Final Whip-round.

[Anuan]

So, as some of you may recall, I'm going to be in America for six or so weeks, starting in the middle of July.

I do have a small list of people (both Playgrounders and non-) to visit and stuff (expect many pictures. Ohyes, maaaaaany pictures.) already, and I'll probably (90% sure) be at Gencon.
However, I'm hoping to get as wide an experience of America as I can, so if anybody's foolish enough to actually want to meet me and maybe even house me a few days, feel free to give me any details in a PM or whatever. It'll be fun, I promise*! :smalltongue:

*Advertised description using given value of fun. Those who accept this offer may suffer headaches, nausea, irritation and a growing sense of hatred. Accepting this offer also may force you to watch extreme awkwardness, shyness and clumsiness, have your accent unintentionally mimicked, and expose yourself to hugs.

[Recaiden]

I can't house you and probably won't be anywhere near where you're going.

But I wish you a good trip.

[Shas aia Toriia]

Yeah, same. Hope you have fun! :smallsmile:

[Innis Cabal]

So, as some of you may recall, I'm going to be in America for six or so weeks, starting in the middle of July.

I do have a small list of people (both Playgrounders and non-) to visit and stuff (expect many pictures. Ohyes, maaaaaany pictures.) already, and I'll probably (90% sure) be at Gencon.
However, I'm hoping to get as wide an experience of America as I can, so if anybody's foolish enough to actually want to meet me and maybe even house me a few days, feel free to give me any details in a PM or whatever. It'll be fun, I promise*! :smalltongue:

*Advertised description using given value of fun. Those who accept this offer may suffer headaches, nausea, irritation and a growing sense of hatred. Accepting this offer also may force you to watch extreme awkwardness, shyness and clumsiness, have your accent unintentionally mimicked, and expose yourself to hugs.

Come to Arizona. I can show you the Wild Fires :smallwink:

[Felixaar]

Come to Arizona. I can show you the Wild Fires :smallwink:

Bow chicka wow wow.

[Anuan]

Bow chicka wow wow.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought this.

[Cealocanth]

Are you going to be all around the country or just in one general area?

[UndeadCleric]

What area of the country?

[Lycan 01]

Come to the South. We've got sweltering heat, an oil spill, and awesome food. :smallbiggrin:

[Jokasti]

And the food thing is iffy.

[Nano]

Show me this awesome food. Seventeen and a half years and I haven't seen any yet.

[Froogleyboy]

Come to the South. We've got sweltering heat, an oil spill, and awesome food. :smallbiggrin:
Amen, Brother, Amen


And the food thing is iffy.

BLASPHEMY!
In all seriousness, you should check out Alabama, It's awesome. I'm not sure if I can house you, but if I can, I'd love to get to meet you.

[Xyk]

Come to Arizona. I can show you the Wild Fires :smallwink:

I have an even better idea. Go anywhere in the country other than Arizona. Some of Texas is really nice (namely Austin if you like to party and the coast. I don't think oil has reached Texas yet) and I hear the northwest is awesome.

That said, I'm sure you've planned your whole visit by now, so have many funs!

[Anuan]

I have not planned it all, as such. I've got planned the first stretch of my journey, involving the people who've given me confirmation of visitability.

I'm going to be going all around. South Carolina's a probability, Texas is possible already.

[Froogleyboy]

Also, You could join in our Risus game :D

[Anuan]

I've never even heard of Risus ._.

Also, on southern food: I'm looking forward to Chicken Bog in SC. Looking heartily forward to it.

I just hope I don't mess up and use british-english words too often when ordering food and then get confused/frustrated when the wrong stuff comes out.

[Kroy]

I highly recommend the West Coast. Hit San Fransisco, Oakland, Portland, and Seattle. The Pacific Northwest is amazing: Everyone is nice, lots of forests and mountains, has a massive Tech industry, and frickin twilighty weather.

[Froogleyboy]

:eek: Never heard of Risus? Go! Google it! Risus: The anything RPG. It's free and only 6 pages long, but it's purely awesome! Character creation takes like 25 seconds

[arguskos]

I would offer a room for the night, buuuuut, given my current state of flux, well, it's not gonna happen probably. Besides, I'm skint-broke and boring as ****, so yeah. :smallsigh:

Dude, do have a good trip though. :smallbiggrin:

[Xyk]

I have not planned it all, as such. I've got planned the first stretch of my journey, involving the people who've given me confirmation of visitability.

I'm going to be going all around. South Carolina's a probability, Texas is possible already.

If you do go to Texas, by all means avoid Houston. That city is my least favorite city that I have ever been to. And I cannot stress that enough. I'm a Texas native, and much of my extended family lives in Houston for some unexplained reason. It is a huge sprawling repetitive grid of flat and pollution. Go to Austin instead! We have live music on virtually every corner and building downtown at night. Also hills and nature things. Though in July, Texas as a whole will be roughly 95-110 degrees Fahrenheit. Port Aransas is my favorite town on the coast, though the waves are not made for surfing. As far as food goes, definitely local Austin cuisine. Texas food is really really good and Austin is amazing assuming you like spicy. Try Tex-mex, (mexican food with an injection of ridiculously awesome).

I think New Orleans (Louisiana) has drained all the floods by now and that's another fantastic city.

I would avoid west texas, arizona, new mexico, and Nevada except maybe Vegas if you're into that sort of thing. They will be ungodly hot and dry.

If you find yourself on the pacific, San Fransisco is awesome and so is the redwood forest.

In summation, if you go to Texas, spend more time in Austin than anywhere else.

[arguskos]

Oh hey, a piece of advice: avoid Columbus, Ohio. See, much as I like it here, really, there's nothing touristy or anything really "wow!" about the city. What you can do is hit up Cincinnati and Cleveland (both really interesting cities with lots of stuff to do) instead. If your path takes you to Ohio, I would skip Cbus and hit Cinci and Cleves instead.

[Zocelot]

And the food thing is iffy.

From my experiences, the quality of the food depends on your grease tolerance.

[RandomNPC]

If you do the Ohio thing, let me know, especially on a wendsday. We've got mideval combat at the park, and the city pool right there next to it. but my wife an i work the same shift so you'd prolly have to get someone else to house you if you want any kind of tour guide style person. also there's not much to do on a not wendsday.

[Keld Denar]

If you do make it to the west coast, and are in/around Seattle. I have my own place and an amazingly comfy microfiber couch (I've crashed on it many nights when I'm too tired to walk the 25 feet to the bed). I work during the week but if you are at all into hiking, the Olympic National Park is just a short drive away and contains some of the most beautiful scenery in America. No joke.

Also, the pacific northwest has hands down the best microbrewing culture in America. And I have a large fridge! Redhook and Pyramid and Elysian oh my! Not to mention a little brewery called Rogue that makes an excellent "Dead Guy" Ale.

EDIT:

From my experiences, the quality of the food depends on your grease tolerance.
And your fondness of foods that are not chicken that are fried as though they WERE chicken.

[Lillith]

What a coincidence, I´m going to the US for a couple of weeks of vacation too. Though I´m going to visit my SO so my goals are not quite the same as yours. :smallwink: Also I doubt I´ll leave the Washington State area, though maybe we´ll go to Disney!

Oh that´s a good tip for you! Visit one of the Disney parks! Also I heard things like Yellowstone Park, Yosemite National park and Mount Rushmore are worth seeing.

[Anuan]

If you do make it to the west coast, and are in/around Seattle. I have my own place and an amazingly comfy microfiber couch (I've crashed on it many nights when I'm too tired to walk the 25 feet to the bed). I work during the week but if you are at all into hiking, the Olympic National Park is just a short drive away and contains some of the most beautiful scenery in America. No joke.

Also, the pacific northwest has hands down the best microbrewing culture in America. And I have a large fridge! Redhook and Pyramid and Elysian oh my! Not to mention a little brewery called Rogue that makes an excellent "Dead Guy" Ale.

EDIT:

And your fondness of foods that are not chicken that are fried as though they WERE chicken.

You mean breaded and fried? Because -every- food should be eaten as a schnitzel.

I don't really drink, but I'm fond of trying new things, and even though I'm not exactly fit I do enjoy a good nature-walk type thing.


If you do the Ohio thing, let me know, especially on a wendsday. We've got mideval combat at the park, and the city pool right there next to it. but my wife an i work the same shift so you'd prolly have to get someone else to house you if you want any kind of tour guide style person. also there's not much to do on a not wendsday.

I'm definitely going to Ohio, and this is exactly the sort of thing I'm into. Is it a 'sit and watch the trained reenactors' type thing, or 'pick up a waster and some armour and go for it' type thing? Cause, y'know, I'm good for both :smallbiggrin:


What a coincidence, I´m going to the US for a couple of weeks of vacation too. Though I´m going to visit my SO so my goals are not quite the same as yours. :smallwink: Also I doubt I´ll leave the Washington State area, though maybe we´ll go to Disney!

Oh that´s a good tip for you! Visit one of the Disney parks! Also I heard things like Yellowstone Park, Yosemite National park and Mount Rushmore are worth seeing.

My SO is my first stop :smallredface:. Also Disneyworld terrifies me, as a concept.

I'm hoping to go to some fairs or whatever though (they're called 'Shows' here >.>) because I want to try some quintessentially Americann terrible-for-you-but-oh-so-delicious food. On a stick.

Amusing story about that; I lived with a vegetarian ex-girlfriend and her also vegetarian mother for a while, and we were watching something on TV about some giant American fair, and the mother pipes up "Y'know, I'd love to try a corn-dog. Just because there's nothing more American, and you can't get them here." "I...yeah you can, they're at every show here." "Really? I've never seen or heard of them or anything..." "They're...they're just dagwood dogs. Y'know, the hotdog dipped in cornbatter, fried, on a stick? That's all they are."

She was very, very disappointed.

[arguskos]

If you DO come to Cbus, do let me know precise dates, so I can check if it's possible for me to put you up. I'll see, but like I said above, Cbus is both boring and I am unsure about the possibility of rooming you for a few nights.

[Eon]

:smalltongue: Don't forget idiot-block and see if you can get an immunization. I think it may be contagious here. It's the only possible explanation...


Seriously, have fun!


edit: From what I've seen so far, you won't be seeing Minnesota. So no me....:smallfrown:

[Anuan]

Bandil, if you've got a room, I've got a reason to come to Minnesota :smalltongue:

[Syka]

Having just gone to Disney for the first time in forever (I think I was 12 the last time I went to any Disney park, let alone Magic Kingdom), it's not that bad. I would normally advise Universal's Islands of Adventure, though, for theme parks in the Orlando area. If you go to IoA, I suggest avoiding Harry Potter (2 hour wait to get in to the AREA, that's not even for the ride, concessions, or souveniors) and just go see all the other attractions that are being ignored, lol. The Hulk is a really, really fun rollercoaster, the Cat In The Hat ride is fun, and you can't miss Jurassic Park.

And, if you go to ANY theme park, invest in a FastPass type deal to jump the line. If you have a medical condition (like, I have heat induced fevers) you can sometimes get them at no cost. So, if you think you might be eligible, call the appropriate park's guest relations office.



Avoid El Paso, Tx. Like the plague. If you insist on going to El Paso, try the fajita's at Taco Cabana. Best. Tortillas. Ever. It's not a BAD area, and the mountains/canyon are really pretty but...it's brown. It's all rocks. There are like 3 bushes in the entire city limits. It's not even sand- it's ROCKS. And it's super dry.

[Keld Denar]

BTW, when you get ready to fly over the pond, stop by a hardware store and buy a couple pairs of cheap foamy earplugs. Put them in before you take off and don't take em out till you land. This helps reduce the fatigue of flying by blocking most of the vibrations that directly assault your poor sensative ears. Its been shown in studies that prolonged exposure to low frequency vibrations like those produced by an airplane cause fatigue, irritability, and stress, even if you aren't prone to those conditions and there are no other stimulii. I've noticed that it also helps with head pressure equalization, but thats only a factor at take-off and landing.

Also, how are you planning on getting around the US? You have 6 weeks, but that can get eaten up VERY quickly with travel time. Most europeans (assuming you are?) don't understand how big the US is. When I lived in Germany, most of the people I talked to thought you could drive from NYC to the grand canyon in a day. There are states over here that are bigger than most european countries. If all you did was drive, about 16-18 hours a day, you could PROBABLY make it across the US in 5 days. If you keep to more to 10 hours, it'll take a good 9-10 days. Thats a week and a half of your 6 weeks just driving, and that doesn't even account for any north/south travel.

Just sayin, you might want to confine most of your travels to two or three geographical regions. Maybe hit up New England (see NYC, Bawston, Philly, etc) then hop on a plane and fly to like, the south (Louisiana, Texas, or Florida, etc) or the northwest (Washington, Oregon, and down to Cali with a dip over to Las Vegas). That'll allow you to see the most during the time you are here, and sit you with less windshield time traveling.

Just my thoughts.

[Anuan]

Airplane, mostly. I'm not going to be travelling to see sites, in general, I'll be travelling to meet certain people. Tourist-attractions and pretty things are just bonuses :smalltongue:

And to the people saying 'Oh, don't go here, it's hot' (or assuming I'm from various places), just...look at my Location. It's right there under my picture.

I can stand heat. I lived in a tiny bush-town in Western Queensland for most of my life.

[arguskos]

Oh, you like ****ty heat then? Well, you just HAVE to come to Columbus. It's like HOT degrees and like WATEREVERYWHERE levels of humidity. :smalltongue:

Also, if you do pass this way, I am taking you to Skyline and to Donatos. Period.

[Keld Denar]

Plus, Columbus is only how many miles from Sandusky? Ah Cedar Point, how I miss thee!

[arguskos]

Plus, Columbus is only how many miles from Sandusky? Ah Cedar Point, how I miss thee!
Eh, more than you think. It's on the lake, halfway between Toledo and Cleveland. Probably about 2-3 hours to get to Sandusky from Columbus (ie. more than I care to make without good reason :smalltongue:).

[Keld Denar]

Oh please...I drove to Sandusky from Lansing, MI. And it was TOTALLY worth it. Cedar Point is ALWAYS worth it.

If I lived ANYWHERE in Ohio, I'd have an annual pass and the directions favorited on my GPS.

[arguskos]

Oh please...I drove to Sandusky from Lansing, MI. And it was TOTALLY worth it. Cedar Point is ALWAYS worth it.

If I lived ANYWHERE in Ohio, I'd have an annual pass and the directions favorited on my GPS.
what :smallannoyed:

You must be one of those crazy people that likes amusement parks or something else insane like that. :smalltongue:

Aberrant monsters, you breed are!

[Keld Denar]

Hmmmm, so, if I already have Aberrant Blood, does that mean I qualify for Inhuman Reach and then Deepspawn? Two prehensile 10' long tentacles would be hella-useful. Everything is better with tentacles.

Are you saying you don't like amusement parks? Maybe it is you that is aberrant...

Anyway, Anuan, if you end up in Ohio, you should go to Cedar Point. Its the best amusement park in America.

[arguskos]

Hmmmm, so, if I already have Aberrant Blood, does that mean I qualify for Inhuman Reach and then Deepspawn? Two prehensile 10' long tentacles would be hella-useful. Everything is better with tentacles.
Yes, yes everything is. :smallamused:


Are you saying you don't like amusement parks? Maybe it is you that is aberrant...
No no, the avatar gives away that you're clearly the aberrant one here. :smalltongue:


Anyway, Anuan, if you end up in Ohio, you should go to Cedar Point. Its the best amusement park in America.
A resounding "EH". Amusement parks are sorta kkkyeaaaaaaaah, IMO. Still, if you like such things, the Sandusky one is pretty damn good.

[Innis Cabal]

In general. Just avoid Ohio. You'll be better off for it. If not for the state, I hear this Arguskos dude lives there. :smalltongue:

[arguskos]

In general. Just avoid Ohio. You'll be better off for it. If not for the state, I hear this Arguskos dude lives there. :smalltongue:
Love you too, Innis, love you too. :smalltongue:

[Innis Cabal]

Love you too, Innis, love you too. :smalltongue:

:smalltongue:

But no seriously, there's not much in Ohio worth mentioning. Even Cleveland and Cinci are degenerate crap holes whose only salvation is there are human lives there. Or what pass for them, the verdict is still out while the fire bombing is placed on hold.

Cleveland has the Flats though, about the only decent place in the whole city. If you want to try some fine American beer, go there. Great Lakes Brewing Company makes a great beer. The Eliot Ness is out of this world.

[arguskos]

Well hey now. I'm in Ohio, the best gaming store EVER is in Ohio, and there's some good food in Ohio. Oh, and the best metropolitan library in the entire country is in Columbus.

Ok. That's about it though. Yes yes Cedar Point, just for you Keld. :P

[Innis Cabal]

Didn't say there was nothing :smalltongue: Then again, Cleveland is also one of the top cities for food in the country. So there's that to.

[Anuan]

I'm definitely going to Ohio (even if it is a little backwater town) even if I can't meet up with good old Argus, cause I'mma be staying with one of my oldest, dearest friends.

Also sparring :smallbiggrin:

[arguskos]

I'm definitely going to Ohio (even if it is a little backwater town) even if I can't meet up with good old Argus, cause I'mma be staying with one of my oldest, dearest friends.

Also sparring :smallbiggrin:
Eh. If you're in Columbus, lemme know, and we can meet and stuffs. I'll take you to the best food in town. :smallamused:

I'll also see about getting you a place to crash, but no guarantees until the time of honestly.

[Anuan]

So, I could be coming like a week later than planned, just because of mail-times and such :smallsigh:

I really hope this doesn't screw with my initial plans...

[Keld Denar]

So, I could be coming like a week later than planned, just because of mail-times and such

Mail-times? You aren't proposing shipping yourself to America in crate with holes in it (ala Nermal from Garfield and Friends), are you? Cause lemme tell you, the cargo holds of those planes are VERY cold! :smallcool:

[Anuan]

It's stuff to do with getting my passport and stuff :smalltongue: This is my first time out of Australia.

[Orzel]

Don't come anywhere near NYC.
I don't want you near me when my rent is due and I'm thristy.

The first is tomorrow? What?
Where's my "chaotic neutral" mask?
*searches*

[Felixaar]

Airplane, mostly. I'm not going to be travelling to see sites, in general, I'll be travelling to meet certain people. Tourist-attractions and pretty things are just bonuses :smalltongue:

And to the people saying 'Oh, don't go here, it's hot' (or assuming I'm from various places), just...look at my Location. It's right there under my picture.

I can stand heat. I lived in a tiny bush-town in Western Queensland for most of my life.

You'll have to excuse my friend here, he thinks Southern Queensland is hot. [/Cousin Vinnie]