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Post by pippsheadache on Jan 23, 2019 15:20:22 GMT -5
This past year we partook of our first ever scenic train ride and chose the hard to beat Durango-Silverton route on a beautiful day at 75 degrees in Durango. I warned the flatlander MD friend to take his jacket, which he didn’t comprehend but complied. He thanked me later, though Ruth not I put our jacket, he did about 1/2 way up the mountain. We have the Toltec and Cumbres on our list of “hope to dos”. In fact, I looked at Chama as a future home, and while the temps are fine the 96” annual snowfalls would be less than agreeable. Snow removal is not on my list of fun heart-healthy activities. My friend from MD will likely be back out here, and he’s a train freak, so he’ll push us if we don’t get to it ourselves. Another note about the Cimarron area: Not far from the natural wonder of Capulin Volcano. I enjoyed a solo stop there when I was in the process of spousal separation back around ‘06. That’s a really deserted area out there. I suppose mostly ranch land. The ranches are so big you can drive by for miles and see no cattle for months at a time, just like Pueblo West and south of here... Concur on Durango-Silverton. In fact if I had to choose one, I would take that over Cumbres and Toltec, although both are well worth doing. I almost mentioned Capulin Volcano National Monument earlier. Great place to get away from everything and everybody. Also out your way places I remember fondly include Fort Garland, Great Sand Dunes and the Kit Carson home and museum -- can't remember now if that is on the CO or NM side. I think NM. I assume you have done the Taos/Ranchos de Taos stuff. Very beautiful, if touristic. A bit further west is Georgia O'Keeffe country around Abiquiu. Well worth seeing after you have spent a little time with her paintings. |
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Post by inger on Jan 23, 2019 15:30:38 GMT -5
This past year we partook of our first ever scenic train ride and chose the hard to beat Durango-Silverton route on a beautiful day at 75 degrees in Durango. I warned the flatlander MD friend to take his jacket, which he didn’t comprehend but complied. He thanked me later, though Ruth not I put our jacket, he did about 1/2 way up the mountain. We have the Toltec and Cumbres on our list of “hope to dos”. In fact, I looked at Chama as a future home, and while the temps are fine the 96” annual snowfalls would be less than agreeable. Snow removal is not on my list of fun heart-healthy activities. My friend from MD will likely be back out here, and he’s a train freak, so he’ll push us if we don’t get to it ourselves. Another note about the Cimarron area: Not far from the natural wonder of Capulin Volcano. I enjoyed a solo stop there when I was in the process of spousal separation back around ‘06. That’s a really deserted area out there. I suppose mostly ranch land. The ranches are so big you can drive by for miles and see no cattle for months at a time, just like Pueblo West and south of here... Concur on Durango-Silverton. In fact if I had to choose one, I would take that over Cumbres and Toltec, although both are well worth doing. I almost mentioned Capulin Volcano National Monument earlier. Great place to get away from everything and everybody. Also out your way places I remember fondly include Fort Garland, Great Sand Dunes and the Kit Carson home and museum -- can't remember now if that is on the CO or NM side. I think NM. I assume you have done the Taos/Ranchos de Taos stuff. Very beautiful, if touristic. A bit further west is Georgia O'Keeffe country around Abiquiu. Well worth seeing after you have spent a little time with her paintings. No Taos yet. My first impressions of NM were all of the desert variety and I wasn’t that interested. I believe we’ll do some exploring down there perhaps as early as this coming autumn...Got to get my sales up a bit (more than a bit) first. Winter is slow in solar, but it’s starting to come alive already...I’m hungry and ready for it. In fact, got to get off here and tend to some business today. Making a sales presentation this afternoon and second generation visit sales call to a commercial establishment this evening...cool and very windy here today so I’ve been st home pissing around with chores in the tiny bit of time I haven’t been on this site or e-mail... (: |
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Post by domeplease on Jan 31, 2019 14:25:38 GMT -5
--01-22-19: us.cnn.com/travel/article/asia-new-hotels-opening-2019/index.html NEW OR RE-OPENED ASIAN HOTELS…
--01-23-19: www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-25-best-countries-in-the-world/ss-BBSC0hJ?ocid=U147DHP#image=26
--01-24-19: www.msn.com/en-us/travel/tripideas/this-southern-city-was-just-named-the-worlds-best-destination-to-visit-for-2019/ar-BBSEfSS?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=U147DHP
--01-27-19: slate.com/human-interest/2019/01/marriott-bonvoy-titanium-elite-makes-platinum-look-like-garbage.html
--01-31-19: A IMPORTANT READ FOR TRAVELERS: www.msn.com/en-us/health/health-news/this-city-has-the-worst-bed-bug-infestation-in-america/ar-BBSXHMt?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=U147DHP
--01-26-19: edition.cnn.com/travel/article/italy-town-pays-people-to-move-intl/index.html
(CNN) — Tempted by the recent offer of an Italian home for just over a $1? Well, you might want to hold out for a better deal.
Now one town in the country is offering foreigners $10,000 to move there. Another says it will even pay newcomers more than $1,000 per child to make babies.
The deals may seem too good to be true for many who dream of escaping the rat race for the idyll of a rustic Italian village. For the destinations involved, they represent a last-ditch battle to save the souls of their dying communities.
Italian town of Sambuca in Sicily sells homes for a dollar
But it's complicated -- this is a country where local property regulations are often tangled up in byzantine legalities.
And, of course, it's a place where attitudes towards foreign incomers are sometimes ambivalent, as highlighted by a recent rise in political hostility towards economic migrants arriving from Africa and the Middle East.
The latest deal to beat them all comes from Giovanni Bruno Mattiet, the mayor of the tiny Alpine village of Locana, in Piedmont, the mountainous northwestern region of Italy that borders France and Switzerland.
He's willing to pay up to €9,000, or $10,200, over three years to families willing to move in and take up residency amid snowy peaks and flower-strewn pastures, as long as they have a child and a minimum annual salary of €6,000.
"Our population has shrunk from 7,000 residents in the early 1900s to barely 1,500 as people left looking for a job at Turin's big factories," Mattiet tells CNN Travel. "Our school each year faces the risk of shutting down due to few pupils. I can't allow this to happen."
Italy wants you: In a fight to save their dying communities, numerous small towns across Italy, like Borgomezzavalle pictured here, are offering incentives to encourage foreigners to move there.
In Locana each year there are 40 deaths versus just 10 births. It's a familiar picture across Italy where, in the last 30 years, one in four small communities have become ghost towns. There are now 139 villages with fewer than 150 residents.
And while Mattiet's deal was initially offered just to Italians or foreigners already living in Italy, he's now so desperate to save his town from dying, he's extending it to non-Italians abroad too.
"We're looking to draw mostly young people and professionals who work remotely or are willing to start an activity here," he says. "There are dozens of closed shops, bars, restaurants and boutiques just waiting for new people to run them."
With the money comes a great location. Locana's territory spreads across 132 square kilometers of the Gran Paradiso mountain reserve, offering fresh air and outdoor activities like ice-skating fishing, trekking, rock climbing, swimming, soccer and tennis.
Picturesque Alpine dwellings are made of stone and wood with typical pointed tile roofs and frescoed walls adorned with flowers. Old bridges cross clear streams.
The valleys are dotted with chestnut forests, solitary chapels, abandoned lodges, dairy farms, mills and copper mines in need of a restyle. Two minuscule ghost hamlets are accessible by foot only on mule paths covered by overgrown cherry shrubs.
"Locana offers a healthy lifestyle, great food and folklore fairs all-year round", says Mattiet. READ MORE…
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Post by inger on Jan 31, 2019 15:02:56 GMT -5
Dome, maybe you can move to Italy and get someone to pay you $1,000 for every baby you make! Make sure you share generously...
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Post by domeplease on Feb 3, 2019 9:38:50 GMT -5
Dome, maybe you can move to Italy and get someone to pay you $1,000 for every baby you make! Make sure you share generously... INGER: One of my biggest concerns, is that KNOCK at my gate and a young women there, that says to me: "You are MY Father..."
My rehearsed respond is: "I am NOT Do Me; he is dead and died BROKE; plus, there is nothing to tell you about since he was an ASSHOLE. Sorry, you traveled so far for NOTHING."
My workers have also been instructed to say this...go figure.
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Post by inger on Feb 3, 2019 11:40:12 GMT -5
Dome, maybe you can move to Italy and get someone to pay you $1,000 for every baby you make! Make sure you share generously... INGER: One of my biggest concerns, is that KNOCK at my gate and a young women there, that says to me: "You are MY Father..."
My rehearsed respond is: "I am NOT Do Me; he is dead and died BROKE; plus, there is nothing to tell you about since he was an ASSHOLE. Sorry, you traveled so far for NOTHING."
My workers have also been instructed to say this...go figure.
What a loving parent you would make... |
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Post by domeplease on Feb 4, 2019 10:35:41 GMT -5
I always 'FLY SOLO' = A great Way To Live!!!
Well, except for Tequila = But her expenses are minimal, she doesn't require much; just seeds-nuts-veggies-fruit-treats, etc. Cartons, CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg, Yankee's Games, Golf, Law & Order, etc. No clothes, no jewelry, no shoes, no college education, no car, no smart phone, etc. She mostly needs just LOVE. She is ALMOST the perfect Child; well... |
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Post by domeplease on Feb 9, 2019 12:02:42 GMT -5
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Post by inger on Feb 9, 2019 12:13:58 GMT -5
Foreign countries have gone so soft. That would have been a beheading just a few years back..,Or at least a behanding... what is this world coming to? Seriously, it sounds like a good way to run a country. What a little biatch she is!!! |
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Post by domeplease on Feb 18, 2019 12:12:40 GMT -5
***--02-12-19: www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/these-are-the-10-best-airlines-in-the-world/ar-BBTt5Ue
ONCE AGAIN, NO U.S. Airline in Top Ten.
When it comes to flying, a good airline can mean the difference between landing frazzled and cranky, and a seamless experience that gets you to your destination feeling revved up. So which one is the cream of the crop?
Airlineratings.com recently announced its Airline Excellence Awards for 2019, judging airlines based on factors like passenger reviews, product offerings, and innovation.
This year, Singapore Airlines was crowned the best, thanks to some new innovations, according to the airlineratings.com judges.
'For years Singapore Airlines has been the gold standard, and now it is back to its best leading in passenger innovations and new state-of-the-art aircraft models,' airlineratings.com editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas said in a press release. On the flip side, this is the airline with the worst reputation in the business.
Singapore Airlines has been introducing new aircraft, not to mention some pretty swanky perks for passengers.
Case in point: Its new Suites option lets passengers ride in style with their own hotel-like space decked out with a recliner, bed, and 32-inch TV. Plus, its flight attendants are known as some of the best in the biz.
Coming in behind Singapore Airlines were Air New Zealand for its booming (and expanding) business, followed by Qatar Airways for its exceptional food and business class, and its top marks for customer satisfaction.
Check out the rest of airlineratings.com’s top ten:
1.Singapore Airlines
2.Air New Zealand
3.Qantas
4.Qatar Airways
5.Virgin Australia
6.Emirates
7.All Nippon Airways
8.EVA Air
9.Cathay Pacific Airways
10.Japan Airlines
READ MORE…
--02-18-19: www.cnbc.com/2019/02/18/singapore-tops-rankings-as-the-best-city-in-asia-for-millennials.html
1. Singapore
Topping the ranks in ValueChampion's study was the Southeast Asian nation of Singapore.
Despite its small size, the city-state punches above its weight economically, recording the highest GDP per capita ($58,000) of all cities studied.
That, added to its low unemployment rate of just 2.2 percent and an accommodative business environment, pushed Singapore to first place for employment prospects.
Meanwhile, Singapore's low levels of pollution, high safety levels, lively entertainment scene and local travel options meant it stole the top spot for quality of life too.
Those perks come at a cost, though. The city at the center of 2018's Hollywood blockbuster "Crazy Rich Asians" scored relatively poorly in terms of cost of living, emerging in seventh place, far behind the likes of Taipei, Taiwan. READ MORE…
--02-17-19: www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/you-can-travel-the-world-for-free-%e2%80%94-if-youre-willing-to-do-it-with-a-stranger/ar-BBTDYrN?li=BBnbklE&ocid=U147DHP
--02-18-19: us.cnn.com/travel/article/best-las-vegas-strip-hotels/index.htm l
--02-12-19: www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/these-2-hotels-have-the-best-customer-service-in-america/ar-BBTkTSW?li=BBnbklE
--02-14-19: www.cnbc.com/2019/02/13/3-retiree-havens-where-you-can-stretch-your-dollar-the-most.html
--02-12-20: us.cnn.com/travel/article/hotel-suites-doha-qatar/index.html
--02-10-19: us.cnn.com/travel/article/best-trips-solo-travelers/index.html
--02-11-19: www.msn.com/en-us/travel/article/why-locals-get-massively-annoyed-with-us-tourists/ss-BBRheYn?li=BBnbklE#image=1
--02-11-19: www.msn.com/en-us/travel/tripideas/the-most-scenic-train-rides-in-the-world/ss-BBTm2Lu?li=BBnbklE#image=1
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Post by inger on Feb 18, 2019 17:26:19 GMT -5
Where, oh where has Pipps gone? We just can’t keep that lad home talking baseball...
We should do a where’s Waldo on him? Any ideas where he might be? I’m going for someplace warm. Virgin Islands?...
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Post by kaybli on Feb 26, 2019 20:33:13 GMT -5
Where, oh where has Pipps gone? We just can’t keep that lad home talking baseball... We should do a where’s Waldo on him? Any ideas where he might be? I’m going for someplace warm. Virgin Islands?... Found him in Antigua!:
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Post by pippsheadache on Feb 27, 2019 6:02:21 GMT -5
Good eye, Kaybli. I was spanning the globe (as they used to say on "Wide World of Sports") searching for Jwild and Banfoulballs when I noticed Inger struggling with his dinghy, so I tried to help.
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Post by michcusejoe5 on Feb 27, 2019 7:55:43 GMT -5
Good eye, Kaybli. I was spanning the globe (as they used to say on "Wide World of Sports") searching for Jwild and Banfoulballs when I noticed Inger struggling with his dinghy, so I tried to help. I would venture to guess that inger spends most of his day playing with his dinghy |
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Post by kaybli on Feb 27, 2019 8:11:31 GMT -5
Good eye, Kaybli. I was spanning the globe (as they used to say on "Wide World of Sports") searching for Jwild and Banfoulballs when I noticed Inger struggling with his dinghy, so I tried to help.
So where to next, pipps?
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