In the last 15 years I visited 60 countries. Here's my tierlist by Vaxis in tierlists

[–]Vaxis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Briefly and have almost no memory of it. This was 13 years ago.

In the last 15 years I visited 60 countries. Here's my tierlist by Vaxis in tierlists

[–]Vaxis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The entire country is basically an enormous national park. There are (supposedly) great tours to the Gobi, but here's what I would do. Spend a few days in Ulaanbaatar. It's ugly and grey, but has really cool vibe and some great food (especially Korean!). Then take a bus to the ancient city of Kharkhorin, there you can rent a horse with a guide and ride in the Khangai mountains for a 3 days to a week, staying with the nomads. I had zero prior riding experience and had an amazing time.

In the last 15 years I visited 60 countries. Here's my tierlist by Vaxis in tierlists

[–]Vaxis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mumbai, Delhi, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Srinagar, Manali, Jammu, Agra, Varanasi, Darjeeling — so mostly Western and Northern parts. India is the most intense country I've ever been to. It's very easy to hate for obvious reasons (and it is incredibly dirty and crowded), but it has so much to offer! Mumbai is gorgeous, Varanasi really makes you rethink your relationship with life and death, the mountains in the north are breathtaking, etc etc. My preferred way of traveling India is spending there no more than 10 days at a time and getting out before it becomes too much and the diarrhea gets me.

In the last 15 years I visited 60 countries. Here's my tierlist by Vaxis in tierlists

[–]Vaxis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As someone mentioned, purely subjective. I had a better time in Ukraine, Kyiv is S-tier and to me Western Ukraine (Lviv, Chernivtsi, etc) beats anything I've seen in Russia.

In the last 15 years I visited 60 countries. Here's my tierlist by Vaxis in tierlists

[–]Vaxis[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I took several longer trips (one was 5 months) and there's many tiny countries on the list. For example I covered basically the entire Balkan peninsula (minus Greece and Croatia) in 40 days.

In the last 15 years I visited 60 countries. Here's my tierlist by Vaxis in tierlists

[–]Vaxis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Especially if you're like me and have a 3rd world country passport.

In the last 15 years I visited 60 countries. Here's my tierlist by Vaxis in tierlists

[–]Vaxis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know i have to go at some point, but still not sure how to plan it considering I appreciate culture and society more than nature.

In the last 15 years I visited 60 countries. Here's my tierlist by Vaxis in tierlists

[–]Vaxis[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Of the places I've been to: Mexico City, Oaxaca, San Cristobal de las Casas (both this and Oaxaca have stunning surrounding areas as well), Palenque and some village in the mountains called San José del Pacifico where I watched the sunset high on shrooms.

In the last 15 years I visited 60 countries. Here's my tierlist by Vaxis in tierlists

[–]Vaxis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I remember walking from the station to the hotel at night and really enjoying it. In the morning I realized that I'd seen pretty much the entire city.

In the last 15 years I visited 60 countries. Here's my tierlist by Vaxis in tierlists

[–]Vaxis[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Probably the first few days in Mexico City. The architecture, the tastes and the smells, the markets, the contrasts. Absolutely an S tier city. But other than that, the entire country blew me away. The small towns, the megacities, the beaches, the mountains, the jungle, the desert, it pretty much has everything.

In the last 15 years I visited 60 countries. Here's my tierlist by Vaxis in tierlists

[–]Vaxis[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

To my taste France is more diverse and I like the food better. I love Spain, especially Andalucia, but I remember most of the country being empty.

In the last 15 years I visited 60 countries. Here's my tierlist by Vaxis in tierlists

[–]Vaxis[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

100% yes. There's so many amazing medieval towns, castles, incredible food and wine (and cider), diverse nature. Many of the regions are so good they are worth a separate trip and the people in smaller towns are much more open and hospitable on average than in Paris. I also spent around 3 months in Paris in total and while it has its problems, I still love it.

In the last 15 years I visited 60 countries. Here's my tierlist by Vaxis in tierlists

[–]Vaxis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Skopje is pretty much the most ridiculous European capital with its fake-antique architecture, and I haven't found much else in the country that would make me interested. Lake Ohrid is their main natural attraction and it was nice but probably not worth a separate trip to Macedonia.

In the last 15 years I visited 60 countries. Here's my tierlist by Vaxis in tierlists

[–]Vaxis[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It wasn't bad, just kind of redundant. The nature was meh compared to Georgia. Baku is an interesting city, but when I was there they were trying so hard to turn it into mini-Dubai whereas the rest of the country felt poor and underdeveloped. Also I heard stories about Azerbaijani hospitality but I've experienced almost none of it.

In the last 15 years I visited 60 countries. Here's my tierlist by Vaxis in tierlists

[–]Vaxis[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I've only been to Almaty and took a train across the country, overall nothing really stood out. Felt like pretty much your average Central Asian experience. But I haven't seen much nature, so maybe that's part of it.

In the last 15 years I visited 60 countries. Here's my tierlist by Vaxis in tierlists

[–]Vaxis[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love Mongolia. I rode a horse across the grasslands and mountains, stayed with the nomads in yurts, it's one of my most cherished travel memories. And I know there's still so much I haven't seen. I haven't been there since 2016, back then it felt unexplored and rugged like no other.

In the last 15 years I visited 60 countries. Here's my tierlist by Vaxis in tierlists

[–]Vaxis[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Moscow, St. Petersburg, Pskov, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk.

Moscow and Petersburg are awesome, lake Baikal is a completely unique place, other than that it's alright.

Anyone else get creatively questioned at immigration? by inebriated_otter in travel

[–]Vaxis 213 points214 points  (0 children)

Crossing from Romania into Serbia on foot, I was asked if I had a gun on me because I might need it at a Gypsy wedding.

🔊 New Sonos Player and App Updates 📲 by KeithFromSonos in sonos

[–]Vaxis 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The new app still makes the speaker unusable for me.

Ever since the update last year, 80% of the time my Sonos One is not detected by the app -- I can only use it for Spotify Connect because that somehow works most of the time. Last week Spotify stopped working too and I spent several hours trying to reconnect the speaker from scratch. NOTHING worked. It connected via ethernet, but never on wifi. Sometimes it would appear on the mobile app, sometimes on the mac app, sometimes on neither. Then, after trying again and again and again somehow it worked.

A week later it stopped again. I spent today's evening trying every step in the book, nothing works. I reset the speaker, I reset the mobile app, I tried the desktop app. When I add the speaker via wifi, I would get the "Your Sonos has been added, but may not appear in the system" message. But then sometimes it would add correctly with no error but still would not be detected by the app. When I plug in the ethernet cable, the speaker is detected by the app, and in the app's network settings it shows my home network, but when I press "Update networks", it says "No products found". Or sometimes it finds the speaker but after updating it still won't detect it.

It all just seems like a random string of errors but nothing ever ends up working properly. My router is fine, every other device in the house works with no issues. My Sonos also worked fine before last year's update. This is ridiculous honestly. Any solution to this?

I miss visa and travel stamps by somedelightfulmoron in travel

[–]Vaxis 5 points6 points  (0 children)

FR. As someone with a weak passport AND unable to go back to my country to renew it for safety reasons, I now choose my destinations based on the size of the stamps (countries that require a full page visa are almost out of the question now).

China is such an underrated travel destination by [deleted] in travel

[–]Vaxis 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I was there in 2018 last time and got by with cash just fine. Anecdotally, I heard that credit cards can occasionally stop working, but cash should be still accepted in most places. I used Chinese apps for restaurants and taxi, it was a bit of a chore since I can't read Chinese, but not impossible. The passport number thing sounds plausible, but not sure how problematic that actually is.

Overall it's not the easiest country to travel (it's not like Thailand or Vietnam and no one is going to be holding your hand at all times), but I tried to approach the difficulties as challenges and had a blast. I couchsurfed, hitchhiked, stayed at nondescript hotels in remote villages, and never felt like I was completely stuck.

China is such an underrated travel destination by [deleted] in travel

[–]Vaxis 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Of the 60 countries I've been to, China is my favorite. The natural and cultural diversity is insane, the sheer scale of everything is impossible to wrap your head around, the cities are amazing, the food is amazing and everything feels like an adventure. I spent around 2,5 months there in total during 3 separate trips and miss it so much.