Most random thing I will have learned on JFC this month.where you and dalamon went hiking with me
Most random thing I will have learned on JFC this month.where you and dalamon went hiking with me
Most random thing I will have learned on JFC this month.
That place I've pretty consistently caught fish. I haven't been down there in a long time though.I wasn't ready lol. I walked about 10 hard miles and now I'm way sore.
Oh and my secret spot? I caught zero fish. Walked about 8 miles there for about 5 hours and caught nothing.
Drove to another location (where you and dalamon went hiking with me) and walked about another 2 miles and caught 5 fish.
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Back in the day it seems lots of jazzfanz members used to hang out. I think I've met about 30 people from the board. I liked most of them... I do have a few wild stories about some of them that aren't for the message board. One Australian in particular that doesn't post anymore got wild. Some of our best posters are gone.Most random thing I will have learned on JFC this month.
We know you were watching creep.Begs the question tho, what did they do while hiking together?
Me too. Not a ton of fish and rarely very big fish but I always catch some.That place I've pretty consistently caught fish. I haven't been down there in a long time though.
Ya I think I meet like 30 or so as well and also have some stories. Good timesBack in the day it seems lots of jazzfanz members used to hang out. I think I've met about 30 people from the board. I liked most of them... I do have a few wild stories about some of them that aren't for the message board. One Australian in particular that doesn't post anymore got wild. Some of our best posters are gone.
We know you were watching creep.
This is somewhat of a silly question. At some point, my wife and I will hit Antarctica. We don't anticipate this will be for quite some time, however, because of the amount of time it would take and having kids at home and such. By extension of that, we'd only need to see Australia for all 7 continents, which is more of a novelty, I'll admit. We'll hit New Zealand at some point for sure. It's harder to make a compelling reason to have Australia higher up on the list. No offense to the Aussies, and part of posting this to maybe get a bit more info. I'd actually love to visit Australia. But with its distance and cost, there are so many places that would be high on our list, so it's no specific slight to down under. Looking at it, though, the only continent that my wife and I have been to that our kids haven't is Africa, and between places like Egypt, Morocco or Tanzania that are definitely on our "opportunistic" list, where we'd jump on it if we found a good deal. My oldest is 16 and a half and our youngest turns 7 in two weeks. Antarctica would be a huge PITA to take a family (or even to not take a family) but hypothetically, it would seem cool to me when I'm on my death bed to be able to look back and know we'd been together as a family on all continents. That last one would obviously be something we'd have to wait until a number of them are probably well into adulthood (which if they have families of their own may make it more complicated). Anyhow, this very hypothetical idea would require us to get our kids to Australia without a huge compelling reason. Fiji Airways often runs pretty decent deals periodically on flights, and they have a similar "stop-over" program like Iceland Air does. Fiji with AirBnb and food prices overall is quite cheap, much cheaper than many other alternatives in terms of a tropical vacation. So the question becomes, if one goes to Fiji, and you're already that close to Australia, would it be stupid to tack on a very short stay (2-3 days) where you're likely in Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne, or is that just trying to be too cute and just be more relaxed and save the money in Fiji. My brain definitely tells me the latter but my heart is looking for justification of the former.
I definitely don't have weeks to be there. Because of the nature of my work, like 10 days is pushing it on how long I can be gone. This fall I'll be gone for over two weeks which will be interesting, but yeah it's typically 7-10 days. A Fiji/Australia would have to come in at under 14 days... maybe right on it depending on weekends. Who knows.A mate of mine just got back from Fiji, its not that cheap is you're staying in resorts, which I would recommend, they've got some significant social issues in the countryside at the moment.
The flight from Fiji is not long 4 or 5 hours. Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane are all fun for a weekend, three very different vibes, Melbourne is culture and food, Sydney is the harbour and beaches, Brisbane is the weather and nightlife. (I have the inside news that Melbourne may soon have its own Disneyland, Disney has recently bought a significant site in the docklands region and is buying apartments in the area, they are either building an amusement park or a studio, my word is its a park.) and the flights shouldn't be too taxing, I think Qantas and United fly direct to LA from Sydney.
I would do Australasia in 6 weeks, 2 weeks in NZ driving North to South, 4 weeks in Australia, start in Melbourne, do 3 or 4 days of sight seeing in Melbourne, get your timing right and you can take in an AFL game at the G, visit the goldfields, then drive the great ocean road to Adelaide, visit Hahndorf and the Barossa Valley, then either fly or drive to to Alice Springs (Alice Springs can be pretty dodgy at night) check out Uluru. From there fly to Sydney, again 3 or 4 days to take in the sights. From there fly to Byron Bay, rent a car and drive to Brisbane via the Gold Coast, somewhere along that drive you will find somewhere to take in a great barrier reef tour. And maybe finish off with a few days rest in the Whitsundays before you head home. Also if you have the time squeeze in a visit to Tasmania, Hobart is a cool little city.
I definitely don't have weeks to be there. Because of the nature of my work, like 10 days is pushing it on how long I can be gone. This fall I'll be gone for over two weeks which will be interesting, but yeah it's typically 7-10 days. A Fiji/Australia would have to come in at under 14 days... maybe right on it depending on weekends. Who knows.








Can you speak the languages of these places in asia or do they speak English? Or is your wife able to translate?I just got back from Laos and it is a beaitful country. Its a little sleepy but I think a lot of people enjoy that for vacation. People are pretty nice and relaxed. I would definitley recommend it. It seems very safe as well at least where I went. I still prefer Cambodia but they both have their perks.
I went to Singapore last month. Oof that country is not for me. If you love luxury shopping and high end restaurants thats the place for you. It does not have much character and everything is stupidly expensive. But it is really nice as far as infastructure and such and clean.
I went to Bali 2 months ago. It was really amazing views and really nice things to do. But it is crazy over crowded and traffic is a nightmare. I would probably go back but its lower on my list now.
Heading to Vietnam next month and probably Thailand the month after. I have not been to either. I expect to like Vietnam and not like Thailand as much based on what many people have told me, but I am sure both will be enjoyable.
Gotta love living anywhere in South East Asia though. Its super cheap (besides singapore) and easy to get around to the area.
Can you speak the languages of these places in asia or do they speak English? Or is your wife able to translate?
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Lol I was about to bump this because I've been working on a couple posts and I'm a year behind. I've got more time over this weekend so should get it up.I just got back from Laos and it is a beaitful country. Its a little sleepy but I think a lot of people enjoy that for vacation. People are pretty nice and relaxed. I would definitley recommend it. It seems very safe as well at least where I went. I still prefer Cambodia but they both have their perks.
I went to Singapore last month. Oof that country is not for me. If you love luxury shopping and high end restaurants thats the place for you. It does not have much character and everything is stupidly expensive. But it is really nice as far as infastructure and such and clean.
I went to Bali 2 months ago. It was really amazing views and really nice things to do. But it is crazy over crowded and traffic is a nightmare. I would probably go back but its lower on my list now.
Heading to Vietnam next month and probably Thailand the month after. I have not been to either. I expect to like Vietnam and not like Thailand as much based on what many people have told me, but I am sure both will be enjoyable.
Gotta love living anywhere in South East Asia though. Its super cheap (besides singapore) and easy to get around to the area.



















You two are a cute couple. I would do both of you (kidding of course but you are both attractive)I figure I'm going to go out of order here and do this one because it's Christmas. We'll see about getting a couple others later this week.
My wife has always talked about going to Christmas markets in Europe as she's always wanted to go. I was up for it but with having 5 kids, it's not the best time to get away and seemed like it would be something we'd do at some point in the future when the kids were older or out of the house. There's typically an idea that when you're flying somewhere far away, you need to go for a longer period of time to make it worth it. Since we're pretty accustomed to jet lag and also hit the ground running pretty hard, we ultimately wised up to this erroneous idea and decided to slip away during a brief window of time that equated to an extended weekend. We booked a flight to Prague, Czech Republic. We had initially intended to just stay in Prague. I ended up looking at renting a car because of how cheap it was, that it'd be easier to get to and from the airport, and preserved our ability to see something else. I had looked at the map and had seen Dresden, which is where the oldest Christmas market is in Germany. I had also seen that we were about 3.5 hours from Wroclaw, Poland. There wasn't much fanfare about a Christmas market there but it was supposed to be less busy and actually looked pretty good from what I could see on Youtube. So with our limited time, we were thinking we'd only choose to do one other location. Ultimately we decided to do both. We wake up super early on vacation (when it's just us) and hit the road and stay out way late, so we always end up being able to see things in 1/3 or less of the time than what's always recommended (we totally destroyed the entire island this year that I'll post about later).
Anyhow, we landed in Prague and our first afternoon and evening was trying to figure out WTF to park. There was a mall parking garage that I had planned to use, but there was some guy out there waving people away and not letting them in, despite it saying that there's room. We circled around a few times and tried to ask questions where we were supposed to park but they weren't helpful. It took us quite a while to figure out parking. There were some places on the street that you could park that we eventually did, but the app would only let you do an hour at a time. We ended up parking in a private lot but it required having cash only. We got checked in and went out to the market that first night. It was crazy busy so we did very little other than just seeing things. Below is my wife with the huge crowds of people in the middle of Old Town.
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This next picture is from the town square with one of the churches. To the left is the Astronomical Clock, which I think is the oldest one in the world. This setting is really crazy. It honestly looks fake, like you're at Universal Studios or Disneyland or something, or like you're on a movie set. It's crazy to think it's real.
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The next day we got up pretty early and drove up toward Dresden. About 40 minutes outside of Dresden we stopped at the Freiberg LDS temple.
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It may not be the most spectacular one aesthetically but it may have the most unique history of any LDS temple, at least politically, as it was not specifically proposed by the LDS church to put a temple here but the idea had arisen by the communist East Germany government who was otherwise having to approve visas for members to travel to Switzerland. Instead of doing that, they suggested a temple be build within their borders.
Walking to the Dresden market we apparently found Wurst Kuche.
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The Dresden market was probably the best one for getting crafts and souvenirs.
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We climbed to the top of the church to get a top view.
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We then drove about 4.5 hours or so over to Wroclaw, Poland, where we were going to stay the night. Despite not much publicity surrounding this market, I think we both agreed that it was the best for the absolute market. Prague was the best for the setting within the city. Dresden was the best for traditional gifts.
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Does anyone remember this popcorn? I saw this in Poland and hadn't thought of it since I last saw it at some point in the 90s.
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Our AirBnb was above one of the squares from the market and we got an absolutely incredible sunrise the next day.
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