I’m not gonna lie, this is a great town, and there’s simply not much to do. The squares are GORGEOUS but you can see them in a couple hours. The river walk is GORGEOUS but an evening stroll covers that base.I just think one day can cover everything that is offered, even the restaurants IMHO because there is a ton of as you’d expect southern coastal tourist stuff (crabs and chicken and etc). You only really need to do one of those to cover that base. Choosing any from the below covers the other more specific restaurant base.I really don’t mean to poop on Savannah. I absolutely adore it, but we came for 4 days and I found myself really stretching on what to do each day.Maybe coming back for st Patrick’s would be fun, that’s supposed to be the jam.

Ok ok. My kid wasn't old enough yet, I know. But she has some cousins that are at the perfect age. Two 11 year olds that are just barely on the edge of being brooding teens and one 8 year old who eats stuff like this for breakfast, target market for sure. We were nervous. We had both been when we were really young, but large crowds, and our girl who likes to run around every second of the day and touch every available surface made for a nervous and anxious build up to the trip.
We had a fantastic time, but our fears were not unfounded :) Here goes:

Look, I have a young kid. And that kid has older cousins who are ripe for Disney and Universal Studios. This trip wasn’t just about a theme park, it was about the Harry Potter world inside of a theme park. It was a focused trip. My girl and I like to get the lay of the land no matter where we are, but this trip was about Potter, so I felt honesty right up front was best!
Orlando itself is rad. They have many pedestrian friendly areas,

Honestly I am so glad I went here. So glad. I ain't going back. Done Iceland. But I would recommend that anyone go. It's that interesting.
Let's see, we got an airbnb right in the center of Reykjavik (at the end of the rainbow street). I would definitely rent

Montreal is fine. It's nice. I did like it god damn it. I did. I think I did. Ok, I'm pretty sure I liked it.
I think I built up what it was. A bastion of freedom and liberty. And it was, kind of. I don't smoke weed really, but I like places that let you. Ridiculous puritanical ideologies drive me nuts. It's almost always completely hypocritical anyway. So yeah, it's legal, but they make you go to just a handful (only 2 in the entire downtown area) government buildings to get it. I enjoyed it because I like the idea of a whole bunch of natural drugs with experts trained in selling them. I didn't like it because it's not really legal at all. It's certainly not a free commercial activity.

Here’s a disturbing fact…there are no fat people in Stockholm. Yeah. No fat people. Oh you see the occasional mirror image around the mid section but it ain’t hard to see that they ain’t Swedish. The locals, nope, they’ve got nothing to do with that shit. And let me tell ya, for those of us who have chosen to explore the more dense sides of life, it was upsetting, deep down hurt your soul sort of upsetting. But then there’s this,

The train from Helsinki was super boring. Though it was empty and I got to stretch my shit out, you know what’s in between a major city in Finland and a major city in Russia? Nothing. And I got all excited when we crossed the border into Russia. Nyet. Stupid. Now, arriving in St. Petersburg, the first thing you do is, real quick like, turn around and try to get back on the train! That station is bleak son! Oh how time hath forgotten thee. Anyway, I try

This island being French and Dutch means you get two vacations in one! Ha! Not really, but it’s still cool to check out the different styles on the island. I’ve been many times and still find cool places to explore. My favorite place to chill is probably Gran Case on the French side. Great beach side food and cool shops and style. Philipsburg is much more developed and casinos can always be cool if the mood strikes.
I took a boat to Anguilla last time. Totally secluded and awesome. If you are with someone where you can take advantage of this…I would. Maybe not once in a lifetime, but

Gotta love a country where before you enter they tell you that they will put you to death for this and that (mainly drugs but still).Brokedown Palace anyone?
Anyway, I love a city that is humble. An entire population that hasn’t gotten an ego yet. Singapore is like this. Everywhere you go, people will ask, why did you come here…as if to say why on earth would you be here if you could be anywhere else! Well, I think they just haven’t realized yet how appealing a place like Singapore is to the rest of the world.

Oh Shanghai. Shanghai. How I wanted to love thee. All of your pictures look so modern. All of those guides say you are so cool. I don’t know what you are, but you aren’t it yet, like every city in China outside of Hong Kong as far as I can tell.
Coming from the airport I didn’t believe the cabbie. I still don’t believe that jack wagon, but I shouldn’t of yelled, so I am actually sorry jack wagon. My bad. It honestly wasn’t that expensive, I just didn’t like the way he went…like I have any idea of what I’m talking about. To be fair I had just flown from Frankfurt and was kind of a mess!

I always say that Rio is what I imagine the US was like in the 1970’s. It’s just old now, and not in some European good way. The buildings dotting the beach for the most part need to be torn down. They offer no historical significance and mainly just look like that shitty doctors office you went to as a kid.
That being said, you go to Rio for the beach, and they don’t disappoint. Copacabana was awesome but I found the area surrounding it to be far worse than Ipanema. Ipanema has a more beach/patio feel and is less downtown like. Ipanema also closes their main road on the weekends for pedestrians, which is cool as shit.

Now, I’m not arguing that the city is any different during this time of year of course, I’m arguing that the city feels different. Th beaches are always packed during the season, and especially on the weekend. The streets are still lined with the same pseudo restaurant stands, and the real deal beach stands. The prostitutes are still out at night and the place itself is still lively, but during Carnival, during carnival there is a happiness. A happiness that you don’t get to experience very often. It’s not that drunk fake happiness that we get in the US. It’s a real feeling, like how Christmas must of been like in a Dickens novel. Like a birthday when you are 6. Do you really ever have any birthdays like that again? Well it appears these folks do.

I fly all the time but I hate flying. I don’t like planes. Well, maybe that’s not fair. Maybe I love planes. I love the idea of business class and first class. I love the idea of having a food and drink menu while you travel. I love the idea of a pre flight lounge and the cool camaraderie you can find while getting drunk at the airport bar (even though I find those “restaurants” to be woefully short on creativity, inventory, service, style, and general competence…though if you work at one of them and are reading this, I obviously do not mean you). Hell, I even love the physics of flying itself. I think the fact that

It’s a mistake to think of Cusco as small. It’s small in the sense that it’s not Lima, but as far as historical site jumping off cities go, this one is pretty damn nice. Most of the time those types of places are miserable, and not deserving of much sightseeing, but that is not the case with Cusco. It is rich with history. It’s definitely one of those places where you feel like you’ve gone back in time. I was very impressed, and if it wasn’t for the unbelievably sad situation with the women on the street corners asking if you wanted masssaaageeees, I would recommend it as a stand alone city.
Point being, this city has cobblestone streets, and outrageously old squares. It’s got restaurant patios all around and people hawking their wares. It’s got some style that you don’t expect.

Why come don’t we have ham bars? For real…why come! And I know I know, there are tapa bars everywhere in Spain (I’ll tell you what, if I order a drink and you give me some food for free because of that…I may just heart you forever), BUT, BUUUTTTT, not like this. I am talking a meat shop. Ham mostly but meat overall to be fair. Hocks hanging from the rafters. Hocks dripping into cups. Hocks as far as the eye can see…and then the bar. Standing room only. Maybe a few cocktail tables but standing room mostly, and the bar is giant, usually horseshoe shaped but whatever right? So anyway, you saddle up, people are loud, shits exciting and a little anxiety inducing because words are being shouted back and forth so quickly. Cerveza! senor! Por favor! I hand him some money and he hands me a beer…yup…it’s real beer, for 90 cents…and in Madrid.

One of the problems with the modern age is that we’ve seen too much. We’ve become way too desensitized. The effect that the Sistine chapel is going to have on my grandmother is going to far outweigh the effect it will have on me. Maybe I’m just jaded, but I (along with anyone else my age or younger) has already seen every sight the world has to offer, in an even more brilliant color structure than real life, in countless movies, commercials, and internet pics. I’m not saying that standing in that room and looking up at a work by Michelangelo isn’t cool, I’m just asking how cool can it be when you’ve already seen it so many times.

So I went back, and I loved it this time. Dongmen street area is a fun stroll, even if the beggars and conman bs is constant.The central business district has expat bars and a bunch of small neighborhoods with tons of bars and restaurants.The technology zone is a marvel of expansive shopping malls and skyscrapers as far as the eye can see. Not as many as Hong Kong, but many more than New York. It was quite impressive.

Ummm, Mexico City is kind of the jam. I mean yeah there’s the kidnapping and torture and heads in duffel bags and all that shit, but Mexico City is kind of the jam. Now, I’m not saying walk around everywhere at night and wear jewelry and shit like that, but it can be done, and it can be done right. I myself had a run in with a group of what I think were teenagers who saw a guy by himself walking near expensive hotels in the middle of the night, but what the fuck was I doing walking around at 3 in the morning anyway.

I was touched by a man today. He touched every part of my body. He scrubbed me, he washed me, he did my hair. When I tried to cover “myself”, he kept assuring me not to worry about it…his will was stronger than mine, and I’ll never know if his intentions were pure. That being said, a Turkish bath, a true Turkish bath, is something extremely unique. They separate the genders completely. The only thing really in the “bath” is a hamam, which as far as I can tell is a very large, hot, marble room where naked dudes get beaten by other naked dudes. It was an experience…which is why I did it. Full naked rubdowns by dudes who are much manlier than you are.

Your ass can get lost in this town. Correction, your ass will get lost in this town. The area around the Alcazar and Catedral are figure out-able, but venturing from there can be tough. Maybe I’m just super tired! I did get the hop on hop off bus, but it literally does not even go into old town…I’m sure it literally can’t, but that’s no excuse! Man though, these streets can be fucking narrow for a large city. I mean I had a moment or two where I had no idea how this car and I were both going to fit on this road…remember that scene in the NYC subway in Superman II? Lex you sly mother.