It's quiet. Too quiet.

[TomK]

I'm biased, but Austria is my favourite country. I know Hawaii is beautiful, but there's something really special about the Austrian Alps and foothills. Being half-Austrian and having most of my extended family living there does add to that!

[Obie]

The town of Scio is where I store 2 of my collector cars. I also keep bikes there and ride this trail every summer.

https://www.islands.com/2032787/ohio-rai...TXOQM2yHOA

[Midnight Rambler]

I went to Kyoto and the surrounding area last year, and Italy the year before that. Both are surprisingly cheap, Japan in particular – it cost me less to stay in hotels and eat in restaurants for three weeks than it does paying rent and eating at home here. Kyoto is a great city, it wasn't bombed in WWII so most of the old city is intact, but transport is still very easy. I did also go in August and early September (due to being there partly for a meeting), and would not recommend going then; it was oppressively hot the whole time. Spring or fall seem like they'd be nice.

[TomK]

Japan is certainly a place I want to visit, but I also feel I've experienced some of the culture here. It's the same with most of SE Asia. I do want to see, but it's not at the top of my list. After the Soviet Union fell in 1991, many countries became accessible again, and I'd like to visit those, but in the current political climate, that's not a good idea. South Africa remains the most interesting country I have ever visited after apartheid "ended". I got to see a wonderful city, shanty towns, the desert, wild animals, etc, while also being told to be careful about which taxi firm you used as you could end up in a shoot-out.

At least East Hawaii seems relatively safe!

[Durian Fiend]

I'm biased, but Austria is my favourite country. I know Hawaii is beautiful, but there's something really special about the Austrian Alps and foothills. Being half-Austrian and having most of my extended family living there does add to that!

I just visited Salzburg and Innsbruck via train from Switzerland.  The Nordkette in Innsbruck is quite the recreation area.

As you probably know, the south tyrol region of Italy was part of Austria until after WWI.  To this day more people here speak German as a first language than Italian, although everyone speaks both.   Hopping another train to travel through the lovely Brenner pass, I rejoined my wife in Bolzen (Bolzano) and we stayed in the Schnalstal, AKA Senales, valley for a week. Every place seems to have two names, one for each language.. This is the area where Otzi the iceman was discovered.  
Castel Juval, Reinhold Messner's summer home and one of his mountain museums, is located at the bottom of the valley.  It's very interesting, well worth the one hour hike up a steep winding road to access.  

Yes, the alps and dolomites are really something.  They just keep going up and up. Messner claims they're the most beautiful mountains in the world, and he's seen them all.  Granted, perhaps a bit biased since he grew up there. 

[TomK]

It isn't easy to separate all the most beautiful places I've been lucky enough to visit. Yes, Mauna Kea is special, but the Austrian Alps comes out top. I've been hunting, fishing, and hiking there, and then you come back to a gasthaus, they will cook the trout you caught. Then there's weiner schnitzel which I was taught to cook from a very early age. I now have a version you'll die for + my version of an Austrian potato salad!