Wikivoyage:Tourist office/Archives/2015/March

Samba carnavals
Regarding my above question about the Rio carnaval, are there other famous samba carnavals besides the famous Rio carnaval and the Helsinki carnaval? I know there are carnavals all over Europe and possibly North America too, but these two seem to be the only ones focused on samba dancers. I'd prefer the event to be at daytime, outdoors, and free of charge or with not very much charge. And of course photography should be allowed.

Asked by: JIP (talk) 21:03, 25 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Other famous Carnivals in Brazil are found in Salvador, Olinda, São Paulo, and Ouro Preto. Outside of Brazil, some of the most famous ones are the Carnival of Venice in Italy, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Haitian Carnival in Haiti, and the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival. There are plenty of others as well though, including ones in Paris and Nice, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Colombia, and lots of other places. I don't know and don't have time to research details for all of them, but you might want to have a look through the Wikipedia articles linked from w:Category:Carnivals_by_country. Texugo (talk) 19:49, 26 February 2015 (UTC)


 * I haven't looked at the articles yet, but I just remembered that I know of four samba carnavals in Finland alone. Helsinki Samba Carnaval (featuring just about every samba school in Finland) and Kallio kukkii (featuring Império de Papagaio only) in Helsinki, Tampere Floral Festival (featuring União de Roseira only) in Tampere and the Kokkola Venetian Carnaval (featuring Samba el Gambo only, but other samba schools too every 5 years) in Kokkola. All are free of charge. WikiVoyage has listings for all except Kallio kukkii, but only the Helsinki Samba Carnaval listing mentions a samba parade. Should I add mentions of the others too? JIP (talk) 19:29, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

Bus from Quy Nhon to Phu Cat
Asked by: 113.174.203.99 12:34, 8 March 2015 (UTC) My flight leaves from Phu Cat at 3.45 pm When does the bus leave from Quy Nhon for this flight?

Ukraine
why did ukraine split from russia?

Asked by: 2.24.103.125 00:55, 24 March 2015 (UTC)

Russian Far East
I'm planning to visit Russian Far East. The consulate is asking that for tourist visa, I will have to arrange tourist voucher and tourist confirmation (in Russian language) of acceptance from a Russian travel agency, registered with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I wonder who can arrange all that. I hold Pakistani passport and UAE residence permit.

Asked by: Saqib (talk) 18:30, 5 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Saqib, usually everything is managed by a local (local for you) travel agency against the payment of a fee. If you want save money, take into account to spend time. In the past I've done it for India and it was quite painful... PS I'll be soon in Russia for the 3rd time, but on the other side, otherwise we could have met ;-) -- Andyrom75 (talk) 20:06, 7 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Andy: Today I contacted a local travel agency and they said they'll charge some US$ 500 for tourist visa/ per applicant. 500$ include visa fee (150$) for urgent process but excluding accommodation charges etc. I never used services of a travel agency before when it comes to getting visas but I think this time there's no other option. And this tourist voucher thing is really weird. Anyways, I've yet to make final plan whether I should apply for visa or not but curious to know when you have plans to be in Russia and for how muny days? --Saqib (talk) 20:28, 7 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Take into account that the urgent process is not mandatory, but more expensive. Come to IRC. -- Andyrom75 (talk) 22:11, 7 February 2015 (UTC)
 * I guess there are people more knowledgeable than me but in Europe it costs about Eur 100 (plus visa itself). There are many online agencies doing it, last time (10 years ago) I just searched online.--Ymblanter (talk) 19:03, 26 February 2015 (UTC)


 * Try old site, newer. He's a relative of mine (sort of, ex-wife's new husband's brother) and has excellent English since he grew up in Canada, returned to Russia as an adult. Seems to be a good guy & is quite knowledgeable. The site used to be much larger with a lot of info on the Moscow area and he used to offer a range of services there &mdash; guide, apartment for rent, translator for business visitors, ... He seem to have cut it back to his current business up North. Pashley (talk) 02:24, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

buy clay in ho chi minh city
can you tell me where can I buy bbq clay in the city of ho chi minh

Asked by: 113.161.65.169 02:11, 9 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Do you mean the small clay barbecues? I don't know, but I would try one of the local markets where they sell household goods as well, like Cho Ba Chieu and similar ones. Your best bet is to just ask a local, though. Enjoy your travels! JuliasTravels (talk) 21:21, 9 March 2015 (UTC)

12:01 (1993 film) - where is the real office building located? (film location)
12:01 (1993 film) - where is the real office building located? Does that remarkable building have a special name? Which company has its headquarters there today? You can see the building here at 7:54 min. (german) or here at 4:56 min (english) --Zulu55 (talk) 14:04, 9 March 2015 (UTC) I also posted this question here --Zulu55 (talk) 16:30, 9 March 2015 (UTC)
 * We solved it and wrote an Article: The Oaks (Bürogebäude)
 * See more in the other thread. --65.94.51.62 16:54, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

Place to visit in Central Europe?
I am planning on going on an InterRail trip from Stockholm, Sweden all the way to Pörtschach am Wörthersee, Austria, and back, from late June to middle July. My ultimate destination is the World Bodypainting Festival in Pörtschach am Wörthersee, but I'd like to visit some other place along the way, for just a normal tourist trip with no set program.

My question is, which place? So far I've set my sights on Ljubljana, Slovenia, but the problem is that it's simply so far away from Stockholm. I have had no luck so far in finding train connections from Stockholm to there that suit my travel plans. (The connections from there to Pörtschach are pretty much trivial, but that won't help if I can't get to Ljubljana in the first place.)

Luckily I have only reserved a hotel room in Pörtschach, not in Ljubljana. I could skip Ljubljana altogether if I could find a better place. But where? I've already visited Prague, Kraków, and Bratislava, and liked all of them very much (but Prague and Bratislava more than Kraków). I'm not interested in visiting the same city twice, preferably not even the same country twice. I will also most likely be passing through Bavaria, Germany, but I'm not interested in visiting there as I'm already going to Munich on a separate trip.

The only other criterion is that the city has to be on the way from Stockholm to Pörtschach. I don't have the time to make a detour just to visit some city. Can anyone recommend some city in Central Europe to visit?

(As an addendum, I speak Finnish natively, English fluently, and Swedish and German at a very good level. I don't speak any Slavic languages whatsoever. I took a Hungarian course at university but remember very little of it. But so far it hasn't been a problem as just about everyone I've met in Central Europe spoke at least passable English.)

Asked by: JIP (talk) 20:37, 13 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Hamburg? ϒpsilon (talk) 21:01, 13 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Off the top of my head, Soltau comes to mind. It was our "Off the Beaten Path" destination for one month last year and I remember being pretty intrigued by it. -- AndreCarrotflower (talk) 21:04, 13 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Dresden would be a good possibility. --Traveler100 (talk) 21:21, 13 March 2015 (UTC)
 * To elaborate on my reply, it's hard to say. There are really a billion of interesting German small and mid-sized cities along the way, including the above-mentioned Soltau. As a car person myself, I'm not that familiar with train routes, but if your journey passes Bamberg or Regensburg, these are IMO pretty nice cities worth getting off at. Also, of course Vienna is a city everyone should visit in their lifetime but I think you already mentioned that one in some of your previous questions. ϒpsilon (talk) 21:26, 13 March 2015 (UTC)


 * I do not know the region, but I have talked to many people who really like Prague and one who thought Leipzig wonderful. Pashley (talk) 06:18, 14 March 2015 (UTC)


 * The shortest railway route crosses Germany. The ICE from Hamburg to Munich runs every hour during the day. Stops are in Hamburg-Harburg, Hanover, Göttingen, Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe, Fulda, Würzburg, Nuremberg and Ingolstadt. -- Joachim Mey2008 (talk) 06:30, 14 March 2015 (UTC)

Hamburg or Leipzig sound good, but as my final destination is Pörtschach in Austria, and I'm already going to Munich on a separate trip, I'd prefer going to some other country than Germany or Austria. My criterion that it has to be on the way is not to be taken completely strictly. It doesn't have to be on the shortest path from Stockholm to Pörtschach. But it still has to be only a few hours away from the shortest path. For example, as I already mentioned, Prague, Kraków or Bratislava would be options, but I've already visited them. But something like Romania or the French Riviera is far too far away. JIP (talk) 19:45, 14 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Looking at the map I see Pörtschach isn't far from Italy. Might Venice be an option, or Trieste? And Lignano and the other beach resorts between them (though I'm not sure how well they can be accessed by train). And in that case Slovenia and Croatia would be nearby. Also, you'll have the whole of Italy south of you...
 * Further north the options are Czech mid-sized cities like Karlovy Vary, Plzeň or České Budějovice. Brno would be further east. Bratislava is something I think you already mentioned sometime earlier, but Győr in Hungary isn't far away. Further east into Hungary there's Lake Balaton and Budapest.
 * I imagine your train journey will go from Stockholm to Copenhagen to Hamburg to Munich and from there with one change somewhere to Ljubljana or Pörtschach. Perhaps Copenhagen would be interesting? On the other hand, if you travel a more easterly route you may pass near Poland and can visit Szczecin or even Poznań or Wroclaw, but the two latter are admittedly pretty far east. ϒpsilon (talk) 20:13, 14 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Ljubljana is already my main option, but getting there seems to be a problem. Getting to Italy would be even more difficult. I've already been to Copenhagen several times, as my sister used to live there. She's since moved back to Finland. Visiting Hungary or the Czech Republic besides Prague would be an interesting option though. JIP (talk) 20:41, 14 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Szczecin isn't a bad idea, there is a ferry from Trelleborg to Świnoujście. From Szczecin you could continue your trip to Austria via Berlin.


 * Maybe something in the Benelux countries? It's approx 4 1/2h with the train from Hannover to Amsterdam. --Ichbins berlin (talk) 13:41, 16 March 2015 (UTC)

Getting anywhere at all in Central Europe by train seems a bit difficult at the moment. I just tried querying routes at http://www.bahn.de for various destinations mentioned here, and pretty much all of them specify a bus connection between Copenhagen and Berlin, leaving Copenhagen at 10 PM and arriving in Berlin at 6 AM the next day. I'd have to sleep on the bus. Sleeping on the train is no problem (I actually prefer it to booking a hotel along the way), but on the bus I'd probably have to sleep sitting instead of lying down. The only other option seems to spend the night at Hamburg train station (or book a hotel there and leave at 3 AM), which is even less desirable. I'll have to keep checking the situation once in a while. I'll confirm the trip in April or May, if it turns out to be possible at all. JIP (talk) 19:03, 16 March 2015 (UTC)

Prince George, BC to St. John's NL by car without crossing the U.S.-Canada border
Is there a road route from Prince George British Columbia to St.John's Newfoundland on Highway 1 that does not go into the USA?

Asked by: 70.77.8.13 22:37, 15 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Absolutely. St. John's is the eastern endpoint of the Trans-Canada Highway, and Prince George is located directly on the Yellowhead Highway which is a branch route off the TCH (they meet in Winnipeg). Neither of those routes pass through American territory at any point. Happy trails! -- AndreCarrotflower (talk) 22:54, 15 March 2015 (UTC)


 * To be precise,
 * Highway numbers in Canada are provincially assigned. In the western provinces the Trans-Canada Highway is Highway 1, but in some of the others it isn't.  Ontario doesn't have any Highway 1.
 * You can't actually get to St. John's by road, because there's no bridge to Newfoundland. The Trans-Canada route includes the ferry from Sydney, Nova Scotia, to Port aux Basques. (If, instead of Prince George, you were starting from the other end of Highway 1, which is in Victoria, you'd also need to use a ferry at that end to get off Vancouver Island.)
 * The road distance from Prince George to St. John's is about 4,250 miles according to Google Maps. It may be of interest to note that while for most of the trip there are many alternative roads you could take, there's a section in Northern Ontario where the Trans-Canada is the only through highway within Canada that there is. --65.94.48.86 05:28, 16 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Read Trans-Canada Highway; it has quite a bit of detail. From Prince George you could drive south to join that highway around Kamloops. The alternative, as Andre says, is the Yellowhead Highway. That takes you via Jasper to Edmonton instead of the southern route via Banff to Calgary. Once you are on the prairies, it becomes easy to vary the route. For example, there is a good highway through relatively flat country from Edmonton to Calgary, so if you want to visit both cities, that is easy.


 * Personally, I consider the Alberta badlands with the amazing landforms and lots of fossils a not-to-be-missed attraction. My route would likely be PG to Edmonton on the Yellowhead, down to Calgary (optional side trip to Banff), then head for dinosaurs around Drumheller.


 * Further east, after Thunder Bay, you get another choice. Highway 1 along the shores of Lake Superior or 17 further north. They rejoin around North Bay. I've travelled both; 1 is prettier and I think shorter, so I'd choose that. 17 has more towns and probably more wildlife as well, might be more interesting for some. Pashley (talk) 11:57, 16 March 2015 (UTC)


 * For "1" read "17" and for "17" read "11". I repeat, there is no Highway 1 in Ontario. --65.94.48.86 12:53, 16 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Right. My error. Pashley (talk) 13:03, 16 March 2015 (UTC)

Booking for Villa del Balbianello in Italy
Villa del Balbianello in Italy has a reduced entry fee for guided tours if one pre-books. But where can one book? Does one email the FAI perhaps??

Asked by: Nurg (talk) 09:38, 24 March 2015 (UTC)

Website to host travel blog, preferably using MediaWiki
Hello :-)

I would like to write a travel blog, with pictures I will take, on an upcoming holiday. I don't think Wikivoyage allows this sort of thing so I am looking for a website to host the blog. Ideally I want to use MediaWiki (the software that powers en.wiki and en.wikivoyage) as I am comfortable with it. Are there any websites that meet my needs?

Otherwise I will use a website like boards.cruisecritic.com.

I was redirected here from English Wikipedia's Reference Desk, if this spot is not appropriate just let me know of a better location.

Asked by: --Commander Keane (talk) 02:48, 25 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Cross-posted to en.wiki Reference desk.--Commander Keane (talk) 01:56, 26 March 2015 (UTC)