Baron von Costume
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Like an iron maiden made of pillows... the punishment is decadence!
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Post by Baron von Costume on Jan 23, 2017 14:59:33 GMT -5
Pedantic Editor Type or others... Would I want to kill myself as a single person on a cruise? My dad has sent me a couple quite decent deals on caribbean sailings through his timeshare but I sort of worry that I'd be wanting to throw myself overboard on day two. I mean, it sort of depends on your personality? If you enjoy doing things solo and the idea of a cruise appeals to you, I think you'd be fine. NCL has "singles" rooms, I'm not sure if other cruiselines do. There's usually plenty to do - shows, demonstrations, movies, good food, adults-only pool areas, things like rock climbing walls, waterslides, etc. You can generally ask to be seated with other people in similar demographics as you for dinner or just eat on your own. It does to some extent. It's particularly appealing this year though as I'm dealing with a hip flexor injury and I just don't think it's going to be mended in time for me to plan a winter vacation based on being super active (skiing, tons of scuba diving, hiking in Italy etc)
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Jan 23, 2017 15:06:36 GMT -5
I mean, it sort of depends on your personality? If you enjoy doing things solo and the idea of a cruise appeals to you, I think you'd be fine. NCL has "singles" rooms, I'm not sure if other cruiselines do. There's usually plenty to do - shows, demonstrations, movies, good food, adults-only pool areas, things like rock climbing walls, waterslides, etc. You can generally ask to be seated with other people in similar demographics as you for dinner or just eat on your own. It does to some extent. It's particularly appealing this year though as I'm dealing with a hip flexor injury and I just don't think it's going to be mended in time for me to plan a winter vacation based on being super active (skiing, tons of scuba diving, hiking in Italy etc) The other nice thing is that you can generally be as active or lazy as you want to be - you can exercise on the ship, walk everywhere, explore, play mini golf or pickup basketball or whatever, do active things in ports ... or you can just lie by the pool and sip cocktails and take guided tours to the beach. Or somewhere in between.
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Jan 23, 2017 15:46:05 GMT -5
I mean, it sort of depends on your personality? If you enjoy doing things solo and the idea of a cruise appeals to you, I think you'd be fine. NCL has "singles" rooms, I'm not sure if other cruiselines do. There's usually plenty to do - shows, demonstrations, movies, good food, adults-only pool areas, things like rock climbing walls, waterslides, etc. You can generally ask to be seated with other people in similar demographics as you for dinner or just eat on your own. It does to some extent. It's particularly appealing this year though as I'm dealing with a hip flexor injury and I just don't think it's going to be mended in time for me to plan a winter vacation based on being super active (skiing, tons of scuba diving, hiking in Italy etc) As PET said, this mostly comes down to who you are and what you like. I think a solo cruise would be awesome. Any boredom I've experienced on past cruises came from the fact that I was cruising with others. Not in a mean-spirited way, but in the way that when you're traveling with others, there's a sense that you should be doing things together. That you should always be sharing some kind of experience. In this mindset, you will run out of things to do by the 5-7 day mark, and you'll experience micro-boredom throughout those days as well. When you're alone - or rather, when I'm alone because I imagine this is a personal thing - there's no pressure to do something. You can lounge in a deckchair all day and read a book, without ever getting the sense that you're being rude, selfish or are otherwise disengaging from your fellow travelers. That's me though. I can lay about, drink and read all day given the chance. I know others who would rail-jump within the first 4 hours in such a scenario though.
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Baron von Costume
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Like an iron maiden made of pillows... the punishment is decadence!
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Post by Baron von Costume on Jan 23, 2017 15:49:31 GMT -5
It does to some extent. It's particularly appealing this year though as I'm dealing with a hip flexor injury and I just don't think it's going to be mended in time for me to plan a winter vacation based on being super active (skiing, tons of scuba diving, hiking in Italy etc) As PET said, this mostly comes down to who you are and what you like. I think a solo cruise would be awesome. Any boredom I've experienced on past cruises came from the fact that I was cruising with others. Not in a mean-spirited way, but in the way that when you're traveling with others, there's a sense that you should be doing things together. That you should always be sharing some kind of experience. In this mindset, you will run out of things to do by the 5-7 day mark, and you'll experience micro-boredom throughout those days as well. When you're alone - or rather, when I'm alone because I imagine this is a personal thing - there's no pressure to do something. You can lounge in a deckchair all day and read a book, without ever getting the sense that you're being rude, selfish or are otherwise disengaging from your fellow travelers. That's me though. I can lay about, drink and read all day given the chance. I know other who would rail-jump within the first 4 hours in such a scenario though. Yeah, I think I'd be fine with that (not as a regular thing but as a 1 week getaway) Most of my previous solo travel has been world trekking highly active stuff though so I just have that nagging bit of worry.
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Baron von Costume
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Like an iron maiden made of pillows... the punishment is decadence!
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Post by Baron von Costume on Jan 23, 2017 16:21:59 GMT -5
This is admittedly a super first world problem but:
What's super annoying is that my father doesn't understand how his time share system works for exchanges and despite me telling him multiple times that many of the resorts require you to pay their per day all inclusive fee without exception he won't believe me. I thought I'd finally convinced him when the one we almost went for at christmas would have had $1500pp in those fees but he's now claiming that was only because it's christmas and that I'm being stupid because I won't listen to him and take a free week of hotel somewhere.
My mother and I looked last year and while yes there are some that don't the list of decent resorts that are somewhere I want to go AND somewhere I can fly for a non stupid price is somewhat more limited.
Like it's all well and good if the hotel is essentially 'free' to me with his points but: -There's almost invariably an extra night at some other hotel because the time share "week" never coincides with when our flights get there. -To get around the above likely means paying extra for a non-charter flight (sometimes this is $50-100, sometimes you're talking $500) -Meals aren't included which in one way is a total plus (I much prefer eating local as long as it's not a massive bus/cab ride for every meal off hotel property (Nuevo Vallarta where I went last year would be terrible for this) but adds to the cost. Some of these timeshare exchanges do have kitchenettes though which helps keep the cost down by eating breakfast/lunch in the room or prepping travelling food more easily. -Booze isn't included (which I must admit if I'm doing the lazy ass on the beach thing I like being able to basically have a never ending stream of margaritas or whatnot for 'free')
Individually these things aren't a huge deal but separately they pretty quickly add up to being a more expensive holiday. I'm single and my parents can look after my dog for a week or two so I can very easily just snap up a last minute deeply discounted package holiday. I haven't paid more than 900-1200CAD for any of the single week all inclusives I've done and with the exception of Cuba these were all at least 4 star hotels (or rather CUBA's idea of 4 star being less than equal with the rest of the sunny world.) Since flights out of here are stupidly expensive to anywhere I'm usually looking at at least 60-80% of that cost just for the flight if I do my own thing. Part of the appeal of the cruise thing is that flights to Fort Lauderdale are stupidly cheap at the moment due to the shooting.
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Post by Liz n Dick on Jan 24, 2017 10:59:19 GMT -5
Guys, guys -- enough talk of cruises and European vacations! It's time to get REALLY jealous: I've booked my upcoming long weekends in luxurious Towson, Maryland for a couple of needlepoint retreats! I KNOW! It's a glamorous life.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Jan 24, 2017 11:37:18 GMT -5
We're also planning another trip in June, a long weekend in Bennington, Vt. Mostly to visit friends (he teaches at the college there). I've only been to Vt. once before when I was about 8 and all I remember is snow everywhere.
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Ben Grimm
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Post by Ben Grimm on Jan 24, 2017 12:06:48 GMT -5
We just got back from beautiful downtown Jacksonville Florida! My wife wanted to go to the big Supernatural convention they hold there, and wanted to spring for the big gold package (front row seats, autographs from most of the guest, special exclusive panel, etc.). I tagged along because my parents live there (well, Orange Park) and to not be away from my wife. I like Supernatural, but not enough to pay for that con, especially since there was no way I was getting the gold package and I didn't want to sit in the brown section or whatever alone for three days. My wife got some loot (including a ludicrous signed Jim Beaver as Bobby Singer banner that wasn't actually that expensive), I got some loot elswhere (including a nice Disney Elite Chirrut Imwe figure, as recommended by Desert Dweller ), and had some time hanging out with my parents. Plus I got to show my mom The History of Future Folk, which I had though (correctly, as it turns out) she'd enjoy. I also hit the Downtown version of Chamblin Bookmine (I usually only get to go to the one out on the Westside) a couple times and pickedup a few books. I also discovered that I had $65 in credit from 2014 I was completely unaware of, so I got a bunch of books functionally for free. And now I'm back at work. Poop. I did not see Jason Mendoza anywhere.
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Post by Albert Fish Taco on Feb 19, 2017 15:08:34 GMT -5
Granted this is almost four weeks late, but in all I'd say New Orleans is a place I'm glad I finally got to visit, but that said it's a place I'd be OK never visiting again. As everyone will tell you the eating is great. My birthday dinner at Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse was one of the best meals on vacation I've ever had. I ate a lot, but it only took maybe 15-20 minutes walking around to not feel like I did (a true mark of quality). And the second night's dinner at Grand Isle in the CBD was equally great (especially the oysters). Oddly enough for breakfast foods the only good one I had was on the third day at a down-home diner in Pass Christian, Mississippi. Though to be fair, on the first day I had had so much bad airline and airport coffee that sampling some benigets and chicory coffee did not appeal to me, on the second day my brother slept in so we got a late start and had to settle for the hotel's buffet (which was downright bad) and on the fourth day we had morning flights out. Ellie's description of the WW II museum was accurate. It was a great museum that I could easily see spending an entire day at or visiting all the time if I lived there, but yeah, it was very US centric (barely any mention of the Eastern Front), though to be fair considering the staggering amount of ground it manages to cover it simply might not have been able to fit much more in without getting unwieldy. The restaurant there (The American Sector) is pretty impressive as well. In general the city is very walkable. But at the same time I think a lot of its charms were lost on me. We walked around a bit in the Garden District and while it was pretty, the infrastructure was insanely beat to shit considering how high the property values must be. I did not care for the French Quarter. And while Bourbon and such being described as nasty is hardly a new or uncommon take, I thought it extended over a much wider range (honestly Canal was worse). There is a grimy-ness about New Orleans I didn't care for (and this is coming from someone who grew up in 80's/90's NYC that loves cities like Chicago, Glasgow and Pittsburgh). You get the feeling you are never more than 50 feet away from someone that might be about to commit some sort of crime. Outside of eating, the best day was the one where we drove out to Pass Christian, did a swamp tour (Cajun Encounters in the Honey Island Swamp off the Pearl River; saw gators, raccoons, wild hogs and a tree that was featured in Archer's favorite film Gator with Burt Reynolds), and drove around in rural eastern Louisiana.
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Post by Liz n Dick on Feb 23, 2017 13:36:49 GMT -5
Albert Fish Taco, I'm glad you enjoyed at least some aspects of your trip to New Orleans, but I'm kind of relieved to hear you felt the way you did in general. I've often wondered if I'm the only person in the world who doesn't like that city, because everyone's always like, "New Orleans? I love it there!" I've got extended family there, and we used to visit yearly. Granted, part of the problem was that they lived in the suburbs and put us up in The World's Most Depressing Extended-Stay Hotel (it shared a parking lot with an OTB and was across the street from a Pepsi bottling facility), but still. Even the trips into the city proper left me cold. On our first visit after Katrina they drove us through the neighborhood around where my cousins went to school, and were pointing out all the destruction. I felt so terrible thinking this, but the entire time I was sort of impressed that it didn't look any different to me than it had before the flooding.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Feb 23, 2017 13:41:14 GMT -5
We're now just shy of a week from our cruise. In St. Kitt's we're doing a "grand tour" of the island that includes all the major highlights, including a UNESCO World Heritage site and historic buildings. In San Juan we're going to tour the forts; in Ste Maarten/St Martin we're going over to Marigot to check that out.
I've only been to NOLA once, in October 2001, and I was in college at the time; we were there for a college journalism conference. So maybe that colors my recollection of it. But I did love it and would like to go back and explore more.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Mar 3, 2017 23:15:52 GMT -5
I bought my plane tickets! I'm officially going to Europe this summer! Wooo!
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Post by Albert Fish Taco on Mar 11, 2017 9:54:55 GMT -5
So with 9 weeks to go I should probably start making specific reservations for my partially-cross-country road trip. I have a firm grasp on the main places I want to go/see/do, as well as where I'll end up on specific dates for most of it, but the last few days I'm a bit less firm on.
I'm going to take four days to head out to the Badlands, spend five days in the Badlands/Black Hills/NW Nebraska, 1.5-2 days through Nebraska down to KC, two nights/parts of 3 days in KC, then to St Louis.
Over the last four days though I'm less certain. I know at a minimum that around STL I'd like to see the Gateway Arch, Cahokia Mounds and maybe try toasted ravioli; and I'd want to see a Mets/Pirates Saturday night game in Pittsburgh as well as Fallingwater (which I think is about 1.5 hours SE of Pittsburgh). The way I see it I could:
A) just spend one night in STL, check out Cahokia Mounds on the way out, and either: 1) just go as far as I'm up for east on I-70, get into Pittsburgh on Friday spending more time in SW PA; 2) or that Friday swing south a bit in Ohio down to Marietta and take a more scenic leisurely way to Pittsburgh getting there during Saturday.
B) Spend two nights in STL seeing more (inc. doing Cahokia as a side day trip), get up early on Friday going as far as I'm up for east on I-70, get into Pittsburgh during Saturday.
Some other considerations would be whether I'd want to go straight to Fallingwater and backtrack a bit to Pittsburgh, so that Sunday I can just head straight home (will have a shitload of chores to do that Monday).
I've liked Pittsburgh when I've been there in the past (which admittedly hasn't been for 16 years), but as it's just a long days drive away I can explore it more in the future easily. Whereas STL (like Nebraska) is the kind of place that I wouldn't be likely to go to outside of a larger road trip, which suggests I should lean more towards there. Also, if I spend two nights in STL I can get into it later that Weds and spend a little bit more time in KC.
Similarly, I considered exploring Columbus a bit, but I have a friend who told me the other day that he and his wife are planning to leave NYC at the end of summer and move to either Columbus, Louisville or Nashville; so I figure there's a good chance I can explore it another time.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Mar 12, 2017 16:33:55 GMT -5
I will have a full report on my vacation shortly.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Mar 14, 2017 15:54:44 GMT -5
Okay. So. Eight day Caribbean cruise on the Freedom of the Seas, out of Fort Lauderdale. We flew down on Friday the 3rd; on Thursday the 2nd I was laid off so ... I drank a lot. Though still not as much as some people. Just a lot for me. The ship is huge (although no longer the biggest one around); it features an ice-skating rink, rock-climbing wall, surfing simulator, "promenade" style shopping mall/food area, etc. We were in a standard-issue oceanview room, with a large porthole window. The room itself was small but not ridiculous. The bathroom is kind of ridiculous but you manage for a week. It had a little bit of 90s hotel room decor look going on but the bed was very comfortable, which is the most important thing. So we set sail Saturday; Sunday was already scheduled to be at sea. We hit some rough weather. Rainy, high winds (up to 40 mph sustained), high swell (up to 18 ft). So Sunday and Monday were especially rough and we did not end up docking at Labadee, Haiti on Monday. It was a minor disappointment but they increased on-board activities and we made up for it. Tuesday we were in San Juan, Puerto Rico. There was still some wind and rain but not nearly as bad, though while touring San Cristobal we did get caught in the rain. I love San Juan and want to keep going back. The fort was really cool with some great views. https://www.instagram.com/p/BRmAXVNlbkU (note, if you hover over the image little arrows should appear so you can scroll through) Wednesday we were in Ste Maarten/St Martin, and we traveled over to Marigot on the French side before returning to Phillipsburg for some ice cream and light rum shopping. We met a nice British couple on the taxi ride back who told us how much they love Americans. The weather was gorgeous at this point on. https://www.instagram.com/p/BRlL915FUtx And Thursday we were in St. Kitts, landing in Basseterre. I'd never been. We did a grand tour of the island including Romney Manor (Caribelle Batik shop) and Brimstone Hill fortress. Our tour guide was really knowledgeable and friendly and we ended the day at a lovely beach. https://www.instagram.com/p/BRiUX4TlEt- https://www.instagram.com/p/BRitd1dlGgt https://www.instagram.com/p/BRj-iAOlpNY The next two days were also at sea. We did a lot of trivia contests, sang karaoke, went ice skating, husband tried surfing and rock-wall climbing, visited the bars and the pizza place and the cute cafe and attempted shuffleboard and spent a lot of time in the hot tub. The buffet food was just fine (good fries though!), but the main dining room food was really really good (only miss for me: a dry porkchop) and our waiters were great. We also had a specialty dinner at the Mexican restaurant on-board (Sabor) which was amaaaaze and so much food. Ooof. One more note, the Fort Lauderdale airport was a freaking nightmare upon returning. SO crowded (10 gates stuffed into a small hallway that would only have 2-3 in it at Midway), disorganized, announcements being made on top of each other, they moved our gate three times and then back to the original. We ended up leaving nearly an hour late. But we did get home safely at least. Honestly I feel like I'd rather leave out of Miami next time, even though FLL is super close to the cruise port.
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Gumbercules
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Post by Gumbercules on Mar 30, 2017 13:52:26 GMT -5
Once again for work I'll be visiting Germany in the last week of June. July 1st my fiance is going to arrive and meet me, most likely in Venice. We'll have 8 full days before returning, most likely from Rome. Given the shorter trip, I doubt we could do 3 cities, so most likely we'll just do Venice and Rome. I went to both years ago (along with Florence), but I had squeezed in 5 cities in that time (Sienna and Cinque Terre day trips), so that was full-on rush. Does anyone have any recommendations on must-views? We'd do the Colosseum and Vatican City for sure, but any other recommendations for things to see/do?
Or, alternate question, do you suggest any other cities instead of those two? Like, would you push for Milan over either Rome or Venice (since there's an airport there, so my fiance could fly. I'm arriving by train)?
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Post by Desert Dweller on Jun 10, 2017 13:32:45 GMT -5
I am leaving on Thursday!
I have a decent amount of free time in Vienna, especially in the mornings. Any recommendations for not expensive food?
Money is going to be very tight. When I budgeted for this I knew it was going to be tight. But, wow, the reality is kinda scary. Did not budget for the $1100 I had to spend last month on emergency dental work. Eek!
Anyway, I'm excited! Vienna for 6 days, one day in Salzburg, back for one day to Vienna, one day stop in Berlin, then 5 days through various stops in Poland.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Jun 20, 2017 10:22:27 GMT -5
Ooh, I forgot to report on Vermont. It's very Vermonty. It's beautiful, largely rural, very mountainy. They really do sell maple syrup everywhere. Bennington is a small town and the college is out on the edge of it, very quiet and rural and spread out even for a college campus. So the house we stayed in was next to two other staff houses, but otherwise surrounded by field. DEAD quiet at night. No traffic sounds, no light pollution, no student noise (it was grad weekend so they all emptied out Sunday anyway). We saw a cow parade. I took this lovely shot of our friends. https://www.instagram.com/p/BU9Suv3lPa2
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Post by The Spice Weasel on Jun 20, 2017 10:48:49 GMT -5
I am leaving on Thursday! I have a decent amount of free time in Vienna, especially in the mornings. Any recommendations for not expensive food? Money is going to be very tight. When I budgeted for this I knew it was going to be tight. But, wow, the reality is kinda scary. Did not budget for the $1100 I had to spend last month on emergency dental work. Eek! Anyway, I'm excited! Vienna for 6 days, one day in Salzburg, back for one day to Vienna, one day stop in Berlin, then 5 days through various stops in Poland. Too late, I know, but the cheapest food in Vienna is usually kebabs. Or sausages from the snack shacks scattered all over the city. The Naschmarkt has a lot of good offerings but they aren't always affordable. The best bet for expensive European cities like Vienna & Paris is to hit the grocery store and make your own meal and dine in one of the many awesome parks. I hope you are having a great time. Edit: If you still have time in Vienna, head out to the wine garden area. You can take the 37 or 38 tram from downtown. Heurigen Hengl www.hengl-haselbrunner.at/ has lots of picnic tables in the shade where you can get pitchers of white wine that are affordable for Vienna. They also serve Austrian food cafeteria style so you can just fill up a plate or tray and they charge you by weight if I'm remembering correctly.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Jun 27, 2017 16:33:32 GMT -5
I am leaving on Thursday! I have a decent amount of free time in Vienna, especially in the mornings. Any recommendations for not expensive food? Money is going to be very tight. When I budgeted for this I knew it was going to be tight. But, wow, the reality is kinda scary. Did not budget for the $1100 I had to spend last month on emergency dental work. Eek! Anyway, I'm excited! Vienna for 6 days, one day in Salzburg, back for one day to Vienna, one day stop in Berlin, then 5 days through various stops in Poland. Too late, I know, but the cheapest food in Vienna is usually kebabs. Or sausages from the snack shacks scattered all over the city. The Naschmarkt has a lot of good offerings but they aren't always affordable. The best bet for expensive European cities like Vienna & Paris is to hit the grocery store and make your own meal and dine in one of the many awesome parks. I hope you are having a great time. Edit: If you still have time in Vienna, head out to the wine garden area. You can take the 37 or 38 tram from downtown. Heurigen Hengl www.hengl-haselbrunner.at/ has lots of picnic tables in the shade where you can get pitchers of white wine that are affordable for Vienna. They also serve Austrian food cafeteria style so you can just fill up a plate or tray and they charge you by weight if I'm remembering correctly. Thank you! I saw your post in time, but I ended up not having as much free time in Vienna as I had thought. (There's a longer story there that I will post when I get back.) I'm in Poland now in a town whose name I cannot spell nor pronounce. We went to Auschwitz today, which was intense. Tomorrow we are going to Wroclaw, which I can spell but not pronounce, as I learned today. Why does every letter in Polish sound different than it looks? Food was easy to find in Vienna and delicious, though on the expensive side. Food in Poland is very cheap, but menus are hard to decipher. Poland is much harder because the second language here is German, not English. We are lucky to find waiters who speak even a smattering of English. I'm having to rely on restaurants with wifi and then Google everything. In Vienna I knew enough German to get by even if the waiters spoke little English. Poland is something else entirely. No one in the group speaks Polish. We have a translator who goes with us everywhere. Anyway, it is near midnight. Gotta go to sleep. A more detailed report is forthcoming. PS. Had 7 flights in this trip. Only the very first one was with United. Guess which one had the most screwups? It is totally awesome to be without luggage in Vienna when Saturday the entire central city area was packed full of people for the Pride parade, and Sunday all the shops were closed. Thanks United!
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Jul 6, 2017 10:21:19 GMT -5
Back in March, when we took our running-away-from-our-problems cruise, while on board we took advantage of the bonuses for booking our next cruise, for May 2018, with the understanding that it was a changeable and refundable deposit. Just in case of disaster.
We booked on the Harmony of the Seas, a gargantuan Royal Caribbean ship with a zillion things to do - the idea being the ship is much more the attraction than the cruise ports.
So last week my FIL announces that they have booked on the Harmony for June of 2018, ostensibly for their 40th anniversary (note: these people have never needed an excuse to take a vacation, but okay), husband's middle brother is coming, and would we like to come too?
After some hemming and hawing over whether we wanted to travel separately or go with them, we decided what the heck, so the itinerary is even less exciting (private beach, Cozumel and Falmouth, Jamaica instead of St Maarten and San Juan) but they'll pay for part of our room, we'll have a balcony room, and the ship has everything from escape rooms to ziplines to slides to an ice skating rink.
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Post by Powerthirteen on Jul 29, 2017 14:46:34 GMT -5
The number one thing that always happens is that we walk, and walk, and walk, and walk some more. Our trip to Chicago was no exception, with my pedometer clearing 20,000 steps both days (and that's even with us getting a lot of use out of our CTA passes). Our agenda: - We landed at Midway at ~6 after nearly missing our flight from Spokane and having to sit in separate rows (every once in a while flying Southwest bites you), and got into the Loop a little later. After we cleaned up at our hotel we went and got a drink at the top of the Hancock Center, which was louder and less fun than the last time I was there. We watched the Navy Pier fireworks from 1,000 feet, which I recommend as an experience but you can see them better from where the elevators are than from the tables, so you could probably see them for free if you played your cards right. We also did an Italian beef and sausage taste-test between Al's and Portillo's, since they're across the street from each other. Portillo's is better. - A word about the hotel: Richard Branson is a sleazy douchebag, but boy can he build a hotel. Every other hotel I stay at has a lot to live up to now. For one thing, we booked through an aggregator because it saved us $40 a night, and then I signed up for the loyalty program just because. Instead of giving us shit for booking through Expedia, they somehow found my reservation, connected it with the loyalty account, and honoured all the little things (your favorite snack waiting in your room! a handwritten card saying hi! A room on the floor you asked for!) from the account. And it's a great room, with an unusual layout that really works, a great shower, and a hell of a bed. The view west from the 24th floor wasn't bad either. None of it was *exceptional* just the kind of little things that shouldn't be unusual but are. - Day 2. Wicker Park for coffee and breakfast among the hipsters (there are a lot of attractive people in Wicker Park). Stan's Donut - best lemon curd bismarck I've ever had.
Myopic Books. Brunch at Doves's Luncheonette (most tequila I've ever seen at a breakfast place, great torta, lumpy service). Back to downtown for a tour of the Chicago Theater, on which I successfully resisted the urge to break out my John Mulaney monologues while standing on the stage. My wife found Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally's signatures on the wall backstage and didn't tell me, which may be a sticking point in our marriage going forward. Like all plaes you see on tv it's much snugger in person, though obviously spectacular.
After the tour, up north to Lincoln Park, through the lily pond to the zoo (we always end up going to zoos) and down to North Avenue Beach just as the clouds broke, the breeze picked up, and it turned into the most beautiful day possible. I never wanted to leave.
Then a bus to Au Cheval to get on the waitlist, two beers in Lone Wolf next door to pass 90 minutes, and the best frigging hamburger in the world. Worth twice the wait.
Finally up to the Music Box Theater to watch Dunkirk in 70MM. Great theater! Great movie. - Day 2: slept in til 8:30. Barbacoa benedict for breakfast at Goddess and the Baker (too expensive, tasty). Brief roundabout walk over to Intelligentsia in the Monadnock for coffee, architectural sightseeing, and then the main attraction: the Art Institute the minute they opened. We stayed at the Institute from 10:30 til 4:30, and it's the best day you could have. N.B. I have been to the Art Institute 3 times and have still never managed to see The Great Waveoff Kanagawa, and at this point I assume they are taking it off display when they see me coming.
After that we kind of staggered around downtown for a while being footsore. We were originally going to go up to Pequod's for supper, but honestly we just couldn't handle the wait so we went to Shake Shack. Then we went back to the airport, were through TSA in literally 2 minutes (I kid you not), and flew back to Spokane, and now I'm tired.
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Post by ganews on Aug 13, 2017 15:20:17 GMT -5
2.5 more weeks until we go to Italy for two weeks. I'm feeling more secure at work in my required tasks to complete by the end of the fiscal year, and as we plan this more (dear lord we need to do more planning) I'm looking forward to it.
The rough plan is for our friend to pick us up at the Milan airport. Then in approximate order to see Turin, Sienna, Rome/Vatican City, Florence, hopefully San Marino, and Venice. Also the cheapest flight from Baltimore to Milan gives us a 10-hour layover in Iceland each way, so we're going to try to see a bit there too.
Suggestions are welcome. I've got last year's Fodors, and I'm told to see the Blue Lagoon between the Iceland airport and Reykjavík.
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Gumbercules
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Post by Gumbercules on Aug 14, 2017 10:15:15 GMT -5
2.5 more weeks until we go to Italy for two weeks. I'm feeling more secure at work in my required tasks to complete by the end of the fiscal year, and as we plan this more (dear lord we need to do more planning) I'm looking forward to it. The rough plan is for our friend to pick us up at the Milan airport. Then in approximate order to see Turin, Sienna, Rome/Vatican City, Florence, hopefully San Marino, and Venice. Also the cheapest flight from Baltimore to Milan gives us a 10-hour layover in Iceland each way, so we're going to try to see a bit there too. Suggestions are welcome. I've got last year's Fodors, and I'm told to see the Blue Lagoon between the Iceland airport and Reykjavík. For Rome/Vatican City, in the evening go to Trastevere, which is south of Vatican City, and West of Rome (just over the Tiber river). It's not super touristy as it is near Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. If that seems too far from where you'd be staying, Monti is good too, but man, I fell in love with Trastevere. In Venice, if you're going to eat Cicchetti (and I highly suggest you do. Think Venetian tapas), check out Al Bottegon, which is in the Dorsoduro area. They had the best ones I tried. Also really good is Sarde in Saor, which is fried sardines with caramelized onions and raisins. We had it with whole sardines, or broken up like a chicken salad. All good. If you're looking for the best place to watch the sunset, go to Ponte delle Guglie. Here's a shot I took from there. c1.staticflickr.com/5/4309/35665617150_2a828519ac_c.jpg
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Post by The Spice Weasel on Aug 15, 2017 10:36:29 GMT -5
I'll second Gumbercules' recommendation for Trastevere.
If you make it to Venice, spend the night if you can. Venice is best experienced at night after the cruisers have gone back to their ships and the temperature has dropped.
It's been several years since I've been so most restaurant advice is probably worthless at this point. Find a place for outside, after work drinks. When the shops in Rialto market close up for the day, the bars open and people just mingle on the streets drinking and snacking. They actually trust you with glassware.
It's easy to get burnt out on cathedrals, but San Marco is worth the visit. Wait until the last hour they are open. The line is shorter at the end of the day, and with the sun in the west, light floods in the main window illuminating a lot of the gold fleck paint inside.
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Post by ganews on Aug 19, 2017 22:30:41 GMT -5
Trains in Italy are apparently 50% cheaper if you are organized enough to book at least a week in advance. I find this hilarious.
Speaking of being more organized than an Italian, we have booked our stays for Rome and Florence. I don't use af, but Roman hotels as cheap af.
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Baron von Costume
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Post by Baron von Costume on Aug 22, 2017 9:16:35 GMT -5
Trains in Italy are apparently 50% cheaper if you are organized enough to book at least a week in advance. I find this hilarious. Speaking of being more organized than an Italian, we have booked our stays for Rome and Florence. I don't use af, but Roman hotels as cheap af. This is extra hilarious to me given my entire time in Italy they just randomly didn't run certain trains due to rolling work stoppages so I'd often just be sitting at a station hoping the next one would actually arrive. Edit: Also re: venice... it may be touristy as heck but man is watching the glass blowers in Murano impressive. (I bought my stuff from the smaller shops that didn't do demos as the nicer stuff was cheaper but still) One of my bucket list items is to get back to Venice and do it properly because I stayed at the world's worst hostel there and was basically miserable for 2 days as a result and it unfairly coloured my memories I think.
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Gumbercules
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Post by Gumbercules on Aug 22, 2017 12:43:52 GMT -5
Trains in Italy are apparently 50% cheaper if you are organized enough to book at least a week in advance. I find this hilarious. Speaking of being more organized than an Italian, we have booked our stays for Rome and Florence. I don't use af, but Roman hotels as cheap af. Oh, another tip I just remembered. If you do go to Venice and you're going to buy glassware, verify that when the shop owner says "we do production in my/our studio" that they mean "we blow the glass in our studio". We ended up with glassware as a gift for others that was pricey, but found out that this shop buys glassware, then paints it. So, their "production" is painting, not glass blowing. We were definitely disappointed and found out it's only hand washable.
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Baron von Costume
TI Forumite
Like an iron maiden made of pillows... the punishment is decadence!
Posts: 4,660
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Post by Baron von Costume on Aug 22, 2017 12:48:52 GMT -5
Trains in Italy are apparently 50% cheaper if you are organized enough to book at least a week in advance. I find this hilarious. Speaking of being more organized than an Italian, we have booked our stays for Rome and Florence. I don't use af, but Roman hotels as cheap af. Oh, another tip I just remembered. If you do go to Venice and you're going to buy glassware, verify that when the shop owner says "we do production in my/our studio" that they mean "we blow the glass in our studio". We ended up with glassware as a gift for others that was pricey, but found out that this shop buys glassware, then paints it. So, their "production" is painting, not glass blowing. We were definitely disappointed and found out it's only hand washable. I ended up buying a couple small glass jewelery pieces myself because I still had another 2 weeks of backpacking left before my flight and I didn't really want to go to the hassle of spending half of my remaining time in Venice shipping stuff home. 5+ years later I really wish I'd found a way to get the amazing pitcher/martini glass set at I had my eye though as well as a gorgeous sculpture/vase.
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Post by ganews on Aug 30, 2017 16:23:17 GMT -5
We are at the airport. I've been in the international terminal in BWI at least once before but I don't remember it being this empty.
Nobody start any new threads while I'm gone, OK.
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