Have you been "2" ?

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NottinghamWhite
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Re: Have you been "2" ?

Post by NottinghamWhite »

Next 10 -
51. Glasgow
My first visit was in 1970, not a pleasant experience. Gone back a couple of times since but for pleasure. Good city nice people, prefer it to Edinburgh.

52. Cairns
One of my favourite places anywhere. Our daughter was working as a revenue manager for the Hilton hotel group & said leave the booking to her for our weeks stay, as she would book us in on the family & friends deal, which we did. After days touring the Atherton Table mountains, Daintree River area where we stayed at a fabulous retreat in the middle of nowhere ( Daintree Valley Haven ) in fact it was at least 10km from the town, we stopped a couple of times making sure we were heading the right way. The owner said there was no restaurant or bar so make sure you pick up some groceries. After watching a duck billed platypus ( these creatures are really rare apparently) in the village we bought steaks, salads & wine & headed to this wonderful place. I remember sitting outside our bungalow eating the steak & thought this is as near to paradise as I’ll ever get. We arrived at the Hilton & checked in. To our amazement we were given a penthouse suite which gave us breath taking views across the Great Barrier Reef. We were there 7 days & ate at a different nationality restaurant every evening, which shows how cosmopolitan the city is. Cairns is a beautiful place, so glad we visited.

54. Malaga
Had a week here basically just for some sun. Nice city though we only ventured out a few times as the all inclusive kept us in. One excursion we did was to the Roman Theatre was excellent.

59. San Jose (Costa Rica)
Anyone that’s not visited Costa Rica you really need to it really is special. We were based here for the first & last night of our trip the rest of the time we toured around. We visited Monteverde, La Fortuna, Parque & Arenal volcano. In San Jose on the last night there was a World Cup qualifier on TV in the hotel bar & we sat & watched with the locals, turned into a really good evening.This is one of those places I’d happily live.

Running total 21/60
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Selby White
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Re: Have you been "2" ?

Post by Selby White »

Four in the next batch so 20/60

Glasgow - Back in the day played table tennis in the National League but never saw the city as stayed in Clydebank and played in Drumchapel.
As a tourist just had the one day there when we stayed just up the road in Greenock. Went in on the train and did the hop on hop off bus tour which is a great way of seeing any city if you only have a short time.
Found a really nice Italian restaurant before getting the train back.

Malaga - Been in 3 times for a day trip when staying at various places in the south of Spain, lovely city.

Xian - Stayed a couple of nights on our China tour and of course visited the Terracotta Army, what a massive site that is, unbelievable. Xian is a beatiful city with some very impressive walls, my favourite Chinese City.

Salt Lake City - Stayed a couple after touring Yellowstone, not a place I would choose but its actually very nice so pleased we did. Not really my thing but on arrival was given a tour of the Mormon Temple by a couple of believers which was interesting. Went up to Park City which is really nice and of course visited the famous Salt Lake.
The hotels can't sell alcohol but its ok in restaurants but not a problem as there was an off licence next to the hotel (and the hotel had a lounge to sit in to drink it :crazy: ).
Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.
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mapperleywhite
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Re: Have you been "2" ?

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Selby White wrote: 51. Glasgow

Ended up in Glasgow in August as Edinburgh had its festival going on - 2010 I think. Found a nice hotel in a Victorian house near the Botanic Gardens.

We arrived around lunchtime and went across the street to a bakers. I asked the lady what she'd got and I absolutely couldn't understand a word she said! I pointed at a couple of things and hoped for the best (After a few days I got tuned in more)

We enjoyed the open top bus tour so much we did it twice. The tour guides were real comedians eg "'The bagpipes are the missing link between music and noise". The variety of architecture is stunning and we had a great time. Even ended up in a city centre pub on a Friday night - the one that claims to have the longest bar in the world - and, although there were one or two men staring angrily into their pints, we enjoyed ourselves.

In our three days there it didn't rain!

52. Cairns
53. Calgary

My family and I ended up there when we first moved to the US so that we could get our immigration status in order and we visited the consulate there. Don't remember a whole lot except that the city was pretty boring, although we drove out toward Banff and lake Louise which was spectacular.

54. Malaga

A company I worked for had their sales conference there in the early 80's. Lovely place although the same could not be said of the developments along the coast that we saw during the drive from Malaga airport.

55. Skopje (Macedonia)
56. Male (Maldives)
57. Caracas

Airport only.....

58. Xian
59. San Jose (Costa Rica)
60. Salt Lake City

Flew in to attend a training course at Sundance which was in a beautiful setting in the Rockies. One of the more memorable occasions during my time in the US
Might have to take an interest in the Premier League now....
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NottinghamWhite
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Re: Have you been "2" ?

Post by NottinghamWhite »

Next 10-
61. Nice
Another cruise ship visit. We took the tourist train which you can catch near the cruise terminal. It was great fun & from memory cost €5 each. As you’d imagine it’s a beautiful place & we spent an hour at the marina looking at the super yachts.

64. Colombo (Sri Lanka)
Had a couple of night at the end of our Sri Lankan tour at busy tourist hotel, which basically could have been anywhere. Had a half day trip to the Gangaramaya Temple & the Colombo Lotus Tower.

65. Brisbane
Airport only

68. Bath
Visited many years ago loved the royal crescent

69. Funchal (Madeira)
Had a weeks holiday on this beautiful island. Had a full days tour which was stunning. Great place to visit if you haven’t been.

70. Cagliari
Was here the day of the play off final versus Doncaster Rovers. Asked the entertainments guy if we could watch the game on the big screen, he said they didn’t have the right channel. 3 of us then grabbed a taxi to find a bar but every bar said sorry they’ll have the Italian Grand Prix on. Back to the ship an hour later & lor of euros down to be greeted by a Danish Leeds fan who said the channel had been found & it’s going to be on the big screen after all. Wish we hadn’t have bothered. Still there was around a dozen of us watching the game we all put a couple of euros into a pot & a waiter kept bringing beer, pizza & chips. He was happy at the end as he got the pot with around €45 in it.

Running total 26/70 ( at least I’ve a quarter of the cities hope in the next 30 it becomes a third :D )
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Sniffer
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Re: Have you been "2" ?

Post by Sniffer »

Cairns
I was in Townsville, a couple of hundred miles or so down the road, for 6 months transforming a bank in to a bar. I took a trip to Cairns for a few days, did the train through the Atherton Tablelands which was pretty good. Admired Cairns seafront but ultimately found it a bit touristy compared to Townsville which is a place I'd go back to.

Bath
Aquae Sulis. Bristol's little sister. Pretensions of poshness but grubby underskirts. The Roman baths are here, of course, after which the city was named. Interesting but smelly if I recall correctly from a school trip when I was about 11. If they re-open after all this pandemic nastiness, Moles is a great little music venue, the Theatre Royal is a lovely little place and The Forum just about works. The Pump Rooms are supposed to be good but I've never been. Pulteney Bridge is one of only 4 bridges in the world with shops along either side. I would imagine it is the least admired of the four. A nice place to visit if you can avoid the tourists.
Oh, and there's some crescent that gets people all excited. And Jane Austen.
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mapperleywhite
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Re: Have you been "2" ?

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Selby White wrote:

Next 10-
61. Nice

Went multiple times when I lived in that part of the world. The Promenade des Anglais is a magnificent boulevard of art deco buildings facing the sea. I always enjoyed the market with its top quality fresh produce and a wide variety of seafood, although the Italian-tinged French spoken there - it was part of Italy until 1860 - left me struggling to understand sometimes :crazy:

Before I joined up with the company down there I attended a mini sales meeting held in the hotel Negresco, one of the above-mentioned art deco buidlings. A truly stunning edifice with Michelin starred food.

62. Accra (Ghana)
63. St Louis

Went one day for a business meeting

64. Colombo (Sri Lanka)
65. Brisbane
66. Nassau (Bahamas)
67. Lausanne (Switzerland)

Fabulous setting on Lac Leman looking towards Mont Blanc and the Alps. The north bank of the lake is home to the vineyards that produce the best Swiss white wine, which, like most wine producing nations, is rarely exported.

68. Bath

Went for an afternoon in the early 80's. Lovely place.

69. Funchal (Madeira)
70. Cagliari
Might have to take an interest in the Premier League now....
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NottinghamWhite
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Re: Have you been "2" ?

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I remember landing at Brisbane & thinking we’ll soon be in Cairns. Took 4 & half hours you forget what a massive country it is. Whilst we were there the Rainbow Warrior was parked below our suite :D & its captain was in court in breach of 124 maritime laws. We found Cairns very expensive don’t know whether the rest of Australia is as expensive. Was very boring had a pie every day for lunch they were delicious :D
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Selby White
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Re: Have you been "2" ?

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NottinghamWhite wrote:I remember landing at Brisbane & thinking we’ll soon be in Cairns. Took 4 & half hours you forget what a massive country it is. Whilst we were there the Rainbow Warrior was parked below our suite :D & its captain was in court in breach of 124 maritime laws. We found Cairns very expensive don’t know whether the rest of Australia is as expensive. Was very boring had a pie every day for lunch they were delicious :D
Rainbow Warrior was born in Yorkshire, built in Selby in 1957 :D

Originally a deep sea fishing vessel was sold to greenpeace and refitted in Hamburg in the 80's.
Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.
Sniffer
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Re: Have you been "2" ?

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NottinghamWhite wrote:I remember landing at Brisbane & thinking we’ll soon be in Cairns. Took 4 & half hours you forget what a massive country it is. Whilst we were there the Rainbow Warrior was parked below our suite :D & its captain was in court in breach of 124 maritime laws. We found Cairns very expensive don’t know whether the rest of Australia is as expensive. Was very boring had a pie every day for lunch they were delicious :D
After labouring on the bank/bar I spent a few weeks doing telesales for the local Hilton (or something - Transcontinental maybe). It was cold-calling random Joes and trying to sell them membership to a hotel scheme whereby they get so many free nights, meals etc. I was ringing people in Mt Isa, well over 500 miles away, and they would say "Yeah, I pop in to Townsville every couple of months. Sounds like a good deal. Sign me up." Mt Isa is a huge mining town in the middle of nowhere a good 8 hours drive away but these people thought nothing of the distance.
As far as expense is concerned it's difficult to say as I was there nearly 30 years ago. I was staying in backpacker accommodation at around A$10 a night which was a hell of a lot more expensive than what I'd been used to paying going around Asia. Other than that I wouldn't say it was that expensive. It depends where you go, I suppose.
When I was labouring I would have a pie and a cold drink on my way to work ever morning. It helped clear the hangover and got me ready to face the day.
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Re: Have you been "2" ?

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NottinghamWhite wrote:I remember landing at Brisbane & thinking we’ll soon be in Cairns. Took 4 & half hours you forget what a massive country it is. Whilst we were there the Rainbow Warrior was parked below our suite :D & its captain was in court in breach of 124 maritime laws. We found Cairns very expensive don’t know whether the rest of Australia is as expensive. Was very boring had a pie every day for lunch they were delicious :D
Couldn't believe how expensive things were in Sydney, all relevant I suppose to the average earnings etc but definitely not a cheap place to stay. https://maphub.net/davycc/lufctalk-visited

A quick check on Woolworth Austrailia shows it hasn't got any cheaper.
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