kochleffel

I have a 5-hour layover when flying to Spain later this month. It's on AA and the layover is at Philadelphia. The Admirals Club in A-West is closed, ostensibly for conversion to a Flagship Lounge, but it has been closed for three years and no work has taken place. My flight to PHL arrives in terminal F so I will just head to the lounge there. I also have an online class for three of those five hours, and boarding will start before the class ends.

I think so. When I have open dining, I almost always book specialty dining for the first night, because the MDR is typically slammed. I think the same thing would be true in the Lido. I believe that this happens because the embarkation and sailaway sequence puts most people onto the same schedule, and most also have no activities planned for the first afternoon and evening. After the first night, people's plans and schedules are more varied. I'm pretty sure that Canaletto was available to book for embarkation night on my upcoming cruise on the Oosterdam, but I booked the Pinnacle Grill. Canaletto was already heavily booked for other nights.

Emily Kimbrough wrote in Water, Water Everywhere, which is about a trip to Greece by ship in the 1950s, with three other women of "a certain age." One of the women, Sophia Jacobs, was a natural leader and a person of considerable civic achievements (when their ship docked at Piraeus, she was mistakenly greeted by news photographers with the mistaken impression that she was "the commander of all the women in America"). At a Greek home, the first course for dinner was a whole fish, placed before the host to serve. He scooped out the eyes and presented them to Sophy. With great presence of mind, she thanked him and said that, because she had no comparable tribute from America to offer, she would present the eyes back to him.

Oh, I fully intend to use shipboard laundry! It's just that, from the time I leave here until I board the ship is six days: flight to Spain, four days in Madrid, and then a day in Barcelona before embarkation.

In New York, except possibly during emergencies, none of the default electric supply is from coal. It's about 25% hydro and 24% nuclear, with the largest single source pof the rest being natural gas, and smaller amounts from wind and solar.

Thanks for the suggestion. The Google turned up many, many sites about healthcare in Spain for expats and long-term visitors such as students, not that these were any help. It also led me to a very interesting thread on a site for people walking the Camino de Santiago, the Way of St. James, in which several participants described their experiences. Several said they were given a bill, but the hospital or clinic would not accept any form of payment directly. They were supposed to pay through the Spanish banking system, either by taking the bill to a branch of the bank indicated by the IBAN (like routing number and account number in the U.S.), or using a transfer service such as wise.com. One person reported that the bill (from France, not Spain) was mailed to him, weeks later, at home. Someone else mentioned that banks in Europe will charge a non-trivial fee to pay cash into an account that's not your own, so it's better to do it electronically, where fee would usually be less.

Thanks for the replies, and I'm sorry for sounding obstreperous. It's just that the prospect was so alarming. It seems that the best strategy is to keep a copy of the summary page of my travel insurance with me at all times, and perhaps also to transfer some more money, I hope only temporarily, into the checking account of which I'll be using the debit card.

So you're saying that everyone needs to take $50,000 or $100,000 in cash everywhere? Hospitals in any other country will cost less than in the U.S. but it could still be a lot.

One of my colleagues and teachers has written about being chased by a grizzly bear in Alaska. It didn't catch him, but only because he reached a work crew with a truck.

To be clear, my question is not about having to pay, or even about how much, but specifically about having to pay in paper money. I've seen dentists twice abroad, once in England and once in Denmark, in private clinics that took credit cards, but my only brush with a hospital was at A&E (the ER) at St. Thomas's in London, where the NHS doesn't charge anyone for ER treatment. (If I had been admitted to the hospital, I would have been charged.) The thread that I'm questioning said that foreign hospitals never accept credit cards. This is a serious question: I really cannot cope with the idea of needing to carry many thousands of dollars in cash.

Too bad!

Late on Saturday, I hid some questions in the Daily. I would still welcome replies, so here they are, reposted. I'm finishing up arrangements for Spain and the Spanish Farewell, and I have a question about the train in Spain. I'll be going from Madrid-Barajas airport to Atocha station on the Cercanias commuter rail, and from Madrid to Barcelona on the Iryo high-speed train. For those trips, and the Barcelona metro to my hotel, is the risk of theft enough that I should put locks on my luggage, to the extent that it's possible? Or does that only identify a bag that might contain something worth stealing? I'll also travel between Madrid and Toledo on the high-speed rail, but without luggage. I was also thinking today about whether using laundry on the Oosterdam would allow packing lighter without having to do hand laundry in Madrid. I've concluded that it wouldn't, because of the number of days before boarding and the need to have something to wear until the laundry comes back. Unfortunately I'll have to take some things that I don't usually carry, such as a bluetooth keyboard. And an unrelated question: In another forum, people were discussing paying for hospital care abroad. The thread contains some misinformation, such as the statement that no Medigap plan covers foreign treatment, which some plans (C and F that I know of) actually do. But the concerning part is the insistence that foreign hospitals require payment in cash, meaning currency, and won't take credit cards. It is hard for me to imagine traveling with thousands of dollars in cash.

Every day should recognizes custodial workers and farm animals. I have never named a car but when I first owned a Toyota, in the 1970s, I kept a book of Japanese poetry in the glove box. Not a fan of mac and cheese. NCL offers it as a side dish in its steak restaurant, and just thinking about it gives me nausea. I'll choose Roy's alternative, and I agree with @RedneckBob about the cocktail, which sounds awful. Médoc is in Bordeaux and tends to have gravelly soil, so I'll look at a Bordeaux blend from Keuka Lake: Heron Hill Eclipse Blend. I haven't been to Brisbane. "1789 George Washington transmits the proposed Constitutional amendments (The United States Bill of Rights) to the States for ratification." Did anyone ever pay the bill or is there still a balance due?

At an annual professional conference, they tend to refer to people with lots of experience as "seasoned." Someone changed that to "marinated," which soon became "pickled."

Thanks. I've just been checking: including a personal item, I could need as many as six locks! I have two. In addition, the personal item has three outside compartments that aren't readily lockable, but since it will be with me all the time, a single twist of wire can take care of all three.

Rabbit, rabbit, but the rabbits here at the New York Rabbit Sanctuary are brown. They aren't discriminating; they also allow deer and a woodchuck in the sanctuary. Does anyone else remember the Grey Rabbit, the unlicensed vagabond bus that ran up and down the west coast in the 1970s? Every day is Coffee Day here. I think I would rather have Roy's alternative menu. No on the pseudorita. Many Finger Lakes wineries grow Chardonnay, partly because it was all the rage when they were being planted about four decades ago. When they tried to make it like California Chardonnay of that time (100% malolactic fermentation and lots of oak), the result was mediocre to awful. It's not ideal for this climate because of spring frosts, but the taste worldwide has shifted to a more natural style, with or without oak. I'll suggest Fox Run Doyle Family 2021, which is unoaked. I haven't been to the Seychelles. I got the jab yesterday--just the one. My arm is sore but there's no fever. A friend was at the pharmacy at the same time and got two. She missed a meeting this morning but I don't know whether that's the reason. The nearest Total Wine to here is in Totowa, New Jersey. I'll probably stop there on the way back from Cape Liberty in January. It's Armagnac, not wine, that I usually stock up on. I have an Alaska booking for 2025 on hold with NCL, where FCC is burning a hole in my pocket. It was a big surprise to discover that in 2025 NCL will switch one-way Alaska cruises from Seward to Whittier, where they are building their own cruise terminal. This does not work well with my desire to rebook a tour from Seward with Major Marine from 2020, as there is no way to get from Whittier to Seward without either a taxi ($400), a detour to Anchorage (most practical) or a bad connection between bus and train at Portage or Girdwood. I'm thinking that I'll forego Denali if I keep this booking, because the damaged section of the park road won't reopen before 2026.

There are vegetarians whom I would hug, and there are other vegetarians whom I wouldn't want to get that close to. I think I am more in favor of truth and reconciliation than of mud packs. Is it only a coincidence that the first Ethernet specification was published on the anniversary on the first use of ether for anesthesia? Not all all sure about lasagna soup, but the bourbon punch might be OK. For a Finger Lakes Sauvignon Blanc, there are lots of choices. How about Bravery Wines 2021, which benefits the Yellow Ribbon Fund. I haven't been to Fiji. I'm finishing up arrangements for Spain and the Spanish Farewell, and I have a question about the train in Spain. I'll be going from Madrid-Barajas airport to Atocha station on the Cercanias commuter rail, and from Madrid to Barcelona on the Iryo high-speed train. For those trips, and the Barcelona metro to my hotel, is the risk of theft enough that I should put locks on my luggage, to the extent that it's possible? Or does that only identify a bag that might contain something worth stealing? I'll also travel between Madrid and Toledo on the high-speed rail, but without luggage. I was also thinking today about whether using laundry on the Oosterdam would allow packing lighter without having to do hand laundry in Madrid. I've concluded that it wouldn't, because of the number of days before boarding and the need to have something to wear until the laundry comes back. Unfortunately I'll have to take some things that I don't usually carry, such as a bluetooth keyboard. And an unrelated question: In another forum, people were discussing paying for hospital care abroad. The thread contains some misinformation, such as the statement that no Medigap plan covers foreign treatment, which some plans (C and F that I know of) actually do. But the concerning part is the insistence that foreign hospitals require payment in cash, meaning currency, and won't take credit cards. It is hard for me to imagine traveling with thousands of dollars in cash.

I was just looking at one-way itineraries from Vancouver in 2025 and it was a shock to see that the disembarkation port would be Whittier, not Seward. I saw in another post that NCL is building its own terminal at Whittier.

For the Russian Bishop's House, to see the second floor, which has original furnishings and suggests how the bishop and his staff lived, go as early as you can and pick up timed tickets. You don't need a ticket for the lower floor, which has exhibits.

I'd second the Bayview restaurant (it's upstairs; I think the building has an elevator).

[deleted]

Just reading about the rain and floods in NYC and the suburbs. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/09/29/nyregion/nyc-rain-flash-flooding State and local government are warning people not to expect a break in the rain anytime soon. I was pleased with the haddock baked under a bed of peppers that had been sauteed in Greek olive oil. The latest in the uproar at the synagogue is that people are sending "reply all" emails correcting other people's email addresses, but the corrections are also wrong.

It's also world coffee day, which is much more important. The meal suggestion would be OK with me, but I'm actually making haddock with sauteed peppers (the peppers that I intended to cook yesterday, but wasn't patient enough after a class that ended at 7:00 p.m.). Pass on the cocktail. There are a few organic wineries in the Finger Lakes, including one that is Demeter biodynamic certified, but I couldn't find one that makes an organic Cabernet Sauvignon. Instead, here's a Cabernet Franc from Herman J. Wiemer, which has been biodynamic at its estate vineyard since about 2014. A 2020 cruise that would have taken me to the mainland of Alaska was cancelled, of course. I'm not getting a covid jab today: CVS here hasn't received the Moderna vaccination, which is the only one administered at that location. I've booked for Pfizer tomorrow at Rite-Aid, even though it's not a preferred pharmacy in my Part D plan; Walgreens, which is, has no availability nearer than about 40 miles. I seem to have spent most of the past few days fighting fires having to do with volunteer work at the synagogue, all revolving around coverage for the rabbi's vacation. Everything was arranged, until ignorant busybodies chose to interfere. That, and the vaccination issue, plus a nerve-wracking class yesterday, have me pretty annoyed.

Do you remember her name? She was probably still on the faculty when I was a student (and since he graduated ca. 1961, must be close to 90 now, if not older).

When a nursing assistant showed up to draw blood at 4:00 a.m. for the second night in a row, I asked if that was normal. She told me that patients receiving pain medication often wake up around that time, and the nurses check to see whether the patient is ready for the next dose. If the patient is already awake, she would pop in to do the blood draw while the nurse was getting the medication, in order not to have to wake the patient at 6:00 a.m. for it. Blood draws ordered for the night shift had to be done before 7:00 a.m. so that the results would be ready when the doctors made rounds.