I live on Oahu and wouldn’t spend 10 full days here but with covid restrictions, you may have to rethink it. I’m sure it will be different come August, but as of now, inter island travel from Oahu requires a negative covid test. There has been talk of getting rid of inter island testing/quarantine, but no timeline as of yet.
Oahu doesn’t legally allow many short term Airbnb’s, so to be safe, I’d look for a hotel. Most of the big chains in Waikiki are open but you could consider something at Ko Olina if you want something outside of Waikiki.
As far as things to do: Pearl Harbor/ Arizona Memorial North shore beaches, shops, food trucks Dole Plantation Diamond head hike is quick and relatively easy Driving around to the various lookout points Kualoa Ranch tours
My question is when do the feds decide state allocations need to be changed. I keep reading all these posts about areas who have moved into 1b, 1c...and then I was reading about Alaska vaccinating anyone 16+ now and counties in AZ open to everyone who lives works there 18+ and still having availability.
...
There may be some communities in Alaska that are at 16+, but it's not statewide according to
(age-based is 55+) There are different rules for doses administered for military bases and first nations people, and Alaska has a high percentage of both.
Here in Hawaii, military bases are open to 2 for all Tricare beneficiaries while the state is still at 1b (75+, essential personnel). Many other bases in different states are either 1c or 2. Summer is traditionally when a large percentage of military members and their families move, often cross country, so there is a big push to get vaccinated in that regard as well.
Hawaii is looking to move into Tier 3 restrictions if our positivity rate continues to stay low. It’s currently 1.2%.
On the vaccine distribution front, only 75+ are eligible and essential workers are eligible through their employer. Employers must apply to be considered “essential” and then employees are able to be vaccinated. I don’t hear too many complaints about it, probably because the positivity rate is so low.
MH got his second dose on Tuesday (military, so not on state guidelines) and had zero reaction. He said his boss said he felt sluggish and a coworker had a low grade fever, but everyone else felt normal.
Check out the “Solid Starts” IG and website. They offer tons of free material including an entire database of how to serve particular foods based on age.
Virginia Beach is not necessarily a reflection of the whole area.
The house next to my parents is a spec house, same size as ours, and is sitting. Per the realtor at the model, they're being told it's overpriced, but given school district and brand new, I guess the builder thought it would go quick.
I did joke if we could sell our house for even close to what the one is listed at, I would sell, move in with my parents, and buy one of the lots on the water. Unfortunately they're not in our school district and we love our elementary school.
All I know is that we have a lot of friends coming and going (Navy) and homes in the 500k range are very very difficult to find. This is VB, Chesapeake, and Norfolk. We've lived here on three different occasions (bought our first home in 2004 in Norfolk) and this is the craziest we have ever seen this market. Not sure about new builds. That seems to be a bit different. We live in the northeast side of VB where there isn't anywhere to build.
We are moving that way in a few months (MH is Army, but it’s a joint assignment) and from our early research, we are concerned about what will be available. We don’t necessarily want to buy, but rentals look few and far between too. Hopefully the summer cycle will open some things up.
Does anyone know what the market is like in Hawaii?? (Oahu)
I ask b/c we're considering selling a home and just got an appraisal/price estimate from an REA that's exactly what we paid 6 yrs ago. The condition isn't great but that's still surprising based on what's going on in housing all over the country.
What area and price range are you in? I think SFH have reached a peak for the moment, but starter condos in the 400/500 range are still going fast.
We're in the 400 range and everything in my neighborhood is in escrow within a few days.
Another thing though is there is tons of new construction going on if your in an area with that. Esp kapolei/ewa area.
I think a lot depends on the area, but from what I’ve seen, SFH and townhouses seem to be going quickly and well above asking. Ewa, Kapolei, Mililani seem to be the majorly hot spots. It seems condos and apartments in town aren’t moving as quickly. We live in a high rise in town and similar units are going for 20-30k less than what our owner paid back in 2016.
I had a suspicion when she was silent after the riots and easily found out why. I’m glad I never spent any money on her classes and have been telling friends not to as well.
Rep Mast from Florida asked if they asked any of the rioters if they acted because of the president and then just stood there.
Lol. That's awkward. Pretty sure you can go get several affirmative answers from Parler if you really want to know.
He was the invited guest speaker at small military event I attended when he was first running for office. His speech was so dull MH and I still talk about it. For a politician, he made zero effort to engage with any of the cadets or other attendees and everyone was so disappointed. I’m not surprised at all by this.
I suspect Hawaii is having the same issue we are - winter is peak tourism season and we NEED the money.
People have to test before they come, they are still screened on arrival and tourists are suppsoed to stay in a limited area and all tourism workers are trained and monitored in the wearing of masks etc. Obviously having tourists come is still a risk. But there is a high possibility of riots due to lack of income/jobs if people can't work. The government's income has dropped so much due to the tourism fall-out that there are no social safety nets available. It's not such a straigh choice between health and the economy as with no economy, health is really going to suffer too. We wont be able to pay our nurses etc.
I live in Hawaii and this is pretty true. I believe we have the highest unemployment rate in the nation so they were really itching to get things open. Tourism opened up in mid October, but starting tomorrow, a negative test is required PRIOR to boarding your flight or you are required to quarantine for 14 days. Previously, a negative test was required to opt out of quarantine, but your results could come at any time. Even though Hawaii is “open,” our daily arrivals are much less than before. In previous years, daily arrivals were around 35,000. Since tourism opened back up, it hovers around 8,000. When they break those numbers down further, most are returning residents and military personnel stationed here.
Our positivity rate on Oahu has hovered around 2.5% so by most accounts we are doing well. Masks have been worn with great compliance since the spring. Locals and those that live here are pretty divided on if they want to see tourists back but most can agree the inaction by the state government is really hurting people. The state has yet to spend nearly any of its CARES money and people aren’t getting paid their unemployment in a timely matter.
They are going to be on a base, but I don’t know if it’s an Army or Air Force base (AAFES) or Navy base (NEX). I could ask. If it’s AAFES I don’t have any way to get that since I’m currently stationed at a Navy base with an NEX.
Ahh gotcha. Does amazon deliver to military bases?
Amazon definitely delivers to APO/FPO addresses which is what she should have in Japan. I would avoid any Visa gift cards because those can only be used on base and in my experience, can be iffy there too.
Do you know if she cooks? Penzey’s has nice gift sets or if you went with a gift card, they ship to APO addresses as well.
We made sure to have the address of the hotel written in Chinese to show the driver, but it wasn’t difficult at all. The car was super small and there were 4 of us so it was a tight squeeze with luggage but wasn’t too bad. I don’t think you should have a problem!
The St. Regis Aspen has the setup you’re describing. The saunas, steam rooms, cold dunk pools are separated by gender but there is a coed pool with waterfalls as well as an oxygen lounge with comfy chairs and blankets. All of that is for spa guests only, but the hotel pool and hot tubs are wonderful as well.
We only lived in housing once and it was when my husband did a 12 month war college course and we figured it was easier to live in housing and have him walk to school than sign a 12 month lease in town and have him drive.
That was enough... Our home was old (1902) and had a leaky ceiling that was never addressed. They tried to charge us for carpet damages caused by the leak even though 1. they didn't fix the leak even though I reported it several times and 2. legally, the carpet was depreciated to a point where according to state law they couldn't charge me. So, yea. No. They tried to fight me but I'm a landlord myself and know how to look up rental laws. They eventually backed off.
Lately privatized housing has gone the way of "fill at all costs" which means housing is first come first served and rank blind (even DOD employees and contractors can apply). This is fine I guess but we aren't paying O-5 BAH to live in the same house as someone paying E-3 BAH next door. Sorry. I'll pay market value - but if you're just taking the whole allowance and putting me in typical government housing I am going to go into town and spend my money wisely on either a nicer home, or a lesser home and pocket the difference.
The above, paired with the mold issues and other stories I've heard makes me stay far far away. It would take something really remarkable to get me to live in military housing ever again.
I read recently that the housing you lived in is no longer offered to students - they're going to turn it into offices or something. Too expensive to actually fix the problems, and finally deemed unacceptable apparently.
Here at Leavenworth (not sure if this is where you’re talking about), they say they won’t be putting families in the historic housing for the next group of CGSC students because of all the issues. I believe they are going to allow it to be geo bachelor housing with a roommate.
We stayed at the Cotton House Hotel and it was wonderful. Walking distance to almost everything, great bar/restaurant on location and good rooms with balconies.
Are you planning on using points or cash? There are some really good deals to be had with points right now and they are apparently going to go up in March when they re-categorize some properties.
For warm places: Residence Inn or Delray Beach Marriott in Delray Beach, FL are nice and walk able to restaurants, the beach, and have nice pools
Swan/Dolphin at Disney if you're interested in doing Disney or Orlando
My parents have a condo in Siesta Key, so I haven't stayed at any Marriott properties, but I'd highly recommend that area. I know there's a Ritz in Sarasota
Chicago:
Spring break is a toss up weather wise. It could be freezing cold and snow, nonstop rain, or it could be decent.
The Sheraton is nice and a great location for walking around. Most properties in River North would be a good location.
We just stayed at the JW Marriott, but I didn't love the location and the lounge was closed on the weekends. Our main event was seeing Hamilton, and it's a good location for that.
MH and I (we don't have kids) are going to CO for Spring Break. We're staying at the St. Regis, Aspen and The Ritz at Beaver Creek all on points. I'm not sure if a ski trip would be of interest to you, but the Westin Snowmass had a great deal.
They are doing a recount, which is mandated if the difference between candidates are <0.5% (in this race it was about 0.2%).
In the mean time, Bill Nelson has filed a lawsuit against the Florida Secretary of State, demanding that all mail-in and provisional ballots that have been deemed to have a "signature mismatch" be counted. As someone who voted absentee by mail in Florida, and who voted for Bill Nelson, I had NO IDEA that my signature would be closely analyzed to see if it matched...something. I don't even know what it's supposed to match. My FL driver's license? Some form I signed when I registered to vote? On the back of my ballot I scrawled a semblance of my signature, and honestly a handwriting expert could probably easily tell that both are from the same person (same loops or whatever), but I can't imagine most laypeople would look at both and be convinced they were from the same person. If I'd known the needed to "match" I would have taken a little more care on my mail-in ballot. So I'm basically furious that my vote might not count.
So anyway, that's where we are.
ETA: Apparently they don't actually start the recount until Sunday.
H and I also voted absentee for Nelson and I have no clue what signature they’re comparing to either. I hope not my DL because I can never sign well on those screens.
I checked online and I know that my ballot was both “received” and “accepted” but I have no clue if that means my vote was actually counted or not.
For the 2016 election, we lived in FL and they gave me a hard time about my signature. I voted in person, with an ID, in Palm Beach county. They also gave me a hard time about my ID because it was a military dependent ID and she wanted to see a FL drivers license which I didn't have. It was resolved rather quickly, but I was irritated to say the least and ready to raise hell. They verified the signature with the initial voter registration application.
Anyway, MH voted absentee for Nelson (I'm registered elsewhere) and I told him to be careful with his signature, not really expecting it to be an issue, but here we are.
Just got done voting in KS-03. I didn’t know what to expect since it’s my first election here but there was a steady stream of people, although no more than 5 in line at a time. A group of 18ish year old girls were walking out as I was walking in and it made me really happy to see that.
Who has news articles, polling info, and chatter about the midterms?
Maybe we can do a weekly thread?
I will start. I saw on Twitter this morning that the Republican Congressional Committee is pulling money out of the Sharice Davids/Kevin Yoder race in Kansas, and Davids is up by 8 points in polls. I really like Sharice Davids, so I'm so excited she has such a good chance of winning!
I lived in Seoul from 2012-2013 and Pyeontaek from 2013-2015. I think you've gotten some really good advice so far, but I'll add that things change so quickly there it's hard to keep up. If you're going to be at Camp Humphrey's, PM me and I can try to answer and base specific questions you may have.
Sounds like you're set to have a great time! As to your questions, I wore a maxi dress and brought a small cardigan to the temples in Bangkok and had no problems. I would think the shawl worn as you described would be fine. Do you have Priority Pass or any access to an airport lounge? If you do, you can shower and relax there before your flights. Day passes aren't too expensive either if you want to purchase that. It's a long flight and I'd hate to be out all day and not shower before leaving.
Ditto everyone else on the underwear. No matter how light I am packing, I always bring more. And I also recommend dresses. If the weather is cooler, I like to bring a blazer that I can use to dress up an outfit for dinner and doubles as a layer.
I have a really light jacket that folds its own pocket that I took to Brussels/Paris/Barcelona a few years ago. It came in handy as backup pillow on the plane, too.
Lastly, I will lay out my outfits and take a picture with my phone to get a general idea of what pairs with what and how I can use everything with each other. It can be tedious, but it really helps me.
I haven't been in years (grew up in North Central IL), but I remember there being an awesome bakery in town that bakes the apple pies in paper bags. We've done a dinner cruise around the lake that was pretty interesting, even as a kid. You could also drive up to Alpine Valley, I know for sure they have a bike trail. And one last thing, I've never been, but my parents have mentioned going Geneva Lake Brewing Company and liking it. I actually think my parents are going there this weekend or next!
We were there last weekend but it was just my DH and I as we don’t have kids. We've stayed at Loews Portofino Bay and Royal Pacific specifically for the express passes. Hard Rock on property also comes with express passes but is generally the most expensive of the three options. One tip I found when booking the hotel is that they allow cancellation up to a few days before your trip without any fees so if you find a cheaper rate you can cancel and rebook. I did this for our last trip and saved over $100/night. I’ve found their hotel prices fluctuate quite a bit. We never waited more than 15 minutes for any ride with the express passes so they are totally worth it to us.
City Walk is free to access and has quite a few restaurants and shops. They recently opened a Voodoo Donuts so that was fun to grab a few donuts in the evening to have in our room for breakfast. I mostly find the food at the parks to be underwhelming compared to Disney, but there are some decent finds. We had fish and chips and bangers and mash at the Leaky Cauldron and heard that the food at Three Broomsticks was good. You definitely don’t need to plan out reservations in advance like you do at Disney.
Are you staying in downtown Chattanooga and Downtown Nashville? Do you like to hike?
We’ll be downtown in both locations. A Marriott in Chattanooga and the Sheraton in Nashville. We would like to take the dog hiking if we could to get him some exercise after all the time in the car.
We're moving from S. Florida to KCMO area and driving up in a few weeks with stops along the way in Chattanooga for 2 nights, Nashville for 4, and ending in downtown KC for a few nights until we settle into our house outside the city. No kids, one dog, and we're not picky with food, drinks, and entertainment.
I don’t have any answers to your questions, but we went to Dishoom in January and we are still talking about it. Be prepared to wait, but it was so so good.
If you go to Bourough Market, I highly recommend Padella for amazing pasta dishes. I think we ordered 3 or 4 for two of us and it was perfect. A great sample of things.
So I bolded the recs that came up more than once in my original document, and Dishroom is bolded and italicized because it came up so often. Their menu looks incredible, and I can't decide if we should go for breakfast or dinner or both plus lunch. Is there anything specific we should order?
Everything?? If I remember correctly, we had okra fries, Pau bhaji, a chicken curry I think, biryani, lamb chops, black daal and naan. Probably something I'm forgetting. We met up with my SIL's BIL who lives in London and he said he had been trying to go there since they opened but didn't think the wait was worth it. He's a believer now!
I don’t have any answers to your questions, but we went to Dishoom in January and we are still talking about it. Be prepared to wait, but it was so so good.
If you go to Bourough Market, I highly recommend Padella for amazing pasta dishes. I think we ordered 3 or 4 for two of us and it was perfect. A great sample of things.
Your trip sounded wonderful. A friend was on assignment in Romania for a few months with the military and had great things to say about it. It’s definitely added to our list now!