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A whole summer long


mr1303

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I finally finish my blasted chemistry degree on June 6th. Apart from the World Junior Pairs, which will put me in Slovakia for a week between 29th June-4th July or so, and Brighton, which is August 11th-21st or so, I have an entire summer during which I want to do something exciting.

 

So suggestions as to what I could do would be very welcome. And work is NOT considered exciting.

 

Mark

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Take a couple of hundred quid a good pair of boots and some clothes a ruck sack and get off a ferry at Dieppe or one of those French Ports (on your own) and walk, any direction, stick out your thumb and see where it takes you, plan to return in 8 weeks. It is the most fun I had and I did it twice, once with a friend and once on my own, both have pros and cons, I reckomend on your own as it makes it easier when you decide you really want to do something specific.

 

My mate did it in America but he come back with a wife, so beware of that one :)

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Not a whole summer activity, but, if you get the chance, try spelunking at least once. ("Spelunking" = climbing around in caves.) My preference was the unguided variety. Find a hole, climb in. Lights are optional (try it at least once without lights, but be VERY careful.) The best holes have great cracks you can climb up. You see bats and weird blind fish and the like. You get dirty and wet and cold. But, it is great fun.

 

Alternatively, or in addition, spend as much time in a wet, but warm, hole as you can. :)

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I'm looking to expand my list of answers to your question.

 

Congrats on getting your degree!

 

I'm partial to the western US, and I really like the national parks. Two wonderful experiences:

 

1) Sitting on a lookout on the Going to the Sun Highway in Glacier National Park (Montana - oh COURSE I'm partial :) ).

 

2) Trekking up the Virgin River at Zion National Park (Utah).

 

I think everyone should have both of these parks on their life's list of things to see,

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Day: Lords Cricket Ground (Brit Oval in case there is no play at Lords).

Evening: St. John's Wood Bridge Club (London NW).

Night: .......................................................................

 

Fill in the blank yourself. Cricket is out, bridge is not. You may even want to sleep although that would be a shame when you're in London. Great place! :D

 

Roland

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My Favorite Places in The World:

1 New Zealand- Its beautiful, reasonably cheap, and the people are great. Great outdoors activities

2. Costa Rica - Lovely rainforests and beaches

3. Australia - Awesome beaches, and good food.

4. Prague + Budapest - beautiful old cities

5. New York and Paris - The two truely great cities in the world but very expensive

6. Southwesten US- Hike Zion National Park (Phil mentioned the US's greatest day /overnight hike - up the narrows of the virgin river) and the Grand Canyon

 

Places I am dying to go to:

1 Ecuador/Galapagos Islands

2. South Africa

3. Turkey

4. Thailand

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Day: Lords Cricket Ground (Brit Oval in case there is no play at Lords).

Evening: St. John's Wood Bridge Club (London NW).

Night: .......................................................................

 

Fill in the blank yourself. Cricket is out, bridge is not. You may even want to sleep although that would be a shame when you're in London. Great place! 

 

Roland

 

That most definitely sounds like a plan. I've just bought myself tickets for the England-Pakistan Twenty20 international. Unfortunately both the Lords test and the Oval test have sold out (grrr) but I might well go and see Middlesex play a few games there.

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Day: Lords Cricket Ground (Brit Oval in case there is no play at Lords).

Evening: St. John's Wood Bridge Club (London NW).

Night: .......................................................................

 

Fill in the blank yourself. Cricket is out, bridge is not. You may even want to sleep although that would be a shame when you're in London. Great place! 

 

Roland

 

That most definitely sounds like a plan. I've just bought myself tickets for the England-Pakistan Twenty20 international. Unfortunately both the Lords test and the Oval test have sold out (grrr) but I might well go and see Middlesex play a few games there.

I have a ticket for the Friday at the Oval vs Pakistan. :D

 

Helps to have a boss who is a member of Surrey!

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I think you should train hard in Bridge and help your country win. Fun too.

What us win anything? Not a chance until we reverse the totally daft decision of a few years back that it was better to have independent organisations representing England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, rather than a single Great Britain group.

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But back to cricket. :D

 

At the club a month or so ago, one of our best players turned up at our table with what looked like a very impressive greeting or birthday card with him. When I asked what it was, he showed me. The card front was a painting of the Long Room at Lords, and inside were tickets for the Lords test match. He told me he had got them that day and he wasn't letting them out of his sight until he had them safely locked up at home.

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I'm sooo jealous.

 

Am I correct in believing that unless you're a member of the MCC (or some such organisation) you can't purchase tickets for test matches at Lords without entering some sort of ballot?

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Here's another plan for you, (even though it won't be in Northern Hemisphere summer).

 

Take in Day 1 of the MCG Ashes test on December 26th, there should be 90-95,000 people there. Always a great atmosphere.

 

Sean

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  • 5 years later...

Day: Lords Cricket Ground (Brit Oval in case there is no play at Lords)

Evening: St. John's Wood Bridge Club (London NW)

Night: ...........Wild West End...............................

Fill in the blank yourself. Cricket is out, bridge is not. You may even want to sleep although that would be a shame when you're in London. Great place!

 

FYP

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Of course all replies represent what the responder likes, and mine will be the same.

 

I think all of the really great times that I have had were with someone else.

 

A bike trip with a friend when I was 13. We went up to a park on the St Croix (Minnesota/Wisconsin border) and camped for a while.

 

 

Canoeing with some guys in my 20s, as I was finishing my math degree. We were way the hell and gone up in Manitoba. The roads end at The Pas, we took a train up toward Flin Flon, got off and hit the lakes for a couple of weeks. When we got back, the trains were on strike. We hiked the tracks the rest of the way to Flin Flon and flew out. Not everyone's idea of a good time but I loved it.

 

Traveling in Spain with my daughter. She spent her Junior year in Madrid. Actually I flew to Paris and wandered over to Madrid, then went here and there. The other day someone was speaking of some mountains he saw in Spain while flying over. I said yeah, probably the Sierra Nevada. I skied there when traveling with my daughter.

 

Traveling around some Aztec ruins with my wife. We went down whatever river it is that separates Mexico and Guatemala and off into some brush etc.

 

Traveling in Peru with my wife.

 

Traveling in the Western U.S. with my wife. Including Zion, Phil.

 

A solo: Island hopping by bike and by ferry in the Puget Sound. There was this really wet ride from wherever the ferry from Orca Island docked on Vancouver Island down to Victoria.

 

Except for this last, mostly I remember the people I was with. And even with the last, I met some folks.

 

So enjoy. I recommend company. And congrats.

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Alas, all this was some 5 years ago. I remember going to Crete for a week or two, and having a great time hanging out in Slovakia. Over and above that my memory is somewhat hazy...
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A 3 or 4 day shore leave with my shipmates in Manila. We stayed at the Philippine Plaza Hotel, ate dinner in the Prince Edward dining room (with cigars and brandy after), lounged by the pool, saw the sights in Manila, had a good time with some Australian women we met. I had the dubious pleasure of standing a four hour quarterdeck watch, 1200 to 1600, in 95+ degree heat, while 800 civilians came aboard to tour the ship. With a hangover. After the Command Duty Officer (CDO) changed the watchbill to put me on that watch, instead of the later midwatch (midnight to 4 AM — it would have been considerably cooler). I swore to him that I would get even for that, and someday I will! :P
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