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zedtech
06-24-2008, 01:20 AM
I have 5 days off for the Canada Day long weekend. Looking forward to doing a road trip for 3-4 days to unwind while the g/f is in Europe. Was thinking of Montreal, Ottawa, NYC, or Boston. Chicago is sorta on my list but I might be going there for the August long weekend w/ a couple buddies for Lollapalooza.

Anyone have any other suggestions for a worthwhile solo road trip? Any ideas are much appreciated - thanks!

baymoe
06-24-2008, 02:08 AM
Road trip alone may be tough, especially when you get tired with no one else to take the wheel. Perhaps a trip up north if you're an avid fisherman. Book a campsite to spend the evening and if you're not looking to stay to spend your entire vacation days, kick back with a friend just to enjoy the outdoors. Eh! How bout booking a campsite at Wasaga! ;)

RallyPlaya
06-24-2008, 12:55 PM
I Vote Montreal..... But Wasaga or a Campsite with a couple of Bud Sounds Good Too

EvilEric
06-24-2008, 01:08 PM
I Vote Montreal..... But Wasaga or a Campsite with a couple of Bud Sounds Good Too

Montreal is a hell of alot of fun :) Doesn't mean you can't also back some gear and do the camping on the way there or back.

crunchie46
06-24-2008, 02:07 PM
Just went to montreal this weekend. There is going to be a jazz festival over the long weekend and you should check out white water rafting on the rouge river if youre adventurous which is about an hour away. pm me if you want details on the rafting.

zedtech
06-24-2008, 02:52 PM
Thanks for the replies everyone :)

I'm also thinking about flying over to Europe and do a road trip there if I can find a reasonably affordable round-trip flight to London, Paris or Amsterdam.

If not, MTL will be the destination of choice. :)

EvilEric
06-24-2008, 03:50 PM
Thanks for the replies everyone :)

I'm also thinking about flying over to Europe and do a road trip there if I can find a reasonably affordable round-trip flight to London, Paris or Amsterdam.

If not, MTL will be the destination of choice. :)

Whoa :P that's some road trip! I always was under the impression that "affordable", "Round-trip" and "Europe" were not allowed to be in sentance.

Unoriginalusername
06-24-2008, 03:54 PM
its 17 hours so likely a day and a half each way, leaving you with two days rest which is kinda tight but the cabbot trail in NS is a pretty awesome road trip

mleblond
06-24-2008, 04:01 PM
Picton beach is good too.....but I vote Montreal.....supersex!!!! And buy the t-shirt!

iconicrocket
06-24-2008, 04:06 PM
Gas is at $1.33/L, I hope you know about "Hypermilling".

:)

RallyPlaya
06-24-2008, 04:10 PM
Picton beach is good too.....but I vote Montreal.....supersex!!!! And buy the t-shirt!


Hahah ive been there too @ the age of 16 haha love the freedom... i feel to old for the strip joints now i guess i grew up really fast :chuckle

mleblond
06-24-2008, 04:26 PM
Hahah ive been there too @ the age of 16 haha love the freedom... i feel to old for the strip joints now i guess i grew up really fast :chuckle

Yea I don't go too very much BUT supersex is like a must atleast one time in your life!!!!! not like any other strip joints....also montreal always has stuff going on. Keep in mind canada day is best in Ottawa.....girls go wild ;)

RallyPlaya
06-24-2008, 04:46 PM
Yea I don't go too very much BUT supersex is like a must atleast one time in your life!!!!! not like any other strip joints....also montreal always has stuff going on. Keep in mind canada day is best in Ottawa.....girls go wild ;)

No one goes too many times.... otherwise youd be broke lol... Montreal is just a beautiful city in soo many aspects as well... its almost like Europe i wish i coulod take a roadtrip there maybe late August hopefully

bigwood29
06-24-2008, 06:32 PM
If anyone is into rides and rollar coasters - Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. I go every 2 or 3 years (since I was 6). It's probably THE best place on the planet for rollar coasters. Their parent company, Cedar Fair, bought Wonderland last year. It's about a 6 hour drive - I suggest going along Lake Erie and stop in Cleveland for the Rock 'N Roll HOF. Come back through Detroit or reverse the drive (Detroit then Cleveland). Gas is still cheaper in the USA. Just a thought, although I'm liking the "ballet" in Montreal.

zedtech
06-25-2008, 10:08 AM
So I came across a last minute deal last night to fly round-trip to Dublin for $550 taxes in... guess where I'm going for 9 days? :bana2

From there I'm going to London, Paris and maybe Ibiza or Amsterdam before going back to Dublin for the flight back. Found flights to London and Paris for 10-50 euros all in so the road trip idea is out of the question.

Going to see Linkin Park and Jay-Z perform in London on Sunday... best impulse buy I've ever made! Can't wait... I leave tomorrow night!

:bana

jaym3
06-25-2008, 10:13 AM
wow that sounds amazing. and amazingly cheap, im jealous

3GFX
06-25-2008, 11:00 AM
I'm heading to the Falls with SheFX. Usually from Kitchener you'd head east on the 401 then south on highway 6. But I discovered some awesome roads down Highway 1 (Guelph Line) which takes you to the same desination anyway. I might take that route there, or possibly on the way back. Hopefully she'll put up with me.

silvermist99
06-25-2008, 11:08 AM
Picton beach is good too.....but I vote Montreal.....supersex!!!! And buy the t-shirt!

is french mandatory in montreal? i dont speak french at allll, dont know if i can get around

zedtech
06-25-2008, 11:11 AM
^^ Newp. You'll be fine :)

Quebec City is a diff story as it's predominantly francophone.

RallyPlaya
06-25-2008, 11:27 AM
Yeah you dont have to know any french in montreal id say 95% people there can speak english or are bilingiual in the city... the really french girls have that sexy french accent when the speak English ..... man i love Montreal im gonna go for my 19th Birtday im pretty Sure

Xerox
06-25-2008, 11:39 AM
I'm heading to the Falls with SheFX. Usually from Kitchener you'd head east on the 401 then south on highway 6. But I discovered some awesome roads down Highway 1 (Guelph Line) which takes you to the same desination anyway. I might take that route there, or possibly on the way back. Hopefully she'll put up with me.

Niagara-on-the-lake is a nice detour. Visiting some wineries is also nice.

mleblond
06-25-2008, 11:43 AM
^^ Newp. You'll be fine :)

Quebec City is a diff story as it's predominantly francophone.

you would be surprised in Quebec city too ;)

Montreal you'll be fine!

3GFX
06-25-2008, 01:20 PM
Niagara-on-the-lake is a nice detour. Visiting some wineries is also nice.

I've been and agree, its nice. But were avoiding that unless we can't find stuff to do in the city. She's not much of a wine 'tourer', although it might be nice to stop into the little town.

baymoe
06-26-2008, 12:14 AM
Wow, wicked. Have a fun and safe trip. I'm jealous.

mogul_pro
06-26-2008, 04:27 PM
A trip would be cool.. I'mm off from friday night until wednesday morning. :)

So far going to play paintball with my team, do some skeet/clay shooting, and go to a family BBQ. Would LOVE to be able to go up north and have a get away for awhile though...

Hope you have a blast on your trip. :)

silvermist99
07-05-2008, 08:09 AM
montreal is 6 hrs away :(

any other ideas on weekend road trip? (leave friday 4pm~, come back late Sunday night) I don't think Montreal is worth driving 12 hrs (gas will be like $170?)just for 1.5 day. I have hotel hookups, just not sure where to go thats closer?

Darkleaf
07-05-2008, 03:20 PM
So I came across a last minute deal last night to fly round-trip to Dublin for $550 taxes in... guess where I'm going for 9 days? :bana2

From there I'm going to London, Paris and maybe Ibiza or Amsterdam before going back to Dublin for the flight back. Found flights to London and Paris for 10-50 euros all in so the road trip idea is out of the question.

Going to see Linkin Park and Jay-Z perform in London on Sunday... best impulse buy I've ever made! Can't wait... I leave tomorrow night!

:bana


How was it? I want to do this in august.

zedtech
07-06-2008, 01:34 PM
I just got home yesterday afternoon, just getting over my jet lag and my system's still readjusting to the time diff.

Europe was awesome! Hit Dublin, London and Paris over my week's stay. I'm glad I didn't drive while I was there though, they're mental in London and Paris (especially Paris lol). I can't pick a winner though because they were all amazing in their own ways.

Paris had amazing food and sights. I loved the history of the city and how all of the buildings and areas were so "old fashioned" looking. How they kept all of those buildings intact all these years is amazing. Some advice I'd give about Paris are:

1. Try to speak French as much as possible. I found customer service to be hella better if you tried to speak French to people. If not, they automatically assume you're American and treat you like sh*t, unless they find out you're Canadian then they treat you a little better. This happened to me once on my first night there at a restaurant close to my hotel - was treated like crap at first because I only spoke English to the sever until she overheard I was from Toronto and then treated me a little better compared to the American I was seated next to. Luckily my high school French Immersion kicked in for the 2nd and 3rd days I was there hehe. If you converse w/ them in French (or at least attempt to), they'll treat you so much better.

2. Take the L'Open Tours bus tour. It's only 32 Euros for 2 days and they have 4 different lines you can take that will cover 90% of Paris and all of the main attractions.

3. Try to stay in the highest star hotel as economically possible. There's a big diff between 2 and 3 star hotels there. Try to stay as close to Central Paris too. Taxis are expensive there.

4. If your hotel doesn't offer a free shuttle to/from the airport, best thing you can do also is use the ParisShuttle services to and from Charles De Gaulle airport if/when you book your hotels from Expedia. For $28 a shuttle, it's well worth it considering a 10 min taxi trip can cost you 12 Euros alone. My hotel from CDG airport was a good 20 mins by highway, I don't even want to think about how much that would have cost by taxi.

5. DO NOT drive there lol. If you think GTA drivers are deadly, you haven't seen anything yet. Make sure you are 110% sure it's safe to cross the street if you decide to jaywalk to cut time. Think Montreal jaywalking times 10 and you have Paris.

London had a great atmosphere and attractions. Pubs were damn fun and the Fish & Chips there is second to none as I expected. I loved how prestigious all the buildings looked. Some advice:

1. Try to stay as close to Central London, preferably somewhere close to an Underground tube station. It can get costly if you need to travel to/from Central London if you're outside the Tube boundaries. The concert I went to was 30mins outside Central London (by train) and I had to pay an extra 30 Pounds for the round-trip train ride there in addition to the Tube fare.

2. Save your money and skip any official bus tours (roughly 17-24 Pounds). Buy yourself an Underground Travelcard with access to all Zones. Only costs 7 Pounds for one day and will give you full access to the entire Underground. Most of the main attractions are next to or within walking distance to an Underground station. I was able to cover all of the attractions I wanted to see in a day using the Underground.

3. Fish & Chips = god-like. Try to eat as many English dishes as possible. "Authentic" here is nothing close to the real thing.

4. Remember that when things sound cheap there, they're really not lol. "Oh that's only 5 pounds for that souvenir shot glass... oh wait, that's $10 CDN - damn!"

Dublin had a lot more to offer than I expected. I only spent the first and last days of my trip there but can't wait to go back. The people there are very friendly and funny. There are so many sites I want to see, a few of them take a full day to experience so if I go back, I'm definitely staying in Dublin for at least 3 days. My thoughts on Dublin:

1. Do the bus tour for the commentary (which was hilarious) and to get an overall feel of the sights. If you wanna take pics, I'd recommend getting off at the spots you want to see because the drivers tend to zoom past everything as they talk about them.

2. Definitely hit Temple Bar in downtown Dublin... I can't even begin to tell you how many pints of Guiness I had w/ other tourists and locals. They're so happy-go-lucky there after a few pints and I lost count after 3 lol.

Can't wait to go back to Europe, hopefully within the next couple of years. I wanna hit Dublin again, Italy, Barcelona and Amsterdam next time :)

Last piece of advice for Europe: If you are planning on going to Ibiza, the average cover charge at clubs is 50 Euros and the avg cost for a basic mixed drink (like Red Bull & Vodka) is like 17 Euros. My g/f was there w/ one of her best friends when I was in Paris and she was in shock with how much they gouge you for the clubs there. She had more fun at the bars in and around Ibiza instead anyhow lol.

x_o_k_x
07-08-2008, 12:26 AM
wow thats awesome! great tips, Im planing to go on Eurotrip next year, hopefully to cover all the countries there or atleast most of them. But wow didnt expect Ibiza to be soo expensive. But sure worth every penny to go there. My friend was there twice or 3 times even and likes it alot. Well worth it.