Tagged With "Japan Railways East"
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Re: Huntingdon, Pennsylvania: Peaceful Holiday Getaway
Nicely done Stephanie ! The Swigart Car Museum was on my list for a future travel blog since I travel Route 22 but go east from I-99 to my brothers' residences in Punxsutawney and Parker, PA. I always seemed to be short on time to take the detour to go west on Route 22. Your Swigart photos whetted my appetite to now take that detour and visit that place. Loved the automobile photos and the stories behind some of them.
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Re: Huntingdon, Pennsylvania: Peaceful Holiday Getaway
Thank you George. They close in the winter, so call first to be sure so that it's not a wasted trip.
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Re: Hop a Cheap Flight to Turkey
Rob, I like your recurring posts when you see these great fares. I hope you continue doing it, including from airports other than the east coast. Good work. PM
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Re: Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit, Kennedy Space Center
Last launch I watched was from the East Coast of Florida - maybe near Cocoa Beach. The Sky was complete darkness, just a few stars and the moon. We were listening to the launch radio station from about T minus 15 minutes - as NASA described the last minute checks. A few seconds before launch time you could see the ground at Cape Canaveral illuminated like a bright white flare. The steam from the launch pad turned into a white cloud and on "Zero" the rocket was moving slowly into the air. For...
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Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Wow, this is turning into a real education!! I checked with my uncle and yes, I can fly Chicago to Manchester and return from either London or Paris to Chicago. The ticket is free to him and he said he would cover any fees as a "graduation gift to me" (he's a pretty cool dude!), but I don't want to burden him with a heavy departure fee, so maybe Paris would be the way to go. I'd like to leave about Friday, May 9th and return 4 weeks later, June 6th. A few days later and returning a few days...
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Re: Montreal: Je Me Souviens
Re the name "Montreal": there is a town in France with the same name so it is not certain that the City of Montreal is called that because of Mont Royal. Apart from that small quibble, I heartily agree with all you have written about my home city. Oh, wait ... it really isn't so that "almost everyone speaks English quite well". Venture east of Blvd St Laurent and you'll soon find that isn't the case. But then the average visitor, unless by accident, will not find him/herself in the part of...
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Re: Montreal: Je Me Souviens
Thanks for your note, Arion! I really didn't run into anyone in Montreal who couldn't speak some English. My French is weak at best, but got by here. That certainly wasn't the case as we headed further east. Maybe we can convince you to do a piece on the "hidden Montreal" -- the places only locals know about. I'd like to explore some of them the next time I'm there.
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Re: Greenland from six miles high!
I agree it's a spectacular sight not to be missed and that there's more to Greenland that just the ice sheet. 2014 will see me on my 7th month-long visit in the last 9 years. I will again hike alone from Sisimiut on the west coast to a location north east of Kangerlussuaq (something like 110 - 120 miles) and then join colleagues doing wild goose research. By all means aim to set foot on the ground there and enjoy camping in the remote arctic landscape - being alone out there is a unique...
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Re: Capital of Culture Series: Liverpool
In a way, most of the places in the world worth visiting have some history of being "dirty, industrial" places--that's where people cluster and societies are forged. The ancient cities of the Middle East and Greece, and Rome itself were like that! We recently visited the excavated Roman city under central Barcelona, and were surprised to see how much of the area in the center of the ancient city was given over to commercial laundry, large-scale dye works and industrial-scale wine-making. The...
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Re: United's Award Chart: Premium Award Cost Goes UP
I think you'll find reward trips from the Western USA are harder to get for European travel than from the East coast. But if your schedule is flexible, you could be lucky.
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Re: United's Award Chart: Premium Award Cost Goes UP
John's point about the ratio between the two tiers is interesting (we looked at that a little in a forum post this week on value of miles). My guess--and it's just that--is that the same kind of yield-management used to set prices has taken a look at this and is carefully balancing loyalty vs. burn... I can't really compare East vs West availability personally; my school schedules have defined when I can travel well enough that I'm able to start hunting tickets 330 days out, when the...
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Re: The Beautiful Pools and Geysers of Yellowstone National Park
Hi Andre, and welcome. As DrY is away on vacation, I'll try to answer your question before he gets back. Yellowstone National Park does sit on what is known as the "Yellowstone Hot Spot". You see this in its geysirs and hot water pools. This does have the potential to become a massive volcano and cause a tremendous eruption. As big as any volcano in recorded history and then some. The jet stream would carry the ash and smoke mostly east (towards the Atlantic Ocean), so those areas would be...
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo #20
Friday hint: The sun rises in the east...and this is North America.
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Re: Japan gears up icons for 2020 Olympics
Tokyo really can be a confusing city to navigate and it has little to do with symbols or written English translations, which they are getting better at. Just a couple issues I've seen. It's hard to find a street address because it's difficult to find smaller street names posted. And there are very few public trash cans.
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Re: Hello Kitty meals for Hello Kitty hotel guests
O my goodness. My husband and I have a friend who is obsessed with Hello Kitty. I wonder if she knows about this place Weill have to share. Thanks...
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo (#252)
Here are Thursday's clues, and The Puzzler hopes they find you all in better weather than he is anticipating on the U.S. East Coast!
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Re: Norway getting an all-electric fjord ferry
The modern world still needs oil so I'm glad Norway is able to help add to a world supply that makes us all less reliant on the volatile middle east. But they do have abundant hydroelectricity, as does Canada, and it's places like this that I see as good testing grounds for battery powered experiments like this ferry because charging the batteries here doesn't add much pollution. Hydroelectric dams may be somewhat controversial (what isn't?), but once they're built they generate lots of...
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Re: Route 66 - Pasadena to Needles
I've only had the pleasure of a small part of the road (east of Flagstaff and yes, passing that corner in Winslow, Arizona, but Route 66 is pretty much the symbol of the feeling so many of us have, of wanting to discover a past still visible in the present, and worth holding onto. Another good book for "shunpikers" is George Cantor's "Where the Old Roads Go: Driving the First Federal Highways of the Northeast." It's an easy and rewarding read even if you're not setting out on Rte 6, Rte 20,...
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Re: Canada: See it all while you're young (Summer Rail Passes)
A one way flight from Vancouver to the east coast of Canada might run you $700.00. Remember, you're talking about distance of almost 4000 mi/6000 km between Vancouver and Halifax. Travels north towards the Yukon and NWT are also expensive, so if you will actively travel for 2 months, this is a good value.
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Re: Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
I'm glad that you liked the pics Paul. The floating villages there are the only ones quite like it that I recall seeing in Vietnam. Down on the Mekong it is quite usual to see extensions to homes built far out over the water that they pretty much classify as floating! There are a lot of house-boats on the Mekong too but the villages in Ha Long bay are much more substantial in that they are made up of floating platforms upon which several houses can be built together. In Cambodia a similar...
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Re: Gallery: The View From Home
Thanks for the vivid colors, and the hope they give me that spring will soon reach us in the Frozen East as well (actually, I see the signs of revival already in the branches of my climbing rose). As well, the lone brown leaf in the last picture reminds us that this is only one phase in an endless cycle.
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Re: High Tech Toilet Manufacturer to Open Museum in Japan
Rob, I believe this is a catapult, not a toilet for the elderly. It's all in the speed of the lifting device.
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Re: Portland Bill Revisited: Pictures from a small island
PortMoresby is very right DrF, Chesil Beach is a 'shingle' beach is 29 kilometres (18 mi) long, 200 metres (660 ft) wide and 15 metres (50 ft) high - and pretty steep too!! The 'shingle' (large round pebbles) varies from pea-sized at the north-west end (by West Bay) to orange-sized at the south-east end (by Portland). It is said that smugglers who landed on the beach in the middle of the night could judge "exactly where they were" by the size of the shingle. The beach has been the scene of...
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Re: Florida warned: take action against future flooding
Garry, aside from the fact that climate change involves far more than the question of polar ice caps, we're not in huge disagreement, I think. 1. Climate change is a more accurate term than global warming, because it's not all about warming, and in some cases the change brings colder rather than warmer. 2. The effects are not the same everywhere, nor are they always immediately harmful. It is possible for one area to be threatened with inundation while another benefits from a return of...
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Re: How cold is this winter? Niagara Falls has frozen over!
When the US east coast has a severe winter then the folks in northern Europe escape with a cool and dry season. Perhaps we can put all this talk of "Warming" safely to bed !
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Re: Germans Reflect on Reunification
I was in Berlin on Saturday, the day of the 25th anniversary of reunification. There were tons of people in the city, as crowded as I've ever seen any major city. The main activities were in the Tiergarten, especially around the Brandenburg gate. By the time we made our way there, the police had closed down the area and were not allowing more people in because it was overcrowded. Still, everyone seemed well behaved and having a nice time. I think most Germans feel reunification was a good...
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Re: Small farm around Mariposa, California
I'm glad you like the photo. I was charmed by the place, too. I didn't write down the precise location, but as I recall it was somewhat east of Mariposa. Try looking around the region of Triangle Road and Carleton Road junction. Good luck finding it.
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Re: It's Euro-official: No more time switches
It's interesting to me that the most vocal opposition has come in countries that are at the east and west of Central Europe, perhaps in part because they are the ones already living a bit out of their 'natural' space. Some opponents of switching, or should I say, of ending switching, have pointed out that a large majority of those who participated in the public consultation were in Germany; it's not only Britain where attention was apparently focused elsewhere!
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Re: Journey through Karnataka: Hampi
Thank you for sharing your journey to an amazing site. Places like this are part of what makes traveling such a pleasure. We in North America learn a lot about the history of Western Europe and some Middle East civilizations and empires from there. However we tend to pass over the rest of the world which included empires and civilizations as great as the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians. Hampi is just another point in favour of a journey to India.
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Re: Journey through Karnataka: Hampi
Thanks a lot for your comments. I fully agree with what you say - I also feel that there is a big hole in my education where the history of places like India is concerned. That is part of the reason why I enjoy doing blogs like this one: it forces me to do a bit of research and to broaden my own horizons.
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Re: Getting to know Canada's hidden gems
There are ruins of a Viking settlement in the northwest corner of Newfoundland. Admittedly a remote hard to get to place, but I'd like to see them someday. Indian tribes tended just to bunker down in the winter in a place they knew would be safe for them. Sheltered somewhat from the wind, wood and fresh water supply nearby, etc. Food was generally harvested in the summer and consumed during the cold winter months. Their tents were constructed of hides (as were their clothes) and are...
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Re: We're more than Tokyo, Japan tells tourists
Tokyo can be a very intimidating city for a traveler because of it's massive and crowded metro system and it's lack of English speakers. I think that's why more people don't venture out past the tourist sights in Tokyo.
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Re: We're more than Tokyo, Japan tells tourists
A few simple items to remember when transiting Tokyo ... In Tokyo, JR/Subway maps are available for the asking (FREE from the station attendant) with stations listed in either English or in Japanese. Get a copy of both. Have someone write your destination in Japanese. When approaching someone on the street with a "Please direct me towards xxxx" written in Japanese I have ALWAYS been given good directions. (A mix of English and Japanese does NOT often work) This includes traveling solo in...
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Re: We're more than Tokyo, Japan tells tourists
US News published a story by the AP on problems that were occurring with increased tourism in Tokyo. http://www.usnews.com/news/bus...articles/2015/06/18/
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Oct. 4., 2015: Chesapeake, Maryland.
I was taken there a few years ago by my son to taste real crabcakes. He's been on the east coast for 15 years. I think he's the only Scouser (Liverpudlian) for 100 miles !
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Re: Portland, Oregon - Part III - Escaping
Thanks again for a wonderful view of the Portland area. If you had continued East along the Columbia River you would have reached the Maryhill Museum . This fascinating collection of art started as the dream of Samuel Hill who was president of the Seattle Gas and Electric Company around the start of the 20th century. He hoped to build a Quaker farming community, but irrigation proved too difficult. Istead he was convinced to turn his mansion into an art museum. His collection was eclectic. I...
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Re: Cost of Japan flights to plummet in 2016
With fuel charges at a 12 year low all the Air carriers should stop gouging the public and give us all a refund.
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Re: Survey: U.S. is 2016's top vacation destination
Now that many countries are not recommended for a vacation us Brits are looking west instead of east. I'll be over in 2 weeks !
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Re: Boston Public Library (Where Gumbo was #150)
And lets not forget Melvil Dewey - a Librarian in the North-East USA who invented the Dewey Decimal System (1876) which is now used in more than 135 Countries ! A wonderful collection of photo's. Love architecture.
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Re: Iiyama: Hometown Japan
Thanks Holly and welcome to TG! What a wonderfully informative piece about small-town Japan. I'll try to visit Iiyama City on my next trip to Japan.
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Re: Iiyama: Hometown Japan
Fascinating insight into small town life in Japan! I had no idea how serious the reduction of population in these towns were. One would think the natural wonders of the area alone would help bring in residents. Thanks for enlightening article!
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Re: Iiyama: Hometown Japan
I sure hope things work out well for Iiyama! There seem to be so many places that have lost people and jobs and so forth, and so few of them get such a chance as the Bullet Train. Thank you for a sweet story that's maybe got a happy ending.
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Re: Iiyama: Hometown Japan
This is exactly the type of town I'm looking for when I travel to Japan. It's made my list. Thanks!
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Re: Iiyama: Hometown Japan
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post! I hope things look up for Iiyama, too. It really is a beautiful town.
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Re: Iiyama: Hometown Japan
Great to hear! Iiyama is a fantastic place to visit. I'm sure you'll love it.
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Re: Iiyama: Hometown Japan
I've never been to Japan but it is a country that I wanted to visit for a very long time. I love their history, architecture, language, traditions and I would like to learn more about it. Thank you for your post, I never heard about this city but any information about something I don't know is an information worth having. Good job!
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