Trip Report Readers Chick Chat and Guy Gabbing Thread!

[Songbird76]

We're back from our wild tour of PA west to east and back again!
I headed out Friday 7am and after an uneventful 5 1/2 hours pulled into the Market St train station in Philly. (The only exciting part of the trip was they had "been there" Starbucks mugs for PA at a rest stop on the turnpike that I sent a pic to @Tuvalu and I told her I was thinking about her and Em). No Buc-ee's for us.
Seth got into the train station about 20 minutes after I arrived on his Amtrak from NY.

It was funny because the only 2 times I was questioning the wisdom of this drive was when I hit Harrisburg and thought I should have had Seth ride the train to there which would have shortened my trip by about 2 hours. And the second time was when I hit the infamous Schuykill expressway, more fondly known as the SchuyKILL highway and came to a dead (not quite) stop for about 12 miles headed into Philly proper.
When he got off of the train he said, you know mom, this train was going on to Harrisburg!

As we were driving home in equally aggravating traffic on the Schuykill I showed him the hospital that his sister was born at and told him the story about the day she and I were discharged from the hospital after her birth. I wasn't feeling up for the bumpy road to home and we got on the SchuyKILL and she was all buckled into her car seat.
Back in the day they didn't even have the foam head things to keep their heads from bobbing all over the place. So I looked back to see how she was doing, all of 2 days old, and the entire car seat was bobbing along. BECAUSE WE DIDN'T BUCKLE THE CAR SEAT TO THE CAR!!! We did an emergency pull over on that crazy highway and buckled her in properly.

Seth's reply to this story was, "Oh good, she was the lab rat"!!
Smart a**.

So we got back home around 7pm, not too bad.
He had his MRI and labs on Sat. and flew back on Sunday without incident.

They called us today and he has a few more "spots" that they think are just related to migraines but recommended a consult with Neurology.
So it's probably all looking good and if we can't arrange a telemed consult we may be doing the plane/train/car thing again.
I know there are doctors in NY but I know everyone here and feel better being able to stick my 2 cents in! (And in my defense I gave him the option of finding someone in NY and he said he would rather come home).

One Aulani trip update is Seth will now be joining us. He was hesitant at first because of how new he is to his job, but they renewed his contract and he is feeling a little more confident. It's quite annoying because they are a very new company and their policy is to renew in 3 month intervals. He did get renewed for 5 (through the end of the year) so there's that I guess.

Hope everyone has had a nice summer and will have a great fall!

Glad he made it in safely. I guess you know for next time, if you have to do this again, that Harrisburg is a better option for you?

And yikes for you having made that drive 2 days after giving birth. I was still feeling like I had been hit by a truck at 2 days with E.

And congrats to Seth on his contract being renewed!

 

[MickeyCB]

Glad he made it in safely. I guess you know for next time, if you have to do this again, that Harrisburg is a better option for you?

And yikes for you having made that drive 2 days after giving birth. I was still feeling like I had been hit by a truck at 2 days with E.

And congrats to Seth on his contract being renewed!

Yeah if we have to do it again his train stop will be Harrisburg for sure!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Back to school update: Logan started his sophomore year at University of Iowa on Monday and is competing in a triathlon in Minnesota on Saturday! Lily is a senior this year and started her College Credits Plus classes at the local community college on Monday. The rest of her classes will start later at the high school. She also had her first cross country meet of the season Monday.


Owen is a freshman and is on the varsity soccer team! (to be fair, they don't have enough boys for a JV and varsity team, but he has been starting in all of the games!)


He doesn't start classes until Sept. 6 because our district has a new building getting finished behind schedule. His CCP class is at the high school and will start at the same time.

And on a Disney note, my mom doesn't really understand and definitely doesn't share my love of Disney, but she certainly feeds my addiction. She recently bought me these Itty Bittys.

 

[FutureCEO]

Going to London in a few weeks!! So excited. My first time going outside the country. And considering I have been obsessed since college, the UK it is. Solo trip but I'm meeting my friend over there.

I bought the ticket in August so probably could have started earlier. British Airways to Heathrow. Only bringing a carry on seeing the travel chaos this summer. Going to Paris for a day (which Eurostar already cancelled our early morning train (6am) so we just booked the 7am one. Probably going to Oxford too. Skygarden at the Walkie Talkie building was booked today so doing that for free instead of paying for the Shard.

While you can spend millions on tours: the main one's on my list that I might do is St. Paul's, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London and Churchill War Rooms.

 

[cgersic]

@TheMouseFan Thanks for the updates on the kids and good luck to all of them! The presents from your mom are adorable!

@FutureCEO Hoping you do a trip report!!

 

[erstwo]

Going to London in a few weeks!! So excited. My first time going outside the country. And considering I have been obsessed since college, the UK it is. Solo trip but I'm meeting my friend over there.

I bought the ticket in August so probably could have started earlier. British Airways to Heathrow. Only bringing a carry on seeing the travel chaos this summer. Going to Paris for a day (which Eurostar already cancelled our early morning train (6am) so we just booked the 7am one. Probably going to Oxford too. Skygarden at the Walkie Talkie building was booked today so doing that for free instead of paying for the Shard.

While you can spend millions on tours: the main one's on my list that I might do is St. Paul's, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London and Churchill War Rooms.

You should be excited! You will love it. Truly, one of my favorite places in the world.
I don’t know where you are staying or what you like to eat, but 34 Mayfair is a new favorite- very upscale but doesn’t break the bank! (Unless you order a few too many cocktails . Those are never cheap!). Me Fogg’s is fun for cocktails on its own. So many good teas!
Keep an eye out for articles about transportation. You never know when the tube workers will go on strike, making cabs hard to come by and Vice versa! Always good to be in the know, so you can call your cab extra early or figure out a tube route.

 

[FutureCEO]

@FutureCEO Hoping you do a trip report!!

I might. Not sure. I know some people go all out on trip reports with notebooks and everything. Totally not one of those people.

You should be excited! You will love it. Truly, one of my favorite places in the world.
I don’t know where you are staying or what you like to eat, but 34 Mayfair is a new favorite- very upscale but doesn’t break the bank! (Unless you order a few too many cocktails . Those are never cheap!). Me Fogg’s is fun for cocktails on its own. So many good teas!
Keep an eye out for articles about transportation. You never know when the tube workers will go on strike, making cabs hard to come by and Vice versa! Always good to be in the know, so you can call your cab extra early or figure out a tube route.

I'm staying near Hammersmith tube station. American chain, unfortunately, due to I didn't want to spend that much on the room. I found a place for pastry. That's all I know on my food so far.

 

[MinnieM123]

I might. Not sure. I know some people go all out on trip reports with notebooks and everything. Totally not one of those people.

Even just a few highlights (here in Chit Chat) after you return home, would be fun. (No big TR necessary, if it's not your thing. Not everyone does a TR.)

 

[erstwo]

I might. Not sure. I know some people go all out on trip reports with notebooks and everything. Totally not one of those people.




I'm staying near Hammersmith tube station. American chain, unfortunately, due to I didn't want to spend that much on the room. I found a place for pastry. That's all I know on my food so far.

I stayed at the Hilton Doubletree on Hyde Park so - same! . I had to pay for two rooms since there were four of us, so whatever I could pay for with points I did. It did not dampen my experience at all. Seriously- you will have a blast.

 

[cgersic]

I might. Not sure. I know some people go all out on trip reports with notebooks and everything. Totally not one of those people.

I'm not either, and by trip report, I mean some pictures and descriptions? I (and I think others) have never been there, so it's always fun to see and hear about new places! Enjoy!!

 

[Songbird76]

I booked my flight to Dublin for my friend's book launch in November. So excited!!

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Anyone here from/ previously from or otherwise familiar with East Tennessee?

Kinda, sorta! We lived in Tennessee for 15 years, but about 30 to 60 miles West of Nashville.
However, we have visited the Smokey Mountains, before Dollywood though. If you are thinking of visiting the E. Tn. area, I know you will have a great time. The mountains are beautiful, and I guess there is a lot more to do now in that area. I guess this doesn't help you much, but hope you have a good time. We love Tennessee and I regret moving from there. But we now have grandkids in this area, so that's it for ever moving, LOL.

 

[fractal]

We're back from our wild tour of PA west to east and back again!
I headed out Friday 7am and after an uneventful 5 1/2 hours pulled into the Market St train station in Philly. (The only exciting part of the trip was they had "been there" Starbucks mugs for PA at a rest stop on the turnpike that I sent a pic to @Tuvalu and I told her I was thinking about her and Em). No Buc-ee's for us.
Seth got into the train station about 20 minutes after I arrived on his Amtrak from NY.

It was funny because the only 2 times I was questioning the wisdom of this drive was when I hit Harrisburg and thought I should have had Seth ride the train to there which would have shortened my trip by about 2 hours. And the second time was when I hit the infamous Schuykill expressway, more fondly known as the SchuyKILL highway and came to a dead (not quite) stop for about 12 miles headed into Philly proper.
When he got off of the train he said, you know mom, this train was going on to Harrisburg!

As we were driving home in equally aggravating traffic on the Schuykill I showed him the hospital that his sister was born at and told him the story about the day she and I were discharged from the hospital after her birth. I wasn't feeling up for the bumpy road to home and we got on the SchuyKILL and she was all buckled into her car seat.
Back in the day they didn't even have the foam head things to keep their heads from bobbing all over the place. So I looked back to see how she was doing, all of 2 days old, and the entire car seat was bobbing along. BECAUSE WE DIDN'T BUCKLE THE CAR SEAT TO THE CAR!!! We did an emergency pull over on that crazy highway and buckled her in properly.

Seth's reply to this story was, "Oh good, she was the lab rat"!!
Smart a**.

So we got back home around 7pm, not too bad.
He had his MRI and labs on Sat. and flew back on Sunday without incident.

They called us today and he has a few more "spots" that they think are just related to migraines but recommended a consult with Neurology.
So it's probably all looking good and if we can't arrange a telemed consult we may be doing the plane/train/car thing again.
I know there are doctors in NY but I know everyone here and feel better being able to stick my 2 cents in! (And in my defense I gave him the option of finding someone in NY and he said he would rather come home).

One Aulani trip update is Seth will now be joining us. He was hesitant at first because of how new he is to his job, but they renewed his contract and he is feeling a little more confident. It's quite annoying because they are a very new company and their policy is to renew in 3 month intervals. He did get renewed for 5 (through the end of the year) so there's that I guess.

Hope everyone has had a nice summer and will have a great fall!

The Schuykill Express is anything but. Absolutely brutal and an embarrassment for one of the largest cities in the country. I try to avoid at all costs. The "Blue Route" /476 is how I try to get in and out of Philly if possible and always for the airport but to get to the train station the "Schuykill" unfortunately is better. Yeah, picking up in Harrisburg would have been much easier!

 

[Darstarr]

Kinda, sorta! We lived in Tennessee for 15 years, but about 30 to 60 miles West of Nashville.
However, we have visited the Smokey Mountains, before Dollywood though. If you are thinking of visiting the E. Tn. area, I know you will have a great time. The mountains are beautiful, and I guess there is a lot more to do now in that area. I guess this doesn't help you much, but hope you have a good time. We love Tennessee and I regret moving from there. But we now have grandkids in this area, so that's it for ever moving, LOL.

Not visiting. My husband has a consulting job there for a few months and comes home only every other weekend or so. He has been looking for things to do. But I should not have worried because he has found two fishing spots has been to an east/west football game and has tickets to a Tennessee volunteers football game. He even bought the orange hat and everything

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Not visiting. My husband has a consulting job there for a few months and comes home only every other weekend or so. He has been looking for things to do. But I should not have worried because he has found two fishing spots has been to an east/west football game and has tickets to a Tennessee volunteers football game. He even bought the orange hat and everything

You HAVE to have the orange hat while in Tennessee! It's a law, LOL!

 

[MickeyCB]

The Schuykill Express is anything but. Absolutely brutal and an embarrassment for one of the largest city's in the country. I try to avoid at all costs. The "Blue Route" /476 is how I try to get in and out of Philly if possible and always for the airport but to get to the train station the "Schuykill" unfortunately is better. Yeah, picking up in Harrisburg would have been much easier!

We lived in Ambler when I was training (and my husband worked in Quakertown) but that was 30 years ago.
I used to know the little bypasses in and out but have no memory of them at this point.
There didn't seem to be one bit of difference in the crazy of that highway from then to now when I drove it on Friday!

 

[Tuvalu]

I am not a Crocs person.

Never had a pair.

Never even tried some on.

Then I saw these.



I now own these cute (and ridiculously expensive) Crocs!

(Confidential to @Nunu ~ I won’t be wearing them on an escalator! )

 

[MickeyCB]

I am not a Crocs person.

Never had a pair.

Never even tried some on.

Then I saw these.

View attachment 662917

I now own these cute (and ridiculously expensive) Crocs!

(Confidential to @Nunu ~ I won’t be wearing them on an escalator! )

Those are ridiculously cute!
And I'm not sure what you mean about the escalator, but I just got a sandal type pair of Crocs for our Aulani trip that came with a little tag that said don't let them rub up against the side of an escalator! Have there been injuries with them getting stuck?

 

[Tuvalu]

Those are ridiculously cute!
And I'm not sure what you mean about the escalator, but I just got a sandal type pair of Crocs for our Aulani trip that came with a little tag that said don't let them rub up against the side of an escalator! Have there been injuries with them getting stuck?

Short answer - yeah.

 

[Nunu]

I won’t be wearing them on an escalator!