GMD travel buddy program...?

[Blind Guardian]

I'd take you, but this town is about as fun as drying paint. It would be somewhat of a chick magnet to have an American staying with you though, you'd have rockstar status.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Ah okay. I wasn't sure how widespread or mainstream the trance scene is there. Not that I would go there just to see a trance club or trip my ass off, haha, I was just curious.

Yeah, goa trance is named after the city of Goa.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

I'd take you, but this town is about as fun as drying paint. It would be somewhat of a chick magnet to have an American staying with you though, you'd have rockstar status.

Until they realise that I'm actually just a major dork, haha.

Aren't you in the Stockholm area? I would have thought that to be a fun place to hang out, if for no other reason than the metal. Maybe I'm thinking of someone else though.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

Yeah, goa trance is named after the city of Goa.

Yeah I know that, I just didn't know if trance was mainly a Goa-specific thing in India or if it was really widespread.

 

[Blind Guardian]

Until they realise that I'm actually just a major dork, haha.

Aren't you in the Stockholm area? I would have thought that to be a fun place to hang out, if for no other reason than the metal. Maybe I'm thinking of someone else though.

No I'm about 7 hours north of Stockholm. The Insane is from Stockholm I think.

 

[Onder]

If I end up going anywhere non-Anglophonic on this trip I will probably make an effort to learn the basics of the language there before making the trip. Maybe bum some Rosetta Stone discs off of somebody and lurk a forum in the language for a few weeks.

Nah, that would be nonsense with Czech tbh. It's fucking hard and totally different to English.

 

[Dak]

I'd choose San Diego over anywhere else in Cali tbh.

Coastal city wise this is true. Most of Cali is shitty. The Mt Shasta area is nice and San Diego is nice. The Sierra Nevada as well of course.

 

[Chanakya]

Do you travel around outside the city much? It looks like there is some nice countryside around Karnataka, though I'm not sure how easy it is to get out to the woods/rapids/waterfalls/etc. or how touristy the area is.

Well, I live in a suburb and my school is located outside the city, in a forest, so I see/saw the woods everyday. Yes the countryside is quite nice with very affable 'rednecks' if you might like. I must say that I'm pretty impressed that you even know what Karnataka is. The woods/rapids/waterfalls are quite accessible and a lot of places aren't overwhelmed by the commercial tourism bullshit. Though Bangalore by itself isn't loaded with too much for a tourist [apart from the chilled out lifestyle], as it doesn't have the typical European-esque fort/monument/statue/square pattern, it is by far the most accomodating city in India and could serve as a hub of sorts, to travel around Coorg and North Karnataka [where you see those amazing temples].

 

[zabu of nΩd]

Yeah, that sounds pretty awesome.

Damn, it is a tough call between Prague and Bangalore right now. I could easily go for either of them. I'll just have to see what other offers come up. This is fun.

 

[Belligerent]

. Most of Cali is shitty.

Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Burbank are all really nice imo. Although LA didn't impress me at all. What areas do you consider shitty?

 

[Srontgorrth]

Southern California is great imo. Lots of interesting stuff and places to go throughout Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego. Tons of shows too.

 

[Chanakya]

I heard a lot about the Ojai Valley and how kickass it supposedly is.

 

[damnromulans]

Have you ever heard of Couchsurfing.org? You can pick people who look interesting and ask them to host you. I've met some really great people doing that, a couple of scumbags too, but mostly good people who have interesting life stories.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

No I haven't, and that looks pretty awesome, pretty much exactly what I had in mind. I'll have to try that sometime as well.

 

[Dak]

Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Burbank are all really nice imo. Although LA didn't impress me at all. What areas do you consider shitty?

Here is an edited map of Cali to show the shitty areas:

Obviously there may be some little nooks that are exceptions in the red areas, but they are exceptions, and mostly right on the ocean.

The LA area has got to be one of the worst places to live in America. Maybe not from a concert perspective, but in just about every other category.

LA and New York, you could not pay me enough to literally live there.

 

[Srontgorrth]

Why do you dislike most of SoCal so much? srsly give some reasons or experiences instead of "worst places to live."

 

[Dak]

Well, from personal experience, most of So Cal is just barren desert. (Lived in 29 Palms for 6 months). Have driven through El Centro, Indio, LA, San Bernardino, etc. etc. plenty of times.


LA area= Horrible roads, traffic, and city-scape. Hollywood is bum infested and dirty, huge let down when I visited, just like the rest of the LA area.Thanks to mismanagement most of the LA area is falling apart anyway, and the rest of So/mid Cal is getting there.

It's ridiculously hot during the summer (just like where I live) so that is a negative.

North of LA you have the "Congress created Dust Bowl". That area is a cross between empty and kept fields and grassy hills. Boring landscape.


San Diego is an exception. It has traffic problems but has at least managed to keep things in repair, and of course the weather is always nice. The weather has also kept it from being desert.

I drove through nearly every state west of the mississippi repeatedly for over 2 months and saw the best and worst of the country, and Cali is among the worst.

 

[waif]

NYC is awesome. I would love to live there.

 

[damnromulans]

What did you expect from Hollywood, movie stars and more rich white people?

I dunno, LA I think would drive me nuts as a place to live because of the huge racial/wealth gaps that basically ensure that there can be no middle class, but I do sort of enjoy how gritty and cliquey it is from an anthropological standpoint.

I think I might move to Austin, Texas after I finish working in Japan. How is the Austin/San Antonio area in terms of metal, restaurants, and ease of meeting people?

edit: New York City has ruined almost all my friends who have moved there, and now they all want to get out. It turns nice normal people into bitter angry misanthropes, and bitter angry misanthropes into hollow human shells.

 

[Srontgorrth]

Well, from personal experience, most of So Cal is just barren desert. (Lived in 29 Palms for 6 months). Have driven through El Centro, Indio, LA, San Bernardino, etc. etc. plenty of times.


LA area= Horrible roads, traffic, and city-scape. Hollywood is bum infested and dirty, huge let down when I visited, just like the rest of the LA area.Thanks to mismanagement most of the LA area is falling apart anyway, and the rest of So/mid Cal is getting there.

It's ridiculously hot during the summer (just like where I live) so that is a negative.

North of LA you have the "Congress created Dust Bowl". That area is a cross between empty and kept fields and grassy hills. Boring landscape.


San Diego is an exception. It has traffic problems but has at least managed to keep things in repair, and of course the weather is always nice. The weather has also kept it from being desert.

I drove through nearly every state west of the mississippi repeatedly for over 2 months and saw the best and worst of the country, and Cali is among the worst.

LA does have its shitty parts but theres a lot of interesting places to go as well. As for the heat its hardly bad compared to living in Vegas, most of the time over the summer it was in the 80s and it was fantastic imo.

I haven't been much north of LA asides from Santa Barbara, which was also pretty enjoyable. But whats wrong with the Orange County area? Thats mostly where I grew up and asides from a few areas its great.

The places that are more inland tend to not be so enjoyable. But when I think SoCal, I think LA county, Orange County and San Diego, not the inland counties and towns.

I've driven through Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado and there seemed to be much much more desert in those states than in Cali.