Author Topic: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread  (Read 145160 times)

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Offline OldChelsea

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2725: October 22, 2020, 10:35:16 AM »
Did you ever think you'd live to see the day when people actually start to miss airline food? https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2020/10/16/plane-food-store-covid/?itid=hp_travel

Offline dracnal

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2726: October 22, 2020, 10:36:22 AM »
There are only two reasons to miss airline food.

1: Your aim is terrible.
2: You are not at all familiar with the weapon you're using to hit it.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2727: October 22, 2020, 11:06:56 AM »
I'm sure Snyder will buy whatever snacks are expiring for fedex when fans return

Offline skippy1999

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2728: October 22, 2020, 01:11:45 PM »
There are only two reasons to miss airline food.

1: Your aim is terrible.
2: You are not at all familiar with the weapon you're using to hit it.
:lol:

Offline bluestreak

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2729: October 22, 2020, 01:11:58 PM »
Did you ever think you'd live to see the day when people actually start to miss airline food? https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2020/10/16/plane-food-store-covid/?itid=hp_travel

If I lived in Australia, I would have without question or hesitation purchased the beverage cart from Qantas.

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2730: October 22, 2020, 01:13:40 PM »
Oh hell yes. 
If I lived in Australia, I would have without question or hesitation purchased the beverage cart from Qantas.

Offline OldChelsea

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2731: October 22, 2020, 01:38:37 PM »
If I lived in Australia, I would have without question or hesitation purchased the beverage cart from Qantas.

I probably would too.

Wonder what KLM is doing about its supply of beverage carts (they got rid of separate drinks-trolley service in tourist class a couple of years ago - now you only get to order drinks with your meal).

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2732: October 22, 2020, 01:51:33 PM »
It's a shame what Air France did to KLM and Alitalia.  Kind of the Spirit or Frontier bargain brands of the AF group. 
I probably would too.

Wonder what KLM is doing about its supply of beverage carts (they got rid of separate drinks-trolley service in tourist class a couple of years ago - now you only get to order drinks with your meal).

Offline OldChelsea

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2733: October 22, 2020, 02:01:07 PM »
It's a shame what Air France did to KLM and Alitalia.  Kind of the Spirit or Frontier bargain brands of the AF group. 

KLM's official explanation of their new tourist-class food/drink service was that they entered a new collective bargaining agreement with their cabin crew union, in which it was agreed there would be one less cabin crew member per longhaul flight. This new service was meant to make it easier on the cabin crews, in that they would only have to do one trolley run per flight instead of two, making the whole process more efficient. (And of course this has since been cut back further since Covid started - for the first few Covid months they stopped serving meals on any flight under 12hr.)

...that was the official explanation for the media and the public...

...now here's the real explanation, as given to me by the purser on a KLM flight I took last year...

The elimination of the drinks-trolley service, she told me, was due to an increase in drunken attacks on crew members. By making alcohol less available in flight, it is hoped that these attacks will decline. (At about the same time, many of the airport bars at Schiphol started limiting customers to three drinks.)

(Behave yourselves, mates - you don't want the airlines you fly to have to go dry.)

Offline Count Walewski

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2734: October 22, 2020, 05:35:37 PM »
I'm seeing a LOT of articles concluding that it's actually very safe to be on a plane right now because of the way that air is circulated.

https://www.cleveland.com/coronavirus/2020/10/risk-of-coronavirus-spread-on-airplane-flights-is-low-new-department-of-defense-study-suggests.html

https://thepointsguy.com/news/coronavirus-airplane-risk-study-iata/

What I've seen less analysis of is AIRPORTS. It does me very little good to be safe on a plane if I need to get coughed on in the TSA line to get there and near the baggage carousel to leave.

We're visiting my elderly parents in Chicago for Christmas and we're probably still driving. Though Chicago's quarantine list is up to 30 states (and Puerto Rico) right now and Virginia is teetering on the brink of being added. Technically, Chicago should be quarantining anyone coming in from the rest of Illinois, given that IL is far above the threshold for the quarantine requirement.

Offline Natsinpwc

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2735: October 22, 2020, 07:38:01 PM »
I'm seeing a LOT of articles concluding that it's actually very safe to be on a plane right now because of the way that air is circulated.

https://www.cleveland.com/coronavirus/2020/10/risk-of-coronavirus-spread-on-airplane-flights-is-low-new-department-of-defense-study-suggests.html

https://thepointsguy.com/news/coronavirus-airplane-risk-study-iata/

What I've seen less analysis of is AIRPORTS. It does me very little good to be safe on a plane if I need to get coughed on in the TSA line to get there and near the baggage carousel to leave.

We're visiting my elderly parents in Chicago for Christmas and we're probably still driving. Though Chicago's quarantine list is up to 30 states (and Puerto Rico) right now and Virginia is teetering on the brink of being added. Technically, Chicago should be quarantining anyone coming in from the rest of Illinois, given that IL is far above the threshold for the quarantine requirement.
Maybe I am just overly cautious but not sure I believe all that.  Just last year they were telling us we are more likely to get sick on a plane. 

https://www.smartertravel.com/avoiding-airplane-cold-dont-get-sick-flying/

"Studies vary, but most show that airline carriers are formidable carriers of the common cold. The Wall Street Journal cited a study that found an increased risk of catching the cold by as high as 20 percent, while another study in the Journal of Environmental Health Research found that colds may be 113 times more likely to be transmitted on a plane than during normal daily life on the ground."

Offline tomterp

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2736: October 22, 2020, 08:04:29 PM »
Drove out to Shenandoah NP yesterday to do a short hike up Nicholson Hollow Trail, which includes parking at the Old Rag parking area.  They have built a couple new parking areas to replace the rented field,  but at 9:45 am the main lot was full (Wednesday morning!!) and the bus lot was nearly full, but we got a space.  When we arrived back they had begun parking overflow in the old field.  Stunning how many people are out hiking on a weekday.

The good - I bought a Lifetime Nat'l Park pass for $80.  No more entrance fees ever.

The bad - I got assaulted by a yellow jacket getting in the car.  After theatrics we thought we'd made our escape, until I felt the piercing pain in my finger when I grabbed the gear shifter.  So now my right hand looks like a balloon, feels just as nice.

Offline imref

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2737: October 22, 2020, 08:11:19 PM »
Ouch. We hiked this a few weeks ago. Great section of the AT

https://www.hikingupward.com/OVH/TrumboHollow/

Offline DCFan

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2738: October 22, 2020, 08:19:22 PM »
The good - I bought a Lifetime Nat'l Park pass for $80.  No more entrance fees ever.

I got in on that before they jacked up the price of a lifetime senior pass a couple of years ago. I think it was $20 then??

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2739: October 22, 2020, 08:20:01 PM »
:thumbs:

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2740: October 22, 2020, 08:24:25 PM »
I lost a bet and had to carry a case of beer up Old Rag - even in a rucksack getting through those rock chutes was a nag (a couple broke).  Walked out the easy way to haul the empties and then got lost in the dark  :lol:

Offline GburgNatsFan

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2741: October 22, 2020, 10:09:42 PM »
This time of year, the 'jackets are fired up.

Drove out to Shenandoah NP yesterday to do a short hike up Nicholson Hollow Trail, which includes parking at the Old Rag parking area.  They have built a couple new parking areas to replace the rented field,  but at 9:45 am the main lot was full (Wednesday morning!!) and the bus lot was nearly full, but we got a space.  When we arrived back they had begun parking overflow in the old field.  Stunning how many people are out hiking on a weekday.

The good - I bought a Lifetime Nat'l Park pass for $80.  No more entrance fees ever.

The bad - I got assaulted by a yellow jacket getting in the car.  After theatrics we thought we'd made our escape, until I felt the piercing pain in my finger when I grabbed the gear shifter.  So now my right hand looks like a balloon, feels just as nice.

Offline OldChelsea

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2742: October 23, 2020, 09:07:09 AM »
I'm seeing a LOT of articles concluding that it's actually very safe to be on a plane right now because of the way that air is circulated.

https://www.cleveland.com/coronavirus/2020/10/risk-of-coronavirus-spread-on-airplane-flights-is-low-new-department-of-defense-study-suggests.html

https://thepointsguy.com/news/coronavirus-airplane-risk-study-iata/

What I've seen less analysis of is AIRPORTS. It does me very little good to be safe on a plane if I need to get coughed on in the TSA line to get there and near the baggage carousel to leave.[...]

Along that theme, Southwest announced yesterday that with effect from 1st December they will be selling all seats on their flights - no more empty middle seats (https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/southwest-airlines-selling-middle-seats/index.html).

And you're right about airports, with all the queueing one has to do (and social distancing may not be practical in many cases where queues are extra long) - check-in, bag drop, security, passport control, boarding - to say nothing of crowded food and shopping concessions. Even though I have Global Entry and TSA PreCheck (and priority bag drop and boarding if I'm flying British Airways, which I normally do) and thus can generally avoid the worst queues, there are still plenty of opportunities for coronavirus transmission.

Offline OldChelsea

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2743: October 23, 2020, 09:19:44 AM »
And in further travel news - boss of London's Heathrow airport believes odds are '50-50' that an air corridor between London and New York could be opened (with Covid testing at both ends) by Thanksgiving: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/london-new-york-air-corridor-thanksgiving-a4572616.html

MAKE IT SO!!

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2744: October 23, 2020, 09:33:04 AM »
One must just pick their destination well


Offline Count Walewski

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2745: October 23, 2020, 09:33:33 AM »
Ha yes I got Global Entry in late December 2019...what an epic waste of money that turned out to be. My global entry interview was the last time I was inside of an airport. At least I got a REAL ID out of it, I believe.

Given that any international trip we take begins with a visit to my elderly parents (to drop off the little kid), I won't feel comfortable traveling without a vaccine. Plan right now is that as soon as we've been vaccinated we'll book a trip to whatever city in Europe is cheapest to fly to in business class (even if we've been there before), spend a day or two there, and then use Europe's low-cost budget carriers to cheaply fly to whatever city we actually want to visit.

Offline Count Walewski

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2746: October 23, 2020, 09:34:15 AM »
One must just pick their destination well

(Image removed from quote.)

I went to Helsinki in March once and the harbor was still frozen solid. Can't imagine what its like in November.

Offline imref

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2747: October 23, 2020, 11:00:32 AM »
I went to Helsinki in March once and the harbor was still frozen solid. Can't imagine what its like in November.

I visited Oslo for work once in December.  It was dark when I went to the office and it was dark when I left the office.  Still a beautiful city though.

Offline OldChelsea

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2748: November 12, 2020, 12:45:39 PM »
Key West votes to ban large cruise ships (>1300 passengers) and limit the number of cruise ship passengers in town to 1500 at any one time: https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/11/05/key-west-florida-voters-opt-ban-large-cruise-ships-visiting/6171877002/

Offline OldChelsea

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Re: "Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread
« Reply #2749: November 12, 2020, 12:51:45 PM »
I visited Oslo for work once in December.  It was dark when I went to the office and it was dark when I left the office.  Still a beautiful city though.

Scandinavia, Finland and the Baltics are a region of wild fluctuations in length of daylight: in Riga, which is three degrees south of the latitude of Oslo, in July it doesn't get dark till 22.30.