wife has been vaccinated but i probably won't be able to get it until the masses get it whenever they do...maybe late spring early summer? then can get back to good travel i suppose.
November 2019 we left from Chicago on Korean Air and did O’Hare to Incheon to Denpasar. It was like 14:30 to Incheon and 9 for the second leg. We used miles, but I think it would’ve worked out to like $2200 each for business class.
So I've now been put in charge of our 2-3 days I Arenal (which is in 2 days). Anyone have any suggestions (things to do, places to eat/see, etc...) before I start furiously Google searching? We are staying at the Hyatt Tabacon Thermal Resort and Spa. Im thinking some time in the Arenal national park with some hiking (purchase tickets ahead of time? Any suggested hikes?) And we are looking into doing a canyoning tour as well (though I believe that's in the La Fortuna area). EDIT: I should add that I searched this thread previously (which was a huge help) and copied and pasted everything into a document. However, that document is in my laptop back in the states as I had no idea this was going to be tossed on me at the last minute.
I believe my favorite hike was Los Coladas I never heard of Arenal before I got there, had no plans and was fine. I literally asked for the "next bus out of San Jose" and I ended up in Arenal. No need to stress
I highly recommend canyoning if you are the active type. We did it in Arenal for the first time 6-7 years ago and got hooked. Since then we’ve done it in other parts of Costa Rica, Slovenia, Croatia, and Vietnam, and had it scheduled for Brazil before we had to cancel that trip. Rafting is also pretty good there, though not sure what time of year you are going. There’s a local guide who took us around in our rental car and showed us incredible wildlife including getting to within touching distance of a couple of sloths just chilling. I have his mobile number if interested
We're canyoning this afternoon and I think doing the park tmw morning. Do you purchase tickets at the park or can you prepurchase them? I have searched online and can't seem to find an Arenal webpage aside from tour companies and bloggers so I'm assuming purchase there but Manuel Antonio made us nervous as you had to purchase ahead of time though there was nothing online saying that (thankfully we chatted with a couple in the Jaco area and they alerted us to this).
I may have posted this before - but my friend who's a former fund manager and now runs the https://www.instagram.com/earthpix/ account. He basically travels for a living and said Bora Bora is his #1.
I used to have a fantastic contact at the Four Season's in Bora Bora - took care of a lot of people for me - we finally went to collect on a favor rate for ourselves and the guy had apparently gotten a houseboat and went completely off the grid. So, never made the trip. Definitely up there on the bucket list though.
This is an ongoing list of vacations I want to do. I’ve been to St Lucia but the wife hasnt and wants to go. Been to Berlin but nowhere else in Germany and also went to St John and St Thomas as a kid. Otherwise I haven’t been to any of the places on here: Europe Paris and London Amalfi Coast Switerzland South France Spain-Madrid, Barcelona Germany-Rhineland, Munich, Hamburg Greece Croatia Caribbean St Thomas and St Johns Turks and Caicos Caimans Bahamas-Nassau, Exuma, Warwick Paradise Island all Inclusive St Lucia Pacific Hawaii Bora Bora Bali Maldives Other Cabo US LA and Santa Barbara Sanfransico and Nappa Key West Glacier National Park Yellowstone National Charleston Ski Vacations Steamboat Vail Telluride
You could definitely knock out a lot of those on one trip. I would add Savannah and (if hopefully things return to normalcy) New Orleans if you haven't already been.
Love New Orleans. It's about 1.5 hrs from where I live so I go there a ton. Haven't been to Savannah , will add, good call.
Probably the cities that MLS liked the most on our U.S. tour were Monterey/Carmel, Jackson Hole, and Savannah. Although so much was closed the west coast aspect of the trip was heavily restricted. Cour'd Alene in Idaho was awesome - and if you head from there to Yellowstone/JH - you get to pass the ridiculous town of Wallace where everyone is getting blasted on ATV's and going from bar to bar.
Did Monterey/Carmel as a kid. Stayed at Post Ranch Inn. Highly recommend. Looked it up recently and still looks nice.
Just don't have an overwhelming urge to do Asia at this point. I definitely want to do it later in life though. It's a secondary tier of places for me. I do love the idea of all the street food and weird food they have though.
i find the Caribbean tourist spots and just in general resort spots around the world kind of a waste of traveling so far unless it's just as respite during a longer trip unless theres very specific nature things getting you there, but that'd be a tough pull
I largely wall off Asia on the option list because I have no self control and would spend way too much money and want to stay at ridiculous hotels. At least in the U.S. the wife has some veto power on my decisions.
Admittedly - this is weird as hell: Me and the wife have an excel budget of what we think our realistic total expenditures would be and separate the vacations in tabs. Japan looks like it would be a financial disaster.
my point is if I can fly 4 hours and do it, why fly 20 hours to do it i get that its a very normal thing for lots of people to do
Of course not, but there are so many places you can do that. And if that’s all you want, perfectly fine. But there are a ton of cheaper options, with MUCH better food and equally beautiful beaches; just require a longer flight. But more importantly, these other places offer a shitload more culture and “getting out of your comfort zone,” which you wont get at a resort of a 5 star Western European hotel. And I mainly travel to experience something different, not only lounge around and booze (which I still do more than enough of).
Don't underestimate my poor decision making. But I was moreso referencing Tokyo which may be my #1 trip I want to take at current.
after planning my repeatedly rescheduled tokyo trip its no more expensive than most european cities i imagine its a scenario of wanting to do all the $600+ sushi places that I wouldn't that changes the budgets still supposed to go in May, NOT confident though!
To some extent I divide vacations into 2 types. The kind where you experience something new and experience the culture. But I also like to decompress and just lay on a beach and chill for 5+ days. I think my ideal ratio is 1 of the former and then 3 months later 1 of the latter.
We planned our honeymoon around a trip to Georgia/Tbilisi and then we found out a friend of ours was getting married in the south of Spain. That was last summer, and it didn’t happen. Changed plans and are doing Spain/Austria/Switzerland this June instead. That said I still really want to go to Georgia. Anybody been?
GF left this morning, and I have another week here by myself, so expect my shitposting to increase 10-fold. San Agustinillo/Mazunte is my favorite place in Mexico I’ve been, and it’s not closs. Fucking phenomenal. Just authentic, small town Mexico on the coast. Meals are 100-150 pesos or under ($5-7.50), beers are 20-30 pesos ($1-1.50), Street tacos and tamales are 20 pesos/each ($1). The main problem has been that very few places takea card, and every ATM within an hour drive is out-of-service. found one ATM on the second day, got a couple hundred bucks, may be able to stretcg it out with street food and not having to pay for 2, but probably need to re-up before I leave. My place was a little pricey, but one of the coolest places I’ve ever stayed at: Spoiler Staying in San Agustinillo, which is a 30 minute walk/5 minute taxi from Zipolite to the East, and a 15 minute walk/2 min taxi from Mazunte to the West. Right smack in the middle, and definitely the quietest of the three. One night we bought a 20 peso full fish from a fishmonger on the beach, stopped by the local produce stand on the beach and cooked a phenomenal meal. I’m reading Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, so I was feeling inspired. San Ag is quiet, and that beach posted above (view from our condo) is essentially a private beach. Never ever crowded, just a few groups hanging out. As you get closer to Mazunte, it gets more crowded, but nothing crazy. Only 5-6 restaurants in San Ag, all very good. Can do the 15 min walk to Mazunte for a ton of restaurants, have not had a bad meal yet. I mean, there’s not a ton to do, but with COVID, etc. that’s fine. I wake up, do a few hours of work, go swimming/get my ass kicked surfing (waves are amazing, Where Eagles Dare ), grab some lunch, work for another 1-2 hours, then we grab beers, go to the beach to watch sunset, and figure out dinner. Mazunte seems pretty chill, small hippie/yoga/bohemian town — strong Pai, Thailand vibes. But it’s also kind of crowded and very little mask compliance. Hoping it clears out there after the NYE vacationers leave. A TON of restaurants, all cheap and super good. Zipolite seems fucking nuts. Honestly got strong Afrikaburn/Burning Man vibes. It’s a nude beach, and about 50% of the crowd adheres. Strong gay community, so lots of dong everywhere. The entire beach is basically bars/clubs, lots of techno and house, and I can only imagine what it gets like during the night. There were 2-3 camping hostels with like 50 tents just on the beach. With the casual drug use, lack of clothes, and unbridled hedonism, I bet NYE and other times are out of fucking control. Much younger party crowd here, would NOT recommend unless you want to get weird. Would love to come party after COVID — we went twice for meals, hardly a mask in site, retaurants packed to the gills, beach bars equally crowded. I could 100% live here, but the internet is comically bad — generally just use my phone as a hotspot. Maybe at least a PNW winter or 2. It’s jumped to the top of my list.
Love the location so much I casually browsed some real estate listings — tons of cheap airbnb condos available, like $200k-300k (USD). Talked to a realtor from Texas who informed me Oaxaca does not have private property, everything was deeded to “the people” after the Mexican Revolution — which means no bank is allowed to have an interest in property, which means no mortgages — all real estate transactions in Oaxaca must be a cash sale. Bummer. Room 15 he did tell me this hostel is for sale for $250k (but needs like $50-100k of work). Let’s do The-TMB hostel: https://www.tripadvisor.com.mx/Hote.../352183180:p/?albumid=101&type=1&category=101
The close ones are perfect for 3-4 day weekends. In the past 2 years we've had great long weekends in Roatan and Cabo, and we visit Costa Rica so much because of my work. For long trips I'm with you. I can do the beach for half a day or something, but my favorite part of travel experiences, not laying around.
Different strokes and such, but like 99% of this thread prefers the former, so we’re gonna get real cunty when commenting.
I almost went in 2018 when we were in Russia for WC and did some research but decided on Israel instead. Still high on my list. Great and cheap wine region close to tblisi, Supposedly the friendliest people in the world and khachapuri we had in Russia is one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. Someone in here had been though, maybe even lived there? and gave some good recs. I can’t remember who though.
You have to go. I’m usually more into going to new places but am planning on going back to Japan soon. Its not nearly as expensive as you think. I was pleasantly surprised. Top quality sushi and sashimi way cheaper than the US. Hotels Similar cost or even a bit cheaper than western europe. Plus really easy flight from the west coast and if you have any amex points you can get business class tickets on ANA for really cheap.
currently figuring this out just in case i have to reschedule my trip in may with the devaluation i'll be wanting to burn all my virgin atlantic points so might try to get into the new first class, new business class is nuts too though so outside of food/drink not sure the premium cost would be worth
as of last check transferring amex direct to ANA was only 80k rt for business from LA to Tokyo. Im not sure what the rate is with Virgin points. Is it about the same?