Going to play with this tmw when I have a computer in front of me but somehow the flights for me are still $1000+. It’s ridiculous. Though appreciate the looking out.
Now that the FA Cup draw has happened we got down to booking the 2nd week. 3/10-3/11: Flying to London (layover in Reykjavik) and just look for something to do 3/12: Train to Manchester, possibly meet up with a friend from KC who will also be there, and go to Manchester City vs Schalke 3/13: Train to London and Harry Potter studio tour 3/14: Free day in London, maybe try to do a stadium tour and go to a match if Chelsea or Arsenal host in Europa league 3/15: Stonehenge 3/16: Free day in London or (hopefully) go to Swansea vs Manchester City FA Cup QF 3/17: Fly to Rome, go to Lazio vs Parma 3/18: Vatican City 3/19: Explore Rome 3/20: Fly to London and free time 3/21: Free day in London 3/22: Fly home Unsure what I’ll do on the free days in London and Rome. May look into other tours on those days, or figure stuff out on our own Have booked rooms/Airbnb for 3/11-3/16 and 3/17-3/20. Need to get a place for the night of the 16th (will try to just extend the place for an extra night) and then may get a really nice hotel for the last 2 nights in London. Was looking at 5 star places earlier
I don’t know why it is but having the multiple, bigger screens help me figure things out better. And if that doesn’t work I ask it politely, pet it 5 times, and pull out my Ouija pointer and figure it out that way. On a serious note, does anyone know anything about Cuba? Looking to book an AirBnb tmw and planning to book one in the Old Havana area but didn’t know what might be a nicer area with good food and near the sites and sounds without needing a taxi.
Hope you’re going to Ubud! Chedi Club’s restaurant is a nice place for dinner or drinks. It sits right in the middle of rice fields and it’s not crowded. Definitely more expensive, but worth it. Jalan Raya Ubud is a worthwhile street to visit for dinner. Here’s the number of the taxi driver we liked best there: +62 831-1954-5810. Just WhatsApp him when your trip gets close. Most drivers like to hassle you about your plans and try to sell you on some excursion. This guy didn’t give us any shit and was relatively safe. Pricing was reasonable too.
My buddy raved about Langkawi and Phu Quoc. Philippines gets a lot of attention too, but Boracay obviously had some issues recently. Seems like Palawan is the place to go. Okinawa could be another option.
Staying at Chedi Club for two nights when we go to Bali in a month. Also doing two nights here: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/5904771?guests=1&adults=1
If the number of times you brace for impact then breathe a sigh of relief in any given trip is less than once per 5 minutes, the driver is safe. Whenever a new team member came over to India we'd have them ride in the front seat with the driver on the way to work on day 1. They'd be white as a sheet by the time the 30 minute ride was over.
My closest thing to a near death experience was a taxi ride from our hotel to the Bangkok airport. Legitimately thought we were going to die, my man was weaving in and out of traffic like it was Daytona.
On one or two of you free days in London just do a walking tour of the historical areas. They're all relatively close to each other so you can see a lot of things just by walking around. From West to East you can see Kensington Palace, Hyde Park, Royal Albert Hall (lots of museums south of the hall), Harrods, Buckingham Palace, St James Park, Westminster Church, Parliament and Big Ben. You can go inside and tour a lot of these places but even just walking by and around them is cool. If you're a history buff go to Churchill War Rooms. It's where the British army and intelligence was headquarter during WWII in an underground bunker now turned into a museum/tour. Go on the London Eye because it gives you a great view of the city. Borough market was another favorite area as well with lots of food and shopping in a cool environment Stamford Bridge and Craven Cottage were both cool stadiums in the middle of neighborhoods we walked around. I'm sure they do tours as well. The Harry Potter studio tour was cool but honestly the park in Orlando is a lot better. I loved London and at least got to go to one soccer game while I was there (West Ham hosting Spurs) so I'm super jealous of your trip. Take the tube everywhere because it's really easy, clean and cheap if you just buy day passes. I would just check out different areas of the city during your free time. The food and pub scene in London is awesome.
Hah yea that might seem like an odd endorsement but he was a good driver relative to what I’ve seen in SE Asia.
There was this alley right next to our hostel on chiang mai last time I was there that dumped you out pretty close to the night bazaar. It was super skinny but a small car could fit down it real snug like. We had a tuk tuk driver who is just hauling ass and smokes this lady on a bike and she eats it hard and he just hit the horn, followed by the throttle, and acted like nothing happened lol
Kiev 1990 taxi ride from the airport to the train station was my worst. Careening between army trucks in a little Lada, than having to screech to a halt after a particularly strong lateral move caused the hood to unlatch and fly up Taxi driver last December taking the family from downtown Rome to Fiumicino got up to 170kmph, afterward the wife said she just closed her eyes and tried not to think of how fast we were going
We are going to Ubud and will be staying there for 3 nights. Staying at the Kayon Jungle resort. A little further outside of Ubud than I would have liked, but it is our honeymoon and my fiancé wanted a nice hotel with a great view. Really appreciate the info for the taxi driver. I was planning on getting a private car in between hotels as I don’t want to mess with the taxi services there. We are also staying in Canggu (Airbnb) and in Uluwatu (Anantara). If you have other recommendations, I would love to hear them.
I love how traffic laws aren't really applied to motorcycles/scooters in SE Asia, more just suggestions. My last night in Nepal I had a late flight out of Kathmandu the next day, so stayed in a village about 2-3 hours outside the city. Start driving back into the city that AM, forget that it was a Monday, so get caught in rush hour traffic on the "interstate," traffic backed up for miles. Saw a group of bikes just weaving in and out of traffic like it's GTA, hop in right behind them and fly through cars on my way to drop off the bike. It was a fucking rush. Saw a lady get killed in Chiang Mai while riding a scooter, I was about 20-30 feet behind her, she slowly rolls into an intersection (her fault) and just gets plastered by a semi truck. Flies 15-20 feet in the air. Almost ran up underneath a truck myself driving from Chiang Mai to Pai, first real time on a bike like that. Started raining, I took a turn to fast and the bottom slipped out from under me. I didn't know it at the time but basically "laid it down" on its side, slide up up to about 6 inches - 1 foot away from the back tires.
southside and I 100% should have died on our return trip to chiang mai from pai. I've never been just so blatantly stupid and reckless
Lyrtch TO: Johannesburg (JNB) FROM: Boston (BOS) - $663 Chicago (ORD) - $658 Philadelphia (PHL) - $605 WHEN: Varies by origin. Generally March through May and August through November 2019, including Thanksgiving
70k Delta miles for Premium Select long hauls is a pretty nice deal, ends up being 2 cents/mile value on many routes if only I had enough I might pop for the Tokyo trip (this deal is basically what I did a few months back to book my korea trip next month) https://thepointsguy.com/deals/delta-premium-economy-flights-tokyo-seoul/
This is awesome. Peak summer, Christmas and new years to New Zealand FROM: Edmonton (YEG) Auckland (AKL) - $1,028 CAD Christchurch (CHC) - $1,028 CAD Dunedin (DUD) - $1,028 CAD Gisborne (GIS) - $1,028 CAD Hokitika (HKK) - $1,028 CAD Invercargill (IVC) - $1,028 CAD Kerikeri (KKE) - $1,028 CAD Napier (NPE) - $1,028 CAD Nelson (NSN) - $1,028 CAD New Plymouth (NPL) - $1,028 CAD Palmerston North (PMR) - $1,028 CAD Queenstown (ZQN) - $1,028 CAD Rotorua (ROT) - $1,028 CAD Taupo (TUO) - $1,028 CAD Tauranga (TRG) - $1,028 CAD Timaru (TIU) - $1,028 CAD Wellington (WLG) - $1,028 CAD Woodbourne (BHE) - $1,028 CAD FROM: Vancouver (YVR) Auckland (AKL) - $1,016 CAD Christchurch (CHC) - $1,016 CAD Dunedin (DUD) - $1,016 CAD Gisborne (GIS) - $1,016 CAD Hokitika (HKK) - $1,016 CAD Invercargill (IVC) - $1,016 CAD Kerikeri (KKE) - $1,016 CAD Napier (NPE) - $1,016 CAD Nelson (NSN) - $1,016 CAD New Plymouth (NPL) - $1,016 CAD Palmerston North (PMR) - $1,016 CAD Queenstown (ZQN) - $1,016 CAD Rotorua (ROT) - $1,016 CAD Taupo (TUO) - $1,016 CAD Tauranga (TRG) - $1,016 CAD Timaru (TIU) - $1,016 CAD Wellington (WLG) - $1,016 CAD Woodbourne (BHE) - $1,016 CAD FROM: Calgary (YYC) Auckland (AKL) - $1,028 CAD Christchurch (CHC) - $1,028 CAD Dunedin (DUD) - $1,028 CAD Gisborne (GIS) - $1,028 CAD Hokitika (HKK) - $1,028 CAD Invercargill (IVC) - $1,028 CAD Kerikeri (KKE) - $1,028 CAD Napier (NPE) - $1,028 CAD Nelson (NSN) - $1,028 CAD New Plymouth (NPL) - $1,028 CAD Palmerston North (PMR) - $1,028 CAD Queenstown (ZQN) - $1,028 CAD Rotorua (ROT) - $1,028 CAD Taupo (TUO) - $1,028 CAD Tauranga (TRG) - $1,028 CAD Timaru (TIU) - $1,028 CAD Wellington (WLG) - $1,028 CAD Woodbourne (BHE) - $1,028 CAD FROM: Houston (IAH) Auckland (AKL) - $765 Christchurch (CHC) - $765 Dunedin (DUD) - $765 Gisborne (GIS) - $765 Hokitika (HKK) - $765 Invercargill (IVC) - $765 Kerikeri (KKE) - $765 Napier (NPE) - $765 Nelson (NSN) - $765 New Plymouth (NPL) - $765 Palmerston North (PMR) - $765 Queenstown (ZQN) - $765 Rotorua (ROT) - $765 Taupo (TUO) - $765 Tauranga (TRG) - $765 Timaru (TIU) - $765 Wellington (WLG) - $765 Woodbourne (BHE) - $765 FROM: Honolulu (HNL) Auckland (AKL) - $650 Christchurch (CHC) - $582 Dunedin (DUD) - $650 Gisborne (GIS) - $650 Hokitika (HKK) - $650 Invercargill (IVC) - $650 Kerikeri (KKE) - $650 Napier (NPE) - $650 Nelson (NSN) - $650 New Plymouth (NPL) - $650 Palmerston North (PMR) - $650 Queenstown (ZQN) - $650 Rotorua (ROT) - $650 Taupo (TUO) - $650 Tauranga (TRG) - $650 Timaru (TIU) - $650 Wellington (WLG) - $650 Woodbourne (BHE) - $650 FROM: Los Angeles (LAX) Auckland (AKL) - $692 Christchurch (CHC) - $692 Dunedin (DUD) - $692 Gisborne (GIS) - $692 Hokitika (HKK) - $692 Invercargill (IVC) - $692 Kerikeri (KKE) - $692 Napier (NPE) - $692 Nelson (NSN) - $692 New Plymouth (NPL) - $692 Palmerston North (PMR) - $692 Queenstown (ZQN) - $692 Rotorua (ROT) - $692 Taupo (TUO) - $692 Tauranga (TRG) - $692 Timaru (TIU) - $692 Wellington (WLG) - $692 Woodbourne (BHE) - $692 FROM: San Francisco (SFO) Auckland (AKL) - $693 Christchurch (CHC) - $693 Dunedin (DUD) - $693 Gisborne (GIS) - $693 Hokitika (HKK) - $693 Invercargill (IVC) - $693 Kerikeri (KKE) - $693 Napier (NPE) - $693 Nelson (NSN) - $693 New Plymouth (NPL) - $693 Palmerston North (PMR) - $693 Queenstown (ZQN) - $693 Rotorua (ROT) - $693 Taupo (TUO) - $693 Tauranga (TRG) - $693 Timaru (TIU) - $693 Wellington (WLG) - $693 Woodbourne (BHE) - $693 WHEN: Generally February 2019 through January 2020, including peak summer, Thanksgiving, and Xmas/NYE availability
Good call. I'm going to Spain 9/24-10/2. Flying into Madrid and out of Malaga. Everyone wants to the do the south portion of the country. We're debating an itinerary while we're there. The hypothetical plan is to fly into Madrid spend that evening and most of the next day there. Then evening of the 26th take the bullet train down to Seville for a day or two then take the train to a small town outside of Malaga and setup a home base. I want to have at least a couple of days to wander around a town and eat/drink go to the beach and have no plans. We figure we can do day trips to Ronda or wherever else during the day. No one has been to this area of Spain so if you have any suggestions please let me know.
Go to a Real Betis or Sevilla match when in Sevilla. Granada is really cool. The Alhambra justified the hype imo.
Hide me a note somewhere and I'll find it. "Honey, we have to drive 35 minutes out of the way so I can find a note from an internet person and post it on TMB for likes."
CoastalOrange TO: Manchester (MAN) FROM: Charlotte (CLT) - $503 Chicago (ORD) - $473 Los Angeles (LAX) - $480* New York City (JFK) - $440* Orlando (MCO) - $470* Philadelphia (PHL) - $445* San Francisco (SFO) - $480* * - nonstop / direct WHEN: Varies by origin. Generally April through June and September through November 2019
Did you ride from tj down to guerrero? These roads fucking suck I imagine you had to go some other way
Yup rode from TJ to Ensenada then took highway 1 all the way down. I recall the stretch after El Rosario to be particularly bad. On the bike it’s a little better cause I can dodge pot holes easy enough compared to a car.
Pretty rough. With all the water on the road it's even worse. Didnt see any of the bike caravans until like 3 hours outside of tj but I assume that's a product of timing more than anything
I got this email and somehow I'm still unable to make it reasonably work on my dates for under $1,100 from CLT. If I do it as a separate itinerary with one between CLT to NYC and one between NYC and MAN then I can get the price down to around $800. So infuriating.
It's not going to work for all exact dates. Have to be flexible a little and check out the dates that do work on google flights
I'll post a full recap when I get home with some pictures and videos after I edit them but man. You're surrounded by whales from almost the moment you get out into the main area. Must've seen 25 breeches. Had a couple come up and hang out next to the boat so everyone could pet it. One switched sides so the other side of the boat could pet it
And by breaches I mean the full on jump out the water land on it's back thing. There were hundreds and hundreds of just regular sightings above the water. Like 5 a minute
Arkadin Question for you. The big Europe sale from Scott's you posted a few weeks ago is obviously over. In your experience do you think there will be another sale within the next 2-3 months?
Yeah almost certainly. Anything specific you're looking for? I'll post the big ones and I try and post a lot of them but sometimes I dont get to it
Looking at Italy from Salt Lake City in October. I would have taken advantage of the previous sale, but my wife's vacation request took too long to be approved. Prices were $450 R/T, but now are up to $1,000.
Depending on where you are, Norwegian has approx. $300 RT and nonstop between a lot of US cities and London Gatwick right now. Could get to London and then spend $40-50 to fly basically anywhere in Europe
I appreciate the idea. Not sure Norwegian flies out of SLC though. I've heard of Ryan Air. Are there other continental carriers that I should look at?