where have you been

[ten ocho recon scout]

Thsts badass. And lol, i know what you mean, ive been accross the globe but only a handful of states.

Seriously, if you want to see something, go see it. Life is way the hell too short to miss out on an experience because youre scared to get out of your comfort zone. Obviously travelling to the ME right now would be questionable. But if you can afford it and have the time, pack your bag and change your whole outlook on life in some bar far away. Theres always gonna be at least one cool britt and some aussie backpacker chicks to hang with when you get there, no matter what country it is.

[Stradling]

Going to Nashville in August, two weeks after that I'm going to Philly, the week after that I head to Italy.  Gonna be a busy time.  

[Tank]

Our cruise finished yesterday. Overall, the week went well and we were treated wonderfully by the staff on our ship. Royal Caribbean gets a big thumbs up from us for their service.

Our first port was Cozumel. my wife, daughter, and I did a dolphin excursion, where we got to swim with them at this place in Chankanaab. We were in one of the small pens on the right of the picture.

 

Turned out to be just one dolphin but that made it better. They divided us into groups of 7 or so and sent us off with a trainer to one of the pens where we had a dolphin (ours was named da vinci) waiting for us. We got to pet it, kiss it, be kissed by it, splash it, and then do some "swimming" with it. We waded out into the water where da vinci came up from behind us on his back and we grabbed his flippers and he pulled us along. It was fantastic and not nearly long enough. We then went back out in the water and da vinci came up from behind us and pushed us with his hose on our foot. It was painful for me probably because da vinci had to work really hard to move me through the water. My daughter had the hugest smile on her face for these two swims, and it was worth the cost of the whole trip just for that. We also got to swim with one of the manatees. He wasn't terribly large as manatees go. Felt very weird, like how I imagine an elephant would feel. He also had some slimy stuff on his back.

We ate lunch at one of the four restaurants on the campus, thinking what could be better than eating mexican food in mexico! boy, were we mistaken. Felt like we were eating at dodger stadium, and it may not have even been that good. 

the next port was Grand Cayman. My group had an appointment to sing at a school but i didn't go. We had to take a tender to shore and my previous experience with this had been on one of the ships lifeboats. That was going to be a challenge for me as my legs, feet, and hips were in a lot of pain last week. They had a great time and the kids at the school were incredibly fun. Wife and jr. went off the ship to all the tourist shops on the dock and bought knickknacks. 

our last port was Falmouth, Jamaica. We sang at a church and were beat to death by the humidity. We also started almost 20 minutes late as they were strictly on island time and in no hurry to get started. Had about 200 young school kids there and they were the noisiest audience possible - our program really wasn't designed for them, but we had been told this was a ticketed event and was a fundraiser for the school attached to the church. that wasn't accurate.

One of our group was responsible for coordinating some kind of mission work at each port. We helped paint the church in jamaica, and gave school supplies and toys to kids at two schools and two orphanages. It was worth doing. 

We gave five concerts on board the ship, four of them for the 150 supporters who came along with us (this was a fundraiser for our group) and then a final concert saturday afternoon for anyone on the ship who wanted to attend. We brought along a special speaker as well, and he was outstanding. 

It was my/our first time in the caribbean, and my family came away incredibly impressed at how blue the water was. It was especially beautiful in Cozumel. Would enjoy going again, but maybe the Fall or Spring would be more comfortable with the weather.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Welcome home tanker. Sounds like a good week. Youre right, the water in cozumel is insane. Need to go back there and see that some day.

Ive had the same exoerience with the food down there. Ive had anywhere from "not bad, actually pretty decent" to having to spit it out in a trashcan.

[Tank]

After we disembarked yesterday, we headed to Johnson Space Center near Houston as we had several hours to kill before our flight left . . . We had a truly awful experience. Took the tram ride to see the astronaut training center. While inside the building, a storm broke loose and it absolutely poured. The morons running the show told us because there was lightning, it was policy to evacuate the dry, safe building and go outside to get back in the tram - the tram with no side covers - to return to the main building. We foolishly complied and were soaked to the core (24 hours later and the shirt I was wearing is still wet). The rain was blowing sideways on all of us, except for the guides who all huddled under the cover where the driver was located. We got back to the visitor center and were offered only small paper towels to dry off. I was furious as not only my family was drenched, but several other members of our group were likewise soaked, and we had just another 90 minutes before heading to the airport to fly home. While some of our group were able to buy dry clothes in the gift shop (they were given a discount), that's not possible for me. Managed to find my suitcase under the bus and had to talk my way into being allowed to use some kind of office or break room to change instead of a tiny bathroom stall. Nearly took an act of Congress to do so, but it got done (Unfortunately, I didn't have any extra fruit of the looms in the suitcase, so I flew home commando - didn't enjoy that at all.) They refunded our money for the day. The manager of the place was told very sternly by several how absolutely idiotic it was for his staff to remove us from the safety and dryness of the building to deliberately put us all back in the rain where the lightning was. He was apologetic, but that didn't really help. The guy at the counter behind me to get a refund had his $600 camera ruined by the rain. Manager said if it was not fixable they would likely try to replace it. The guy's wife wisely asked him to put that in writing.

But as bad as my experience there was, it was still better for me than it was for the poor Rangers fan who showed up wearing his Hamilton 32 t-shirt. Poor bastard.

[ten ocho recon scout]

The space center is rad. Went a few years back. If anyone ever hits houston its worth an afternoon

[Tank]

3 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

The space center is rad. Went a few years back. If anyone ever hits houston its worth an afternoon

as long as there's no rain in the forecast.

i was really, really, REALLY looking forward to seeing everything there, too. Idiots.

[Tank]

Forgot to mention that Lou Ferrigno was on our flight home yesterday. I first noticed him at the gate as he ran over my foot with his carry on bag. Didn't seem to faze him to have my foot in his way.

[ten ocho recon scout]

You should have told him to watch his ass. But then you wouldnt want to get him angry.

[Tank]

5 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

You should have told him to watch his ass. But then you wouldnt want to get him angry.

it's not like he would have heard me say it.

[Mark68]

On 6/10/2016 at 0:16 AM, ten ocho recon scout said:

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.

We're supposed to get three days off every weekend. It's a study abroad and internship combo.

One weekend, I believe we're all going to Amsterdam, and another, we're going to Dessau (to visit the Bauhaus museum).

But yeah, there are so many places I'd like to go to, and most are not far from Berlin: Prague, Vienna, Dresden, Munich, Salzburg, the Black Forest, Frankfurt, Paris, Strasbourg, Zurich, Geneva, etc. I don't know if there will be enough time/money to do everything I want to do, so I'm going to have to prioritize.

[mrwicked]

19 minutes ago, Mark68 said:

We're supposed to get three days off every weekend. It's a study abroad and internship combo.

One weekend, I believe we're all going to Amsterdam, and another, we're going to Dessau (to visit the Bauhaus museum).

But yeah, there are so many places I'd like to go to, and most are not far from Berlin: Prague, Vienna, Dresden, Munich, Salzburg, the Black Forest, Frankfurt, Paris, Strasbourg, Zurich, Geneva, etc. I don't know if there will be enough time/money to do everything I want to do, so I'm going to have to prioritize.

^ go to all of those places!

also i cannot recommend poland enough. krakow is in my top 3 favorite towns in the world.

believe me after spending time out there, you will eventually go back. so do/see as much as you can't but don't cram too much into those 3 day weekends or you'll never truly experience each town.

have a blast dude! amsterdam is great, i am due to go back. hit up the jordaan area, it's crazy pretty and fantastic food. 

one of the best things is life is chilling at the square in leidseplein in amsterdam with a beer and just people watching.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Agree with wicked, krakow is amazing. Ton of history, people are really cool, and its dirt cheap.

Depending on your budget mark, you can do all those places of you want. Cheaper than youd think. Hostels are literally dollars a night, train tickets are pretty affordable, etc. Eastern europe is really affordable. Like prague, krakow, budapest, etc. Paris, and the western capital cities are a lot kore expensive. But the good thing is just walking around and seeing the sites, most museums, monuments etc are free.

[mrwicked]

some great flight deals going on now. was going to book SFO -> Istanbul two days ago, was only $425 round trip/person.

then yesterday happened.. yeah. i think i'll hold off on that trip for a little bit.

[Adam]

On 6/22/2016 at 7:26 AM, ten ocho recon scout said:

Agree with wicked, krakow is amazing. Ton of history, people are really cool, and its dirt cheap.

Depending on your budget mark, you can do all those places of you want. Cheaper than youd think. Hostels are literally dollars a night, train tickets are pretty affordable, etc. Eastern europe is really affordable. Like prague, krakow, budapest, etc. Paris, and the western capital cities are a lot kore expensive. But the good thing is just walking around and seeing the sites, most museums, monuments etc are free.

What about hookers?

[ten ocho recon scout]

31 minutes ago, Adam said:

What about hookers?

Depends how choosy you are. If you want teeth, probably head more west.

But then again, for hookers...i mean...

[Amazing Larry]

I'm more of a toothless hooker kind of guy.

[ten ocho recon scout]

On 6/29/2016 at 3:54 PM, Lawrence said:

I'm more of a toothless hooker kind of guy.

agreed. teeth on a hooker is kind of like nice wrapping paper. yeah, it looks nice, but you basically blow right past it and get to what youre there for...

anybody here been to puerto rico? a buddy is headed there in a few months and asked if i wanted to go. id prefer to save my vacation time for something else, but wouldnt mind seeing it

[NJHalo]

Just spent 10 days in California.

It was great. You guys should try it one day

[Mark68]

On 6/29/2016 at 11:50 AM, mrwicked said:

some great flight deals going on now. was going to book SFO -> Istanbul two days ago, was only $425 round trip/person.

then yesterday happened.. yeah. i think i'll hold off on that trip for a little bit.

Was looking at flights to Istanbul and how cheap they were, but I REALLY don't want to get caught up in their next coup/terrorist attack.

Paid about $450 to fly Southwest from DEN>LAX, then Norwegian Air Shuttle from LAX>CPH then CPH>SXL.

Just need to pay for a second checked bag with Norwegian.

[ten ocho recon scout]

21 hours ago, Mark68 said:

Was looking at flights to Istanbul and how cheap they were, but I REALLY don't want to get caught up in their next coup/terrorist attack.

Paid about $450 to fly Southwest from DEN>LAX, then Norwegian Air Shuttle from LAX>CPH then CPH>SXL.

Just need to pay for a second checked bag with Norwegian.

Norwegian is my fave by far. The second checked bag is BS, wow air got me for that recently. But all in all norwegian is great. New dreamliner plane, plenty of movies. Stock up on food before you board so you dont have to buy in flight.

When do you leave?

[Mark68]

14 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Norwegian is my fave by far. The second checked bag is BS, wow air got me for that recently. But all in all norwegian is great. New dreamliner plane, plenty of movies. Stock up on food before you board so you dont have to buy in flight.

When do you leave?

I actually had a meal bought (wife bought ticket).

Leave in the afternoon of 9/14, 4-hour layover at LAX, 5 hours at Copenhagen (gonna have me some Carlsberg), then get in to Berlin on the night of the 15th.

[ten ocho recon scout]

11 hours ago, Mark68 said:

I actually had a meal bought (wife bought ticket).

Leave in the afternoon of 9/14, 4-hour layover at LAX, 5 hours at Copenhagen (gonna have me some Carlsberg), then get in to Berlin on the night of the 15th.

Theres a sportsbar at the international terminal in coppenhagen thats dedicated to boston sports. So make sure you stop by and stiff the bill.

Take the money you saved on not buying that steak dinner and use it on the 70 dollar ten minute cab ride to town

Funny enough, halllween is big out there. It will be worth it to head tl the city and see the decorations. They should be up by then.

[mrwicked]

anyone been to southeast asia?

thinking i might bop around thailand, cambodia ("we're going up river about 75 klicks above the do lung bridge." "that's cambodia caption." "that's classified"), vietnam, maybe malaysia? for like 3 weeks in feb/march. either that or scottland/ireland/north england but i think the weather would kind of suck around then. SE asia seems pretty ideal. 

[arch stanton]

Weatherwise that's a good time to go there. I love Thailand. Whether you go to the beach resorts or up north the food rocks and there's plenty to see. Singapore is cool but will make SF seem cheap. If you like to dive I'd choose Indonesia. Some really awesome spots there. Malaysia is too Muslim for my taste.