Port city walking maps + question re: MP3 audio tours
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From: gmbeasley on 5 Apr 2010 14:16 On Mon, 5 Apr 2010 08:22:58 -0700 (PDT), D Ball <dianakball(a)gmail.com> wrote: >Hi, Rosalie, thanks for your feedback. You enjoy the details as much >as I do, and I always love hearing about your many travels. Lots of >good tips in there! > >I think I'm a Bob when it comes to art museum audio guides--I often >have to tell my bunch to go ahead and we'll meet up later. But I don't >go for them much at site attractions--I'm like you, they're usually >too slow, so my mind wanders and then I get lost in the audio. I tend >to do better there with a live guide. > I didn't want to pay for a live guide. >Although, I'm recalling the last audio tour we took, in December at >the Reichstag dome in Berlin--absolutely brilliant. Everyone gets a >headset as you enter, and the audio guide explains the unique >architecture, related Berlin history, how parliament works, points out >city buildings you're viewing, etc., as you walk the spiral ramp to >the top. I'm guessing it was 30-45 min. max; so maybe my issue is not >just pace, but length of time tethered to static content. > >Did you get your next trek with grandchild settled? > Yes - the first one was a bus trip to Ireland and then a few days in London in June 2007. He was 13 almost 14 The second one was a part of a Med cruise in late May 2008 - just Barcelona, Rome, Naples and Venice and then his spring break was over and we came back. He was 13 almost 14 The third one was the Baltic cruise in 2009. She was 12 almost 13 Probably too long a trip - Denmark, Estonia, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway and ending in Holland. Cruises should work well - better than the bus tour although I don't think I could have done Ireland on a cruise very well. Less packing and unpacking for me, and sometimes other children available. I told my daughter who is the mother of the next one to go (now age 12.5) that the cruises that I really wanted to do were Alaska and Hawaii as I've never been either place, and he picked Hawaii. I would have gone to Iceland first if I could have found flights that were convenient and/or cheap. I see no reason to go to Europe first to get there and the cruises weren't suitable. He is interested in volcanoes so we are going to Yellowstone first. He's also interested in WWII. Three of them are too old (now age 30, age 28 and married, and age 16) - after they get to the age to drive and date, they are not so interested in going away with grandma anymore. The youngest one had a trip to Japan last year. The older two have gone on cruises of their own. The other three are all girls, and I think boys are easier. Current ages of the girls 10.5, 9, and 4.5
From: D Ball on 5 Apr 2010 14:46 > I told my daughter who is the mother of the next one to go (now age > 12.5) that the cruises that I really wanted to do were Alaska and > Hawaii as I've never been either place, and he picked Hawaii. I would > have gone to Iceland first if I could have found flights that were > convenient and/or cheap. I see no reason to go to Europe first to get > there and the cruises weren't suitable. He is interested in volcanoes > so we are going to Yellowstone first. He's also interested in WWII. You're a terrific grandmother! What great experiences for them and for you. So did you decide to do Hawaii by land or sea? I will look forward to hearing about your visit to the Volcanoes National Park--our port day plan to visit was thwarted by bad weather. On land trips, we've done the Maui crater. I'm sure you've checked out the Haleakala downhill bike ride. If you're not able to do it and wondering how that experience would work for him if he went solo, feel free to email me. We did it with our kids, and they loved it. Diana
From: gmbeasley on 6 Apr 2010 16:57 On Mon, 5 Apr 2010 11:46:42 -0700 (PDT), D Ball <dianakball(a)gmail.com> wrote: "> I tend ">>to do better there with a live guide. ">> ">I didn't want to pay for a live guide. I should clarify that - I didn't want to pay for a guide who would stand and talk. I can either walk or I can sit. If I have to stand the pain in my back becomes unbearable. Something about static loading and degenerated disks. Anyway I paid for a guide to DRIVE me around and tell me about stuff, but I figured in Pompeii (where I had been before and which my grandson had studied about), I didn't need to do that. >> I told my daughter who is the mother of the next one to go (now age >> 12.5) that the cruises that I really wanted to do were Alaska and >> Hawaii as I've never been either place, and he picked Hawaii. �I would >> have gone to Iceland first if I could have found flights that were >> convenient and/or cheap. �I see no reason to go to Europe first to get >> there and the cruises weren't suitable. �He is interested in volcanoes >> so we are going to Yellowstone first. �He's also interested in WWII. > >You're a terrific grandmother! What great experiences for them and for >you. > >So did you decide to do Hawaii by land or sea? I will look forward to >hearing about your visit to the Volcanoes National Park--our port day >plan to visit was thwarted by bad weather. On land trips, we've done >the Maui crater. I'm sure you've checked out the Haleakala downhill >bike ride. If you're not able to do it and wondering how that >experience would work for him if he went solo, feel free to email me. >We did it with our kids, and they loved it. > Both land and sea. After we get into Honolulu on Weds, we are doing the Pearl Harbor Tora Tora Tour which is 2 days - a land portion doing the Naval Base stuff on Thursday and Friday morning an air portion which follows the path the Japanese aviators followed. (He's not too hot on planes but I'm hoping his interest in what we will see will overtake his reluctance to fly.) Then Saturday we get on the Pride of Hawaii (which is the only ship available in June). After we finish the cruise we fly to the Big Island and I rent a car and we drive up to the Volcano National Park - staying for a couple of days right outside the park. He doesn't swim well, doesn't like horses much (although his mom is a horse trainer) and I don't think he can ride a bike, so mostly I've scheduled volcano type tours with one snorkeling expedition because I want to do that. I'm expanding his horizons LOL
From: tathraman on 6 Apr 2010 18:36 On Apr 5, 9:21 am, D Ball <dianakb...(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Greetings, all, > > I'm in search of online sources of walking self-tours. Here are two-- > if you know of any, please share them! Hi, Diana - here's one you could try: http://www.visitdublin.com/multimedia/DublinPodcast.aspx?id=275 [I think the pub crawl has already been thought of] There's also one available in Madeira [but from memory, it wasn't all that good] There must be lots of others. I have tried using text-to-speech on several of Frommer's walking tours but the results are painful in the extreme. Cheers David
From: D Ball on 7 Apr 2010 12:37
> I have tried using text-to-speech on several of Frommer's walking > tours but the results are painful in the extreme. > Cheers > David Hi, David, thanks for the input. I am going to have to try one of those Dublin podcasts to see what I think--it's nice they have a themed collection with lots of attractive choices. And that's interesting about the text-to-speech results on Frommer's walking tours...it's been a while since I played with any TTS technology, I've always felt it had a ways to go. Happy trails, Diana |