NoWhiners

Hi Mic Nice to hear from you again! Yes, I agree Buddy will be a decoy out on the field. I hope he has enough left to actually pull it off. Swans in the finals is enough for me!! ML

Hi mates Mic pointed out that the pre-season has started so it's time for pre-season speculation. I say the Swans do better than last year, although I have my doubts about how effective Buddy will be. What's the current thinking on favorites and any good rumors??? ML

I guess it's time to start a 2023 thread!! ML

It just occurred to me to ask--will Italian cab drivers speak English or should I just have the address of our hotel written down? I assume that getting to the Vatican and Colosseum and other touristy things don't require actual Italian, but maybe that's wrong?

Yes, that would be good but we'll be on Princess not X 😞

Hi all I know there are cabs stands and it's hard to hail a cab in Rome but I am wondering if I can get a cab that is dropping someone off. For example, I am at the Colosseum and I'm done touring. If someone else gets out of a cab, can I just ask them to take me someplace or do I have to walk to a cabstand? I'm a little worried because the maps I have show cab stands are several blocks for the Colosseum and DH has a hard time walking long distances. We are prepared to use cabs between locations but I need to understand how to use them without seeming like an entitled person?! And, I need to help DH with his hip issues!

I'm interested in Canada/NE 2024. I thought they would be out by now. I hope it's not T'giving. We'll be on a cruise and I expect internet to be really bad 😞

Nice way to put a positive slant on this setback. I wouldn't have taken it as well if I has invested as much as you--before and after 😁 Happy wife, happy life. Words to live by.

Yes, they showed it. Worse, I stayed up to watch. There's 3 hours of my life gone 😄 Woeful is very polite. It was ugly. Swans looked like they didn't even know how to play, never even saw a field. Not their day indeed. They looked like total rubbish. Couldn't catch, couldn't kick, couldn't pass, couldn't stop the cats. Did I miss anything?? Massacre, now we're closing in on it. I can only imagine the headlines: Cats maul Swans, Cats chow down on Swans, Swans too slow for hungry Cats, Cats snooze, Swans lose. I'll stop now. Such a disappointment, I didn't see a loss this lopsided coming. There's always next year...

Way to go Buddy!! I am soooo ready to go back to Australia. We are supposed to go to the Galapagos in June so that may mess up a trip down under. Thanks for posting the good news. I sure hope Buddy has another great year in him.

Go Swans!! So happy to wake up and read all the emails--the tension slowly built as I went thru them. And then, it skipped the final score so I had to rush here to check out what happened. It was almost like being there--almost. Wish I could have seen it. It might have been on TV here last night but I was so tired, I couldn't stay awake even to check. Thanks for posting Mic. I think the GF is usually televised here, I'll have to go search for it. And to think, all those months ago I picked the Swans 2nd to the Lions 😆 Just shows that us yanks don't have a clue about AFL. And maybe some other stuff...but that's for a different thread! Counting the minutes until the GF. Go Swans!

And this, my friends,, is why they play the games!! I hope everyone is right and the Swans come out on top. But I've known disappointment in the past... Go Swans!

Is it too soon for odds? Will the Swans be favored? Be still my heart--one game away from the GF 🤩 Go Swans!

Condolences to all of you Down Under on the loss of the Queen. Quite a reign. RIP.

Now you're talking. Way to take one for the team! Go Swans!

Have a great time. Hope they show it onboard.

Hmm, I wonder if it will be on here. That time could be reasonable here. Must go search... Go Swans!

I saw all these emails with posts cross my screen but it was our fantasy football draft, so I couldn't jump in. I don't know enough about all the teams to speculate but I do know... Go Swans!

Thanks to both of you for the quick replies and advice. A taxi it shall be! And I have time to read more about the different sites and discuss what we want to do with DH.

This is very helpful. We will be going to Rome in late October and then back for a few days in mid-November and I will try and book our tickets 30 days in advance. It appears from your post that tickets are available at midnight Rome time on the 30th day out, do I understand that correctly? We are in the Mountain time zone, so 8 hours different than Rome. It would be really good to be able to book at 4 in the afternoon! I am also a tiny bit confused about the ticket options. On the official site, I am looking at a "Full experience ticket with access to the arena and underground". I have no clue if this will give us access to all that we "should" see. This is our first trip to Rome and I'm not sure if visiting the Palantine or forum (maybe those are the same??) would be good. We really just want to see the highlights but not miss anything. The ticket says it is good for 2 days from first use, so if there is a lot to see, we could go back! If it helps, we are looking at doing this Oct 29 or 30, otherwise it will have to be Nov 15 or 16. I don't see any issues with those days but I could be missing something. Bonus help--any ideas on how long it would take us to walk from Hotel Navona (near Pantheon and Piazza Navona) to the Colosseum? Or is it too far and we should just take a cab? Any advice/insight would be appreciated!

Oops, yeah, I knew that, just brain fade. Told you I was old!! Hmm, who would we prefer to see playing the Swans?? I guess the Brisbane Lions? Nice to hear you enjoyed your cruise. And another in 8 days--I am totally jealous 😛 Go Swans!

Yes, I think this is the way to go. We are going to the Galapagos next June and got a $750 pp air credit thru FBC. I booked our flights (on Delta) and got the air for a lot less than Delta was charging. Flights are paid for and non-refundable. Our flights were made a little more expensive anyway because we fly into Quito and out of Lima. I'm hoping it all goes Ok, but it's a year away and I'll worry about it when it gets closer 😄

I watched the last quarter of Demons--Bulldogs last night, well actually early this morning. It was still close when I started watching but the Dees took over as the quarter progressed. How did you enjoy your first cruise back? Was it the same as you remembered? I feel like I will be very rusty when we finally travel/cruise in late October. I have forgotten a lot... I don't know if you could another item to get my heart pumping like the Swanettes, but give it a shot 😉. Hope they win. Go Swans!

So happy the Swans won. I was a little worried when I read Leigh's updates but it turned out OK. Another 2 week wait now. And no tricks from Mic this time 😁 Go Swans! (and Swanettes)!

Thanks for this, I haven't seen Travelsafe. The only cc I had that included travel insurance dropped that benefit during covid 🙁 We should have almost 4 hours once we hit ATL, so lots of time. I spent many hours in the ATL airport when I was working, grew to hate it. This will be my first time back there since I retired, so I'm sort of looking forward to it. Yeah, I know, it's a little weird!