Which places changed your mind about them after visiting?

[JohnM]

Bah! Have you been to Gympie?

Several times.

 

[Scarlett]

interesting…. Why?

Let's just say if Goulburn had RPT flights it would be the natural home in Australia of FR and NK...

 

[jakeseven7]

Let's just say if Goulburn had RPT flights it would be the natural home in Australia of FR and NK...

Say no more…

 

[SydneySwan]

Several times.

So where is the trip report?

 

[Flying Fox]

Slightly off topic

Cruising - The Mrs wanted to do it and I didn't. Thought it would be a boring experience. Totally wrong. Did lots of interesting excursions, some time at the casino, participated in the on-board activities and found it very relaxing as I didn't have to think/worry about meals & drinks etc. Have been on two more cruises since. Will go again post Covid.

 

[Pushka]

Slightly off topic

Cruising - The Mrs wanted to do it and I didn't. Thought it would be a boring experience. Totally wrong. Did lots of interesting excursions, some time at the casino, participated in the on-board activities and found it very relaxing as I didn't have to think/worry about meals & drinks etc. Have been on two more cruises since. Will go again post Covid.

Same in our family. Now he's more into cruising than me! And loves the sea days best of all. Go figure as they say. He found our next cruise which we've shifted to for October next year. Ever the optimists. Didn't have to pay a deposit as the funds from two previous cancelled cruises were transferred over.

 

[camperdown9]

Some cities need more than one trip.

Paris - The first time I went to Paris was in 1992, at the time I was living in Ireland. We went in November and it felt colder in Paris than at home. The hotel was overbooked. We got pick pocketed on the metro. People were rude and lots of beggars. It also felt dirty. I have since been back maybe 20 or 30 times (I have a house in Burgundy so it's only 1 hr by train). Every time I go back I like Paris just that little bit more. It's a big city like London or New York. Yes there are beggars, Parisians can appear rude, its not always the cleanest (but cleaner than it used to be). However if you go to Leicester Sq or Oxford street in London, Times sq or 5th ave in New York its similar. I was in Paris on Thursday of last week, I spent the morning in a mainly residential area of the city. Lots of cafes, restaurants, shops and few tourists. Then I got on the metro and went to Boulevard Haussmann. More people there were speaking English than French. Now I was one of them but can't really say that tourist central is the city.

 

[Bjet]

Naples - my views might be a little out of date as I visited it in 1976. Anyway, it was crowded, noisy, run-down and with the streets full of rubbish. Goethe may have said "See Naples and then die" because once you have seen such a beautiful city then you needn't see another place. But in my opinion it was probably because you had been carelessly shot by one of the numerous guards armed with pump action shotguns standing in the streets outside all the banks

I have to be honest with you! Naples looks much better than 1976. I don't know which places you have been to in Naples. Sounds like you visited to Naples suburbs. But in downtown, it was clean and beautiful. I was falling in love with it.

 

[OZDUCK]

I have to be honest with you! Naples looks much better than 1976. I don't know which places you have been to in Naples. Sounds like you visited to Naples suburbs. But in downtown, it was clean and beautiful. I was falling in love with it.

I would hope that it was better than 1976. As I recall we were right in the centre of town.

If it has improved I assume that is because they have finally got on top of the Mafia (Camorra) control of the city garbage collections.

 

[SYD]

I have to be honest with you! Naples looks much better than 1976. I don't know which places you have been to in Naples. Sounds like you visited to Naples suburbs. But in downtown, it was clean and beautiful. I was falling in love with it.

It was pretty grotty when I passed through a couple of years ago. But the pizzas lived up to expectations.

Some recent first time experiences:

Portland, OR. Beyond the craft beers - it’s a dump.

Seattle, WA. Tick. Quirky place. No need to rush back unless QF launches non-stop flights and it could be an interesting option to get to elsewhere in LOTFAP.

San Diego, CA. I can see the attraction for lots of peeps moving down from LA and elsewhere but weirdly cool (in a cold temp way).

But this time last year, I was enthralled with driving around Cornwall for 2 wks!

 

[Skyring]

Iran. Just how much fun will a dry desert land run by religious dictators be?

Lots, to be honest. There were brewed beer drinks without alcohol. Peach beer, apple beer etc. Even some real - albeit zero alcohol - beer imported from Europe. Some desert, but also mountains, parks, green grazing fields, rivers. Snow-capped mountains are visible from Tehran.

The old airport, used now for domestic flights, is a planespotters paradise. Military jets on one side, an incredible array of vintage aircraft, including what looks like most of the world's remaining 747SPs, many of them still in use. We were loaded onto an old Fokker, complete with ashtrays in the arm rests. "Don't worry about that," said our guide, "look at the legroom!" Wow. More than I've seen outside premium economy for many years.

Great museums, cities full of young people obeying the dress regulations only as much as they had to. The women wearing skintight jeans, sleeves that stopped at the elbows, headscarves that balanced precariously on the top of their heads.

Beautiful city parks full of families enjoying the gardens and greens. Bazaars full of spices and foods and everything else. I still have a thick leather belt that was hand-made for me on the spot.

Friendly people, keen for selfies with tourists. And you know what, they were about as religious as we Aussies, which is to say, not much at all.

I went back the next year, and I'd go again if the opportunity arose.