Lake Como is positively stunning.

 

Thanks for the pictures and experiences. I have wanted to go to Europe for years and can't wait to do it someday. I have family living in Germany now so I will have to get over there in the next few years before they move back.

Does anybody else see pictures like this and want to just pack up and move over there? I don't speak anything other then English and have no idea what I would do over there, but it looks so beautiful and different from what we have in the US.

 

 

Beautiful trip, beautiful pictures. One alternative to this is to spring for a tour... my wife and I went to Austria and Switzerland on a Globus tour, and we had the most AMAZING time. It was about $2k each plus airfare, so I imagine it would cost about the same as this trip. That was for 14 days. Covers all travel, hotels, one meal per day, and you get to go places others don't--plus the guides are pros who point stuff out you would have easily missed if you were doing it on your own.

On the other hand, we have friends who love to do international travel on their own with no regrets. Different strokes for different folks.

 

I totally agree... on average, we just don't have much that compares to stuff like this:



This is The Eagle's Nest in southern Germany... Hitler's birthday present from the Third Reich. It's been converted to a restaurant. That, with the Bavarian Alps and villages in the background... you just don't have anything like that over here.

 

living abroad is overrated. i did it in england and in italy (milan).

great place to visit? without a question. everyone should visit. often.

great place to live? i insist the standard of living in the US is much, much better. more personal space, more freedom (in all interpretations of the word), your dollar goes much farther.

maybe if you live in podunktown, usa, it might be a little depressing, but an area like the west coast, pacific northwest, rockies... i'd rather have a permanent house there, and visit europe a couple of times a year

 

Nice photo. I would love to see Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but they are falling down the list of other things I want to see first.

I was spending money on toys and just "stuff" but now I'd rather go without and travel. My top dream trips are Galapagos and Australia right now to scuba while I am still sort of fit. After I hit 40 I fear my time to do the real active stuff is closing so I want to just splurge and knock one dream trip off per year for the rest of my life as long as I can afford it and am healthy.

As far as living in Europe, while I think it might have been fun to do for a year maybe in my twenties, I will just stick to visiting. Rome was seriously cool to hang out in and beautiful to see but I do like owning a home. It was hard to see how the average family lives over there because we saw few freestanding homes near Rome, and miles and miles of what look like 4-5 block-long story brownstone type buildings. I am sure some are real neat, but I like having at house with at least a little yard.

 

Midway Atoll is on the top of my list to see!

 

When I was at the Eagle's Nest a few years back I remember looking out in awe at the villages WAY down in the valley. Even the bus ride was cool, getting to see the mountain unfold below you. What did you think of the gold elevator to the Eagle's Nest? I would think the tunnel going to it would make a pretty defendable position.

Traveling to Germany changed my opinion about the world. I mean, the USA is great and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, but I realize there are other places out there which are significant as well (although Germany is no Rome).

 

If you are doing Midway because of a fascination with WWII and want to travel their you might want to check into seeing if their is a group that does any military related stuff to travel with.

A friend of mine has been to Guadalcanal and recently did a trip to New Guinea with a group called MIA hunters. http://pro5.com/mia/

This group researches military reports of downed aircraft in jungles and such and then tries to compute the trajectory of the flight andgoes out into the jungles and searches for wreckage and human remians.

Now while the group is cool my freind is a piece of work. he went to New Guinea for $14k (of his wife's money because she makes dough and he has not worked in 14 years and is 43) and when the group went out into the jungle, he would follow for a mile or two, get tired and go back to camp. The trip he was on the found two wrecked planes in the jungle and remains of one US serviceman, but he never saw it. He spent $14k to sit in a tent in 90 degree heat in a crappy village and not see anything. I could go on with stories about this guy for two days because he is such a total wierdo, but I will spare you guys.