The New Travel Thread: Now with write ups in the OP

Discussion in 'The Mainboard' started by Jax Teller, Apr 8, 2015.

  1. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    I'm talking about relative to a charter seat on a place commercial planes don't fly from the United States. That's not that expensive
     
  2. BP

    BP Bout to Regulate.
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    Agreed our black cab tour of Belfast and the murder triangle was amazing. Walking tours are great as well like someone said. Or if there are multiple places you want to go and cant or don't want to rent a car the small bus/van tours are beneficial to see lots of things on a tight schedule.
     
  3. southside

    southside Well-Known Member
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    They have a Cuba Charter desk now at the Tampa airport. Never seen anyone staffed there though.
     
  4. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    Delta making me want to die
     
  5. Jimmy the Saint

    Jimmy the Saint The future is a benevolent black hole
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    One of the only times I've gotten hostile with a customer service rep was some Delta fuckstick that tried to rebook me on a flight from Syracuse to Detroit to NYC rather than wait an hour or two for a direct one. Mind you, the first flight was also at 6 AM or something on a Saturday.
     
  6. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    Portland to Charleston and vice versa 245 until may 1

    #Airfare Deal: [DL/UA/AA] Portland - Charleston, South Carolina (and vice versa) $245 r/t. Details: https://t.co/mWfqhUT95q #travel
     
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  7. leroi

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    Emerald Isle has really pretty water, but kind of in the middle of nowhere -- and like arkadin said, not close to wilmington, more like 2 hours away.

    Shackleford Banks is close by, which is an island with feral horses. Fishing in that area is great, but there's not much else to do.

    the local oysters are also really good in that region, btw. "Stump Sound oysters" are what to look for.
     
    #3707 leroi, Jan 27, 2016
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2016
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  8. Wee Bey

    Wee Bey racially ambiguous
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    Did Rio and BA over the holidays 2014-2015. Rio first then an Airbnb in BA. At the Airbnb in BA I met a dude who was friends with the girl I stayed with who was also in Rio the week before. He said the best thing he did was hire a tour guide the first day or two to show him around and get a feel for Rio. I didn't do that but wish I did.

    You might be better at finding those "hole in the wall" gem type places, but communicating is very difficult in Rio if you only know English. Just for the translation and easy communication alone it might be best to hire a guide to start your trip.
     
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  9. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    Looking more and more like I'll be in Rio and BA solo. Hostel'n it up.
     
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  10. Nug

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    My spanish/portuguese is passable, but not great by any means. Will likely brush up on it before I go, Duolingo helped a ton before I went to Peru. Still know some elementary Thai (hello, please, thank you, do you speak english) that I drop on servers at Thai restaurants, and teach girls how to say probably wholly incorrect phrases, but they eat that shit up.

    In Rio I should have some friends that can show me around, and a childhood friend (that I haven't spoken to in years) lives in BA, so we'll see how that plays out.

    Re: Rio, you really don't want to leave the South zone, correct? Copacabana/Ipanema/Leblon? Top rated hostel I'm looking at is in Leblon.
     
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  11. Wee Bey

    Wee Bey racially ambiguous
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    No point in venturing outside of the three beaches you named. The only time I tried I hailed an Uber to take me hiking to Pedra da Cavea (#12 out of 500+ thing to do on Tripadvisor) and the Uber driver didn't know where it was, drove me around some sketchy parts, and then took me back to the hotel because he couldn't find it. Emailed Uber and got my money back.

    While that may just be one anecdote, there is plenty to do in Rio over 4-5 days what you won't need to venture far from the area you mentioned.
     
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  12. Capstone 88

    Capstone 88 Going hard in the paint
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    The beaches are worth staying at your whole trip imo.
     
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  13. PJP3

    PJP3 Well-Known Member
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    Ipanema or Leblon are definitely best to stay IMO, but best nightlife is in Lapa. Take a cab to/from there and don't go down dark streets, but this area was way better than Ipanema/Copacabana at night, which was kinda dead and very expensive.
     
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  14. Capstone 88

    Capstone 88 Going hard in the paint
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    I'm not sure if every club in Rio is this way or just the one we went to in Lapa, but they give you an invoice when you walk in. The bartender puts a check mark by the type of drink you get and you pay on your way out
     
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  15. PJP3

    PJP3 Well-Known Member
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    Just about every place we went to in Rio and Natal were that way. Really frustrating when it was packed and you had to wait in line an hour to cash out and everyone was just cutting, but you let it go, because you don't speak portuguese, and don't want to be stabbed by some random Brazilian.
     
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  16. 49ers169

    49ers169 Administrator
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    So our recent BVI travelers what is the best island to stay on?

    Tortola I have heard is the easiest to get around given it is central but was thinking about looking at the more exclusive islands although it would be more difficult to get to.
     
  17. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    I can't recommend Anegada enough, but it could be difficult to get to. It's pretty far out there.

    WED I would think is our resident VI guru
     
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  18. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    So I'm gonna gloat a little bit and I don't really give a damn.

    My parents own a business and use AmEx for essentially all their purchases, they easily exceed $100K on the business AmEx per year, and that's on the low-end. They also use it for personal purchases as well. However, they are about as internet-savy as most 50-60 year old adults (i.e., not very much).

    They had no idea they've been accumulating AmEx points for years. Was getting lunch with my Dad yesterday, looked into it for him, and they have about 750K AmEx points (which transfer 1:1 to Delta SkyMiles).

    I am now in the process of booking my parents a trip to Europe for this summer using those points, and in return they're letting me use any leftover points for my Rio/BA trip this summer. So I'm hopefully going to be able to get a 1st class ticket (I've never even flown first-class, I travel for as cheap as possible pretty much all the time) to Rio and back from BA---for free with these points.

    Has anybody used someone else's AmEx points, or had them transferred to another account? A friend told me that it's pretty expensive to transfer to another account, but I'm sure I could also book with their card/account and just put my name on the plane ticket.

    Hell. Yes.
     
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  19. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    Just buy the ticket with their account imo
     
  20. FriendsofJtyler

    FriendsofJtyler I strenuously object
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    Signed up for Global Entry. First available interview March 29th. :whyioughta:
     
  21. two

    two Hello
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    Yeah mine is sometime in April. I've tried walking in twice at DEN and they weren't having it
     
  22. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    Just check it periodically. Stuff opens up
     
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  23. FriendsofJtyler

    FriendsofJtyler I strenuously object
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    nm
     
    #3723 FriendsofJtyler, Jan 31, 2016
    Last edited: Jan 31, 2016
  24. PJP3

    PJP3 Well-Known Member
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    You can just transfer them to your ff account for whatever airline you choose I believe. The cost of transferring miles should only be between 2 frequent flier accounts, not between amex and an airline. Hardest part will be finding availability for award tickets. I had to book my ticket to japan 9 months ahead of time to be able to find a first class mileage ticket. Delta seems to charge insane amounts of miles for their first class reward tickets too so you may be better off transferring to one of the other amex partners.
     
  25. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    Could also just use the points for statement credit, or shop through the portal
     
  26. southside

    southside Well-Known Member
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    Nicaragua is tight. Really digging the laid back vibes
     
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  27. PJP3

    PJP3 Well-Known Member
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    For coach, sure, but not for first class which he said he was hoping to get. a 5-10k ticket would be 500,000 to 1,000,000 points by statement credit, but first or b class can be had for around 100,000-150,000 directly w airline if lucky.
     
  28. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    My redemption for amex is 7500 points to 100 dollars, I don't know if he can redeem it that way or not. My point was if he can't use the points to book rewards flights for the dates he's already essentially planned out, he can always use the points in other ways
     
  29. Gin Buckets

    Gin Buckets Well-Known Member
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    Just saw this man. I've been skiing in Jackson Hole since Wednesday and was slammed at work because of the trip prior. It's crowded in the Temple Bar area which is where I was. The parade started early, and is really just drunk people walking down the street (or that's what it looked like to me at least). Get to a bar early and grab a seat, because it'll def be pretty tough to find good places to sit if you hop around. Once we got seated, getting drinks was fine, but that was partially probably because we were with these hot Welsh chicks that the bartender was trying to hit on as well.

    Also, and I'm sure you know this already, but don't order an Irish car bomb. They don't like that very much.
     
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  30. Gin Buckets

    Gin Buckets Well-Known Member
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    I like Virgin Gorda the best, personally. As BamaNug said, Anegada is great as well.
     
  31. Room 15

    Room 15 Mi equipo esta Los Tigres
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    In Medellin, we need to stay in the Zona Rosa, right? Charlee Hotel looks nice.
     
  32. PJP3

    PJP3 Well-Known Member
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    yes, stay in zona rosa for sure. I stayed at a hostel but Charlee hotel is perfect location and looked really nice.
     
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  33. mc415

    mc415 Well-Known Member
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    Yeah that's going to be ur best bet
     
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  34. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    Is happy Buddha booked up for your dates?
     
    #3734 Arkadin, Feb 1, 2016
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2016
  35. Room 15

    Room 15 Mi equipo esta Los Tigres
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    We're going with a mixed crew of 9 and not sure all of them are hostel fans. Is it a life changing place?
     
  36. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    Ah you've got a significant amount of people. In that case if just go hang out at the bar there at night. The bar crawl is a definite must and it's the best place there to meet people and party
     
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  37. 941Gator

    941Gator TMB's resident beach bum
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    Hostel lleras Calle 8 is where I stayed. Better location than Buddha and nicer, but not as fun.
     
  38. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    You bet your ass I'm doing this:
     
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  39. Capstone 88

    Capstone 88 Going hard in the paint
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    Was going to do this and the day we had signed up the weather wasn't cooperating. You take off from Corcovado and just coast down towards the beach. Really hate we missed out.
     
  40. dahldennsull

    dahldennsull Living in the best state
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    Anyone who has been to Dublin, been to Croke Park and/or a hurling match? Looks like there is an opportunity for my trip to kind of be scheduled around it, and making sure it's worth changing up some dates and such. I've always wanted to see one, and the stadium looks amazing, it would be for the 2nd highest level (Christy Ring Final), they have 3 finals that day for 3 divisions, no word on tickets yet.

    So need to figure out:
    • Reviews of spending a few hours there when I don't have much time in Ireland
    • Costs/timing of everything
    • If it's something I can just buy there or will need to get tickets in advance?
     
  41. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    From what I've read, if you're there for a few days, go see the Hang gliding company, tell them how long you'll be in town, and let them tell you the best day to go.
     
  42. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    Business Class from ATL-->Rio, and then Buenos Aires-->ATL fucking BOOKED
     
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  43. Jimmy the Saint

    Jimmy the Saint The future is a benevolent black hole
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    Croke Park is a pretty cool old stadium (went to the PSU-UCF game there 2 years ago) and I would definitely put in the effort to see a hurling match there. We were disappointed that we didn't get to see that while we were there.
     
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  44. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    Hung out with a girl in Medellin for a while from Dublin. She said it's her and her friends favorite sport and the matches are great.

    That's all I got
     
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  45. Room 15

    Room 15 Mi equipo esta Los Tigres
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    :gfa:
     
  46. Gin Buckets

    Gin Buckets Well-Known Member
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    Agreed. This is what I do sometimes. Another good way is to get 2-4 person private ensuite rooms (in Europe at least, I'll defer to the SA guys bc this property might not have that option), because then you'll still at least feel like a part of the hostel -- whatever that's worth.
     
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  47. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    They have them, singles too. Place is really nice, but logistically I can see it being a bitch with how popular that place is and him having 9 people
     
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  48. PJP3

    PJP3 Well-Known Member
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    What airline and how much cash or miles did that cost you?
     
  49. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    Delta. The flight on Delta.com was about $3,300. I logged into my parents' portal and it cost me just a bit over 300K AmEx points.

    It's looking like I'm going to be able to get both of them to Spain for about 200-250K AmEx Points.
     
  50. PJP3

    PJP3 Well-Known Member
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    300k miles is pretty pricey, but since you have free miles to burn, why not. Have you ever flown international business or first before? It's so worth it to me. Makes the flight part of the fun rather than dreading it.
     
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