Way more efficient, doesn't charge you fees equal to the price of the product being purchased, and will go get you anything Maybe like the Platonic ideal of what Ubereats was supposed to be
Took a train from Basel to Zurich this morning, waiting on our flight home. It will never not amaze me at how inefficient our transportation system is.
Any particular reasons? We’re looking at going to a sandals property next summer. Saw it was pretty highly thought of
I was unimpressed with the food options, I remember there only being a couple options for breakfast/lunch but then the dinner spots were fine. I think I also remember them having a private island and it was a mess getting to/from it because they only had one boat, so people were waiting a very long time. Granted, it’s been at least 5 years since I went so they may have improved a lot since, I just didn’t think it was worth the several grand price point that comes with the all-inclusive experience
It's so hit or miss. Sometimes it takes 25 minutes to do all that and sometimes it takes close to an hour The stress is no fun, but as long as your flight isn't delayed, you should be good with a 3 hr cushion
Going to Rotterdam and Amsterdam in May. Anyone got recommendations for either? Have never been. Staying in Rotterdamn and Mrs. Esq has a work conference so I’ll have some solo time to explore several days. Definitely taking a day train trip to Brussels. Have reservations at Restaurant Fred and Joelia. That’s as far as I’ve gotten.
That’s the tail end of tulip season in the Dutch countryside. Google the town of Lisse and the Keukenhof to see if that interests you. If you have decent weather, it’s a very short train (basically Amsterdam suburbs) and a cool place to rent a bike even if you don’t go into the Keukenhof itself.
Went to Choza on both Sunday and Monday -- super hipster Thai place that plays 1960s and 70s vinyl, only open Saturday thru Monday, no Google profile or address, no outside sign, and changes their menu weekly. Huge open-air kitchen with big woks and big flames. Highly, highly recommend https://www.instagram.com/choza_cdmx/?hl=en
Leave CDMX on Thursday after almost 4 months in Mexico, back to Seattle for a week. Then Scottsdale for a bachelor party (meh), New Orleans for a week, go see the parents for a week, then fly back to CDMX on May 3. Wil stay in the city for a bit, not sure if I'll stay here or go find a beach town. Will head back to Seattle late June, prior to July 4.
I'm curious if you struggle to find meaningful connections? I obviously loved my long trip but with so much change, it was hard to be more than acquaintances with anyone.
Yea, practice law remotely. Run my own practice and contract with a few firms. I love it, but this is the biggest downside: Flat out gets lonely sometimes. I make a big effort to stay in touch with my community back in Seattle, call or text weekly. I find that when I'm doing more mindful experiences -- yoga retreats, hiking, etc. -- I make more meaningful connections, whereas when I'm just living in a city, like I have been for 2 months in CDMX, it's more surface-level -- partying, clubs, etc. Still wouldn't trade it for the world. Some of my best friends are in Brazil and Mexico. Not sure when I'll stop or if I'll ever be full time in the US again.
Planning my Bach now, looks like 14-15 of us in CDMX in August. Curious if, after your two months, you had any update to your recommendations from before?
Definitely stay in Roma Norte over Condesa - a lot more things to do. Condesa I would choose for living, Roma Norte for a long weekend of hedonism. Do some research beforehand and try to get tickets to any big shows/clubs you want to go to (if electronic music is your thing). Otherwise can be kind of difficult to get into places, especially rolling that deep. Did Xochimilco for the first time this past weekend, it was alright.
Not when I went. There was one night a week (maybe Wednesday) where they had an event at their bar/club. Wife and I weren't really looking for that, so it wasn't an issue for us. If you are wanting activities each night, Sugar Beach may not be the best option for you. My wife and I still talk about how amazing the breakfast was each day. They had 5-10 types off freshly baked breads and pastries each day, great fruit, breakfast buffet and a menu to order off of. I would typically eat a full breakfast and then order a smoothie to go to enjoy on the beach.
I'm going to central Europe for a few weeks toward the end of September. I have 158k Amex points and 101k Chase points. Is there some kind of optimal use/transfer of these points where I can fly just using them? What it seems like I've read in the past is that the best use of points is transferring them but I don't understand how to know when it's a good deal. For example, I've seen some stuff on 121k points for Lufthansa first class but I don't understand how that rates or if there are particular routes/carriers I should be looking for.
That's largely a question of values/preferences imo. Eg if that LH first class ticket is selling for $5k, then 121k points seems like a pretty decent value (putting it a bit mildly)
Where are you flying from in the US? Open to various locations in central Europe assuming it's a good deal? Or do you need to fly to a specific city? Your best value will be booking via points on United or Flying Blue. United (Chase) - Can find good biz class flights on Lufthansa, Swiss, LOT, Turkish, etc. Flying Blue (Chase & Amex) - IMO harder to find good deals but if you have a lot of date flexibility you can get lucky. I was able to do Venice > LAX w/ a stop in Paris for like 70k miles for my Honeymoon, but sometimes LAX > AMS is like 300k one way. Virgin Atlantic (Chase & Amex) - Has amazing deals but hits you with the taxes... can be like $400-800 on top of the points, but that could be like ~60k miles one way so it's worth looking. Just need to get smart on the routes to search based on where you are coming from and work backwards from there. I will use Google Flights and search my home destination to multiple airports that I know have direct flights // a lot of volume to maximize potential award opportunities. Lot of trial & error. I've had a ton of success using SeatSpy BUT it only searches for non-stop flights and if you don't live in a big hub you won't have any luck using it.
You always want to do a quick calculation on redemption value. Chase/Amex base redemption value is like 2 cents per point so anything above that is "better"
Welp, heading back to Mazunte for at least May 20 - June 13 for the second installment of the yoga training I did in January. https://hridaya-yoga.com/activities/hridaya-yoga-retreat-module-2/
Heading to the Caribbean in a couple weeks and plan on doing a fair amount of snorkeling. I'd like to capture some pics, is GoPro the way to go? If so, which one would TMB suggest?
Grew up in Mexico City and did a bachelor party there in Feb with 12 guys. We rented out this entire hotel off Airbnb (https://casahedera.com/en/); it wasn't unreasonable and the staff was great. Drinks were a little pricey, but they didn't care that we ordered in a ton of tequila and beer. There's a taqueria (El Califa open until like 3 am) and some good breakfast/brunch spots around the corner. Kind of a business district type area, I guess, but I thought it worked well that guys generally got their own rooms, we had housekeeping and got around pretty easily. Ubers are so cheap. If you do Lucha Libre, getting the tickets was a pain in the ass - been I don't know how many times and never had this much trouble getting them (think they won't let you do e-tickets if your cc address is outside of Mexico, which happened with soccer tickets too). I went to like 6 different authorized Ticketmaster distributors and the lines were hours long just to pick up. Finally said fuck it and went to Arena Mexico to pick up the tickets and walked right up and got them but...they cancelled 4 of my tickets because the limit was 8, so I had to buy more that were separate from the big group. So have 2 guys buy the tickets and send them to Arena Mexico to pick them up a couple hours before show time. If I'd have done that, it would have been like a 45 min disruption instead of the 3 hours I spent going from place to place. For like 7 Ubers, my total tab was under $20. Brooklyn Rippers is a speakeasy behind a pizza joint we went to before Lucha. Maybe a 10 min walk. It was fun, but I'm sure plenty of cool spots around there. Bazar Sabado (Saturday only art market) was a much bigger hit with the guys than I expected it to be. Good chance for guys to buy souvenirs for their kids/wives/themselves and there are bars around there for whoever wants to post up and drink beers while others shop. Think the Trotsky and Kahlo museums are pretty close if you've got any intellectuals that prefer to learn. We were there Super Bowl Weekend and the place we went to watch the game kinda fell flat. A guy insisted on going to Twin Peaks, but it was packed. In that mall there was a really cool bowling alley (https://www.kingpin.mx/) where we wound up posting up to watch the game. I'm not a huge bowling guy, but thought this place was cool. August is typically the rainy season, so think about some indoor things for a few hours/day while it passes. There are also golf simulator bars if more your speed and museums out the nose. Idk if soccer is going on in August, but Estadio Azteca is cool and huge. If you go, I'd rec spending a little extra for good seats. Beers and food is cheap AF. We got some drivers to take us and wait - think it was worth it. For food, we did some hipster places that I wasn't into. One place didn't tell us their address until day of reservation, then we had to walk through a coffee shop, up a bunch of steps to a rooftop for dinner. It was a set menu that I thought was ok. My typical advice to folks is take advantage of the street vendors for lunch (if it's crowded, it's good, and if you need confirmation, yelp and shit like that will have reviews), taquerias and bistro/cafe type places throughout Condesa/Roma. If you want a nicer dinner, I'd look for a steakhouse with a good upbeat atmosphere. Porfirio's is a chain, but I remember having fun there 10ish years ago - no idea if it's still a hit. There are lots of Argentine steakhouses in Mexico City that serve huge cuts. A restaurant in a mall in Mexico City isn't like a Chilis in a mall in the US; there are some really good restaurants in malls down there and their newer malls have cool architecture. It's like they looked at malls in the Asia and the Middle East and decided to go that route as opposed to a US mall with a Sears and a JC Penny. Love the place and happy to answer any questions I can - Idk hardly anything about the party scene other than you can go to Toledo and have a better shot of getting in as a gringo (and fall in love with a dozen girls from Guadalajara), but that's a pretty old data point.
Happy to come visit you in Mexico sometime. Because I am kind like that. And because I want all the delicious food.
Thinking of trying to see the northern lights somewhere in Europe this fall I'm sure Iceland would be a good bet. Kinda curious about Norway though. Anyone ever visited Norway?
My boss’s wife is Norwegian. He says it’s 1) absolutely gorgeous and 2) insanely expensive wife’s sister went to Oslo and Bergen on vacation a few years ago and reported pretty much the same, but if you go prepared to spend a ton I’m sure you’ll have an amazing time
I did Norway a few years ago in the summer and covered a good portion of the west fjords. It's incredibly beautiful, maybe the most beautiful landscapes I've been too. I would highly recommend it. It's an incredible country to drive through. There are 100+ ft waterfalls just coming down all over the place while you're driving around under 1000ft cliffs. There are amazing vistas all over the place. You can enter a tunnel and come out on the other side to a completely different, but equally amazing views As far as northern lights go I would guess the northern part of the country is better that fjord region. I would love to go back and visit the Lofoten area. Iceland is also really cool, but I also visited in summer. As far as expense, it will usually be cheaper to get to Iceland, but I don't know that there was much difference between the two for things like gas, meals, lodging. Here's one of my favorite photos from Norway, and this is pretty much what you are driving through everywhere in the fjord regions.
Iceland is incredible. It is expensive but nothing crazy. Alcohol is the extremely expensive part of it but it’s easiest to just buy it at the duty free shop when you land at the airport and take it with you. Northern lights are hit or miss just depends on the weather. I went in late November and only had one clear night so didn’t end up seeing them. Everyone speaks English. Amazing country.
The Sheep Heid Inn in Edinburgh is supposedly the oldest pub in Scotland. Maybe it’s a tourist trap. Seemed interesting though. Unfortunately that trip was before I started keeping trip spreadsheets so I don’t remember any others. Head to a pub and order a pint and some haggis.
Wrapped up my trip to Glasgow/Edinburgh and London last month. I was barely in Glasgow for 48 hours, so don't have much for there. Glasgow: Went to Singl-end and Spitfire Espresso for breakfast. Both were good. Did the Glengoyne Distillery tour, which I really enjoyed. Went to a whisky bar called The Pot Still. They had an incredible selection with extremely helpful and knowledgeable bartenders. In Edinburgh I stayed in the Stockbridge area, which is just north of new town. We spent a full day doing a Scottish Highlands tour, which is something I think you have to do. We also did a guided Edinburgh underground tour and visited the Edinburgh castle. We went to one star Michelin rated The Kitchin on our last night. Phenomenal experience. Panda & Sons is a speakeasy type bar with nice craft cocktails. Had a classic Scottish breakfast at The Pantry. Fortitude Coffee Stockbridge a couple mornings for nice coffee. If you're staying in the old or new town, you may not make it over to Stockbridge. However, I highly recommend checking it out. A lot of cool restaurants, cafes and shops. A really nice area to walk around. A nice little break from the tourist areas. And every girl loves to get a picture on Circus Lane. Super picturesque, quaint street. I really loved Scotland. Exceeded any expectations. Impressive how such a small country can produce an incredibly wide variety of goods.