where have you been

[mrwicked]

On June 5, 2016 at 11:32 AM, Tank said:

Has anyone here been on any of the "swim with the dolphin" excursions in grand Cayman or Cozumel? We'll be there in just over a week and are looking over the excursion offerings available. Also interested in any of the snorkeling excursions. 

Did it in Cancun.

Wasn't an excursion through a cruise but prob the same thing. It was fun, goofy and cute. We were drunk on tequila but had a blast.

The bummer was you aren't allowed to take your own photos. And at they end they were so hilariously aggressive tying to sell their photos. It was like a room at the end of a Disney ride where you are forced to exit through the schwag/gift shop. I wanted one, and I was OK with paying $45 or whatever ludicrous price they wanted. But it got lame quick when they go, "ok you could get one for $45, but we took 300 shots of you two. If you buy them all, which would be a $13,500, we'll do it for $500 today only."

wtf? Why the f*ck would I want 300 shots of basically the same thing? I don't want a damn movie worth of photos to flip through like a sh*tty silent film. Just give me the over priced 8x10 so I can go back to enjoying Cancun and drinking on the beach. They then dropped the "offer" to $400 and $300 and we just left. Didn't even get a good photo.

But it wa a great time.

[Tank]

thanks TORS and wicked. we read the reviews and all of them said nearly the same thing about not being able to use your own camera and the overpriced sales pitch at the end. the chance to swim with the dolphins is a pretty powerful draw, so we may bite the bullet and do it anyway.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Do it tank. If ive learned anything in life, its to save your money and be smart with it. That way its there when something you want to do comes along!

If you have to bote the bullet and eat pb&j sandwiches for a few weeks when you come home, its better than steaks but regrets that you didnt do something you really wanted to.

If its a cruise, see if someone else going with you will take a picture for you..may not be the close up face shot, but who cares. 

But if thats the thing thats calling your name, dont cheat yourself!

(Disclaimer. Im a veteran, so i am fine eating cold canned chilli for weeks on end so maybe im the wrong guy to give advice here)

[ten ocho recon scout]

 

 

Just be careful

[NJHalo]

18 hours ago, mrwicked said:

Did it in Cancun.

Wasn't an excursion through a cruise but prob the same thing. It was fun, goofy and cute. We were drunk on tequila but had a blast.

The bummer was you aren't allowed to take your own photos. And at they end they were so hilariously aggressive tying to sell their photos. It was like a room at the end of a Disney ride where you are forced to exit through the schwag/gift shop. I wanted one, and I was OK with paying $45 or whatever ludicrous price they wanted. But it got lame quick when they go, "ok you could get one for $45, but we took 300 shots of you two. If you buy them all, which would be a $13,500, we'll do it for $500 today only."

wtf? Why the f*ck would I want 300 shots of basically the same thing? I don't want a damn movie worth of photos to flip through like a sh*tty silent film. Just give me the over priced 8x10 so I can go back to enjoying Cancun and drinking on the beach. They then dropped the "offer" to $400 and $300 and we just left. Didn't even get a good photo.

But it wa a great time.

My friend was at Atlantis in the Bahamas and did one of the dolphin swims. When he went to see about buying the pictures, there was a guy going off on them for overcharging for pics. He was creating quite a scene. 

The guy was Mariano Rivera with his family. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

^ I saw a nurse shark in mexico that was in a pen where you could take pictures with it...pen was the size of my guest bedroom. Im not a big animal rights guy, but it wasnt right.

And way to ruin my elephant riding plans, cals.

[Tank]

worth noting, cals. thanks.

[Mark68]

Looks like I'll be in Berlin from mid-September to mid-December. Doing a study abroad/internship thing.

Problem is, I have never had a passport. Not looking forward to the bureaucracy, including trying to get the certified copy of my birth certificate from the state.

For those that know, what is the time frame involved in getting one's vital records from the state as opposed to Orange County? It looks like the county charges an extra $3, but is there a significant difference in processing time?

[mrwicked]

Getting a passport is easy; I don't remember any headaches with bureaucracy.

Make sure to get lots of stamps on it! Are you going to be traveling while you're there? You should roll down to Munich for Oktoberfest. It's the shit.  Book your lodgings now though or you'll be sleeping in the street or park bench or with whatever girl you can find to go home with.

[Tank]

2 hours ago, Mark68 said:

Looks like I'll be in Berlin from mid-September to mid-December. Doing a study abroad/internship thing.

Problem is, I have never had a passport. Not looking forward to the bureaucracy, including trying to get the certified copy of my birth certificate from the state.

For those that know, what is the time frame involved in getting one's vital records from the state as opposed to Orange County? It looks like the county charges an extra $3, but is there a significant difference in processing time?

had to get passports for the whole family back in december. go to the post office (yes, not kidding about this) to fill out the paperwork and pay the fees (somewhere around $180). you'll need a certified copy of your birth certificate, and those can be had without too much difficulty. let me see if i can find the website for you.

EDIT: here's one place to try: http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/birthdeathmar/pages/certifiedcopiesofbirthdeathrecords.aspx

[Tank]

here's another place to try for orange county births: http://ocrecorder.com/services/records/birth

get this done asap. it takes 4 weeks or so to get your passport once you turn in the paperwork, so move quickly on all of this. good luck.

[Redondo]

The local post office here recommends using Vital Chek for getting certified documents. I used it and it worked really well. I recommend it to others now.

https://www.vitalchek.com/

[Brandon]

I never got my passport either, kind of weird really. But I think you can even make it easier at a library instead of the post office......less wait time. Good to know about the birth certificate now. I've filled out the form a few times, but simply never went to take the picture and submit.

[Tank]

Depending on when you apply for your passport and how close it is to your trip, you may have to pay more to get it expedited more quickly, so if you're leaving in September, get this done now.

good call on the library. Far less wait time.

[ten ocho recon scout]

It takes about 6 weeks i think. If you are leaving before then you have to go to the consulant and show proof. Then they can get it done asap

 

Avree with wicked, go kill it at octoberfest. You can get to munich from berlin in like 3 hours or so at most.

 Not only the hotel, but get tickets to the tent early. They arent cheap.

And have fun, germany and everything around it are a blast. If youre out there that long mark, take advantage. Seriously. Every day off you get, jump on a train and go see something. Theres just so much out there to see.

[ten ocho recon scout]

14 hours ago, Steve Sanders said:

I never got my passport either, kind of weird really. But I think you can even make it easier at a library instead of the post office......less wait time. Good to know about the birth certificate now. I've filled out the form a few times, but simply never went to take the picture and submit.

I used to be the exact same. Never really had any interest in travelling. Once i got it i was hooked. Like wicked said, chasing stamps gets addicting.

 

[Brandon]

It's not that, I've always had interest traveling.....plus the funds and time to do so, I just simply never pulled the trigger. Now it's a harder/longer process. When I would fill out the forms it was just to have it ready, so if someone were to say "Let's go to Stockholm!", I'd be ready.

[mrwicked]

Dude, let's go to Stockholm!

[Brandon]

Let's expedite my paperwork. What will do it, a copy of Mrs. Doubtfire on VHS and some scones?

[Adam]

I've been everywhere and I'm still standing tall. 

[NJHalo]

Brown University

Providence RI  !!!!

[Tank]

We made it to Houston. Saw gas as low as $1.95.

you suck, Sacramento.

[Tank]

Our hotel is across the street from Joel Osteens church, Lakewood. Sunday morning traffic should be interesting.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Missed xcaret, doing it dor sure next time.

 

Funny reading stockholm on here. Was just looking at flights earlier, stockholm is one of my go to airports

Heres a hack for those of you who want to see europe if you havent yet. Norwegian air flies into stockholm, oslo and coppenhagen. By far the cheapest flights. I saw a flight a few months back for like 350 round trip from LAX, dkrect flight. Once youre there, grab a 50-100 flight to wherever you want to see in europe (assuming its not stockholm. Cals is right, scandanavia is expensive as hell)

[ten ocho recon scout]

And hey brandon, go to stockholm with wicked and me!