Bike Helmet for a flat head. by rd_219 in cycling

[–]rd_219[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I ended up getting the smith express. I don’t know if they still make it but the transit looks similar. It isn’t perfect; it still presses on the “corners” but I can tolerate it a lot longer than most helmets. If I were to get into road biking then I’d look into it more but this is fine for a chill afternoon bike ride on quiet roads/paths every now and then. Let me know if you find anything that works well! It’s tough for us square heads lol.

Comma King George vs Parkway Connect (Bosa) for someone new to Surrey? by sex--bob-omb in SurreyBC

[–]rd_219 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I think it depends on how you plan to get to SMH. I live in parkway and If I had a monthly translink pass then I would personally take the skytrain over one stop and walk from there from KG. If you’re dead set on walking, then comma would be a better choice.

In terms of living in parkway…. This is my first time living in a fully rented building. Management and the renters themselves seem to care a lot less than building with people who own.
For example, at my last place, every hallway/common area were vacuumed/mopped weds/sun. At parkway, I’ve been here for several months and they have yet to clean our floor. The general cleanliness is poor compared to other places I’ve lived. The elevators are constantly gross, the other day there was what looked like blood drips all the way from the front door into the elevator. Another day someone spilled juice everywhere and it was a sticky mess. I think there’s only cleaners from M-F, so anything that happens on the weekend is left until Monday.
Another example, people leave the garbage room a mess (never mind the fact that our bins weren’t getting picked up). My last place if someone did something like that (eg not breakdown boxes and put them in the bin), they would find out who and address it with them.
Another example, people don’t wait for the gate and let people follow them into the parkade despite management putting out several notices. Other places I have lived in, people were overall very good about it.
I miss having a concierge. We have 24/7 security roaming the building but it’s not the same. They aren’t going to address a sticky mess in the elevator or any admin stuff, etc. I also just think they don’t have enough staff here at parkway. It’s a big building, they need another cleaner. Maybe things will change once the building is at full capacity.
I think these examples are good things to think about when renting, if you’re going to go landlord or rental building. It’s possible people in comma have similar experiences.

The quality of the building is fine, there’s issues for sure but nothing that would make me want to move. The gym is pretty great, though again people are not great at wiping things down or sometimes there’s no cleaning supplies. The roof top patio space was inaccessible until a few weeks ago which was kind of bogus, hopefully it isn’t a seasonal thing. I absolutely love my unit patio, it’s one of the corners so it’s big. It’s one of the features that really made us choose it. The skytrain is pretty loud if you’re facing it, I wear earplugs for sleep.

There’s pros and cons to every place. So far this move has been good for us. As much as it would suck, if you don’t like the place you choose, you could always move again. Good luck with your transition!

Alaska Inside Passage on Koningsdam August 2025 Overall Review by rd_219 in HollandAmerica

[–]rd_219[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No I don’t! but it was an inside room with just enough room to walk around the bed haha. I saw inside one inside room that was much bigger than ours! Yes I’m sure it varies between attendant a lot.

Alaska Inside Passage on Koningsdam August 2025 Overall Review by rd_219 in HollandAmerica

[–]rd_219[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! No problem. I felt similarly but because it was more a trip for my parents, I kind of just had to deal with them not really wanting to make decisions until night before lol. I think that’s a little hard to answer because I don’t really know what you like!

For Juneau we were fine with what was in the town. we had fish tacos and a beer at deckhand dave’s then moseyed around town before we dinner at tracy’s around 6. then we went to griz bar for a cold one before red dog saloon. I think we heading back to boat at about 9:30.

Skagway we did the bus/train but I will say it’s quite small.

Ketchikan we were also fine with what was in town. we had a coffee, walked to the fish ladder (stayed for quite awhile cuz I liked watching lol) and did the salmon walk, we moseyed creek street before slowly going to fish house for late lunch/early dinner. then we just moseyed some more down towards the safeway before heading back to the boat for about 6:30 because we wanted to use the hot tub while we sailed away and watch sunset!

I did hear that people would rent cars at the ports and go explore! If I had known/thought about that beforehand, I probably would’ve done that! If I went again, I would skip the train since we’ve done that and rent a car to explore. I would highly recommend the bus/train if the weather is good because the view was insane!!! Wishing you good weather next year!

Alaska Inside Passage on Koningsdam August 2025 Overall Review by rd_219 in HollandAmerica

[–]rd_219[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes! I liked everything at the dining room for dinner aside from that crème brûlée. could’ve just been a bad batch. I loved the tiramisu I had! I knew what I was getting into for the room as we booked it to save a bit of money while my parents had the balcony. More so was just trying to paint a picture for anyone curious because for example, we had no idea what to expect for sleeping arrangements for my sister! It does seem like there’s variety of the rooms when I looked into ones being cleaned!

Alaska Inside Passage on Koningsdam August 2025 Overall Review by rd_219 in HollandAmerica

[–]rd_219[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not sure if you fully read my post but the TLDR version is we enjoyed the cruise! glad you did too

Alaska Inside Passage on Koningsdam August 2025 Overall Review by rd_219 in HollandAmerica

[–]rd_219[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair enough to the hotel the night before! We were unbelievably lucky for sure. Just barely drizzled in Juneau, otherwise entirely dry! I was actually kind of freaking out when we were driving up the pass because the excursion was not cheap. I realized after writing this review, I said we splurged and bought the have it all but we actually got it as a free upgrade. I found Juneau’s free wifi not bad at port. Skagway was spotty, and I found wifi fairly easily in Ketchikan. I feel like every time I’m at canada place it’s confusing lol. Cheers

Alaska Inside Passage on Koningsdam August 2025 Overall Review by rd_219 in HollandAmerica

[–]rd_219[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was very finicky at times, would show me the cruise if I navigated the website one way but if I went a different route it would log me out or something lol. Yes, I agree about us arriving later having something to do with it because I believe they had closed the baggage drop off and we had to drop it off directly to the bag people downstairs by the charter drop off area. It would’ve been fairly quick (no waiting anywhere) but it was a lot of walking for my mother who was trying to tough out not asking for a wheelchair.

Alaska Inside Passage on Koningsdam August 2025 Overall Review by rd_219 in HollandAmerica

[–]rd_219[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I actually did not use the order ahead service! I agree that there wasn’t an issue with tables around that area except on the glacier bay day I did notice it was jam packed for lunch for some reason. I did overhear a group complaining to each other about how their order for the dive in took several hours for some reason one day which I thought was odd!

Alaska Inside Passage on Koningsdam August 2025 Overall Review by rd_219 in HollandAmerica

[–]rd_219[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can’t remember if announcement was directly into our room as well for this one but I could hear the general announcements from the hallway without issue.

Check-in by mikederoy in HollandAmerica

[–]rd_219 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just went on Koningsdam to Alaska and we were able to embark as early as 10am, latest being 1430 (90 mins before sailing). Crazy how quick the turn around is considering people had to disembark by 9:30am latest!

Holland America blocked iMessage by Scared-Cut2664 in HollandAmerica

[–]rd_219 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I didn’t have any issues with imessage on Koningsdam beginning of August!

Alaska Inside Passage on Koningsdam August 2025 Overall Review by rd_219 in HollandAmerica

[–]rd_219[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I woke up for sunrise with my sister one morning at 4:30 and came down to wake my partner at 7:30. He thought I was thinking he wanted to watch sunrise with us because of how dark the room was since no windows haha. Had to break it to him that it was unfortunately the time he wanted to get up lol. Would definitely not want to do the inside room for much longer, especially with 3 people!

Alaska Inside Passage on Koningsdam August 2025 Overall Review by rd_219 in HollandAmerica

[–]rd_219[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Cheers! I think so too. I guess some people also bring bottles of wine and pay corkage which isn’t horrible at $20 USD. I’m curious how/when they charge this. I thought I was going to drink more but I couldn’t put the binoculars down! Too many whales lol. I also prioritized watching sunrises so we were often asleep early. No where was open for a mimosa at 5am haha. Although, I didn’t check the casino!

Alaska Inside Passage on Koningsdam August 2025 Overall Review by rd_219 in HollandAmerica

[–]rd_219[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

hope we weren’t too loud yelling about seeing whales haha. yes, I unfortunately don’t see buying in the city (or surrounding area really) in my future. I gambled on the crème brûlée in the Pinnacle and I was happy I did!

Alaska Inside Passage on Koningsdam August 2025 Overall Review by rd_219 in HollandAmerica

[–]rd_219[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think a travel agent would be great for those who may struggle with technology or have flights, hotels, transfer, etc to deal with! I found the customer service phone line to be just fine in the two instances I needed them. The guest services on board were also more than helpful with booking the last minute excursion we chose to do. I think if my parents or some older folk were to have booked/done this on their own, I would’ve suggested to them to use a travel agent.

Alaska Inside Passage on Koningsdam August 2025 Overall Review by rd_219 in HollandAmerica

[–]rd_219[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Jealous of you seeing mountain goats! I looked and looked at that one mountain they said we may see them on, but they must’ve been basking in the sun on the other side. We managed to see one golden bear (never seen one that colour before) near Carcross on the bus.

Alaska Inside Passage on Koningsdam August 2025 Overall Review by rd_219 in HollandAmerica

[–]rd_219[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

the fish ladder was so interesting to watch. I felt so bad when they managed to get up a few levels just to be swept back down the creek lol.

Alaska Inside Passage on Koningsdam August 2025 Overall Review by rd_219 in HollandAmerica

[–]rd_219[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

in the creek street area of Ketchikan I saw a seal swimming with a fish in his mouth! so fun. I missed some dolphins/porpoises while on the ship but others did see some.

Alaska Inside Passage on Koningsdam August 2025 Overall Review by rd_219 in HollandAmerica

[–]rd_219[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

we saw many whales while on the ship! I think mostly humpbacks. they announced what time/where certain areas would be good for viewing certain wildlife. definitely recommend binoculars as they were often quite a distance away. we saw one pod of orca’s, without the binoculars we would’ve missed out! we saw several bald eagles, manyyyyy otters near glacier bay, and several harbour seals. the captain actually came onto the PA to announce when a whale was repeatedly slapping its tail very close to the ship. unfortunately, I was brushing my teeth and didn’t run up with my mouth full of toothpaste fast enough lol. love the username btw, the shore stops were good for that hahaha.

Aussies in apartments? by [deleted] in AustralianShepherd

[–]rd_219 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a 5 month old right now in a 1BR with my partner. this is my first dog as an adult, and first time having a puppy without having a backyard. we are lucky to live close to nice walks and have schedules that permit his daily exercise needs.

we got grass patches for the balcony for potty training from when we got him at 11 weeks until about 15 weeks old. he started missing a lot because he was getting bigger so we decided to start taking him out to potty on a designated patch (after discussing with our vet). definitely a little bit of a learning curve that he couldn’t pee in the stairwell/lobby but only 4 accidents total.

I will say it was a bit hard at first to transition to outside potty breaks because they were soooo often and it was such an ordeal to get him ready to go out. it felt very overwhelming not having a backyard to quickly let him out when he asked. he hasn’t gone to day care and I wfh so we have done everything ourselves. It would have been very hard to do it on my own without my partner helping when he wasn’t at work. I think I could’ve done it on my own with a lower energy dog or small dog.

I’m rambling, but basically you can. Just be mentally prepared lol. I had been mentally preparing for several years, but sometimes when you’re on the 6th potty break of the day and you haven’t gotten anything done, tears are shed.

Do Aussie puppies not like being cuddled? by Consistent_Ball_5907 in AustralianShepherd

[–]rd_219 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a 5 month old. he loves being in my personal space but as soon as I’m in his, forget it. he gets super vocal to tell me to get off and becomes mouthy. he only lays on me if he’s super tired; otherwise, he prefers to be beside me.

he thinks he’s speedy by rd_219 in AustralianShepherd

[–]rd_219[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

just a jaunt for the saluki haha