Agree agree. Road trips out west are elite. Every road trip from Augusta/Atlanta/NorthCarolina is in the never again territory. There are parts of appalachia but nope. PCH is a must, though I have a small portion of it left to complete. Roadtripped all of Arizona, Colorado and Montana last summer. Then when Canada joins us, the list will have expanded. Also been wanting to do Tijuana through Valle de Guadalupe, wineries down there look awesome.
Upper $200s is what you should expect fwiw + no good pubs in the walkable museum district. You will want to venture over to Camden Thames Path, Notting Hill, Kings Road, Fulham, Shoreditch for that. Sloane Square Hotel (great pubs/restaurants all around it and not too far from area you wanted, walkable if weather complies) is the one off top of my head. A lot of pubs will offer rooms on their upper floors. That may be what you should keep an eye out for when researching. Pub rooms are cheap and you have easy access to one to boot. But the ones I would suggest to you are elite pubs not walkable to the museums, youd have to take the tube to the tourist/museum district. (The Culpepper Shoreditch or The Windmill Clapham). Tube is very easy to learn how to navigate fwiw.
I'll preface this by saying I travel a lot so I tend to do it as cheap as I possibly can so I can take more trips. With that said: London is one place where location doesn't matter. The tube is so easy, quick, efficient, and on time that you can stay out in Stratford and still have an excellent trip.
Nah youre fine. Weather should tick up a bit for Hyde park or Primrose Hill action. Also have Rugby at Twickenham and EPL if thats your thing. with it your first time for sure check off seeing the Palaces, Churchill War Rooms, St Pauls and one or both of Borough and Camden Market. Then keep food expectations in check, really just about pub culture pints at night.
My instagram algorithm recently got on national parks which I've really enjoyed. I randomly had chatgpt work me up an itinerary for a road trip from North Carolina up to Banff with stops and things to do with keeping drives under 7 hours. It was a pretty tight itinerary and one day when I have a month to do a long road trip will probably do.
I always recommend this place, walkable to Buckingham Palace/Parliament, and two blocks from Victoria Station for the train. Nice neighborhood. Nothing fancy, but a good value. https://www.tophamshotel.net/
Yes. For some reason my scanned bag had the same numbers for a bag going to Chicago. Seems like they shouldn’t do that. Oh well it all worked out.
My passport expires next year. I have my nexus pass, so can get into Canada without one. I'd like to go ahead and renew. Is the only way that you can renew is to mail in your old one? Can I basically apply in-person for a new one, claiming I lost my old one? I'm concerned that if I mail may passport in, without everything going on, it just gets lost in the shuffle.
Like 99% certain You still send in your current passport, prior to receiving the new one. That said, there’s almost 0% chance it takes more than a few months to get the new one. If concerned, pay for expedited processing. Took the wife & I 2 weeks
**Until Trump decimates that department. About to renew my wife's. Little concerned he starts blowing shit up
Just had an incredible week in London. Very much appreciate this thread. One of my new favorite cities.
I wish getting GE was easy. Maybe it's gotten better, but I could never find an appointment time. I thought I filled everything out and tried to get it last time we came back through customs and the line was fucking 90 minutes in Atlanta...but apparently we didn't fill out the application or whatever paper work there was
getting Global Entry in Atlanta is ridiculously easy. They have always have available appointment times. You park at hourly international parking deck, walk across the lobby to their office, and it takes no more than 30 minutes.
Tampa, it was pretty easy to get. It can be somewhat of a pain in the butt but renewing it is super easy now.
Flew into San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Stayed the night there and then flew to Roatán for the next 4 days.
https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/global-entry/enrollment-centers I guess DIA is a long ways out but usually easier to just do it near your home with a scheduled interview time, no need to add that variable to your general travel logistics. How one could find themself not filling out the application (not true, you have to have an accepted completed application to make an interview to begin with) or whatever paperwork there was.
I’ve been conditionally approved. Just trying to find an interview time that coincides with some planned travel. I’ll be in Atlanta next week or the week after so I thought I’d try to check to see if they had appointments since I won’t be in a bish rush upon arrival or departure.
I love going to NYC for the food/drink. You can get most of that in London but it is less population dense, cleaner and nicer. It was weird walking around and noticing every car doesn't have their windows down blaring music. People aren't just throwing trash on the ground everywhere and they generally just act like they are supposed to. The transit was very easy to navigate and there is so much tourist stuff to see along with great shopping and dining. Borough Market was a highlight. We got there at like 10am before it got slammed. It sounds dumb but the hop on/off bus tour was nice. We didn't ride it all day or anything but it was convenient to see some sights in a different area. The map was pretty helpful showing their stops and what times they pickup at. We did the Tower of London, it was very cool but took about 2 hours. The British and Natural History Museums were worth checking out. Harrod's was insane.
It's likely a tough sell for anyone you may be traveling with, but I think Vilnius, Lithuania is one of the most underrated travel destinations in Europe Nearly everyone speaks English, the food and drinks are nearly half price, it's not flooded with tourists, and it has an awesome old town. Kaunas, Lithuania is also pretty cool, but you don't need more than a day there.
I was looking at flight aware to see if there were any flight cancellations due to this band of storms (praying my customers' flight was one of them) and noticed this Allegiant plane giving absolutely zero fucks about this cell. Risking it all for a trip from Punta Gorda to Corning, NY . Spoiler I'm sure it's all good and the ceiling on these storms may be much lower than the cruising altitude, I just found that particular path hilarious compared to all the other traffic actively avoiding it.
Any restaurants that stood out? I love NYC for the same reasons as you, but yeah in comparison to Europe it's wild how dirty high population density U.S. cities are.
-Gymkhana was a 2 star michelin. It was incredible. I'm not into the 12 course tasting menus and molecular gastronomy stuff at all. Gymkhana had great food/service but as also very approachable. -The Connaught Bar and the Coburg Bar in the Connaught hotel were awesome. Extremely high end area of town and cocktails prices were reflective of that but the staff was so professional and knowledgeable. The martini service was very good. -Had lunch at The Devonshire. Irish Pub known for their guiness. They are also a butcher shop and really good food. -Guinea Grill was very good for dinner. Steaks/Pies etc. -Sunday Roast at Blacklock Soho was incredbile and a must do. Need a reservation. Lots of places do roasts, I looked at a million tik toks and reviews and Blacklock was highly recommended. -Borough Market was amazing and not a place for fat guys with money. We would buy stuff and take two bites and toss it so we could keep eating more. It is restaurants and shops and pop ups where you can get fresh Scottish Oysters, Paella, Mushroom Risotto, ridiculous sandwiches, Donuts, Coffee, they have butcher shops, cheese shops, wine shops etc. Everything was great. Our other dinners were very good, but not michelin places you should necessarily look out for. We did Circolo Poplare for Italian, it was solid but kind of a kitschy thing that belonged in Vegas. We had Korean BBQ at a place called Koba and Thai at a place called Basuba that were both solid.
Had to fly on a Sunday this week and the airport is a zoo due to Spring Break travelers. It does, however, give me a chance to observe one of my favorite people watching activities; the business travel parent who wants to show their family all of the perks they get with status. [at a way louder than needed voice] “Guys, the lounge is this way” or “Go to the elite line we board first”