The drive from Cape Town down to Simons/etc is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. Give your self an extra hour at least for stopping and taking it all in.
Speaking of which, I really need to learn how to drive a manual. Pretty sad that I can’t. Will prolly need it for a van in Spain, too.
Staying in and buzzed posting tonight. About 92.3% sure I’m doing AfrikaBurn again next year, entire crew is planning on going back. We’re tricking out a rear-wheel drive lawnmower and old CJ7 for mutant vehicles. Between Madagascar and Namibia for the 2nd part of the trip. Madagascar is my first choice, but it’s pretty expensive and not sure 7/8 days is enough. Namibia is closer and cheaper. Driving to Namibia from CT would be incredible. Gin Buckets did you go to Namibia? Or just Moz?
To be real honest with you I found the penguins pretty meh, its like going to the zoo, maybe my expectations were too high but I thought you would be walking on the beach with them not viewing them from some platform. If you dive theres a solid dive shop out of Simons Town and I believe theres a place that does shark cage dives as well. People go surf at the beaches of Muizenburg and I've heard thats nice but we didn't go. The drives got great views, I think we used both Hertz and Avis for our rental cars which are right by you. Side note Oranjezicht City market is in greenpoint as well and that was a cool little market, open on the weekends. I'll do more restaurant recommendations in a later post.
So do we think picking a car up at like 11, driving down and taking our time, staying the night in Simon's town for dinner, then doing the rest of the drive the next day is too long? It feels like a good leisurely pace
Neither... Just Nairobi, Arusha for the safari, and then Zanzibar. Really want to go back and just tour the East African beaches more, because there's so much to see along that coast.
for anyone trying to get to NZ or do the Australia trip and use the free stopover in NZ Virgin is the best redemption if you have the points, rare to be able to get to this part of the world without spending a fortune in points
I stayed on an overnight in Lucerne, really made me want to come back and check out more. If I did go back I’d do the Tour Du Mont Blanc seems like an incredible time.
Take the Jungfraujoch train Friend was in Wengen a few years ago and her family did either the hang gliding or paragliding. Looked spectacular
Plan on doing it tomorrow although the clouds are low and it’s currently raining. Cannot recommend this stop enough though. Of places we’ve been, I rank them: 1. Wengen 2. Munich 3. Lucerne 4. Salzburg 5. Innsbruck . . . . . 101. Paris
When I read online that we couldn’t have a reclusive vacation in Cuba because of “going in support of the Cuban people”, what does that mean exactly? I mean I get that you are supposed to interact with the locals, but what If you didn’t? Explain like I’m 5 please
My wife and I are maybe planning a short weekend getaway for our 20th anniversary. She picked a city (New Orleans), I had 2 ideas (NYC or Denver). I was telling my mom , 65 year old conservative, about our plans. Her response was “I heard Denver isn’t a good place to go now they legalized marijuana, high people all on the streets”.
My brother was in Interlaken a few years back and loved it. Went skydiving out of a helicopter. The views were amazing.
It's nothing. Just mark it as that, stay at an AirBnb and you're fine. You use all cash once there as cards don't really work so all that cash goes to the "support of the Cuban people" and not the government as long as you're not going to government owned compounds. However, even if you did, nobody would know since everything is in cash anyways.
The embargo with Cuba is all economic and run through the Treasury department, the US doesn't want you to visit and give money direct to the Cuban government. The Cuban Government owns most of the large hotels, large businesses, etc (not all but most) so its best to avoid those. The US government is okay with you giving your money directly to Cuban people owned businesses so an Airbnb or a casa particular, paladars, etc conform to this. Theoretically the US Treasury department can ask for your itinerary for the days you visited and you will be burdened with providing proof you interacted with locals for the days of your stay (I forget if theres an hourly amount each day). So if you ate at a local paladar that counts as time interacting with locals but lets say if you go to a beachy resort, its hard to prove you interacted and supported the cuban people. I think this burden of proof lasts for 5 years after your stay. And yes everything is in cash, CC wont work you will need to bring USD for your entire trip (although side tip when I visited you got a better rate with canadian currency).
TO: Zurich (ZRH) FROM: Asheville (AVL) - $590 Birmingham (BHM) - $590 Chattanooga (CHA) - $591 Columbia (CAE) - $590 Greensboro (GSO) - $590 Greenville (GSP) - $585 Huntsville (HSV) - $591 Knoxville (TYS) - $590 Lexington (LEX) - $590 Little Rock (LIT) - $591 Louisville (SDF) - $590 Savannah (SAV) - $590 Wilmington (ILM) - $590 WHEN: Varies by origin. Generally late August 2019 through April 2020, including Thanksgiving, Xmas, and NYE
Another Nye London (LHR) FROM: Austin (AUS) - $482* Boston (BOS) - $353* Los Angeles (LAX) - $442* Newark (EWR) - $410* San Francisco (SFO) - $422* San Jose (SJC) - $422* Seattle (SEA) - $482* * - nonstop / direct WHEN: Varies by origin. Generally late August 2019 through April 2020, including Thanksgiving, Xmas (LAX costs approximately $40 more roundtrip for Xmas) and NYE
TO: Osaka (KIX) FROM: Boston (BOS) - $579 Charlotte (CLT) - $635 Dallas (DFW) - $577 Fort Lauderdale (FLL) - $621 Miami (MIA) - $618 Philadelphia (PHL) - $636 Phoenix (PHX) - $577 WHEN: Late July through August 2019 NORMAL PRICE: $1,500+ for peak summer AIRLINE(S): American, ANA, JAL, United BUY BY: We think these fares will last less than 24 hours
think we might hit montreal for 4-5 days in late july just for fun what neighborhood should we stay, i know we have some canadians rolling around, seems like transit is great so not a huge deal but most point towards old montreal or plateau-mont-royal. leaning the latter.
Thanks couldn’t remember who went Flights from Delta are direct and only $500ish in July. Tough to pass up an easy 5hr flight
Just got back from about 2 weeks in Europe. Norwegian did all they can to fuck with me pushing my first flight back a day and changing the actual airline taking me like 3 times but got there only a day and half behind schedule. Hamburg was a pretty cool city but the people there fucking suck so hard. And everything closes early and nothing is open Sundays. Rotterdam though was cool af and definitely a city I'd love to live in.
Beyond the general coldness of the people they were the most racist ones we dealt with. There were places that just wouldn't serve my sister's bf. It was really fucked up. At least they have a great train setup there.
I was there back in August for a week. This is only for Sao Miguel Island, but: The surf lodge and eco hotel is awesome -- go to that. (We didn't stay there, but spent a day there and the beach was great. SantaBarbara Eco Beach Lodge -- or something) The baths are cool -- I think that's in Furnas. Lots of amazing hiking. (Sete Cidades is a must) Fresh fish at every restaurant. There's an abandoned hotel somewhere that people seem to like. (Looked it up, Monte Palace I think?) I read something like this before getting there, and I think it was helpful? https://www.geekyexplorer.com/sao-miguel-island-in-4-days/
FROM: Newark (EWR) Amsterdam (AMS) - $359 Brussels (BRU) - $364 Florence (FLR) - $389 Geneva (GVA) - $357 Malaga (AGP) - $402 Naples (NAP) - $392 Porto (OPO) - $360 Venice (VCE) - $417 Zurich (ZRH) - $365 FROM: New York City (JFK) Amsterdam (AMS) - $359 Brussels (BRU) - $364 Florence (FLR) - $396 Geneva (GVA) - $357 Malaga (AGP) - $402 Naples (NAP) - $389 Porto (OPO) - $324 Venice (VCE) - $393 Zurich (ZRH) - $365 FROM: Miami (MIA) Amsterdam (AMS) - $359 Brussels (BRU) - $364 Florence (FLR) - $413 Geneva (GVA) - $357 Malaga (AGP) - $402 Naples (NAP) - $418 Porto (OPO) - $360 Venice (VCE) - $417 Zurich (ZRH) - $365 FROM: Boston (BOS) Amsterdam (AMS) - $359 Brussels (BRU) - $365 Florence (FLR) - $417 Geneva (GVA) - $357 Malaga (AGP) - $402 Naples (NAP) - $421 Porto (OPO) - $360 Venice (VCE) - $417 Zurich (ZRH) - $365 WHEN: Varies by route. Generally November 2019 through April 2020, most routes including Thanksgiving but all excluding Xmas/NYE
Anyone want to rank these cities? My best friend is going to Europe for a month this summer and I'm going to meet him for 10 days and I'm trying to pick 2-3 of the following (recs on whether to do 2 or 3 would also be appreciated). It will be two 31 year old dudes for reference (so drinking, good restaurants, history buff, etc.). -Athens -Berlin -Budapest -Dubrovnik -Prague -Amsterdam
My ranking: -Berlin -Budapest -Athens -Amsterdam -Dubrovnik -Prague Berlin and Budapest (and then Amsterdam/Prague) are definitely the top for partying. All will have pretty extensive history attractions.
Yes. Agree with Arkadin but instead of Dubrovnik do Hvar. Budapest is 2nd and then probably Prague. (Athens last)
TO: Beijing (PEK) FROM: Anchorage (ANC) - $537 Baltimore (BWI) - $507 Boise (BOI) - $483 Bozeman (BZN) - $518 Burbank (BUR) - $476 Calgary (YYC) - $698 CAD* Chicago (ORD) - $492* Denver (DEN) - $402 Edmonton (YEG) - $599 CAD Eugene (EUG) - $461 Fresno (FAT) - $517 Great Falls (GTF) - $513 Harrisburg (MDT) - $520 Kalispell (FCA) - $518 Kansas City (MCI) - $470 Las Vegas (LAS) - $463* Los Angeles (LAX) - $357 Medford (MFR) - $524 Missoula (MSO) - $507 Montreal (YUL) - $682 CAD New York City (JFK) - $443 Norfolk (ORF) - $520 Oakland (OAK) - $471 Orlando (MCO) - $460 Palm Springs (PSP) - $435 Pasco (PSC) - $520 Phoenix (PHX) - $424 Portland (PDX) - $493 Redmond (RDM) - $524 Reno (RNO) - $513 Richmond (RIC) - $520 Sacramento (SMF) - $525 Salt Lake City (SLC) - $516 San Diego (SAN) - $397 San Francisco (SFO) - $376 San Jose (SJC) - $479* Santa Ana (SNA) - $476 Santa Barbara (SBA) - $476 Seattle (SEA) - $479* Spokane (GEG) - $488 Tucson (TUS) - $538 Vancouver (YVR) - $537 CAD * - nonstop / direct WHEN: Varies greatly by origin. Generally September through December 2019, some routes include Thanksgiving but all exclude Xmas/NYE
Budapest is a must, checks all of your boxes and it’s cheap as shit. Definitely worth figuring out the busses and going out to the communist monument graveyard. If you end up deciding to go I’ll get a write up together for you. Those are the three things fiancée and I prioritize for travel as well.
Thanks for the responses so far, guys. I've initially pitched this idea to him tonight: Friday aft - Tues morn: Budapest Tues aft: Fly Budapest to Split Tues-Wed: Split Thurs: Hvar Fri-Sun: Dubrovnik (maybe one night in another Croatia town on the way down?)
I'd do a night in split and then a couple in hvar before going to dubrov I really like zadar personally but I get it not being one of the major croatia coast cities
If you've got ihg points to burn this is pretty cool https://thepointsguy.com/guide/ihg-pointbreak-destinations-family/