Happy New Year from Germany

[daverave999]

Welcome! Good to have you here.

[MaledettoToscano]

Welcome Nino... or if you prefer Bienvenido/Willkommen

[roughrider]

Welcome Nino. I enjoy your website very much.

[satch]

Happy new year Nino
Just checked out your site. Good stuff!

[PoohBore]

a celeb

Welcome

[nicwing]

Hi Nino
Great to have you come join us here.
Happy New Year

[Drewmidorn]

Hi Nino,
Happy New Year
Thanks for your site, its really interesting.

D

[cj121]

Hello Nino,

All of the above really and keep up the good 'work' and great smokes

[stephan]

Welcome brother!

[monkey66]

Hello and welcome.

[El Catador]

Hola Nino, Como estas?

As a self-confessed travel junkie myself (on a mission to smoke in as many exotic locations as possible), I've been reading about your exploits with great interest and was wondering what (if any) destinations you've still got a yearning to visit or experience? Do you have any favourites?

P.S. Welcome to the forums, glad you could stop by
El Cat

[Flying Cigar]

Hello All,

thank you VERY much for the welcoming words !!

Some really make me blush, as I'm just a (lucky) regular cigar smoker who happens to have good friends and share his experiences in a blog.
No fuss pleazeee.

[Flying Cigar]

Hola Nino, Como estas?

As a self-confessed travel junkie myself (on a mission to smoke in as many exotic locations as possible), I've been reading about your exploits with great interest and was wondering what (if any) destinations you've still got a yearning to visit or experience? Do you have any favourites?

P.S. Welcome to the forums, glad you could stop by
El Cat

Hola El Catador, muy bien gracias, y tu ??

Feliz Dia de Reyes para ti !!

( Today is the "3 Magic Kings Day" in Spain, when gifts and presents are exchanged and all the kids get their presents, X-mas is just a small celebration, today is the BIG day

Ok, to your question : my favourite destination would be Asia as a whole, with particular love for China, SE Asia, Singapore. It started out falling in love with Bali back in the 70's, travelling Bali, Lombok, Indonesia, Malaysia and Tailand, and I am still enchanted with the region. Safe, easy, civilized, friendly, good people.

Only places I'd like to visit that I haven't been to would be Patagonia, Tierra de Fuego.

There are 2 plans that I have after retiring :

1) Travel by train to Lake Baikal in the summer and stay there watching the planes fly over it ( as I have been looking down on that great lake many times from above ) while smoking a few cigars before continuing by train to China ( even my wife would come along on this trip ).
Then maybe down by train to Guangzhou, Hainan, Hanoi, Hue, Danang, Saigon, Sihanoukville to Rayong, a place noth of Pattaya that we like.

and

2) very slow travel by cargo vessel ( not container ship ) around the world.
I have a large database on this topic and there are still some shipping lines that accept passengers.

Only thing I regret NOT having done when it was still possible, is taking the overland bus from Amsterdam to Goa via Ankara, Teheran, Kabul, Karachi, Bombay to Goa.
I've been to those places later, but wish I had taken 6 months off back then and done it.

So my advice would be : Don't wait for later, travel now !

Thanks for your welcome !

Nino

[nicwing]

Nino
What great plans, and all with a handy travel humidor no doubt.

I was reading that the days of Goa may well be past. I have been twice and loved the place when it was relaxed and cool but today it appears to have been spoilt and taken over by thugs and criminals based around the drug trade.

Shame, the Taj Holiday village where we stayed was one of my favourite hotels.

Happy Epiphany to you all, may you all get Gold, Frankincense & Cohibas today

[Flying Cigar]

Nino
What great plans, and all with a handy travel humidor no doubt.

I was reading that the days of Goa may well be past. I have been twice and loved the place when it was relaxed and cool but today it appears to have been spoilt and taken over by thugs and criminals based around the drug trade.

Shame, the Taj Holiday village where we stayed was one of my favourite hotels.

Happy Epiphany to you all, may you all get Gold, Frankincense & Cohibas today

Hi Nic,

thank you !

Yes, absolutely, never leave home without a humidor - and always travel wherever you may smoke in peace.

Your point about Goa is correct, that is the fate of many destinations that were originally "discovered" by travelers/backpackers ( Koh Samui, Krabi, Bali, Goa, even Ibiza back then ) and then went "mass-ive", overcrowded, loud and no longer "recognizable" for their original charms - happened to my beloved Bali.
In '85 I hated the road from Kuta to Legian so I simply stopped flying there, pity really, but that is the way it goes.

You cannot keep a secret for long and mass travel will follow the "secret hideaways".

Which is why I repeat : Travel now and try it out, won't get any better later !

N