The "I'm Traveling somewhere" Thread

[Anguyen92]

So my plane to Orlando leaves tomorrow.  I've checked the carry on bag limits where it states that it cannot exceed 45 inches of combined of height, width, and depth or 22 x 14 x 9.  Well, my bag that I'm bringing is 22 x 15 x 8 and I might be off by a few sliver like less than .5 inch off of accuracy.  This should be fine right?  I just don't want to spend an extra $30.00 when unneeded.

[cramx3]

Don't overstuff it to fluff it up, but you should be fine.

[El Barto]

Cool.

We had considered many options for the trip. We were going to book through our timeshare (Disney Vacation Club) but that only got us two hours away from Rome. So we considered renting a car and using that as our base, but in the end, we just decided to book in the city.
We're planning on a day trip or two pout of the city, and I believe we are within walking distance to the Vatican, and we are definitely planning on hitting that.

You do not want to drive in Rome. Hell, I'm expertly suited for it and I do not want to drive in Rome.

And Rome is good for 3 or 4 days, tops. I'd had enough after 2. Plan on riding the train to some other interesting cities. A very reasonable high speed rail will take you from Rome all the way to Switzerland if you wanted. You could work your way North and catch Florence and Milan on your way to Lake Como.  And the best advice I can give you is to alway try and stay outside of the cities. Spend a day in Florence. Spend the night 20 miles away if you can. You'll eat better and stay with a better class of people.

How long are you going for?

[TAC]

We'll be there for a week. We are not renting a car. Our hotel is footsteps from the coliseum. We are planning on probably two day trips out of the city. One of them will be to Pompeii.

[El Barto]

We'll be there for a week. We are not renting a car. Our hotel is footsteps from the coliseum. We are planning on probably two day trips out of the city. One of them will be to Pompeii.

It's really only a half-day trip, but you should head out to Tivoli and Villa d'Este. Well worth seeing.

And if I were you, I'd ride the metro to the boonies for dinner a few nights. Roman tourist food is kind of on par with Olive Garden.  When you get out to where the real Italians live they eat quite well.

[Stadler]

I've not been to Italy, but my ex and her husband took my daughter there earlier this summer.   Now, not the most reliable crew, but The Husband has traveled much of the world and while I don't give him much, I'll give him that he knows hospitality.  He (inadvertently) followed El Barto's advice and they all said it was exactly the right thing to do.

[millahh]

Spent this morning doing some solo exploration/hiking around the east coast of Abuba. It was pretty wild, just a complete desert at the higher altitudes, and a wasteland of limestone and coral on the Mesa near the water, then heavy surf hitting the rocks. Incredible views throughout.

This afternoon will be the opposite... Snorkeling a shipwreck and a reef from a party boat... With an open bar!

Two weeks here was definitely the right decision, as was renting a little house.

[cramx3]

  nice, Jolly or you go with someone else?

[millahh]

nice, Jolly or you go with someone else?

Jolly. I've gotta laugh, where they set up on the reef is literally about 150 yards from the place we're staying 
But, the cost of the expedition is about the same as what I'd spend on a good mask and snorkel, so I'll go with it.

[cramx3]

plus open bar and experience on the boat.  I'm sure that will be fun

[El Barto]

Alcohol and night-swimming. It's a winning combination!

[cramx3]

That was me on my last night there 

[cramx3]

Got to Vegas last night, actually felt pretty crappy and maybe even jetlagged which is odd for me just going across country, but either way, I got up "early" over here and hit up the day of ticket sales booth.  Going to a show called "Atomic Saloon" tonight, sounds pretty fun and raunchy.  The ticket booth also sold me on a 3 dollar extra food card, its good for 7 days (so my whole trip) and gets you discounts at 12 buffets and like 50 restaurants.  Definitely hitting up a buffet for lunch later with that, and probably again tomorrow.

[TAC]

Cram, watched your Death Valley video. I left a couple of comments.

That is some great country driving through there. A few years ago we drove from the Grand Canyon to LA, and then back to Vegas. It was amazing. We looked at Death Valley, but we just didn't have the time to stop.


Saw the Aerosmith video last night. Those were great seats. Was that bar right there too? Looked like a cool show.

[cramx3]

Yea there was a bar on the stage, it was a GA side of the stage VIP ticket.  Really cool and totally awesome value, I put a full review in the concerts thread if you want to read more. 

Also, Death Valley was one of my favorite national parks, I think because it was so empty.  I liked the vast openness and emptiness of it, not just visually but from people and tourists as well, compared to other national parks that are over crowded at times.  I felt like I was the only one in the park at times.  The sand dunes were probably my favorite spot in the park, just felt surreal walking in them.

also, the music is license free so I don't get copyright claims on it.  It's my first original video since I got approved to monetize videos on youtube, so I don't want copyright claims on it making that not possible.  I did sneak a bunch of parts where I am singing in the car, music I actually enjoy, but honestly think that techno music fits fine for the driving scenes.

[TAC]

I read the Aerosmith review. I was looking for the chick that tongued you in your video.

[cramx3]

I read the Aerosmith review. I was looking for the chick that tongued you in your video.

The tall blond on the left https://youtu.be/LB_zpn1zoCA?t=859

[TAC]

I read the Aerosmith review. I was looking for the chick that tongued you in your video.

The tall blond on the left https://youtu.be/LB_zpn1zoCA?t=859

Did you have to stand on a milk crate?

[cramx3]

 

[cramx3]

Some Death Valley pics I finally uploaded















A 1 minute driving montage is here: https://twitter.com/Cramx3/status/1178376702491287556

And my full 25 minute video of exploring the park with my dumb ass commentary is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrMYu0Dt7HU

[lordxizor]

Got back last night from 10 nights at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim with my family. My company had a seminar at the hotel so we got half off the hotel room (which the super awesome front desk person upgraded to a bigger room with a better view for us since we stayed for so long). We had a bunch of credit card points from the credit card churning we've been doing over the six months or so. Plus my company picked up a bunch of my expenses. I had to attend the seminar for two days and give a 45 minute presentation, so it wasn't all fun I guess. Face value would have been more than $10,000, but we'll end up paying about $3,000 out of pocket. Not too shabby. Spent 5 days total in the two parks and had a blast. I enjoy Disney parks/resorts far more than a nearly 40 year old man really should.

[cramx3]

That's awesome, was going to say as reading damn 10 days at disney is super expensive but having work pay for lots of it is clutch.  Work travel paid for a lot of my september vacation.

[TAC]

Disney is great!! And expensive..

The Disneyland Hotel is really nice. When we were there this summer, we could see Star Wars Land from our window. It was cool to watch the fireworks over it at night.

In 2015, we stayed at the Grand Californian. That's an awesome hotel as well. We stayed in the vacation club villas, and could see the giant Mickey ferris wheel from out balcony. Watched the night time show from there as well.

[lordxizor]

We had a pool view, so not spectacular, but better than the parking lot view we would have had.

We sat through the Disney Vacation Club deal to get a $100 gift card and some extra special fast passes we can use on any ride at any time, and I gotta say... if we lived within a day's drive if Orlando or Anaheim, we would be seriously considering joining.

[pg1067]

LOL...I live less than half an hour from Disneyland and avoid it like the plague.

[Anguyen92]

I live like 10 minutes away from Disneyland.  I too want to avoid it like the plague when driving around that area.  I wouldn't mind spending the day at the Anaheim Gardenwalk though if there's a show at the House of Blues I like to see.  Has all kinds of shops, restaurants, a bowling alley, an escape room, etc.

[TAC]

We had a pool view, so not spectacular, but better than the parking lot view we would have had.

We sat through the Disney Vacation Club deal to get a $100 gift card and some extra special fast passes we can use on any ride at any time, and I gotta say... if we lived within a day's drive if Orlando or Anaheim, we would be seriously considering joining.

We bought two 150 point memberships 20 years ago. Bought them through a resale, so it was a lot cheaper. We went a ton of times to Disney World when my kids were growing up. But while we haven't been going all that much lately, they partner with RCI timeshares, and we've booked out accommodations in California (SF & SD) the last two summers through them. This past year, we literally had the best accommodations we have ever had in our life, just north of San Diego.

[lordxizor]

We had a pool view, so not spectacular, but better than the parking lot view we would have had.

We sat through the Disney Vacation Club deal to get a $100 gift card and some extra special fast passes we can use on any ride at any time, and I gotta say... if we lived within a day's drive if Orlando or Anaheim, we would be seriously considering joining.

We bought two 150 point memberships 20 years ago. Bought them through a resale, so it was a lot cheaper. We went a ton of times to Disney World when my kids were growing up. But while we haven't been going all that much lately, they partner with RCI timeshares, and we've booked out accommodations in California (SF & SD) the last two summers through them. This past year, we literally had the best accommodations we have ever had in our life, just north of San Diego.

20 years ago they were probably reasonable. 150 points today would cost nearly $30k plus $1500 a year in maintenance fees. I found some DVC point rental sites where you can rent other DVC members unused points for about $17 a point. Much cheaper than booking directly through Disney, but without the long term commitment. I will consider using that the next time we go. As much fun as I've had going to Disney World last year and Disneyland this year, I don't think I want to commit to 30ish years of annual Disney vacations. The RCI exchange thing makes it more appealing, but not enough to make me buy in. Tempting though.

[cramx3]

I almost feel like going to Disney so often takes away from the "magic" of it.  I went last year and told myself that even though I had a ton of fun, I don't want to return for another 10 years so that it all feels fresh like it did last time.  Now I understand there's more to Disney than just the theme parks, but in terms of making a vacation out of it, I do kind of feel like I don't want to return anytime soon.

[lordxizor]

I almost feel like going to Disney so often takes away from the "magic" of it.  I went last year and told myself that even though I had a ton of fun, I don't want to return for another 10 years so that it all feels fresh like it did last time.  Now I understand there's more to Disney than just the theme parks, but in terms of making a vacation out of it, I do kind of feel like I don't want to return anytime soon.

10 years seems like a but much, but I could see waiting a few year in between visits so that it feels more fresh each time. Give them enough time to add a couple new rides and refurbish some as well in between visits. We really want to the Disney World again since we didn't get a ton of time there last year, but realistically with the cost it will be 2+ years unless my company does their seminar there again at some point. Hard to pass up half price hotel and my company picking up a large part of the cost.

[cramx3]

Also different if you have kids and as they age they can experience different things, but for a single male, things don't change quite enough every few years to make the price worth it, but yea, if you get discounts and whatnot, why not?  It is an awesome place and I had a blast every single time I went. 

[TAC]

We bought in before we had kids, but my stepson was 7 or 8, and we were planning on having kids. Yes, it does commit you to going to Disney, and it is not cheap. We found value in it, as the kids were growing up, we were going 3 to 4 times a year. But that was our vacations.
For about 10 years, we bought Annual Passes to the parks.

[cramx3]

Well my work trip to Denver was a disaster, actually ended up getting everything we had scheduled completed by working all weekend, but I left a lot of work on the table there and therefore it's looking likely I'll be back in Denver soon (maybe next week or the week after).  Then I have to go to LA in November to cover for my coworker who will be on vacation.  I also still have 9 days of vacation I have to use this year.  I may actually get Gold status with United if this all happens.

[cramx3]

Seems like I'll be booking these real soon for work:

October 20-25th in Denver
November 4-8 in LA

and went over my vacation time this morning... 8 days I NEED to use, also we have winter break of PTO not part of our vacation time from December 21st-January 1st.   So I should have a good amount of time off to end the year and I'd be lying if I didn't have Aruba on my mind still.  My wallet is kind of hurting though after my month off.  I think the amount of miles I'll need to get Gold status will determine where I go for any personal travel.  Aruba is a good miles trip though...

Anyway, I have nothing booked yet but my current plan is for a weekend road trip to Washington DC this weekend for back to back nights of Incubus and some site seeing.  But as I mentioned, my wallet has been hurting and its a big reason why I am passing on seeing DT this Friday night and a DC trip is looking expensive right now.  I'm very positive for going Sunday since I took Monday off from work (not included in my 8 days I need to take off) but I may back out on going Saturday if prices don't go down a bit for a room. 

[The Walrus]

Jesus Christ. I wish I had more than 5 days of vacation + 6 holidays off a year