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

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

  1. Where Eagles Dare

    Where Eagles Dare The Specialist Show On Earth
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    Every train we went in all had the turnstiles working. It's not a big deal. Next time I'll just have change
     
  2. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    Vancouver is one of the most gorgeous cities I’ve ever seen. Great fucking place.

    Border crossing sucks dick though. Even though it’s just 140 miles north of Seattle, takes like 3-4 hours each way driving. Will take the train whenever possible.
     
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  3. enjj

    enjj Well-Known Member
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    You have Marks and Spencer's down your way? They used to have them up here but they folded like 20 years ago. Remember as a kid we would go shopping there. Some cool shit if my memory serves me right.
     
  4. 941Gator

    941Gator TMB's resident beach bum
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    Good food scene?
     
  5. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    I have zero doubt there is, but we didn't check out a bunch of good restaurants. Ate some good oysters on Saturday, had some doner kebab so that's always great.

    They do have some pretty amazing coffee, if you're a coffee cunt like I am.

    I can't emphasize enough how gorgeous the city is. Of all the places I've ever been, it's right up there scenically.
     
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  6. tjosu

    tjosu This is kind of like the breakfast club, huh?
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    Girlfriend and I have been wanting to do a Seattle+Vancouver trip. A friend just finished up a week of doing that and your post further proves we need to pull the trigger, although it's looking like it'll be early next year
     
  7. Nug

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    Definitely wait until April/May, when the weather is good. Jan/Feb would probably be pretty shitty.

    I plan on visiting Vancouver very regularly. So easy.
     
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  8. tjosu

    tjosu This is kind of like the breakfast club, huh?
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    Crossposting this here

     
  9. Russellin4885

    Russellin4885 Well-Known Member
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    Was actually looking at doing a Seattle/Vancouver trip next April/May. Was trying to look up the weather and most the stuff I was seeing was saying that it is still pretty chilly that time of the year. Is it manageable temperature wise?
     
  10. The B1G Kucktis

    The B1G Kucktis 2 years, VARSITY!!
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    IIRC, Terminal 5 is not connected air-side with the rest of O'Hare.
     
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  11. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    Early April might be a little cool, but not cold. May will most likely be better. Won’t be cooler than 50 at night
     
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  12. BayouMafia

    BayouMafia Thought Leader in Posting
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    You wouldn't be in Terminal 5 unless you're on one of the Intl carriers that flies out of it. It's really far from the other 4 terminals.
     
  13. Harvey Updyke

    Harvey Updyke RTR!!!!!1!

    It's still raining a ton typically that time of year. July in Vancouver is amazing. I go up for work regularly and it's never a bad time, just generally tons of rain ~November-May
     
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  14. Russellin4885

    Russellin4885 Well-Known Member
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    Was what I was worried about. Wife's birthday is end of March and she want's a birthday trip so don't know if I could put it off till summer. Might just jump on one of these cheap flights to Europe and do that instead.
     
  15. tjosu

    tjosu This is kind of like the breakfast club, huh?
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    Yeah I know it wouldn't be super convenient to get to but I've got over 3 hours to kill. Looking like I'll just have to find a suitable normal bar with all the regulars
     
  16. BayouMafia

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    Which terminal? I fly AA so I'm pretty familiar with T3 but not the others.
     
  17. Gin Buckets

    Gin Buckets Well-Known Member
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    There's a way to get around the most direct route... There are other borders 20 minutes out of the way that have no lines at all. I drove back that way and had no wait at all. Going up, however, I had 3+ hours at the border.
     
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  18. tjosu

    tjosu This is kind of like the breakfast club, huh?
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    Looks like I land in 2 and fly out of 1
     
  19. Det. Frank Bullitt

    Det. Frank Bullitt God Bless Texas
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    Calgary/Banff for 5 days starting tomorrow.
     
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  20. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    Jelly AF. Camping or what?
     
  21. Det. Frank Bullitt

    Det. Frank Bullitt God Bless Texas
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    Airbnb for the first night calgary, hoping to split the remainder between the backcountry and campgrounds within banff
     
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  22. colonel_forbin

    colonel_forbin Well-Known Member
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    Am I stupid or can I not use United Airlines miles + cash for the remainder of the flight cost to book a flight?
     
  23. ohhaithur

    ohhaithur e-Batman
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    I don't think you can. You can't in AA either
     
  24. colonel_forbin

    colonel_forbin Well-Known Member
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    Yeah, and they have set prices when using miles; it's not pro-rata where you can use miles as a credit toward the total.
     
  25. Jimmy the Saint

    Jimmy the Saint The future is a benevolent black hole
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    You can with Delta but it always seems like a huge rip off.
     
  26. zachary

    zachary <3
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    me and the best friend are planning a wedding/honeymoon in europe next september and want to stay for two weeks and check out a couple of different places. thinking about lake bled to tie the knot (will be just us two) and stay in slovenia a couple of nights, we want to hike the swiss alps, definitely stay a good bit in italy in florence/venice, also thinking about heading to munich as well. have been looking into it for awhile and have found some cool places to visit and things to do but i'm and google is know where near knowledgeable as some of you guys so does anyone have some cool recommendations of places to visit or things to do that I haven't listed? Not wanting to spread out the places we visit too far as we will be using a train as our transportation.
     
  27. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    someone hit me with the chiang mai elephant sanctuary recs again pls
     
  28. BayouMafia

    BayouMafia Thought Leader in Posting
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    :in-n-out:
     
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  29. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    lol

    i think im going elephant nature park
     
  30. ohhaithur

    ohhaithur e-Batman
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    elephant nature park is the only one allowed
     
  31. Matt Foley

    Matt Foley RIP EARL
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    Quoting so I remember to read your Banff writeup.

    Going there next year.
     
  32. BP

    BP Bout to Regulate.
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    Headed to the airport for first solo trip :ohnoes:. Istanbul, Cairo, Mykonos and Athens with Amsterdam layovers on each end. Lets fucking do this.
     
  33. Det. Frank Bullitt

    Det. Frank Bullitt God Bless Texas
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    Calgary/Banff National Park

    Edit: Write up finished.

    BamaNug BayouMafia Matt Foley Jax Teller (for OP)

    bRamonceTaylor


    No filters or editing other than 'auto-fix' on a couple to improve exposure.

    I went Sept 27-Oct 1, with my 2 eldest siblings. I'd describe us as moderately skilled as far as outdoors, and in pretty decent backpacking shape (different than everyday fitness, as I've seen in the past).

    [​IMG]
    Gregory 55. Seems like the largest size you can get by for carrying on is about 40 or 45L. I have a large sleeping bag, so I was nowhere close, so I checked this. Probably under 30lbs.

    [​IMG]
    Walking around Calgary

    [​IMG] Fall colors

    [​IMG]
    Calgary Tower, facing SW. You can see Canadian Rockies in the distance. They are lower lying than the CO range, but are more glaciated and dramatic. I'd recommend spending 2 hours to go to the tower (~$15USD). Lots of good history via the free audio headset. I listened to every bit (little did I know, Calgary and Texas share a similar heritage - originally a cow-town reliant on ranching, then a huge energy boom to modernize the city. Views are pretty good. I stayed and had a beer in the spinning restaurant as the sun set.

    [​IMG]
    Geeked out over the wildlife bridges.


    N2 - got a late start because I mis-remembered my siblings arrival times at YYC. We did 'park and pitch' at a campground in the city of Banff ("Village 1" has approx 600 campsites). Nothing special. Access to town is helpful, but not the secluded experience we were looking forward to w/ backcountry camping. The season was closed/closing/soon to be closed depending on which campground you were trying to get to so the ranger pointed us to Twin Lakes Campground, halfway between Banff and Lake Louise. Banff is small and has food/outfitters/shops/souvenirs, but is pretty touristy. It seems like people from the far east made up 50% of all the people we saw here. Good chinese though at Bamboo Garden, including having all Chinese wait staff.

    N3- Backpacking to Twin Lakes Campground, starting from Vista Lake Parking Lot. We ended up doing nearly 2000 ft of elevation gain (5600>7500) here. Temps ranged from overnight 30s with very light sleet/rain/snow to sunny and 70. very picturesque.
    [​IMG]
    A cell phone camera 1) doesn't fully capture the colors 2) cannot capture depth of field. the picture looks so flat and one dimensional.

    [​IMG]
    Early on in hike, white 'n' in the middle is the parking lot.
    [​IMG]
    Arnica Lake, still early on in the hike

    [​IMG]
    Taking a dip in Upper Twin Lake after lunch. I only did this because the sun was fully out and would dry me off. I didn't have a towel.There are 5 campsites behind me in those trees, and there was only 1 other group there. we only saw their tent reflections in the dark, we never saw or heard them.

    On the advice of the ranger, we hung our entire backpacks from a heavy duty line/suspension system. I had planned on just hanging food, but our group ended up hanging our packs as a precaution. Make sure you have a bag cover, because (like I mentioned above) there was precipitation overnight.

    [​IMG]
    Lower Twin Lake, Storm Mountain - my favorite picture.

    [​IMG]

    the end of the day hike, to Gibbon Pass
    [​IMG]

    The sun was setting now, so we turned around to make it to camp and our warm gear before nightfall. 32k steps that day.


    [​IMG]
    Lake Louise early in the day (9am) before the sun is up. Note the color.

    [​IMG]
    Hiking up to the Tea House, note the color changing.

    [​IMG]
    My brothers order at the Tea House


    [​IMG]
    From the Tea House trail, take the mini hike over to Little Beehive.

    [​IMG]
    If you look closely where the stream meets the lake, you can see something ("rock flour" ) dissolving into the water from the tributary.

    /end Lake Louise

    [​IMG]
    Morraine Lake

    [​IMG]
    I'd be remiss if I didn't show a frame that shows you how many people are actually nearby and posing from all the different vantage points.


    NB: Accessing Lake Louise and Morraine Lake
    Lake Louise: plenty of parking means its easier to get into. But its very crowded, and parking can back up. The ranger said it can take 2+ hours to deal with parking/entry to these two lakes. We heeded her advice to get there early and arrived by 9am, though she technically said arrive by 8.

    Lake Louise: very touristy (foreigners, selfie sticks, 56 pax buses, etc). Get a coffee/pastry in the hotel then hike up the Tea House hike for a pot of tea. As soon as you start the Tea House hike (a pretty vertical hike), the amount of people you see drops dramatically. There is no running water or electricity up there so bring your own. Most food/supplies are brought to the Tea House by hand, or by helicopter (think industrial sized gas canisters.

    Morraine Lake: Very very limited parking. They usually have 'no access' in place because its full and require you to use the shuttle. We spent so much time at Louise (mostly hiking up around it) that we arrived at the very end of the day at Morraine. We pulled right in, but saw that there were hundreds of people waiting for the shuttle to take them back down (30 mins away).

    After this, we went back into Calgary and got an airbnb for the last night, instead of camping because we were dead tired and didn't want to fool with finding showers before our flights back on Sunday.

    only food recommendation besides Bamboo Garden in Baff for Chinese would be breakfast at Alforno's in Calgary. Tres Bien.

    That's all that seems shareable. If you have a question, just @ me.
     
    #10933 Det. Frank Bullitt, Oct 5, 2017
    Last edited: Nov 25, 2017
  34. Jax Teller

    Jax Teller Well-Known Member
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    I'll update now. Any others lately?
     
  35. Jax Teller

    Jax Teller Well-Known Member
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    Wait are you saying the write up is in progress? Because all I see is a pick of a backpack.
     
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  36. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    You have to open the back pack to get the write up
     
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  37. Jax Teller

    Jax Teller Well-Known Member
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    That may be too many pictures for me to add to the OP but i'll try.
     
  38. BP

    BP Bout to Regulate.
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    So the Priority Pass lounge in ATL is pretty bad. Staff walks around like Zombies lots of trashy people around. Good is lame. Oh well free Johnny Walker.
     
  39. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    I like that lounge. Nice and big, always had strong drinks
     
  40. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    Anyone else unable to view any of the pics? Or just me?
     
  41. Capstone 88

    Capstone 88 Going hard in the paint
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    I can see half of them
     
  42. BayouMafia

    BayouMafia Thought Leader in Posting
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    ate at La Cabrera last night. At this point I didn't think it was possible to have my mind blown by steak after having so many great ones, but this was the best one I've ever had.

    I finally cracked the code on getting a decent espresso here - you have to order a ristretto. What they call espresso at worst regular coffee and at best a Nescafé.
     
  43. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    It's so damn good. Agree that it's one of the best I've ever had.

    I'm usually a black coffee guy, but I do enjoy a cortado when in South America. Similar to a latte, just a little stronger imo.
     
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  44. BayouMafia

    BayouMafia Thought Leader in Posting
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    Yeah I'm not one for cream or sugar in coffee but I drink the hell out of cortados when I'm in Miami.
     
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  45. Capstone 88

    Capstone 88 Going hard in the paint
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    Looking to do a late spring/early summer trip to Europe. Preface this with I've never hit 2 countries at once before. What would be the best way to go about hitting say Dublin and London for example? Buying 3 one-way flights?
     
  46. Arkadin

    Arkadin inefficiently efficent and unclearly clear
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    Just depends on price difference to convenience ratio
     
  47. Nug

    Nug MexicanNug
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    I'd probably do 3 one-ways, or a multi-city ticket US-->Dublin and London--> US, sometimes those can be cheaper. You can find a ticket between London and Dublin for dirt cheap.
     
  48. Capstone 88

    Capstone 88 Going hard in the paint
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    Yea that ticket was ~$70. The return trip from London was like $700 and 18+ hours which spurred the question.
     
  49. Nug

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    Yea, just play around with the dates/airports. I know both times I've flown to that part of Europe I flew in/out of New York and Boston, flights from there to that part of Europe can be like $200 one-way.
     
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  50. Where Eagles Dare

    Where Eagles Dare The Specialist Show On Earth
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    Never had a bad experience there. Usually drink there before more flights
     
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