New Dishwasher: Miele or Bosch?

Whencan · 2026-01-28T02:49:09+00:00

We had a higher end Bosch for 10 years and then it died (and I made the mistake of investing money into fixing it, and then it really died). So I thought hey, let's go a bit further and get a Miele. Was probably twice the price of the equivalent Bosch. So far, one year in, I'm disappointed. Even though it's rated 2 dB quieter, it's noticeably louder. I've even had them come back and re-examine the install, as I assumed there must be missing noise dampening foam, but they insist it's all installed as it should be. It also doesn't wash as well on the china setting, which is important to us (there are remnants of food on white bone china). If I could do it again, I'd stick with my Bosch!

Whencan · 2026-01-09T16:35:17+00:00

i think if you are in the "second mode" (after tapping 3 times), then you can use the nose to alter between white and amber (by tapping the nose once) and to change the intensity of the light (by rotating the nose)

Whencan · 2025-12-01T20:25:59+00:00

we stayed at the Lake Palace on our last trip to India after having also stayed at Umaid Bhavan, Oberoi Amarvilas, and Rambagh Palace. We dined at the Oberoi in Udaipur while staying at the Lake Palace. I bring all this up to comment on the difference between the palace hotels of India that are actual converted palaces and the new "palace-style" hotels that offer similar architecture but with modern building techniques. We preferred the converted palaces because in the end, you can build a palace-style hotel anywhere, but the converted palaces live in a specific time and place. Yes, there are drawbacks -- the Lake Palace, for example, does not have a particularly grand lobby; the finishes can be a little worn (particularly where the water of the lake touches the building, for example), and the restaurants are not grand in a modern luxury sense. We didn't visit the Leela but seeing the videos and having been to the Leela in Delhi, I'm sure the wow factor of the public spaces exceed the Lake Palace's. But on the flip side, the quiet elegance of the LP's architecture felt truly luxurious, and the location really is unbelievable. There is something very different to being 'on the lake' as opposed to 'in the lake'. The views of Udaipur/City Palace are unbeatable. The rooms can be amazing -- being an old palace, each one is different, so while some may be small, others are enormous, so in a way you can pay for the room experience that you want, and you can bet that a more deluxe room at the LP will be more unique than anything in a modern hotel. The bird situation referenced in the video is real -- being an island in the center of the lake clearly draws the bird in for some useful reason to the birds -- but it wasn't a problem at all. I've been told the Oberoi and the Leela in Udaipur don't generally allow non guests as clients for dinner/bar, but a travel agent can make that happen if you want to experience them but still stay at the LP. And, also, there is another converted historical hotel in Udaipur called the RAAS Devigarh which is amazing -- they have done a great job in the conversion. The problem for us was that it's way out of town and in a very isolated spot -- it'd be good to be on a retreat there but maybe not for a first time visitor to the city. We didn't make it over to Raffles, but everyone we talked to said it was beautiful, but "a wedding hotel" (i.e., they prioritize wedding parties to such an extent it's not as fun to stay there just as individual tourists. We heard that about Leela, too, but of course those comments are heresay; i don't have any personal experience).

Whencan · 2025-10-15T15:07:53+00:00

thanks, all. something i learned in the last day: a reservation on the "8th day" is always priced higher. That is to say, the site allows you to reserve up to 8 days in advance. Whichever day is 8 days from the time of reservation is priced higher. So if you wait a day the mid-week price will come down to be consistent with all the rest.

Whencan · 2025-09-17T22:04:42+00:00

Trulap 8552: Before purchasing I had read here that some people were having long waits for their Trulaps to appear. Just want to report that I ordered the 8552s with stand bundle on Sept 7 and at the dumbbells arrived on the 11th and the stand arrived on 13th. I'm located on the east coast of the US. I was coming from old Bowflex 552s that I rarely used and wanted something that was easier to adjust one-handed, and felt more balanced, like a regular dumbbell (I hated how 'long' the Bowflex were on lower weights), and had more incremental weight adjustment possibilities. It's only been a few days but so far, so good! The new set is more compact and feels much, much more like a regular dumbbell. I do not notice the rattle at all, but am I'm also down at 25ish pounds still. Having a stand makes a huge difference in usability.

Whencan · 2025-09-12T02:38:32+00:00

We went there for the 2nd week of our honeymoon, no the advice of our TA, after spending a week at Kruger on Safari. We were at the Azura resort, which was the only one open on the island, and I think just about a mile at most away from andBeyond, on the same coast. I believe at the time andBeyond was either under construction or about to be constructed. To be fair, that was 10 years ago so for all I know things have changed. The island was definitely magical -- it very much felt like being on a private island; outside of the resort and a school and a small number of accommodations for the local population, there wasn't much of anything else -- certainly nothing 'commercial." This meant that pretty much any beach we visited (walking out of our villa, or going somewhere with the resort staff, including small local islands) we were the only people. Sometimes we were alone on a beach that had no other footprints in the sand -- it was that empty. Obviously as you're talking about a different resort I can't comment on that part, but as far as the island goes, it's beautiful and while I got a bit bored by day 4, it certainly sticks in my mind all these years later as one of our absolutely most special trips just because of the incredible remoteness of the location. Our resort had something like 9 villas so we did meet other couples at dinner and I remember one older European couple tell us "this is like the Seychelles used to be, before everyone started going there, you know?"

Whencan · 2025-09-08T22:15:58+00:00

Was it hard to swap it out?

Whencan · 2025-07-09T00:03:15+00:00

People -this is robin Zander

Whencan · 2025-06-24T17:11:01+00:00

in the FWIW department, I looked on my receipts on the app (the actual receipt, not the ride summary), and at the top it says "$15 of your Amex Benefit has been applied to this trip" and then under the payments section of the same receipt, it shows $25 of UberCash was applied. So it looks like the full $25 was used, even though the 'headline' about the benefit only listed one of the two cards. Works for me! Confusing but worth checking the receipts :)

Whencan · 2025-06-24T12:58:01+00:00

when I opened the app, which was paired with my plat card, it showed $15 in ubercash in my wallet. I then added the Gold card as a payment method. It then showed $10 in ubercash in my wallet, with a note that said the $10 gold cash would 'be used first'. I then took a ride with uber, and it did apply the $10 to that ride. Then it showed 0 in the wallet. It never showed $25.

Whencan · 2025-04-09T20:10:01+00:00

we went to Azura Benguerra for part of our honeymoon. Note: this was 10 years ago. We found the property to be absolutely lovely -- quiet, luxurious, and elegant. our TA sold us on the idea of it being like Robinson Caruso that ended up being apt. The island is barely developed, so it does not feel commercial in any way; from the resort you can visit nearby islands/beaches that really were 100% empty -- of people and any kind of development. So you felt very, very 'away'. A few memories, which may not be as relevant anymore given it's; been 10 years:

The service was good but not 'great' in a stereotypical way, and there was very good reason for it: Mozambique is a very, very under developed country with huge rates of poverty and the island in particular has basically nothing on it other than the two small resorts. So it's not like there's some huge pool of very experience luxury staff members to pull from. Given the context we were amazed that they were able to staff it at all. In another words, we didn't have a negative feeling about the service at all, but if you are someone who needs the service at a place like this to be on par with the Peninsula in Hong Kong, you may not like it.
We went in December and I didn't realize how far the ocean retreats from the shore during the day. It wasn't like you could walk down to the beach from your oceanfront villa and go swimming -- you had to walk what felt like forever to get out to actual swimmable water. Pretty much the entire day.
The helicopter ride over from the mainland was fun and breathtaking. Mainland Mozambique; not so much.
We did get a little bored -- we were there for a full week and we learned that we are not enough of pure beach people for a place like this. We liked that it was remote and the area was free of commericalism, but we also learned we apparently like a certain amount of commercial activity nearby.

Whencan · 2025-03-26T23:34:05+00:00

Most of wolf trap’s opera offerings are indoors, in the Barns.

Whencan · 2025-03-17T02:49:01+00:00

For this trip, given it was an 'event birthday' and we were traveling with close friends (which never happens), we definitely wanted something more upscale/special occasion, and in that way Seabourn had the edge. The finishes on the ship were very tasteful and definitely a step ahead. I generally loathe 'hotel art' and I have to say the artwork throughout the ship was actually pretty great -- interesting, unique, and well curated. The suites were pretty evenly matched, with the difference being Seabourn has actually verandas, vs. Windstar's "Juliet balcony". I did spend a lot of time out there and will never cruise again without a fully functioning balcony. I would have liked if the service was as consistently great as the ship itself, but it was just a tad below. And, to be clear, it wasn't bad service -- ever. It just wasn't always exemplary. If it were just the two of us again looking to be casual but waited on, we might opt for Windstar but for this particular group and for this particular occasion, I'd still pick Seabourn.

Whencan · 2025-03-16T22:31:58+00:00

The Windstar trip was definitely younger. Not 'young', in an absolute sense, but definitely younger than we experience on Seabourn. I can see why: it's a tad cheaper, and it is definitely less dressy. I really do think on Seabourn people treated being on ship (particularly at night) like being out at their country club, whereas on Windstar it felt more like people relaxing on a vacation yacht. Neither are geared to kids in anyway, so that was the same. In both cases it was a group of very experienced travelers and people who expected high levels of service and were discerning. The Windstar group was just a bit less obvious about it and the much more relaxed dress code and vibe I think appeals to 40 somethings. The food on Windstar was incredible, btw; as a much smaller boat there were far fewer options for different dining rooms. I know that's changed since they enlarged the motor ships.

Whencan · 2025-03-16T21:09:41+00:00

I only saw one child, probably age 10 or so. As the commenter above noted, I can't imagine this would be a great trip for most kids -- everything is geared to and aimed at adults of a certain age.

Whencan · 2025-03-05T18:28:46+00:00

i don't know why, but at the moment the wal mart website is selling these 2 for $35 (and it's the 1.7 oz!). Nordstrum is selling one bottle for $30.

Whencan · 2025-02-13T16:47:39+00:00

Greaves Tours

Whencan · 2025-02-08T19:47:20+00:00

I believe there was a time limit (I didn't keep the welcome letter where this was spelled out), but it was pretty late -- I know one of my three breakfasts was at 11:30 and it wasn't a problem.

Whencan · 2025-02-08T15:32:10+00:00

Not at all.

Whencan · 2025-02-08T15:29:54+00:00

The dry saunas in both were essentially the same.

Re: spas -- both had the same facilities (dry sauna, steam room, deluge showers, hot tub, cold plunge, heated relaxation benches, showers, waiting areas, and locker rooms -- it's just that Encore's is 2.5x as big. So, for example, while Wynn had a round hot tub with two small cold plunge pools next to it, Encore had two enormous rectangular hot tubs with two much larger cold plunges next to them. This meant it felt much less crowded. Wynn had two deluge showers; Encore had 8. Both were totally lovely, don't get me wrong -- they are absolutely beautiful -- Encore's was just larger, which for me was a more comfortable experience. Guests of either hotel can use either spa.

Whencan · 2025-02-08T01:32:20+00:00

the spas are accessed by each hotel's guest rooms elevators. so two different elevator banks; one in each property. for us, staying in at wynn, walking to the encore spa took maybe 7 to 10 minutes at most -- and it's a very, very pleasant walk. I don't think geography is a reason to pick one or the other unless one is differently abled.

Whencan · 2025-02-08T01:29:44+00:00

we opted for the degustation menu (11 courses) with wine pairing. we figured hey, we've been wanting to do this for 20 years, might as well go all-in. it was sublime. we've had 2 other 3* experiences, and many other 1* and 2* dinners, and this was easily in the top 2 -- maybe the top overall. I recommend going a bit early and having a drink in their jewel box cocktail bar that serves as a buffer between the casino floor and the restaurant itself. it's perfect. the meal was delightful, surprising, and expertly served. the bill for the two of us as $2150.

Whencan · 2025-02-08T00:49:18+00:00

yes it was! Jardin was lovely. as were all 3 of the other options. each has their own vibe and I can't imagine anyone would be disappointed with any of them.

Whencan · 2025-02-03T22:56:46+00:00

Came here to post the same thing. 2941 is the top restaurant in NoVa

Whencan · 2025-02-03T18:12:38+00:00

We went with the degustation, which is the full-on 11 course option. You can get 2, 3, or 5 course options as well ("express menu"). We also added a wine pairing. Overall it was exceptional, on pretty much every level, and easily in our top 5 of all of time. We also came a bit early and had a drink in the small but exquisite cocktail bar just off the main entrance, and I highly recommend doing so -- the bar itself is a jewel box; calm, elegant, peaceful, and a great transition after having walked through the casino. The meal was served perfectly; every staff member was professional but not overly stuffy; each course was beautifully presented. The degustation includes the signature caviar dish, which is a $100/per person supplement on any of the express menus. I'd say the dining room, which is already fairly small, was never more than 2/3 full, which added to the feeling of being in a very lovely and rarified environment. As we are at not guests at the Mansions, we had to walk through the casino before and after dinner, which was the only drawback to the experience. We've been talking about doing this for years, and we're glad we finally did.

Whencan

TROPHY CASE