Vacation 2023

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Radbird
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Re: Vacation 2023

Post by Radbird »

We will be going to Ireland this fall to visit my sister-in-law/hubby at their place on the coast west of Galway.

Also trying to roadtrip home this summer, hopefully stopping at PNC and GABP on the way. Haven’t been to Busch since 2016 and haven’t been to STL since 2017. Will try to get to a City SC game too. Won’t get there in time for the Blues or Battlehawks. Then up to Wisconsin and maybe catching games in some combination of DET/TOR/CLE on the way back.

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InvincibleCakeEater
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Re: Vacation 2023

Post by InvincibleCakeEater »

Spending 2 days in San Diego at the end of the month then flying out to Hawaii for a week. I’ll be in Kihei on Maui. What are my must dos?

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Re: Vacation 2023

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InvincibleCakeEater wrote:
April 13 23, 12:58 pm
Spending 2 days in San Diego at the end of the month then flying out to Hawaii for a week. I’ll be in Kihei on Maui. What are my must dos?
I'll preface this by saying my favorite thing to do on Maui is nothing, the first time we went we stayed around Kihei and I read 7 books in 6 days just sitting on the beach and the balcony of our rental, it was maybe my favorite vacation ever. That said, the highlights for me:

- If you like snorkeling, there's some good small fish you can easily see at the south end of Kihei. If you want to be more adventurous, Napili Bay on the northwest of the island will have turtles and slightly more difficulty(some rocks, deeper water, nothing too treacherous)
- I have mixed feelings about the Road to Hana, which is a drive from Kahului east along the northern edge of the island. The drive itself is fairly unremarkable, especially if you've spent time in the pacific northwest. And Hana isn't all that exciting a destination, after which you have to turn around and make the same (multi-hour) drive back. However, the black sand beaches at Waianapanapa State Park and the rainbow eucalyptus grove were really cool. If I were there again, I'd drive to see those a second time but I wouldn't go all the way to Hana after.
- Our second time there we did a whale watching tour which was pretty cool, though if you aren't a wildlife enthusiast seeing them potentially from a distance may not be worth it. I'm not sure if this is peak season for them though and IIRC you aren't guaranteed a sighting like some of the tours on the mainland, so definitely research before booking.
- I have heard that doing sunrise at Haleakala is awesome, but I haven't been. You need to get up at like 3 AM to make the drive in time, so maybe a good option for the first day of the trip before your body acclimates to the time difference.

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InvincibleCakeEater
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Re: Vacation 2023

Post by InvincibleCakeEater »

Transmogrified Tiger wrote:
April 13 23, 3:16 pm
InvincibleCakeEater wrote:
April 13 23, 12:58 pm
Spending 2 days in San Diego at the end of the month then flying out to Hawaii for a week. I’ll be in Kihei on Maui. What are my must dos?
I'll preface this by saying my favorite thing to do on Maui is nothing, the first time we went we stayed around Kihei and I read 7 books in 6 days just sitting on the beach and the balcony of our rental, it was maybe my favorite vacation ever. That said, the highlights for me:

- If you like snorkeling, there's some good small fish you can easily see at the south end of Kihei. If you want to be more adventurous, Napili Bay on the northwest of the island will have turtles and slightly more difficulty(some rocks, deeper water, nothing too treacherous)
- I have mixed feelings about the Road to Hana, which is a drive from Kahului east along the northern edge of the island. The drive itself is fairly unremarkable, especially if you've spent time in the pacific northwest. And Hana isn't all that exciting a destination, after which you have to turn around and make the same (multi-hour) drive back. However, the black sand beaches at Waianapanapa State Park and the rainbow eucalyptus grove were really cool. If I were there again, I'd drive to see those a second time but I wouldn't go all the way to Hana after.
- Our second time there we did a whale watching tour which was pretty cool, though if you aren't a wildlife enthusiast seeing them potentially from a distance may not be worth it. I'm not sure if this is peak season for them though and IIRC you aren't guaranteed a sighting like some of the tours on the mainland, so definitely research before booking.
- I have heard that doing sunrise at Haleakala is awesome, but I haven't been. You need to get up at like 3 AM to make the drive in time, so maybe a good option for the first day of the trip before your body acclimates to the time difference.
Thank you. My plan is to do nothing but read on the beach, then take a dip in the surf when I get hot. Might give surfing a go.

I already said no on the Road to Hana. Doesn’t strike me as fun.

All I really want to do is see a volcano and do a luau.

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InvincibleCakeEater
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Re: Vacation 2023

Post by InvincibleCakeEater »

What were your favorite snorkeling spots?

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Radbird
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Re: Vacation 2023

Post by Radbird »

Radbird wrote:
March 23 23, 6:52 am
We will be going to Ireland this fall to visit my sister-in-law/hubby at their place on the coast west of Galway.

Also trying to roadtrip home this summer, hopefully stopping at PNC and GABP on the way. Haven’t been to Busch since 2016 and haven’t been to STL since 2017. Will try to get to a City SC game too. Won’t get there in time for the Blues or Battlehawks. Then up to Wisconsin and maybe catching games in some combination of DET/TOR/CLE on the way back.
We might flip flop our roadtrip and take the northern route and make Toronto our first stop, then possible stop in Detroit and onto the Upper Peninsula and into Wisconsin.

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GeddyWrox
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Re: Vacation 2023

Post by GeddyWrox »

After having our dream vacation to Europe cancelled right at the beginning of Covid lockdowns, we finally rebooked our trip. It's shorter than the one we originally planned, but should still be fun. We're going to Ireland in September!!!

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Radbird
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Re: Vacation 2023

Post by Radbird »

GeddyWrox wrote:
April 16 23, 5:02 pm
After having our dream vacation to Europe cancelled right at the beginning of Covid lockdowns, we finally rebooked our trip. It's shorter than the one we originally planned, but should still be fun. We're going to Ireland in September!!!
Enjoy it!

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Re: Vacation 2023

Post by IMADreamer »

GeddyWrox wrote:
April 16 23, 5:02 pm
After having our dream vacation to Europe cancelled right at the beginning of Covid lockdowns, we finally rebooked our trip. It's shorter than the one we originally planned, but should still be fun. We're going to Ireland in September!!!
That's really exciting! We are eyeing Europe in maybe three years. We want to hopefully do two weeks.

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Re: Vacation 2023

Post by ghostrunner »

I hadn't updated, and we've been back a week, but I thought people might be interested in the train part.

Being on the train itself was mostly fine. Bottom line is it's probably not a good choice if you've got somewhere to be at a certain time on the other end.

Train out of Chicago, which is the starting point for the line, arrived and departed 5 hours late, apparently due to a sleeping cabin mechanical issue. We finally left and stopped one stop out in Naperville, IL due to weather issues for about half an hour. This is the day a bunch of tornadoes and storms kicked up across the Midwest. We moved on to Ottumwa, Iowa where we stopped and waited another 3 hours. This was about 4-5 hours after a massive tornado wreaked havoc there, but that wasn't why we were delayed as I assumed at the time. Our engineer got sick, and the replacement lived 3 hours away. Seems like US passenger rail doesn't have the infrastructure and personnel to handle those kinds of sudden changes smoothly. I can't blame Amtrak for that really. Not a lot of support there, though that might be changing a bit.

The train moves pretty fast, but the track is shared with and largely owned by freight companies, so often you're stopping to let those go by when there's a side track.

We had a rental car to pick up in Grand Junction, CO, but realized we weren't going to make it by closing at 11pm. So I called from the train and got the rental pickup moved to Denver at a 24 hour AVIS at the airport

We took a Lyft from the train station to Denver, back across town the direction we'd come from, and then drove to Moab from there. About 6 more hours.

[By the way, I hate rental car companies. I'd booked a larger SUV to do all this driving around CO and UT so the family could sleep comfortably if they wanted and hold our luggage. No such luck. I don't use a credit card anymore, and I'd booked the car online months ago with a debit card. At first they weren't going to rent me anything because of this. Finally they agreed to rent me a RAV4, which was fine. Not what I booked and I wasn't up for making a big deal over it]

Moab, Monument Valley, Mesa Verde and Rocky Mountain National Park were all great. We did hit a wind/sandstorm in Monument Valley and had to wait until the next day before we could actually see anything. We did that, Four Corners and Mesa Verde all in the same day, and there was a near whiteout snowstorm on the way back down the mountain. Wipers froze up and everything. I was a little worried there but we made it.

The train back was much better time-wise, though kind of dirty and gross. Windows were dirty, tables in the observation car were dirty. Nothing like that on the train out. Still it felt less miserable being less delayed.

I'd actually do it again after all that. I enjoyed being on the train, delays aside. Much better seating than airplanes. Tons of leg room. You can recline all the way. You can get up and walk and sometimes go outside at the longer stops. The observation deck is pretty cool, and there were a lot of poeple in there coming and going. At one point there were like 3 different groups/families playing UNO, and then the next morning we were one of 4 groups playing cards. The worst part about the long delay is we missed all the great views through the Rockies between Denver and Grand Junction. Wasn't much to look at between Chicago and Denver.

Train food was a bit pricey, but not bad. There's a cafe under the observation deck and then a full dining car. We didn't eat in the dining car, but that's prioritized for sleepers and we didn't bother trying to get in there. Seemed like you could if they weren't expecting to be full.

Bathrooms are pretty tight, so probably not great for larger people. Sometimes the door locks don't work, but most did. They have dressing rooms, but strangely those have no lock.

Sleeping in the chairs was a bit rough, but I probably got 5-6 hours, which was enough. I'd take a pillow next time rather than a blanket.

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