25 minutes ago, hputenis said:

Yeah but I bet you give plenty of them Greg Lugayness!  

On 1/24/2022 at 11:31 PM, xzmattzx said:

Where's the farthest anyone has driven?

 

The farthest I've driven myself is to Fort Lauderdale, from northern Delaware.

The farthest I've driven with my family is to western Kentucky (actually Mayfield, where the tornado hit) from northern Delaware to see family.

I've also taken a bus trip with a youth group to St. Louis.

New Foundland from Central Pa

2 minutes ago, greend said:

New Foundland from Central Pa

Any chance you went to St. John's? I have dead relatives who lived there. 

14 minutes ago, TV Guy said:

Any chance you went to St. John's? I have dead relatives who lived there. 

Nope, landed in Port Aux Basques and then drove to Grand Falls Windsor 

7 hours ago, TV Guy said:

Any chance you went to St. John's? I have dead relatives who lived there. 

How much as the ferry ride, and how long ago was that?

Any suggestions for in and around Anchorage, Alaska?

10 hours ago, xzmattzx said:

How much as the ferry ride, and how long ago was that?

They moved to Maine around 1903.  I plan on making a genealogy road trip up there someday.

4 hours ago, TV Guy said:

They moved to Maine around 1903.  I plan on making a genealogy road trip up there someday.

Sorry, I meant how long ago was the trip?

2 hours ago, xzmattzx said:

Sorry, I meant how long ago was the trip?

Never been there. 

I'm going to the Cayman Islands next week.  I have my rapid test for departing ready, and have my travel declaration.  I need my test for the flight back.  Are there any at-home tests that can be done with a video call?  Which are the cheapest?

51 minutes ago, xzmattzx said:

I'm going to the Cayman Islands next week.  I have my rapid test for departing ready, and have my travel declaration.  I need my test for the flight back.  Are there any at-home tests that can be done with a video call?  Which are the cheapest?

When I went to Mexico for work 6 weeks or so back, I don’t think at-home tests were allowed. Someone said I had to go to a doctors office/pharmacy and get a PCR test I think they called it? 
 

Then to get back into the US I had to take the same kind of test no longer than the day prior to my travel. The airport offered them (20ish mins until result) and it was about $27 after conversion rate. 

21 hours ago, Agent23 said:

When I went to Mexico for work 6 weeks or so back, I don’t think at-home tests were allowed. Someone said I had to go to a doctors office/pharmacy and get a PCR test I think they called it? 
 

Then to get back into the US I had to take the same kind of test no longer than the day prior to my travel. The airport offered them (20ish mins until result) and it was about $27 after conversion rate. 

I could live with $27.  Bringing an at-home test that I can take in front of a nurse over a video call (I think any test has to be monitored) seems like the safe idea and not have to search around.

 

All this testing is pretty ridiculous.  Everyone is saying that we'll have to live with this disease.  Why do those of us who are vaccinated have to put up with this stuff?

13 hours ago, xzmattzx said:

I could live with $27.  Bringing an at-home test that I can take in front of a nurse over a video call (I think any test has to be monitored) seems like the safe idea and not have to search around.

 

All this testing is pretty ridiculous.  Everyone is saying that we'll have to live with this disease.  Why do those of us who are vaccinated have to put up with this stuff?

Between costco on a weekend and Timberwolves-Clippers play-in game, I've been in MASSIVE crowds recently where we're all bunched together and maybe 1 in 20 people are wearing a mask... if not fewer. Half the time I feel like I forget COVID is/was even a thing. 

My wife and I have a 1 year old...traveling for us is a little different than when I started this thread.  We went to Maui when he was 7 months, which worked out very well.  We had him mostly figured out, but his mobility had a pretty narrow radius.  Maui, despite the distance, at least offered American hospitals if there were any issues.

I really want to take some trips to Europe and South America, but just can't seem to justify the headache carrying along the necessary caravan of child-support material in the COVID era.  

I elected to stay a bit closer to home with some Caribbean trips...going to do Anguilla in June (gorgeous beaches, great seafood, been there once a few years back) and the Bahamas out islands in November...never done the out islands before.  Apparently, they have some great bone fishing.  It's renowned for bull and tiger shark diving, but as much as love to dive, I don't have the stomach for that.  Anyone familiar with the out islands?

26 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

My wife and I have a 1 year old...traveling for us is a little different than when I started this thread.  We went to Maui when he was 7 months, which worked out very well.  We had him mostly figured out, but his mobility had a pretty narrow radius.  Maui, despite the distance, at least offered American hospitals if there were any issues.

I really want to take some trips to Europe and South America, but just can't seem to justify the headache carrying along the necessary caravan of child-support material in the COVID era.  

I elected to stay a bit closer to home with some Caribbean trips...going to do Anguilla in June (gorgeous beaches, great seafood, been there once a few years back) and the Bahamas out islands in November...never done the out islands before.  Apparently, they have some great bone fishing.  It's renowned for bull and tiger shark diving, but as much as love to dive, I don't have the stomach for that.  Anyone familiar with the out islands?

I want to go to the out islands some time.  I've never been, either.

 

Dunmore Town is supposed to be the prettiest town in the out islands.

 

Andros is apparently pretty wild.  I read somewhere that some parts of the island are still unexplored, even in the 21st century.  I'd love to be the first.

 

I think Freeport is a complete waste of time.  Freeport might as well be Miami Gardens.

So I figured out the Covid testing to be as simple and cheap as possible.  Azova does a video monitoring service to watch you take the test, which satisfies US guidelines.  The video only is $20.  Azova partnered with Flowflex, so you can get the video and test for $32, with $15 2-day shipping.  But the same test is available at most Walgreens for $10, so you can buy it yourself and pay for the video only, totaling $30.  I wish there was a free option, but it is what it is.  Hopefully the testing stops soon, for vaccinated people.

On 4/14/2022 at 10:33 PM, xzmattzx said:

So I figured out the Covid testing to be as simple and cheap as possible.  Azova does a video monitoring service to watch you take the test, which satisfies US guidelines.  The video only is $20.  Azova partnered with Flowflex, so you can get the video and test for $32, with $15 2-day shipping.  But the same test is available at most Walgreens for $10, so you can buy it yourself and pay for the video only, totaling $30.  I wish there was a free option, but it is what it is.  Hopefully the testing stops soon, for vaccinated people.

And to add to this, I got the at-home Covid tests offered for free through the USPS, and any test approved by the FDA under the Emergency Use Authorization is allowed, so I will use the free test and the Azova app to have the test monitored.

have to fly on frontier next month because they were the only flights we could get on the days/times we needed. not looking forward to it.    

3 minutes ago, mr_hunt said:

have to fly on frontier next month because they were the only flights we could get on the days/times we needed. not looking forward to it.    

Never been on that one - my wife flew Spirit once and said it was the worst experience ever  

Flew once... I think one direction. Any normal person is going to have at least an overhead bin carryon suitcase. They charge, at the least expensive, like $35/direction for those... so $70 minimum. I think if you have like a backpack also, they consider that an additional $35 each way. So if you limit everything to a single bag, that additional $70 damn near makes them the same price as Delta/American/Jetblue "basic" fare. I'm shocked those airlines get enough passengers to keep operating

I do Southwest any time I possibly can.  You can check two bags in for free, and you can carry on another one for free as well. It comes in handy when I bring a bag full of local beers home!

On 3/10/2022 at 9:55 PM, xzmattzx said:

How much as the ferry ride, and how long ago was that?

If you're talking about my trip it was 2019. The ferry ride from nova scotia to new foundland was around 250 bucks and that included a room on the ship to sleep in (it's an overnight voyage). 

2 hours ago, greend said:

If you're talking about my trip it was 2019. The ferry ride from nova scotia to new foundland was around 250 bucks and that included a room on the ship to sleep in (it's an overnight voyage). 

That's a lot of money, but at least it came with a room.  If you were staying overnight somewhere anyway, then you saved a day of travel doing that.

 

Was there anything to do on the ship? Gambling? A bar? TVs in the room? I wonder what a staying overnight on a ferry is like.

8 minutes ago, xzmattzx said:

That's a lot of money, but at least it came with a room.  If you were staying overnight somewhere anyway, then you saved a day of travel doing that.

 

Was there anything to do on the ship? Gambling? A bar? TVs in the room? I wonder what a staying overnight on a ferry is like.

There was a bar and an area with tvs and couches if you didn't want to get a room it was cheaper, but we got our vehicle in (takes forever to load) got to our room and passed out. Got up early the next day showered and got back in the truck and took off. I mean if your plan is to drink on the boat you might as well get a room I'm sure the drinks aren't cheap.

I just got back from Grand Cayman.  Here are some of my thoughts and impressions:

~ I was surprised to find out that most people in Grand Cayman, or at least George Town and the West End, are from other countries.  I had bartenders from South Africa, Nicaragua, Sault Ste. Marie ON, Australia, and more.  I sat at bars next to people that previously lived in Vancouver, Miami, and Honduras.

~ You can snorkel just about anywhere and have a good experience. My Air BnB had a dock, and the snorkeling right at the dock was great. It took me less than 45 seconds to go from my room to the dock, and took me just a minute to go from in my room to underwater.

~ 15% gratuity is automatically added at most places.  No one tells you this (but a very friendly bartender at the Irish pub Fidel Murphy's let me know), so people will tip 20% on top of the 15% gratuity already added.

~ There's quite a bit of people that speak Spanish, due to the number of people there from Central America working in the service industry.

~ There are feral chickens everywhere!

~ You may be able to stream sports for free using the SportsMax Youtube channel. I saw a TV commercial for it while watching the 76ers game. I think it's based out of Jamaica.

~ I think all roads lead to Delaware. I was walking to 19-81 Brewery, and flagged down a jitney bus because I was getting exhausted in the sun, and the other two people in the bus said that fellow Eagles fans could get in (I had a Dawkins shirt on).  After talking for a few minutes, I found out they live near New Castle, by the 13/40 split.  I told them about how I live off of Kirkwood Highway.