What did you do today? 2017 version

[Nemo2]

I sense a distinct lack of appreciation for the new Polish expletives you had the opportunity to learn.

More likely I re-familiarized them with a few Anglo Saxon gems.

 

[W2R]

Didn't know whether to post this here or on the 'downside of traveling' thread......but, let me tell you about our day:

Since we had already booked flights Warsaw - Toronto on the 22nd, shortly after we arrived in Krakow we went to the train station to book a transfer between cities. Due to a holiday period every train for today was booked solid, but we did manage to snag two First Class seats for the 07:37 a.m.train.

We, being advocates of 'Lombardi Time', were, of course, early; the arrivals/departures board indicated a specific track, and we confirmed this with a railway employee.

We watched the board studiously, and listen to the announcements in English that told of trains being late, and trains that were ending their trips in Krakow.

Watched the board right up to the second that 'our' train disappeared from it, (sans announcement), and we were informed by a passerby that the train had just left, unheralded, from another track.

Rushed down to the ticket window and were lucky enough to encounter the most surly, boorish, 'service' rep I've ever met. We informed her of our plight, and that the departure board had indicated the track incorrectly, only to have her yell "No tracks today". (We wondered what she'd say if she was given a departure gate at an airport, only to find out her flight had quietly snuck off from a completely different gate...."No gates today!") (Perhaps she's a Seinfeld fan?)

We did manage to get a partial refund, (15% penalty...and a nasty e-mail has already been fired off to the railway......being Sunday, and a holiday, the station master apparently wasn't around).


Upstairs to the bus depot....2 tickets...and an eight hour wait.

At the depot we, (again, we apparently never learn), monitored the departure board, and DW 'confirmed' (ha ha) the departure bay with the (cough cough) 'Information Desk'.

As departure time approached without a bus in sight, we, and four young Europeans, (possibly Nordic), began to get antsy and sent out scouts......bus came in, at a completely different bay.....(by this time we're starting to appreciate the old 'Polish firing squad' type jokes).

Then..we're on...(oh, the driver when checking the ticket that his company had issued, appeared to think it was written in hieroglyphics)......only to encounter bumper to bumper traffic all the way from Krakow to Warsaw.

At time of writing we've been up 20 hours...aaarrrgh!

(Almost forgot....the train would have dropped us off steps from our accommodation.....whereas the bus was miles away, in the scuzzy part of town, (late at night), and we were obliged to take a **** cab!)

But - - after enjoying your posts over the years, my guess is that you are among the most well traveled members of our forum. While this was no fun, I am sure you must have been through worse some time in the past and knew these things sometimes happen, yet still wanted to go to Warsaw. And now you are there despite the formidable obstacles. I'm glad. Now, get some sleep and tomorrow, Warsaw awaits!

 

[Nemo2]

I am sure you must have been through worse some time in the past

As I said to DW, had we just ridden the train from A to B it would've been "Ho Hum".......now however, we have a STORY!

 

[Bestwifeever]

....

Watched the board right up to the second that 'our' train disappeared from it, (sans announcement), and we were informed by a passerby that the train had just left, unheralded, from another track.
...

I fully expect this to happen every time we travel, especially in a country where we are unfamiliar with the language, although it never has. You have my sympathy and I am amazed you handled it so well and went to the bus instead of my plan if we are ever in this situation, which is to curl up in a small ball and sob until rescued (as we have rescued people in the past). I hope you enjoy Warsaw and that your flight to Toronto takes place on the 22nd as expected.

 

[Souschef]

Had Father's Day brunch with wife's sons,DIls and GD. One of them gave me a mice Stepfather Father's Day card with a nice note inside.
It does not get much better than that

 

[splitwdw]

Nemo2, Good thing you are a seasoned traveled and knew what to do. I'd still be there waiting for the train. Hope the rest of your trip in uneventful.

 

[rodi]

As I said to DW, had we just ridden the train from A to B it would've been "Ho Hum".......now however, we have a STORY!

I ***love*** this!!!

 

[Nemo2]

I ***love*** this!!!

Over the decades I've noticed that the travel experiences where everything goes wrong, (the re-tellings punctuated with numerous "And then(s)"), are the ones you cherish most as memories and are inclined to re-tell most often.

This one's a keeper.


(Oh, after about 4 1/2 hours sleep, we're both wide awake and raring to go...can't keep old farts down, I guess......although I have a suspicion that we'll crash later.)

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Today was a catch up day for me - organizing, picking up the house, taking stuff to Goodwill, making some food that will last a couple of days.

Last night we saw the George Bernard Shaw play Ideal Husband at a community theater. It was a cute play and the theater group especially did a great job on the period sets and costumes.

The night before we were at The Soiled Dove which was a Barbary Coast themed, immersive, acrobat and aerial artist type show in a big circus tent on Alameda Island across from where the USS Hornet is docked. The inside of the tent is made up like an Old West saloon and a band called the Jazz Mafia provided the music. The multiple stages and audience seating were intermingled and many audience members dressed up, with many of the performers (ladies and gents of the evening (the soiled doves), town drunks, preachers and other Barbary Coast characters) walking around when not on stage for the "immersive" part". It was a really unusual but spectacular kind of show. I'd like to go again but next time I would dress up, too, since all the costumed characters around was part of the fun.

 

[bbbamI]

This morning we had a message on our phone. It was a call from a relative of dh's. His cousin started off by saying....'Hey, this is Jerry, no one has died...I'm calling about something else.'



I know it's in bad taste, but dh and I laughed out loud.

 

[Nemo2]

Godot arrived before our train!

Later that very same day at the bus terminal.

 

[aja8888]

Knee update

Five days after surgery visit to the Doc:

We went over the internal surgery photos and he showed me the repaired areas (2) as I tore both meniscus's. He also showed me the arthritis on my knee cap which he cleaned up. Basically, it was a good size job he said. But all looks good and I should "take it easy" for the next three weeks. That means no heavy lifting and doing things like playing soccer.

My knee is a bit swollen now that the wrap is off. Both incisions were stitched under the skin so I have no threads to have removed. All that is left is continue walking, do the exercises on the sheet given to me, and ice it down in the evening.

Knee photo (shaved leg hair):

 

[Just_Steve]

This morning we had a message on our phone. It was a call from a relative of dh's. His cousin started off by saying....'Hey, this is Jerry, no one has died...I'm calling about something else.'



I know it's in bad taste, but dh and I laughed out loud.

I can appreciate a message like that from a relative I don't talk to that often.

 

[Ronstar]

Morning workout, cut the grass, bought 3 vintage road maps on eBay, now getting ready to cut down 3 or so dead trees.

 

[Nemo2]

This afternoon, since it's in the square across the road from where we're staying, we dropped by the railroad's 'Customer Service Office' and filed a written formal complaint with regards to Sunday's screw up on their part.

They, (which is SOP just about everywhere I guess), allow themselves thirty business days to respond.......we're not anticipating, nor do we particularly care about, being refunded the 15% post-cancellation charge that was imposed, but we relish the idea that the churlish service clerk might receive at least some unwelcome attention from her superiors.

(As someone who goes out of his way to be polite when interacting with strangers I take umbrage at being unjustifiably screamed at.)

 

[W2R]

It has been raining all day from Tropical Storm Cindy, which is supposed to make landfall tomorrow in Louisiana. Rains totalling 6"-12" are predicted here, along with flash flooding. Schools, universities, and libraries are starting to announce closings. Our block is not in a flood prone area, and winds are not expected to be an issue. So, we are alert but not too worried.

I'll never forget the OTHER Tropical Storm Cindy, which years later was declared to have actually been Hurricane Cindy in my location. That was in 2005, two months before Katrina.

 

[Nodak]

We had a very nice sunny and 72 degrees today so a couple friends and I decided to do something we haven't done in about 40 years. There are areas around here that were big river channels when the glaciers were filling up lake Agassiz. If you have a good 4 wheel drive vehicle you can get in there and cruise around at about 20 mph and not see another person for hours. This was known in the 70s as a space cruise. The photo is an aerial shot of one of the channels from an altitude of about 45,000 feet according to Google Earth. During the drive we saw moose, elk, deer, a black bear, fox, many ducks amd geese, a fisher, and we think a mountain lion. All in all a great day.

 

[Fedup]

I'm glad we got to Hawaii after leaving Phoenix in the hot heatwave. It's only 80 degree here, nice and breezy. My daughters approved of the location I've booked. My eyes were not good last time and I booked an apartment that I thought was ocean front but it wasn't. This time they helped me look and we do have ocean view, and it's not too pricey either. Just had our first island breakfast and did our shopping to get the usual stuff like shampoo and toothpaste. My family don't usually pack much because we prefer to come here and buy.

After an afternoon snack of fresh pineapple and cheese, we are waiting to book for a massage for 3 females. Number two daughter is doing the spa selection, it's her graduation present. She gets to choose which spa to go. I'm just tagging along for a hot stone massage and I'm the Credit card.

 

[Lisa99]

Timeline for our move to The Villages just sped way up!

Our house went on the market yesterday in Vegas. 10 minutes later our realtor got a call for a showing. Clients made a full price, cash offer, no appraisal, and they're paying all of the taxes and transfer fees. We close in two weeks.

Our heads are still spinning... from hitting MLS to contract signing was 9 hours.

 

[REWahoo]

You priced it too low.

j/k. Congratulations!

 

[Bestwifeever]

Timeline for our move to The Villages just sped way up!

Our house went on the market yesterday in Vegas. 10 minutes later our realtor got a call for a showing. Clients made a full price, cash offer, no appraisal, and they're paying all of the taxes and transfer fees. We close in two weeks.

Our heads are still spinning... from hitting MLS to contract signing was 9 hours.

Wow! Congratulations!

 

[Lisa99]

You priced it too low.

j/k. Congratulations!

In hindsight probably! We live in a Sun City and our floor plan isn't a popular one so we priced aggressively. Probably could have gotten more but we got what we wanted and the buyers are happy too. Win/win.

 

[ivinsfan]

Timeline for our move to The Villages just sped way up!

Our house went on the market yesterday in Vegas. 10 minutes later our realtor got a call for a showing. Clients made a full price, cash offer, no appraisal, and they're paying all of the taxes and transfer fees. We close in two weeks.

Our heads are still spinning... from hitting MLS to contract signing was 9 hours.

Any seller's remorse, as in did you set the listing price too low? Or do you just want to move on? First showing, full price cash offer seems like the buyer thinks it was too good to be true. NOMB but 9 hours to contact seems amazing.

 

[Bestwifeever]

In hindsight probably! We live in a Sun City and our floor plan isn't a popular one so we priced aggressively. Probably could have gotten more but we got what we wanted and the buyers are happy too. Win/win.

The smartest person I know told me to always consider your ultimate goal first--in this case, to sell and move on vs to get the maximum price. I think you achieved your goal!

 

[ls99]

The smartest person I know told me to always consider your ultimate goal first--in this case, to sell and move on vs to get the maximum price. I think you achieved your goal!

I never got that advice over ten years ago when selling my Maryland house.

But, I priced it below market, had a near instant bidding war and sold it for well above market. Time from listing to sales contract was three days.