OrthodoxEaster wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2024 5:14 pm Going to Istanbul, where we've not been since 2003, for five days in May. Would love some food recommendations (hole in the wall, traditional, fine dining, and experimental, all welcome). And also anything to do beyond the typical tourist stuff (since we've done most of that already). Staying in Şişli first, then somewhere in or around Beyoğlu.

After that, will be heading to Sarajevo, which is new to us. Restaurant stuff would be amazing. Plus a bunch of small towns and villages (Lukomir, Konjic, Stolac) in Bosnia's Dinaric Alps.

Followed by the Luštica Peninsula in Montenegro.

And a windup, mostly in Albania: Shkodër, the Accursed Mountains (based in Theth), the Lake Koman ferry, a bit of Kosovo (Gjakova, Prizren), and Tirana.

Anyone?

Bump. Istanbul or Sarajevo recs? (Not expecting much input re: the rest.) Leaving in just over a month. Whole thing will be like six weeks.

Having just recently traveled to Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto) I’d like to give a few broad tips for anyone going, that I wish I’d known beforehand.

1) download the Suica app to your wallet if you use iPhone. You can load yen to it and use your phone to ride the local trains effortlessly. You don’t even need to have the app open. Just tap your phone to the turnstiles in and out of the train stations and it auto deducts what are very inexpensive trips. 3000 yen each (just under $20 USD) got us a 10 days of train rides all over the place. This won’t work for the Shinkansen (high speed) trains from city to city as far as I know but maybe someone else can chime in if it does.

2) if you are going to go to Kyoto, MAKE FOOD RESERVATIONS BEFOREHAND. I’ve never had a harder time eating dinner anywhere.

3) We ate Japanese the entire time there and didn’t have a bad meal anywhere. Highly recommend if you like fish and are even remotely food curious. Don’t worry though, there is plenty of chicken and beef for you if that’s your thing.

4) Avoid cherry blossom season in Kyoto if you can. What a tourist shitshow that was. Since the misses went for a work thing we didn’t have a choice, but I’d defo try to avoid that next time.

5) Tokyo rules. Give yourself an extra day than you think you need there.

6) Uber calls cabs in Japan, and is typically a little less expensive. Use this if the train isn’t a viable option or when the time is drastically reduced by doing so.

My girlfriend and i confirmed our Chicago trip May 14-18 - she visited as a kid, i've never been. Thanks a lot for the tips rsmurphy. Logan Park, Ukrainian Village, Pilsen, and Wicker Park seem good... still hunting around for places to stay. Suppose we'll go the airbnb route, but we're open to any suggestions. much obliged.

Planning a western US road trip later this year.

Question for those of you who live or have lived in the PNW (or anyone familiar with the area):

Taking into consideration both timing and scenery, what would be your preferred route between Seattle and Idaho Falls?

Looks like there are two main ways to go via interstate highway (I-90 to I-15.. or I-90 to I-82 to I-84), but am open to other routes, too.

I'm going to be in Berlin next weekend and then Munich for the big ridiculous hifi show all of the following week. Any recommendations for places to eat in either city? Last year my hotel was right by the Hauptbanhof in Munich and so I ended up sticking mostly to the old town, but this year I'm keen to see more of the city.

I am not tapped into restaurants here at all beyond the family go-to's, but I would recommend you hit up the north end of Sonnenallee just below Hermannplatz to sample the Syrian (and wider Middle Eastern) diaspora. There are also some nice Arab fried chicken places down on Karl-Marx-Strasse.

Turkish grill fare and the like is ubiquitous and often great too. There must also be decent Korean, Vietnamese etc, if you look.
Places for Eastern European fare, food of the Caucasus (Georgian,etc.) have popped up more over the past decade, maybe something to Google.

I would imagine you can do traditional German better in Munich, maybe best to save that for the Bavarian part of your trip.

jimmy spako wrote: Thu Apr 25, 2024 10:53 am I am not tapped into restaurants here at all beyond the family go-to's, but I would recommend you hit up the north end of Sonnenallee just below Hermannplatz to sample the Syrian (and wider Middle Eastern) diaspora. There are also some nice Arab fried chicken places down on Karl-Marx-Strasse.

Turkish grill fare and the like is ubiquitous and often great too. There must also be decent Korean, Vietnamese etc, if you look.
Places for Eastern European fare, food of the Caucasus (Georgian,etc.) have popped up more over the past decade, maybe something to Google.

I would imagine you can do traditional German better in Munich, maybe best to save that for the Bavarian part of your trip.

Right on, thanks man.

I am joining the party and headed to Japan at the end of October for two weeks.

Is there an Android friendly version of something like the Suica app for the rail system? If not, is it better to buy a pass before, get it there, any pros or cons? I am kind of fixated on this as it's the only thing I feel I dont have a great handle on.

I am planning to buy a fun Japanese Fender or a Japanese Les Paul style guitar while there, probably a good idea to plan to ship it home?

Owen wrote: Wed May 08, 2024 10:09 am I am joining the party and headed to Japan at the end of October for two weeks.

Is there an Android friendly version of something like the Suica app for the rail system? If not, is it better to buy a pass before, get it there, any pros or cons? I am kind of fixated on this as it's the only thing I feel I dont have a great handle on.

I am planning to buy a fun Japanese Fender or a Japanese Les Paul style guitar while there, probably a good idea to plan to ship it home?

We didn’t use any apps while we were there but found traveling just fine without them. You don’t really order a Japan Rail Pass before traveling, per se. Rather, you order a voucher, which you redeem when you get there. (I would highly, highly recommend ordering this now!) We redeemed ours at the airport the day we arrived. It was simple, and the wait in line was only about 20 minutes. Basically, you give them the voucher, they ask you what day you’d like to activate the pass, and then they give you the pass. Don’t lose the pass, though, because you can’t get a new one.

The pass works on most (but not all) inter-city trains. We never encountered one where it didn’t work. It also works on some commuter trains in Tokyo and Kyoto. For subways, we just bought tickets at the machines. It seems so intimidating until you actually do it, at which point you realize it’s easy as pie.

I’d recommend making seat reservations for the bullet trains. You can do that at the ticket machines; just have your Rail Pass and passports handy, as you’ll need to enter information from them. When we’d arrive at a new city, we’d just make the reservations for our departure before we left the train station.

Loved Japan.

Oh, and definitely get the pocket wi-fi, which you can also pick up at the airport when you arrive. It will save you a ton of hassle.