Have You been ?

[Selby White]

Got the same issue with US States as slowly been ticking them off (its around 30ish now). The only time I've been in Florida is a couple of hours at Miami airport on the way back from New Orleans. Should it be counted ?

Got me thinking how many states we’ve visited.

Arizona
Nevada
California
Maine
Washington
New York
New Jersey
Massachusetts
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
New Hampshire
Delaware
Maryland
Vermont
Connecticut
Philadelphia
Virginia
Texas
New Mexico

Think that’s all ? This is a revised list as I’ve gone through a couple of itineraries & had forgotten we spent the night in Houston after our connecting flight from Costa Rica was cancelled.

Managed to add Oregon last year to mine
New York
Georgia
Pennsylvania
Massachusetts
Illinois
Missouri
Tennessee
Arkansas
Kansas
South Dakota
Nevada
Arizona
New Mexico
Colarado
Utah
Wyoming
Texas
California
Oregon
Washington
Oklahoma

[Selby White]

Four more for me on the next list and some others in the "pending" tray

The four Toronto, Havana, Florence and of course York.

[NottinghamWhite]

Next 10 -
61. Durban
Overnighted in Durban before touring up the coast taking in St Lucia , Richards Bay & Mbazwana. Landing at Durban was the worst landing I’ve ever experienced it was like we were coming down the stairs, apparently it’s a common occurrence there, still scary.

63.Adis Adabba (Ethiopia)
We celebrated 2000 in Adis. Ethiopia is a beautiful country as you journey up the Rift Valley. We spent Christmas Day camping at the Awash Falls after a trip out to Bethlehem ( I kid you not ) On NYE as a group we decided to go the Hilton International for drinks we were amazed at the number of people there all dressed to the nines drinking expensive cocktails ( they were expensive) we asked our guide who they were to which he responded they are foreign aid workers. During our 7 day excursion into the country we lived off a dish of spicy lamb or goat stew which was accompanied by a type of bread called Injera which looked & tasted like a bath sponge. This is a very religious country & a service at a church would attract hundreds of worshippers all dressed in white robes.

64. Toronto
Great city but wow we found it expensive when we were there. Visited the CN Tower & bought my grandson a Blue Sox top. The city was preparing for the Pan American games so there was loads of roadworks affecting traffic.


67. Havana
Up there with the best anywhere in the world. Probably the most vibrant city ever. Lots of vintage American cruise the streets. I’d read somewhere the place to visit was the Hotel Ambos Mundos aka Hemingway’s Hotel which had a roof bar affording 360 degree views over the city but it was resident only. So we walked in said hello to reception & took the lift to the bar at the top of the hotel. Fantastic it was too. We travelled up to Cayo Coco for a week of luxury. If you haven’t visited Cuba honestly it’s well worth it.

69. York
Our favourite bolt hole should have been there soon for the cricket sadly.

Running total 30/60

[Sniffer]

Kuala Lumpur
Technically, yes I've been there. I'm not sure if I changed buses there on the journey to Singapore or it was just a brief stop. I know that all I saw of the place was from the bus window.

York
Yep, been a few times. The first was a couple of years after the Jorvik Centre opened and I think it was the first city-break the better half and I ever did together. Blige!

Florence
Yep, camping on a hillside over-looking the Ponte Vecchio and the Duomo. Beautiful city but far too expensive (and busy) for me when I visited as a 20-something with limited funds.

[NottinghamWhite]

A few years back whilst channel hopping we came across an adventurer called Danger Man who had camped at the same campsite as us at Awash. He explained before making the next leg of his journey taking in Bethlehem & other places we had visited he was waiting for company. I drove this open backed lorry with 6 huge black guys all carrying AK assault rifles Think TV makes a few things up to make things look worse than they actually are.

Awash

[mapperleywhite]

Next 10 -
61. Durban

Went for a meeting once and I remember it being rather humid. It's said to have the best curry in the country due to the relatively high percentage of south Asians who settled there.

62. Johannasburg

Two visits in the 1990's. One included driving to the above-mentioned Durban. I really enjoyed being in South Africa and, as always, it was good to be with the locals. On the one hand it's familiar - people speaking English, driving on the left - but then, as you are often reminded 'this is Africa', especially when something goes wrong.

My little story. I'd just arrived and perhaps hadn't adjusted to the elevation - it's at 1750 metres, so getting on for 6000 feet. The guys in the office set me up to play squash with one of their colleagues Lucy. At the end of the game I was crumpled in the corner of the court pouring with sweat and gasping for breath having been totally trounced. Lucy chose this moment to announce that she was ranked number 7 in the countries' ladies! Boy did I give my so-called 'mates' in the office some stick the next day!

63.Adis Adabba (Ethiopia)
64. Toronto

Multiple visits as a result of working for Petro-Canada who have their HQ there. Unfortunately I can't separate my feelings about the city from my hugely negative recollections from P-C.

Lakeside setting nice, CN Tower definitely worth it, 40 minutes drive to Niagara.

65. Christchurch
66. Kuala Lumper
67. Havana
68. Miami

Been a few times, mostly the airport - was greeted in Spanish one time when I arrived - fairly sure I didn't stay in the city. Florida is a rather unique place with a balmy climate and lots of lakes. Shame I never saw the art-deco buildings Miami is famous for.

69. York

Well of course! One of Mrs MW's favourites along with Harrogate.

70. Florence

So come on folks tell us your stories about any of the above cities

[NottinghamWhite]

Just remembered we flew into Miami airport en-route to Lima & I have to say the security staff, check in staff & customs officials were the rudest people I’ve ever come across it must be a prerequisite to work there. If we were travelling to South America we avoided Miami at all costs.

[Selby White]

Just remembered we flew into Miami airport en-route to Lima & I have to say the security staff, check in staff & customs officials were the rudest people I’ve ever come across it must be a prerequisite to work there. If we were travelling to South America we avoided Miami at all costs.

We've gone with Iberia via Madrid to South America, its a good route.
Did Buenos Aires direct with BA though.

[Selby White]

I'll start with Havana, dare not do anything else because that was the trip I met the now Mrs SW.

Was part of a tour of Cuba again a must say a must visit country as its very different to anywhere else. Security I would say arguably the safest country I've been to, that is how it felt the people were fantastic.
And a bottle of Rum was cheaper than water, do like a Rum based cocktail
Visited Club Tropicana and entrance included a Cigar, bottle of Rum and a small can of coca cola as a mixer

Toronto - Nice City reminded me more of some American cities than Canadian.
Little story we booked a day trip to Niagara Falls and our pick up time was given as 8am. So got up early for the hotel breakfast and got to the hotel foyer in good time about 7.50am.
Anyway 8am a came and no bus, got to about 8-15 and I asked reception if they could phone the tour company, receptionist said sure but think they picked up ages ago.
The tour company contacted the driver and apparently had arrived early at 7.45am and two old ladies had jumped on, he never checked their names against his list and just assumed it was us as he only had two from our hotel.
It turns out the ladies were on a totally different tour and were due to be picked up at 8-30am but had assumed it was their bus.
Hence the driver now had to turn back with a bus full of "not happy passengers" to pick us up and return the very embarrassed ladies to the hotel.
Despite running over an hour late it was a trip worth doing, Niagara Falls are amazing.

Florence - For years the one Italian City I wanted to go to and eventually got the chance when I did a walking holiday in Tuscany. Was actually disappointed, yes its lovely but the build up is better than the experience. Tuscany Cities I much favoured Sienna.
As for Tuscany the scenery was great but no better than dales, but they did have some very nice wines.

York - Yes been there a couple of times

[mapperleywhite]

We've gone with Iberia via Madrid to South America, its a good route.

We went to Medellin for Christmas and Iberia lost our bags BOTH ways. Never again.