- Watched tulum / playa del carmen "remote working / nomad" videos on youtube 4 days ago - started looking at r/digitalnomad tulum / PDC threads 3 days ago - started lookin at monthly cost of living down there 2 days ago - Yesterday: company HR says do what you want (100% remote), long as you aren't going somewhere for more than 3 months at a time and youre getting your work done Looks like im goin down this june / july.
I know we have a bunch of San Diego experts in here so throw any bar/brewery/restaurant/things to do recs at me, please. Going to be there essentially 4 full days and 3 nights (land Friday around 7 am and leave late Monday night). Staying at an Airbnb in Gaslamp. Wife and I both haven't been here since we were kids so everything is on the table. Going to assume everything will be fully open on 6/15 for planning purposes for now and correct as necessary.
Between which islands? We did Santorini -> Paros and Paros -> Milos. The first leg was on a calm day but then the wind came in while we were on Paros and made the ferry ride very choppy. I don’t usually get motion sickness but there were ~15 foot swells battering the boats and I queasy as hell. My wife puked and then luckily fell asleep. The locals on the ferry were completely unbothered which was somewhat amusing. Fingers crossed for calm days for yours.
Tulum’s awesome, but it’s also not what it used to be. It’s gonna be crazy crowded and somewhat expensice for MX. I’d look at CDMX or Mazunte for the digital nomad life, but personal preference
ill prob chop it up between tulum, pdc, mazunte, merida. point is to be on the beach Don't mind crowds, love to meet people
Puerto Escondido. Popular on the backpacking circuit. Fun beach and surf spot. Big party scene. Great nightlife. Plus an airport right in the city. Cheaper than Tulum.
We did ours early in the 72-hour window in order to make sure that we had completed test results - Carbon Health, a preferred partner for Alaska Airlines, said on their website guaranteed next day by 2pm, so we figured we'd get it Sat. 2pm and if there were any problems getting us the results we had 36 hours to do something about it, not last-day mayhem. Turns out that we may have done it too early for the Hawaii website's liking, probably an am/pm timestamp that's redflagging the am test results but not the pm test results. Kids and I did ours just before noon, all got rejected; wife did hers at 12:05pm, and hers was accepted. We all tested negative and have the hardcopies to prove it, and we have have vaccine cards, so I figure we're just going to have to talk to a human at Kahalui to straighten things out. Wife isn't worried, but maybe it's because she's looking at having a really relaxing time by herself in a huge oceanfront condo while the kids and I are drinking out of the toilet in some Guantanamo-style quarantine prison by the tarmac
Going back to JH but may go down to Couer d'Alene at some point. Really haven't been able to spend much time there yet.
We’re going to AFC Urgent care and it will be at around 60 hours. They have a PCR rapid test that qualifies apparently.
The Carbon Health people explained to us that because Hawaii and Alaskan consider them a Trusted Partner, Hawaii will accept a PCR rapid test from them. I was surprised that they didn't tickle my brain with the swab, since my initial recon indicated that Hawaii only accepted the more invasive test results (and Carbon hasn't updated their website in a few months). At any rate, I'd expect that if AFC is a Trusted Partner, then Hawaii will accept a PCR test from them
Yeah they are. I checked I also emailed the guy that runs the program for them. They have some official Hawaii document they fill out confirming the negative test.
Can get good prices to Seattle for late July. Think Canada will be open by then to pop over in to Vancouver? Never been to the PNW so don’t know if it’s worth driving down to Portland, too, or whatever.
The Amtrak between Seattle and Portland is quick and easy. All depends on how much time you’re looking at spending up there; both of those cities could be their own trip with plenty of stuff to do
Canada has had been much stricter on regulations through the pandemic. I've been checking about every month or so to see progress, because I would have liked to do a British Columbia road trip this summer, but I think optimistic projections are opening the US border in September. They want a majority of Canadians vaccinated before opening the borders. I think they still have a mandatory 14-day quarantine for returning residents and some inter-province travel may still be restricted. PNW is great though.
I've booked Croatia for the end of July since it is letting in vaccinated Americans. Flying into Split, out of Dubrovnik, I'll have 9.5 days on the ground. This may be a long shot, but any must do recommendations on outdoor activities, hikes, beaches etc ? I'll probably spend some time in Montenegro since it is also allowing vaccinated travelers, and I am very intrigued by the Albanian Alps if anyone has recommendations in those areas.
Lots of Croatia recs itt. Zabljak is one of my favorite places on earth, definitely worth a look if you're down for mountains and want to see Montenegro.
Good choice. If hostels are your thing, Hikers Den is a very good one. Owners are good people. Not really a party place so you should be okay if you're a bit older.
We did canyoning and rock climbing while in Split. The canyoning had more jumps and less rappels than we were used to but was still a lot of fun.
Probably won't be able to get into Canada, but there will be plenty to do in July. Portland is very doable, about a 2.5 hour drive from Seattle. Both are great cities. But there's plenty to do in WA alone with national parks, etc. Fuck yes. BC is stunningly beautiful.
Going in August. I’ll definitely need food and drink recs. Staying in Lahaina. Lawnole23 what condos are you in?
If there are any others coming down to USVI in the coming months be aware of rental car roulette that’s going down here right now. The companies apparently sold off a huge portion of their fleets last year when COVID hit so there’s very few cars but now a slew of demand with people wanting to come to the Caribbean but not go international. So when we arrived we had to wait 90 minutes for a car and essentially you get what’s being returned when you show up. We reserved a full size sedan but got a Durango instead. We won as this will help when we take the car ferry to St John this week as it has all wheel drive but others may not be so lucky.
My buddy are I both big vacation researchers so we have a spreadsheet of all the most recommended places. I’ll post whatever lives up to the billing.
Hot take but Tulum has been ruined by the influencer types. The worst of the worst people have taken it over.
I haven't been to Tulum in 10 years which is before it was 'ruined' but today I'm listening to local sports talk and and one of the hosts (guy in his early 30's) just got back from a week in Tulum and described it as "imagine if Instagram were a place, and not in a good way"
On one hand, yes I agree that Tulum has been overtaken by influencers and the like. On the other hand, it is what you make of it -- no beautiful place is going to remain hidden in the age of social media, so that's just the new reality.
Just returned from a work trip to Zagreb, Croatia. Just make sure you have your rapid test within 48 hours of arrival for wherever you're flying through. Just needed to show it quickly to get through Frankfurt. Had no issues and Croatia is not mandating too many things. Everything was outdoor seating for restaurants and everything closes at 10, but it could change by July. Everyone walked around without a mask, but some stores required having it on, which was fine with us. US also required a test to return, but can't remember the window for that one and work helped us get the test in Croatia. Customs everywhere is way shorter currently. Everything went by really fast at each stop. Flight over was completely empty and had a whole row to myself, while flight back had the middle seat separating myself and another guy. Flights in between countries in Europe are mostly full though. Easiest overseas trip I've ever taken. I wanted to do Plitvice Lakes, but didn't get a chance and is a ways away from where you are visiting so not much help on the hiking parts.
Do you know what the rules are on the 48hr test? I'm flying through Vienna on the way there, and direct Dubrovnik to Newark on the way out. I can't find where Austria is requiring a test to transit through. I do know Germany is. Is that a rule for the EU? I'm also hopeful with the EU likely opening up proof of vaccination will be enough.
I actually had to fly through Vienna because I was in another country also before Croatia. Do not remember having to show any tests for Vienna, was mainly just for Frankfurt and the US. Rapid tests were allowed. I used one through the airport, which gave me the results in about 30 minutes. The only other requirement I can think of is masks depending on the airline. For Lufthansa you need a surgical mask and can't use fabric masks, but Austria Airlines requires the N95 masks. Neither will allow ventilated masks. I used the IATA site where you can put in your flight path with layovers and it will show the requirements needed.