[Pro.N]

This is such a great thread! Now I know where to come for Europe recommendations lol

Canada:
BC (Tofino might be my most favourite place in the country)
Alberta
Sask
Manitoba
Ontario (lived in Ottawa for a time)
Quebec

Still hoping to visit the Territories and Maritime Provinces.

US:
Washington State
Oregon
California
New York City

International:
Cuba
Mexico
Jamaica
Hawaii
Fiji
India (Bangalore, Chennai, Mysore, Hyderabad, Mumbai)
Singapore

Really want to do South America, Europe, Aus/NZ, Eastern Asia (basically the rest of the world lol) next.

 

[TAS]

Barcelona looks like a convoluted mess if you ask me.

Your comment crossed my mind as I was watching this TED Talk that came across my feed - it's from global award winning architect Jan Gehl.

In it, he talks about how many cities in the last 60 years have been designed to look good from the sky, a distance or from a car window at 50km/hr, but not on the ground at 5km/hr.

He uses this image below as an example of a city - Copenhagen- that looks like a mess and terribly boring from above and how a student designing this would be kicked out of architecture school, and yet at ground level, pedestrian level, this provides vibrant, attractive, walkable streets, attractive homes and businesses and the kind of place people want to be. You just wouldn't know it from looking above which is why eye level, ground level, design is most important, according to him. In fact, he said, the area has the highest concentration of architects living there than anywhere else in the city, haha,

Here's the episode.

 

[ChazYEG]

Your comment crossed my mind as I was watching this TED Talk that came across my feed - it's from global award winning architect Jan Gehl.

In it, he talks about how many cities in the last 60 years have been designed to look good from the sky, a distance or from a car window at 50km/hr, but not on the ground at 5km/hr.

He uses this image below as an example of a city - Copenhagen- that looks like a mess and terrible from above and how a student designing this would be kicked out of architecture school, and yet at ground level, pedestrian level, this provides vibrant, attractive, walkable streets, attractive homes and businesses and the kind of place people want to be. You just wouldn't know it from looking above which is why eye level, ground level, design is most important, according to him.

View attachment 344045

Here's the episode.

View attachment 344046

This TED Talk is amazing!

 

[RH van der Rohe]

Want to plan very specific trips to:
Oaxaca State in Mexico
Belize
Jamaica
Puerto Rico
Santiago, Chile
an Amazon Cruise
Tambopata, Peru
Singapore (my daughter lives there now)
London (refresher -- I love that City)
Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan
Seoul
New Zealand
Barcelona (another refresher)
Great Barrier Reef
Indonesia
Jerusalem
(that is essentially my travel bucket list)

If you are doing Oaxaca you should look into expanding into Chiapas. San Cristobal is great and there are canyons, rivers and jungles to explore. It' been 20 years for me but I am sure there are touring companies now and the road network should be a bit better.

 

[MattPT]

I rarely explore the other sections of this website other than the “buildings” section. Just found this. Sorry to revive a long dead thread lol

Canada: everywhere but NWT, Nunavut, and NFLD
USA: don’t care to list because I hate the whole country lol. (But I’ve never been to New York…)
Mexico
Cayman Islands
Puerto Rico
Turks and Caicos
Cuba
Sint Maarten
Saint Martin
Argentina
Brazil
Thailand
Ireland
Northern Ireland
England
Iceland
Norway
Sweden
Finland
Denmark - got married in Copenhagen city hall
Germany
France
Spain
Switzerland
Austria
Italy
Czechia
Slovakia
Hungary
Slovenia
Croatia
Bosnia

and… PORTUGAL

the whole reason I wanted to revive this thread is to talk about how overlooked Portugal always is! It’s kind of out of the way when people do their euro trips, so it’s often skipped. But it’s so awesome! I’m bias because my parents are from there, but there’s so much diversity in such a little country. In the North you have mountains and the region which is the birthplace of Portugal. Porto is the main city of the north and it’s beautiful and finally getting recognition lately as a top travel destination. Central in the country is Lisboa, which is one of my favourite cities in the world. It’s still super affordable by european capital city standards. And then in the south you have the Algarve region which is full of beaches and British/Irish people lol. There’s slightly less Portuguese culture in the south unless you really look for it, but it’s still beautiful!

And most importantly, a 6 hour flight from Toronto you have the Açores islands (Azores). 9 beautiful green islands that are as beautiful as Hawaii but without the horrible American people/culture lol! The weather is slightly more mild the Hawaii…a consistant 26 in the summer, and 16 in the winter. But it is beautiful, super safe, and still not too touristy. Before covid it was starting to become a popular cruise ship stop on transatlantic routes, but the tourism is definitely still pretty limited to Germans, Scandinavians, and people with family on the islands. We were just there at Christmas. Here are some photos of the “winter” that the locals complain is cold… it was between 16-20 degrees while we were there.

 

[Avenuer]

Beautiful photos! My mom's family is from Faial (don't think we have any family left there, though) but I have yet to visit - it's on the list!

 

[MattPT]

I want to see the other islands so bad! But I’m not in love with the idea of taking the prop planes to go see them lol. Might wait til I have enough time to go by ferry.

edit: btw there’s an episode of Anthony Bourdain “no reservation” where he visits Horta/Faial

 

[McEdmonton]

For me it's:

Canada(Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan)
Mexico(Cancun, Puerto Vallarta)
Cuba
Romania(Bucharest)
Hungary(Budapest)

 

[kcantor]

...

and… PORTUGAL

the whole reason I wanted to revive this thread is to talk about how overlooked Portugal always is! It’s kind of out of the way when people do their euro trips, so it’s often skipped. But it’s so awesome! I’m bias because my parents are from there, but there’s so much diversity in such a little country. In the North you have mountains and the region which is the birthplace of Portugal. Porto is the main city of the north and it’s beautiful and finally getting recognition lately as a top travel destination. Central in the country is Lisboa, which is one of my favourite cities in the world. It’s still super affordable by european capital city standards. And then in the south you have the Algarve region which is full of beaches and British/Irish people lol. There’s slightly less Portuguese culture in the south unless you really look for it, but it’s still beautiful!
...

i'm not sure about lisboa being one my favourite cities in the world (streets shouldn't change their name every dozen blocks ) but portugal was certainly one of our favourite countries for both walking and driving (other than a few centro areas that got just a little bit too tight for comfort - i.e. the only way out of the car would have been through the sun-roof ) and eating (particularly fresh seafood) although restaurants often close between lunch and dinner and dinner is often late so you need to plan ahead in smaller towns. as a unilingual traveler, portugal was also appreciated in that almost everyone has at least some command of english and is happy to use it.

 

[northlands]

Within Canada:
AB
BC
SK
So I badly need to see more of Canada... always wanted to do a cross Canada roady and then come back through the northern US States

United States:
Washington
Oregon
California
Montana
Idaho
Nevada
Arizona
Florida

Other world countries
Mexico
Germany
Belgium
France
Cuba
China

My travel plans for whenever COVID goes away:
Australia (#1)
New Zealand
Japan
Road trip down the whole western seaboard of the USA
United Arab Emirates
Ireland & the United Kingdom
Sweden (I look exceptionally Swedish despite having zero heritage)
Greece

 

[MattPT]

As someone that would love to be able to practise my Portuguese, that is the most frustrating part of Portugal! Everyone speaks perfect English and the second they hear my crappy Portuguese accent they automatically switch to English lol. And as for the dinner time, we would often go out to eat at around 8 or 9 PM on this trip, and we would be one of the first tables in the restaurant lol. They eat VERY late. For lunch time you have to look for the pratos do dia (daily special). Usually it includes a soup, glass of wine, main dish, and coffee for some ridiculously low price by Canadian standards.

 

[ChazYEG]

As someone that would love to be able to practise my Portuguese, that is the most frustrating part of Portugal! Everyone speaks perfect English and the second they hear my crappy Portuguese accent they automatically switch to English lol. And as for the dinner time, we would often go out to eat at around 8 or 9 PM on this trip, and we would be one of the first tables in the restaurant lol. They eat VERY late. For lunch time you have to look for the pratos do dia (daily special). Usually it includes a soup, glass of wine, main dish, and coffee for some ridiculously low price by Canadian standards.

You can practise your Portuguese with me!
Portugal is definitely on my list.

 

[MattPT]

The problem is that my university professor was Brazilian, and Duolingo is Brazilian Portuguese. So whenever I’m in Portugal everyone is so confused why I have a Brazilian accent lol. So talking to you would reinforce that Brazilian accent lol! Also, My parents are from two different regions, so whenever they try to speak to us in Portuguese it just turns into an argument in who speaks correctly lol.

 

[TAS]

Thought it was time to bring this back to life with a twist. This is currently making the rounds on some social media:

City I dislike: Calgary
City I think is overrated: Miami
City I like: New York
City I love: Amsterdam
City I feel most myself in: Montreal
City I still need to visit: Oslo
City I dream of living in: Utrecht
Favorite city of all time: Barcelona

Next!

 

[IanO]

City I dislike: Edmonton
City I think is overrated: Melbourne
City I like: Edmonton
City I love: Mexico City
City I feel most myself in: Chicago
City I still need to visit: Istanbul
City I dream of living in: Tokyo
Favorite city of all time: Paris

I will also add
City I am going to next: Amsterdam,Prague,Berlin (same trip)