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Never had any issues with the tap water in France.

My problem is that I am lactose intolerant, but I cannot resist the glorious cheese there, so I am in perpetual stomach pain, and in need of farting lol.
 
And I managed to avoid capturing any people in it! :D

We took some friends who were in town to a place called Seven Sacred Pools. And there was a grandfather who was letting his grandson just play by one of the pools.

Several people were at the end wanting a pic without some random kid in it, but grandpa was clueless. Or just didn't care. Not sure which is worse. Some had to give up when their "jeep tour" left.

We hung around figuring they would have to leave at some point. But I will admit I laughed out loud when the kid lost his balance and fell into one of the pools. Now they are not very big, but he got soaked and since there were no tour operators there and we had the only SXS/Jeep, they were going to have to walk the mile or so out with a wet kid.

Karma at its best.
 
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We were in Santander, northern Spain the week before last and we'll be back again in September in our camper to drive down to the south for three weeks.
 

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I am just staying here in Finland, perhaps short trips somewhere around lakes. Unfortunately my wife can only take 2 days off since she has started a new job recently so we can't do much.
 
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I just got back from Vietnam. I spent 2 week with my wife's family, so I didn't get gouged (tourist usually pay 4-5x what locals pay for stuff). I mostly avoided the tourist spots and the wife's family kept the street vendors honest.😁

My wife kept telling me to act like the locals so that I'd blend in. Honey, I can try to act like the locals, but with my accent...😬 Oh, they can tell from how you carry yourself that you're a foreigner.🤨 I lived like the locals and it was a blast. When in Saigon (HCM City), do as...🤗

Good gawd, the streets are wall to wall shops. Every block is a mini strip mall. What appears to be a back alley between shops turns out to be an entire neighborhood complete with street vendors of its own. I stayed with my wife's family in one of those back alley neighborhoods.😊

The first time riding a motorcycle/scooter in HCM City traffic was a brown trousers moment.😱 Holy 💩, it's as crazy as you see them in the YouTube videos. Law of the Jungle boys. The reason they managed and without multi-vehicle accidents is because everyone is reasonably courteous.

Crossing the street in that kind of traffic is not recommended unless you learn from the local how it's done. My niece showed me the way. Two rules: keep you eyes on the traffic and walk naturally. In the above Youtube video, you see a family walk across traffic at the 1:25 time stamp. That's how you cross the street. If you juke and jive like Frogger, you'd end up *splat* like Frogger.

You've seen humorous photos of people transporting everything from chickens to refrigerators on the back of motorcycles on the Internet. Welp, I got to experience that first hand. I sat in the back of a motorcycle holding onto 3 oversized framed pictures. I almost fell off.😓

The food. Oh man, the home cooked meals were Michelin Star worthy. The restaurant food... well, they cater more to tourist's taste.😒 The fruits that cost an arm and a leg here (sugar apples, mangosteen, cherimoya) is dirt cheap over there and a lot tastier. I gorged myself on the equivalent of several thousand $$$ worth [if bought in 'Merica] of sugar apples and cherimoyas. The savings on exotic fruits alone covered the cost of my plane ticket.😏

The only bad thing I can say about my stay was, good Lawd, it was hotter than the devil's butt crack there. A/C is a luxury that folks only install in their bedrooms. The rest of the house is 🥵🥵🥵.
 
That reminds me of the traffic we saw in India. Just replace half the motorcycles with rickshaws/tuktuks and double the amount of honking. It seemed like utter chaos for us but man, they know what they're doing. And crossing the street is definitely not for the faint of heart.
 
This year we've been 3 places abroad:

* Richmond, London - we normally take a trip to London (at least) once a year. This Easter we did a small twist, and stayed in Richmond. Nice place, and fantastic for walks (along the Thames and in Richmond Park).

* Süchterscheid in Hennef (Sieg) in Germany, a weekend trip to check out the area where my partner's (potential) grandfather is from, and see if we could meet some of her (again, potential) relatives. (Still waiting for the DNA result, 4 months later.) Loved the area, especially walking through Ahrenbachtal und Adscheider Tal and up to Stadt Blankenberg. We also did a day trip into Köln (Cologne).

* Roadtrip in Ireland. Visiting places like: Glendalough, Waterford Viking Triangle, Cork, Killarney (and walked part of the Gap of Dunloe and drove the Ring of Kerry), Limerick, Galway and ended up with a couple of days in Dublin. Awesome!
 
Japan is fantastic and fascinating, I put some comments in this thread if you want to have a look.

 
Japan next month! Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. Pretty hyped up. Can’t wait to eat everything.
Enjoy! We spent 20 something days in Japan in June 2025. The food is next level; the 7-11 little smart marts have the best onigiri. We will definitely be going back to find the little hidden gem bars and restaurants.
 
Enjoy! We spent 20 something days in Japan in June 2025. The food is next level; the 7-11 little smart marts have the best onigiri. We will definitely be going back to find the little hidden gem bars and restaurants.
Yeah, thanks! It's going to be great. We have two full weeks. I'm a total food tourist. Can't wait to try the curry bread.
 
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Yeah, thanks! It's going to be great. We have two full weeks. I'm a total food tourist. Can't wait to try the curry bread.
We decided A Happy Pancakes (fluffy pancakes) in Shibuya ( the place with the bathroom hidden behind the secret bookcase ) was a no go ( their fluffy pancakes were not up to snuff ). We did not try the other places, Flippers and Cafe & Pancake Gram, but will do so the next time we are in town.
Let us know how the curry bread is! I know the plain curry was amazing.... and I should mention the delicious Wagyu at Teppankaki Kamon.
 
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Never had any issues with the tap water in France.

My problem is that I am lactose intolerant, but I cannot resist the glorious cheese there, so I am in perpetual stomach pain, and in need of farting lol.
Just avoid 'not potable' water, and you'll be right
 
Just came back from a two week vacation in Switzerland and France. Zurich, Lucerne, zeramatt, Montreux, Geneva and Paris. Bucket list vacation.
 

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Just came back from a two week vacation in Switzerland and France. Zurich, Lucerne, zeramatt, Montreux, Geneva and Paris. Bucket list vacation.
Sounds like a great trip.

Been most of the places (though not on the same trip).

So, did you get to see the Matterhorn from Zermatt?

(We're notoriously unlucky with mountains and views like that, and - as usual - it was cloudy the day we hiked from Täsch up to Zermatt and down again... gorgeous walks and beautiful town, though... :))
 
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Sounds like a great trip.

Been most of the places (though not on the same trip).

So, did you get to see the Matterhorn from Zermatt?
We took the gornergrot railway to the top. We were up too for a few hours, and the weather was all over the map. Ultimately we did get some incredible views of the Matterhorn. In Montreux we took the rochers-de-naya railway to the top was it was like London pea soup fog.
(We're notoriously unlucky with mountains and views like that, and - as usual - it was cloudy the day we hiked from Täsch up to Zermatt and down again... gorgeous walks and beautiful town, though... :))
We are not hikers but enjoyed the views from the rail cars.
 
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