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

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

  1. two

    two Hello
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    LA sucks and San Diego is incredible
     
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  2. SugarShaun

    SugarShaun A man of many hobbies
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    12 days until London/Manchester/Rome
     
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  3. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    How many days are there between now and June 29th
     
  4. SugarShaun

    SugarShaun A man of many hobbies
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    124?

    Edit: 3 more in February + 31 + 30 + 31 + 29. Yes 124
     
  5. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    124? Days until Thailand so 126? Days to laos
     
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  6. bwhit21

    bwhit21 Well-Known Member
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    Yep, tried Sandeman. It felt more commercial, but has a nice spot along the river front.

    After Sandeman, we walked up to Taylor just in time for a free tour.

    Not sure if you’re much of a port drinker but the 20 year tawny is the best bang for your buck. 40 year is really good too, but the 10s and 30s weren’t my favourite.

    We found a great little stretch of bars. I doubt I could find it again if I tried but if I had to guess by looking at a map, I’d say it was R. de Candido dos Reis. Was a mini block party.

    I also unknowingly left a club with a drink card in my back pocket (swear it wasn’t mine). Bouncer ran down the street after me and about beat the shit out of me. Don’t do that.
     
    #16906 bwhit21, Feb 26, 2019
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2019
  7. bwhit21

    bwhit21 Well-Known Member
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    Yea you’re a 20-30 minute drive from the main urban area, which I’m sure you know based on your comments. Not a big deal I don’t think though. You can just WhatsApp that driver or others and negotiate the rate before they pick you up. Grab works too if you can’t find someone to pick you up right away. The hotel might get weird about Grab but I wouldn’t worry about it.

    The rice terrace near your hotel is ok. Good for some quick pictures but it’s not very big. We did the Batur hike, which we enjoyed but you’re basically in a single file line the whole way. Monkey Forest is worthwhile for an hour or so if you go down that way.

    We visited BARC which is a dog shelter/rehabilitation center. We found them online and decided to visit. We talked to the ladies there for a bit, played with the dogs at the facility that day and ended up donating.

    We did a night at Keramas but otherwise didn’t explore much elsewhere.
     
    #16907 bwhit21, Feb 26, 2019
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2019
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  8. xec

    xec Well-Known Member
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    Where is the place you booked? We booked an AirBnB house about 3 minutes by foot from the Pantheon. 4 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, multiple bathrooms. All on the ground floor. About $150/night per BR.
     
  9. xec

    xec Well-Known Member
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    That’s higher on the bluff above Sandeman if I recall correctly. VNdG is fun.
     
  10. mal630

    mal630 Well-Known Member
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    I'd love a couple recs if you have them. Ended getting a good deal on a hotel a little south of Koreatown near Gramercy Park. Definitely expecting to spend time in East Village.
     
  11. Lyrtch

    Lyrtch My second favorite meat is hamburger
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    Cote and Cosme are two places that would make great dinner spots, Cosme brunch is supposed to be great too. Eleven Madison Park if you're looking super cunty and $$$, we did the bar tasting and it was great.
     
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  12. tjosu

    tjosu This is kind of like the breakfast club, huh?
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    I've actually been looking at possibly going the bar tasting when we go. Weird question, but what was the attire like? We will be carrying on and up there for over a week so packing dressier clothes would be a hassle if it was only for that one night
     
  13. mal630

    mal630 Well-Known Member
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    I want EMP but girlfriend doesn't care about that stuff and it's really expensive. Cote looks incredible. That 54 feast looks great and pretty reasonable.
     
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  14. Lyrtch

    Lyrtch My second favorite meat is hamburger
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    you'll be surrounded by people in multi thousand dollar suits going for drinks after work, but on the flip side there was people in athleisure gear sitting at the bar

    I went slacks and button down no tie and didn't feel out of place at all

    not a place thats going to turn you away for not having a jacket like Le Bernadin would
     
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  15. Lyrtch

    Lyrtch My second favorite meat is hamburger
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    EMP is definitely insanely expensive, and if she's never had that kind of food might be jumping in head first to do a tasting menu. Iirc they do some a la carte options in the bar.

    We cancelled our reservation to Cote just due to having too much planned, but we knew when we came back we'd be staying down closer to it so will get back. Suckers for Korean BBQ in general.
     
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  16. mal630

    mal630 Well-Known Member
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    Can't get into Cote and most other places don't take reservations for 2. Any other Korean BBQ you would recommend (I live in alabama and have never had it)? I also extremely interested in finding a badass chinese/dumpling place where you just order everything.
     
  17. Lyrtch

    Lyrtch My second favorite meat is hamburger
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    No idea will leave the recs to people who live there, my knowledge just from a recent trip and my pathological research.

    this did get published the other day so might be able to answer some questions regarding a dim sum place

    https://ny.eater.com/2019/2/25/18232491/best-chinese-food-restaurants-nyc
     
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  18. mal630

    mal630 Well-Known Member
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    New York is fucking tough. There are a million 4 star places on yelp and a magazine article that mentions almost every place in the city. Hopefully that means that it is tough to make a big mistake and everything is going to be decent.
     
  19. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    We have a new york thread that people talk about all that stuff in and those guys have been everywhere
     
  20. BayouMafia

    BayouMafia Thought Leader in Posting
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    sorry that you'll just miss the President

    59 days till departure to Cambodia/Viet Nam for me
     
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  21. BayouMafia

    BayouMafia Thought Leader in Posting
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    btw Viet Nam people - any benefit to not doing the visa on arrival? I'm heading to Houston for a work trip then my nephew's birthday party next month, so I could work in a trip to the consulate if it's going to save us considerable time when we arrive in vietnam. If it's a similar length line regardless might as well just do the VOA
     
  22. Lyrtch

    Lyrtch My second favorite meat is hamburger
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    swedens train maintenance planning is really haphazard

    the day i need to get from copenhagen-stockholm which i was going to take the train, a date which is outside the summer maintenance schedule, is marked as pending basically and the train company doesn't know when the tickets will be available for sale as the maintenance arm of their outlet hasn't figured out what they're doing that day

    might end up just flying based on how long this goes
     
  23. Lyrtch

    Lyrtch My second favorite meat is hamburger
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    I just did the E-Visa online application, took like a day for them to approve me and send my visa
     
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  24. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    Do they have visa on arrival? I'd double-check.

    I was flying from Thailand, but there was a big issue with me arriving in Vietnam--they almost didn't let me on the plane because I didn't have it pre-approved. Could be because I was not coming from the US? Had to get the airline on the phone with Vietnam customs, was a big pain in the ass.
     
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  25. BayouMafia

    BayouMafia Thought Leader in Posting
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    Yes they have that through third parties, plus what Lyrtch got which they refer to as a "loose leaf" visa.

    Just wondering if there's a benefit to actually having an in-passport visa over one of those options. I guess not having an extra document to lose is a benefit, but beyond that
     
  26. rezy

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    I did an e-visa. It was quick, cheap and easy. I don’t see any reason to not go that route
     
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  27. PJP3

    PJP3 Well-Known Member
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    Ess-a-bagel or Russ and Daughters is where I'd go for a good bagel. My favorite lesser known restaurant that I always recommend is Frank in the east village. Crowded but really good, simple, italian food. Vanessas dumplings in Chinatown is always a go when I go back. I'd go to the NYC thread and those guys can certainly help you a lot more.

    https://www.the-mainboard.com/index...great-they-are-for-living-there.84639/page-63
     
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  28. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    Tompkins square bagels were delicious
     
  29. SugarShaun

    SugarShaun A man of many hobbies
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    About a 10 minute walk West of the Pantheon. 2 bedrooms, kitchen, living room at $113/night but she’s matched the price of the other place that was like $75-$80/night.

    Only things set in stone for us so far are going to Lazio vs Parma and then on 3/18 doing a Vatican tour. Will have all afternoon/evening on 3/18 and all day 3/19 free
     
  30. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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  31. Where Eagles Dare

    Where Eagles Dare The Specialist Show On Earth
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    Nothing more stressful than getting work in a place where you can leave it for a long time. This week and last week have sucked.

    Now I'm knee deep in some edibles, starting to relax and hitting those final packing options for my flight tomorrow :8mm:
     
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  32. 941Gator

    941Gator TMB's resident beach bum
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    I would hope so. No upgrades on your seats in most airlines for what feels like 100 years now
     
  33. CC

    CC Waiting for moments that never come
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    Would try and hit an Italian spot while you are here. Babbo, Il Buco, Osteria Morini, Bar Primi, and Pasquale Jones are all really good choices in lower Manhattan and easier than you would think to get a reservation from.

    Also, it’s not Korean BBQ, more Korean fusion - but Oiji and Thursday Kitchen in East Village are stellar and have some of my favorite desserts in the city.
     
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  34. xec

    xec Well-Known Member
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    I would dump my place and take your’s in a heartbeat if it had more bedrooms. We have tours of the Colosseo, Vatican and catacombs lined up. This will be in October, so the Serie A schedule won’t be out for a while. Hoping to catch AS Roma in town.
     
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  35. CoastalOrange

    CoastalOrange Well-Known Member
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    There were perfect deals for the flights I was searching for my UK/Scotland trip. Flights were down to around $675 roundtrip. I hesitated because my GF is anal retentive about flights and routes and time spent traveling and what not so I mentioned them to her but she was "too busy" to really look into them since we were flying out to Disney for a long weekend the next morning at 6am. Welp, now those same flights are around $1,100+ per person.

    From now on, she can bitch about the flights all she wants but I am booking them as soon as I see a price I want. Shame on me.
     
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  36. Gin Buckets

    Gin Buckets Well-Known Member
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    The Icarians are winning and have it all figured out.



    Some of the islands we visited seemed pretty similar to this (Hydra, Ermioni, Porto Heli, and Spetses).
     
  37. Where Eagles Dare

    Where Eagles Dare The Specialist Show On Earth
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    Wife's seat will not recline back much at all. She complained.

    I got 5,000 skymiles
    She got $150 bc is lazy and never hooks up her number to trips until after the fact.

    Feel like she got the better end of the deal
     
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  38. Corky Bucek

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    BamaNug I’m in your town for 24 hours. Staying downtown and likely going to Uber over to Cloudburst tonight. Any recs for dinner over there? I’ve been told to go to for sushi, Umi (I think I went here my first ever trip), I’ve been to Shiro. Any other sushi recs over there. I’m game for most anything, just can’t be that crazy priced.
     
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  39. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    If you're set on sushi, Sushi Kashiba is really good and right next to the market (was Shiro's place before "Shiro's" opened).

    If you're looking for something different, I've been wearing out some Korean and Japanese fried chicken in the same area. Karaage Setsuna is a personal favorite. Chili + Sesame Korean Kitchen is also good. Both in Belltown, short walk from Cloudburst.

    No Anchor is one of my favorite places. It's a "beer bar" with an amazing beer selection and seafood-style tapas. Right next door is "Navy Strength," which won a bunch of awards last year as a new cocktail bar, but they also have amazing food.
     
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  40. Corky Bucek

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    I’ve been to No Anchor. I liked it but others in my crew really didn’t. Don’t think we ordered enough stuff. I’ll look into sushi kashiba and the other places you mentioned.
     
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  41. Corky Bucek

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    BamaNug how is old stove? May try stopping by for a beer or two.
     
  42. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    It's OK, beer is not great by Seattle standards. But they just opened up a new rooftop bar that is supposed to be really good and amazing view (especially with the viaduct being torn down). Haven't made it up there yet. Might be a little tough with the weather, though.
     
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  43. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    Some Random Bar is my go-to spot as well. It's up in Belltown, but has an amazing beer selection and great food. My favorite chicken wings in the city.

    The Nest is a trendy rooftop spot, good if the company is footing the bill.
     
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  44. Lyrtch

    Lyrtch My second favorite meat is hamburger
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    fucking hipsters man
     
  45. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    Their chalkboard beer list is "No Crap on Tap." And t'is very true.

    If you want a real hipster bar, head a few blocks down to Shorty's. Surly bartenders, no beer list, hipsters galore. And pinball machines, golden tee, big buck, pacman. So much fun.
     
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  46. two

    two Hello
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    Cote is overpriced BS

    My personal favorites

    For Chinese:

    Kings Co Imperial
    Han Dynasty

    For Dumplings:

    Lam Zhou
    Noodle Village
    Shu Jiao Fu Zhou

    Let me know any other cuisines you’re thinking about
     
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  47. Arliden

    Arliden Well-Known Member
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    Question what currency did you use more often in Tanzania and Kenya, USD or shillings?
     
  48. mal630

    mal630 Well-Known Member
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    Thursday Kitchen looks awesome and fun. I noticed they won't take reservations.... do these places take you name and call you or do you just have to stand there?
     
  49. Gin Buckets

    Gin Buckets Well-Known Member
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    Shillings by a long shot.
     
  50. CC

    CC Waiting for moments that never come
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    Show up and put your name in, then go around the corner for a drink and they will text you when your table is ready. If it’s just the two of you, you will definitely get in on any night there, you may just have to wait 1-1.5 hours if it’s prime Saturday night. But the food is great and the Soju pouches are fun.
     
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