The Travel Thread - 2022 edition

Used Global Entry last night for the first time since we got it six weeks ago; the line in Atlanta was at least an hour. My wife and I skated through in 90 seconds.

 

Did you guys take your New Orleans trip?

 

I don’t do Global Entry but Clear with TSA is pretty damn awesome.

BTW just got back from KC, never been southern Midwest before; nice place, nice people. They seem to like being there. Too flat and slow for this Cali boy. I need to see the water/Ocean too.

BTW, talk about a rip off, the College Basketball HOF was a couple of blocks away so went there to kill a couple of hours before heading to airport; have you been ripped off too? For $18 you get to see big photos!!! That’s it!! Where’s the memorabilia?? Alcindor’s shoes/Scott Mays cast/Laettners sweatband? NADA. Clown show.

 

Travel tip: Brooks Brothers is the only place to buy clean men's underwear in the O'Hare Airport terminal. Boxers are $38 a pair. Ask me how I know this. Or don't, you can probably guess.

My kids passed along the stomach bug before I left on a work trip. I spent last night in a Chicago airport hotel instead of my final destination because of thunderstorms in the midwest. It took me longer to get to a destination in the continental US than it took me to get to Japan when I went there. I'm in the hotel, dehydrated, sick, and weak. And I was supposed to work today but couldn't. I hate not being able to follow through, but this time, it was pretty bad. I probably should have banged the trip but then I'd have been on the hook for the hotel cancellation fee... sigh.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Lamar Valley was great. Among other things, I saw at least one hundred bison come down from hills on the north side of the road, wind their way around our cars as they crossed the road, then swim across the river to graze in the valley south of the river, The sheer number made it amazing to see. I had my best luck, though, the next morning driving from Tower to Mammoth. Saw more and different animals than in Lamar Valley. Not too far from Tower a mom grizzly with two yearling cubs came out of the woods on the right just as I drove up. Took awhile before all three got,across the road. It was a little disconcerting when the mom stopped in the middle of my lane and seemed to stare at me - then mom and cub one went into the woods on the other side of the road. Cub Two got distracted by a pole, spending some time examining and playing with it before following his mom and sibling. I was able to get a fantastic series of photos - through the windshield of my car.

I am a huge FLW fan. I’ve toured the collections of his buildings in Lakeland and Buffalo. No way am I driving all the way to western PA for a one day dog event and skipping Falling Water.

 

Amy:

Sounds as if you had an "A+ experience" regarding wildlife in Yellowstone. My wife and I have been there five or six times and have always enjoyed it thoroughly.

Please enjoy Falling Water as much as you enjoyed Yellowstone. It's just not my sort of thing.

Safe travels ...

 

SeaTac Airport, 10:30 p.m., any night of the week, construction and crowds everywhere.

“You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.”

 

My kid lives up there (college + 2); its not so bad IMHO. The light rail is connected to the airport and that's very clean and convenient.

Yes it's a mess outside but inside its pretty nice (I was just there in April).

 

I was there last night picking up my son when I posted that. The thing about Sea-Tac, like many west coast airports I guess, is there’s always crowds early in the morning and late night. If you have a midday flight it’s not too bad.

And yes, construction is making its annual appearance there. Because of that, security checkpoints can have some really long lines, and as I noticed last night, the baggage claim area can be a zoo.

 

I did that as well. How nice to bring your boy home, enjoy the summer.

 

I can't get over how busy flying out of Boston at the earliest hour in the middle of the week is. Thursday at 6 am the place is packed. I arrive two hours before gates close and I have to rush to make it through.

I applied for pre-check and it takes months.

 

If you can get a Chase Sapphire credit card, it's worth it for access to the lounge at Logan alone. My wife and I have been twice now - excellent food, tons of tables and plugs, and you can just relax until your flight. But yeah, the traffic near the airport itself is bad at pretty much all hours. It's slightly better if you're returning a rental car.