golddog goes for a ride
Inspired by chopstick's excellent thread, I'm going to try to keep one running as well.
Fair warning, though: I am neither as interesting nor as good a writer as chopstick.
Suggestions for a better title, are welcome. I was trying to think of a play on 'chasing the ball', which would be both golddog-ish and the ball representing the world, but I failed. Running around is something golddogs like to do too though.
I'll start a little bit with last week's trip to Costa Rica. I've traveled a fair amount over the past several years; if this becomes something people are interested in, I can try to recount some of these as well.
Thanks for the info, FWWM!
In other news, I learned today that the departure transfer is not included with my tour. NBD, they said I can arrange it with my Experience Officer (at least I think that's what EO stands for) on the tour.
A little disappointing; seems to me that basic structure of a tour is getting the customer from the arrival point, and getting them back to their departure point. No worries, we'll figure it out.
Chatted with somebody named Clinton at Lufthansa customer service. He told me the original Delhi .-> Frankfurt flight was cancelled. Also told me I'd have to get with United to look into further changes, as they changed the flight.
Both the original and rebooked flights are all Lufthansa. I don't understand what seems to be unnecessary complexity; who cares which partner airline rebooked, Lufthansa should be able to do things with Lufthansa flights.
Anyway, he also assured me that both layovers are ok times to get from one flight to the other, so that makes me feel a little better.
gd, if i don't see pics of you drinking a breakfast beer and white sausage with honey mustard and a pretzel from the munich airport i'm going to be very disapointed
No chance of honey mustard.
Layover in Munich 1:35. Assuming I'll go through customs, I imagine it will be a mad dash to the new gate. If there's time, though, the rest of that menu is on the table.
I mean, assuming that the Germans will sell me a beer at ~07:00. I like my chances there.
you can do this, that's plenty of time, i'm going to very upset if you don't do it
predicting you will have at least 45 minutes of free time if the flight is on schedule
assume the best, be aware of the worst, and adapt as you go
safe travels
A pretzel you will be able to get almost everywhere, and it won't cost 5$ like in the US, not even at the airport. For beers you may need to try a couple shops, since not every shops sells some or has a license, but it can be found.
Yep, plenty of time, although you will need to go through the immigration counter for non-EU peeps. But you won't need to tell them the story of your life like sometimes in the US.
Yep, it will be fine. Even if immigration (or whatever) takes too long, I get to spend some time in Munich drinking beer and eating sausage, then reschedule the rest of the return for a day or two later.
A pretty good problem to have.
Normally, on these super-long return jaunts, I'll schedule a break in somewhere along the way, just not to be on a plane for 28 straight hours (or whatever). Maybe that will become the case anyway.
Started the process of seeing what immunizations I'll need. KP sent me a questionnaire to fill out about what I've had, where I'm going, et cetera, and scheduled a phone call for Monday to go over what I should need.
They have a facility ~ 5 miles from my house, so I imagine they'll have me come up sometime over the next couple months to get some shots or something. Probably pick up malaria pills.
Of course, I didn't think to ask what the # is they'll be calling from so I know not to swipe it away. I'd guess about a 25% chance I pick up Monday afternoon, and get a spam caller by mistake. Spam calls and texts have really been ramping up in the run-up to the election.
Started getting immunizations for the trip yesterday. HepB & MMR (mumps, measles, rubella). Turns out, the shingles vaccine I got a couple years ago was a 2-shot deal, which I didn't understand. #2 is coming in a few weeks.
A PSA for all you old folks. Turns out one of the two MMR vaccines that were developed in the 70s did not confer lifetime immunity. This was not expected, but was learned later.
Of course, record-keeping from those days is so poor, there's almost no way to know which one you got. There's a lab test to check if you have the antibodies, or you can just go ahead and get an updated vaccination.
Since a new shot is free under my health care plan, and no harm if I was already immune, got that yesterday too. Finish up that and HepB #2 in four weeks.
Checking email today, thought while I'm on I could start the process of getting a visa for India.
They have a nice attachment on the site which shows you screen shots of each of the eight (!) pages to fill out, so you'll know what to expect. Among them are a photo of yourself, and an image of your passport's info page.
The info page is limited to something like 300KB. It actually took a while to cut down the scan to get under that. Needless to say, I'm no good with image manipulation software.
OK, I've got everything I need, let's start!
On the first page, there's a few things to fill out. Toward the bottom is "expected date of arrival." Click on it, move forward to December, and the interface only allows selection through the 11th. Can't just type in the text box either.
Ah well, I guess I'll start later in the week. Sigh.
Got through the eVisa application process. Quite detailed; they asked for mom & dad's name, place of birth, stuff like that, in addition to the usual "why are you coming here?"-type questions.
This one's for Tom. Might upset some people, so I'll spoiler it.
Spoiler
Spoiler
Guess Don and Matt aren't going visit.
Later on, they wanted a scan of the photo page of my passport. I had scanned that in earlier, but didn't note they wanted a PDF, max 300KB (which is almost nothing in today's world).
Re-scanned to PDF, about 514 KB. Damn it.
Of course, the scanner fills an 8.5x11" page, not the size of the thing being scanned. Finally found and figured out some online PDF editing software which allowed me to crop it down, still too big, but found an option to compress. Hopefully it's readable and good enough for their purposes. Seemed pretty good to me, but I know what it's got printed.
If anyone wants a copy of my passport, I'm sure it's out there by now.
Anyway, submitted the form. Got to payment, they offered SBI, PayPal, and something else I didn't recognize. Couldn't figure out a CC-enabled method, so chose PayPal. $25.89 later, my application is in line and being looked at. Got an email that says it can take up to 72 hours, so plenty of time if there's something wrong. Not sure if the extra $0.89 is a PayPal fee, or their charge for using PayPal, but whatever.
LOL
If you bump into those two guys at the departure gate, they'll still be sitting there filling out the details of that form while you're fighting jet lag in India.
India visa approved, printed off a copy. Looks like I'm GTG. T-29 days.
Pray to the right gods and you are sure to have a great time. Have wads of ready cash for emergencies.
I'm just gonna stick with science and reason (well, the limited version of it that my brain allows).
Will have cash. Figure I'll exchange a few bucks upon arrival, then as needed. Indian rupees are non-convertible, which means you're not spoda take them in or out of the country.
Fortunately, the exchange in the airport is open 24/7. so I can do my first switch after getting through customs. Or maybe it's before. Hopefully I see it after a 14 hour flight.
Met with a friend this summer who's from India originally to get advice. Among those topics was how much money to bring. Astonished that he said a few hundred for the two weeks would be plenty. He was saying a tip might be "a few rupees", dinner like 1-200. $1USD=83INR.
I did notice on the visa its expiry is 15-Dec, and is good for 30 days from the date it's stamped upon arrival. I land the 14th. Hope the plane's not delayed.
love how genocide is in the same bucket as cyber crime
Huh? WTF?
LOL
It sounds like you might want to cancel this trip, but I would be afraid to do it over the internet.
😉
I feel as if I've lost whatever meager control I may have once had over this thread.
Ah, got it.
When filling out the form, it didn't occur to me that something like lightly punching one of your poker buds on the arm after a suckout might be considered an act of violence.
It flew over my head too.
I figured that post was meant for another thread. That has happened to me before. More than once, actually.
While having lunch, found my Pups were playing Miami on ESPN2. Up 10 with ~ 5 minutes, they managed not to blow the lead like they did v Miami in the tournament 2 (?) years ago. +11.
Almost no sample size, but the bit I saw made me think of a decent mid-major, who plays tough, scrappy defense and ok offense.
Did not expect, as their coach and start player (his son) took off for West Virginia after their success the last few seasons. New guy used to be coach at NW Mo St, where he won multiple D2 championships over the years.
I think this was a bit of an aberration, but after so many years of being a doormat in the 90s and early 2000s, I may be overly pessimistic.
Re: Tom. Also have noticed that my typing is getting much worse in old age. As I've often told younger people who are complaining about aging: "Don't worry. Not only does it get worse as you get older, it gets worse faster."
First look at long-term weather. Looks like all of Denver, Newark, and Delhi are forecasting no precipitation and light winds. Seems like good traveling day(s)!
Probably be forced down by a blizzard over BFE, Russia.
