Djemba_Villan Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 (edited) I would appreciate some inspiration from my VT travel aficionados. I have 4 days worth of leave I MUST take before mid Feb, in addition to this I already have a big trip with the missus to Bali lined up along with 2 weekends away to Lake Como and Budapest over the year. However...I want to rekindle my solo backpacking-vibe (I'm late 20s and happy to go hosteling still) which I haven't had a chance to exercise for a while so am in the market for a 3-5 day solo backpacking trip over the next 4 weeks. - Happy to fly from anywhere Birmingham or South. - Must be no more than ~5 hour flight each way - Places to eliminate (have already recently been) - Barcelona, Iceland, Costa Del Sol, Balearics, Amsterdam, Krakaw, Dublin, Nice/Cannes, Zurich, Berlin, Paris, Prague, Rome, Amalfi Coast, Croatia, Bavaria, Lisbon, New York, Dubai - I need to lose some weight and am dieting so somewhere I can enjoy a bloody good mooch would be preferred -Some ideas I have currently are...Morocco Tangier-Marrakech over 3-4 days, Norway - Oslo & Bergen, Sweden - Stockholm & Gotenburg, Russia - Moscow & St Petersburg..appreciate any thoughts. I'd appreciate any suggestions! Edited January 8, 2017 by Djemba_Villan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 (edited) I hiked up to the top of Mt Toubkal (Atlas Mountains ) in a 5 day trip , 4 days hiking flight to Marrakech and a couple of hour transfer was about 50 miles of hiking All in , but the last bit the summit was proper back breaking stuff due to snow and altitude was just me and a guide and a book for the evening along with some beautiful scenery and starry nights might tick a box for you ? Edited January 8, 2017 by tonyh29 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 St Petersburg ticks a lot of culture boxes , some nice church type stuff worth seeing , hermitage museum , day trip out to gulf of Finland ( there is a famous home there whose name escapes me ) we took overnight train to Moscow and from there you can do red square , Kremlin etc ... great nightlife in Moscow ( but also slightly dangerous ) oslo I'm a fan of but you can get away with a couple of days , don't know about Bergan Stockholm - meh , but it does have a few charms Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 Skyscanner brimingham as airport "everywhere" as destination see what floats your boat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tayls Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 You really cannot go wrong with Copenhagen. Lovely City. So easy to get around. Beautiful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 Croatia though not Zagreb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One For The Road Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 (edited) Bilbao. Plenty of amazing food, lovely locals and loads of good places to explore in the area. Tromso in northern Norway is lovely and you stand a chance of seeing the northern lights in Feb too. Edited January 15, 2017 by One For The Road Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 So, have you chosen yet @Djemba_Villan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Djemba_Villan Posted February 1, 2017 Author Share Posted February 1, 2017 cheers for the ideas lads. In the end due to various reasons I ended up going to Tenerife for a long weekend with my mates in the short term...not Los Cristianos area but the north side and we enjoyed mooching from bar to tapas bar very much! The roads were brilliant. I was inspired by your response Tony and am going to Morocco in April nowalso but for slightly longer than planned so just under a week. Just need to get training now 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Moscow meh probably the most unsafe city I've ever been to. Never again and would not recommend to anyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 1 hour ago, Demitri_C said: Moscow meh probably the most unsafe city I've ever been to. Never again and would not recommend to anyone Really? Did you have any scrapes there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 20 minutes ago, Xela said: Really? Did you have any scrapes there? You just have to look at someone for them to start on you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villakram Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 1 hour ago, Demitri_C said: You just have to look at someone for them to start on you Perhaps, just stop checking out all the blokes... WC 2018 should be "fun". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 13 hours ago, Demitri_C said: Moscow meh probably the most unsafe city I've ever been to. Never again and would not recommend to anyone Maybe it's changed since I was there or you just got unlucky ? I didn't find any problems in Moscow .we rode the metro , walked around , took the unofficial cabs even sat down on a bench and got drunk with some homeless in a park by one of the football stadiums ... one or two blokes in black roll neck jumpers with necks like tree trumks roaming around but they are only seemed to get aggressive when they got behind the wheel of their bosses BMW only scarey bit for us was the Hungry Duck nightclub , where you ran the risk of being drugged by women who would strip on the bar to try and distract you as someone dropped something in your drink ....mainly they just stole the wallet of drunk men but if you het your wits about you , you were fine .... Needless to say we went back the next night I'd go back to Moscow in a heartbeat , my lad wants to go so might take him , though needless to say we won't be frequenting the Duck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 18 hours ago, Demitri_C said: You just have to look at someone for them to start on you I have a couple of mates who won't go. One is mixed race and one is Indian. They are worried about racism. Me, having the same complexion as milk, would feel safer there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 I've been to st Petersburg, I'd probably be the same if I was them tbf the main race thing seemed to be that they can't control their border in the south so Kazakhs Uzbekis etc people with a decent tan...they were getting a hard time, this about always having your passport on you, I didn't experience that, they did set up like a booth on the high street where they were checking people almost like how our police used to do it with car tax, pulling everyone who wasn't Caspar the freindly ghost in, let me straight through the difference in st Petersburg at a guess is the ratio of women to men is ridiculous, I've never seen anywhere like it, it's full of women so felt quite safe 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 15 hours ago, villa4europe said: the difference in st Petersburg at a guess is the ratio of women to men is ridiculous, I've never seen anywhere like it, it's full of women so felt quite safe *checks out flights* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Seriously I've never been anywhere like it, it was that daft my missus even said to me "is it me or are there loads of young women here" don't know if it was because of the men working in oil or ship building outside of the centre from what I can remember it's the most expensive place in the world that I've been but there's tons to see and do, would suggest it's a place to take your missus for days of architecture, museums and churches rather than lads on a tear up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 18 minutes ago, villa4europe said: Seriously I've never been anywhere like it, it was that daft my missus even said to me "is it me or are there loads of young women here" don't know if it was because of the men working in oil or ship building outside of the centre from what I can remember it's the most expensive place in the world that I've been but there's tons to see and do, would suggest it's a place to take your missus for days of architecture, museums and churches rather than lads on a tear up Was it my imagination or were none of them wearing bras either !! my St Petersburg memory was in a bar where clearly this woman was looking for business ... me and my 2 mates obviously weren't paying enough attention as she got on her mobile and then when her friend arrived they put on an impromptu lesbian show for our benefit .... my pervy mate then went and asked the price and came back as white as a sheet ( he lived in Thailand at the time and was used to paying around $20 not the $600 quoted ) I loved Russia but boy it can be a wild place , the World Cup is going to result in lots of drugged men in gutters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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