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scrubbedexpat141 Jun 25th 2011 11:59 pm

Places
 
What's the best place you've ever been for a period of time? Also, what's the worst?

Let's say, around a week minimum?

My worst would have to be a camp site in France somewhere, I was about 6 or 7 and hated every minute of that holiday. Everything about it was terrible, it began my love of hating the French too. One of them grassed me up for booting a step sister and I got in barrel loads of trouble.

My best is hard to pick, I quite enjoy Dubai but struggle with it's superficial bollocks...probably have to be Cornwall, Polzeath or Croyde in Devon. They are the two places in the South West that I'd kill to go back to for long weekends camping, surfing all day, drinking all night. Especially in Billy Budds.


What about you lot?

Bahtatboy Jun 26th 2011 12:09 am

Re: Places
 
Worst: Beni Suef, Egypt. Hot, filthy and nothing to do.
Best: Kobe, Japan. Civilised, interesting and scenic.

scrubbedexpat141 Jun 26th 2011 12:15 am

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by Bahtatboy (Post 9457941)
Worst: Beni Suef, Egypt. Hot, filthy and nothing to do.
Best: Kobe, Japan. Civilised, interesting and scenic.

You're a fan of Japan I've noticed.

It's on my list of places to go, and quite high up too.

co durham boy Jun 26th 2011 12:21 am

Re: Places
 
Best - Palawan Islands in The Phillippines / unspoilt paradise , well it was 10 years ago .

Worst - Aden in Yemen and Port Moresby in P.N.G / both crazy for all the wrong reasons , serious injury or death is never too far away .

Bahtatboy Jun 26th 2011 1:38 am

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by Scamp (Post 9457945)
You're a fan of Japan I've noticed.

It's on my list of places to go, and quite high up too.

Some is, but a lot is at sea level.

jackthehat Jun 26th 2011 1:47 am

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by co durham boy (Post 9457949)
Best - Palawan Islands in The Phillippines / unspoilt paradise , well it was 10 years ago .

Worst - Aden in Yemen and Port Moresby in P.N.G / both crazy for all the wrong reasons , serious injury or death is never too far away .

Agree! - Palawan is Paradise, Iraq is Purgatory!

shiva Jun 26th 2011 1:55 am

Re: Places
 
Best: Bangkok is up there, southern Norway in the summer is nice.

Worst Bangkok is up there, Dundee is a shit hole

UKCityGent Jun 26th 2011 4:19 am

Re: Places
 
Best: Lake District - especially lake buttermere or Japan (ended up there for 9 months !)

Worst: Has to be court when i divorced the serperent known as the wife (felt more than a year of my life rather than the day or so) !!

Morecambe Mindy Jun 26th 2011 4:23 am

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by Scamp (Post 9457933)
What's the best place you've ever been for a period of time? Also, what's the worst?

Let's say, around a week minimum?

My worst would have to be a camp site in France somewhere, I was about 6 or 7 and hated every minute of that holiday. Everything about it was terrible, it began my love of hating the French too. One of them grassed me up for booting a step sister and I got in barrel loads of trouble.

My best is hard to pick, I quite enjoy Dubai but struggle with it's superficial bollocks...probably have to be Cornwall, Polzeath or Croyde in Devon. They are the two places in the South West that I'd kill to go back to for long weekends camping, surfing all day, drinking all night. Especially in Billy Budds.


What about you lot?

Not sure about best, but worst was Cyprus a couple of summers ago.

The house we rented was filthy, I actually had dreams of finding a hoover and cleaning the damn place. Didn't help that I was heavily pregnant and got bitten to death by something in the bed every night (and no it wasn't my husband).

Sorry got to go, just started itching and need to scratch... eughhh bloody flea pit.

Bob Jun 26th 2011 4:31 am

Re: Places
 
Best - For a cheap holiday, trip up to Lake District and Edinburgh for the weekend.

For a longer holiday, tour of southern Japan...because I got to hang out with friends and family I'd not seen in years, it was beautiful and the hot spa's were lovely.

Worst - For the cheap, Blackpool, wrong time of the season I guess, a case of trying to avoid the coffin dodgers.

Also trip to Bavaria....generally beautiful, but the village I stayed in was still stuck in Nazi Germany...got all a little uncomfortable when my brothers friend introduced us to the fiance of his sister...the blue eye/blond hair clan, you could almost hear them goose stepping away when they realised my father was of Austrian jewish decent :lol:

Patsy Stoned Jun 26th 2011 6:29 am

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by co durham boy (Post 9457949)
Worst - Aden in Yemen and Port Moresby in P.N.G / both crazy for all the wrong reasons , serious injury or death is never too far away .

Oh!! I remember being in Aden on route to Singapore back in the 60's..... we were delayed for a few days....the plane was overran by those little frogs they have there....my brother and I took pocket loads on to the plane..:D
It was a Comet out of Brize Norton to Singapore via Aden and Gan.
This was obviously when the dead sea was still alive and kicking :D

Patsy Stoned Jun 26th 2011 6:39 am

Re: Places
 
this is an intersting site I found whilst looking for info re comets and flights to Singapore
http://www.spyflight.co.uk/51sqn.htm


Sharjah Routes

Sharjah was situated about ten miles north of Dubai and the RAF detachment was built around an old fort that was used by the "Cable & Wireless" personnel who ran the airfield. During the summer months the temperature rose to over 120(F coupled with a humidity of 100%. Our ground crew, who travelled with us, were only allowed to work outside on the aircraft for a maximum of twenty minutes at a time because of the temperature and the humidity, and we spent most of our spare time in our air-conditioned accommodation until the sun went down and it was comfortable to venture out. The big problem came when we were scheduled to fly in the heat of the day. A mobile air cooler would be fed into the front door of the aircraft and kept running until after we had started the engines and were ready to taxi. But even with this, by the time we had taxied to the runway, we would all be like grease spots until we started to gain height. Then, as we climbed, the temperature would drop rapidly until at height we would all be putting on extra clothing to get warm. During the winter months, it was still very warm during the day but the humidity was less and at night the temperature dropped to almost zero.
Cyprus to Sharjah Route

Sharjah was a very small Muslim town ruled over by the local Sheikh. No alcohol was allowed to be taken off the Base but the Sheikh regularly visited the Mess in the Fort with several of his wives, completely covered from head to toe no matter how hot the weather, and always left with a case of spirits. The town was "Off limits" to us on a Thursday as this was punishment day and all punishments were carried out publicly in the Town Square. These ranged from floggings for violating another man's wife to hands being cut off for theft. The punishment for murder was beheading! On the odd occasion when we spent more than a couple of days at Sharjah we would get a taxi to take us into Dubai to the local bazaar but we never felt really safe there and always went in groups of at least four. We were always glad to leave and get back to Cyprus. Fresh water in Sharjah was only for drinking. All showers and washing was with salt water and we found that the only way to get a lather was by using either shampoo or a local soap called "Vel" to shower with.

flares Jun 26th 2011 6:59 am

Re: Places
 
[QUOTE=Patsy Stoned;9458423]this is an intersting site I found whilst looking for info re comets and flights to Singapore
QUOTE]

are you in this footage Patsy?


Hello.Kitty Jun 26th 2011 7:14 am

Re: Places
 
Best? Too many really - everywhere has its own charm... apart from:

- Dartford. Lived there for 4 lonnnng years. Unfortunately gneurgh... nope, I can't find anything nice to say about the place.

- Marrakesh when you're early-days pregnant and have a hyper-sensitive sense of smell - I found it a sensory overload - people were too in-your-face, combined with being incessantly noisy, but the most was just the smells - moped fumes, donkey fumes, grilled whatever fumes, unrefrigerated fish fumes, dead cat (true), cars, tanneries... [shiver]. I spent most of my time either retching or gasping for fresh air. However, it might be wise to give it the benefit of the doubt and go back not-pregnant. Oh, actually no... the in-your-face people got my goat too much.

norsk Jun 26th 2011 8:53 am

Re: Places
 
Best:
- Somewhere in Kenya (impossible to pick one place though)
- Norwegian mountains, enjoying the silence of nature..
- Sailing down the Norwegian coast with a beer in my hand

Worst:
I lived for 5 months in Khobar. It was so boring that I can't even remember enjoying it for a single second.

Absolute worst:
When I first moved to the UK from Norway I was burgled after 3 days! It happened while I was at home and it spooked the hell out of me. I slept with a bat next to my bed for the 3 months until I left the place for good. Farnham Royal - what a shithole!!

Patsy Stoned Jun 26th 2011 1:52 pm

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by Hello.Kitty (Post 9458468)
- Dartford. Lived there for 4 lonnnng years. Unfortunately gneurgh... nope, I can't find anything nice to say about the place.

OMG Kitty!! I lived there for a couple of years, I had a pub called "The Malt Shovel"
..lovely pub but I heted Dartford..what a dreadful place

Hello.Kitty Jun 26th 2011 3:31 pm

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by Patsy Stoned (Post 9458866)
OMG Kitty!! I lived there for a couple of years, I had a pub called "The Malt Shovel"
..lovely pub but I heted Dartford..what a dreadful place

hehe - Mr Kitty has heard of The Malt Shovel! Is it the one of East Hill, just above Dartford Park? He did even more time than I did in Dartford - we were conned, you see... our Uni's name promised grandeur, instead, we got a campus in Dartford. lol

Charismatic Jun 26th 2011 5:19 pm

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by Scamp (Post 9457933)
What's the best place you've ever been for a period of time?

Inside Nigella Lawson.

Only kidding of course!...She wasn’t the best place by a long shot. [/Predictable]

Brains1983 Jun 26th 2011 6:16 pm

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by shiva (Post 9458074)
Best: Bangkok is up there, southern Norway in the summer is nice.

Worst Bangkok is up there, Dundee is a shit hole

I'm with you on Scumdee, best thing about it is leaving! Did see a cracking Arctic Monkeys concert in Caird Hall mind.

Not sure on the best place, probably Blumenau in SC Brazil. Or Brisbane.

Tillybean Jun 26th 2011 7:04 pm

Re: Places
 
The worst place can be the best depending on who you are there with. I know, typical British demenour but I think its true. I went to Butlins at Skegness - it was as dire as I knew it was going to be, the "chalets" were cockroach hotels, the all-you-can-eat buffets were laughable and the weather was dire; but the crowd of people I was with made it one of the best holidays ever!

For scenery, I loved New Zealand - watching penguins hopping up the beach at Invercargill, kayaking in the Able Tasman, cruising Milford Sound. I adored my time there.

WakeUp Jun 26th 2011 7:20 pm

Re: Places
 
Worst - Stoke-on-Trent, absolute craphole.

Best - Anywhere in New Zealand, Waiheke Island, Queenstown, even Auckland, awesome. Will be back there, sooner rather than later I hope.

Patsy Stoned Jun 26th 2011 7:34 pm

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by Hello.Kitty (Post 9458941)
hehe - Mr Kitty has heard of The Malt Shovel! Is it the one of East Hill, just above Dartford Park? He did even more time than I did in Dartford - we were conned, you see... our Uni's name promised grandeur, instead, we got a campus in Dartford. lol

Yes it was a very lovely 16thC. Youngs pub..I loved the pub and the customers but the rest of Dartford was grim!!

Millhouse Jun 26th 2011 7:39 pm

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by Tillybean (Post 9459129)
The worst place can be the best depending on who you are there with. I know, typical British demenour but I think its true. I went to Butlins at Skegness - it was as dire as I knew it was going to be, the "chalets" were cockroach hotels, the all-you-can-eat buffets were laughable and the weather was dire; but the crowd of people I was with made it one of the best holidays ever!

I went to Butlins at Bognor once. I booked in for 5 days - lasted 3. What a dump, we even had our towels nicked.... all you can eat buffets - beans, cheap ass sausages and smash. Never again!

OleJanx Jun 26th 2011 7:52 pm

Re: Places
 
Cheap ass sausages, eh? So that's what happens to the donkeys on the beach when they get old...

Tillybean Jun 26th 2011 10:07 pm

Re: Places
 
The food was grim. Very grim.

Meow Jun 26th 2011 10:22 pm

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by Patsy Stoned (Post 9458411)
Oh!! I remember being in Aden on route to Singapore back in the 60's..... we were delayed for a few days....the plane was overran by those little frogs they have there....my brother and I took pocket loads on to the plane..:D
It was a Comet out of Brize Norton to Singapore via Aden and Gan.
This was obviously when the dead sea was still alive and kicking :D

By the 70's the journey was Cyprus, Gan then Singapore. :)

Best - tricky but, possibly the tiny island in the Maldives where I went a couple of years ago. Just 12 villas and totally relaxing.

Worst - Hated living in Uckfield for 2 months when I was a child. Everyone was horrible.

Umbrella Jun 27th 2011 12:57 am

Re: Places
 
Best - Acapulco in the 70's when it was both safe and beautiful; Santa Barbara and San Diego anytime; Hakkonne Mountains (Japan) - breathtaking and excellent on-sen

Worst - Riyadh, Chula Vista, Bakersfield, Most of Oakland


U.

Welivehere Jun 27th 2011 1:12 am

Re: Places
 
Worst - Gabon ... French speaking unstable Africa... nuff said. Carmathen is a shathole....

Best - Antigua was great, Kenya had some v.good points, Holland was fun too. And Umbria was amazing....

Norm_uk Jun 27th 2011 1:43 am

Re: Places
 
Best: Camp John Hay in Baguio City, Several Hertfordshire pubs, Beijing during Chinese New Year.

Worst: Sharjah, Bury Park & the town centre of Luton,.

Ronnie Biggs Jun 27th 2011 1:58 am

Re: Places
 
Best: Singapore, Mauritius, St Anton (for the Alpine scenery), Fujairah, Bangkok (well some of it), Greek Islands - Mykonos, Santorini, Naxos and Ios, anywhere in the Middle East that isn't a shithole

Worst: Darlington, Canvey Island, Olu Deniz (Turkey), Athens, Khalifa City A

norsk Jun 27th 2011 2:08 am

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by Ronnie Biggs (Post 9459753)
Best: Singapore, Mauritius, St Anton (for the Alpine scenery), Fujairah, Bangkok (well some of it), Greek Islands - Mykonos, Santorini, Naxos and Ios, anywhere in the Middle East that isn't a shithole

Worst: Darlington, Canvey Island, Olu Deniz (Turkey), Athens, Khalifa City A

Ios.

What a great place! I spent a week there with a mate about 10 years ago. My liver has not been the same since. I remember we were with some aussie women who excitedly told us that there was an up and coming actor in the beach bar where we were spending way to much money on corona. We had no idea who he was at the time...Heath Ledger..:thumbsup:

Ronnie Biggs Jun 27th 2011 2:15 am

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by Patsy Stoned (Post 9458866)
OMG Kitty!! I lived there for a couple of years, I had a pub called "The Malt Shovel"
..lovely pub but I heted Dartford..what a dreadful place

Remember you saying you made a living doing "relief" shifts or something?

We all have to make ends meet in dark times... :ohmy:

Patsy Stoned Jun 27th 2011 3:23 am

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by Ronnie Biggs (Post 9459790)
We all have to make ends meet in dark times... :ohmy:

And you should know all about that sweetie :D

Ronnie Biggs Jun 27th 2011 5:34 am

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by Patsy Stoned (Post 9459905)
And you should know all about that sweetie :D

Too true! Always left Dartford with a smile on my face back in the 90s though.... :thumbup:

flares Jun 27th 2011 5:39 am

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by norsk (Post 9459773)
Ios.

What a great place! I spent a week there with a mate about 10 years ago. My liver has not been the same since. I remember we were with some aussie women who excitedly told us that there was an up and coming actor in the beach bar where we were spending way to much money on corona. We had no idea who he was at the time...Heath Ledger..:thumbsup:

Ooh yeah. i was there for a week as a 21 year old. Island comprised a little port, a little village full of bars and nightclubs and a beach back then. Imagine it's a bit different now.

Ronnie Biggs Jun 27th 2011 5:45 am

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by norsk (Post 9459773)
Ios.

What a great place! I spent a week there with a mate about 10 years ago. My liver has not been the same since. I remember we were with some aussie women who excitedly told us that there was an up and coming actor in the beach bar where we were spending way to much money on corona. We had no idea who he was at the time...Heath Ledger..:thumbsup:

Yep, a gem of a place indeed. It was an 8 hour (?) boat ride from Athens and had very few proper hotels which seemed to put off all the Brits-on-the-piss types so it was full of chilled out travellers and party people that had heard about it via word of mouth. That was 1999 - often wonder what it's like now.

flares Jun 27th 2011 6:27 am

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by Ronnie Biggs (Post 9460169)
Yep, a gem of a place indeed. It was an 8 hour (?) boat ride from Athens and had very few proper hotels which seemed to put off all the Brits-on-the-piss types so it was full of chilled out travellers and party people that had heard about it via word of mouth. That was 1999 - often wonder what it's like now.

I went in early Sep '92. Yeah word of mouth thing. 8 hour boat ride from Pireas via Paxos, Naxos, Anti Naxos. Little Souvlakis and spinach pastries helped the hangovers. Had to bail out to Santorini to give the old liver a rest.

Bob Jun 27th 2011 8:10 am

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by Ronnie Biggs (Post 9459753)
Best: St Anton (for the Alpine scenery)

Brother used to work there....always said it was a weird place...still quite nice in the summer too...but a lot of other nicer slopes that weren't so touristy in the area.

paca Jun 27th 2011 9:21 am

Re: Places
 
Best : UK airport departures lounge

Worst : UK airport Arrivals luggage collection

:rofl:

Patsy Stoned Jun 28th 2011 12:57 am

Re: Places
 

Originally Posted by Ronnie Biggs (Post 9460143)
Too true! Always left Dartford with a smile on my face back in the 90s though.... :thumbup:

I was in Ibiza in the 90's


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