US - it's home but California has zero interest for me. I need to do all 50 states - kY, ME, NH, VT, ID, MT and ND remain.

Europe - London only although I am going to Budapest and Prague this year.

Africa - all of it.

Asia - most of it other than Japan and China.

Middle East - Oman (my friends and family in Dubai and come see me there) and maybe Cairo.

Turkey - not sure Europe or Asia. I want to hunt wild boar there.

Australia no interest. New Zealand I want to spend more time - last time I was there for 11 hrs.

Latin America - Brazil (fishing trip in Amazon in December) Argentina, Panama and Costa Rica.

No interest - Russia or Mongolia

Looks like the only places I like visiting have hunting and fishing, good food or speak English.

Mike

Intriqued as to why you wont go to Australia ? Its an interesting , diverse , huge country , filled with Australians. And it has great hunting and fishing . Did I mention its full of Australians ?

quote:

Originally posted by muzza:
Intriqued as to why you wont go to Australia ? Its an interesting , diverse , huge country , filled with Australians. And it has great hunting and fishing . Did I mention its full of Australians ?

Australia feels a lot like the US only more boring. Food is okay, I hate their sports teams, hunting sucks for a place with so much land, fishing is good so I may need to look into it, most of its resource companies are run by con artist (no that different than anywhere else in the world).

I just have not been impressed by anything in Australia. I can get all of it in the us without having to fly 20 hrs. Side note - the Steakhouse at the crown casino in Melbourne was very good.

Mike

Next time you travel out of the country, I'll pay for your permanent visa :-)

You did NOT get to The Texas House in Sydney did you? I took an R&R in 1970 and the country was great. Did I mention the ladies? All of Australia was very Pro-American, the RSC's especially. Did I mention the ladies?

My only negative experience in a week was trying to drive an XKE convertible on their roads. Fortunately, for me and the people there, I met this very nice Sheila and she was willing to drive me around that six days.

And Rugby? I doubt there are half a dozen NFL players who could last more than two scrums.

If their gun laws were only a bit more common sense.

Rich

PS: 2nd on what Biebs said

Well, to each his own.

Just commenting on your list.

States: Id and Mt are not to be missed. Glacier Nat. Park is one of my favorites.

Europe: I wouldn't walk across the street to visit London, but that's me and I've been there. I would love to see Prague and hope to before long.

Africa: Most of the northern half, with a couple of exceptions are hell holes where you might wind up dead as a non-Muslim American.

Asia: China and Japan should not be missed. Thailand is wonderful. VN is supposed to be a good destination these days.

Turkey: Istanbul is huge but interesting. Good seaside vacation spots as well.

All of SA is interesting to me. I've fished in most of the major river systems for peacocks. Except for one time when we got flooded out it was all great, minus seeing some revolutionary types, complete with AKs on the river.

Russia and Mongolia are high on my list, but I don't think I will make it.

Have always wanted to visit Taj Mahal but probably won't make that either.

After living for almost twenty years in Southeast Asia, South America, Australia, India, and the Middle East, I have very little interest in travelling. I have enough tee shirts.

I need to go back to Hawaii to show this wife, and I need to see Yellowstone before I pull the pin. My wife says I need to take her to Paris.

I prefer to sit in my hammock with a Cuba Libre and watch my Koi.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:
Well, to each his own.

Just commenting on your list.

States: Id and Mt are not to be missed. Glacier Nat. Park is one of my favorites.

Europe: I wouldn't walk across the street to visit London, but that's me and I've been there. I would love to see Prague and hope to before long.

Africa: Most of the northern half, with a couple of exceptions are hell holes where you might wind up dead as a non-Muslim American.

Asia: China and Japan should not be missed. Thailand is wonderful. VN is supposed to be a good destination these days.

Turkey: Istanbul is huge but interesting. Good seaside vacation spots as well.

All of SA is interesting to me. I've fished in most of the major river systems for peacocks. Except for one time when we got flooded out it was all great, minus seeing some revolutionary types, complete with AKs on the river.

Russia and Mongolia are high on my list, but I don't think I will make it.

Have always wanted to visit Taj Mahal but probably won't make that either.

Most of the places I say I have no interest in going I have been too.

I may do a trip to Japan to see Tokyo and Hiroshima/Nagasaki.

I really want to go spend time in South Korea - the Koreans are a drinking people.

China - been there done that. Food sucks. I love Hong Kong.

Thailand is awesome - here right now. I am trying not to go to Siam Mall and put s deposit at the real estate show for a villa in Phuket.

India - people like it or hate it. I grew up and will be spending some time there - trying to find off the run spots. Goa was interesting. Need to go to Sri Lanka. I need to see the Taj.

I define North Africa in Middle East. Little interest outside of Oman and Cario. my gut tells me I will be spending a few days in Dubai as it is the new transport hub.

London - 4-5 neighborhoods is awesome. I feel poor when I go there but the food is awesome and beers delicious. I love the summers and xmas time.

Really want to focus on South America. Good flights from Orlando and no jet lag flying same time zone.

Will make trip a Russia to see World War II battlefields.

Turkey is very tempting.

Everyone needs to see China and India to have a sense for how the world is changing (mean reverting)

It's amazing how similar certain parts of the world are getting - the high end malls from Dallas to Orlando to Dubai to Hong Kong to Mumbai to Bangkok to Jo-burg Re all getting to be the same. The size and the food court may vary but everything else is the same.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Kensco:
After living for almost twenty years in Southeast Asia, South America, Australia, India, and the Middle East, I have very little interest in travelling. I have enough tee shirts.

I need to go back to Hawaii to show this wife, and I need to see Yellowstone before I pull the pin. My wife says I need to take her to Paris.

I prefer to sit in my hammock with a Cuba Libre and watch my Koi.

I have become that way - I hate flying and I used to travel a lot. I rather drive 10 hrs to New Orleans than fly. I normally drive to Tx too.

I will be going to India 2-3 times a year to see my Dad. He is 72 and I want to spend more time with him. Plan to make side trips or stop overs along the way.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Next time you travel out of the country, I'll pay for your permanent visa :-)

Biebs I saw a massive display of Fanta and cialis/Viagra in Bangkok - which one one do you want me to get for you

Mike

The internet salesman for my Truck was a old UN hand who spent a lot of time in Africa (Tanzania and surrounding countries) and in Sri Lanka.

He was very negative on Africa - said they are very xenophobic cultures and he would much rather spend time in Sri Lanka.

He also said I had a naive sense of what Africa is from hunting. He is a straight shooter who has lived decades in Africa.

Mike

I've been out of the USA twice. first time on business to Winchester and London only for a few hours I enjoyed both and they kinda spoke English.

second time was Budapest, Debrecen, Vienna very enjoyable, they mostly spoke English too. (I'm half Hungarian)

Hopefully next year Germany.

quote:

Cuba Libre

Wife watches all the TV series about Miss Marple, she loved English gardens - London, I think, is to combine with a visit to the garden show and Chelsea, if going with wife. Without a wife, in my opinion, there is nothing to do. And there is also England as such. I was lucky to visit in Telford, Shropshire - it's so English "the Ass of the World", but from there all modern mess went - where the first ever iron bridge built - a monument to the beginning of the industrial era.
In my opinion, to visit Paris, you can - once. I was twice, with an interval of 10 years there nothing has changed, only the Galeries Lafayette, a large Department specifically for the Chinese.
As for Russia - it is difficult to judge, here is really a little something extraordinary, but if you're interested to go to museums, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, perhaps the richer than English and French museums. In Moscow only two days, walk to the Kremlin and go down to the metro (subway), and it is sufficient.
It would be interesting to visit in Vietnam - it is said that Thailand is an easy, very cheap and with a lower level of comfort. Climbing through the underground cities that the Americans bombed - now it's tourist facilities. Only Western tourists can get stuck there, because the tunnel is designed for Vietnamese. And I'm thinking about such exotic, like North Korea. The reviews are very different, but it can be an interesting experience.

I'm actually starting to investigate retiring in Asia, likely either Thailand or Philippines, but I'm open to others.

I don't mind hot weather, love the women and food and can make my retirement dollars go a lot farther (I had to start from scratch at age 50 due to a nasty divorce so I'm doing some serious catch-up).

My biggest concern will be health insurance. I'm in very good health right now but will really need to crunch the numbers to make sure it's doable. I'm still 9 years out, though.

quote:

Originally posted by WannabeBwana:
I'm actually starting to investigate retiring in Asia, likely either Thailand or Philippines, but I'm open to others.

I don't mind hot weather, love the women and food and can make my retirement dollars go a lot farther (I had to start from scratch at age 50 due to a nasty divorce so I'm doing some serious catch-up).

My biggest concern will be health insurance. I'm in very good health right now but will really need to crunch the numbers to make sure it's doable. I'm still 9 years out, though.

Asia is not that cheap anymore. I think US is one of the cheapest on real estate and cost of living if you find the right places to live. Problem in US is real estate is expensive to maintain (property taxes) and labor is expensive.

Bangkok is cheap relative to Bombay.

I have not been to Philippines in 27 years so non idea.

Sitting in Thailand - i think this may be the perfect place for western to retire in Asia. You will never be Thai but it seems like a pretty open society and there is fair amount of expat and tourist crowd.

Mike

Today in Bangkok 82deg - 94% humidity.

I find NYC too hot and humid in the summer. I'd never leave the house in Thailand.

I have lived in Spain, Italy, Greece, Australia, Turkey, Djibouti, Afghanistan and Australia.

I have lived in: California, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Washington, Washington DC, Alaska, Hawaii, Florida, Tenneesee, Kentucky, Maine and Arizona.

I think the only states I have not been to are Mississippi, Alabama and Vermont.



I have been to: Vietnam, Japan a ton, Singapore, Korea, Thailand, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Israel, Egypt, Morrocco, South Africa, Namibia, Portugal, France, England, Germany, Ireland, Gibralter, Diego Garcia, Pakistan,

We'd move overseas again in a heart beat. We'd move almost anywhere in the Western USA outside of the bigger metropolis without thinking about it.

I spent Saturday in Bishop, California. It is probably the nicest town in the Southern half of California, I much prefer it to a lot of places in the southern half of Wyoming. People run their mouth about California, but not all of California is LA, SF, SAC or San Diego.

I have been massively uncomfortable quite a few times in my life. I have been in a nice place a couple of times in the South and seen gunplay and death. I don't have much use for the Southern USA around any metropolis areas. In Boston or NYC you might get beaten up, but you will probably not be shot. A lot of big cities in the south are as bad or worse than Detroit and Chicago.

Canada is wonderful. Almost all of it that I have been to, and I have been to BC, Yukon, NB, NFLD and Alberta.

Central and Eastern Texas are depressing and as bad or worse than California on the amount of people that live there.


I only have two continents that I have not put my feet on South America and Antartica. I intend on doing that before the wife finds the cheapest pine box she can to put whatever is left of me in.

Nicely said

quote:

Originally posted by richj:
Today in Bangkok 82deg - 94% humidity.

I find NYC too hot and humid in the summer. I'd never leave the house in Thailand.

You go thru a lot of t-shirts. 3-4 in a day.

Last day so I am going to go swim in the hotel pool.

Decided to skip Mekong catfish fishing this trip, Did not want to get tortured for 6 hrs fighting monster catfish after catfish.

Mike

I think it is better not to wear a t-shirt and shirt type guayaba or Polo, with collar, to the neck do not burn in the sun. No matter how cherished, but my wife managed to burn just before the visit to an expensive Spa, and there's the massage . And the society there is really nice. Daughter went to Ecotour in Thailand and Malaysia: the difference is big. Goodwill in Thailand and the isolation and coldness in Malaysia. The waitress, wrapped in a black mantle, a scandal: "what's that you're drinking from a bottle of diet coke?". There really was whiskey, but what is her damn business?

quote:

Originally posted by WannabeBwana:
I'm actually starting to investigate retiring in Asia, likely either Thailand or Philippines, but I'm open to others.

I don't mind hot weather, love the women and food and can make my retirement dollars go a lot farther (I had to start from scratch at age 50 due to a nasty divorce so I'm doing some serious catch-up).

My biggest concern will be health insurance. I'm in very good health right now but will really need to crunch the numbers to make sure it's doable. I'm still 9 years out, though.

If you retire in Portugal you won't pay any local income tax for a number of years. They want you. You can always "forget" to file in Canada, or say it got lost in the mail and reduce income tax to zero.

My bucket list:

Tanzania is my favorite place to visit. I want to go to many places I've not yet been and return to places I have.

Uganda. Nile buffalo, sitatunga.

Somewhere in West Africa: dwarf buffalo, savannah buffalo, Western Roan.

Zanzibar, Pemba, Mafia Island.

Cape Town.

As Hemmingway wrote, Paris is a moveable feast. I love Paris, but would like to travel more in the country.

Germany is interesting, but I wish my son could be persuaded to go someplace other than Berlin. Nice, but I've seen it.

Would like to shoot birds in Argentina.

Would like to make it to Australia for water buffalo and bantang.

Just got back from Paris yesterday afternoon. I'll put Paris up there with Rome, Rio, Buenos Aires. Nice cities. A week is about all I need to get caught-up.