Hey all. Just thought I'd make this thread about people's most recent trips.

This past summer, I'm glad to say that I traveled to Boston. Now, it may seem a little mundane. Many people in the NY/NJ area have gone to Boston. Tons of my friends went there for college. For me, however, it was my first time. I'm glad to report that I went there twice this summer and both times were really excellent. As a fan of history and museums, I really enjoyed the Freedom Trail tour and the Boston Fine Arts Museum. What was especially cool about the latter was the intimacy. I've been to the Met and the Natural History Museum in NYC dozens of times, and both are great. However, Boston's museum was smaller, which gave it a cozier feel. Many students from the surrounding universities (didn't realize how much of a college town Boston was until I went there) were sketching art and engaging in group sessions. Had excellent conversations with the tour guides there and even ended up leading a tour myself in the East Asian Buddhist wing! Went to the trendy neighborhoods like Beacon Hill and fulfilled my parents' long ago wishes by finally getting to Harvard and MIT! Had some really quiet moments as well. Nothing like relaxing in Boston Public Garden or strolling along the Charles River. A great surprised was that I ended up visiting a local Kung Fu school! Took a class and showed off some of my Hong Kong Kung Fu skills!

Still, the trip was enlightening in other ways. For one thing, I didn't realize how Chinese Boston was. There were numerous Chinese tour groups visiting the city as a lot of Chinese students wanted to get into the universities there. The subway system was much cleaner and efficient than NYC's. Finally, Boston felt much less hectic than NYC and so much calmer. Definitely needed that.

There were other things that I found out, too. Didn't know how much bias I had with the NY/NJ area until I saw one too many people sporting THESE around me:


Now, I'm the LEAST sports interested person ever. I'm not familiar with my local teams at all. And I fully acknowledge that I was in another city. But.......yeah........let's just say I was a little flustered. Whenever I saw one of these jerseys, I brought to mind the Yankees, pinstripes, and 27 championships in order to shield myself from the red onslaught.

All in all, the trips were excellent. And I know that I just scratched the surface. I think that could be said with all trips really .

So, how about you? Have you gone anywhere recently that's different from where you usually live? How was the experience like?