Tagged With "Lower Manhattan's New Skyline"
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Re: Trains in Cuba
Great question...and possibly not an easy clear answer. Cuba's trains have generally been in poor shape in recent years as older equipment has run down and spares not available. However, according to Mark Smith (The Man in Seat 61), that's changing with the arrival of a fleet of new Chinese-built locomotives. On his site ( Seat61.com ) he has an extensive update of recent changes in schedules, routes and locations (that's important because Havana's main station is closed for a 3-year...
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Re: Boston in the fall - suggestions please!
Hi Dr. F! We anticipate staying around 2+ weeks (flexible) and whilst "leaf watch" is the prime excuse, we expect that the route will touch on all 6 counties (?) of New Hampshire. I cannot believe how long it has been since we were able to travel...
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Re: Boston in the fall - suggestions please!
Agree with PHeymont. Plan your trips around the leaf watching. Lots of pretty small towns around New England, although many will be pretty booked. I'd leave at least 3-4 days for Boston. Lots to see and do there, including many items relating to the rebellious Yankees throwing off the ties with old King George. And great museums and restaurants and such. We can get into more details if you'd like, but you'll definitely want a good guide book. Many people find a day in Salem (famous for its...
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Re: Boston in the fall - suggestions please!
Glad you're traveling again, Mac. Boston is my home town, and October is THE BEST MONTH. Where are you staying in the city? I'd walk the Freedom Trail if you're feeling up to it. Go down to the waterfront. Boston Common and Charles Street are fun places to hang out. Newbury Street is fancy shopping and also has a few fun bistros and coffee shops. The Science Museum is excellent. Plenty of seafood to be had. New England clam chowder is great if you have sweater-weather. Go whale-watching...
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Re: Boston in the fall - suggestions please!
Regarding hotels, Mac, I think I'd spend a few days in Boston to begin with, presuming that's where you are flying into. This will let you get over your jet lag and also give you a chance to see the state of the colors and plot out where you want to go. I would NOT go without having at least a night's reservation booked ahead because you'll waste too much time looking for a place to stay and will end up paying rack rate. Things will be busy and pretty filled up in the small towns of New...
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Re: Boston in the fall - suggestions please!
Thank you Dr. F. - wise words we will keep 1-2 hotels booked ahead and be flexible beyond that. We are really looking forward to this new 'slice' of America, I never realised that the Pilgrim fathers just named every new town after their old home towns - I'm going to be quite confused!! Thanks too Garry that looks lovely! I envy you being there ahead of us!! PS we are now on the verge of booking Cuba too and are horrified at the cost that Virgin Atlantic is trying to screw us for an upgrade...
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Re: Boston in the fall - suggestions please!
Thank you all! Our plans are now well underway for both the Fall in New England... and Cuba! Gracias amigos!
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Re: Should Wi-Fi be free in all hotels?
Actually, privatized toll roads are the coming thing these days! Some states have sold off roads; others have allowed private companies to build from scratch. The road to Dulles Airport near Washington is a prime example. But the comparisons to WiFi here don't really work. No one charged extra for electric light in hotels when it was new; it simply replaced the gas lighting. It took 70 years of broadcasting to create a pay system. As for WiFi, or internet access in hotels generally, it's not...
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Re: Frequent Flyer Strategy - Delta
You learn something new every day! That is a good tip, thanks!
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Re: Should Wi-Fi be free in all hotels?
A new article reiterating the overwhelming sentiment of most people on this thread. Here's that link .
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Re: How'd We Live Without Travel Apps?
Thanks Sunny for sharing.A lot of new apps now for all of us to check out!
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Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Staying in the UK is no more expensive than being a tourist in the USA. You wont get a month in London. Same as me travelling from the UK to New York. Silly Prices ! So decide on what you want to do over here and start planning, Have a look at the YHA web site. Youth Hostels Association. Forget the Youth reference. My Kids aren't Youths anymore. And I use them too! They are used by Travellers like yourself - and me - across Europe. They are Family groups and Ramblers ( Countryside Walkers)...
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Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Forgot to mention that my classes and exams are over the first week of May. So I'd like to go after than. When I get back home I need to move to my new job and find a place to live, so I'd like June to do that.
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Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Wow, this is turning into a real education!! I checked with my uncle and yes, I can fly Chicago to Manchester and return from either London or Paris to Chicago. The ticket is free to him and he said he would cover any fees as a "graduation gift to me" (he's a pretty cool dude!), but I don't want to burden him with a heavy departure fee, so maybe Paris would be the way to go. I'd like to leave about Friday, May 9th and return 4 weeks later, June 6th. A few days later and returning a few days...
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Re: Safe to fly on New Years?
It is probably quite the opposite. Those numbers may well be the best of good luck. Consider the luck of this couple, married 9/10/11, with a new baby born 11/12/13. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem...terday-11-12-13.html
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Re: Safe to fly on New Years?
If the plane arrives fifteen minutes past midnight on the New Year, that means she will be 15 minutes late all year ! Valentine's will bump into Easter. Easter will crash into the 4th of July early. The 4th of July will slam into Christmas, and before she knows it, 2015 will be all done. Oh, no !
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Re: Safe to fly on New Years?
The space-time continuum will only be interrupted if this flight does not land at its scheduled time at New Year's midnight p;us a few. What are the chances of that ?
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Re: Share Your Budget Tablet and Laptop Picks
If you want something a little larger and with a keyboard and good computing power, there's a new bunch of chromebooks coming out for the holiday season. PC World recently featured one in the $200 price range, weighing on 1.25 kg. Here's that link.
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Re: Doctor List for Traveling
SueZee, wherever you travel in the world your hotel will find you a suitable doctor who will speak enough English for your needs - just like Dr.F says - and Italy will have plenty. Don't bother with lists as they will always be out of date by the time you might want to use them, plus it will no doubt not list a great doc that the hotel knows is just around the corner! At the worst the hotel will have an English speaking staff member sit with you to help translate. Conversely, I do think that...
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Re: Hi Everybody! I'm new here.
Originally Posted by Travel Luver: Hi Ted, I think we're all pretty new here. I'm from the Pacific Northwest. Welcome to the group. I get out to LA some. My business takes me to Ventura County (Amgen). Any good tips for a place to eat out that way? I saw the link to www.roadfood.com on a different thread, so I'll check that out, but wonder if there's some place you like to go. Hi Nature Lover, Amgen is T.O., just west of the San Fernando Valley and I really never go there. But about 20 miles...
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Re: Share Your Budget Tablet and Laptop Picks
I noticed that there's a whole new iPad model out, and the article said a lot of the people looking to buy right away were people who keep trading up. So, if they're trading in last week's model, do you have any idea where's a good place to buy good used ones? It might be as cheap as the new ones here, if they're OK
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Re: Hi Everybody! I'm new here.
Hi Ted, I think we're all pretty new here. I'm from the Pacific Northwest. Welcome to the group. I get out to LA some. My business takes me to Ventura County (Amgen). Any good tips for a place to eat out that way? I saw the link to www.roadfood.com on a different thread, so I'll check that out, but wonder if there's some place you like to go.
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Re: Air Miles vs Low Fare Airline
The AA-BA mashup is tricky, yes, but not as devious as it may seem. Between New York and Paris, for instance, AA has only two non-stops a day; BA has a half-dozen (or more, including Open Skies). And, BA has many seats LON-PAR, so availability is greater. A similar situation exists on this side of the ocean, where BA feeds many AA domestic flights. It's sometimes possible to get around better if you don't mind one stop...we've used AA to Madrid paired with Iberia to Paris (Iberia's charges...
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Re: Help with mobile phone for Morocco
New question - the person I'm helping to plan this for is a fairly nervous sort and wants to have as much nailed down in advance as possible. Is there any reason not to grab one of these cheap unlocked phones now and then do the sim card there? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DZS2E76 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009IRGQPO Thanks for the help!
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Re: Help with mobile phone for Morocco
I see no reason why not. I don't think you'll find anything for less after arrival and it's always nice to have 1 less thing to do, especially in a new destination.
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Re: Planes taking off at LAX
Fascinating...even in detail. At first I thought to myself, this can't be all: I only see one American flight. Then I noticed that only the one with the new striped tail paint leaped out; several in the old livery are just below it. Says something about bold designs! I still suspect this is not a whole day, as some busy carriers are barely represented, but what show!
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Re: GPS v. Sicily = WTF
Since I downloaded the US Maps to my UK TomTom I've had great fun ! I love exploring the single track roads through villages and one horse towns! Exploring is great fun - getting lost is a pain. GPS opens up a whole new world to the Tourist !
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Re: GPS v. Sicily = WTF
Originally Posted by GarryRF: Exploring is great fun - getting lost is a pain. GPS opens up a whole new world to the Tourist ! Sometimes getting lost is the beginning of the fun...but it's nice to know the way back!
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Re: London- multiple questions
I can only help with one of the questions...but GarryRF, one of the TG Gurus, lives in Liverpool and can certainly help with that part. For Stonehenge without a car, there are really two main options. There are a number of tour operators who run coach tours from London to the site; or you can take a train from London to Salisbury and take a bus from the station to the Stonehenge visitor center. The visitor center is new since I was there; it's about 10 minutes by shuttle from the stones...
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Re: Impression about Perth, Australia
" considering they're all descended from convicts " Very cruel DrF ! With the discovery of gold just outside Bathurst in 1851, the nature of Australian migration changed completely. People arrived in far greater numbers and from more varied backgrounds than ever before. Between 1851 and 1861 over 600,000 came and while the majority were from Britain and Ireland, 60,000 came from Continental Europe, 42,000 from China, 10,000 from the United States and just over 5,000 from New Zealand and the...
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Re: How loooong does it take to get to your airport?
There's certainly a lot of variation, as I also noted above. And sometimes the planners don't help much either, as is the case with all three of our New York airports, where the whole AirTrain concept is completely botched. At Kennedy, the AirTrain's stations are not in, but sort of near, the terminals. That means you have to drag your stuff outside, across the roadways, and then up stairs or elevator to the train. And then, you have a choice of going to the commuter rail station (about 3...
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Re: How to Irk the Brits
Interesting. I work in San Francisco near the Ferry Building and frequently jaunt down to Pier 39 on my lunch break for exercise. Tourist alley, especially now that they have a new cruise terminal between the Ferry Building and Pier 39. Just today I nearly fell into a couple who stopped to take a picture of Coit Tower, speaking in an English accent. I moved on and got out of their way. 'Tis different when the shoe is on another foot, I suppose.
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Re: How to Irk the Brits
Like all myths exaggerated with a grain of truth or not, he lives on, along with his companions the Snobby Brit, the Nasty Frenchman, the Pushy German and all the rest. These days, it’s easy to find articles creating new misconceptions about Japanese and Chinese tourists. Point being, whatever these so-called “national characters” are, they are built on ignorance and prejudice; it is one of the great things about travel that they seldom survive actual experience.
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Re: Beating Jet Lag
I hate to say it, but I think that Songhua Ni's advice—sleep as much as you can, and walk around a bit—is going to work much better for front-of-the-plane flat-bed-seat people like him than it is for the rest of us. I recently had the pleasure of New York-Doha round-trip on Qatar, bumped up to the front, and it made an immense difference in my sleep, especially the quality of it. Otherwise, my best advice, based mostly on trans-Atlantic travel, is get on the plane to Europe tired, sleep as...
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Re: Beating Jet Lag
Some people claim the newer generations of jet-liners, like the Boeing 787, will reduce jet lag because they allow higher humidity in the cabin and higher air pressure (more oxygen). In fact that was discussed right here on a TravelGumbo during an interview with Norwegian Air . A few more points. I try not to have more than one or two connections on any flight, especially on overseas trips (for people traveling from small cities, this can be challenging). I find the fatigue factor clouds my...
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Re: Places where nature has taken over
Walking through wooded areas in rural New England (including in park land), it's not uncommon to come on foundations or other evidence of human occupation, and we're not talking paleolithic! Industrialization, urbanization and westward expansion lowered population levels in rural New England in the later 1800s, and today more of New England is covered in forest than at the time of the American Revolution! Old farmsteads, mills, even villages just disappeared.
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Re: Liverpool and Manchester
I stuck to Garry's recommendations for Liverpool both visits and was not disappointed. And to have GarryRF and Mrs. GarryRF on my second visit show me around Liverpool and the surrounding area was really cool! All the museums are wonderful in Liverpool. The Walker Art Gallery is one my favorites in Europe http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/ and the Emigrants to a New World gallery at the Merryside Maritime museum gives an interesting look at those leaving Europe.
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Re: 12 Most Beautiful Museums in the World
A lover of more intimate buildings, they might have called these the grandest, rather than most beautiful, as I see it. In the eye of the beholder and all that implies. A smaller building seems to tell me more, though, about the subjects on display and the origins of the building and collection. For instance, I much prefer the old Getty in Malibu to the new one shown in the link, more building than content by far, monument to ego. In any case, here are some I find more "beautiful."...
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Re: Best Ways To Reach Heathrow Airport Quickly In London
I just noticed this morning in TravelGumbo News that Heathrow Express is cutting its fares because of competiton with train service that wasn't mentioned here. That's what used to be called Heathrow Connect, and is now called TfL Rail, and will soon be called the Elizabeth Line. It's only 15 minutes slower than the Express, and the price is the same as the Tube. Both of those go only to Paddington Station in London, way in the West End, but once TfL Rail is connected to the new Crossrail...
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Re: Watch those search engines: the big ones are not always best!
Wow! I wouldn't have thought there would be such great variability. I'm still fairly new at this, and it sounds kind of complicated. Are there any flight search engines you'd recommend routinely using?
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Re: Is a stopover in Iceland worthwhile
A lot of questions! Let me try a few answers... Absolutely I'd say stop in Iceland. Every place in the world is unique, but Iceland is more so, geographically, in climate, and in history. Half a week (or even a week) won't do more than scratch the surface, but you'll be able to visit incredible waterfalls, climb on glaciers, see evidence of recent volcanic activity, and realize that under it all is a huge pool of thermally heated water that provides over 70% of the nation's energy. If that...
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Re: Walking Tours in Andalusia
Hi Pheymont I wouldn't worry about the wine and tapas portion. Things are really inexpensive her, and the tapas has been universally good. It's easy to get three or four tapas to share and a couple of glasses of wine for 15 Euro. As for the tours, we didn't take any, but I think for one day in Cordoba it would be a good idea because I think that day may feel really busy. For Sevilla, I have a mixed opinion, I really love to wonder around, get lost and then navigate my way out...but thats...
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Re: Walking Tours in Andalusia
Thanks so much! We're also the wanderers, but in a new city we sometimes find a walking tour is useful either for orientation upfront, or to clear up questions about things we've noticed. The wine and tapas tour is semi on the radar more for the opportunity to meet new people than to have a drink and a snack. Picking those things carefully, we've been able to have time with other travelers from other countries (not always English-speaking). I'm looking forward to our trip...your pictures are...
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Re: Just wondering....
Hi PortMoresby, and welcome! We are a new website, and it takes a while for the search engines to detect traffic patterns. Yahoo, it seems, is quicker than Google. But no worries about that. This will change with time and traffic. We came up with the name TravelGumbo independently of the other website. We see this site as an interesting mix of travel tidbits and photos -- like a good Gumbo should be. We own the domain www.travelgumbo.com and have a trademark pending for the name TravelGumbo.
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Re: Hotel Rewards Programs. Worthwhile or not?
I've heard that in the US, the favorite destinations for people to use their rewards for free rooms are (drumroll.......)...............1) New York City..........2) Maui. No big surprises there.
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Re: Visiting great places -- before they're gone
TB, I have been up the Amazon River as far as Manaus. There were bugs but they were extra rad Brazilian bugs so I did not care. Should we strive to get to places before they are gone ? It is an oxymoron. In the getting there, we make the place disappear. The very fact that a new element - the visitor - is there changes the place. Margaret Mead And David Livingstone each noted that phenomenon. Anthropology is the science which tells us that people are the same the whole world over - except...
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Re: Road Trip: The Movies and the Cars
Speaking of classic old cars... I've wanted a 1931 Model A sedan since I was 14 years old. So a few years ago the search began with the help of the president of the local Model A club. Using this guy's expertise plus online searching and suggestions from a financial guy I made a purchase in 2011. However, it was not a 1931 Model A sedan. This whole undertaking reminded me of the old axiom, "A camel is really a horse designed by a committee." While looking for the Model A I was talking my a...
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Re: Camera Advice, Please?
Travelling as light as you do it would be an awful burden Rob. I found a lovely bargain today. A Samsung ST 72 camera. It has wifi to view the pix on my TV and its so tiny that I could tuck it into my sock. $50 US and brand new ! Its been in the stores for over a year. So its reduced ! Getting to be a collector I'm afraid ! Sounds just like your "Cup of Tea" though Rob
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Re: I get to Boomerang to Spain ! Cheap !
All things to be watched closely, by the way; by January the new AA will start rolling out updated program rules and procedures for what will be a merged program. We'll need to watch closely to see what changes!