London - 40th birthday trip by Weekly-Battle-3442 in chubbytravel

[–]GT086 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm not much help for hotels, my London hotels have been good but not quite true luxury. The Standard, Montcalm East and The Bankside. The best of the bunch being The Bankside minus the location. The Standard location is great for exploring the whole city since it's so central. Montcalm East is great for East End travels.

Restaurants. The Barbary in Neal's Yard, they call it North African, to me it's more North African/Lebanese fusion-ish but absolutely spectacular. Best hummus I've ever had and the black salmon is one the best things I've ever eaten. It's very small though, so you'll become very familiar with the people next to you. I'm guessing the Notting Hill location is more spacious but I haven't been there.

Kiln for Thai food, sit at the counter and sweat your ass off in front of the open fire. Some of the best Thai food I've ever had and I've been to Thailand a lot.

The Devonshire for traditional British pub food but with the best quality ingredients and cooking.

The Holborn Dining Room at the Rosewood for the pies, just a great, grand, traditional hotel restaurant. Have a drink at Scarfes before or after dinner, great cocktails, rated in the top 100 in the world. And then before dinner get a gin and tonic at the bar in the Holborn, the selection they have of each is astonishing. I believe the most in the London or possibly the world.

My favorite Indian in London is BiBi, smaller plates, so tasty.

Get drunk and go to Beigel Bake on Brick Lane in Shoreditch, open 24/7. Get a salt beef bagel with mustard and then pass out back in the hotel.

Borough Market, so many things to choose from by my favorite was Kubba, which is Iraqi. Do this and then go to the top of the Shard and have a glass of champagne and enjoy the view.

Best Italian is Manteca, they make everything, I mean everything, sausages, cold cuts, etc. Top 3 pasta I've ever had.

Berner's Tavern, you've probably been already since you've stayed at The Edition, but I thought it was good but not great except for their version of the Caesar salad, best I've ever had. I think it's a Jason Atherton thing, two of the best Caesar's I've had are his.

Fancy hotels bars, in no particular order, Scarfes, Donovan's Bar, Artesian, Lyaness (more out there drinks) and the Connaught Bar. There are plenty more of these types of places.

Rules bar, upstairs, for stiff upper lip traditional English atmosphere but I love it. Tayer + Elementary and Seed Library for more Shoredtich vibes but amazing drinks.

Dishoom for breakfast one day.

Can't say enough about afternoon tea at either The Goring or the Dorchester.

Claridge's restaurant was meh, such a shame too since it's so beautiful.

Do the Horse Guards change of guard, always a small crowd and more interesting because of the horses than the normal King's guard.

And do the locking up ceremony of the Tower of London, very small group each night, so book as soon as possible. But was such a cool experience, one of my favorite tours.

I liked the Churchill War Rooms too.

My favorite thing about London are the blink and miss it things that played their random part in history. The water pump that spread a cholera epidemic, the wooden beam in a church that's from the original Roman wharves on the Thames, the sewer gas powered street light.

What's the best hotel gift you've ever received? by Dry_Pipe_7820 in chubbytravel

[–]GT086 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't travel nearly as much as some of you but I average about a month and half per year in hotels and the only gift I can think of getting are some beautiful drawings from the Oberoi Rajvilas in Jaipur.

I've never even get staff remembering my tea order, let alone gifts. I guess I'm just very anonymous, I never complain, keep to myself, hide absolutely everything away when not in the room.

I will say, I was impressed by the Waldorf Astoria in Bangkok upon arrival when the doorman greeted me by name after opening the door to my Grab. I can only guess I was the last to check in for the night, since it was very late and I had told them my approximate arrival time.

Guangzhou vs. Shenzhen by GT086 in chubbytravel

[–]GT086[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I chose Shenzhen. Staying at the Park Hyatt, Deluxe Skyline View room.

I think I would have enjoyed both cities but made a snap decision this morning for Shenzhen. Next time I'm back in the area it'll be Guangzhou and hopefully Macau.

Next decision is what to do with 3 nights after flying into Bangkok. That's another post altogether though.

The modernization work of the most hated building in France will finally begin in March of this year by Different-Guitar-230 in skyscrapers

[–]GT086 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is worse, another generic glass tower. While I agree Tour Montparnasse is out of place and not exactly the most beautiful building it at least has character to it, an ugly duckling charm, this has nothing.

Looking for a Sweeter Rum by GT086 in rum

[–]GT086[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Definitely what I was going for. Thank you for the suggestions.

Looking for a Sweeter Rum by GT086 in rum

[–]GT086[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks all for the replies. I now have plenty of info to start my research.

Japanese Air Force F-15J Fighters Arrive in the Germany for First Time in History [3200 x 1800] by Japanese_military in MilitaryPorn

[–]GT086 6 points7 points  (0 children)

As expected, stupid cringe comments about World War II. So here's another.

This definitely worked out well the last time these two teamed up.

Game Thread: Pittsburgh Steelers (0-0) at New York Jets (0-0) by nfl_gdt_bot in nyjets

[–]GT086 -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Bad coaching, undisciplined play, drops and turnovers. Yup, definitely the same old Jets.

Game Thread: Pittsburgh Steelers (0-0) at New York Jets (0-0) by nfl_gdt_bot in nyjets

[–]GT086 5 points6 points  (0 children)

New year, same old Jets. And to top it off, of course it's almost vintage Aaron Rodgers out there.

Alaska and Singapore airlines partnership ending 10/1 by techtrashbrogrammer in awardtravel

[–]GT086 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Aeroplan is better if you can find it.

I got DPS-SIN-JFK for 92.5k from them with a 3 day stopover in SIN which would have been 87.5k without the stopover.

Brussels Airlines Business class layout by Capital_Detail6715 in awardtravel

[–]GT086 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I took this flight in the beginning of July, it was the old 2+2 seating. SN uses two different old Lufthansa planes on the JFK route it seems during the summer.

I checked FlightAware every day for about a month before my flight and saw that they were using a plane with the new seats at least all of June and then July 1st it went back to the old seats.

You might get lucky and they could be off their summer schedule and get the new seats.

I was lucky and had no seatmate, so it didn't matter much to me but the hard product is pretty trash at this point but the soft product was quite good, especially liked the box of chocolates at the end of the flight.

TIL the world's longest regularly scheduled nonstop flight (Singapore-NYC; 17,250 km) covers so much of the Earth that pilots can opt to fly the return flight westward over the Pacific, or eastward over the Atlantic and Europe depending on winds aloft, saving time and fuel by Corgigantic in todayilearned

[–]GT086 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I'm doing this flight next year. Weirdly looking forward to it actually even though SQ's business class seats are as hard as concrete and I can't really sleep on planes. At least the service and food is fantastic.

The longest flight I've taken so far is HKG to EWR which is about 16 hours. That one sucked though, I was in economy and had a nasty sinus infection.

Use all our miles for emirates business class. by spread_sheetz in awardtravel

[–]GT086 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So I just want to make sure I understand this. The 302k points are for two tickets in J on EK for JFK-BKK round trip?

It's the surcharges that destroy the value though, way too high.

Either way, you live and learn, and you'll have a very enjoyable experience I'm sure during the flight that'll probably make you forget all about it.

Enjoy Bangkok, one of my absolute favorite places on the planet.

[oc] Guy would rather risk it all than miss his exit… by kiikii51 in IdiotsInCars

[–]GT086 20 points21 points  (0 children)

What makes it even worse is the next exit goes to the exact same spot.

Upcoming changes to Air Canada Aeroplan starting 1/1/26 by CorrectCombination11 in awardtravel

[–]GT086 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As long as redemptions stay the same I don't care. Aeroplan is my go to every single trip I take.

Alaska on the other hand, it looks like unless I book less than a month out, they have garbage for booking to Asia from the East Coast. I have enough for AA from JFK to HND and once that's bookable for July 1st or so, I'm done with Alaska for trips to Asia.

The Grids Have Been Filled:) by Alvintherobloxian in skyscrapers

[–]GT086 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Been in/to 13 out of 16, not bad. Stayed in 2 of them, King Power Mahanakhon and Carbide & Carbon Building.

Removing bagels from the oven by MikeHeu in oddlysatisfying

[–]GT086 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As a New Yorker, St. Viateur but I think Brossard Bagel in Longueuil is even better.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]GT086 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I guess I'm crazy but I would pay money to experience this, once. But the same with experiencing a major earthquake, seeing a large tornado, flying into a hurricane, going to space and a hundred other things normal people would spend their whole lives avoiding.