Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with offthebeatenpath

Forget about a vacation, I want to challenge my worldview!

hasna — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:09:03 -0800

Help me spend 5 non-traditional days in Egypt! I'm going to Egypt for 5 (3 full, plus 2 mostly full) days at the end of next week. I have no idea what to spend my time doing.

I'm a 24yo single female, well traveled (but don't speak Arabic), and currently living in Istanbul. I have no intentions of visiting the pyramids (et al.) beyond a quick drive-by photo. I don't like most museums, either. Tour groups (unless to some uber-dangerous, hecka cool part of middle earth) are out the question. And I do not want to pay to see anything. What do I like, you ask? Well, a lot. I'd be happy to sit journalling in a small tea shop in some back alley somewhere. Or to while away an afternoon praying in a mosque. Or play football with kids on the street. Or help some women prepare meals for a few days. Or visit a refugee camp. Or...

I'm open to (and would maybe prefer?) getting away from Cairo, although I understand this might be difficult in such a short time. I will not be packing luggage, but carrying everything in a day-pack type backpack, so I'll be fully mobile. I have a specific interest in (semi-professional) photography, but for the right experience/opportunity, I'd leave my camera gear home. I'm willing to get dirty, and I'm not afraid of much. (I'm full of common sense and travel sense, but I've been to some shady places, and I know where my "line" is). I have (almost) zero interest in anything archeology/ruins related. I'm much more interested in experiencing life and culture as lived by lower class Egypt.

I'm also strongly considering heading up to Al 'Arish, and edging as close as possible to the Gaza border, to see how life is lived there, and what impacts the closed border have on life there. I'd also love to volunteer someplace (not one of those "pay to volunteer" scams), maybe the Egyptian equivalent of a soup kitchen.

Finance-wise, I'm not too concerned, mostly because the things that usually cost the most money (hotels, entry fees, guides...) aren't the kind of things I want to spend my time on. In any case, I'd rather spend less money, than more.

As you can see, there's a lot I could do, I just haven't quite gathered my thoughts on this enough yet. Before you mention it, I have been checking out CouchSurfing, but I'd rather have some sort of a plan before I contact anyone.

Any thoughts, advice, personal experiences would be appreciated. Thanks!

More Quirk and Less Cork

Admiral Haddock — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:12:31 -0800

Looking for off the beaten track destinations/activities in Sonoma/Napa (and/or Monterey). My GF and I will be in Northern California from October 9 until the 18th. We will surely spend a day or so in SF, and the last couple of days will be in Berkeley for a wedding. The rest is up for grabs. We will have a car.

Broadly speaking, we know we are more "Sonoma people" than "Napa people." All the same, while we lurve a tasty wine, neither of us is an oenophile and we don't intend to go crazy with wineries--though if someone can recommend a really didactic tasting, that would be great.

Instead, we'd love to hear about any hidden gems that the real Napa crowd may avoid: the great taco stand; the pretty good used bookstore; the spice shop where the CIA kids go to get interesting stuff on the cheap; the guy who sells his kind-of-odd-but-also-charming drawings in the park; the museum of spoons, etc.

Our inclination is to make it a leisurely trip, rather than driving all the time. Can you recommend a central staging area? We're happy with getting a cheap room at a Marriott somewhere and splurging on meals/activities. Is it worth it to try to squeeze in Monterey, or would those in the know just dally in Sonoma?

Anything we can't miss? We like art/culture/food, taking photographs and having hijinks. A great hike and picnic would be awesome, but we're city mice and a 15-mile excursion is likely not on our shortlist of things to do this trip.

(Feel free to MeFi mail me your hidden gems... we will be reverent and promise not to spoil them and we shan't tell a soul! It will be our little secret.)

Unique hotels in small to medium cities?

eileen — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:56:39 -0800

Does anyone know any hotels, in any city in the US, comparable to the Hotel Congress in Tucson, AZ? Basically, a hotel that "makes" the experience of visiting a city which you might not otherwise consider a vacation destination. The hotel is downtown within walking distance to a lot of stuff, driving distance to national parks, has a unique history and decor, and it has its own restaurant and bar and even nightclub. It's not fancy at all, in fact it is pretty cheap and feels like one step up from a hostel, but it is clean and has a great vibe. For my bf and I, staying in this hotel totally made our recent trip to Tucson. I was thinking that the trip would have felt very different and not nearly as special if we had stayed at some sort of chain hotel.

I would love to visit other small to medium cities off the beaten path if I knew where I could find a similar place to stay. And by similar I don't mean that it has to be exactly like the Hotel Congress, just similar in the fact that the hotel is itself a reason you might select the destination. I know it's hard to pinpont what exactly makes a hotel special in this way, so recommendations don't necessarily have to have all or even any of the amenities listed above. Day-trip closeness to national parks or other cool hiking is definitely a plus, though. Oh, and I am not a fan of shared bathroom situations, so a lot of B+Bs are probably not going to be my thing.

Thanks!! :)

Overlooked fun in/near Bangkok? Please don't say khao san road!

clockwork — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 10:48:14 -0800

Does anyone have any funtime suggestions for hanging out in Bangkok? I will be visiting family in Bangkok for a few weeks this spring. This will be my third trip to bkk. I don't really like going to bars and I think I've done most of the straight-up sightseeing/shopping that I care to do. I have a nagging feeling that I'm forgetting/missing out on something! I'll be there for two weeks. In the past, I've taken cooking classes, shopped a lot, swam, gotten massages and spa treatments. As well as the grand palace, wat pho, ayuttaya, the malls/night markets, snake farm, panthip plaza.

I've looked at the previous questions tagged with Bangkok, but they seem to be mostly the stuff I've already done. Someone mentioned that most people aren't going to hunt down the more obscure restaurants, but will probably go to the most convenient place. I know that's true, and if anyone has had an awesome experience that happens to be somewhat out of the way, I'd love to hear it!

I'd like to explore chinatown and the indian neighborhood, but I kind of don't know where to begin. Also, has anyone ever taken a bicycle tour? It sounds harrowing, but fun. Is $US30 a normal price for this sort of thing?

If it helps, I'll be staying close to the rachadamri bts station.

Thanks everybody!
I'm asking for a friend, but writing in the first person is so much easier...

Stuff in Paris

The Michael The — Thu, 09 Jun 2005 13:30:18 -0800

I'm in Paris until Monday, and I want recommendations on restaurants, etc. I'm staying in Clichy (17th/18th Ar.), but advice for anywhere is good, as most of my time is spent in other arrondisements.

Restaurants: generally value for price is what I want; a meal for 10 euros is great, 15 is okay. Places with great traditional French cuisine and international places are all appreciated. Anything special I should look for? Any one place I should splurge (~30 euros) on?

I have a lot of letter writing to do, so are there any super special dark well-worn cafes at which I should spend my time?

Also, are there any non-restaurant/cafe places I shouldn't miss that are off the beaten path? I've seen most of the touristy stuff, so now I'm trying to find cool and novel insider places.

Memphis recommendations

yoga — Fri, 25 Mar 2005 05:37:50 -0800

I'll be in Memphis for the first time April 8 - 10. Any recommendations for off the beaten path places to hear some good blues? Bonus points for acoustic sets.

Burlington, VT

yoga — Thu, 21 Oct 2004 17:15:47 -0800

Spending the weekend in Burlington, Vermont. Any suggestions on getting off the beaten path / weird museums / tours / cool pubs appreciated.