travel thread

[DQ12]

May checkout the Rhino’s brunch buffet.

[steve dave]

Also bring swimming suits for the kids at the zoo. A couple elite splash pad, water play areas. There are changing places to get out of wet clothes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nicname]

Mrs Nicname has 200 hours of vacation time that “needs to be used pretty quickly.” We have about 200k capital one points, 100k chase points, 2 free Hyatt nights, an IHG night, 11k lol ihg points.

Warm it up.

[steve dave]

assuming the hyatt nights are cat 1-4 not going to get a lot there. The 100k Chase points can get you 2-3 nights at a nice Hyatt though. The Cap One I'd just spent on flights redeaming for travel in their portal. IHG probably not useful here.

[tdaver]

Go to PointsYeah.  Use the Daydream Explorer.  Select Cap1 and Chase for bank programs.  Quick Look and I see one way economy flights from KC to all over Europe for 25k to 40k, Tokyo 40k, Australia 40k North America <15k.

[DQ12]

That zoo is something else.  Pumped for round 2 tomorrow.

[Phil Titola]

I maybe late to this pro tip but lately on any long trip like especially to a new country with a group, get a restaurant at your destination for your first meal picked out and reserved if applicable before you leave. Nobody likes wandering around, hungry, tired, and not knowing where to go eat.

[steve dave]

I maybe late to this pro tip but lately on any long trip like especially to a new country with a group, get a restaurant at your destination for your first meal picked out and reserved if applicable before you leave. Nobody likes wandering around, hungry, tired, and not knowing where to go eat.

If you have a high end credit card it will come with some concierge service that will make reservations for you. This is especially helpful in countries where you don’t speak the language. Used it to make dinner reservations in France for every night of our trip. Many more places will have online reservations these days but it’s somewhat regional.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[steve dave]

That zoo is something else.  Pumped for round 2 tomorrow.

Yeah, it’s our main thing!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nicname]

 

Go to PointsYeah.  Use the Daydream Explorer.  Select Cap1 and Chase for bank programs.  Quick Look and I see one way economy flights from KC to all over Europe for 25k to 40k, Tokyo 40k, Australia 40k North America <15k.

Was not aware of points yeah

[DQ12]

Omaha is a GOAT city for vacationing with 2 under three if you live close by.  We did 3 days, 4 nights and easily could’ve done another day.  Awesome time. 

Will post a full rundown when I get around to it.

[steve dave]

Hell yeah!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[michigancat]

I maybe late to this pro tip but lately on any long trip like especially to a new country with a group, get a restaurant at your destination for your first meal picked out and reserved if applicable before you leave. Nobody likes wandering around, hungry, tired, and not knowing where to go eat.

If you have a high end credit card it will come with some concierge service that will make reservations for you. This is especially helpful in countries where you don’t speak the language. Used it to make dinner reservations in France for every night of our trip. Many more places will have online reservations these days but it’s somewhat regional.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sapphire reserve???

[DQ12]

OMAHA --

DQ's family is 1 2.5 year old girl; and 1 tenth month little baby boy. 

We got an airbnb really, really close to the zoo (10th and Bancroft).  Could've easily walked, but didn't.  The plan was that we wanted to keep midday naps for the kids, and wanted to be able to bounce back and forth really quickly. 

We got in Thursday evening.  Ate on the road and piddled around the house. 

Friday morning, we started zoo stuff.  Went to the Desert Dome the spooky night time area underneath and Aquarium.  Back home for naptime.  Back to the zoo in the afternoon where we did the little splashpad area which was great, and saw some apes/gorrilers and elephants and giraffes.  Ordered in pizza that night.

Saturday, back at it. Saw the jungle area, and butterfly place.  Daughter and Mom rode the skytram around which was neat.  Saw more lions and elephants and did the asian highlands place with the bears and tigers.  Home for nap.  Back in the afternoon to see our favorite stuff for a second time.

Sunday, went to church for the 100% fastest Mass I've ever encountered (St. Mary Magdeline downtown).  It was surreal.  9:00 Mass was over by about 9:25, and packed to the gills.  Crazy. After that we went home and changed and went to the Lauretzen Gardens, which is a pretty incredible place.  One of the best little playgrounds for littler kids I've ever seen.  Splashpad.  The works really.  The boy was sleepy, so I walked him around the property and enjoyed the scenic gardens while daughter and Mrs. DQ played.  It was great.  Back home for nap, then we went to the Children's museum for about an hour.  Fun time.  Worth it.  Then we went to dinner at Upstream, and walked over to the Lahey Mall area -- more splash pad, slides, etc.  Then got some gellato on the way back to the car.  We packed all our non-zoo stuff into one day, but could've broken that out into two separate days if we wanted to.  Left a lot of meat on the bone at the Children's Museum and Garden place.

Top notch trip. Very fun.

['taterblast]

ty dlew. i foresee a '26 Omaha trip for the 'blast family so this is insightful.

[cfbandyman]

The 25 minute mass is honestly the most impressive thing. Priest isn't effing around. Must just not care to do much of a sermon and must have speed ran communion.

[nicname]

The 25 minute mass is honestly the most impressive thing. Priest isn't effing around. Must just not care to do much of a sermon and must have speed ran communion.

Priest just chucking the body of Christ like little frisbees. Do Roman Catholics take Communion in both kinds now?

[Phil Titola]

The 25 minute mass is honestly the most impressive thing. Priest isn't effing around. Must just not care to do much of a sermon and must have speed ran communion.

Agreed, best pro tip of that post.

[Stupid Fitz]

Serious question. Is it common to still go to church on vacation? Like, is that part of the planning when you go to places?

[ChiComCat]

Serious question. Is it common to still go to church on vacation? Like, is that part of the planning when you go to places?

I can't speak for dlew but speaking as someone who worked at hotels, Catholics specifically would ask about mass fairly regularly.  Not enough that it was all of them or probably even most, but still a sizeable percentage.  Almost never protestants.

[Phil Titola]

Serious question. Is it common to still go to church on vacation? Like, is that part of the planning when you go to places?

It is if you are catholic.

[Stupid Fitz]

Serious question. Is it common to still go to church on vacation? Like, is that part of the planning when you go to places?

It is if you are catholic.

[star seed 7]

How long is a normal mass?

[Phil Titola]

1 hour.

As a non-catholic married into it, it was quite a shock when "when/where is the church" became a common phrase while on vacation. I've sat through quite a few non-english spoken masses fresh off the beach pak'd.

[cfbandyman]

Yeah 1 hour is standard, and like almost non-negotiable in my experience. Like going less given the procession (in and out), scripture reading, sermon, collection, communion, those usually take like 30-40 minutes with no way to shorten them.

They must do collection/communion at the same time, and the guy must either not elaborate in the sermon/scripture reading or he is eminem in his speed to get through it. Same with the procession, Just booking it down the aisle. And they have to cut out singing, or minimize it so the bare minimum. I'm just trying to spit ball cause it's almost inconceivable how he did it.