french laundry is worth once in your life to have a type of tasting menu that is probably going away to a sizable degree bouchon is great as trying to replicate a paris bistro ad hoc is easily the best value and probably the most fun, the fried chicken meals are unreal
amex plat concierge is clutch, i got in to FL the old fashioned way but it got me a reservation at Noma
May be a better question for the credit card thread, but does any other card offer a similar concierge service to the Amex Plat?
One of my partners has a JP Morgan Paladium and it's pretty absurd the stuff they'll do. His card got deactivated (magnet or something) so he wasn't able to check into his hotel. He called them and they got the room for him handled and had someone personally deliver a replacement card to the hotel pool within like 2-3 hours.
Just got back last night from a 5-day trip San Diego/Los Angeles. My folks and I have tried to take a trip every summer while hitting another MLB stadium since I was a kid, so this year we found good prices on direct flights from ATL -> LAX and we found dates where both the Angels and Padres were in town. Most of our time was spent in San Diego so I don't have much to recommend about LA (aside from a couple stray observations). - Santa Monica felt...totally overrated. It's completely possible we didn't go to the right spot, but the pier and surrounding area were...meh. It somehow wasn't what I expected going in. - Saw the Angels play and saw Shohei hit a dinger, so that was cool. Angel Stadium is older, but totally fine. Anaheim is extremely suburban, but we enjoyed the Golden Road brewery across the street from the stadium. It's huge and has a great outdoor patio and viewing area with big screens and tables and multiple bars. Good spot. - On the way to San Diego, we stopped in San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, and Oceanside. San Clemente felt like a sleepy surfer town a la Santa Cruz. SJC was an old, quiet, historic little town that was really cool. And Oceanside had a cool downtown area that led right up to the beach. All three are worth stopping by for an afternoon. - We stayed downtown in San Diego, just a 10 minute walk through the Gaslamp to get to Petco Park. Gaslamp is...fine. It wasn't much different than any other major city's bar/restaurant scene. It's got a lot of restaurant options that turn into bars at night. To me, if your goal is to go hard at night, Gaslamp is the place. Also, if you're going to a Padres game, it's right there. - Petco Park is AWESOME. We've been to over 20 MLB stadiums now and I'd put San Francisco and San Diego on a tier of their own. Go to a game there. There are so many food and drink options in the stadium and cool vantage points, it's insane. - La Jolla is cool to look at, specifically the cove, but I'm not sure how much time you'd actually hang out there. The place is crazy nice and expensive. Torrey Pines being right there is worth seeing since it's a public course and allows you to park and walk up to the pro shop and check out the course. - Went to Donut Bar (Downtown/East Village) and Taco Stand (North Park). Both are worthwhile if you dig donuts and tacos at an affordable price, too. Thanks for the recs in this thread and others. - I preferred Coronado to La Jolla. Both are super nice and expensive, but Coronado felt like it's own little town. They've actually got a good beach, too, that you can park right next to for free (if you can find a spot) and do all the laying out you want. If you want to do a beach day, that's where I'd suggest. (To be fair, I never visited Ocean Beach or Pacific Beach to be able recommend either) - It wasn't until the last night when we realized our favorite area: Little Italy. We had dinner/beers the last night at Ballast Point and then walked around the neighborhood and man, you could eat and drink every meal in Little Italy and be perfectly content. - I would HIGHLY recommend San Diego. If you get a chance, go. - Having never been to Mexico, we took a shot and walked across the border. There's a nice outlet mall that literally backs up to the border wall. It's kind of jarring. But anyways, we parked there and walked across. It was actually recommended that we walk because we aren't familiar with driving over the border and the lines to get back in the US are nuts. So, we walked and it took, like, 5 minutes to get into Mexico. Here's the thing: While you're on the US side, the main drag of Tijuana (Avenida Revolucion) looks really close. You can see the arc clear as day and it feels like you can just pop over in a few minutes, have a beer and a taco and come back. Wrong. It's a solid 20-minute walk from the entry point to Avenida Revolucion and that walk is...chaotic. You will be hounded by folks trying to sell you stuff the whole time and some of the walking route is through abandoned plazas that you definitely wouldn't want to be caught in at night. We finally got to Avenida Revolucion, took a look at each other and basically decided to walk back. I'm not entirely sure what I expected, even though I was warned here to pass on going. The line to get back into the US snakes back into a crowded sidewalk with locals surrounding each side trying to sell stuff with small children working to just to make some money. It's an eye-opening thing and it's honestly heartbreaking. We got lucky and only waited 30 minutes to get back into the US, so I guess we were in Tijuana for a grand total of 70-ish minutes. Basically, if you're wanting to go to Mexico, I wouldn't suggest Tijuana as being that place. - Lastly, does anyone have any good organizations that help the homeless in California? Saw so many over the five days I was there and just want to give and help out any way I can.
Made a last minute decision to fly to Brussels. I didn't research anything beforehand so I'm just wandering around the city on foot. Pretty much all I know about Belgium is chocolate, waffles, and beer.
I have 256k Chase points. Going to be fun figuring out what kind of travel I'm going to use them for.
the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History was pretty cool, also the Horta Museum was impressive……I was too poor back then to enjoy fine dining or anything so can’t help u there
My best friend's wife went there on a work trip and said it's the drunkest and most hungover she's ever been after a visit there.
I think me and a buddy might do a campervan around Costa Rica for a few weeks. I really want to see Santa Teresa and Puerto Viejo, which are on complete opposite sides of the country.
Saw a deal on flights to Greece and jumped on it. It's looking like it'll be my first ever solo trip (a bit nervous abt it actually). I'm flying into Athens on Aug 19 and doing some working remotely that next week. Then, the following week I plan to take some vacation and hop over to Istanbul for 2 days, 1 night. Fly back on Labor Day (Sept 6). Haven't done any research or booked anything at all, just flights. Time to get planning.
I did some solo stuff and also met with friends in Greece and turkey the past two years. Look at staying near the Galata Tower in Karakoy in Istanbul.
People that have used Turo, did you add on one of the insurance plans? Looking at booking a car for Maui and even the cheapest one adds about $150
They warn that the Reserve/credit cards don’t cover since its peer to peer sharing and not a rental agency. I read more in their questions about taking additional coverage and they bury it but do confirm what mc said above so I went ahead and declined. I wanted to get something booked but really hope the rental companies start to normalize by then because I’ve got some National credits to burn
Just got back from Hawaii, did 12 days in Kihea and the final day at the Grand Wailea thanks to Delta. First off if you have the money to afford it the Grand Wailea its incredible. Rooms aren’t anything special but the grounds are gorgeous. Kehei cafe was very good for breakfast but my advice is to get there early. They open at 6 and by 730-8 the line is wrapped around the building. Nalu’s south shore grill was excellent as well, highly recommend for lunch. Don’t recall who recommended that in here. In Lahaina we stopped at down the hatch for lunch and their crab stuffed grilled cheese was one of the best things I had to eat on this trip. I didn’t think Maui brewing company was that bad, especially with kids as it has a huge open area in the back with tables and kids can run around. Their wings were fantastic. For the sunrise at mount Haleakala you need to get a reservation and it was nearly impossible. They open up at 7am and by 7:01 all the reservations are gone. If you do the sunset up there you don’t need a reservation and it isn’t as crowded. Stopped at Makawao to walk around before heading up there and ran into Adam Sandler and his family walking down the road. also for anyone planning to go anytime soon they really don’t fuck around with the Covid protocols in HI. It was impressive how well each store and restaurant enforced it. If a person walked into either without a mask on or below their face they didn’t make it 2-3 steps before an employee asked them to put one on or put it on correctly. And when standing in line they enforce the six foot rule. Was quite impressive
Oh and one more thing, when you fly out give yourself plenty of time and get there early. The lines to go through security rival Disney wait lines but move decently fast Unless you have precheck
When we were there in May the airport security was a lot more stringent than in San Jose going there. Got yelled at a couple times in Kahului even though I thought I was following instructions.
Me and MLS are planning round 2 of basically the loop around the U.S. like we did last summer - obviously with some adjustments (more time in some areas, feel like we saw enough already of others, adding new ones into the fold). This one will be late fall instead of early summer like last year so any strong recommendations appreciated - literally any city/state in the U.S. aside from Hawaii is an option.
Legitimately hurt when Ole Miss grads come to town and don't hit me up in advance. LA is a complicated city to say the least but if you have a good gameplan I still think it's one of the most interesting/fun cities in the U.S. to visit.
Vacationing whilst a 1 year old is growing to be difficult. We had a week without him for Costa Rica set up, but my parents had doctors appointments/treatments they couldn't miss. Rescheduled for September. Wife's work has a mandatory week in the office that week for company meetings. Now we're a month out and can't leave the country with baby b/c no passport. I've heard there are massive delays now. Anyone know in a post covid world how the Customs/Passport offices are for same day appointments? So my options are risk the carribean/St John in peak hurricane season or IDK what.
I did a similar 5 day SoCal trip a few years ago and was underwhelmed by most LA beaches . Manhattan Beach was my favorite . Did 3 days Airbnb in the Fairfax neighborhood and the last 2 at a hotel near Petco in San Diego . The hiking parks were my favorite part of LA , love how you can be in the middle of the city make a couple a turns up a Hill and it feels like you immediately get away. re San Diego agree with most of it , La Jolla is beautiful. Ocean Beach felt more gritty but liked it
I spent time in LA when I was 17 (or so) and saw the general touristy spots and what not. After going back last week, LA just feels massive. It has the usual nice neighborhoods smashing right up against rougher neighborhoods but there’s just so many of them spread out across that metro.
I'll be in London for 2 days this November. Staying at the JW Marriott. Never been to London. No kids. Any recommendations on what to do during the day? Any touristy stuff that's a waste of time and should be skipped?
You're really close to The Churchill War Rooms just south of your hotel, do that if you are looking for something you cant find anywhere else. Hyde Park and Kensington Palace right by you. Always worth that walk. Portobello Road to Holland Park has cool shit. Westminster Abbey right there. I also would recommend St Pauls. Both Churches are cool. Then Camden or Borough Market. Thats probably all you got time for. Best Restaurants and Pubs in West London without going too far are going to be on Kings Rd and Fulham Rd, with some in Pimlico.