ilikeanswers

13 hours ago, Aussieflyer said:

Interestingly on another board I belong to where there are quite a few medicos, in a discussion on salt they notes that quite a few have low iodine as we don't use salt as much and also Himalayan salt like this (and also the kind I use) isn't iodised. 

They must not eat a lot variety of foods cause iodine isn't that uncommon😕. You can find it in seafood, eggs or dairy and you don't have to eat lots of it to get enough iodine. If you are really concerned just buy a packet of Nori sheets, seaweed has way more iodine than salt. 

I only land tripped Japan but my experience of Japanese cities was their public transport was extensive. We barely had to walk between sites because there was always some transport that could take you there. Also I would add Google maps was incredibly accurate in Japan. It guided us to the exact transport we needed to take, which platform it departed from along with what times they depart. 

Asian cities over all are more spread out than European cities where all the attractions usually are clustered in one area so you tend to have to research local transport options if you want to visit more than one site. 

Florida? 

@cruiser3775 I would have guessed Jordan or Oman from that pic just because of the landscape. Sometimes people just know what they know🤷‍♀️. A quick guess doesn't necessarily mean cheating.

Hope the game continues, love reading about places I otherwise never would have heard off. 

6 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Lol, It is an area in North America, Margaret Atwood's new country.

 You might want to check your auto correct, it is Gilead not Gideon😂. 

On 3/22/2024 at 11:32 AM, sciencewonk said:

That being said, when I moved to Australia from the US I was shocked by the lack of emission standards here in NSW.  I'm getting tired of driving behind cars and utes spewing noxious smoke.  

First time I did a road trip in Europe and I am driving on those 120km freeway I noticed none of the cars around me have visible smoke blowing out of their exhaust😯. I've since had more driving experience around Europe so I know it is not all equal when it come car emissions but still they do seem overall much further ahead and it is sad to realise that cars that don't meet those higher standards get dumped on us🙁. 

10 minutes ago, K32682 said:

It is perplexing that the vegetarian movement seems committed to promoting food stuffs and look like and sort of taste like meat if you are sufficiently intoxicated. 

I think the idea behind it is to persuade non vegetarians that they can give up meat without giving up the culture around eating meat. I have been impressed with how meat like things like the Impossible Burger are but in terms of taste I have had lentil patties that don't "bleed" or look like meat that taste far better than any mock meat. 

If it doesn't cost anything to try you may as well give it a go. The worst thing that can happen is they say no. My first cruise I really wanted a balcony cabin but this particular company allocated a certain amount of cabins to sell for different regions and for my country of residence balcony cabins were sold out. However I decided to email the company to find out if there was any way to get a balcony cabin. They emailed back saying they would release one that was allocated to another region and hold it for me till I could contact the travel agent to book it for me. Even the travel agent was quite surprised as apparently it hadn't happened before😆. Just ask, you never know you could get lucky😉. 

5 hours ago, ontheweb said:

And I do realize a foodie would never eat at a restaurant with pictures outside, but our research is geared to things like museums, not restaurants.

There is nothing wrong with eating at a place that has pictures in their menu. The fact is designing menus has become easier and cheaper then ever with free templates offered on many websites and mobile phone cameras have become so good you can easily take professional photos yourself so including pictures has become quite normalised and not just for tourists. Plus you have countries like Japan that have turned it into an artform with realistic models of their dishes on display. If someone is going to ignore an eatry because of what their menu looks like they are fools😂. 

1 hour ago, Chiliburn said:

I don’t know about this for cruise ships but it’s Bill Gates and Hyundai behind it .

 

 

 

Sounds like another Silicon Valley billionaire pipe dream😂. 

43 minutes ago, buchhalm said:

To be asked to pay a "carbon offset fee" myst be the biggest scam in history. 

It can be a scam but sometimes it is not. I saw a War On Waste episode where they talked to an Aboriginal community in QLD who get funding from airline carbon offsets to maintain and monitor a large tract of forest and mangrove. It provides funding for scientific research, keeps people employed and stops the destruction of natural habitat. That was something I thought I would be happy to carbon offset unfortunately airlines never tell you where the money is going so while that was a legitimate operation as they showed on 4 Corners last year there are some dodgy ones too🙄. In theory carbon offsets can work but there needs to be real transparency. 

Hyde Park, New York City? 

You might want to check out this website to see if there are still tickets left for your date:

Alhambra Tickets

You think this is quiet? You obviously haven't been to the Freighter and Other Non-Traditional Cruise Travel board😂. 

The reality is anyone and everyone can put photos of you online. They may not be running a business but anyone can put their holiday pics on FB make it public and then everyone has access to photos you might incidentally be in. Especially if you visit a really touristy place it is almost impossible not to be photographed, all you can hope is you just blend in with the crowd🤷‍♀️. 

Just look at all the gifs and memes online and how many are just random photos someone took because they thought someone looked funny at the time. Rarely the subjects of those viral photos or videos gave their permission (some have even gone to court 🙄) so I don't really think a professional blogger or vlogger is any worst. If anything they at least edit their photos so you might come out better looking 😂. 

6 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

I object because their reason for filming is to put it out on their blog and YouTube to make money.  Easy money?  

I'm curious why do you think it is a bad thing that they are doing it to make money?

And I wouldn't call it easy money. I have a friend who is a travel blogger specialising in the Balkans region and she spends hours a day of social networking to get her content viewed while having to create a constant stream of new content to keep subscribers engaged. Unless you're in the top 1% you're usually not making a fortune. 

7 hours ago, K32682 said:

I'd accept poor food on a cruise for a desired destination where a cruise was the best way to visit as opposed the most magnificent ship with the very best food that puddled around the Caribbean visiting one dreary island port after another. 

While I am happy to give up lobster and wagyu beef I'd still want the food to be edible at least 😂. On the other hand if it resulted in a cut price semi circumnavigation cruise of Antarctica I would probably be happy to eat out of a can😝. 

1 hour ago, ldubs said:

Many folks claim the cruise is of little import other than transportation. I actually doubt that is really the case.  

In one way I would agree, there are certain things that if offered on the ship would make me think more highly of them. On the other hand those things I appreciated on the ship are becoming less common and what they are being replaced with are things I don't really care about one way or another. Which means in some ways I am leaning towards the attitude of cruises as transport just because it is becoming more difficult to find ship experiences geared towards people with my interests. 

11 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I agree with the poster who says that if the destination is important, don't travel by ship.  Those that think they can really see a country from a cruise ship are just kidding themselves.  

Archipelago countries cruising can be a just as good a way to get to experience a country especially if you can get one that is culturally immersive. I have done Indonesia and French Polynesia via cruise and independent travel and while the experiences had differences I didn't find the cruise experience to be a shallow cursory glance of the countries either.

And of course there are the places where cruising is almost the only way to experience a destination like Antarctica or the Northwest Passage.

I don't think it is fair to say that someone interested in destination shouldn't cruise. There are many reasons to cruise for destination rather than ship experience. 

1 hour ago, clo said:

I agree with you...and then I don't 🙂 I totally agree that you can barely scratch the surface with, say,eight hours somewhere. But look at this trip especially the second half. Yeah, we'll just scratch the surface but I don't see us traveling to each of those countries without lots of time and hassle.

 

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/grand-voyage-cruises/amsterdam-to-stockholm-NAU240704A/?sr=%2Fbaltic-cruises%2Fport-stockholm-STO%2F

I am curious what makes the Baltics more of a hassle for you to travel to? Is it just the long flight you are trying to avoid? 

Absolutely, I am all about the destination first. In fact I would love it if expedition cruises ditched the luxury amenities and provided cheaper basic cruises with the same interesting itineraries. For me as long as the food is edible, bed is comfortable enough for sleep and the bathroom functions I am set. I am yet to be on a ship that gives the same joy as an interesting destination. 

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

or even Swiss cheese.

Whoopsie. Now I have an excuse for a trip to the shop to re-educate myself on cheese😝😋🧀

4 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

I MUST remember to not take them off of ignore to read ANY of their posts. They are painful to read.

Just a word of warning but even with ignore if someone quotes the comment of someone you ignored you will see it displayed in the quote box. Unfortunately one of the downsides of a linear forum format is the ignore button can give you a bit of cheddar cheese effect in threads. 

7 minutes ago, Bowm54 said:

Arctic Circle centre Norway.

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

I am glad they have locked the thread. I am concerned that nobody has addressed the topic of what to do when you are on a relocation cruise between a clockwise country and an anti country.

 

Equator crossing day would be an absolute nightmare!!

😂