Eurausafricasia

wow.

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 20:11:49 GMT

this community used to be so active... and i was ALWAYS looking forward to reading the posts from its members.

i guess not many people use livejournal anymore.
what a loss.

anyways, my reason for writing is simply to ask for suggestions.

i'm making a trip throughout italy and greece and the aegean. my little 'tour' ends in athens. i was wondering if anyone has any ideas as to the best way to get from athens to paris. it doesn't seem like there are more than, say, a couple of direct flights, and they seem really expensive (about 160-225€)... so what should be my 'transfer city'? for example, athens, greece--berlin, germany--paris, france. what would be the best option (as in cheapest, seeing as i'm a backpacking student!)?

any help would be greatly appreciated!

USB, Africa, iPod, Camera?

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 19:55:18 GMT

OK. This will be posted in a few different communities (mainly travel and apple communities) because of the content.
I will be spending about 7 months in Africa next year (June-December 2007). I will not be taking my computer (Powerbook G4 laptop) with me, but I will be taking my iPod (30GB video) with me, and I want to take a portable hard-drive with me.
The only electronic devices I plan on bringing are:
my camera
my ipod
portable hard drive

I want to be able to put my itunes (the entire program, along with my 19 GB of music) on the hard drive, along with iPhoto, which has about 3 GB of photos right now.

Here begin the questions:
1) Will I be able to update my ipod from the portable hard drive (I will plug the hard drive and the iPod into a computer (both need to be USB)? Can i import music from the computer onto the hard drive (iTunes) and then update my ipod?

2) I will need to do the same with iPhoto. I will upload the pictures from my camera to the hard drive, which will be plugged into a computer. Again, is this possible?

3) What hard drive do you recommend? I am thinking between 40-60 GB. Along with my music and photos I will have a bunch of documents (copies of passport, tickets, health insurance, important info and other stuff) along with some personal documents. With just under 20GB of music and 3 GB of photos, I think that 40 GB will be enough.

4) I have a gift certificate that I can only use at the apple store website, so I need to get this hard drive directly from the apple website. I also need it to be USB accessible, but firewire is also helpful. I doubt the computers will have firewire in Africa, but this is a gadget that I will use after this trip also (and my powerbook has firewire).

5) Do computers in Africa (in main cities) in the following countries have USB? Or, do they still work with those semi-round serial plug type connections?
Countries:
Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mali, Senegal, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Morocco

So, you travel experts and computer experts--what do you think about this? Does this sound reasonable? Im trying to spend under 200us$ on this product and I don't need super-fast, super-amazing just a small, portable, durable 40-60GB hard drive that will work in most situations. Im not expecting to do this fancy technology stuff in the Serengeti National Park or in the desert of Morocco, I just need to have the access sometimes in the bigger/capital cities.

Thanks for the help!

Mexico

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 05:25:38 GMT

I'm heading out to Phoenix (Arizona) for Christmas 2006 with the family and i have until the middle of january for travel so i was thinking to go to mexico (i've been to puerto penasco twice before, with the family) again. this time i want to fly from phoenix to mexico city and then make my way up to phoenix. ill fly on december 27th to mexico and have no plans. im thinking of getting a flight out of phoenix back to the east coast around january 15.
1) what should i do?
2) what should i expect?
3) how much money am i looking at spending?
- i am pretty much a budget traveler- cheaper buses, street food, dorms/hostels...but if im in a special place im wiling to spend monkey to do something special (in china=paying for the great wall, in egypt= paying to go in the pyramids, in peru= seeing machu picchu) but i dont need fancy tour guides and buses to take me around. what am i looking at for a rough budget in mexico?
4) what is safety like for a single female traveler?
- im 21, and am quite experienced solo-traveler (see map in profile). please be realistic, but i want to know what the situation is like
- i have olive (easily tanned) skin and dark hair, currently with dreads, so im not a glowing blond or anything like that. A lot of people think im argentinian, brasilian or italian (mediterranean look)

im looking for culture, some beach, and fun. i speak fluent spanish so language will not be a problem at all.
how does this sound? please share any thoughts, opinions, ideas, feelings....

thanks!

the BEST site in the history of the internet...

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 01:10:40 GMT

escapeartist.com

this site is absolutely amazing and is PERFECTLY placed in this community.

Stereotyping...

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 05:44:36 GMT

I just came back from a very brief but absolutely amazing trip to France. I stayed in La Fleche, France (which is about 60 km south of Le Mans) with a host family for only 2 weeks, but I learned so much. I've only been studying French for 3 years now... in high school (in other words, not the best and certainly not the fastest or most effective). After 2 weeks in that small city (population 16,000), I stayed in Paris for just under a week.

The thing that bugged me the most about people from the United States' stereotyping about the French was that a lot of what they said was completely true about 90% of the American tourists in Paris. Americans think that French people are rude, loud, inconsiderate, brash, hurried and arrogant.... just to name a few that I kept hearing over and over again before my trip. When I was in Paris, my number one goal was to blend in. Why? Because, as fate would have it [insert sarcasm here], most of the American tourists I encountered were rude, loud, inconsiderate, brash, hurried, arrogant and acted like they owned the place, expecting everyone to speak English and not giving anyone a second look if they didn't. What a coincidence, huh? The British tourists in similar situations were courteous, soft-spoken when appropriate, considerate, civilized, calm/slow to anger, understanding and respectful. Just as my well-traveled cousin told me... the logic is simple... if you take one step of effort towards trying to learn about someone else's culture, s/he'll take two steps towards helping you. I don't understand how Americans can be so ignorant.

Seeing as most of us are Americans ourselves... what do you think of stereotypes, tourists/foreigners, France, USA etc? What have your experiences with this been like? Do you guys think I, myself, am wrong for stereotyping American tourists?

By the way... I apologize if any of this sounds like psycho-babble... it has been a long 23 hours for me (I've been awake far too long for a sane person). Thanks ahead of time for your opinions. I'm just curious... as always.

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 21:50:47 GMT

hello all, buenos dias!
ive been in rio for 5.5 months and the time has come to an end here and bolivia is the next stop. i have a LP book, and no time to read it (busy with a german exam, an art vide and a history paper). can you please give me any useful info you have about traveling in bolivia. i know about the altitude and all that jazz. im looking for more practical info such as weather info, good hostels (me, a 21 year old girl and my 21 year old friend, also female), and important tips from past experiences.

we are taking a bus from rio to corumbá and then hopefully either getting on the train or a bus heading towards santa cruz. after a 28 hour bus (rio-border) we were thinking of stopping off somewhere between the border and santa cruz...anywhere thast pretty much on the way that would merit a night or two?

after santa cruz we are heading to villa tunari to go volunteer at inti wara yassi (ANY TIPS ABOUT THAT WOULD BE APPRECIATED TOO) and then down around salar de uyuni and sucre and potosi and up to la paz with some death road on a bike action, perhaps...

no serious plans, just ideas. we are very open and dont want to have too much structure. we are traveling pretty budget, but dont want to sacrifice experience and opportunity for money. we are happy in dorm rooms, we like social, outgoing lively kind of hostels with a some websites with picture or whatnot, just any kind of info that we might need or anything that you wish you knew while in bolivia.
muchas gracias!

a quick intro

Fri, 02 Jun 2006 01:49:56 GMT

I've been lurking here long enough... must write an introduction!

Hi! I'm currently at university in the Midwestern US but darned if I'm staying here. I was born and raised American but feel less and less so every day--liberal views on nearly everything+a complete disinterest in a proffit-driven society+ideas that have been called socialist before=one girl who doesn't belong in America. Besides, there isn't much need for international journalism majors in this part of the world *grin*.

I'm studying international journalism right now but will likely shift to international relations in graduate school, and if possible I'd like to pick up either French or Arabic, both for the African continent. My dream, however implausible at the moment, is to work/study somewhere in Africa, and if traveling country to country is part of the equation then all the better for me. I'd happily settle in south Africa if I could--*beams* yay, rainbow nation! As for the working in widely-differing countries while totally blind thing... er, I'll cross that bridge when I absolutely have to.

Anyway, that's me. :)

Fri, 19 May 2006 20:39:27 GMT

hello i just saw the movie "13 days that shocked the world." From a more historical perspective (im not very "historically informed"), I'm wondering how accurate this movie is. What do you guys think? does it accurately represent the time? the situation? the results? the response? the choices? the actions?

Thanks a lot, any info or websites or links you have would be great!

I've xposted this a bit, which hopefully won't offend people. I would like to see a wide range of views and opinions.

amazon?

Wed, 10 May 2006 04:43:12 GMT

my parents are coming to visit me in Brasil and we want (i mean, we ARE) going to the amazon. only thing is, we are kind of stuck on what "hotel/lodge" to go with. we have tried to do research but are having trouble so i told my worried parents that i would post in an amazing travel forum and ask all of you experienced travelers about what to do.
we have found a few options, but aren't too sure.

we do NOT like ariau towers (http://www.ariauamazontowers.com/ and www.ariau.tur.br) because we think its too big and touristy.

we are fans of the juma lodge (http://www.jumalodge.com/home.htm) but have only found one review online about it, and that review was not the best review.

so, have you guys been to juma lodge? how was it? if not, where have you been and what did you think?

*we are looking for a hotel (not nasty, but we dont need luxury and are not dependent on air conditioning/AC at all) and a place that has trips/excursions to see the amazon river divide, some animals, a native village...piranhas, alligators...the typical stuff.

thanks a lot!

x-posted

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 05:29:17 GMT

i've been living in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil for almost 4 months now. i've done some traveling and behind this cut I have 19 pictures of different spots in Brasil (and a few of Argentina and Paraguay). If you like the pictures and want to see more, check out www.avilaloca.smugmug.com If you want to read aobut what I have been up to, my travel blog is http://students.goucher.edu/abergman/blog/

*all these pictures are my own work, and you are free to use them for whatever you want, but if you choose to take them please let me know.*

Iguazu Falls, on the Argentinian side. (feb 06)

Garganta del Diablo, Devil's throat...Iguazu (the Argentinian side) (feb 06)

An important building in Asunción, Paraguay. (feb 06)

A view taken from the train going from Curitiba, Brasil to Paranaguá, Brasil. (feb 06)

A cloudy day on Ilha do Mel, Brasil...off the coast from Paranaguá (feb 06)

My friend from a long walk around Ilha do Mel (feb 06)

A swamp that I passed through on my walk around Ilha do Mel (feb 06)

Coming back to Paranaguá after 3 days in Ilha do Mel (feb 06)

Carnaval 2006, Rio de Janeiro, Sambódromo...enough said! it's non-stop samba music, dance, fun and intense competition and another unforgettable experience! (feb 26-27/06)

Another picture from the sambódromo...these are the controversial Brasilian bananas from the winning samba school, Vila Isabel.

Another picture of Vila Isabel. Beautiful, breathtaking, and politically conscious, on many levels.

More sambódromo...this is Grande Rio, a group all about the Amazon. They came after Vila Isabel.

A monkey! This picture was taken in Urca, near Pão de Açucar. (Jan 06)

Carioca station...the first/last stop for the Santa Teresa bonde/tram. (jan 06)

One (of the many) infamous Carioca (the dwellers of Rio) favelas. this picture was taken while riding the bonde/tram through Santa Teresa (jan 06)

Ilha Grande...about 2.5 hours south of Rio. We were there right after Carnaval...we needed some relax/detox time :) (march 06)

My front yard, at 6:30 am. I live in Copacabana (ugh) near Siquiera Campos. (late march)

Copacabana, taken from posto 6 around 6 pm in early april

Thu, 19 Jan 2006 03:30:50 GMT

Hey, my name is Tatiana I live in LA and go to a french american high school which Ill be graduating from soon w00t! but well that's just minor details. So this August, after I turn 18 I'm planning on going to Australia. I need to get away from everything, Ive seen my share of Europe and want to go some place beautiful, hot, where the parties are on, the guys and girls are hot and where I can just be alone and relax and think, maybe even go a whole day without talking to a single person or saying a single word. So anyways Ive been working since last September at Fatburger, Ive got 1700$ so far and by the end of graduation Ill have 3500$ maybe more if I dont use the 1500$ Ive saved for a car but that all depends on where I go to college next year. So money is a limitation for this trip but not a major one. I plan on staying 3 weeks and going to the beach alot and I plan on clubbing alot as well. So I just wanted to get some heads up from you guys, maybe some tips you could share or recommend a hotel. I'm really looking into staying in Melbourne but anywhere on the east coast is relative I guess. Anywho I hope I didnt bore any of you, thnx a bunch!

Bonny728@hotmail.com, LedKing728 <--jic u feel like chatting

*tati*

Mon, 05 Dec 2005 07:54:36 GMT

1) If I have a cell phone that works in Europe (using sim cards) will that also work in South America, namely Brazil? I know that I will have to buy a sim card in Brasil, does anyone know about the different brands of cell phone company in Brazil? how much does a sim card and a pre-pay plan cost?

2) are the plugs in South America the same as in Europe too? Do the plugs differ depending on the country in South America?

>
Thanks a lot.

Can anyone recommend or dis the following?

Sat, 03 Dec 2005 22:02:51 GMT

IFESH international fellows or teachers to Africa program?

JDC Jewish service corps abroad?

Amideast.org?

Any of the Camphills, particularly Camphill South Africa or Camphill Bangalore?

Also, can anyone comment on the salaries for any of the programs other than Camphill? Thanks.

peru

Thu, 24 Nov 2005 00:26:56 GMT

hello all. i am going to peru and my parents are freaking out about the buses. friends (2 parents and a 19 year old girl) of ours went to peru last year and they didnt take the buses because they deemed them as "you will get held up by bandits and maybe killed." i understand that this is a threat, but can all of you experienced travelers share some peruvian bus experiences with me? what bus companies do you recommend? are there trains outside of the cuzco-macchu pichu and cuzco-lake titicaca ones?
flights are just damn expensive...

thanks

xposted a bit

Turkey in December?

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 17:58:57 GMT

Hello. My friend wants to go to Istanbul, and maybe Cappadocia, in December? Is this OK? I was there this summer and remember hearing that Turkey pretty much closes down in the winter. Would there be tours to Cappadocia in the winter?
Any suggestions?

Thanks a lot.

xposted

Fri, 11 Nov 2005 15:36:37 GMT

if it's there, why not in the USA!?!?!?

Sun, 30 Oct 2005 20:43:16 GMT

Hey, I'm Tatiana, I'm from southern California and I'm applying to 4 colleges for next year all of which are outside the states. 3 are in europe and one is in Australia. I gotta get out of this fucken country, been here since I was 3 and I wanna go back home (france). Anyways, just wanted to drop by and say hello so hello. Hope to talk to you guys more

Ciao, Tati

Travel books

Fri, 28 Oct 2005 06:08:39 GMT

Hello. I am going to Peru for two weeks in December and then I will fly from Lima to Rio de Janeiro, where I will spend six months studying there. I am looking for a good guide book for Brazil. I am planning on buying the Lonely Planet Rio de Janeiro book, but I have heard that Lonely Planet Brazil is no good. What do you recommend?
I am looking for a book that has travel information, not so much history and cultural backgrounds. I am reading and have read some about Brazil, I need a guidebook for traveling. I really like the Lonely Planet style books, so something similar to that would probably work best. I am not a big fan of Let's Go series, as I used the Israel one and it was a big mess.
I will be traveling on a student/backpacker budget, so I do not need fancy hotels or luxury restaurant or other information like that.
Also, what about Peru? I think I will just buy the Lonely Planet Peru, unless it is horrible.
Any other tips are appreciated too.
Thanks a lot.

Crossposted to a few other travel-related communities.

student universe

Sat, 15 Oct 2005 01:36:51 GMT

Has anyone here purchased tickets using student universe? I believe they are a reputable company. I only have one problem....I am no longer attending school, but I am still registered with student universe. Will they check to see if I am still a student at the time of purchase? Any and all help would be appreciated!

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 07:00:19 GMT

Hello all, I am a 20 year old female from USA and I was wondering if there is there anyone in here that has studied in Brazil, in particular at the PUC-Rio? I would love to talk to you as I will be there next semester (March 2006-July 2006).
Thanks a lot!

xposted

Hi I'm new

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 04:35:08 GMT

I noticed Greenland is mentioned in this community's useinfo. I recently flew over Greenland in an airplane. I wrote a paper on the Vikings in college. It looked such a beautiful and intriguing wilderness to me from the airplane, a place you could really get away from everything, satisfy the urge to 'rough it' for a while.

It's such a forgotten place, I'm very curious about it, what is it like there?

About a year ago I started in sort of a not-sure-how-serious, pissy way thinking if Bush got another 4 years I'm moving to Canada. This idea became more and more serious and less simplistic, using more refined factors than just the election to help me make my decision. It's what I've settled on as a productive form of protest, combined with the fact that I suspect I'll feel dramatically more at home there anyway, ironically. Heck I didn't choose to live in America I was just born here. Anyway at this point I'm thinking about it as if it is indeed going to happen, and I'm also pretty sure Vancouver is where I'll end up. It's still just a nice thing to think about though and look forward to, because it probably won't happen until 2-3 years from now due to some other things that kind of need to happen first in my life.

Argentina, Brasil and Uruguay (Bolivia too?)

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 23:48:58 GMT

Cut for convenience.

Hello. I am pretty surethat I will be studying abroad from january 2006-july 2006 in Rio de Janeiro in Brasil, however, I amm planning on flying into Buenos Aires (Argentina) and making my way up to Montevideo (Uruguay) and then I am looking for a flight from Montevideo to Rio de Janeiro. I would also be willing to take a bus, however, the only website I have found is http://www.egakeguay.com/ and the bus is about 100 us$ one way, and it only goes to Sao Paolo.

Some other questions:
1) Does anyone know of cheap airlines within South America?
2) Also, are there websites for buses in Brasil, Argentina and Uruguay?
3) Do you recommend buying the buquebus ticket (boat and bus combined) from Buenos Aires to Punta del Este or just the boat ticket and then finding a cheaper bus once I am there?
4) How long would it take to go from Rio de Janeiro to La Paz, Bolivia on a bus? I would not do this non-stop however, I am looking at volunteering (at http://www.intiwarayassi.org/index.php) after I am done studying in Rio.

I know that Brasil is a very large country, but I am trying to get an idea of how long it will take to get around the country on a bus, as I am pretty sure that trains are practically non-existent.

Thank you!

- Also, please be kind to me, as I am at the very beginning stages of planning this trip, hence I do not know a lot about the area or subject.
- I am also aware that sometimes it is best to just wait until you are there to figure out how to get around, however, I can not do this for everything. I need to be in Rio de Janeiro on January 9 for my study abroad program, so I need to make sure that I will either have a flight booked or be able to get a bus.

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 15:32:31 GMT

does anyone know about the program speakfun.com? i'm looking at malaga spain in late may/early june
thanks

hurricane katrina

Sun, 04 Sep 2005 00:13:37 GMT

Hi everybody, sorry for the slightly off-topic post.

academics_anon has compiled a list of unis (American and Canadian) that are willing to help out students and, in some cases, faculty displaced by Hurricane Katrina. If you are such a person or know of such a person, please pass the following links along.

schools A-M
schools N-Z

Additionally, if your school is not there and has decided to help, please comment with the following information (copied from here) :
1). The university
2). A link to the page with the university's statement on acceptance of "Katrina students." A link to the uni webpage often doesn't help very much if I'm left searching around for the official policy. Some unis don't yet have formal pages up on how they're planning to deal with things, so if you are acting on information received from an official email, please include that instead. I'd prefer to include links to policies because otherwise each school blurb becomes prohibitively lengthy.
3). If you have the time for it, a copy-pasted blurb summarizing the uni's policy on accepting students. Good information includes how many they're taking, any important stipulations (housing/fees), if they're taking graduate/professional students or faculty, and access to libraries or labs.
4). If you are an alumnus/a of the university, teach at it, or are otherwise affiliated with it or familiar with the area and can assist students looking to move.

Thanks for any help you can give, and feel free to post this message around as appropriate.
xposted several places.

turkey again...

Mon, 08 Aug 2005 10:32:14 GMT

hello all. thanks for your help before. i have decided to not do pamukkale/hierapolis and goreme, instead i am choosing one of the places. i have two possible routes now. i will spend 2 nights in either pammukale or goreme.
1) istanbul-goreme-olympos-oludeniz-istanbul
2) istanbul-pammukale-oludeniz-olympos-istanbul

I am aware that i will have to go to fethiye for oludeniz and antalya for olympos
I am not sure which place is better; and no, i dont have the money for a hot air balloon ride in goreme. i am putting my money to paragliding in oludeniz. i am on a pretty strict budget and am a single 20 year old female traveler.
do you recommend pammukiale/hierapolis or goreme? people have told me that pamukale is under construction, what does that mean and what effect does this have on the visitor? if i go to pammukale i might also do a day trip to afrodisias or ephesus.
thanks for the help!