"Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread

[Count Walewski]

I am going to Texas in April 2024 to see the total solar eclipse and I'm apparently not the only one. Almost every car rental place at DFW for eclipse weekend is either sold out or has jacked up their prices bigly. So I tried Turo for the first time. I coulda gotten a Porsche on Turo for the same price as Hertz was charging for a Toyota Corolla, but instead I chickened out and out a Toyota Corolla for several hundred dollars less than Hertz.

Anyone used Turo before? The biggest difference I noticed is you gotta buy the insurance since your credit card won't cover peer-to-peer auto rentals.

[imref]

if this happened on my flight, I would be done with traveling:

https://www.cnn.com/travel/delta-flight-diarrhea-biohazard/index.html

[wj73]

Mr WJ73 and I brought a souvenir back from St Thomas last week - Covid. Fortunately mild cases for both of us. Best guess is we picked it up at the STT airport on our way home. It’s a small airport and was quite crowded, and it was hot and stuffy as the AC was minimal. We did not wear a masks in those conditions, which in retrospect turned out to be a mistake.


Just a heads up for those who will be traveling soon. Covid is definitely back.

[skippy1999]

Mr WJ73 and I brought a souvenir back from St Thomas last week - Covid. Fortunately mild cases for both of us. Best guess is we picked it up at the STT airport on our way home. It’s a small airport and was quite crowded, and it was hot and stuffy as the AC was minimal. We did not wear a masks in those conditions, which in retrospect turned out to be a mistake.


Just a heads up for those who will be traveling soon. Covid is definitely back.

My daughter and son in law both came home from Europe in July with it, fortunately they were both fine after a couple of days. Hope you and Mr. WJ73 are both feeling better soon!

[Dave in Fairfax]

Not really a vacation, but I'm heading out this evening on a nice little 12 hour drive to Memphis for a few days to attend a wedding.

[bluestreak]

Headed to Mexico City for four days next month. Anyone have any recommendations?

[imref]

Headed to Mexico City for four days next month. Anyone have any recommendations?

there are a lot of posts about it on r/travel on Reddit. This was a recent discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/143bden/mexico_city/

And if you have time before you go, the latest season (twelve) of Rick Bayless' show has been focused on traditional eats in Mexico City. Each show is themed around a dish, and in it he visits the best places in Mexico City to get it (gourmet and street food).

https://www.rickbayless.com/mexico-one-plate-at-a-time-season-12-bayless-best-ever/

It's high on my bucket list, i look forward to reading about your experiences.

[skippy1999]

On my way to Colorado to do allllllll the leaf peeping!

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

[skippy1999]

(Image removed from quote.)

Lol accurate, but it’s also a good chance to see my son

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

But it is definitely pumpkin spice season and time to break out Autumn Man 

https://www.theonion.com/mr-autumn-man-walking-down-street-with-cup-of-coffee-1819574012

[Count Walewski]

We just booked Miami for the week of Christmas. We're taking our 5 year old and it will be her first time ever in Florida. We're staying in Hollywood, FL.

Plan so far is (1) spend Day 1 at the beach, (2) spend Day 2 at a zoo or zoo-like attraction - right now we're looking at Flamingo Gardens since it is fairly close to where we're staying, (3) spend Day 3 doing a hovercraft tour of the Everglades, and (4) take a fishing trip on Day 4 - we found a guy on Airbnb who leads fishing trips in the canals south of Miami and claims he's very kid-friendly.

Happy to take any and all suggestions on kid-friendly things to do in South Florida. We all love animals and we'd also be interested in going somewhere where we can just see iguanas, tegus, and other large invasive lizards. That would be a huge treat for all three of us.

[imref]

My kids enjoyed the children’s museum in Miami at around 10-12 years of age.

Robbie’s islamorada to feed the tarpons is fun.

[Natsinpwc]

I recommend this place for Key lime pies. We picked up a couple on our way back and everyone liked them. 

https://newrivergroves.com/

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Matheson Hammock Park in Coral Gables is full of Iguanas - nice park as well, with mangroves, beach, and pine forest:

https://www.miamidade.gov/parks/matheson-hammock.asp

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

"On the Good Ship, Taliban..."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2023/11/15/carnival-cruise-lifetime-ban-cbd-gummies/

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

We had a flight divert to LaCrosse Wisconsin due to fog & fuel issues, whereupon the cabin crew timed out so we were stuck for the night. 

The tiny airport in LaCrosse is not served by United, so there was neither ground crew to remove luggage nor gate agents to sort out details. 

The upside was that LaCrosse apparently has more bars per capita than anywhere else in the country, quite a few of which were still open by the time we found a hotel at stupid o'clock, so we enjoyed the local specialty Christmas Eve feast of PBR & Jamesons     

[varoadking]

We had a flight divert to LaCrosse Wisconsin due to fog & fuel issues, whereupon the cabin crew timed out so we were stuck for the night. 

The tiny airport in LaCrosse is not served by United, so there was neither ground crew to remove luggage nor gate agents to sort out details. 

The upside was that LaCrosse apparently has more bars per capita than anywhere else in the country, quite a few of which were still open by the time we found a hotel at stupid o'clock, so we enjoyed the local specialty Christmas Eve feast of PBR & Jamesons 

That's the daily special...

I got a traffic ticket driving my MGB there during Octoberfest...50 years ago.  I was going the wrong way on a one-way street. 

I told the cop I was only going one way.  He was not to be swayed.  Go figure.  Could have and likely should have been worse...

[GburgNatsFan]

Great to see you VARK!

That's the daily special...

I got a traffic ticket driving my MGB there during Octoberfest...50 years ago.  I was going the wrong way on a one-way street. 

I told the cop I was only going one way.  He was not to be swayed.  Go figure.  Could have and likely should have been worse...

[varoadking]

Missed a bunch of y'all myself Gburgh, and it would be great to see a big turnout at the M&G next season.  Weather really put a damper on it this year...

Been lurkin' here off and on for the past 2 years...will likely chime in now and again when it seems appropriate.

Hope you and your clan are well...

[Natsinpwc]

Missed a bunch of y'all myself Gburgh, and it would be great to see a big turnout at the M&G next season.  Weather really put a damper on it this year...

Been lurkin' here off and on for the past 2 years...will likely chime in now and again when it seems appropriate.

Hope you and your clan are well...

Welcome back and Happy Holidays.

[Natsinpwc]

Sounds like there is much more fun than PBR in Lacrosse.

https://madison.com/news/local/education/university/wisconsin-joe-gow-pictures-chancellor-la-crosse/article_4d3085e0-a4f5-11ee-b3f3-7f690fe9c9bb.html

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

 

I got a traffic ticket driving my MGB there during Octoberfest...50 years ago. 

[aspenbubba]

Would you have preferred Morris Garage-B ?

[varoadking]

Welcome back and Happy Holidays.

Thanks, PWC...and the same to you & yours...