What is the coolest place you've been to?

[simplydamon]

I was just wondering what the coolest place is that you've gone? I need some new tips for my next vacation :D

As for me, I've been to : China, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand (3 times; girlfriend lives there), Singapore, Australia (twice), England, and Hawaii (5 times). I've also seen a great deal of the U.S. (still need to see more).

My favorite is Thailand because the people down there are super, super nice people. I have never seen a Thai person get angry at all.The beaches are fantastic, it is relatively cheap, and it is easy to get around speaking English.

[scifi4me2004]

Nirvana:)

Well just about.

Too much of the farmgirl stayed in me to ever travel far from home.

I would like to travel now and Thailand would probably be right up there. I eat a lot of Thai food. My mother is a Brit, so the UK is on my list.
I was born and raised in Toronto CA and have never gone back, I would like to go back before too long. New Zealand for the weather, any place S. American for the water, and Africa for the animals.

A cool place or two I have been to in the states- Amana Iowa, Skagway AK.

[simplydamon]

What's in Amana? Never heard of anything there. Any cool sights?

[George]

I have seen many thai girls angry but not at me...hehe.

I was just wondering what the coolest place is that you've gone? I need some new tips for my next vacation :D

As for me, I've been to : China, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand (3 times; girlfriend lives there), Singapore, Australia (twice), England, and Hawaii (5 times). I've also seen a great deal of the U.S. (still need to see more).

My favorite is Thailand because the people down there are super, super nice people. I have never seen a Thai person get angry at all.The beaches are fantastic, it is relatively cheap, and it is easy to get around speaking English.

[scifi4me2004]

Its a place in Iowa, not entirely sure which biggest city it is near? but it is not too far from Cedar Rapids. Amana Colony consists of 7 communal colonies which began in 1855 and continue to this day. The people are of German heritage , most of Amish culture and live as they did in the 1850's.

It is a tourist spot and features cabins, stores, streets and food just like things were in the 1850's. Not all of the people that live or work there, are descendants of the original settlers.

I liked the looms, the woodworking, the blacksmithing, and the quilting. I went there when I was 20 to complete a college assignment. :)

[simplydamon]

Sounds like a cool place. I was thinking that it could have been the place where appliances are made (wasn't/isn't there an Amana appliance company)?

[lifesab-andthenyoudie]

Phuket
Cayman Islands (great SCUBA diving there)
Hawaii -any island but Oahu. (got married on a sailboat off the coast of Maui)
Canadian Maritimes, particulary PEI (RED sand beaches and the warmest water north of VA Beach) and Nova Scotia.
British Columbia
Pacific Northwest
Park City, UT

So many places are cool for so many different reasons. I had problems picking just one. :)

[scifi4me2004]

Hi Damon:)

Yes there are Amana products and not sure if they may at one time been manufactured in Iowa.

I researched the two founding cultures that settled in that area in the 1850's neither claiming responsibility for the name of the communal community. They were both hard working, perhaps the maker of the Amana appliances wanted the association.

[simplydamon]

I actually visited Phuket earlier this year (after the tsunami). I was actually quite surprised at how well the area looks right now (I was expecting total devastation). Most of the shops and bars were actually open. If you go to Thailand again, I would recommend checking out Koh Chang and Koh Samui (Chiang Mai is also nice).

Hawaii is a very interesting place. I found the BIG Island to be interesting because it has so many things you would consider "Hawaiian". It also has very different terrain than some of the other islands.

[simplydamon]

I've always been fascinated that a culture could remain "as is" given today's modern world residing just outside these communes.

[scifi4me2004]

I live 3 miles from a large Amish community. There are nearly 1000 Amish people living close to me. We benefit so greatly from their produce, as our land doesn't yield good produce. I personally have learned to quilt thanks to someone in the community I counseled, and we bartered payment. I would never have a real fresh egg without them, as their isn't an English farmer(thats what they call us) that has fresh eggs for sale.

I compete with them at auctions, wait in line behind them in retail stores, even yield to their horses as I drive beside them in my car. In this area we try hard not to make them a "tourist" attraction. Every week I run into a Amish male at the local library. He and I compare notes on books we have read since the week before or news of interest. He is unmarried so he isn't allowed to be talking to me, but thus far no elders have discovered he loves literature and loves to ponder the what if's with me:)

[lifesab-andthenyoudie]

I'm glad Phuket was not as devasted as other places or as the media made it out. I've only visited there once, and it was on business (another company "boondoggle", I admit it, but it was a dadburn interesting place to take the customers for golf!), but I managed to squeeze in a couple days R&R afterwards. I would go back in a NY minute.

I've only been to the Big Island once and of course, again, it was on business. But I've been to Kauai, Maui, Lanai and Oahu several times and though I really like Kauai, I have to say Maui is my favorite. I haven't been to Maui in over 10 years though, so it might look like Waikiki at this point, which would be too bad.

[simplydamon]

I think Phuket looked ok simply because the government & people put a lot of work into rebuilding. Tourism is the main part of the economy there...so they needed to react quickly to prevent further problems. Many of the Thai people asked me if I was afraid of another tsunami. To be honest, a tsunami is relatively rare so I wasn't that scared while I was down there ( I did read a book on Krakatoa after I got back...that was also really scary to read).


**The roads, however, are still fairly damaged from all of the water that was sitting there for days.

***The sad thing was that there weren't as many tourists down there. My take: Do we stop going to Florida because of all the hurricanes?

[lifesab-andthenyoudie]

Damon, were you there when the tsunami happened? I remember you said you took a sabbatical after leaving PayPal.

A hurricane or two wouldn't stop me from going to Florida (there are plenty of other things to stop me from going there :D ), but if this current weather pattern keeps up, I think a lot of people are going to think of moving back up North!

On the other hand, I do know quite a few people who won't go to California because of earthquakes (and it's odd that several of them live near active faults elsewhere in the country but don't know about it). I have to admit the Loma Prieta (sp?) earthquake of 1989 was a factor in my move out of San Francisco and back up to Seattle. I had been trying to wrangle a company transfer before the quake, but that event really lit a fire under me to move back to the PNW.

[simplydamon]

I was fortunate enough not to be down there when the tsunami hit. Christmas was a big factor in my deciding to stay in the U.S. during that time.

Earthquakes don't bother me too much. Large earthquakes tend to happen infrequently, which is more than I can say about other natural disasters (tornado, hurricane,etc.) And the weather out here is fantastic!

[lifesab-andthenyoudie]

Seattle's not exactly earthquake free either, but since I had been working on the transfer for a while before the quake, it was a good motivator. My office at the time was downtown on Battery St., behind the Embarcadero Center, if you are familiar with San Francisco at all. In other words, it's ALL landfill down there. I was having a meeting in my office when we got the first mild shake. I remember joking to my staff "hey, I felt that!", because I usually never felt the milder earthquakes. No sooner had those words came out of my mouth than the shaking began in earnest. My office wall split open and that's when I dove under my desk. When everything stopped, our building was still standing, but had sustained some major damage. I could see the Bay Bridge and ferry terminal from my window and saw that the clock had stopped and a piece of the bridge was hanging down. We had not power, phones, etc. Do you think we were even prepared? We didn't even have spare batteries for the radio! We jerry-rigged one of the radios with paperclips to make the connection so we could listen to the news.

For some reason, our fax line could accept incoming calls. My husband, who had left work early to watch the World Series at home with some friends, called in. We lived in Marin County, which didn't sustain much damage, luckily. He wanted to see how we were doing. We couldn't call out, so I was giving him names and phone numbers of spouses, SO's etc., so he could call to let other families know we were ok.

We were stuck there for a long time. The Bay Bridge was closed and the approaches to the Golden Gate Bridge were damaged. Those of us who lived in the East Bay or Marin were out of luck. Thank goodness we had a fairly large wine collection for entertaining customers, etc. The general manager of our office who was very shook up (no pun intended), broke into that very quickly. When in doubt, drink, right?

Later that evening, several people who had left work early to go home to watch the game, came tromping back into the office. They were taking BART and were in the tube under the Bay at the time. The backed them up all the way into the San Francisco side to a station that wasn't damaged and they walked back to our office since they didn't know where else to go.

We also had several people who had left work early because they had tickets to the game. Luckily, they were fine, but we didn't hear back from them for a few days.

Our building was condemned and we were out of the office for about a month while they made repairs.

I was lucky. The potential disruption and disaster affecting my life was practically nil. I did have nightmares for a few weeks and to this day, every time a truck rumbles down the street, I shudder.

Our house didn't have any damage either. But we had this stockade fence that went around our property and the gates never did close after that. :eek:

Sorry for the ramble, but wanted to explain a bit about how motivated I was to nab that transfer that would take me back to Seattle. :D

[willysgrandma]

Two places I've loved more than any other:

Maui - went there on a cruise last year, I'd go back in a heartbeat (except the 11 hour plane ride was a killer).

And the island of Tortola in the BVI. Can Garden Bay was one of the prettiest beaches I've ever seen - and I live on a beach on Long Island.

[freekyfrawg]

Las Vegas. Being from Canada we don't have anything quite like it, although Montreal comes close as far as the "outrageous/different" feel goes.

Just went this year for our honeymoon, and I just loved it. So much to see and do, we did the strip a few times, but didn't make it to Fremont (we will next time we go, and believe me, there WILL be a next time!). We did go to see the Hoover Dam on a Comedy Bus Tour (much recommended, a 6-hour trip felt like it went by so fast with the entertainment).

[Parklane64]

Lived in Waikiki for a short while as a teen and loved it.

Most interesting place I've gone would be Mombasa, Kenya. Spent one day there and probably will never go back. Location of Fort Jesus (http://www.museums.or.ke/regftjes.html) whcich is over 400 years old.

I enjoyed snorkeling in the Phillippines, beautiful Climate.

[simplydamon]

Kenya? Wow! My memory is slipping a little on the overall geography of Kenya...are there lots of animals there? That would have been awesome (I love taking pictures).

I've heard very many good things about the Philippines.

[hyena8]

The Netherlands. Amsterdam is beautiful.

Do not go in the wintertime. You will freeze off whatever naughty bits you own. ;)

[simplydamon]

I've heard Amsterdam is quite the place to visit:) As for me, I am somewhat used to cold weather because I grew up on the East coast.

***Now you know why I live in beautiful California. Can't beat the weather, save perhaps Hawaii.

[sagesmom]

I've been to alot of the carribean, Grenada, Jamacia, St thomas, St Lucia, Grand Caymen, st. John. riviera maya in Mexico, trinadad tobago, and the most friendly was Jamacia and Mexico, and the most lush and beautiful was Grenada.

[simplydamon]

Any place from that list you wouldn't recommend going to?

As for me. I've always wanted to go to St.Lucia because I believe there is a rare parrot there.

[hyena8]

Paris is the most beautiful city I have ever seen.

I also recommend Amsterdam.

[simplydamon]

I've heard wonderful things about Paris. I have had some friends that have had troubles with Parisians over language (some residents apparently got upset if they were talked to in English).

[George]

They just don't like Americans.

[dolfan4eva13]

I was in Israel for a whole summer when I was younger. Don't think I would travel there right now but talk about historical. Had a blast there (ok so yeah it was the first time in another country and no parents there) Caymen Islands has to have the best scuba diving snorkling around and ou can swim with the stingrays which was cool. Los Cabos, Mexico, great party town. I have always wanted to surf in Australia, maybe with my new job I'll actually be able to save enough money to go there one day!! :)

[buffygirl]

Club Med @ Ixtapa, Mexico.

I loved it - except for these red ants that bit me.

[brianm]

i have been to alot of places but i have to say that i had the most fun in sunny rocky point, mexico...beautiful beaches and the night life...well lets just say that its like marti gras every nite of the year...oh did i mention the women. :D

[hyena8]

Damon I could give you a free tour. But your girlfriend might get upset... :p

[Kane]

Me personally, I'm not a sight seeing type of guy. That, to me, is too boring. I need to be entertained. That is why I typically love any place with some kind of amusement park type thing. Dorney Park, Six Flags (but try to go at a time when most folks wouldn't, or you'll spend all day in line and probably wind up getting to go on one ride), Hershey Park... I once went to Disney World in Orlando, and we also stopped by Universal Studios. That was cool.

My girlfriend and I took a Hagey tour that took us to New York to see the Phantom of the Opera on broadway. That has to be my favorite trip ever. We really want to go back to see other plays, and maybe even Phantom again. We really want to see Spamelot. One thing we may want to do next time is try to get a map, or bring somebody who knows New York with us. We didn't want to get lost, so we basically stayed on the same row of blocks and checked out the stores there. We heard about a year-round Halloween store, but not until it was too close to show time, so we want to check that out next time.

[Rumrunner]

The Outer Banks of North Carolina is a pretty good place if you like your vacation to be laid back and stress free. We (my wife and I) went there last summer and stayed on the ocean in Kill Devil Hills (just north of Hattaras National Seashore, pretty much between Nag's Head and Kitty Hawk). We spent the time there doing a little sightseeing (there are 4 lighthouses along the Seashore, wild horses on the beach, and a number of historical sights such as the Lost Colony and the Wright Brothers memorial), eating some really good food, and driving our Jeep out on the beach (some beaches there are open to off road vehicles).

I liked this beach trip a LOT, mainly because it was not overcrowded and there are no 'high rise' resorts ANYWHERE along the entire Seashore. The tallest building from Duck in the north to Ocracoke in the south is only 4 stories tall (not counting the lighthouses). Several of the islands between Nags Head and Hattaras are wildlife preserves with no buildings on them at all. Most of the islands are accessable via a bridge, but for the ones that are only accessable by boat there is a free ferry (you do NOT want to be on Ocracoke if a hurricane is coming...the highest point on the island is only a dozen feet or so above high tide and there is only ferry access to the island).

It was one of the few vacations I've gone on that I came back actually feeling like I'd had time to rest and relax. We went in early June to miss the chance of a hurricane, and the weather was perfect. Bring a camera, the sunsets over Pamlico Sound are amazing.

[SoloFlyer]

I'd say Puerto Rico was pretty cool. No sales tax!!!

Me and my fiance had Calzone, Pizza and Soda's at a little italian place and the check was only $6.00. Can you beat that?

[simplydamon]

I didn't really have much of a chance to enjoy Puerto Rico when I was there (we were only docked for 7 hours or so). Could only go to the beach for a bit and have some beers at the Hard Rock Cafe (many places close early there)...