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We've been on about a dozen+ cruises with our first cruise being part of our honeymoon. IIRC, most of our early days research during the mid aughts was via Cruise Critic. We did all of our early bookings using a travel agent and we did get general and some tidbits of info from her. But we...

Back in the day, the missus and I really hesitated/disliked throwing money at a problem/situation, big or small. But we've transitioned to a more balanced approach nowadays as we realize some money saved doesn't necessarily outweigh the angst sometimes. Situation dependent of course.

Yeah, I've definitely gotten more tepid about getting up on a ladder as I've gotten older. I'm still fine getting up to clean the gutters on the first level and hang some xmas lights but I definitely don't love going up to the second level gutters, let alone the roof. Been thinking about...

I generally don't regret retiring when I did as my quality of life significantly increased. And I generally don't miss my employment income as a means to pay for my share of our spend because of how I'm turning on the income taps from my savings now. But I do miss the savings from my...

We've used Agoda quite a few times in the past, generally to book hotels in Asia, but not within the last decade so consider my comments with caution. (I pulled up our last booking which was for Seoul in 2015 and I still get their marketing spam weekly.) We generally try to book directly with...

Yep, their videos/podcasts are generally pretty long. I generally don't watch their video versions unless there's something important visually. Instead, I just pop on the earbuds and listen to the podcast version while out for a walk and just rewind if I get distracted.

Ditto! :laugh: -- Normally I skip the Dave Ramsey related posts but one the podcasts I subscribe to (The Rational Reminder podcast hosted by two Canadian financial planners) had a recent episode with guests discussing/critiquing the claims on this Dave Ramsey show. I finally got around to...

Vancouverite here. Whenever the missus and I think about short road trip (ie weekend/long weekend or even a daytrip), we always say, "North, East, South, or West." North kind of means Whistler for us but there are different iterations and stops. A simple trip is up to Whistler and back along...

Kind of overkill but I keep 2 types of spreadsheets to track our travel spend. One is an actual detailed trip spend worksheet within an overall (big) trip specific spreadsheet (that also has separate worksheets to store trip details like transportation info, accommodation info, a list of...

+1 Yup sounds like a terrific trip! We were in Ravenna last June for a day pre-cruise. Nice little town. If you have time, I'd also encourage trying to make a side trip to Bologna which is somewhat near. We tacked it onto our trip and were pleasantly surprised. Cool main square. Fantastic...

During one set of legs of a big trip in 2019, we flew from SIN to IST on SQ with a planned 23.5hr layover (~7:30am to 7am) and onto CDG on TK. Really enjoyed biz class on Turkish Airlines on an A330. Felt modern and enjoyed the overall service. Thought is was one of the better biz class...

A family friend gifted us a device a decade ago that was basically an air fryer before they were called air fryers. It was basically a huge glass cylinder base that you could put one or two racks in. And the lid was a heating element with a fan. We mainly used it to cook frozen food that you...

This is a decade ago now but the missus and I did a day trip to Elephant Nature Park. IIRC, it was a pretty early morning and a long drive from our hotel in the centre/old town part of Chiang Mai to the sanctuary though some guests/volunteers did an overnighter. We chose this place because...

+1 to using Flyertalk and that some users are prone to give a bit of attitude. :laugh: For the most part we book direct nowadays but occasionally go through a travel agent or third party site. Travel agencies and third party sites occasionally have access to deals that the average retail...

Was thinking the same thing. Lots of crazy stories involving condo pre-sales in the ridiculous Vancouver housing market. And have been reading about the situation in China where people are unable to get their money back while their condos aren't getting built. You put money down on spec but...

Somewhat scary and disturbing article. My takeaways and thoughts: You have to help yourself and do estate planning. Get your documents and plans in place. Identify key people. Etc. The "professional" guardianship gig as described in the article sounds so sketchy. It sounds like it needs...

We feel we're pretty researched and aware about the threat of being pickpocketed so we take pretty typical precautions and normally are on the lookout for classic situations. However, we're still susceptile to being very slow to recognize we're in the middle of a pickpocket attempt versus the...

Swapped out the back-up camera on the car. Apparently the original models are susceptible to water damage from high pressure sprays like from the car wash place we go to. :laugh: Dealers on the internet were listing over $250 for the newer OEM version of the camera. Places selling...

I voted beer. I mainly drink socially with the boys but will have the odd drink with the missus when on vacation or out for dinner. My preference is beer because when I have many drinks with friends, I generally don't get much of a hangover. But the liquid calories are just killer. I tried...

My recently retired siblings keep asking me to go play pickleball with them but I refuse. :) I think the biggest change in retirement for me has been walking a few hours a day versus sitting at a desk for the work day. I jump on the treadmill when the weather isn't that great and for more...

Only a year and a half in retirement for me so far. I don't miss work at all. To take a sports cliche, it's been addition through subtraction. Not having the stress associated from my job has made my life that much better. However, to now take a retirement cliche, I do believe people need...

The missus is taking her folks on a cruise next week and is planning to stay a few days in Barcelona post cruise. IIRC, they're staying on Las Ramblas to try to stay in the heart of things to reduce the walking/transport for her folks. The last time we visited, we stayed in the Eixample...

Props to you! I wish I had the patience to learn another language today beyond the few I picked up growing up and in school in a limited degree. Japanese and Thai would be at the top of my list. Opens up so much more of the culture.

Most of my fav's have been posted already but here are a few more (I have no idea why that emoji was inserted below): Tarzan Boy by Baltimora Major Tom by Peter Schilling and Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell

+1 I find it more of an issue for domestic and transborder flights versus international flights. The type of aircraft also partially influences my flight selection because certain/newer planes have larger bins. But happy to have credit cards that give us zone 2 boarding to get first dibs...