Fakku Travel Guide

Since I'm aware that we have a lot of journeymen and women around here, as well as a whole lot of people in and around major cities, I thought it might be nice to compile a thread of country/city guides + info from those willing to write them up. I'm sure this has been done in the past with the Travel forum, but I couldn't find anything through searching.

I am kick-starting things with a short guide to London. I originally wrote this for Nash, but have added a few things and re-organised it since.




Culture

You get free entry to museums, so you might as well use it. The British Museum (world renowned collections of culture and history - Rosetta Stone and other Egyptian artefacts, Roman and Greek sculpture, ancient Chinese and Japanese art, African and American antiquities, Anglo-Saxon treasure, the ridiculously massive libraries, drawings by Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt...and the Science Museum is pretty amazing, although more interactive and less, well, scholarly. The Natural History Museum has lots of dinosaurs among the tens of millions of other animal specimens, and is also a beautiful building regardless. The equally historical Greenwich district is also home to the Royal Observatory (through which the GMT 'line' runs) and National Maritime Museum, and apparently some nice pubs.

Speaking of art, the Victoria and Albert Museum has the biggest collection of art and design in the world (handily, this and the first two I mentioned are all on the same street), although I haven't been there; the massive Hyde Park is also nearby, as is the lovely looking Royal Albert Hall; and before I forget about parks, Regent's Park is smaller than Hyde but at least as gorgeous. Anyway, Tate Britain, Tate Modern, The National Gallery, The National Portrait Gallery, The Saatchi Gallery and The Royal Academy are the big hitting galleries that come to mind. There are also notable art galleries and performance halls at the huge Southbank Centre complex. The remade Shakespearian Globe Theatre, near the Tates (and probably various other things) is also worth a visit if you have the time.


Entertainment

Talking of performance halls, two of the things England is best known for have to be comedy and music, so think about finding some tickets at ticketmaster.co.uk if you have the time and money to spare. There are always a few big comedians performing in London in any given week, whether to 40 or 40,000 people, so check them out on Youtube for a taster. You're welcome to ask me for recommendations, but tastes will vary (but I have to recommend Stewart Lee for playing cheap, intimate gigs and being incredibly fucking awesome).

Likewise with the music, with a plethora of artists big and small playing a range of venues. The West End, while slightly dodgy, has some great little gigs for less frequented genres, from jazz to (yes) dubstep.

Lots to do for sports fans, too, with plenty of football matches likely to be taking place in and around the area at the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham or Fulham. There's also Lords for cricket, Prince's for tennis, as well as the mammoth Wembley for various stuff. You could even go visit Olympic Park for a taster of what's to come, or try and grab a ticket for the big event in clearing.

And with the big-hitters in broadcasting largely based in the capitol, you might even be able to snag some tickets to a big BBC show. Check out the BBC site for theirs, and this one for a smattering of BBC tickets plus everything else.


Attractions

Just for safety on the big attractions (major, but not Parliament-major), visit St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. Every monarch since 1066 has been crowned at the latter, without considering the reams of historical figures buried there. Madame Tussauds is cool but stupidly expensive, and the London Dungeon is a good bit of fun (interactive, dark and gory English history experience-thing) but also pretty pricey.

The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew are supposed to be amazing, as you would expect from the biggest collection of plants in the world. Ok, doesn't sound that cool, but we're talking giant greenhouses and gardens full of millions of exotic plants. The Georgian Kew Palace is nearby, and while we're on palaces, Henry VIII's Hampton Court is...nice. :P Kensington has a load of royal dresses among other things, and Apsley is the rather magnificent home of the Wellington family, of 'Duke of Wellington' fame.

There's also the British Music Experience exhibition (long-running project, really) at The O2 Arena (Millenium Dome), charting 60 years of British music if you're into that. Very interactive so it should be fun anyway, and the Millenium Dome itself is cool. Epic waste of money, but cool. And did I mention the London Eye?


Shopping

Harrods - just an amazing(ly expensive) department store. That sounds like a stupid suggestion for a visit, but it is vast, ornate and packed with goodies. Even if it's just to marvel at the incredibly high-end products. While we're on shops, your mum would love Selfridges, the department store where celebs who aren't famous enough to have people shop for them get their designer clothes. It's also the second largest store in the UK (next to Harrods), and is packed with other high-end bits of clothing, homeware etcetera. The café is also lovely.

Major districts/roads to consider would be Bond Street (fashion), Covent Garden (restaurants, Royal Opera House, markets + street performers), Oxford Street (mainly department stores), Savile Row (the world's finest suits), Regent Street (Apple's biggest world store among others, also All Soul's Church and 'Broadcasting House' - BBC HQ), Soho (nightclubs, pubs, cafes, sex shops of both genders...it's the spicy area), the neon-lit Picadilly Circus and its Statue of ANTEROS (not Eros) pointing his bow down Shaftesbury Avenue (burying his shaft, ohohohoho. Lord Shaftesbury was a reformist politician, cool guy...sorry.), Charing Cross Road for its book and music shops, and of course Notting Hill for various up-and-coming shops.


Travel

You should consider getting a London travelcard when you arrive; they let you travel for X amount of days on the Underground, buses, Docklands Light Railway and some overground services, and are usually waaaay cheaper than buying regular tickets. Generally though, buses are a far easier and cheaper way to travel around than the Underground.

You can buy them from any of those places, prices vary according to 'zones' as well though, although that can be advantageous - if you're only going to attractions in zones close together, it costs less.

Also if you're going outside of London at all (or maybe to the outskirts), you can get Groupsave train tickets with three or more people. And there are plenty of other lovely cities to visit. :)

[font=Tahoma]Great idea, doswillrule!

I would write one for Detroit, but I doubt anyone is really interested in traveling over here, hahaha![/font]

I give you major points for actually making our country sound interesting.

I dunno, I imagine it's pretty cheap to vacation there at this point. I know a few people around the area as well.

[font=Tahoma]Yes, but you really want to "travel" to a place as ghetto as Detroit? Sure, there are perks. But a lot of dangers as well.[/font]

well. Not stay there, the people I know live in the suburbs or surrounding area. But it'd be nice to pop in and see the sights for a day or two.

GUIDE FOR PAKILAND

SIGHTS:
MOTHERFUCKING GOATS ALL UP ON THE MOTHERFUCKING STREETS.
DIRT AND SAND. LOCATIONS: EVERYWHERE.

FUCKING LOCATIONS TO VISIT:
THE BEACHES HERE CAN BE PRETTY COOL.
FUCKING GHETTOS. THEY ARE LITERALLY FUCKING EVERYWHERE. I LIVE IN A SOMEWHAT SUBURBAN AREA, IT'S PRETTY NICE, YO. NEAR THE SEA AND SHIT. BUT LIKE, BARELY TEN MINUTES AWAY, IF YOU TAKE A WRONG TURN, YOU WON'T SEE THE NICE SHOPS AND HOUSES ANYMORE. YOU WILL ENTER THE FUCKING SLUMS. It's like a quest. "Find all the slums across the land"

SHIT YOU WON'T FIND HERE:
HAPPINESS
HOPE
DREAMS
NOTGOATS.

Malta: Don't come here.

/travel tips.

Central California:
Go to Morro bay, SLO and Fresno.

Morro bay: peaceful coastal village with great food, nice beaches, tourist stuff... go to aliva beach where it warm all the time, pirate cove if you like to be naked. Three star dinning in Pismo beach. A artist colony full of art and other stuff.

SLO: Same as above.

Fresno: We got dirt and fruit and a homicide rate about the same as LA. Two to three hours from anything you can see in California. Go to Madera country to see Yosemite, Bass lake and my hometown of The Devil's Playground. Best wine in the world is grown in five regions of central cali.. Madera is the best for sweet and artisanal wines, plus all the food is grown here.

mmm...So you will update this regularly with different locations~?

I'm no great traveller myself, unfortunately. I could add one or two others, but it's mainly for other people to contribute local knowledge and highlight things that tourists usually miss.

[font=Tahoma]I'll add to this when I can. I just recently started traveling.
I was in Chicago last weekend, but I didn't get to explore too much to really be able to give a good guide.

Hopefully after my trips to Japan and Ireland coming up, I'll be able to give more info for those.
:3[/font]

I live in Canada. Everything you need to know can basically be derived from the stereotypes; lumberjacks, moose, beavers, maple syrup, and hockey.

We DO get Summers, though- and they can be just as disgustingly hot as elsewhere in the world (we're no strangers to 100 degree whether- though it is rare).


Anyways, I suppose I could draft up some quick hits for a multitude of places, as I have traveled a lot throughout my late teens. They shan't be quite as thorough as yours however- for my memory is naught.

Ditto for central Ohio. All we have is the most bipolar weather in the world.

As I promised, I'll make a post about a travel guide for Luxembourg. Even though I'm from France, I'm sure lots of you have visited already, and at least heard of it in enough details, especially about Paris.
Maybe I'll make a post later about the French south east coast, if it interests anyone.

Luxembourg is a tiny country in the middle of Europe, sharing borders with Germany, France and Belgium. The fact that the country is really small, and used to be invaded frequently by the neighboring countries made that everyone in Luxembourg, that has lived for a long time there at least, speaks A LOT of languages. Minimum 4 : German, French, English and Luxemburgish. Most of times school adds a language to that, or immigration, since there is a huge portuguese community, and a few decades before, an italian one.

So no worries with languages when you visit Luxembourg, if you don't speak German or French, everyone speaks english anyway, and I'm always surprised at how easily everyone switches between those languages.

Culture

While being a tiny european capital, Luxembourg is part of the 'Benelux' region (Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg) and culturally it's always been very mixed, which is in my opinion a pleasure.

However there are not a lot of museums to see, and no major exhibitions or anything like that, but the National Museum is pretty interesting, and the "Villa Vauban" a new museum is certainly a nice place to visit.

The town itself is beautiful though. Built in a valley and on different plateaus, there's an upper part of the town, the centre, with the palaces (yes, there's royalty too :D A Grand-Duke and Grand-Duchess), the political important buildings, LOTS of banks, and the historical places which are very interesting, seeing how the country was part of the Dutch kingdom, the French and the Prussian Empires and so on.

On the same upper plateau there is the business center, with the European Institutions, worth visiting if you have an interest in the European Court of Justice, there's also a part of the European Parliament and European Commission (the rest is in Brussels). This part of the town is called "Kirchberg".

Down in the valley, down from those plateaus, there is what is called the "Grund", the oldest part of the town, nearby the river, and it's my favourite part of the town. It's especially beautiful in summer because of all of the gardens, the little houses, surrounded by forests. What is also very impressive in the Grund is the fact that the upper town and its fortifications were built on cliffs, all the ramparts of the old medieval town were kept or rebuilt, and completely integrated to the rocks. Some houses are also integrated to the walls of the city.
There are also historical buildings, like the Abbey of Neumünster, which was a prison for a while after being an Abbey, and is now a cultural center, and free to visit.

NB : Museums are free on tuesdays, the rest of the time it's not expensive, especially for students. A lot of other monuments are free to visit.

Entertainment

While being a capital, Luxembourg is very very small, so the night life isn't all that crazy, but it is in expansion. In the Grund, there is a popular place, called Clausen, an ancient brewery where you can find bars/clubs with different themes, and it's often crowded but nice and most of all, safe (All of Luxembourg is safe, but this place more than anywhere else).
The rest is disseminated in the town, centre, and close to the train station you can find the clubs that stay open 'til 5/6 am.

Something which I find REALLY awesome are the concerts here. We have two places, the Rockhal in the south of the country, and the Atelier close to Luxembourg (city)
Rockhal and Den Atelier.
It's easy to go there, and they are small places, so the audience is really close to the artists, they usually say how much they like playing there because they can talk with the audience :3


Attractions

As I said before, you can visit the Palace of the Grand Duke, well from outside, because he lives inside obviously. Another palace that can be visited from the inside, partly at least, is Vianden, a bit in the north of the country. Buses can easily take you there, transports are not a problem in a country this small.

Aside from that, there are a lot of little castles to visit in the country :D

There are parks too, and globally, Luxembourg wasn't called the Department of Forests by the French for nothing, you can walk 15 min in the city and find yourself in a forest. That's very enjoyable, even in winter, when it snows.

Shopping

With Luxembourg being one of the richest countries of the world, you can't expect to find cheap market places, but Louis Vuitton and Hermes shops errywhere. everything is more or less expensive, depending if you'd rather have Jimmy Choo or Christian Louboutin shoes...
You still have H&M and Mango and Zara, but basically, unless you're loaded, shopping in Luxembourg quickly turns to window shopping.


Travel


This is the part i love the most about Luxembourg. You are literally 20 min away from any border to big countries like France Germany or Belgium. Brussels is a 3 hours drive or train ride, Paris 5 hours, and in Germany, Köln, Düsseldorf, Trier and Sarrebrück are nice places to visit, and close by.

Buses are not that expensive if you take for exemple 10 tickets for the whole trip, and you can go pretty much everywhere, even outside of Luxembourg, just after the borders. For trains, it all depends where you want to go, but if you are a student, as in all Europe, trains can be pretty cheap.



I think I'm done, if anyone has any questions, feel free :D

Also, if anyone is interested I can do a travel guide about Libya, Syria, and other dangerous countries. I can't guarranty your safety though ~

[font=Tahoma]I'll try to remember to come back to this thread later on to make a post about visiting Tokyo/Osaka.[/font]

Updated: 07/07/2011 to add more stuff I forgot, plus I organized the restaurant list

Culture

There are lots of great museums in LA. Exposition Park is home to the California African American Museum, California Science Center, and Los Angeles Museum of Natural History. The first two are always free, and the Natural History one is free on the first Tuesday of the month. There's also the Museum of Contemporary Art and MOCA Geffen closer to downtown LA.

Moving further, there is the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). It's free after 5pm, and on second Tuesdays of the month, and there are also free art installations and music shows in the courtyard sometimes. On the same street (Wilshire) there is the La Brea Tar Pits and the Page Museum. The museum is only free on first Tuesdays of the month, but it's always free to walk around the park and take in the sights (yay!) and smells (ugh!) of the tar pits. Petersen's Automotive Museum and California Folk Art Museum (CAFAM) are also on the same block.

Further away from downtown, on Hollywood boulevard, you have the famous wax museums and Ripley's Museum. I don't like them because all those wax dolls creep me out, but hey, if you like that sort of thing and are willing to pay for it... Then we get to the UCLA Fowler Museum, UCLA Hammer Museum, The Getty Center, and The Getty Villa--all of these are free, but you need to reserve tickets for the Getty locations.

In the Pasadena area, you have the Norton Simon Museum and the Huntington Library, Collections and Botanical Gardens. I love the Gardens because they have peacocks just walking around, and they will harass you sometimes. It is hella funny, except when you're the one being harassed. Ah well. The plants are nice, anyway.

Entertainment

LA is great for entertainment. If you like classical music, the Music Center in downtown LA is home to the iconic Walt Disney Concert Hall, plus the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (home of LA Opera), Ahmanson Theatre, and Mark Taper Forum. The Hollywood Bowl is a great (and cheap!) way to see music in the summer. Also in downtown is the Staples Center, Nokia Theatre, and Club Nokia.

If you like Jazz music, there are several great places to see it. First up is the Catalina Bar and Grill in Hollywood. It's a bit pricey here, but worth it, and I love their brownies a la mode. Also in Hollywood, they have free jazz shows at the Hollywood and Highland center during the summer. There's also the Blue Whale in Little Tokyo--this one caters to the more modern and avant-garde tastes...free jazz, anyone? It's not really my thing, but they do have the best polenta I've ever tasted (seriously, it brought tears to my eyes), and the bartenders are really nice and will mix you ANYTHING you want with a heavy hand on the alcohol. Also in Little Tokyo is 2nd Street Jazz. They don't only play jazz--some rock/fusion bands also play here, but this is another bar where they're rather heavy handed with their alcohol. Further away from downtown LA you have Steamers Jazz Cafe in Fullerton. This is a cute, small location, but they bring in the big names.

For musical theatre and Broadway shows, the Pantages in Hollywood is definitely the place to go. The Ahmanson and Mark Taper also show musicals and plays. Then you have all the various Playhouses, like the Geffen Playhouse, the Pasadena Playhouse, etc.

For rock/metal/pop/anything else shows, The House of Blues is always great. There's also the Music Box, The Viper Room, Whisky A Go Go, and loooots of other places.

In Pasadena, you have the Pasadena Symphony, and Pasadena Pops Orchestra. There are a whole bunch of little music bars and artist alleys here too--Pasadena is a very cultured and artsy little city.

Attractions

DISNEYLAND. THAT IS ALL.

Ok, I kid. There's so much to see in LA. Of course Disneyland is always a nice place to go (better in the off-season where there aren't any crowds), and Downtown Disney isn't bad either. Other amusement parks include Knotts Berry Farm, Universal Studios, and Six Flags Magic Mountain.

You can go up to Griffith Park for the Observatory and the LA Zoo (and other stuff--there's lots to do there). You can also take pics of the Hollywood sign from there, but you can't go directly to the sign itself. Also in Hollywood, you have the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard, and the Hollywood and Highland center.

Wilshire Blvd is a loooooong road that runs through the city, so driving along it is definitely something you should try.

Chinatown and Olvera Street are in Downtown LA, as is Little Tokyo. Close to those is Union Station, which is one of my favourite places to chill and people-watch. Quite honestly, I don't like LA's Chinatown...because all of LA is Chinatown anyway. Ok, I kid, but the locals know that the better Chinese restaurants and attractions are more toward the Arcadia area and Rowland Heights area. Little Tokyo is nice though--I love the restaurants there. Koreatown is a bit further from downtown on Wilshire Blvd. If you're a fan of the movie 500 Days of Summer (I am not), the Park Angel's Knoll is on 4th and Olive. You too can sit on the same bench that Tom and Summer sat on...IF there aren't any hobos sitting on it already, that is. Pershing Square is a block down from that, on 5th st. Up a bit on 5th street is the downtown library and the US Bank towers, both great examples of LA architecture.

Many of the beaches near LA are excellent. Santa Monica and Venice beach are the most famous ones, but my favourites are Marina Del Rey, El Segundo, and Corona Del Mar (the last one being in the OC, not LA, but still).

Shopping

Oh my, where to start...with the expensive stores!

Beverly Center Shopping Mall and Rodeo Drive are great for watching rich Iranians flaunt their money if you have money to burn. Also in the West side of the city, you have The Grove and the Original Farmers Market. In Hollywood, you have the Hollywood & Highland center, Universal CityWalk, Melrose Avenue and Robertson Boulevard Shopping District. In Santa Monica, you have the Third Street Promenade.

Closer to downtown you have California Market Center, LA Fashion District, Grand Central Market, LA Flower District, and LA Jewelry District. I buy most of my clothes in the Fashion District, lol. There's also lots of shopping opportunities in Chinatown, Olvera Street, Little Tokyo, and Koreatown.

In the Pasadena area, you have Old Town Pasadena and Paseo Colorado.

Food

I will add this category because I'm a foodie and you can't really talk about LA without mentioning the many lovely restaurants here. There are so many, so I'll just make a list.


I'll add more as I remember them. I have a super long list somewhere, I swear.


Travel

The public transportation system in LA is...not so good. I should know, I commute on it all the time. However, within downtown and up to the Hollywood area, there are buses and trains that run regularly and get you where you need to go. Buy a TAP card with a Metro day pass, and you can hop on and off all the Metro trains and buses. Don't forget to buy transfers if you need to switch to one of the local bus lines like LADOT, Santa Monica Big Blue Bus, or Foothill transit.

I should do a write up of my month in Rome: our itinerary was pretty good, I'll recommend some places (and gelato spots, of course!) to visit when I have some time to make a write-up. :D

I'd go because I'm a Lions fan...also I'm from East LA, so I don't care about the ghetto.

@Nekohime how could you forget to put Pink's in that list of places to eat?

That's a nice post Nekohime, and yeah Gizgal do it :D Or maybe if someone's italian...?