The Vacation Thread

[rass]

The only thing worse than lice is bedbugs. Best of luck.

True. At least head lice have the good grace to die out if not attached to a warm body for a day or two.

[mister d]

[sancarlos]

Trump neighbors and the lice development...I mean. I'm just sayin and what not.

My first thought, too.

In my early 20s, my then-girlfriend dumped me but left some of her clothes in my apartment. So I piled them in a corner and encouraged my flea-infested cat to nest in them for next day, until she picked them up. (Then, I de-loused the cat).

[GoodKarma]

The diner where I got my breakfast sandwich (see whatever thread that was) is for sale (just under $700K) but listed as a turnkey restaurant and an island institution with a large following so hopefully whoever buys it keeps it more or less the same.

700k seems like a good deal for a place like that.

[L-Jam3]

Trump neighbors and the lice development...I mean. I'm just sayin and what not.

My first thought, too.

In my early 20s, my then-girlfriend dumped me but left some of her clothes in my apartment. So I piled them in a corner and encouraged my flea-infested cat to nest in them for next day, until she picked them up. (Then, I de-loused the cat).

San Carlos giving the ex bubonic plague is some serious revenge.

[mister d]

Family isn't home so I can listen to Liquid Swords on the house speaker which means above is the second bubonic plague reference of my day.

[rass]

Funny, cause I’ve got a second kid with head lice today!

(the younger one seems to be much better off, really had to work to find them, but glad we checked)

((if this all ends with me having to shave my head I’m gonna be sadder than I am after losing the better part of the last day and a half of vacation))

[Giff]

[Steve of phpBB]

The diner where I got my breakfast sandwich (see whatever thread that was) is for sale (just under $700K) but listed as a turnkey restaurant and an island institution with a large following so hopefully whoever buys it keeps it more or less the same.

700k seems like a good deal for a place like that.

I'll kick in twenty bucks.

[A_B]

What sites you guys use for finding good deals? Looking at two vacations: one for my wife and a friend for a few days getaway (friend doesn't have passport as of yet, so limiting to Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands or maybe even the keys) and then one for me and the wife (destination wide frigging open if my wife gets some beach time with the friend, soI'm looking at potentially Europe for us).

Lots of varying prices based on sites I've seen so figure I need to mine the Swamp Hive Mind.

[mister d]

What sites you guys use for finding good deals?

My first stop is always the internet. Hasn't let me down yet.

[govmentchedda]

What sites you guys use for finding good deals? Looking at two vacations: one for my wife and a friend for a few days getaway (friend doesn't have passport as of yet, so limiting to Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands or maybe even the keys) and then one for me and the wife (destination wide frigging open if my wife gets some beach time with the friend, soI'm looking at potentially Europe for us).

Lots of varying prices based on sites I've seen so figure I need to mine the Swamp Hive Mind.

I subscribe to Going, formerly Scott's Cheap Flights. You put in your potential departure airports and it emails you when there's a deal on an international flight. There's an Elite level subscription which provides these emails in advance of whatever level I am (thinking $30 or so/yr). Elite is definitely more expensive than that, but I don't plan on flying internationally this year, so it's not worth it. You often need to be ready to book pretty quickly as a lot of the deals expire, and some of them are mistake fares.

I don't get a ton of hits for international flights leaving from Tampa, but I can drive to Orlando relatively easily, and I also put in the New York, Atlanta, Miami, and DC airports as if there's an international flight that's ridiculously cheap, I can probably get to those airports from Tampa relatively quickly.

Back in the height of COVID we got 5 RT tickets to Tokyo for $1655 total. Booked that in April of 2021 for February of 2022, but Japan wasn't open by then, so we had to cancel.

Google Flights is also really helpful for seeing what's cheap if you want to reverse book like this (opting to just choose whatever pops up as a deal, rather than deciding you want to go to location X).

Last, if you're searching on an airline's site use an Incognito Chrome window. I've definitely noticed rising prices for the same flight when browsing not in incognito mode.

[The Sybian]

What sites you guys use for finding good deals?

My first stop is always the internet. Hasn't let me down yet.

You don't drive to your travel agent's office and pick up some brochure books?

[mister d]

Have to get passports for all four of us. Anything I'm going to fuck up if I just fill out the application and show up?

[govmentchedda]

Have to get passports for all four of us. Anything I'm going to fuck up if I just fill out the application and show up?

Get them soon. I keep hearing there's a backlog. Also, I'm pretty sure both you and your wife (and the kids too, I think) need to be there in person when getting them for the kids.

[rass]

Have to get passports for all four of us. Anything I'm going to fuck up if I just fill out the application and show up?

Get them soon. I keep hearing there's a backlog. Also, I'm pretty sure both you and your wife (and the kids too, I think) need to be there in person when getting them for the kids.

Yeah, all four of us went when we got the kids theirs and that was late 2018 or early 2019 so I can't remember all of the details but I can only assume we wouldn't have spent a Saturday morning standing in line as a group unless we needed to.

[govmentchedda]

Have to get passports for all four of us. Anything I'm going to fuck up if I just fill out the application and show up?

Get them soon. I keep hearing there's a backlog. Also, I'm pretty sure both you and your wife (and the kids too, I think) need to be there in person when getting them for the kids.

Yeah, all four of us went when we got the kids theirs and that was late 2018 or early 2019 so I can't remember all of the details but I can only assume we wouldn't have spent a Saturday morning standing in line as a group unless we needed to.

We need to reup our kids' passports as well. Denmark for Thanksgiving this year!

[The Sybian]

Have to get passports for all four of us. Anything I'm going to fuck up if I just fill out the application and show up?

Just got an email this week from my Congressman about renewing passports. It says it's taking 10-13 weeks to process, 7-9 for expedited and he gave a phone number to call to have his office track the process for you. Probably not a good sign. My kids' passports expire this year. We were considering a trip abroad, but we may have waited too long.

[Brontoburglar]

global entry is also a cluster. hard to get a nearby appointment anytime soon and you basically have to check the website at random times of the day to see if something cancels/opens up

kinda like it was in early 2021 to get covid vaccines

[MaxWebster]

as an aside, if it's even doable - there's a US Passport office in downtown Buffalo that at least a few years ago did expedited passports like...fast. I can't remember the (likely bs) story we had but we'd had tickets to fly out of Hamilton and at least 2 of us had expired passports. We went down there and got them back in a week. I'm sure we paid extra but if you/anyone are a few hours drive and need a quickie [ok have at it..] it may be worth a call ...

Have to get passports for all four of us. Anything I'm going to fuck up if I just fill out the application and show up?

Just got an email this week from my Congressman about renewing passports. It says it's taking 10-13 weeks to process, 7-9 for expedited and he gave a phone number to call to have his office track the process for you. Probably not a good sign. My kids' passports expire this year. We were considering a trip abroad, but we may have waited too long.

[A_B]

as an aside, if it's even doable - there's a US Passport office in downtown Buffalo that at least a few years ago did expedited passports like...fast. I can't remember the (likely bs) story we had but we'd had tickets to fly out of Hamilton and at least 2 of us had expired passports. We went down there and got them back in a week. I'm sure we paid extra but if you/anyone are a few hours drive and need a quickie [ok have at it..] it may be worth a call ...

Have to get passports for all four of us. Anything I'm going to fuck up if I just fill out the application and show up?

Just got an email this week from my Congressman about renewing passports. It says it's taking 10-13 weeks to process, 7-9 for expedited and he gave a phone number to call to have his office track the process for you. Probably not a good sign. My kids' passports expire this year. We were considering a trip abroad, but we may have waited too long.

Before we left for the Dominican, there was an issue and one of our friends almost had to travel to Buffalo to get it expedited. It was the only place taking appointments. Turned out it all worked out fine, but I can vouch that they said they'd have it in a few days, like Max said

[The Sybian]

as an aside, if it's even doable - there's a US Passport office in downtown Buffalo that at least a few years ago did expedited passports like...fast. I can't remember the (likely bs) story we had but we'd had tickets to fly out of Hamilton and at least 2 of us had expired passports. We went down there and got them back in a week. I'm sure we paid extra but if you/anyone are a few hours drive and need a quickie [ok have at it..] it may be worth a call ...

Have to get passports for all four of us. Anything I'm going to fuck up if I just fill out the application and show up?

Just got an email this week from my Congressman about renewing passports. It says it's taking 10-13 weeks to process, 7-9 for expedited and he gave a phone number to call to have his office track the process for you. Probably not a good sign. My kids' passports expire this year. We were considering a trip abroad, but we may have waited too long.

Before we left for the Dominican, there was an issue and one of our friends almost had to travel to Buffalo to get it expedited. It was the only place taking appointments. Turned out it all worked out fine, but I can vouch that they said they'd have it in a few days, like Max said

Which further proves my theory, people from Buffalo never travel. Going to college in Buffalo, I was amazed at the number of local students who never travelled beyond 100 miles from their home.

[govmentchedda]

global entry is also a cluster. hard to get a nearby appointment anytime soon and you basically have to check the website at random times of the day to see if something cancels/opens up

kinda like it was in early 2021 to get covid vaccines

Yep. I let my Precheck expire and was going to get GE with my wife. She was conditionally approved, despite not ever having Precheck (to my chagrin for the last 5 years), and they haven't conditionally approved me for some reason.

[Nonlinear FC]

We are flying so much this month (and last) that we got Pre-Check.

Wow is it nice. Especially in Denver.

[govmentchedda]

Pair it with Clear and have your mind blown even more.

[Nonlinear FC]

Pair it with Clear and have your mind blown even more.

I'm still paying from my "children's" education.

[rass]

Last day in the office until the day after Labor Day. Forecast through next weekend looks great, ocean temps in the mid-70s. Rum purchased. Can I skirt any disasters here at work until 4:30 or 5?

[A_B]

Last day in the office until the day after Labor Day. Forecast through next weekend looks great, ocean temps in the mid-70s. Rum purchased. Can I skirt any disasters here at work until 4:30 or 5?

I have faith in your ability to say "it's fuck-this-shit-o'clock" at the appropriate time.

[mister d]

I'm off this afternoon through the 30th and now Rass has made that look like nothing.

[rass]

Was too drunk or too high on Saturday and left my shovel at the beach when I cleaned up.

The dog so strenuously and unexpectedly protested getting into the car to go off island for breakfast yesterday that he slipped his harness and we spent 5 minutes chasing him around.

Also looks like a decent chance of rain the next two days.

Otherwise been pretty great.

[rass]

We’d come here anyway. Probably.

We have friends who are here every year who have kids the kids’ ages.

Summer friends = best friends

(less shit to deal with than kids you see every day?)

But we’d come here anyway.

We know the stores and restaurants enough to feel like residents.

Less than two hours away by car and the same state but feels like a completely different place. I guess the Philly vs NY feel probably part of that.

And of course the benefit of just being not at work.

But all I want is one perfect hour or two, if it isn’t too much. Warm, (but not sunny today), I’m buzzed, waves are heavy but not too heavy. Guarded beach a plus. And that was today and even when we stay one week I get at least one of those, and maybe we would come here anyway but I push so much harder for this week or two because of days like today.