Since my post about Ms. Yang and Iceland generated some good interest, I thought it would be fun to start a thread about traveling. I'll start it with various travel experiences, and hopefully, others will respond.
I am located up near Seattle, Washington. The area from Portland, Oregon, through Seattle, and to Vancouver, British Columbia has, at times, been described as "God's country". That designation has little, if anything, to do with religion. It is more about the incredible beauty up here: Green, Clean Air, fabulous mountain ranges, etc. I especially like the summers out here (summer solstice is only 3 days away), as the sun sets real, real late, and when it's clear skies, it does not get dark until about 10:15 PM. Truly incredible!
For me, even with all the traveling I have done, there is only one place that is prettier than here, and that is Lake Tahoe, down in California and Nevada. If you have ever seen the movie "The Godfather: Part II", you can get a good idea of what I am talking about. It is truly gorgeous down there, with plenty of fabulous hiking (and views) during the summer, and superior skiing in the winter (I don't ski, but that is what I have heard).
My wife and I have traveled to Europe 3 times (London, Paris, Southern France (briefly), Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Prague), Hawaii (about 5 times), and Hong Kong/mainland China. For Europe, our favorite cities are Paris (how can anyone not like Paris!), Prague (our oldest son was married there in May 2011, and that was a wonderful experience), and Zurich (very clean city). The Switzerland countryside reminded us of Washington: green, clean air, and mountains. Geneva was good also.
Hawaii, of course, has fabulous beaches, excellent seafood, and gorgeous weather. But, we would not want to live there, as there is not much variety. Still a wonderful place to visit, though.
The best trip we had, though, was when we visited Hong Kong and mainland China back in 2006. Talk about an experience! We were fortunate, as my wife's step brother was working in Hong Kong for Samsung (he is still there), and he spoke both dialects of Chinese fluently. He also took us to some places that most tourists would never see. Hong Kong, though expensive, is quite nice. The Great Wall was, of course, The Great Wall! One can easily "feel" the history. One other thing about China: the food is SO, SO GOOD! Man, one cannot get real, authentic Chinese food anywhere else, even in the various China towns (New York San Francisco, or Vancouver, BC). If I stayed in China, my stomach would be a balloon.
I am really looking forward to our trip to Iceland late next month (again, thanks to everyone that has given me some more tips) . I guess the remaining places we'd like to visit are ShangHai, Taipei, and Singapore.
Would like to hear other travel experiences!
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