Hey all, trying to see where would be a great place to go where I don’t need a rental car or catch and Uber to and from the airport.
I heard Denver and DC have public transportation to and from the airport to the city.
Any other places you guys have in mind that you liked?
Thank you!

I'm doing a 2 day layover with a relative in December, and our continuing flight is at 7:45am on a Saturday. I was thinking about staying in Keflavik city and researching how to get to the airport that early. We're not going to be there long enough to bother renting a car. Near as I can tell, the 55 bus does not run early enough, but the taxi sites seem to assume everyone wants to go to/from Reykjavik, and I don't want to make the 45 minute haul from there that early. Is there an easier way to book a pickup at ~6am on a Saturday in Keflavik city?

Would it be considered rude to ask a family member if they have a 401k and make sure they are thinking ahead OR just drop it and leaving it alone?!
My husband and I we do pretty well..we both make over 6 figures, have a nice house, nice cars, etc. Well his sister, let’s call her Sarah, she is a piece of work 😅 in her 30’s but acts like she is 21. She drinks and goes out alot, travels all the time and in general just a very entitled human being. She lives waaay beyond her means, maxed out credit cards in the past to the point of she couldn’t pay so she doesn’t have a credit card anymore, her credit is horrible and her car was repossessed. Her parents bail her out of these problem ALL THE TIME. She jokes to me about how low her balance is all the time (which idk why that’s even funny it’s seriously embarrassing). We don’t travel with her often, maybe only a few times total in our 7 year relationship on just their family vacations, but when we have in the past she makes her brother (my husband) pay for her because she thinks he’s obligated to “since he makes more than her”. Then only other trip was my bachelorette as she invited herself and i didn’t want to deal with drama that would come if i said no so i let her come (that was a disaster since she showed up like 6 hours late since she stopped at the bar on the way from airport to the Airbnb and got drunk with way older men but that is a whole other story).
Honestly I would cut her off completely in one second if it was up to me buut at the end of the day it’s his sister so my husband won’t…at least not ever 100% and doesn’t see a reason to since we only see her probably 2-3 times a year. We see her way less after having our son as we don’t like road trips with him and she doesn’t come visit often.
Anyways, I try to keep her at arms length buut since we aren’t cutting her off there’s only so many times i can say no before i need to say yes and plan something with her because boy does she try to insert herself into our lives. If we ignore her it starts a whole thing and she plays the victim. She LOVES to play a victim. Since her parents are the ones to always bail her out of all her financial mistakes right now I’m already starting to think okay what’s gunna happen when they aren’t here one day?!!? Are we just going to be the ones to pull her out whenever she has financial trouble and can’t afford her life? Is going to end up on the streets? I mean one would hope she meet a guy eventually but that hasn’t gone so well for her yet. (She scares every guy away cause she is just a lot.) she jokes she is too selfish for kids and doesn’t want any and just wants to be a stay at home wife who does yoga. So i don’t have high hopes for her meeting anyone.
I almost want to have a convo with her but idk if it’s appropriate and where to begin. I want to make sure she’s got a savings and a 401k and thinking to the future. I mean she most definitely doesn’t have a savings but hopefully a 401k through work. But i can see her also not setting one up and get screwed later! I know she makes in the $40k’s but she’s also got no drive to move up and make more money. But i guess bottom line is she just spends above her means. Anyone in this situation before? Do i say anything to her or keep my mouth shut? My husband says he won’t be the one to help later on but like i almost feel like she should know that and plan better right now. Because i don’t believe she knows that. Her parents are so passive and don’t do tough love. Like i don’t understand why no one tries to actually solve the issue?!?? My husband keeps saying just ignore her but idk i don’t feel like that’s a good idea!!!! OR i mean there IS such a swing in our salaries SHOULD WE be obligated to help her a little bit and im just a ahole? Lol!! For a little bit we considered buying a rental property (condo) and renting it to her but my husband wanted to rent it LOWER than the actual mortgage by $200 to help her out thinking at least it would always be backed by his parents to pay if she couldn’t and his thought was it would be a long term renter as she could never afford a house so benefit to us with no turnover in tenants. I finally convinced him this was the worst idea ever and i don’t want to be tied to her at all to be honest in any sort of financial capacity.
Okay sorry this was long. Anyways back to the original question - should i say something or keep my mouth shut?! Advice for me?!? :)

Does anyone know if there is a car rental company in SJO? for most companies you have to hop on a shuttle and travel to the car rental company. Looking to avoid that and get the car at the airport if possible.

Please help me out here. My family recently took a trip and rented a car through Turo. We received the car at the airport, got in and drove to our lodgings about an hour away. Upon exiting the car, my wife noticed the passenger door was messed up, seeming to be misaligned and not shutting well at all. The door also had a dent near where it hinges, suggesting the car was in a collision. We messaged our host to tell him and he told us to not worry about it and enjoy our weekend. The door continued to be a nuisance the whole trip.
Upon returning the car the host didn’t say anything about the door, but a few minutes after we left he submitted a damage claim for the door, expecting us to pay! I made the mistake of not taking pictures of the car when we received it because I was busy dealing with my young children and loading the car.
Now I hope the host wasn’t trying to scam me, but here’s what I’ve figured. This is the only possibility that is left if the host and I are both being honest. The pre trip pictures that he took were 2 hrs before we actually got the car. In that 2 hour window I think it’s possible that someone committed a hit and run, causing the damage. I’ve asked the host if he was with the car the entire 2 hrs before he passed it off to us, but for some reason he won’t answer the question! He just keeps answering “it’s not possible” which is frustrating to hear instead of an answer about where the car was or if he was with it the whole time. All I want to know is if there’s security footage or anything that can prove my theory.
The estimate for the repair also includes items that aren’t even related to the damage I’m being framed for. This estimate comes out to ~6k which is just absurd. My liability insurance deductible is 3k which is a lot of money to pay for damaged I didn’t cause!
So tell me, is there anything I can do here? Or am I screwed because the Turo rental agreement automatically holds me liable for the damage because I discovered it while I was in possession of the vehicle? Any advice would be appreciated and thank you all in advance.

Have heard horror stories of super long waits for Avis and Budget rental desks at the airport. I'm sure this is a problem everywhere. That being said, do you have a preference over any of the rental companies with prices being equal? I

Greetings!
I want to go to UT this September. My plan is to hit arches, Bryce and Zion national parks. The order of which those happen depends on where we fly into. Should we fly into Vegas or Salt Lake City and should we leave from the opposite of the start (Vegas if flying into SLC or leave from SLC if flying into vegas)? OR, should one try to do a round trip from the same airport? I like the idea of flying into SLC and finishing in Vegas (spending an evening there to enjoy the strip). This would mean SLC -> Arches -> Bryce -> Zion -> Las Vegas. We would have a rental caairbnbs as we cannot pack tents/camping supplies in our suitcases.
This is the first trip I am planning so any help/advice/recommendations anyone has would be stupendous! 🤩🏔️
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Hi lovely people,
We just came back from our first trip to Japan and it was truly a memorable trip. We spent over 3 weeks in Japan from 07th May until 30th May. WE LOVE JAPAN! Can't wait to come back.
A little bit about us: We are both ~30y olds and enjoy a mix of urban, outdoor and culture during our holidays. We are foodies, but not hard-core as in we don't specifically organize our trips around restaurants. There are so many restaurants in Japan, it is hard to get a bad meal. We enjoy just wandering around neighbourhoods. Mostly low/mid-budget stuff with a splurge once in a while.
Our travel itinerary can be found here
General comments

• Time period of travel: We arrived 7th of May which is the last sunday of Golden week. We specifically wanted to avoid Golden week, as we heard it can be crazy busy due to domestic travels. And we also didn't want to go too late in May because June is rainy season in Japan. We were pretty lucky with the weather overall as we only had a couple of days of rain, most days were sunny and we even had some days of sweltering heat :O
• Like other people suggest, try to get in shape before you go! We are both in average shape. Almost every day we walked around 20.000 steps or more. The only rest days we had were the days where we were switching between cities, i.e. sitting in trains for longer periods of time. No complaints ;). I brought two pair of shoes: water-proof hiking shoes and one pair of light-weight running shoes. Switching between shoes was nice, I didn't have any blisters during my time in Japan luckily. All the walking compensated all the eating though!
• Check whether region specific JR passes might work for you. We decided against getting the nationwide JR passes as they didn't fit our needs and were expensive and instead opted for a regional JR Setouchi area pass. It was perfect for the Shimanami Kaido. We could travel from Osaka to Onomichi -> Hiroshima/Miyajima -> Kyoto. And it also gave us access to Nozomi shinkansen (fastest) and a great ferry ride between Matsuyama and Hiroshima.

Japanguide has a nice overview of all the passes : https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357.html

• Be flexible (That's how we like to travel). I mapped out most of the sights beforehand according to must-see's and mapped out what other interesting sights there would be in those areas. The day before or in the morning, we would decide what we would do roughly, sight-see according to neighborhood and just wing it a little bit. We just love to wander around and see what we come across, mixed with some google maps + "explore" function. Some days you are just tired and just want to hang out in a park, or you have temple-fatigue and want to do something entirely else. Same with food/restaurants, we usually just used google maps to see what kind of great restaurants were near us at that moment. We haven't lined up more than twice our whole time there and still ate wonderfully. We do tend to avoid overly hyped stuff anyways. I do keep in mind that everyone has their own ways.
• Buy e-sim if possible, it is the cheapest and easiest way. My partner bought an e-sim and it was so convenient! My phone unfortunately didn't support it and I had to buy a sim. I opted for getting one at BIC camera, which was the cheapest I could find. 10GB for 30 days for 3200 yen.
• Keep plastic bags for trash. Buying food from conbini, and eating it somewhere? say yes to that plastic bag, because you will need it to stash your garbage until you are back at your hotel where you can throw it away or you find a garbage bin at the train station per chance. I read about this a lot on this subreddit, but still I found it astonishing the lack of trash cans. Fascinating how the streets of Japan are so damn clean.
• Try Pokari sweat. :) I tried it for the first time there and I was hooked immediately. It is awesome! Best electrolyte drink ever and it definitely saved me during those hot sweaty days there. CC lemon is also great!
• Go for a haircut or some other beauty/massage treatment. The hospitality is amazing in Japan. You won't regret getting pampered in Japan. They have all kinds of crazy treatments. I got the best haircut of my life for 4400yen.

Trip report

PS. I am not mentioning everything we did in this post. I will just mention highlights. It is still a long read though ;).
D1 - D2 Osaka
We landed at Kansai airport. Before our trip, we also bought train vouchers for Osaka online (https://www.howto-osaka.com/en/ticket/). Best decision ever, because the journey was rough and we were exhausted by the time we landed. We only had to exchange our vouchers at the station and off we went.
Osaka was nice city to start with as it is a more manageable "smaller" city whilst recovering from our jetlag. Despite being smaller, I do think it is worth a visit. Osaka is so iconic at night. We stayed at a spacious Airbnb near Kuromon Ichiban market.

• Takoyaki :) We had our first try of takoyaki at Takotako King instead of one the places at Dotonbori to avoid the crazy lines. You can sit down, have a beer and yes the takoyaki is amazing. It should be crunchy on the outside and deliciously goeey on the inside, doused with sauces and katsuobushi. Man, I wish I could go back and eat it again. It is true, you can't get great takoyaki outside of Osaka, at least I didn't get that same crunchy gooey combo again in other cities.
• Discount sushi from Takashimaya department store. For the budget-minded, this is a no-brainer. Around 7PM, an hour before closing time, you can get delicious fatty tuna maki at discount prices in the basement of takashimaya. Other foods at the department store food floor such as the fresh mochi are delicious also. Takashimaya is my favorite department store for food I think!
• Osaka castle - Our first castle in Japan. The green roof and the golden ornaments are beautiful and unique!
• Dotonbori - iconic :) fun to walk along. The queues are long there. We avoided eating at Dotonbori.
• Shitenno-ji - beautiful pagoda with buddha statues inside. Do pay the fee to go inside and see the garden. You can also go into the pagoda and walk up.
• Huge fan of Shotengai's, Shinsaibashi-Suji Shopping Street. They are so quintessential Japan.
• Ramen Tendo, the first ramen joint that we tried in Japan, so it has a special place in my heart. They specialize in chicken broth with lots of umami katsuoboshi flavor. Noodles were great too, very bouncy. Delicious! Little did I know that this ramen joint was really one of the best we would have this trip. It set the bar high for sure!
• Visit a local grocery store. Maybe it is just me, but I love to browse at local grocery shops (KOHYO namba Minatomachi) and be fascinated by all the different things they sell. It is also a great place to buy food souvenirs, like miso, green tea etc. Lots of pre-cooked meals/ fried stuff. Just a wider selection than your typical conbini. And again discounts if you go ~1hr before closing time.

Skip Shinsekai: We visited during the day and it felt very empty to me. More like a tourist-trap, the eateries didn't look appealing to me. Maybe during the evening this area is more fun.
D3 Nara
We did Nara as a day-trip from Osaka.

• Yes, to feeding the deer. It is touristy, but it is so much fun to be chased by cookie-crazed deer. One more thing: deer's fart a lot. We were wondering where this weird high pitched sound was coming from, those are actually deer farts.
• Todai-ji is very impressive, definitely a must visit.
• Just wander around in Nara park, it's very lush and beautiful and has many more shrines and interesting sights, such as manyo botanical garden. I wish we had one more day to explore Nara but oh well maybe next time :)
• We ate lunch at Magura Koya, a small restaurant run by a lovely elderly couple. Delicious tuna dishes. I had a tuna sashimi bowl and my partner the fried tuna set meal, so fresh!
• We had the best pork bun at Hourokutei at the end of the Higashimuki shopping street. It's a small hole in the wall, but omg the squishy-est juicy-est porkbuns ever.

D4 Onomichi
After staying in Osaka for 3 days, we headed west for the Shimanami Kaido. We decided to stay in Onomichi (Hotel Beacon Onomichi) for the night before we started our two day bike trip. For this part of our trip, we picked up our 7-day Setouchi area pass at Shin-Osaka JR station. I just want to mention that I really love the hospitality of the staff in Japan. The JR office people were so nice and helpful. We reserved our seats for the shinkansen and off we went to Onomichi. Onomichi is a lovely little seaside town to just stroll around and take in the views. I really recommend spending at least half a day here. Don't skip it!

• Senkoji park observatory - we walked up to the observatory (ropeway available), please walk up as there are lots of nice alleyways, shrines and cats along the way :). The view is amazing, especially at sunset.
• Cat alley: honestly, every alley is cat alley.
• Onomichi Shotengai - very retro, lots of cute shops. We bought a nice poster from a little granny there.

D5 & D6 Shimanami Kaido -> Matsuyama
The next day, we picked up our reserved cross bikes from the general bike rental and off we went. Honestly, biking the shimanami kaido was the highlight of our trip. We took two days to bike the whole way, one day would definitely be too rushed for us. We stopped at Ikuchi island (Shimanaido NEST) for our halfway stay.
The sights along the way were great! It was so much fun to go down-hill, the uphills were do-able. We had great weather also, not too hot and no rain. Everything was clearly indicated, we just followed the blue lines. I felt very safe biking in Japan. PS. My butt did hurt from the saddle, so be warned! Bring some cushioned pants if you want to be safe side.

• First pitstop after the first bridge was Hassakuya. You have to stop here! They have delicious strawberry and citrus daifuku! The citrus had a bitter aftertaste, but they are famous for their citrus so its definitely nice to try.
• Just enjoy the views, stop everywhere to take pictures. There are lots of things to explore along the way.
• Stop at roadside stations such as > tatara shimanami park and yoshiumi iki-iki-kan. Especially before you take on the last bridge just do a little pit stop. It's a nice place to take some pictures of the insanely long bridge and have a citrus/vanilla soft cream.

https://shimanami-cycle.or.jp/ for more info and bike rental
We decided to bike one-way from Onomichi to Imabari and we have no regrets. I liked that we ended the bike trip with the longest bridge (4km!!). Imabari is very industrial, but after the fun long way down from the last bridge and being exhausted from biking you just want to get to the station and stuff yourself with pastries from the bakery at the station and go on to your next destination. Thus, we immediately took the train to Matsuyama. Originally, the plan was to enjoy the famous onsen in Matsuyama, but we didn't have enough time and we were also pretty tired. After checking-in at the hotel, it was already 4, we made our way to Matsuyama castle but unfortunately, we were too late to go in. It was still nice to view it from the outside and walk around the park. We planned to do sightseeing in Hiroshima the next day, so there was no more time to explore Matsuyama further.
D7 Hiroshima -> Miyajima
After Shiminami Kaido, we headed towards Hiroshima/Miyajima. We took an early ferry from Matsuyama. The ferry was included in the setouchi JR pass, so we gladly took advantage of that. It's a nice way to get to Hiroshima, just one last view of the Seto inland sea. One remark: if it is not JR serviced transportation, you do have to obtain separate tickets. Normally, just showing your setouchi JR pass is enough to get onboard the train, but for the ferry you do have to go to the ticket desk and show your JR pass to obtain the ferry tickets.

• Peace memorial museum - a history we must not forget and do not want to repeat
• We tried another Hiroshima speciality for lunch: Hiroshima Tsukemen. This tsukemen is GREAT. One of my favorite dishes. We ate at Tsukemen Karabu Tokaichimachi. The spicy umami dipping sauce is very addicting!

Surprisingly, it was very hard to find affordable good accommodation in Hiroshima. It was the weekend and two weeks before G7, so maybe that was the reason why it was harder to find accommodation. In the end, I found a nice simple hotel on Miyajima island and it was a good decision after all! After a long day in Hiroshima, we made our way to Miyajima to stay two nights. Staying on Miyajima island is lovely especially when all the day-trip tourist leave.
D8 Miyajima
Honestly, Miyajima is truly magical. Another highlight of our trip! We started the day early to get ahead of the crowd and that made it all so much more enjoyable. Seeing shrines and temples without a crowd is truly 1000x better! If you can stay at Miyajima island, do it! You don't have to splurge on expensive ryokan (although it would have been nice). We stayed at Sakuraya, which was very budget-friendly.

• Itsukishima Jinja - Nice but Daishoin and surrounding nature were the highlights for me.
• Daishoin - it is the most beautiful shrine complex I have seen in Japan this trip. I think it's because it was so quaint and it was embedded in the hill, surrounded by lush green nature. There were multiple complexes. There was a pathway studded with Jizo statues, buddist cave, prayer wheels and much more. While we were there, a ceremony with a monk was ongoing and everyone could participate in helping burning the origami peace cranes made by children, to make their wishes come true. We bought a little peace crane made from the ashes to remember this moment.
• Mt. Misen - we hiked up from Dashoin. It was ~2hrs? of steep stair climbing, 500m elevation gain. A challenge for sure but we definitely earned our way going down by ropeway :P. Views are great! go go! There is a bus to the ropeway so you don't have to suffer if you don't want to.
• Momijidani park - If you don't like Momiji trees, you can't be my friend.
• Snack along the Miyajima ometesando street. Crowded, but the cakes are great!

One remark, our hotel didn't include dinner and all the restaurants on the island close quite early. Luckily, with our setouchi JR pass, we could take the ferry for free, so went to the mainland for dinner. Just keep this in mind, when booking your stay.
D9 - D13 Kyoto
We took the early train to Kyoto and checked in at Tokyu stay Sanjo-karasuma. We had 5 days to explore Kyoto and by this time we had lost our FOMO a little bit and also decided to take it a bit more slow. We still ended up walking a lot anyways but at least we were sleeping in.
The day we arrived,15MAY, was supposed to be Aoi matsuri so we headed to Kamo river to see the festival. Unfortunately, the festival was postponed due to the slight rainfall and we had no clue! but we were next to Kyoto botanical garden and we decided to visit that instead!

• Kyoto botanical garden: it is a lovely garden with a huge variety of plants and trees to see. Really well maintained and during our visit there was a great rose garden in bloom. I recommend going there! It has a nice japanese garden section too with momiji trees and moss. A greenhouse with orchids. Lot's to see here. Only 200 yen.
• Arashiyama area - I really loved this area, not just for the bamboo forest. Togetsukyo bridge and Katsura river were the highlights for me. You can walk along the both sides of Katsura riverbank. A nice way to get to the bamboo forest and bypassing the busy beginning at the start of bamboo forest is by walking along the katsura river bank into Kameyama park and following the signs to Okochi sanso garden. You will end up at the backside of bamboo forest, which is the nicest part. We went more north to visit Pottery Tanuki, this area was very nice and quaint to walk around; bamboo, shrines and traditional houses everywhere.
• South kyoto - Fushimi Inari + Uji day trip - We visited fushimi inari around 9am and it was already very busy! If you hike deeper into the Tori gates, it gets more quiet. We decided not to hike to the top, but instead do a little loop and we stumbled upon some lovely fox shrines. After Fushimi Inari, we took the train just a little bit more south to Uji. If you like matcha, visit Uji. It is a scenic little town with lots of matcha specialized cafes. We ate at Torikiku, famous for their matcha soba and udon. I had the best matcha icecream dessert at Nakamura Tokichi Byodo-in. Again, the river views are beautiful! It's a great daytrip from kyoto. On the way back to kyoto, we spontaneously decided to visit the Gekkeikan Sake museum. It's a small museum, mostly about the history of Gekkeikan, but for 500 yen entry fee, you also get 3 small sake tastings. Fun for an hour or so. I wouldn't go all the way here just for the museum, but for us it was a nice stop on the way back to Kyoto.
• Gion - visit Gion in the evening and just wander around the little streets. Hanamikoji street is one of the more famous streets there.
• We ate amazing gyoza lunch at Gyoza-dokoro Sakemasa. Best gyozo of our trip.
• Higashiyama area - Heian jingu shrine, visit the attached garden for a fee, definitely worth it! We ate amazing mazesoba and ramen for lunch at Menya Yamahide. We also visited Kyoto handicraft center in this area where we bought an ukiyo-e painting. There was also a vintage antique market at that day. We just browsed a bit around the market and honestly that was a day worth of exploring :).

I didn't mention everything we did in Kyoto here. We also had so much more planned for Kyoto, but didn't get around to it, which was totally fine! We were also a bit temple-fatigued by that time and needed a slower pace. Hopefully next time, we can visit some of things we skipped. Furthermore, some days were incredibly hot (30 C degrees and humid) or we had whole days of rain. On those days, we decided to go shopping instead.

• Sanjo Meiten-gai shopping arcade , Compasso teramachi. One long shopping street between Omiya and Kyoto-kawaramachi station. My favorite shops were: Standard products, Tokyu hands and Loft.

D14 - D15 Takayama
After spending 5 days in Kyoto, it was time to leave the city and head for the Japanese alps. We took the shinkansen to Nagoya, where we changed to a limited express to Takayama. It took around 3 hours to get to Takayama, but we didn't mind. Train travel = resting time for our legs! Also, the views from the train were great!! I really enjoyed this train trip to Takayama. We arrived around noon and immediately checked in at our hotel (Hotel Kuretakeso Takayama). We had two nights in Takayama to explore the town.

• Hida beef - it's the wagyu of this area and I found my favorite place to eat it: Ajikura Tengoku. We went there twice for lunch, because it was that good. It was our first time in Japan to try yakiniku and sukiyaki. I really do appreciate the taste of wagyu but only in small amounts. I couldn't eat it everyday, because it's really so rich and yes paying for the premium cuts really does make a different in taste and texture of the wagyu beef.
• We really loved Takayama. Again, if you have time, stay overnight and wander around the streets during the evening when all the daytrippers leave. The town has such a nice vibe and it still has a very local feel to it.
• Miyagawa morning market. Fun to stroll around
• Hikaru museum - we stumbled upon this via google maps. It's a mayan temple-inspired building, very unique. You could visit the place just for the architecture itself, really impressive. It has a very nice collection of art. When we reached the top floor, there was a whole exhibition dedicated to a specific religious person. We didn't know beforehand but this museum is connected to a cult. Suddenly, it all made sense why this museum was so unique. We didn't mind, but it definitely puts the whole experience in a different light. It's a 1-hour walk from downtown, there is no direct bus connection unfortunately.
• Hida folk village - Open-air museum with nice re-builds of traditional mountain houses. We spend over half a day there. You can see local craftsmen doing their thing and you can also participate in pottery for example. There is a lovely pond and it is just pleasant to walk around. it's only a ~10 min. busride from Takayama bus station. You can buy combined entryfee+bus combo tickets at the bus station.

D16 Kamikochi -> Matsumoto
After checking out of our hotel in Takayama, we took the 7am bus to Kamikochi. We were only going to spend a day here, and then continue our way to Matsumoto to stay overnight.After ~1 hour of bus, we finally made it to Kamikochi. The Japanese alps are amazing. I wished we stayed longer in this area, but just the bus ride alone to Kamikochi was already a great with the views. We decided to hop off at Taisho pond bus stop and walk along all the major sights in the park. We had no specific plan. Just hike around as far as time allowed. For lunch, we stopped at this cute teishoku restaurant, where we ate katsu curry, a big lunch to fuel our walking. We also saw wild japanese macaques and lots of wildflowers where blooming during our time there.At the local shops, we bought some yummy pastries to snack on. I had the tastiest baumkuchen with cheesecake center and my partner had a chocolate ganache cookie. I really regret not buying more kamikochi pastries to take home while we were there.After spending the day walking around, we hopped on the 4pm bus towards Matsumoto. Checked in at Tabino hotel lit Matsumoto, where I relaxed in the onsen.
Tips:

• We were only carrying backpacks, so we hiked with them until we reached the kamikochi bus terminal, where you can drop off you bag at the storage for a small fee.
• Reservation is mandatory for the bus Kamikochi -> Matsumoto, you can do it online or while you are at the busstation before hiking.
• Transportation in the Japan alps is mostly by bus, do reserve ahead if you go at peak times. Main bus company is Nouhi bus: https://www.nouhibus.co.jp/english/.)

D17 Matsumoto Tokyo
After sleeping in, we did some sightseeing in Matsumoto before we moved on to Tokyo. We really liked wandering around in Matsumoto. Lots of cool shops with local crafts. We didn't know but the biggest national crafts fair is held in Matsumoto. Unfortunately, we were only able to stay for one day, but next time we would love to visit this crafts fair!
Matsumoto Castle - I really like the interior of the castle. It has been renovated, but still contains that castle feel. It is 5 story castle and you are allowed to climb all of it. It also included a pretty extensive gun/weaponry exhibition. Do arrive early because you do have to line-up within the castle to get from one floor to the other. This is due to the steep stairways, on which they allow only one-way traffic at a time.
Matsumoto city art museum - There was a nice exhibition from Yayoi Kusama. We didn't know but Yayoi Kusama was born in Matsumoto. It is a good replacement exhibition if you aren't able to snatch up tickets for Yayoi Kusama museum in Tokyo.
Nakamachi street and Frog street - street with persevered houses with craft shops, cafes, brewerys. What more do you want.
After spending the day in Matsumoto, we took the train to Tokyo, our last destination of our stay. We decided to stay in Ueno (Hotel resol ueno). This hotel was located close to Ueno JR.
D18 - D24 Tokyo
Last 7 days in Tokyo. By this time, we were just enjoying everything at a much slower pace. Tokyo is huge! Staying near the JR line is indeed a must like everyone said. I could go on hours about Tokyo, I am just going to mention some highlights here.

• Anmitsu at Anmitsu Mihashi. My favorite dessert! It contains agar jelly, mochi balls, red bean paste, fruit and a scoop of matcha icecream.
• shopping in Ginza - It's nice to go during the weekends when they close of the streets for cars. We liked visiting flagship stores of Muji, Uniqlo. Go to Itoya if you are a stationary freak.
• Ueno park - Museums, shrines, Lotus pond. Have a look at their website, there are almost always events in the park. :)
• Tsukiji market - very busy, but fun to have a look. Lines everywhere. Look for sushi restaurants that open around 11am, line up at one of those places. I don't think it has to be the one with 4.5 rating and 1000 reviews. Why? There are so many good restaurants in Tsukiji area. We went to Tsukiji Kagura Sushi.
• Hamarikyu gardens - Bonsai pine trees pruned to perfection. Ponds filled with sea water, thus there were seabass, little sardines and jellyfish in the water. Very special! You also had a nice skyline view from the park which is a cool contrast! It was nice and quiet.
• Tokyo Skytree - best view :) it also has a great shopping complex attached to it.
• Asakusa area - Senso-ji
• Yanaka Ginza - we went during the weekend and there was live music, little stalls and just very lively in general. Really nice to spend a morning. Largest preserved cemetery, which apparently welcomes visitors a lot for flower viewings. It is a preserved neighborhood with traditional houses and lots of shops selling crafts, gifts, souvenirs, and unique snacks.

That's it!
For 24 days, we spend around ~2500 euro p.p. (excl. 1000,- flights). This amount includes food, transportation, entrancefees and shopping/gifts. so average is ~100 euro/day. We didn't track every cost. Hotel costs were 900,- pp, which ranged from 50,- to 120,- per night accommodations. The conversion yen/euro is also great at the moment, so it might have contributed!
I hope you enjoyed my trip report. Let me know if there are any questions.

Hi, everyone! First off, I want to apologize for posting yet another travel credit card recommendation request... I have been trying to do my research and compare cards, but I still have no idea which one to choose.
Some background:
*30's, single, doesn't currently travel much (maybe 1-2x per year, domestically), but wants to travel more. My goal is to travel at least 2x per year, both domestically and internationally. *I live near BWI, so that will be my main depature airport. *I am open to the higher AF cards, as long as the fee is easily recouped (I already have TSA PreCheck through my employer, but I'd be interested in Global Entry). *I may be purchasing tour packages through tour companies for my international travel, if that makes a difference in what a company consideres a form of travel for points accural. I should be purchasing the airline ticket myself, though.
Thank you for your help!!!
CREDIT PROFILE
* Current credit cards you are the primary account holder of: Discover It $29,500 limit, 08/2015, $0 balance // Tower Federal Credit Union Gold Mastercard, $6,000 limit, 09/2014. This is my oldest credit card, and it is not currently in use. // Never missed a payment and never carried a balance.
*FICO Score: 820 TransUnion per Discover, 813 TransUnion and 817 Equifax per CreditKarma
* Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 6 months: 0
* Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 12 months: 0
* Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 24 months: 0
* Annual income: $115,000
CATEGORIES
* OK with category-specific cards?: Yes, if able to transfer in order to maximize travel benefits/points.
* OK with rotating category cards?: Yes
* Estimate average monthly spend in the categories below: * Dining: $125
* Groceries: $300-$400 exclusively via Walmart online grocery delivery/pickup.
* Gas: $25
* Travel: I would say $0 really, but maybe $60 (~$1,450 total over the last 24 months - $1,160 on flights, ~$100 on UbeLyft. No car rentals or hotels.)
* Do you plan on using this card abroad for a significant length of time (study abroad, digital nomad, expat, extended travel)?: No, not a significant amount of time, but would prefer a card that is accepted while traveling abroad in order to maximize travel points. * Any other categories
-Phone: $55
-Car Insurance: $41 (paid semiannually) -Spotify: $14
-Hulu: $16
* Any other significant, regular credit card spend you didn't include above?: No
* Can you pay rent by credit card? No
MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS
* Current member of Amazon Prime?: Yes, $140 paid annually
* Current Verizon postpaid customer?: No
* Current member of Costco or Sam's Club? No
* Currently paying $13.99/month or more for Disney Bundle (Disney+ / Hulu / EPSN+) or other Hulu services? Yes, Hulu only
* Current member of Chase, US Bank or any other big bank?: No
* Active US military?: No
* Are you open to Business Cards?: No
PURPOSE
* What's the purpose of your next card (choose ONE)?: Travel Rewards
* If you answered "travel rewards", do you have a preferred airline and/or hotel chain? No preferred hotels, and no preferred airline really, but I do exclusively travel out of BWI.
* Do you have any cards you've been looking at? The usual travel cards that are frequently recommended here. Chase Sapphire lines, Capitol One, etc. I'm a bit apprehensive regarding Amex, since I hear they are not widely accepted abroad.

Just finished my first trip to Italy and what a great experience. Wanted to share my experience here for other first time travelers and some things I would have done differently. The trip was broken up into 3 legs and spread across 12 days - Tuscany (5), Rome (2), and Amalfi (5). I'll include some details of itinerary and travel.
Apologies for a long post, but hopefully someone will get some good info out of this!
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To prep for the trip, I used the Duolingo app for about 3 months to try and make sure I knew enough Italian to get by. Of course, the moment my plan touched down all that studying I did flew out of my head and I basically forgot it all! In the end I was able to get by with just greetings, ordering food/drink/cafe and simple hi, how are you type phrases. For reference, my wife did no studying and picked it up right away. Only shock to her was that there was no such thing as iced coffee.
Tuscany
We flew into Milan and rented a car at the airport. Would definitely recommend this because once you are into Tuscany it is hard/expensive to find drivers and Uber is basically non-existent.
Stayed at the Como Castello del Nero hotel. The hotel was beautiful and had everything you could want. Rolling and picturesque hills from every vantage point, a great pool, good fitness facilities and a nice spa. The staff at the hotel were world class as well. The restaurants on property were very nice however quite expensive. We did eat on the property a few times, but I think i preferred my meals off property and in the smallelocal restaurants more. I would have planned more dinners off property if I had to do anything differently here. Favorite meal was at La Capanna del Gallo, a smaller restaurant which was a short drive from our hotel.
For activities we visited a few wineries/vineyards as well as did a bit of hiking. We were a little jet lagged and did spend a bit of time just relaxing and drinking wine by the pool. The winery that absolutely blew me away was the Antinori Vineyard in Bargino . We did the CRU tour which included an in-depth tour of the facilities, tasting of several vintages and then a lunch with wine pairing. Would highly recommend visiting here. One of the mom-and-pop vineyards that we visited and i would also recommend is Il Palagio di Palazzo. Did the CRU tour here as well and was very pleased.
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Rome
Used the rental car to travel from Tuscany to Rome, then returned the car near our hotel in Rome.
Stayed at the Baglioni Hotel Regina. Nice enough hotel, but the rooms were a little dated. Technically classified as a 5 star hotel but I probably would have classified it as a 4 star. Still, decent enough stay and staff. Plus for the location as well. We booked this hotel because it was purely in a good location and more of a 'utilitarian' choice - we knew that we weren't going to be spending a lot of time here so the hotel didn't matter all that much.
As we were only in Rome for two days, we really tried to pack in as much as we could. On the day we arrived we spent the afternoon walking around and just taking in the city. We had dinner in the Testaccio neighborhood, which i would highly recommend. We ate at Felice, which was a bit touristy but i think still worth it for some excellent cacio e peppe.
Trevi Fountain - its whatever - cool i guess but absolutely mobbed.
Colosseum - very cool. Did an early morning guided tour which was booked on Viator.
Vatican Museum - Also very cool but a bit long for our taste. Did a 4 hour private/guided tour booked through Context Travel. We were able to get 'behind the ropes' in a lot of places to look at things away from general public which was nice, but its very crowded in the main areas.
If we had to do something different in Rome it would for sure be spacing out activities or just booking a day or two more. All in all, we went to Rome knowing that we would be very busy and very 'touristy' but I think slowing it down a bit would have made this portion of the trip a little nicer. Still, Rome is great and would love to get back.
​
Amalfi
Took the train from Roma Termini to Naples. Our hotel arranged for a transfer from Naples to the hotel.
Stayed at Borgo Santandrea just outside of Amalfi town. Hands down nicest hotel I have ever even stepped foot inside. Seriously 5 star all the way through with no detail overlooked. One detail I loved is that it smelled amazing in throughout the hotel which actually was a really nice touch. The hotel had an amazing pool and is the only hotel in Amalfi that his its own beach club. The staff were top notch and I think there was a staff-to-guest ratio of like 3:1. The hotel also had a free shuttle that would drop-off/pickup from Amalfi town whenever you needed which was a real life saver in terms of time and money.
For activities we visited Ravello, Amalfi and Positano (sort of) then utilized our hotel's beach club for a few lazy days. Ravello was my favorite of the cities to visit. There were tourists yes, but much fewer than all the other cities. We visited Villa Cimbrone which has a spectacular garden and amazing views. You should go here for a nice cocktail or glass of wine. We went out in Amalfi town for dinner several times and never had a bad meal. We tried to branch off the main square and into some alleyways to find hidden gems, but all in all I would say most of the restaurants were comparable at the $$$ price range on google maps. Finally, we planned to visit Positano but scrapped it at the literal last minute - we rented a boat to take us from our hotel's dock to Positano but as we approached Positano it just appeared overrun by people. Instead we had our boat driver just cruise us around the coast. This ended up being one of my favorite days. The cost was $100/hour so actually pretty reasonable. Beach club at Borgo Santandrea was also a highlight - not crowded at all and the service is great. You can visit the beach club even if you don't stay at the hotel, so I would say its worth it even just for a nice lunch and cocktails. The pizza at the beach club is really good, although a little pricey at roughly 30 euros for a basic pizza.
I don't think I would really change anything about the Amalfi portion of my trip other than trying to extend it!
​
Just to give everyone an idea on budget, I think we spent roughly $25,000-$30,000 for two people during the trip of a lifetime.

I am landing in Bergen and picking up the rental from the airport. I am aware it's silly to have the car parked in Bergen for 2 days when we won't be using it, but we liked the convenience of not having to travel with our luggage back and forth to the airport before we embark on our road trip on day 3. However, if keeping the rental in a parking garage is obscenely expensive, we might have to change our plans.

People frequently ask What Terminal Is Alaska Airlines In San Diego? Alaska Airlines utilises San Diego Terminal's Terminal 2. You'll want to stay longer at the airport thanks to an expanded Terminal 2, new boutique stores, award-winning eateries like Stone Brewing Co., and an incredible collection of art! Additionally, the practical rental car facility provides simple entry and exit from the airport to various points surrounding the city.

Hi!
I am moving to the UK in September. I will be moving to an area near Birmingham.
For context:

• I currently live with my partner and we will be moving to the UK together.
• My intention is to travel by land, as we have a dog, and he is too big/old to go on a plane or a boat.
• We live in Belgium.
• We don't own a car.
• We also have a few personal items we would like to take with us (books, perhaps two small tables, clothes, and other items, things that could fit in a van).

We are struggling to find one-way rentals that won't charge a fortune. On top of that, they never seem available, even if I select airports. Perhaps I am not looking at the right ones, or there are better options out there. We had some friends who had offered to drive UK-BE-UK, but this is not confirmed.
Any advice, experiences, or other options would be appreciated. Thanks!

Just got back from a solo trip through South Africa, and despite all the cautions and reservations I heard on- and off-line, I loved every bit of it! Sharing some quick notes here for reference, and happy to answer any queries from people thinking of travelling there.
Profile
34 yo Indian man. Not the primest of targets for crime, admittedly, but I didn't really look like a poor write-off as well.
Dates
21 May 2023 - 31 May 2023
Itinerary
2N in Johannesburg with visits to Apartheid Museum, Soweto, and Rosebank Mall. Stayed at Clico Boutique Hotel in Rosebank. Found the city to be pleasant and well worth the stopover, also perfectly safe if navigated using Uber or through join-in tours.
3N in Greater Kruger, specifically at Nyati Safari Lodge in the Balule Reserve, with 2x game drives daily (morning and evening). Saw 3 of the big 5 (missed out on Rhinos and Leopards but have seen them earlier in India, so no heartache) as well as animals unique to Africa - hippos (right outside my room!), zebra, giraffes, and more antelopes than I can remember the names of. Also did a bushwalk, and loved all the bush sundowners and breakfasts. It was absolutely safe inside the lodge, the bigger threats mere mischeivous monkeys raiding the mini-bar. This was my first African Safari experience, and I loved every bit of it - can definitely see myself become a safari hoe in the years to come.
2N in Franschhoek, with a day-long self-cycle through the region (the road from Berg River Dam to Huguenot Memorial is beautiful), and more wine tastings (highly recommend Eikehof and Glenwood) than I'd had in the entirety of my life till the day. The place was my favourite in SA - beautiful, delicious, creative, and a bubble of safety. Stayed at the lovely Chanteclair guesthouse (the host Allan is a gem).
3N in Cape Town, with visits to Table Mountain, the waterfront, a peninsula tour (Camp's Bay, Hout Bay, Chapman's Peak, Cape of Good Hope, Boulders Penguin Colony, and Muizenberg), Kirstenbosch, Company's Garden, Zeitz MCAA (fantastic if you're into art) and Bo Kaap (with the lovely and free Cape Town Walking Tours). The city is easily one of the most, if not the most, beautiful in the world - the setting is spectacular, even in the cold, windy, rainy weather I was there in. It was also markedly safer than Joburg, and there were several parts of town where walking around didn't make me feel as on-edge. Stayed at Taj Cape Town (stellar downtown hotel which allows easier access to the actual city than the tourist enclave hotels of the lively but sterile Waterfront area).
Safety
Almost everyone I spoke to before visiting South Africa painted it as a free-for-all crime zone. I'd be mugged, raped, killed, or whatnot here, they said. Don't go alone. Don't go at all. All of it, ofcourse, turned out to be overblown, panic-stricken hogwash. I navigated the country without incident. BUT I didn't just stroll into town with an open wallet either - I made sure to stay at good hotels (within my budget), keep my valuables hidden away like in a secure backpack or an inside pocket, check locally for safety advice, and use Ubers or tours wherever recommended. These weren't special safety procedures designed for South Africa, mind you, they were just common precautions I'd use in any country I was visiting. It helped my travel remain incident free, and the only time I was approached by someone mildly unsavoury was when a drunk man stumbled past saying 'Good day brother' in Bo Kaap. The biggest threat to my safety in SA turned out to be marauding monkeys at my lodge near Kruger who raided the neighbouring room's minibar and made away with milk and coffee sachets. Also, contrary to some advice, things left lying around in my hotel room as well as check-in baggage at the airports remained absolutely safe and untampered.
Power (Cuts)
Load shedding is rife, and Joburg was seeing 10-12 hours of load shedding while I was there. However, all my hotels had power backup, and all the spots I visited had power backup (wherever needed), so I effectively only ever noticed loadshedding during the switch-overs between supply and gensets in my smaller Joburg and Franschhoek hotels. I even disabled the push notifications for the power supply app (ESP) because it was of no real use to me any more. Moral of the story - make sure your hotel has power backup, and carry a power bank in the unlikely event you find yourself at a cafe without electricity. Also, check up on the power points - I didn't do my research properly and had to buy two overpriced plugs in Joburg.
Weather
Joburg had crisp weather with lots of sun, but cool temperatures. Kruger had warm days and cool nights - layers were essential! Franschhoek was kinda like Joburg weather, while Cape Town was windy and rainy. The only place I could contemplate swimming was in Kruger and in the heated pool of my Cape Town hotel.
Food
EXCELLENT everywhere, even in remote Kruger. Franschhoek, however, was a highlight - if there's one place you'd want to splurge for good food, it's here. Also helps that the wine is cheap and plentiful and sublime. For vegetarians and vegans, most restaurants had symbols identifying suitable menu items, and everyone speaks English so its easy to clarify. Would recommend making online reservations at the more popular fine dining spots.
Costs
On the whole, South Africa is very affordable for someone used to American or European or Japanese or Singaporean prices, especially with the unabated fall of the ZAR. Coming from India, however, it was a bit of a mixed bag - dining out was very cheap, and hotels were great value, but domestic flights and longer taxi transfers (like Cape Town - Franschhoek or the day tours) felt expensive. Uber rides and high street shopping were just a tad pricier than I'm used to in India while the coffee and alcohol prices were an absolute delight. Entrance tickets to most sights, however, are fairly steep and much closer to the European norm than the African or Asian. That said, major sights are professionally managed, clean, safe, and have power backup.
Tipping is expected, I'd round things upward of 10% of the bill amount, except at a fine dining experience in Franschhoek where a service charge was explicitly included and informed about. Tips can be added to the card machine and need not necessarily be paid in cash.
Paying by card is practically universal in tourist-friendly spots (including entry tickets and even for smaller payments), and I didn't need to exchange any extra cash or use an ATM. Visa and Mastercard work everywhere ofcourse, and Amex has appreciable reach as well. Diner's Club and others, however, won't help.
It's good to exchange a small amount like 100 USD to help with petty payments like parking tickets or small tips or quick bites from convenience stores.
Communication
I purchased a Vodacom sim on arrival at Johannesburg, and it worked well everywhere, even giving 5G in most of Joburg, Cape Town, and Franschhoek centre. Data and talktime prices were a tad expensive (I'm spoilt because it's dirt cheap in India), but it was easy to top things up online or at stores on-the-go.
Free WiFi was widely available at airports, tourist sights, restaurants, malls etc, and worked quite decentl
Getting around
Uber works well in Joburg and Cape Town, with many local recommending Uber X. Bolt, however, was universally NOT recommended because it wasn't very reliable. I didn't try public transport, but heard that the Gautrain in Joburg and the Myciti BRT in Cape Town were safe and good quality.
I also flew from Johannesburg to Hoedspruit and Hoedspruit to Cape Town with Airlink, which was a great little regional airline with good service, punctual arrivals/departures, and a very tourist-friendly schedule and network. The tickets were quite overpriced though, and Amex refused to work on their own website, but I did get to check-in on to business class seats on economy tickets so I guess it was good overall.
I didn't self-drive. However, I met several travellers who did it (including a German lady who was campervanning solo across the entirety of southern Africa), and they reported it being easy and safe. The only precautions were to make sure you were hiring from a reputable company, not driving too much at night (out of fear of being stranded more than anything else), and purchasing the insurance plan with the agent. I did use plenty of roads, and generally observed that most highways were in decent shape and allowed for 100+ kmph speeds. Petrol stations were plentiful, and many came attached with convenience stores and mini-malls, usually with power backup. For parking, you'd usually have a local tout popping up helping you manouevre the car and watch over it for a small 5-10 ZAR tip (don't skimp on this, as petty thieves have been known to break into unattended cars to pilfer whatever they can, though I never ever saw this in action - practically every street in every town had a parking attendant on hand).
I did cycle around Franschhoek by myself and it was fantastic, much better than the kitschy Wine Tram experience. It was also very safe, and I even biked through town for dinner and some moonlight photos. The only bugbears were car traffic on the main roads, and a caution by the bike rental shop against leaving the night lamp on the bike unattended (had to unlatch it and keep it on me instead - but still, safer than biking in Amsterdam lol).
Getting there
Joburg is the biggest international airport with the better flight deals and has direct flights to all inhabited continents. It's a fairly modern and easy-to-use terminal, and I didn't observe any of the usual scams. Cape Town is the better looking airport, but has fewer connections, although it's still easy to get here with a simple transit at a major hub like London or Dubai. Durban also has a middle-sized airport with a handful of long haul links.
Most other airports are small - Hoedspruit was basically a collection of open-to-air pavillions - and have only domestic flights to the likes of JNB or CPT. Nelspruit, in southern Kruger has a few Airlink connections with Victoria Falls and the Mozambique coast, aimed at holidayers.
As an Indian, I was eligible for an evisa but the system never worked, taking my documents but never letting me pay the application fee. I instead applied manually at Delhi's VFS centre, and got my visa in 2 days (the VFS staff also told me that the evisa portal was hopeless and I shouldn't even have bothered). The evisa system finally budged while I was en-route to JNB, telling me that my application was rejected because I never submitted a bank statement (which I did) and completely ignored the fact that I never paid for my application (thanks to the inactive payment link). The rejection clearly didn't get slotted in anywhere because Immigrations was absolutely fine with my stamped-visa and didn't bother asking me anything other than why I was visiting and when I'd leave.
I flew in on Etihad via Abu Dhabi (decent airline but the airport needs a lot of work to compete with its neighbours) and back on Emirates via Dubai (excellent airline with very generous meals and a great IFE, as well as a huge and modern megahub airport experience albeit with overpriced food and shopping). Flight timings were fairly convenient both ways, with day-time arrivals and check-ins.
People
Some of the friendliest I've ever met! Everybody is happy to have a zany chat, and conversations can quickly become pal-ly and banter-ful if you're open enough. On the whole South Africans felt fairly extroverted and loosened up - very informal and sleeves-rolled-up. You'll have to excuse yourself out of a conversation, else you'll be left talking to them the whole day and not have any time left to sightsee.
Race
Speaking as an outsider who only observed things for 10 odd days, I felt that there's still a decent amount of racial segregation at play in SA.
While many lower-paying jobs are almost exclusively held by blacks and the colours thanks to the country's history of institutionalised racism, Blacks and Coloured peoples can now also be commonly seen in upscale areas as guests and visitors. However, the majority of patrons in these locations appeared to be white and Afrikaans speaking. I also only ever saw one mixed group - a white lady entertaining a black man and his daughter at a Cape Town waterfront restaurant where I was having dinner.
I did share a few drinks with Joburg-based white couples at my safari lodge, and on the whole, they didn't feel inherently racist. They in fact remembered the Mandela and Mbeki days with pride, and felt that most of the crime in South Africa was thanks to the corruption in the African National Congress (they were all praises for the opposition who holds sway in the Cape) and immigrants from neighbouring countries - they rather trusted Black South Africans for everyday affairs. At my Cape Town hotel, meanwhile, I met a few black businessmen and politicians at the pool and gym, and they told me similar things - that the ANC was corrupt, immigrants are to blame for crime etc, and didn't really have any strong opinions about whites. These experiences contrasted greatly with my conversation with a white Afrikaner pensioner in my Zanzibar hotel ten years ago, who was spewing hate against black crime after two whiskeys.
Since I'm Indian, I was often mistaken for a local - everybody (regardless of their race) would be taken aback when they heard my accent and learnt I was actually not South African (which has a large South Asian origin community) or even African (many South Asian origin peoples in eastern Africa and Mauritius especially). This spoke volumes to me - in the UK, where I studied and which now has an Indian-origin PM and a hugely visible South Asian diaspora, people would still ask me 'what country are you from?' on appearance alone. It really did emphasize how SA was more of a rainbow nation than just a slogan.
What did I like?
Practically everything, even Joburg. The safari experience was better than I expected, Cape Town was breathtaking, and Franschhoek became my favourite little town in the world. Also loved the food and the wine, and loved meeting and chatting with the locals. Of all the countries I've visited, SA is the one I'm surest about wanting to return to - and I'm not trying to be diplomatic - I honestly felt like I need more time here.
What didn't I like?
I disliked how such a great country with excellent basic infrastructure is being mismanaged. EVERYONE I spoke to was complaining about how corruption killed the country's power supply system and railways and is now threatening other aspects of life. None of these directly or visibly impacted my travels, but I would've liked being able to take a train instead of flights or not spend a premium to stay at places that had generators.
Anything I'd change?
While Joburg turned out to be a pleasant place, had I the option, I'd have skipped it to spend more time in Cape Town. I'd also spend a few more days in Franschhoek and around - the area turned out to be my favourite. Now that I've also had a lay of the land, I'm more confident about self-driving next time I visit. Also, I only realised how convenient it is to travel from SA to neighbouring countries, and would like to latch on visits to the Namibian desert, Botswana's game parks, the Victoria Falls on the Zambia-Zimbabwe border, and the beaches of Mozambique alongside a return to SA.
I realise I could have managed some things better on this trip, but bottom line is that I enjoyed it, and that this is not a 'who had the best trip' competition. I'm just sharing my positive experience of South Africa in the hope that it encourages others to properly and safely plan a trip to the place instead of avoiding it out of second-hand-scares.
Happy to take any follow ups in the comments :)

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Hi everyone, I'm taking my elderly mother (67) to Spain in late Sept/early Oct. We're both into food, pretty scenery, culture, and architecture, so we're really excited to go to Andalucia! I made a draft 17-day itinerary based on some internet research, but I'm not sure if the pacing or sequencing is right, and if we could potentially add or remove things to/from the mix. My mum likes to do things somewhat leisurely, while I'm the must-cram-in-highlights kind of traveller. Hoping to get your feedback! The plan so far:
Day 1: mid-day arrival in Madrid
Day 2: Madrid
Day 3-5: Seville
Day 6: Day trip to Cordoba
Day 7-9: Granada
Day 10-11: Nerja, sleep in Malaga on Day 11
Day 12: Pick up car at Malaga Airport, drive to Ronda with detours at Olvera and Setenil de las Bodegas
Day 13: Ronda
Day 14: Drive to Zahara de la Sierra and Grazalema before returning to Malaga, night train to Madrid
Day 15: Madrid
Day 16: Day trip to Toledo
Day 17: Day trip to El Escorial/Segovia
Day 18: mid-day departure from Madrid
Is this too ambitious? Too slow? Are we missing anything must-see? Would you add Cadiz/GibraltaMalaga into this itinerary, and if so, what would you remove? Any other White Towns you think are great? We haven't emphasized the Costa del Sol because we're both not big beach people, but I think it might be nice to sit by the ocean and eat seafood and I hear that Nerja is much nicer than Malaga.
For Madrid, it seems like the museums are the must-sees, so that's going to be our focus, probably to the exclusion of exploring the city. Would we be better served swapping one of our Madrid day trips for wandering around town?
Lastly, would it make more sense to do a clockwise or counter-clockwise trip so clockwise eg. go to Cordoba/Granada first then leave Seville to the end before Madrid? Doing it in a clockwise or counter-clockwise manner would require a one-way car rental between Malaga and Seville and that would cost more $, but might make more sense from a backtracking perspective.
Many thanks in advance!!!

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Single engine airplane or jetliner, commercial and commuter planes, or private chartered flight. We don’t care. Just let us get you there!

Why do so many choose us for their ground transportation needs?

1. Prompt, punctual and particular. Depend on us to be there waiting for your important arrival or departure. We’re ready and reliable in getting you there on-time.2. Luxury is never compromised. We realize you’re embarking on a long day of travel. Relax in our lavish and meticulously maintained limousine for your next arrival or departure.3. Impress. Arrive in style and pamper yourself or clients with a first class commute to their next destination.4. Accommodations. Our limousines are equipped with ample space for hammering out reports on your laptop or simply for stretching out.5. Airline travel is stressful enough. Allow us to lighten the load and assist you with luggage. Let us do the heavy lifting while you recline in one of the finest motor cars on the road. Count on us for your all your airport limo transportation needs! Call us at 859-298-3106 for details! The Lexington limo rental company with class. https://www.lexingtonluxurylimo.com/ Lexington Luxury Limousines Lexington Luxury Limo838 E High St Ste 126Lexington, KY 40502 (859) 298-3106