holidays :) yay

i have an opportunity to spend approx a month on holidays in the USA.

i would like some input from some people for places and things that are good/bad/ugly

i’ll be doing my own research, but nothing is better than real people (tourist information things are always wrong/stupid)

for some background info, i’m a 23 year old aussie male who will be travelling with his girlfriend, i am generally a fun loving geek
we will probably land in florida, but can go anywhere within reason inside the USA

also any kiwi’s with info about Auckland?? 68% sure we will have a few days there as well

im an aucklander, what do you want to know? as far as having fun goes mission bay is a beach with -great- eyecandy (not sure how much your GF will appreciate that)

for nightlife go to the viaduct, the clubs along queen st are almost all complete shit. dress nice or your ass will be thrown out, bouncers in auckland dont fuck around compared to the rest of the country. if you are here on a weekend they usually have a fight night every other weekend or so which is great entertainment for 20-30 bucks.

avoid south auckland. west auckland isnt much better except replace gangsters with metal heads and thieves.

How many thousands of miles are you willing to travel? Also, what time of the year are going going to be here?

prolly gonna be there mid-end summer (american summer, aussie/auckland winter)

and travelling distance= however far a flight will get me, i have a small amount of money saved up and will keep saving. if i think its worth it, i’ll travel across the whole continent

and thanks alex for the auckland info. tourist info would have told me to go to a winery or some other utterly boring shit. i’ll try to aim for a weekend… a fight sounds good

edit: info about cheap accomodation thats available would be good as well, in australia we have “backpacker accomodation” that is generally ok for cheap and nasty accomodation in almost any town you go to (bunk beds, running water and a kitchen) does USA have something similar?? i dont think we will be able to stay in 5 star hotels and stuff.

California is incredibly fun to VISIT, but not stay in. Disneyland, Six Flags Magic Mountain, etc. They’re all fun.

what’s wrong with staying here?

Do I remember the time when there was all those hippies here?

you can move into a conservative community if you want to avoid hippies.

hmmm, a UFC may be on while i’m there

if possible i’ll look into going live, if i cant go there live
can you hang out at a local bar and watch it , or are there rules stopping bars showing ppv stuff?

also, what american alcohol should i try while i’m there (eg, types of beer, wierd and wonderful spirits)
and probably more importantly any types of alchohol i should avoid at all costs?

The only thing you should really avoid in America are the Mexicans and the Black people. They’re a seedy bunch.

UFC.com lists sports bars that have “licenses” to show it. Avoid Hooters. You will be sorry if you watch a UFC at Hooters.

boobs and alchohol while watching a fight? how exactly will i be sorry, that seems like a perfect night out so far

Roly is correct. Its fucking awesome. I remember I was there for the Hughes/Penn fight and the place was going crazy.

I thought watching the UFC at hooters was fun

Because I like watching UFC fights without morons in the room. But that is apparently just me, so I’ll shut up now.

I guess there are morons around, but I’m not really big into MMA so the idiots don’t bother me. Now if it was K-1 max or something we were watching that’d be another story I’m sure.

I’m just sure to drink enough beer so that I’m a moron too.

Yeah but it takes more than two michelob ultras for me and I like to watch fights not trashed.

For pete’s sake man, suggest some good American beers. The honor of the U.S. is at stake.

Christ, I had forgotten this responsibility. Thanks for the reminder.

Okay roly, STAY AWAY FROM ANYTHING MADE BY ANHEUSER BUSH, SAB MILLER, OR COORS. Now that that’s out of the way, here are breweries to look out for:

Dogfish Head
New Belgium
Stone Brewery
Bell’s
New Glarus
Saranac
Thomas Hooker
Three Floyds
Deschutes
Avery
Anchor
Clipper City
Great Divide
Brooklyn Brewing
Rogue
Red Hook (Not my thing, but it’s available everywhere)
Goose Island
Sierra Nevada
Victory Brewing
Lagunitas
Mendocino
Pizza Port
Full Sail
Founders
Sam Adams
Brewery Ommegang
Abita

This is by no means a complete list of good breweries in the US. Just an “off the top of my head” list. I might add to it if I feel like it. You should be able to find some of these beers no matter where you go (besides maybe Alabama because of their ridiculous 6% ABV cap on beer). So anyway, here’s a chance for you to sample some of the best beer in the world, and IT’S MADE IN AMERICA. Don’t be that asshole that comes here, only tries the swill, and then says douchebaggy things about American beer.

Oh, and try to hit up Brewpubs when you can. Fresh beer is an amazing thing. I suggest beeradvocate.com’s Beerfly database.