Once again, travel advice from the Stupid to the Gullible:
The 30 best destinations to visit in 2023 named by Lonely Planet: Manchester, South Scotland, Sydney and New Mexico are among the places you MUST explore next year
Of the four, southern Scotland is the only one I’d consider, and then only in summer or early fall. I’ve been there, it’s beautiful, and ’nuff said.
As for the rest of the top four… New Mexico? The Africa of the United States? It is, as they say, to LOL.
I have been warned against going to Manchester by several people, most especially by Mr. Free Market, who only ventures north of the M4 to kill stags (here’s his latest):
And everyone knows about my hostility towards Oz, following my (twice-)aborted trips to visit grandchildren over there, with both the OzGov and Qantas earning my undying hatred in the process. Too far, too expensive, too much hassle, and fukkem.
Passing note on some of the other places mentioned in the article:
- Dominica used to be well known to Americans looking for an easy way to get a non-U.S. passport. I don’t know if it’s still that way, but there it is. Just don’t visit there during the hurricane season.
- Marseilles? I’d rather go to Tunis, and I don’t want to go there either.
- South Africa for ‘affordable world class dining’ — it is about the ONLY reason to go there, anymore; restaurants are not only affordable, but astoundingly cheap, and the food/wine are excellent. But otherwise, the only good thing about Seffrica is that U.S. citizens can take their handguns over, and carry them after getting a pro forma temporary gun license. (There’s more to it, but it’s an easy process.) Of course, you’re most likely to need said handgun because South Africa is one of the most violent countries on the (lonely) planet.
Feel free to add your comments about the other places mentioned in the article.
I visited Dominica by boat in early 2018 literally the first weekend after they reopened to visitors following the devastation of Hurricane Maria. It’s a beautiful country despite the damage (some plots were just a slab of concrete where someone’s house used to stand).
The people there were very happy to host us, and they were very friendly. Being an independent country, they lack the safety net backing of a larger nation (UK, France, USA, etc.). We were quite happy to bring in some much needed funds to support the local economy.
Cape Town is the murder capital of the world only because it includes Mitchells Plains which is a post-apocalyptic fuckup de luxe, on the other hand the psychoactive substance of your choice is very easily available there. Average male lifespan somewhere around thirty.
South Africa is a great tourist destination. If you want a trophy and don’t care how you get it there are canned hunts. Because I’m street smart I can walk through the center of Joburg unarmed but I would not advise that for the average tourist.
I used to LIVE in downtown Joburg (Braamfontein, up on the hill) and would walk to work every day past the Joburg Station to the old Stock Exchange building. I was always armed.
No way would I do that today unless surrounded by a couple-three bodyguards.
I’ve been to New Mexico, I rather liked it, Lespecially liked the Native Americans, (not my term), who I found dignified, polite and friendly, the Hispanics were very polite as well. The Anglos were fascinated by the way we spoke and a lady in a restaurant couldn’t rest until she had asked us where we had travelled from, (She thought we were some kind of Australian), when I told her we had come from England, (I avoid the Irish bit in America as they all insist that they’re related to you), she was astonished and actually asked “do they speak English in this England?” my wife said “a sort of English”, that seemed to settle the matter. I could go on but I’m rambling.
Ramble away, BF. All stories and reminiscences are welcome at this address.
When my wife and I married, I found myself “joint owner” of a house in New Mexico, as she’d lived there for several years before moving to where she and I met. She’d retained her house there and was renting it out, but below her cost, so I encouraged her to sell it as quickly as possible.
As part of that, we traveled there to meet with her real estate agent, to view the (now vacant) property, to let her “show me off” to the people she knew there, and so on.
Overall, I found it to be a bit “desert-y” for my tastes in the southwest corner of the state where we were, though the irrigated parklands in Elephant Butte were lovely, and the mineral hot spring baths in Truth or Consequences were quite enjoyable.
We’d driven in down I-25, so we also saw the high plains of the northeast part of the state, as well as the mountains between Santa Fe and Albuquerque were quite pretty also. We wanted to head over the Virgin Galactic’s Spaceport, but didn’t find the time during the trip.
All in all, a nice trip, but since the house is sold, we’ve never had the desire to return either. It was “just a place” like any other, you could say.
Fukuoka, Japan for me, but I speak enough of the language to easily get by without English, and I like the food and the country and the people. I’d like to see how much it has changed since I was there last, which was in 1976 (Fukuoka, not Japan.) Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t really enjoy places where I don’t speak the language. I know I’m missing too many things.
If you come to Scotland there’s loads to see. I do recommend doing the North Coast 500, but only out of season – very early May – to avoid both the tourists and the midges.
If castles / fortified houses are your thing, come to NE Scotland. Plus we have whisky.
As long as I don’t have to blunder around the Cairngorms in November holding a rifle, Scotland is an easy sell to me.
I lived in the Sandia Mountain foothills while attending grad school at UNM (Albuquerque) in the late 80’s. I had lots of time off and spent most of it fly fishing in Northern New Mexico. Loved the Balloon Fiesta in October and the smell of roasted green chiles is intoxicating.
The down side is that most of New Mexico is sparsely populating with lots of small, poor towns with no jobs. The malcontents and deadbeats there migrate to ABQ to pilfer and steal enough to get cheap meth and crank, and camp out along the arroyos that run down from the mountains to the valley. Like every other city run by Democrats, it has turned to shit. Taos and points north are still beautiful, but the mountains are pockmarked with encampments of roving gangs of thieves and Reavers. It ain’t Baltimore, but I still wouldn’t slow down for a body in the road without an armed overwatch.
A few years ago, the son of one my grad school buds was driving on an access road adjacent to a well-traveled highway, flipping his truck in the process. He was stuck in truck with a fractured pelvis and couldn’t get himself out. A couple driving down the highway stopped, ran over to his truck and robbed him of his wallet and cell phone. That is New Mexico today.
A friend and I did Edinburgh’s Hogmany (New Year’s Eve) 2000-2001 (the REAL Millennium). It’s one of the friendliest cities I’ve ever visited. An elder gentleman asked us on our first day there if we were American, and when we replied yes, led us halfway to the Old Calton Cemetery, where he told us there was a statue of Abraham Lincoln. He apologized for not showing us the whle way there, but he had an appointment. It turned out the staue of Lincoln was atop a memorial to Scots who died in our Civil War. On New Year’s Eve the police were surprisingly tolerant towards young ‘uns who had had a bit of Scotland’s fine beverages, even allowing selfies. The only two downsides: the sun didn’t show up ’til after 9 a.m., and was practically gone by 3 p.m. (mid-Canada latitude!) and seeing Bud & Miller Lite in fridges behind many pub’s bars (American swill here?!? Gawd!).
My experiences in Edinburgh (aside from one bar fight) have been precisely the same: lovely people and friendly as all hell. The Son&Heir reported a similar good time when he was there a couple years back — he and his Canucki gf were even invited back to some Scot’s house to carry on drinking after the pubs had closed.