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I have $550 and three days in June


kbev

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Hi everyone...

 

I have a bit of an open ended question, but PNet has always seemed to come

through with great ideas and suggestions. Any/all ideas are appreciated.

 

Without getting into details, I have $550 in airfare available to me the weekend

of June 21-24.... I can leave Thurs/Fri through Sunday night (or maybe Monday

AM) Hotel and car are not a concern... I will be leaving from San Antonio.

 

I am looking for a cool city/ place to take some pictures for the weekend. I

enjoy street photography and some nature stuff (animals). Festivals and other

events when people don't mind being photographed are always a plus. I can fly

anywhere that has something worth checking out. I'll be solo.

 

I'm curious to know if anyone knows of any ethnic events, great festivals, or

neat cities (international OK) that I should consider. Some cities have that

"you have to be there" event (e.g. mardi gras, carnival, etc...), and if there

is one that weekend, I'd consider making the trip.

 

I'm using kayak.com to help find cheap tickets from San Antonio (it doesn't

force a destination choice, which is nice for open ended trips).

 

Some of my travel and event shots can be seen at: kbev.smugmug.com to give you

an idea of what i like shooting.

 

thanks....

 

Keith

 

Again, I know this is a bit random, but I appreciate ideas.

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Not much money or time to be spent on travel and shooting. I would suggest cities closer to you: Dallas, Austin, OKC, Shreveport, NOLA, LR, Memphis...

 

But if it were me, my money, and my time, I think I would probably head to Austin for a couple, shoot local color; else, head out to Cow-town USA, follow some strange roads and see what you stumble across.

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The best street photography is in Manhattan, not as much in the central business district but places like Greenwich Village, Chelsea, Central Park, East Village. If budget is tight there is a youth hostel on West 20th St. Other than that I would go to San Francisco or Boston. If you prefer Europe you can get to London for $550, though Paris is a much better place in some ways--the food, the museums. Both are full of interesting quirky people.
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Let me clarify...

 

$550 is just my airfare... I have money to handle the rest out of pocket - hotel, food, rental car, etc... I just happen to have what amounts to a "voucher" for a plane ticket and am looking for a place to use it! It looks like I can get to Puerto Rico, Cozumel, and a few other int'l locations too...

 

I'll actually be in NY the following weekend (and othe times throughout the year)... I'm in SAT every week, so I can drive over to Austin another time.

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Thanks -

I like the ideas of Sante Fe, Quebec City and Yellowstone. I'll check airfare. Any ideas for cool festivals going on somewhere in the US?

 

Here's the scoop... I travel every week from Chicago to San Antonio for work. Instead of flying home each week, I can take the "same $$$" and use it to go anywhere I want. I'm also from NJ originally and go home 1-2/year (with trips to NYC). I also go to Europe roughly once a month (London last week)...

 

The Riverwalk is cool and I may take a night/evening in the coming months and check it out "again for the first time" I stay at the westin-riverwalk every week (which is why I have enough points to stay free wherever I decide to fly).

 

Other ideas? Let's keep it rollin'

 

I appreciate the help

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Yellowstone is a great idea ... I was there in June last year and -- Old Faithful aside - it wasn't too crowded. In two days I saw every animal you can imagine except a grizzley and had a great time.

 

Phoenix area is good. You can travel to a lot of landscape opportunities. LA is better than San Diego for street shooting, IMO. San Fran is esy to get to and fantastic for street and lanscape.

 

I don't know if you can get there for 550, but Montreal is beautiful this time of year.

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One of the Canadian cities mentioned, cool places, or maybe Vancouver/Victoria?

 

In San Francisco, I stay at the Green Tortoise Hostel, private rooms building on Bartolo, right on the border of North Beach and Chinatown, shared bath but never a problem, great rates, plenty of globe hoppers in the main building to bounce travel ideas off of

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Since you said that international would be okay:

 

I would suggest flying into Guatemala City, Guatemala. From there, it's only a one hour

drive (shuttles are about $10) to Antigua, Guatemala. The city itself is beautiful with many,

many photographic opportunities. To really get your fill of people shots, you could head

up to the Chichicastenango market or to one of the towns surrounding Lago Atitlan - both

of which are readily accessible by shuttle bus. Doing so would also give you an

opportunity for nature shots - Lago Atitlan has been called the most beautiful lake in the

world. You'll be taking pictures like never before...

 

You could also look into Mexico City...There's always something going on in that corner of

the world. Alternatively, there's Panama City, Panama. However, Antigua would be my

absolute first choice.

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Thanks everyone for your input. Here's the latest:

 

* My airline preference is AA (they show me love), which isn't helping in some cases. AA helps if I go Int'l south (Mexico). The flight times to a lot of cities is tough because I lose almost all of Sunday. if I got too far away.

 

* Yellowstone is very much first first choice, but the airlines are not cooperating. the ticket prices to JAC are nuts other airports are worse - for all airlines

 

* Puerto Rico - nice but will take 10 hrs in the air each way... I need to go through DFW in most cases

 

* San Fran is shaping up like a nice option because my sis is there and I can crash with her in San Jose. Maybe I'll try Muir woods again after a bad photo day the first time. Any festivals that weekend? I'll see...

 

* Mexico - Cozumel is possible, but is there enough there for a non-diver to shoot?

* Mexico - Oaxaca is too far, and the flights are too long

* Mexico - other - Is Mexico City nice? What about the other cities I coudl try? From TX, the flights are reasonable and I could do them without much pain. Is safety an issue or do you just nede to use common sense?

 

Seattle/Shanghai/Europe/ Vancouver were all too costly...

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Keith - Mexico City is quite nice and certainly interesting and rather varied in what it has

to offer. There's always Teotihuacan if the city gets too overwhelming. The flight time from

SAT is reasonable as well - about 2 hours.

 

Cozumel does not have much to offer, though. I was just there and it's been ravaged by a

hurricane a short while ago. Besides, Cozumel is rather small, flat, and well, boring.

There's Cancun across the bay - but unless you're 20 and plan on getting drunk the entire

time, your options are somewhat limited....

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I am pretty certain I'll do Mexico City. Lots of cheap flights and the Mexican OneWorld Airline has non-stop 2 hrs flights... Who knew?

 

If I can't make that work, or my sister strongarms me into visiting her, I'll go to the Bay Area. 8-)

 

In other news, the San Rafael Street painting festival is up near the bay area this weekend. last year, when soliciting adivce from PN, I ended up checking it out. It was great. I tok tons of great pics. Highly recommended... Fun times...

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if you wantt o go toi yellowstone and the tetons fly to idaho falls idaho! you can see the tetons from there and it is only sevral hours drive from their. plently to photograph on the way. it should be WAY cheaper than jackson.

 

eddie

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Wow, you can go almost anywhere on $550. The entire US. But, you have to fly into bigger cities, then drive in. Like the Idaho Falls option. You can go to any major city in the US - LA, SF, Seattle, Portland, Miami, Boston, NY, Chicago...anywhere. Chicago is always a blast.
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