The "I'm Traveling somewhere" Thread

[cramx3]

I hit 6 years in March and get 3 more vacation days, I actually just found that out this morning as I was looking at PTO schedules and information which is a nice motivation to stick around longer. 

That would put me at 20 vacation days a year, plus we got 4 summer fridays off (this perk is on the table for being removed though), the Friday after Thanksgiving and the week between Christmas and New Years.  This job is definitely good on PTO, but they work us like mules which is why.  I suffered from some pretty bad burn out earlier this year and am kind of worried about getting it again before the end of the year.  There's just so much work and not enough of us.

[cramx3]

All booked for Washington DC (all weekend, got a great deal today), one week of work in Denver, and one week of work in LA.  Lots of travel spending on my credit card the last two days.  I started pricing out a December trip back to Aruba and it's 100% doable.  I kind of wish I could rollover more vacation days and go to 3/11 day in Vegas or to one of the Metallica festivals next year, but since I can't and counting my United miles earned from work, I'll be 2,500 miles short of getting gold status so I'm 110% sure I am going to fly somewhere to get those miles and use my vacation time I need to.  Aruba is high on my list to return to and very much within my budget.

[El Barto]

All booked for Washington DC (all weekend, got a great deal today), one week of work in Denver, and one week of work in LA.  Lots of travel spending on my credit card the last two days.  I started pricing out a December trip back to Aruba and it's 100% doable.  I kind of wish I could rollover more vacation days and go to 3/11 day in Vegas or to one of the Metallica festivals next year, but since I can't and counting my United miles earned from work, I'll be 2,500 miles short of getting gold status so I'm 110% sure I am going to fly somewhere to get those miles and use my vacation time I need to.  Aruba is high on my list to return to and very much within my budget.

I really dug DC. No matter how long you spend there's always more to do and see, and I love that all of the stuff is essentially free. That's one of the few places in this country I'd like to spend an extended period of time. Probably the best light rail I've seen in the US with some pretty cool stations. If you plan on seeing how those lying, cheating, douchebag, pieces of degenerate filth congress actually works, email your representative and see if they'll mail you a gallery pass before you go. It'll save you some time when you get there.

[cramx3]

Thanks for the suggestion, I literally just found this free event at Georgetown that I think I'm going to check out (I had just shared this in the Punk thread too)

Upcoming Events
Celebrate 5 years of the DC Punk Archive!
5th Anniversary Celebration
Saturday, October 12, 2:30 p.m. at Georgetown Library.
 
Open House 2:30-4 p.m.
Selected materials from the DC Punk Archive collections will be on display in the Peabody Room, the punk archive's temporary home during the renovation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. Read zines, view rare concert footage, and learn about how the collections have been used by researchers over the years.
 
Outdoor Celebration 2:30-5 p.m.
Exhibition of photographs by Antonia Tricarico, author of Frame of Mind: Punk Photos and Essays 1997-2017
DIY merch: Make a button and stencil your own posters and t-shirts! Paper will be provided, but you must bring your own t-shirt
Music by Les the DJ at 2:30 p.m. and CORIKY (Amy Farina - Ian MacKaye - Joe Lally) at 4 p.m.

So I think I'll do that tomorrow before the show, and Sunday afternoon I've got to find something to do.

[lordxizor]

I know it's like the most obvious statement ever, but vacation is so much better than regular life. We've been back for two weeks now from our big Disneyland vacation and all I want to do is plan our next vacation. I've felt like this after each of our four major vacations over the last couple years. I wasn't planning on taking a huge vacation next year, just smaller camping trips and maybe a short road trip, but I'm really feeling like I need to do something big again next year, maybe Disney World again. I love that we have so much fun on vacation, but also wish that I could find more joy in everyday life so that I wouldn't feel the need to escape so much.

[cramx3]

Tell me about it

[Evermind]

I know it's like the most obvious statement ever, but vacation is so much better than regular life

Yeah, no shit My two one-week vacations abroad are the absolute highlights of this year.

[El Barto]

Yeah, combining it with a good dose of E-W jetlage makes it all the worse.  After a wonderful 3 week vacation the reality of returning to real life and a good seven hour jetlagging left me pert-near suicidal. 

[Anguyen92]

I know it's like the most obvious statement ever, but vacation is so much better than regular life. We've been back for two weeks now from our big Disneyland vacation and all I want to do is plan our next vacation. I've felt like this after each of our four major vacations over the last couple years. I wasn't planning on taking a huge vacation next year, just smaller camping trips and maybe a short road trip, but I'm really feeling like I need to do something big again next year, maybe Disney World again. I love that we have so much fun on vacation, but also wish that I could find more joy in everyday life so that I wouldn't feel the need to escape so much.

It's obvious, but I agree.  After a vacation is successfully planned, you just can't help but want to focus on the next one.  Right now, I'm already contemplating wanting to travel more Northwest (San Francisco, Seattle, and Spokane).  Not much for sight-seeing, but to see Alter Bridge a few more times on their current tour when the time comes for them to announce their shows in the states in 2020.  This time in the West Coast rather than the East Coast.  Maybe this time I can actually commit to doing something that only can be done in those cities, but that depends on how the schedule would be laid out.

[Lonk]

I'm actually on the initial stages of planning a west coast road trip for June. I'm planning to flight into Seattle but stay at Port Townsend. After that I want to make my way down to LA over 10 days or so.

Besides LA, the further west I've been in is Ohio and there is a lot of things I want to see in the west. I know 10 day trip is not enough, but it will cover the pacific-bound states in the main land. I also want to spend some time stargazing and doing astrophotography.

[El Barto]

I'm actually on the initial stages of planning a west coast road trip for June. I'm planning to flight into Seattle but stay at Port Townsend. After that I want to make my way down to LA over 10 days or so.

Besides LA, the further west I've been in is Ohio and there is a lot of things I want to see in the west. I know 10 day trip is not enough, but it will cover the pacific-bound states in the main land. I also want to spend some time stargazing and doing astrophotography.

Dark Skies are kind of hard to find out there. I'd suggest checking a lunar calendar and trying to be in the Northernmost part of Cali on the optimal night. Ideally some place with elevation.

Also, continue through LA onto San Diego. It's a very different sort of place and pretty cool in its own right.

[cramx3]

The journey from Seattle to San Fran is beautiful, my favorite spot was the Redwoods National Park in northern Cali.  Id totally go back there.  Never did the drive down to LA, but I'm sure that's very scenic as well.  10 days is a good amount of time though, not enough to see everything (always got to save a little for "next time") but enough to stay consistently busy and put the time into the things you want to do the most.   

[El Barto]

The journey from Seattle to San Fran is beautiful, my favorite spot was the Redwoods National Park in northern Cali.  Id totally go back there.  Never did the drive down to LA, but I'm sure that's very scenic as well.  10 days is a good amount of time though, not enough to see everything (always got to save a little for "next time") but enough to stay consistently busy and put the time into the things you want to do the most.

The problem with the SF to LA drive is that the scenic route is so damned long, and the second half isn't very scenic at all. The first 4 hours or so are magnificent. The next five, not so much.

[cramx3]

Oh it isn't?  I guess I just assumed it was, my family went from San Fran to Carmel for a day trip and that was nice from what I recall and just heard other nice things about the drive.  Next time I'm driving out in Cali though I want to be driving through Yosemite

[bosk1]

Not sure whether this is just semantics or not, but I'll chime in anyway.  I wouldn't just plan to "drive through" Yosemite.  It is a LONG drive, and Yosemite Valley, which most people consider to be the heart of Yosemite, actually isn't that big.  But there is a ton of stuff to see.  My advice is to not just do a drive-through.  Plan to do some long hikes, and see stuff on the eastern side, up out of the main valley.  It is considerably less crowded and arguably more scenic than the "big ticket" attractions.  And if your route happens to take you that way, it's actually nicer in a lot of ways to come in from the eastern side, descending the Sierras, rather than the more common western entrances. 

[cramx3]

Oh yea that comment was not meant to be literal, I haven't actually looked at "what to do" in Yosemite, but as with any National Park, you'll want to try and find things to do besides just the scenic drive.  It's not on my list of things to do in the near future (hence why little to no research being done), but I do think my next cali vacation will want to include that park in some way.

[Lonk]

Dark Skies are kind of hard to find out there. I'd suggest checking a lunar calendar and trying to be in the Northernmost part of Cali on the optimal night. Ideally some place with elevation.

It's nearly impossible to find "good" dark sky on the east coast. From NYC (where I am) it's a 5 hour drive to either Cherry Spring, PA or 4 hour drive to Adirondacks, NY, both of which offer OK-ish dark skies.



and Yosemite is also on my list of places to visit on this trip.

[cramx3]

I'd imagine Yosemite would give you a good glipmse of the stars?

I did have an amazing view and best I've seen personally of the stars when I was in Death Valley, made me feel very tiny looking up to that and also sad to know that it's always there just not possible to see from our own doing.

[El Barto]

Oh it isn't?  I guess I just assumed it was, my family went from San Fran to Carmel for a day trip and that was nice from what I recall and just heard other nice things about the drive.  Next time I'm driving out in Cali though I want to be driving through Yosemite

SF to Carmel is a pleasant drive, particularly if you go through the forest. After Carmel is where it really turns good, though. The problem is that once you get around San Luis Obispo it starts to look like mile after mile of farmland, and there's no place to go except backward or forward for hours. It's also not a drive you want to do in  one day, so you have to crash somewhere along the way in one of the less scenic parts. Things don't turn pretty again until around Malibu, by which point you're damn near in LA anyway. At least that's been my experience. I guess my advice would be to spend a day exploring Big Sur before heading back North and crashing in Carmel. Then just take the interstate on to LA.

Dark Skies are kind of hard to find out there. I'd suggest checking a lunar calendar and trying to be in the Northernmost part of Cali on the optimal night. Ideally some place with elevation.

It's nearly impossible to find "good" dark sky on the east coast. From NYC (where I am) it's a 5 hour drive to either Cherry Spring, PA or 4 hour drive to Adirondacks, NY, both of which offer OK-ish dark skies.

Yeah, I'm kind of a night sky enthusiast, myself. Those maps don't really work so well in practice. They're a good starting point, but it's all very hard to predict. Light pollution is certainly part of it, but haze and reflected sun/moonlight are both big factors, too. Plus, in my experience the gaps you find in those maps are still kind of polluted.  Don't get me wrong, if you find some elevation in Nor-Cal you're likely to find a much better sky than you would out East. Absolutely worth it,  but it will take a little effort, and the Gods might spoil your plan.

Oh, and unrelated tip. If you haven't been there before, the Pacific is fucking cold. It's not like the Atlantic. I've been there in early Summer before and seen people wearing heavy coats out on the piers. SF is famously chilly. LA is perfectly pleasant until you get to the beaches. Then you've got cold air blowing in.

[El Barto]

I'd imagine Yosemite would give you a good glipmse of the stars?

I did have an amazing view and best I've seen personally of the stars when I was in Death Valley, made me feel very tiny looking up to that and also sad to know that it's always there just not possible to see from our own doing.

It's wonderful when you get to see an entire sky FULL of stars. We really miss a lot living in or around cities. Both nights I was in the Rockies last month I had pretty good skies. Lots of stars, but not quite dark enough to really see the Milky Way. It was there but it was pale and gray. I've seen it before when it was bright enough to show some color and it's an amazing thing to see. It's pretty hard to get to, though. We're talking very high and very remote.

When I was a kid my old man had some friends out on a farm in SE Texas. Nowadays it's probably pretty bright down there, but back in the 70s you'd get inky black sky with stars that would light up the ground. Really wonderful. Aside from the drive and the smell I loved going down there.

[pg1067]

The journey from Seattle to San Fran is beautiful, my favorite spot was the Redwoods National Park in northern Cali.  Id totally go back there.  Never did the drive down to LA, but I'm sure that's very scenic as well.  10 days is a good amount of time though, not enough to see everything (always got to save a little for "next time") but enough to stay consistently busy and put the time into the things you want to do the most.

The problem with the SF to LA drive is that the scenic route is so damned long, and the second half isn't very scenic at all. The first 4 hours or so are magnificent. The next five, not so much.

Yup (although my perspective is on the drive north from LA).  North of Morro Bay (just east of San Louis Obispo), you're literally right on the coast, and the drive through Big Sur from Monterey down to Morro Bay is awesome.  South of Morrow bay down to Santa Barbara, there's only a small stretch when you're actually on the coast.  Otherwise, you're in some relatively boring territory.  The area around Santa Barbara is nice, and SB is a nice place for a lunch stop.  Once you get to Ventura, you're in urban territory, although the drive on PCH through Malibu is pretty nice, but with some pretty heavy traffic depending on the day.  The drive south to San Diego is relatively uninteresting (the San Onofre nuclear boobies being about the most interesting thing once you get south of Newport Beach).

Oh, and unrelated tip. If you haven't been there before, the Pacific is fucking cold. It's not like the Atlantic. I've been there in early Summer before and seen people wearing heavy coats out on the piers. SF is famously chilly. LA is perfectly pleasant until you get to the beaches. Then you've got cold air blowing in.

Wuss!  I believe I've put feet in the Atlantic thrice.  Once was in Florida, and it was warm.  The other times were in/near Boston and in Bar Harbor, Maine.  Those were hardly balmy.

As far as people in jackets (we don't wear "coats" in SocCal), most SoCal folks are pansies when it comes to being cold (folks dress like they're going on an Antarctic expedition when getting on a plane in the summer!).  Between about May and October, the beaches are rarely cold (except after dark), and you'll see way more folks in shorts, tank tops and flip flops as in jackets.  The water won't get much above 70, but the last thing most folks want when it's 90 degrees out is 85 degree water.  San Francisco, however....

[El Barto]

I froze my nuts off on a beach in Ventura, and saw plenty of people dressed for a polar expedition. That would have been late June. And I've been to LA and SD beaches when it's 75 in the sun come midday. And I'm not suggesting that it's the Scott of the Antarctic territory. Just that if you go there looking for lots of people frolicking and sunning on the beaches you might be surprised by the reality.

[cramx3]

True, LA has great weather and the beaches are fairly nice looking, but it's not really a beach vacation spot.  Santa Monica pier is very nice to walk around and check out and there will be tons of people, but you won't be seeing a beach resort type of situation since it's just not hot enough.  That would be a good spot to roller blade through (thinking about them from the hobbies thread).

[bosk1]

nuclear boobies

I may have just stumbled upon the name for my new '80s hair metal cover band.

[TAC]

I'm with Bart. The pacific is cold. That wind whips off the water. We cruised in SF Bay last year, and it was like sailing in the Arctic.

[bosk1]

The water is always cold.  In terms of the weather, Spring and Fall are, by and large, the warmest times on the Northern California coast.  Part of the reason is the fog, which intensifies in June and July and coincides with weird air currents that make things colder than you would think they would be.  But that's just the coast.  If you come inland just a little bit, the summers are anywhere from pretty hot to VERY hot.  And on the coast, you WILL still get some hot summer days.  But the coast is just known for those "June gloom" days during the summer where the sky is overcast and it feels like anything but summer.

[TAC]

Yeah, we were shocked at how cold it was there. And we were in San Diego in August and it was still hotter in Boston.

[pg1067]

The water is always cold.  In terms of the weather, Spring and Fall are, by and large, the warmest times on the Northern California coast.  Part of the reason is the fog, which intensifies in June and July and coincides with weird air currents that make things colder than you would think they would be.  But that's just the coast.  If you come inland just a little bit, the summers are anywhere from pretty hot to VERY hot.  And on the coast, you WILL still get some hot summer days.  But the coast is just known for those "June gloom" days during the summer where the sky is overcast and it feels like anything but summer.

Keep in mind that this is just the Bay Area (which is the southernmost part of Northern California, but I don't know a darn thing about what it's like north of Marin).  While we get "June gloom" down here too, it's usually very much gone by the end of the month.  The last decade or so, the warmest months here have been August through October, although this year has been relatively mild (notwithstanding what all of the radio commercials for solar power would have you believe!).  And yeah, going inland -- even a few miles -- can get you a fairly significant temperature jump.

Yeah, we were shocked at how cold it was there. And we were in San Diego in August and it was still hotter in Boston.

San Diego is famously consistent -- rarely does it go below 60 or too much above 80.  And I'd say that, for nine months out of the year, the high is between 65-75.

[Lonk]

Booked a New Years trip to Toronto. Going to try an catch a NHL and NBA game (Dec 28 and 29), maybe Trans-siberian Orchestra as well.

[Anguyen92]

All right, I'm rolling to the Pacific Northwest and San Francisco to see Alter Bridge for three concerts in San Francisco, Seattle, and Spokane in late February.  Haven't booked any flight or hotels yet.  Trying to see if I can hit a certain price for me to spend on those bundles.  Will be making my flights to leave in the morning so that I can have the afternoons and maybe an additional day to actually do something in those cities other than be there for the show.  Don't know what, but I want to do something.

[Anguyen92]

All right, following up on my trip planning.  Looks like the only hotel rooms that looks affordable to me (like under $50 a night) near the venues the shows are at are in hostels.  Has anyone stayed at a hostel before?  What's it look in comparison to a regular hotel room?  Are the people bunking generally friendly and will not cause problems?

Also, I may contemplate taking an overnight bus or train from San Francisco back to Anaheim, but I highly doubt if those actually exist and if it is a quality service or price.

[cramx3]

Slow day at work...

so here my and my one coworkers hotel room cards the last four years (left being the oldest and the right being this year so far)



Only one more trip to Denver for me in two weeks.  But I'm starting to think about vacation ideas for next year.  I kind of messed up by leaving all my vacation days to the end of this year and having nothing planned so now I'm burning them with random days off.  I'd rather take some time earlier in the year to do something more interesting.  311 day in Vegas is super attractive but the pricing for that week is kind of ridiculous.  I'm already thinking a road trip to Boston for Devin Townsend/Haken is going to happen as well.  Definitely want to return to Aruba so that's a possibility too.  And of course checking off another National Park would be cool too.

[ReaperKK]

Have you been to glacier national park cram?

[lordxizor]

Have you been to glacier national park cram?

One of my favorite places on earth! I need to go back soon. It's been over 10 years since I was last there!

[cramx3]

Nope, I'd love to