Yeah that's it.
It's because of a pipeline that was never happening, not because of increased demand to more travel with COVID on the wane and nicer weather.
OT: Airfares to Europe through the roof! $$
- Thread starter WhiteBus
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Yeah that's it.
It's because of a pipeline that was never happening, not because of increased demand to more travel with COVID on the wane and nicer weather.
Domestic flights in the summer could be worse unless they're to a major hub- eg, LAX, SFO, ORD from EWR.
I'd probably rent a luxury motor home type thing for it. Or else finally get the new SUV I've been shopping for for years.
For a couple reasons, I'm staying off commercial airplanes for the next year or so, except when I have no other choice.
Not sure those options cost less in gas than a plane ; ).
You can sleep quite comfortably in a full-size SUV, though. And find much more scenic places to camp than with an big-rig RV. Midsize SUV is even better for the latter but really depends on model in terms of comfortable sleeping. Try before you buy.
Probably not cheaper. But I don't want to fly unless I have to. At least for the year or two it takes the airlines to recover. I haven't done the math, and won't 'cause I mostly don't care. But I would think the overall cost of airfare, car rental, and a hotel over a few weeks would be pretty close to the cost of renting a midsize motor home and an enclosed car trailer and travelling around the country for a few weeks or so. Use the car to run around wherever we stop. No hotel costs.
I had an old Ford home-done conversion van in college (done by someone else). Slept in the bed in that thing a bunch of times and that was awesome. Loved that thing. If the van is a rockin, don't come a knockin. 😀 Alas, my GF at the time, eventually my wife, drove it over a curb and that was the end of that phase. LOL
I also slept in my Suburban several times. Fold down the back seat and third row seats and it had a huge sleeping space. But I'm leaning away from a getting another huge SUV (which I don't need) and towards something smaller.
The Q8s and Cayennes are on my list for test drives this summer. Also the Merc GLS450 which would be less fun than the RS Q8, but probably more comfy. Sleeping in any of them wouldn't be my first choice, though. But long road trips would be great in any of them. No real interest in the BMW SUVs. Their styling, as of late, hasn't been attractive to me.
I've driven several different Cayenne models on a race track. They were all great fun to drive. They might also have been comfy, but that wasn't where my attention was at 140mph. LOL Anyway, I need to test drive it w/an eye towards comfort and spaciousness.
I've also driven a Macan S (on regular roads) which was great fun - maybe a bit too much fun. It was more spacious then I'd first thought, but perhaps not spacious enough for my needs. The back seat area is kind of insufficient for long road trips for more than two people. Be good for two people and a dog, though.
One thought, though, that keeps me looking at stuff like the Kia Tellurides or Genesis GV80 or GV70, or a GMC Denali, is that I'd have less concerns about security with any of them versus an RS Q8 or higher models of the Cayenne or Macan. I always park whatever I'm driving in as isolated a spot as possible to avoid door dings or shopping cart dents. But I'd feel compelled to be more choosey about which destinations I'd drive a high end Audi or Porsche or Merc versus a GMC SUV. Also, I'd be surprised if I drive the SUV more than 3000-4000 miles per year. Do I want to tie up 100K+ for a car I rarely drive? Not really.
So anyway, all this indecision has been causing me delays in choosing what to buy. Can't settle on small vs large, sporty vs comfort, low-worry vs high-worry, etc.
Shopping is probably more fun than owning, when it comes to SUVs at least.
It's pretty interesting that there haven't been any major outbreaks on a plane. I just passed one year of not being a plane and traveling outside the tri state and I'm getting antsy lol.
It's not getting the virus that I'm concerned about. It's the economic impact of COVID-19 on airlines and the likely safety impacts of the actions the airlines took in response.
Yep. There were always going to be safety repercussions to cutting experienced staff, and other cost-cutting measures.
People shouldn't overreact; and I'm not. I'm just avoiding non-essential flight while I give the airlines time to recover from the severe beating they've taken this past year, and will continue to take for a little while more.
Ya think??! 😝
Had to laugh. Maybe you saw, but @bac2therac tried (and failed) to troll numbers about some storm from four years ago. At that point in Winter 2017, you were shopping for speakers and went on a verbose tangent about Paradigm speakers in a weather thread.
That, in the same week as you somehow creating extensive personal car shopping essays out of both European airfare and Honda Accord threads made me realize you might be one of the biggest gear geeks I've encountered - and I've encountered a long list of pro gear geeks, along with their (often geekier) amateur counterparts.
I say that as a gear geek myself, who has realized that shopping is often more fun than owning. The pandemic has developed a hobby whereby I shop for the absolute best piece of gear that meets a checklist of "needs" for super-specific situations, then try and find the best possible deal in all of the virtual world, real world, too, if possible. It amazes me that with all-time levels of consumerism and booming markets around much of what I want, I still often cannot find exactly what it is I want. But it's fun and addicting trying ; )
Yep. You get it. And for sure, the pandemic has definitely caused me to experience more instances of impulse gear buys. Despite me making the decision to curtail unnecessary big spending until the COVID-impacts on the economy and stock market are understood a bit better.
My problem is idle fun shopping sometimes turns into an unwanted impulse.
For instance, two weeks back, I impulsively wound up writing an email to my Porsche dealer to see what kind of discount he could do on a Macan GTS that I saw had just arrived on their lot and was close to the spec I would want. Sanity prevailed and I deleted it before sending. 'Cause I know I should get something with a bigger back-seat. But if I'd failed to reign myself in, and emailed him, and he got near my desired discount percentage, I'd have placed a deposit. Was a very close thing. Didn't help that my youngest was egging me on (he'd be driving it more than me, probably, that brat).
I'm really glad I didn't do it. But damn; I really want one. LOL
I've had similar urges, requiring curtailing, for the sound system you mentioned. I almost ordered 3 monoblock amps to power my mains and center channel speaker, thus offloading the AVR and freeing up more power for the surrounds and ATMOS channels, last fall. Backed away from that one, thankfully.
I did order a Bluesound Node 2i a couple weeks ago, probably subconsciously as a reward for not ordering the Macan. But those are cheap.
It's a sickness. 🙂
The Paradigm speakers have been totally awesome by the way. The Node 2i allows me to stream Master tracks (i.e. MQA) from Tidal (or similarly high res streams from Qbuz and other services) at 24 bit/192 hHz, using my phone or iPad, as well as my computer or various other devices on my network. The result sounds way better than Spotify's not particularly good best bitrate. I figured I might not be able to tell, but the difference is very obvious and a blind A|B test proved it. I'm finally pushing the speakers the way they're intended to be pushed.
Now if I only had those three monoblock amps to add even more depth and really bring out the soundstage in the music... 😁
The GTS is fun. Very fun. Drove my buddy's for a bit. He ended up getting rid of it after 6 months...something about "the roof is too low...i'm too tall" as an excuse to move into a S4, then a few months later, a 550xi. guy goes thru cars like no one i've ever known. in the course of 2 years, he went thru 6 brand new daily driver cars (M5, S6, A7, SQ5, Macan GTS, S4, 550xi) excluding the 2 different Wranglers that he has as a weekend ride.
being a gearhead is fun. having the means to indulge in the gear is better. having the means to be stupid about it is even better.
Ha. Autos and audio are two of the deadliest ... always so many damn tweaks and additions you can make, and no matter how much you invest, it can always be just a little better by spending a little more.
I was just looking at the Node 2i as the perfect "family Christmas gift that's really an awesome gift for me." Really want a streamer/CD ripper from Cocktail Audio so I can easily integrate my whole CD collection directly into the system (I know I could probably do it easily and cheaper on a computer, but I'm an old-school hardware guy and like dedicated audio components). They used to have one for around $500 or $600 but looks like everything they have now is in the thousands ... nicer component-style stuff, though.
I just saw Spotify announce they're launching a full lossless service, so that'll probably be what gets me to pay for a music service again and add one of the above, or maybe a HEOS bridge to my hard-wired stereo.
I gotta go check out the Spotify news. I have a Spotify family plan, and Tidal. Spotify has much better mechanisms for finding new music I like. Tidal has much better quality. If Spotify really is gonna deliver lossless too, then that’s gonna kill Tidal, unless there’s some kind of gotcha I‘m not seeing.
My couple weeks of Node 2i experience has been very positive so far. I started out using it via WiFi. just to see how well it worked. And it worked great, after some initial setup connection weirdness. But I switched it over to a wired Ethernet connection since I have an 8 port switch behind my AV rack. Why add more wireless noise to what’s already floating around the house for mobile devices.
Anyway, it has been great sounding. But I was just in my kitchen, streaming Tidal from iPad to the node 2i (using Tidal connect, not the BlueOS app), with the node 2i connected to my AVR. And something weird was happening. Tidal would stop playback a bit before the end of each track and just sit there, refusing to play, until I hit the next track button in Tidal. Did it three songs in a row.
Haven’t seen that until just a bit earlier tonight and have been using it a bunch the past couple weeks. Sounds more like a Tidal glitch than a Bluesound/node 2i glitch, but not sure.
Hopefully it’s a gremlin than will go away on its own. Tidal has been periodically a little glitchy, although they always seem to catch it and update the app quickly.
Edit: Just checked out the news about Spotify HiFi. It’s good news, but won’t kill off Tidal because it’s only gonna be CD quality (and lossless). So 16 bit / 44.1 kHz. Tidal MQA is 24/192. Damn. Looks like I’m gonna have to keep paying for both. Cue Joe Pesci talking about how they always screw us (Lethal Weapon reference).
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While not nearly as pricey as autos and audio, I am this way about camping/backpacking equipment. So much so that my wife go my a plaque that reads:
Camping. where you can spend a small fortune to live like a homeless person.
of course, I am a very comfortable homeless person.
Love the plaque motto, ha!
I'm there with you on camping (and slick, ultralight backpacking gear, even though I don't really backpack much). Currently looking to build up a camper vehicle - shopping both 4x4 trucks and vans, and all the camper equipment I'd need to make it a fully functional little motorhome. I had a fairly affordable step-by-step plan, until I decided I needed something hard-sided for camping in winter and grizzly country - immediately fractioned my options and skyrocketed prices.
Do you use pro deals? I might be mixing it up because of the tank avatar, but I believe you're in (or were in) the military, which should give you access.
Nice on the 4x4.
I haven't yet gone down that path, but one of my key goals for retirement in a a few years is to load up an RV dragging a trail ready 4x4 and spend a bunch of time out hitting up out of the way locations across the US and Canada.
While I haven't used one, I love the idea of car top tents, looks like they would work great in the Southwest(where its not too cold and there is limited bear risk). I agree probably not a great choice further north.
I don't really leverage my service much when it comes to shopping. I assume you mean something like GOVX.com In the past I looked and it didn't seem to be that much better a deal.
My current obsession these days are Benchmade knives. I have had a G10 Griptilian for years and love it. Now I want a Bugout for when I am backpacking(the Griptillian isn't light) and I want a Adamas for when I am car camping.
Nice on the 4x4.
I haven't yet gone down that path, but one of my key goals for retirement in a a few years is to load up an RV dragging a trail ready 4x4 and spend a bunch of time out hitting up out of the way locations across the US and Canada.
While I haven't used one, I love the idea of car top tents, looks like they would work great in the Southwest(where its not too cold and there is limited bear risk). I agree probably not a great choice further north.
I don't really leverage my service much when it comes to shopping. I assume you mean something like GOVX.com In the past I looked and it didn't seem to be that much better a deal.
My current obsession these days are Benchmade knives. I have had a G10 Griptilian for years and love it. Now I want a Bugout for when I am backpacking(the Griptillian isn't light) and I want a Adamas for when I am car camping.
RV + 4x4 would be a ton of fun, too - less weight and bulk on the trails would be a nice advantage versus an all-in-one 4x4 camper.
Similar to that, my dream would be to drive a lightweight overlander about as deep into the wilderness as I could get it, set up base camp, then continue on via bikepacking, backpacking, packrafting, splitboarding or some combination thereof.
That pic is the exact type of thing I had in mind when I said "fairly affordable step-by-step plan." I have a Tepui RTT much like that one, and was going to get a Tacoma TRD Pro + bed rack, then put a slide-out kitchen below, awning on the side ...piece by piece. Even talked to Tepui's founder about the possibility of cutting a hole in the floor and running an air heater into it for winter snowboard trips. Then I read up on forums and found out, heat or not, RTT would get quite uncomfortable in winter ... and also a possible grizzly snack pack!
Once you move up to hard-sided options, Tacoma becomes too limited in payload, Tundra doesn't have a 6.5-ft bed with crew cab ...so back to square one.
Yeah, GOVX is the type of thing I meant. I am not familiar with that one since I'm not gov, but use a few others regularly. Tons of top brands in tents, camping gear, cooking gear, hiking, backpacking, knives, etc, typically 20 to 50 percent off. Used to be more like 30 to 60 percent, but they've diluted it over the years. If interested, drop me a PM and I'll give the links - technically I shouldn't blab them all over a public forum, although it's not exactly a well-kept secret in the internet age.
Honestly, these days I find a lot of stuff cheaper on sales at big retailers, public discount, sites like The Clymb, etc, but it's a nice option to have, with some key stuff you'd never find brand new for so cheap ( like RTTs).
Good to hear on Benchmade. Never had one, but they definitely make nice-looking stuff. Had a Gerber multitool recently that was garbage and fell apart, so not going back to them next time. I'll give Benchmade a look. CRKT makes some interesting stuff, too, but no real-world usage experience.
I would put Benchmade and Spyderco as the top two mass production folding knife brands. Benchmade is all over the military and law enforcement. The Axis lock on the Benchmade is by far my favorite folding mechanism on a knife, one handed open and close even with gloves without ever worrying about fingers in the blade path.
On the RTT yeah there is just too much cold air circulating around you to ever stay warm. Same reason I don't use a hammock(my preferred sleeping arrangement) much below freezing.
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With the portal now open, does Gavin Wimsatt enter after the spring game?
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