Wife asked me what my bucket list travel location. I told her Tokyo. She said not interested. I recruited my kids and we started watching lots of YouTube videos.

shes in and excited. Going this summer. Hawaiian airlines waited until a week after Black Friday to drastically lower ticket price . I had to fight with those aloha jackasses but got my flight adjusted. Please be happy for me 

On 12/12/2024 at 12:07 PM, OCEaglefan said:

Wife asked me what my bucket list travel location. I told her Tokyo. She said not interested. I recruited my kids and we started watching lots of YouTube videos.

shes in and excited. Going this summer. Hawaiian airlines waited until a week after Black Friday to drastically lower ticket price . I had to fight with those aloha jackasses but got my flight adjusted. Please be happy for me 

I am. Enjoy. 

Good for all of you guys. 
 
My travels these days (the last 4 years or so) consist of either going to the Poconos or the Delaware beaches. 🙃

On 12/12/2024 at 12:07 PM, OCEaglefan said:

Wife asked me what my bucket list travel location. I told her Tokyo. She said not interested. I recruited my kids and we started watching lots of YouTube videos.

shes in and excited. Going this summer. Hawaiian airlines waited until a week after Black Friday to drastically lower ticket price . I had to fight with those aloha jackasses but got my flight adjusted. Please be happy for me 

Will you please bring me back a Hello Kitty bum bag?

On 12/11/2024 at 9:41 PM, binkybink77 said:

This is what we did. I’m glad we saw Northern Ireland but I probably wouldn’t do that part again and focus more on the west coast - places like the Dingle Peninsula and focusing on the small little towns and pubs. Are you going to the Dark Hedges and Giant’s Causway?

Also the vegetable soup and side of brown bread and a Guinness is one of my favorite lunches there! I loved it so much I make it myself from scratch both the soup and bread. And if you get a chance in Dublin go to Darkey Kelly’s for the music and Guinness stew. If you like oysters and are in Connemara I highly recommend. They had the biggest freshest oysters I’ve ever had. 

If I were to guess, I'd say there's no way that @mikemack8 misses out on the Dingle Peninsula, especially if the berries are fully ripe and in season.  👀

2 hours ago, hputenis said:

If I were to guess, I'd say there's no way that @mikemack8 misses out on the Dingle Peninsula, especially if the berries are fully ripe and in season.  👀

Isn't that just Florida?

On 12/11/2024 at 9:41 PM, binkybink77 said:

This is what we did. I’m glad we saw Northern Ireland but I probably wouldn’t do that part again and focus more on the west coast - places like the Dingle Peninsula and focusing on the small little towns and pubs. Are you going to the Dark Hedges and Giant’s Causway?

Also the vegetable soup and side of brown bread and a Guinness is one of my favorite lunches there! I loved it so much I make it myself from scratch both the soup and bread. And if you get a chance in Dublin go to Darkey Kelly’s for the music and Guinness stew. If you like oysters and are in Connemara I highly recommend. They had the biggest freshest oysters I’ve ever had. 

I’m pretty sure we are hitting both those places (Giant’s Causeway and Dark Hedges).

Any of you do any castle stays?  @hputenis @mr_hunt 

I think we’re gonna stay at Dromoland - looks like the cheapest rooms start at 400 euros a night - FML.  I better get laid every uk’n day on this trip. 

5 minutes ago, mikemack8 said:

I’m pretty sure we are hitting both those places (Giant’s Causeway and Dark Hedges).

Any of you do any castle stays?  @hputenis @mr_hunt 

I think we’re gonna stay at Dromoland - looks like the cheapest rooms start at 400 euros a night - FML.  I better get laid every uk’n day on this trip. 

No castle stays for us.  We stayed at these 3 spots on the trip.  Part of me thought the "Blarney Castle Hotel" was at the Blarney Castle, but it's not  🤣

Connemara Coast - 4 nights (Galway/Shannon)

Blarney Castle Hotel - 3 nights (Blarney/Cork) - This was by far my favorite.

House Hotel Dublin - 2 nights (Dublin).

The Kilkenny Castle was the halfway point between Blarney and Dublin, so we spent an entire day there on the way to Dublin. 

And you won't have any problem getting laid.  Plenty of male prostitutes in Dublin.  Just walk up to the biggest guy you see in a kilt at the Temple Bar, squeeze his nuts and honk like a clown, then tell him you speak fluent Gaelic ****ot!  

17 minutes ago, mikemack8 said:

I’m pretty sure we are hitting both those places (Giant’s Causeway and Dark Hedges).

Any of you do any castle stays?  @hputenis @mr_hunt 

I think we’re gonna stay at Dromoland - looks like the cheapest rooms start at 400 euros a night - FML.  I better get laid every uk’n day on this trip. 

we stayed at clontarf castle in dublin...really nice...and i don't think it broke the bank. 

 

 

 

25 minutes ago, hputenis said:

No castle stays for us.  We stayed at these 3 spots on the trip.  Part of me thought the "Blarney Castle Hotel" was at the Blarney Castle, but it's not  🤣

Connemara Coast - 4 nights (Galway/Shannon)

Blarney Castle Hotel - 3 nights (Blarney/Cork) - This was by far my favorite.

House Hotel Dublin - 2 nights (Dublin).

The Kilkenny Castle was the halfway point between Blarney and Dublin, so we spent an entire day there on the way to Dublin. 

And you won't have any problem getting laid.  Plenty of male prostitutes in Dublin.  Just walk up to the biggest guy you see in a kilt at the Temple Bar, squeeze his nuts and honk like a clown, then tell him you speak fluent Gaelic ****ot!  

 I hope you choke on a roasted chestnut, Eddie Johnson!

On 12/18/2024 at 3:29 PM, mikemack8 said:

I’m pretty sure we are hitting both those places (Giant’s Causeway and Dark Hedges).

Any of you do any castle stays?  @hputenis @mr_hunt 

I think we’re gonna stay at Dromoland - looks like the cheapest rooms start at 400 euros a night - FML.  I better get laid every uk’n day on this trip. 

We did Ashford and Ballyfin…it was really incredible.  Unique vibe that you don’t get anywhere else in Europe and amazing food.  When we went, we started in Dublin and did a counter-clockwise circle around the country.  I would definitely recommend the Dingle peninsula.  Everyone already mentioned the highlights, but that one sometimes gets missed.

23 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

We did Ashford and Ballyfin…it was really incredible.  Unique vibe that you don’t get anywhere else in Europe and amazing food.  When we went, we started in Dublin and did a counter-clockwise circle around the country.  I would definitely recommend the Dingle peninsula.  Everyone already mentioned the highlights, but that one sometimes gets missed.

We’re going counter clockwise also - and we’re spending two days on Dingle 

On 12/18/2024 at 2:44 PM, hputenis said:

No castle stays for us.  We stayed at these 3 spots on the trip.  Part of me thought the "Blarney Castle Hotel" was at the Blarney Castle, but it's not  🤣

Connemara Coast - 4 nights (Galway/Shannon)

Blarney Castle Hotel - 3 nights (Blarney/Cork) - This was by far my favorite.

House Hotel Dublin - 2 nights (Dublin).

The Kilkenny Castle was the halfway point between Blarney and Dublin, so we spent an entire day there on the way to Dublin. 

And you won't have any problem getting laid.  Plenty of male prostitutes in Dublin.  Just walk up to the biggest guy you see in a kilt at the Temple Bar, squeeze his nuts and honk like a clown, then tell him you speak fluent Gaelic ****ot!  

lol gay lick

*gaelic

In Nevis for the week.  Really a hidden gem.  Some of the nicest people anywhere I’ve been too.  

 

On 12/12/2024 at 1:07 PM, OCEaglefan said:

Wife asked me what my bucket list travel location. I told her Tokyo. She said not interested. I recruited my kids and we started watching lots of YouTube videos.

shes in and excited. Going this summer. Hawaiian airlines waited until a week after Black Friday to drastically lower ticket price . I had to fight with those aloha jackasses but got my flight adjusted. Please be happy for me 

That's on my wife's list.  I was there once for a brief work trip... got upgraded to first class on my flight home and sat diagonally across from Jack White.

We just came back from Cuba.    Would not recommend going there. 

5 hours ago, B3 said:

That's on my wife's list.  I was there once for a brief work trip... got upgraded to first class on my flight home and sat diagonally across from Jack White.

We just came back from Cuba.    Would not recommend going there. 

A friend visited Cuba via cruise in Dec 2018. He really liked it at that time

This thread got me thinking... who here can teach me how to travel? This is more of a finances thing as a single person who strongly despises cooking/making food for a single person -- and I also tire of something after about 2 meals, so meal-prepping to eat the same sheet 5+ meals in the same week will likely not be effective either. I don' map out my food-spend, but I know its 1000% my largest spend outside of my mortgage (and may even rival my car payment...) -- but I look at what my TAKE HOME pay was on my final paystub of 2024 and it basically equals what my base salary was when COVID first hit. And this is after taxes/social security/medicare/benefits/$10k into 401k being paid out. I feel like I should be able to do several solid trips each year. 

On 1/8/2025 at 11:41 AM, B3 said:

That's on my wife's list.  I was there once for a brief work trip... got upgraded to first class on my flight home and sat diagonally across from Jack White.

We just came back from Cuba.    Would not recommend going there. 

 

On 1/8/2025 at 5:10 PM, Agent23 said:

A friend visited Cuba via cruise in Dec 2018. He really liked it at that time

Cuba is a pretty big country, so I’d imagine there are both good and bad experiences to be had.

Isn’t it still very challenging to get there?  Restrictions?

I didn’t need to travel too far on this trip.  Some pics from Longwood Gardens.  The new West conservatory was nice but it’s new and needs time to catch up. We caughtt an organ playing carol. It was cold as F but so nice with the little snow we had. 

Great pics Di. We went a few weeks ago before Christmas. We like to get dinner at Buckley’s Tavern and then do the Christmas lights. I really liked the Phoenix tree. 
 

 

On 1/8/2025 at 4:17 PM, Agent23 said:

This thread got me thinking... who here can teach me how to travel? This is more of a finances thing as a single person who strongly despises cooking/making food for a single person -- and I also tire of something after about 2 meals, so meal-prepping to eat the same sheet 5+ meals in the same week will likely not be effective either. I don' map out my food-spend, but I know its 1000% my largest spend outside of my mortgage (and may even rival my car payment...) -- but I look at what my TAKE HOME pay was on my final paystub of 2024 and it basically equals what my base salary was when COVID first hit. And this is after taxes/social security/medicare/benefits/$10k into 401k being paid out. I feel like I should be able to do several solid trips each year. 

You should definitely be traveling. You have the means and barely any responsibilities. See the world! If you’re able to do trips without giving work a lot of notice you can get really good deals on trips to Ireland on Groupon that include airfare and rental car. My parents have done it several times and have had no complaints. I was just looking at an 8 day one the other day - for round trip air, lodging and rental car (and maybe some meals/breakfast?) it was like $799. 

13 hours ago, binkybink77 said:

You should definitely be traveling. You have the means and barely any responsibilities. See the world! If you’re able to do trips without giving work a lot of notice you can get really good deals on trips to Ireland on Groupon that include airfare and rental car. My parents have done it several times and have had no complaints. I was just looking at an 8 day one the other day - for round trip air, lodging and rental car (and maybe some meals/breakfast?) it was like $799. 

I keep forgetting to check there. I’ve been looking the past few days at Costcos travel stuff as I have a friend who’s done a few things through them, but the lack of filtering has made it tedious trying to find things I specifically want. 
 

Are some of the deals situations where these locations have more unsold rooms/etc than they were anticipating, so they’re decreasing pricing on relatively short notice in an attempt to max out capacity as best they can?

6 hours ago, Agent23 said:

I keep forgetting to check there. I’ve been looking the past few days at Costcos travel stuff as I have a friend who’s done a few things through them, but the lack of filtering has made it tedious trying to find things I specifically want. 
 

Are some of the deals situations where these locations have more unsold rooms/etc than they were anticipating, so they’re decreasing pricing on relatively short notice in an attempt to max out capacity as best they can?

Costco was going to be my other suggestion. Or go with a Hilton all-inclusive. All of your meals and drinks will be included and it will help you earn points and status. There is one in Jamaica - Rose Hall. Or the La Romana in the Dominican which we just went to. 
 

I am guessing that is the case with the Groupon deals. I’m sure it’s hit or miss but like I said my parents have done it a few times and had no complaints. And they can be picky.