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Author Topic: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread  (Read 197638 times)

WarriorFan

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #375 on: October 04, 2019, 12:54:00 PM »
Brother Fan, I beg to differ. There is nothing that you want from an airline that you can't get by paying for it. Or bringing it on if it is a food matter.

The problem we have -- especially those of us who traveled in the days before the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 -- is that we have a romanticized notion of what air travel is. We oldsters remember the days when flight attendants waited on a cabin of 100 people head-to-toe in 1.5 hours between Chicago and New York. Hell, United used to have a Sud Aviation Caravelle (an early French plane similar to a DC9-10) that was all first class and all male. The flight attendants absolutely hated that flight. You can guess why!

Back in the mid-1970s, Douglas Souter, who was then an aide to Senator Kennedy, got roundly berated for spending time on airline matters. "Well never be able to afford to fly," a woman said. "That's the problem we're trying to fix," said Souter.

Before 1978, air travel was highly regulated and extremely expensive. Relatively few people could afford it and too often, it was a once in a lifetime experience. The airlines had both the revenue and the desire to make it special which, for the most part, they did.

Today, the airlines are giving people what they want. The cheap fares we cherish come with a very high price -- customer discomfort, expensive amenities (i.e., baggage fees and snack boxes) and lack of ground support due to automation. Planes are fuller because to get profit margins, airlines have to jam every possible ounce of passenger and freight on to a plane. That's what we said we wanted and the geniuses at the airlines business are giving it to us. It's how markets work!

As a side not, one of my favorite stories was a 1960s United Airlines "take me along" promotion, in which the airline did a reduced fare (with CAB approval) for husbands to take their wives on business trips. It was so rare for wives to fly that this was thought to be critical to building awareness. As a side benefit, "take me along" cut down on customer misbehavior with flight attendants on the planes.

After the trip, United sent roses to the "take me along" wives, thanking them for flying United. Not long afterward, there was a surge in divorces among United Airlines "take me along" men. True story.. want to guess why... LOL!!@!
Man, I'm not THAT old!.  I only flew once before 1978, and it was from CWA to GRR on Midwest Air Commuter to go see grandma... and I will say the stewardesses doted on me, BECAUSE I WAS 6 YEARS OLD and flying alone!
"The meaning of life isn't gnashing our bicuspids over what comes after death but tasting the tiny moments that come before it."

Galway Eagle

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #376 on: October 18, 2019, 06:37:41 PM »
Going to Puerto Viarta in a couple weeks for a wedding, have a couple days to kill and would like to do something other than standard resort stuff. Anybody been before and have suggestions?
Maigh Eo for Sam

Sir Lawrence

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #377 on: October 18, 2019, 09:51:36 PM »
Going to Puerto Viarta in a couple weeks for a wedding, have a couple days to kill and would like to do something other than standard resort stuff. Anybody been before and have suggestions?

Puerto Vallarta.  Rent a boat to take you whale watching or snorkeling or both.  You won’t have trouble finding one at the main beach.  Negotiate the price. Ask the operator to take you to Los Arcos.

There’s also a pretty cool zip line establishment south of Puerto Vallarta, set in the “jungle.”

Enjoy the weather.  Eternal summer.
Ludum habemus.

Benny B

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #378 on: October 23, 2019, 08:30:36 AM »
Portland (OR)/Vancouver (WA)

Anyone?
Wow, I'm very concerned for Benny.  Being able to mimic Myron Medcalf's writing so closely implies an oncoming case of dementia.

Chili

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #379 on: October 23, 2019, 09:47:02 AM »
Portland (OR)/Vancouver (WA)

Anyone?

The airport in Portland is great. Solid food options. You can buy packaged beer past security. Solid coffee.
But I like to throw handfuls...

WarriorFan

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #380 on: October 24, 2019, 02:38:22 AM »
Anybody have Bronx Little Italy suggestions? Looking for a sunday brunch / great lunch for this weekend.
"The meaning of life isn't gnashing our bicuspids over what comes after death but tasting the tiny moments that come before it."

dgies9156

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #381 on: October 24, 2019, 06:48:32 AM »
Portland (OR)/Vancouver (WA)

Anyone?

Fly there a lot. Airport is relatively close to the city. It is small and generally well done.

Unless you are in a rush, take the TriMet Maxx into the city. 25 minutes and $2.00

MU Fan in Connecticut

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #382 on: October 25, 2019, 09:59:22 PM »
Anybody have Bronx Little Italy suggestions? Looking for a sunday brunch / great lunch for this weekend.

Google Arthur Avenue Restaurants. You'll get a list of good choices

dgies9156

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #383 on: November 01, 2019, 10:45:07 PM »
Portland (OR)/Vancouver (WA)

Anyone?

If you have not gone, try a restaurant called Andina. Absolutely wonderful South American crusine. Jake's near downtown is a great steak place.

The Nines Hotel is really different. Like the restaurant and rooftop bar. Rooms are tiny and very expensive.

Lots of little nook and cranny places that are great. Try Russell Street BBQ. Really good.

Also, Powell's Books is a must-see.

MU Fan in Connecticut

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #384 on: November 03, 2019, 05:06:16 AM »
Thats an awesome route, unfortunately you're ending in Bangalore instead of Seoul or Singapore.

Uber in India is a game changer.  Extremely inexpensive, cuts through a lot of the BS.  As someone who has traveled to India a dozen times, Id caution against the Metro.  Just unpleasant, uncomfortably crowded and unhygienic, and will add nothing to your visit.  You can use Ubers all day for practically nothing.   Ill take 2-3 Ubers a day in Mumbai, stuck in traffic on 45-1 hour long trips...and still combine multiple days into a single expense line item under $25.

Singapore is incredible.  Make sure you go up to the Marina Bay Sands, get a drink at either Spago or Lavo.  Views are absolutely stunning and surreal.  Also walk around the Marina Bay mall.  Gorgeous and upscale.  Speaking of malls, the Jewel I can't recommend highly enough.  Beautiful from the outside, inside its a combination upscale mall and botanical garden.  Absolutely stunning interior with tons of amazing vegetation.  Felt like the best zoo exhibit I'd see...without the animals.

KL is supposed to be great too.  Enjoy!

Sunday afternoon and I essentially have one more day on the trip (in Bangalore) so I figured I'd give a little recap.

  • Seoul (12 hour layover)
     The Transit Tours they offer are fantastic.  $2 for a 1-hr tour, $10 for the 5-hr and some more in-between.  I took the 5-hr tour of the Royal Palace and shopping and lunch in the old town section of Insadong.  If I understood them better I could have gone on an additional 1-hr tour of a temple.  I was supposed to be on an 8 am tour but was put on the 10 am and still had plenty of time to make my flight.  The website says to report 1/2 hour to the kiosk in the airport before and I later learned you should report 1-hr+ where they walk you past immigration with a special voucher that says "Transit Tour".  You then pay at a desk that is past immigration AND customs.  Jack the tour guide was very funny.  They call the lunch into a restaurant where you have only two choices, beef stew or vegetarian lunch and it's waiting when you get there so you have about 30-40 minutes left to market shop.  I met and chatted with people from Cincinnati (my daughter's Xavier connection), Twin Cities (my brother & sister-in-law's home), Atlanta and NYC.  I was the only one coming, everyone else going home.
  • Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
     I was here only one night.  I arrived at 10:30pm and the speed train to DT Sentral Station was 25 minutes and easy, because oh yeah it's the only stop.  I booked a room at a Hilton right in the train station complex.  I went for my morning run where I thought I'd see something in KL, but found out it was all contained.  I could not literally find a way out of the train/hotel/office building & hospital complex.  Everything lead to a dead end even though I could see a Botanical Garden or other hotels out of windows.  In hindsight I should have thrown on Google Maps for directions out but this was a first.  Train did make it easy getting back to the airport.
  • George Town, Penang, Malaysia
     I don't know how to describe the very interesting mix of this town.  It's like Saint Augustine, FL as the old British fort, Fort Cornwallis and colonial buildings are at the center of town and it's surrounded by the old town neighborhood that is like 35% Malay, 30% Chinese & 30% Indian & 5% European & other SE Asian as well as Muslim, Hindu, Chinese religion, Catholic, & Protestant.  There was a few block stretch downtown where all were represented.  I recall seeing a Jewish temple also.  The city was decorated for the Indian holiday of Deepevalli on Monday.  All three food types were available.  Everyone was super friendly and the Muslim Malay taxi driver and Indian taxi driver told me the same that everything is laid back here, everyone gets along.  Taxi's were not cheap but I spoke a few times with a guy from California who comes here for work 2-3 times a year and he told me another Uber-like service called GRAB that's available in several Asian countries.  He swears by GRAB so I downloaded the App for future use.
My customer grilled me on price (as every customer does) so I was thankful for the friendliness of everyone around me to not be bothered by it.
I honestly would like to come back here on vacation.  It was super cheap.  Friendly as mentioned plus I got to see none of the other stuff the town is know for: the train up the peak for the experience and view similar to Hong Kong, the rain forest-like national park with monkeys and good swimming beaches (both the other side of peaks and hills that separate the island).
  • Singapore
Wow!  What a modern, clean super-efficient, orderly, friendly place with the most idiot-proof MRT system I've ridden anywhere.  At times I felt it was too orderly and lacked a little chaos that makes places interesting, but everything else made up for it.  Everything from designated yellow lined smoking boxes to the queue line arrows painted on the floor of the MRT stations. I loved that they highly emphasized unique architecture.
My morning runs and Saturday excursion, got me to see all the highlighted touristy stuff in the DT Core area.  The National Museum showcased how Singapore was a trading hub since the 1200's. 
I planned to visit the Marina Sands observation deck for a beer on Friday night but I ended up going to dinner with the President & his wife of our Distributor instead.  Work called.
Can't wait to revisit here.
Only weird story - I went back to Malaysia on Thursday for a 1/2 day which is just over the Causeway to get a tour of my sister-companies' plant.  The Malays showed their graciousness once again.  On the way back, Jr.-Border-Guard-in training broke my stones because I couldn't remember my flight number out on Saturday to write on the entry card and the Singapore Air App wasn't working.  I was told by others later they were very surprised because I was an American and they never say anything against American businessman. 
  • Bangalore, India
     Holy Snikes, sweet mother of God!  As advised on Scoop, nothing can prepare you for India.  I'm still not sure if I'm glad this is the last stop or would have been better at the beginning. 
My morning run was around Lake Ulsoor.  The first half was dodging cars, broken sidewalks, construction, people, cess pool smells and trash.  The second half was easier as there are paths in the lake front park and were loaded with walkers and runners.  I'm still laughing at the 50-something year old guys power-walking with polo shirts and dress pants wearing matching baseball hats that read "CROSS-FIT". 
I tried to go for a walk to Cubbon Park.  I stepped around dirt poor people on the sidewalk and it turned out to be farther than I thought and I kept getting accosted by guys driving Tuk Tuks.  I finally got tired by the walk, the rising heat and me actually wanting to go for a ride in one for the experience.  I got dragged to shops instead of where he said he would take me and I ended up with souvenirs I actually had on my list (scarves, jewelry, sandalwood anything).  But there is so so many people here and continually pushing that my high tolerance and dick-ness that I often employ when traveling got over whelmed that even I gave up.  I found the Hard Rock Cafe for a breather to get my traditional classic white Tee and figured I'd just eat and go back to the hotel pool and overlook for beer and work.  I saw the HRC manager be a little arrogant yelling at two new workers, try to show off for me and when I went to get my tee, that had no classic white.  Manager said, because "he didn't order any."  Man I was disappointed.  No Bengaluru for my 50 shirt collection.
I called Uber for the ride back to the hotel.  Ride was great, but I had to get out 80% way to the Conrad as there was some religious festival parade going on and they said it might otherwise be another hour for the remaining 5 minutes.
I'm not looking forward to the ride to see my customer tomorrow.  Would be 35 minutes with Sunday traffic, but I'm told it might be 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hr ride on Monday.
[/list]

Sorry so wordy, but what an adventure.  If there's anything weird and interesting to add from tomorrow I will including involving my 1:50 am departure Tuesday morning.  I'm told the long international flights are all at this time because the traffic is better.

Home in time for Marquette opening game!

Galway Eagle

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #385 on: January 22, 2020, 10:57:58 AM »
Anyone been around Butler in Indianapolis?  Going to the game this weekend and looking for breweries, local
favorite food.
Maigh Eo for Sam

martyconlonontherun

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #386 on: January 22, 2020, 12:07:59 PM »
I bode no ill will towards the airlines.  They are (almost all) horrible companies, run by idiots, staffed by drones and they don't care at all about customers.  ONE MUST ACCEPT THIS and find a way to get what one wants regardless of loyalty and points and miles and all of that. 

Anyone who thinks that airline "status"  will get you anything in 5-10 years is kidding themselves.

Hotels - some chains at least - are headed the same way, but you can still play it while there's a game to play. Probably 10-15 more years before the same scenario exists as exists now with air travel.  By then I'll be done traveling and won't care anymore anyway.

Depends how you achieve statuses. Hundreds of nights at hotels and dozens of flights? Yeah not worth it to be loyal. Get the status through Churning a credit card, it absolutely is worth the perks.

Sir Lawrence

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #387 on: January 22, 2020, 12:13:26 PM »
Anyone been around Butler in Indianapolis?  Going to the game this weekend and looking for breweries, local
favorite food.

The Broad Ripple neighborhood has brew pubs, restaurants.  About five miles from Hinkle. 
There are some good spots in Broad Ripple, Or follow College Avenue 10 blocks south to South Broad Ripple.  Places all along that road. OR there is a new bar/restaurant that just opened that is a 30 second walk to Hinkle called Chatham Tap. Locally owned.  3rd one they've opened in Indy. Get there early.  Solid beer selection, breaded tenderloin and fish and chips.
« Last Edit: January 22, 2020, 12:26:23 PM by Sir Lawrence »
Ludum habemus.

warriorchick

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #388 on: January 22, 2020, 01:27:03 PM »
The Broad Ripple neighborhood has brew pubs, restaurants.  About five miles from Hinkle. 
There are some good spots in Broad Ripple, Or follow College Avenue 10 blocks south to South Broad Ripple.  Places all along that road. OR there is a new bar/restaurant that just opened that is a 30 second walk to Hinkle called Chatham Tap. Locally owned.  3rd one they've opened in Indy. Get there early.  Solid beer selection, breaded tenderloin and fish and chips.

Broad Ripple is my favorite Ben and Jerry's flavor.
Have some patience, FFS.

Galway Eagle

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #389 on: January 22, 2020, 01:46:24 PM »
The Broad Ripple neighborhood has brew pubs, restaurants.  About five miles from Hinkle. 
There are some good spots in Broad Ripple, Or follow College Avenue 10 blocks south to South Broad Ripple.  Places all along that road. OR there is a new bar/restaurant that just opened that is a 30 second walk to Hinkle called Chatham Tap. Locally owned.  3rd one they've opened in Indy. Get there early.  Solid beer selection, breaded tenderloin and fish and chips.

Thanks only been out downtown both times I went to Indy wanted to see more
Maigh Eo for Sam

lawdog77

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #390 on: January 22, 2020, 06:15:29 PM »
My last time in Indy, I went to Brugge Brasserie in Broad Ripple. Excellent mussels, and a great Belgian Style beers. The owner of the place went to high school with Abe Benrubi, the actor, who is from Indy.. Random fact.

Jay Bee

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #391 on: January 22, 2020, 06:29:38 PM »
Do people still leave porn mags under the mattress in hotel rooms?
Thanks for ruining summer, Canada.

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #392 on: January 23, 2020, 08:17:15 PM »
Looking for a long weekend with the wife, probably June-ish. Preferably within 6 hours of Kenosha.

House rental preferred, but not necessary. Stuff to do is a positive, winery, breweries, light hiking. Possibly golf, but might be frowned upon playing a solo round.

What ya got?

lawdog77

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #393 on: January 23, 2020, 08:37:07 PM »
Looking for a long weekend with the wife, probably June-ish. Preferably within 6 hours of Kenosha.

House rental preferred, but not necessary. Stuff to do is a positive, winery, breweries, light hiking. Possibly golf, but might be frowned upon playing a solo round.

What ya got?
Go to Canada. There are a ton of wineries in Canada on Lake Erie. Right around a 6 hour drive. One of the breweries in the area has something fun as well


warriorchick

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #394 on: January 24, 2020, 07:00:36 AM »
Looking for a long weekend with the wife, probably June-ish. Preferably within 6 hours of Kenosha.

House rental preferred, but not necessary. Stuff to do is a positive, winery, breweries, light hiking. Possibly golf, but might be frowned upon playing a solo round.

What ya got?

Have you ever been to Galena? Has everything you mention above (plus a really cool distillery) and a lot of historical stuff . It was in the house rental business decades before AirBnB was a thing.
Have some patience, FFS.

🏀

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #395 on: January 24, 2020, 07:54:44 AM »
Have you ever been to Galena? Has everything you mention above (plus a really cool distillery) and a lot of historical stuff . It was in the house rental business decades before AirBnB was a thing.

I've stayed at Eagle Ridge before, but that's a good idea. Thank you.

I've actually never done Door County either, we've always been Michigan people. Continue to not to Door County?

warriorchick

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #396 on: January 24, 2020, 08:19:46 AM »
I've stayed at Eagle Ridge before, but that's a good idea. Thank you.

I've actually never done Door County either, we've always been Michigan people. Continue to not to Door County?

Door County is way cool as well.
Have some patience, FFS.

Dr. Blackheart

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #397 on: January 24, 2020, 08:34:16 AM »
I've stayed at Eagle Ridge before, but that's a good idea. Thank you.

I've actually never done Door County either, we've always been Michigan people. Continue to not to Door County?

I was going to say Grand Haven/Saugatuk but it sounds like you have done that area. Door County is good.

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #398 on: January 24, 2020, 08:37:14 AM »
What's recommended in Door County?

tower912

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Re: Scoop Airport/Hotel/Travel Thread
« Reply #399 on: January 24, 2020, 09:01:39 AM »
Leelanau peninsula.
Luke 6:45   ...A good man produces goodness from the good in his heart; an evil man produces evil out of his store of evil.   Each man speaks from his heart's abundance...

It is better to be fearless and cheerful than cheerless and fearful.

 

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