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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 7, 2011 7:19:41 GMT
Please add to this thread with any resources you know of that provide practical, up-to-date guidance for travelers. If you'll put the country name in boldface, that will be a help. Mexico -- www.mexicomike.com/Commercial site, but with tons of excellent free advice, as well. Mike Nelson literally "wrote the book" on driving in Mexico, & has driven all over the country for over 40 years. The site covers almost any question about visiting or moving to Mexico.
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Post by hwinpp on Oct 7, 2011 9:34:38 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 7, 2011 15:26:33 GMT
Boy, those are in-depth sites, HW -- great! The Khmer440 one is like a glossy magazine, except online. Very nice.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2013 17:29:53 GMT
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Post by komsomol on Jan 29, 2013 18:24:27 GMT
Good links!
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Post by anshjain97 on Jan 31, 2013 1:07:14 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2013 8:27:53 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 8, 2013 17:14:43 GMT
Admittedly, I never spent any time thinking about it, but wouldn't you just assume that transportation hubs would be among the first things featured in Google Street View? But no -- the fact that they're finally being included is news. And before you get excited over the headline: Google Adds Airports, Train Stations to Street View, I can tell you the article includes this discouraging nugget: ... the program is rather limited — only parts of the U.S., U.K., Spain, Italy, and Japan are represented, among the handful of rail stations, airports, and museums/points of interest spread out across the globe. The map does not include U.S. airports. (click headline for full article)Meanwhile, ever since this forum opened in 2009, Kerouac has been providing that information more fully & with explanatory text. His threads even show areas outside the stations, something Street View doesn't allow. If you've any doubt that this is appreciated, one of those threads is coming up on 27,000 views. Really, those threads should have been listed in this thread of "Travelers' aids, country by country" long since, so here you go: a list with clickable thread titles ~~ France - Paris Gare du Nord photo aidParis CDG airport - transportation, etc.Paris Saint Lazare photo aidParis Gare de l'Est photo aid
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Post by htmb on Dec 8, 2013 19:07:59 GMT
I have sung Kerouac's praises ever since my first solo trip to Paris when I caught the train from CDG into the city. Last year his Gare du Nord report came in very handy, too, when I took the London/Paris Eurostar. Very much appreciated and immensely helpful!!!!!
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 8, 2013 21:05:48 GMT
Speaking of which, did you find any good travelers' aid links for the UK you could post here, please? The thread really needs people who live in or have visited various countries to help fill it with reliable links.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 8, 2013 22:03:10 GMT
A classic, UK-based but not for just one country (or sovereign state), is seat61.com - "The Man in Seat 61" Worldwide, but makes me so sad that so many rail links have been lost in the Americas...
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Post by mich64 on Dec 9, 2013 0:36:45 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 19, 2013 20:48:46 GMT
Those look great, Mich. Did you use all of them before your recent trip, or find some of them after the trip as well?
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Post by mich64 on Dec 20, 2013 2:22:17 GMT
Bixa I used all of these websites to help in planning our trip. We did use the rail website when we were there to get details for our day trip to Stirling and for our second city stop, Edinburgh.
I surprised my husband with a lunch at Oran Mor, a restaurant/theatre in a refurbished Church that was built in 1862. We were on the hop-on-hop-off bus and the commentary began to describe it and I remembered it from my research so I told my husband it was time to get off the bus.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 20, 2013 7:56:16 GMT
Hey! What a great plug for doing research before a trip. And how wonderful that you remembered the name when you heard it on the bus. Hope it was good!
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Post by bjd on Dec 20, 2013 10:00:42 GMT
Before the trip to Belgrade, I printed out relevant info from the corresponding Wikitravel pages. It was good for travel info to and from the airport, as well as for things to see. I didn't bother printing out restaurant pages or nightclubs and had already booked a place to stay.
There are also In Your Pocket guides for many European cities.
You just have to pick and choose the information you need.
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Post by mich64 on Dec 20, 2013 13:45:47 GMT
bjd I used to create my own guide books on our first few trips. I have kept them and looking back at them it shows me that I have grown more confident. I also have the help of being able to bring my computer and now tablet along with me. I still create and print an itinerary for our parents.
Our first solo trip I created this report that probably would have scored me an A if I had gone to school to be a travel agent. I used to print our hotel web site page, include a copy of the confirmation email and print the directions from one hotel to the next from the Via Michelin site. I would print places of interest and at the end of the report I had a copy of driving rules for each country, a copy of our all our medical, vehicle and Visa insurances. Oh yes, I was this over prepared!
However, the research came in handy as I knew we required and needed to purchase a vignette for driving in Switzerland and Austria, I knew we needed to purchase safety vests for driving in Austria, these things were not included with our rental that we picked up in Germany and if we had been stopped there are serious fines. When someone damaged our rental in a parking lot, we had all the information of what we needed to have when contacting our credit card company and what to expect at the rental return.
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Post by bjd on Dec 20, 2013 15:20:36 GMT
Wow, Mich -- you are certainly well organized! I have never travelled anywhere like that. The Wikitravel printout was simply because we couldn't find any other information, my friend just had a not-very-useful small French guidebook.
Nowadays, I also tend to read the Thorn Tree about specific destinations. There are often good tips about things, or else I ask a question or two.
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Post by mich64 on Dec 20, 2013 15:56:30 GMT
I have a library full of guide books, Lonely Planet, Fodor's, Frommer's and Rick Steves. This is the first year I did not ask my husband for a guide book. We are planning on returning to France, Switzerland and Germany next September so I will be scanning the internet for updates and hotel ideas. We are visiting different regions than on our previous trips. Looking forward to adding more links to this thread!
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 20, 2013 19:31:21 GMT
Excited for you, Mich, & can't wait to hear your reports.
Even though you say you over-prepared for your first few trips, it seems that would be good training for figuring out what was & wasn't important to know. And as you say, it helped you become more confident.
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