Nu car rental denver airport shuttle

Hey, I recently was looking at taking my partner to Brasil, but ended up choosing Costa Rica since it’s a bit safer . Anyway today I arrived at 1-3am and I was expecting to get my rental car, which then I learned closed at 10pm and they never gave me a call or ask if I was showing up ( the plane delayed), I then am able to negotiate the price of a cab down, I get to the hotel (Barceló ) and they informed me my room is damaged and they’re taking me to a different hotel, I get in and from the room I payed to stay in to the room I am staying now is a big fucking difference. I then go to the counter to ask for a shuttle to the airport and they tell me it’s not free. So is this the status quo for a visit here ? I am just not trying to waste my time. I just recently did Korea and that was a world’s difference of customer service( and I wasn’t even paying for expensive experiences)
I don’t know, I am just exhausted and annoyed that I have to pay for a shuttle to the airport ($20) each way and the airport is 5 minutes away.

When considering travel options at a tourist location, airport shuttle and taxi services are the two primary choices that come to mind. In recent times, the former option has gained popularity.
A shuttle service is a transportation method that ferries passengers between two points, the designated pickup and drop off destinations, at regular intervals. This method uses a variety of vehicles however; small buses and vans are the two most common options. Shuttle transportation services have evolved greatly since its inception. They have swapped standard passenger vans for grand limousines and private cars enabling passengers to travel in luxury at affordable costs. Here are 6 reasons to choose a shuttle service over a taxi cab. israel airport transfers
Reliable:
The shuttle transportation service has earned credit for its reliability. If you've ever been in a situation where the hired vehicle did not turn up causing you to miss your flight, you know how annoying it is to be stranded. In comparison to taxi cabs, shuttle services are more reliable. It arrives 15 minutes prior to the scheduled pickup time. Also, their schedule is prepared keeping in mind flight departure and arrival time so that it is always available to ferry passengers outside the air terminal.
Convenience:
Since most transport services operate online, you can schedule your pick up time and location at the company website; you do not have to visit the agent in person. On the other hand, if you forget to make travel reservations, you can book yourself last minute upon arrival or departure. Reservations can be made at designated pickup and drop off points. air port transfer
Comfortable:
Despite being a shared ride, a shuttle service provides the same comfort as a private car. The vehicles pickup customers immediately outside the air terminal and drop them off close to the hotel. Passengers are already tired and exhausted after a long journey. A shuttle service saves passengers the trouble of dragging their luggage in search of a car rental or taxicab. They manage your luggage helping you load and unload baggage at pickup and drop off points. It also combines a comfortable ride with safety and security.
Great Option for Large Groups:
Shuttle services are a great option if you are taking a trip in a group. A large group will require several taxis. This also means a higher cost. A bus or a large van allows groups to travel together at a reasonable cost. airport city taxi
Experience and Knowledge of Drivers:
Shuttle service drivers are experienced. They are familiar with the region and hence point out attractions and landmarks on the way.
Shuttle services are a comfortable, luxurious and economically feasible option. You should research tour companies offering shuttle services before you make your reservations.
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Itinerary Check: 1 month in Japan 2024
Hi Reddit, my fiance and I are planning our honeymoon for a month in Japan, in March/April next year, during the cherry blossom season. I came back from my first trip to Japan this January, and had such an amazing and memorable time (credits to you guys for helping with my itinerary for that!). My honeymoon will be my second time in Japan, and I was hoping to get some feedback/advice/suggestions etc. on my draft itinerary!
(Please excuse the formatting - I'm on mobile)
Please read after the itinerary for some notes...
DAY 1 (12th March) - FLIGHT - Flight from Australia to Tokyo Haneda Airport - Arrive in the evening - Overnight stay in Tokyo (preferably Asakusa)
DAY 2 (13th March) - Tokyo - Explore Asakusa - Explore Skytree - Overnight stay in Tokyo
DAY 3 (14th March) - Tokyo - Spend whole day at DisneySea - Rental car for the day? - Overnight stay in Tokyo
DAY 4 (15th March) - Tokyo - Explore Shibuya - Overnight stay in Tokyo
DAY 5 (16th March) - Tokyo - Explora Shibuya - Overnight stay in Tokyo
DAY 6 (17th March) - Tokyo - Explora Akihabara - Overnight stay in Tokyo
DAY 7 (18th March) - Tokyo - Explore Akihabara - Overnight stay in Tokyo
DAY 8 (19th March) - Nikko Day Trip - Day trip to Nikko using Nikko World Heritage Pass - Leave early in morning on Tobu Asakusa line - Overnight stay in Tokyo
DAY 9 (20th March) - Hakone - Use Hakone Kamakura Pass - Travel from Tokyo to Hakone - Hakone Loop - Overnight stay in Hakone ryokan
DAY 10 (21st March) - Kamakura/Enoshima - Use Hakone Kamakura Pass - Travel from Hakone to Kamakura + Enoshima - Enoden - Overnight stay in Kamakura
DAY 11 (22nd March) - Tokyo - Return to Tokyo - Shimokitazawa + thrift stores - Explore local areas (free roam) - Overnight stay in Tokyo
DAY 12 (23rd March) - Tokyo - Free roam, Pokemon Centre, Sunshine City - Overnight stay in Tokyo
DAY 13 (24th March) - Flight to Okinawa - Fly from Tokyo (Narita/Haneda) to Okinawa Naha Airport (morning flight - arrive in late morning) - Car rental - Explore local Naha area - Okinawa World - Overnight stay in Naha
DAY 14 (25th March) - Okinawa - Drive up along Naha island - Onna, Nago, etc. and activities along the way - Overnight stay in
DAY 15 (26th March) - Okinawa - Drive up along Naha island - Churaumi Aquarium + local activities - Overnight stay in Okinawa
DAY 16 (27th March) - Flight from Okinawa to Osaka - Drive back to Naha - Fly from Okinawa Naha Airport to Kansai Airport (maybe late morning or midday flight) - Travel to Osaka - Check-in to hotel and explore local area (thinking of Umeda) - Overnight stay in Osaka
DAY 17 (28th March) - Osaka - Full day at Universal Studios (with Express Pass, hopefully) - Overnight stay in Osaka
DAY 18 (29th March) - Yoshino Day Trip - Day trip to Mt Yoshino for cherry blossom viewing - Overnight stay in Osaka
DAY 19 (30th March) - Osaka - Shinsaibashi, Den Den Town - Dotonbori at night - Overnight stay in Osaka
DAY 20 (31st March) - Osaka - Cup Noodles Museum Ikeda - Free roam, shopping, etc. - Overnight stay in Osaka
DAY 21 (1st April) - Kawaguchiko - Take Shinkansen from Osaka to Mishima Station - Transfer to Fujikyu bus and travel to Kawaguchiko Station - Check-in to hotel and free roam local area (bike riding?) - Overnight stay in Kawaguchiko
DAY 22 (2nd April) - Kawaguchiko - Chureito Pagoda - cherry blossom ice cream - Oshino Hakkai - Overnight stay in Kawaguchiko
DAY 23 (3rd April) - Kawaguchiko - Lake Yamanaka - Free roam - Overnight stay in Kawaguchiko
DAY 24 (4th April) - Tokyo - Take Fujikyu bus back to Tokyo (Shinjuku Station) - Explore Shinjuku - Check-in to hotel - Overnight stay in Tokyo
DAY 25 (5th April) - Tokyo - Explore Shinjuku - Overnight stay in Tokyo
DAY 26 (6th April) - Tokyo - Explora Ginza + shopping - Overnight stay in Tokyo
DAY 27 (7th April) - Tokyo - Explore Harajuku - Overnight stay in Tokyo
DAY 28 (8th April) - Tokyo - Explore Toyosu (Lalaport mall) - Overnight stay in Tokyo
DAY 29 (9th April) - Tokyo OR Day Trip - Free roam (e.g. Shibuya Sky, shopping, Parco Mall) - OR day trip to Yokohama or Izu Peninsula - Overnight stay in Tokyo
DAY 30 (10th April) - Tokyo - Full day Disneyland - Overnight stay in Tokyo
DAY 31 (11th April) - Tokyo - Free roam Chiba, OR day trip - Overnight stay in Tokyo
DAY 32 (12th April) - FLIGHT - Flight from Haneda Airport to Australia

Notes:

1) I don't think we would need the JR Pass for this trip. 2) The reason why we are spending so many days in Tokyo is because we feel we didn't get enough time in Tokyo last time (we got ~ 5 days including both Disneys). We didn't get to explore as much as we wanted to. 3) I've only had a brief look of what activities we can do in Okinawa, hence it's pretty empty at the moment. Anything we find, we can add to our itinerary later. 4) Similarly, we haven't planned much for Tokyo because we want to be more spontaneous with our plans there, apart from places like Disney, Pokemon Cafe, etc. We also have a friend living there whom we plan to meet, so we aren't worried about not having set plans (we had more fun that way!). 5) Since there are soooo many travel passes out there, are the passes I've chosen (Nikko WH & Hakone/Kamakura) good enough? We still have our Pasmo cards which we can use in the cities. 6) I've tried my best to plan the different places according to average cherry blossom forecasts, knowing that the forecast can vary every year (although I know Okinawa gets sakura very early, so I don't mind missing it there as long as we get to see it on the main land). 7) We are planning to go to the theme parks (both Disneys & USJ) on weekdays, hopefully for less crowds (considering it would be peak tourist season). 8) Due to the length of our trip (and hence our budget), I doubt we will be able to stay at a hotel/ryokan with a private onsen with Mt Fuji view (that has been my dream, but it's like $600-1000 AUD per night :( ). Are there any suggestions for hotel/ryokan with private onsen alternatives, even in other places such as Hakone? We are trying to spend ~ $100 AUD per night, but I understand that such places would be far more expensive (we'll see if we can spend a little extra, otherwise leave my dream for a future trip!) 9) We were originally planning to go to Sapporo during the Okinawa dates, as I really want to go to Shiroi Koibito Park. But, it seems like it would make more sense to go to Sapporo another time, such as during the snow festival, and even in March I'd have to pack extra warm (and possibly heavy) clothes. Hence, we decided to swap Sapporo with Okinawa, since it's said to be more "tropical". 10) Is it possible to do Izu Peninsula as a day trip from Tokyo? Or Yokohama?
Thank you (especially if you read this far!)

I was planning to get a rental car for my move from Dallas-Denver.
I do not have a license and I don't drive, but I was planning on flying my mom out to Dallas and she would be the one driving. However, I would like to pay for the car and have it in my name. Can I book a rental car under my name, and go with my mom to pick up the car and put her as the driver? Is that possible?

Hey folks! This is a stretch, but maybe some knows what I'm talking about...
Went to DFW about 4-5 years ago from out-of-state and when we left the airport with the rental car, we didn't go far before we ended up in this awesome BBQ joint. It was unique because it basically had a huge four-sided bar where you ate and they did some of the cooking in the middle of the bar. Had some regular tables and chairs too, but one (maybe two) of the bars inside. This was a larger mom-and-pop place in a stand-alone building, so not Hard 8 or a place in a strip mall. Would love to visit there again if anyone knows what's up. Thanks!

Hi y’all, need a little help from people who know Bonnaroo well. It’s our first time going and the website makes flexible arrival sound impossible.
We have Wednesday camp entry and plan to arrive with two cars to get spots together. However, one person in our group has to arrive Thursday morning. Can someone from our group take a car out of Bonnaroo at ~6am to pick them up and come back?
Don’t care about the wait, totally understand it will be hours to go back inside Thursday. Just really want to be able to pick up the late comer since airport shuttles aren’t happening. Roo Rides sounds like a great option but it’s a solo female and… you get it. Any advice?

Hello, I am traveling to Ireland Sept 9-16, flying into Shannon and out Dublin from the US. We are two active women in our 30s. I’d love feedback on the itinerary I’ve developed, especially the first 3 days because I’m not sure it’s all doable, but would love to see as much as realistic. Would also like advice on where to stay overnight day 2, and if I should take the car ferry or drive through Limerick to Dingle. Recs on good car rental companies for automatic vehicles and different pick up/drop off locations would be helpful as well. Thanks in advance.
Day 1 - Sat •Arrive Shannon airport 0730 •Drive to Connemara National Park •Diamond Hill hike •Kylemore Abbey •Visit Cong Overnight Galway
Day 2 - Sun •Aran Islands - Ferry from Galway or Rossaveel or Doolin? •Cliffs of Moher - walk from Doolin to Cliffs center •Doolin Cave •Drive along Wild Atlantic Way to The Burren •O’Brien’s Tower Overnight Suggestion?
Day 3 - Mon •Car ferry across the Shannon estuary between Killimer (Clare) and Tarbert (Kerry) vs. drive? •Dingle Peninsula including:
Slea Head Drive Conor Pass Drive Ferry to Great Blasket Island Dunbeg Promontory Fort Gallarus Oratory Overnight Dingle Town
Day 4 - Tues •Ring of Kerry including:
Skellig Michael Staigue Fort Gap of Dunloe Visit Kenmare? Gleninchaquin Park Overnight Killarney
Day 5 - Wed •Killarney National Park including: Ross Castle Torc Waterfall Muckross House and Gardens Muckross Abbey Boat tour of Killarney lakes Overnight Killarney
Day 6 - Thurs •Cork: Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle Rock of Cashel English Market Visit Cobh? Overnight Cork
Day 7 - Fri •Kilkenny: Norman Castle Round Tower and St. Canice’s Cathedral
•Continue to Dublin: St. Patrick’s Cathedral Christ Church Cathedral Kilmainham Gaol Walk through Temple Bar Overnight Dublin
Day 8 - Sat Depart for USA at 1300

Trip Report- 13 days Tokyo/Kyoto/Hakone/Nagoya (Ghibli Park) /Hiroshima with a 2 year-old toddler. (plus day-trips to Nara and Osaka)
I love reading other peoples' trip reports and thought it might be useful to share my experiences travelling with my wife and toddler in Japan. We used Shinkasens for most of our travel between cities but did rent a car in the middle so that we could drive to a rural Onsen and then to Shirakawa-Go from Nagoya. (We also briefly rented a car to visit 3 plaaces around Hakone, too).
First of all, traveling with a toddler in japan is great. Our kid loves trains and busses and got tons of attention and shouts of "KAWAI!!" from friendly people everywhere we went. She even got a lullaby sung to her by a Japanese grandmother as she dozed on a city bus in Kyoto. She never had to pay for any bus fares or train fares. (technically she was a "lap baby" on the Shinkansens).
We read a book of etiquette before we went and it was very useful to know. I am sure most of these tips are stickied elsewhere , but things like "don't point with one finger, always grasp cups with both hands, don't wipe your face/mouth with the hand-cloth, don't talk loudly in restaurants or on trains, keep yen bills neat and flat and use the trays provided when paying for things," etc, were good to know before we went. We brought and carried a "point-and-say" translation book but only used it once; generally Google Translate worked great for images of menus and signs. (and many restaurants have English versions of menus, or use digital menus on iPad that can switch to English. ) Google maps handled most of our navigation needs without issues too, both via train and car. We parked the stroller outside most restaurants or folded it and brought it just inside the door if the weather was bad.
Prep work --
The only major prep work we did before leaving was to buy our JR pass and alert our banks to the dates that we would be in Japan so that our credit and debit cards would work. We had no problems getting cash from the ATM machines at 7-11 or at the Airport. We reserved all hotels/AirBnB/Onsen/Car Rentals beforehand. Also bought SkyTree tickets before departing. We stayed up until 4am to get a ticket to Ghibli's Grand Warehouse -- fortunately only one ticket was needed since our child was under 4 and my wife wasn't interested. We rented a mobile hotspot device from Sakura Mobile before leaving America and it was waiting for us at our first hotel in Tokyo. We dropped the hotspot and charger in a mailbox in a pre-paid envelope before leaving Kyoto.
Major tips -- no need to pack lots of snacks or water each day , since vending machines and 7-11 stores and similar are ubiquitous. Do pack paper towels/ Napkins and extra plastic bags for carrying wet diapers and trash, as public trash cans are almost non-existant. (and when they do exist, they are often just for aluminum and PET plastic bottles) Throw away trash where you bought it, (for things like satay skewers) or bring it home to your hotel. The "pack-it-out" mindset takes a little getting used to, but the results -- a society seemingly without litter-- are superb. Having a lightweight , easily foldable stroller made this trip much easier. Our child often slept in the stroller, and being able to quickly collapse and carry it was key to getting up and down the many sets of stairs in the train stations. It also occasionally doubled as a luggage cart for us. Packing light is key; we picked hotels and AirBnBs that had laundry options to allow us to carry a minimum of stuff. (and no need to bring laundry soap; the washing machines dispense it automatically) My wife wished she had a Japanese-style suitcase with 4 roller-wheels, but I think we did fine with our backpacks , etc.
In general, we didn't have much trouble finding things for my daughter to eat; she loves noodles and dumplings, and even got really into red snapper sushi one night. (basically she loves anything she can dip in soy sauce). Chicken Karage was usually an easy thing to find and feed to her, as were the egg salad Sandos, fresh fruit, and various rice balls from 7-11. Oddly, she also really loved the "pickle-on-a-stick" things that were pretty common in outdoor markets. (I think we got them in both Kyoto and Osaka)
Flights - we flew JAL to from LAX to Narita outbound, and returned on JAL (operated by AA) from Hiroshima to Haneda to LAX. The outbound flight was great; the JAL service was impeccable and they gave my child a model airplane which kept her occupied for hours. We gate-checked our folding stroller on the outbound flight -- the gate clerk put into a plastic bag for us just before departure,
The return flight (operated by American Airlines ) was a step down, but still fine. Transferring planes at Haneda for the return was a little more of a hassle than we had expected becuase you have to exit one terminal, walk a while, exit the building and then get on a free bus, and then go back through security at another terminal. On the plus side, the Haneda international terminal has a padded play area that my daughter liked near the duty free shops. Becuase our return journey was two flights, gate-checking the stroller was not possible, but instead, after measuring its size, we were able to keep it as a carry-on for both legs. (had it been larger, JAL said they would have met us at Haneda with an airport loaner stroller, something we saw other parents using in Hiroshinma and Haneda)
Highlights from each city (focusing on things that my child loved)
Tokyo -- our first night in Japan was a little disorienting: the Tokyo metro station is like a gigantic multi-layer mall-labryinth, and since none of the maps seem to show the "big picture" finding our way to the correct exit lugging luggage was a bit of a challenge the first time . We went back down that night for our fist meal, and by the next day we were practically experts, and were even able to find our way to Ramen Street (on level B1) for lunch and --after waiting in line for about 20 minutes-- slurp some great noodles.
Our first morning we wanted to visit the imperial Palace Gardens, but discovered it is closed on Mondays. Stil, just seeing its moat and stone walls was impressive. We walked to the Children's Science and Technology Museum near Budokan, and our duaghter loved operating cranes and turning cranks of giant Rube-Goldberg machines. (some with bowling-ball sized steel balls moving around). Most of the exhibits were in Japanese, but the fact that this wasn't a common tourist destination made it interesting to visit. On the way home for naps we ate at a random underground food court under an office building and learned how to order a food ticket from a machine for eating at a restaraunt. (a key skill!)
We next headed up to the Owl Cafe in Akihabara, mostly as an excuse to have a visit to Akhiabara, and found it was closed, but seeing the electronics stores and nightlife of Akhihabara was fun. As you might expect, my daughter loved getting Gacha Balls from vending machines (both in Akihabara and everywhere else )
Our second day we spent the morning hunting for the legendary "Elephant Playground" (worth the hunt!) and then went to the nearby Tokyo Childrens' Toy Museum. This was a fantastic combo, and I would recommend anyone with young kids in Tokyo do both. From there we walked to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, which was a wonderful oaisis, full of picknicking families and couples. We explored the tropical greenhouse and then had a well-needed rest under a tree near a tea-house in the traditial japanese garden section Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden also was conveniently close to the Shinjuku rail station, which was imporant because we had Sky-Tree tickets that evening, and we headed there directly. We didn't have time to do any shopping or visit the two museums recommended to us near the skytree (Tobacco and Salt and the Tobu rail museum) But we did have what I consider my favorite meal of the trip: beers and gyoza and molten-lava hot takoyaki at a tiny( 6- seat) izakaya a few minutes south of the Skytree. (i'd recommend it by name but it was completely in japanasese and I am not sure I can now accurately ID it)

The third day we visted the Tusikiji outer fish market -- we got there early and and it was quickly full of tourists and good food. (many different kinds of grilled things on sticks, as well as raw oysters, etc) I was amazed that the public bathrooms there were sparkling clean -- as they were throughout almost the entire trip. My daughter loved getting an ice-cream drink at John Lennon's favorite coffiee shop (Yonemoto). On the way back thorugh Ginza we bought an enormous fig wrapped like the crown jewels from one of Japnan's famous fruit-gift stores. It cost about $9, but was absoulutely delicious. (it was crazy to see $200 watermelons and $170 muskmellons in the same store) 

We also took this time in Ginza to do one of the things on my bucket list -- buy an overpriced gift fruit from a fancy Japanese store. We bought the second cheapest thing in there - a single giant fig, and I think it cost about $9. (totally worth it!) . it was just fun to ogle $80 spherical watermelons, and other beautiful, but incredibly expensive fruit.
Later that afternoon visited/saw Shibuya crossing, ate decent and very inexpensive sushi at a 3rd floor conveyor-belt restaurant, and went to Harjuku. (not in that order) Harajuku was chaotic fun, but equally fun was the long peaceful forest walk to visit the Meji Ginku shrine that starts just outside Harjuki station . By now we were experts at tossing coins, bowing, clapping, and praying in the appropriate cycle. (something the 2 year old seemed to quite enjoy). We also knew from our guidebook that we were supposed to walk only on the sides of the path at Meji Ginku -- the middle is reserved for the Gods.
NAGOYA/GHIBLI - We took a direct bus from Nagoya station (cash accepted, Pasmo Cards also accepted) out to the sprawling expo grounds that surround the Ghibli exhibits. Our 2.5 year old loved Studio Ghibli Parks Gand Warehouse, particularly the miniature town where she could run around and pretend to drive a train and serve beer at a drafthouse. There was a furry Catbus to sit on, (of course) as well as another padded Catbus to jump around on for a few minutes with shoes off. Totoro is the only Ghibli character she knows well, and she loved finding hidden Totoros and (and a giant bar-tending one) around the Warehouse.
Arguably, Ghibli park was a little disappointing for us two adults , becuase it was pouring rain when we visited making the long walks between areas less than fun. And despite having moved heaven and earth to get a timed ticket, there still were long lines (~40 min) for areas inside the "Grand Warehouse." It was interesting for me to see the sketches and reference photos a used to make each cell of Ghibli animation realisitic ... but it was annoying and crazy that most areas of the warehouse totally forbad taking photographs. Much of the rest of the Grand Warehouse was just lines for people to take selfies in front of recreated scenes from the movies for posting on social media.
We had watched or re-watched all the Ghibli movies prior to our trip, so we were well prepared, but overall I would say that if you can't get tickets to go to the Grand Warehouse, don't feel bad. (There are many many more magical and wonderful things everywhere else in Japan, and your 2 -year-old will love them just as much. )
HAKONE/SHIRAKAWA-GO/ HIDA (Onsen)
We took a Shinkasen south from Tokyo to Hakone, and spent a day there with a family friend who showed us an ancient tea-house along the old imperial road, a famous Shinto shrine, a deliicious meal, and of course, Mount Hakone with its black eggs, sulfurous fumes, and melty black ice cream. The toddler loved the eggs and the ice cream, of course! For me, sitting and eating tea and mochi in the deep forest along the royal road was like being transported back into a historical Kurosawa film.
If you visit Hakone, I would encourage you to get into the woods and do some hiking. It's a gorgeous area. Apparently the japanese love to drink and tour Lake Ashi on a pair of pirate ships. which added a comic aspect to our visit to the much-photographed Hakone Shrine's Tori gate.
We knew we wanted to visit the truly rural areas of Honshu, so we reserved a night at a remote Onsen near Shirakawa-Go. The drive from Nagoya was stunningly beautiful, traffic was light, and because we had rented a toll transponder along with the rental car, we could just breeze through the toll-booths (which are located at the off-ramps) . Seeing the untouched mountains coexisting with sleek new road tunnels and breathtaking shining bridges made me realize how decrepit American infrastructure has become.
IT was a bit stressful to drive on the left hand side of the road, but conversely, It was great to be able to pull over at will. For example, we could stop at at a small town outside of Nagoya for a delicious prix fixe breakfast at "cafe Pierrot" and again later to see and visit a beautiful riverside Shinto shrine along the road. The car gave us the freedom to and be able to just stop and explore and let our child play in the shallow water surrounded by green hills. Driving in the rural areas wasn't too bad, and doing so let us see a whole other world that we would have missed had we stuck to the trains. For example, we visited a delightful outdoor morning market in the village of Miyagawa and bought fresh produce and some delightful snacks (including fish-shaped custard-filled mini-donuts) from the vendors followed by an impromptu picnic along the riverbank.
On this portion of the trip we also got to experience the Japan's wonderful rest-stop cuisine -- you use a ticket machine to select some items, hand them to a chef behind the counter, and in a few minutes your number is called . We had some delicious Japanese pizza (shaped like a elongated, puffy taco ) fragrant beef curry, and a "Miso Katsu" dish too.
Later we would stop at another rest stop and discover that it had an absolutely epic set of slides and tunnels built into the hillside. You borrow a plastic sled and then slide about 150 feet down a green carpet. It was hearwarming to see how kind and welcoming the japanese children were to our daughter, helping her to slide and showing her how to play and explore the tunnels. Arguably this was my child's favorite part of the entire trip.
Shirakawa Go was great fun for the whole family -- it was definately touristy, but it was great to be able to stroll and relax and learn about Japan's past. (Parking closes at 5pm, though!) We had only a few hours there but I think we would have enjoyed an entire day of strolling and snacking and learning. Interestingly all the parking attendents there seem to be senior citizens.
Our Ondsen was in a small farming comunity outside Hida, surrounded by orchards, mountains, and rice paddies. We were the only non-japanese that we saw there, and it was a little challenging to keep our toddler ccorralled during the formal meals (served in a common area, not in our rooms). As expected, the indoor slippers provided were a bit small for my size-11 feet, but we had a great time in a beautiful, secluded place.
Staying overnight got us a ticket to also visit the large and well-maintained municipal baths just up the road. (each side of which had about 7 pools of various temperatures and medicinal properties) There was a wonderful hiking trail that looped through the deep forest around the town. One of my biggest regrets of the trip is that we did not have more time to hike and explore these lush, pristine mountain woods -- I think I enjoyed our hikes here as much as I did the onsen baths.
The driving portion of our trip ended on the western coast of Honshu, at Kanazawa, but we didn't see much of that city other than a gas station and the rental car return before taking the "thunderbird" train down to Kyoto. (not quite as fast as some shinkasen, but very comfortable).
KYOTO and day-trips:
We had three delightful days in Kyoto, along including day trips by rail to Osaka (to see the market, eat okinomiyaki, and climb Osaka Castle) and Nara (to walk aound and feed the deer in the park and then the koi at a a beautiful botanical garden, stroll through another temple, and to eat the best Udon noodles of the trip while siting outdoors in the forest. In Nara, we also stumbled upon a wonderful Beatles-only vintage record shop called "B-Sels" on an upper floor just across from Nara station, and listened to a street performance of Shamisen music at the station itself. Nara, like Shirakawa-Go, was full of busloads of tourists, but that didn't make it any less of a great experience for us.
Kyoto itself was wonderful to explore on foot -- I won't go into exhaustive detail, but our child loved walking and being pushed in the stroller to various Temples and loved the view from Kyoto tower. (and the Gatcha ball souvenir tower even more!) . She liked the path through the bamboo forest (crowded with tourists) and loved "hiking" through the beautiful and less crowded gardens of Tenryu-Ji temple -- part of which has remained unchanged since the 14th century. We skipped the monkey park.
In Kyoto proper, we walked through Chion-In Buddhist temple , took our shoes off and bagged them, and observed a ceremony -- it was interesting to see how similar it was to ceremonies in America, with the same incense, syllable recitation, and wood-block time-keeping interspersed with bowl-gong ringing .... but on a much grander scale. The size of the wooden buildings is epic, rivaling the stone cathedrals of Europe. Because of the large numbers of steps to get from the massive Sanmon gate to the main building of the shrine, my wife and I took turns exploring and let the toddler play along the paths of the temple's small tea-garden next door.
Hiroshima-
Finally, we spent the last two days of our trip in Hiroshima. It was shocking and surreal to get off the train underground and suddenly be hit with an overwhelming smell of burning -- there was construction work all around Hiroshima station and I don't know if it was from digging pylons down into subterranean ashes, or just from some other more modern aspect of the construction As someone whose worldview was shaped by reading Barefoot Gen as a child, visiting Hiroshima was an important and somber part of our trip.
It was interesting to see that the bulk of the visitors to the Peace Museum visitors seemed to be Japanese school groups. Of course, most of the photos and exhibits museum went "over the head" of our 2/yo child. (she wasn't frightened, just not interested). She did enjoy ringing the peace Bell outside and seeing the collections of paper cranes. We bought books to help share the experience with her again once she is older.
In any event, Hiroshima is a charming city showing no outward signs of being apocalyptically devastated (except at the Peace Memorial Dome) and there is an excellent restaurant district just around the corner from the main train station, with many small restaurants that are open late.
The people and proprietors of Hiroshima seemed particularly kind to us; it's more relaxed there than any of the other cities we viisted. Our chid loved was the "Children's 5-day Science Museum" about a quater mile away from Peace Park that has a lot of hands-on exhibits and two stories of climbing tunnels. We did not do the planetarium there, as it is in japanese-language only and we had limited time.
For us, the highlight of our time in Hiroshima was taking the long ferry to Miyajima directly from Peace Park and then wandering around the narrow streets of Miyajima in the afternoon and evening. It was great to see the oyster beds being worked from the ferry and then later dine on delicious grilled and fried Miyajima oysters.
Our child loved the ferry rides and wandering around Miyajima (there are deer there too) but she also slept for much of our time on the island. The return ferry was part of the JR rail network and so we could use our JR passes for that. (its a short, straighter route).
All in all, Japan was very kid friendly, as long as you can quickly and easily fold up your stroller, and we loved our time in every city we visited. (and could have easily spent much more time in any of them).
Other Thoughts: We bought the Japan Rail Pass, but probably didn't save much money by doing so; My wife estimates that we about broke even with the number of shinkansen, trains, and ferry-rides we used. It was a nice security blanket, though, to know that if we missed a train it wouldn't cost us anything. (but we never missed any trains) . For non JR-line trains, we used a pair of "PASMO" cards. Pasmo cards can also be used at other random retail places as a stored-cash card. When you go through the gates, you must look for ones that say "IC" if you are using a Pasmo card and tap against the NFC pad with it. Using Pasmo is nice because the card is durable (unlike the paper JR Pass) and you can load up enough money for multiple trips on the card.
We use T-mobile, and our plan included 5 GB of "high speed data" while in japan but we weren't sure we would have good service for our rural drive, so we gout a WiFi hotspot from Sakura Mobile. This worked fine -- and its speeds was always faster than T-Mobile's coverage when tested. The hotspot generally would last about 20 hours on one charge. But honestly T-Mobile's Japan coverage was probably good enough that the hotspot was an unnecessary expense; we often used it instead of the hotspot and only came close to the 5GB limit on our last day. If I were on a tighter budget, a shorter trip, or knew I wouldn't be in remote areas, I would skip the Hotspot and just use T-mobile.
TLDR: Tokyo Toy Museum is fantastic for little ones. Ghibli Park (Grand Warehouse) is fine, but our kid probably had just as much fun on many other Japanese playgrounds. If you do choose to drive, don't miss the Japanese rest stops which can be fantastic with fresh food and jungle gyms and slides. Our kid may remember little from the trip except the toys she took home from GATCHA balls, but we have a lifetime of memories gained. Don't miss the Udon in Nara at "Mizuya Chaya", just outside the beautiful Manyo Botanical Gardens.
links:
ELEPHANT PLAYGROUND:
https://www.thetokyochapter.com/tokyos-retro-playgrounds/
RAMEN STREET:
https://tokyocheapo.com/food-and-drink/ramen/tokyo-ramen-street/
Miyagawa Morning Market:
https://www.japan.travel/en/spot/1255/
Udon at Mizuya Chaya in Nara:
https://www.visitnara.jp/venues/D01057/

My moved away with her new husband about a year ago. I’m 22 and my brother is 17 we live with our dad. One airport is about 2.5 hours away although it’s cheaper to fly into. The other airport is less than 10 minutes away and slightly more expensive.
Mom was coming into town for my brother’s graduation with her new husband. I told her months ago I’m busy with my school and work so fly into the closer airport since you won’t have a car. I’m not playing uber with her. My brother also doesn’t need to pick her up for what would be 5 hours round trip for us. 10 hours at least there and back.
She told me her new husband likes to budget his money better (a dig at my dad) and they decided to fly into the other airport to save money. I refused to pick her up. I meant it. She said she would get a rental. She gets there and all the rentals in her price range are sold out and now wants me to drive to pick her up. I said no. I go into work and I find out my 17 year old brother who we are supposed to be celebrating went and picked them up. I was pissed and yelled at my mom for being selfish. I told my dad what’s done is done and there’s no reason to ruin my brother’s graduation. My dad and I told my mom that my brother isn’t taking her back to the airport and to get a rental. My mom said everyone always treats her so bad and at least she has one good son and since he’s almost 18 we shouldn’t tell him what he can and can’t do.

Hi Go Wild Friends! In case anyone wants to know about beautiful Costa Rica I went there using my Go Wild pass so I thought I would do a story about what happened in Costa Rica. There aren’t really a lot of travel tips in here, its just the wild shit I got into in Costa Rica. I did another write up with actual tips about South Beach in Miami on a budget here if you want to read that one.
Okay, Costa Rica, so fuckin amazing! I want to fly to all the international places Frontier goes so I decided to do Costa Rica second (Cancun is an easy trip for me in Kansas City, they go nonstop there every weekend). The hardest part about Costa Rica is just getting there, I took a bit of a circuitous route.
I always take a big vacation each year after tax season, its fun for me to turn my phone off and go somewhere off the grid and not even think about work. Last year I went to Argentina and Uruguay and it was wild but honestly, this year was even better! I first wanted to stay with my brother and see my nieces and nephews in Orlando so I booked a one way flight from St. Louis to Orlando for only $19 with my Go Wild pass. I got to take a train from Kansas City to St. Louis, it was only $37 and I loved it actually, something about trains is so fun for me, probably because I took one to Chicago in college and stayed in a homeless shelter, my first real experience solo traveling, I loved it!
I spent the afternoon in St. Louis riding around downtown on those fun scooters and eating chicken wings and walking around the baseball experience place they had, it was a good afternoon. I had a late flight to Orlando but I fucked up the terminal (don't google which terminal is Frontier, its wrong). I went through security and bag check only to find out I was in the wrong terminal so that stunk but I had plenty of time for two security checks so no big deal. The flight was delayed so I didn’t get into Orlando until almost 2am and there was a long line for the rental car. I regret not doing the one you can pick up without talking to an agent so much, it was only like $5 more, do the self check car rental if possible. Orlando was fun, got to see my nieces and nephews and my brother and his wife put a little guest bedroom in the shed, easy to get into at 2am without waking anyone up.
After two days in Orlando it was time for my big flight to Costa Rica! So excited! This flight was only $51 with my Go Wild pass, an absolute steal. It stopped in Atlanta and then I was in Costa Rica in no time. On the plane a bunch of us were excitedly talking about our Go Wild passes, its kind of fun to do the spiderman meme thing and be like, you have a Go Wild pass? Me Too! The ringleader told me there were wild sloths if I went to a place called Manuel Antonio. I said what the fuck did you just say, wild sloths? Oh yes! I literally had no plans for a whole week so I mentally added sloths to the list of things I wanted to see. I have a travel buddy I met in Mexico to visit in San Jose and I wanted to see the volcano and the beaches of course but that was it.
At the airport you will want to get some cash, they have an ATM right there when you walk out. Don’t do the currency exchange, those people were giving really shitty rates. After you get cash walk around outside the airport to the backside, it’s a short walk and that’s where all the city buses come. There are buses to San Jose every 15 minutes, just jump on one of those its only like $1.50 and it goes 25 minutes to downtown. I have a huge aversion to taxis in Latin America, I’ve been ripped off a lot and airports are especially bad.
Once in San Jose you can walk most places, it’s a fun city to walk around. I stayed at the Costa Rica Backpackers hostel which I do not recommend for one big reason. Its so fuckin hot. I didn’t even think about checking for air conditioning, most places have it now. Also, I like hostels and the common areas and the hammocks and I always set up my chess board and play at night with beers. But I really like to have my own room at a hostel. This private room was I think $35 a night which is pretty good but it did not have air conditioning, just a fan recirculating hot air and it was right off the street so yeah, no recommendation for that one, I only stayed one night. That’s the fun thing about how I travel though, no reservations and no plans, if its not great I just go to a different place. I hung out with my travel buddy that night and we smoked a lot of um… cigarettes and went to this place where locals hang out. It was like some fuckin fast and furious movie but with Ticos, guys were just flying around on motorcycles on wheelies. I bought a huge meal for my friend and me, empanadas, a bunch of other Costa Rican food, it was so fuckin good and the whole meal was only $7, ha!
The next morning I set my chess board out at the hostel and I put $10 out on the money clip like I normally do when I travel. It’s a fun way to get people to play, if you beat me you get $10 if I win, nothing. My chess is kind of like a parlor trick too because I play in less than 5 seconds every move so everyone is thinking through it and Im having beers and going quick, usually at a hostel there gets to be a crowd and Im playing four dutch people on warm night in Mexico, so fuckin fun. On this morning a kid came up to play and I was teaching him chess for awhile nervously, I didn’t see his mom anywhere and secondly who brings a kid to a hostel? I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen one. He starts just taking my pieces off the board and then he takes the $10 and says welp I guess I won. I laughed and I said alright then, good job buddy. Just then his mom hobbled over, a Danish hippy with a broken foot. She thanked me for hanging out with him and told me the doctor said not to walk too much but it was hard with a six year old. I said sit down, sit down and I got her breakfast and helped her out. We talked for a bit and I told a funny Mexico story and helped them get their stuff together and she said oh you have to come to our hippy community in Puerto Viejo, you can stay in our shack by the ocean. I said oh that sounds fun today Im going to see a volcano but maybe later. She said they are the most beautiful beaches in Costa Rica, one is entirely black sand. I said Im listening. She said they were poor in a little shack by the rainforest and they have monkeys and sloths in their backyard. I said um what the fuck did you just say? Wild sloths? She said yeah, tons of them. I booked a ticket right away for the 6am bus the next day. I went with my friend to the active volcano and then he dropped me off at my hotel. I booked the Radisson the second night because I really wanted Air Conditioning. Im soft like that, sorry. And it had a hot tub. I’ve never seen that many people in one hot tub, ha. At night I did a Tinder date, I found out all the cabs are pretty much $6 in San Jose so it was easy to get there and back and I went out with a fun lady who told me in Costa Rica they eat chicken wings with gloves, did you guys know that?
I got up at 4:30am and packed up for my 6am bus. At the front desk I asked them if they could call me a cab and they said its an additional $30 US. I was like nah, fuck that, $30? What a ripoff, I’ll just walk, its only 2 miles. So I walk pretty far into downtown San Jose and whoooooooosh, a bottle explodes near me! I go what the fuck and look up, theres a drunk Costa Rican man in a soccer jersey like two blocks away screaming at me in Spanish! I had so many questions, the first of course was who is balling out of control at 5am in the morning? The second was, who the fuck is that Latino Roger Clemens? I could barely see the guy from two streets away and he was (presumably) drunk getting that close to me with a full bottle of beer? The last question of course was who is drunk and throwing FULL bottles of beer? I walked away from his direction and then saw that there was a whole bar full of drunk soccer fans like him and I noped the fuck out and ran to the taxi stand and got a taxi. I said you know what, a taxi isn’t such a bad idea!
I regretted not Googling anything because my phone didn’t work at all in Costa Rica. They said I could buy a sim card but I didn’t want to, I kind of liked being off the grid. But I really wanted to find wild sloths. Maybe the person beside me will help I thought as I stood in line for the 6am bus. Damn, I hope its not someone rapid firing Spanish at me though, my Spanish is not great. Most of my Spanish I’ve learned from the music of Bad Bunny. I was relieved to see my seat in 44 was next to a Japanese man in 45. Oh that’s awesome I thought, he will struggle with Spanish too and we can find wild sloths together. Nope, turns out Im a racist asshole, he was a Japanese Argentinian who spoke perfect Spanish and no English, none. His phone worked too and he was putting all these upside down house letters in Japanese and beautiful beaches were popping up, I really needed his help. I tried to befriend him but they speak a different kind of Spanish in Argentina, cajes instead of calles and so fast, so fuckin fast! His had like a little stall in it before it winded up too, like a UUUUUU mi esposa no esta aqui! His wife was either sleeping back in San Jose or dead, I couldn’t really understand. I noticed he had a bear avatar on his phone so I knew he liked animals so half way through the ride I decided to try to tell him they had sloths there. Hay peresozos en Puerto Viejo I said but he didn’t understand what I was saying. I said peresozos again and put up three fingers mimicking a sloth and then I panicked, I was like shit, what do sloths do? Its an animal famous for not doing anything. I pretended to hang up side down and he is (loudly) guessing animals in Spanish and Im like no, peresozos! Maybe I was saying it wrong but I had no Google so I said es posible tu telefono? And I typed in sloths and all these upside down houses came up and the words Oso Peresozo. And he goes UUUUUU OSO PERESOZO! I don’t know if you’ve ever been on a bus traveling through rural Costa Rica and seen a Japanese Argentinian get excited in Spanish about wild sloths but it is… ADORABLE!
Si SI! Oso Peresozo! I yelled. People are turning around now, they are like why the fuck are the American and Japanese guys back there in 44 and 45 playing charades two hours into a 6am bus ride? I said juntos? (Together) and he said si si! He told me where we could get bikes to rent and what to eat, he was the perfect travel partner! He said Yelp dices Jerk Chicken is the best to eat here. I said thanks Juan, you are my favorite travel partner! We had an amazing day in Puerto Viejo, beautiful beaches, monkeys, wild sloths, God damn that was an amazing day. He even showed me where my hostel was and I dropped off my bag. This hostel was called 456 hostel which I also do not recommend because no AC and there are weird animals running on the roof but I didn’t care, I just wanted to throw down my bag and get back to looking for wild sloths. The lady said we can’t just take your bag you need to check in first, I said listen lady you see that God damn excited Japanese man out there? We got wild sloths to find! I had no desire to spend one second in that hostel but Juan goes “Esta bien, cerveza” and then he had a beer by the ocean while I checked in. I joined him for a beer and it turns out that is a beautiful setting for a hostel. Still don’t recommend though, so fuckin hot.
Juan and I had an amazing day in Puerto Viejo, God damn that place is beautiful. We saw wild sloths, monkeys, and had an amazing time on the beach. I was sad to see him go, what a great travel partner! He pointed to where my hostel was but I said I would ride back into town with him. To be honest, I forgot to write down the name of the bike rental and there was like a hundred in Puerto. I turned my bike in with his to his surprise because we had rented for a full day but I told him I wanted a motorcycle. He used his expert Googling skills to get me to the cheapest motorcycle place. It was only $30 a day for a motorcycle which I thought was very reasonable. And I didn’t have enough cash on me and they didn’t take cards so the rental guy just said no worries man, take de bike to the ATM. That was pretty trusting! I came back with the money and got the bike and I can’t tell you guys the drugs part because the mods said no talking about drugs.
That was such a fast motorcycle. I turned my Bluetooth speaker up all the way and floored it and zoomed down the coast in time for the sunset, so God damn beautiful! Something about that warm Costa Rican sun on your shoulders and the sound of Khalid and the smell of salt in the air riding along the beautiful ocean, it will change your life. After the sunset I went to Cat’s house and her beautiful German friend Alina was there. There were three kids too and as soon as I got there they went riffling through my bag looking for candy. I had two caramels but was one short so I gave the little kid my chips. This was her sad face for not getting candy!
Cat was hobbling around on crutches so Alina and I said sit down we will take care of dinner. I went to the store down the street and got so much stuff for that poor family- toilet paper, rice, peppers and Barbies for the kids and a soccer ball for Marcello. Gringo santa claus when I came back, both the ladies cried, Alina said her girls had never had a Barbie doll. Alina and I cranked up the music in that little hippy house by the ocean and made dinner and drank wine and laughed while the kids played with their new toys and Cat relaxed and finished her remote work. We ate the food and drank the wine and smoked…cigarettes and had an amazing night. Alina asked if I wanted to share the Tuk Tuk and I said yes. She said it in kind of a mischievous way so I thought maybe she wanted to make out. And she was very beautiful so I said yes. We got in the Tuk Tuk and rode back towards town passing my hostel, she winked and said your hostel was back there you know and then put her hand on my arm.
I thought Cat was poor but Alina was super poor. She told the tuk tuk driver to turn left by the trash dump and we pulled up to an even tinier house right next to the rainforest. She said wait out here and I’ll put the kids to bed. So I waited on the porch. The kitchen was actually outside, a little refrigerator and a little stove and a sink. I sat in the chairs and she came out and we smoke a um cigarette together and then she said wait here. I was like fuck, wait her for what? Is she going to rob me or something but she didn’t seem scary, she seemed sweet. She came back out with a big giant mattress and threw it on the porch floor. Then she took off her shirt and said in her German accent, “Un now we share our bodies.” I thought that was a pretty sexy thing to say so I took off my shirt too and joined her except I didn’t want to have unprotected sex with a hippy so we just made out.
Sometime after she slipped back inside so I was alone on the mattress on the backporch by the rainforest. I thought that was a pretty good place to spend my first night in Puerto Viejo and I looked up and saw a hundred million stars lighting up the sky and fell asleep. But not too many hours later, God damn I awoke to a caucophony of jungle sounds! So many monkeys, just fuckin howling. And there were these weird rat things running around, they weren’t small at all, if you’ve ever seen the Princess Bride fucking ROS. (Rodents of Unusual Size). I honestly thought the monkeys were coming on the porch, that’s how loud they were.
I jumped up and leaned the mattress against the house and started walking, past the trash dump and out to the ocean. The first beach I came across was the black beach, it was amazing and I sat there until the sun came up. I had no watch or anything and my phone was dead so I walked for a long ways until I found a Tuk Tuk driver who took me to Cats. I got my motorcycle and went back to the hostel but when I charged my phone I found it was only 6am so I went back to sleep. But the hostel had no AC and there were some fuckin animals on the roof right over my head so I couldn’t sleep much. I went to the beach and found more wild monkeys and then sent Cat a WhatsApp message to see if she needed my help since she had the broken foot and Marcello was home, it was some kind of Costa Rican holiday.
She said sure come over and so I drove my motorcycle back down the coast and went back to the store and got more supplies and cooked them a big lunch. I had asked before if they eat meat because some hippies don’t and she said sure but its expensive here I don’t know if you want to buy it. It was $4 ha, I got some ham and rice and peppers and made a huge lunch and drank some beers and cooked while Cat did her remote work. She took a picture and I asked if she mind taking a short video of me cooking. IT wasn’t for social media or friends or anything, that video was for me so I could remember when I could be happy. A trip to Costa Rica for only $51 with my Go Wild pass and I got to be by the ocean and I met new friends and I was actually helping someone, I realized that day that’s what made me the most happy, that’s why I wanted the video.
After lunch I cleaned up and then Marcello and I played some chess. She asked if I minded watching Marcello while she ran to town with a client and I said sure, no problem. I was wrong, it was a huge fuckin problem! She said she would be back in an hour and then we could go to the hippy get-together on the beach. She was NOT back in an hour and I fuckin panicked. I didn’t know this lady’s last name, I didn’t know Marcello really, I called Cat and she didn’t answer and I tried texting her, nothing. I thought fuck, she must have abandoned me with this kid. And I don’t know how to get ahold of the authorities and it was a holiday, this shit was basically the plot to the Adam Sandler movie Big Daddy. I started pounding beers because I was so nervous. I asked Marcello if he knew Alina’s number and this little dude said, and I quote, “Who’s Alina?” What the fuck? I said buddy, the lady that was here last night with the kids? He said he didn’t know them very much. Oh my God I thought, I’ve definitely been saddled with a kid. But then I was thinking, you know what, I could raise this kid, wouldn’t be that bad, live in this $400 a month house by the ocean, sounds good. But I have my own kids back home in Kansas City and that made me panic even more, now Im fuckin slammin beers so worried. Every car that goes down this little side road Im like oh please be Cat. Now this kid is starting to yell at me to come back out in Norwegian, I don’t know Norwegian and he wants me to read him books, which are also in Norwegian, Im full panicky at this time.
Finally Cat came back I said Cat, I wasn’t comfortable with that, I don’t even know your last name or anything. She goes, why, whats wrong? And goes running in to see Marcello, I said oh no, he’s fine, nothing happened its just that I thought you left and weren’t coming back. She said why would I leave my kid I love him more than anything in the world. I said I know, okay, its just that I was panicking. She said calm down, all good, lets go to the hippy fire circle. I was not going to go, I was going to get the fuck out but I really wanted to go to the fire circle, I was hoping they would let me spin the fire. So we went to the fire circle, Marcello and Cat with the client and me following behind on the motorcycle. We relaxed on the blanket and then up came beautiful Alina looking like a million bucks in the sun tucking her brown hair behind her ears. She got on the blanket with us close to me and I retold the story about how I thought Cat abandoned her kid with me and we all laughed and smoked again and had beers and then watched the sun go down. I didn’t know Marcello didn’t know how to swim so I showed him how to swim a bit, a little lesson in front of the beautiful sunset. After the sun went down it was time for the fire circle and the main guy said brother, thank you for helping Cat, you are in our circle now, whats ours is yours. I said oh man thank you so much can I do the fire spinning? And he said that you can not do. Damn.
So I watched the others spin it jealously and then I got us some appetizer snacks from the restaurant. After the fire circle and the singing and everything we decided to have a picnic at the black beach. They went to the store to get the food and I went to go get my motorcycle. When I got back I guess Alina had stolen something from the store because the workers were all around her and the police were coming. It was equally sad and scary. They took everything she bought away and Cat said its okay she had enough so we all walked to the black sand beach and I gave Alina a hard time for being a thief until we all were laughing. We had a great night by the ocean and then they both got Tuk Tuks and I got on my motorcycle and drove back to the hot hostel and fell asleep and I never saw those hippies again. The end.

33F trying to come to Bonnaroo for Saturday, then departing Sunday. I am having a hard time finding a ride back to the airport. I am happy to chip in for rental car, gas, parking pass, whatever is needed. I am flexible on the departure Time on Saturday, but I have to make a 2pm flight on Sunday morning.
I am trying HARD to attend Roo, but I keep hitting road blocks with the transport situation. I am an experienced raver, won’t keep you waiting and I am very reliable.
Thank you!!

Hello, fellow Redditors! I'm planning a road trip in Italy from June 30th to July 14th, flying in and out of Bergamo Airport. I'm considering renting a car to explore the beautiful countryside and enjoy the freedom of independent travel. However, I'm a bit uncertain about the whole process and would greatly appreciate your help and insights.
I have a few questions in mind, and I'm hoping some of you who have rented a car in Italy for a road trip can share your experiences and offer some valuable advice. Here are a few specific things I'd like to know:

1. Tips and Tricks: Are there any tips or tricks you could share that might make the car rental process in Italy smoother and more cost-effective? Any specific websites or rental companies you recommend?
   
2. Scams and Avoiding Troublesome Areas: Are there any common scams or areas where it's better to avoid renting a car for a road trip in Italy? I want to be aware of any potential issues and plan accordingly.
   
3. Personal Experiences: If you've rented a car in Italy for a road trip before, I'd love to hear about your personal experiences. What were the positives and negatives? Any unexpected challenges you faced?
   
4. Booking Through Online Platforms: Is renting a car through booking websites like Booking.com a smart move for a road trip in Italy? Have you had any success or encountered any issues with these platforms?
   
5. Car Rental Insurance: Is the car rental insurance offered during the booking process in Booking.com sufficient, or do you recommend additional coverage? Are there any specific insurance providers you trust in Italy?
   

I appreciate any insights, suggestions, or anecdotes you can share to help me better understand the process of renting a car in Italy for a road trip. Your input will be invaluable in making our trip smooth and enjoyable. Grazie mille in advance for your help!

In a situation where person A rented a car under their name, person B damaged the car while person C was a witness. Beforehand, we had a discussion where person A agreed to ensure that the credit card company would cover any damages. However, person A did not follow through due to misreading the check boxes and did buy LDW when they were not supposed to for CC company to cover, and now person A wants both person B and person C to pay for the damages. Is there a legal basis for person A’s request, considering that we initially agreed to split the costs?
As of now Person A is threatening to send a letter from their “lawyers”
Person B and C are siblings which is why A wants B and C to pay.
I have screenshots and venmo requests that show acknowledgment of splitting costs.

I am currently a silver delta member. I started a new job ~3 months ago that requires me to travel at least once a month, sometimes more.
I usually fly out of a small airport. I will occasionally drive to Milwaukee. For personal international flights I will drive to Chicago.
With my most recent work travel, Delta has been more expensive. Traveling to JFK/LGA or MCO for example Delta is $300-400 more expensive. My expense report gets flagged if I pick an ticket that is $100 more expensive than the cheapest ticket.
Work also requires me to book Avis or Budget rental cars which is compatible with United.
I get sent to customer manufacturing locations, so I could end up flying pretty much anywhere.
Would United be okay for me? I hate layovers in Atlanta so at least I'll avoid that with United...
American also flies out of my local airports if that matters lol.

After skipping April, here are some inspiration snippets from Berlin, Germany and wider. Career and other cool insights. Here is March.

Week of 1st (May)

1. 🤔 Do you know any shortcuts/tips/tricks on how to get an appointment at Ausländerbehörde? If so, please share in the comments or drop me an email. Thank you so much!
2. 🚃 Lost something on public transport? Here is the website to deal with it. It will be sold at an auction if you do not pick it up in 6 weeks. These are done quarterly, and see you at Auktionshaus Beier in July because I need some AirPods.
3. 🚗 Germany is extremely dependent on the automotive industry and their exports. Don’t quote me on that, but the big ones make roughly 1/3 of their revenues in China. Now, look at these charts and think: What sets modern cars apart? What does it mean for Germany? Soon, the brand will be the only differentiator.
4. 🙌 Pragmatic Engineer (Gergely Orosz) gave me a nice shoutout tweet. A must-follow if you are interested in tech/engineering. One of my recent favourites is this interview with Steve Yegge, which is full of interesting insights.
5. 🤖 If you are like me, you maybe feel worried that your ChatGPT prompt game is weak (especially after reading all those "prompt influencers" milking the trend on the bird app). A while ago, I even linked to a “Prompt Engineer” as a future profession. But according to Ethan Mollick's Guide to Prompting, we do not have much to worry about. In a nutshell: just try things out and then repeat.
6. 📦 eBay-Kleinanzeigen, one of the best German websites (😅) with 40M monthly users, will finally rename to Kleinanzeigen on 16.5 after being sold to Norwegian classifieds specialist Adevinta in 2021. Most of it will stay the same; I am delighted my “Top Zufriedenheit” status will also be migrated.
7. 😔 Bad news: N26 is laying off 71 (4%), Knister Grill (Munich) insolvent; Flink shrank for 8k (down from 21k!) employees since April 2022.
8. berlin choice of the week: activists vandalized a few luxury shops on K’damm, and of course, the commentariat delivered again on all sides of the spectrum. Also, BVG has a new type of tram that looks like a car. 😅
9. ✈️ This week I learned that BER Terminals 1 and 2 are connected. You can use any security control to access gates at both terminals.
10. 💬 Briefly: SellerX (Berlin) is rumoured to be in a sale process; HelloFresh and Delivery Hero are, unsurprisingly, growing slower: check their Investor Relations pages for details and take it with a pinch of salt; Bosch plans to purchase TSI Semiconductors' assets for $1.5 billion to enhance its semiconductor business with silicon carbide chips; Finn (Munich) CEO Max-Josef Meier resigned after harassing several female colleagues on a company event.

Week of 8th (May)

1. 🚂 If you have decided to take on €49 ticket, Exberliner prepared a nice list of suggestions for excursions from Berlin. Worth a save!
2. 🤑 Here is a summary of research on money and happiness. I like Nick’s conclusion: Increased income is associated with greater happiness for lower-income individuals. For high-income, unhappy individuals, further income is unlikely to increase happiness. For high-income, happy individuals, while more income could enhance happiness, the effort required may not be worth it.
3. 😔 Bad news: CleverShuttle (Berlin) insolvent; Shopify 20% of employees (most of German org).
4. berlin choice of the week is an interesting Reddit AMA from an U-Bahn driver from a year ago.
5. 💬 Briefly:
6. Getir wants to own them all and is reportedly buying Flink—enjoy it while it lasts;
7. Tier reportedly selling itself;
8. Vice News, a former alter news source loved by millennials and eventually copied by everyone, is in serious trouble;
9. TeamViewer from Ba-Wü posted 13% YoY growth (151M);
10. SAP wants to enter LLMs with an investment into Aleph Alpha—it will surely be expensive;
11. Lilium (Munich) needs/wants to raise €250M;
12. founder of once-hyped Gorillas, Kagan Sümer, is building something new in HealthTech called Mirror (no website yet);
13. his other three colleagues founded meal-as-a-service for restaurants, Tasty Urban.

Week of 15th (May)

1. ✌️ Here is another reminder to check out my article with 40+ questions you can ask at the job interview. Disclosure: not written by ChatGPT!
2. 👻 Like all the startups beyond Series B, Bolt also plans to become profitable soon, specifically in the next 12 months, and then IPO in 2025. They might also do payments? More at Reuters. Meantime, Lyft, another Uber competitor, is firing 1100 employees.
3. ⚡️ Remember all those predictions on the Russian gas and the collapse of Germany? Here is an interesting article about the concept of substitutes in economics (the fallacy: “When the average person thinks about a 40% reduction in natural gas supplies, they implicitly assume that each natural gas-dependent industry must cut its usage by 40%.”), but it is also worth reading the comments for differing opinions (= free markets are BS.)
4. 👀 Besides your burgers and curries, Lieferando started to deliver 100 different MediaMarkt products inside the Berlin ring (useful if you urgently need a phone charger or a phone, lol? and bad for their competitor Arive). Food & high margin product delivery is probably here to stay, but groceries? I think not.
5. 📚Blinkist, a Berlin-based app that always felt like cheating to me, was bought by Go1 from Down Under; nobody asked me for my opinion, but a good time to exit with all the Generative AI knocking on the door! Now I should probably go back to my book.
6. 🌊 Have you ever heard of Seaflooding? Me neither, but it reads like a great idea. Flooding parts of the Sahara to reduce the ocean levels? Plus, make some energy on the way? Let’s do it!
7. 👟 Adidas is stuck with €1B worth of Yeezy sneakers since the man lost his mind, but, amongst other batshit crazy stuff, found a purpose in antisemitism. They plan to sell them gradually and partially donate the proceeds. (€, 🇩🇪) What a problem to have.
8. ⛴️ Exberliner delivers again! Berlin has plenty of ferries; I see myself using some in the summer. This article also made me think I need a “handpicked Berlin bucket list.”
9. 😔 Bad news: nobody is publishing news about layoffs anymore! There are three options: 1) all layoffs are done; 2) all layoffs are silent; 3) nobody is laying off. I vote for 2). Infarm leaving Berlin & Europe; okäse (Köln) insolvent.
10. berlin choice of the week is this DDR map of Berlin from 1988; comments deliver as usual.
11. 💬 Briefly:
12. swedish Northvolt plans to build a battery gigafactory in Schleswig-Holstein (and employ 3k people) with support from the state and Bund - careers;
13. Revolut’s CFO is leaving, which is never a good sign, especially after problems with acquiring a banking licence in the UK. On a more positive note: they will start to sell ETFs via Berlin’s Upvest;
14. Trivago, the troubled aggregator of the aggregators, changed almost their complete board;
15. VW will restructure Cariad, its software arm, replacing its CEO with Peter Bosch (ex-Bentley);
16. Google did not release Bard in the EU because of GDPregulation worries;
17. Unstoppable Finance (Berlin-based crypto play) wants to get a banking license in 2024;
18. Mobileye will do automated assistance and navigate-on-pilot functions for Porsche;
19. FS Italiane ordered 40 locomotives from Siemens worth €300M;
20. Rheinmetall is planning to start production in Ukraine.

Week of 22nd (May)

1. 🚴‍♀️ If you have ever wondered how many bikes pass a certain checkpoint in Berlin, you have your answers here. (via this post on berlin)
2. 👀 I found out about Himmel Unter Berlin, an exclusive invite-only exhibition. I did enter the waitlist, but if I could be your +1, please let me know. 🙏
3. 💸 After eight years of rental price caps, landlords (incl. mine) just seem to love ignoring the rules and ask for too much rent! (🇩🇪) Analysis of 6K cases in 2021 shows that 98% were overcharged. Hah.
4. Bitpanda, an Austrian crypto investing platform, jumped on the AI hype train and will invest $10M in an AI chatbot. Ok.
5. In Saxony, AfD’s Sebastian Wippel brought the topic of chemtrails to the state parliament. What’s next, Flat Earth?
6. Sifted reports that Bolt is close to buying Tier. There are still some micro-mobility companies left, but I am still unsure how such a seasonal business can be profitable long-term. Bolt is betting on many horses, and only time will tell if we will still see so many scooters lying around in 2 years. Related:
7. ☝️I previously recommended Matt Levine and his Money Stuff, and this week he wrote about blitzscaling of Uber being possibly illegal. The VC-subsidised “winner takes all” mentality caused partial destruction of competition and could be considered predatory pricing. Worth a read (second chapter)!
8. 😔 Bad news: nothing to report. So instead, data from last week’s poll: 26% (41) of voters know 10+ people laid off since April 1st, and 38% do not know anyone. The rest (36%) are in-between. Hard to draw conclusions, but clearly, silent layoffs are happening.
9. berlin choice of the week is a flat directory of smaller real estate companies. Good luck if you are on a search now.
10. 💬 Briefly: Tesla will start spending on marketing (inevitable with all the competition); ThyssenKrupp wants to IPO its hydrogen unit Nucera (careers) in June for 4B; Cara Care founder Jesaja Brinkmann ALSO behaved inappropriately towards female colleagues at a party in December and is OUT; Intel also wants to invest in LLM developers Aleph Alpha from Heidelberg; after Mercedes also VWis leaving Russia; DB ordered 73 new ICEs (🇩🇪) for €2B and wants to hire thousands—careers; ATU was hacked (🇩🇪)—I wonder if my car data is LOST or STOLEN.

Week of 29th (May)

1. 📉 Germany is, because of a second negative quarter in a row, officially in a mild recession (GDP fell by 0.3% for the last quarter). Well. On the other hand, some startups (esp. renewables) were hiring extensively last year, as the analysis of Sifted shows. To me, Helsing from the Sifted list sounds promising, but ask them if they have a product already. Careers.
2. 👎 Most of the Google/Amazon/other reviews are useless. First, a lot of them are fake and second; they can be bought, and third, they are skewed because the majority of people never review.Gergely Oroszdid an extensive analysis of Glassdoor reviews after layoffs and I think the whole thing proves the point that looking at them is useless and a waste of time.
3. 💩 OpenAI founder Sam Altman said they might pull ChatGPT out of the EU because of the regulation shortly after he also told US regulators that AI should be regulated. I guess only his regulation is the correct regulation?
4. 🛒 Instead of selling itself to Getir, Flink raised €150M from existing investors (they took a haircut to the highest valuation at €2.5B, now at around €1B). In addition, they are letting 100 employees in HQ go and are pulling out of France after their €100M Cajoo investment (🇩🇪, €). On top, Aldi Süd will experiment with delivery around Mülheim (🇩🇪) this July. Are you bullish or bearish?
5. ☝️Big organisations are often arrogant and inefficient. It recently happened again to Microsoft, as reported in this anecdote where Satya Nadella scolded his R&D team. Another good lesson that the size and throwing money at things often doesn’t work.
6. 😅 One of the weirdest political debates I have seen since in Berlin is around the closing of Friedrichstrasse for traffic. Now it will be open again from the 1st of July. But hey, what is the point of just closing a street without planting trees and making it much more pedestrian-friendly? They did it in many other cities, and it worked. Half-assed attempts make no sense.
7. ✈️ Here is a longer profile in German of Ryanair and its success (🇩🇪) after their annual report. They are profitable, are expanding their fleet and want to hire 10k.
8. 🧨 Before joining N26, you might want to read this great analysis from Miriam at Sifted. Bullish or bearish?
9. 🐟 Here you have an Insta post of some of the best lakes around Berlin, which you should pair with this temperature monitoring when the time comes. From my perspective, the time is not here yet.
10. I tried what3words a couple of times, and I remember thinking, “Wow, what a great idea”, before going back to using Google Maps. This week I learned they burned £119M to generate £2.5M in revenue in the last six years. What a time to be alive. This, kids, is what a vitamin looks like instead of a painkiller.
11. ☄️Great news. There is probably no imminent danger of getting erased by an asteroid: We still have at least 1000 years left on Earth unless we destroy it ourselves first!
12. 😔 Bad news: Circus (Hamburg, 35/25%); Meta 6000 (unknown for Germany); Moss(Berlin, 30), Flink (Berlin, 100).
13. 💡 Speaking of layoffs: I have previously linked to “how to act” guidance, but it was not as good as this LinkedIn post from Mayuri Reddy. Read it and share it.
14. 🇹🇭 I have never been to Thailand or Thai Park yet, and this is changing soon; Exberliner has tips on what to eat in Thai Park. I am going with Pad Thai. See you around!
15. berlin choice of the week is this discussion about Pfandpiraten and how much they can earn. Fascinating! “They estimated that about 928,000 people actively collect Pfand in Germany. Of them, 56% make less than 4€ a day. Of them, 28% collect enough that it is their primary income.”
16. 💬 Briefly: Solaris Bank is raising fresh money (€50M); Klarna moved its goal to reach profitability this summer to “this year” and is reportedly “on track”; Flix is expanding like there is no tomorrow: India will be its 42nd market; Neeva, a Google search ads-free alternative full of ex-Google execs, is no more; Meta was fined a record €1.2B for illegal data transfers from the EU to the US beating the previous record of €746M by Amazon.

-------- You can get these weekly. Thanks for reading and feedback.

Background: Right before the pandemic started I switched jobs, which resulted in my income doubling. Then the world shut down and I used the time and reduced expenses to pay off my credit cards and student loan. I haven't carried a monthly credit card balance in 3 years. My student loan account closed 3 months ago. I split my monthly spending between the two cards (based on the Discover cash back bonus) and pay them off monthly. My credit history is clean, no late payments or derogatory. No inquiries in the last 3 years.
I now have a solid income and no debt and want to maximize my credit card options. What do you think would be the best? I started thinking about this when they opened the Chase Sapphire lounge at my home airport. There's a lot of information out there and I want to make the best decision for benefits/rewards.
CREDIT PROFILE

• Current credit cards you are the primary account holder of: Discover, $8,600 limit, 11/1994; Bank of America, $11,500 limit, 07/2014; Care Credit, $3,500 limit, 07/2019
• FICO Scores with source: Discover FICO Scorecard says 797. I don't see a list by Exp/Equ/TU
• Oldest credit card account age with you as primary name on the account: Discover Card - 28yrs, 6mos
• Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 6 months: 0
• Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 12 months: 0
• Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 24 months: 0
• Annual income $: $112k solo. $165k w/spouse

CATEGORIES

• OK with category-specific cards?: Yes
• OK with rotating category cards?: Yes
• Estimate average monthly spend in the categories below. Only include what you can pay by credit card.
• Dining $: $400-$500
• Groceries $: $250
• Gas $: Maybe $200/yr. I don't own a car but rent when I travel.
• Travel $: $300 flight, $300 hotel, $400 car rental, $400 cruises. These are averages. I spent ~$14k on travel last year.
• Do you plan on using this card abroad for a significant length of time (study abroad, digital nomad, expat, extended travel)?: No
• Any other categories (examples: phone/internet, insurance) or stores (example: Amazon) with significant, regular credit card spend (the more you specify, the better): $400/mo on concerts. We spend about $5k/yr on concert tickets.
• Any other significant, regular credit card spend you didn't include above?: No
• Can you pay rent by credit card? If yes, list rent amount and if there's a fee for paying by credit card: No.

MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS (delete lines that don't apply)

• Current member of Amazon Prime?: Yes, but my spouse has the amazon branded card and I don't pay for that.
• Current member of Costco or Sam's Club? We have CostCo, but my spouse pays for that.
• Currently paying $13.99/month or more for Disney Bundle (Disney+ / Hulu / EPSN+) or other Hulu services? Yes.
• Current member of Chase, US Bank or any other big bank?: We use TD Bank.

PURPOSE

• What's the purpose of your next card (choose ONE)?: Travel - normally we use JetBlue or Delta and IHG hotels.
  
• Do you have any cards you've been looking at? I have been looking at the Chase Sapphire Reserve. We have a CSR lounge at our base airport now and lounge access as we travel is a HUGE draw.
  

Hiya, just got back from Spain last night, and now here to write my review of my experience at the Spanish GP. Gonna try to divide in sections in case you are looking for something in specific:
-Travel to and from the Circuit: I stayed in Barcelona near a station with the R2 route. Each way was about 2.4 euros I believe, but when asked at the cashier she told me I was better off buying the Abono that lasts up until end of August for 10 euros, so I got that and that's how I traveled to Montmelo station, it also takes you to the airport if you are traveling so you don't pay the 16 euro of the shuttle bus like I did when I got there lol. From Montmelo to Gate 3-4 you will walk 35-40 minutes, but you will see a lot of people and will not feel unsafe at any time of the day. I left early every day (before 9 am) and the train was not busy, however on Sunday, the only day I left at 5 (post race), the line stretched long and it was hot so I decided to just stay in Montmelo and eat, I got to the train after 7:40 PM as the line was now non existent.
-Race grounds: Personally, I felt the place was small (compared to Silverstone and COTA) but its an F1 track, it's still huge and will beat your legs after walking for 3 days. The fan zone is by the Main Grandstand and was smaller than the one at COTA and USGP, and also felt very packed in there during the driver talks. They said water stations would be available so I was expecting water booths like the ones you see at festivals with 15+ available rows, but it was literally just a single water station that only takes a bottle each time like the ones at an airport, which was pretty funny to see because of how huge F1 is. This is something the track needs to work on imo.
-Food: I was actually surprised at how slim the selection was. Their food truck row had 3 food trucks. Food was near the same every section, hot dogs, burgers, sandwiches, and maybe 2 or 3 "specialty" vendors but the food section IMO was lacking big big time.
-Spotting the F1 drivers: Now here's something that is very important for me lol. I go to concerts, film fests, so trying to get close to artists to get sigs is something I enjoy. At F1 is very hard nowadays because the fan zone stage is just a 10 min talk and not an autograph signing session anymore. For Barcelona, the parking for the drivers is past a gated area so you can see them drive in but none of them will stop, only few drivers I saw roll down was Sainz, Leclerc, Ocon, and I did see Checo take a selfie with a fan, but it is not guaranteed and sincerely it's dangerous because you see crowds stopping their cars lol.
-F2 and F3: Now here's why I try to go to EU once a year. I enjoy F2/F3 more than F1 nowadays, so this was my main plate. On Friday I found out the drivers park outside and then walk or shuttle to their paddock. I asked twice here if it was possible to meet them that way but was told they drive in to the paddock like the F1 people so I didn't print anything to get signed :/. They are all very happy to take a pic and sign. It was funny I would stop to talk to some of these drivers, others would see me and ask a pic and then they would ask me who they were lol. It was INSANE to me how there would be 40-50 people on the other side of the street waiting to see the F1 drivers ignore them as they drive by and completely ignore drivers like Ollie Bearman and Sophia Floersch who would walk in front of them to get to the entrance lol.
-F1 Experiences: This is my second F1 Experiences purchase. I did a Hero package last year at Silverstone, and absolutely loved it. However, F1 Experiences do have several areas they need to raise their game.
For Spain, I had the Trophy package, which is the same as the Hero but your 3-day pass will be on a different grandstand. You get a pitlane, a ride on the flatbed trucks around the circuit, photos with the trophies and an event, typically called Live on the Grid or Inside F1. So for the pitlane, this was early, at like 3:30 PM, so unlike Silverstone where it was at like 6 PM, we actually saw all the garages open and the teams doing work/training. The flatbed truck is fun because you just get to go around the track and learn about it from an expert.
Now, what areas do they need to raise their game at?
(1) Inside F1. This was nowhere near as good as live on the grid. This took place at the Champions Club and there were so many of us it was so hard to move around. For this event, there are no cars, no sims, nothing, you just see the invited guests go and do an interview and then they proceed to leave. Live on the Grid is 1000x times better.
F1 Experiences staff is top game when it comes to their attention to customers and hospitality. However, the areas where they need to improve are all involving delivery of the package. It takes them AGES to ship these, and when a lot of us travel from out of country or continent to these races, getting these badged shipped just 10 days (sometimes they are even slower) before the thursday event is insane. I buy VIP packages for concerts very often from VIP Nation, CID, Future Beat, and none of them ship stuff so late. Not only that, but when you choose to pick up on-site, don't expect it to be at the track like with festivals or concerts, F1 Experiences are always in some remote location far away from the track. At Silverstone they were in a place like 50 minute walk away from the entrance to the track, so not only you had to get a taxi to go there, but also a taxi to get to the track, and at Silverstone where there is no Uber, it was hard to do so. For Spain, they were at a hotel nearby where no buses or trains can drop you off, so you had to get a taxi from the train station (20 euro) and then a taxi from their hotel to the track (25 euro). IF you are in luck, you will meet fans at the hotel lobby down to split the taxi (which I did), but in this day and age, where F1 Experiences only have to ship a simple lanyard which they probably print in batches at the beginning of the year, it is insane how bad they are with delivering it. Everything else? A+, but because of how inconvenient this was I would give them just 4 stars. I talked to other people and they all felt the same way as I did.
​
If there is anything you need to know please comment. i had to write this quick as I am at work lol.

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Hello!
I'm heading to Antalya, Turkey, for 8 days and need some advice on car rentals. My budget is around $250-$300, and I'm looking for reliable options, with good rates, quality vehicles, and great customer service in Antalya. either a car rental to find at the airport or a reliable website!
Thank you for your help!

Ok going to try to make this short but I don’t think that’s possible. So I am in a friend’s wedding next month. Recently we had her bachelorette party in another city. 9 out of 11 bridesmaids went, plus the bride. I only knew the bride (high school friend). All the other girls knew each other from college/work friends. I don’t live by any of them.
We all flew/drove far to Bach. A few girls (bride included) flew to a different city airport and drove to our destination, since it was cheaper for them. It was too difficult for me to try to coordinate times so I just flew into the city of the Bach and ubered to and from airport. (Cost was similar for me).
We used Splitwise to tally all expenses. Everything was split equally. First, I shit you not, these girls spent over $700 on groceries/alcohol for Thursday-Sunday. All while ordering $130 worth of food for Thursday night (that i arrived late to and had to eat cold leftovers). Then we all ate out for two meals friday and one meal Saturday. What the hell they spent that money on, I don’t know. A few bottles of wine that I didn’t drink from because they finished it Thursday night? They also split decorations cost, about $250. In my experience that’s usually the job of the MOH. She did nothing extra btw, but she got o share the biggest room with a private bathroom with the bride.
But whatever, I wasn’t going to make a fuss. What pissed me off was when they included me in the split for the rental car they used, claiming it as a “house expense” since it was used to get groceries and alcohol. Um, if this car was available, why was i stuck spending $100 on Ubers to/from airport??? We also did not use it to go downtown, we ubered from air bnb.
Anyways, I’m pissed, and I’m hosting all these girls day of wedding at my house. I spent probably $1200 on this Bach (was really only anticipating $800 since I don’t eat much on vacation). I am obviously getting food and drinks for day of wedding and decorations for my house. Would it be bad if I asked the other girls to split the cost? I feel embarrassed even thinking about it (when you host, you provide- that’s how I do it). I can afford the food and stuff, but since these girls want to split everything so equally, I’m tempted to split that with them.
WIBTA if I sent them requests for cost of food/drinks/decorations for things I buy for day of wedding?
EDIT/UPDATE: I got a decent mix of responses between NTA, YTA, and ESH. I feel like half of the NTA people are just as petty as I am and i love you all for it 😂
With that being said, some of the YTA emphasized that because I changed my intentions purely because I was pissed, that’s what put me into AH territory. So I am more than likely going to go with my original plan and just host everyone and not ask for a dime. At the end of the day, the couple hundred dollars I’ll be out won’t break the bank for me, and I do want it to be a special day for the bride and not cause unnecessary stress. However, if anyone offers to venmo me to help cover cost, I won’t say no (before this situation i would’ve been like absolutely not). Knowing these girls though, I’m not holding my breath waiting for anything.
Thanks everyone!

I'm planning an itinerary for a trip in October and our last stop will be Dublin. We'll have a rental car for the trip, but I'm trying to figure out the best way to deal with it before flying out the next day. My options look like:

• Book a hotel in Dublin and park the car there, turn it in at the airport the next day. I'm not especially nuts about the prospect of driving / parking in the city, but maybe it's not such a big deal?
• Turn in the rental car at the airport the day before and take transit / taxi into the city, stay at a hotel in the city.
• Stay at an airport-area hotel and take transit / taxi to and from the city.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!