woah... are those MY finances??

Fmess

Congratulations on your weight loss. 4lbs in one week is fab

Thank you It has really slowed down since I've started running more (the irony) but I am changing shape, so think I must be putting on muscle. On the treadmill I have managed 4 miles without stopping but can only do half this on the road and my 10k (6.2 miles) race is in 4 weeks! Ekkkkkkkk

Got a work do tomorrow and I now have the option of two lovely dresses that I haven't been able to fit into for a couple of years

scubaangel

Fantastic for the 4lb loss Stewby.

I want to go further....on the flat I generally can but not much further, am hoping that the running in a group on the day thing will help me get further before I need to walk but without me forgetting my own pacing trying to keep up with other people.

I bet you could run 0.07 of a mile though, however slowly.

I've been told that treadmills are like that, I've never used one other than when I've been having a gait analysis so have no idea what kind of difference it would make for me but I suspect about the same.

I can't imagine that on the day you'll be the slowest there Fmess, I know I do these things for the personal challenge not to win, my 3 miler is two weeks on Sunday, I know I'll not be running all of it before then but hopefully I'll get my average mile times down to a reasonable number, and the swim am currently aiming for 35-40 mins for the 1.5km.

stewby

Good afternoon.

Thank you very much for the nice comments on my weight loss. I was a wee bitty disappointed for a start as dad had lost 9lbs in his first week but I am feeling a bit more pleased now.


Today is another starve day and I am feeling quite positive. It is 14:20, we are watching masterchef south africa and I am not feeling grumpy about the lack of food.


Spend-free day number 7/20 so that is going well too.


The best part is that OH came home from the stag do with about 200 euros (his friends gave him their loose change for nothing so that was pretty awesome). Plus I still have that 100 euros from Disneyland Paris so we already have 300 euros saved for our trip to Barcelona in April.
:j

OH has come back from the stag party and has decided what he wants to do for his stag do (a villa in portugal).
He had wanted to pull the wedding forward to 2016 but I explained about the savings we need to do and as a result, he has agreed to stick with 2018.

The honeymoon has a couple of extravagances already which is a bit bad. The two "treats" are staying in the Bellagio in Las Vegas (was in a movie that OH loves) and the Plaza hotel in New York (again, it is in a few movies that we both love). They will work out at about £3000 for the two of them for four nights in each place.
:embarasse

But that is why we are saving so that we don't look back afterwards whilst we are paying off the debt and go "why didn't we just limit ourselves". Savings mean we can enjoy ourselves without restraint.
Our honeymoon is probably going to be the only time we can have a major "splurge" holiday together without any limits as we can use the excuse that it is for our honeymoon.


I hope you are going to tell me about your dress choices fmess?? And which one you picked.

I can't believe how far you can run scuby. I imagine you have to be pretty fit to do scuba diving anyways.

Hope you are both doing well. And the same to anyone else who might be reading.
Hugs.

Fmess

You shows definitely be proud of losing 4lbs and it's better to lose a little each week over a longer period, otherwise you'll be more likely to yoyo and put it back on.

Well done on already having 300 euros, that's a good start to the holiday fund and very good forward planning.

I wore a dark turquoise lace covered dress to my do and was very flattered by lots of lovely comments from colleagues. I always wear the same clothes at work, and they are not very shaply, so most people hadn't notice my weight loss until I wore a tight dress.

Just off for a pub tea with OH for our anniversary It's £5 dinner night at the pub so very MSE! although I will lose a SFD!

Hope you've had a good starve day

stewby

Wow, it sounds lovely. Turquoise is one of my favourite colours. I love it as it reminds me holidays and is such a summery colour. Maybe you are the reason for all the lovely weather you guys have been getting. (sadly scotland didn't really get sunshine, just less rain than usual).


Still in full honeymoon planning mode so perhaps you guys can help...

... have had a rethink and now have three days in each place with a travel day in between (works out at four nights in each city). We have a bit of a hectic start and end but the middle is a bit meh.

day 0: travelling from home.

days 1 - 3: Los Angeles.

day 4: travelling.

days 5 - 7: Las Vegas (plus tours of grand canyon and hoover dam)

day 8: travelling.

days 9 - 11: Houston.

day 12: travelling.

days 13 - 15: ????????

day 16: travelling.

days 17 - 19: Washington DC.

day 20: travelling.

day 21 - 23: New York City.

Day 24: travelling home.

So the middle is the problem. I thought about Miami but there isn't really much to do and Orlando is all about the theme parks.
OH suggested Hawaii so he is now banned from further suggestions.
:doh:

Only kidding. He is only interested in what we will be eating and if there are any airplane stuff around to see.


Basically, any recommendations on good touristy places to go?? I am tempted by New Orleans but OH isn't too sure.
The plan is to go in September 2018.

What do you think?? Any suggestions??

Siouxsie32

Love the travel plans stewby Looking at that itinerary, a few things jump out at me:

1. Are you hiring a car in LA?
2. Which area of LA are you staying in?
3. Are you driving or flying to Vegas?
4. What about Chicago as your 4th city? It's a lovely place and you'd be heading in the same west to east direction.
5. Or crossing the border and going to Toronto? The drive from Toronto to Niagara Falls is spectacular.
6. Or Boston? Again, it's lovely...
7. Or Seattle? Not my favourite city, but there's a Boeing factory there that your OH could visit and satisfy his aircraft geekiness
8. Again, it's straying into Canada, but Vancouver's stunning!
9. San Diego's just over an hour's drive south of LA and definitely worth a visit. In fact, you could almost stay in San Diego and do a day trip to see the sights of LA!
10. If you can, you should definitely spend more than 3 days in NYC! There's a Concorde there that you can visit I bet your OH would love that!!!
11. Can I come too

stewby

We were not planning on hiring a car for any of the holiday to be honest, OH wants to try american airlines (not just the company but various airlines in america) so the plan is to fly.

We did look at going from Houston to New Orleans for a day or making it our fourth stop but it takes 9 and a half hours and the train only leaves at 12:10 every day.

Accomodation is already planned:

Los Angeles: The Garden Cottage.
http://www.gardencottagela.com/index.html

Las Vegas: The Bellagio (due to OH's love of the film Ocean's Eleven, although I have picked a room with a view of the fountains).


Houston: Sara's bed + breakfast Inn.
http://www.saras.com/

????????:


Washington DC: Woodley Park Guest House.
http://www.dcinns.com/overview-woodley.html

New York: The Plaza (due to our love of films again, home alone and crocodile dundee mainly). Can you tell what our maturity level is yet!!
:rotfl:

So that is our list so far... hopefully we will go to New York before then as I have 34 different things on the list.
We might need to go back to Washington DC too as the Smithsonian stuff is all free admission. So we have a lot to pack into our three days there.


One of the air and space museums is right next to dulles airport so we need to fit in a wee bit of plane spotting apparently.
:doh:

I will have a look at the places you have suggested. The plan was to have use the middle two places as a bit more relaxing rather than rushing. We plan on visiting every state so there is no worry about missing something. Some places we plan to visit more than once too (like New York)!!


We have two daytrips planned from Las Vegas... one to the grand canyon and one to the hoover dam which should hopefully keep OH away from the casinos for a while.


Seattle is kinda going backwards but Chicago could be an option. I am very tempted to stray into Canada but OH thinks that should be a different holiday.
He is all opinions but no suggestions if you know what I mean.


Believe it or not, we have four different air/space museums on our list already. Plus a heap of natural history and zoos. But they are more for me.


I will have a look and see what makes me go "ooooooooooooh". Thanks for the help.

Erm... sadly, not enough room in the suitcase for you Siouxsie32, especially not after all the shopping I am going to do. Heehee.

Siouxsie32

Great choice of accommodation - there aren't many places in LA worth staying if you don't have a car, but this place is perfect. I LOVE The Grove!!! There are some fabulous eating places (and shops! Although, if it's your first stop, best not to get carried away with the shopping straight away!). There are companies that do organised day tours if you want to see the sights (Kodak Theater, Hollywood Walk of Fame (oh, and there's another mall there too!), Hollywood sign etc) and they'll pick you up from your hotel so you'll be fine without a car there.

The Bellagio's an amazing hotel! The two side trips you're doing are very worthwhile and you'll have a great time. The hotels in Vegas are the attraction, and you'll find yourself walking along the strip visiting all the hotels...taking a gondola ride in the Venetian, visiting a patisserie in Paris, roller coaster ride in New York, all in one day Vegas is full on fun and I think you'll be wise to chill little after the trip there!

Yeah, to do Seattle, you'd have to switch your route. It's not the most amazing city, probably only worth a visit if you fancy a trip to the Boeing factory!

I've not stayed at the Plaza, but I have been to a function there - the location is perfect for Central Park, the Apple Store, Carnegie Hall and Times Square. The subway system is so easy to use in NY so you could easily venture down to Greenwich Village (well worth doing for a day). I know NYC like the back of my hand, so if you want recommendations (which I'm sure you won't need), just PM me and I'll see what I can offer

Sounds like an amazing trip! I love planning itineraries like this, and I love knowing why people visit the places they do. Why did you chose these cities? All good choices by the way

stewby

If you know New York so well, you could maybe help me reduce my itinerary there?? Like I said, I have 34 things and we only have 3 days. We are hoping to go before 2018 but if we can't it would be good to know what is highly recommended and what isn't.


Erm, just remember that we really like films so some of the places are literally because they are in films we love. Also, (ep) is for exterior pictures, we don't plan to go into these places i just want pictures of the outside.

* times square.
* yankee stadium.
* top of the rock.
* grand central terminal.
* empire state building.
* fountain outside the lincoln center.
* st patrick's cathedral.
* fao schwarz.
* gapstow bridge (central park).
* bethesda terrace (central park).
* bethesda fountain (central park).
* strawberry fields (central park).
* central park zoo.
* statue of liberty.
* ellis island immigration museum (if reopened).
* interpid sea, air and space museum.
* tenement museum.
* the highline.
* 9/11 memorial.
* museum of natural history.
* roosevelt island tram.
* fdr four freedoms park.
* battery park.
* new york police museum.
* new york fire museum.
* brooklyn bridge walk.
* charging bull statue.

* ghosbusters firehouse (ep).
* guggenheim museum (ep).
* mib headquarters (ep).
* chrysler building (ep).
* new york public museum (ep).
* flatiron building (ep).

Wow, that list is long. Erm... I will put my reasons in the next post to save it being too unbearable. The ones highlighted are must do's for us. But the others I am not to sure about. Obviously if we get to go before 2018 then there isn't a problem but if not then I am a bit overloaded.


So any advice on what to remove for another visit would be greatly appreciated.
:undecided

blindman

stewby wrote: »

If you know New York so well, you could maybe help me reduce my itinerary there??
:undecided

All the answer to your Q's are in the New York thread

Similarly the Vegas thread

Also a Southwest thread.