Anyone got any travel planned? 2018 version

[97guns]

Just booked for my second visa run, going to Kuala Lumpur in September for 14 nights, airfare is $95 RT from Bangkok and hotel is only $10.50 a night

 

[JDARNELL]

Time for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally it will be nice to see all the folks we see each year at the event.

 

[97guns]

Going to Ho Chi Minh tomorrow for 11 days, can’t wait to get ahold of an authentic Bahn Mi

Been here for 4 days or so and it’s not really my cup of tea, really not enjoying the 100% humidity and crossing the streets with all these motorbikes buzzing by honking their horns, it’s a real adventure crossing streets here, the best way I’ve found is to latch onto a local guy and follow him step by step without even looking at the traffic. I am enjoying the local foods, I can eat their $1 bahn mi sandwiches every meal and the coffee is the best I’ve ever had, not too much for Pho, it’s just too dam hot to be eating hot soup

 

[Chuckanut]

I just found another reason to return to Italy later this year or in 2019:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cammino-di-san-tommaso-fountain-of-wine

At the end of the Cammino di San Tommaso, a 196-mile pilgrimage from Rome to Ortona, Italy, are the relics of St. Thomas the Apostle. It’s a long, thirsty walk to get there. If only there was a water fountain.


Turns out, there’s something even better: a wine fountain.

 

[explanade]

Been here for 4 days or so and it’s not really my cup of tea, really not enjoying the 100% humidity and crossing the streets with all these motorbikes buzzing by honking their horns, it’s a real adventure crossing streets here, the best way I’ve found is to latch onto a local guy and follow him step by step without even looking at the traffic. I am enjoying the local foods, I can eat their $1 bahn mi sandwiches every meal and the coffee is the best I’ve ever had, not too much for Pho, it’s just too dam hot to be eating hot soup

I used Uber a lot in Vietnam, just even for 1 or 2 km trips, which would cost a buck or two.

It got you out of the hot humid weather and into a vehicle with AC and you didn't have to deal with crossing the streets.

 

[thatguy]

We just applied for Nexus cards by mail. A charge card number is on the application. I think it's gonna be $50can which will be about $40us. The card has no foreign transaction fee. If we get the approval on time we should be able to get the interview in Calgary later this year. Otherwise Detroit is the nearest interview location. Could spend a day at Greenfield Village.

Nexus fees have just showed up as pending charges, on my card, about 56 days from the mailing date. At least I know they've gotten to it.

 

[97guns]

I used Uber a lot in Vietnam, just even for 1 or 2 km trips, which would cost a buck or two.

It got you out of the hot humid weather and into a vehicle with AC and you didn't have to deal with crossing the streets.

Unfortunately uber stopped operations here

 

[explanade]

Check out Grab then.

Also are you going to other cities like Hoi An, Hue or Hanoi?

Or visiting Ha Long Bay?

 

[97guns]

Check out Grab then.

Also are you going to other cities like Hoi An, Hue or Hanoi?

Or visiting Ha Long Bay?

No, only staying in HCM, I see grab but I think they are only moped taxis. We might jump on a bus today and just go for a ride, tomorrow we plan to hit up the war museum that’s pretty close to the hotel.

 

[explanade]

No I used them in Bali. They were cars and I'm pretty sure the app. will display what kind of car is coming.

Only problem might be that driver might try to call you to verify you're a legit fare but they often won't speak English.

I avoided Grab in Vietnam since Uber worked for me then, (Feb 2017). But I used it in Bali in June. I didn't put my credit card in the app. Just paid them cash.

 

[tulak]

I used Grab in Malaysia last year without any problems. Regular cars. Most drivers worked for both Grab and Uber, depending on which paid more.

 

[sengsational]

Monkey Bike trans Romania

Just got back from my trek across Romania on a completely impractical 49cc mini bike. 32 riders started in Sighetu Marmatiei and (most) finished in Vama Veche, on the Black Sea. I haven't assembled my own pictures and videos yet, but here's the link to my track:

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=1a2415b4dfafb09f3f

And here's a great video that another set of riders put together that will give you a flavor of what the adventure was like:

I encountered most of what you see in that video. Not the dam, but yes, lots of mud puddles! The idea is to stay off the tarmac. I rode with 4 other guys the first day and a half, then went solo for a few days, then met-up with a couple and finished out the trek with them (the riders could communicate via a WhatsApp group).

Super friendly and helpful locals in Romania. And very reasonable prices for everything (2.5 liters of beer at the quick-e-mart was less than $2, big ole dinner, with beer was $6, hotel rooms in the country were $20/night).

The journey was hard, but that's the point. I LOVED it!

 

[Nemo2]

The journey was hard, but that's the point. I LOVED it!

But, but...no concierge? No personalized guide? No 'fine dining'?


(The north's the area we'll hit on our next trip to Romania.)

 

[braumeister]

Nexus fees have just showed up as pending charges, on my card, about 56 days from the mailing date. At least I know they've gotten to it.

We did the interviews in Detroit and it was easy. But be advised that they don’t have the capability to do the iris scans there (at least when we did it).

 

[sengsational]

But, but...no concierge? No personalized guide? No 'fine dining'?

I spotted the smoke, was hungry, and knew where my next fine dining experience would be. The mici from the street grill hit the spot.

 

[Nemo2]

I spotted the smoke, was hungry, and knew where my next fine dining experience would be. The mici from the street grill hit the spot.

"Smell that? You smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning...."

Looks great! DW & I have 'dined' at numerous street locales!

 

[thatguy]

Nexus fees have just showed up as pending charges, on my card, about 56 days from the mailing date. At least I know they've gotten to it.

The fee on the card was $46.19 US. That's a lousy exchange rate from $50CAN. Maybe Nexus did the conversion and charge me USD. I think the credit card would give a better rate.

Time is getting short to get this done before this years trip. We can run up to Detroit anytime for the interview but, it could be another year before we're near a place that can do the eye scan.

 

[Kwirk]

DW and I want to experience some of Asia but without broiling heat and humidity. Beginning in late October we'll spend about a week each in Tokyo, Kyoto, Taipei, and Hong Kong. We're particularly looking forward to (somewhat) adventurous eating and walking about.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

Just booked a kind of ridiculous trip for 2019 using our Aeroplan points.

Aeroplan is a loyalty program that Air Canada spun off years ago when it needed to raise cash. They maintained their synergistic relationship up to now but AC has indicated that they are going to go it alone and operate their own in-house loyalty program mid 2020. We've been saving our points for a big trip so the potential major program changes created an impetus for us to use our points now instead of risking to see how things play out where everyone might be scrambling at the last minute to book flights.

Aeroplan allows for some handy itinerary routing such as (1) 2 stopovers on top of your turnaround point, (2) unlimited up to 24 layovers/connections, (3) flights on Star Alliance partners other than AC. There's also certain rules you need to stay within like maximum permitted mileage, no doubling back within one direction, etc. Apparently a lot of people take advantage of the flexibility to build a "Mini-RTW" (round the world) itinerary and this is our first (and possibly last) crack at it:

• Vancouver to San Fran on Air Canada Express. 23h45m layover.
• San Fran to LA on United. 23h26m layover. Economy
• LA to Tokyo on ANA. STOP. 6 days
• Tokyo to Seoul on ANA. 22h55m layover
• Seoul to Taipei on Asiana. 22h50m layover
• Taipei to Bangkok on EVA Air. 23h50m layover
• Bangkok to Singapore on Singapore Airlines. TURNAROUND. 4 days
• Singapore to Istanbul on Singapore Airlines. 23h50m layover
• Istanbul to Paris on Turkish Airlines. STOP. 9 days
• Paris to Brussels on Brussels Airlines. 1h25m connection
• Brussels to London on Brussels Airlines. 22h15m layover
• London to Toronto on Air Canada. 20h50m layover
• Toronto to Vancouver on Air Canada. END

All of the flights are in business class except the SFO to LAX leg.
Total cost was about $450CDN + 155000 points for each booking.

There was still more leeway to add more stops on the Asia side of the itinerary like Shanghai, Hong Kong, Saigon, etc. but I didn't want to make the missus suffer too much with too many consecutive days of 24hr layovers. Plus, I was trying to keep the trip to under a month for work considerations.

The plan is to hit up local markets, eat street/local food, and check out interesting neighbourhoods. We'll likely be watching Anthony Bourdain's and similar series on Netflix for additional inspiration. However, we've been to nearly all of the destinations within the last 10 years (with the exception of San Fran for me and Taipei for the missus) so we won't be completely green in terms of being familiar with the cities. I suppose we should have tried to throw in some new destinations but we kind of like revisiting places to apply what we learned the previous trips while also discovering what's changed.

 

[Winemaker]

^^ DW and I avoid flying into SFO at all costs. Although you are only having a layover, it's just crazy crowded. Our 1st trip 10 years ago, it took us 2.5 hours to grab our luggage, stand in line for our reserved car rental, take the shuttle to get our car. It was now 2:30 pm and we are on the southern end of city ready to head north during rush hour. We drove up the coast, across the Russian River valley and got to Sonoma at 8:30 pm for dinner. We didn't get to our rental until 10 pm. Never again.

We now fly to Sacramento land about 2:30 pm, out the door in a half hour, and in the same rental by 6:00 pm, after we stop at our favorite winery.

 

[kcowan]

Heading to Penticton today for a few days wine-tasting with 2 other couples.

 

[audreyh1]

^^ DW and I avoid flying into SFO at all costs. Although you are only having a layover, it's just crazy crowded. Our 1st trip 10 years ago, it took us 2.5 hours to grab our luggage, stand in line for our reserved car rental, take the shuttle to get our car. It was now 2:30 pm and we are on the southern end of city ready to head north during rush hour. We drove up the coast, across the Russian River valley and got to Sonoma at 8:30 pm for dinner. We didn't get to our rental until 10 pm. Never again.

We now fly to Sacramento land about 2:30 pm, out the door in a half hour, and in the same rental by 6:00 pm, after we stop at our favorite winery.

It will likely be fine. We have flown through SFO on our way to Hawaii with an overnight layover and had no problems. Not as crowded as Newark! which was hopeless crowded on our last layover.

I’m sure having TSA Pre-check and Priority check-in status helped. Even bagged a cheap upgrade to first class when checking in next morning for the Hawaii leg.

 

[6miths]

Was asked to go to Tanzania for 16 days at the end of the month to help out with a project but just couldn't do it. I hate leaving home in the summer months and it was going to be some pretty serious roughing it and local traveling on poor roads. The long flights are starting to wear a bit thin too. Will go back in the fall.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

^^ DW and I avoid flying into SFO at all costs. Although you are only having a layover, it's just crazy crowded. Our 1st trip 10 years ago, it took us 2.5 hours to grab our luggage, stand in line for our reserved car rental, take the shuttle to get our car. It was now 2:30 pm and we are on the southern end of city ready to head north during rush hour. We drove up the coast, across the Russian River valley and got to Sonoma at 8:30 pm for dinner. We didn't get to our rental until 10 pm. Never again.

We now fly to Sacramento land about 2:30 pm, out the door in a half hour, and in the same rental by 6:00 pm, after we stop at our favorite winery.

We're definitely going to have to do a little more planning around airport logistics for the layovers to be able to get the most of our time in town. Assuming we do checked luggage, we're going to have to collect our luggage from the carousel since it doesn't get get checked through to the stopover/turnaround points. We're not sure if we're going to book a cheap hotel near the airport or in town for a quick sleep before jetting off the next morning. Have to figure out the best way to get into and around town depending on where the airport is located. Etc, etc.

 

[BrianB]

I'm turning the big six-oh in September and we are booked for a 6 day (53 mile) walk along the coast of Wales, finishing on my birthday. A van service will forward our luggage each day so we only have to carry day packs. We're working our way up to longer walks in preparation so I don't think that we will have any problems.

At the end of the walk we will take a ferry to Ireland and spend two weeks touring Waterford, Limerick, Galway and Dublin. I have been to Cardiff and Dublin, but that was many years ago and DW has never visited Wales or Ireland.

We're excited and already starting to pack!