Lisbon is a very underrated cool city. Madrid is much bigger so they have plenty of things to do. I liked Madrid a lot but I like pretty much all big Euro cities.
I lived in Madrid for a year in 2008-2009 and didn’t recognize this market so I googled it bc it would’ve obviously been right up my alley. Looks like it re-opened the month I came back to the states. Guess I’ve gotta go back now once covid is over.
Had no idea about the freelance stuff, that's pretty interesting. I mentioned it on the Clemson board but my hope/plan is to spend a month or so working abroad for the rest of my career (likely not going to happen but I can dream). The big catch is staying close enough to ET that meetings aren't difficult to schedule.
I don't ever plan on going back to an office setting. Covid shifted my mentality to fully remote work and I can never go back. Thankfully, the west coast has fully embraced Zoom hearings and Zoom depositions. I think it will be pretty normal going forward.
If you’re doing Toledo you may as well fly out of Madrid. However, that’s a pretty short schedule so I’d abandon that idea altogether.
Update: I am stupid and didnt realize that Spain is still closed to US visitors and likely will be for the indefinite future. (Maybe through summer). That reduces options. There are a few countries still accepting us visitors (I plan to be vaccinated by the time I travel internal) but that really cuts down on options.
What foreign countries are even accepting US citizens right now? I'll be interested to see how the list grows as we get closer to summer. Would really like to get to Europe or Asia this year but obviously hard to plan something right now.
if i had to guess the EU will start opening up over the next two months with vaccine passports being a requirement and likely also testing requirements
I think (hope?) by the end of the year travel will be fairly unrestricted with a vaccine card. If not, will just fuck around Mexico for a while. The horror
I hope you’re right but much of Europe is still locked down so tough to think they’ll start allowing in foreign leisure travelers before they are comfortable being open back up. I’m hoping for May/June where more people vaccinated + warmer weather makes for a much improved situation.
Dumb question- can I no longer search solely within a thread? I tried searching "Martin" here as I wanted to see if anyone has posted any thoughts on St. Martin but can't seem to find a way to limit it to this thread anymore. Am I just an idiot?
Loved Porto when I visited in 2014. One of my fav cities in Europe. I also like Madrid more than Barcelona fwiw.
Tried this and didn't really have much luck. This worked, though when I searched for "Martin" there wasn't anything about it. So, I will ask, has anyone been to Saint Martin (or Sint Maarten)? If so, any guidance?
I did Barcelona for 3.5 days in Nov of 19 and liked it well enough- excited to compare it to Lisbon, Porto, and Madrid (assuming I can go by October).
has anyone been to the Caribbean recently? we are researching honeymoon spots for July of this year. right now it's looking like the US Virgin Islands and St Lucia might be our best bets in terms of not having to spend our entire trip quarantined at the hotel. USVI, if I understand correctly, would not require a covid test to return home at this time because it's a US territory. anyways, if anyone has been to any of the Caribbean Islands recently please share your experiences.
1. I prefer Puerto Rico to the Virgin Islands. The interior of the island has great hiking, exterior great surfing, and the food is better 2. must do’s outer banks: surf-fishing, paddle boarding the sound, surfin anywhere it’s good, laying on the beach, going to dinner early, renting a badass beachhouse
If you don't want to do beach stuff, Wrights Brothers Memorial and Jockey Ridge State park might be cool. Went there on field trips in elementary school. Largest sand dunes on the east coast and man's first flight. But if you actually on the island, south of Oregon Inlet, there's not a ton to do besides outdoor activities. Plenty of surfing and local shops will rent you boards. Fishing is great all over...surf, sounds, & offshore in the gulfstream. It's only ~20 miles offshore. Lots of 4x4 access ramps to the beaches. Get on and drive until you have a spot you like and no one is around. If you can get on the beach, drive out to Cape Point. During the summer it'll make a ton of cool shapes. Made a mini island a few years ago. Not sure if you can still climb the light house, but worth some steps to get to the top and look out.
The girlfriend and I visited Aruba, Turks and Caicos, and Costa Rica over the past 6 months. I am happy to offer any information you might want on those places, though I think it really depends on what you are wanting out of your honeymoon.
My wife and I are now vaccinated and after not doing anything for over a year are itching to get somewhere warm with a beach. Usually our vacations consist of cramming a ton of stuff in and going a million miles an hour but I think we are leaning towards something more chill. She also recently had foot surgery so it's slow going for walking anywhere and is still pretty limited how far she can walk before it becomes painful. With that in mind and just general limitations for traveling during covid I've been entertaining the idea of just doing a super nice all inclusive in the cancun area. I'm having a hard time pulling the trigger on it though cause it's really not what we typically do. With that said I've started to look into if we could make coast rica or also some place like Turks and Caicos work. Thoughts?
If you are looking at relaxing on a beach the entire trip then I would highly recommend Aruba. The beaches are solid and the food on the island is fantastic. If you are looking to drop some serious coin then TCI would probably be a good option. The inclusive, nice resorts clean up the beaches and the water is gorgeous. But overall, my experience with TCI was that it was not worth the cost. Costa Rica is massive and plenty of people itt have been so they can offer more guidance. My trip was definitely a go-go-go-go type trip so we didn't spend too much time relaxing at really nice resorts (except for the Tabacon resort which was amazing). Never been to Cancun so can offer no help there.
I did four days in Aruba in December 2018. Definitely a laid back, chill vacation. It's real easy to get around the island since it's small and only one main road. You can take the bus most places, but it shuts down later in the evening, so not good for late dinner or bars. I did a full day excursion tour, which was a blast. A group of five of us rode in the back of some type of open air truck. We explored historical landmarks and geological formations. Saw the natural bridge. Went snorkeling in the natural pool. Off roading is the only way to see the entire other side of the island. There were some great dining options as well. Laid back beach side shacks to fine dining. There was also a shitty casino that I laid a few bets down at as well.
This sounds pretty awesome actually and after some very quick research already leaning towards this option over cancun, cancun isn't really our style anyway, the biggest draw was they have a direct flight from Raleigh. Any hotel recommendations or restaurants for Aruba?
Anybody stay at a foreign hotel that requires passport photos to be shared with the hotel ahead of arrival? I feel like I've had to do this for AirBNB before and guess it's just common practice for them to have recourse if anything goes wrong, but a part of me is skeptical about sharing this kind of stuff.
in general how open were things (restaurants, tours and excursions, etc) and how big of a pain in the butt were the COVID requirements?
Thread has me on edge. I've found a private Villa above Santa Teresa, CR, flights already mapped out. Just need a little bit more vaccine assurance and confirm with my parents to watch child.
Take the bus down to the south end of the island and eat at Zeerovers. What kind of restaurants/bars are you interested in? I can dig up my planning spreadsheet. There are some really good restaurants but there are also an overwhelming number of American chains. We went 4 years ago and really enjoyed it, although 10 days was probably a little too long since we aren't big beach people. We split the trip staying at Airbnbs near Palm Beach and Oranjestad. We also did a daylong tour of the island which I highly recommend.
I stayed at an airbnb more towards downtown Oranjestad and away from the resorts. Our host had a great list of everything to eat/do, wish I still had it. Italy in The World Wine Restaurant was a tiny spot with freshly made entrees and pastas. Intimate setting. Good wine selection as well. Yemanja Woodfired Grill. Wilhelmina was a classier joint. Great outdoor courtyard. Apotheek Speakeasy was a super cool cocktail bar. Neat vibe with a great list of craft cocktails. There's a bunch of bars and clubs by the Hilton. I went up to Arashi Beach at the far north end. It's a quieter beach with a little shack serving booze. Great place to hang for a couple hours. There's also Eagle Beach which is usually ranked as a top beach in the world.
I mean I don't really have a preference other than I will definitely be avoiding any chain style places. Don't know why I didn't even think about airbnb as this is always how we stay on our vacations, looks like there are a lot of really good options. Do you remember who the tour was with? That sounds like a lot of fun.
The GF took all kinds of notes so I will ask her to send a few of them over and share them. The food there was amazing and they have all kinds of options, from the standard Hard Rock type stuff to fine beach-side dining. Definitely second Zeerovers and the speakeasy in Oranjestead.
could not endorse this more. I hate staying on opposite end of island b/c I would be content eating every meal there.
We did the ABC Tours Island Ultimate. I believe there are several companies that do the same thing. Our tour guide was great; had originally worked at the Citgo refinery at the southern tip and then ended up getting into doing tours when it shut down. We tried a little bit of everything; beach restaurants, local spots, fancy, hole in the wall, etc. The only chain we ate at was Texas de Brazil (no regrets). Palm/Eagle Beach: Tons of restaurants by the beaches. None of them were remarkable IMO but Pelican's Nest at Palm Beach was the best. Pika's Corner near Palm Beach was probably the most authentic Aruban restaurant we ate it. Definitely was geared towards the locals. We were there over my wife's birthday and ate at Screaming Eagle near Eagle Beach. They have tables that are lounge beds. We made the mistake of going on a sunset sail with an open bar before this and she got hammered so basically being a bed afterwards didn't go so well. Food was pretty good, I ended up eating both of our entrees. Get Dutch pancakes. Plenty of places around to get them. We ate at Linda's Pancake House. Lots of various ethnic cuisines around. We ate at Belgian (Taste of Belgium) and German (Bavaria) restaurants, both were very good if you're into that type of cuisine. In addition to the day long tour we did a tour of the California Lighthouse at the northern tip. Has some pretty cool views. Local Store has a great selection of craft beer and some unique wing flavors with some local inspiration. Oranjestad: Coco Plum is a great little spot with local cuisine in the heart of Oranjestad. MAROC has good tapas and cocktails. Delimar if you like Peruvian. The ceviche was top notch. Cafe Chaos has a large selection of Belgian beers. We ended up hanging around until close bullshitting with the owner on our last night. Fort Zoutman museum and Willlem III Tower are worth visiting if you're into historical sites. San Nicolas: Continued on the bus from Zeerovers down to go to Charlie's Bar. It's a dive with all kinds of shit on the walls (license plates, etc.). Worth a visit if you're into that kind of thing.
My wife refuses to eat seafood if it still "looks like the creature" so I ended up eating several pounds on my own.
lol - heard from some folks this is pretty common in Central/South America so I guess we'll roll with it.
Looking for some recs on a beach destination within the US. We’re just looking to sit in sand and relax for a few days. Hoping to avoid places that require COVID testing before arrival.