Surface Pro & MX Master 3 fully charged, mobile hotspot enabled (hotel IP was rejected).
BRING IT!!!
p.s. It gets nicer at night.
[linkimg]https://i.ibb.co/y4Ph1JH/20240910-142719.jpg[/linkimg]
This guy!!! 8)
Nice one.
You should be good on the hotel connection now. I whitelisted you.
Nice mouse and view ;)
Quote from: Grim_Fandango on September 10, 2024, 22:48
Surface Pro & MX Master 3 fully charged, mobile hotspot enabled (hotel IP was rejected).
BRING IT!!!
p.s. It gets nicer at night.
[linkimg]https://i.ibb.co/y4Ph1JH/20240910-142719.jpg[/linkimg]
That's funny, I did about the same thing a decade ago, with the first Surface Pro and the first MX Master.
Why do you guys play on laptops?
Quote from: Grim_Fandango on September 10, 2024, 22:48
Surface Pro & MX Master 3 fully charged, mobile hotspot enabled (hotel IP was rejected).
BRING IT!!!
p.s. It gets nicer at night.
[linkimg]https://i.ibb.co/y4Ph1JH/20240910-142719.jpg[/linkimg]
Looks a Bonnie view you have their grim! I would hazard a guess at Eastern Europe but I could be wrong (I haven't been there... yet).
Quote from: Piglet on September 11, 2024, 15:58
You should be good on the hotel connection now. I whitelisted you.
Cheers, I'm currently at The Cosmo', but will be moving on to The Golden Nugget tomorrow for our last couple of days before returning home.
To keep me connected, I purchased a US pre-paid T-Mobile SIM with 5G unlimited data and calls for just over £30, it's been a great purchase and has saved quite a bit on roaming charges.
Quote from: duke on September 11, 2024, 19:43
Why do you guys play on laptops?
I only use this when I'm travelling and very seldom when gaming. I brought it on this trip to have NL & US as my country code. I've already had ES when visiting Lanzarote & Tenerife:)
I do have a gaming laptop, but tend to use my ASUS PN51 Mini PC the majority of the time.
Quote from: Stealer on September 11, 2024, 21:05
Looks a Bonnie view you have their grim! I would hazard a guess at Eastern Europe but I could be wrong (I haven't been there... yet).
Haven't been there either, although I've always fancied visiting Prague. Hopefully I'll get there before too long.
I took the photo from my balcony at The Cosmopolitan Hotel in Last Vegas. I've stayed there before (on a pre-pandemic road trip), but have pushed the boat out a little this time and opted for a wraparound suite with a strip/fountain view.
[linkimg]https://i.ibb.co/b2mtVkS/20240909-172051.jpg[/linkimg]
And at night:
[linkimg]https://i.ibb.co/hXrN4ZX/20240911-233056.jpg[/linkimg]
[linkimg]https://i.ibb.co/tKX61hY/20240909-224653.jpg[/linkimg]
The current Mrs Fandango and I started our journey with an overnight stopover in Amsterdam before setting off to San Francisco. We'd been to AMS many times before, so no touristy photos were taken.
Initial thoughts on San Fran' were grim (:)) as we passed the Tenderloin district with it's rows of tents in the streets, junkies, and homeless persons, San Francisco is an extremely beautiful and photogenic city, but it has many problems, housing and drugs (Fentonyl) featuring high on the list.
I saw, what I thought was a Google Streetview or Apple Maps car driving around, then I spotted a few more. I later discovered that these were autonomous vehicles and can be booked via the Waymo app'. I wasted no time in booking one.
The first journey, although a little weird at first, went perfectly. The second trip was a little different. The car decided to re-route due to a traffic jam and started to turn to face the opposite direction (3 point turn in UK), but stopped half way through the manouvre, blocking both directions. A quick call to the Service team gave it a nudge back on track to finish the journey. They also have the Zoox cars in Vegas, but these are still mapping the area and aren't allowed on the roads without a back-up driver in case anything goes wrong. Also saw my first Tesla Cybertruck...what an ugly contraption it is.
Ticked most of the boxes regarding sightseeing, Alcatraz, Union Sq, Fishermans Wharf, Pier 39, Haight Ashbury, Golden Gate Bridge, hang off a cable car etc.
[linkimg]https://i.ibb.co/smRXJws/20240905-115735.jpg[/linkimg]
San Fran' on the left obscured by "Karl the fog"
[linkimg]https://i.ibb.co/h9qFPYJ/20240905-120744.jpg[/linkimg]
[linkimg]https://i.ibb.co/K5rq4L0/20240906-075733.jpg[/linkimg]
Even though San Fran' smelt like a badly maintained toilet pretty much everywhere you go, I'd visit again in a heartbeat.
The original plan was to hire a car and drive to Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, Carmel, Monterey, Santa Monica, Hollywood, than on to Vegas, but we decided to give the driving a miss and fly directly to Sin City.
Our first hotel in Vegas was off-strip (The Signature at MGM), we only plus side to this hotel was that we had a balcony and uninterupted views of the Sphere:
Tomorrow we're movong on to Fremont St. for a couple of days, then back home for a rest.
Happy to see all the awesome pics :) Enjoy a ton and this is called a dedicated gamer :) Even I don't play during vacations mostly. Now I want to visit the USA more for a vacation after the pics :)
Quote from: hellfire on September 12, 2024, 12:45
Now I want to visit the USA more for a vacation after the pics :)
Las Vegas is definately worth a visit if you can make it. The strip has all the fancy hotels, glitz & glamour, but I prefer Fremont St, for the down to earth atmosphere, although on the strip you can enjoy a breakfast burrito at the Eiffel Tower (sort of :) )
[linkimg]https://i.ibb.co/XLN4SPT/20240912-085104.jpg[/linkimg]
One thing I'm not a fan of is the tax and tipping culture. When buying an item, you'd expect to pay the price on the tag, however when trying to pay for it, an additional tax is added at the till which confuses the hell outta me >:D
I don't mind tipping when I receive good service, but to be expected to tip at every contact with a human is ridiculous, even the helicopter pilot who flew us over the strip had his hand out.
Yesterday we woke up to find the entire area blanketed by smoke from wildfires coming out of California. It mostly cleared a bit by the afternoon, but you could still smell it. It was also the anniversary of 9/11 and few buildings had their flags flying at half-mast to mark the date.
Wraparound balcony.
[linkimg]https://i.ibb.co/HDMBj2F/20240912-082528.jpg[/linkimg]
Panorama view from balcony.
[linkimg]https://i.ibb.co/gg5DdbJ/20240912-092902-1.jpg[/linkimg]
More nonsense later, gotta get ready to check out :)
Nice :D Tipping in USA is crazy lol. You never know how much you end up paying as the % changes from place to place. Other than that, outstanding views and yeah..will surely plan a trip over the next few years ;)
Different day, same city, different hotel.
We checked in to the Golden Nugget yesterday for a couple of nights before heading home.
Nice enough suite, but not a patch on the Cosmo', and no balcony.
The Plaza hotel at the top of Fremon St was used in Back to the Future 2 as Biffs Pleasure Palace (I've stayed there on a previous trip).
Donald J is flying in tonight for a rally at the World Market Centre, which is visible from my room.
Rumour has it that he's staying at the Trump Tower (also no balcony).
The smoke from the Southern Californa & Nevada wildfires is still visible but has cleared enough to see the mountains again.
Hotel - Fremont St entrance.
[linkimg]https://i.ibb.co/KyJcxRD/20240912-214728.jpg[/linkimg]
Fremont St
I went to Las Vegas mumble mumble years ago on a very small budget. Wanted to see the Grand Canyon and that sort of thing and Las Vegas was the closest place to fly into. Gambled a whole $10 as 5 x $2 spins of a wheel picking red or black. Lost all 5.
Quote from: Piglet on September 13, 2024, 22:55
Gambled a whole $10 as 5 x $2 spins of a wheel picking red or black. Lost all 5.
$2 a spin wasn't yesterday :)
If Mrs Fandango wasn't there, I'd wouldn't have bothered stopping at the gaming areas, but we were there as a"push the boat out" holiday, so ended up throwing some $'s at the machines and tables, not a lot though, certainly not enough to raise an eyebrow in Vegas.
So glad to be back home now, although I'm not liking the 41°F drop in temperature and the fact that our central heating has packed in. :(
Welcome back to no-crazy-tipping rules land ;) I never gambled in my life other than once my neighbour made me download an app to buy lottery and I won €4 I think lol. Beginners luck. If I win the Euro million I will live stream UT 24 hours a day :D I think I can play the coin machines in vegas for a €100 in cents lol?
And wow this autonomous taxi is just wow. Drives better than all UT nabs combined :D I would surely buy a self driving car anyday and wow USA is really ahead in this!! Thanks for the pics ;)
Quote from: hellfire on September 15, 2024, 21:46
And wow this autonomous taxi is just wow. Drives better than all UT nabs combined :D I would surely buy a self driving car anyday and wow USA is really ahead in this!! Thanks for the pics ;)
Lol, be careful what you wish for. This video of them looking for a parking spot was taken by a local at 04:00 :D
They're programmed to honk their horn if another car gets too close.
With this level of tech' you'd think that they'd have geofenced the perimeter or have a sensor at the entrance to disable the horn whilst in the area.
The Waymo took me through Chinatown on my last day in San Francisco.
Height Street used to be the in thing for weed in San Fran circa 2001 :)
Quote from: Stealer on September 16, 2024, 21:58
Height Street used to be the in thing for weed in San Fran circa 2001 :)
We passed by Jimi, Jerry, and Janis's houses in Haight/Ashbury while on the hop on/hop off bus. Charles Manson also stayed there...not a fan :)
[linkimg]https://i.ibb.co/R6ZfFnr/20240905-124203.jpg[/linkimg]
[linkimg]https://i.ibb.co/HnPFGwr/20240905-124104.jpg[/linkimg]
[linkimg]https://i.ibb.co/QpKTFLB/20240905-124225.jpg[/linkimg]
I've visited consumption lounges in a few different countries. My tour started off in Amsterdam, where I usually end up in The Greenhouse, Jolly Joker, Bulldog, or Stones.
The coffee shop culture in Amsterdam is (in the main) geared towards the tourist industry and most premises I've frequented have been dark, sticky, noisy and unventilated. The ones I've visited in Spain (Tenerife & Lanzarote) however have been far cleaner, had decent extractor fans, and have more of a social vibe with games such as chess, draughts, cards, Jenga, Connect 4 laid out for members to play (membership €20 pa).
Dispensaries & consumption lounges/coffee shops usually go hand in hand in The Netherlands and Spain, but not so in the US. Dispensaries in Nevada opened in 2017 and the first legal lounge in Vegas (Smoke & Mirrors) opened in Feb this year, so there are only a few dotted around.
I visited Smoke & Mirrors a couple of times while in Vegas. The staff were very helpful and knew their product and it's respective properties. The premises were fresh and extremely clean, it was a joy to visit.
Similarly in San Fran', the staff and premises were excellent. My lounge of choice was the Barbary Coast.
I won't go too much into the product here, but they had dab rig's available, which I tried for the first time :)