by then.


Any Reykjavik recommendations, Natsinpwc?

Online Natsinpwc

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Speaking of Reykjavik, we’re leaving for there tomorrow! We’ve rented a car for a leisurely 3 week trip driving the entire Ring Road. We’ve never been there before. So excited about this trip!


Reykjavik will apparently be a bit of a zoo when we arrive, as there is a large Council of Europe summit being held there. Representatives of 46 European countries will be there. There’ll be lots of street closures and restrictions, but of course all of us in the DC area are familiar with the kinds of disruptions these international conferences can cause. Fortunately we’re just in Reykjavik overnight and leave the next day to start our drive. We planned a couple of extra days in Reykjavik at the end of our trip, so things should have calmed down by then.


Any Reykjavik recommendations, Natsinpwc?

Sounds fun. We will be there mid June so will just miss you. Just three nights for us but we should be able to take in some of the scenery.  Our son was there about ten years ago for about a week and enjoyed it.

I had no clue about the Euro Summitt. Hopefully that Euro trash will be gone by the time we get there. I know they use their own money and not Euros so a bit surprised a Euro Summitt is there.

I’ve seen on some videos that fhe gas stations have some great food which I guess is not surprising since they may be the only food place available in some locations. Son advised to know your credit card pin when getting gas as you need that for the machines.

Have a great trip.

Online wj73

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Thought you’d already visited. So I’ll be able to give you tips before you leave.

We’ve already added PINs to the credit cards as we’d read about those isolated gas stations.

The summit in Reykjavik isn’t just the EU - the Council of Europe has 46 members. From the website:
Quote
”The Summit will be an historic opportunity for European leaders to reaffirm their common commitment to the Council of Europe’s core values and to refocus its mission in the light of new threats to human rights and democracy, and to further support Ukraine through concrete measures to help achieve justice for the victims of the Russian aggression.“

https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/council-of-europe-summit-unites-heads-of-state-and-government-around-ukraine-and-european-values

Should be interesting.

Online Ali the Baseball Cat

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Hakarl and brennevin!

Online Ali the Baseball Cat

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I'm in Utah where despite 3 days & nights of well above freezing and heavy thunderstorms, there is still 10 feet of snowpack a half hour's drive from SLC.  This year at least doesn't look like a drought - maybe they can get a season or two of baseball here before it turns into a poisonous dust bowl.   

Offline bluestreak

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Hakarl and brennevin!

Hakarl is easily the most disgusting thing I’ve ever put in my mouth….

Offline bluestreak

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Portugal JUST passed a bunch of laws making it harder for foreigners to move there. Before that they had one of the easiest golden passport programs in the EU.

I myself am going to Portugal in July. I want to see detailed trip reports on Portugal!

Yup. Apparently Russian oligarchs and Chinese investors were taking advantage to get EU citizenship. It’s a shame because I’d like to live there one day. It’s an amazing country.

Online wj73

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Online Natsinpwc

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I can barely pronounce the names of the tourist attractions!

Online Ali the Baseball Cat

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You clearly have not been to Applebees then!
Hakarl is easily the most disgusting thing I’ve ever put in my mouth….

Offline rileyn

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Just got back from a week in Napa.  Dinner at The French Laundry overshadowed all of my wine consumption for the week.  In fact, all of our meals were outstanding.  What a beautiful part of the country.

Online imref

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Just got back from a week in Napa.  Dinner at The French Laundry overshadowed all of my wine consumption for the week.  In fact, all of our meals were outstanding.  What a beautiful part of the country.

We visited Sonoma, Calistoga, and Hieldsburg last year. Just beautiful.

Offline Count Walewski

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We're going to the Eastern Shore in a few weeks (staying just outside of Cambridge, MD) and are considering a day trip to Ocean City. What are the recommendations for a day in OC? I've never been before. We'd be bringing our preschool-aged kid.

Online Five Banners

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We're going to the Eastern Shore in a few weeks (staying just outside of Cambridge, MD) and are considering a day trip to Ocean City. What are the recommendations for a day in OC? I've never been before. We'd be bringing our preschool-aged kid.

You might want to include some time down at Assateague Island, might see some ponies

Online blue911

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We're going to the Eastern Shore in a few weeks (staying just outside of Cambridge, MD) and are considering a day trip to Ocean City. What are the recommendations for a day in OC? I've never been before. We'd be bringing our preschool-aged kid.

Staying at the Hyatt?

Online Ali the Baseball Cat

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Assateague is really cool.  The aforementioned ponies, but also the horseshoe crabs.

Online imref

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Assateague is really cool.  The aforementioned ponies, but also the horseshoe crabs.

Just don’t mount them to the bottom of the horse’s hoofs.

Offline bluestreak

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Portugal JUST passed a bunch of laws making it harder for foreigners to move there. Before that they had one of the easiest golden passport programs in the EU.

I myself am going to Portugal in July. I want to see detailed trip reports on Portugal!

Portugal was amazing. We spent 3 days in Porto and 6 days in Lisbon. Porto is great. I would recommend a. port tasting at one of the cellars. I’d also do a Duoro river cruise and visit some wineries.
The highlight of the trip for me was a food tour by culinary backstreets. They are available in both Lisbon and Porto. It was about 6-7 hours of waking around and sampling local food off the beaten path and getting some history and culture from a local. Absolutely amazing.

We went to Lisbon next. It’s a great town. We used this as jumping off point for some excursions. We went to Sintra which had some amazing castles. We also went to Evora and the Roman ruins and the Chapel of Bones which was one of the most haunting things I’ve ever seen.

Lisbon itself had some cool sights. Highlights were the monastery of st Jerome and the tower of Belém. Both in Belém, right next to Lisbon.

I got addicted to Pasteis de Nata, the custard tarts. The place in Belém was the best. Those things are really delicious.

We didn’t go the the Algarve, but will the next time we go (there will be a next time) but everyone we talked to said it was great.

It was a great trip

Online imref

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Thanks for sharing Blue.  I’ve had a few friends visit Porto recently and all raved about it.

Online Ali the Baseball Cat

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I hear that eating a franceshina is pretty much a vertical manifestation of a horizontal urge