What Bucket List Item Failed to Live Up to Expectations?

[cruisemom42]

On 6/8/2022 at 11:45 AM, JRG said:

We saw Steeley Dan in one their final shows so sometimes you get lucky with who's in town too.

 

Still waiting for the Sex Pistols residency.... 😁

 

Vegas is a long trip for me and too many minuses to make up for the very few pluses. If I want to foodie it up, I can get to Manhattan much cheaper and easier. 

[slidergirl]

4 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Still waiting for the Sex Pistols residency.... 😁

 

Vegas is a long trip for me and too many minuses to make up for the very few pluses. If I want to foodie it up, I can get to Manhattan much cheaper and easier. 

Let's hear it for Sid Vicious!  

I can drive to Vegas in 5-6 hours or a little over an hour flight.  Sometimes I need a fix of  good food outside of the small offerings up here.  And, Lee's Discount Liquor to stock up on those things that our State Stores here in UT don't offer.   And, the beach at Mandalay Bay: nothing like spending a birthday at the beach, in a cabana, with your own Cabana Boy to ply you with drinks and put sunscreen on your back 😸

 

Everyone should go to the Neon sign graveyard - it's a very interesting trip into the history of Las Vegas.  

 

Oh, for the Sex Pistols concerts - i already have my safety pin earrings ready to go...

Edited June 10, 2022 by slidergirl

[cruisemom42]

6 minutes ago, slidergirl said:

Oh, for the Sex Pistols concerts - i already have my safety pin earrings ready to go...

 

and I thought you were the hippie!  

 

I'm the punk/goth who still has my collection of buttons from London 1978 and a photo of the black eye I got slam-dancing.

[slidergirl]

6 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

and I thought you were the hippie!  

 

I'm the punk/goth who still has my collection of buttons from London 1978 and a photo of the black eye I got slam-dancing.

I am the old hippie lady.  BUT the now-ex was into punk...  let's say the parties were, interesting...

[ldubs]

8 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

and I thought you were the hippie!  

 

I'm the punk/goth who still has my collection of buttons from London 1978 and a photo of the black eye I got slam-dancing.

 

1 hour ago, slidergirl said:

I am the old hippie lady.  BUT the now-ex was into punk...  let's say the parties were, interesting...

 

You guys are awesome!  😀

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

 

You guys are awesome!  😀

"living on reds, vitamin C and cocaine, what a long strange trips it's been."

[slidergirl]

4 hours ago, ontheweb said:

"living on reds, vitamin C and cocaine, what a long strange trips it's been."

Parties in Topanga Canyon and up in the hollywood Hills.  protest marches and occupation of the administration building at UCLA.  The good ole' days.  "What a long strange trip it's been."

 

I'm trying to figure out what things/places I want to spend some time at next month in France and Italy.  All the money i'm putting on this trip - i don't want to be underwhelmed by a pick...

[ldubs]

8 hours ago, ontheweb said:

"living on reds, vitamin C and cocaine, what a long strange trips it's been."

 

Haha, this thread has taken a very strange turn.   

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, ldubs said:

 

Haha, this thread has taken a very strange turn.   

Yes, a long strange trip. but a lot of threads when they get this long veer off into odd directions.

[rkacruiser]

19 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Yes, a long strange trip. but a lot of threads when they get this long veer off into odd directions.

 

And, some of them are very interesting side trips from the original topic.  

[marylen]

Chichenitza. The ruins and the tour and the temple were fabulous.

 

BUT locals set up their wares on folding tables on all the walkways, and just walk behind them to relieve themselves, so there's a stench, plus have to be careful where you walk unless you want to step in human feces.

 

 

[Mary229]

27 minutes ago, marylen said:

Chichenitza. The ruins and the tour and the temple were fabulous.

 

BUT locals set up their wares on folding tables on all the walkways, and just walk behind them to relieve themselves, so there's a stench, plus have to be careful where you walk unless you want to step in human feces.

 

 

That sounds like the south rim of the Grand Canyon.  All of those tourists on their burros create urine puddles.  It is disgusting. I left and went to hike the North Rim

[Cruise Junky]

On 5/11/2022 at 7:32 AM, John Bull said:

 

We went from Port Douglas, about 40 miles north of Cairns.

The largely-dead coral - and consequent poor showing of fish - is down to the warming of the ocean & perhaps accelerated by too many clumsy snorkelers.

 

I don't know whether this is typical of the GBR.

I hope not, but I suspect that tour boats are restricted to specific areas to preserve the bulk of it - our boat went to clearly designated areas, and other boats were in the same areas.

 

I guess you're going to have to research to find the best places - and whether boats are permitted there.

But I'd advise you to strike Port Douglas, and probably Cairns. 😟 

 

JB 🙂

When did you go?  We’ve been to Port Douglas three times on a land trip.  Snorkelling the GBR from there goes down as one of my best days ever. We were on a smaller boat that went to 3 different stops. 

[Cruise Junky]

I think the only bucket list item that disappointed was Mont St Michel. Beautiful from a distance, tourist hell inside. 

[John Bull]

55 minutes ago, Cruise Junky said:

When did you go?  We’ve been to Port Douglas three times on a land trip.  Snorkelling the GBR from there goes down as one of my best days ever. We were on a smaller boat that went to 3 different stops. 

 

January 2019,.

Theoretically a road-trip Cairns to Brisbane as part of a round-the-world trip.

I say "theoretically", because it was during Queensland's worst flooding for decades - after our time in Cairns (half-decent weather) we drove to Townsville for an overnite as planned, in atrocious weather. When we got there we were told that all roads to the south were flooded & impassable  Next morning that was confirmed & unlikely to change for a week or more, but worse - the road we'd travelled the previous day was also closed, we were trapped in Townsville. 😮 

Part of the town was deliberately flooded by opening the spillway of the dam behind the town in fear that otherwise the whole dam would collapse. Sheets of rain like I've never seen before, flash floods, & alligators in the streets !! (we never actually saw one). 

After a few days the road back to Cairns re-opened so we headed back north, past a few cars that didn't quite make it. Had a flight Brisbane to Christchurch NZ booked for a few days later so took a flight Cairns to Brisbane - car rental agency kindly switched the last few days rental to a car at Brisbane.

Consequently we also missed a light aircraft flight over GBR from Airlie Beach (?) / Mackay (?)

All of which is irrelevant to your question, but one of life's stories.

 

We too had three snorkel sites, from a boat with about 15 - 20 others. About 45 - 60 minutes out of Port Douglas. The weather was a bit overcast but dry, sea was pretty smooth. But the GBR was a HUGE disappointment at all sites - grey & lifeless with very few fish.

 

When was your latest trip - and what was GBR like ????

 

JB 🙂

 

PS. Been to MSM twice by car, & once driving a tour coach. All a couple of decades ago, when parking was right by it.

As you say, makes a good photo, but seriously steep "street", never did get to the top.

But fun watching the tide come in & wash cars that muppets had left on the beach despite warning signs. 🤣 

Have many times driven past St Michael'e Mount, MSM's cousin in Cornwall, England. Have never been tempted to visit, it's MSM's smaller & less-iconic cousin.

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by John Bull

[Cruise Junky]

2 minutes ago, John Bull said:

 

January 2019,.

Theoretically a road-trip Cairns to Brisbane as part of a round-the-world trip.

I say "theoretically", because it was during Queensland's worst flooding for decades - after our time in Cairns (half-decent weather) we drove to Townsville for an overnite as planned, in atrocious weather. When we got there we were told that all roads to the south were flooded & impassable  Next morning that was confirmed & unlikely to change for a week or more, but worse - the road we'd travelled the previous day was also closed, we were trapped in Townsville. 😮 

Part of the town was deliberately flooded by opening the spillway of the dam behind the town in fear that otherwise the whole dam would collapse. Sheets of rain like I've never seen before, flash floods, & alligators in the streets !! (we never actually saw one). 

After a few days the road back to Cairns re-opened so we headed back north, past a few cars that didn't quite make it. Had a flight Brisbane to Christchurch NZ booked for a few days later so took a flight Cairns to Brisbane - car rental agency kindly switched the last few days rental to a car at Brisbane.

Consequently we also missed a light aircraft flight over GBR from Airlie Beach (?) / Mackay (?)

All of which is irrelevant to your question, but one of life's stories.

 

We too had three snorkel sites, from a boat with about 15 - 20 others. About 45 - 60 minutes out of Port Douglas. The weather was a bit overcast but dry, sea was pretty smooth. But the GBR was a HUGE disappointment at all sites - grey & lifeless with very few fish.

 

When was your latest trip - and what was GBR like ????

 

JB 🙂

 

 

 

Oh my. That’s some experience.  Last trip was November 2019 but didn’t hit the reef that trip. I think it was September 2018 when we went out with Wavelength. We’re usually there September - November time frame.   I’ve never ever seen fish or coral like it. Was like being in an aquarium. Super calm that day too.  

[John Bull]

On 5/11/2022 at 2:44 PM, Nebr.cruiser said:

Oh shoot--going there, hopefully, next year.  I'd love recommendations of which port to do a reef tour from.

A prompt in case you're not still following this thread, you'll be pleased to see the recent post by Cruise Junky 🙂

 

JB 🙂

[paigeyy.pie]

2 hours ago, Cruise Junky said:

Oh my. That’s some experience.  Last trip was November 2019 but didn’t hit the reef that trip. I think it was September 2018 when we went out with Wavelength. We’re usually there September - November time frame.   I’ve never ever seen fish or coral like it. Was like being in an aquarium. Super calm that day too.  

Do you remember where specifically you snorkeled? I'm looking at excursions out of our upcoming Princess cruise and can't decide if we should snorkel out of Cairns, Port Douglas, or Airlie Beach

[Cruise Junky]

2 hours ago, paigeyy.pie said:

Do you remember where specifically you snorkeled? I'm looking at excursions out of our upcoming Princess cruise and can't decide if we should snorkel out of Cairns, Port Douglas, or Airlie Beach

We were in Port Douglas. Love it. Been three times on a land trip. I’ve always read that PD or Cairns are the best spots for the Reef.  But unless you have a ton of time in port, you’ll likely have to do a cruise excursion which take you out to the pontoon or a reef a bit closer in.  

[Gwendy]

17 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

January 2019,.

Theoretically a road-trip Cairns to Brisbane as part of a round-the-world trip.

I say "theoretically", because it was during Queensland's worst flooding for decades - after our time in Cairns (half-decent weather) we drove to Townsville for an overnite as planned, in atrocious weather. When we got there we were told that all roads to the south were flooded & impassable  Next morning that was confirmed & unlikely to change for a week or more, but worse - the road we'd travelled the previous day was also closed, we were trapped in Townsville. 😮 

Part of the town was deliberately flooded by opening the spillway of the dam behind the town in fear that otherwise the whole dam would collapse. Sheets of rain like I've never seen before, flash floods, & alligators in the streets !! (we never actually saw one). 

After a few days the road back to Cairns re-opened so we headed back north, past a few cars that didn't quite make it. Had a flight Brisbane to Christchurch NZ booked for a few days later so took a flight Cairns to Brisbane - car rental agency kindly switched the last few days rental to a car at Brisbane.

Consequently we also missed a light aircraft flight over GBR from Airlie Beach (?) / Mackay (?)

All of which is irrelevant to your question, but one of life's stories.

 

We too had three snorkel sites, from a boat with about 15 - 20 others. About 45 - 60 minutes out of Port Douglas. The weather was a bit overcast but dry, sea was pretty smooth. But the GBR was a HUGE disappointment at all sites - grey & lifeless with very few fish.

 

When was your latest trip - and what was GBR like ????

 

JB 🙂

 

PS. Been to MSM twice by car, & once driving a tour coach. All a couple of decades ago, when parking was right by it.

As you say, makes a good photo, but seriously steep "street", never did get to the top.

But fun watching the tide come in & wash cars that muppets had left on the beach despite warning signs. 🤣 

Have many times driven past St Michael'e Mount, MSM's cousin in Cornwall, England. Have never been tempted to visit, it's MSM's smaller & less-iconic cousin.

 

 

[Gwendy]

Just now, Gwendy said:

 

No alligators in Australia, just crocodiles.  Can’t help weather and nature.

[John Bull]

49 minutes ago, Gwendy said:

No alligators in Australia, just crocodiles.  Can’t help weather and nature.

 

Thanks for the correction, Gwendy.

Crocs, not 'gators.

We weren't formally introduced. 😉

 

JB 🙂

[Nebr.cruiser]

19 hours ago, Cruise Junky said:

I think the only bucket list item that disappointed was Mont St Michel. Beautiful from a distance, tourist hell inside. 

Loved Mont St. Michel--day trip on a cruise.  It was spring, so maybe the crowds weren't as bad--although it was fairly crowded.

 

  Not only did it not disappoint, it was actually much better than I expected.  

[mnocket]

19 minutes ago, John Bull said:

 

Thanks for the correction, Gwendy.

Crocs, not 'gators.

We weren't formally introduced. 😉

 

JB 🙂

I just go with Crocagator.  

[navybankerteacher]

On 6/12/2022 at 7:30 PM, Cruise Junky said:

I think the only bucket list item that disappointed was Mont St Michel. Beautiful from a distance, tourist hell inside. 

This, of course, is what usually determines whether a bucket list item will be all it was expected or a sorry disappointment.   A mob scene can generally reduce any anticipated experience to a pain.  You name it: St. Peter’s, the Louvre, Central Park, your favorite beach —- can be great when actually experienced — or can be “tourist hell” when overrun by enough people to overwhelm what makes it what it is.