May 19, 20223 yr 8 hours ago, BirdsFanBill said: Those of you who have recently traveled the world with little ones. How do you manage the car seat? I'm assuming most just rent a car wherever they are and bring their own? Curious if Uber even has a carseat option and how available it would even be in Europe. Anyway, doing a week in Dubai and a week in Portugal shortly with a 1 year old, this seems to be the biggest obstacle or question mark. Since we had to take an uber from our parents house to the airport (uberXL) we actually just checked our car seat just like regular luggage. That only makes sense if 1) It’s cheaper than renting a car seat for your trip 2) It doesn’t put you over your limit for checked bags. My sister in law found a service that worked directly with our rental car company and rented car seats for her kids.
May 21, 20223 yr Ireland is dreamy - it’s like being in an idyllic fantasy land. I can’t wait to go back and see more. The pictures just don’t do it justice - the constant beauty all around. The people are just as nice as you always hear - nicer even. And they all loved Ellie so that’s good people in our book!
May 21, 20223 yr 8 hours ago, binkybink77 said: Ireland is dreamy - it’s like being in an idyllic fantasy land. I can’t wait to go back and see more. The pictures just don’t do it justice - the constant beauty all around. The people are just as nice as you always hear - nicer even. And they all loved Ellie so that’s good people in our book! Amazing pictures. You guys had a nicer day at the Cliffs than we did!
June 5, 20223 yr I got back from Alaska on Thursday. Some general comments: ~ Anchorage feels small, like Wilmington. ~ Bars close at 3 AM in Anchorage. ~ Anchorage girls are pretty rough on the eyes. ~ Sunset is around 11:30 in Anchorage about now, and sunrise is 4:30, and in between is dusk. ~ You can see Denali in Anchorage, from certain viewpoints, when the air is clear. For instance, like late afternoon or dusk. ~ The mountains are everywhere; contrast it to, say, Denver, where mountains are always to the west, and prairie to the east. In many places, huge mountain ranges surround the valley you're standing in for a full circle. ~ We saw people swimming in a town lake in Wasilla. I'm guessing that's the kind of place people go to swim in the summer. ~ Talkeetna is a cool little village. The view of Denali from there is excellent. ~ You can only see a small sliver of Denali N.P. The rest is off-limits. ~ Drives to anywhere take several hours. From Anchorage, it was 5 hours to Denali N.P., and 2 hours to Seward. ~ Eat the salmon there. ~ If you drive around, you will want to stop and take pictures every 15 minutes or so. On that note, there are pullouts all over the place to allow for stopping for various reasons. ~ A lot of people like to camp out in the woods by the side of the road. Apparently it's allowed. Imagine someone camping along the Brandywine River in a random spot 100 yards off Route 52 or something. ~ There are a lot of dirt paths next to highways for ATV use and whatnot. ~ Two-lane highways have HUGE clearances on either side. It makes you think they will be expanding the road to 6 lanes, but it's the middle of nowhere. Those ATV paths are in that cleared space. I don't know why they do that. Questions are welcome
June 6, 20223 yr Author On 6/5/2022 at 12:30 AM, xzmattzx said: I got back from Alaska on Thursday. Some general comments: ~ Anchorage feels small, like Wilmington. ~ Bars close at 3 AM in Anchorage. ~ Anchorage girls are pretty rough on the eyes. ~ Sunset is around 11:30 in Anchorage about now, and sunrise is 4:30, and in between is dusk. ~ You can see Denali in Anchorage, from certain viewpoints, when the air is clear. For instance, like late afternoon or dusk. ~ The mountains are everywhere; contrast it to, say, Denver, where mountains are always to the west, and prairie to the east. In many places, huge mountain ranges surround the valley you're standing in for a full circle. ~ We saw people swimming in a town lake in Wasilla. I'm guessing that's the kind of place people go to swim in the summer. ~ Talkeetna is a cool little village. The view of Denali from there is excellent. ~ You can only see a small sliver of Denali N.P. The rest is off-limits. ~ Drives to anywhere take several hours. From Anchorage, it was 5 hours to Denali N.P., and 2 hours to Seward. ~ Eat the salmon there. ~ If you drive around, you will want to stop and take pictures every 15 minutes or so. On that note, there are pullouts all over the place to allow for stopping for various reasons. ~ A lot of people like to camp out in the woods by the side of the road. Apparently it's allowed. Imagine someone camping along the Brandywine River in a random spot 100 yards off Route 52 or something. ~ There are a lot of dirt paths next to highways for ATV use and whatnot. ~ Two-lane highways have HUGE clearances on either side. It makes you think they will be expanding the road to 6 lanes, but it's the middle of nowhere. Those ATV paths are in that cleared space. I don't know why they do that. Questions are welcome Alaska is gorgeous…you can get some permits to go deeper into the park. It’s such a vast, incredible space.
June 6, 20223 yr Author Currently in Anguilla…second time here and I forget how desolate it can be if you go in the summer. It’s a nice contrast to the rest of the Caribbean, which gets very crowded at all times.
June 7, 20223 yr On 6/5/2022 at 10:26 PM, 20dawk4life said: Did you eat any Eskimo pies? If you are referring to the women, see below: On 6/5/2022 at 12:30 AM, xzmattzx said: ~ Anchorage girls are pretty rough on the eyes.
June 7, 20223 yr On 5/21/2022 at 7:39 AM, binkybink77 said: Ireland is dreamy - it’s like being in an idyllic fantasy land. I can’t wait to go back and see more. The pictures just don’t do it justice - the constant beauty all around. The people are just as nice as you always hear - nicer even. And they all loved Ellie so that’s good people in our book! Agree completely. Our family (including two year old grandbaby) just got back a week or so ago from the wedding of our youngest child. It was gorgeous and the people were so very nice.
June 7, 20223 yr any must-see's in the nashville or gatlinburg/pigeon forge areas? other than dolly parton's teats, of course.
June 8, 20223 yr 12 hours ago, mr_hunt said: any must-see's in the nashville or gatlinburg/pigeon forge areas? other than dolly parton's teats, of course. Elkmont is a little ghost town between Gatlinburg and Townsend. The Tail of the Dragon is a pretty popular road to drive. It's US 129, and is in both Tennessee and North Carolina. Nashville Ryman Auditorium is the former home of the Grand Ole Opry. Next door is Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, one of the last few original bars on Broadway. Many GOO acts would have a drink there either right before going onstage, or right after coming offstage. Robert's is another bar on Broadway that is one of the few that is more than 25 years old. Belcourt Theatre is also another former home of the Grand Ole Opry.
June 8, 20223 yr 18 hours ago, mr_hunt said: any must-see's in the nashville or gatlinburg/pigeon forge areas? other than dolly parton's teats, of course. check out CLIMB Works in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area
June 14, 20223 yr Just returned from a 15 day trip to Dubai and Portugal with our one year old daughter. It was amazing, but I know need a vacation.
June 14, 20223 yr On 5/14/2022 at 2:13 AM, Agent23 said: I've really only done the parks owned by Universal. I went to Disney a few times when I was still a kid, but haven't been to any of them since reaching my teens. I think Hunt was planning a trip to Disney a few years ago, and many of the vets on here were posting all sort of information about navigating the parks, rides, having everyone in your party reserve a virtual line spot for different rides so they could actually hit multiple things in a day... they made my fantasy football spreadsheets seem like pulling a Redden and just auto-drafting. Because of that I've kind of been scared off from trying to figure that out. I've been to Magic games, but I feel like the NBA season keeps starting later and later, so the October window may be a little tricky unless it pours over into November? Beyond that I admit I don't have much experience. There's probably 1000 golf courses (I feel like Tiger has always been based out of that area). Yeah those fast pass conversations completely confused the ish out of me. I got a couple when I went to Disneyland but found it was just as fast on most rides going through the single rider queue. I paid for the express pass when I went to Universal in LA but most of the rides were meh since they were virtual coasters. It looks like it will now be early November in Orlando if I go. The wedding is the last week of October which would mean around Halloween or that first week of November. NBA season also starts mid October from memory so it should work out that the season is up and running around that time. I need to find out what the leave situation is like at the new job. Since I am freelance I can just tell them I am unavailable, but I don't know what the work situation is looking like once Football season is done. There could be nothing for me until Feb. Here is my basic plan depending on time Land in Philly on the 14th Go to the Eagles vs Dallas game on the 16th Go to DC on the 21st Vegas on the 24th until the 28th Land in Orlando, do the Disney parks and leave around 1st of November (don't know how I feel about Halloween in Orlando though) Go to Miami until the 8th of November 3 days in Nashville and fly out to NO where I spend 3 days. Fly back to Australia I have been contemplating mixing things up. Maybe throw one of Nashville/NO in between Vegas and DC so I can time it that I spend Halloween there. If I have no work to go back home to I am also contemplating extending out an extra 'week' so I can do 5 and 5 days in NO and Nashville while also doing Universal in Orlando with some guy toting a spreadsheet around of what the best formula is to avoid lines.
June 14, 20223 yr Pretty full itinerary Mat. Safe travels. Daughters last day was Friday and first thing she did was go see Dave Matthews in Bristow VA. Here’s a selfie he posted. She had pit tickets. She’s still obsessed. His music touches her soul she says. Lol. I’m not really a fan but I’ve really enjoyed our roadies together and the people we’ve met. No matter where you go there’s always someone you meet that ‘s a local. You can’t really see in this pic but she met some Philly folks there. One had on a Phillies shirt. We’re going to Bethel NY to a show and the Woodstock museum in July.
June 16, 20223 yr I surprisingly don't do any sort of planning/prep for Universal. I went there close to their launch week of Islands of Adventure (some Marvel-themed attractions), maybe once prior to that when it was solely the Universal Studios side, and then I probably visited once every 5-7 years for about 2 decades, and then have been back 3 times starting Nov 2019. The overall layout has stayed the same with certain attractions being replaced every 15ish years, so I caught the end of some originals, saw the middle years, and now have seen the latest addition (Harry Potter stuff, Velocicoaster). I have not been to the LA one, but Orlando has at least 8-12 of what you referred to as virtual coasters.
June 17, 20223 yr On 6/14/2022 at 7:26 PM, Mat said: Land in Orlando, do the Disney parks and leave around 1st of November (don't know how I feel about Halloween in Orlando though) If you're in Orlando around Halloween make sure to go to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal. The ticket price might seem a little high for what you think is going to be some regular haunted house type stuff but it's really a good time.
June 17, 20223 yr 3 hours ago, mr_irie1 said: If you're in Orlando around Halloween make sure to go to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal. The ticket price might seem a little high for what you think is going to be some regular haunted house type stuff but it's really a good time. I went the first time last year, and the Beetlejuice house was awesome. It was like walking through life-sized/oversized replicas of all the sets in the film. Talking the dead people waiting room, the scrip club and all the other items that were in the attic model of the town (that you saw "big" from miniature Beetlejuice's perspective in the film). I think they are doing the Meyers house from Halloween this upcoming year. I will be there labor day weekend (they run Sept 1 through Oct 31 yearly I think) and my season pass tier gets 1 free admission to that. Only downside is TONS of lines, so this year I will 100% be paying extra for the skip the line upgrade.
July 18, 20223 yr Heading to SoCal tomorrow morning, but don't worry @vikas83, I'm bringing the essentials:
July 18, 20223 yr Author Just got back from Iceland. Quick guys trip on a 4.5 day weekend. Saw most of it on a fast pace, otherworldly is definitely the best description of their landscape.
July 19, 20223 yr Author On 5/19/2022 at 9:45 AM, BirdsFanBill said: Those of you who have recently traveled the world with little ones. How do you manage the car seat? I'm assuming most just rent a car wherever they are and bring their own? Curious if Uber even has a carseat option and how available it would even be in Europe. Anyway, doing a week in Dubai and a week in Portugal shortly with a 1 year old, this seems to be the biggest obstacle or question mark. You have to get a Doona. It is a traveler's life saver. It converts from stroller to car seat and can be gait checked. If you get a seat for them on the plane, you can also strap it in there and avoid having them crawl all over. Uber has a carseat option but I doubt it would be readily available in Europe.
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