This is the location for conversations that don't fall anywhere else on FlameFans. Whether its politics, culture, the latest techno stuff or just the best places to travel on the web ... this is your forum.

Moderators: jcmanson, Sly Fox, BuryYourDuke

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By Sly Fox
Registration Days Posts
#600813
I know nearly everything on our calendar has come down. We were supposed to be in Idaho today for my son's graduation followed by a week of hiking & fishing in the Tetons. Alas those plans were Corona'd. But we did receive some good news that Pine Cove would be having family camp after all. Thanks, Gov. Abbott.

How have your summer vacation plans fallen into place with tight budgets and health concerns aplenty?
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#600815
My Spring plans got shot to pieces. We should have been in Vegas right now. Our cruise in the Caribbean has morphed into a 2 week Med adventure next summer. We are still planning on visiting the Indiana Ancestral Homeland end of a June first part of July. I have a bunch of vacation to burn by the end of the year but not sure when we can take it. If they push the start of school back a few weeks we might be able to still get the Vegas trip in. Might try the beach. I’m just not wanting to lose the vacation days. Ha
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By Sly Fox
Registration Days Posts
#600817
We had a Mediterranean trip postponed until next summer even before this pandemic temporarily obliterated my consulting work. But that has become our new focua as well.

Is everyone planning more staycations? That ia our new modus operandi for Summer 2020.
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#600819
Sly Fox wrote: May 24th, 2020, 5:38 pm We had a Mediterranean trip postponed until next summer even before this pandemic temporarily obliterated my consulting work. But that has become our new focua as well.

Is everyone planning more staycations? That ia our new modus operandi for Summer 2020.
Virgin Voyages needs to stay “afloat” for ours to happen. They offered an extremely generous credit to rebook a cruise. So why not a once in a lifetime Mediterranean trip. Trying to figure out a way to wedge a couple of days in Paris and/or London before hand.
I think people have had enough of “Staycations”. I can foresee a lot of long weekends etc to the beach. People are gonna want to get out
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By Ill flame
Posts
#600820
I was planning on taking the family to Disney world this summer but that's not happening now. I'm just going to save my vacation and use it when things are back to normal.
By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#600821
I am saving my vacation days to use next softball season. My dream is to attend every game. Hopefully we will have no games in California or Mexico.
I may even use some 1/2 days to go watch practice.
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By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#600822
So far, I'm just a little bumbed about not seeing family this Memorial Day weekend, because usually both sides of my family have reunions in the same county in WV, so I'm missing seeing my last two surviving uncles, several cousins, and a feast that usually includes WV hot dogs with sauce and slaw and a big side dish of ramps and plenty of homemade desserts.
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By Sly Fox
Registration Days Posts
#600823
I like your dreaming, ballcoach.

CJ - I have to admit that some Hillbilly Hot Dogs sound wonderful right about now.

ill flame - What do you consider "normal" at this point?

Jonathan - It looks like Smoothie is enjoying those beaches right now. The OBX has much nicer beaches than ours here in Galveston. I am jealous.

Haize - Do they have itineraries up for you to select? If so, I may be able to help with some suggestions based on your ports of call. We were doing the Eastern Med this summer until I had to pull the plug due to some family events. I hope to get some cheap cruise opportunities in the Med next summer if we have any cash left after our son's freshman year of college. Unless London & Paris are dreams of Mrs. Haize, there might be some better places to spend your time on terra firma.
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#600825
Sly Fox wrote: May 24th, 2020, 8:45 pm I like your dreaming, ballcoach.

CJ - I have to admit that some Hillbilly Hot Dogs sound wonderful right about now.

ill flame - What do you consider "normal" at this point?

Jonathan - It looks like Smoothie is enjoying those beaches right now. The OBX has much nicer beaches than ours here in Galveston. I am jealous.

Haize - Do they have itineraries up for you to select? If so, I may be able to help with some suggestions based on your ports of call. We were doing the Eastern Med this summer until I had to pull the plug due to some family events. I hope to get some cheap cruise opportunities in the Med next summer if we have any cash left after our son's freshman year of college. Unless London & Paris are dreams of Mrs. Haize, there might be some better places to spend your time on terra firma.
The main drawing point were Monte Carlo and Gibraltar This is where we are stopping with virgin
Week 1
Barcelona
Marseille
Monte Carlo
OlbiaIbiza
Barcelona

Week 2
Barcelona
Palma de Mallorca
Málaga
Gibraltar
Ibiza
Barcelona

Neither of us have ever been to Paris and flights to Barcelona fly through there and London. Mrs Purple prefers to “ see” things as opposed to tour them so that will help. I also have a friend who is currently willing to drive us around Paris. Swinging London could be interesting. It’s only a couple hours by train to Paris so one night there we can see the half dozen things we wanna see. Not sure the logistics will work out to see both but I have time. Ha
By flamehunter
Registration Days Posts
#600828
Hitting OBX next week. First beach vacation for longer than a weekend for my wife and I and we didn't know up until a couple weeks ago if it was going to happen it not.
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By thepostman
Registration Days Posts
#600830
We did our major vacation with a trip to Florida for Thanksgiving to hang with my parents and siblings but had planned on doing something a bit more low key and stay local. Go camping a couple of state parks and take advantage of some of the DC tours I have available to me through work now that the kids are a bit older. Was planning on taking 2 week prior to the 4th of July holiday doing all of that stuff but it looks like some plans will be altered.

We will still be going camping at one of the nearby state parks but I'm not sure what else. As of right now we aren't allowed to travel greater than 100 miles so we will have to be creative since I don't see that ending anytime soon. I'm glad we didn't have anything major planned like some folks I know did. It is still a bummer.

We always like to do something as a family when school lets out as a celebration so we will do what we can because it important to us and and I think it will be good for the kids.
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By Sly Fox
Registration Days Posts
#600832
I haven't yet been to the Balearic Islands but the reputation is huge All my Spanish friends go there on holiday. Ibiza is the party central of the Western Med. Palma de Mallorca is wildly popular among cruise enthusiasts. Honestly I think you are going to be so blown away by Barcelona that Gibraltar will be an afterthought. If you have jumped on Cruise Critic forums yet I strongly encourage you to do so. The resources for helping make decisions are ridiculous.

Keep in mind that the airports in both Paris (Charles De Gaulle) and London (Heathrow & Gatwick) are not particularly close to either city. There will be some significant train rides involved in both locations. But frankly that can be half the fun in Europe.I think you will find the countryside to more beautiful in France and the people infinitely more enjoyable to be around in London.

Postie - The treasures hidden within an hour of the District are immense. And then you hit the free stuff in the city with kids it is awesome.
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By LUAlum1215
Posts
#600845
I was supposed to have just returned from South Africa this past Saturday, but that got cancelled. SA is having a really hard time with Corona (as most places are) and the missionaries we were going to visit actually had to come back to the states the day we were supposed to fly there. Still fighting Delta and Experian over ticket issues. Depending on my wife's job we're either going to Georgia to visit her family and the missionaries (they're from her hometown originally) or going to visit friends in Ohio. Of course, all pending 'Rona.
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By Sly Fox
Registration Days Posts
#600870
My boss' son is a diplomat at the embassy in Jo'burg. They are starting to get back to business over there after evacuating everyone home to the States the past few months. As for Delta & Experion, be relentless and don't take no for an answer.
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By LUAlum1215
Posts
#600892
Sly Fox wrote: May 26th, 2020, 7:27 pm My boss' son is a diplomat at the embassy in Jo'burg. They are starting to get back to business over there after evacuating everyone home to the States the past few months. As for Delta & Experion, be relentless and don't take no for an answer.
Our friends are in Knysna on the southern coast, about 6 hours east of Cape Town. I haven’t heard from them in a few days but they seemed to think it could be a while before they’d get back there.

I was able to get credit on my Experian account for the tickets, but the fees for the seat assignments are in limbo. I had to pay extra for each seat through KLM for the flight from Paris to Cape Town or risk getting separated from my wife. That was about 400 bucks. I filed the claim through insurance but haven’t heard anything.
By ALUmnus
Registration Days Posts
#600904
Will be doing a few days at Virginia Beach next week. Still plan on a family vacation to OBX in July. Beyond that, it's just really hard to make plans.
My wife and daughter had a trip to Brazil cancelled as the pandemic was looming back in March, rescheduled it for Thanksgiving week. Still no promises though. My wife works in a hospital, so she's always at risk of a mandatory 2 week self-isolation if she goes anywhere with high exposure risk. Can't really justify two weeks of no pay.
By ATrain
Registration Days Posts
#600974
Our plans for Oktoberfest in Munich followed by traipsing across the Alps to visit Innsbruck, Verona, Venice, and Salzburg got smashed to smithereens. So now we're visiting Oklahoma City in the fall, and going up to Wakita to the Twister Museum.
By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#601704
I just found out that I have a Military Police reunion in Alabama 27-30 July. It will be great to get back to Alabama.
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By TH Spangler
Registration Days Posts
#601705
Keeping it simple. Staying away from airports!! But not sure it qualifies as a vacation since I'm officially retired 😄 . I'm keeping a skiff on Emerald Isle. Renting a nice little house down near the point. Went down a week ago for some spanish mackerel fishing, did well. Going back in 8 days for more. My buddy from Virginia Beach is joining me next week. We're missing the Big Rock Marlin Tournament festivities by not going this week. All my favorite dining spots were offering carryout last trip. One was fully open. Planning several more visits. Good fishing starts in the fall.
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By TH Spangler
Registration Days Posts
#601743
Class of 20Something wrote: June 8th, 2020, 8:58 am Airports I can't attest to, but most aircraft HEPA filter the entire cabin every 3 minutes. That's faster than clean room requirements in pharma.
I think airports and aircraft are safe. It's just after spending 40 years at the airport I vacation somewhere else :lol:
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#601745
2 weeks in Indiana are confirmed..... sounds exciting doesn’t it. At least it’s at a Lake and the long term forecast looks great. Low 80’s
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