Something Random

[ddrueding]

When we moved to Denmark we just brought a suitcase each, almost all clothes. Most of the stuff in California was liquidated, though there is a container full of things that the wife or I felt should be kept. The longer we go here still trying to find a way to move it for less than $25k the more tempted I am to not bring it. Having a nearly empty place is super nice.

 

[LunarMist]

In parts of the 80s and 90s I lived like that from one assigment to another. I'm way too old for that lifestyle now.

 

[jtr1962]

I never could have lived like that. I hated even business trips of a few days. I like to sleep in my own bed at night.

 

[LunarMist]

I've slept in some very nice beds, certainly better than any I ever owned, but also some that were pretty rough and for a good reason.
Some of the most rewarding experiences in life come from stepping out of the comfort zone, both physically and emotionally.
Although it is no longer possible to be stationed abroad I try to visit a new country or region every year. I've had some "good, bad, and ugly" experiences on all seven continents, but I would not trade most of them for anything.

 

[sedrosken]

Travel is by far too expensive for me to ever consider doing outside of having a really good reason (visiting family, reimbursed travel for work) at the very least for right now. I get anxious when I'm away from home, too, so it's not particularly great for my health either.

 

[Mercutio]

I'm a big fan of going anyplace I can go for about $100. This means frequent trips to central Florida, Vegas, NOLA etc, as those are usually the cheapest flights, or else day trips to whatever is in range. I'm a fan of visiting cities any chance I get.

 

[LunarMist]

Travel is by far too expensive for me to ever consider doing outside of having a really good reason (visiting family, reimbursed travel for work) at the very least for right now. I get anxious when I'm away from home, too, so it's not particularly great for my health either.

But you are young and most probably have many years to do so much in life.

 

[LunarMist]

I'm a big fan of going anyplace I can go for about $100. This means frequent trips to central Florida, Vegas, NOLA etc, as those are usually the cheapest flights, or else day trips to whatever is in range. I'm a fan of visiting cities any chance I get.

If you like cities you should figure out a way to get to London and maybe France and Rome.

 

[jtr1962]

I get anxious when I'm away from home, too, so it's not particularly great for my health either.

Same thing with me, especially when I'm not in a big city.

 

[Mercutio]

If you like cities you should figure out a way to get to London and maybe France and Rome.

More likely Berlin / Munster / Vienna / Bern / Budapest / Prague, for a European trip. I still haven't made any significant trip to NYC, a trip that's a much higher priority, but also one I wouldn't want to attempt without a decent local guide. My brother is in Prague and both I and my best friend already speak German. She has a sister living in Munster, so the idea of a week on a Eurorail pass through the middle of the continent sounds pretty great. I'm told good things about Bruges and Antwerp as well. My brother seems to think Belgium is a better time than Holland, anyway.

We also have a trip planned to visit some of the cheaper parts of Southeast Asia in 2024, the celebration of my friend finishing her master's degree.
We're talking about hitting Montreal late this summer, too. Maybe I can go find Cougtek.

 

[sedrosken]

Same thing with me, especially when I'm not in a big city.

For me it's the opposite. I'm a lot more at home in the middle of nowhere than I am in the middle of a city I didn't grow up in. I've never been in a proper "big" city and hope to never have to be.

 

[jtr1962]

For me it's the opposite. I'm a lot more at home in the middle of nowhere than I am in the middle of a city I didn't grow up in. I've never been in a proper "big" city and hope to never have to be.

I don't like being in places where I either need a car/driver's license to get around, or instead have to bum rides off people. I have my independence in big cities where I can walk, bike, or take the train to where I want to go.

 

[LunarMist]

How many large cities have you been in other than your home town?
I don't rent cars in most countries, but can usually get various car services or tour vehicles.
I generally avoid public transportation as it is a security risk.

 

[jtr1962]

How many large cities have you been in other than your home town?
I don't rent cars in most countries, but can usually get various car services or tour vehicles.
I generally avoid public transportation as it is a security risk.

Philadelphia, Washington, Montreal are the only ones I recall. I may or may not have been to Boston. I honestly can't remember. I guess maybe add Newark and Trenton to the list, although I don't consider those large cities. I used to pass through Newark daily commuting to college. I rode to Trenton a few times when I lived on campus at Princeton. Montreal is the furthest I've ever been from where I was born (NYC obviously). Growing up with poor parents, there wasn't much money to travel. Montreal was the highlight of my childhood as far as travel goes. For most of my adult life, until maybe the mid 2010s, same thing. But by then my mother needed caring for, so travel was out of the question. When she goes I might travel a bit, subject of course to finding a person I care about to travel with.

The problem with car services or tour vehicles is that they're expensive compared to public transit. I guess if you're on a business trip with your company paying that's not a big deal, but it is if you're paying out of your own pocket. On top of that, in cities car travel is slow, unpleasant, and the fumes make me nauseous. I'd rather be on a train any day of the week. In fact, I hate car travel regardless of location, which is why I avoid going places where it's the only option.

 

[sedrosken]

I don't like being in places where I either need a car/driver's license to get around, or instead have to bum rides off people. I have my independence in big cities where I can walk, bike, or take the train to where I want to go.

Again, it's the opposite for me, I have a car and while I don't particularly enjoy driving I'm at least competent at it. I hate relying on strangers or getting lost.

 

[Mercutio]

I generally avoid public transportation as it is a security risk.

I tend to view public transit as part of the experience. Chicago is a vastly different place through the El than it is from Lake Shore Drive and Interstate 94. I also take a different view of cities with wholly inadequate transit, like Vegas (outside the strip) or Denver (has light rail but there's no point of interconnection except downtown and also no all-day passes. Jerks). All of Florida has horrific sprawl, so that's definitely the place a car rental is the cost of being there, but I suppose that was done on purpose.

My problem with driving in cities is that I have ZERO peripheral vision. None. I recognize it's not safe for me to be a driver in areas of greatest congestion. But since I almost always travel to see friends who do have cars, I'm often very thankful to have the option to hop in a friend's car or to navigate a subway or bus line. Ridesharing used to be inexpensive and convenient, but that's no longer the case in most places.

 

[jtr1962]

Driving in cities is so different compared to everywhere else that I think places like NYC should have an additional qualification required on driver's licenses (both those issued in-state and other states) before you're allowed to drive there. The added training should include dealing with pedestrians or cyclists, lots of unexpected obstacles, etc. And peripheral vision should be tested. If it's limited, you can't drive in cities.

Totally agree public transit is part of the experience, if not one of the main things. If I ever went to Europe or Asia, riding on their high-speed trains would be high on my list of reasons for going.

Considering how ride share companies treat their employees/contractors, that's already a good reason to not use them. Besides that, half the drivers either drive like lunatics, can't speak English well, or both.

 

[Mercutio]

I got a new kitten on Sunday. His name is Spork, which goes along with my other cat, Spatula.
Spork introduced my phone to the floor just now. It fell off my armchair and apparently hit a hard drive lower-left corner first. My phone is in a bumper but sure as shit it cracked the edge of the glass just a TINY bit. A tiny bit, right where the shift key will be for my on screen keyboard.

I've never had a cracked screen before, not in all the time I've had a cell phone.
Sob.

 

[LunarMist]

Wow, that goes along with all the stuff that happens to hones, like falling in the bowls.

 

[LunarMist]

Wow, that goes along with all the stuff that happens to hones, like falling in the

 

[ddrueding]

Sorry to hear it Merc, but congrats on the Spork. At some point we'll stop traveling enough to have some kind of pet. Still probably a few years out.

 

[LunarMist]

Show us a photo. Does he look like a Vulcan?

 

[Mercutio]

Spork is an overly enthusiastic, friendly idiot. He looks like this:




My older cat is Spatula. Spat is about four years old now. He's shy and permanently anxious, having come from a house full of blind Great Danes. The funny thing about Spat is that he is very visibly a big, muscular cat and he could be terrifying if he hadn't spent his formative year being stepped on by horse-dogs.

 

[LunarMist]

It looked like "Spock" on the Chinese cell phone.

 

[Mercutio]

He does have big pointy ears though.

 

[sedrosken]

What a dapper, handsome cat. Both of them, really.

 

[fb]

Hi all, it has been a while. Santilli reached out in a PM and I thought I'd reply here and say hi.

My family sold everything in California, quit our jobs, and moved to Denmark about 3 months ago.

Welcome to the nordic countries. I hope you and the family like it here. Denmark is really nice, should be the perfect base if you want to travel around Europe. I have a ~1200 km trip to make within Sweden before I even reach Denmark or Germany.

 

[ddrueding]

Welcome to the nordic countries. I hope you and the family like it here. Denmark is really nice, should be the perfect base if you want to travel around Europe. I have a ~1200 km trip to make within Sweden before I even reach Denmark or Germany.

Being from the US, everything in the EU is small and close together. Except Norway/Sweden/Finland. Those places are huge and take forever to get around. I'm looking forward to driving the coastal highway in Norway when it is ready.

 

[Newtun]

Missing Route 1?

​

Mendocino, Pt Reyes, Stinson Beach, Mt Tam, SF, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Big Sur, SLO town, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Malibu, Santa Monica, ...
Is that the world's most incredible Coastal Highway?

 

[ddrueding]

Missing Route 1?

View attachment 1603​

Mendocino, Pt Reyes, Stinson Beach, Mt Tam, SF, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Big Sur, SLO town, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Malibu, Santa Monica, ...
Is that the world's most incredible Coastal Highway?

Nah. It would be incredible if it weren't packed full of lost people driving rental RVs at 5 mph. The only time it isn't is when it has collapsed into the sea or is on fire.

 

[Mercutio]

Nah. It would be incredible if it weren't packed full of lost people driving rental RVs at 5 mph.

There's a lot wrong with Michigan, but the drive up the Eastern shore of the lake (roughly I-136 to US 31) is absolutely gorgeous and other than two weeks around the end of September, a clear and easy trip with scads of cheap vacation rentals and places to get interesting photos. I like to drive all the way up to the land of the bougie in Traverse City at least once a year. I keep thinking finishing the circle tour, but I'm never that enthusiastic as a driver.

Michigan isn't even flyover country; planes don't go there unless they're flying to Detroit or Kalamazoo.

Speaking of pretty drives, pretty much all of eastern Tennessee is beautiful. It's just that it's Tennessee, the current standard-bearer for places that want to out-Florida Florida in the elimination of human rights. There's a huge chunk of amazing world in the middle parts of the USA and it's really sad how far all of them are willing to go to make sure no one ever wants to visit any of them.

 

[Handruin]

Some of my favorite places fall into those same categories. I really enjoy the Utah/Arizona/Colorado nature, views, and national parks but don't enjoy their political policies.

 

[sedrosken]

I find myself in the Freeport FL area every now and again for work and it makes me homesick every time I'm there -- the roads are barely paved and squirrelly bar the main ones, there's all kinds of woods everywhere, people are sometimes miles apart -- the only telltale sign I'm not back home in Kentucky is the general lack of hills. But then I go home for a visit and I feel like I'm riding in a deathtrap and have no idea how I got used to driving up there. I'm probably not going to make it on much of a trip at all this year, to be honest, but if I can scrape enough together for a flight on Allegiant I'm going to see my mom and family up in the Chicago area in the fall. Thankfully I'm not driving the 18+ hours it'd be to get there.

 

[Mercutio]

Allegiant has regularly scheduled flights from Tampa, Clearwater and Orlando to South Bend International Airport, which is a hilarious name for an airport with three runways and nine gates. I'm perfectly happy going through O'Hare but taking off from SBN is a 15 minute walk to the train + a 75-minute ride that stops in the airport where I don't think I've ever seen with more than a couple hundred people at any one time, inclusive of staff. By the standards of air travel, it's like getting a massage when you're expecting a fist fight.

 

[jtr1962]

Here's the weird thing-SBN apparently has rail service, albeit a 15 minute walk away, while LaGuardia still doesn't. Just shows how screwed up NYC is when it comes to building infrastructure. Nearly every large airport anywhere in the world has rail service, but not LGA.

 

[fb]

Being from the US, everything in the EU is small and close together. Except Norway/Sweden/Finland. Those places are huge and take forever to get around. I'm looking forward to driving the coastal highway in Norway when it is ready.

That sounds like a great idea. Norway is really beautiful, and when you're tired of the fjords (takes a few days) you can turn right and travel south through Sweden. =)

 

[Mercutio]

Isn't LaGuardia the second tier option for NYC anyway? Like flying in to Midway in Chicago or John Wayne in LA?

I'm mildly annoyed that I've never been any farther into California than Lake Tahoe. I have friends in Southern California but between those people and the folks I know who are FROM California, apparently the whole state is a twisted hellscape of highways where no two things are less than 90 minutes from one another and nothing is open after 11PM except the sorts of bars where light goes to die.

 

[LunarMist]

Isn't LaGuardia the second tier option for NYC anyway? Like flying in to Midway in Chicago or John Wayne in LA?

I'm mildly annoyed that I've never been any farther into California than Lake Tahoe. I have friends in Southern California but between those people and the folks I know who are FROM California, apparently the whole state is a twisted hellscape of highways where no two things are less than 90 minutes from one another and nothing is open after 11PM except the sorts of bars where light goes to die.

Yes. EWR is another option (heavily Untied) and a larger airport than LGR.

In the Southland you have Burbank to the north, Ontario and SNA as alternatives. I was in Ontario once due to the fogs, and maybe SNA when it was the Orange Country airport. BUR is more accessible to Ventura Co. and has not changed a whole in 40 years. You still walk off the planes onto the ground like the 1960s.

 

[jtr1962]

Isn't LaGuardia the second tier option for NYC anyway? Like flying in to Midway in Chicago or John Wayne in LA?

Yeah, it is. And frankly I think they should shut it down. However, they're not. Even though it's a second tier airport, it easily gets more air traffic than most first tier airports elsewhere, and should have a rail link. Even more so because of NYC's horrendous traffic congestion. The lack of a rail link just adds to that.

 

[LunarMist]

I had to make connection from JFK to LGA once years ago and it was RIDICULOUS.