Πόρτλαντ: Ταξιδιωτικός οδηγός, τιμές και δωρεάν διαμονή · 2026

ITIuliia Tikhobaeva6 Δεκ 2017Διάβασμα

Friends! Our long and exciting journey through the United States of America has come to an end! It would have been great to cover this huge country with its beautiful cities and parks in its entirety! But I want to share with you my own impressions from the places we managed to visit!😊😊😊 I want to start by saying that this was my first and already such a grand trip abroad! Of course, there were worries and anxieties, which quickly dissipated on the day when, filled with joyful emotions and, most importantly, the realization that we had passed the interview, we walked out of the US Embassy! Yes, we are flying to America!✈️✈️✈️ So, visas are issued, tickets are bought, suitcases are packed, and we were ready to start conquering the country! START✅ Our voyage began in the small tourist town of Ogunquit, located in the state of Maine, where we spent three magical months! Every day, it was a pleasure to stroll through the streets of this cozy town! Here, as in other cities we visited later, you can hear short but so pleasant phrases from everyone you meet, such as "Hi, my darling!", "No problem", "Have a good day!", "Have a fun", "Feel free", "Enjoy!", "Stay cool!", which charge you with positivity for the whole day!😊😊😊 You also can't help but notice the perfectly manicured patterned American lawns⛳️🌿🌿🌳 and the peculiar architecture of each house,🏡🏘🏯📬📬📰🗞 which we are only familiar with from movies!🎞📹📽 But at the very epicenter 💫 of our attention, as one might guess from the geographical location of the city🌎, was the Atlantic Ocean, holding many secrets, stories, and mysteries!🌊🌊🌊 And one could endlessly admire the enchanting view of bright blue waves framed by lace of milk foam, 🌊 rushing to the shore during a headwind🕊, the mysterious and alluring distance, enjoy the fresh and at the same time salty air, and peer into the trembling blue, finding the subtle outlines of seagulls, 🕊🕊🕊 flickering nearby 🌊🌊🌊 All this was undoubtedly a feast for the eyes! It was here that we managed to taste lobster!😃 And afterwards, there were endless walks to the city's attractions-the famous Marginal Way and Perkins Cove, where a beautiful view of the ocean opened up!⛰🌊⛰ There are many antique shops in this city, after visiting which you get the impression that you are in a museum!🎻🏛⛪️🎎 It was here that we first came into contact with American culture after watching a musical based on the life of Elvis Presley, where the energy specific to a musical was transmitted along with the rhythms of jazz🎷🎷🎷🎹💃💃 We also visited all the art galleries located in the vicinity of the city🖼🖼🎥 and enjoyed the wonderful masterpieces of modern American art! But autumn came unnoticed🍂 🍁🍂, and we still had many plans ahead! 🗺 It was very sad to part with this beautiful and cozy city, with our new friends... Despite the fact that it was the middle of September, the streets of Ogunquit were already filled with the atmosphere of Halloween!🎃🎃🎃 Just at the sight of an orange vegetable, we felt a festive mood! This is how Ogunquit remained for us, a city that creates a cozy and romantic idyll!💜💛💚 Our first stop was the wonderful city of Portland, the birthplace of the famous writer Stephen King!📚📖 This is actually one of the greenest cities in America☘️🍀🌳, a modern metropolis full of movement! 🌎 Portland's architecture includes a number of remarkable buildings and a wide range of styles.🏯🏛🏘⛪️ The world-famous International Rose Test Garden is also located there! 🌷🌹🥀🌹 Next, we went to Boston! The first trip on the subway was to Harvard University. The old red brick buildings with carved arches were a sight to behold! And it's not difficult at all to meet squirrels in the university park area!🍀🍃 Walking through the streets of Boston, we enjoyed the architecture characteristic of New England. In general, Boston is a city with a great history that played an important role in the US War of Independence. We manag

ANAziz Nadjimutdinov23 Δεκ 2015Διάβασμα

We humans often sit in our comfort zones and rarely even try to step out of them. Why is everything so bad? No, I'm not saying it's like that for everyone, but it happens in most cases. It makes me sad to look at many people who, during their trips, do nothing but sit in hotels, use Wi-Fi, and swim in the sea or pool. Anyway, that's not the point right now. Recently, I stumbled upon an interesting comparison between a "traveler" and a "tourist." Of course, they considered being a traveler cooler, since most people around are tourists. In fact, to some extent, it's true. Many people around me are surprised by the routes I take to travel around America. For example, if you start from the first year when I took a bus from New York to Montana and spent 66 hours on the road. Yes, it was incredibly difficult, but it is still the most unforgettable experience of my trips, when I met interesting people, saw many different places, ate who knows what, and barely managed to charge my phone and tablet. Then, at the end of the season, I had to live in a San Francisco hostel with 9 people in a 6-bed room. This year, I was incredibly proud of myself when I found a piece of paper at home a couple of weeks ago with my travel plan, which I made after I got my J-1 Visa. And I actually pulled it off. A month after planning, I went, traveled around New York, Los Angeles, Portland, and arrived in Montana, considering that in each of the states I lived with friends, and in Los Angeles, I even stayed with a stranger! That's how it went. In this 12-day trip, I exhausted myself insanely, because at home I only slept, and spent all the rest of the time on the streets of cities, walking and sightseeing. I was so tired that even my mom noticed it in the words of my blog in LiveJournal. She says: "Son, I think you're starting to get tired." And that was true. At that moment, I simply didn't have the strength to write long blogs with pictures and details. I just wanted to get to Glacier and sleep. That's the thrill, isn't it? Over these two years, I have visited 13 states in total, in 5 of which I happened to live. I traveled by Amtrak twice, on 3 different bus companies: Greyhound, Jefferson, FDT (I have no idea what kind of company that is). I flew on 4 different American airlines: Alaska, JetBlue, Delta, American. And I crossed the border of two states by car :) Planes are a separate topic. This time they surprised me a little with what I saw. Given that it was a night flight, they, of course, offered earplugs, masks, morning coffee, and all that. But what surprised me more was this: This was truly incredibly cute. And I still haven't figured out how it happened that a doggy ended up in the cabin. Not the point. I arrived in New York early in the morning, around 6 AM, and my flight to Tashkent was at 3 PM. That's a very big difference. And here we return again to the problems of travelers, or rather to sleeping in airports. On this day, it happened that some flights were either delayed or canceled, so there were a terrible number of people. But I found a great place for myself. Having reached the place where my airlines register by the internal train, I settled down by one of the pillars. Pulling my luggage closer, I decided to sleep. It turned out to be practically a hammock. 3 hours before departure, our airlines usually start registration. Waking up, I saw a familiar uniform. Having reached the other side of the airport in literally 5-10 minutes, I now had to eat and charge my phone. Since in the last few hours I had almost drained my portable charger. Considering that I didn't want to break large bills, a comical situation arose where I first place an order at McDonald's with the last change from my card, buying a burger, and then immediately buy a Coke with the last change in cash. Once a year, you can eat at McDonald's, although, as you know, it is undesirable. I think I already mentioned this. After that, I found a unique place that will be anothe

ANAziz Nadjimutdinov30 Νοε 2015Διάβασμα

During my 5th month in the USA (in total), I've tried quite a few companies that shuttled me from state to state or city to city: Alaska, Delta, American Airlines, Greyhound, Jefferson, FDI, but I had never ridden this big iron beast. Once, I even bought a ticket, but I was late, and the beast got offended and left. I then had to spend 62 hours on a bus, although I was actually happy with that experience in the end. (I already wrote about this experience here.) I was traveling from Los Angeles, mentioned in previous posts, to Portland, which I will talk about later. Here I really messed up, as I sincerely believed the trip would take 5:30 hours, and only after 5 hours did I see on the map that we hadn't even left California yet. Oh yes, I messed up big time, so there were about 24 more hours to go because I didn't check the arrival date. Well, who hasn't been there? Well, no one, right? Only me. Just kidding, Mom, just kidding. What can I say about trains? This is for those planning to go to the USA and wondering how to get around. Or for those who are just curious about everything. As you noticed, the trains are double-decker. Yes, on the first floor there are only a few individual seats, restrooms, and luggage that wasn't checked into a separate car. The seats themselves are fantastically comfortable. First, they are spaced twice as far apart as in buses or planes, so you can freely stretch your legs and relax. For this, there is even a special retractable, adjustable footrest in the seat in front. Secondly, of course, there is the option to recline the backrest, but that's nothing new. What's cooler is that you can lift a small leather extension of the seat, which serves either as a footrest or almost creates a full semi-bed at night. Not mega-luxury, of course, but still pretty good. There are outlets under the window, and tables and pockets in the seat. That's all standard. On the train itself, there is both a restaurant and a regular bar with snacks where you can just grab a bite. And at very democratic prices. I mostly settled for the buffet, which was quite pleasing. Amtrak, of course, provides the opportunity to sleep in a bed if you want. That is, you can get a compartment, but it hits your wallet pretty hard, so this is a matter of personal comfort and choice. The biggest plus of the train is the ability to walk back and forth. Your legs don't die at the end of the trip, as happens on a plane or bus. Besides everything else, conductors will constantly be rushing past you as if they were stung, so before you even have a request or a problem, they are already ready to help. Service, maintenance, responsiveness: everything is at the highest level. In short, the bottom line: yes, it's slow at times, but significantly more comfortable than planes. Amtrak is definitely my new favorite for medium distances. As a bonus, it all looks something like this: (Well, I was really lucky, and I had 2 free seats on one of the trips.)

ENElizaveta Nor18 Νοε 2015Διάβασμα

At some point guys that I worked with saw me feeling lonely and told to find some kids to play with. They gave me an advice to check the place in the downtown. It was restaurant on the Shore road called La Orilla that means the shore on Spanish. It was the restaurant of Mediterranean cuisine that was opened this season by Alex and her brother Matt. They were inspired by their trip to Spain. There were a painted box with interlaced woman and men on it that symbolized the passion of saffron, dried stigmas of Crocus sativus that were used as spice and orange color from ancient times. I was given a choice of work that I want to take part in, like hosting, that was connected with talking to people passing through, were I could catch them and sun light by blowing bubbles. Hostess stand was in vegetative patterns painted with crayons, and ones I noticed a question written there, what is your favorite color? Than my colorful game got started. I wrote an answer: The color of the Rainbow. Than I was inspired by food, like watermelons homemade pickles, tomatoes, red onion and fig jam, and created flower arrangements with white roses stained by splashes of vinous color, maroon ranunculus and branches of red rennet apples, that I found in the Trellis garden. From that point I realized that the light from people that I work with illuminated stained glass of my life. Other opportunity of this job was working as a food runner, it was connected to kitchen, where people that were working are full of art that you can notice in details like marigold petals garnish and painting on plates. They were at the exact point of creation, mixing tastes and smells. The smart thinking move of organization the space of this restaurant was that to rich the rest room guests had to pass through kitchen, hanging out there gave an opportunity of dancing, sharing food experience and taking part in cooking process. This place was kids and dog friendly, so it was full of joy and laughing. One day working as hostess I was sitting on a bench making silver rolls, night darkness was illuminated by the soft twinkle from threads of electric lights that was twisted through trees, I felt that I am exactly were I want to be now. It was some kind of a great endless party, while you were taking part in something that made people happy, enjoying food, music and themselves. The last day I was staying in Ogunquit Alex picked me to Portland where her boyfriend gave me a piano lesson. This evening was full of white Russian and we cycled barefoot on the roads of night sleeping port city. Next morning Glen picked me to Boston where I had an appointment in MIT to talk about applying on IDM, after then I got to know what should I do about my further education.

ANAziz Nadjimutdinov12 Οκτ 2015Διάβασμα

The most frequent question I've been asked lately: Aziz, why did you go to the exact same place? It's hard to explain to those who haven't found their place yet. I found mine. The very state that I fell in love with with all my heart and soul, and where friends and managers are waiting for me. Here I have a decent job, as well as housing that I am 100% sure about. I've already heard all sorts of stories from friends about how they don't like their job, or their dormitory, or the city for one reason or another, but I seem to be satisfied with everything. So, I didn't want to take the risk and change it for something else. Besides, I knew that my very close friends, whom I missed so much all year, would definitely return here this year. We kept in touch with Eugenie (those who read the first blog will understand) and with Michaela - this is our friendship triangle, with whom I was closest, as well as with many other people. And considering how much I missed the dorm, I didn't even think about going anywhere else. I only dreamed of returning to my native Apgar. So, closer to spring, I gathered my courage and decided to return to nostalgia. This year I planned the trip in advance, buying tickets while still at home in Tashkent. As soon as I got my J-1 Visa, I immediately booked tickets for the trip from Tashkent to New York, and from there to LA. From LA, I took a train to Portland, and then a train to Montana. Those were my plans. Last year, everything was spontaneous, which caused a lot of things to fall apart, and I had to suffer a little. This time I was more organized. And here I am again, drawing my American dream, sitting in the terminal of one of the slowest airports in the world, which has already frayed my nerves quite a bit over the last few hours. Small things. Music, a new notebook, and drawings about another summer of adventures. The thing is, there's no way around them here. And so begins a new chapter of my new adventure.

DTDilara Temirbekova10 Δεκ 2014Διάβασμα

....I never even imagined that America was so rich in greenery! I certainly suspected that the most powerful country in the world could boast not only of its achievements in economy and politics, but also when it came to Mother Nature. But I simply didn't expect such beauty! In general, our state is very famous for its indescribable natural beauty; I would have even mistaken it for the filming location of the famous "Twilight" trilogy if I hadn't known the right answer. Also, on the way to our small beach town, which would later serve as our home for 2.5 months, I remembered a phrase said to me by my groupmate: -"Oh, you're going to the state of Maine, famous for its ghosts and witches coming out of the thickets of the forests." -"Yeah," I said abruptly, and after thinking for a minute, do I know about the place where I will spend more than half of my upcoming summer?! Of course, I scoured the internet for all the necessary information about this mysterious and nature-rich Maine and tried in every way to cheer myself and my friend up by saying that our state is the best, despite the fact that it is the northeast and it won't be as hot as, for example, in Florida. Why did I choose Maine, you ask? The answer is simple: my cousin went there through the same Work and Travel USA program in 2010, and like all students who have visited the States, she remained on good terms with her employers or so-called bosses, who could easily solve the problem with an offer, or rather, hire you or your friends, relatives, or acquaintances. In general, everyone you can vouch for. And so I was the so-called relative who wouldn't let her sister down and, based on her good recommendations, would come for the whole summer and do her job just as well as my sister did before me. She also helped my friend Aigerim, and soon we became the owners of two prize jobs as housekeepers at "Beachwood motel". Everything was as it should be: $8 per hour, 30 hours a week, and 2 days off. (Americans measure their working hours by the week and also issue a pay check at the end of each week). Well, I will tell you more about this in another blog titled "10 facts about why I love America". Before ending up in OOB-Old Orchard Beach, we made a difficult journey: New York, NY-Boston, Massachusetts-Portland, Maine-OOB, Maine. As you have already guessed, the city comes first, and after the comma is the state in which this very city is located. Well, so, having reached Portland, we could no longer stay on the bus and decided to take a taxi. We agreed on 40 bucks, and happy with our correct decision (as it seemed at that moment), we arrived in OOB. At that time, the weather was nasty and cold, which, however, is very characteristic of Maine. My sister shared with me all the information available to her and, of course, knew those people who could shelter us. We went to one of them. It was Rosa, a Polish woman by nationality, who had long moved to the States, married a Jew, was a co-owner of a rather large beach store "Domino", and gave us the keys to her shelter. She spoke Russian well, and we immediately found a common language, both literally and figuratively. But she provided us with housing only for a week, as her students were supposed to arrive and take our place. We agreed and went to settle in. Having bought groceries and already prepared dinner, we chatted with my Aigerim about the upcoming day at our work. Everything seemed perfect to us. The next day we came to our boss John and started our training day. To our deep regret, our supervisor, the head of the housekeepers, was not working that day and could not properly evaluate our capabilities. And 2 African-American women from Jamaica, who were also housekeepers, volunteered to evaluate Aigerim and me. In principle, everything was clear. Our duties included changing and properly folding towels, cleaning the bathroom, properly making the bed, washing the floor and dusting the furniture, as well as a small kitchen set.

UUSAblogi · 5 Οκτ 2009Διάβασμα

So, we were heading down from Portland, heading south, specifically to Virginia Beach (why there... I don't know, it just happened). We arrived, got off the bus, and thought, 'What now?' We got bold again (we needed to drop off our stuff before evening), knocked on a door, and an elderly woman opened it. We asked about housing (she couldn't help), but asked if we could leave our backpacks until evening. She agreed, of course. We spent the whole day, from morning until dark, looking for a place to stay. We didn't find anything. We went back for our bags. We were standing by a 7-Eleven, it was already dark. 'What do we do?' A car pulled up, the woman's husband got out and started trying to help us, called his daughter, she came and tried to help too, then some other guy pulled up and tried to help, then a Russian guy on a motorcycle arrived, and after him, another Russian guy in a car, who picked us up. That's how we ended up staying with him! Day two in Virginia. We decided we needed to get our Social Security, the sooner the better. We made it to the beach; we were staying (well, where we were crashing) about 6km away. We found a map, found the place, but couldn't figure out how to get there. We thought about it and decided to hitch a ride with a 'friendly American'—it wasn't hard to find one. He agreed to drive us without any issues and even offered to wait for us, but we didn't want to push our luck. So, we got everything done, went to a supermarket, bought orange juice, and since we didn't know how to get back, we decided to hitch a ride again. We sat on the lawn by the road and waited, definitely for about 15 minutes. A two-door Toyota stopped, a Russian guy hopped out and said, 'Quick, get in!' As it turned out, we were sitting by the highway, and no one would have picked us up, so we got lucky again.

ITIuliia Tikhobaeva6 Δεκ 2017Διάβασμα

Friends! Our long and exciting journey across the United States of America has come to an end! It would be great to cover this huge country with its most beautiful cities and parks entirely! But I want to share with you my personal impressions from the places we managed to visit!😊😊😊 I want to start by saying that this was my first and already such a grand trip abroad! Of course, there were nerves and worries that quickly dissipated on the day when we, overwhelmed with joyful emotions and, most importantly, with the realization that we had passed the interview, walked out of the U.S. embassy! Yes, we are flying to America!✈️✈️✈️ So, the visas were issued, the tickets were bought, the suitcases packed, and we were ready to start conquering the country! START✅ Our voyage began in the small tourist town of Ogunquit, located in the state of Maine, where we spent three magical months! Every day, it was a pleasure for us to walk along the streets of this cozy town! Here, as in other towns we visited later, from every passerby you can hear short but so pleasant little phrases like "Hi, my darling!","No problem","Have a good day!","Have a fun","Feel free","Enjoy!","Stay cool!", which charge you with positivity for the whole day!😊😊😊 You also can’t help but notice the perfectly maintained patterned American lawns⛳️🌿🌿🌳 and the distinctive architecture of each house,🏡🏘🏯📬📬📰🗞 which we know only from films!🎞📹📽 But at the very epicenter 💫of our attention, as you can guess from the town’s geographic location🌎, was the Atlantic Ocean, which holds many mysteries, stories and riddles!🌊🌊🌊 And one could endlessly admire the spectacular sight of bright-blue waves framed in lace-like milk-white foam, 🌊 rushing to the shore in a headwind🕊, the mysterious and alluring distance, enjoy the fresh and at the same time salty air, and gaze into the trembling blue, finding the thin outlines of gulls, 🕊🕊🕊 flitting nearby 🌊🌊🌊 All of this certainly pleased the eye! There we also got to try lobster!😃 After that, there were endless walks to the city’s sights—the famous Marginal Way and Perkins Cove, where a beautiful view of the ocean opened up!⛰🌊⛰ This town has many antique shops, after visiting which you get the impression that you are in a museum!🎻🏛⛪️🎎 It was also there that we first got acquainted with American culture after watching a musical based on the life of Elvis Presley, where the musical’s distinctive energy was conveyed along with jazz rhythms🎷🎷🎷🎹💃💃 We also visited all the art galleries located in the town’s county🖼🖼🎥 and enjoyed wonderful masterpieces of contemporary American art! But unnoticed, autumn came🍂 🍁🍂, and we still had many plans ahead of us! 🗺 It was very sad to part with this beautiful and cozy town, with our new friends... Although it was mid-September, the streets of Ogunquit were already filled with the atmosphere of Halloween!🎃🎃🎃 Just seeing the orange vegetable put us in a festive mood! This is how Ogunquit remained for us — a town that creates a cozy and romantic idyll!💜💛💚 Our first stop was the wonderful city of Portland, the hometown of the famous writer Stephen King!📚📖 It is actually one of the greenest cities in America☘️🍀🌳, a modern and bustling metropolis! 🌎 Portland’s architecture includes a number of remarkable buildings and a wide range of styles.🏯🏛🏘⛪️ It is also home to the world-famous International Rose Test Garden! 🌷🌹🥀🌹 Next we went to Boston! Our first subway ride was to Harvard University. The old red-brick buildings with carved arches were pleasing to the eye! And it’s not at all difficult to encounter squirrels in the university’s park area!🍀🍃 Walking the streets of Boston, we enjoyed the architecture characteristic of New England. In general, Boston is a city with a great history that played an important role in the American War of Independence. We managed to visit many historical sites⏳📜🚢 Sunny days we spent along cozy coves with gorgeous yach