Amazulu

Gold Coast, Qld - especially Surfers Paradise

Hino

After many years transiting LAX and not seeing any more of the city than the airport, I decided to spend some time there on my last US trip. We stayed down-town at the Millennium Biltmore and enjoyed a great five days exploring the down-town area.

The Library is absolutely outstanding and has been beautifully preserved with almost all the original art Deco fittings and architecture maintained in excellent order. The same can be said for many down-town building from the same period including Union Station which for me was one of the highlights of the trip.

L.A. is another city with an excellent public transport system, and if you are 'lucky' enough to be a senior, then most bus rides are 15c and the local train will set you back 25c

One Sunday we took the bus from down-town L.A. out to Venice beach and I have to say that the 25c bus ride down Santa Monica boulevard was worth every cent. Some of the down-town area is showing the results of the U.S recession and there was no shortage of people shoving their lives around in a shopping trolley.

But if you take the rough with the smooth and put it all down to the joys of vacation travel, then you should have a good time there, we had five days and felt that was just long enough.

The Millennium Biltmore cost us $129 a night and I don't think I've ever had better value. Here is what $130 can get you in L.A.........

http://www.millenniumhotels.com/mill...s/about-hotel/

Hino

+1

Amazulu

I like LA too. Good weather, hot bitchez, good food, awesome night life, great shopping and loads to do. Parts of it are very run down but that's the same in most US cities and their general infrastructure.

chris955

We love Singapore, so much to do, friendly helpful people, its clean, good food.

ozzieeagle

Buckingham Palace gets my top vote, Followed by Bondi.

I hear St Petersburg and Boston are pretty underated as very good places to visit.

rasen78

Lincolnshire or Massachusetts?

ozzieeagle

Where's Lincolnshire

rasen78

ExACtly

Geordie George

New Zealand

ozzieeagle

First person I've ever heard say that.... why didn't you like it ?

Geordie George

It seemed mainly shut - I remember going to one place at around lunchtime on a Saturday afternoon and everything was closed; the shops, the pub ...! I wasn't that into the scenery. Once you've seen one waterfall, you've seen them all. Neah.

ozzieeagle

Yehp fair enough.... I personally get really stroppy when places are shut as well.

Port Macquarie did exactly the same to me as well.... Shut at inconvenient times.... Plus it was damn expensive.

Hino

For me the worlds most overrated tourist attraction has to be da Vinci's "Mona Lisa".

For me it's a pretty ordinary piece of work to begin with, in it's present setting ( which is a great improvement on the security that was in place when I first visited ), it looks even more 'ordinary'.

I remember seeing a da Vinci sketch of the madonna and child at the National Gallery in London. They had it in a side room lit only by soft electrical light, and apart from a barrier rope no obvious security between the public and the art work. I still get a chill after all these years remembering that I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had seen in my life.

That poor sad thing in a glass box in the Louve doesn't qualify to be in the same league.

DeadVim

Musta caught me on a bad day then.

I just remember it being a toilet populated by pretentious soulless wankers