Fifth Avenue Forum

LAX is very unimpressive for it being a major airport. They're trying to refurbish it a bit and add some more amenities and restaurants but it seems a bit outdated.

LAX was a victim of post-9/11 security revamps. It was already poor and unable to fully serve its passenger volume, but when TSA checkpoints went up at every terminal, it just made things so much worse. Airports like SFO or SEA have multiple TSA screening points, but once you clear them, you still have access to all the domestic terminals (and their food/amenity options). At LAX, once you clear security, you're cocooned in that one terminal. If it's the Bradley International terminal, you're gonna be fine. If it's Terminal 7 and 8 (United), you're gonna be okay. If you're flying Delta (Terminal 2-3), I hope you like Panda Express. (Although since I've last flown Delta out of LA they've added a Shake Shack, but that's still not a preferred sit-down option.)

I am unfazed by flight times of <15 hours. Sadly, SFO-SIN is 17.5 hours.

Last time I had to go thru LAX was when I went to Australia at end of 19 and one of my friends had access to the Delta lounge. Delta used to be in terminal 4 or 5 and having to spend a total of 6 hours there over 2 trips in 3 months was rather mind-numbing.

I should add I brain-farted that: Delta is Terminal 5, and a little satellite terminal.

Ranking airports also depends upon whether you are looking at O&D (origin and destination) passengers or transiting passengers. For example, if you're just connecting through an airport, it doesn't matter that the parking is a nightmare and the luggage claim takes forever, because you won't use either. And if you're just parking and departing from a single terminal, it doesn't matter that the airport's multiple terminals are far apart and a major pain to travel between for connecting passengers. Some airports are good at one but not the other.

SAV, though it’s a small airport, has always been very efficient.

I don't ever really factor in parking, because we always rideshare or shuttle to/from. I think in 16 years of traveling together, we've only rented a car at our destination twice. (Which, now that I think about it, were both of our trips to Oahu)

Kansas City is by far the worst airport I've been to in regards to the TSA screening blocking you from everything.

Kansas City is by far the worst airport I've been to in regards to the TSA screening blocking you from everything.

Yeah, the layout at MCI is just dumb. They can't finish their renovations soon enough.

I don't know when it'll become effective, but Maui is going to be requiring a negative Covid test right after you get off the plan. It'll be free, and we'll go along with it, but I wish they'd make up their minds already. This has changed so many times over the last few months, and while I understand things are fluid, there's no consistency.

Is there anything where people will start looking at if you been vaxxed vs making you show a negative test?

Is there anything where people will start looking at if you been vaxxed vs making you show a negative test?

Hawaii is trying to get a vaccine passport program going where they will allow you to waive the pre-arrival covid testing. No word on whether or not that will get you out of this new post-arrival test, though.

Another issue is that they require you to get tested at specific locations only, and it's limited. You need to have a specific test done, at an approved location, and the results must be uploaded to their Safe Travels app, and all within 48 hours of arrival.

We hadn’t planned on going anywhere for Spring Break last week, but after a half day at home alone with the kids, my wife grew tired of them staring at their phones all day. So we got a cabin up on Beech Mountain, NC for three days.

Ski season (yes, NC does have ski season) had just ended, so it was cheap, but not much was open up there. Still beautiful and nice to be 3500+ feet above sea level for a few days.

It was weird seeing signs for tire chain repairs and an actual flashing warning sign when entering the steep ascent up the mountain that if it’s snowing or icy, you need 4wd or chains. I’ve been to Western NC many times, but not this far up where snow hangs around for a while.

Drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and found a lake that rented kayaks. The kids loved it, and with no cellular towers, managed to stay off their damn phones long enough to enjoy it.

We saw a sign for Tennessee, and decided to go over the border just because we could. Spent the afternoon in a state park, which was a former silver mining community. My kids - and they are very much teenagers - seemed impressed that we were in a new state. I really think they wanted to go to Nashville or somewhere bigger, but they sure did like the border adventure. It’s pretty cool to still impress teenagers lol.

I’ve been meaning to go to Boone, so we got over there and ate a meal and toured Appalachian State University. Definitely got some Clemson vibes - similar sized campus, although Boone the town is much bigger the Clemson.

Not bad for a thrown together, last minute trip.

I love that area. It is nice.

I vacationed in the Boone, NC area back in 2011. Absolutely beautiful. Would love to go back.

Nice DG! We have done a couple weekend AirBnB trips to a remote cabin up north during the quarantine. Perfect getaway.

We began planning for our trip to Disney/Orlando for February. I am both anxious and excited at the same time.

We do a VRBO 15 minutes or so from the Disney parks, just to have more room to spread out and it’s a lot cheaper. Disney now charges $15 a night to park in resort lots, which is ridiculous imo. We had a tough time getting a place initially. The first guy never responded to our request, so it automatically canceled. We went back in a day later and the house was off of the website completely. The next guy only wanted to rent month to month (!!) so we passed on that. The third and fourth choices were slow to respond, but we ended up getting one finally.

My wife wanted to use a ticket planning agency - we seem to have a lot of local women with arrested development/Disney fetishes that run Disney travel planning agencies. They get all the tickets, magic bands, hotels for no additional cost to us. These housefraus get discounts on future trips to the parks. The one we reached out to couldn’t get us tickets cheaper than Sam’s Club or UndercoverTourist, so we went with them.

So, our housing is cheaper than when we last went in 2017 by about $100 total. My guess is those prices will go back up once people get traveling again.

The Disney tickets - for the same five days over all of the parks - are close to $900 more than in 2017.

Our total cost is creeping into the “take the family to Europe” cost. Not quite there, but close.

**** Disney and their prices.

Oh you can take your family the World Showcase instead.

Mrs Tif's company did a thing with the Disney Institute a couple years ago, and the level to which they train up on customer service is amazing. They also don't view places like Universal or Sea World as their competition; they view their own customer's discretionary spending as their main competition (i.e. Do we get Marsha braces this year or go to Disney? Do we get a new car this year or go to Disney? etc).

They've also apparently done away with annual passes. Which sucks, because with the opening of Galaxy's Edge I was actually going to look into the pass thing, because several of my friends (who are also severe SW nerds) were pass holders, and I thought it would be fun for a year to go to the park 3 or 4 times with them.

FYI only Disneyland has done away with annual passes and the general consensus is they’ll be back once the parks return to normal capacity.

Oh great. It's only the park a 90-minute drive from my house. Sweet.

Oh great. It's only the park a 90-minute drive from my house. Sweet.

Disneyland still is booked solid even though there are no APs and it’s CA residents only. You’ll go to Universal Hollywood and you’ll like it.

Maybe I completely missed this transition, maybe Covid was the reason; it appears hotels now are making it optional for room cleaning services. You have to opt in and specifically ask for it. They mask it as a way to “save the environment” but obviously it’s a way to save themselves money without taking anything out of the cost of the hotel stay.

Maybe I completely missed this transition, maybe Covid was the reason; it appears hotels now are making it optional for room cleaning services. You have to opt in and specifically ask for it. They mask it as a way to “save the environment” but obviously it’s a way to save themselves money without taking anything out of the cost of the hotel stay.

It's the same thing with not washing the towels for a multi night stay... Great money saver and makes them look greener. That said, I don't get my towels washed every day in a hotel... Unnecessary.