Joy and Austin: Pikes Peak or Bust?

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

3 hours ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

He probably wanted to see "real mountains" and vaguely remembers hearing about the "Swiss Alps" when he was in "school" so....

Or it was somewhere Jessa & Jinger hadn't gone.  Man poor Derrick and Jill got screwed in the Honeymoon deal, they only got to go to the Outter Banks, which is awesome BTW, but getting to go to Europe is a dream many American's don't get to do, it is so expensive to fly over there and we don't have enough vacation time to have it be worth our while. 

[Jana814]

Many people do not travel for whatever reason. I personally do not like to travel. I have not flown far in years and the only place I have even flown in the last few years is North Carolina. Also with my business of being a dog sitter I rely on people going away for making money. 

[mpheels]

48 minutes ago, allthegoodnamesrgone said:

I would have said that was doesn't happen, I'm in the Midwest and everyone almost has been to at least the bordering states, but I meet a woman about 10 years ago who at the age of 48 left the state for the 1st time, in face she had never even been more than 50 miles from where she was born in her life. I couldn't believe that. Iowa isn't a HUGE state like, AK, TX or CA you can drive west to east in 5 hours and north to south in 4 where in some parts of Texas you can drive for 10 yours and still be in TX. 

I can definitely believe ~3% of US residents never leave their home state. Just factor in the number of people who live at or near the poverty line - if you're working 60+ hours/week just to cover rent and food, any level of travel is out of the question.

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

2 hours ago, Italiangirl said:

I just travel around Europe with school parents and alone. It has been all good travel and if some og you want s to come to Florence i have a big house 250 sqare meters and 10 beds i will be very happy to have you here and show you the city  

I have several friends going to Italy in 2 weeks, we were originally going to go but we need a new roof as well and couldn't afford both, I'm still thinking I chose wrong. 

[bella8050]

3 hours ago, OyToTheVey said:

A side note: As a New Yorker, I can pretty much spot a transplant from a mile away. Native NYers behave differently. My friends and I sometimes play a game and then ask where the person is from. The spotting thing works both way. A tourist is always obvious.  

I am from NY but living in NJ now, stayed in the city with a friend from Florida who had been to NY before but still it was a tough job trying to get her to fit in. I kept losing her on the street because she didn't want to bump into anyone, got upset when anyone bumped into her, and in general could not keep up with the flow. Then she really made me mad when we were in a store and she bought this thin little fleece jacket as her "winter coat".  We haven't been back there together since 

[Daisy0322]

So is Jill the only daughter not to go abroad or have her honeymoon taped for TLC? I wonder if that was just bad negotiation or if that's what they wanted. It'll be interesting to see what JoKen does, considering things were done much differently in the days Josh and Anna got married. 

[Chewing Gum]

Maybe Jill spend all her TLC-flight-money on her Nepal-adventure so she could beat Jessa to the altar. 

[Iokaste]

20 hours ago, ItsMeY'all said:

Didn't mean to offend anyone and I love your respect for mental illenss. I have been in extensive treatment for OCD (including inpatient tx) for 19 years and had to drop out of college at one point because of it. Sadly things being symmetrical is part of my illness. I didn't mean for it to sound flippant in my post. When my parents were building a new home when I was a teenager they actually ended up moving my bedroom window so it would be centered in the room because I was having so many issues with it being off center. I was fortunate to marry a man with similar issues (that have actually led to him not being able to drive for over six years now) and life is so much easier with someone who gets it. Just have to make sure we aren't feeding off of eachother.  

Thank you for taking the time to explain :-) 
In my experience people who have no real clue what they are talking about tend to use "I am OCD", whereas  the OCD-affected people I know and myself included always say "I have OCD".
I just hate how it's okay to throw around mental disorders like that, and to me at least it makes it so much harder to explain about these things, when people think they know what depression is because they were sad once on a rainy day or that OCD is just another term for not liking to step on cracks in the sidewalks. 

Glad to hear you had supporting parents and the best to you and your husband :-)  

[QuiverFullofBooks]

I think Jill and Derrick chose A) not to have their honeymoon filmed and therefore paid for it themselves (or Jim Bob did) and  to focus on each other instead of their honeymoon location. Both good choices in my opinion.

[Bethella]

45 minutes ago, allthegoodnamesrgone said:

Man poor Derrick and Jill got screwed in the Honeymoon deal, they only got to go to the Outter Banks, which is awesome BTW, but getting to go to Europe is a dream many American's don't get to do, it is so expensive to fly over there and we don't have enough vacation time to have it be worth our while. 

I'm guessing that each kid gets one big trip, honeymoon or otherwise, paid for by TLC. Jill used hers up to go meet Derick in Nepal, so when TLC declined to pay for a second big trip they had the option of a low-key honeymoon here in the states or pay for it themselves.

[Iokaste]

About Americans being recognizable...
I live in a Scandinavian city that gets a lot of american cruise-tourists and yes, most of them are so cliche that they could almost be mistaken for SNL-characters.
It's a mix of a lot of little clues but generally it's older couples:
- women with a lot of make-up (more than women wear here for an everyday look) and very coiffed hair, both of which to Scandinavian eyes really clash with the sports t-shirts and loose running pants, they tend to wear. 
Combined with sunglasses and hoodies both with diamantes or other glittering stuff that you don't see on anyone over 12 here, or animal print.  
- men also wear those sports or commercial t-shirts, that most people only use for gardening or maintenance work here, and ill-fitting jeans and caps again with some sort of advertising on them.
Both men and women tend to wear footwear more suited for hikes in woods or mountains than for a stroll around a city that has had paved streets since before Columbus landed on that rock!   

But then, I'm usually never in doubt when I see a family from my own country anywhere in the world, which is not so much about the way they dress, but more about the way they interact and their mannerisms, so I guess we all do belong to a tribe somehow :-)    

[VelociRapture]

2 hours ago, subsaharanafrica said:

@VelociRapture Do it do it! And FWIW a resort in Barbados definitely counts. That sounds like a fantastic honeymoon. 

I mentioned it to him this morning. He liked the idea a lot. So we're aiming to take the kid(s) on a nice trip in about thirteen years. Probably to Europe and I would guess Italy would be pretty high on the list. Both sides of my husband's family are mostly Italian heritage and his paternal Grandpa came over from Italy as a toddler - he returned with the US Army during the Second World War. So it'd be awesome to see him and the kids experience at least the area surrounding Rome (and preferably Sicily as well, since my FIL's family is from there originally.) We'll see what happens.

I also jokingly said thirty years of marriage should be Ireland and/or Germany because that's where my families are from. 

[ItsMeY'all]

I live about an hour from Canada and we have the enhanced drivers licenses from our state but still always take our passports with us as backup. Plus, what if we need cross back over the border in a different area/state for some reason? We'd be in trouble. The thing we've noticed is that the process of getting back into the US seems to go faster when we use our drivers licenses instead of the passport.  For some reason it seems like it should be the other way around.

Also, why the heck does it take so much longer to get back into the US than it does to get into Canada or anywhere else for that matter?!

Getting into Germany the agent was a bit unnerving and repeated every question twice but, including waiting in line, it took less than half an hour. Switzerland...I don't even remember having to go through customs. Okay so China takes forever but they basically give a medical exam so I'll give then a pass. But getting back into the US always takes at least 3 hours.

Getting into Canada:

Me handing over passport/DL after a 20 minute wait in line (max). 

Agent: Welcome to Canada! What brings you here today? Me:Headed to Niagra for a long weekend.  Meeting up with some family. Agent: Where ya staying? Me: Hotel in Niagra the first two nights then the Great Wolf Lodge outside of town the next two nights. Agent: Ah, meeting family with kids, sounds like! Fun! What is in your ice chest/cooler back there? Me: Water, Mt. Dew, snacks, my medication. Would you like to open it? Agent while handing back our ids: Nah. You're good. Have a great trip.

Returning to the US:

We hand over id's after waiting in line almost 3 hours. Agent says nothing for several minutes. Finally asks where we've been and why. I laugh : Canada, obviously. Glare from agent. Agent: Unlock all doors and pop the trunk. Proceeds to search through ice chest, pulls out my meds and spends the next few minutes questioning me about them. A line of questioning then follows that includes things like wanting the names and ages of everyone we met up with while in Canada, what my husband and I do for a living, have we always lived at our current addresses (why not/why did you move?) , and did I have proof we went to Great Wolf Lodge. I still had my swim suit on under my coverup and offered to show it in addition to the reciept. Again the agent wasn't amused. One trip the agent asked me what my license plate number was.  Like an idiot I opened my door to get out and see what it was. Won't make that mistake again! Anyway, we finally made it through that point only to have to pull over in a group with like nine other cars, get out of our vehicle, leave everything but our wallets in the vehicles, and stand off in some designated area with everyone else while a big x-ray (or something) truck circled around everyone's cars for like 20 minutes.

I'm surprised that anyone ever wants to come here based on my experiences trying to return home across our borders!

 

[Coconut Flan]

I think it all depends.  I've never had any problem returning home, but I began to think we'd never get into Canada.   The first agent we met was great and expedited us in line due my attack of seasickness, but the guy at the desk seemed to think my daughter and I were entering Canada for some nefarious purpose.  We had to show every hotel, ferry, and airplane reservation or ticket twice and he carried my daughter's passport to two other agents before reminding us we needed to make sure we caught out flight home.  We laughed that we were such disreputable characters - once out of his hearing of course. 

Anyone can have a bad day or perhaps be caught by a heightened security warning.

[HarleyQuinn]

I see TLC is doing the riveting cooking class thing again.

[nst]

5 hours ago, faraway said:

Austin's wish, 

and TLC is paying so why not 

[HarleyQuinn]

Oh and here's all her bridesmaids, was this photo shared yet?

 

[VineHeart137]

1 hour ago, Jana814 said:

Many people do not travel for whatever reason. I personally do not like to travel. I have not flown far in years and the only place I have even flown in the last few years is North Carolina. Also with my business of being a dog sitter I rely on people going away for making money. 

I like to travel but I don't have a huge desire to travel far or even across state lines. I live in Florida. While I wouldn't mind seeing exotic places, oftentimes when my husband and I go on vacation we just visit different parts of our own state. There is so much to do and see here and South Florida is so different from Central or North Florida. We can hit the theme parks or try new beaches and there are many historic spots here. We like exploring our state. 

We want to go to Hawaii or something though, mainly because my husband has never been on a plane. The only time he has ever been outside the state is when his school took a trip to Washington DC (they took a bus). He was one of six kids and they couldn't really afford to travel.

[nst]

32 minutes ago, ItsMeY'all said:

Also, why the heck does it take so much longer to get back into the US than it does to get into Canada or anywhere else for that matter?!

nexus rules the world 

apparently this past when my parents left canada to go to Levensworth Washington there was a one hour boarder wait 

they sailed through in five minutes because of nexus 

I recommend it 

1 hour ago, allthegoodnamesrgone said:

I have several friends going to Italy in 2 weeks, we were originally going to go but we need a new roof as well and couldn't afford both, I'm still thinking I chose wrong. 

choose Italy always and get the roof done another day 

I have been to the best Hotel in Rapello - Hotel Brisbol (five star) where you can take day trips to Cinq Terra and Portifino 

Capri, Almalfi and Positino (sp) whole other stew 

and NEVER EVER stay in Hotel Eden in Sorrento - but sorrento is AMAZING 

[singsingsing]

Please don't tell people you're Canadian if you're not. Partly for your own sake - it's entirely possible that you'll meet someone familiar enough with Canada that your lie will be exposed. Just say that you're American and then act like a polite, respectful, dignified, open-minded human being. 

[HarleyQuinn]

The only time it's ever taken me a long time to get back from Canada was when I had men in the car  any time it was just a car full of girls, or just myself, I got through pretty easily. I know the check point nearest to where I grew up always busted people trying to bring back Cuban cigars. I'm assuming that's why they penis profiled so much. 

[SapphireSlytherin]

52 minutes ago, ItsMeY'all said:

But getting back into the US always takes at least 3 hours.

Two words:  Global Entry. 3 minutes and done. 

[HarleyQuinn]

I'm glad more cities are bringing in those kiosks for U.S Customs in airports tbh. I really noticed the difference the last time I went out of the country. Even more amazing since I looked like a serial killer in my kiosk photo. 

[singsingsing]

If you can get Nexus, it's totally worth it.

I can only recall two times I've really been questioned crossing the border. Once was when I went over with just my dad in my late teens. Even though we look alike, have the same last name, and were very clearly on our way to the hockey game (both wearing jerseys), I guess they wanted to make sure he wasn't kidnapping me or something. The second time was when my friend and I were going across to pick up another friend and bring her back across the border. I remember they wanted to know if anyone had asked us to bring anything over for them. We were idiots so we had no idea what they meant until later when we realized they were making sure we weren't smuggling drugs.

I live on the border, have crossed countless times, and have friends and family who cross daily or on a near daily basis. My advice: be polite. Be succinct. Don't question them (obviously if something outrageous is happening this doesn't apply, but that's pretty rare). Declare everything. If you get someone rude, don't take it personally. Don't make stupid jokes. Be mindful of what you have in your car and on your person, and be aware of what's legal and not legal to bring into one country or the other.

I once crossed the Ambassador Bridge and entered the U.S. by accident. The driver thought the road kept going. I kept telling her we were going onto the bridge, and she kept being like, "No, we can turn around up here!" And then... we were on the bridge.

[VelociRapture]

2 hours ago, subsaharanafrica said:

@VelociRapture Do it do it! And FWIW a resort in Barbados definitely counts. That sounds like a fantastic honeymoon. 

I mentioned it to him this morning. He liked the idea a lot. So we're aiming to take the kid(s) on a nice trip in about thirteen years. Probably to Europe and I would guess Italy would be pretty high on the list. Both sides of my husband's family are mostly Italian heritage and his paternal Grandpa came over from Italy as a toddler - he returned with the US Army during the Second World War. So it'd be awesome to see him and the kids experience at least the area surrounding Rome (and preferably Sicily as well, since my FIL's family is from there originally.) We'll see what happens.

I also jokingly said thirty years of marriage should be Ireland and/or Germany because that's where my families are from.