The Travel Thread

[whynotsmile99]

damn Playa, that is a deal and a half! I never saw that advertised, but that would be great if its still around. My flight on Cathay could not have been any more comfortable on Economy class. Great food, personal entertainment center, some free booze if I remember correctly, and really good flight attendants. THe one that covered my section was named Bebo. She had buns in her hair like princess Leia and was dressed like a china doll. I still have a crush on my long lost Bebo

[bleep]

y'all are rockstars, thanks for the feedback/links on China Airlines. whynotsmile99, this won't be my first visit to the region, but thank you kindly sir for offering to share you and your mom's wisdom. having a parent who works in the travel industry must have its perks!

China Airlines is currently priced mid-1300 (inclusive of taxes) for December flights. i can't take advantage of the cheaper fares post or pre-holiday season because both my sibling and i are currently encumbered by school. i typically gun for the limited number of cheaper priced seats that Air India offers on its code share flights with Malaysia Airlines, but that allocation is, expectedly, all tapped out this late in the game. the cheapest i ever paid using this particular code share was around three years ago for about $460 bucks. i still keep the receipt 'cos i can't believe what a deal that was. just recently, Singapore Airlines had a sweet deal for summer flights too - flights to the region in the mid-600 to mid-800 dollars range.

[faxman75]

I have a free flight anywhere in the US. I have never been to NY and I have been wanting to do a make up trip to San Francisco. I can't do Hawaii or Alaska or I would be all over that.

Outside of NY or San Fran, what other cities are MUST SEE places. I'm pretty much open to anything that would be interesting. I was even wondering about Maine. I think I want to keep it to big cities though since I don't think I will be able to afford a rental car.

[Courtney]

Faxman, I started out typing a reply about how if I were you, I would take advantage of the fact that it's a free flight, and not go for one of the big cities where you can probably already get super cheap flights to, like San Francisco or New York, and instead use it for somewhere that's ridiculously expensive to fly to, like Charleston or Memphis. But then I did a preliminary bit of Kayak-searching, and realized that THERE ARE NO EXPENSIVE FLIGHTS FROM PHOENIX. It's freakish. But awesome. I guess that's what happens when you live nearby a major hub airport that's in the middle of the country.

So yeah, for big must-see cities, I'd add Chicago, New Orleans, Portland and Seattle to your list. Although it depends what time of year you're going to be visiting.

[bleep]

i was gonna suggest a Hawaiian city but i read the fine print.

do NYC! it's fabulous this time of year. also, if you want to make the most out of your travels, you can supplement your NYC trip w/ a side trip to Washington, D.C using one of those Chinatown buses or the buses operated by the Hasidic Jews.

[faxman75]

I have to read my voucher a little closer but i'm fairly certain it said within the 48 states. I have a friend in Alaska and would love to see Hawaii as well. I get to go to Chicago for free once to twice a year and I lived there for 25 years but I still love being a tourist in that town. I've been to Seattle a few times as well and love it. New Orleans is a possibility. I have never been and want to make it there at some point.

Then I wonder if I should just wait until some killer show is going to take place in New York and combo the trip with some music. That seems like a no brianer as well. I just get antsy and always want to go somewhere soon. I would definitely toss DC into the trip as well. I have been there before but it's been about 15 years. It was just after high school.

Keep the ideas coming. Thanks for the suggestions.

[chiapet]

Mark... when do you have to use the ticket? Go to New Orleans for Halloween. Seriously.

[faxman75]

Mark... when do you have to use the ticket? Go to New Orleans for Halloween. Seriously.

I have a full year to use it. I like the way you think though. I'm going to ponder for a couple days and if I don't use it soon I might wait until next year. Halloween sounds like the perfect time to visit New Orleans as well. Not so hot.

[chiapet]

Yea, I've been there just after and the weather was nice. A little bit chilly at night but a light jacket was fine. Perfect for hanging out on bar balconies, and good weather for tit showing.

[Jon Blazed]

I just got butt ass naked on a beach in San Diego this weekend and swam in the ocean! It was off the fuckin chain! No funny business...

[captncrzy]

My Summer Vacation to London
By Captncrzy

Sunday

Got in around 9:30am local time. Took over 45 mins to get luggage (Rick commented that if there were Mexicans in London, those bags would have been unloaded within 15 minutes). Got to the hotel around 11 or 11:30; room wasn’t ready so we went to grab a bite to eat over at a pub down the street. We were staying right across the street from the British Library, so we went in there and looked at their archives. They have the Magna Carta on display there, which is pretty cool. I also really liked the Beatles display they had there (had some handwritten lyrics on the backs of birthday cards and whatnot). Got to our little hotel and crashed for a few hours. Got up and decided to take the tube down to Piccadilly Circus. Walked around down there and accidentally stumbled upon the very ornate Buckingham Palace.





Next, wandered over by Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the London Eye. The London Eye is huge and kind of sickening to stand under and look up at. Parliament is really gothic looking and bigger than I expected. Everything was closed at this point so we just hung around outside of it. Made our way over to Yo! Sushi; sushi on conveyer belts. We were too tired to hang out too late so we headed back to our hotel early and crashed.






Monday

The kid and I got up around 9 and went down to experience our first English breakfast—orange juice, coffee, an egg, a slab of bacon (think salty pork chop), a sausage link, toast, and a scoop of baked beans. It was weird but it grew on me. Went back up to the room since Rick was still sleeping and we ended up falling asleep again and waking up about 11am. Headed over to the Tower of London. Stopped outside the tower and gawked at the old remnants of the Roman wall. Spent hours in the tower until they closed up early for an event; were given tickets to come back and finish up the next day. Struck by the carvings in the tower walls of prisoners back from the 1500-1600’s. Also got a creepy feeling over near the execution site (only six people were executed inside the tower-the rest were executed in a square nearby). They’ve removed the executioner block and put it inside; now a monument stands in its place.




Left the Tower around 3:00 and went to rest at the hotel. Headed over to Notting Hill around 4:30 to do some shopping on Portobello Street and catch the Invention of Lying at the Electric Theater, which may be the coolest movie theater in the world. Full bar, non-movie snacks, leather chairs, leather footrests, Massive Attack playing on the PA before the movie. Hit up a pub down the street for a late dinner after the movie where they were having a Texas Hold ‘Em tourney in the back room, which we thought was hilarious. Got lost going back to the tube. Fortunately I always felt safe down there.







Tuesday

Got up and went for another English breakfast (our last since we were moving from a bed and breakfast to a Hilton that morning). Dropped our luggage off at our new hotel and got back on the tube to finish our tour of the Tower of London. Went inside the White Tower (the original tower-in later years, they built all the other towers around the White Tower; the whole thing now looks like a small village) and saw the Henry VIII armory display they had; I don’t think I realized how tall he was (6’1) and how large he was at the end of his life. I also thought the incredibly large codpieces that he had put into his armor were hilarious.

Left and got one of those whippy ice cream things everyone talks about; that was pretty damn good. Left the Tower and headed over to the British Museum. We were there for hours and only made it through the ancient Greek, ancient Rome, and ancient Egypt stuff. The Mausoleum of Halikarnassos they have restructured in there is just awesome; no picture is ever going to be able to do it justice (it was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world). The mummies freaked me out the most; the mummy rooms smelled horrid—they have fans circulating in the rooms to suck the foul air out and they do a good job, but they just don’t eliminate the smell entirely. I had no idea they had Cleopatra’s mummy in there; that was just head-exploding for me. I cracked up when I saw the little mummified fish in a little fish casket though.






Too tired to finish the rest so we left and headed back to the hotel for some rest. Got up a little while later and headed down to Oxford Circus so the kid could blow her hard earned babysitting money and so Rick could buy souvenirs for the family. Ended up in a really great fish and chip shop on a side street. Went back to the hotel and got bombed in the bar on real Guinness.


Wednesday

Headed over to the Tate Modern art museum. I’m not too familiar with art/art history, but had an interesting time anyway. Tate Modern houses works by Matisse, Rodin, Picasso (they have a lot of Picasso’s work), Warhol, and Lichtenstein. I loved the Red Star of Russia room (a room wallpapered with hundreds of communist Russia propaganda posters during the Stalin reign). I really liked the Untitled Chinese Ink Drawing by Henri Michaux and discovered an appreciation for Frances Bacon’s work. At least, his work moved me the most.


Left and headed over to Shakespeare’s Globe. We were planning on seeing a matinee but we got there too late, which sucked. Bolted over to Westminster Abbey instead.

Westminster Abbey was my favorite part of the trip. They don’t let you take pictures inside so all I can tell you is, if you ever get a chance to go in, GO IN. There’s a gorgeous giant area in the middle where services are held; the outlying areas all contain chapels with various royal graves. I guess I shouldn’t say graves; there are graves under the floors, but the royals lie in perpetual state in giant mausoleums made with likenesses taken from their death masks. It’s pretty fascinating to see the tombs of Queen Elizabeth I and Edward V. Some of the little chapel rooms just had random stone caskets sitting in them, which I thought was odd. It kind of looked like some were just put out of the way and forgotten about. Poet’s Corner is where they lay to rest the artists of Britain (Dickens, Handel). The coronation chair is in there too; it’s been used in every coronation since the 1300’s.




Rick split and headed over to Brixton to see the Pixies, and the kid and I went to see Hairspray on the West End (Wicked was sold out). Pretty good; the actor playing Tracey’s mother lost it in a gale of giggles at one point, which was hysterical.





Thursday

Last day! The kid had been whining about wanting to do some random tourist stuff for awhile, so we went to Abbey Road (totally uneventful) and Madame Tusseuds (waste of money-but I think Rick took a picture of every single statue in there). Headed over to Harrods and got lost. Concluded people have too much fucking money (really, Juicy Couture for dogs?); had some tea and scones, and left. Met up and went to Chinatown for an early dinner and got back to the hotel early to rest up (we had to be up at 5am to catch our train to Gatwick). Had some drinks in our room from the bar because we were too tired to go down there.














Impressions of London: it’s like New York, except the people are much more polite and the city is spotless. Seriously, the cleanest city I’ve ever seen, and people actually step aside and let you get off the trains before they get on. Really need at least seven to ten days and a lot of energy to see the major sights there. Also, the Guinness was way different there; get yourself a Guinness if you go.

[chiapet]

Sounds like a wonderful trip! I'm glad to hear you liked the Library. I was going to recommend that but felt like it might only appeal to the most hard core museum nerds, book enthusiasts, or, well, librarians.

What did you think of Yo! Sushi? I keep trying to make it there, but always end up with people who won't eat fish. I've heard it's not very good but I mostly just like the novelty of automaton food services. Futuristic if it were 1950's sort of stuff.

[captncrzy]

It was ok. The problem is that the same shit kept coming by on the conveyer belt-they weren't putting up much of a selection. I ended up ordering some chicken dumpling and udon noodle soup off of the menu to top off the couple of sushi bites I had.

[faxman75]

Sounds like a good trip. You look like you are hating life in that first pic. Welcome back, glad you had fun!

[Courtney]

Just got an e-mail advertising a special $666 roundtrip airfare from Honolulu to Memphis on United. Is that a wise marketing choice?

[locachica73]

Considering going to Memphis would seem similar to going to hell in my mind I kind of think it is somewhat fitting.

[TomAz]

Rick commented that if there were Mexicans in London, those bags would have been unloaded within 15 minutes

not if they worked US Airways baggage in Phoenix.

[weeklymix]

Late December 2009 - Mid January 2010 : Colorado
Mid June '10 - Mid July '10 : Johannesburg (World Cup)
Mid July '10 - ? : Ireland

[disgustipated]

Considering going to Memphis would seem similar to going to hell in my mind I kind of think it is somewhat fitting.

memphis is a cool city, actually. good food. good music. good people.

[locachica73]

From what I have heard/read it is extremely muggy which does not work well for me. After my 2 week trip to Florida I try to stay away from humidity. This is why I will only visit NY in the fall/winter (preferably fall because I hate to be cold too) and why I will probably never visit Chicago. I have spent too much time in the desert, I hate to sweat.

[faxman75]

Weather should never impact whether or not you visit a location. I understand it having an effect on living somewhere but even then, for me it's minimal. I certainly didn't move to AZ for the weather. I can tolerate just about any temperature for at least a week or two.

[captncrzy]

not if they worked US Airways baggage in Phoenix.

we don't hire mexicans; the union, you know...

[chiapet]

I'll just point out that humidity is actually nice when it's cold. Dry cold weather is the worst. I do not miss dry, cracked skin all winter.

Anyway Memphis is not hot all year, of course. It's usually in the 40's or 50's during the day in the winter. Most of the south is pretty temperate in winter.

[locachica73]

I know, and if it came up and I had a free trip to NYC in August, I would suck it up and pray for good a/c. But 2 weeks in Florida in July was just so hard on me. I have also had to travel to Des Moines for work a few times in the summer months and I just can't stand the stickiness. Getting out of the shower and sweating immediately. I just don't get to travel very much at this point so when and if I get to go anywhere I try to stick to places that have a similar climate so I am not miserable and end up having to go to urgent care due to heat stroke/exhaustion or my feet swelling to twice their actual size.

But on the other hand, whenever people complain about coachella and how hot it is and how they won't drink due to the heat I kind of chuckle.

[chiapet]

I don't care for Florida at all, but I guess it depends where you are. I was in Pensacola in August and the weather was very nice. Not very muggy at all.

[TomAz]

we don't hire mexicans; the union, you know...

that explains it.

[rage patton]

Jenn you made me miss London again. Way to go!

Oh, and nice fist pound pic. Both Rocke and I posted the same picture somewhere waaaay back in the post your picture thread.

[locachica73]

I don't care for Florida at all, but I guess it depends where you are. I was in Pensacola in August and the weather was very nice. Not very muggy at all.

I didn't either, there isn't much that would get me to go back. We spent a week on the gulf side, which wasn't as bad as the second week spent in Orlando. It was just miserable, 90 degrees everyday with 90% humidity, rain showers everyday at 3pm, giant bugs, stinky/cranky tourists, everything I despise.

I think Memphis would be somewhat similar but I could be way off base. Just my impression. I will take the west coast vacation spots anyday of the week, that is when I can afford to vacation again.

[captncrzy]

Jenn you made me miss London again. Way to go!

Oh, and nice fist pound pic. Both Rocke and I posted the same picture somewhere waaaay back in the post your picture thread.

LOL sorry. I miss it too.


Did the fist pound for you and Rocke; Rick wanted me to bend over and act like it was hitting me in the face, but I wasn't in the mood to make a total ass out of myself (only a partial ass).

Next trip is the Bahamas for the honeymoon (yay, cruise!) and then Greece.

[TomAz]

Jen what is the sentiment at US Airways with Continental joining the Star Alliance today? positive, negative, or indifferent?