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Travel 4: All Around the World Same Song

French Rage said:
Yup, about a mile or two from where my mom is. LCP goes right by her, so had to check exactly where it was.

Is it me or do the occasional plane landings on highways never have any fatalities and very few injuries? I guess drivers know to get the hell out of the way if they see a plane coming.
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I think it's that the planes can find a stretch without cars.
 
Is it a good idea to visit Rome in winter? Any recommendations on places to see/stay, etc.? Cheers!
Is it necessary to buy pantheon tickets and entrances to the famous attractions far in advance, or is it not necessary?
I would also truly appreciate it if you have some hotel/restaurant/bar recommendations in Rome.
Cheers, guys!
 
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mookie is hanging in the airport with girl and daughter waiting to head to Zurich for the weekend. we have Thursday off so it’s a long weeeknd at that. Might as well go watch shopping ;-/
 
Puerto Rico Trip
  1. We stayed in a VRBO just north of the El Yunque National Forest. The location was great, but it wasn’t the house that was great. It’s likely our last VRBO/Air BnB.
  2. The people. I really enjoyed the people of Puerto Rico. They’re mostly friendly and willing to work through the occasional language barrier.
  3. The food was great, and restaurants were generally a bit cheaper than what we find here in the Twin Cities. I had a lot of pork products and a bit of seafood. The mofongo I had was tasty, but tostones is just tasteless and I don’t understand why they’re so popular. Both are foods plantain-based. I was a bit shocked by how mild the seasoning is down there, and how sweet many of the dips/sauces were. I was at Seven Seas Beach in Fajardo, and there was this seaside shack, Theresa House of Pastelillos, which are basically empanadas, and they were great along with the fish tacos they sold.
  4. Driving through that island is a real trip! People don’t use blinkers, and the non-highway roads are 16th Century in width. Within the towns, people still park along the side of the streets, only ever one side, and then two-way traffic tries to eek by. You’re hosed should a large vehicle need to use the roads. They were a real trip along some of those cliffs.
  5. Puerto Rican coffee is pretty good. We took a tour at Hacienda Munoz (add accent), a small producer, and the tour guide had the chance to go off about iguanas as a larger one made itself seen. “They’re, how do you say, pests? They eat everything and we have to guard the coffee trees against them.”
  6. I really liked Old San Juan, but didn’t get to see much of it. We were a party of five, one was my daughter and two others were my wife’s parents. They could handle the hilly terrain very well.
My wife and I would probably go back if it were just the two of us. We were restricted by not wanting to put our daughter through many long drives, and the in-laws couldn’t handle the even moderately physical events.
 
St. Clown said:
Puerto Rico Trip...
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Much of this is refreshing to hear. I have concerns that the island has changed a lot since I was travelling there just-about every-other week, especially with the exodus of state-side companies when the tax benefits were revised/reduced/eliminated (my prior employer being one of them that 'bailed'). But I am glad to hear that the people have not changed. I have a lot of respect for the Puerto Rican people, as they are truly a people of respect themselves. Stark contrast to our travels to some other Caribbean islands we have been to, where most of the population we encountered were opportunists.

As for the traffic, I was going to tell you this before you went, but decided against it. Before my first trip to the island in 1990, my then-boss "warned" me about the traffic. He said - "There are 3-million people on that island. 2-million live in San Juan, and the rest are in cars." There were times driving down the Autopista that I felt compelled to drop quarters into the dashboard to "keep playing the video game". My advise to people driving down there... "If you hear a horn, that means you made it." :0) It was always difficult to return to quiet/calm upstate NY because the driving mentality and aggressiveness that is required in PR would stay with me for days!

As for the mountain "roads", yeah... insane. There are usually mirrors mounted-up on the trees and/or poles near turns or switch-backs, but you have to know they are there and where to look!! It sucked driving in the mountains, because as the driver, there is no way you could take-in all the beauty around you, and the mountain regions are indeed truly beautiful.

Thanks for the trip report!! I am now looking forward to taking "the Wife" someday when we can find the time/opportunity.
 
And I forgot to mention this oddity…the distances are all marked in KM, but speeds in MPH. gas is also sold in liters. It honestly took me by surprise as I thought the US would force them into more imperial ways.
 
NYC trip last weekend was worthwhile.

Went to the Mets game Friday night to knock another stadium off the list. Outside was beautiful. Inside was generic 3-deck ballpark. Understand why they kept the traditional orientation, but man is it a missed opportunity when the NYC skyline is hidden behind homeplate/3rd base line and all you can really see watching the game are planes taking off from La Guardia.

Saturday went to the WTC memorial in the morning and the Met in the afternoon. WTC was worthwhile, even though parts hit harder than others. Could also see a stark divide in impact between those 25 and older and Americans/foreigners. The 25+ American set was quiet the entire time, with a few tears sprinkled in. The 25 and younger and most foreign tourists were taking photos and chatting and whatnot. The 'Murica parts were meh. But the room with all the photos and the kiosks where you could read bios hit hard, especially when I saw some kids about my daughter's age on there. And then the corner dedicated to the people who jumped...holy farking shiat I about lost it at that one.

The Met was the Met. I know museum collections are frowned upon by the kids these days as theft, but I don't care (now get off my lawn while I wear an onion on my belt, as was the style at the time). That was my 2nd or 3rd time there in my life and even on repeat viewing some of the stuff in there is simply jaw dropping, and there's still parts I've never gotten to because it's that massive of a museum.
 
did mookie forget to mention his trip to Bangkok, Seoul, and Tokyo? 5 nights each.may Have just the game in Tokyo

going to spent another 5 nights in Bangkok before heading back to the states in a couple weeks.
the making a last Europe trip in June to Bucharest, Athens, and Belgrade. Mookie’s looking forward to this trip
 
We have a trip planned to Seoul in August to coincide with the youngest doing his fall semester at KU. I can't wait.
 
Man does mookie love Bangkok. A mess of a city, but it works. Really want the next job here. Getting girl & daughter to commit is gonna require a heckuva trick…
 
Deutsche Gopher Fan said:
I prefer chiang mai but also liked Bangkok
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Love Chiang Mai and it's on our itinerary for our EOY visit.

I love Bangkok and we have property there (as well as Rayong) but for sustained visits I think Chiang Mai, Rayong, Hua Hin, Kanchanaburi or others would be an easier sell unless someone really loves big city life.

We just booked 4 nights on Borocay Island here next month. The resort my better half chose (Movenpik?) looks spectacular.
 
Yah, chiang mai is cool…but that’s like comparing Iowa city to manhattan. One has to prefer big city life and that’s mookie. Growing up in western pa and wanted to escape from the start plays into that
 
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