OffThePost.org

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

oh man that was fucking hilarious

Seems like you've got a good response so far, a lot to digest
If it helps, my boss is from Sicily and goes back nearly every year
I could ask him what are the best spots from a locals point of view

Just booked my Vegas/LA trip!

Nine days of cars, gambling, guns, women, burgers, baseball, beach, shows and desert.

Renting a Dodge Charger for the drive from Vegas to LA. Bought Angels tickets. Going to try an assault rifle. Going to out-American the Americans.

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Then don't forget to bring your Confederate flagged baseball cap and pack an extra 30 lbs in your arteries...

Nothing new on the Italy front yet, but that should pick up steam in the next two weeks as I hope to finalize my arrangements by Labour Day.

Went camping up in Waskesiu for my sister's birthday. Were going to do this next weekend, but we bumped it up a week since she is starting her new job today after being unemployed for about six weeks. It's fantastic up there... Waskesiu is the townsite in the Prince Albert National Park, a very large protected area of natural boreal forest. Moose roamed into our campsite freely, and you have to be aware of the presence of black bears, and not leave anything scented outside at night or when you leave (food, garbage, cosmetics... they're attracted to pretty much anything).

While the weather was generally good, unfortunately an early Saturday morning thunderstorm prevented us from hitting up a canoe trek to Grey Owl's cabin, which would've taken up pretty much all the day. When the weather passed, we eventually did just do a short canoe trek, and I got my canoe bug back.

If I'm going to be in this province full time, I'm thinking that I have to do more of these type of trips. It's absolutely gorgeous country up there, and ideally Waskesiu would be the place I'd get a cabin/cottage as a base so I could do some backwoods expeditions/overnight canoe treks. I've also gotten an idea for an unrelated future Saskatchewan vacation: a backroads road trip in Eastern Sask. I guess it's related because the country just before the forest is parkland, and it just reminds me of where I grew up (which is straight East and not northerly at all, but it's all parkland). I'd probably need a pickup for that one, as travelling on gravel/dirt roads for that long of a trek isn't exactly a pleasant experience for a freaking Corolla. I'm going to pick up Map Art's Canadian Back Roads Atlas at some point... it's $40 through the publisher. There isn't a Saskatchewan specific edition (although there's a Souther Saskatchewan edition).

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

For anyone interested in visiting Mexico.

A very handsome writer chronicles his all-expenses paid trip to Riviera Maya.

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Entertaining read E.L.

I need my vacation right fucking now.

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

That was awesome, Erik. I was down there at exactly the same time, and we must have had the same troupe of Texans crashing through our resort, too! Actually, ours were Georgian... which is just like Texans, just with prettier accents... Had an interesting conversation about spooning with one. Apparently, it doesn't mean the same thing in Georgia that it does everywhere else.

Anyways, I loved the AlltourNative tours... they seemed to have actually built up a relationship with the Mayan communities they worked with. That was something I found to be lacking in the bigger (eg. Chichen Itza) tours and the resorts. With the AlltourNative ones, they took time to tell us how to say 'thank you' and 'hello' in Mayan, so that we could greet our hosts in their own language... I thought it was a nice touch, and certainly not something you would normally see at the resort.

Anyways, here was my tourbus on the back from one of the Mayan villages we stopped at for lunch. We had 6 extra passengers, because the tour company gives lifts home to the kids who live way outside the village.




At the resorts, it was almost like they were trying to make you forget you were in another country. It all felt so American and artificial...still beautiful and relaxing, but I couldn't help but want just a little more Mexico in my Mexican resort experience.

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Keep on rockin' in the free world!

But part of the joy of visiting the second and first world areas of another nation and culture is too return in the evening to your 1st world luxuries.

Ah... the most fun part of vacations. The layovers!

Basically, I'm going to be flying out of Atlanta (via Minneapolis) to Manchester, and I'm wondering how I should split my layovers. I have 3 options:

1 hour 11 minutes in Minny; 5 hours 40 minutes in Atlanta
3 hours 56 minutes in Minny; 2 hours 58 minutes in Atlanta
2 hours 16 minutes in Minny; 4 hours 38 minutes in Atlanta

Things to consider: I arrive in Minny at 8:59 AM, and have to go through US Customs. Usually not an issue there.

Atlanta's airport is in the middle of nowhere from what I can tell. 5 hours and 40 minutes of layover would normally give me time to do something outside the airport in the interm, but I don't know if that would be the case in Atlanta due to the airport's location. 4 hours in Minny isn't a lot of time to run off to the Mall of America (which is right beside the airport)... I think I've spent 3 1/2 hours just sitting around in the Minneapolis airport before and it was incredibly tedious.

Mercifully, my delays on the flight back max out at 2 1/2 hours.

So, tell me, since my flight from Saskatoon to Minny and my flight from Atlanta to Manchester all have set times, how best should I split the time in between? More time in Minny or Atlanta? Can I do something in 5 hours out of Atlanta airport other than just read a book/get drunk in the airport bar?

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

Assuming you're first leaving for Saskatoon, you don't have a U.S. Customs office there? Or is that only in the bigger airports?

The advantage of Atlanta is that MARTA (the rapid transit line) runs straight to the airport, so it's very easy and cost-effective to get into town. If you do end up going there, I've visited many times from when my sister used to live there, so I can help you out a bit for places to go.

Not sure what the MSP airport connection is like.

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I actually spent the night in Atlanta's airport on my way to the Bahamas this year. There are some kooky characters who wander around there at night. Dude with a caved-in skull (seriously, looked like Kramer's helmet from that Seinfeld episode where the guy kicked him in the head, except BIGGER) asked me for a handout and a ridiculously drunk old lady was hassling some poor Asian girl sitting on a bench next to ours. Good times. Thank goodness we found a nice quiet spot on the 2nd floor to sleep and had a portable DVD player with us.

I know nothing of Minny's airport but Atlanta's is freakin' huge. I would think you could find plenty of places to waste your time there. There are plenty of restaurants and bars, so I guess it depends on when you land. It really sucks if you're going to be spending any time after hours. It's not fun doing layovers but if it were me I'd maximize the layover in Atlanta.

Hartfield International Airport in Atlanta is actually the busiest airport in the world in terms of passengers transiting through there - 35m between January and May '09. I've been through there several times (O'Hare has far too many delays so connections are hit or miss 50% of the time, so from Bloomington, I often choose to connect through Atlanta) and I find that it's okay - there are (I think) five main terminals that are connected by subway-type trains, and the ones that I usually use (Air Tran or Delta) are pretty old. The main terminal has been recently re-skinned so it feels new. In addition to Air Tran and Delta, Southwest also makes its hub in Hartsfield.

I have close family in Atlanta so delays there (only happened once) are okay by me. Never had to take MARTA from the airport so I can't really comment on it. Do you drink Coca Cola? The Coke Museum and Atlanta Underground are two of the things that I remember checking out... Other than that, my sister's home in Marietta is a great place to visit...

Minny's airport is pretty damn big, too, with a good amount of shops and some bars. But it'll be 9 AM when I get there.

For customs, it works that as soon as you get off the plane from Saskatoon you pick up your luggage and go through customs. You carry your luggage about 400m or so, nothing too bad, that gets you through the customs booths and to the next luggage drop off. It's pretty efficient.

I'll be flying out of Saskatoon at about 5:30 AM... it's a Wednesday flight so my flight shouldn't be very full at all. Basically anytime you fly from the US to Saskatoon you have to go through Minny, unless you do your changeover in Canada, so I'm very familiar with the Minny airport. Although now Denver has direct flights to Saskatoon so maybe there are more options.

If you think I can find something to do in 4 hours or so of downtime (taking away boarding for the next flight and getting off in Atlanta) than maybe I'll go that way. We'll see. I want to book this... preferably tomorrow, actually.

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

If you have a long layover, I hope you weren't planning on spending it in the airport like the above bozos are suggesting.

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I just don't want to spend 2 1/2 hours in Minny and 4 hours in Atlanta in the same freaking day without leaving an airport. If there's enough time to get out of Atlanta's airport during my 5 hour 40 minute layover then I'll take that one.

Again, after leaving Atlanta, I'd have to go back through security for yet another international flight. I'm just wondering if it'll be worth the bother.

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

Bozos aside, if I were you, I'd take the 2.5 hours in Minny over 4 hours in Atlanta; but I'm me, so I would go through Atlanta, call my sister and have her take me out to lunch/dinner somewhere nearby... 2.5 hours is enough time to stretch your legs, find somewhere in the airport to get a decent meal, but not so long that you'd go berserk waiting around for your next connection...

Problem is, I'd have BOTH the 2.5 hours in Minny as well as the 4 hours in Atlanta. It's not either/or. My flight arriving in Minny and departing Atlanta are not flexible.... only my flight going from Minny to Atlanta is. So it's all the same time period, it's just how best to split it up. Close to 50/50? More in Minny? More in Atlanta?

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb