What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

Status
Not open for further replies.
AMC

AMC

Registered User
I can't be the only one here who loves to travel. I bet some of you even do it for work, you lucky ********.

I am in the process of booking a school trip to Nicaragua, and I am deciding how many extra days to stay after my program is over.

Has anyone ever been? Any recommendations? I will be in Managua for four days, after that I have up to four days to stay before needing to get back to the States. I've done some research online/in Lonely Planet, and San Juan del Sur and Cerro Negro (how can I pass up surfing down a volcano?) seem awesome. Granada and Leon are the main cultural cities, are they necessary to hit?

Can anyone weigh in on Nicaragua?
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

I've been there about 5 years ago for a short trip.

Managua is something of a disappointment. The city is still ugly as it was rocked by the big 1972 earthquake and the old dictator Somoza and his cronies pocketed much of the international aid money that flowed in, lots of the nice buildings went down, so huge chunks of the city are still empty lots, and poverty abounds. The Intercontinental hotel is nice, although it has that feel of a "compound" where lots of men in sunglasses and earpieces stand guard.

Granada is a nice Spanish colonial city, although I half expected Sandinistas with machine guns to jump out on the road up to there.

The volcano sounds fun.
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

Yeah, I've heard nothing but sketchy things about Managua. We will be in meetings for the majority of our time there. I figure any "touristy" type things will have to be in my past few days, wherever I decide to go.
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

We had a great time in Costa Rica, it may be worth taking a quick trip up there instead of hanging out in sketchy Nicaragua.
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

zamboni crash-test dummy said:
Who on this board is pretty familiar with France? I have some questions...
Click to expand...

One of the smokin' hots spent a lot of time in France fairly recently- can't remember which one. Post in the rep thread and you might find her- I think it was diva.
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

AMC said:
Can anyone weigh in on Nicaragua?
Click to expand...
cornholio.jpg

NICARAGUA! In my country, we have but one bunghole. BUNGHOLIO!

(I have nothing substantial to say about Nicaragua.)
pardonme said:
We had a great time in Costa Rica, it may be worth taking a quick trip up there instead of hanging out in sketchy Nicaragua.
Click to expand...
I've heard the same thing from other people who've taken trips to Costa Rica including my sister and brother-in-law.
zamboni crash-test dummy said:
Who on this board is pretty familiar with France? I have some questions...
Click to expand...
I'm not tremendously familiar, but there are some areas I might be able to help out with. Fire away, worst that can happen is that nobody has an answer for you.
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

jmh said:
I'm not tremendously familiar, but there are some areas I might be able to help out with. Fire away, worst that can happen is that nobody has an answer for you.
Click to expand...

Well, my first question would be has anyone been to the Normandy beaches?

Second question is has anyone driven in France?
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

zamboni crash-test dummy said:
Well, my first question would be has anyone been to the Normandy beaches?

Second question is has anyone driven in France?
Click to expand...
Remember what I said about the worst thing being that nobody has an answer for you?

Yeah, can't help you on those. Sorry. :o
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

zamboni crash-test dummy said:
Did you take a guided tour? How was it?
Click to expand...

No, it wasn't really a guided tour. They have a visitor's center at Omaha and we'd studied the D-Day invasion somewhat beforehand, but mostly they let us wander the cemetery, take pictures, and go down to the beach. The cemetery itself was pretty awe-inspiring, with the rows of white crosses (and the occasional star or other symbol). It really gave a tremendous sense of patriotism, tranquility and of that generation's accomplishments. Beyond the cemetery down the hill, it looked like, well, a beach. Very few signs of the invasion left there, and the landscape has changed considerably below the cliffs.

Utah we only visited briefly, so some of us could collect sand from the beach.

I'd forgotten, we also went to Pointe du Hoc. That was much more of what one would expect of a battlefield, with the emplacements still there and open to the public, and still showing scars from the naval bombardment and the Ranger assault. Definitely worth a side trip, if you're visiting the other Normandy beaches.
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

zamboni crash-test dummy said:
Well, my first question would be has anyone been to the Normandy beaches?

Second question is has anyone driven in France?
Click to expand...
My best friend and I went a couple of years ago. Booked a tour through Viator. The driver was very knowledgable. We went to many of the same places that BPH did. There was also a nice lunch at an inn included.
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

Im heading to San Diego on Sunday for the week. I will be there for a conference so my free time will be at a minimum but if anyone has good suggestions for restaurants or perhaps parts of town that have many good ones in a small area that would be awesome. I dont know if I will have much free time for anything else.
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

zamboni crash-test dummy said:
Well, my first question would be has anyone been to the Normandy beaches?

Second question is has anyone driven in France?
Click to expand...
1) Many have been there, few told the stories. :(

2) I drove there years ago with a couple fraternity brothers. I remember lots of expensive toll roads. And Neil asking what a sign said as we were obviously entering a work zone. "The '30' means that's the speed limit - slow down! The rest is irrelevant." (I was the group's translator)

Amuses-toi bien. And tell stories, Mrs. UR and I are headed there in September.
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

zamboni crash-test dummy said:
Well, my first question would be has anyone been to the Normandy beaches?

Second question is has anyone driven in France?
Click to expand...

I've driven there...in a British car. Drove from Calais to Paris and then on to Geneva. Did not go to Normandy.

No need to drive in Paris. In fact a car is an inconvenience there, since there's no place to park it other than in the middle of the sidewalk (which Parisians do, BTW).

The comment about the toll roads is spot on. They are expensive.

And just for laughs, "Why do all the roads in France have trees planted along the sides?"
 
Re: A Thread for Travel: Trips/Advice/Ideas

Hopkinja said:
No need to drive in Paris. In fact a car is an inconvenience there, since there's no place to park it other than in the middle of the sidewalk (which Parisians do, BTW).

The comment about the toll roads is spot on. They are expensive.
Click to expand...

thanks, that's good to know
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top