Travel Thread

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Ok either way I'm up for burgers

Ok so apparently I don't know the difference between a text and 5af

[Dickie Dunn]

Ok either way I'm up for burgers

Ok so apparently I don't know the difference between a text and 5af

Where we getting burgers from?

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Ok either way I'm up for burgers

Ok so apparently I don't know the difference between a text and 5af

Where we getting burgers from?

$4 burgers Thursdays 7:00 to 10:00 at coaches on banksville, right next to the the yinzer hotspot kuhns.

[Morkle]

Man I can't wait to get back to the OBX this year.

[dodint]

May 6th for me. I haven't done the whole big beach house thing on the OBX since my 2010 wedding. We usually just pass through on the way to the southern outer banks.

[count2infinity]

I’ll be at Atlantic beach at the end of June. Stoked. I haven’t been to the beach since 2017.

[obhave]

5 hour time difference with an infant is torture.

[shafnutz05]

Man I can't wait to get back to the OBX this year.

This is the first year we aren't going to OBX in a long time. Houses have just gotten utterly ridiculous. Going to be cheaper for us to go to Italy for a week.

[shafnutz05]

Godspeed @Dickie Dunn

[Morkle]

Yea my wife's family stopped going to OBX due to cost and drive time as most are getting older. We go to Sandbridge now. This is an off year, so my wife and I are taking our son don and staying at the Hilton in Corolla, which was cheaper to do that, than stay at a semi nice place in OCMD which is wild.

[dodint]

Hi Don.

[Ad@m]

Dahn

[Ad@m]

Monday AM we leave for our first big vacay since the Before Times. Lisbon, then Spain (Sevilla, Granada, coast, and Madrid), two weeks of Iberian shenanigans. I'll spend my 50th birthday in a town called Dénia.

Happy 50th birthday @tifosi77

[NTP66]

Monday AM we leave for our first big vacay since the Before Times. Lisbon, then Spain (Sevilla, Granada, coast, and Madrid), two weeks of Iberian shenanigans. I'll spend my 50th birthday in a town called Dénia.

Happy 50th birthday @tifosi77

HBD you old ****

[Nuge]

Ok either way I'm up for burgers

This is an appropriate response to pretty much any post. I feel like it would fit in the political thread.

[nocera]

Colorado is awesome. We really enjoyed our time there. Unfortunately our train to Pikes Peak was cancelled due to weather but we still visited Garden of the Gods, did a few hikes, and explored a bunch of the smaller towns like Boulders, Golden, Colorado Springs, Idaho Springs, Lyons. Of those, I think Golden was my favorite. We also spent the day in Denver yesterday, which just so happened to be the Rockies opening day so that made for a fun atmosphere. Overall great trip.

The flight out of Pittsburgh last Saturday was rough, though. High winds made for an intense take off and first hour or so.

[tifosi77]

We paid for our Global Entry applications and got approved up to the interview point back in January. Dublin is one of the international airports with direct flights into the States where U.S. citizens can do Customs pre-clearance prior to boarding, but you can also do you GE interviews there, so we went on our trip with that plan in mind. (The earliest available appointment at LAX was like September or October) We arrived in DUB yesterday, full of vim and vigor for this interview. On landing, I saw a cluster of USAF C-17s on the ramp; turns out el Jefe is visiting Ireland today and tomorrow, and that was the cargo for the advance security team and whatnot. Neat. So we get to the CBP area and they keep telling us, "thattaway for interviews". So, thattaway we went. Eventually we got to the actual control desk and the guy was like, "Oh, yeah. Since the President is visiting we're pooling assets to prepare, and travel programs like GE are on a temporary hold for the next few days. Sorry about that." *stamp* "NEXT"

j/k, that's not what happened. The guy who does the GE interviews - the one guy - was on his lunch break when we arrived. Just in the adjacent gates near to us they were dealing with nearly simultaneous direct flight departures to Los Angeles and Dallas. All those prospective U.S. citizens potentially leaving for home at the same time, and 'the guy' was off having a toastie.

[shafnutz05]

Customs pre-clearance in Dublin is **** fantastic. Brought back like eight bottles of booze and wasn't bothered at all. Being able to walk straight to baggage claim and then my car when I landed after a six hour flight was another big bonus.

[tifosi77]

See, they are doing massive improvements at LAX in preparation for the summer Olympics in 2028. So what is ordinarily a s**t show of an airport is even worse now and for at least the next two years or so. We did pre-clearance in DUB, but when we arrived we had to walk close to a full mile in subterranean passages with confusing signage and broken escalators ("they can only become stairs.... we apologize for the convenience") to get to a baggage carousel that appeared to be limited to delivering one bag every 6 or 7 minutes. From disembarking to getting into the taxi home, it was close to 2 1/2 hours. On top of the 10+ hours in the air. Suh-weet!

[robbiestoupe]

Our travels south went pretty well. The only bad thing was the weather at the beginning of last week. The drive down was like driving in a hurricane. Constant downpour with winds for 8 of the 9 hours of driving. At the beach it was high 50s to low 60s with 25 mph winds. The kids didn't care, they were in the ocean swimming. Probably why my daughter caught the sniffles. I have a feeling Tybee Island as a lot to offer when the weather is good. We'd love to go back when it's warmer.

Once we got to HHI, the temp was in the mid 70s with not much wind. I don't know if it's always like this or because we just so happened to be there during the HBC golf tournament, but the traffic there was insane. We were a mile from a playground and it took us 10-15 minutes to get there. Roundabouts seem like a good idea, until it's bumper to bumper and you can't get in. I can't imagine going during the summer months during busy season.

We made a stop in Columbia, SC to check out Congaree NP. I was worried when we got close to the park and there were minimal signs and even less people. You drive through a bunch of farmland then boom, a national park shows up. Free admission was the next red flag. Perhaps there's more to do in other areas of the park, but the hiking paths near the visitor center offered nothing but a view of swampland. We saw one turtle and 21,580 gypsy moth caterpillars.

Visited my cousin at USC for dinner. He's graduating early because he couldn't stand the town. We were only there for a night, but I can almost see why. Not much going on for that town. Don't know how @columbia does it.

Last stop was in Raleigh/Durham area to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins. Seems like a nice place, growing very quickly with a lot of new build going on. Didn't do much there, but apparently they kept a decent amount of green space to explore with hiking trails and parks.

All in all not a bad trip, wish the weather would have been better. The kids did extremely well for the amount of driving we did, so perhaps this will be the way we go for future trips. Flying is too damn expensive and too much of a hassle.

[NTP66]

Source of the post Once we got to HHI, the temp was in the mid 70s with not much wind. I don't know if it's always like this or because we just so happened to be there during the HBC golf tournament, but the traffic there was insane. We were a mile from a playground and it took us 10-15 minutes to get there. Roundabouts seem like a good idea, until it's bumper to bumper and you can't get in. I can't imagine going during the summer months during busy season.

It's not normally like that unless there's a tournament going on, even in peak summer. Roundabouts are great, but you still get the scared idiot to refuses to enter until there are zero cars in the entire circle.

[DigitalGypsy66]

Visited my cousin at USC for dinner. He's graduating early because he couldn't stand the town. We were only there for a night, but I can almost see why. Not much going on for that town. Don't know how @columbia does it.

My man. Columbia, and specifically the University of South Carolina, is a shithole. I won't even let my son take an admissions visit there. (The school isn't that bad, but as a Clemson alum, I couldn't have him graduate from U of SC.)

Oh, and columbia hasn't lived in his namesake city in years. He's actually in Savannah now.

The traffic in HHI isn't terrible during the summer, at least compared to where I live now (near Myrtle Beach). It must have been the golf tournament.

I've never been to Congaree, as it always like 90 minutes away (or more) from where we lived. It also has had a lot of damage with flooding a few years back, and some of the trails have been closed due to damage. They do have a firefly synchronicity event coming up in May - that would be cool to attend.

[robbiestoupe]

Visited my cousin at USC for dinner. He's graduating early because he couldn't stand the town. We were only there for a night, but I can almost see why. Not much going on for that town. Don't know how @columbia does it.

My man. Columbia, and specifically the University of South Carolina, is a shithole. I won't even let my son take an admissions visit there. (The school isn't that bad, but as a Clemson alum, I couldn't have him graduate from U of SC.)

Oh, and columbia hasn't lived in his namesake city in years. He's actually in Savannah now.

The traffic in HHI isn't terrible during the summer, at least compared to where I live now (near Myrtle Beach). It must have been the golf tournament.

I've never been to Congaree, as it always like 90 minutes away (or more) from where we lived. It also has had a lot of damage with flooding a few years back, and some of the trails have been closed due to damage. They do have a firefly synchronicity event coming up in May - that would be cool to attend.

My cousin was saying USC gave him the biggest amount of money. It was also a better school for his degree (computer science). His sister went to Clemson, but it didn't appeal to him. A bunch of his friends from hockey went to USC, which made it easier to endure. Still, he can't wait to get out of there.

Coincidentally, the uncle I visited in Raleigh/Durham asked about Columbia as they are considering moving there. He travels quite a bit to SC hospitals doing Nurse Call installs and they thought it would be more central to places they like to visit (beach, Asheville). Perhaps after our scathing review they may reconsider

The trails were still flooded at Congaree, which was a blessing in disguise. Allowed us to turn around quicker.

We spent an afternoon in Savannah, would love to go back and spend a day or two there. We just went to Forsythe park and let the kids run around. So much more to see there, but we were trying to move on to HHI and some beach time.

[NTP66]

Where did you eat in HH?

[The U]

Source of the post Once we got to HHI, the temp was in the mid 70s with not much wind. I don't know if it's always like this or because we just so happened to be there during the HBC golf tournament, but the traffic there was insane. We were a mile from a playground and it took us 10-15 minutes to get there. Roundabouts seem like a good idea, until it's bumper to bumper and you can't get in. I can't imagine going during the summer months during busy season.

It's not normally like that unless there's a tournament going on, even in peak summer. Roundabouts are great, but you still get the scared idiot to refuses to enter until there are zero cars in the entire circle.

Yeah this was HSBC/golf tournament traffic you ran into.

There are days during the summer (Saturdays) when getting on and off the island are backed up but for the most part, once you get on the island, you’re all set. Parking around Harbour Town at night in the summer can get crowded so I can imagine the past 4 days were madness.

Final thought…after HSBC….July 4th week is probably the busiest week of the year.