The Travel Thread

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Chris

Chris

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BGO members are on the move this summer. RedWolf to the Dominican Republic, SkinsFTW to the Philippine Islands, Boone to Germany, and Darrell Green Fan in search of crystal clear water in South Florida (good luck!) are examples of some international destinations (IYKYK šŸ˜‰).

This is your place to post your travel logs and photos of your experience(s), both foreign and domestic. Happy travels. šŸ€
 
We have a trip to London scheduled in a month. One of the few major European cities that I have yet to visit.
 
I'm planning a trip to Iceland in September. First vacation in six years. Should be amazing.
 
Chris said:
Should be a-maz-ing! Definitely on my list.
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Yeah, I don't do a lot, but when I do I go big. The last one was the Galapagos. That turned out even better than I imagined. From proving to myself that I conquered my hydrophobia and snorkeling in the middle of the ocean next to sea turtles the size of a Hyundai to all the unique critters. It was just something. Went with Intrepid. Actually wasn't that expensive. Well worth it. I hope this Iceland ranks up there.
 
Great idea for a thread. Unfortunately I will have no big trips to post about. I don't ever want to take a big trip again, too much stress and I am avoiding stress. Flying is now an awful experience of boredom and sitting in uncomfortable seating from the moment you leave your house until you walk into your hotel room. Sitting on a plane when you are 6'2" is cruel, especially since you can't recline even an inch without being an asshole. Sitting upright for 5 hours in tight quarters is something I am no longer willing to do.

So Florida is as far as I will go other than visting my brother in San Diego eventually. Everything else will be driveable trips.
 
I would love to only sit uncomfortably on a plane for 5 hours. West Palm to JFK is about 3 hours, then JFK to Helsinki is 8 + change.
 
We love to travel, both domestically and abroad. We're beach people and love the Caribbean. I used to dive, so we'd hit places like Grand Cayman, Belize, Cozumel....now that I no longer dive, we like St Maarten, Aruba, Jamaica & the DR. Our favorite beach islands are probably Aruba and Jamaica. We try to take week in Florida whenever we can...there's a little area near Palm Beach called Singer Island and we love the beach and vibe there. I lived in Naples Italy for 4 years, and have been all over Europe and have no desire to go back until we retire, (just under 2 years), but we did do a 10-day to Dublin and London back in 2016. When we return, I'm going to visit friends in Italy. I'd like to visit Prague, and Scotland. We're sticking stateside this year. Sedona Arizona in September, with a side-trip to the Grand Canyon
 
I have been to a boatload of Caribbean islands. My two favorite beaches, hands down, were Jumby Bay Island off of Antigua and Orient Bay Beach on the French side of Sint Maarten.
 
GREAT idea for a thread!!!!! I'm always looking for new places to go, and can't wait to hear feedback.
 
I don't get the stigma on reclining your seat. I always max it out because the person in front of me does too. Nobody has ever said anything. That is the only way you can be comfortable and it isn't hurting the person behind you at all unless it hurts their feelings for some reason. They still have their leg room and can watch their movies and lean their own seat back as well.
 
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SkinsFTW said:
I don't get the stigma on reclining your seat. I always max it out. So does the person in front of me. Nobody has ever cried and if they did I'd hand them a handkerchief. That is the only way you have any room and it isn't hurting the person behind you at all unless it hurts their feelings for some reason. They still have their leg room and can watch their movies.
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When I fly nobody reclines, on some airlines they have removed this option. If you do you are really screwing up the person behind you because he or she is not reclining and their tight quarters got smaller, your seat is now in their lap. This is seriously frowned up. Now if everyone reclined we would all be more comfortable. But I don't really feel like presenting this option to an entire plane full of people.
 
Darrell Green Fan said:
When I fly nobody reclines, on some airlines they have removed this option. If you do you are really screwing up the person behind you because he or she is not reclining and their tight quarters got smaller, your seat is now in their lap. This is seriously frowned up. Now if everyone reclined we would all be more comfortable. But I don't really feel like presenting this option to an entire plane full of people.
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I don't ever fly 2-3 hour flights, everybody reclines in front of me every time I've been on a long international flight and I had no idea that it was some sort of offense so I do it too, they probably do behind me too because usually the flight is 8-10 hours but if they don't they just gave up a whole 3 inches of space. The seats don't even recline much anymore but sitting straight upright for 10 hours is an option I've seen nobody in front of me take. Of course a lot of the time on international flights 1/2 the seats are empty so people just move around to get an entire row to themselves. That happens on every flight I've been on to Hong Kong or Singapore or Japan, ect. Next one in a week is going to be to to Manila. It will probably be 1/2 empty too. We might even get lucky again and get moved up to first class. Philippines Airlines has done that for us a couple times before. After that flight we will be on a small airplane so I won't recline on that because it's so small and the flight is so short.

What is a lot worse is when the airline puts a 6ft 5 500+ pound person in the seat next to you and that persons arm and upper body is over the armrest into your space. That has happened to me twice. One time this guys shoulder was right there next to my face the entire flight. Good thing that was on a short flight from Reno to SF. The bad thing was it was on those smaller airplanes with only 2 seats to a side. Yeah on those I'd never recline because the seat in front of you is already so close.
 
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SkinsFTW said:
I don't ever fly 2-3 hour flights, everybody reclines in front of me every time I've been on a long international flight and I had no idea that it was some sort of offense so I do it too, they probably do behind me too because usually the flight is 8-10 hours but if they don't they just gave up a whole 3 inches of space. The seats don't even recline much anymore but sitting straight upright for 10 hours is an option I've seen nobody in front of me take. Of course a lot of the time on international flights 1/2 the seats are empty so people just move around to get an entire row to themselves. That happens on every flight I've been on to Hong Kong or Singapore or Japan, ect. Next one in a week is going to be to to Manila. It will probably be 1/2 empty too. We might even get lucky again and get moved up to first class. Philippines Airlines has done that for us a couple times before. After that flight we will be on a small airplane so I won't recline on that because it's so small and the flight is so short.

What is a lot worse is when the airline puts a 6ft 5 500+ pound person in the seat next to you and that persons arm and upper body is over the armrest into your space. That has happened to me twice. One time this guys shoulder was right there next to my face the entire flight. Good thing that was on a short flight from Reno to SF. The bad thing was it was on those smaller airplanes with only 2 seats to a side. Yeah on those I'd never recline because the seat in front of you is already so close.
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I am using a flight I took a year ago to Dallas which was I believe about 3.5 hours. Nobody and I mean nobody reclined on both flights so I assumed that was the norm. In looking into this I am seeing it's much more common for longer flights. No way I am flying to SD sitting upright. I was glad to read that, just a little bit will make me much more comfortable.
 
So I've been to like 60 or 70 countries in my life on five continents. I have done the 20+ hour flights but mostly in business class, to places like Japan Hong Kong Singapore India and Australia etc. At that time I was a consultant and the clients would pay for my expenses. I'm a big guy, so if flights are over 4 hours than I fly business class, that includes Miami to San Francisco.

I've been to a lot of, let's say? Less than desirable countries under even more less than desirable circumstances? I was a Ranger supporting the 10th SF during the '80s and we ended up in some nasty places at times. I also lived in Europe for 6 years so I got to travel a lot. Between the two, that probably accounts for about 50%+ or so of countries that I visited. All over Europe North Africa (+Somalia) Middle East Central America and South America. This was during the '80s so there was a lot of undeclared actions happening. The other 50% was either for business or personal travel.

I cannot do those long flights anymore and I always put my seat back.
 
I was doing similar things while on active duty 15-30 years ago but for the past 15 years I've just been flying to Asia to visit my wife and see a few other countries on the way to the Philippines.

For a few flights I decided to take the cheapest flights that I could find. Those cheap flights usually went through Beijing. I highly recommend that you don't take a flight that spends a few hours in Beijing before continuing on to your actual destination.

Every time I flew through Beijing they require that you retrieve all of your luggage, lug it all through customs to get thoroughly searched, then check in again to fly to Singapore or Thailand or wherever. It was a colossal pain in the ass for me. I was always carrying too much stuff and they wanted to look at everything. I wasn't even leaving the airport.
 
So what are your 5 favorite places you have ever visited? I know we have some big travelers so I expect the lists to be impressive. Mine are:

1. St John USVI
2. Cayman Islands
3. Sante Fe, NM
4. Canadian Rockies
5. Alaska

I have flown around the world twice to visit our dad who was living in Malaysia. So I have seen other fantastic places, but I was 13 and that was a family trip. I'm just counting trips I made on my own.
 
Top 5 in the past 10 years, in order:

1. Norway
2. Maui
3. Paris
4. (Tie) Rome/Venice
5. New Orleans

Honorable Mention(s):

Copenhagen
Saariselka, Lapland (pictured)

IMG_6536.jpeg
 
Busch1724 said:
Actually heading to Italy today. Spending 10 days in country and heading all over. Can't wait. Will share some pictures after.
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Enjoy! and be prepared for the heat! AC is a rarity (if you see it advertised outside of restaurants understand it will be a small fan. šŸ¤£) If the Vatican museum cattle call tour is on your to-do listā€¦be aware that the richest place on earth is not air-conditioned. Maybe suffering is part if the price of admission. šŸ˜‰
 
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