Zach1213

I love the Caribbean with every ounce of my body, but I definitely recommend checking French Polynesia out once in your life if you can. It's...expensive...but frankly pretty easy to get to as multiple airlines operate nonstop from SFO to Tahiti, with easy onward connections to smaller islands.

Yeah you're kind of in that "not ideal" sweet spot where, even if you had checked luggage, I wouldn't recommend heading in to the city. You're kind of stuck in the airport. That being said, if you are willing to leave security, I think you might want to head over to the TWA Hotel to check it out and stretch your legs. It's a pretty cool spot and easy to get to, but like I said, you'll just have to re-clear security (not a huge deal, but something to consider). Otherwise, sadly, you're kind of just going to have to chill a bit in T8, sorry to say. I'm not a JFK expert, so others may know more than me, but I do recommend the TWA Hotel.

Fairly dependable, yes. I've been flying them for years and, as mentioned above, they struggled a bit in the last couple of years but are coming back. In just the past week I flew them ORD-LHR-HAM and IST-LHR-GRU and all of my flights were perfectly on time.

I think that's part of it, yes. But I also think people still have money saved up from years of not traveling, and I think people realized life can be short during the pandemic so you better live now...that trip you hope to go on in 10, 20, even 50 years may not be a possibility. My wife and I have always prioritized travel above all else, but we've still noticed an uptick in our desire to "blow it all" on travel since the pandemic started.

I've spent the last eight days bouncing between the US, Germany, Turkey, Brazil, and back to the US, and my jet lag is insane...and this post somehow made me more tired just thinking about it.

Same as any other airline - they will try to get you on the next available flight. That may or may not be the very next flight, depending on availability. The issue is that, as far as I know, PHL-SEA is 1x daily, so they may either try to re-route you on a two-stop itinerary (such as via ORD or DFW), or you may have to wait overnight. Whether AA will set you up with a hotel usually depends on the reason for the mis-connect (weather versus equipment/crew delay).

Now you have an even bigger problem - figuring out where to eat in Melbourne for only two meals when there are two million great restaurants and cafes.

As long as the demand is there, it will go on. And the demand is still there...for flights, for rental cars, for hotels. People are still traveling like crazy.

It's not ideal. Possible, but not ideal. PHL is pretty spread out, and it can be a hike to get from one gate to another. So if you're mobile, and everything is on time, it's possible (and I have done it, albeit from the front of the plane). But one tiny hiccup, such as even a short delay or being seated towards the back of the SJU-PHL flight, can screw it all up.

Pretty much every hotel in Singapore is close to great food and trains, and the country is so small that the sites aren't far away. I know that's not helpful, but it's true, especially in the eastern half of the country. I usually stay in one of two places: - Conrad Singapore, located right by the Promenade stop (CC4/DT14), with a lot of high end hotels around. Not as close to great authentic hawker centres, but those are easy enough to get to via train. Walking distance to a lot of great sites. - Quincy Hotel, located a couple of blocks (so, a bit of a longer walk than Conrad but is at the end of a quiet street, with a downhill walk AWAY from the hotel, and uphill TO the hotel) from the Orchard stop (NS22/TE14) or the Somerset stop (NS23). Close to the shops of Orchard Rd but a bit further to other sites. They're often quite different in their pricing, with Conrad being quite expensive and Quincy being shockingly cheap at times. So take a look at that and go from there.

FLL has Jetblue nonstops San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego (as far as California goes). If OP is in Sacramento, there are SFO-FLL nonstops on Jetblue, United, and (seasonally) Alaska. No OAK or SMF-FLL flights though.

I also like the idea of spending the night in Melbourne. Hell, if you have the ability, try to spend as much of the previous day in Melbourne as possible. It truly is my favorite city in the world to visit, and I have been to 125ish countries in the world. There are countless things to do, see, eat, and drink. But otherwise, Globaliser's post seems good to me as someone who is a pretty frequent traveler to/from/through both Sydney and Melbourne.

To each their own. The entertainment on board always sounds miserable to me, and we rarely go (and usually dislike it when we do). We would much rather get some drinks and chill together on our balcony. But it must be super popular if they keep having it and it's such a discussion point.

I had a colleague fly out of Longview, Texas once. Longview. The airport is like the size of a small shed. American Airlines forgot to put her bag on the plane...

Just one thing to remember - when you book that far out, no matter who you book with, you're pretty much guaranteed to have multiple schedule changes. So, keep an eye on that.

I remember vividly the first time I encountered mobile boarding passes. It was an Air New Zealand flight from AKL to BHE in early 2009, and I thought it was the greatest thing ever. I'll do anything I can to avoid paper boarding passes now. I travel some places where the technology just hasn't been adopted yet (for some reason, domestic Nigerian flights don't use it haha) but otherwise, yeah, it's great.

In Japan, especially in the Tokyo area, the answer is always always "by rail". I know you aren't thrilled with taking luggage, but it really is the best option. As long as you avoid the peak of rush hours, trains can be surprisingly quiet considering their reputation.

I'm a pretty frequent traveler to Morocco since my wife is from there originally. Much more familiar with Marrakech than Casablanca, but I'll throw out what I know. If you set up a taxi ahead of time, they're more likely to accept non-local currency. If you just grab one off the street, they may or may not be willing to...it really depends and there's no way to know without asking them before you get in. Also, if you do use foreign currency, my experience is that they will charge you more. As far as the local markets go - ones that are common with tourists are much more likely to take USD and EUR, but again, my experience is they're going to charge you a poor rate. When I go, I always use Dirhams. And I don't exchange cash, I use my card to get money out at ATMs. I have never been to the Port of Casablanca, but I am sure there's an ATM there. You'll pretty much always get a better exchange rate using ATMs than cash/currency exchanges.

You can always make the trip to St. John on your own if you have the time. Super easy.

If OP is leaving from Myrtle Beach (the closest airport to their listed location), I am not sure they can get from there to London on the same day. Not sure there's any way to connect to any of the daytime London flights (2x JFK, 1x EWR, 1x IAD, 1x ORD) in time, so it's pretty much guaranteed to be an overnight.

I travel to the UK like 10-15x yearly and I still wouldn't want GBP at the exchange rate over the last year 🙂

I flew 150,000 miles last year and have for pretty much all of the last 16 years. I have yet to see any actual, real world proof that booking on a Tuesday saves any money. Sometimes it's cheaper on Tuesday. Sometimes it's cheaper on Saturday. It's just a matter of supply and demand for that route at that time.

You mention Switzerland...it's a wonderful place, highly recommended. You could base yourself in Zurich or Lucerne and explore the eastern half of the country pretty easily from there, and it's easy enough to get between Zurich and Lisbon. Curveball - Morocco. Marrakech would be a great place to base yourself for a few days, and there are nonstops from there to Lisbon on multiple airlines. My wife's family is in Marrakech and I simply cannot recommend it enough.

I've been to Fujairah but never on a cruise, so I have no input on shuttles/ground transportation to/from the port other than taxis. You can definitely walk around yourself once you get in to the city, but...Fujairah kind of sucks, and it's not very pedestrian friendly. Even the best sites are out of town, because even the sites want to get out of town. Fujairah Fort is pretty cool, but that's about it. Fujairah has plenty to see regionally, but in the city itself there just isn't much at all, and it's not a very enjoyable place to just walk around.