Author Topic: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread  (Read 145192 times)

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Offline OldChelsea

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #225: November 24, 2014, 01:23:30 PM »
For the 20th time in 21 years - off to London for my birthday. Not doing my normal three-weeker (need to see how far I've come back from the medical issues that sidelined me this year) but still getting out for a healthy week-and-a-half - to see if the proven blend of pubs (admittedly a little less assiduously this year, for the aforementioned medical reasons), sight-seeing, shopping, crisp December air and holiday good vibes can accelerate my recovery.

Offline mitlen

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #226: November 24, 2014, 01:25:21 PM »
For the 20th time in 21 years - off to London for my birthday. Not doing my normal three-weeker (need to see how far I've come back from the medical issues that sidelined me this year) but still getting out for a healthy week-and-a-half - to see if the proven blend of pubs (admittedly a little less assiduously this year, for the aforementioned medical reasons), sight-seeing, shopping, crisp December air and holiday good vibes can accelerate my recovery.

Enjoy  ....  Are ya hittin' Stamford Bridge?

Offline OldChelsea

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #227: November 24, 2014, 06:17:46 PM »
Enjoy  ....  Are ya hittin' Stamford Bridge?

Unfortunately not on this trip - I couldn't book Hull or Spurs (the former sold out within hours of going on sale) since there was still some uncertainty on the medical front when those tickets went on sale. I may take a quick one-weeker in a few months to work in a Chelsea match (and keep up my string of 14 consecutive seasons with at least one match attended).

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #228: November 24, 2014, 11:30:02 PM »
Fulham tickets are probably cheaper this year...

Glad to hear you are on the mend...Nats Park has been short on sideburns this year!!


Unfortunately not on this trip - I couldn't book Hull or Spurs (the former sold out within hours of going on sale) since there was still some uncertainty on the medical front when those tickets went on sale. I may take a quick one-weeker in a few months to work in a Chelsea match (and keep up my string of 14 consecutive seasons with at least one match attended).

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #229: February 12, 2015, 10:58:21 PM »
Well, I'm going for the long weekend in Boston tomorrow.  Assuming the flight up is ok, i'm scheduled to be up there for just one blizzard, Saturday - Sunday.  The trick will be getting back, as i'm on a 4 pm flight out of logan on Tuesday. Dc may get slammed that night, so I don't know if i can make it back or if they will not want the incoming flight to go into boston and get stranded there. 

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #230: February 12, 2015, 11:06:57 PM »
Break a leg mate - at least Logan has late night kiosks
Well, I'm going for the long weekend in Boston tomorrow.  Assuming the flight up is ok, i'm scheduled to be up there for just one blizzard, Saturday - Sunday.  The trick will be getting back, as i'm on a 4 pm flight out of logan on Tuesday. Dc may get slammed that night, so I don't know if i can make it back or if they will not want the incoming flight to go into boston and get stranded there. 

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #231: February 12, 2015, 11:18:13 PM »
you are going to laugh - I'm bringing my Gore windstopper skull cap to go under my knit ski cap and wearing my leg warmers under my jeans.  I expect to be stuck at some T stations becuase the system is major FUBAR.  They were dumb enough to bring in some person from atlanta to run the system and she had no concept of snow.  she's quitting after march. 

I just wish the Peets at Logan had the full tea menu, but at least i'll be able to drink Whale's Tail on tap at the airport bar.  I suspect I'm spending Tuesday night there.

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #232: February 13, 2015, 12:02:42 AM »
Before the Big Dig, one had to take some dodgy overpasses from Logan (as you surely recall)...I got caught in a burning cab on one of those stretches after flying in from Miami in mid December. Bag burned up in car, so I made it through knee deep snow to the T stop and then from the Central Square stop to my place in a t-shirt and shorts.

Offline Natsinpwc

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #233: February 13, 2015, 12:54:51 PM »
you are going to laugh - I'm bringing my Gore windstopper skull cap to go under my knit ski cap and wearing my leg warmers under my jeans.  I expect to be stuck at some T stations becuase the system is major FUBAR.  They were dumb enough to bring in some person from atlanta to run the system and she had no concept of snow.  she's quitting after march. 

I just wish the Peets at Logan had the full tea menu, but at least i'll be able to drink Whale's Tail on tap at the airport bar.  I suspect I'm spending Tuesday night there.
Looks like the forecast is changing here Tuesday and Wednesday next week. Don't see any snow forecast now



Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #236: February 13, 2015, 01:25:16 PM »
Yep. Exposed coastal communities everywhere fart in the general direction of cities tucked in their snug little harbours.

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #237: February 13, 2015, 07:07:27 PM »
Made it up here.  Was a weird flight due to the winds, I think.  Normal route is kind of up  Long Island sound to either New Bedford or Providence then to Logan either from aLynn / Salem / Revere or across Marshfield and over the outer harbor Islands and straight in.  This time, the pilot went North a bit east of New Haven, like around Guilford or Branford, then towards Providence over the reservoir west of the city. He then did a banking turn south towards Newport.  When he said "we are 60 miles from Boston and starting our descent, the bridges at Goat Island were visible off the left wing.  He then did another banking turn, bringing us pretty much astride Kingston and the Providence airport.  We continued north, east of providence, but instead of heading towards Marshfield / Plymouth, we headed direct to Quincy.  He banked at least a couple of more times, then we made a low approach from the east onto one of the less used runways (barely cleared of snow).  There was some bobbing in the wind, but we put down.  T was pretty good, and I was plenty warm enough.

Late this afternoon, I went for a walk to Peets, about a mile, just to see how things looked.  Most snow banks were about shoulder height for me, which is around 5 feet or so.  Nothing too apocalyptic, but there were some very large snow dumps filling traffic circles near the Fens.  Most side streets that are normally 2 lanes are now one.

Offline mitlen

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #238: February 13, 2015, 07:10:36 PM »
Made it up here.  Was a weird flight due to the winds, I think.  Normal route is kind of up  Long Island sound to either New Bedford or Providence then to Logan either from aLynn / Salem / Revere or across Marshfield and over the outer harbor Islands and straight in.  This time, the pilot went North a bit east of New Haven, like around Guilford or Branford, then towards Providence over the reservoir west of the city. He then did a banking turn south towards Newport.  When he said "we are 60 miles from Boston and starting our descent, the bridges at Goat Island were visible off the left wing.  He then did another banking turn, bringing us pretty much astride Kingston and the Providence airport.  We continued north, east of providence, but instead of heading towards Marshfield / Plymouth, we headed direct to Quincy.  He banked at least a couple of more times, then we made a low approach from the east onto one of the less used runways (barely cleared of snow).  There was some bobbing in the wind, but we put down.  T was pretty good, and I was plenty warm enough.

Late this afternoon, I went for a walk to Peets, about a mile, just to see how things looked.  Most snow banks were about shoulder height for me, which is around 5 feet or so.  Nothing too apocalyptic, but there were some very large snow dumps filling traffic circles near the Fens.  Most side streets that are normally 2 lanes are now one.

Stay warm and safe.   

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #239: February 13, 2015, 07:52:21 PM »
You may be there a bit longer than planned, but I doubt that anyone will question the alibi :P

Epic winter weather is right up there with conquest, war, famine, and death in the national zeitgeist. Probably worse according to TV news.

Made it up here.  Was a weird flight due to the winds, I think.  Normal route is kind of up  Long Island sound to either New Bedford or Providence then to Logan either from aLynn / Salem / Revere or across Marshfield and over the outer harbor Islands and straight in.  This time, the pilot went North a bit east of New Haven, like around Guilford or Branford, then towards Providence over the reservoir west of the city. He then did a banking turn south towards Newport.  When he said "we are 60 miles from Boston and starting our descent, the bridges at Goat Island were visible off the left wing.  He then did another banking turn, bringing us pretty much astride Kingston and the Providence airport.  We continued north, east of providence, but instead of heading towards Marshfield / Plymouth, we headed direct to Quincy.  He banked at least a couple of more times, then we made a low approach from the east onto one of the less used runways (barely cleared of snow).  There was some bobbing in the wind, but we put down.  T was pretty good, and I was plenty warm enough.

Late this afternoon, I went for a walk to Peets, about a mile, just to see how things looked.  Most snow banks were about shoulder height for me, which is around 5 feet or so.  Nothing too apocalyptic, but there were some very large snow dumps filling traffic circles near the Fens.  Most side streets that are normally 2 lanes are now one.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #240: February 14, 2015, 04:17:17 PM »
does anyone have a rental agency in the outer banks they like? I want to do a rental with the family there for a couple of weeks in the summer, but hate the idea of just using a random place that comes up on google

Offline tomterp

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #241: February 14, 2015, 05:37:25 PM »
does anyone have a rental agency in the outer banks they like? I want to do a rental with the family there for a couple of weeks in the summer, but hate the idea of just using a random place that comes up on google

Sort of depends on what areas you like.  Some are stronger in certain areas than others.

What area do you want to be in?

We've used Sun Realty and Stan White Realty before. Not really endorsing either, the place matters more though if there's an issue it's nice to have a responsive agent. 

http://www.sunrealtync.com/
http://www.outerbanksrentals.com/

For example, we rented a place with a grill but when we got there the thing was rusted through and laying on the ground in pieces.  Went by the Sun office and they loaned us a brand new Weber for the week. 

If you're headed for the Kill Devil Hills / Kitty Hawk area you can just crash in Mathguy's basement.    :twisted:

Offline Mathguy

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #242: February 14, 2015, 05:50:45 PM »
Village Realty is the best here in OBX.  They rely on their reputation and not just to jam any family anywhere they can.  I can help you if you have any questions about the area

does anyone have a rental agency in the outer banks they like? I want to do a rental with the family there for a couple of weeks in the summer, but hate the idea of just using a random place that comes up on google

Offline tomterp

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #243: February 14, 2015, 05:53:06 PM »
Village Realty is the best here in OBX.

No coverage south of Nags Head, however.

Offline Mathguy

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #244: February 14, 2015, 05:59:05 PM »
Village does rent houses in Manteo and has a big presence in Nags Head.  But not in Hatteras

No coverage south of Nags Head, however.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #245: February 15, 2015, 09:49:26 AM »
thanks- that really helps

Offline Minty Fresh

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Enjoy the snow and cold to the bone weather. Maybe worth it so you can sit in 4 hour traffic heading to the Cape on a summer weekend.

Cape Cod > Any other place on Earth

Offline UMDNats

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Cape Cod > Any other place on Earth

debatable

Offline Mathguy

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Sorry Minty - can't agree with you here.  Having grown up in CT, I spent lots of time at the cape.  OBX is better for the beach

Cape Cod > Any other place on Earth

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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The shore's great, although there is often serious overpopulation of picnic basket creatures: