"Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread

[Count Walewski]

Australian airline Qantas does not expect its international routes to open up before mid-2021; service to US may resume later that year - https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-qantas-posts-1bn-loss-as-rocked-by-covid-19-turbulence-12052933#:~:text=Qantas%20has%20posted%20an%20annual,bn%20hole%20in%20its%20revenue.

Well Australia is requiring people to get government permission to leave the country, and denying most requests:

https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/on-par-with-north-korea-three-out-of-four-requests-to-leave-australia-refused-20200814-p55luj.html

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

My sister got stuck in a hotel room in Sydney for 14 days (complete with a soldier in each hall enforcing the A$500 fine for leaving your room).  At least New South Wales was paying the tab at that point (several weeks ago). 

[OldChelsea]

Hawaii: no tourists till 1st October at the earliest (they were originally planning to re-open 1st September): https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2020/08/19/hawaii-wont-allow-tourists-until-least-october-due-coronavirus-surge/?hpid=hp_travel-table-8-12_hawaii-1155am-0819%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans&itid=hp_rhp__travel-table-8-12_hawaii-1155am-0819%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans

[Natsinpwc]

Who says you can’t go anywhere. 

https://parksleepfly.com/blog/these-countries-are-open-to-american-tourists?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_nooverride=1&utm_term=Use%20code%20%27WHERE2FLY%27%20at%20checkout%20to%20save%20%246%20off%20your%20deposit%20on%20your%20reservation&utm_campaign=PSF_2020_21_AUG_PROMO_EAST

[Count Walewski]

I enquired to the tourism agency that arranges tours of Amish country in Illinois. They replied that they are not doing tours right now, and further that they are actively discouraging their fellow "English" from even visiting Amish country right now since the Amish are not wearing masks and are still doing in-person church.

Can't imagine what is happening in Lancaster County.

[GburgNatsFan]

Crazy Amish sex parties.

I enquired to the tourism agency that arranges tours of Amish country in Illinois. They replied that they are not doing tours right now, and further that they are actively discouraging their fellow "English" from even visiting Amish country right now since the Amish are not wearing masks and are still doing in-person church.

Can't imagine what is happening in Lancaster County.

[Natsinpwc]

Crazy Amish sex parties.

Yep. No electricity and all candles.

I have a friend who grew up in Lancaster. He tells the story of driving some friends around to see the Amish. As he lectured them about their simple ways when a group in a wagon stopped by the side of the road. The Amish teenagers got out and unloaded a case of beer for their party.

[bluestreak]

Yep. No electricity and all candles.

I have a friend who grew up in Lancaster. He tells the story of driving some friends around to see the Amish. As he lectured them about their simple ways when a group in a wagon stopped by the side of the road. The Amish teenagers got out and unloaded a case of beer for their party.

Rumspringa

[OldChelsea]

CDC drops recommendation for 14-day self-quarantine for returning travellers (but also recommends sticking with all the other protocols): https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2020/08/24/cdc-drops-14-day-self-quarantine-recommendation-international-out-of-state-travelers/?hpid=hp_travel-table-8-12_virus-cdc-610pm-0824%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans&itid=hp_rhp__travel-table-8-12_virus-cdc-610pm-0824%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans

Now if we could just see some loosening up on the other side of the pond (not just yet, I'm afraid)...

[Count Walewski]

Leaving for our roadtrip this afternoon. Gonna do all the same precautions as our July roadtrip, such as not going into buildings unless absolutely necessary and staying only in private Airbnbs where we have the entire house to ourselves. Going to add a new rule: no college towns, as these are now the centers of the disease in the USA.

[imref]

Leaving for our roadtrip this afternoon. Gonna do all the same precautions as our July roadtrip, such as not going into buildings unless absolutely necessary and staying only in private Airbnbs where we have the entire house to ourselves. Going to add a new rule: no college towns, as these are now the centers of the disease in the USA.

Safe travels!

[Count Walewski]

Hello from Chicago, where I'm hanging out with my parents for 2 days before heading south. We stayed in Cleveland on the way here, in a neighborhood called Tremont. It was...really nice. Like, I would want to spend time there again one day. Something in Cleveland being nice totally upends my world view, I'm not sure how to process this.

As you drive I-90 in Indiana between Cleveland and Chicago, the highway spends much of its route hugging the border with Michigan. That is, if you're heading west, Michigan is only about a block away from your car on the passenger side. If you get off to go to a restaurant or gas station that is right of the highway, you more likely than not will actually cross into Michigan.

Entering Chicago from Indiana, you drive on something called the Chicago Skyway, a piece of infrastructure with a lot of stories. It is a piece of I-90 that is elevated for 8 miles. The Skyway owes its genesis to an obscure law that allowed cities in Illinois to build toll bridges, but not toll highways. Technically speaking, the entire 8 mile stretch of the highway is a "bridge" over the Calumet River, which is a little sliver of a river that flows into Lake Michigan near the IL/IN border.

I will gain 40 pounds if and when Culver's comes to Northern Virginia.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I remember going to a wedding out at the Indiana Dunes and driving in from Chicago.  What hit me was just how dark the skies were over Gary on a cloudless day.  Might have been 25 years ago, maybe 15

[Count Walewski]

Yeah, as late as 1999/2000, I recall seeing significant air pollution when passing through Gary, IN. These days, there's not much air pollution there, but there clearly still is some industry because there are awful smells along the highway.

Indiana Dunes are now America's newest national park btw.

[imref]

The warehouse district in Cleveland is nice IIRC

[Natsinpwc]

The warehouse district in Cleveland is nice IIRC

There is a nice park with beaches just a bit west of downtown.  The park was nice and that area seemed nice also. 

[varoadking]

Hello from Chicago, where I'm hanging out with my parents...

Do they live in the City or a suburb?

[Count Walewski]

Do they live in the City or a suburb?

In Chicago itself, in one of the heavily Polish neighborhoods on the NW side. (They're Polish immigrants).

[varoadking]

In Chicago itself, in one of the heavily Polish neighborhoods on the NW side. (They're Polish immigrants).

My maternal great-grandparents were Polish immigrants.  My Aunt lives in the City on West Waveland Ave. near Mt. Olive Cemetery, and my mother is up in Glenview...

[Count Walewski]

My maternal great-grandparents were Polish immigrants.  My Aunt lives in the City on West Waveland Ave. near Mt. Olive Cemetery, and my mother is up in Glenview...

I could probably walk to your aunt's house from my parent's house in 10 minutes.

[varoadking]

Small world, ain't it?

[Count Walewski]

I did a stretch of Route 66 today, from Joliet, IL to Pontiac, IL.

In Joliet I toured the state prison, which is the prison that Jake is released from at the start of Blues Brothers. The prison operated from 1858 to 2002 and the tour is 90 minutes long and full of stories. The prisoners would play softball once a week against volunteer teams from the area, and the tour guide's dad played shortstop on a church team that would enter the prison to play against the prison team.

Pontiac, IL is a really nice small town with murals on nearly every wall.

This is the second stretch of Route 66 that I've done, and it's a weirdly social experience. There will be other people driving Route 66 at the same time you are, and they will stop at the same attractions along the way at roughly the same time. You might as well talk to them, or else you'll just awkwardly see each other all day in silence.

[OldChelsea]

New York now requiring quarantining for arriving residents of Maryland and 3 other states: https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-maryland-new-york-travel-20200909-d7pfgcff3rgwbhngde7c2rsnxq-story.html

[Count Walewski]

Oh man have I had a crappy last few days.

So I arrive at my Airbnb in Decatur, IL where I am supposed to spend 10 days of peace and quiet. But my second day there, I see a bedbug in the kitchen. I catch it under a glass, and I contact my host. My host sends an exterminator who tells me it is not a bedbug, and then smashes it to bits. I took pictures, and the thing was definitely a bedbug. Everyone who has seen my pics agrees, including an exterminator. I think the exterminator was either inept, or more likely in cahoots with the host.

I knew it was a bedbug, so I still vacated the property and cancelled the rest of my stay, which automatically refunded 50% of my costs. I will fight Airbnb for the remaining 50%, but to do so I need to actually contact Airbnb customer support, and they have been unreachable as presumably they are dealing with a lot of people unhappy with their Labor Day accommodations. Meanwhile the host is sending me name-calling messages.

Meanwhile I am back at my parents house in Chicago, washing my clothes to kill bedbugs, and am about to spray my car with bedbug poison I bought on Amazon. It is cramped and crowded here. My wife is depressed and difficult to deal with right now, but who can blame her: she has now had 2 vacations cancelled, one for COVID and one for bedbugs.

[imref]

Ugh. Sorry count.