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Fascinating places you’ve been and want to go

G

GaryH

TS Member
Many of us have probably travelled quite a bit - what was a place you had visited which exceeded your expectations, which was fascinating/interesting, or somewhere that was always on your list. And what place would be next on your list if you could travel tomorrow?

For me, I went to Lapland a few years ago in December and it was just like one of those Christmas postcards but even better. Went snowmobiling out across frozen lakes and saw the northern lights. Went on a dog sleigh pulled by huskies, some of which were part wolf, and cooked sausages over an open fire in the middle of nowhere. Was truely magical.

As for a place I’d love to go next - would love to visit Japan. Mix the hustle and bustle of the cities with the tranquility of the mountains and mt Fiji. I would imagine it’s quite an attack on the senses!
 
I have been to a few places over the years taking students out on trips.

Electric mountain was a good one.

Museum of science and industry in Manchester was another.
I ended up talking about the microwave link they had displayed for tv link to winter hill transmitter. And ended up with a secondary school science class joining the students and the college science teacher in listening to me talk about the basic science behind parabolic dish and microwave links. (Yes i am that sad)

As for where i would like to. I am not one for foreign travel so may be the wrekin transmitter build for a tour (i wish) or a trip around radio or tv tech Department
 
San Marino

Fascinating to visit a micronation based on a mountain. Even could buy a wand in case the Dark Lord and his forces show up.
 
Places I've been...

NASA Johnson Space Centre in Houston.

Just amazing place to visit with so much see. Got to go in side a space shuttle, and the plane it used to get a piggy back off. Got to touch a piece of the moon. And got to visit the control center that was used for the Apollo Missions.

Same day I got to see The Alamo as well.

Wiezlicka Salt Mine

Near to Krakow, just amazing place to visit. Definitely recommend. Quite a long tour, make sure to book an English language one.
 
A fascinating place that I would like to go (but probably won't) is the Winchester Mystery House in California. It looks very intriguing, with its doors and staircases that lead to nowhere, and it also seems to be a stunning building. However, the main reason why I would like to go is because it directly inspired Disney's Haunted Mansion [1].

[1] Disney’s Haunted Mansion and more: Winchester Mystery House’s influence on pop culture (2023) Winchester Mystery House. Available at: https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/...ster-mystery-houses-influence-on-pop-culture/ (Accessed: 17 August 2024).
 
Anyone interested in finding out about weird, quirky, strange and unique places in the world (such as the salt mines) should check out the excellent Atlas Obscura book which bills itself as “An explorers guide to the world’s hidden wonders”. It’s a great book to just browse and see what interesting places are things are out there.

Curious and Wondrous Travel Destinations - Atlas Obscura

Definitive guidebook and friendly tour-guide to the world's most wondrous places. Travel tips, articles, strange facts and unique events.
www.atlasobscura.com www.atlasobscura.com
 
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The one on the Beach was pretty cool.
And you beat me to the Atlas Obscura credit Mr Dog, spent many a wasted day on the website.
Portmeirion for me.
Another world, a few hours drive away.
 
Last month I was lucky enough to visit the Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon and Death Valley whilst on a trip to Las Vegas.

Whilst in Death Valley we stopped off in Furnace Creek where it was a toasty 52°C (about 125°F in old money). Your shoes literally stick to the concrete as you walk around. But perhaps most fascinating was heading out to the Harmony Borax Works. This is an old borate salt quarry, a natural resource which is only found in a handful of places outside of Death Valley. It’s produced essentially by scraping salt layer of the salt flats and then boiling it to refine it. This works was active between 1882 and 1888, but parts of it are still standing.

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Perhaps most incomprehensible was the fact that the workers (many of them Chinese migrants) actually lived in the valley around the works! How anybody could survive in such a harsh and uninhabitable environment just boggles the mind.

We also headed up to Dante’s View. You’re stood at around 5500ft elevation, looking down onto Badwater Basin, a salt flat that is around 250ft below sea level, making it the lowest point of mainland USA. Much like the Grand Canyon, your brain simply cannot comprehend the scale of what you’re looking at. Without a reference point you simply can’t compute how far away things are. On clear days you can actually see America’s tallest mountain, meaning you are literally seeing the highest and lowest points simultaneously. Again, utterly incomprehensible thinking that every other point of the country is between these two points.

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The whole experience was fascinating, and Death Valley coupled with the Grand Canyon truly makes you appreciate how incredible nature and the planet really are.

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Safe to say I don’t think Hertz anticipated anyone subjecting one of their hire cars to the levels of abuse we did during this trip 🤣
 
Done plenty of travel - New York Ground Zero and Rome Coliseum are both breathtaking in there own way.

On the list is a trip of the old Soviet Union- And Peru.
 
Think New York is amazing full stop, as a film nerd you can barely walk down a street without something having been filmed there. A favourite moment was driving through Brooklyn underneath the overhead railway, felt like I was in the French Connection.

Speaking of Soviet architecture Bucharest is full of amazing buildings. And lots of stray dogs.
 
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