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There is something to be said of all the wineries just outside Florence. I didn't really like Chianti until I had some from here it was amazing.
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May 17, 2022 15:52
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It’s probably good to have an idea of other things you want to see, especially if you only have three days. London is easy to get around but is big, and some sights are quite spread out. Since millions of people live and work there, there’s an awful lot of office buildings, shops, residential buildings and the like between the sights, and I’m not sure that on a bus (there are loads of routes - which would you pick?) you’d easily spot something cool, unless you went right past Nelson’s column or something. I’d suggest picking a rough area for each day, and looking up main points of interest there, and then primarily walking round that area. You could for example spend one day around Westminster, Buckingham palace area and maybe southbank. Covent Garden, soho, British museum and around there could be another day. Another day could be further east. However you could use those hop on hop off tourist buses that will have routes that cover the sights.
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May 17, 2022 15:58
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Most London musuems are free so you can come and go as you please, so you don't need to buy tickets. The exception is if they have special exhibitions on that you want to see. Those usually paid and timed entry so booking ahead might make sense of there's one you're really keen to see. They are frequently very well reviewed and hence popular. For example, at the moment there is https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/feb/15/the-world-of-stonehenge-review-british-museum. The organised way would probably be to book morning tickets for St Pauls/Tower of London/etc, see them at your leisure for however long they take, then be more adhoc on the musuems. You could spend all day on the BM but with only three days, you have to make the choose of seeing all of one musuem or the best of multiple museums/galleries.
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May 17, 2022 17:31
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Thanks a lot, guys! Appreciate it! 
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May 17, 2022 18:34
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PerilPastry posted:I'm going to London for three days and could use some advice. We just spent a week doing this with a 3 month old and it was awesome. A+, would recommend.
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May 18, 2022 00:25
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Tate Modern was still doing timed free tickets last month when I was there, so might want to double check on that.
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May 18, 2022 01:05
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Not having been in to London since the start of the apocalypse, I'd completely forgotten to factor that in. All the big museums and galleries still seem to be running ticketed entry to manage numbers (note entry is still free but they might use it as a way to tempt you in to making a donation at the time.) It looks like you can try walk-up visits but that will leave you at the mercy of how busy it is. So I change my recommendation. Book a morning and afternoon tickets at geographically close attractions.
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May 18, 2022 01:20
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I would actually vote against a hop on/hop off tourist bus. They look tempting, especially in a place like London but the Underground is typically very good and comprehensive (though maybe avoid rush hour if you can). The issue with those buses is that sometimes you spend ages waiting at a stop, and there's often no way of knowing when the bus will turn up. Obviously they use surface roads, so they can pretty frequently get stuck in traffic jams as well. And of course - London is often wet, cold and windy, so there's not a huge advantage to an open-top bus many days of the year!
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May 18, 2022 02:20
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Carbon dioxide posted:Does anyone know if there's any cool things to see/do in Edinburgh that aren't the most popular tourist destinations? The Writers' Museum in Lady Stair's Close is a neat little old building in a quiet old courtyard, nestled away at the top of the Mound. Nice displays on Robert Louis Stevenson and Walter Scott, cool atmosphere. Walking down the Vennel from Lauriston Place past a section the old wall and the view of the castle, then either hanging around Grassmarket, hanging a left and checking out the second-hand book stores, or heading along the Cowgate towards Holyrood Park. Climbing Calton Hill for the view and a close-up look of the monuments. The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is split into two adjacent buildings with nice sculpture gardens, excellent permanent collections (personal fave is the recreation of Eduardo Paolozzi's chaotic studio) and is right next to the charming Dean Village.
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May 18, 2022 12:52
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Speaking of the London Underground... Apple's website seems to suggest I can just wave my iPhone at the gate reader and I'm good to go. I don't need to get an Oyster card and/or associate it with my phone. Is that correct?
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May 19, 2022 14:04
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CheshireCat posted:Speaking of the London Underground... Apple's website seems to suggest I can just wave my iPhone at the gate reader and I'm good to go. I don't need to get an Oyster card and/or associate it with my phone. Is that correct? Yes, assuming you have Apple Pay set up. I haven't actually tried it but I remember reading about that specifically on MacRumors because I felt like "wow, that's the goddamn future". https://www.macrumors.com/2019/12/02/apple-pay-express-transit-mode-london/
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May 19, 2022 15:38
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CheshireCat posted:Speaking of the London Underground... Apple's website seems to suggest I can just wave my iPhone at the gate reader and I'm good to go. I don't need to get an Oyster card and/or associate it with my phone. Is that correct? Yup. Credit cards with RFID work too.
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May 19, 2022 16:26
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Saladman posted:Yes, assuming you have Apple Pay set up. I haven't actually tried it but I remember reading about that specifically on MacRumors because I felt like "wow, that's the goddamn future". Residency Evil posted:Yup. Credit cards with RFID work too.
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May 19, 2022 17:04
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Ok I'm basically finishing up Edinburgh. We leave early tomorrow so I'm not going to fit much more in tonight. Hiked Arthur's Seat. It had beautiful views and the softest fields under it for resting. As with any popular short hike, the only downside were the rude people who have no trail etiquette. Oh well, it was still totally worth it and the weather was amazing. Speaking of the fields, the grass here is INCREDIBLE. My absolute favorite thing to do every morning was grab a coffee and a juice then go plop down in the grass at West Princes St Gardens. Super zen. Loved every morning. It was also sunny and 60's for 6/7 of the days I was here. Perfection. Alcohol scene: Listened to the thread and did the Hanging Bat and Rose Street among other pubs. Rose was good on a nicer day for getting a little day buzz outside and the Bat was a neat bar. My favorite was the cocktail joint Hey Palu, where I tried local gins and amaro I can't get where I live. One of the things about my work travel is that I go out alone, so bars need to facilitate that. Sitting at a table inside and alone for drinks isn't fun, and Palu had a big bar so I could BS with the tenders. It was the best drunk I got while here. Picked up 2 bottles of Lind and Lime to take home. Museums: Did the castle, several churches and the big bad museum. All were good, got some great pics and learned about my heritage a bit, score! The churchyards were a chill place to putz around with a coffee in the early hours. Food: everyone told me the food was bland but hey, I liked it. Meat pie is the poo poo, potatoes are delicious and haggis turned out exceptional. They cook a good lamb here, wish I wrote down the names of my favorite spots! Also had to pop in Greggs because their ham and egg salad sandwich is crack to me. I know it's not a Scottish thing but man I want a Greggs in my neighborhood back home. Sausage roooooolls. I would really like to come back. The people were friendly, I had no issue walking everywhere I wanted to go and the city is both beautiful and relaxing. I'm happy I got to experience it.
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May 19, 2022 18:38
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I'm going to Paris for three days and I need just one thing to surprise my girl with that is somewhat of the beaten path. We live in the netherlands, so all the tourist traps have been done already with parents etc. So no Eiffel Tower, no Louvre, No Arc, No Centre pompidou etc. Just an area, or place to spend a part of a day in would be grea. I dont know anything about Paris, but trying to use the combined knowledge of this thread to impress her a bit with something fun.
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May 19, 2022 19:49
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Not sure if it’s a big tourist thing because everything was still covid-slow when I went but I liked La Closerie des Lilas and the surrounding area. It’s a neat little cafe and piano bar where Hemingway, Zola, Picasso and others used to hang out. Hemingway writes about it in A Movable Feast. Having a Campari and imagining what it used to be like was a nice experience. Again, if it’s a tourist hellhole and I just got lucky then oops.
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May 19, 2022 20:01
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Rojkir posted:I'm going to Paris for three days and I need just one thing to surprise my girl with that is somewhat of the beaten path. We live in the netherlands, so all the tourist traps have been done already with parents etc. So no Eiffel Tower, no Louvre, No Arc, No Centre pompidou etc. Just an area, or place to spend a part of a day in would be grea. I dont know anything about Paris, but trying to use the combined knowledge of this thread to impress her a bit with something fun. Go to a grocery store, get picnic stuff, spend the day in the gardens at Versailles. We used to do it when I was a kid.
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May 19, 2022 21:05
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HookShot posted:Go to a grocery store, get picnic stuff, spend the day in the gardens at Versailles. We used to do it when I was a kid. 1000% this. I've been to Paris either 8 or 9 times (I've lost count) and this is my #1 favorite thing to do.
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May 19, 2022 21:55
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Rojkir posted:I'm going to Paris for three days and I need just one thing to surprise my girl with that is somewhat of the beaten path. We live in the netherlands, so all the tourist traps have been done already with parents etc. So no Eiffel Tower, no Louvre, No Arc, No Centre pompidou etc. Just an area, or place to spend a part of a day in would be grea. I dont know anything about Paris, but trying to use the combined knowledge of this thread to impress her a bit with something fun. All of Paris is pretty much the epitome of beaten path, but there are many popular-with-local-people parts that are more authentic feeling and where you can enjoy the atmosphere rather than hit some 'must see' checklist. It depends what's you two's thing. Like the Marais (area around the Pompidou) has a lot of small boutique shops and independent but modern and hip cafes and restaurants. The area around Sacre Coeur (Montmartre) has lovely views of Paris and lots of little art shops. Fontainebleau has a famous chateau that's in many ways more architecturally impressive than Versailles but gets literally 5% as many annual visitors (500k for Fontainbleau vs 10,000k for Versailles) and it's one of the modern global meccas for bouldering. Or you could just go to Bois de Boulogne and get an ice cream if the weather stays as nice as it is now and be like a normal Parisian. Or you could check Atlas Obscura for Paris entries and see what they have to suggest that's up your alley.
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May 19, 2022 22:12
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Yeah I was gunna suggest Fontainebleau as well - it's almost as good as Versailles (Hall of Mirrors aside), and is nowhere near as visited. Plus if you're interested at all in Napoleonic stuff, it was his favourite palace and most of the furniture there was chosen by him (the Ancien Regime era stuff was looted and sold during the Revolution). It's one of the few places in France where there's much Napoleonic history on display, and I found it fascinating for that reason.
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May 20, 2022 07:44
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I'm spending four days in Barcelona in July, will check out the obligatory Gaudí stuff, get my wallet stolen on La Rambla etc. I'm pretty sure I'll want to check out a couple of museums. Which ones would you recommend? I like history, architecture and offbeat stuff in general. Modern art I'm lukewarm on, but I'll do a must-see or two any day. Also hit me with your favorite affordable (budget-to-mid) restaurants and bars, as well as good food/alcohol shops for souvenir purposes.
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May 20, 2022 11:02
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Paper Clip Death posted:I'm spending four days in Barcelona in July, will check out the obligatory Gaudí stuff, get my wallet stolen on La Rambla etc. I'm pretty sure I'll want to check out a couple of museums. Which ones would you recommend? I like history, architecture and offbeat stuff in general. Modern art I'm lukewarm on, but I'll do a must-see or two any day. Also hit me with your favorite affordable (budget-to-mid) restaurants and bars, as well as good food/alcohol shops for souvenir purposes. Depends on your likes, but personally I'd highly recommend spending one of those days out of Barcelona. The Montserrat monastery is amazing and it's a great mini hike all easily accessible by public transport. https://www.earthtrekkers.com/hikin...n%20Montserrat. and you can make it longer / harder depending on your fitness level, but the basic hike to the monastery can be done by anyone who can fit into a airplane seat. The only food I can think of to take back would be pata negra / jamon iberico. I can't really think of any particularly distinctive Spanish or Catalan liquors or liqueurs although I'm sure they have them. One thing you could order if you want to feel cool is the often-off-menu tinto de verano, which is wine mixed with sprite and is very commonly drunk, especially in summer / hot days and pretty much everywhere will make it for you. So it's like sangria, but Spanish people actually drink it, unlike sangria, which is not so common. They also have wine mixed with coke, but I've tried a few times and had yet to hear of anyone actually drinking that abomination. "I guess I can give you a wine and a coke and you can mix pour them together???" was the response we got every time we tried to order a calimoxo, but people did generally seem to know the word. I think we have an actual Barcelona-liver here who can probably give more info than my limited experience as a tourist. I have been all around Spain and have spent a fair amount of time there but I've only spent maybe a couple weeks total in Barcelona so I'm likely totally unaware of many local specialties.
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May 20, 2022 11:36
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Saladman posted:Montserrat Saladman posted:Food/drink
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May 20, 2022 14:37
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Two Schmucks in Barcelona is one of my favorite cocktail joints on earth.
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May 20, 2022 15:16
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So since the weather is nice next week, my wife and I thought we would go to the French coast up in Normandy and enjoy the weather. It looks like everyone else had the same idea but they booked it in advance regardless of the weather forecast; there's like not even a single hotel available within 50 km of the coast, the entire stretch of the French coast from Brest to Dunkirk. Like literally not even one. The only AirBnBs available are either hot garbage for €1200/night, or from hosts that have a horrifically bad response rate. It's actually the craziest I've ever seen hotels and AirBnB for such a wide region of a country -- like even in August you can always find something one week before you want to travel. We ended up finding a nice place in Vosges on AirBnB -- again literally every hotel was booked out -- and it turns out we just got lucky because the person who had booked it just got COVID and cancelled today, apparently not even half an hour before we saw and booked it. Seriously it's the most lol I have ever seen hotels, anywhere, ever, like click this and zoom out - and keep zooming out until you find another hotel with availability for Ascension weekend: https://www.booking.com/searchresul...th=0#map_opened . There is literally not even one place within an hour drive of the coast between Dunkirk and Saint Malo except this one shithole in Calais: Which is a zero star hotel with a 4.3 rating on Booking.com (rofl, it's out of 10) for a mere €210/night in the blighted urban center of Calais ( https://www.booking.com/hotel/fr/ho...results;ucfs=1; ) And this scam hotel that is €2000/night for a regular bedroom in a 2* hotel Touques: https://www.booking.com/hotel/fr/le...e=total;ucfs=1& Saladman fucked around with this message at 21:58 on May 20, 2022 |
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May 20, 2022 21:31
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Saladman posted:I think we have an actual Barcelona-liver here who can probably give more info than my limited experience as a tourist. *Raises hand* Although I'm far from a local and only lived here one year before having a baby / entering a pandemic and never leaving my apartment again, but I can dig up some recommendations. Montserrat is a great suggestion, I finally went about a month ago. It absolutely does not require any hiking, I went with a barely-walking two-year old, hyperactive 5-year old, and anti-hiking wife and had an amazing day. I actually tried real hard to squeeze in a "hike" (it's paved with steps), a 10-minute downhill walk to a place where you can take a funicular back up, but it was much steeper than it looked on street view and bringing a stroller down was a terrible idea. But still kind of cool. I'd like to hike up next time but the train ride up was part of the fun and there's also a cable car that is probably even more exciting. I'm not sure if I would recommend it as worth one day of a four-day trip, but if you like mountain trains / mountain architecture, it's pretty cool. Two Schmucks is another good suggestion, it's on one of the top streets for nightlife although I haven't been back since the pandemic. My spot was 33/45. Another cool cocktail spot is Boadas Cocktails, which despite being in the center of TouristLand is somewhat of a hidden gem. More of a classic vibe. For local liquers, you've got licor de hierbas, which is a minty green liquer that kind of tastes of like toothpaste (but in a good way, IMO) and ratafía, a darker liquer that I just discovered looking it up is supposed to taste like bitter almonds  . It's good too, but I wouldn't necessarily bring home a bottle of either unless you fall in love. You might get offered shots of either on the house after a big lunch if you're at an off-the-beaten path restaurant.The most typical drinking tradition is probably "hacer el vermut" which has become a general term for drinking on Sunday before lunch, but vermouth (on its own, usually with ice and a twist of lemon, sometimes with a little seltzer a la tinto de verano) is a super popular drink especially for early drinking. Get some olives or salted fish with it. For food to bring home, be careful because we've had family get jamón ibérico confiscated at customs, which sucks because it's expensive. My family tends to stock up on tinned fish/shellfish. You will get the best quality/value point getting this stuff from any supermarket, but if you want a specialty store you want Entre Latas. Honestly, the general vibe in Barcelona for food and drink is you don't need to go anywhere special unless you hate money. You can get amazing food at any random local restaurant (with just a little research to look for hidden gems or rule out tourist traps if you're in the center) or the supermarket. There don't seem to be many conoisseurs for vermouth or tinned fish, for example Martini Rossi is considered acceptable, although you can find special varieties from a place like Entre Latas or random bodegas / market stalls that make their own. A great spot for food and drink (and probably the best value) is Carrer Blai, a street with Pinxos bars the entire length. Stop by any place, get a beer and two or three pinxos from the bar -- just walk up and point to what looks good. Enjoy then stroll another block and sit down somewhere else, and repeat. It's also probably worth going once to a classic tapas place, like Quimet i Quimet, Cal Pep, or El Xampanyet, although I haven't been to that kind of place since Covid and they were always super crowded. Depends on your risk tolerance. One of my favorite restaurants is Maison Carne, which has only one item on the menu: chuletón (ribeye), and wine by the centimeter. I don't know what it is but the ribeye here is better than any steak I ever had in the U.S. Our favorite paella spot is Gaudim, which has super touristy vibes and isn't too popular with locals but the paella is amazing, as is the sangria, it's the only place we would ever order it. This is one category where the local places just aren't as good (some of my friends here would fight me for this, but I've been to their places and it just wasn't as amazing). Probably our overall favorite restaurant is La Alcoba Azul, which is the best we've had in the modern-creative-tapas category which is most of the top restaurants here (although we haven't tried the $$$$ Michelin star variety of this cuisine). With respect to Gaudí, the big ones are iconic for a reason but there are some less popular spots as well worth going to: particularly Casa Vicens, Palau Güell, and Bellesguard. For museums, my top pick is the Mirò museum, modern art yes but worth it. The MNAC is another big one for both history and art, always has good exhibits and it's also a picturesque spot, we always take visitors to hang out on their porch and the surrounding area even if we aren't going to enter. For history the Barcelona History Museum is good and El Born Centre de Cultura i Memòria is worth a visit (great area too for bars and restaurants). There's also museums catering to the young tourist crowd like the Cannabis Museum, Sex Museum, and Chocolate Museum which are supposed to be fun if that's your thing. Well, I got a ltitle carried away But I'm a big fan of this city. It gets a bad rap sometimes but even if the beach, old city and the top 4 Gaudí weren't here, it would still be worth a visit. For a parting shot, I definitely suggest getting some small-town neighborhood vibes from surrounding areas, my suggestions being Gracià (Plaça de la Vila de Gràcia, Plaça del Sol, Plaça de la Revolució), Sarrià (Carrer Major de Sarrià), or Les Corts (Plaça de la Concòrdia). Choose a place to eat/drink based on which tables have the best vibes of the square/street and you can't go wrong.Don't hesitate to ask anything else. If you need a list of the top playgrounds in the city, I've got you covered  Edit: oh, I missed the most obvious suggestion for getting food and drink: markets. La Boquería is the touristy (but still worth it) central one, and every neighborhood has their own and are worth visting if you're nearby. Probably the second pick after Boquería is Sant Antoni. In addition to market food they also have bars and restrautants; some of the city's most recommended bars/restaurants are market stalls. That reminds me of another thing, these markets and lots of other places are closed on Sunday, so if one of your days is a Sunday, plan ahead for that. The more touristy attractions will be open but you never know. SurgicalOntologist fucked around with this message at 21:54 on May 20, 2022 |
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May 20, 2022 21:33
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Rolo posted:Two Schmucks in Barcelona is one of my favorite cocktail joints on earth. SurgicalOntologist posted:All the things  Big thanks for these suggestions! This is all very helpful.After thinking about it some more, I tend to agree with you about Montserrat. If we had a longer stay, it'd be an easier sell. We've had several fun trips with this group, but we do differ somewhat on how we approach travel. They're pretty lukewarm on old churches to begin with, even if getting to Monistrol didn't require an hour by train plus getting up the mountain itself. It's a bit of an undertaking, and I think I myself might prefer to just spend the time exploring more of Barcelona too, to be quite honest. I'm curious about the jamón ibérico situation. Was trying to take it out of the EU the issue, or what? (Not that I'm buying a whole-rear end hock of it anyway.) The tinned seafood is a good shout - I'm not huge on seafood normally, but this definitely seems like the time to stock up on this stuff. Anything I should know about local wine? We'll squeeze a pintxos tour somewhere in there! The friend we're staying with said he hasn't done one while he's been living there, so at least he gets something out of this whole operation. Carrer de Blai seems like the place to be! Mirò is on the list, and the Barcelona History Museum seems interesting. Will probably go for those at least. MNAC too, if there's time/interest. How's the Picasso Museum? Thanks again for the tips!
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May 21, 2022 09:47
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Paper Clip Death posted:Those look like some wacky cocktails alright! Definitely one to keep in mind. The cocktails are very good, some have a tasty cheese pairing and many of the ingredients are made in-house. Juliette was our bartender and she’s an absolute riot to talk to and drink with. It’s consistently in the “World’s 50 Best Bars,” in 2021 it made the second spot in Spain and #11 in the world. The friends who recommended it to me are internationally experienced bartender hipsters and I trust them with alcohol stuff with my life. I’ve been to winner several times, Connaught Bar in London and while the drinks were delicious the whole vibe was just rich pricks not having any fun. Experience is important! Not trying to over-sell it, I just wanted to get the point across that it’s more than a one-goon opinion that the place is good, then write about it at 7am on a Saturday because I’m jet-laggin real good!
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May 21, 2022 12:02
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Saladman posted:So since the weather is nice next week, my wife and I thought we would go to the French coast up in Normandy and enjoy the weather. It looks like everyone else had the same idea but they booked it in advance regardless of the weather forecast; there's like not even a single hotel available within 50 km of the coast, the entire stretch of the French coast from Brest to Dunkirk. Like literally not even one. The only AirBnBs available are either hot garbage for €1200/night, or from hosts that have a horrifically bad response rate. It's actually the craziest I've ever seen hotels and AirBnB for such a wide region of a country -- like even in August you can always find something one week before you want to travel. You weren't kidding, it seems that everything is hosed now. I almost bougth some Ryanair tickets to Bologna for June 1st but according to booking, 97% is already sold out. The cheapest option is like €100 /night which I guess isn't expensive expensive, but considering I just got back from a  trip to New York I was hoping for something that would let my account relax a little. Looking at september, there are nice B&Bs for less than half of this. I guess I can always do a road trip and camp or sleep in the car. Oh wait, gas is $2/liter lol gently caress you.
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May 21, 2022 17:08
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mobby_6kl posted:You weren't kidding, it seems that everything is hosed now. I almost bougth some Ryanair tickets to Bologna for June 1st but according to booking, 97% is already sold out. The cheapest option is like €100 /night which I guess isn't expensive expensive, but considering I just got back from a Yeah. It seems prices are normal-ish as long as you book a couple months in advance. Last minute stuff is all sold out though.
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May 21, 2022 21:40
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https://www.standrews.com/learn/golf-academy Hey I want to schedule going to this golf academy in Scotland for maybe the last week of my trip. Taking a plane out from Slovenia perhaps. Never played golf in my life but it could be a great way to start. Anyone know much about Scotland?
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May 27, 2022 13:14
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Cheese Thief posted:https://www.standrews.com/learn/golf-academy Sure, I think there're plenty of Scottish goons in the thread. What do you want to know specifically?
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May 27, 2022 19:47
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This is what I have going on. Plane ticket to Rome on July 17th then return flight scheduled out of Rome for September 4th. And I am trying to book golf academy in St Andrew's Scotland for a week mid-late August (5 days residential stay). What's up is, I'm trying to think in my head how to make these two things connect, while also spending time for sure in Slovenia. I suppose a good first question may be, how far in advance might I should book a plane ticket. Are tickets around Europe available on short notice at, not too unreasonable prices? I should also check a bag as well, full of all the clothes I will be buying.
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May 28, 2022 02:50
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Cheese Thief posted:This is what I have going on. Plane ticket to Rome on July 17th then return flight scheduled out of Rome for September 4th. And I am trying to book golf academy in St Andrew's Scotland for a week mid-late August (5 days residential stay). What's up is, I'm trying to think in my head how to make these two things connect, while also spending time for sure in Slovenia. I suppose a good first question may be, how far in advance might I should book a plane ticket. Are tickets around Europe available on short notice at, not too unreasonable prices? I should also check a bag as well, full of all the clothes I will be buying. Are they always available? Yes. At prices you will like, in August, to a destination that is mega seasonal? Probably not. Also anyway the earlier you get plane tickets the better, always, in Europe. Scotland is a super seasonal destination, July and August prices to go there will be expensive from most airports. It’s possible that won’t be the case for a major year round flight like Rome-Edingburgh but I would get the ticket as in advance as possible. I remember looking two years ago and the flights from Zurich went up to like €500 or something absurd. We ended up going to Portugal instead because it was crazy Covid times, but our original plan was to head to Scotland so I kept an eye on it the whole time, for a trip that was like July 30-Aug 12. I didn’t check any other airports so I don’t know if that price increase is universal but I’d kind of bet it is. Slovenia tends to be expensive for flights in general so you might want to check Zagreb or Vienna or Venice too. Even checking right now the cheapest flight from Zurich is almost €400 in Aug and the direct is almost €500, so if I see a good ticket now imho I’d jump on it and not wait until July 28 to look. E: vvvv i had the same impression too that going to St Andrews to take beginners lessons makes like.. not a lot of sense, unless you’re made of money. It’d be like going to St Moritz as a beginner skier, like you can spend your $300/day to stay on bunny slopes in St Moritz, or you could pay $30/day for exactly the same experience in any little hill that gets snow near home. But I know people do actually go to Chamonix or St Moritz to learn how to ski, which never made sense to me, as a skier, for anyone but the super rich. But hey, do what you want with your money! If having the experience of learning golf from zero in the Mecca of golf is worth it, go for it. Saladman fucked around with this message at 13:54 on May 28, 2022 |
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May 28, 2022 04:33
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I would greatly enjoy a trip report of a complete beginner dropping $250+ to take their first golf lesson at St. Andrews. And perhaps to see some of the clothes you buy on this trip.
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May 28, 2022 05:32
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Wow the Amsterdam airport was a mess today. Sat on my United connection back to the US today for 8 hours before they cancelled it and got us back to the gate. Talked to multiple other people who were on other cancelled United flights and they were saying the security lines were 5+ hours long in the morning.
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May 30, 2022 20:20
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It's because they're underpaying their staff who have decided that this is a good moment to hold out for raise
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May 30, 2022 20:39
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Saladman posted:E: vvvv i had the same impression too that going to St Andrews to take beginners lessons makes like.. not a lot of sense, unless you’re made of money. It’d be like going to St Moritz as a beginner skier, like you can spend your $300/day to stay on bunny slopes in St Moritz, or you could pay $30/day for exactly the same experience in any little hill that gets snow near home. It's called the Beginner Golf Academy, 5 day residential stay for £1,415.00. That's not too terrible. You only live once right. I have a coworker old man who loves golf and can take me so I will have at least swung a club before. The professional PGA guy can even meet me at the airport and give me a ride to the academy. By the way I've worked avg 48-56 hours a week for almost a year now so I can live it up all I want edit: Maybe this is a big scam, thanks for making me think a little bit about this before making my decisions. Cheese Thief fucked around with this message at 04:39 on May 31, 2022 |
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May 31, 2022 03:47
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Cheese Thief posted:It's called the Beginner Golf Academy, 5 day residential stay for £1,415.00. That's not too terrible. You only live once right. I have a coworker old man who loves golf and can take me so I will have at least swung a club before. The professional PGA guy can even meet me at the airport and give me a ride to the academy. What I was thinking of is my wife’s friend with no horseback riding experience who went to Kyrgyzstan for a two week trip, of which 10 days was a horseback riding expedition. Turns out she doesn’t like horses that much and after two hours her back hurts, but she has like 90 hours of horseback riding to go. If you at least know how to drive the golf ball then I imagine you’ll be in better shape than her. I’ve just seen so many people (my wife’s cousins were all ski instructors) come to Switzerland to learn how to ski at $250/day + lodging + food and then fall down a lot and hate it after the first two hours. But those people are definitely the minority, like 95% have a good time, even if they could have likely learned cheaper on a hill near home. Just making sure you won’t throw out your back in two hours and/or think golf is boring and wish you were touring castles. If you have some experience it seems reasonable.
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May 31, 2022 07:46
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Yeah just reading over that St Andrews thing, it’s definitely not a scam, but I’m pretty certain it’s not targeted at total novices either. I was a pretty bad amateur golfer and it’s probably something that would help me, but turning up as a “never hit a golf ball before” guy might raise a few eyebrows! Note that you won’t be allowed to play on the famous Old Course though - it’s public, but has a minimum handicap requirement which you won’t meet.
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May 31, 2022 11:37
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