https://www.gofundme.com/costa-rica-water-rafting-tragedy What was meant to be a weekend to remember for 14 friends turned into a living nightmare. We decided to celebrate Luis Beltran’s bachelor party in Costa Rica on the weekend of October 18, 2018. We’ve all been friends for many years and we knew we wanted to do something special for our friend before his wedding. We planned a few activities, one of them being a white water rafting tour on the Saturday of our trip. When we first arrived, it was windy and raining, and the professional tour guides advised that we wait a bit before going out on the water. Less than an hour later, we got the okay to head out, and the 14 of us separated onto 3 different rafts. Within five minutes of being out on the river, all three rafts capsized, and everyone ended up in the water. Everyone struggled to get back on the rafts, with some efforts being successful, but ultimately the rafts continued to capsize due to the immense current. Within minutes, all of us were careening down the river with life jackets and helmets just trying to stabilize and find something to hold on to. Throughout the dangerous ride down the river, all of us struggled to stay above water, swallowing lots of it on the way down as our bodies ricocheted against the rocks in the water while struggling to survive. Most of us were ultimately able to grab hold of rocks or barriers in or around the water and await the rescue teams to get to us. Unfortunately, not all of us were so lucky. Four of our dear friends drowned in those waters.
So Afrikaburn is actually coming together. Me and a buddy already got tickets, he signed up for the CSR a month ago and will book tickets once the sign-up bonus kicks in. I'm buying mine when my $300 travel credit renews in mid-December. Linked up with a group of Brazilians going to their 3rd straight Afrikaburn. Their camp is 15 people, including us--$300 gets all the water you need (shower and drink), food, and camping supplies. Also provides transportation. They've already booked this bus to travel to/from Cape Town, as well as to set-up at the burn. This thing is a beast: Spoiler
Same concept and affiliated with Burning Man, but is about 4 hours outside of Cape Town and on a much smaller scale. BM had 60K people last year, Afrikaburn only sells 11K tickets
I'd be interested to know the mix of people that attend that. If it is a mix of Afrikaans, black or colored people or if it heavily dominant to one group
They actually released a cool infographic from the 2018 festival based on ticket sales and surveys: Spoiler Full graphic for anyone who gives a damn:
Ciudad de Mexico Spoiler Really awesome city all around, very few negative things I can say about it. I was there for 5 days/4 nights which I thought was ideal, maybe a day or two too short to see everything. But the city is one of the biggest in the world--you need at least 4 days, imo. I'm sure it's super dangerous, but like any city, if you stay where you're supposed to be you'll most likely be fine. There are police everywhere, it's insane. I'm sure they're corrupt AF, but it's still comforting seeing them on seemingly every street corner--they don't bother you if you're not doing anything dumb. They also ride around the good neighborhoods with their lights flashing (no sirens). I stayed in the Juarez neighborhood. Juarez, Roma Norte, and La Condesa are all really safe neighborhoods, all next to each other, right near the city center. Condesa is the hipster neighborhood of Mexico City, it's pretty cool. Polanco is supposed to be good too, but I didn't go. The street food is amazing, best part of the trip. And so damn cheap. Taco stands on every other corner that sell tacos, quesadillas, tortas, everything for 20/30/40 pesos, basically $1-2. Found a really good seafood taco stand and ate there 2-3x (El K Guamo). But it's hard to go wrong with most street food, just go to where there's a decent line or a lot of people eating. Did a street food tour the first day I arrived, it was awesome. Gorged on blue corn quesadillas, chorizo tacos, crickets (were actually awesome, cooked in honey/garlic and others with chills), everything--lasted 3 hours and we stopped 2-3 times for mezcal. Here's the one I did, FWIW: https://clubtengohambre.com/mexicocitystreetfoodessentials/ La Docena--nice seafood/oyster bar, ate two dozen oysters,. Highly recommend, a little pricey by their standards--but still just $20-25 with two beers. The rest of their menu was also incredible and they have mussels/clams/lobster/crab all on ice ready to serve. Bosforo--awesome mezcal bar, went here twice. The bartenders speak good english and will give you 3-4 shot glasses of mezcal to sip and explain what part of Mexico they're from, the differences to notice, etc. Really, really cool spot. Went to the Teotihuacan pyramids about a one hour bus ride outside the city. Thought they were kind of meh. Guess it was nice to get out of the city for a few hours. Went to a real Luche libre show through the hostel and it was fucking incredible. So many locals go and it's rowdy. It's entertaining as shit, really funny, and the wrestlers are athletic as hell--basically really good gymnasts. They're every Tuesday and Friday, HIGHLY recommend. Went out a few nights, but nothing too crazy. Went to a few clubs, they were alright. Didn't make an effort to go to some of the top-tier ones, apparently they can be pretty difficult to get in. My hostel was 90% Aussie, so hung out with a group from there every night, went to bars and some smaller spots. The women were fucking fine, like Brazilian fine. Was very surprised. Cliffs: -food is fucking amazing, some of the best street food I've ever had. Almost made the trip worth it alone, honestly. Any mexican food you've ever wanted for $1-2 -kinda reminded me of Buenos Aires in the architecture. Really nice spots, kind of colonial-y, and some really hipster streets/neighborhoods full of cool graffiti, coffee shops, bars, etc. -really helps to know some spanish. Not a lot of people speak or understand much english -mezcal is their thing, and it's awesome. Definitely go to some decent nicer bars for mezcal, or you can do a tour. Bosforo -Go to a luche libre show With how cheap (and short) flights are from the US, plus how cheap the city is, it should be on everyone's short list.
Chase just updated its portal to Expedia on CSR. So if you guys have points you can now book hostels pretty easily on there
Going to jot some quick thoughts from our Philadelphia trip in here, since we don't have much data on the board. Let me know if anyone wants more details: Eats Vernick - james beard winner, holy crap so good. Incredible menu, incredible ingredients, cool atmosphere Double Knot - japanese tapas style hot spot. ridiculously good, get the short rib. Cool atmosphere in the basement, good drinks City Tavern - was fun for lunch, wife liked the historical menu, food was decent, the beers were good. Have original recipes of George Washington & Thomas Jefferson which is pretty cool Dinic's in Reading Terminal - Reading Terminal is CRAZY. Super packed but you can find anything, gotta go. The roast pork sandwich at Dinic's lived up to billing, so damn good Federal Donuts - also lived up to the billing. Have a machine pumping out hot cake donuts constantly, they melt in your mouth. Didn't get to try the fried chicken Franklin Fountain - cool old style ice cream bar/soda shop. Definitely recommend when in Old City area Oyster Bar - really good fresh seafood/oyster spot. Good drinks, no reservations but didn't have to wait long 2nd Story Brewery - went here to watch the OU game, suprisingly good food. Solid beers, nice spot overall if in the area, would recommend Brigantessa - fresh ingrediant pizza spot in Passyunk. Was delicious To Do: Museum of American Revolution - VERY cool museum. Tons of original artifacts, not monstrous and can take down in 2.5 hours for a nice morning. Have original George Washington Tent from the war on display Independence Hall - make sure and get tickets before, give you 30 min window for guided tour. Pretty cool, only takes 20-30 min but have to arrive 30-45 min early for security Drinks Monk's Cafe - seriously one of the best beer bars I've EVER been to. Have a literal beer 'bible'. Have two bars with different tap menus (~10 at each). Specialty beers found nowhere else Franklin Mortgage Co. - favorite cocktail bar we went to. Tiki bar upstairs (didn't go), cocktail lounge in basement. Usually a line but didn't take long. Very creative menu actually worth the price Charlie was a sinner - pretty pretenious cocktail bar. Not much room to move, maybe with a reservation it's better, thought the drinks were fine but overpriced Friday/Saturday/Sunday - new hot spot for drinks/dinner. We just went after dinner for a drink, pretty cool spot, would like to go back and eat at. Pics Spoiler Monk's beer bar City Tavern Independence Hall Federal Donuts Vernick - known for their toasts, we did the pumpkin/brown butter, it was stupid good Museum of American Revolution did a cool event on Saturday called "Occupied Philadelphia". Had 'redcoats' in all the occupied buildings doing drills and talking to people. My wife taught American Revolutionary history as a 5th grade teacher so she was geeking out. Lastly, got to take in a philly game, thanks to a friend on staff, got some sweet pictures: Spoiler
New Orleans for this weekend. Already have reservations for Shaya and Cochon. I'm going to have a love/hate relationship with my stomach and liver.
Hilariously I was just coming into this thread to ask people for Philly recs since I'm going there in 2 weeks
Going to Scottsdale today till Monday to go to the Niners game there, going to catch a Coyotes game there too. Boys weekend golf, drink and sports.....Scottsdale is perfect for that
If possible, you may want to consider seeing if you can get a reservation at Saba for the time you have your Shaya reservation. Saba is the restaurant now owned and operated by Alon Shaya who is the chef whose recipes are used at the restaurant Shaya. It's confusing, but he had a falling out with his former business partner (John Besh), left/was fired from his namesake restaurant (Shaya), and opened a new restaurant down the street. Although, the lamb ragu hummus at Shaya is still pretty bomb.
I am terrible at golf and my friends are decent so my booked us at Mountain Shadows for Saturday so I can kinda keep up
Madrid was awesome. Bilbao was cool and glad I was only there for two days. Awesome drinking, tapas, museums. Not as wild as my prague/paris/amsterdam trip, but still quite great. Madrid was better than expected. Flying Norwegian Air was quite pleasant. Already mentally planning the next trip. Either Tokyo, Ireland/UK/Scotland, or Munich/Veinna/Budapest
did you go to San Sebasian at all? Doing part of my honeymoon there next summer. Planned on just doing one night in Bilbao since we are flying home from there. Any reason to spend any more time there?
Staying in Old Town? Unfortunately it's warming up a little this weekend (low 90s) but should still be nice.
I left a day or so earlier than my friends who went to San Sebastian. Looked Beautiful. I'd probably prefer more time there and just one day in Bilbao to do the Guggenheim museum/river/food/drinks.
Wouldn't recommend more than a day or two in Vienna if you go that route unless there's something you're specifically going there for. Budapest is fucking awesome.
Vienna is a great point to fly in/out of with Austrian Air being part of the Star Alliance. Aside from that, I agree
plan right now is 5 nights in San Sebastian and 1 in Bilbao just bc we are flying out of there. Heard you can’t have too much time in SS and have had multiple people tell me its their favorite place in the world. Also doing a week in Portugal before.
we know a person in Budapest, which would be awesome. I'd only stop in Vienna because it'd be on the way. Thanks for the heads up
Yup got an Airbnb there, I don’t mind low 90s it’s been still warm here in the Bay Area and it will be perfect at night
you pay for almost everything except a checked bag and backpack with Norwegian Air. But I wouldn't compare it to Spirit/Frontier in terms of quality. Sounds like you mean WOW was great even though it has Frontier/Spirit-esque policies
I wanna go back to tokyo for the olympics in 2020. That being said Japanese food is the last on my Asian food rankings which I anticipated before but now confirmed
Thanks for the heads up, just switched the reservation. Just read up a little on the falling out and sure seems like he got a pretty raw deal out of the whole thing.
bottom part is true but the ramen shops alone would be worth it. Personally wouldn't want to visit a major city during the olympics. Feels like things would be a zoo
Yeah, he really did. Besh gets to continue using Alon's name and recipes and continue to profit therefrom. If you're looking for other NOLA restaurants, I highly recommend Mahony's Po Boys (get the short rib po boy), DTB, Herbsaint, Bearcat Cafe (brunch), and Atchafalaya, to name a few. Whenever I have friends in town and we're looking for a place to go eat lunch or dinner for less than $30 out the door, I take them to Mahony's and it never disappoints.
Planning on going to New Orleans in April, wasn't planning on starting a list of restaurants quite yet but here we are. *scribbles notes*
I'll have moved away by then, but hit me up when you start planning and I can recommend some places for any occasion and budget.
Just went a few weeks ago Bacchanal Wine was my favorite Vessel Cavan Le Petite Grocery Cochon Compere Lapin Brennans for FQ and Hot Tin for Rooftop
going to NO in a week have GW Fins, Bywater Bistro, Cochon, Coquette brunch, Compere Lapin reservations i won't even list the non reservation places
Where Eagles Dare either of these first two should work for the falls? Or should I find a later return?
I assumed the falls would be open past 5 (I dont know why) and I could sneak in a few hours on day 1. Looks like should push the return back to like 9 and just do one big falls day and chill around the small town the afternoon/night before
FYI Nina Compton is the chef at both Compere Lapin and Bywater American Bistro. May want to consider some other places if you’re looking to experience a variety of New Orleans chefs.