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

I don't know.

Are there plugs under the seat?? Don't remember seeing anything when I've flown southwest.

Edit.... Google tells. Me you get music and live TV

 

Starting to firm up details for a trip to London this August. Currently looking at some Airbnb options....anyone have thoughts on best location?

Looking at options in Earl's Court, Kensington, Central London (Lambeth), Notting Hill, Paddington and Pimlico.

 

Looks like you're doing too much to me

 

1. Is that little time doable for Angkor Wat? My wife will not spend days walking around temples but wanted to get a little flavor. Don't have a ton of interest in Siem Reap itself.
-it's pretty tough. Especially considering your internal clock is going to be fucked upon landing. Temples can be done in a half day--my concern would be not having a hotel to come back to that afternoon. Theoretically, you'll have to check out of your hotel that AM when you go to the temples (hotel will hold your baggage), tour, get sweaty, then have nowhere to shower or freshen up until getting to Saigon late that night. 20 year old me wouldn't care, but older me...

-I'd try to fly into Saigon the morning of Day 2

2. Halong Bay - is it possible to see this without an overnight cruise?
-yes, but you'd be rushing it. I wouldn't want to skimp on this. If you go for multiple days, be sure the 2nd night is on Cat Ba Island. Most of the boats aren't super luxurious. Do your homework, there are a shitload of companies, lots of them bad. You can do it in 2 days, I wouldn't want to do it in 1

3. Tried not to cram too much in (left Hoi An off for example), but any glaring omissions? Am I still doing too much?
-I'd want some downtime, for me. Maybe cut off the (day trip) in Hanoi? Hoi An is overrated to me.
-I also think it'd be easier:

Day 5 - AM flight to Hanoi
Day 6 - Hanoi
Day 7 - Hanoi / easy bus to Halong Bay
Day 8 - Halong Bay (or go to Halong here)
Day 9 - Back to Hanoi
Day 10 - Hanoi / Ninh Binh (day trip from Hanoi--like Halong Bay inland) -- or just chill in Hanoi for your last day
Day 11 - 10am departure

-I'd think it'd be easier to fly into Hanoi and use that as your central location in the north rather than Halong --> Hanoi


4. Preferred sites for hotels, food, etc. Research?[/QUOTE]
-Tripadvisor is my go-to. Rarely lets me down. I also just google "best pho in Hanoi" or "best mekong delta tour" and open up 10 tabs, go down a rabbit hole

 

Staying in my first tiny house this weekend, up in the San Juan Islands, kinda in the woods. Bringing the dogs and going to hike around the islands and explore all weekend, weather permitting.

165 sq feet, 2 people + 2 dogs.
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/29989846?guests=1&adults=1

 

Re: #1, I've booked an extra night at a hostel just to shower before a late flight/bus ride and not sleep there. A hostel would be easier than a hotel, but if it's only $20-30-40, it might be worth it. Cambodia is cheap, even by SE Asia standards. But you're going to be a sweaty, smelly mess--go ahead and assume that.

Re: #2 & 3, Hanoi is amazing, and is very centrally located for north Vietnam. Just easy to use as a jumping off point, and a lot to do. If you can get a cheap, direct flight from Saigon to Halong, it surely wouldn't hurt. There are tons of resorts on Cat Ba Island (which is within Halong Bay). You can also kayak and shit during the day. There are 100s of options to do Halong Bay, and it can be kinda touristy, but is still really cool. Just do your homework, there are some shadddddy companies.

 

Can’t speak to the other areas but spent most of last week in Pimlico area near Pimlico Station and it was nice, very convenient. Could get most places we needed by hopping on the underground and getting up 1 stop to Victoria Station (also has the Gatwick Express)

Flying back to London from Rome tomorrow and staying in the Mayfair area, just north of Buckingham Palace on Old Park Lane so I’m interested to see how it compares being in a different area

 

Pimlico is better than Mayfair. But all depends on what youre looking or and looking to do.

 

Well it’ll be everyone’s first trip to London, 4 of us total. Definitely going to do some touristy stuff, but also enjoy staying in a cool neighborhood with local shit. Looking for a good balance between convenience to transit and cool local fare.

 

You should invite Jenna to stay over

 

Got back from Cuba last night around midnight. Made work this morning challenging. But an awesome and interesting place to say the least. Beautiful architecture every where but most of it is falling apart due to 60 years of complete neglect. Most everyone was pretty nice and surprisingly felt pretty damn safe the entire trip while walking around Havana at night. I learned later in the trip that since tourism is such a big part of the economy they have very steep penalties for any locals accosting or attacking or whatever a tourist. Like 5 years if a cop notices it and feels the Cuban national is going over the top, then like 25 years or something outrageous if a tourist claims something happened to the police.

Highly suggest going and highly suggest downloading the maps.me app ahead of time with Cuba downloaded to be used offline.

 

For us we figured coming back we’d try to relax more the last 2 days and do less while staying in a nicer place.

Planning to try to do a tour of a stadium tomorrow after we check in then Thursday have tickets to a West End show. Outside of that, probably not doing much

 

Mayfair is nice. You will like it and its perfect location for doing West End. Just was saying Im a big fan of Pimlico/SlaoneSq area.

Craven Cottage is awesome. Pub right across the thames called the Dukes Head is one of my favorites. Youre just going to be missing Oxford-Cambridge race. Stamford Bridge too. Basically pick your pubs/restaurant along Kings + Fulham road. Jam Tree. Idk much around Arsenal's stadium. But know a ton about Islington proper. There aint shit around West Ham's stadium - id skip that.

 

Debating if Emirates is the choice since I saw the Europa match there Thursday. Makes me want to do the tour there but then I question if I should see a different stadium.

Probably still go back there but just a thought that occurred to me

 

We stayed in an AirBNB in Whitechapel last Summer in a really nice high rise apartment next to the Aldgate East train station. It’s on the East side of town, but I’d recommend it.

It was the only time I’ve been to London, but I can say most of the touristy things you’re going to want to see are on the West side of town. That was the only down side about staying in Whitechapel and even then it was a 15-20 minute Uber ride away from most things.

 

As a soccer newb, Emirates does a cool tour. A lot of the stadiums are a decent/expensive Uber ride away from Central London and we figured Emirates was probably closest, so we went and did the tour. I’d recommend it. Having never even been to a soccer match before, it was definitely cool.

 

Amazing information, thank you.

1-Good point. The problem is that there aren't any flights available before 11:30am. I don't want to waste most of a day between SR and HCM if I can avoid it, so may just suck it up and fly sweaty. Hotels there are also pretty cheap so I suppose I could just book a room for both nights even if I plan to sleep in it...that may be the way to go?

2-I didn't phrase this well. I definitely do not plan to shorten this part of the trip, would extend if anything. I'm asking if there are resort type options I could do instead of sleeping on a boat. Not sure if there are other ways to see the area during the day.

3-any particular reason you say that? There are cheap direct flights from Saigon and the bus (or private transfer) options to Hanoi would seem easy enough. Good point on the day trip, too.[/QUOTE]

I did a few nights in Hanoi as part of our SE Asia trip in November. We did two day trips, one to Halong Bag and one to Ninh Binh. If I had more time I would’ve loved to do an overnight at halong, or even a home stay which we heard of others doing. We loved Ninh Binh and would definitely recommend that as a day trip too.

 

We didn’t Uber at all in London. Underground is cheaper and faster.

Hatfield make to buy a visiter Oyster card ahead of time for everyone in your group. It’s £5 and they mail it to you. We preloaded them with £50 then added as we needed to.

Anytime I would check something on Google Maps it would tell me it was slower to drive/Uber/taxi than to take the underground and was typically 3x+ the cost.
You can’t buy the visitor Oyster card while you’re in London to my understanding and it makes it so you can tap in and out at your start and end stations without having to buy a ticket. You can still buy tickets for the zones you need but with the card there’s no limitations on zones so if you need something further away only once or twice it is easier imo.

 

Only place I've really felt like we needed them was Venice and even that was only one or two places. However, it was nice going to those places and them saying "we can seat you but we need the table in an hour" because then they were very attentive and moving quick unlike your standard European dinner

 

If it’s somewhere we’re dead set on eating, yes. I’d say most times we probably didn’t need one when we were traveling central/Eastern Europe last year (except Figlmuller in Vienna) but I like the peace of mind.

 

I only do if my day revolves around the meal. There was one place in Buenos Aires and I didn't regret it. But if I'm ok missing it I'd rather have flexibility

 

I'd rather wait and be flexible. But I'm a free bird. Sometimes I wander and disappear

 

I'm not sure ive ever made reservations in advance abroad for an actual restaurant. I have for experiences that are food based things or when I get to town and I want to go somewhere and they recommend a reservation

 

I usually make a reservation for one high end or highly rated place whenever doing a new international city and then just wing it for the rest of the meals. I already got a reservation to Arzak in San Sebastian for July. Didn't want to miss out on something like that.

 

Yeah, we reserved Figlmuller and 12Apostelkeller because I'd been to both of them before and wanted to make sure we'd get a spot when we took the kids two years ago. Didn't need it at 12Apostelkeller, but it was nice to have. In general, there are enough places to get good food and I'm not really a foodie anyway. Sometimes it's good to walk the streets and take a look at places and menus in person before deciding to eat there. Frequently the best meals are in hole-in-the-wall places that you just stumble upon.

 

We did reservations in Cape Town for rust en vrede and la colombe back in 2010. Haven’t made a reservation for food in advance while traveling since. Although that might change this summer when I go to Chicago.

 

Went about a month ago for work. Nice little Sunday boozing and exploring the downtown plaza area along the Rhine. Was only there for a night though.

 

If you’re planning a visit to Italy’s Cinque Terre, it’s a good idea to pack sensible hiking shoes. Tourists who walk the steep, hilly terrain that connects the five villages are prohibited from wearing flip-flops, sandals and pumps.

The ban will come into play on 1 April. Fines start at €50 ($56) and can rise to €2500 ($2824), depending on how much of an “inconvenience and expense they inflict on the authorities.” Mountain rescue teams, who are made up of volunteers from the Italian Alpine Club, will first launch an awareness campaign to ensure visitors arrive better prepared.

Dumbdumbs

 

Brazil just dropped visa requirements for us residents

 

Too expensive, risky country leadership. Pass.

 

Everyone I talked to in December that had just been to Brazil did nothing but rave about it. People who had been all over the place

 

Brazil is fucking badass, anyone who says otherwise is an illerate dumbshit

 

99.9% of people that visit Brazil will almost certainly have a good time and a white person will not experience any ill-will. Rio might be my #1 destination in the world. It's incredible. It's more about whether you can hold your nose on their politics and ideology while visiting. Do you want to pump $$ into a country that commits atrocities and literal genocide of Amazonian tribes?

Myanmar is a good analogy. It's one of the most amazing countries I've ever visited, loved it. But many people have zero desire to visit because of the ongoing Rohingya genocide. It started while I was over there (before international attention), and I didn't notice a thing. But knowing what I know now, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that I indirectly supported the country while they were committing atrocities. Brazil is doing similar things with Balsonaro's nazi ass and destroying the Amazon and people living there.

As white Americans, we won't notice a thing--in Brazil or Myanmar. 99.9% of Americans that visit either country will have a great time. They will cater to us and do everything they can to ensure we have a good time and spend money. But you're going to have to accept you're visiting a country whose government is murdering and displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

I'm not trying to come at this from some morally superior position. I'm not above going, I'd probably still visit Rio and parts of Brazil if a unique opportunity arises. But you need to take into account the political climate of the country. It's fucked up, and you indirectly support it by visiting. I won't judge you for visiting (because I may do the same), but it's understandable why many don't want to.

 

I spent 3 days hiking with an American girl while in Ethiopia. She had lived in Cairo for 2 years (ergh, OK), and was moving to Istanbul (yikes) to teach after this trip.

Of course, she never experienced any prejudice and emphasized how safe it was. For a white girl she's probably right. But that doesn't mean everything is A-OK to visit. Perspective matters.

 

Links to Borsonaro killing Amazonians? Have somehow missed this