where have you been

[Tank]

figuring we'll be in the water about 75% of the time we're there.

[mrwicked]

love maui! we were just there in may. if you happen to need dinner recommendations let me know.

[NJHalo]

Just returned from 12 days in Italy. Had a great time exploring the country by car. Started in Rome, drove to Pisa, Chianti Region of Tuscany (there are villas available there FYI), Florence, Siena, San Gimignano, Padua, Venice, Verona, Lake Como, and Milan. I especially loved getting out of the cities and checking out the small medieval towns all over Tuscany. My favorite though, was Varenna, on the east shore of Lake Como. Small quiet town with the bell tower ringing. I could see myself hiding out there for a while.

 

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

On 7/25/2017 at 5:59 AM, NJHalo said:

Just returned from 12 days in Italy. Had a great time exploring the country by car. Started in Rome, drove to Pisa, Chianti Region of Tuscany (there are villas available there FYI), Florence, Siena, San Gimignano, Padua, Venice, Verona, Lake Como, and Milan. I especially loved getting out of the cities and checking out the small medieval towns all over Tuscany. My favorite though, was Varenna, on the east shore of Lake Como. Small quiet town with the bell tower ringing. I could see myself hiding out there for a while.

 

My wife's Italian (grandfather born there) and Italy is our delayed honeymoon which we plan to take next year.  What can you tell me about driving there?  Some friends honeymooned there 3-4 years ago and said they were comfortable driving in the more rural areas but it was a bit more hectic driving in the big cities.  We want to do a Mediterranean cruise while we're there as well but the majority of our time will be spent traveling through Italy and I'm just trying to figure the best way to go about that.  Great picture and I really want to spend some time somewhere like that.  Thanks in advance.

[gotbeer]

On 7/24/2017 at 4:00 PM, Tank said:

figuring we'll be in the water about 75% of the time we're there.

 

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

So I have a work trip that came up unexpectedly in mid-September but before I actually have to work the wife and I are planning to go to Dublin where we'll have 3 full days before heading to London.  Any recommendations?  I've never been but it's definitely somewhere I've always wanted to go.  I want to see as much as I can but I also want to get to relax and enjoy it as opposed to having something planned every minute of every day.  So I guess the question is - to those of you that have been to Dublin what are the things you'd do in a 3 day trip that wouldn't leave you dead tired from running around all day?

Thanks. 

[Tank]

7 hours ago, gotbeer said:

 

buddy, i'm leaving the sticks at home, but i'll still be in the water a-plenty. may make a trip out to kapalua just to see it in person and buy some useless crap from the pro shop. otherwise, there will be a lot of time swimming and doing chucka-chucka.

[Stradling]

@Tank is that the Grand Wailea?  

[Stradling]

Flying home from Austin in a few minutes.  Great food, warm and humid weather.  Played 5 straight softball games in a tourney on Thursday.  The weather was decent in the morning and ended up being about 100 with 50% humidity for the last couple games.  

[Tank]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

@Tank is that the Grand Wailea?  

Yessir. We'll be there Sunday-Friday.

they have a water elevator that sounds like a lot of fun.

[Stradling]

I've stayed there a few times tank, it's great.  Don't get to excited about the water elevator, it's not that cool.  The pools are fantastic!  

[NJHalo]

19 hours ago, Catwhoshatinthehat said:

My wife's Italian (grandfather born there) and Italy is our delayed honeymoon which we plan to take next year.  What can you tell me about driving there?  Some friends honeymooned there 3-4 years ago and said they were comfortable driving in the more rural areas but it was a bit more hectic driving in the big cities.  We want to do a Mediterranean cruise while we're there as well but the majority of our time will be spent traveling through Italy and I'm just trying to figure the best way to go about that.  Great picture and I really want to spend some time somewhere like that.  Thanks in advance.

It was not as bad as I thought. We rented at Hertz and made sure it was auto transmission. Rates were fair with AAA discount, and Hertz was everywhere. 

Make sure to have a good navigation system, and if you bring your own, be sure to update it with the Italy card. Google maps on your phone is a good backup, but there were time that cell service dropped. 

I found the many roundabouts annoying. You had to be ready to cut out real quick because sometimes the gps is incorrect.

DO NOT even think about driving in Rome or Florence. One is worse than the next. Nothing is laid out in a common sense way, roads are often packed with cars, motorcycles, scooters, and lots of clueless tourists. There are areas in the cities that you cannot drive unless you have a local permit. Thats why we picked up our car as we left Rome. 

It is very easy to drive the local roads, and the autostrade. Signs are easy to read, well marked, and lots of rest stops with fuel, good food, and coffee bars.

Friends of ours go all the time, and they convinced us to drive in order to get to see things you would miss by train. 

Hope that helps. LMK if you have any other questions 

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

Thanks for the response.  I'm pretty sure our friends were driving into Rome when they referred to it being hectic and I think they basically parked and got around other ways in the city.  I'd definitely prefer to rent a car to see different parts of Italy and that sounds like the best way to go. 

[arch stanton]

It's pretty standard advice worldwide to avoid driving in big cities if you don't know exactly where you're going and what kind of vehicles you're likely to encounter, especially in left side driving countries. Watching the Griswalds circle the roundabout in London may be an extreme example but it's surely based on someone's real experience

[Tank]

13 hours ago, Stradling said:

I've stayed there a few times tank, it's great.  Don't get to excited about the water elevator, it's not that cool.  The pools are fantastic!  

we're looking forward to the pools and plan to spend plenty of time in them.

scheduled a sunset dinner for tuesday night in what looks to be some kind of tent on the beach. wife doesn't know about it yet, only that we have reservations somewhere.

[Tank]

Arrived this afternoon. My goodness, this property looks like heaven. We have a garden view room, but our balcony looks out on the ocean, which is a total score for us.

the sunset tonight was beyond beautiful. We'd take a picture , and then two minutes later it somehow looked even more beautiful. 

The ambiance here is so impressive. Tiki torches line the walkways. Easy access to the beach. They came in and turned down the room while we were at dinner. 

Going to take advantage of their free scuba clinic. Don't know if I'll actually go diving (everything here is very pricey) but if the price is reasonable, we'll see. 

[mrwicked]

On 7/30/2017 at 9:55 AM, Vladdylonglegs said:

Anyone have any Cancun resort recommendations? Preferably all inclusive.

i stayed at "Luxury Bahia Principe Sian Ka'an Don Pablo Collection" one year. it was great, but we wouldn't go back. i chose it because we had never done cancun and i booked it literally 3 days before leaving to get the f*ck out of town and it was the highest rated and i wanted a place without kids running around. so it was pretty posh, and no kids but turns out that means it was the older rich golfer crowd. definitely the best restaurants of any all-inclusive place i've ever been to. the spa was fantastic, bartenders were great. but again, little too quiet for us as we were the youngest people there. 

it was like 3-4 resorts all connected and you can use any of them, they have a shuttle constantly taking people between them. one had a killer swim up bar, i forget the name but had more 20-30s drinker crowd so their pool was more our style. 

i have only done 3-4 but in general i tend to avoid all inclusive - because the workers have 0 incentive to bend over backwards for you. you just don't get the same service when people aren't working for tips. if im on a vacation and im not backpacking or slumming it in hostels, i want that primo service. like in maui at the four seasons, they literally spray the sand in front of you as you are walking to the beach with a spray bottle of cold water so your precious feet don't get burned and then will bring you cocktails even out to your stand up paddle board, it's f*cking awesome!

go to cabo instead, it's was better. we do cabo every year or so and man it's always a f*cking legendary blast. 

[red321]

If you are going to travel to Cancun...spend the extra time to go to Playa del Carmen or better yet Tulum.

We stayed at Tulum on the beach at La Zebra...it was awesome. Most of the hotels on "hotel" row are not allowed to be more than 2 stories high and at least when we were there, there were no power lines so it was all windmill or pure eco luxury. All that translates into small crowds. Ceynotes all over the area, some amazing Mayan Ruins, etc.

http://www.lazebratulum.com/

I'm not an all inclusive fan either, but supposedly they have some good ones between Playa del Carmen and Tulum.

 

[mrwicked]

On 7/28/2017 at 0:34 PM, Catwhoshatinthehat said:

My wife's Italian (grandfather born there) and Italy is our delayed honeymoon which we plan to take next year.  What can you tell me about driving there?  Some friends honeymooned there 3-4 years ago and said they were comfortable driving in the more rural areas but it was a bit more hectic driving in the big cities.  We want to do a Mediterranean cruise while we're there as well but the majority of our time will be spent traveling through Italy and I'm just trying to figure the best way to go about that.  Great picture and I really want to spend some time somewhere like that.  Thanks in advance.

Definitely drive!

You won't need a car in (or getting between) big cities, but you can't do Tuscany by train. so definitely car for the countryside, and dont do italy without going to the countryside.

We trained into Florence and hung out there for a while. Then then rented a car in Florence and drove out to Tuscany (rada in chianti is amazing) for a while, did a try trip into Siena. Eventually we dropped car off and took a train to Rome. 

Agreed don't even think about driving in the big towns except to get/return a rental car to the country side. There are all kinds of rules where only locals are allowed.  I got a ticket for doing... something wrong.. and it showed up in the mail like 6 months later. 

[Tank]

Breakfast buffet here at Wailea is $35 per person. Since I'm unable to eat anywhere close to that amount of food, we decided to eat ala cart. Still ended up spending almost $70 including tip. $22.50 for an omelet is unreasonable by any standard you wish to apply.

we brought along some cereal and milk and will probably eat breakfast in our room the rest of the week.

[Blarg]

You put milk in a suitcase for the trip?

[Tank]

10 hours ago, Blarg said:

You put milk in a suitcase for the trip?

Yep. Double zip lock bags and it came through unscathed. Brought along a box of rice milk, cereal, and peanut butter because we knew the breakfast buffet was going to be expensive. We saved our money preparing for this trip, but since we're here for twelve days, we have to spread it out a bit. $11 for two bottles of water at the pool yesterday, plus twenty bucks for a vegan burger. . . We've already paid for our snorkeling trip, fortunately.

[Jobu]

@Tank Check out Maui Brewing Co in Kihei if you're into that, and driving to the top of the volcano Haleakala is amazing.

[Tank]

Thanks, @Jobu. Others recommended Haleakala also, but we don't feel all that inspired to get up that early. We won't have a car until Friday when my brother gets here, nor do we drink alcohol, but I've had p,entry of good meals at brewing houses. We'll give it a look. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Tank]

5 minutes ago, calscuf said:

Check out Pizza Madness in Kihei, too.  I like that place.  

Thanks. I think we're staying in/near Lahaina starting on Friday, so we'll be looking for places to eat.