Unique and unusual travel experiences

[mhen]

Sitting on reindeer skins this was the view from the deck of our cabin on the Finnish/Norwegian border last night. I know lots of people have seen the Northern Lights but to me it was amazing, took up most of the sky and went on for some hours.

 

[Wanderlust_tim]

Sitting on reindeer skins this was the view from the deck of our cabin on the Finnish/Norwegian border last night. I know lots of people have seen the Northern Lights but to me it was amazing, took up most of the sky and went on for some hours.
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Absolutely gorgeous photo. I am not a particularly spiritual person but when I saw the Northern Lights in Sweden I was absolutely captivated. To me it felt like the gods were doing rhythmic gymnastics and I was profoundly moved.

 

[Quickstatus]

Are the northern lights only green?

 

[mhen]

Are the northern lights only green?

I am no expert but there are other colours. To the naked eye the colour was much more muted (greenish grey) but the camera picks up more colour. Last night we saw also saw flashes of pink/red. The amazing thing was not the colour but that the moving bands filled the whole sky. As well as sitting on the verandah I went around and around the cabin and for every side and immediately above there were ever-moving bands and swirls of light. The only downside was that it was -32 C.

 

[mhen]

Absolutely gorgeous photo. I am not a particularly spiritual person but when I saw the Northern Lights in Sweden I was absolutely captivated. To me it felt like the gods were doing rhythmic gymnastics and I was profoundly moved.

Yes even though we now know some of the science behind the lights they are still awe-inspiring. I kept thinking about the earlier inhabitants and what their response would have been to this magical experience.

 

[HeavyElectricity]

My most recommended experience in recent years would be a visit to the Chornobyl / Chernobyl exclusion zone .






Also the short trip I made to Bariloche in Patigonia Argentina - the best part here was hiking alone on mountain trails encountering very few people whilst being surrounded by breathtaking views.



The field of light exhibition at Uluru in 2015 was a welcome surprise.



Going back around 12 years, hiking The Inca Trail, and then completing the trail up Huayna Picchu was pretty special



Seeing the lava flow in to the ocean in Hawaii is also a memory I won't forget:

 

[Pushka]

Not me but MrP had access to the Demilatirised zone between North and South Korea.

 

[Happy Dude]

Kurdistan has some pretty unique and unusual places. There's a torture museum in Sulaymaniyah and the whole town of Halabja would scratch your itch.

 

[vetrade]

As part of a solo open ended RTW adventure, Master Vetrade has just started a volunteer position at a rainforest National Park in southern Costa Rica in exchange for free accommodation and meals. Dormitories literally have no walls and if you get sick of beans you're out of luck because the nearest town is hours away by bus. Despite that he described the people and the place as "fantastic". Howler monkeys and sloths are a feature.

Might not be one for those who like their creature comforts.

 

[OATEK]

I was feeling glad all over....

to have the chance to watch Premier League sides live, when I live so far from the regular matches.

 

[trooper]

Can’t be Aussie flagged. We only have little Tinnies. Who owns the battle cruiser?

Edit: ok I got the answer

Ooooo..lol...Battlleship! Not Battlecruiser!

That was our AS350B on USS Wisconsin.....I was on HMAS SYDNEY...an "FFG"...Guided Missile Frigate. Not exactly a little Tinnie! (Although fair call I suppose relative to an IOWA class BB!!!)

 

[DougG]

That would be the National Museum of Funeral History, located not too far away from George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)! National Museum of Funeral History | Funeral Museum, Best Museums in Houston - NMFH

 

[ronicat]

Zeppelin over Bodensea
Niagara Falls from the Bomb bay of a Mitchell B25
Vespa (very underpowered) up Montserrat
Trabi through Berlin (I second that experience)
Remote and uninhabited Pacific Island with someone who landed there on his 18th birthday in WW11 - a very small group of us
WW1 Battlefields of France in the middle of January to experience it without the crowds and with plenty of Somme mud
The Canning Stock Route out of tourist season.
(You might have guessed, we are those tourists that like being away from other tourists )

An inspiring thread!!

 

[Bundy Bear]

Sailing on an America’s cup boat in San Francisco.

 

[fifo]

Correct- have to go via Japan (NRT, KIX, NGO) or HKG

Air niguini is the preferred route direct from BNE now, most dive companies will book packages with them. I guess if the plane doesnt crash, you'll have a great time.

I've been twice to truk and once to bikini, all three amazing trips. However cave diving has taken my attention, so cave diving in
Thailand, Florida, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Oman

 

[Archipelago]

I recall, after multiple (many multiple) gin slings in the Long Bar, having rickshaw races around the foyer of Raffles . Ended up wearing umbrella hats and sunglasses (late at night) climbing the spiral staircase to nowhere in the garden bar and having tourists taking photo's of us. Gin slings can be dangerous weapons in the wrong hands!

Loving this post @swanning_it
It made me dig out my old pics of a mate and I doing the "Great Singapore Rickshaw Race from Raffles to Chinatown", circa 2005. Too shy to post hahahaha....

(I WON)

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Loving this post @swanning_it
It made me dig out my old pics of a mate and I doing the "Great Singapore Rickshaw Race from Raffles to Chinatown", circa 2005. Too shy to post hahahaha....

(I WON)

My episode was in 1986, so the photos are actual photo's rather than jpegs! I'd have to dig through old photo albums (remember them) to find them. I actually cringe just thinking of it now . I won't divulge some of the other memories that I have of those few days in Singapore, but we did fit a lot of activities in !

 

[LAH]

The Gentleman and I (well mainly the Gentleman) drove a rickshaw/tuk-tuk down the western side of India from Jaisalmer to Kochi. Not the most comfortable way to travel but a great way to see India. The rickshaw broke down a lot so there were lots of opportunities to interact with the locals and enjoy the various different landscapes.

Would love to do that run. I drove a rickshaw (solo - as part of Rickshaw Challenge) 2017 from Mumbai to Chennai. It was an extraordinary experience particularly the very positive interaction with locals. Lots of waving along the way (photo) and many locals wanting photos (this photo with woman at service station with my rickshaw in background!) I'd recommend it to anyone - side note - I was 58 years old, and a woman! Will be even more adventurous later this year and would love to do Jaisalmer to Kochi!

 

[LadyC]

Would love to do that run. I drove a rickshaw (solo - as part of Rickshaw Challenge) 2017 from Mumbai to Chennai. It was an extraordinary experience particularly the very positive interaction with locals. Lots of waving along the way (photo) and many locals wanting photos (this photo with woman at service station with my rickshaw in background!) I'd recommend it to anyone - side note - I was 58 years old, and a woman! Will be even more adventurous later this year and would love to do Jaisalmer to Kochi!

That's fantastic! I hope you have a great time. It is such a great way to see India. If we did it again, we would probably do a different route also. The Gentleman is quite keen on doing the Mongol Rally but we would need to wait until MasterC is a bit older first.

 

[p--and--t]

Looking back have been a few over the years.. some examples

2018 - A stay overnight in Kenya at the property previously owned (now a trust because they were both murdered) of Joy and George Adamson of Born Free books and movie. Having Zebras accidentally knocking on the bathroom window as they chewed on an adjacent bush there, hippos eating grass outside the bedroom window and the people in the next room having curious giraffes looking through the bedroom window. Elsamere Conservation Centre & Lodge, Naivasha Kenya

2011 - Flying over the majesty and through the spray of Victoria Falls in Zambia in a microlight (could be described as a lawnmower with wings) and then flying low over the herds in the nearby national park. BATOKA SKY – MICROLIGHTS

2009 - Being taken through a secret back entrance of the building that houses the lighting of Horseshoe falls (Niagara) in Canada and being allowed to play with the computer consoles that create the patterns and colours of the lights on the falls and watching the crowd's reactions.