Tram rule 34c
Cryptocurrency News & Discussion
2013.03.11 22:51 SeasonFinale Cryptocurrency News & Discussion
The leading community for cryptocurrency news, discussion, and analysis.
2010.02.17 20:32 cheek_blushener Aquaponics
The symbiotic cultivation of plants and aquatic animals in a recirculating environment. Below are some relevant links and subreddits - consider them as well when you are posting or looking for additional information.
2017.04.18 18:59 matthew2d Code Vein
A community dedicated to Code Vein, a game developed by Bandai Namco for PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox One.
2024.05.15 03:56 PlayerREDvPlayerBLUE The New Eden Conflict
Chapter Two - Part One
Second Half
__________________
Beginning of Entry…
StarDate: Redacted
Perspective: Major Commander Michael Irons
Species: Human, Humanoid Mammalian Species, no tail.
Description: 5 feet 2 inches [1.6 meters] to 6 feet 9 inches [2.1 meters] average height. 185 lbs [84 kilograms] average weight.
Longevity: 70 to 500-year life expectancy with life extension medical tech.
Unique Trait: Resilience and Indomitable Will.
Place: New Paris (Capital City)
Location: New Eden Prime
In the early hours, as the dawn cast a pallid light over New Eden Prime, the situation unfolded with urgent clarity. Major Commander Michael Irons, alongside Captain Adam Richter, adjusted his Raider armor, his eyes scanning the horizon where the silhouettes of enemy ships began to materialize. Both men were seasoned veterans, their faces etched with the lines of many battles, their demeanor calm yet alert. They awaited instructions as they stood amid the bustling rally point filled with soldiers and militia.
Their focus shifted as Colonel Nick Estrada approached, his imposing figure cutting through the morning mist, the tension palpable in the air. The urgency of the situation had drawn commanders and soldiers alike, all responding to the blare of alarms that had roused the colony from sleep and into action. Colonel Nick Estrada approached, his presence commanding immediate attention. His frame was not just physically imposing but carried the authority of a man who had seen countless skirmishes and emerged victorious. The commanders snapped to attention, though the informality of the crisis allowed for a quicker exchange.
Colonel Estrada, known for his strategic acumen, surveyed the gathered officers before speaking. "Gentlemen," he began, his voice carrying over the crowd. "Major Commander Irons, Captain Richter, the enemy fleet is now visible. We're seeing a full spectrum—we're up against a formidable enemy. Reconnaissance has identified a significant fleet composition—strike craft, corvettes, frigates, and troop transports. They're not just probing our defenses; they're here for a full-scale invasion."
Major Commander Irons nodded solemnly, absorbing the gravity of the situation. The enemy's intentions were clear: to overwhelm and conquer. "Do we have any intel on their motivations, sir?" he asked, his mind racing through potential strategies.
Estrada's eyes narrowed as he reviewed the latest data on his tactical pad. "Current assessments suggest their primary objective could be resource acquisition or territory expansion. Given the organized nature of their fleet, we can't rule out the possibility of them establishing a forward operating base," he explained, his finger tracing possible invasion routes on the holographic display before them.
Irons' jaw tightened at the assessment. "Have we identified their point of origin or any specific markings that could tell us who we're dealing with?" he asked, his mind racing through the catalog of known hostile factions and their usual tactics.
Captain Richter, ever the tactician, chimed in, "If we can disrupt their landing operations and take out their troop transports, we might slow their advance and buy us some time to fortify positions."
"Not yet," Estrada replied, turning to gaze at the display screen that showed the advancing ships. "Their configurations are unfamiliar, which suggests they're not from any known hostile group within our usual conflict zones. This could be a new player or a proxy force from a rival colony. But it's clear they want New Eden, as the orbital forces were obliterated in minutes."
Estrada, after careful consideration, turned to face the digital map highlighting strategic points around the colony. 'That's a start, but we need a comprehensive plan,' he declared. 'Irons, your units will be crucial in the eastern sector, where their fleet appears most concentrated. Richter, your teams will be our shield in the orbital defenses; we cannot allow them to establish a foothold there."
Richter chimed in, his voice steady despite the escalating tension. "We need to assess their capabilities and intentions quickly. Are they aiming for strategic locations, or is this an outright attempt to overwhelm and occupy?"
Estrada nodded, his eyes narrowing as he processed the information. "Our immediate objective is to hold them at bay and protect civilian areas. I've already ordered evacuations where necessary. Irons, I need your units to fortify the eastern sector. It's closest to their projected landing sites."
"And I'll take the western approach," Richter added quickly. "It has fewer natural barriers, so I'll set up mobile defenses there."
Estrada approved with a brisk nod. "Good. I'll coordinate the orbital defenses to cover your flanks. We can't let them gain a foothold. Whatever their motive, it ends here."
The officers acknowledged their orders, understanding the critical nature of their tasks. Estrada continued. "We'll use the tram system for rapid redeployment. Keep your communications lines open, and expect dynamic orders. We need to be as adaptable as they are aggressive."
As the meeting drew to a close, Major Commander Irons felt the weight of responsibility settling on his shoulders. The survival of New Eden Prime hinged not only on their military prowess but also on their ability to outmaneuver an enemy whose capabilities remained largely shrouded in mystery.
With a final nod from Estrada, Irons and Richter dispersed to relay orders to execute their assignments; Irons felt the weight of the imminent conflict pressing down. Each step they took was heavy with the resolve to protect their home, knowing the enemy loomed just beyond the horizon, ready to test the mettle of New Eden's defenders. This wasn't just another border skirmish or a pirate raid. The scale of the invasion suggested a well-planned offensive by a formidable enemy.
Returning to his command post, Irons pulled up the tactical displays, which showed live feeds from drones and satellites tracking the enemy's advance. Each ship was marked in red and moved steadily towards New Eden's defensive perimeter.
"Let's show them what New Eden is made of," he muttered to himself, a mix of resolve and anticipation coursing through his veins.
This was his colony, his home, where his family and millions of others lived and dreamed of a peaceful future among the stars. Today, the peace and survival of the colony depended on his actions and those of his comrades.
As the first enemy ships entered range, Irons gave the order. "All units, engage at will. Prioritize frigates and anything making landfall. We hold the line, no matter what."
Back at the rally point, as shells began to crisscross the morning sky and the first explosions blossomed in the distance, Estrada and Richter coordinated their sectors' defenses, adjusting to the flow of battle. Each report, each burst of static on the comms, added to the day's growing chorus—a chorus filled with the sounds of a colony defending its very existence.
Above them, the sky turned from morning gray to the dark of smoke and fire, the battle for New Eden truly underway. As the alien forces made their ground assault on New Paris, Major Commander Michael Irons quickly marshaled his defensive strategies. The invaders had exploited a slight weakness at the equator of the planet's shield, where the northern and southern fields met, allowing a fraction of their invasion force to penetrate. This strategic breach had permitted several enemy corvettes and frigates to support the ground troops as they marched toward the city.
The morning sky, once clear and promising, was now darkened by the presence of enemy ships. Their shadows cast an ominous pall over the city as their engines roared menacingly overhead. Irons, stationed at the command post just on the outskirts of New Paris, observed the advancing enemy through his binoculars, his heart racing with adrenaline and cold determination.
Despite the thinning of their numbers due to the shield's resistance, the invaders pushed forward with relentless determination. Their landing crafts, equipped to penetrate the weakened shield points by slowing their descent, deployed troops directly into the fray. This strategic insertion allowed them to bypass the stronger defenses and land a significant force just outside the protective barrier of New Paris.
Irons, stationed at the command post, monitored the unfolding chaos through live drone feeds. The images displayed a grim tableau: columns of alien soldiers advancing toward the city, their movements methodical and unhurried, supported by the ominous silhouettes of their air support. The enemy's tactical acumen was evident in every maneuver, challenging the defenders of New Eden to adapt swiftly.
"Prepare all air defense units and activate the aerial defense batteries," Irons commanded into the comm, his voice steady despite the escalating threat. The air around him buzzed with the hurried movements of soldiers and the crackling of radio communications. The colony's air defense force, though robust, was significantly outnumbered without the support of their orbital fleet, which had been decimated in earlier skirmishes. "Target their air support first. We cut off the head, and the body will falter."
Acknowledgments crackled through his earpiece as his orders were relayed down the chain of command. New Eden's air defense force, though robust, was not designed for such a multifaceted assault. The absence of fleet support from orbit, a disadvantage painfully felt by every soldier on the ground, meant that each shot from the aerial defense batteries had to count.
On the battlefield, the sounds of warfare escalated. Explosions rippled across the early morning sky, painting it with streaks of fire as the colony's defenses engaged the invading air units. Irons watched as each successful strike brought down an enemy craft, each plummeting vessel a small victory in the shadow of an overwhelming threat.
Yet, even as they held the line against the aerial assault, the ground forces braced for the inevitable confrontation. The alien troops, undeterred by the resistance from above, continued their steady march towards New Paris. Their ranks, though reduced, remained formidable—a sea of figures clad in armor that glinted under the rising sun, their weapons poised for battle.
"The shields are holding, but we can't let them gain any more ground," Irons muttered, analyzing the tactical map that glowed with indicators of enemy movement. The slight gap in the shield at the equator was a glaring risk, one that could not be ignored. "Reroute additional units to the southern sector," he instructed, pointing to the area where the shield's weakness was most pronounced. "Fortify our positions there. I don't want a single invader breaking through."
His focus then shifted to the city's defenses. New Paris, a symbol of human resilience and ingenuity on the frontier, was fortified with multiple layers of defenses designed to repel invaders and protect its citizens. But today, those defenses would face their greatest test.
"We're on our own," Irons acknowledged, his gaze sweeping across the room filled with operators and strategists. "Every soldier, every pilot—we're what stands between them and the city. We hold them here, at the edge, before they can reach the heart of our home."
As the enemy's ground forces drew closer, the clash became imminent. Irons could see the front lines through the drones—human soldiers taking positions, their bodies tense with anticipation, their weapons trained on the approaching threat. The air crackled with the energy of impending combat, a mixture of fear, determination, and the indomitable will to protect their planet.
"Engage at maximum range," Irons commanded. "Use the terrain to our advantage. Make them come to us through the kill zones."
The enemy's corvettes and frigates hovered menacingly, coordinating the ground troops as they continued their relentless march toward the city's defenses. Irons could see the troops adjusting their formations and a tactical maneuver meant to optimize their approach under cover of their aerial support.
"Focus fire on those corvettes flanking to the east," Irons directed, pointing to the screens displaying satellite imagery. The operators quickly relayed his commands, adjusting the colony's firepower towards the threatening vessels.
Despite the heavy onslaught, the morale among Irons' men was resolute. They were well-trained and prepared to defend their home against all odds. The sound of anti-aircraft fire filled the air, a relentless symphony of defiance against the invading forces. Explosions lit up the morning sky as some of the enemy crafts took hits, their debris raining down and igniting small fires upon the rugged terrain of New Eden Prime.
Irons turned his attention back to the ground troops, noting the enemy's attempt to regroup after each barrage. "They're testing our defenses, looking for weak points. Make sure all sectors are covered and reinforce any undermanned positions," he instructed his lieutenants.
The battle was fierce, with every moment critical. The enemy's numerical advantage was evident, but the defenders of New Paris were determined to make every shot count. The city's aerial defense batteries worked in overdrive, targeting the enemy's air support in an attempt to level the playing field. The city's shield generators protected the city from any aerial bombardment from the frigates. Only the ground forces were a threat as long as the city's shield generators held, but with every strike from those frigates, the shield became weaker.
As the enemy advanced, a sudden and intense firefight erupted at the southern barricade. Irons watched through surveillance feeds as his troops engaged the enemy, their laser rifles cutting through the morning mist. The ground shook with the impact of heavy artillery, a relentless exchange that tested the resolve of every soldier under his command.
"Keep the pressure on! Push them back!" Irons shouted over the radio, his voice a beacon of command amidst the chaos. The troops responded with renewed vigor, their shouts and gunfire merging into the cacophony of battle.
[First] [Previous] [Next] [YouTube]
submitted by PlayerREDvPlayerBLUE to HFY [link] [comments]
Second Half
__________________
Beginning of Entry…
StarDate: Redacted
Perspective: Major Commander Michael Irons
Species: Human, Humanoid Mammalian Species, no tail.
Description: 5 feet 2 inches [1.6 meters] to 6 feet 9 inches [2.1 meters] average height. 185 lbs [84 kilograms] average weight.
Longevity: 70 to 500-year life expectancy with life extension medical tech.
Unique Trait: Resilience and Indomitable Will.
Place: New Paris (Capital City)
Location: New Eden Prime
In the early hours, as the dawn cast a pallid light over New Eden Prime, the situation unfolded with urgent clarity. Major Commander Michael Irons, alongside Captain Adam Richter, adjusted his Raider armor, his eyes scanning the horizon where the silhouettes of enemy ships began to materialize. Both men were seasoned veterans, their faces etched with the lines of many battles, their demeanor calm yet alert. They awaited instructions as they stood amid the bustling rally point filled with soldiers and militia.
Their focus shifted as Colonel Nick Estrada approached, his imposing figure cutting through the morning mist, the tension palpable in the air. The urgency of the situation had drawn commanders and soldiers alike, all responding to the blare of alarms that had roused the colony from sleep and into action. Colonel Nick Estrada approached, his presence commanding immediate attention. His frame was not just physically imposing but carried the authority of a man who had seen countless skirmishes and emerged victorious. The commanders snapped to attention, though the informality of the crisis allowed for a quicker exchange.
Colonel Estrada, known for his strategic acumen, surveyed the gathered officers before speaking. "Gentlemen," he began, his voice carrying over the crowd. "Major Commander Irons, Captain Richter, the enemy fleet is now visible. We're seeing a full spectrum—we're up against a formidable enemy. Reconnaissance has identified a significant fleet composition—strike craft, corvettes, frigates, and troop transports. They're not just probing our defenses; they're here for a full-scale invasion."
Major Commander Irons nodded solemnly, absorbing the gravity of the situation. The enemy's intentions were clear: to overwhelm and conquer. "Do we have any intel on their motivations, sir?" he asked, his mind racing through potential strategies.
Estrada's eyes narrowed as he reviewed the latest data on his tactical pad. "Current assessments suggest their primary objective could be resource acquisition or territory expansion. Given the organized nature of their fleet, we can't rule out the possibility of them establishing a forward operating base," he explained, his finger tracing possible invasion routes on the holographic display before them.
Irons' jaw tightened at the assessment. "Have we identified their point of origin or any specific markings that could tell us who we're dealing with?" he asked, his mind racing through the catalog of known hostile factions and their usual tactics.
Captain Richter, ever the tactician, chimed in, "If we can disrupt their landing operations and take out their troop transports, we might slow their advance and buy us some time to fortify positions."
"Not yet," Estrada replied, turning to gaze at the display screen that showed the advancing ships. "Their configurations are unfamiliar, which suggests they're not from any known hostile group within our usual conflict zones. This could be a new player or a proxy force from a rival colony. But it's clear they want New Eden, as the orbital forces were obliterated in minutes."
Estrada, after careful consideration, turned to face the digital map highlighting strategic points around the colony. 'That's a start, but we need a comprehensive plan,' he declared. 'Irons, your units will be crucial in the eastern sector, where their fleet appears most concentrated. Richter, your teams will be our shield in the orbital defenses; we cannot allow them to establish a foothold there."
Richter chimed in, his voice steady despite the escalating tension. "We need to assess their capabilities and intentions quickly. Are they aiming for strategic locations, or is this an outright attempt to overwhelm and occupy?"
Estrada nodded, his eyes narrowing as he processed the information. "Our immediate objective is to hold them at bay and protect civilian areas. I've already ordered evacuations where necessary. Irons, I need your units to fortify the eastern sector. It's closest to their projected landing sites."
"And I'll take the western approach," Richter added quickly. "It has fewer natural barriers, so I'll set up mobile defenses there."
Estrada approved with a brisk nod. "Good. I'll coordinate the orbital defenses to cover your flanks. We can't let them gain a foothold. Whatever their motive, it ends here."
The officers acknowledged their orders, understanding the critical nature of their tasks. Estrada continued. "We'll use the tram system for rapid redeployment. Keep your communications lines open, and expect dynamic orders. We need to be as adaptable as they are aggressive."
As the meeting drew to a close, Major Commander Irons felt the weight of responsibility settling on his shoulders. The survival of New Eden Prime hinged not only on their military prowess but also on their ability to outmaneuver an enemy whose capabilities remained largely shrouded in mystery.
With a final nod from Estrada, Irons and Richter dispersed to relay orders to execute their assignments; Irons felt the weight of the imminent conflict pressing down. Each step they took was heavy with the resolve to protect their home, knowing the enemy loomed just beyond the horizon, ready to test the mettle of New Eden's defenders. This wasn't just another border skirmish or a pirate raid. The scale of the invasion suggested a well-planned offensive by a formidable enemy.
Returning to his command post, Irons pulled up the tactical displays, which showed live feeds from drones and satellites tracking the enemy's advance. Each ship was marked in red and moved steadily towards New Eden's defensive perimeter.
"Let's show them what New Eden is made of," he muttered to himself, a mix of resolve and anticipation coursing through his veins.
This was his colony, his home, where his family and millions of others lived and dreamed of a peaceful future among the stars. Today, the peace and survival of the colony depended on his actions and those of his comrades.
As the first enemy ships entered range, Irons gave the order. "All units, engage at will. Prioritize frigates and anything making landfall. We hold the line, no matter what."
Back at the rally point, as shells began to crisscross the morning sky and the first explosions blossomed in the distance, Estrada and Richter coordinated their sectors' defenses, adjusting to the flow of battle. Each report, each burst of static on the comms, added to the day's growing chorus—a chorus filled with the sounds of a colony defending its very existence.
Above them, the sky turned from morning gray to the dark of smoke and fire, the battle for New Eden truly underway. As the alien forces made their ground assault on New Paris, Major Commander Michael Irons quickly marshaled his defensive strategies. The invaders had exploited a slight weakness at the equator of the planet's shield, where the northern and southern fields met, allowing a fraction of their invasion force to penetrate. This strategic breach had permitted several enemy corvettes and frigates to support the ground troops as they marched toward the city.
The morning sky, once clear and promising, was now darkened by the presence of enemy ships. Their shadows cast an ominous pall over the city as their engines roared menacingly overhead. Irons, stationed at the command post just on the outskirts of New Paris, observed the advancing enemy through his binoculars, his heart racing with adrenaline and cold determination.
Despite the thinning of their numbers due to the shield's resistance, the invaders pushed forward with relentless determination. Their landing crafts, equipped to penetrate the weakened shield points by slowing their descent, deployed troops directly into the fray. This strategic insertion allowed them to bypass the stronger defenses and land a significant force just outside the protective barrier of New Paris.
Irons, stationed at the command post, monitored the unfolding chaos through live drone feeds. The images displayed a grim tableau: columns of alien soldiers advancing toward the city, their movements methodical and unhurried, supported by the ominous silhouettes of their air support. The enemy's tactical acumen was evident in every maneuver, challenging the defenders of New Eden to adapt swiftly.
"Prepare all air defense units and activate the aerial defense batteries," Irons commanded into the comm, his voice steady despite the escalating threat. The air around him buzzed with the hurried movements of soldiers and the crackling of radio communications. The colony's air defense force, though robust, was significantly outnumbered without the support of their orbital fleet, which had been decimated in earlier skirmishes. "Target their air support first. We cut off the head, and the body will falter."
Acknowledgments crackled through his earpiece as his orders were relayed down the chain of command. New Eden's air defense force, though robust, was not designed for such a multifaceted assault. The absence of fleet support from orbit, a disadvantage painfully felt by every soldier on the ground, meant that each shot from the aerial defense batteries had to count.
On the battlefield, the sounds of warfare escalated. Explosions rippled across the early morning sky, painting it with streaks of fire as the colony's defenses engaged the invading air units. Irons watched as each successful strike brought down an enemy craft, each plummeting vessel a small victory in the shadow of an overwhelming threat.
Yet, even as they held the line against the aerial assault, the ground forces braced for the inevitable confrontation. The alien troops, undeterred by the resistance from above, continued their steady march towards New Paris. Their ranks, though reduced, remained formidable—a sea of figures clad in armor that glinted under the rising sun, their weapons poised for battle.
"The shields are holding, but we can't let them gain any more ground," Irons muttered, analyzing the tactical map that glowed with indicators of enemy movement. The slight gap in the shield at the equator was a glaring risk, one that could not be ignored. "Reroute additional units to the southern sector," he instructed, pointing to the area where the shield's weakness was most pronounced. "Fortify our positions there. I don't want a single invader breaking through."
His focus then shifted to the city's defenses. New Paris, a symbol of human resilience and ingenuity on the frontier, was fortified with multiple layers of defenses designed to repel invaders and protect its citizens. But today, those defenses would face their greatest test.
"We're on our own," Irons acknowledged, his gaze sweeping across the room filled with operators and strategists. "Every soldier, every pilot—we're what stands between them and the city. We hold them here, at the edge, before they can reach the heart of our home."
As the enemy's ground forces drew closer, the clash became imminent. Irons could see the front lines through the drones—human soldiers taking positions, their bodies tense with anticipation, their weapons trained on the approaching threat. The air crackled with the energy of impending combat, a mixture of fear, determination, and the indomitable will to protect their planet.
"Engage at maximum range," Irons commanded. "Use the terrain to our advantage. Make them come to us through the kill zones."
The enemy's corvettes and frigates hovered menacingly, coordinating the ground troops as they continued their relentless march toward the city's defenses. Irons could see the troops adjusting their formations and a tactical maneuver meant to optimize their approach under cover of their aerial support.
"Focus fire on those corvettes flanking to the east," Irons directed, pointing to the screens displaying satellite imagery. The operators quickly relayed his commands, adjusting the colony's firepower towards the threatening vessels.
Despite the heavy onslaught, the morale among Irons' men was resolute. They were well-trained and prepared to defend their home against all odds. The sound of anti-aircraft fire filled the air, a relentless symphony of defiance against the invading forces. Explosions lit up the morning sky as some of the enemy crafts took hits, their debris raining down and igniting small fires upon the rugged terrain of New Eden Prime.
Irons turned his attention back to the ground troops, noting the enemy's attempt to regroup after each barrage. "They're testing our defenses, looking for weak points. Make sure all sectors are covered and reinforce any undermanned positions," he instructed his lieutenants.
The battle was fierce, with every moment critical. The enemy's numerical advantage was evident, but the defenders of New Paris were determined to make every shot count. The city's aerial defense batteries worked in overdrive, targeting the enemy's air support in an attempt to level the playing field. The city's shield generators protected the city from any aerial bombardment from the frigates. Only the ground forces were a threat as long as the city's shield generators held, but with every strike from those frigates, the shield became weaker.
As the enemy advanced, a sudden and intense firefight erupted at the southern barricade. Irons watched through surveillance feeds as his troops engaged the enemy, their laser rifles cutting through the morning mist. The ground shook with the impact of heavy artillery, a relentless exchange that tested the resolve of every soldier under his command.
"Keep the pressure on! Push them back!" Irons shouted over the radio, his voice a beacon of command amidst the chaos. The troops responded with renewed vigor, their shouts and gunfire merging into the cacophony of battle.
[First] [Previous] [Next] [YouTube]
2024.05.13 18:21 TechWorker111 FIGHT RTO - Email the Governor’s Cabinet, the Legislature, and Other State Leaders
Email template for the Governor’s Cabinet and the Legislature below.
Yes, it is long, but it captures a lot of our frustrations.
This subreddit has over 38,000 people. If even 1,000 people emailed all of these folks, they will definitely take notice.
THIS IS OUR MOMENT.
There are areas in this email template for you to customize, so please read through it.
I highly recommend Hotmail or Yahoomail. If you use Gmail, you may need to click “Tab” multiple times when entering in so many emails.
You may also wish to send a copy to your own manager, section chief, branch chief, Dept. Director, etc.
Guidelines:
Dear California State Leaders,
I write to you today as a voter, taxpayer, constituent, and as a State of California employee. My ________years of dedicated work serves Californians every day because my role focuses on supporting _________.
I want to share my personal story and provide some facts and data about the Governor’s new June 17 RTO (Return to Office) arbitrary mandate. This mandate will cost taxpayers more during this budget deficit crisis and it is a poorly thought-out, one-size-fits-all, chaotic approach. According to the survey data from 110 State Departments, telework was a huge success for recruitment, productivity, morale, collaboration, and decreasing office space. This chaotic, mandatory, arbitrary RTO simply creates a long list of unnecessary problems. For all of the reasons outlined in this email, I strongly support Assemblyman Josh Hoover’s audit request.
My message is simple: Encourage the Governor to rescind the June 17 arbitrary RTO mandate. The decision for the frequency that employees should all meet in-person and collaborate should rest with those closest and most familiar with the work: individual Unit Managers. These managers know the true collaboration, mentorship, and operational needs of their individual teams. Individual Unit Managers should be allowed to make decisions on accordingly to carry out the Department’s goals and mission. This is the bottoms-up approach that balances the needs of both the employer and employees. The Governor’s mandate and top-down approach fails to acknowledge the many financial and environmental repercussions to not only its own employees, but also to the State of California.
I want to share my personal story as a working class, public servant. With high inflation, I simply cannot afford to shoulder the cost of commuting, which averages $8,466 annually.. According to this 2023 LAO (Legislative Analyst Office) report, for most employees, our State provided wages have consistently been lower than the inflation rate, year-after-year, since 1999, constantly eroding our purchasing power. Other employees have it worse, such as scientists who have had their salaries be frozen for 4 years since 2020 as CalHR has refused to budge on reaching a contract. Purchasing power is a key metric since a $50,000 salary in 2024 buys far less than in 1999. This 2023 UC Berkeley Labor Center report confirmed that “State workers struggle to make ends meet throughout California.” Even the 2023 California State Auditor reports “that hiring and retaining qualified IT staff is the greatest challenge that they [State Departments] currently face.”
If the State is unwilling to provide market wages that keep up with inflation, the state can recruit and retain employees by improving working conditions, such as telework. Being allowed to telework 5 days a week has helped stretch my limited dollars, especially in this inflationary period. This arbitrary RTO mandate is effectively yet another pay cut for me that I simply cannot afford.
Personally, having the opportunity to telework 5 days a week has dramatically improved my quality of life by:
#############################################################
Tell them why the RTO issue is important to you, your family member and your community.
IF YOU DISCUSS CHILD CARE, ONLY TALK ABOUT THE HOURS BEFORE AND AFTER WORK. DO NOT DISCUSS CHILD CARE DURING YOUR REGULAR 8-5 JOB.
###########################################################
Across various departments, it’s common knowledge that a sizable number of executive-level leaders do not reside near Sacramento and instead live in other regions in California, such as the Bay Area and Southern California.
As MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow recently stated to her own bosses, “Hearing legitimate criticism, responding to it and correcting course. Not digging in, not blaming others. Take a minute, acknowledge that maybe it wasn’t the right call. It is a sign of strength, not weakness, to acknowledge when you are wrong.”
To reiterate, my request is simple: Encourage the Governor to rescind the arbitrary, mandatory, one-size-fits-all, chaotic RTO mandate. Allow individual Unit Managers the flexibility to enact telework policies that best meet their team’s needs to effectively carry out the Department’s mission. They are the ones closest to the work and the ones most knowledgable about what the team needs to succeed.
I respectfully request a response within ten business days.
Respectfully yours,
_________
submitted by TechWorker111 to CAStateWorkers [link] [comments]
Yes, it is long, but it captures a lot of our frustrations.
This subreddit has over 38,000 people. If even 1,000 people emailed all of these folks, they will definitely take notice.
THIS IS OUR MOMENT.
There are areas in this email template for you to customize, so please read through it.
I highly recommend Hotmail or Yahoomail. If you use Gmail, you may need to click “Tab” multiple times when entering in so many emails.
You may also wish to send a copy to your own manager, section chief, branch chief, Dept. Director, etc.
Guidelines:
- USE BCC (not in the “To” or “CC” section.
- REMAIN RESPECTFUL.
- OPTICS MATTER. Do not make us look bad in any way.
Dear California State Leaders,
I write to you today as a voter, taxpayer, constituent, and as a State of California employee. My ________years of dedicated work serves Californians every day because my role focuses on supporting _________.
I want to share my personal story and provide some facts and data about the Governor’s new June 17 RTO (Return to Office) arbitrary mandate. This mandate will cost taxpayers more during this budget deficit crisis and it is a poorly thought-out, one-size-fits-all, chaotic approach. According to the survey data from 110 State Departments, telework was a huge success for recruitment, productivity, morale, collaboration, and decreasing office space. This chaotic, mandatory, arbitrary RTO simply creates a long list of unnecessary problems. For all of the reasons outlined in this email, I strongly support Assemblyman Josh Hoover’s audit request.
My message is simple: Encourage the Governor to rescind the June 17 arbitrary RTO mandate. The decision for the frequency that employees should all meet in-person and collaborate should rest with those closest and most familiar with the work: individual Unit Managers. These managers know the true collaboration, mentorship, and operational needs of their individual teams. Individual Unit Managers should be allowed to make decisions on accordingly to carry out the Department’s goals and mission. This is the bottoms-up approach that balances the needs of both the employer and employees. The Governor’s mandate and top-down approach fails to acknowledge the many financial and environmental repercussions to not only its own employees, but also to the State of California.
I want to share my personal story as a working class, public servant. With high inflation, I simply cannot afford to shoulder the cost of commuting, which averages $8,466 annually.. According to this 2023 LAO (Legislative Analyst Office) report, for most employees, our State provided wages have consistently been lower than the inflation rate, year-after-year, since 1999, constantly eroding our purchasing power. Other employees have it worse, such as scientists who have had their salaries be frozen for 4 years since 2020 as CalHR has refused to budge on reaching a contract. Purchasing power is a key metric since a $50,000 salary in 2024 buys far less than in 1999. This 2023 UC Berkeley Labor Center report confirmed that “State workers struggle to make ends meet throughout California.” Even the 2023 California State Auditor reports “that hiring and retaining qualified IT staff is the greatest challenge that they [State Departments] currently face.”
If the State is unwilling to provide market wages that keep up with inflation, the state can recruit and retain employees by improving working conditions, such as telework. Being allowed to telework 5 days a week has helped stretch my limited dollars, especially in this inflationary period. This arbitrary RTO mandate is effectively yet another pay cut for me that I simply cannot afford.
Personally, having the opportunity to telework 5 days a week has dramatically improved my quality of life by:
#############################################################
Tell them why the RTO issue is important to you, your family member and your community.
IF YOU DISCUSS CHILD CARE, ONLY TALK ABOUT THE HOURS BEFORE AND AFTER WORK. DO NOT DISCUSS CHILD CARE DURING YOUR REGULAR 8-5 JOB.
###########################################################
- I have saved ____ hours on my roundtrip commute per week. This has allowed me to reinvest that time toward _____. [helping my kids with their homework, taking care of elderly relatives ]
- I have saved $___ on commuting costs, which has helped me better afford ___ for me and my family. This has been especially helpful because high inflation has negatively affected me by _____.
- By teleworking, I am reducing my environmental impact and contribution to climate change, which is _____
- I have a physical disability and telework is more accommodating than using public transportation, etc. (Feel free to expand on it)
- I do not live in an area with access to efficient public transportation, so teleworking helps by _____
- For childcare during before and after work hours, it would cost me ________.
- If even 33%, or 73,086 out of the 221,474 State employees use the monthly maximum IRS public transportation benefit,) that would cost the State $276.3 million every single year.
- State Departments already spend $600 million per year on rent. Many State Departments also simply do not have enough office space for all of their employees currently. There is nowhere near enough quiet conference room space for employees to hold confidential meetings with stakeholders. Will these departments sign new leases for office space?
- State Departments will be forced to buy many millions of dollars worth of additional office equipment for employees to effectively carry out their jobs including additional webcams, headsets, keyboards, standard office supplies, etc.
- Pursuant to the reasonable accommodation process for employees with verified medical needs, State Departments will need to purchase other expensive equipment, including but not limited to specialized chairs and stand up desks.
- It is important to note that many employees have already invested their own money into equipping their own home office that best meets their needs. It is not simply not possible to ask an employee to bring in their own large equipment from home to the office and back, so the State Departments would incur these additional purchases.
- State Departments will be spending much more in maintenance costs for elevators, bathroom repairs, printer repairs, electricity, water, gas, and other utilities.
- State telework has also eliminated nearly 400,000 metric tons of carbon emissions. Mandating RTO will needlessly cause more carbon emissions, which directly runs counter to the Governor’s own words for his trip to the Vatican: “global temperatures [are] hurtling towards alarming new heights, the stakes could not be higher. There is no greater authority than moral authority — and the Pope’s leadership on the climate crisis inspires us all to push further and faster.”
Across various departments, it’s common knowledge that a sizable number of executive-level leaders do not reside near Sacramento and instead live in other regions in California, such as the Bay Area and Southern California.
- The next logical question is, will the state offer these executive-level leaders special exemptions and privileges not available to rank and file staff and risk the hypocrisy that undermines the Governor’s stated policy for more “collaboration?” This creates another “rules for thee, but not for me” situation.
- Or will the State risk losing these executive-level leaders en masse across numerous departments, undermining policy and program implementation?
- For Departments considering exempting those who live over 50 miles away, it also destroys employee morale. For example, a 20 year veteran staff member with technical expertise may be forced to commute and come into the office twice a week to train a newer employee over Microsoft Teams or Zoom simply because they live in Los Angeles. This naturally breeds frustration and resentment.
- For exempted employees who live over 50 miles away, some Departments are creating policies that their 5 day remote status only applies to their currently held position, so these employees are “forever stuck” and cannot promote upward, even if they have the expertise the Department needs.
- The State is starting to open itself up to lawsuits as some Departments are already denying reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities.
- Being able to recruit employees from areas other than Sacramento helps ensure Departments get perspectives from different counties all across the State. People from rural, suburban, and urban areas all have different experiences and to best serve ALL Californians, we need a geographically diverse workforce.
- As previously stated, many Departments already do not have the office space or needed equipment for all of their employees. With RTO, new equipment will be needed and purchasing equipment notoriously takes a long time. These factors, combined with many departments trying to implement a hoteling system, will ultimately result in a extremely chaotic return-to-the-office and tank productivity. Many Departments have held Q&A sessions and time and time again, HR offices have been unable to answer basic questions about RTO logistics. Again, RTO creates unnecessary problems.
As MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow recently stated to her own bosses, “Hearing legitimate criticism, responding to it and correcting course. Not digging in, not blaming others. Take a minute, acknowledge that maybe it wasn’t the right call. It is a sign of strength, not weakness, to acknowledge when you are wrong.”
To reiterate, my request is simple: Encourage the Governor to rescind the arbitrary, mandatory, one-size-fits-all, chaotic RTO mandate. Allow individual Unit Managers the flexibility to enact telework policies that best meet their team’s needs to effectively carry out the Department’s mission. They are the ones closest to the work and the ones most knowledgable about what the team needs to succeed.
I respectfully request a response within ten business days.
Respectfully yours,
_________
2024.05.10 02:58 larryisadragon My Iron Counter no longer struggles against the Lizard!
 | I’ve been running an “iron counter” deck. Iron Bundle and Iron Leaves ex have been obliterating Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex and Chien-Pao/Baxcaliber decks. Iron bundle supports my Miraidon in taking out Pidgeys and Frigibax in the early game, and Miraidon lets me choose how I need to energize the team. For Zard, I spread grass energy across my Pokémon and I also start juicing up a benched Iron Bundle if I can. Typically, by using Prime Catcher and Boss’s Orders, I can make sure to disrupt their plans. If not a Zard deck, I’ll pull and juice up Iron Hands ex. That alone can take care of most of a Tina Lost Box when paired with the heavy baton to charge a second when he falls. If they run Turbo Hands, I pull and charge Iron Boulder ex. If the Chien-Pao ex runs a Palkia V, Iron Hands ex can take it for 3 prize cards easily. I like to spend heavy resources to disrupt my opponent in the early game because when they do finally pull off an evolution(usually by Rare Candy), I run 2x Devolution TM to usually exhaust their uses. I can occasionally struggle with Espartha ex decks tho. So far I’ve got 60-70ish% win rate so far. It definitely required a heavy learning curve to use properly, but I’m finally climbing the ladder again. Dropping decklist in comments. submitted by larryisadragon to PTCGL [link] [comments] |
2024.05.08 15:14 Medical-Mongoose7088 Can i complain about a realtor in south australia? He spat in my face literally
Edit: post approved.
Location: Hindmarsh, south Australia. 14 room all boys sharehouse near tram End. (Would give more but dont want the dots to fall into place to easily trying to follow the rules)
I no longer have the proof of payment as it was half $ & half debit + a few years ago.
I know exactly who He is. Nuff said
This place was horrid, it was above a restraunt with improper ventilation leading to extreme temperatures in certain rooms. Everyone smoked inside. Insulation falling out of ceiling where numerous large pipes were injunction. & the toilets would gargle shit flavoured aromas through the house every night between 3am & 7am.
I am now living in another rental in a different state with ignorant landlords & afraid to say anything or report the current situation due to references for future properties.
But for reference to property in SA: i had (past tense) just moved into a sharehouse of 14 rooms all guys dodgy place falling apart. Asked for 20 off rent for the first week so i could get a tiny bit of food shopping. The owner of the franchise purposely spat in my face while yelling at me in his office & then proceeded to slam a $2500 bill on me for unpaid rent (i had proof of payment) with an illegal eviction notice. I promptly left & never heard from them again.
Edit 2: mod said no names or photos of the prick sadly.
@Mod i add a photo of this prick? Or name the realty agency? I am aware of Rule: 6
Moral of the story i guess is dont leave it too late to report & or stand up for yourself. I wish i could go back & be reeeal petty about what happened.
submitted by Medical-Mongoose7088 to shitrentals [link] [comments]
Location: Hindmarsh, south Australia. 14 room all boys sharehouse near tram End. (Would give more but dont want the dots to fall into place to easily trying to follow the rules)
I no longer have the proof of payment as it was half $ & half debit + a few years ago.
I know exactly who He is. Nuff said
This place was horrid, it was above a restraunt with improper ventilation leading to extreme temperatures in certain rooms. Everyone smoked inside. Insulation falling out of ceiling where numerous large pipes were injunction. & the toilets would gargle shit flavoured aromas through the house every night between 3am & 7am.
I am now living in another rental in a different state with ignorant landlords & afraid to say anything or report the current situation due to references for future properties.
But for reference to property in SA: i had (past tense) just moved into a sharehouse of 14 rooms all guys dodgy place falling apart. Asked for 20 off rent for the first week so i could get a tiny bit of food shopping. The owner of the franchise purposely spat in my face while yelling at me in his office & then proceeded to slam a $2500 bill on me for unpaid rent (i had proof of payment) with an illegal eviction notice. I promptly left & never heard from them again.
Edit 2: mod said no names or photos of the prick sadly.
@Mod i add a photo of this prick? Or name the realty agency? I am aware of Rule: 6
Moral of the story i guess is dont leave it too late to report & or stand up for yourself. I wish i could go back & be reeeal petty about what happened.
2024.05.05 12:54 linleilally Course error that I couldn't do anything about because of how Duo works
I was doing my daily refresh of German and was on one heart, when I got the following question wrong:
Translate the following into English: "Wenn die S-Bahn vor dem Rathaus hält, steigen wir um."
If I had the chance to type it out manually, I'd have put "when the S-Bahn stops in front of the city hall, we'll change," however in the word box choice thingy part there was only one "the". Even though neither sentence sounded natural, it sounded not as bad just in front of "city hall" as opposed to just in front of "light rail" (the option given for S-Bahn). The green bird respectfully disagreed with me, tells me that the sentence "When the light rail stops in front of city hall, we'll transfer" is somehow perfect English, and lo and behold I'm out of hearts, which means I get the pop-up on my screen. Therefore, I can't click the report sentence button (and I didn't get the choice to do so while typing the sentence either).
On the one hand, there is literally a tram stop in my city called "City Hall", and "I'll get the tram to City Hall" makes way more sense than "I'll get tram to the City Hall", however: I'd still probably put "the" in front of both of them, and in any case the aforementioned German sentence contained "vor dem", and the option boxes for "city" and "hall" were separate and uncapitalised words, both of which to me insinuated that it wasn't the specific name of a station.
I understand that there are valid reasons as to why people would need/want to have the word choice boxes; I just wish we were given the choice to type the sentences manually ourselves, in the same way we get the choice to type the sentences manually when translating into the target language. (also, I joined around 2014 when we had to type sentences out and it worked perfectly fine almost all the time) In addition to grammatical issues, there's also the issue of British/American English: even though you can type out the words in the boxes instead of clicking them, it disrupts the flow if you have to type out words like "soccer" when so many languages use a variant spelling of "football", and it becomes a bigger problem when you have to use different prepositions ("on the weekend", which I didn't know until recently was correct in American English, sounds extremely jarring to me: it sounds no different to saying "on the end of the day" or "on the end of the film"), and I'm sure some American users who are learning a Celtic language may have had similar problems. It would also help if we had the choice to report sentences before submitting an answer. Anyway, I'm new to reddit, so I hope I've not broken rule 11 of this sub, even though I'm sure these suggestions have all been made ad nauseam already.
Alternatively, could I have done something differently? (e.g. is there a way to report sentences beforehand that I'm unaware of/is there some way to report sentences even if you lose all your hearts)
tl;dr: Duo's answer was grammatically incorrect, I couldn't report the problem, suggestions in bold
submitted by linleilally to duolingo [link] [comments]
Translate the following into English: "Wenn die S-Bahn vor dem Rathaus hält, steigen wir um."
If I had the chance to type it out manually, I'd have put "when the S-Bahn stops in front of the city hall, we'll change," however in the word box choice thingy part there was only one "the". Even though neither sentence sounded natural, it sounded not as bad just in front of "city hall" as opposed to just in front of "light rail" (the option given for S-Bahn). The green bird respectfully disagreed with me, tells me that the sentence "When the light rail stops in front of city hall, we'll transfer" is somehow perfect English, and lo and behold I'm out of hearts, which means I get the pop-up on my screen. Therefore, I can't click the report sentence button (and I didn't get the choice to do so while typing the sentence either).
On the one hand, there is literally a tram stop in my city called "City Hall", and "I'll get the tram to City Hall" makes way more sense than "I'll get tram to the City Hall", however: I'd still probably put "the" in front of both of them, and in any case the aforementioned German sentence contained "vor dem", and the option boxes for "city" and "hall" were separate and uncapitalised words, both of which to me insinuated that it wasn't the specific name of a station.
I understand that there are valid reasons as to why people would need/want to have the word choice boxes; I just wish we were given the choice to type the sentences manually ourselves, in the same way we get the choice to type the sentences manually when translating into the target language. (also, I joined around 2014 when we had to type sentences out and it worked perfectly fine almost all the time) In addition to grammatical issues, there's also the issue of British/American English: even though you can type out the words in the boxes instead of clicking them, it disrupts the flow if you have to type out words like "soccer" when so many languages use a variant spelling of "football", and it becomes a bigger problem when you have to use different prepositions ("on the weekend", which I didn't know until recently was correct in American English, sounds extremely jarring to me: it sounds no different to saying "on the end of the day" or "on the end of the film"), and I'm sure some American users who are learning a Celtic language may have had similar problems. It would also help if we had the choice to report sentences before submitting an answer. Anyway, I'm new to reddit, so I hope I've not broken rule 11 of this sub, even though I'm sure these suggestions have all been made ad nauseam already.
Alternatively, could I have done something differently? (e.g. is there a way to report sentences beforehand that I'm unaware of/is there some way to report sentences even if you lose all your hearts)
tl;dr: Duo's answer was grammatically incorrect, I couldn't report the problem, suggestions in bold
2024.05.02 22:33 NationalChamps2015 Sportsbook Review: Mandalay Bay Las Vegas - A solid spot at the end of the strip
Needed to do a status match in Vegas Caesars Diamond to Wynn Platinum to Fontainebleau Gold. This was successful BTW. So I booked a cheap Frontier airlines flight, got a $7 room at Harrah's and booked a Sunday night trip. To my delight, a person I do business with was also in town and had his expense account open, and invited me down to the end of the strip where he was staying at Mandalay Bay.
Mandalay Bay Overview
Came down to the book around 5:00pm on a Sunday. NBA and NHL playoffs were going on, as well as Cubs vs. Redsox Sunday night baseball and some harness horse and quarter horse tracks.
Book is huge. One of the throwback books you used to see in Vegas back in the 90's. Plenty of comfortable seating everywhere and probably 1/4 full. A bar sat right near the back of it. Older TV's flanked the front of the book providing a good view from anywhere.
Mandalay Bay sits on the south end of the strip. Attached to The Delano and Luxor. You can also get to Excalibur via the walk way. There is a tram that I found pretty useless that takes you down to Excalibur. A negative of this hotel is its proximity to the heart of the strip. The pros are this is within walking distance of Allegiant Stadium and a 25-30 minute walk to T-mobile arena.
A good overview of the sportsbook. This is from the very back. As you can see plenty of free seating and a very good view of the TV's
Sportsbook Review
The sportsbook offered all the current odds MGM has to offer. Had every possible NBA, MLB and NHL game as well as horse racing.
Good selection of people hanging out, from Suns fans to Nuggets ones. I was the only person actively placing Horse bets.
Tellers were super friendly. They welcomed the business and explained drink ticket rules. Every $100 on sports gets you a drink ticket, every $20 on horses got you one. They weren't exactly giving these out like candy like Harrah's was, but they would gladly give me them one at a time.
View of the other side of the book
Drinks and Food
Not the good ole days, but the drink tickets were handed out the bar selection was great. A drink ticket basically got me any bourbon they had at the bar. I went with Knob Creek 9 year over Makers Mark, Four Roses and Jim Beam. Buddy of mine got a White Russian without any problem
Drink tickets weren't impossible to come by
Bar was a cool spot to roll up to and watch the games from
On the food side we went to Flanker Kitchen + Sports Bar which is pretty much the closest dining option. It was overall meh. Cool place. But expensive prices on food for what it was. I'd much rather try elsewhere next time.
Smash burger is fine, but not worth the $30+ they charged
Menu with pricing
Overall
A very fun place to watch a game. Everyone was nice. Plenty of comfortable free seating. Can't beat it. Would definitely be next level if they add new LED screens which would place it towards the top of the list in Vegas. But this is how sportsbook on the strip should be. Approachable for a group of friends wanting to gamble and drink.
It would have been wrong of me to stay at Harrah's and not provide a pic of my favorite sportsbook.
Had a few drinks at the Harrah's book, my favorite overall spot to watch sports in Vegas
submitted by NationalChamps2015 to sportsbook [link] [comments]
Mandalay Bay Overview
Came down to the book around 5:00pm on a Sunday. NBA and NHL playoffs were going on, as well as Cubs vs. Redsox Sunday night baseball and some harness horse and quarter horse tracks.
Book is huge. One of the throwback books you used to see in Vegas back in the 90's. Plenty of comfortable seating everywhere and probably 1/4 full. A bar sat right near the back of it. Older TV's flanked the front of the book providing a good view from anywhere.
Mandalay Bay sits on the south end of the strip. Attached to The Delano and Luxor. You can also get to Excalibur via the walk way. There is a tram that I found pretty useless that takes you down to Excalibur. A negative of this hotel is its proximity to the heart of the strip. The pros are this is within walking distance of Allegiant Stadium and a 25-30 minute walk to T-mobile arena.
A good overview of the sportsbook. This is from the very back. As you can see plenty of free seating and a very good view of the TV's
Sportsbook Review
The sportsbook offered all the current odds MGM has to offer. Had every possible NBA, MLB and NHL game as well as horse racing.
Good selection of people hanging out, from Suns fans to Nuggets ones. I was the only person actively placing Horse bets.
Tellers were super friendly. They welcomed the business and explained drink ticket rules. Every $100 on sports gets you a drink ticket, every $20 on horses got you one. They weren't exactly giving these out like candy like Harrah's was, but they would gladly give me them one at a time.
View of the other side of the book
Drinks and Food
Not the good ole days, but the drink tickets were handed out the bar selection was great. A drink ticket basically got me any bourbon they had at the bar. I went with Knob Creek 9 year over Makers Mark, Four Roses and Jim Beam. Buddy of mine got a White Russian without any problem
Drink tickets weren't impossible to come by
Bar was a cool spot to roll up to and watch the games from
On the food side we went to Flanker Kitchen + Sports Bar which is pretty much the closest dining option. It was overall meh. Cool place. But expensive prices on food for what it was. I'd much rather try elsewhere next time.
Smash burger is fine, but not worth the $30+ they charged
Menu with pricing
Overall
A very fun place to watch a game. Everyone was nice. Plenty of comfortable free seating. Can't beat it. Would definitely be next level if they add new LED screens which would place it towards the top of the list in Vegas. But this is how sportsbook on the strip should be. Approachable for a group of friends wanting to gamble and drink.
It would have been wrong of me to stay at Harrah's and not provide a pic of my favorite sportsbook.
Had a few drinks at the Harrah's book, my favorite overall spot to watch sports in Vegas
2024.05.02 09:26 throwayaygrtdhredf Why developing countries start building more and more car infrastructure, and how to stop them
It's the sad truth that nowadays developing countries like those in West Africa or India for example start building more and more car infrastructure, highways, etc, all while not building or expanding railways in the same way.
It's even worse in Egypt, Dubai, etc.
This isn't even only about Africa. This is even true for Eastern Europe for example.
But why do they do that?
Because they think that building cars equals "development". That you absolutely need it in order to be considered civilised and like the West.
Unfortunately, for all talks of hating the West, a lot of them have an inferiority complex and only seek to imitate the West, instead of going on a case by case analysis about what's actually good about the West and what's bad. Even tho a lot of them had amazing societies and ideas prior to colonisation, a lot of times, they'll instead opt to copy whatever the West is doing. In order to be considered "civilized".
And the thing is that it wasn't always the case. During the Cold War, there were two international blocks. As well as third world countries who were in neither.
The first bloc was the capitalist West, building a lot of highways and having a huge car culture. Also a huge individualist and consumerist culture.
And the second bloc, the communist East, preferring to build the railways, trams and public transport. Also, much less consumerism.
But after the 90s, the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc collapsed, so instead, an unipolar world got started. And a lot of people adopted pretty much directly the Western policies without even thinking about them or questioning them.
Even socialist countries like Vietnam did so.
There's other ways the Western culture had become universal. From Anglophone and US culture being spread worldwide, to high consumerism (the latest iPhone for example). Or another example, the expansion of "free" markets and neoliberal policies in countries like Mexico directly led to increase of obesity rates because of fast food.
Sure, the USSR wasn't perfect and a lot of its economic and social policies were disastrous. But the same is also true of the USA and the Western Bloc. I'm not a tankies at all, and I don't think a world where the USSR ruled everything would be great. This economic model (planned, centralised economy) was actually pretty extreme.
But I also think that the current Western model (late stage neoliberal capitalism) is just as extreme. So what we need is a moderate position of something in between. And the lack of any huge alternative to the Western economic and social model is also responsible for huge and disastrous consequences (like the current climate crisis).
Sure, there's the EU and China, new superpowers, which invest much more in rail, but even then, you can't really claim that they don't build any new highways or suburbs. Like the sad story of Eastern Europe, which now often abandoned all their former railways and started, once again, to invest in car infrastructure.
So I think that the developing nations really should always question Western policies first. They shouldn't think it's inherently better merely because it's Western.
They should instead try to compare the Western model to the formerly existing Eastern model. Or to their own pre colonial societies. It's such a shame they destroy their own society and environment for the sake of somehow being approved by the West.
If you live in a developing country, please share all these messages! Talk about the negative things about car infrastructure! Talk about them to your friends, on social media, to your politicians if possible! Let's all instead build public transport and bike lanes!!! There's even some jobs around to help people to lobby for trains!
submitted by throwayaygrtdhredf to fuckcars [link] [comments]
It's even worse in Egypt, Dubai, etc.
This isn't even only about Africa. This is even true for Eastern Europe for example.
But why do they do that?
Because they think that building cars equals "development". That you absolutely need it in order to be considered civilised and like the West.
Unfortunately, for all talks of hating the West, a lot of them have an inferiority complex and only seek to imitate the West, instead of going on a case by case analysis about what's actually good about the West and what's bad. Even tho a lot of them had amazing societies and ideas prior to colonisation, a lot of times, they'll instead opt to copy whatever the West is doing. In order to be considered "civilized".
And the thing is that it wasn't always the case. During the Cold War, there were two international blocks. As well as third world countries who were in neither.
The first bloc was the capitalist West, building a lot of highways and having a huge car culture. Also a huge individualist and consumerist culture.
And the second bloc, the communist East, preferring to build the railways, trams and public transport. Also, much less consumerism.
But after the 90s, the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc collapsed, so instead, an unipolar world got started. And a lot of people adopted pretty much directly the Western policies without even thinking about them or questioning them.
Even socialist countries like Vietnam did so.
There's other ways the Western culture had become universal. From Anglophone and US culture being spread worldwide, to high consumerism (the latest iPhone for example). Or another example, the expansion of "free" markets and neoliberal policies in countries like Mexico directly led to increase of obesity rates because of fast food.
Sure, the USSR wasn't perfect and a lot of its economic and social policies were disastrous. But the same is also true of the USA and the Western Bloc. I'm not a tankies at all, and I don't think a world where the USSR ruled everything would be great. This economic model (planned, centralised economy) was actually pretty extreme.
But I also think that the current Western model (late stage neoliberal capitalism) is just as extreme. So what we need is a moderate position of something in between. And the lack of any huge alternative to the Western economic and social model is also responsible for huge and disastrous consequences (like the current climate crisis).
Sure, there's the EU and China, new superpowers, which invest much more in rail, but even then, you can't really claim that they don't build any new highways or suburbs. Like the sad story of Eastern Europe, which now often abandoned all their former railways and started, once again, to invest in car infrastructure.
So I think that the developing nations really should always question Western policies first. They shouldn't think it's inherently better merely because it's Western.
They should instead try to compare the Western model to the formerly existing Eastern model. Or to their own pre colonial societies. It's such a shame they destroy their own society and environment for the sake of somehow being approved by the West.
If you live in a developing country, please share all these messages! Talk about the negative things about car infrastructure! Talk about them to your friends, on social media, to your politicians if possible! Let's all instead build public transport and bike lanes!!! There's even some jobs around to help people to lobby for trains!
2024.05.02 06:43 mirdyll Trip Report: 13 days mid April Tokyo to Nagasaki, including Shimanami Kaido
Thank you for all the posts here that helped to plan and execute this itinerary!
Background:
This was my (29M) second time traveling to Japan. I have a friend from high school currently living in Tokyo for a year who inspired another trip around cherry blossom season. My GF who was visiting family in China at this time was able to join me in Tokyo for a few days.
My first trip in January 2020 was with a larger group and consisted of a week in Tokyo and a week with JR pass going north to Aomori, Hakodate and Sapporo.
I don't speak Japanese and did not utter anything besides: hai, sumimasen, konnichiwa, gomenasai, arigato gozaimasu, daijoubu desu and ohio gozaimasu. Around 75% of the itinerary was thoroughly planned in advance, with 25% room to improvise. I took a large suitcase, a carry-on, and a backpack. My friend helped me with the bag logistics.
I planned to include multiple running sessions and many anime pilgrimage spots. Some of these may not be as interesting to that many people, but I hope this trip report can help and inspire future travelers.
Day 1 Tokyo
submitted by mirdyll to JapanTravel [link] [comments]
Background:
This was my (29M) second time traveling to Japan. I have a friend from high school currently living in Tokyo for a year who inspired another trip around cherry blossom season. My GF who was visiting family in China at this time was able to join me in Tokyo for a few days.
My first trip in January 2020 was with a larger group and consisted of a week in Tokyo and a week with JR pass going north to Aomori, Hakodate and Sapporo.
I don't speak Japanese and did not utter anything besides: hai, sumimasen, konnichiwa, gomenasai, arigato gozaimasu, daijoubu desu and ohio gozaimasu. Around 75% of the itinerary was thoroughly planned in advance, with 25% room to improvise. I took a large suitcase, a carry-on, and a backpack. My friend helped me with the bag logistics.
I planned to include multiple running sessions and many anime pilgrimage spots. Some of these may not be as interesting to that many people, but I hope this trip report can help and inspire future travelers.
Day 1 Tokyo
- Landed at Haneda in the pm and figured out how to use PASMO on apple wallet. This was much more convenient than a physical card that I was topping up with cash last time around. Took the subway and got to our Hotel in Ikebukoro around 6pm. My GF was expected to land in the evening.
- Met my friend near the station with the plan of catching nearby cherry blossom. We first walked up to Shakuji River and then to Asukayama Park. It went dark quickly at this time, but the tree-line all along the river and in the park was at peak. My mind was already blown. The park had chill locals picnicking, but there wasn't a single tourist around.
- Walked back to Ikebukoro by the time my GF got there.
- Planned to wake up early and go for a run before GF gets set for the day. I was so struck by the scenery from the night before that I decided to see it in daytime. Ended up doing a 10k up and back to the same river and park. It was even better.
- Headed out with the GF around 9am, grabbed coffee and breakfast on the way.
- Suga shrine. (subway) Iconic spot from Kimi no nawa. Someone took a picture of us reenacting Taki & Mitsuha at the top of the stairs.
- Meiji Jingu. (walked)
- Shibuya. (walked) We had shabu-shabu for lunch on a high floor of one of the tall buildings there with nice view of the crossing.
- Meguro. (subway) Unbelievable cherry blossoms. There was crowd concentrated near Naka-Meguro station, but surprisingly not that many people walking along the river.
- Ginza. (subway) We hit the 12 story UNIQLO before dinner at an elevated Teppanyaki. I preferred Wagyu, GF preferred Kobe. It should have been closed, but we were also able to see the Asahi-inari shrine depicted in Weathering with you.
- Tokyo Tower. (subway) Made a reservation in advance for the top deck tour at one of the latest spot (9pm ish). We got a cute photo of us as a free souvenir.
- Picked up breakfast and coffee then sat in Minami-Ikebukuro park.
- Mejiro Garden. (walked) We didn't want to go far before lunch, so picked out this garden to walk to. It was nice and scenic.
- I took my large suitcase and dropped it at my friends house (few stops from Ikebukoro). Then did a short run back. Stopped at Don Quijote and bought a pair of throw away walking shoes for 2k yen. (This was one of the smartest decisions I have made) Also took this time to set up my 7 day JR pass, which would activate 2 days later and I got a separate ticket for a train next morning.
- GF picked out a ramen place for lunch near Kanda. (subway)
- Sumida Hokusai museum. (subway) My friend also joined us here. This was a sad miss for me last time, so I was super eager to go. It does not disappoint.
- Tokyo Dome. (subway) Saw Giants vs Carps. The atmosphere was electric all throughout and the giants came back from 3-4 with a 7-run 6th inning. Snacked on takoyaki and everyone got a free baseball shirt.
- Shinjuku / Kabukicho. (subway) We had tentative plans to get some drinks here but they both bailed citing fatigue. I ended up walking around solo and stopped by Hanazono Shrine and Golden Gai. Caught a street sumo performance before heading back to Ikebukoro.
- Caught the shinkansen around 8am heading to Toyama (which I reserved the day before) bringing my carry-on and backpack. GF flew back to China.
- Realized I will have to take the local train from Toyama to Takayama. This was one of the only transit points I didn't precisely plan ahead and the only time I got slightly nervous about making a connection on time, as I had a bus from Takayama to Shirakawa-go reserved at 1:20pm.
- The local train turned out to be amazing. Incredible scenery on both sides: mountains, valleys, rivers, cherry blossoms viewed from a handsome quaint little train car.
- Arrived in Takayama and had around 40minutes before my bus. Made the call here to fast walk to my hotel and drop my luggage. There was an old lady at reception and it was too early for check-in. As I tried to explain that I just want to leave my bags but she gave me the room keys and signaled that check-in is ok now. I made it back to the station for my bus with a few minutes to spare.
- Shirakawa-go. Had the bus reserved back to Takayama at 17:20 so had around 3 hours here which felt like just the right amount. First stop was a store where I knew I can pick up the Higurashi map. I ended up getting a Higurashi t-shirt as well. Got the matcha pudding from the famous pudding house then walked around all the Higurashi spots which pretty much covered the entire town.
- Back to Takayama for the evening. The town was buzzing as the spring festival was happening the next 2 days. Cherry blossoms in full bloom along the river.
- Contemplated eating out somewhere, but ultimately went back to the hotel. I asked the lady at the reception about food and she ended up making me ramen by herself. She was so nice!
- Woke up early and went for a run. Hit most of the Hyouka spots and went up to the castle ruins.
- The town was full of festival floats being prepared for the evening. Unfortunately, I knew I wont be able to stay for the night festival, but I caught the am performance of the singing showcase.
- Planned to go to Bagpipe (Western style tea house famous from Hyouka) at 9:30 for opening. I checked out the town museum nearby and got there at 9:28. It was already open and I was sat at the last available table. Had a beautifully served iced coffee and a slice of cheesecake. The interior is exactly like in the anime, and they have some sketchbooks available to read.
- Spent a couple more hours strolling around Takayama. Got some Hyouka merch, had a Hida beef skewer and was enjoying the festival vibes.
- Picked up my bags and with my JR pass now active, took the Hida ltd express to Nagoya and the Shinkansen to Kyoto.
- My friend from Tokyo was joining me here for the next few days. We had a hostel booked near Higashiyama for the night. I got there around 5pm, dropped my bags and headed back out.
- We wanted to see the Botanical garden which was supposed to be open until late, but it was unexpectedly closed that day. We ended up just walking along Kamogawa River towards the north of the city. This turned out to be amazing. It was an idillic spring Sunday evening, with again, lots of cherry blossoms and barely any tourists.
- My friend had dinner plans with his former teacher so we got back to Kawaramachi around 9. I walked back to the hostel touching Kiyamachi and Hanamikoji street.
- Woke up early again and went for a run through the Heian-jingu garden and the Imperial Palace garden. The hostel served a flawless buffet style breakfast.
- Arashiyama. (train) Saw some wild monkeys wondering next to Horinji Temple. There was an expected crowd at the bamboo forest around 10-11am, but it was still wonderful to see.
- Uji (train) Had lunch at a small curry shop. I picked up some Uji matcha and we hiked up to the Daikichiyama Observataion Deck. (Iconic from Hibike! Euphonium) Hunted a couple more Hibike spots on and around Ujibashi bridge.
- Kiyomizu-dera. (train back to kyoto) This was the most crowded spot on my entire trip with an abundance of people in kimonos in front of the cherry blossom trees.
- Walked back to the hostel through Ninenzaka and Maruyama Park.
- Picked up the luggage and took the train to Osaka. I have booked the Conrad Osaka for a night through Amex FHR, which was absolutely insane. Reception is on the 40th floor and the moment you step out the elevator you feel taken aback. Stunning views of the entire city. Had dinner at the fancy hotel restaurant and crashed.
- I decided to check out the hotel gym instead of a run this morning. It also had insane views, and I could do some cycling warm-up for next day. We had a big buffet breakfast at the hotel.
- National Bunraku Theater. (subway) Booked the 11am show in advance. Absolutely worth it even if you don't speak any Japanese. The standard of performance is extremely high. I got an english audio guide which was following the narrative and sometimes adding extra context. My friend (who is fluent) did not get the guide, but said afterwards that the narration was in the original dialect and without the Japanese subtitles he would have struggled to understand it. It was 3 hours long with a 20minute interval. We got a small gift bag after completing their feedback survey.
- Osaka castle. (walked) We had a 4pm check-out at the hotel so didn't have time too much time here, just walked through the garden.
- Had some food at the hotel lounge after check out and enjoyed the city views in daylight.
- Took the train back to Kyoto, where we stayed at the same hostel as the night before.
- Walked to Yasaka shrine and over to Shinkyogoku street before crashing.
- This was the day I was the most excited (and nervous - weather wise) for. I repacked my bags and headed out solo after an early breakfast with only my backpack. My friend took my carry-on back to Tokyo.
- Arrived at Onomichi around 10:30 where I had reserved a regular road bike.
- After a short ferry ride, I was ready to start the route by 10:45. The drop-off would close at 8pm and they said the route takes about 8hours. I am a fairly advanced cyclist, so my plan was to make the 6pm or the 7pm train from Imabari to Matsuyama and had 3 spots in mind to stop.
- First stop: Oyama Shrine. Typical shinto shrine which brands itself as the bicycle shrine. This should be a no brainer for any cyclist, all the usual shrine stuff here is bicycle themed. I bought some cute pins for my triathlon training crew. The lady there did not speak english but was very friendly and insisted on taking a picture of me with my bike in front of one of their signs.
- Second stop: Oyamazumi Shrine & Treasure Hall. This is off the main route, so it added a good chunk of time, but its another amazing spot. The treasure hall has some of the oldest swords and armor in Japan dating back to 600. Instead of turning straight back I cycled around the south part of the island back towards the main road.
- Third stop: Kirosan Observatory. I had this as tentative pending circumstances, but when I made it near there around 4pm I was feeling good enough and decided to go for it. It is an aprox. 3km climb with an average of 10% gradient, so with a regular bike it is a doozy. I was gassed, but made it to the top without having to get off. I laughed to myself when I realized there are no vending machines around. The view of the Kurushima kaikyo bridge and the surrounding area is breathtaking, it felt like it was worth the effort getting up.
- I had plenty of minor stops to take photos and grab drinks / snacks. As you would expect, there are vending machines, combis and bathrooms along the whole way.
- Also plenty of cherry blossoms, from which the wind was blowing the sakura all around me as I was riding. It was magical.
- Final stats: Distance: 65.96 miles (106.13km), Elevation: 3730 feet (1136.9m), Cycling time: 4hours 52minutes.
- Took the 7pm train from Imabari to Matsuyama. I had an onsen style hotel booked near Dogo Onsen, (The inspiration behind the bathhouse in Spirited Away) where I arrived around 8:30pm after taking the tram from the train station. It was wonderful to bathe 4x after such a day and I dandered around the area a bit in a Yukata and Geta sandals before hitting the hay.
- Walked around Dogo park and the adjacent shrines before breakfast at the hotel.
- Took the tram and a local train (Only ticket I had to buy with cash, no IC card) to Takahama (Matsuyama port), then caught the ferry to Hiroshima around 10am which took a little over an hour and cost around 5000.
- Hiroshima Peace Park (tram from the port). I find it very difficult to describe this place, It was one of the strangest things I have ever seen and it made me feel extremely eerie. It was a beautiful sunny day with lots of tourist that somehow made it more absurd.
- Hiroshima Castle (walked). I knew I had to rush this part a little but, so just walked by again.
- Itsukushima (train, ferry). Made it to the island around 2:30. Walked around, then opted for taking the ropeway to the top of the mountain and hike to the observatory. Was able to make it back to one of the last ropeway cars going down around 4:15.
- Had some takoyaki and hung out with the deers before heading to Hiroshima shinkansen station.
- Made it to Fukuoka around 8:30 where I had the Sea Hawk booked for 2 nights. (Inspired by I want to eat your pancreas.) I got an upgrade and had a huge room facing Fukuoka Tower with another set of incredible views. Had dinner at the hotel and found out that they have a proper onsen built on site, which I enjoyed before going to bed.
- Woke up early and headed to the train station after breakfast.
- Arrived at Nagasaki around 10:30. My anchor activity here was a Gunkanjima tour leaving around 1pm. I had more time than I thought so I took it slow walking along the bay and decided to include the Glover Garden, which was really interesting and should have been part of my plans in the first place. I also love Madama Butterfly, and they have a statue of Tamaki Miura and Puccini there.
- Before heading to the harbor, I went through the Gunkanjima Digital Museum and had a coffee float at their cafe. They gave me a postcard after completing the feedback survey.
- The tour took around 3 hours and we spent around 45minutes on the island. Short back story here: I stumbled upon Gunkanjima whilst browsing interesting places on google maps during covid lockdown. I could hardly believe it standing there that a few years later I was able to see it in person. There was only Japanese guide on this tour but they gave me and the couple other foreigners a detailed handbook which had a description of most things we were going past. All the employees were extremely attentive and professional and I could tell the guide was incredibly knowledgable. They noticed I was on my own and even chatted me up for a bit with novice english, an experience I never had anywhere else in Japan. I highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Nagasaki.
- One-legged Torii & Nagasaki peace park. (tram) - It was calmer and less touristy than Hiroshima and I didn't get as emotional here, but it was just as powerful.
- Arrived back at Fukuoka around 8pm. There was a medium line at the JR kiosk so I decided to reserve my ticket back to Tokyo for the next morning. This was a good call, because for my preferred timing I had to transfer at shin-kobe and the first leg was already full. I asked for an E seat for the second leg (to get the Fuji views) but those were already gone.
- Walked along the Naka river and over Fuku-Haku Deai Bridge. This was a Friday evening and the atmosphere in the city was awesome.
- Dinner, onsen and a drink at the bar in the hotel before bed.
- Went for a run along the beach then over to Ohori Park before breakfast at the hotel. Ohori park was buzzing with local runners.
- Fukuoka City Museum. (walked) Even though I stayed two night I felt like I didn't get to learn too much about Fukuoka so glad I was able to fit this in before heading to the train station.
- It took around 6 hours with the short transit to get back to Tokyo. I was able to take my Fuji videos from the window between the cars. I knew I was gonna spend most of this day on the train which came as a good little break physically. This was also the last day of my JR pass.
- Had the APA hotel booked for the last 2 nights in Asakusa. Checked-in around 5pm.
- Tokyo Kinema Klub (walked). Met up with my friend again and we saw Imperial Circus Dead Decadance, a Japanese metal band. (Osu people might be familiar with them) I was amused by how people behave at a metal concert in Japan: they shout, cheer, headbang but do not make physical contact with each other. (So, no mosh-pits) The band was lovely and despite the music being very heavy, I could tell they were skilled musicians at the top of their craft. The frontman did the full polite Japanese routines between screaming songs. Koiwa Kotori (A seiyuu most well known for a moe role) made an appearance and "sang" a song with the band, which was hilarious. We had a blast.
- Picked a nearby Izakaya for dinner and drinks, then I walked back to Asakusa.
- I planned this as optional for the end of the trip, but purposefully stayed in Asakusa to make it easy if I decide to go. I read conflicting opinions about the Nikko day-trips and I feel like I have to agree with both sides. On one hand it is absolutely worth it to go for a day trip, on the other hand, if you can, spend a night or two there. My plan was to do the temples/tombs in the morning and the lake/waterfalls in the afternoon, but this can easily be stretched to 2-3 days.
- I took the 7am train and made it to Toshogu around 9:45. I was speedy but not rushing and got back to the main road around 11:30 after seeing the main spots. Picked up a freshly made taiyaki from a lovely old couple by the slope.
- Walked to and through the Kanmangafuchi abyss then hopped on the bus going towards Lake Chuzenji.
- I felt I was making good time and the weather was decent (although slightly worse than the days before), so I decided to get off the bus at Akechidaira ropeway, take it one way and do the hike route to mount Hangetsu which comes back around the lakeside. The view from the top of the ropeway was already mesmerizing.
- This is where things could have gone wrong and I was somewhat irresponsible. Clouds started to appear, there was a small drizzle, I only had a small bottle of water with me and I took the wrong turn twice before getting on the right trail, which was covered by leaves. According to AllTrails, the route should take 4 hours, so once I found the trail I was confident I will be fine (this was around 1pm), and the drizzle went away as well. The views of Lake Chuzenji, Mount Nantai, and all the snowy mountaintops in the distance were indescribable. At some point Mount Nantai got covered by clouds but I felt like I had it too good for too long and could not feel the slightest disappointment.
- Made it down to the lakeside and to the embassy villas before 4pm. There was something about this lake that just hit different. I will aim to come back during a different season and spend more time here for sure.
- Had some time before the bus back to see Kegon waterfall up close. Also took the elevator down, its worth it.
- Got back to Tokyo around 9pm. I was leaving the next day, so I had to make a roundtrip to my friends house to pick up my luggages and then spent around 2 hours at the Donki in Asakusa. (1 hour shopping, 1 hour waiting in tax-free line)
- This day was my highest step count with 43 250 plus 355 floors climbed.
- My flight was in the afternoon, so left my luggage at the hotel and headed out for the final day.
- Nezu Shrine. (subway) Me and my friend decided to meet here, as neither of us have been here yet. Felt like one of the more underrated shrines with a cool Torii gate line.
- Former Iwasaki House Garden. (walked) As a huge Umineko fan, this was the icing on the cake for me. (I went to Kyu-Furukawa in 2020) This house was clearly the interior model for the Ushiromiya mansion and I was geeking out over every little resemblance. Also learned that apparently the Iwasaki family (founders of Mitsubishi) held a yearly family conference here which is just perfect.
- Akihabara. (walked) Finally, I had about an hour left before having to get my stuff and head to the airport, so we stopped by a couple of stores. No big treasure hunt this time (did all of that last time around as well), but still came away with some goodies and gifts.
- Took the subway straight from Asakusa to Narita. It was just slightly slower than the skyliner from Ueno, but it was nice not having to transfer with all the luggage and there was plenty of space.
- I have no regrets about covering a lot of ground. It was actually great leaving every single place with a feeling of wanting to come back, which I intend to. I knew I wasn't going to have enough time for Osaka and Hiroshima this time, and felt the same way about Matsuyama and Fukuoka as well.
- Charged phone and internet are by far the most important tools. I had two iWalks with me every day, usually one was dead by the evening. Google maps is very reliable and can get you almost anywhere. Cash is needed but not necessary 95% of the time. IC cards on apple wallet work just fine. I took one uber on the final night from my friends place back to my hotel. Everything else was walking or public transportation indicated in brackets.
- Food and sleep were low on my priority list. I had combi snacks and karage whenever I did not mention something specific and I was sleeping 5-6 hours a night. Made the most of the vending machines and the public bathrooms on the move.
- Cultural and recreation activities are so accessible compared to the US and western Europe. None of these activities (including the bike rental) cost more than 3000 yen (20dollars) except for Gunkanjima which was 5000 (32ish dollars).
- I have a small tattoo on the back of my arm under my shoulder. The onsens did not have anything against it (just like last time).
- The vast majority of people you have to interact with are kind and do their best to help you as long as you follow their basic rules of decency. You can go solo without speaking the language, just stay patient and respectful.
- Advanced reservations: Ginza steakhouse, Tokyo tower top deck tour, Tokyo Dome: Giants vs Carps, Takayama - Shirakawa-go bus, National Bunraku Theater Osaka, Onomichi - Imabari bicycle rental, Gunkanjima tour, Tokyo Kinema Klub: Imperial Dead Circus Decadence
- Average step count was around 35k.
- Screen time went down 80%.
- I don't know how they do it, but it is so quite everywhere despite huge crowds and traffic.
- People drink alcohol all day every day even in public places, without getting aggressive or otherwise unpleasant. I would love to have this everywhere else.
- I got incredibly lucky with cherry blossoms coming late, and having to see it in full bloom and then coming down.
- Most places are so rich in history that it is hard to fathom.
- Kyoto, understandable, by far the most touristy.
- The Donki shoes picked up on Day 3 handled the bike ride, the Nikko hike, almost all of my walking after day 6 and even the run in Fukuoka without any pain. I was planning on throwing them out, but ended up taking them home.
- I used Mint mobile's minternational pass for roaming.
- White people who are clearly not local hesitantly bowing to each other makes me cringe. Sorry.
2024.04.28 13:37 junkmailktchn A Pizza-Centric Italian Adventure
Neapolitan. Al taglio. Alla pala. Tonda. Pinsa. We had to try them all.
My wife and I traveled to Italy in the fall of 2023 with the goal of eating as much pizza as possible. We wanted to try the pizzas that have gained international attention and sample styles of pizza that we didn't know existed before planning this trip.
First, our pizza preferences:
We prefer modern NY style pizza. Thin. A crisp undercarriage with an air of lightness. A crust with the flavor of good bread. The toppings should be balanced both in weight and contrast: Salty, acidic, creamy, bright.
A few of our favorite pizzas in the United States include: Fini: shallot/long hot. Razza: summer sweet corn w/ fermented peppers. Pizzeria Bianco: “Rosa”. Stretch Pizza: Ramps three ways. Danny Boy’s Famous Original: Pepperoni. Pizzeria Beddia: Plain pizza with Old Gold. Una Pizza Napoletana: Cosacca.
Second, I love to make pizza:
I bake pizza weekly at home. I have experimented with 72 hour cold ferments, 48 hour low yeast ferments, and sourdough ferments. In the winter I use an electric oven with baking steel. In the summer I rotate between my OG Blackstone, Roccbox, and Ooni Koda 16.
Italian Pizza Adventure
Day 1 - Arrive in Rome. Train, tram, and foot travel to Trastevere.
Dar Poeta (Trastevere, Rome) - Coppa pizza - Their pizza is neither neapolitan nor Roman style, but a blend that is unique to Dar Poeta. A popular American food writer likens the crust to sandpaper, yet I found this pizza to be delicious. Crisp, light, and a very tasty first bite on a cool fall evening in an alleyway in Trastevere. Perhaps hunger is the best sauce, and after a long flight and a nerve-wracking tram ride, the pizza at Dar Poeta was a great start to a busy week of pizza eating.
L’Elementare (Trastevere, Rome) - Roman style Margherita Pizza. Nice balance of cheese to sauce. Flavorful. Wait staff was very helpful.
Pizzeria La Bocaccia (Trastevere, Rome) - Pizza Al Taglio - I tried the ham and cheese and marinara. Both were very good. Light and crisp. Seemed like a local spot. The woman working the counter was no-nonsense and efficient.
Day 2 - Breakfast in Rome exploring on foot. Train to Naples for lunch.
Antico Forno Roscioli (Campo Di Fiori, Rome) - Pizza Bianca - Simplicity well executed is divine. Olive oil and salt on a thinner than focaccia-esque square. Pizza Alla Pala. This is delicious. Get there for breakfast. We were there around 8am on a Monday morning and were the only people in the place. We tried to snag a second taste on our last day in Italy on a Sunday afternoon, and the line snaked down the alleyway.
Forno Campo Di Fiori (Campo Di Fiori, Rome) - Pizza Rossa, Mortadella sandwich - Again, get there early. Both of these were amazing. A complete breakfast. You do not need anything else. Forget the Maritozzi, or Bomba, or Cornetto. All you need to start your day in Rome is a Pizza Bianca, a Pizza rossa, and a Mortadella Sandwich.
Pinsere (Near Termini, Rome) - Pinsa with ham, pistachios, ricotta. I ordered what they were serving for “breakfast” as we got there shortly after their 10am opening. Pinsa is a style of pizza with rules and guidelines regarding the flour blend. It is light, airy, and “digestible”. Made from wheat, soy, rice, and sometimes spelt flours and sourdough culture. I would stop by Pinsere again if in the neighborhood.
Lunch - Metro and foot travel in Naples
Antica Pizzeria Port Alba - (Naples) Portafoglia - We got the “wallet” pizza at what may be the world's oldest pizzeria. We enjoyed the snack on the street as school kids ordered lunch-time take away suppli and pizza.
Antica Pizzeria Di Mateo - (Naples) Portafoglia - Had a second street pizza experience. This was not quite as good at the pizza at Port Alba. Should have joined the line for the dine-in experience.
Antica Pizzeria De’ Figliole - (Naples) Pizza Fritta - This was my first taste of the balloon shaped pizza fritta or fried pizza. Pizza fritta is the pizza of the people. It has been around for a long time and has many different iterations. Flatter montanara style, or cone shaped. This was more like a fried balloon of dough with melted cheese and meat inside. We didn’t care for this pizza. The filling was lost in the fried dough. The exterior was slightly oily. We got it for take-away and realized immediately that this beast required a knife, fork, and proper plate. (the pizza fritta at Pepe in Grani is a completely different animal).
Stuffed, we made our way to the bus station, rode the bus to the Napoli airport, picked up a rental car, and drove South towards the Amalfi Coast. We arrived at our accommodation, checked-in, and ran down the street to the nearest grocery store (unique name of Mr. O Pagliette) arriving as they were closing the door. They laughed and waved us in. I made a delicious meal of pasta, vegetables, cured meats, and buffalo mozzarella which was eaten under the setting sun from a terrace overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Day 3 - Hiked to Positano then drove Caserta
We hiked the Path of the Gods to Positano and back. The hike is nice. Sunshine. Ocean views. Lots of stairs down to Positano and lots of stairs back up. Positano is ok. If you like people, shops, and luxury items. We went to the beach for about 10 minutes as throngs of tourists disembarked the ferry. Time to hike back! Upon returning to our car in Bomerano after completing the 11-ish mile hike, we were very hungry. The internet claimed Salumeria Manna, which was a short walk north from the parking lot, served sandwiches. We got there just moments before the proprietor closed for lunch. She cut a few slices from a crusty loaf of bread, stuffed it with provolone and cured meats, and locked up the door behind us. We sat on the curb and devoured our sandwiches, leaving a trail of crumbs in our wake. Satisfied, we got in the car and drove north to Caserta.
Dinner
I Masanielli di Francesco Martiucci - (Caserta) 8 course pizza tasting. Ranked #1 in the world in 2022 (Tied with Una Pizza Napoletana in NYC which serves an amazing cosacca pizza). We ordered the tasting menu months in advance and arrived at 7pm to a line of about 20-30 people waiting for the doors to open. Francesco Martiucci is a master of the craft. He invented a “triple-cooked” pizza which is first steamed, then fried, and finally baked in a wood fired oven. The crust on the triple cooked pizza is a perfect balance of crisp to creamy-crumb deliciousness. And the toppings on the tasting menu were as creative. Onions three ways. Dried tomatoes, tomato cream, fresh tomatoes. Beef and lemon. Tuna and pepper puree. Neapolitan pizza with an abundance of black truffles. Don’t be put off by the strip mall-esque location. Or the fact that I Masanielli was never featured on Netflix. We had an amazing evening. I Masanielli is worth a special trip.
Side note - our booking in Caserta was a steal. Private pool. Walled in yard. Attentive host. Affordable price.
Day 4 - Caserta and on to Caiazzo
Lunch
I Masanielli Sasa Martiucci - (Caserta) Friggitella. Apparently the Masanielli’s have Caserta’s pizza scene on lock-down. Sasa is Francesco’s brother. This pizza lacked the deftness that was on display the evening before. It was a good pizza to be sure, but a little bit on the heavy side. The Tiramibou for dessert was a playful and delicious take on Tiramisu. Highly recommend.
On the way to Caiazzo we detoured to Casertavecchia, a former medieval village that is worth exploring.
Dinner
Pepe in Grani- (Caiazzo) 8 course tasting menu. Plenty of superlatives have been written about Franco Pepe and his pizza mecca located in the sleepy hillside town of Caiazzo. We went all-in and enjoyed every last bite of the full tasting menu (actually my wife hit the proverbial wall early and I ate a significant amount of her pizza). Everything was fantastic. The tomato compote on the Scarpetta pizza was the best bite of the trip. If i ever return, I would skip the tasting menu and order ala carte, with the goal of trying every different style of dough they make.
Prior to dining we spent the afternoon wandering around Caiazzo. A town built on a hill. Narrow cobblestone passageways connecting to tiny streets. Old stone buildings. Nothing to do but explore the quiet streets on foot until dinner. Not a tourist in sight. Except for pizza fanatics. My only regret from our stay in Caiazzo was not saving enough stomach space or time to visit Antico Osteria Pizzeria Pepe, the Pizzeria of Franco Pepe’s family.
Highly recommend B&B Casa Aulivo. An 18th century olive mill converted into a B&B. Same views of the valley as you get from the terrace at Pepe in Grani but with the views all to yourself.
Day 5 - Drove back to Naples, returned the rental car, and spent the afternoon walking around Naples eating pizza.
Sfogliato Attanasio-(Naples) Sfogliatella. A thin, multi-layered, crisp-flaky pastry stuffed with a perfectly balanced orange zested ricotta filling. It was the best non-pizza bite of the week. This. Slaps.
L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele - (Naples) - Cosacca. We arrived early, grabbed a ticket, and were seated in the second round after a 20 minute wait. A super touristy spot that lived up to the hype. This pizza is very good.
50 Kalo (Naples) - Cosacca. Very good. One of my favorite Neapolitan pizzas
Pizzeria Da Atillio (Naples) Pizza Pomod’oro- too much cheese. Pizza ended up soupy.
Day 6 - Train to Salerno. Ferry to Amalfi. We walked from Amalfi, over to Atrani, up to Ravello, and down to Minori. Narrow cobbled alleyways. Stone churches. Long ascending and descending staircases. Blue sky, sparkling azure sea, and glistening pebbled beaches. Architecture that inspired Escher. A fun place to explore on foot. A better walk than the Path of the Gods.
Lunch
Midnight Sun (Minori) - marinara with anchovies. Our least favorite pizza of the trip. Cornicone was dry and overbaked. We only stopped here because it was near the ferry and the other pizza shop in Minori was closed for the week.
Dinner
Pizzeria La Smorfia (Salerno) cosacca - Very good. Surprisingly good.
Anima e Cornicone (Salerno) cosacca - Crust was good. Unfortunately, they subbed black pepper in place of a hard grated cheese and the pepper overpowered the tomato sauce.
Day 7 - Train back to Rome
Casa Manco (Testaccio) - a variety of Al Taglio slices. Concord grape slice was great.
Da Teo Testaccio- Porchetta sandwich. Obviously not pizza but worth every bite!
Trappizino (Testaccio)- Beef cheek ragu. A pizza-like, modern street food invention.
Mastro Donato Pizza Gourmet (Testaccio) - a variety of Al Taglio slices. All very good.
Piccolo Buco (Trevi) Roasted cherry tomato- recommended by Katie Parla as one of the better Neapolitan pizzas in Rome. Was one of our least favorite pizza’s on the trip. Excessive doming and unbalanced topping ratio all contributed to a subpar pizza.
Emma (Regola)- Roman style Prosciutto pizza. Also ordered a focaccia with ham and buffalo mozzarella and were surprised at their interpretation of focaccia. Apparently a focaccia at a roman style pizzeria is a roman style pizza without sauce. We also ordered our only restaurant prepared pasta dish of the trip: cacio e pepe.
Alice Pizza (Pantheon) Al taglio - Solid . Wouldn’t go out of my way for it, but decent al taglio.
Day 8
Bonci (Cipro) - Al Taglio- A perfect way to cap off a week travelling Italy eating pizza. Sunday morning Bonci’ opens with small line and tasty slices. Light. Airy. Crisp. We also snagged a ham and cheese sandwich which was nothing like an American ham and cheese sandwich. Thin, crispy, melty. Divine.
8 Days. 24 Pizzerias. A few key takeaways:
submitted by junkmailktchn to travel [link] [comments]
My wife and I traveled to Italy in the fall of 2023 with the goal of eating as much pizza as possible. We wanted to try the pizzas that have gained international attention and sample styles of pizza that we didn't know existed before planning this trip.
First, our pizza preferences:
We prefer modern NY style pizza. Thin. A crisp undercarriage with an air of lightness. A crust with the flavor of good bread. The toppings should be balanced both in weight and contrast: Salty, acidic, creamy, bright.
A few of our favorite pizzas in the United States include: Fini: shallot/long hot. Razza: summer sweet corn w/ fermented peppers. Pizzeria Bianco: “Rosa”. Stretch Pizza: Ramps three ways. Danny Boy’s Famous Original: Pepperoni. Pizzeria Beddia: Plain pizza with Old Gold. Una Pizza Napoletana: Cosacca.
Second, I love to make pizza:
I bake pizza weekly at home. I have experimented with 72 hour cold ferments, 48 hour low yeast ferments, and sourdough ferments. In the winter I use an electric oven with baking steel. In the summer I rotate between my OG Blackstone, Roccbox, and Ooni Koda 16.
Italian Pizza Adventure
Day 1 - Arrive in Rome. Train, tram, and foot travel to Trastevere.
Dar Poeta (Trastevere, Rome) - Coppa pizza - Their pizza is neither neapolitan nor Roman style, but a blend that is unique to Dar Poeta. A popular American food writer likens the crust to sandpaper, yet I found this pizza to be delicious. Crisp, light, and a very tasty first bite on a cool fall evening in an alleyway in Trastevere. Perhaps hunger is the best sauce, and after a long flight and a nerve-wracking tram ride, the pizza at Dar Poeta was a great start to a busy week of pizza eating.
L’Elementare (Trastevere, Rome) - Roman style Margherita Pizza. Nice balance of cheese to sauce. Flavorful. Wait staff was very helpful.
Pizzeria La Bocaccia (Trastevere, Rome) - Pizza Al Taglio - I tried the ham and cheese and marinara. Both were very good. Light and crisp. Seemed like a local spot. The woman working the counter was no-nonsense and efficient.
Day 2 - Breakfast in Rome exploring on foot. Train to Naples for lunch.
Antico Forno Roscioli (Campo Di Fiori, Rome) - Pizza Bianca - Simplicity well executed is divine. Olive oil and salt on a thinner than focaccia-esque square. Pizza Alla Pala. This is delicious. Get there for breakfast. We were there around 8am on a Monday morning and were the only people in the place. We tried to snag a second taste on our last day in Italy on a Sunday afternoon, and the line snaked down the alleyway.
Forno Campo Di Fiori (Campo Di Fiori, Rome) - Pizza Rossa, Mortadella sandwich - Again, get there early. Both of these were amazing. A complete breakfast. You do not need anything else. Forget the Maritozzi, or Bomba, or Cornetto. All you need to start your day in Rome is a Pizza Bianca, a Pizza rossa, and a Mortadella Sandwich.
Pinsere (Near Termini, Rome) - Pinsa with ham, pistachios, ricotta. I ordered what they were serving for “breakfast” as we got there shortly after their 10am opening. Pinsa is a style of pizza with rules and guidelines regarding the flour blend. It is light, airy, and “digestible”. Made from wheat, soy, rice, and sometimes spelt flours and sourdough culture. I would stop by Pinsere again if in the neighborhood.
Lunch - Metro and foot travel in Naples
Antica Pizzeria Port Alba - (Naples) Portafoglia - We got the “wallet” pizza at what may be the world's oldest pizzeria. We enjoyed the snack on the street as school kids ordered lunch-time take away suppli and pizza.
Antica Pizzeria Di Mateo - (Naples) Portafoglia - Had a second street pizza experience. This was not quite as good at the pizza at Port Alba. Should have joined the line for the dine-in experience.
Antica Pizzeria De’ Figliole - (Naples) Pizza Fritta - This was my first taste of the balloon shaped pizza fritta or fried pizza. Pizza fritta is the pizza of the people. It has been around for a long time and has many different iterations. Flatter montanara style, or cone shaped. This was more like a fried balloon of dough with melted cheese and meat inside. We didn’t care for this pizza. The filling was lost in the fried dough. The exterior was slightly oily. We got it for take-away and realized immediately that this beast required a knife, fork, and proper plate. (the pizza fritta at Pepe in Grani is a completely different animal).
Stuffed, we made our way to the bus station, rode the bus to the Napoli airport, picked up a rental car, and drove South towards the Amalfi Coast. We arrived at our accommodation, checked-in, and ran down the street to the nearest grocery store (unique name of Mr. O Pagliette) arriving as they were closing the door. They laughed and waved us in. I made a delicious meal of pasta, vegetables, cured meats, and buffalo mozzarella which was eaten under the setting sun from a terrace overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Day 3 - Hiked to Positano then drove Caserta
We hiked the Path of the Gods to Positano and back. The hike is nice. Sunshine. Ocean views. Lots of stairs down to Positano and lots of stairs back up. Positano is ok. If you like people, shops, and luxury items. We went to the beach for about 10 minutes as throngs of tourists disembarked the ferry. Time to hike back! Upon returning to our car in Bomerano after completing the 11-ish mile hike, we were very hungry. The internet claimed Salumeria Manna, which was a short walk north from the parking lot, served sandwiches. We got there just moments before the proprietor closed for lunch. She cut a few slices from a crusty loaf of bread, stuffed it with provolone and cured meats, and locked up the door behind us. We sat on the curb and devoured our sandwiches, leaving a trail of crumbs in our wake. Satisfied, we got in the car and drove north to Caserta.
Dinner
I Masanielli di Francesco Martiucci - (Caserta) 8 course pizza tasting. Ranked #1 in the world in 2022 (Tied with Una Pizza Napoletana in NYC which serves an amazing cosacca pizza). We ordered the tasting menu months in advance and arrived at 7pm to a line of about 20-30 people waiting for the doors to open. Francesco Martiucci is a master of the craft. He invented a “triple-cooked” pizza which is first steamed, then fried, and finally baked in a wood fired oven. The crust on the triple cooked pizza is a perfect balance of crisp to creamy-crumb deliciousness. And the toppings on the tasting menu were as creative. Onions three ways. Dried tomatoes, tomato cream, fresh tomatoes. Beef and lemon. Tuna and pepper puree. Neapolitan pizza with an abundance of black truffles. Don’t be put off by the strip mall-esque location. Or the fact that I Masanielli was never featured on Netflix. We had an amazing evening. I Masanielli is worth a special trip.
Side note - our booking in Caserta was a steal. Private pool. Walled in yard. Attentive host. Affordable price.
Day 4 - Caserta and on to Caiazzo
Lunch
I Masanielli Sasa Martiucci - (Caserta) Friggitella. Apparently the Masanielli’s have Caserta’s pizza scene on lock-down. Sasa is Francesco’s brother. This pizza lacked the deftness that was on display the evening before. It was a good pizza to be sure, but a little bit on the heavy side. The Tiramibou for dessert was a playful and delicious take on Tiramisu. Highly recommend.
On the way to Caiazzo we detoured to Casertavecchia, a former medieval village that is worth exploring.
Dinner
Pepe in Grani- (Caiazzo) 8 course tasting menu. Plenty of superlatives have been written about Franco Pepe and his pizza mecca located in the sleepy hillside town of Caiazzo. We went all-in and enjoyed every last bite of the full tasting menu (actually my wife hit the proverbial wall early and I ate a significant amount of her pizza). Everything was fantastic. The tomato compote on the Scarpetta pizza was the best bite of the trip. If i ever return, I would skip the tasting menu and order ala carte, with the goal of trying every different style of dough they make.
Prior to dining we spent the afternoon wandering around Caiazzo. A town built on a hill. Narrow cobblestone passageways connecting to tiny streets. Old stone buildings. Nothing to do but explore the quiet streets on foot until dinner. Not a tourist in sight. Except for pizza fanatics. My only regret from our stay in Caiazzo was not saving enough stomach space or time to visit Antico Osteria Pizzeria Pepe, the Pizzeria of Franco Pepe’s family.
Highly recommend B&B Casa Aulivo. An 18th century olive mill converted into a B&B. Same views of the valley as you get from the terrace at Pepe in Grani but with the views all to yourself.
Day 5 - Drove back to Naples, returned the rental car, and spent the afternoon walking around Naples eating pizza.
Sfogliato Attanasio-(Naples) Sfogliatella. A thin, multi-layered, crisp-flaky pastry stuffed with a perfectly balanced orange zested ricotta filling. It was the best non-pizza bite of the week. This. Slaps.
L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele - (Naples) - Cosacca. We arrived early, grabbed a ticket, and were seated in the second round after a 20 minute wait. A super touristy spot that lived up to the hype. This pizza is very good.
50 Kalo (Naples) - Cosacca. Very good. One of my favorite Neapolitan pizzas
Pizzeria Da Atillio (Naples) Pizza Pomod’oro- too much cheese. Pizza ended up soupy.
Day 6 - Train to Salerno. Ferry to Amalfi. We walked from Amalfi, over to Atrani, up to Ravello, and down to Minori. Narrow cobbled alleyways. Stone churches. Long ascending and descending staircases. Blue sky, sparkling azure sea, and glistening pebbled beaches. Architecture that inspired Escher. A fun place to explore on foot. A better walk than the Path of the Gods.
Lunch
Midnight Sun (Minori) - marinara with anchovies. Our least favorite pizza of the trip. Cornicone was dry and overbaked. We only stopped here because it was near the ferry and the other pizza shop in Minori was closed for the week.
Dinner
Pizzeria La Smorfia (Salerno) cosacca - Very good. Surprisingly good.
Anima e Cornicone (Salerno) cosacca - Crust was good. Unfortunately, they subbed black pepper in place of a hard grated cheese and the pepper overpowered the tomato sauce.
Day 7 - Train back to Rome
Casa Manco (Testaccio) - a variety of Al Taglio slices. Concord grape slice was great.
Da Teo Testaccio- Porchetta sandwich. Obviously not pizza but worth every bite!
Trappizino (Testaccio)- Beef cheek ragu. A pizza-like, modern street food invention.
Mastro Donato Pizza Gourmet (Testaccio) - a variety of Al Taglio slices. All very good.
Piccolo Buco (Trevi) Roasted cherry tomato- recommended by Katie Parla as one of the better Neapolitan pizzas in Rome. Was one of our least favorite pizza’s on the trip. Excessive doming and unbalanced topping ratio all contributed to a subpar pizza.
Emma (Regola)- Roman style Prosciutto pizza. Also ordered a focaccia with ham and buffalo mozzarella and were surprised at their interpretation of focaccia. Apparently a focaccia at a roman style pizzeria is a roman style pizza without sauce. We also ordered our only restaurant prepared pasta dish of the trip: cacio e pepe.
Alice Pizza (Pantheon) Al taglio - Solid . Wouldn’t go out of my way for it, but decent al taglio.
Day 8
Bonci (Cipro) - Al Taglio- A perfect way to cap off a week travelling Italy eating pizza. Sunday morning Bonci’ opens with small line and tasty slices. Light. Airy. Crisp. We also snagged a ham and cheese sandwich which was nothing like an American ham and cheese sandwich. Thin, crispy, melty. Divine.
8 Days. 24 Pizzerias. A few key takeaways:
- When it comes to neapolitan pizza we prefer the simplicity of the Cosacca.
- Neapolitan pizza in Naples is a amazing value. Pizza in general in Italy is a value.
- The average pizzeria in the Naples/Salerno area makes a more flavorful dough/crust than the average pizzeria in NYC. .
- Looking back, I could have eaten more pizza in Naples on Day 5 but it was a beautiful day to walk along Chiaia waterfront and take in the sunshine and views of Mt. Vesuvius.
- The last day of the trip was a Sunday. We tried to get to a few more spots after enjoying Bonci’s pizza but the lines were either excessively long or the places we tried to go to were closed. With a plane to catch, we had to be satisfied.
2024.04.28 13:28 junkmailktchn A Pizza-Centric Italian Adventure
Neapolitan. Al taglio. Alla pala. Tonda. Pinsa. We had to try them all.
My wife and I traveled to Italy in the fall of 2023 with the goal of eating as much pizza as possible. We wanted to try the pizzas that have gained international attention and sample styles of pizza that we didn't know existed before planning this trip.
First, our pizza preferences: We prefer modern NY style pizza. Thin. A crisp undercarriage with an air of lightness. A crust with the flavor of good bread. The toppings should be balanced both in weight and contrast: Salty, acidic, creamy, bright. A few of our favorite pizzas in the United States include: Fini: shallot/long hot. Razza: summer sweet corn w/ fermented peppers. Pizzeria Bianco: “Rosa”. Stretch Pizza: Ramps three ways. Danny Boy’s Famous Original: Pepperoni. Pizzeria Beddia: Plain pizza with Old Gold. Una Pizza Napoletana: Cosacca.
Second, I love to make pizza: I bake pizza weekly at home. I have experimented with 72 hour cold ferments, 48 hour low yeast ferments, and sourdough ferments. In the winter I use an electric oven with baking steel. In the summer I rotate between my OG Blackstone, Roccbox, and Ooni Koda 16.
Italian Pizza Adventure
Day 1 - Arrive in Rome. Train, tram, and foot travel to Trastevere.
Dar Poeta (Trastevere, Rome) - Coppa pizza - Their pizza is neither neapolitan nor Roman style, but a blend that is unique to Dar Poeta. A popular American food writer likens the crust to sandpaper, yet I found this pizza to be delicious. Crisp, light, and a very tasty first bite on a cool fall evening in an alleyway in Trastevere. Perhaps hunger is the best sauce, and after a long flight and a nerve-wracking tram ride, the pizza at Dar Poeta was a great start to a busy week of pizza eating.
L’Elementare (Trastevere, Rome) - Roman style Margherita Pizza. Nice balance of cheese to sauce. Flavorful. Wait staff was very helpful.
Pizzeria La Bocaccia (Trastevere, Rome) - Pizza Al Taglio - I tried the ham and cheese and marinara. Both were very good. Light and crisp. Seemed like a local spot. The woman working the counter was no-nonsense and efficient.
Day 2 - Breakfast in Rome exploring on foot. Train to Naples for lunch.
Antico Forno Roscioli (Campo Di Fiori, Rome) - Pizza Bianca - Simplicity well executed is divine. Olive oil and salt on a thinner than focaccia-esque square. Pizza Alla Pala. This is delicious. Get there for breakfast. We were there around 8am on a Monday morning and were the only people in the place. We tried to snag a second taste on our last day in Italy on a Sunday afternoon, and the line snaked down the alleyway.
Forno Campo Di Fiori (Campo Di Fiori, Rome) - Pizza Rossa, Mortadella sandwich - Again, get there early. Both of these were amazing. A complete breakfast. You do not need anything else. Forget the Maritozzi, or Bomba, or Cornetto. All you need to start your day in Rome is a Pizza Bianca, a Pizza rossa, and a Mortadella Sandwich.
Pinsere (Near Termini, Rome) - Pinsa with ham, pistachios, ricotta. I ordered what they were serving for “breakfast” as we got there shortly after their 10am opening. Pinsa is a style of pizza with rules and guidelines regarding the flour blend. It is light, airy, and “digestible”. Made from wheat, soy, rice, and sometimes spelt flours and sourdough culture. I would stop by Pinsere again if in the neighborhood.
Lunch - Metro and foot travel in Naples
Antica Pizzeria Port Alba - (Naples) Portafoglia - We got the “wallet” pizza at what may be the world's oldest pizzeria. We enjoyed the snack on the street as school kids ordered lunch-time take away suppli and pizza. Antica Pizzeria Di Mateo - (Naples) Portafoglia - Had a second street pizza experience. This was not quite as good at the pizza at Port Alba. Should have joined the line for the dine-in experience.
Antica Pizzeria De’ Figliole - (Naples) Pizza Fritta - This was my first taste of the balloon shaped pizza fritta or fried pizza. Pizza fritta is the pizza of the people. It has been around for a long time and has many different iterations. Flatter montanara style, or cone shaped. This was more like a fried balloon of dough with melted cheese and meat inside. We didn’t care for this pizza. The filling was lost in the fried dough. The exterior was slightly oily. We got it for take-away and realized immediately that this beast required a knife, fork, and proper plate. (the pizza fritta at Pepe in Grani is a completely different animal).
Stuffed, we made our way to the bus station, rode the bus to the Napoli airport, picked up a rental car, and drove South towards the Amalfi Coast. We arrived at our accommodation, checked-in, and ran down the street to the nearest grocery store (unique name of Mr. O Pagliette) arriving as they were closing the door. They laughed and waved us in. I made a delicious meal of pasta, vegetables, cured meats, and buffalo mozzarella which was eaten under the setting sun from a terrace overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Day 3 - Hiked to Positano then drove Caserta We hiked the Path of the Gods to Positano and back. The hike is nice. Sunshine. Ocean views. Lots of stairs down to Positano and lots of stairs back up. Positano is ok. If you like people, shops, and luxury items. We went to the beach for about 10 minutes as throngs of tourists disembarked the ferry. Time to hike back! Upon returning to our car in Bomerano after completing the 11-ish mile hike, we were very hungry. The internet claimed Salumeria Manna, which was a short walk north from the parking lot, served sandwiches. We got there just moments before the proprietor closed for lunch. She cut a few slices from a crusty loaf of bread, stuffed it with provolone and cured meats, and locked up the door behind us. We sat on the curb and devoured our sandwiches, leaving a trail of crumbs in our wake. Satisfied, we got in the car and drove north to Caserta.
Dinner I Masanielli di Francesco Martiucci - (Caserta) 8 course pizza tasting. Ranked #1 in the world in 2022 (Tied with Una Pizza Napoletana in NYC which serves an amazing cosacca pizza). We ordered the tasting menu months in advance and arrived at 7pm to a line of about 20-30 people waiting for the doors to open. Francesco Martiucci is a master of the craft. He invented a “triple-cooked” pizza which is first steamed, then fried, and finally baked in a wood fired oven. The crust on the triple cooked pizza is a perfect balance of crisp to creamy-crumb deliciousness. And the toppings on the tasting menu were as creative. Onions three ways. Dried tomatoes, tomato cream, fresh tomatoes. Beef and lemon. Tuna and pepper puree. Neapolitan pizza with an abundance of black truffles. Don’t be put off by the strip mall-esque location. Or the fact that I Masanielli was never featured on Netflix. We had an amazing evening. I Masanielli is worth a special trip. Side note - our booking in Caserta was a steal. Private pool. Walled in yard. Attentive host. Affordable price.
Day 4 - Caserta and on to Caiazzo
Lunch I Masanielli Sasa Martiucci - (Caserta) Friggitella. Apparently the Masanielli’s have Caserta’s pizza scene on lock-down. Sasa is Francesco’s brother. This pizza lacked the deftness that was on display the evening before. It was a good pizza to be sure, but a little bit on the heavy side. The Tiramibou for dessert was a playful and delicious take on Tiramisu. Highly recommend.
On the way to Caiazzo we detoured to Casertavecchia, a former medieval village that is worth exploring. Dinner Pepe in Grani- (Caiazzo) 8 course tasting menu. Plenty of superlatives have been written about Franco Pepe and his pizza mecca located in the sleepy hillside town of Caiazzo. We went all-in and enjoyed every last bite of the full tasting menu (actually my wife hit the proverbial wall early and I ate a significant amount of her pizza). Everything was fantastic. The tomato compote on the Scarpetta pizza was the best bite of the trip. If i ever return, I would skip the tasting menu and order ala carte, with the goal of trying every different style of dough they make. Prior to dining we spent the afternoon wandering around Caiazzo. A town built on a hill. Narrow cobblestone passageways connecting to tiny streets. Old stone buildings. Nothing to do but explore the quiet streets on foot until dinner. Not a tourist in sight. Except for pizza fanatics. My only regret from our stay in Caiazzo was not saving enough stomach space or time to visit Antico Osteria Pizzeria Pepe, the Pizzeria of Franco Pepe’s family. Highly recommend B&B Casa Aulivo. An 18th century olive mill converted into a B&B. Same views of the valley as you get from the terrace at Pepe in Grani but with the views all to yourself.
Day 5 - Drove back to Naples, returned the rental car, and spent the afternoon walking around Naples eating pizza.
Sfogliato Attanasio-(Naples) Sfogliatella. A thin, multi-layered, crisp-flaky pastry stuffed with a perfectly balanced orange zested ricotta filling. It was the best non-pizza bite of the week. This. Slaps.
Lunch Midnight Sun (Minori) - marinara with anchovies. Our least favorite pizza of the trip. Cornicone was dry and overbaked. We only stopped here because it was near the ferry and the other pizza shop in Minori was closed for the week.
Dinner Pizzeria La Smorfia (Salerno) cosacca - Very good. Surprisingly good.
8 Days. 24 Pizzerias. A few key takeaways: * When it comes to neapolitan pizza we prefer the simplicity of the Cosacca. * Neapolitan pizza in Naples is a amazing value. Pizza in general in Italy is a value. * The average pizzeria in the Naples/Salerno area makes a more flavorful dough/crust than the average pizzeria in NYC. . * Looking back, I could have eaten more pizza in Naples on Day 5 but it was a beautiful day to walk along Chiaia waterfront and take in the sunshine and views of Mt. Vesuvius. * The last day of the trip was a Sunday. We tried to get to a few more spots after enjoying Bonci’s pizza but the lines were either excessively long or the places we tried to go to were closed. With a plane to catch, we had to be satisfied.
submitted by junkmailktchn to ItalyTravel [link] [comments]
My wife and I traveled to Italy in the fall of 2023 with the goal of eating as much pizza as possible. We wanted to try the pizzas that have gained international attention and sample styles of pizza that we didn't know existed before planning this trip.
First, our pizza preferences: We prefer modern NY style pizza. Thin. A crisp undercarriage with an air of lightness. A crust with the flavor of good bread. The toppings should be balanced both in weight and contrast: Salty, acidic, creamy, bright. A few of our favorite pizzas in the United States include: Fini: shallot/long hot. Razza: summer sweet corn w/ fermented peppers. Pizzeria Bianco: “Rosa”. Stretch Pizza: Ramps three ways. Danny Boy’s Famous Original: Pepperoni. Pizzeria Beddia: Plain pizza with Old Gold. Una Pizza Napoletana: Cosacca.
Second, I love to make pizza: I bake pizza weekly at home. I have experimented with 72 hour cold ferments, 48 hour low yeast ferments, and sourdough ferments. In the winter I use an electric oven with baking steel. In the summer I rotate between my OG Blackstone, Roccbox, and Ooni Koda 16.
Italian Pizza Adventure
Day 1 - Arrive in Rome. Train, tram, and foot travel to Trastevere.
Dar Poeta (Trastevere, Rome) - Coppa pizza - Their pizza is neither neapolitan nor Roman style, but a blend that is unique to Dar Poeta. A popular American food writer likens the crust to sandpaper, yet I found this pizza to be delicious. Crisp, light, and a very tasty first bite on a cool fall evening in an alleyway in Trastevere. Perhaps hunger is the best sauce, and after a long flight and a nerve-wracking tram ride, the pizza at Dar Poeta was a great start to a busy week of pizza eating.
L’Elementare (Trastevere, Rome) - Roman style Margherita Pizza. Nice balance of cheese to sauce. Flavorful. Wait staff was very helpful.
Pizzeria La Bocaccia (Trastevere, Rome) - Pizza Al Taglio - I tried the ham and cheese and marinara. Both were very good. Light and crisp. Seemed like a local spot. The woman working the counter was no-nonsense and efficient.
Day 2 - Breakfast in Rome exploring on foot. Train to Naples for lunch.
Antico Forno Roscioli (Campo Di Fiori, Rome) - Pizza Bianca - Simplicity well executed is divine. Olive oil and salt on a thinner than focaccia-esque square. Pizza Alla Pala. This is delicious. Get there for breakfast. We were there around 8am on a Monday morning and were the only people in the place. We tried to snag a second taste on our last day in Italy on a Sunday afternoon, and the line snaked down the alleyway.
Forno Campo Di Fiori (Campo Di Fiori, Rome) - Pizza Rossa, Mortadella sandwich - Again, get there early. Both of these were amazing. A complete breakfast. You do not need anything else. Forget the Maritozzi, or Bomba, or Cornetto. All you need to start your day in Rome is a Pizza Bianca, a Pizza rossa, and a Mortadella Sandwich.
Pinsere (Near Termini, Rome) - Pinsa with ham, pistachios, ricotta. I ordered what they were serving for “breakfast” as we got there shortly after their 10am opening. Pinsa is a style of pizza with rules and guidelines regarding the flour blend. It is light, airy, and “digestible”. Made from wheat, soy, rice, and sometimes spelt flours and sourdough culture. I would stop by Pinsere again if in the neighborhood.
Lunch - Metro and foot travel in Naples
Antica Pizzeria Port Alba - (Naples) Portafoglia - We got the “wallet” pizza at what may be the world's oldest pizzeria. We enjoyed the snack on the street as school kids ordered lunch-time take away suppli and pizza. Antica Pizzeria Di Mateo - (Naples) Portafoglia - Had a second street pizza experience. This was not quite as good at the pizza at Port Alba. Should have joined the line for the dine-in experience.
Antica Pizzeria De’ Figliole - (Naples) Pizza Fritta - This was my first taste of the balloon shaped pizza fritta or fried pizza. Pizza fritta is the pizza of the people. It has been around for a long time and has many different iterations. Flatter montanara style, or cone shaped. This was more like a fried balloon of dough with melted cheese and meat inside. We didn’t care for this pizza. The filling was lost in the fried dough. The exterior was slightly oily. We got it for take-away and realized immediately that this beast required a knife, fork, and proper plate. (the pizza fritta at Pepe in Grani is a completely different animal).
Stuffed, we made our way to the bus station, rode the bus to the Napoli airport, picked up a rental car, and drove South towards the Amalfi Coast. We arrived at our accommodation, checked-in, and ran down the street to the nearest grocery store (unique name of Mr. O Pagliette) arriving as they were closing the door. They laughed and waved us in. I made a delicious meal of pasta, vegetables, cured meats, and buffalo mozzarella which was eaten under the setting sun from a terrace overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Day 3 - Hiked to Positano then drove Caserta We hiked the Path of the Gods to Positano and back. The hike is nice. Sunshine. Ocean views. Lots of stairs down to Positano and lots of stairs back up. Positano is ok. If you like people, shops, and luxury items. We went to the beach for about 10 minutes as throngs of tourists disembarked the ferry. Time to hike back! Upon returning to our car in Bomerano after completing the 11-ish mile hike, we were very hungry. The internet claimed Salumeria Manna, which was a short walk north from the parking lot, served sandwiches. We got there just moments before the proprietor closed for lunch. She cut a few slices from a crusty loaf of bread, stuffed it with provolone and cured meats, and locked up the door behind us. We sat on the curb and devoured our sandwiches, leaving a trail of crumbs in our wake. Satisfied, we got in the car and drove north to Caserta.
Dinner I Masanielli di Francesco Martiucci - (Caserta) 8 course pizza tasting. Ranked #1 in the world in 2022 (Tied with Una Pizza Napoletana in NYC which serves an amazing cosacca pizza). We ordered the tasting menu months in advance and arrived at 7pm to a line of about 20-30 people waiting for the doors to open. Francesco Martiucci is a master of the craft. He invented a “triple-cooked” pizza which is first steamed, then fried, and finally baked in a wood fired oven. The crust on the triple cooked pizza is a perfect balance of crisp to creamy-crumb deliciousness. And the toppings on the tasting menu were as creative. Onions three ways. Dried tomatoes, tomato cream, fresh tomatoes. Beef and lemon. Tuna and pepper puree. Neapolitan pizza with an abundance of black truffles. Don’t be put off by the strip mall-esque location. Or the fact that I Masanielli was never featured on Netflix. We had an amazing evening. I Masanielli is worth a special trip. Side note - our booking in Caserta was a steal. Private pool. Walled in yard. Attentive host. Affordable price.
Day 4 - Caserta and on to Caiazzo
Lunch I Masanielli Sasa Martiucci - (Caserta) Friggitella. Apparently the Masanielli’s have Caserta’s pizza scene on lock-down. Sasa is Francesco’s brother. This pizza lacked the deftness that was on display the evening before. It was a good pizza to be sure, but a little bit on the heavy side. The Tiramibou for dessert was a playful and delicious take on Tiramisu. Highly recommend.
On the way to Caiazzo we detoured to Casertavecchia, a former medieval village that is worth exploring. Dinner Pepe in Grani- (Caiazzo) 8 course tasting menu. Plenty of superlatives have been written about Franco Pepe and his pizza mecca located in the sleepy hillside town of Caiazzo. We went all-in and enjoyed every last bite of the full tasting menu (actually my wife hit the proverbial wall early and I ate a significant amount of her pizza). Everything was fantastic. The tomato compote on the Scarpetta pizza was the best bite of the trip. If i ever return, I would skip the tasting menu and order ala carte, with the goal of trying every different style of dough they make. Prior to dining we spent the afternoon wandering around Caiazzo. A town built on a hill. Narrow cobblestone passageways connecting to tiny streets. Old stone buildings. Nothing to do but explore the quiet streets on foot until dinner. Not a tourist in sight. Except for pizza fanatics. My only regret from our stay in Caiazzo was not saving enough stomach space or time to visit Antico Osteria Pizzeria Pepe, the Pizzeria of Franco Pepe’s family. Highly recommend B&B Casa Aulivo. An 18th century olive mill converted into a B&B. Same views of the valley as you get from the terrace at Pepe in Grani but with the views all to yourself.
Day 5 - Drove back to Naples, returned the rental car, and spent the afternoon walking around Naples eating pizza.
Sfogliato Attanasio-(Naples) Sfogliatella. A thin, multi-layered, crisp-flaky pastry stuffed with a perfectly balanced orange zested ricotta filling. It was the best non-pizza bite of the week. This. Slaps.
L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele - (Naples) - Cosacca. We arrived early, grabbed a ticket, and were seated in the second round after a 20 minute wait. A super touristy spot that lived up to the hype. This pizza is very good. 50 Kalo (Naples) - Cosacca. Very good. One of my favorite Neapolitan pizzas Pizzeria Da Atillio (Naples) Pizza Pomod’oro- too much cheese. Pizza ended up soupy.Day 6 - Train to Salerno. Ferry to Amalfi. We walked from Amalfi, over to Atrani, up to Ravello, and down to Minori. Narrow cobbled alleyways. Stone churches. Long ascending and descending staircases. Blue sky, sparkling azure sea, and glistening pebbled beaches. Architecture that inspired Escher. A fun place to explore on foot. A better walk than the Path of the Gods.
Lunch Midnight Sun (Minori) - marinara with anchovies. Our least favorite pizza of the trip. Cornicone was dry and overbaked. We only stopped here because it was near the ferry and the other pizza shop in Minori was closed for the week.
Dinner Pizzeria La Smorfia (Salerno) cosacca - Very good. Surprisingly good.
Anima e Cornicone (Salerno) cosacca - Crust was good. Unfortunately, they subbed black pepper in place of a hard grated cheese and the pepper overpowered the tomato sauce.Day 7 - Train back to Rome Casa Manco (Testaccio) - a variety of Al Taglio slices. Concord grape slice was great. Da Teo Testaccio- Porchetta sandwich. Obviously not pizza but worth every bite! Trappizino (Testaccio)- Beef cheek ragu. A pizza-like, modern street food invention. Mastro Donato Pizza Gourmet (Testaccio) - a variety of Al Taglio slices. All very good.
Piccolo Buco (Trevi) Roasted cherry tomato- recommended by Katie Parla as one of the better Neapolitan pizzas in Rome. Was one of our least favorite pizza’s on the trip. Excessive doming and unbalanced topping ratio all contributed to a subpar pizza. Emma (Regola)- Roman style Prosciutto pizza. Also ordered a focaccia with ham and buffalo mozzarella and were surprised at their interpretation of focaccia. Apparently a focaccia at a roman style pizzeria is a roman style pizza without sauce. We also ordered our only restaurant prepared pasta dish of the trip: cacio e pepe. Alice Pizza (Pantheon) Al taglio - Solid . Wouldn’t go out of my way for it, but decent al taglio.Day 8 Bonci (Cipro) - Al Taglio- A perfect way to cap off a week travelling Italy eating pizza. Sunday morning Bonci’ opens with small line and tasty slices. Light. Airy. Crisp. We also snagged a ham and cheese sandwich which was nothing like an American ham and cheese sandwich. Thin, crispy, melty. Divine.
8 Days. 24 Pizzerias. A few key takeaways: * When it comes to neapolitan pizza we prefer the simplicity of the Cosacca. * Neapolitan pizza in Naples is a amazing value. Pizza in general in Italy is a value. * The average pizzeria in the Naples/Salerno area makes a more flavorful dough/crust than the average pizzeria in NYC. . * Looking back, I could have eaten more pizza in Naples on Day 5 but it was a beautiful day to walk along Chiaia waterfront and take in the sunshine and views of Mt. Vesuvius. * The last day of the trip was a Sunday. We tried to get to a few more spots after enjoying Bonci’s pizza but the lines were either excessively long or the places we tried to go to were closed. With a plane to catch, we had to be satisfied.
2024.04.27 19:59 micktalian The Gardens of Deathworlders: A Blooming Love (Part 64)
Part 64 Absurd and diversity (Part 1) (Part 63) (Part 64)
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Seated in a well furnished but nearly empty tram car, Banitek Ithkarf casually sat staring out an open window and marveled at just how accommodating the Amenities Section of The Hammer truly was. At nearly ten kilometers in circumference, well over a kilometer wide in some places, and currently only housing about a hundred and fifty thousand non-military members of the crew, it was obvious that this civilian portion of the ship would feature more than just simple entertainment and shopping venues for the crew. There also was the entire civilian support staff responsible for owning, operating, and working at the various establishments necessary to keep a fleet with over a million crew members content on their four-year tours of duty. In just the past ten minutes of travel the man had seen several distinct types of housing, several of which included full yards and gardens, a school compound with a playground full of children, and even a large community center which featured the universal symbol of a non-denominational place of worship. The more Bani saw, the more he realized that The Hammer wasn’t simply a mobile fortress and port of call for the Third Qui’ztar Matriarchy’s First Independent Fleet, it was a full service space station that just so happened to be covered in enough weapons and armor to hold its own against the combined forces of multiple lesser fleets.
Considering Banitek had been born and raised on Newport Station, the Nishnabe's gargantuan station and shipyard, he was more than capable of critiquing this vessel’s interior. The ceiling, despite featuring a surprisingly realistic skyscape, was only about three hundred meters above the ground level. Most of the greenery outside of dedicated nature areas was artificial, either purely holographic or synthetic in nature, and couldn't be compared to the transplanted forest that constituted the non-production areas of Newport. However, the wide open spaces, clean and well maintained facades, and earnest attempt at creating a welcoming and homely environment put the Arcinine RPS the Hi-Koth had been on for the past couple years to shame. The fact The Hammer was in the top five largest and most capable military vessels in the galaxy and yet Banitek still found himself rather impressed by this picturesque civilian segment was certainly saying something. If it were only twice the circumference, three times the width, had a five-hundred meter tall ceiling, and partially served as an ecological preserve filled with countless hundred-plus meter tall trees and a few square kilometers of prairie, this would feel just like home.
“Heel oov sa’il!” Though the voice that called out the accent was only vaguely familiar, it was immediately recognizable as another Hi-koth, and Banitek was fluent enough with his people’s traditional language to know when someone was greeting him. “Are you the new Smithy I've heard about?”
“Heel oov sa’il!” Returning the wish for health and happiness while shifting his attention from the view and towards his fellow four-armed ursine, Bani was pleasantly surprised to see a smiling furry face. “Yes. Yes I am. Banitek Ithkarf at your service.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Banitek. My name is Jarberon Hoknar but most people call me Jarbi. There are only about a dozen or two Hi-Koth on board right now, so it’s wonderful to have another.” Just like how Jarbi’s accent was unfamiliar to Bani, hearing the Smithy’s almost sing-songy reply put a congenial, if slightly confused, look on Jarbi’s face. “But, uh, if I may ask, where are you from? Your accent is very unfamiliar to me but quite interesting.”
“Oh! Well, I was actually born and raised in a multi-species system at a place called Newport Station on the very edge of Kyim’ayik space. There are over ten thousand of our people there living alongside over a dozen other species. And we have developed our own accent over the centuries that my ancestors have been there. But, speaking of accents, are you from Hikov’novglon-Trivon’ek? There was a family from there who moved to the station when I was child and they spoke in a way similar to how you do.”
“Close! I'm actually from Einthensh’jard and-”
“The homeworld?!?” Banitek didn’t mean to be rude when he cut his fellow Hi-Koth off, but he had only ever met a small handful of people from his species planet of origin and he was obviously quite excited. “Please! Sit down! My stop is in about five minutes but I'd love to hear about our homeworld! I have only ever heard stories of the endless groves of metalwood trees and the hundred story tall labyrinth of civilization built into it.”
“I must admit, being a child of Einth may have blinded me to its beauty, especially in my youth.” Jarbi chuckled as he sat down in the plush seat across from Bani. “In a way, our homeworld is just as boring as it is beautiful. Don't get me wrong, the woven cities are gorgeous. A calm and rather supportive place to grow up or grow old. But most people are far more concerned with their guild drama and personal ambitions than the wider galaxy. I spent most of my adolescence longing to go on an adventure across the stars. In all honesty, as much as I miss the pristine forest, I do kind of prefer this sort of station lifestyle. More diversity, if you know what I mean.”
“If you like diversity and trees you'd love Newport Station. The Nishnabe went-”
“The Nishnabe?!?” It was Jarbi’s turn to cut Banitek off as an almost horrified expression fell across the older Hi-Koth’s face.
“I take it you’ve met Tens.” The response came with a hearty laugh and ear to ear smile.
“Oh yes! I have definitely been introduced to him. We had to make new rules at the bar I’m a bouncer for just because of him. By the Old Gods, Zar Zar even renamed the place to the Long Dive because of that insane ape’s shenanigans!”
“They aren’t all like Tens, trust me.” Banitek couldn’t help but let his deep and throaty laughter become more intense as he imagined what his human friend could have done to prompt a bar to change its name. “But as I was about to say, they went out of their way to try to recreate a perfectly natural forest on the station. There’s about four or five kilometers of forest transplanted from the planet below, another five or six kilometers of prairie area for the bsheke, and a kilometer wide lake that feeds into an artificial river system.”
“Are you telling me the same species who jumps out of hundred meter high windows for fun also built an orbital garden that could rival StarMoon?!? That's absurd!”
“Like I said, they aren't all like Tens.” The Smithy's laugh had turned into a cackling roar as his lower two arms fell on his rapidly rising and falling stomach. “That being said, as much as the weenuk skipped school to go to the arcade, he did help design a mechanized walker capable of surviving independent orbital reentry. Sometimes a little absurdity, when properly paired with inspiration and motivation, can create some truly astonishing wonders.”
“Hold on! Mechs capable of what?!?” Jarbi was clearly in a state of shocked disbelief at what Banitek had just told him before he suddenly burst out with a deep and bellowing chuckle of his own. “I guess that explains why the hairless ape keeps jumping out of windows…”
“Do you wanna know something hilarious about Tens?” Seeing as his new acquaintance was smiling and sarcastically cracking a harmless joke about his long time friend, the Nishnabe-raised Hi-Koth knew exactly what to say. “Something you'd probably never be able to guess.”
“I mean, I never would have guessed his people had created an orbital garden but… go ahead.”
“After he broke his back jumping out of a tree as a kid, he was terrified of heights until he started playing OW12 and tried out the first person perspective of an orbital drop. Since then, he’s been obsessed with dropping things from orbit.”
/--------------
“Yes, my Matriarch, I have no reason to believe our territories or trade lanes are at risk. The Singularity Collective have also guaranteed payment for any potential unforeseen expenses or disruptions that may come up during the course of this mission. While they have requested that I not waste resources, and their budget isn't completely unlimited, they are promising to abide by our standard ten percent profit margin as well as an additional five percent bonus assuming they do not have to get any more involved than they already are.”
“To think… The Singularity, the most powerful and respected species in the galaxy, has asked for our aid…” While the holographic representation of the Third Matriarch seated on the other side of Admiral Atxika’s desk seemed to be in a state of awe, her crimson eyes seemed to stared off into empty space for a moment. “These BD-series are proving to be quite the profitable investment, are they not?”
“Oh, they certainly are, my Matriarch. Even Singularity Entity 139-621 has expressed a desire to study their capabilities more closely. And while I would normally allow a physical inspection, our licensing agreement with the Nishnabe Militia precludes such courtesies. And after that initial engagement with those two Hekiuv’trula warforms, I can certainly understand the Nishnabe's desire to keep the finer details of their technologies secret. Even if Lieutenant Tensebwse hadn't pushed himself to the point of fracturing his own ribs and dislocated his shoulder, I suspect that Order of the Falling Angels would easily have been capable of dispatching over a hundred of those warforms without a single loss.”
“And what led you to that belief?”
“Well…” Atxika hesitated for a moment. Technically, she wasn't even supposed to be aware of the special training sessions that 139 had been conducting. However, due to her position and blooming relationship with Tens, she had heard everything she needed to make that judgment. “Let's just say that 139 has been conducting a series of-”
“This line is secure and I am alone at the moment. Just tell me, Atxika.”
“The Singularity Entity is trying to get around the licensing agreement by running our Angels through a series of simulated missions. Needless to say, the impression I am getting from 139 is that they are simultaneously excited and relaxed. Considering the fact we could be dealing with an unknown number of Hekuiv'trula warforms, I have to assume that means there is little to worry about.”
“Excellent! If you happen to gain access to any footage of those simulation runs, I would love to see them. Purely out of personal curiosity.” The Matriarch let out a soft but powerful giggle. Though she knew Atxika would have already sent the videos if that was a possibility, she couldn't help but ask. “And is there anything else I should be aware of?”
“As of right now, that is really the only mission unique or noteworthy enough to be worth discussing.”
“Good. Now that we have our monthly report taken care of, Atxika…” As the regal and sparkling hologram of the elected leader of the Third Matriarchy paused for a moment, her hand moved as if she were typing a few commands into a terminal while a rather coy smirk formed across her face. “How are things going between you and that young Nishnabe warrior? You mentioned he fractured his ribs on that last mission. I hope that hasn't taken away from your ability to easily enjoy your personal time.”
“You're alone, correct? This… May be as much as it is personal.”
“Of course!”
“Well… The Nishnabe have access to Penidon stem cell technology such that they can completely heal from bone fractures in just a few days. So…” Seeing as the official conversation had ended and they were no longer being recorded for posterity, the Admiral felt it was appropriate to divulge more personal information to her clearly curious cousin. “I have very much been enjoying my personal time. Not only did we go on a real date, we've spent the past couple nights and mornings together.”
“Hold on, Chika, you need to back up for a second. Did you just say the Nishnabe have access to Penidon medical technology?!? How?!?”
“I asked Tens that very same question, Herathena, and the response I got was ‘I don't know.’ And when I tried to inquire about it from official sources, I was informed that the Nishnabe independently developed the technology after receiving only inspiration and vague guidance from the Penidons. As absurd as that sounds, I am not doubting it.”
“Really?!?” The Third Matriarch couldn't stop herself from scoffing at the assertion that the descendants of abducted people who had only been developing towards galactic standard technologies for less than twelve hundred years would have already surpassed that standard in multiple ways. “Designing and producing truly unique walkers capable of independent orbital reentry is one thing, Atxika. Building an orbital garden is another, even more difficult to believe thing. But are you seriously trying to tell me they've also developed medical technology that we can't even acquire via trade negotiations?”
“To be honest with you, I'm not sure where other species’ technology stops and where Nishnabe technology begins. From what Tens has told me of his youth, there are essentially no societal differences between his own people and members of other species on Shkegpewen. All people are equal regardless of where they come from, even to the point of non-Nishnabe persons being elected to governmental positions by majority Nishnabe vote. I believe that may have something to do with how they've been able to develop so quickly. And… Uh… I may be out of line saying this but if some of the more… conservative members of the Senate would get over themselves and their belief in relegating non-Qui'ztars living inour Matriarchy to second class citizens, maybe we could catch up to the Nishnabe.”
“Oh my, Atxika, that is the most political thing I've heard you say in years!” The explanation she had received, as unconvincing as it may have seemed to some, was spoken so earnestly that Matriarch Herathena fully believed her cousin meant every word of it, especially that last part. “Maybe if more members of our species developed the kind of relationship with a Nishnabe that you have, we could elect the Senate our people deserve. However, I doubt the Isolationists would be willing to look past their own tusks to see the galaxy is much larger than they realize. There was even a minority bill put forward last week to limit the ability for our citizens to leave our Matriarchy for another and members of others to join ours. Luckily the vast majority of our people were none too happy about that and there is even a recall effort being started against the Senator's who put forward that bill. But, anyways, back to you, Atxika. You said you've spent multiple nights with Tensebwse. And a real date! Are things getting serious? Will I have to start arranging a bridal shower for my baby cousin soon?”
“Wha-” Atxika was flabbergasted by the sudden change of topic. “Herathena! It's only been a month, most of which we've spent apart!”
“And yet your freckles are lighting up like Founder's Day fireworks! Come on Atxika…”
For the first time in a long time, Atxika had fully lost control of the bioluminescent spots which peppered her face. There was no real reason to be embarrassed. Matriarch Herathena was her cousin after all. The pair, along with their other cousin Tarzona and Herathena's childhood sweetheart Hitchoxi, had been so close growing up that talking about relationships should have been second nature to them. And for many years, it was. However, in their current positions, Herathena being the elected leader of their Matriarchy and Atxika the appointed Fleet Admiral of their people's most prestigious fleet, it felt strange to gossip about relationships. And if the wider public discovered that the Matriarch’s cousin, the Fleet Admiral of the First Independent Fleet and a member of the Matriarchal line, was getting intimate with a subordinate who was a member of another species, those opposed to Herathena's somewhat divisive position of multi-species integration would make quite the stink of it.
“To be honest Herathena, he's perfect. He's strong, kind, smart enough not to be boring, and has a certain vigor that reminds me of my more adventurous youth. However…”
“However?”
“Well…”
“If you're worried about how the Isolationists would react…” Herathena's holographic visage stared down at her cousin as a devious smile spread across her lips. “I will personally make their lives a living hell if they say anything other than congratulations. I will not tolerate their bigotry, especially if it were to be directed at my baby cousin! So… Are wedding chimes in order or-?”
“Herathena! It has only been a month!”
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Seated in a well furnished but nearly empty tram car, Banitek Ithkarf casually sat staring out an open window and marveled at just how accommodating the Amenities Section of The Hammer truly was. At nearly ten kilometers in circumference, well over a kilometer wide in some places, and currently only housing about a hundred and fifty thousand non-military members of the crew, it was obvious that this civilian portion of the ship would feature more than just simple entertainment and shopping venues for the crew. There also was the entire civilian support staff responsible for owning, operating, and working at the various establishments necessary to keep a fleet with over a million crew members content on their four-year tours of duty. In just the past ten minutes of travel the man had seen several distinct types of housing, several of which included full yards and gardens, a school compound with a playground full of children, and even a large community center which featured the universal symbol of a non-denominational place of worship. The more Bani saw, the more he realized that The Hammer wasn’t simply a mobile fortress and port of call for the Third Qui’ztar Matriarchy’s First Independent Fleet, it was a full service space station that just so happened to be covered in enough weapons and armor to hold its own against the combined forces of multiple lesser fleets.
Considering Banitek had been born and raised on Newport Station, the Nishnabe's gargantuan station and shipyard, he was more than capable of critiquing this vessel’s interior. The ceiling, despite featuring a surprisingly realistic skyscape, was only about three hundred meters above the ground level. Most of the greenery outside of dedicated nature areas was artificial, either purely holographic or synthetic in nature, and couldn't be compared to the transplanted forest that constituted the non-production areas of Newport. However, the wide open spaces, clean and well maintained facades, and earnest attempt at creating a welcoming and homely environment put the Arcinine RPS the Hi-Koth had been on for the past couple years to shame. The fact The Hammer was in the top five largest and most capable military vessels in the galaxy and yet Banitek still found himself rather impressed by this picturesque civilian segment was certainly saying something. If it were only twice the circumference, three times the width, had a five-hundred meter tall ceiling, and partially served as an ecological preserve filled with countless hundred-plus meter tall trees and a few square kilometers of prairie, this would feel just like home.
“Heel oov sa’il!” Though the voice that called out the accent was only vaguely familiar, it was immediately recognizable as another Hi-koth, and Banitek was fluent enough with his people’s traditional language to know when someone was greeting him. “Are you the new Smithy I've heard about?”
“Heel oov sa’il!” Returning the wish for health and happiness while shifting his attention from the view and towards his fellow four-armed ursine, Bani was pleasantly surprised to see a smiling furry face. “Yes. Yes I am. Banitek Ithkarf at your service.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Banitek. My name is Jarberon Hoknar but most people call me Jarbi. There are only about a dozen or two Hi-Koth on board right now, so it’s wonderful to have another.” Just like how Jarbi’s accent was unfamiliar to Bani, hearing the Smithy’s almost sing-songy reply put a congenial, if slightly confused, look on Jarbi’s face. “But, uh, if I may ask, where are you from? Your accent is very unfamiliar to me but quite interesting.”
“Oh! Well, I was actually born and raised in a multi-species system at a place called Newport Station on the very edge of Kyim’ayik space. There are over ten thousand of our people there living alongside over a dozen other species. And we have developed our own accent over the centuries that my ancestors have been there. But, speaking of accents, are you from Hikov’novglon-Trivon’ek? There was a family from there who moved to the station when I was child and they spoke in a way similar to how you do.”
“Close! I'm actually from Einthensh’jard and-”
“The homeworld?!?” Banitek didn’t mean to be rude when he cut his fellow Hi-Koth off, but he had only ever met a small handful of people from his species planet of origin and he was obviously quite excited. “Please! Sit down! My stop is in about five minutes but I'd love to hear about our homeworld! I have only ever heard stories of the endless groves of metalwood trees and the hundred story tall labyrinth of civilization built into it.”
“I must admit, being a child of Einth may have blinded me to its beauty, especially in my youth.” Jarbi chuckled as he sat down in the plush seat across from Bani. “In a way, our homeworld is just as boring as it is beautiful. Don't get me wrong, the woven cities are gorgeous. A calm and rather supportive place to grow up or grow old. But most people are far more concerned with their guild drama and personal ambitions than the wider galaxy. I spent most of my adolescence longing to go on an adventure across the stars. In all honesty, as much as I miss the pristine forest, I do kind of prefer this sort of station lifestyle. More diversity, if you know what I mean.”
“If you like diversity and trees you'd love Newport Station. The Nishnabe went-”
“The Nishnabe?!?” It was Jarbi’s turn to cut Banitek off as an almost horrified expression fell across the older Hi-Koth’s face.
“I take it you’ve met Tens.” The response came with a hearty laugh and ear to ear smile.
“Oh yes! I have definitely been introduced to him. We had to make new rules at the bar I’m a bouncer for just because of him. By the Old Gods, Zar Zar even renamed the place to the Long Dive because of that insane ape’s shenanigans!”
“They aren’t all like Tens, trust me.” Banitek couldn’t help but let his deep and throaty laughter become more intense as he imagined what his human friend could have done to prompt a bar to change its name. “But as I was about to say, they went out of their way to try to recreate a perfectly natural forest on the station. There’s about four or five kilometers of forest transplanted from the planet below, another five or six kilometers of prairie area for the bsheke, and a kilometer wide lake that feeds into an artificial river system.”
“Are you telling me the same species who jumps out of hundred meter high windows for fun also built an orbital garden that could rival StarMoon?!? That's absurd!”
“Like I said, they aren't all like Tens.” The Smithy's laugh had turned into a cackling roar as his lower two arms fell on his rapidly rising and falling stomach. “That being said, as much as the weenuk skipped school to go to the arcade, he did help design a mechanized walker capable of surviving independent orbital reentry. Sometimes a little absurdity, when properly paired with inspiration and motivation, can create some truly astonishing wonders.”
“Hold on! Mechs capable of what?!?” Jarbi was clearly in a state of shocked disbelief at what Banitek had just told him before he suddenly burst out with a deep and bellowing chuckle of his own. “I guess that explains why the hairless ape keeps jumping out of windows…”
“Do you wanna know something hilarious about Tens?” Seeing as his new acquaintance was smiling and sarcastically cracking a harmless joke about his long time friend, the Nishnabe-raised Hi-Koth knew exactly what to say. “Something you'd probably never be able to guess.”
“I mean, I never would have guessed his people had created an orbital garden but… go ahead.”
“After he broke his back jumping out of a tree as a kid, he was terrified of heights until he started playing OW12 and tried out the first person perspective of an orbital drop. Since then, he’s been obsessed with dropping things from orbit.”
/--------------
“Yes, my Matriarch, I have no reason to believe our territories or trade lanes are at risk. The Singularity Collective have also guaranteed payment for any potential unforeseen expenses or disruptions that may come up during the course of this mission. While they have requested that I not waste resources, and their budget isn't completely unlimited, they are promising to abide by our standard ten percent profit margin as well as an additional five percent bonus assuming they do not have to get any more involved than they already are.”
“To think… The Singularity, the most powerful and respected species in the galaxy, has asked for our aid…” While the holographic representation of the Third Matriarch seated on the other side of Admiral Atxika’s desk seemed to be in a state of awe, her crimson eyes seemed to stared off into empty space for a moment. “These BD-series are proving to be quite the profitable investment, are they not?”
“Oh, they certainly are, my Matriarch. Even Singularity Entity 139-621 has expressed a desire to study their capabilities more closely. And while I would normally allow a physical inspection, our licensing agreement with the Nishnabe Militia precludes such courtesies. And after that initial engagement with those two Hekiuv’trula warforms, I can certainly understand the Nishnabe's desire to keep the finer details of their technologies secret. Even if Lieutenant Tensebwse hadn't pushed himself to the point of fracturing his own ribs and dislocated his shoulder, I suspect that Order of the Falling Angels would easily have been capable of dispatching over a hundred of those warforms without a single loss.”
“And what led you to that belief?”
“Well…” Atxika hesitated for a moment. Technically, she wasn't even supposed to be aware of the special training sessions that 139 had been conducting. However, due to her position and blooming relationship with Tens, she had heard everything she needed to make that judgment. “Let's just say that 139 has been conducting a series of-”
“This line is secure and I am alone at the moment. Just tell me, Atxika.”
“The Singularity Entity is trying to get around the licensing agreement by running our Angels through a series of simulated missions. Needless to say, the impression I am getting from 139 is that they are simultaneously excited and relaxed. Considering the fact we could be dealing with an unknown number of Hekuiv'trula warforms, I have to assume that means there is little to worry about.”
“Excellent! If you happen to gain access to any footage of those simulation runs, I would love to see them. Purely out of personal curiosity.” The Matriarch let out a soft but powerful giggle. Though she knew Atxika would have already sent the videos if that was a possibility, she couldn't help but ask. “And is there anything else I should be aware of?”
“As of right now, that is really the only mission unique or noteworthy enough to be worth discussing.”
“Good. Now that we have our monthly report taken care of, Atxika…” As the regal and sparkling hologram of the elected leader of the Third Matriarchy paused for a moment, her hand moved as if she were typing a few commands into a terminal while a rather coy smirk formed across her face. “How are things going between you and that young Nishnabe warrior? You mentioned he fractured his ribs on that last mission. I hope that hasn't taken away from your ability to easily enjoy your personal time.”
“You're alone, correct? This… May be as much as it is personal.”
“Of course!”
“Well… The Nishnabe have access to Penidon stem cell technology such that they can completely heal from bone fractures in just a few days. So…” Seeing as the official conversation had ended and they were no longer being recorded for posterity, the Admiral felt it was appropriate to divulge more personal information to her clearly curious cousin. “I have very much been enjoying my personal time. Not only did we go on a real date, we've spent the past couple nights and mornings together.”
“Hold on, Chika, you need to back up for a second. Did you just say the Nishnabe have access to Penidon medical technology?!? How?!?”
“I asked Tens that very same question, Herathena, and the response I got was ‘I don't know.’ And when I tried to inquire about it from official sources, I was informed that the Nishnabe independently developed the technology after receiving only inspiration and vague guidance from the Penidons. As absurd as that sounds, I am not doubting it.”
“Really?!?” The Third Matriarch couldn't stop herself from scoffing at the assertion that the descendants of abducted people who had only been developing towards galactic standard technologies for less than twelve hundred years would have already surpassed that standard in multiple ways. “Designing and producing truly unique walkers capable of independent orbital reentry is one thing, Atxika. Building an orbital garden is another, even more difficult to believe thing. But are you seriously trying to tell me they've also developed medical technology that we can't even acquire via trade negotiations?”
“To be honest with you, I'm not sure where other species’ technology stops and where Nishnabe technology begins. From what Tens has told me of his youth, there are essentially no societal differences between his own people and members of other species on Shkegpewen. All people are equal regardless of where they come from, even to the point of non-Nishnabe persons being elected to governmental positions by majority Nishnabe vote. I believe that may have something to do with how they've been able to develop so quickly. And… Uh… I may be out of line saying this but if some of the more… conservative members of the Senate would get over themselves and their belief in relegating non-Qui'ztars living inour Matriarchy to second class citizens, maybe we could catch up to the Nishnabe.”
“Oh my, Atxika, that is the most political thing I've heard you say in years!” The explanation she had received, as unconvincing as it may have seemed to some, was spoken so earnestly that Matriarch Herathena fully believed her cousin meant every word of it, especially that last part. “Maybe if more members of our species developed the kind of relationship with a Nishnabe that you have, we could elect the Senate our people deserve. However, I doubt the Isolationists would be willing to look past their own tusks to see the galaxy is much larger than they realize. There was even a minority bill put forward last week to limit the ability for our citizens to leave our Matriarchy for another and members of others to join ours. Luckily the vast majority of our people were none too happy about that and there is even a recall effort being started against the Senator's who put forward that bill. But, anyways, back to you, Atxika. You said you've spent multiple nights with Tensebwse. And a real date! Are things getting serious? Will I have to start arranging a bridal shower for my baby cousin soon?”
“Wha-” Atxika was flabbergasted by the sudden change of topic. “Herathena! It's only been a month, most of which we've spent apart!”
“And yet your freckles are lighting up like Founder's Day fireworks! Come on Atxika…”
For the first time in a long time, Atxika had fully lost control of the bioluminescent spots which peppered her face. There was no real reason to be embarrassed. Matriarch Herathena was her cousin after all. The pair, along with their other cousin Tarzona and Herathena's childhood sweetheart Hitchoxi, had been so close growing up that talking about relationships should have been second nature to them. And for many years, it was. However, in their current positions, Herathena being the elected leader of their Matriarchy and Atxika the appointed Fleet Admiral of their people's most prestigious fleet, it felt strange to gossip about relationships. And if the wider public discovered that the Matriarch’s cousin, the Fleet Admiral of the First Independent Fleet and a member of the Matriarchal line, was getting intimate with a subordinate who was a member of another species, those opposed to Herathena's somewhat divisive position of multi-species integration would make quite the stink of it.
“To be honest Herathena, he's perfect. He's strong, kind, smart enough not to be boring, and has a certain vigor that reminds me of my more adventurous youth. However…”
“However?”
“Well…”
“If you're worried about how the Isolationists would react…” Herathena's holographic visage stared down at her cousin as a devious smile spread across her lips. “I will personally make their lives a living hell if they say anything other than congratulations. I will not tolerate their bigotry, especially if it were to be directed at my baby cousin! So… Are wedding chimes in order or-?”
“Herathena! It has only been a month!”
2024.04.27 15:13 Fabio2300 61kmh in 30-zone, speed camera exactly underneath the 50 speed sign
Hello fellow germans. I got a fine to pay because I was going 61kmh (64kmh without the 3kmh tolerance) in a 30-zone, but the speed camera was exactly underneath the 50 kmh speed sign. Like almost anyone, i usually speed up before reaching that sign (even tho its wrong, I know) but I might have overdone it.
The thing that worries me the most is that for 1 single kmh I'll have my license revoked for 1 month, as I've seen on the ADAC website. I've had my license for almost 3 years now and never got a single fine for any reason. Is it possible/worth it to appeal for it?
I have to drive daily to go to work and it would be a pain in the arse because there are no trams here and busses take over than 1 hour, so I'd have to bike instead.
If you want to insult me saying that I just shouldn't speed, I know.. I was just in a rush and did a mistake. Any suggestion/help is greatly appreciated :')
EDIT: People dont seem to understand what im asking. Im not asking to tell me that im dumb, i know this already. My question was if i had any chance for an appeal and if it might be worth it. Please, i know im stupid, stop telling me
EDIT2: Thanks for the 2 people out there actually read the post and helped. The rest should really read the rules of this subreddit btw
submitted by Fabio2300 to LegaladviceGerman [link] [comments]
The thing that worries me the most is that for 1 single kmh I'll have my license revoked for 1 month, as I've seen on the ADAC website. I've had my license for almost 3 years now and never got a single fine for any reason. Is it possible/worth it to appeal for it?
I have to drive daily to go to work and it would be a pain in the arse because there are no trams here and busses take over than 1 hour, so I'd have to bike instead.
If you want to insult me saying that I just shouldn't speed, I know.. I was just in a rush and did a mistake. Any suggestion/help is greatly appreciated :')
EDIT: People dont seem to understand what im asking. Im not asking to tell me that im dumb, i know this already. My question was if i had any chance for an appeal and if it might be worth it. Please, i know im stupid, stop telling me
EDIT2: Thanks for the 2 people out there actually read the post and helped. The rest should really read the rules of this subreddit btw
2024.04.27 11:37 Zan-nusi Here is my translation of a text, I'm not sure if everything is correct (grammaticaly), something might not make sense because you don't have the context and pictures but I just want the grammar checked. It's also kinda long so don't bother with reading it all.
THIS OH WILL BE A REVOLUTION FOR SURE!
1
It's summer. We are going to Tábor! From the train Praha(Prague)-Tábor, in an hour and fourteen minutes, you see it clearly. You first pass by a big chain bridge across Jordán, then a railroad causeway and then you see it... The lake, the town, the church tower, the mountain of Tábor, the unconquerable fortress above the river Lužnice, where the poious Hussites have built their military camp in the expecting of the end of the world: fortifications, bastions, rocks,narrow streets... vats on squares, in which everyone handed over everything they had. Who does now know, what they were fighting for back then? For god, for better church, or more likely for some bread and a place to live? Who from the fighters, who the streets of Tábor are named after, was brave, and who was just a highwayman an a murderer?
And what was that one-eyed guy, a robber and a highwayman, who led the holy army and besides victory left just ruined land like? Hard rock underneath the town was surely quaking, when the Hussites' army started marching... bam, bam, bam... Military fortress later became a town and people digged deep dungeons into the rock, food storages and refuges to defend themselves against enemies and fire. But that was a long time ago. Tábor is now a small and calm town in south Czechia. In summer it feels like you are in Italy.
It's summer. From the window of a train it looks like we cuold jump straight into Jordán. Jordán is the oldest manmade water reservoir in central Europe. Before the construction started in 1492, Tábor people dammed up a valley of Tismenický stream. A mill and a brickyard ended up underwater. Recently, when Jordán was drained, 3 more that 300 years old wooden sluices were discovered.
2
Trainstation in Tábor is quite small and not interesting. Ravens in the tall trees in front of the trainstation form an unbelievable choir. If you're lucky, you can see them throwing nuts under the cars passing by or sliding on a frozen puddle. Swoosh... swoosh. In summer they care about nesting, so they have no time for fun. But they could tell you about the long-standing fight between ravens and locals. About the floods of complaint letters about raven squawking that the mayor gets or about how Tábor people used predators to disturb ravens' nesting. As you can see, they didn't succeed. People should learn from ravens how to live with others.
3
There are three ways leading to Old town: the most beautiful one is around Jordán and a botanical garden. If you are hot, you can jump into Jordán from wooden piers. You can: go for a walk, walk a dog, feed ducks and stare at the full moon on the waterfront. Everybody who needs to buy some groceries uses the middle way. There is also a big and important school called “zemědělka“ (agriculture school). Botanical garden in Tábor was founded thanks to this building. Go there and look how medicinal, textile, dyer plants and diferent tropical flowers in jars look like. Cool yourself down in an arboretum full of old and rare trees.
4
There is also another way leading up to the town, which is rarely used for walking. There was a commercial way to České Budějovice, once full of houses of esteemed citizens: there was a printing house, shops and a garage too... you can see two rats under the heavenly trees on one of the rusty old wrought door forging... Or are they little dogs? But if you don't have to go there, you can avoid Budějovická street: cars and dust rule here.
5
Crossroad on “Křižíkáč“ (Křižíkovo square), at the hole, at the grammar shool or also at Billa, that you can't avoid. There once was a town scale. One of the most important, noisiest and ugliest crossroads in Tábor. Here ends the New town and begins the Old town. Here people go to grammar school. All roads in Tábor lead to Křižíkovo square, named after a famous engineer and inventor, thanks to who electric trams and trains now ride in Czechia. First electrified railroad in Czechia led from Tábro to Bechyně.
6
To the main square in Tábor you go through Palackého street around Oskar Nedbal's theatre, which connects to Pražská street. Even though it's main Old town way, it's quite narrow, especialy if you have to go aroud the crowd waiting for the delicious ice cream in the Vláček café. Join it right away, it is worth it. You can also visit local antique shop or a book shop with café to buy a book. If you're from Tábor and you're in a rush, it's better to avoid Pražská street, because you'll always meet someone here. But you can go through it slowly, there is, as well as on the square, many old citizen houses with beautiful sgrafitos: Stárkův house, Kostnický house and a house of Albrecht the baker, in which is, if you look carefuly, walled up a small canon ball. A reminder of one endlessly long war, called Thirty years' war.
8
Tábor people have built the church of the Transfiguration of Jesus on the place of the first Hussites' wooden church the size of a barn. Its tall and slim tower rules the Žižkovo square. It was once home to a tower man, who was looking if some houses didn't catch on fire. In front of the church is a Piety overshadowed by two huge chestnut trees. They got the nicknames František(Francis) and Alžběta(Elisabeth) after the emperor František Josef and his wife Alžběta Bavorská, called Sisi. There is a comfortable shadow in summer.
There is a statue of knight Roland on the ancient fountain. He looks more like Glóin (a dwarf from Lord of the rings) and doesn't have anything in common with the history of Tábor: he resembles famous french hero. Citizens often placed statues of him at squares. He simbolized privilegies of the town, for example the right to stage markets. If you want to visit Tábor in the time of a market, you have to be there on Wednesday. In spring, right when it gets a bit warmer, in summer and early in autumn, the square is really alive: there are concerts, theatrical and dancing performances, festivals, people drink beer, lemonade, apple juice and also Tábor cider Johannes at a stand under the statue of Žižka. Who is curious, finds also: a clock machine, a wooden angel missing an arm, an old town hall,which is now Hussite muzeum, stone tables where people previously selled their goods or sgrafito dogs (I have no idea what these are).
9
Old town is a military fortress. In Middle ages, before taken over by Hussites, there was a town Hradiště. Peope moved here because of the gold in the river Lužnice and silver mined in Horky nearby. If you go around the Old town, you see the remains of the original fortifications and you realize, how hard it surely was to occupie that kind of town. Triple Hussites' walls were strong and you could see far to distance from their top. The river Lužnice flows around Tábor and protects it like a mythical snake. Ways at Parkány will lead you to the oldest church in Tábor: Saint Filip and Jakub(Philip and Jacob). From the lower end of former graveyard, today's park, dark stairs lead to a lonely but very beautyful place. Old jewish graveyard in Pakostovská garden was destroyed by Nazi army, which was staying in Tábor in war. Today there is just a memorial to dead ones, giant linden and silence. Jewes lived and worked in Tábor for centuries and now there are just empty spaces. Where there was a synagogue, is now a big parking lot.
10
From Filip and Jakub you can enter the town again through Bechyňská gate. Somewhere here was original Hradiště, from which is left only strong Kolokotská tower. Walls will lead you on hidden stairs behind the vila Libuše in a forest park called Sady. Notice, how ingeniousy were guarding bastions built into the walls. In more calm centuries people turned them into houses. There is even a school in one of them. You can also get to Sady by tortuous streets, in which you can easily get lost. Some are so narrow you can barely get through. You can read about history of each house and courtyard of Old town in the book Old houses and families of Tábor. You'll learn not only who was the owner of the house, but also what were neighbours arguing about, who owed which person what, why were houses rebuilt and how did the complicated town form.
12
When you first enter the Mikuláše z Husy square, by many still called Klášterák, you can think that you're in a small italian town for a moment. That's surely because of the monastery of barefoot augustinians (today Hussite museum), which together with the church of the Birth of Saint Mary was designed by an italian architect living in Prague Antonio de Alfieri. Early-baroque front with giant statues of Saint Augustin and Saint Monika, stone fountain and three huge lindens, heavenly court of a monastery and maybye also the uneven stone pavement feels like a breeze of fresh air in the unconquerable forterss of Tábor. How else do you recatholize people, than by changing their country and making it prettier.
13
Sady were always a battlefield of boys and girls: Klokoťáci and Staroměšťáci (kids from Klokoty and Old town). Here they were doing big battles and experiencing adventures. Who lives in Tábor, knows those hilsides, crossed by Tismenický stream, very well after all. They are very steep and full of nice spots to hide. Some are in giant lindens, which will lead you to a meadow under the Klokoty monastery... Here is the time to decide, wether you want to lie down in the grass and observe sky and then jump down the meadow and go back to Tábor around a chapel across ancient stone bridge, saline trail, or go for a long walk: around a pilgrimage chapel of Klokoty, across former tankodrome down to the river Lužnice and then back to Tábor. You could have some good food and drink at Harachovka. People go there to eat stuffed dumplings and pork roast. From here you can take a beautiful walk along the river to Příběnice castle.
NO FIGHTS HERE, KIDS!
14
If you don't go to Kokoty from Sady, you'll go back to Pražská street, along walls via Velký šanc, which is under the Tržní square, where were orgaized animal markets. On šanc you'll see, how the original walls were thick and Tábor sea will finaly appear in front of you. Jordán water resvoir was once used as a resource of drinking water. Water was then pumped to a Water tower and flowed into 7 fountains in the Old town. Experts know, that cold, clean water is in most of the fountains, and when it's too hot, there's nothing better than a quick rinse form them. And other experts know that in the packets under the Jordán dam, which are provided with water from Jordán, you can buy delicious fish.
15
And so we're in water again. The best place to swim is of coure in Jordán. Sokol swimming place, to which you can get by a Tábor dam, is a peak of Tábor summer tourism. Sand, grass, hotdogs, ice cream, beach volleyball and swimming. For begginers in shallow water of a natural pool, and also for more skilled swimmers: to the other side. To the Knight (a place on one side of Jordán), where according to a legend, for more than 300 years a drowned fighter is going around, you can get on a boat from a rental at the swimming place.
Tábor is not a bg city: you can get everywhere by walking, Wether you live in Sojčák, Blanické Předměstí, in Čelkovice, Čekanice, Pražské Sídliště, New or Old town, you're close to nature, to a river and to Jordán and also to history. And maybye something here is different than in other cities: like Tábor's togetherness, formed during centuries in a tight hug of fortifications, was still there.
submitted by Zan-nusi to EnglishGrammar [link] [comments]
1
It's summer. We are going to Tábor! From the train Praha(Prague)-Tábor, in an hour and fourteen minutes, you see it clearly. You first pass by a big chain bridge across Jordán, then a railroad causeway and then you see it... The lake, the town, the church tower, the mountain of Tábor, the unconquerable fortress above the river Lužnice, where the poious Hussites have built their military camp in the expecting of the end of the world: fortifications, bastions, rocks,narrow streets... vats on squares, in which everyone handed over everything they had. Who does now know, what they were fighting for back then? For god, for better church, or more likely for some bread and a place to live? Who from the fighters, who the streets of Tábor are named after, was brave, and who was just a highwayman an a murderer?
And what was that one-eyed guy, a robber and a highwayman, who led the holy army and besides victory left just ruined land like? Hard rock underneath the town was surely quaking, when the Hussites' army started marching... bam, bam, bam... Military fortress later became a town and people digged deep dungeons into the rock, food storages and refuges to defend themselves against enemies and fire. But that was a long time ago. Tábor is now a small and calm town in south Czechia. In summer it feels like you are in Italy.
It's summer. From the window of a train it looks like we cuold jump straight into Jordán. Jordán is the oldest manmade water reservoir in central Europe. Before the construction started in 1492, Tábor people dammed up a valley of Tismenický stream. A mill and a brickyard ended up underwater. Recently, when Jordán was drained, 3 more that 300 years old wooden sluices were discovered.
2
Trainstation in Tábor is quite small and not interesting. Ravens in the tall trees in front of the trainstation form an unbelievable choir. If you're lucky, you can see them throwing nuts under the cars passing by or sliding on a frozen puddle. Swoosh... swoosh. In summer they care about nesting, so they have no time for fun. But they could tell you about the long-standing fight between ravens and locals. About the floods of complaint letters about raven squawking that the mayor gets or about how Tábor people used predators to disturb ravens' nesting. As you can see, they didn't succeed. People should learn from ravens how to live with others.
3
There are three ways leading to Old town: the most beautiful one is around Jordán and a botanical garden. If you are hot, you can jump into Jordán from wooden piers. You can: go for a walk, walk a dog, feed ducks and stare at the full moon on the waterfront. Everybody who needs to buy some groceries uses the middle way. There is also a big and important school called “zemědělka“ (agriculture school). Botanical garden in Tábor was founded thanks to this building. Go there and look how medicinal, textile, dyer plants and diferent tropical flowers in jars look like. Cool yourself down in an arboretum full of old and rare trees.
4
There is also another way leading up to the town, which is rarely used for walking. There was a commercial way to České Budějovice, once full of houses of esteemed citizens: there was a printing house, shops and a garage too... you can see two rats under the heavenly trees on one of the rusty old wrought door forging... Or are they little dogs? But if you don't have to go there, you can avoid Budějovická street: cars and dust rule here.
5
Crossroad on “Křižíkáč“ (Křižíkovo square), at the hole, at the grammar shool or also at Billa, that you can't avoid. There once was a town scale. One of the most important, noisiest and ugliest crossroads in Tábor. Here ends the New town and begins the Old town. Here people go to grammar school. All roads in Tábor lead to Křižíkovo square, named after a famous engineer and inventor, thanks to who electric trams and trains now ride in Czechia. First electrified railroad in Czechia led from Tábro to Bechyně.
6
To the main square in Tábor you go through Palackého street around Oskar Nedbal's theatre, which connects to Pražská street. Even though it's main Old town way, it's quite narrow, especialy if you have to go aroud the crowd waiting for the delicious ice cream in the Vláček café. Join it right away, it is worth it. You can also visit local antique shop or a book shop with café to buy a book. If you're from Tábor and you're in a rush, it's better to avoid Pražská street, because you'll always meet someone here. But you can go through it slowly, there is, as well as on the square, many old citizen houses with beautiful sgrafitos: Stárkův house, Kostnický house and a house of Albrecht the baker, in which is, if you look carefuly, walled up a small canon ball. A reminder of one endlessly long war, called Thirty years' war.
8
Tábor people have built the church of the Transfiguration of Jesus on the place of the first Hussites' wooden church the size of a barn. Its tall and slim tower rules the Žižkovo square. It was once home to a tower man, who was looking if some houses didn't catch on fire. In front of the church is a Piety overshadowed by two huge chestnut trees. They got the nicknames František(Francis) and Alžběta(Elisabeth) after the emperor František Josef and his wife Alžběta Bavorská, called Sisi. There is a comfortable shadow in summer.
There is a statue of knight Roland on the ancient fountain. He looks more like Glóin (a dwarf from Lord of the rings) and doesn't have anything in common with the history of Tábor: he resembles famous french hero. Citizens often placed statues of him at squares. He simbolized privilegies of the town, for example the right to stage markets. If you want to visit Tábor in the time of a market, you have to be there on Wednesday. In spring, right when it gets a bit warmer, in summer and early in autumn, the square is really alive: there are concerts, theatrical and dancing performances, festivals, people drink beer, lemonade, apple juice and also Tábor cider Johannes at a stand under the statue of Žižka. Who is curious, finds also: a clock machine, a wooden angel missing an arm, an old town hall,which is now Hussite muzeum, stone tables where people previously selled their goods or sgrafito dogs (I have no idea what these are).
9
Old town is a military fortress. In Middle ages, before taken over by Hussites, there was a town Hradiště. Peope moved here because of the gold in the river Lužnice and silver mined in Horky nearby. If you go around the Old town, you see the remains of the original fortifications and you realize, how hard it surely was to occupie that kind of town. Triple Hussites' walls were strong and you could see far to distance from their top. The river Lužnice flows around Tábor and protects it like a mythical snake. Ways at Parkány will lead you to the oldest church in Tábor: Saint Filip and Jakub(Philip and Jacob). From the lower end of former graveyard, today's park, dark stairs lead to a lonely but very beautyful place. Old jewish graveyard in Pakostovská garden was destroyed by Nazi army, which was staying in Tábor in war. Today there is just a memorial to dead ones, giant linden and silence. Jewes lived and worked in Tábor for centuries and now there are just empty spaces. Where there was a synagogue, is now a big parking lot.
10
From Filip and Jakub you can enter the town again through Bechyňská gate. Somewhere here was original Hradiště, from which is left only strong Kolokotská tower. Walls will lead you on hidden stairs behind the vila Libuše in a forest park called Sady. Notice, how ingeniousy were guarding bastions built into the walls. In more calm centuries people turned them into houses. There is even a school in one of them. You can also get to Sady by tortuous streets, in which you can easily get lost. Some are so narrow you can barely get through. You can read about history of each house and courtyard of Old town in the book Old houses and families of Tábor. You'll learn not only who was the owner of the house, but also what were neighbours arguing about, who owed which person what, why were houses rebuilt and how did the complicated town form.
12
When you first enter the Mikuláše z Husy square, by many still called Klášterák, you can think that you're in a small italian town for a moment. That's surely because of the monastery of barefoot augustinians (today Hussite museum), which together with the church of the Birth of Saint Mary was designed by an italian architect living in Prague Antonio de Alfieri. Early-baroque front with giant statues of Saint Augustin and Saint Monika, stone fountain and three huge lindens, heavenly court of a monastery and maybye also the uneven stone pavement feels like a breeze of fresh air in the unconquerable forterss of Tábor. How else do you recatholize people, than by changing their country and making it prettier.
13
Sady were always a battlefield of boys and girls: Klokoťáci and Staroměšťáci (kids from Klokoty and Old town). Here they were doing big battles and experiencing adventures. Who lives in Tábor, knows those hilsides, crossed by Tismenický stream, very well after all. They are very steep and full of nice spots to hide. Some are in giant lindens, which will lead you to a meadow under the Klokoty monastery... Here is the time to decide, wether you want to lie down in the grass and observe sky and then jump down the meadow and go back to Tábor around a chapel across ancient stone bridge, saline trail, or go for a long walk: around a pilgrimage chapel of Klokoty, across former tankodrome down to the river Lužnice and then back to Tábor. You could have some good food and drink at Harachovka. People go there to eat stuffed dumplings and pork roast. From here you can take a beautiful walk along the river to Příběnice castle.
NO FIGHTS HERE, KIDS!
14
If you don't go to Kokoty from Sady, you'll go back to Pražská street, along walls via Velký šanc, which is under the Tržní square, where were orgaized animal markets. On šanc you'll see, how the original walls were thick and Tábor sea will finaly appear in front of you. Jordán water resvoir was once used as a resource of drinking water. Water was then pumped to a Water tower and flowed into 7 fountains in the Old town. Experts know, that cold, clean water is in most of the fountains, and when it's too hot, there's nothing better than a quick rinse form them. And other experts know that in the packets under the Jordán dam, which are provided with water from Jordán, you can buy delicious fish.
15
And so we're in water again. The best place to swim is of coure in Jordán. Sokol swimming place, to which you can get by a Tábor dam, is a peak of Tábor summer tourism. Sand, grass, hotdogs, ice cream, beach volleyball and swimming. For begginers in shallow water of a natural pool, and also for more skilled swimmers: to the other side. To the Knight (a place on one side of Jordán), where according to a legend, for more than 300 years a drowned fighter is going around, you can get on a boat from a rental at the swimming place.
Tábor is not a bg city: you can get everywhere by walking, Wether you live in Sojčák, Blanické Předměstí, in Čelkovice, Čekanice, Pražské Sídliště, New or Old town, you're close to nature, to a river and to Jordán and also to history. And maybye something here is different than in other cities: like Tábor's togetherness, formed during centuries in a tight hug of fortifications, was still there.
2024.04.26 22:20 Nikitak_2607 Tram rule
 | submitted by Nikitak_2607 to 196 [link] [comments] |
2024.04.25 00:40 EvilHRLady Buying tram/train/bus tickets on the SBB App--must it be 5 minutes before departure?
I'm in the midst of a discussion on Facebook about buying tickets--specifically tram and bus tickets--on the SBB or BVB app in Basel.
Several people say they have received fines because even though they bought a ticket they boarded the tram less than two minutes after purchasing. The ticket controllers told them you have to buy the ticket at least 2 minutes before departure.
Others say the rule is you have to buy the ticket at least 5 minutes before departure.
This makes no sense to me. If I buy a ticket at 9:42, it says on it valid 9:42-10:42 for a 1 zone ticket in Basel. There's zero indication that I would have to wait until 9:44 or 9:47 to board a tram.
Are people lying about their fines? Are there rogue ticket checkers? Or have I just been lucky all these years because I've never gotten busted for buying a ticket less than two minutes before boarding?
submitted by EvilHRLady to askswitzerland [link] [comments]
Several people say they have received fines because even though they bought a ticket they boarded the tram less than two minutes after purchasing. The ticket controllers told them you have to buy the ticket at least 2 minutes before departure.
Others say the rule is you have to buy the ticket at least 5 minutes before departure.
This makes no sense to me. If I buy a ticket at 9:42, it says on it valid 9:42-10:42 for a 1 zone ticket in Basel. There's zero indication that I would have to wait until 9:44 or 9:47 to board a tram.
Are people lying about their fines? Are there rogue ticket checkers? Or have I just been lucky all these years because I've never gotten busted for buying a ticket less than two minutes before boarding?
2024.04.24 13:06 EntertainmentNo3201 Kvv ticket and gloves
Hello everyone. I have 2 questions to ask. I’m a student and I have a kvv ticket which says free travel monday to Friday 6pm to 6am and following day Saturday, sunday and public holidays. Does this mean that students are allowed to travel freely in trams and buses on weekends and holidays (24hours)? Or the 6pm to 6am rule applies on holidays as well?
Which is the best place to buy gloves for winter? We ride kvv cycles and it’s cold sometimes. We searched in woolworth and primark and euroshop. Couldnt find them.
On a side note, we are in love with the city. Just beautiful and sweet people around.
Please suggest. Thank you.
submitted by EntertainmentNo3201 to karlsruhe [link] [comments]
Which is the best place to buy gloves for winter? We ride kvv cycles and it’s cold sometimes. We searched in woolworth and primark and euroshop. Couldnt find them.
On a side note, we are in love with the city. Just beautiful and sweet people around.
Please suggest. Thank you.
2024.04.24 00:24 Shot_Principle4939 The plan for eight Nottingham tram lines that would give city a 'world-class system' - Nottinghamshire Live
 | Unfortunately they haven't even paid for the original tram routes yet, last count they still owed 320m for tram projects. submitted by Shot_Principle4939 to nottingham [link] [comments] But they do like to spend, no matter the ROI so don't rule it out. |
2024.04.23 06:00 Direct-Caterpillar77 I [22F] just lost my two travel partners [both 22F] and now I'm going to alone on this other continent for the next 4 days.
I am not The OOP, OOP is u/AcrossTheContinents
I [22F] just lost my two travel partners [both 22F] and now I'm going to alone on this other continent for the next 4 days.
Originally posted to relationships & copenhagen
TRIGGER WARNING: verbal abuse/harassment, possible financial exploitation
Original Post June 25, 2015
What started as a great, relaxing 2 week vacation throughout Europe has turned into a stressful nightmare.
I bought my tickets originally with my two girl friends- one of which I was very close to and had been for some years. I'll call her Natalie. The other girl (we'll call her Jenny) had plans to separate from us halfway through the trip, as she had tickets to a concert in another country. Me and Natalie had agreed it was best (and safest) to stay together for the remainder of the trip. We booked hotels together, but they were only in Natalie's name as I paid her cash.
I'm now realizing this was a huge mistake. The day Jenny left, shit went downhill fast. I became ill and have spent the last few days congested and coughing. Apparently Natalie can't stand the way it sounds when a sick person sleeps, so she continuously woke me up to tell me I was making noise all night the first night we were alone. This resulted in no sleep for either of us and awkward tension the whole next day. We barely spoke, wouldn't even sit next to each other on the trams, and generally were uncomfortable.
Natalie insisted I buy medicine so she could sleep better, so I obliged and bought some cough and congestion medicine. I had a weird reaction to it and it made me super dizzy, so I told her I was going back to our hotel to sleep it off. She didn't want to come with me because it was still early evening, but decided to for whatever reason. When we got back we didn't speak at all, and she made it pretty clear she didn't want to.
She continued to wake me up through the night when I would start dozing off and say things like "Gross. AcrossTheContinents, stop. Disgusting. So annoying." She mocked me when I would breath too heavily. This morning when I went to take a shower she texted me from the other room to tell me I should stay back today, and skip the two attractions we bought tickets for. When I told her I didn't want to lose my money and suggested we go separate because she's clearly annoyed with me she said "yeah I don't really feel like being around your sickness all day."
Tensions blew up and I told her I wanted to be alone today, we're obviously around each other too much and should take a break. She agreed and said I should try to get a different hotel when we get to our last destination. I told her maybe, with the way she'd been acting I was considering it anyway, and she replied telling me to "please do" and that she'd even refund me for the last night here if I got out sooner.
My biggest fear coming on this trip was being alone, but I literally can NOT stay with this girl for the remaining 4 days. I feel like a leper, someone she looks at as disgusting or a burden. Natalie told me she could "easily tell them it's just her staying at the hotel" so my name would be taken off, which made me so angry that I was shaking. I decided right then to not get totally fucked over and booked a last minute hostel in our last destination, where I'll be staying starting tomorrow.
Natalie is now saying I've ruined the trip and that she's losing money by me staying by myself, I'm fucking terrified, my family is freaking out and I just spent the last ten minutes crying in a foreign Burger King bathroom. I'm so desperate to go home I was looking into buying an earlier flight date, but I can't afford it.
My friendship is obviously over and the rest of this trip is now going to be spent alone, with strangers, in a place where I can't speak the language. Help me stay sane and give me some tips on traveling alone.
TL;DR: tensions boiled over during a two week vacation in Europe, last minute change of plans leaves me alone for the next 4 days. Not experienced with this at all and am really, really scared.
Last minute change of plans has me alone in your city for the next few days. I'm staying in a hostel and have no idea what I'm doing, wasn't planning on being alone and am a bit freaked out. June 25, 2015
So due to tensions boiling over, my traveling partner and I won't be spending our time in Copenhagen together. We've been together for the last week and a half and within the last 2 days, things got so bad that I bowed out of our hotel, got a refund, and booked a last minute hostel room in Generator Copenhagen.
Any advice? Suggestions on what to do to keep busy? Or even people in a similar boat as me... I heard there's some festivals going on, but that's about all I know.
I made it! I'm here, alone, in Generator Copenhagen hostel, shouting out to all those who offered to show me around! June 26, 2015
I posted yesterday about how scared I was to be alone in this nice city, but wasn't given much choice as my travel partner and I were simply not getting along.
Well, I'm here, and I've never done anything like this before so I'm SUPER excited. So many of you PM'd me and commented offering to show me around, grab a beer, or just meet up and talk. I only wish I could stay a month rather than 2 nights, or I'd take you all up on meeting up. With that said... I'll be in Generator Copenhagen if anyone is wanting to hang. I don't have anything planned tomorrow past 5 pm.
Also a huge thanks to montaron87 (not sure if he'll even see this) for meeting me in Leidseplein and showing me generosity. It got me out of my shit situation for a day and for that I couldn't be more grateful.
Anywho, shoot me a PM if anyone's down. I'll be here until Sunday morning.
Update July 2, 2015
For those of you who read my original a few days ago, I promised an update. For those who didn't it's here- https://www.reddit.com/relationships/comments/3b2hn4/i_22f_just_lost_my_two_travel_partners_both_22f/
So shortly after posting the OP, I got quite a few redditors contacting me via PM. I had been sitting alone in Amsterdam, silently freaking out for about 2 hours before I posted to this sub, and honestly it was the best decision I could've made.
About an hour after leaving the hotel I shared with Natalie, I received a text from her asking me not to tell any of our friends back at home what happened with us, because she didn't want "added drama." I hadn't spoken to any of them, but I HAD let my mom and sister in on what happened, and that I'd be staying by myself in a hostel for the remainder of the trip in case I got into any trouble. They were, of course, livid that I was going to be alone, but I asked them to not contact Natalie or anyone else other than me. After they'd calmed down they agreed and I felt a ton better, ended up meeting with another redditor from the thread (shoutout to montaron87) and he ended up showing me around some of the city. It was so relaxing and he was super fun to be around- I actually almost forgot about Natalie for the day.
And then Natalie sent me a picture of her and Jenny (our previous travel partner) who apparently was in the same city and wanted to meet up. Jenny never bothered to let me know that she was in our area or ask to see me, despite us 3 all being together for the first half of the two week trip. They were in one of Amsterdam's coffee shops, one that I'd asked Natalie to go with me to see previously before our fallout, but she was never interested in going. I didn't reply.
I didn't see Natalie for the rest of the night until Jenny left, and I went back to our hotel. The next morning we were set to fly to our last destination (Copenhagen) and we had to fly together. It was awkward, especially when I had to explain to Natalie that yes, I was still splitting up from her when we got there and that it wasn't just a threat. Still, we kept it cordial so things didn't get worse than they already had. By the time we got to Copenhagen I threw her a few hundred Kroners (her purse had been previously stolen and she had no money) and we went our separate ways.
Annnnd it was amazing. My initial terror of a hundred things going wrong faded away when I got to my hostel. I spent the evening in their bar, meeting new people, and enjoying my new freedom. I could be myself for the first time in weeks, it felt surreal. I slept peacefully with no angry Natalie interruptions, and spent the following day exploring the city on my own terms. I even got to go into the Tivoli gardens (thank you SO much docatron, if you're ever in California I'll buy you a round!). On my second night there I actually met with another redditor for dinner and some beers (you're seriously awesome gubbernor, I loved sharing our stories!) and I wanted to be able to see everyone who PM'd me. I appreciated EVERY single one of you and your offers, and if I had stayed a bit longer I'd have taken you all up on meeting up. By far the best times I had in my whole vacation around Europe was spent exploring on my own, taking my time to appreciate what I wanted to and not worrying about bothering somebody else when I slept. It was fucking liberating and I'd do it again the next chance I get.
As for Natalie, we haven't spoken since we returned home. And I feel like keeping it that way. (Sorry this wasn't a super juicy update, but I told people I'd update when I got back!)
TL;DR- followed through on my plans to leave Natalie and get my own hostel. Ended up meeting a few redditors, seeing the city on my own and having the best time I'd had since I got to Europe. Haven't spoken to Natalie since returning home and have no plans to.
RELEVANT COMMENTS
Montaron87
DO NOT CONTACT THE OOP's OR COMMENT ON LINKED POSTS, REMEMBER - RULE 7
submitted by Direct-Caterpillar77 to BestofRedditorUpdates [link] [comments]
I [22F] just lost my two travel partners [both 22F] and now I'm going to alone on this other continent for the next 4 days.
Originally posted to relationships & copenhagen
TRIGGER WARNING: verbal abuse/harassment, possible financial exploitation
Original Post June 25, 2015
What started as a great, relaxing 2 week vacation throughout Europe has turned into a stressful nightmare.
I bought my tickets originally with my two girl friends- one of which I was very close to and had been for some years. I'll call her Natalie. The other girl (we'll call her Jenny) had plans to separate from us halfway through the trip, as she had tickets to a concert in another country. Me and Natalie had agreed it was best (and safest) to stay together for the remainder of the trip. We booked hotels together, but they were only in Natalie's name as I paid her cash.
I'm now realizing this was a huge mistake. The day Jenny left, shit went downhill fast. I became ill and have spent the last few days congested and coughing. Apparently Natalie can't stand the way it sounds when a sick person sleeps, so she continuously woke me up to tell me I was making noise all night the first night we were alone. This resulted in no sleep for either of us and awkward tension the whole next day. We barely spoke, wouldn't even sit next to each other on the trams, and generally were uncomfortable.
Natalie insisted I buy medicine so she could sleep better, so I obliged and bought some cough and congestion medicine. I had a weird reaction to it and it made me super dizzy, so I told her I was going back to our hotel to sleep it off. She didn't want to come with me because it was still early evening, but decided to for whatever reason. When we got back we didn't speak at all, and she made it pretty clear she didn't want to.
She continued to wake me up through the night when I would start dozing off and say things like "Gross. AcrossTheContinents, stop. Disgusting. So annoying." She mocked me when I would breath too heavily. This morning when I went to take a shower she texted me from the other room to tell me I should stay back today, and skip the two attractions we bought tickets for. When I told her I didn't want to lose my money and suggested we go separate because she's clearly annoyed with me she said "yeah I don't really feel like being around your sickness all day."
Tensions blew up and I told her I wanted to be alone today, we're obviously around each other too much and should take a break. She agreed and said I should try to get a different hotel when we get to our last destination. I told her maybe, with the way she'd been acting I was considering it anyway, and she replied telling me to "please do" and that she'd even refund me for the last night here if I got out sooner.
My biggest fear coming on this trip was being alone, but I literally can NOT stay with this girl for the remaining 4 days. I feel like a leper, someone she looks at as disgusting or a burden. Natalie told me she could "easily tell them it's just her staying at the hotel" so my name would be taken off, which made me so angry that I was shaking. I decided right then to not get totally fucked over and booked a last minute hostel in our last destination, where I'll be staying starting tomorrow.
Natalie is now saying I've ruined the trip and that she's losing money by me staying by myself, I'm fucking terrified, my family is freaking out and I just spent the last ten minutes crying in a foreign Burger King bathroom. I'm so desperate to go home I was looking into buying an earlier flight date, but I can't afford it.
My friendship is obviously over and the rest of this trip is now going to be spent alone, with strangers, in a place where I can't speak the language. Help me stay sane and give me some tips on traveling alone.
TL;DR: tensions boiled over during a two week vacation in Europe, last minute change of plans leaves me alone for the next 4 days. Not experienced with this at all and am really, really scared.
Last minute change of plans has me alone in your city for the next few days. I'm staying in a hostel and have no idea what I'm doing, wasn't planning on being alone and am a bit freaked out. June 25, 2015
So due to tensions boiling over, my traveling partner and I won't be spending our time in Copenhagen together. We've been together for the last week and a half and within the last 2 days, things got so bad that I bowed out of our hotel, got a refund, and booked a last minute hostel room in Generator Copenhagen.
Any advice? Suggestions on what to do to keep busy? Or even people in a similar boat as me... I heard there's some festivals going on, but that's about all I know.
I made it! I'm here, alone, in Generator Copenhagen hostel, shouting out to all those who offered to show me around! June 26, 2015
I posted yesterday about how scared I was to be alone in this nice city, but wasn't given much choice as my travel partner and I were simply not getting along.
Well, I'm here, and I've never done anything like this before so I'm SUPER excited. So many of you PM'd me and commented offering to show me around, grab a beer, or just meet up and talk. I only wish I could stay a month rather than 2 nights, or I'd take you all up on meeting up. With that said... I'll be in Generator Copenhagen if anyone is wanting to hang. I don't have anything planned tomorrow past 5 pm.
Also a huge thanks to montaron87 (not sure if he'll even see this) for meeting me in Leidseplein and showing me generosity. It got me out of my shit situation for a day and for that I couldn't be more grateful.
Anywho, shoot me a PM if anyone's down. I'll be here until Sunday morning.
Update July 2, 2015
For those of you who read my original a few days ago, I promised an update. For those who didn't it's here- https://www.reddit.com/relationships/comments/3b2hn4/i_22f_just_lost_my_two_travel_partners_both_22f/
So shortly after posting the OP, I got quite a few redditors contacting me via PM. I had been sitting alone in Amsterdam, silently freaking out for about 2 hours before I posted to this sub, and honestly it was the best decision I could've made.
About an hour after leaving the hotel I shared with Natalie, I received a text from her asking me not to tell any of our friends back at home what happened with us, because she didn't want "added drama." I hadn't spoken to any of them, but I HAD let my mom and sister in on what happened, and that I'd be staying by myself in a hostel for the remainder of the trip in case I got into any trouble. They were, of course, livid that I was going to be alone, but I asked them to not contact Natalie or anyone else other than me. After they'd calmed down they agreed and I felt a ton better, ended up meeting with another redditor from the thread (shoutout to montaron87) and he ended up showing me around some of the city. It was so relaxing and he was super fun to be around- I actually almost forgot about Natalie for the day.
And then Natalie sent me a picture of her and Jenny (our previous travel partner) who apparently was in the same city and wanted to meet up. Jenny never bothered to let me know that she was in our area or ask to see me, despite us 3 all being together for the first half of the two week trip. They were in one of Amsterdam's coffee shops, one that I'd asked Natalie to go with me to see previously before our fallout, but she was never interested in going. I didn't reply.
I didn't see Natalie for the rest of the night until Jenny left, and I went back to our hotel. The next morning we were set to fly to our last destination (Copenhagen) and we had to fly together. It was awkward, especially when I had to explain to Natalie that yes, I was still splitting up from her when we got there and that it wasn't just a threat. Still, we kept it cordial so things didn't get worse than they already had. By the time we got to Copenhagen I threw her a few hundred Kroners (her purse had been previously stolen and she had no money) and we went our separate ways.
Annnnd it was amazing. My initial terror of a hundred things going wrong faded away when I got to my hostel. I spent the evening in their bar, meeting new people, and enjoying my new freedom. I could be myself for the first time in weeks, it felt surreal. I slept peacefully with no angry Natalie interruptions, and spent the following day exploring the city on my own terms. I even got to go into the Tivoli gardens (thank you SO much docatron, if you're ever in California I'll buy you a round!). On my second night there I actually met with another redditor for dinner and some beers (you're seriously awesome gubbernor, I loved sharing our stories!) and I wanted to be able to see everyone who PM'd me. I appreciated EVERY single one of you and your offers, and if I had stayed a bit longer I'd have taken you all up on meeting up. By far the best times I had in my whole vacation around Europe was spent exploring on my own, taking my time to appreciate what I wanted to and not worrying about bothering somebody else when I slept. It was fucking liberating and I'd do it again the next chance I get.
As for Natalie, we haven't spoken since we returned home. And I feel like keeping it that way. (Sorry this wasn't a super juicy update, but I told people I'd update when I got back!)
TL;DR- followed through on my plans to leave Natalie and get my own hostel. Ended up meeting a few redditors, seeing the city on my own and having the best time I'd had since I got to Europe. Haven't spoken to Natalie since returning home and have no plans to.
RELEVANT COMMENTS
Montaron87
I'm glad you had fun in Copenhagen and it was really nice to meet you and show you around in Amsterdam!OOP
THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT THE OOPYou were awesome company! If I'm ever in Amsterdam again (which I plan to be because I loved it) I'll let you know!
DO NOT CONTACT THE OOP's OR COMMENT ON LINKED POSTS, REMEMBER - RULE 7
2024.04.22 17:17 CleanAthlete7764 MVTR Metro server on ps4 is awful
Abusive admins that ban peope when they break the rules, but the Admin and his goon squad can break the rules and tram switch if they're losing. Like wtf.
submitted by CleanAthlete7764 to battlefield_4 [link] [comments]
2024.04.19 21:18 AdSevere9171 Things To Do in Istanbul - Blue Mosque
 | Blue Mosquehttps://preview.redd.it/7bh01nbnkhvc1.jpg?width=755&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=77a0680097d52a825932e94057953c4757c63973Blue Mosques is another attractive place to visit in Istanbul. It stands out due to its structure which highlights the blue color in its blue tile work. The mosque was built in 1616. The mosque does not charge an entrance fee and but donations are welcomed at your own will. Visiting the Blue Mosque is among the most exciting things to do in Istanbul. However, like all well-maintained public places, the mosque has some rules and guidelines to follow for entrance. Therefore, to avoid any inconvenience, we advise you to pay attention to the rules of the Blue Mosque. Blue Mosque is located in front of the Hagia Sophia. In the same area also you can find the Hagia Sophia, Archeological Museum, Topkapi Palace, Grand Bazaar, Arasta Bazaar, Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum, Museum Of The History Of Science and Technology in Islam, and Great Palace Mosaics Museum. How to get to Blue MosqueFrom Taksim to Blue Mosque: Take the funicular (F1) from Taksim Square to Kabatas station. Then transit to Kabatas Tram line to Sultanahmet station.Opening Hours: Open from 09:00 to 17:00 https://preview.redd.it/ltuodaznkhvc1.jpg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3c06c41fe4793811ad9ab78a7c03867430d1e143 |
2024.04.19 01:39 Mediocre-Fox-8681 Trip Report 4/17
I’ve never done one of these before, but I was actually paying attention to times on this trip, so I thought I’d give it a shot!
We went yesterday, April 17th. It was me and my parents (3 adults). We just did Disneyland, no park hopper. We had Genie+. We were on the second day of our 3-day SoCal resident tickets (we used the first day at DL in February).
It was crazy packed but we still had an amazing day and were able to do everything on our list!
Left the house at 6:00 am, got to the parking structure at 7:53 (we live about 60 miles away and traffic in LA was horrible, of course). We parked at Pixar Pals. We went through security and took the tram to the park, scanned in at 8:38. Got a locker and hit the bathrooms before doing anything else.
One of our priorities for the day was doing Star Tours multiple times, so we could see the new stuff added to the ride. Standby for that wasn’t too bad yet, so we got in line at 8:54. The first time we rode, we got Darth Vader (with Boba Fett!), pod race, Mando and Grogu for the transmission, and the new Seatos scene. People literally cheered when Mando and Grogu came on the screen.
We got off the ride and immediately got in standby again. This time we got the imperial probe droid, Hoth, Ahsoka for the transmission, and Seatos (I’d heard they’re only playing the new ending scene for now so wasn’t surprised to get that one again).
After riding the second time, we headed to Hyperspace Mountain. My mom didn’t want to ride, and my dad and I decided to do single rider. We got in line at 10:00 and boarded at 10:15. It was a 60 minute standby wait at the time.
After that, we booked an Astro Blasters LL for 10:25. We got in line right at 10:25 and got off the ride at 10:38. After the ride, I bought a stuffed WALL•E from the Little Green Men store and took him back to the locker.
Star Tours LL 10:55. This time we got the exact same combination of scenes as the second time we rode. Slightly disappointed but still enjoyed the ride!
We mobile ordered food from Galactic Grill and got the food at 11:25. My parents got cheeseburgers and I got chicken tenders, and we each got a Wookiee parfait. The food was pretty good but I especially liked the parfait!
After we finished eating, we left Tomorrowland and headed toward the Rivers of America. On the way we saw a marching band, and some Mickey & Friends characters were with them!
At 12:30, we boarded the Mark Twain riverboat. I hadn’t been on this one since I was a little kid, so I was excited for it. We stayed on a bit longer than usual, because the Columbia was stuck at the dock so we couldn’t get in. I didn’t mind - more time to enjoy the boat!
Pirates LL at 1:05. Boarded at 1:15.
Big Thunder LL at 1:35. Boarded at 1:45. (The posted standby at this time was 75 minutes, so the LL really saved us time here).
After Big Thunder, we headed over to Galaxy’s Edge. We spent some time just enjoying the environment and checking out the shops. We took a picture with Ahsoka. I was wearing a Star Wars shirt with Grogu on it, and she told me she liked my uniform. She said she’s been meaning to check in with Grogu to see how his connection with the Force is coming along. I hadn’t talked to the Ahsoka character before so I was really excited to see her!
After that, we got some really cool PhotoPass pictures in front of the Falcon. Then we saw Chewie and Rey working on the Falcon and watched them for a bit.
Smugglers Run LL at 2:40. Boarded at 2:55. We were only three people but we got a cockpit to ourselves! I think because there was a group of four behind us and a group of six behind them, and the CM didn’t check further than that. My dad and I were pilots and my mom was a gunner.
After that, there was this really cute “droid racing” thing going on, where R2-D2 was racing these little droids from the Droid Depot. We watched that for a while and got some pictures.
Then we headed back to the marketplace area to see if we could find more characters. We got really lucky! First we saw Sabine Wren and got a picture with her. Then, the CM playing Sabacc invited us to play with him. He explained the rules since we had never played before. It was a lot of fun, and we ended up buying a deck from the toy shop. After we bought the deck, we saw Boba Fett walking to his spot in the marketplace, overlooking the courtyard area. We got a picture of him from down below. THEN, I saw the same Sabacc CM setting up another game, this time with two other CMs and the Sabine character! He invited me to play again. My parents got some pictures of me playing with Sabine and the CMs! To finish off the awesome things happening in Galaxy’s Edge, we saw the Mandalorian and Grogu just as we were about to leave. I got a picture with them too, one of my favorite pictures of the day!
We left Galaxy’s Edge at 3:40 and headed over to ToonTown next. We scanned into Runaway Railway LL at 3:50. While we were in line they made an announcement that the wait was going to be longer than expected, but they didn’t actually say the ride had broken down, so I’m not sure what happened. The line started moving again about 15 minutes later, so it wasn’t too much of a delay. We got off the ride at 4:35.
Next we headed over to Small World for our LL, but it was closed. We booked another Small World LL for 5:50 so we could use the MEP for something else.
We headed to Mr. Toad while we waited for Small World to come back up. In line at 5:10, boarded at 5:35. The 25 minute posted wait time was accurate!
Small World was back up! We scanned in at 5:45, boarded at 5:55.
After Small World we headed back to Galaxy’s Edge for Rise of the Resistance. On the way there we got milk from the Milk Stand to drink in line. We got in line at 6:30. The posted wait time was 80 minutes, but we got to the Rey room in 50 minutes, at 7:20. We’re off the ride at 7:42.
We had mobile ordered food from Jolly Holiday before getting on the ride, so we headed over there next. We got our food at 8:00. We got the grilled cheese and tomato soup and macarons for dessert!
After we finished eating, we made a stop at the locker for our jackets, then headed over to Tomorrowland to use our MEP for a fourth ride on Star Tours. We scanned in at 8:42 and got on the ride at 8:50. This time we got the imperial probe droid, pod race, Andor for the transmission, and Seatos. Now we’ve seen all the new stuff!
Next we headed to Autopia for our last LL of the day. Scanned in at 9:05, boarded at 9:20. This is another one I hadn’t been on since I was a little kid, so it brought back some memories.
After Autopia we headed over to the castle to catch some of the Mickey’s Mix Magic projections. We missed the first few minutes and we were way in the back, but we could still see well enough.
After the show, we started heading out. We left the turnstiles at 9:52, headed over to the trams, and were in the car at 10:20. Got home at 11:30 (traffic was a lot better at this time!)
TLDR: Overall, it was an amazing day even though it was crazy busy. Genie+ really helped. Between the two days we’ve used so far on our SoCal tickets, we got on every DL Genie+ ride, did everything we wanted to do, and did our favorites multiple times! I’m a big Star Wars fan so highlights for me were the new Star Tours scenes and all the cool happenings and character interactions at Galaxy’s Edge. We’re going to use day 3 of our SoCal tickets next month at DCA!
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We went yesterday, April 17th. It was me and my parents (3 adults). We just did Disneyland, no park hopper. We had Genie+. We were on the second day of our 3-day SoCal resident tickets (we used the first day at DL in February).
It was crazy packed but we still had an amazing day and were able to do everything on our list!
Left the house at 6:00 am, got to the parking structure at 7:53 (we live about 60 miles away and traffic in LA was horrible, of course). We parked at Pixar Pals. We went through security and took the tram to the park, scanned in at 8:38. Got a locker and hit the bathrooms before doing anything else.
One of our priorities for the day was doing Star Tours multiple times, so we could see the new stuff added to the ride. Standby for that wasn’t too bad yet, so we got in line at 8:54. The first time we rode, we got Darth Vader (with Boba Fett!), pod race, Mando and Grogu for the transmission, and the new Seatos scene. People literally cheered when Mando and Grogu came on the screen.
We got off the ride and immediately got in standby again. This time we got the imperial probe droid, Hoth, Ahsoka for the transmission, and Seatos (I’d heard they’re only playing the new ending scene for now so wasn’t surprised to get that one again).
After riding the second time, we headed to Hyperspace Mountain. My mom didn’t want to ride, and my dad and I decided to do single rider. We got in line at 10:00 and boarded at 10:15. It was a 60 minute standby wait at the time.
After that, we booked an Astro Blasters LL for 10:25. We got in line right at 10:25 and got off the ride at 10:38. After the ride, I bought a stuffed WALL•E from the Little Green Men store and took him back to the locker.
Star Tours LL 10:55. This time we got the exact same combination of scenes as the second time we rode. Slightly disappointed but still enjoyed the ride!
We mobile ordered food from Galactic Grill and got the food at 11:25. My parents got cheeseburgers and I got chicken tenders, and we each got a Wookiee parfait. The food was pretty good but I especially liked the parfait!
After we finished eating, we left Tomorrowland and headed toward the Rivers of America. On the way we saw a marching band, and some Mickey & Friends characters were with them!
At 12:30, we boarded the Mark Twain riverboat. I hadn’t been on this one since I was a little kid, so I was excited for it. We stayed on a bit longer than usual, because the Columbia was stuck at the dock so we couldn’t get in. I didn’t mind - more time to enjoy the boat!
Pirates LL at 1:05. Boarded at 1:15.
Big Thunder LL at 1:35. Boarded at 1:45. (The posted standby at this time was 75 minutes, so the LL really saved us time here).
After Big Thunder, we headed over to Galaxy’s Edge. We spent some time just enjoying the environment and checking out the shops. We took a picture with Ahsoka. I was wearing a Star Wars shirt with Grogu on it, and she told me she liked my uniform. She said she’s been meaning to check in with Grogu to see how his connection with the Force is coming along. I hadn’t talked to the Ahsoka character before so I was really excited to see her!
After that, we got some really cool PhotoPass pictures in front of the Falcon. Then we saw Chewie and Rey working on the Falcon and watched them for a bit.
Smugglers Run LL at 2:40. Boarded at 2:55. We were only three people but we got a cockpit to ourselves! I think because there was a group of four behind us and a group of six behind them, and the CM didn’t check further than that. My dad and I were pilots and my mom was a gunner.
After that, there was this really cute “droid racing” thing going on, where R2-D2 was racing these little droids from the Droid Depot. We watched that for a while and got some pictures.
Then we headed back to the marketplace area to see if we could find more characters. We got really lucky! First we saw Sabine Wren and got a picture with her. Then, the CM playing Sabacc invited us to play with him. He explained the rules since we had never played before. It was a lot of fun, and we ended up buying a deck from the toy shop. After we bought the deck, we saw Boba Fett walking to his spot in the marketplace, overlooking the courtyard area. We got a picture of him from down below. THEN, I saw the same Sabacc CM setting up another game, this time with two other CMs and the Sabine character! He invited me to play again. My parents got some pictures of me playing with Sabine and the CMs! To finish off the awesome things happening in Galaxy’s Edge, we saw the Mandalorian and Grogu just as we were about to leave. I got a picture with them too, one of my favorite pictures of the day!
We left Galaxy’s Edge at 3:40 and headed over to ToonTown next. We scanned into Runaway Railway LL at 3:50. While we were in line they made an announcement that the wait was going to be longer than expected, but they didn’t actually say the ride had broken down, so I’m not sure what happened. The line started moving again about 15 minutes later, so it wasn’t too much of a delay. We got off the ride at 4:35.
Next we headed over to Small World for our LL, but it was closed. We booked another Small World LL for 5:50 so we could use the MEP for something else.
We headed to Mr. Toad while we waited for Small World to come back up. In line at 5:10, boarded at 5:35. The 25 minute posted wait time was accurate!
Small World was back up! We scanned in at 5:45, boarded at 5:55.
After Small World we headed back to Galaxy’s Edge for Rise of the Resistance. On the way there we got milk from the Milk Stand to drink in line. We got in line at 6:30. The posted wait time was 80 minutes, but we got to the Rey room in 50 minutes, at 7:20. We’re off the ride at 7:42.
We had mobile ordered food from Jolly Holiday before getting on the ride, so we headed over there next. We got our food at 8:00. We got the grilled cheese and tomato soup and macarons for dessert!
After we finished eating, we made a stop at the locker for our jackets, then headed over to Tomorrowland to use our MEP for a fourth ride on Star Tours. We scanned in at 8:42 and got on the ride at 8:50. This time we got the imperial probe droid, pod race, Andor for the transmission, and Seatos. Now we’ve seen all the new stuff!
Next we headed to Autopia for our last LL of the day. Scanned in at 9:05, boarded at 9:20. This is another one I hadn’t been on since I was a little kid, so it brought back some memories.
After Autopia we headed over to the castle to catch some of the Mickey’s Mix Magic projections. We missed the first few minutes and we were way in the back, but we could still see well enough.
After the show, we started heading out. We left the turnstiles at 9:52, headed over to the trams, and were in the car at 10:20. Got home at 11:30 (traffic was a lot better at this time!)
TLDR: Overall, it was an amazing day even though it was crazy busy. Genie+ really helped. Between the two days we’ve used so far on our SoCal tickets, we got on every DL Genie+ ride, did everything we wanted to do, and did our favorites multiple times! I’m a big Star Wars fan so highlights for me were the new Star Tours scenes and all the cool happenings and character interactions at Galaxy’s Edge. We’re going to use day 3 of our SoCal tickets next month at DCA!
2024.04.16 16:27 reeditusr Need help getting response in the chat and also actual help resolving the problem before the chat is closes by the user agent when they finally reply, often the same they before I get the chance to reply. Issues is hailing from juli/sep. 2023
 | Sceenshot is from an twitter attempt in early November to get response from Curve customer service. The issues tried and I am trying to get in touch with them regarding and actually get help from them to solve originates from July/september 2023. And remains unsolves. Not even one of the transactions that is question has been solved. submitted by reeditusr to CurveCard [link] [comments] u/Oly_2023 |