Travel Thread

[willeyeam]

Leaving for Punta Cana super early Saturday morning. Can't wait.

I went there for my 40th as well. Bittersweet as we watched the Steelers lose to the Patriots in the AFCCG.

There has never been a more yinzer post.

Could only be more yinzer if he went to Myrtle instead

[robbiestoupe]

I don't care if it's yinzer, I take pride in having my birthday being around the AFCCG and the Steelers being in it often enough.

[nocera]

That's not the yinzer part. The yinzer part is "Yeah, we were in paradise, but the Stillers lost."

[robbiestoupe]

Then that's bad messaging by me. Was definitely bummed out and my hatred for Patriots fans grew (there were too many obnoxious ones at the bar) but still enjoyed the trip.

[skullman80]

Just got to Punta Cana. Never stayed at a true 5 star all inclusive before. This is pretty crazy how everything is just free and everyone bends over backward to do what you want.

They served us champagne as we got out of our transport car from the airport lol.

[robbiestoupe]

Just got to Punta Cana. Never stayed at a true 5 star all inclusive before. This is pretty crazy how everything is just free and everyone bends over backward to do what you want.

They served us champagne as we got out of our transport car from the airport lol.

Did you get a warm towel too? I remember them doing that in our honeymoon in Riviera Maya

[shafnutz05]

Just got to Punta Cana. Never stayed at a true 5 star all inclusive before. This is pretty crazy how everything is just free and everyone bends over backward to do what you want.

They served us champagne as we got out of our transport car from the airport lol.

Enjoy!

[skullman80]

Just got to Punta Cana. Never stayed at a true 5 star all inclusive before. This is pretty crazy how everything is just free and everyone bends over backward to do what you want.

They served us champagne as we got out of our transport car from the airport lol.

Did you get a warm towel too? I remember them doing that in our honeymoon in Riviera Maya

Yep we got a towel to wipe out face/neck/hand when we got to the front desk at the resort. It was cold though which was nice cause it was hot as hell out lol.

My wife and I stood there not knowing what to do at first ha.

[count2infinity]

“Ummm… excuse me… this towel must not have gotten completely dried. You might want to check your dryer ducts.”

[NTP66]

Just got to Punta Cana. Never stayed at a true 5 star all inclusive before. This is pretty crazy how everything is just free and everyone bends over backward to do what you want.

They served us champagne as we got out of our transport car from the airport lol.

Did you get a warm towel too? I remember them doing that in our honeymoon in Riviera Maya

Yep we got a towel to wipe out face/neck/hand when we got to the front desk at the resort. It was cold though which was nice cause it was hot as hell out lol.

My wife and I stood there not knowing what to do at first ha.

Log off and enjoy your vacation.

[Dickie Dunn]

Next round of French protests scheduled for the day we take a train from Basel to Paris.

[nocera]

Paris is huge. I'm willing to bet it's pretty easy to avoid the protests. Or you could do as the locals do and burn some **** down.

[Dickie Dunn]

I'm less worried about the protests and more worried about issues traveling into the city and no metro availability once we get there.

[nocera]

I'm less worried about the protests and more worried about issues traveling into the city and no metro availability once we get there.

There were tons of Ubers available when we were there. That was our primary form of transportation. The drivers should be able to avoid the protests too.

[skullman80]

I'm 3 jack and cokes in lounging on a chair on the beach on a Wednesday at 11am life is good.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

If I visited LA/socal for a week, what would be a good hypothetical itinerary

[nocera]

If I visited LA/socal for a week, what would be a good hypothetical itinerary

I’ll let tif hit you with the cool local spots while I give you some super touristy stuff that I always enjoyed doing with visitors:

Griffith Observatory
Hollywood & Highland (walk of fame, Chinese theater)
Jimmy Kimmel (super easy to get tickets to and free)
La Brea tar pits
WB studio tour
LACMA
The Getty
The Grove
Venice beach boardwalk
See a movie at either the Chinese theater, the cineramadome (if it’s open) or El Capitan
Universal Studios
Disneyland is 30-60 min from LA

[Orlando Penguin]

If you’re a student of history, I’d throw in the Nixon (been there) or Reagan (haven’t yet) libraries.

[eddy]

Just got to Punta Cana. Never stayed at a true 5 star all inclusive before. This is pretty crazy how everything is just free and everyone bends over backward to do what you want.

They served us champagne as we got out of our transport car from the airport lol.

That's pretty awesome, when I got out of the transport car, I got offered cocaine from a guy on a scooter carrying a baby

[tifosi77]

If I visited LA/socal for a week, what would be a good hypothetical itinerary

I’ll let tif hit you with the cool local spots while I give you some super touristy stuff that I always enjoyed doing with visitors:

Griffith Observatory
Hollywood & Highland (walk of fame, Chinese theater)
Jimmy Kimmel (super easy to get tickets to and free)
La Brea tar pits
WB studio tour
LACMA
The Getty
The Grove
Venice beach boardwalk
See a movie at either the Chinese theater, the cineramadome (if it’s open) or El Capitan
Universal Studios
Disneyland is 30-60 min from LA

A little bit of added context to nocera's reccs, because many of them are geographically pretty close to each other

The Getty in Brentwood is a tremendous museum, and if you're there at the right time the views of the basin are unparalleled. Honestly, it's worth going there like for a picnic or something (you can bring outside food and bev) even if you don't go into any of the galleries; the outdoor garden spaces are excellent. The Getty Villa in Malibu is possibly not an option for the time being, as it was impacted by a small landslide over the winter and might be closed for a while. (I honestly haven't checked, so that might be outdated info) Either of these would merit a dedicated trip, but if you do the main location in Brentwood you'll already be in a cool part of town to do other stuff with the remaining hours. Like you could drive to where OJ's house used to be.

If you're going to have your own car, it might be fun to do a tour of movie locations. That's a very hit-or-miss endeavor, though, cos a lot of places are just that: Places. There isn't anything super special about them, other than the fact it was photographed for a movie. But it might be fun if you have littles in tow, and you can get a flavor of some genuine LA traffic. Might also be fun to just drive around some of the townier places like Bel Aire or Beverly Hills. Pro tip: You can't see the Playboy Mansion from the public street, no matter how hard you try. But if you're vehicularly mobile, a day drive up PCH into Ventura is fun; that's actually what Mrs Tif and I did for fun in the early days of the pandemic lockdowns, since we didn't have to get out of our own little bubble of familiar germs.

Hollywood & Highland+Chinese and El Capitan (Kimmel's studio is part of the El Cap complex) are across the street from each other, and include the Walk of Fame. Very much 2-birds-1-stone sort of deals. Ripley's Believe It Or Not, Guinness World Records, and the Wax Museum are right there, if that's your thing. A lot of the Scientology stuff is right there, too, so you've got that in your pocket. There are museums of torture and erotica, which are not actually the same thing. The Magic Castle is right up there, if you can finagle a visit (I think you get tickets if you stay a night in the hotel). The Walk of Fame is one of those things that I never imagine telling people to do when they visit, but every single time I'm in Hollywood I walk around with my face down like an idiot.... "Oh, look - Zsa Zsa Gabor!" lol Cinerama Dome is a short walk away, so still very much same neighborhood. Hollywood & Vine is I think one Red Line stop away, too; you can pop into the Frolic Room bar next to the Pantages Theater and pretend you're Humphrey Bogart. Or don't; I never did, I just liked that bar.

The Hollywood Bowl is something I'd recommend planning around if you're here during the season. I've been there maybe 20 times in my life, and it never gets old. It really is a special place, all the more so if you're able to be there for a special event.

Starting at LACMA The Grove is about 6 blocks north and the Tar Pits are about 3 blocks east. (That's my old neighborhood, and I use to make those walks daily.) LACMA is a pretty great museum, in its own right, with a great Japanese art pavilion. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures just opened at that same complex, and it's pretty good. And directly across the street is the Petersen Automotive Museum, which has an excellent collection and often hosts great temporary exhibits. Adjacent to The Grove is the original LA Farmers Market ("Meet me at 3rd and Fairfax"), which offers some excellent people watching if that's your thing. There are also some really great food options there; it was where I did nearly all my grocery shopping when I lived in that neighborhood, so I have a pretty strong nostalgic pull to the place. CBS Television City is right next door at Beverly & Fairfax, and they do studio audience tapings there as well. (is Price Is Right still a thing?)

WB and Universal are less than 2 miles apart, and the Disney studio is just a mile or so further east from WB if you want to look into booking a backlot tour there (they just resumed them recently). Note that these studios are in the dreaded San Fernando Valley, and if you come in the summer time you will melt. They do movie screenings at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery (film projected on the outside wall of one of the mausoleums) and that's a surprisingly good time. Picnic blanket and $50 worth of Trader Joe's snacks kind of deal. Paramount Pictures is just the south side of the cemetery, and Sony is across town in Culver City; I think they both offer tours, but aside from restaurants there isn't a whole lot of other stuff to do immediately nearby. Fox is in Century City and has plenty of stuff nearby, but I don't think they offer public tours. If studio tours are something you think you might want to do, I'd focus on the three in the Valley.

If you are going to be in Downtown LA, there is the Disney Concert Hall (look for what performances are on the schedule), the Grammy Museum, any goings on at Crypto (nee Staples Center) and LA Live and the Nokia Theater, plus the convention center. Every Sunday in the Arts District there's a big open air food hall called Smorgasburg that's excellent. There are some great brick-and-mortar restaurants in that neighborhood that are totally worth the drive in their own right. And of course, Danger Dogs galore. But I can give more useful food recommendations once you know where you'll be staying.

The presidential libraries are excellent, but they're serious humps outside of town. I live very nearly on the outskirts of LA and it would take me 45 minutes to get to the (great) Reagan library in Simi Valley. They're really good, but understand what you're getting into with that time commitment in communting.

Don'ts

Griffith Observatory is just down the way from Hollywood, but I've lived here over 25 years and have never been; I hear it's quite okay. I would recommend ignoring the Hollywood sign; it's a traffic nightmare and there's literally nothing to do up there. You can't even get to the actual sign any more. If you're on the right side of the plane you'll see it coming into LAX, and you'll see it periodically from your car, and it basically acts as a reminder that yes, you are indeed in Los Angeles, and Tupac's "California Love" will ring in your head.

Ignore the recommendation of Venice Beach. Go a bit further south to Manhattan/Hermosa/Redondo. Nicer communities, fewer Smacky the Frogs shooting up. Redondo is in a freeway vacuum that makes it more time consuming to reach, but it's imo the nicest spot specifically because it's generally not overrun by tourists.

Unless Dodger Stadium is like a bucket list thing for you, avoid at all costs. Baseball isn't worth the gargantuan hassle of getting in and out of Chavez Ravine.

[nocera]

Don't listen to tif. Griffith Observatory is a must-do with an incredible vista of LA. The Hollywood sign is also visible from Griffith so you can knock out two birds with one stone there.

Venice Beach is awesome. If you're trying to have a beach day, sure hit up any of his recs, but you don't really go to Venice for the beach. You go for the boardwalk and to get offered a bunch of shitty mix cds from local rappers. Plus, you can see the Venice Beach basketball court, since obviously you're a White Men Can't Jump Fan (who isn't?)

Other than that, I concur.

[tifosi77]

Times change. You can barely see DTLA from Griffith on a good day, and Venice is a 3-sq mi crackhouse; seriously, place is awful, bottom 5 neighborhood citywide in terms of expectations-vs-reality.

[nocera]

Times change. You can barely see DTLA from Griffith on a good day, and Venice is a 3-sq mi crackhouse; seriously, place is awful, bottom 5 neighborhood citywide in terms of expectations-vs-reality.

Yeah that's true. The boardwalk was rough when we visited in 2021. I still say Griffith is a great place to go, especially when visiting for the first time. We had a clear day in 21 and it was great. An alternative might be having a meal at Yamashiro. Similar view, though not as high in the mountain. We had breakfast there (it's actually rented out to The Griddle cafe in the mornings) and it was great. Pancakes the size of your head. You should've seen the toast. I couldn't even get it through the door.

[The U]

Yeah, skip Venice Beach. Santa Monica pier area is nice to see.

I typically spend 1-2 days in LA and then go south, which I enjoy much more than the city itself.

Not sure how open you are to driving 1-2 hours south but Laguna Niguel, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, etc are all awesome.

[Shyster]

I can visit all of those locations in Grand Theft Auto V. Plus I can run over people with a truck. GTA V is therefore a much better experience.