Travel

[nevergreen]

anyone gone on a birthright trip to israel? i need my passport but i'd like to go this summer

[Ques]

gonna be in guilin/yangshuo for 4 days and then taipei for another 4 sometime in april. anyone have cool recommendations or wanna get tea with me?

[parastexis]

I'm headed to Shanghai and then Hong Kong for the next few weeks. Recommendations and meet ups welcomed

[mahi-mahi]

I'm headed to LA next week, any recs greatly appreciated. Would like food/shops or activities really. Also, my friend asked me to get him a a souvenir, what's cool bout that??? Thanks

[donut_milk]

I used to live in LA. Where are you going or what area are you going to stay at? LA if you don't know already is pretty spread out and can take time to get to know and see.

Definitely check out Downtown. Lots of cool eateries and bars - Seven Grand, Villain's Tavern, Bottega Louie, KazuNori Sushi, Perch, Grand Central Market, Clifton's Cafeteria (I moved right before this opened) to name a few. Grand Central Market for sure...it's been revitalized and has lots of nice food stalls inside. I mean there is just SO much Downtown. There's also Little Tokyo (some nice shops and more eateries there) and K-Town if you want reeeallly good Korean food (which I miss so much). Go to the American Apparel factory outlet on 7th and Alameda (you can get some nice deals there and it's very well stocked and big).

Highland Park is also gentrifying right now so it might be worth checking out but I don't know what's around there; I just know there's nice stuff popping up along York Blvd. Mt. Washington is nearby and also nice area to walk around. Eagle Rock and Atwater Village is also close by and has some stuff checking out. You can also hop over to Glendale and have a drink at Golden Road Brewery.

Also, be sure to check out the galleries and museums. The Broad just opened up (which I also missed before I moved) which is next door to The Walt Disney Concert Hall and MOCA Grand Avenue. LACMA is also really great and The Getty (on the Westside) or Getty Villa (Malibu).

Uhhh let's see...go to Echo Park and see the re-opening of the lake and ride a paddle boat. Catch a show at The Echo/Echoplex, have a drink at Goldroom, pizza at Masa. Go to Silverlake and also check out the reservoir as well as some shops nearby.

In Mid-Wilshire can't go wrong going down Melrose and seeing all the well known shops down there which stretches for a few miles. Currywurst is another good eatery to check out -- next to SUPREME; you might even see Tyler the Creator (I know I have a few times). Go catch an indie movie at Cinefamily -- seriously, I miss that place too...really great crowd. Miracle Mile is also close by which is where LACMA is.

Err...I don't know too much about Culver City/Westside since I spent most of my time east of the 405 and north of the 10. All I know about Westside is that Santa Monica and Venice are there and are still worth checking out. Santa Monica for the pier/3rd Street Promenade and Venice for the boardwalk (and people watching).

If you have a chance also go to SGV (San Gabriel Valley) and eat some really good Chinese food (Taiwanese, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sichuan, etc). You seriously cannot find a very large concentration of Chinese people anywhere else in the US and the food is so good and cheap! I know lots of people talk about Din Tai Fung so go if it's been on your list.

Also check out Pasadena and the downtown area...it's a nice walking area. Burbank (where I used to live) is also worth checking out especially along Magnolia avenue. There are tons of thrift stores/vintage shops there I used to frequent: American Way (can get busy on weekends), It's A Wrap (studios send their clothes here after a shoot), etc. If you can try to get tickets to Conan (or Ellen if you want lol). Or take a tour of the WB studios. You can also go to Universal Studios in North Hollywood (NoHo)/Studio City. In Studio City along Ventura Ave. there are lots of good food places here too (Spitz, Daichan, etc).

If you're into hiking you can go to Griffith Observatory and check out the trails near there. Nothing too difficult as it's more like a leisurely hike; the Hollywood sign hike is here too. Speaking of Hollywood...I would just avoid it. If you are set on seeing it just see the walk and be done with it. I used to live in the area too and there ARE places to see/eat/drink (Piano Bar) but overall it's too crowded.

You can take a short drive from Hollywood to Thai town and have some A+ Thai food - Pa Ord Noodle (my fave noodles), RCA, Palms Thai. Also, go to Jumbo's Clown room...get there early because it can get crowded fast. (smiling) Also nearby is Los Feliz which has more shops and eateries.

Let's see...oh yeah! Most places are semi-accessible by the subway/light rail lines - Red (NoHo to DTLA), Purple (DTLA to K-Town), Gold (which just opened it's extension - DTLA to Pasadena to Azusa or DTLA to East LA), Blue (DTLA to Long Beach...though this is the "roughest" line of them all) and Expo (DTLA to Culver City...soon Westside but in a few months).

A souvenir for your friend - get him a Dodgers hat haha...or a Los Angeles magnet? I always buy the city's magnet wherever I go to stick on my fridge (cheesy, I know).

This is all I can think of off the top of my head...I hope this helps and wasn't too vague. I know everything I recommended was food because that's all I ever did in LA -- find new places to eat. Feel free to ask/PM if you have any other questions!


---

Edit: I don't know how old you are so if you're under 21 then some of these places (bars, Jumbo's lol) you will probably not be able to get into. But that's ok...still so much to see and do. And if you can't get everything on your list, like, don't even worry. I lived there for 7 years and still didn't get to see/eat/experience everything LA had to offer.

[adiabatic]

[ASTROCHIMP]

I'm going to be in Chicago for like two days, what are some shops that I need to visit? I'm already planning on hitting Belmont Army and Uniqlo but nothing else besides that. Also I wish I could do a care-meet but I'm with my family so it won't really be possible.

[rjbman]

Meyvn is a super cool store that will be stocking Story this season (looks like they haven't gotten it yet). It's off the Blue line, Logan Square stop. If you're staying in the Loop/Magnificent Mile area it's probably about a 25 minute ride. The Damen stop has a lot of cool stores too: Saint Alfred's, RSVP Gallery, Apartment No. 9.

In the MagMile itself, would suggest Independence - tons of heritage workwear, stuff like Engineered Garments and Merz. George Greene is on the floor below Independence, it's got an eclectic mix. Barney's has a lot of high end stuff but there's a lot of crap too. I enjoy going to Patagonia, The North Face, and Nike stores too but those are less unique. There's a neat Dr. Seuss gallery in Water Tower Place too.

Notre is waaaay up north on the red line. It's a hell of a hike but there's some good stuff there. Don't go there much due to it being like an hour+ trip for me.

[Ques]

I'll be in Taiwan from the 10th to 17th. Planning on spending it all in Taipei and doing day trips, unless anyone thinks somewhere is absolutely worth trekking out for? If anyone wants to meet up / give me recommendations please do ! !

also will be in Shanghai next weekend, not this one, if you or anyone else wants to grab a coffee/hit up the gay club with my friend and me

[alby]

Friends and I booked a trip for Colorado over the July4th weekend. Any must dos/sees in Colorado? I went there like 5 years ago, and am excited to appreciate it more. Am spending a few days in Denver, a few days in CO Springs, and then have a few days up in the air. Camping? Rafting? Other? What do y'all suggest.

[adiabatic]

Most of what I know about Colorado is centered around Summit County, but Boulder (especially around the mall) is cool.

Biking is fun. I got my rear and legs in shape before going last time, and I'm glad I did.

I spend most of my time at 1000'. Boulder is at 5400'. Summit County is about 9600'. Colorado Springs is about 6000'. The first night I was in Boulder and I was OK, but the second night I was in Summit County and had a nasty headache all night long (telltale sign of altitude sickness). This had never been a problem before when I was younger (6–12), and I was fatter and more out of shape back then.

At any rate, I was OK in the morning and was able to do some short uphill hikes, but I made sure to stop and catch my breath at the first sign of headache; this happened for two days of half-day trips but by the bike ride on the third day I was mostly OK.

At any rate, five years is enough time to lose a noticeable chunk of your ability to adapt to altitude, so stay safe out there.

The hot springs are unlikely to be downright fun in July unless you like pool water that smells faintly of sulfur. In the wintertime it's neater.

Rafting is awesome. I don't know where you should do it, but you should do it. 1-2 is a yawnfest, 3-4 is interesting. 5-6 is too much for normal people like me.

Hope this helps!

[bels]

Is there anything good in Dubai or should I just content myself with admiring the expressways.

[maj]

is going to dubai the middle class version of going to tenerife?

[Syeknom]

[stappard_]

[bels]

Such sculptural overpass columns though?

[sparkyoriental]

does anyone have an travel recommendations? we're three people (2 guys, 1 girl, early 20s) looking to spend 500-750 max, flying (not opposed to driving though) from Chicago. we want to travel in july for 3-5 days.

[Minkhoi]

Im going to london in a few weeks but i have no idea what to do.

Can anyone from london rec me cool things to do .

[ramdomthought]

you want city, country, suburb, park, or something else?

[uames]

i'm going to be doing more work/research/conference travel than ever before this summer, likely including 2-3 trips to montreal, a week in paris, a few days in dundee, scotland, and a week in victoria, british columbia. i've been to montreal a bunch, and paris a bit, but i have no idea if there's anything cool in victoria or dundee. Maybe BC is full of record stores that stock rare mood hut house 12's or 100% cvlt bestial war metal...? It's been a few years since I was last in Paris too I guess. What has changed? I hear there's a better music scene now.

But aside from asking for advice on each of these destinations individually, what I'd *really* like to do is see if c-t has any advice about overall travel optimization.

any must-have organizational tools/techniques? things you have learned from lots of frequent flying? advice on perfect airport jackets?

in my experience, the biggest challenge about work-travel is choosing the best balance between casual nightlifewear and daytimeintellectualworkerwear. example: last summer i showed up in berlin with only my conference clothing and i had to go buy new clothes so they would let me in berghain. it's even harder during summer when i have to wear regular clothes during the workday but then its really hot and damp outside and I want to change into more ventilated stuff. maybe i need to try the create-yourself-a-uniform challenge.

so far, i have just been preparing by collecting bags that fit inside other bags.

[jrisk]

Not necessarily a recommendation for you uames but Google just released a new Android app called Trips. Not on the official play store yet but here's a to manually install. It's a nice aggregation tool that will automatically pull reservation info from Gmail. You can save locations and give recommendations for destinations. Really wish I had this last year for our trip to europe.

[dakaf_fal]

I'm headed to San Francisco in about a week to run Bay to Breakers. I know it's going to be a shitshow of a race, but I hear it's the shitshow race to run. Never been to SF, so it should be a good trip. Definitely planning on some embarrassingly touristy sightseeing, hiking, coffee, and sourdough bread. Checking out the local selection of Japanese Hype is a given. Any suggestions for other neat stuff I should check out while I'm there? Recommendations for landmarks, museums, vegetarian food, bars, local culture, or generally non-negotiable activities are welcome.

[fun_yunchables]

[Ques]

since im gonna be in austin this summer for a few weeks im thinking of going to dallas or houston (how do you spell?) since somehow ive never really been to either of them even though i've lived in austin for 15 years (went to dallas when i was 16 for a video game tournament but never left the hotel so that doesnt count)

any care-taggers live around those parts and have suggestions/reasons to go?

[Cowboy]

Dallas has a better fashion scene Houston is bleh.

Houston is just a bleh city in general, everyone here is just here because of their jobs tbh. Some attraction in downtown are interesting sure but in general it's just a big economic hub. That's just me though, maybe one of the other Houstonians disagrees.

Dallas outside of clothes is also notorious for being boring. Much younger than Houston but all the same. 3-4 members of ExpensiveHumanFashion/SF live there, so they would know better than me. Idk if there are any Dallas taggers.

I know this is overall negative but if you are just dropping down for a day or so there are definitely sights to see and places to go. Good food everywhere, what have you, and city guides should cover that well, but an extended visit won't prove to be too enjoyable.

Austin is the most interesting city in Texas w/out a doubt. I'm in the city now, wish I could stay longer.

[meatjacket]

QUES lemme know exactly when youll be down here and i will take you and cowboy out around the town. You definitely have to visit the Classroom, its a nice little shop. Galleria is nice but can be pretty overwhelming. Lots of boutique, expensive stuff in there (SLP, Gucci, prada, and i forget the name of the store but it pretty much has every designer such as Dsquared2, Kenzo and MMM ,) as well as the regular mall stuff.

Lemme take you to my favorite Family Thrift Outlet where everything is at a flat rate price (ex: on tuesdays, everything is 50c each.) or where they sell clothes by the pound

Tons of good food pretty much anywhere in houston. Fast foods such as Cane's, Whataburger, and we just got a Shake Shack. Lots of "worldly" foods, specifically asian cuisine, so we have lots of vietmanese pho places, sushi and similar. Personal favorite is Hikari Sushi. I definitely want to take you to a grocery store, 99 Ranch / H mart where they have delicious foods you really cant find much other places. I bought a durian here and then ate at a restaurant inside with it. Very fun!

And then if youre down, only other thing i can think of rn is to go to discovery green, a big park with a couple little restaurants and smoetimes even live music (free most of the time)

again, lemme know when youre coming down so we can spend a good day exploring houston! its no Austin, but it has its highlights. there is a week in july that i will not be available though.

[Cowboy]

As you can see we are very different people. Take his outlook over mine Ques (smiling)

[Ques]

gonna pop into san fran for two days next week on my way home. might have a free few hours outside of visiting with my folks to get coffee or see clothes -- anything that's a must-do? also i heard theres a new art museum in town, is it worth going to? open yet? far too crowded?

[thecanadiancook]

So my supervisor just confirmed that I am off to France for 3 months come September to work on a project with our collaborator.

I am very excited yet pretty nervous.

[argew]

going to antwerp for a weekend in a month and i'm really looking forward to it

i'll be staying in a hotel in front of the central station, what are some things that are somewhat nearby that i should definitely visit?
doesn't have to be fashion related or some big tourist attraction, i'm interested in any suggestion really!

also, any recommendations for a good vegan restaurant in the area?

thanks in advance!!!