Around All Continents

[Dancy]

The journey begins! Begins at Dali, the Southeast corner sim of Iceland, named after the Spanish surrealist Salvadore Dali. Seems appropriate, my plan is kind of surreal for sure... So I rez here in a landscape of small square parcels at a lovely gazebo in Asian style representing the company which still has this parcel for rent. Assuming RL conditions with no flying or teleporting, only walking and swimming works here. No rezzing zone for transportation means on the sim. Ok, the journey has started, let's move on!

 

In general, Iceland would be a nice area except a few things. The many unused square parcels make it less attractive. There is even an abandoned one, former owner named DemoOnly, owner now Governor Linden, group: Maintenance. Cheap microthin walls instead of SL real plants add to the impression. 

I recently read a thread about the issue that the number of existing sims decreases. The discussion was mainly about pricing. Not a word about the many ugly areas on mainland, not a word about the helplessness of LL fighting griefers.

As far as I can guess "bella pointe" is intended to mean "beautiful point". However, watching what the group .::Bella Pointe::. does is exactly the opposite. Funny, the name of the group founder is nocturnum resident which means "nightly" resident. These ugly skyboxes are spreading all over, and when this continues you can rightly say "good night" to beauty.

[Perrie Juran]

First off, I'd like to suggest that for continuities sake that you don't keep starting new threads.  People who join the Forum later on will have no idea what you are about.

Where you have started your journey could almost be categorised as a Micro-Continent.  It's call Islandia and there were some controversies surrounding its "birth."  http://secondlife.wikia.com/wiki/Islandia

A lot of features that you see there will be different than what you'll see elsewhere, especially the way it got "subdivided."

Another piece of reading you might find interesting is this:  http://nmsua.edu/documents/GeogHistSansara.pdf

As far as Rez Zones go, you will run into that any where you go in SL.  The Land Owner decides who, if any one, can Rez objects.  Linden owned Roads and Waterways do have Rez Zones.  Their are HUDs you can buy that can help you find anywhere rezzing is allowed.  I don't have links off hand to any atm.

 

 

[Dancy]

I have never dealt with threads before. I did not see any option to continue a thread other than to reply to someone. To add new impressions I would need then to reply to myself and would need to reply with a content which was new and no reply to what I had said before? I thought the continuity is given with the same subject. That is why I started a new thread.

I appreciate and enjoy reading material and research. I am sorry that I said Iceland instead of Islandia. I would like to give impressions as a tourist, what I see and feel here and there, according to the saying that the first impression counts.

There are many other areas on the grid which give their parcels a plain square or rectangular shape. That is fine with urban areas and their streets, it looks uncaring though for sandy islands where the costal line could be a little more natural without losing too much land to the water. In the case of Islandia the rims even stretch a meter straight up in the air which underlines the unnatural effect. Some are abandoned---not a good chance to see this changed by an owner in the near future.

I do have such a ban line hud and I am happy with using it. Thank you for the suggestion. It remains adventuresome still, since the shown blue, green, yellow or red zones not necessarily have the expected effect. Today I rezzed a helicopter in a blue zone but dang! no scripts were allowed. So I pulled it over in edit mode with myself sitting in it to an adjacent parcel where rezzing was not allowed but scripts were ok. At other instances, I flew through dark red zones with nothing happening, and I crashed with boats and airplanes in various ways at entering sims which looked perfectly fine.

[Perrie Juran]

---

Dancy wrote:

I have never dealt with threads before. I did not see any option to continue a thread other than to reply to someone. To add new impressions I would need then to reply to myself and would need to reply with a content which was new and no reply to what I had said before? I thought the continuity is given with the same subject. That is why I started a new thread.

I appreciate and enjoy reading material and research. I am sorry that I said Iceland instead of Islandia. I would like to give impressions as a tourist, what I see and feel here and there, according to the saying that the first impression counts.

There are many other areas on the grid which give their parcels a plain square or rectangular shape. That is fine with urban areas and their streets, it looks uncaring though for sandy islands where the costal line could be a little more natural without losing too much land to the water. In the case of Islandia the rims even stretch a meter straight up in the air which underlines the unnatural effect. Some are abandoned---not a good chance to see this changed by an owner in the near future.

I do have such a ban line hud and I am happy with using it. Thank you for the suggestion. It remains adventuresome still, since the shown blue, green, yellow or red zones not necessarily have the expected effect. Today I rezzed a helicopter in a blue zone but dang! no scripts were allowed. So I pulled it over in edit mode with myself sitting in it to an adjacent parcel where rezzing was not allowed but scripts were ok. At other instances, I flew through dark red zones with nothing happening, and I crashed with boats and airplanes in various ways at entering sims which looked perfectly fine.

---

I'd say replying to your last post or the last thing posted will be cool.  People will be able to see it's a new post.  And will be easier, at least in my opinion for people to follow, especially if they haven't logged in for a week or two.  If you look there are several threads with several thousand posts now.  They've been going for several years.

And don't get discouraged if you don't see alot of responses......you can see the count for how many times people viewed it.  Not everyone always replies.  I know I'll at least be reading even if I don't always reply.

[Dancy]

Continuing my travels I notice a huge building complex in the distance. Without doubt the most prominent building on Islandia. It turns out to be not huge, it is gigantic. A temple area in the style of the Ancient Egypt, with awesome sculptures and twelve large columns crowned by burning bowls. All the gold dazzles, the wealth of ornaments impresses, certainly a must-see.

 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Minoru%20Musashi/159/21/23

In fact a shopping mall on several floors, named after the famous Khan El-Khalili bazaar in Cairo. The first address in case you want to transform yourself into a pharao or an Egyptian goddess.

As you may remember it is brought down to us that ancient Egyptian places may have a curse on them. Arriving at the bottom of some stairs I keep walking into the floor and get stuck in a wall. All I can see of me is the top of my head in a corner. Finally I need to call the teleport pixel paramedics via map menu to escape.

A channel of four water sims separates Islandia from the main continent Sansara. The real barrier, however, is formed by the four adjacent Sansara sims. Two of them are occupied by the Mystical Rental group whose sim-size red heart signs cover the map topography. A dont-go-there zone. 

These and a third sim host more of those huge, ugly skyboxes piled up into the sky. Remains one sim for a hopefully working travel connection to Sansara. If the sim had orbs installed I would need a jet plane to cross the region at max speed. Which I dont have and cannot get into air here anyway. So I rez my neat helicopter and hope for the best.

One more "curse": The rez zone has scripts off, the heli remains dead. So I sit on it, go into edit mode, drag us way away until scripts are allowed and buzz along towards Sansara. Full speed. The heli shakes, makes unexpected turns at the sim crossings. Arriving above docks and a large inland water area, all calms down, the motor, the speed, my tension. And there is a cute little airport to see on the left-hand side. A pleasure to land and to update my log book. A praise to its friendly owner Ace!

 

[Dancy]

Ace surprises me with a kind gift, one of his airplanes. I am now proud owner of a cute, easy-to-handle pirate fly.

Sansara offers a well-spread road system. Staying on a road is a good plan to avoid nasty orbs. You want to prefer a bike instead of a car. It is a slim vehicle, less chance to bump into anything. Driving a car or riding a bike on mainland roads spoil you with a wide range of emotions and surprising effects at sim crossings. You also want a SLOW bike.

 

Soon I approach a large castle structure emerging on both sides of the road. I stow my bike in inventory and walk on the premises. A notifier greets "Welcome to the Land of Saints. All are welcome but there is danger everywhere for those that are NOT Saints Group Members." Before I get the sense of the sentence I am sentenced to death. "You died and have been teleported to your home location." Who the hell are these Saints??? Well thinking about it ... am I resurrected or a zombie now?

Gas stations along the road have a car parked which you can ride without the hassle of driving yourself. It takes you along rather long routes. Hop off wherever you like of course. From time to time cute bowls glide along the road, likewise offering convenient transportation service. When the road becomes a waterway you can transfer onto a boat.

Finally I arrive at the border to an extraordinary part of all continents, an extended subcontinent of snowy mountain sims.

[Perrie Juran]

I see you have reached The Snowlands.

There are many things to do there.  You may want to obtain a snowmobile.  Snowshoes or Skis might come in handy also.  There are a lot of things to see and do in Snowland.

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Snowlands_Subcontinent

Also, you don't want to miss Silk Waters in the Ayas and Orelle SIMs.  There is a lot to see there.

[Dancy]

The Snowlands: Steep mountain and costal sceneries. Rivers, lakes, snow, glaciers.

SL fun: Me riding a pod downhill.

SL craziness: An aircraft carrier in mid-air above a lovely mountain scenery.

 

Villages, road and track networks, pods, cars, trains to ride.

Hiking, skating, skiing to enjoy. And much more. So much to see. I got lost in the fun

Chair Lift Wengen: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Voss/196/200/88

On Berthould Pass a replica of the Deaton Sculptured home gives the local mountain village an unique accent. In RL known through the movie The Sleeper by Woody Allen the SL version is currently available for rent!

A good choice is to ride a pod.

You can either go directly to the pod station in Durango http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Durango/161/190/117 where a map shows the routes, or just sit on one passing by on the road.

See for routes also: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Second_Life_Road_Network_Directory

To guarantee a smooth trip the pod morphs into a sleigh or a train car or a boat or a chair lift seat whatever is needed. In case a parcel has restricted access the pod warps safely beyond to continue the trip.

The enchanting Bridge Of Light.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Durango/229/46/98

At 310m on the highest peak. Do you seeeee me? *giggling*

Tobias, a resident of the area, is so kind to show me local sights, for instance the Linden Chalet.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Wengen/28/229/86

Next to it there is the Wengen railroad station http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Wengen/71/205/92

[Dancy]

Ready for take off from the Valmoral airstrip to fly out of the Snowlands heading for the Bay City area on the West coast.

Yay! I made it safely landing at the Bay City Municipal Airport. Am looking forward to explore the area

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Bay_City

[Dancy]

Bay City has been designed towards "the American urban experience, between 1940 and 1965, perhaps best typified by Chicago circa 1950 and marked by a distinct deco influence." 

(http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Bay_City) 

After paying a visit to the most Western point of the Sansara continent I dare to check out what is probably the major attraction of the area: The Falmouth Hotel. Entrance sign: "Trespassers will be prosecuted." A clear indication for a must-see. Haunted as haunted can be. Goose bumps on every floor from the cellar to the roof. 
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bourne/171/0/26

Whereas the deceased still live at the Falmouth, the amusement park on the Weston sim seems to have passed away. Empty kiosks, and the big Loller Coaster is out of order as is its name.

A stylish decoration of the town certainly is the Cafe Deco.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bay%20City%20-%20Docklands/89/13/25

(adding: Dont worry, the roof is not on fire, that is a tree with autumn leaves)

Makes me getting the fitting convertible and a MM outfit.

Traveling along the well-developed, though a little confusing street grid I enjoy being stopped by draw bridges to see shuttle boats passing by.

Finally I find the bowling hall "Hot" and have fun with a few games. The pins add to the slightly morbid feeling in Bay City, when set up always some fall over before the round has started. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bay%20City%20-%20Handa/56/233/26

I end up in a bar. Since there is no one around I try the stool with the animation "drunken." After some gesticulation it makes you bump your head onto the bar counter. Sooo funny!

 

[Dancy]

The inner parts of the Sansara continent offer many places worth to mention and to see, even if you just drive, sail, or fly along. I spend a few days to explore some areas but then return to my plan to go around all continents. This idea emerged from sailing. I was curious if it was possible to sail around all continents. Answer is no, some  costal parts have become inaccessible. The spirit of traveling however remained and so I am heading now for the connected continent Heterocera located North of Sansara, passing urban areas and natural woods on foot at first.

I am happy to find a lovely hiking outfit on marketplace. What do you think

On my way a family amusement park tempts me to stay for a while. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Rizal/88/112/32

With fond family memories I have fun riding a bumper duck.

The maze looks ambitious, in point of view both from the maker as well as the visitor.

I have a fear of being trapped tho so after a few steps into it I jump out back to the plaza. Time to hike the woods.

After some time the woods look inhabited and a network of stairs and bridges appear.

A lovely, serene community, where visitors are welcome. 

I must have done something wrong tho since my friendly greeting and appreciation of the scenic way of living remain unanswered.

My search for a street or waterway in the area where I can rez a vehicle is in vain. So since it is already quite late I rez my helicopter on a tiny spot which allows both rezzing and scripts. I prepare for  take-off and change my outfit to some clothing with low rendering costs. Helps for a smooth flight.

Heading for Heterocera I aim to the south end of the connecting channel flying over an off-shore oil platform.

Heterocera appears in the misty distance and finally I manage to land in between industrial and railway buildings.

 

 

[Dancy]

The Wiki http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Heterocera says: "Heterocera (or Atoll Continent) is the second historical mainland continent. It has the most advanced transportation systems of all mainland continents. This includes: a vast railway system, the most complex road system and internal and external waterways."

That's all you can say about it. I ride my bike for hours on the roads, all around the continent, but do not run into anything worth to mention. Hardly any scenic routes, hardly any interesting locations. Lots of transportation possibilities, but to which destinations worth to visit? The most memorable instance remains to be a crash of my bike at a sim crossing. See the two black dots? One is me, the other is the bike. Hilarious!

I arrive at the pod station.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Calleta/122/150/41 

The notecard given by the pod offers good information. 

I take the link to what is said to be the Grand Central Railroad Station. The location offers not only trains on a regular schedule, but also pod rides, balloon tours and horseback riding tours! 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Hooktip/138/56/135

Horses as tour guides. Sounds fun. So I try one. The horse trots leisurely along the railroad tracks.

Then the sim crossing sends me up into the air...

... and when I land on firm ground again the horse has disappeared

Anyway ... the railroad is undoubtedly the main attraction on Heterocera. An absolute must to ride your own engine around the continent. Scenic drives all the way along, an amazing work of miles of tracks, passing station by station, built with care, great variety and a lovely sense of detail.

A sign of the railroad http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Second_Life_Railroad gives me further information plus a train to rez! 

A rez station for your train: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Busiris/134/199/29

And off we go!

Finally I climb the highest mountain of all mainland on the grid: Mount Campion. almost 400m high!!!

Not all the buildings on top are accessible. A fine hang glider base invites to try a flight. 

Thermal winds bring me up to 500m and more.

The serene moments in the air end suddenly. I drop down to the ground. Ah ok, the glider was a demo and its existence limited to 300 seconds... bye...

 

[Dancy]

 

The wiki on Jeogeot describes the continent accurately.

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Jeogeot

Get a smooth bike and enjoy the sights along the well-build roads. Have fun with the sim crossings! *giggling* Whenever something weird happens just release any key and wait until all is normal again.

Along the way points of interest are the large suspension bridge across three sims

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lordshore/224/192/43 

and the underwater road tunnel

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Seoraksan/52/201/4.

A good starting point might be the Jeogeot Airport, by far the largest on the continent. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tarington/116/57/303

As you can see the steep cliffs only allow smaller wing spans. Needs experience to land.

There are few air strips on the ground as well as a carrier in the center of the lagoon.

One of the sights is the space station.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mos%20Ainsley/132/131/48

Unfortunately all locks / doors are broken, no one opens. At least you can try to tp inside. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mos%20Ainsley/141/115/24 (outside)

Look for those lockers below, a click will give you a free space suit!

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mos%20Ainsley/141/115/24 (inside)

There are elevators inside which bring you to all of the three levels, although after a while they dont function as well

If you maintain enough altitude and watch out for ban lines you can fly around and across Jeogeot pretty well. As for the roads on Jeogeot, bikes are just best for traveling. From time to time something interesting on the way tempts to hop off the bike. Hopping back on is not a problem, you can be sure that after a short walk another rez zone comes up.

 

[Perrie Juran]

I didn't know there was an underwater tunnel in Jeogot.  Cool!

Did you stop by Ichelus (the Volcano)?  It still erupts quite regularly.  At the top of Ichelus is an observation deck where you can look into the mouth of the volcano but you have to be very cautious on it.

[Dancy]

The by far largest mass of connected regions is formed today by four large continents and some extensions. Satori in the South, Nautilus with Nautilus City in the middle and (not shown on this map) the Blake Sea cluster far East, Corsica in the North, and finally Gaeta V in the Northeast. They are all connected by coastal water way and channel regions.

A tremendous land and water mass. A living organism whose skin equally bears ill-treated spots of carelessness as it amazes with blossoming wonders of creative minds and skills.

Where to start? How to travel? When to write?

I start with a convenient pod tour enjoying the gliding landscape.

When the road runs into a water way, the transformation of the pod into a boat is no surprise anymore.

Back on land, I pick my bike out of inventory for faster travel. So I end up faster in a dead end. Later I learn that the road system on Satori is not as developed as in other continents.

For a more coherent travel experience on my next trip I decide to fly. It happens to become my largest flight ever. Starting at Hollywood Airport on Santa Catalina in the Blake Sea, the aircraft flies me calmly down the East coast of Satori. A short touch down in the most Southern region serves to take a picture of evidence.

Airborn again, I follow now the Western coast line and finally head back to the Blake Sea. I dont know how many sims I have flown across, without any crash thanks to a courteous state of the grid and thanks to my reliable aircraft "Seakite." A great experience!

 

 

[Dancy]

With an airplane you can make it around the continent but you dont see very much, or dont really see interesting places on the ground. So finally I sailed down first the West coast, then the East coast until the water way was completely blocked. Praise to those residents who leave a water way free on their premises, marking them beautifully with green and red buoys!

It really would be nice if the Lindens extended the Southern area of Satori with a sufficient number of protected water sims to keep sailing an exciting adventure. And in a way, that happens indeed. In the Northeast the Lindens added a number of sims bearing French names where a cluster of islands offers a quest in the style of that popular game Myst. The builds alone are more than worth to visit, awesome work!

A light tower is the starting place. Hints lead you to a small island where you can open a dome.

The next places equally impress with their awesome look. I am glad to find further items, but nothing unveils for me any further secret what those items might be able to do.

Maybe I am just too dumb to get a clue, or there is no clue behind these items, or the quest has not yet been completed. Always open for the first possibility in that list, I tend, however, to the last choice because further north there are some islands which look definitely being under construction in the same style. I drop an IM to one of the creators and still hope for an answer. Or I will simply check again at a later time and look if there has been some progress.

Anyway. Time to travel on, heading for the next continent: Nautilus!

 

[Dancy]

At this point I really really need to make a verbal detour and drop some words about orbs and ban lines.

"You are not allowed on this parcel."

"Leave in 10 seconds otherwise you will be ejected."

I am sure most of us have run into these kind of messages and kind welcomes.

How sick are we??

How hostile are we??

How backwards are we??

How paranoid have we been made??

People block natural waterways, at instances freely accessible with no restrictions but cutting off the waterway by walkways---how silly is that??

What can happen to a place with no ban lines up and no orb on?? Answer that question!!!

No damage can be done in the first place. If you have the proper settings nothing can be rezzed, nothing can be taken away. No one can change anything.

And when you are there you can rise the ban lines anyway so that no one sees something of your expensive pixel genitals.

And when you find out that someone becomes a camper and uses your place as home then you can ban anyone anyway.

When you are not ready to share why do you rent a parcel on mainland?? Is it the few cents cheaper location compared to a private parcel on a stand-alone sim?? Why do you choose to live in a virtual community preferring an isolated parcel?

Why do you have one or more boats in your private marina when you block the waterways??

Why dont you install instead a visitor greeter which IMs a nice welcome to any stranger, and which IMs you any visitor with name, date, and time? Thus unwelcome campers can be detected and banned.