I thought it’d be interesting (and potentially useful) to post travel tips about your home town and/or places you’ve been. I’ve found members’ advice to be really helpful in the past when moving to Canada and my recent trip to Houston.
So post away 
What are the good things to see? Places to stay? Places to go out? Best way to get around? Places to avoid?
I’ll start off.
I’m from Christchurch, New Zealand.
How to get there: Direct flights from most major Australian centres. Flights via Auckland from LA, Singapore, Honolulu. If you’re already in NZ just drive, it’s not that big 
Things to do: Great place if you’re into the outdoors. Mountains very close by with lots of isolated wilderness. Skiing is OK but not up to Canadian standards. Also worth going to the Arts Centre Market of a weekend, Botanic Gardens, up onto the Port Hills (walk, drive or via the Mt Cavendish Gondola) and going to some of the little places out on Banks Peninsula e.g. Akaroa. If you’re European, climb the “Cathedral” spire and have a big laugh.
Places to go out: Pretty much anywhere around Manchester St in the middle of town.
Places to stay: plenty of hotels/motels everywhere. Backpackers Hostel (Warners?) right in the middle of town.
Things to avoid: Nothing really. Used to have a bit of a gang problem and east of Moorhouse Ave is not always the nicest place to hang round at night.
Hmmm - I’d very much like to link to a thread in another forum here…
…tip though: don’t eat the yellow snow 
Orlando, Florida:
Stay away from I4. It’s a horrible road. Otherwise, visit Disney world and leave lots of money here
Baltimore, MD.
Best routes in
By air: to BWI Airport. It’s an internatioal airport with flights, particularly, from Ireland. Also accessible via Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington, DC and (if in a bind) Dulles in Northern Virginia.
By train: Amtrak’s Northeast corridor rolls right through
By car: Stop-off point on I-95. Easternmost Termination point of I-70.
In proximity to
Philadelphia- 2 hours northeast
Washington DC - 45 minutes Southwest
Ocean City - 1.5 hours Southeast
Major Universities
University of Maryland (www.umd.edu)
University of Maryland Baltimiore County (www.umbc.edu)
Townson University (www.towson.edu)
Johns Hopkins University (www.jhu.edu)
Loyola (www.loyola.edu)
McDaniel College (www.mcdaniel.edu)
Day trips
Antietam National Battlefield (http://www.nps.gov/anti/)
Gettysburg (http://www.nps.gov/gett/)
Washington, DC
B&O Railroad (http://www.borail.org/)
Hangouts (Bars/Pubs/Restaurants)
Fells Point (http://www.fellspoint.us/)
Canton (big pub/yuppie area)
Elkridge Furnace Inn (http://www.elkridgefurnaceinn.com/)
Sidestreets Cafe
Places to Avoid
The block (Red light district) (http://jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu/~grau_c/block.html)
Northeast Baltimore
Thing to remember about Baltimore - Don’t come here. Until our current mayor came into power, the slogan of the city was “The city that reads.” That of course is a joke since the Baltimore city public school have a high school graduate illiteracy rate in the 60% range. It’s is in the top 5 for bloodiest cities making the tongue-in-chief slogan “The city that bleeds”.
Horrible city. horrible. horrible. Horrible.
Aaron
Horrible city. horrible. horrible. Horrible.
I take it you enjoyed The Sum of All Fears?
Yeah quite a good book. It was based in the 70s but it is pretty much a spot on reflection of today…though today might be worse.
Aaron
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Notes & Highlights
Federal Capital of Canada
Ontario Drinking Age is 19
How to Get Here
By Air: Ottawa International Airport (YOW)
Road:
From West - Take 401 East from Toronto, 416 North to Ottawa (417 Queensway East to Downtown)
From South/US - I81 North to Canada, 401 East, 416 North to Ottawa (417 Queensway East to Downtown)
From East - Highway 40 West from Montreal becomes Highway 417 East at Ontario Border, leads right to Ottawa.
From the 417 exit North to Nicholas to head towards Downtown and the Market.
Universities
Carleton University http://www.carleton.ca/
University of Ottawa http://www.uottawa.ca/
Attractions
Parliament Buildings, National Monuments
Museum of Nature, Museum of Science & Technology, Museum of Civilization, Art Gallery
Casino de Lac-Lemay (Hull/Gatineau)
Rideau-Carleton Raceway
Corel Centre: Concerts, Home of Ottawa Senators (Kanata/West End)
Canada Day Celebrations (July 1st)
Calm/Outdoors
Rideau Canal: World’s Longest Skating Rink in the winter.
Gatineau Park (Quebec, accross Ottawa River)
Skiing: Pakenham, Mt. Tremblant & many others nearby
Nightlife & Restaurants
The Byward Market (Near downtown, North/East of Rideau)
More Info
Umm…
Anyone over visiting Scotland then I’d definitely recommend that you visit Stirling and learn a bit more about our History on William Wallace.
Stirling also has some decent shops and the night life is next to none; You’ll have a blast basically.
If you’ve brought the girlfreind/wife/mistress [?] then a day out at the Trossach’s wouldn’t go a miss; Just to set the mood for a romantic evening once your back to your hotel
Just my thoughts really.
I’ll add another one
Edmonton, Canada
Notes and Highlights
Provincial capital of Alberta
Northernmost 24hr international airport in Canada
Home of the largest mall in the world
Taxes on goods and services in Alberta are lower than several other Canadian provinces
Getting There
Driving - Drive to Calgary on the Trans-Canada Highway (#1) or up from the US border. Take Highway 2 approx 3hrs north from Calgary.
Flying - Direct flights from most major Canadian centres. WestJet is generally cheapest. Direct flights to several US cities including Houston. Calgary has better international air connections.
Bus - Greyhound Canada run quite a few daily services between Calgary and Edmonton.
Universities
University of Alberta www.ualberta.ca
Northern Institute of Technology (NAIT) www.nait.ab.ca
Attractions
West Edmonton Mall (West Ed) - largest in the world www.westedmall.com
Alberta State Legislature Building
Fort Edmonton Historic Park
Muttart Conservatory
Outdoors
Edmonton river valley has very good walking/biking in summer and cross country skiing in winter
Several small ski hills in town
Approx 4 hrs drive from Banff (via Calgary) and Jasper National Parks in the Rockies. Banff has better skiing, Jasper better hiking and general getting back to nature.
Events
Edmonton Folk Music Festival
Edmonton Fringe Theatre Festival
Klondike Days Festival
Going Out
There are some good places downtown, but where everything really happens is round Whyte Ave (82 Ave)
More Info
http://www.gov.edmonton.ab.ca/
I borrowed Sketch’s format. Okay you asked for it.
Austin, TX
Located in the Central Texas Hill Country, Austin is approximately 230 miles from Mexico and less than 200 miles from 3 of the 10 largest U.S. cities (192 miles from Dallas to its north, 79 miles from [color=#0000ff]San Antonio [/color]to its south, and 162 miles from [url=http://www.ci.houston.tx.us/][color=#0000ff]Houston [/color]to its southeast). Austin is now the fourth largest city in the state and the sixteenth most populous city in the nation.
Best routes in
ABIA
*Other routes: If you can afford it, rent a helicopter. Austin traffic is one of the worst in Texas. Avoid travelling by car if at all possible.
*The Dillo bus system runs in the downtown area providing free connections to the major destinations. Unfortunately the Dillo only runs at certain times.
*All freeways in Austin except Loop 1 (Mopac), have what are called “feeder roads”. These are essentially just frontage roads that run along either side of the freeway, its entire length. Normally the feeder roads are commercial zones with local businesses lining them. Newcomers sometimes find the feeder system a little confusing. Virtually every surface road intersection on a feeder has a “U-turn” lane on the left side used primarily for cars exiting and trying to get to a business on the other side.
Major Universities
University of Texas at Austin
Concordia University
Southwestern University
St. Edwards University
Day trips
Hill Country Flyer
Volente Beach
Mt. Bonnell
Congress Avenue Bridge Bat Flight
Lake Travis
Hangouts (Bars/Pubs/Restaurants)
Carlos n Charlies on Lake Travis
Rocco’s Grill
Best Steak - Sullivans
Best Tex-Mex Food - Chuys
[color=#0000ff]Esther’s Follies[/color]
Katz’s
Too many to list - See Best City Guides (below)
Places to Avoid
East Austin
See above comment (Best Routes)
Best City Guides
austin360.com
Digital City
Austin Chronicle
Lake Travis 360
Fun Facts
Photo Tours
Austin, Texas Virtual Tour
Ya’ll come visit us soon!
Penticton, BC
Come: In the summer. Hot women, 2 beaches, warm warm warm warm weather. Also, Winter has awesome skiing. The fall sports good hunting just hours away.
Other than that, it sucks
Yes, go there now and you may even meet Mike’s avatar
I recommend South Africa.
There are 2 things that you should try on your holiday there.
You should go to the Kruger National Park. There you can see the big five, Elephants, Lions, Rhinos, Hipos and Buffalo.
Then you should also go to Durban and try shark cage diving.
I think that would make for two unforgettable holiday experiences.
Romania
A wonderful country…seaside, Danube delta, mountains, a lot of history, hospitable people
Little bit interesting discussion…keep going
I would like to go there.