Outside of America, where's the best place to go on vacation?

...and why?

Define 'vacation'. What do you want to get out of it? Sun/snow/mountains/sand/seeing landscapes/going out / trying new foods / experiencing something out of your comfort zone etc etc

Europe

/thread.

Jamaica or Amsterdam.

The holodeck.

As for me, tourism, and that could include any of what you just listed depending on how you define the last several items! Where have you been that you would recommend?

Where in Europe specifically?

Last year, I went to Porto Santo. Porto Santo is a tiny little Portogues island off-off the coast of Africa. It has absolutely nothing except beach, sea, and sun. It does not have too many tourists (yet); it has hills that want to be mountains when they grow up, for comfortable walks; it has 1 museum with 3 rooms telling you about Columbus, who lived there for some years, which does not keep you busy for more than 2 hours.

And it is Paradise. At least it was for us; we had had the kind of year(s) after which you don't want to learn stuff and see stuff and find out many new things on your holidays. We wanted a pleasant flavor of nothingness, but warm. And we got exactly that.

How about, outside your comfort zone and not particularly crowded with tourists, with opportunities for landscapes and physical activity?

Anywhere Western Europe, so U.K., Spain, France, Germany, Italy, etc.

Stay away from Eastern Europe.

If I had the time and money, I'd love to see the whole wide world...

Well, actually I'd like to explore the whole universe but I guess I don't live in the right era for that to actually be possible.

Maybe in a couple thousand years that will be a possibility?

Turkey and Southern Europe are my personal favourites. In the former, you have so many spectacular opportunities for tourism, coupled with beautiful landscapes (Kappadokia must be seen to be believed), friendly people, and great food (nowhere beats Italy's cuisine, however). Anywhere around the Mediterranean with very few exceptions will certainly be a spectacular vacation.

Antarctic cruise. It's like nothing else you'll ever see or do, anywhere.

I really enjoyed Italy myself. I used to do a lot of "tourist" things in Korea, but then again I lived there, as opposed to just visiting on a temporary vacation.

I've been there...but it might have been the Peak District - it was a long time ago.

Oh, I disagree. Prague is a quick drive or train ride from eastern Germany and it's wonderful. Great sights, wonderful (and cheap!) food and beer(!), plentiful entertainment, safe, clean...what more could a tourist want?

My favorite destinations in Europe? Munich, London. Well, Amsterdam, too. And Paris, of course. And Rome. And...

Let me also cast a vote for Australia as a great tourist destination. I only got to spend a few days touring there, but it definitely whetted my appetite for more. Terrific place to vacation, especially when the dollar is relatively strong...

Sierra Leone. Zimbabwe. Tamaulipas, Mexico. Sri Lanka. Marjeh, Afghanistan.

The fun places.

Former imperial colonies.

Actually, Mexico's all right. I've been there twice and had great fun both times.

Iceland was stunning. I've been to loads of countries, and there wasn't anything familiar about it. Normally you can see glimpses of things that make you think of home, but it was just ... i called it an apocalyptic landscape, my brother called it primordial. We saw lakes, waterfalls, forests, mountains (in april, so it was all in snow). Swam in the blue lagoon which was pricy (it's all a lot cheaper now, the currency collapsed a month after we went, which was sort of annoying, as if we had delayed it, it would have all be half the price!), but completely worth it. I think the most 'woah' point in the blue lagoon was just after avoiding a hot bit, i was about to play a game with my brother, where you stand outside the pool, get as cold as you can stand, and then jump in. I suddenly realised that the lifeguards were in puffa jackets, and gloves, because it was so cold out of the pool. Like I said, snow everywhere.

I went to Latvia about 6 months ago. Also amazing. We spent 3 days in Riga, the capital, lovely weather. Went to museums, saw the art deco section of town, ate nothing but meat, fish, fried food, and no vegetables other than potatoes for a week. (that's eastern european cuisine for you). Because it's not on the euro, we ate out every night, every morning, and every lunch. Got a 5* 3 course meal with champagne (rigan champagne, but then again I dont know much about wine etc) for £15 (about 23usd), it was SO nice. Beer is cheaper than water.

We spent 3 days in Leipeija (sp?), which is this sort of weird town by the sea, mostly owned by 70s dutch glam rock star. The important thing was that the beach was practically deserted, wide and long beach, the sea was warm enough to splash about in, it was really shallow as well for quite a while, and I got a fantastic tan.
Oh, and they had bars all along the beach, for all your beer and fried bread needs!

I vote Britain. Between England, Scotland, and Wales you will not run out of things to see. It's jammed with history and has some outstanding scenery. Plus, everyone speaks English and drinks a lot. It's also just a short train ride to Paris if you feel like experiencing some interesting smells.

Why? What's wrong with Eastern Europe?

Nein, ich habe das mit Absicht nicht getan. Sondern bin ich durchgefallen mit dem Buchstabieren.

Jetzt ist alles in Ordnung, oder?

Translation, for those of you who don't speak German:

"Ninny, I have the mitt but I'm not getting any absinthe. Sunday, I fell in the ditch while stabbing the books. Is the odor of the Jets everywhere in the New Order?"

Or something like that. Maybe I ought to ask my wife about a couple of those words, just to be sure...

​

Jetzt stimmt die Benutzerbezeichnung.

Der Vollständigkeit halber: Der Post hier sagt streng genommen, daß Sie etwas absichtlich nicht getan haben, also absichtlich unterlassen -- statt daß Sie etwas unabsichtlich getan haben; richtig wäre "Ich habe das nicht mit Absicht getan." Und es sollte "ich bin" statt "bin ich" heißen, und man fällt nicht mit einer Tätigkeit sondern bei einer Tätigkeit durch, und dann steht das Vollverb am Schluß, also insgesamt: "Sondern ich bin beim Buchstabieren durchgefallen." Und das bedeutet dann, daß Sie bei einem (Schul-)Test nicht bestanden haben (was metaphorisch durchaus gemeint sein kann). 'Fail' wie in etwas allgemein nicht richtig machen (ohne daß ein Lehrer es bewertet) wäre scheitern, also: "Ich bin beim Buchstabieren gescheitert." -- Sorry about that, I have sometimes done this for a living and have a hard time holding back the red ink. Either way, everyone certainly understands what you're trying to say, even if they won't mistake you for a native.

Finding the right home for "nicht" can be a challenge for me. I see what you mean, though: there's a big difference between "I have not done it deliberately" and "I have deliberately not done it." I have an English student's natural bias against adverbs, but with German I probably should forgo this and use "(un)absichtlich" rather than "(nicht) mit Absicht."

Oh, yeah..."sondern" works like "und" and "aber."

A bad English-to-German translation. I need to remember "bei" as meaning something like "within the context of (something)."

Beim Buchstabieren falle ich durch.

Klar. However, I thought (at least in informal speech) that the verb need not necessarily come at the end.

Yes, I'm aware of the school test connotation. However, I read an interview in Spiegel once, where a race car driver was asked some technical question and when he responded that he didn't know the answer, the interviewer replied "Durchgefallen." So, I presume it has widespread metaphorical meaning as well. Is that correct?

Must it be in the context of a test?

Scheitern...I didn't know that one. I'll remember it.

On the contrary, I'm grateful for the corrections.

My German is pretty funny. Many German speakers say I have a great accent (I'm a pretty good mimic) but others have said that I speak with an odd combination of formal and informal structures. I'm also sure my use of register is a bit odd, too.

"Meiner meinung nach ist die Oper turbogeil!"