HOF
Posted 24 September 2015 - 08:36 AM
Where are you staying? We went 2 years ago with Laura's work.. stayed at Larimar. Didn't get the chance to leave the resort. Certainly was gorgeous... food was okay. Drinks and sun will be good for you guys.
We are staying at the Royalton. Supposed to be an excellent hotel, at least according to the reviews on Trip Advisor. 10 different restaurants.
I don't really have any desire to leave the resort anyway.
HOF
Posted 24 September 2015 - 08:45 AM
We are staying at the Royalton. Supposed to be an excellent hotel, at least according to the reviews on Trip Advisor. 10 different restaurants.
I don't really have any desire to leave the resort anyway.
Looks awesome. Enjoy!
HOF
Posted 24 September 2015 - 08:53 AM
Why is she less enthused about SCUBA?
She was pretty anxious and nervous about the whole thing. I'm super excited about it, so she sucked it up and did the pool class with me, and then I talked her into the open water training cert. She's usually quite adventurous and outgoing, but something about scuba got her spooked and she was just psyching herself out. She got through it, but still is more nervous about the diving than she is excited to see everything underneath.
She also doesn't really want to book anything ahead of time for diving, because she's worried she might get there and freak out and not wanna go. But a lot fo the best things, especially the liveaboards, book ahead of time. Should still be able to book a day-trip to some of the really great diving spots once we get down there if she's feeling ok about it, but may get stuck just doing whatever the local dive shops suggest nearby rather than getting out to the Similan islands for example. I'm sure the "bad" diving in Thailand will still be mindblowing, but I would like to get to the dive sites that people rave about as among the top-10 in the entire world. Though some of those are geared more towards experienced divers which neither of us are (and add her insecurities on top of that).
HOF
Posted 24 September 2015 - 10:12 AM
HOF
Posted 24 September 2015 - 10:29 AM
I would be tempted to do some dives regardless. Once in a lifetime type opportunity and all.
I'm absolutely diving at least two days. If I have to go it alone that's fine, it'll be an experience that's worth a fight 
But I'm hoping she'll get comfortable and do it and really enjoy it. I think if we snorkel first, or do a local dive that doesn't take a boat out to a reef, she'll be comfortable and then be more willing to do a more aggressive day trip or even overnight. And if we've got 3 weeks, we'll have more time to take it slow at first.
Fair-weather ex-diehard
Posted 24 September 2015 - 10:34 AM
A little bit if xanax might help...
When you ask her, what does she say about the diff between her normal adventurousness vs. this?
"The only change is that baseball has turned Paige from a second-class citizen to a second-class immortal." - Satchel Paige
HOF
Posted 24 September 2015 - 11:00 AM
I can see why the breathing thing freaks people out.
I'm fine with it but it does take some time to get used to.
HOF
Posted 24 September 2015 - 11:13 AM
A little bit if xanax might help...
When you ask her, what does she say about the diff between her normal adventurousness vs. this?
I think it's just the complete alien nature of the environment and a fear that if something goes wrong she won't be able to easily resolve the issue. Plus most of the trips are boat diving, and she is afraid of being so far offshore if she does freak out and want to leave. And I think the overall anxiousness she's feeling is leading to silly fears like sharks and rays. She is ridiculously bouyant, so they have to put a ton of weight on her to get her to sink, and that causes her to be afraid that she has too much weight and is somehow gonna forget how to control he bouyancy and she'll sink to the bottom.
None of her concerns are exactly rational, and I think she even admits that, but it's hard to get yourself to stop being nervous or anxious about something just through talking about it.
I doubt she'd go for the Xanax, but it's a good idea
HOF
Posted 24 September 2015 - 12:41 PM
My brother in law used to dive for the police and has done dives all over the world. He got my sister into it and she loves it too.
Really, I think once she does it the first time, everything after that will be good. She just needs to get over that initial fear.
Fair-weather ex-diehard
Posted 24 September 2015 - 01:44 PM
I think it's just the complete alien nature of the environment and a fear that if something goes wrong she won't be able to easily resolve the issue. Plus most of the trips are boat diving, and she is afraid of being so far offshore if she does freak out and want to leave. And I think the overall anxiousness she's feeling is leading to silly fears like sharks and rays. She is ridiculously bouyant, so they have to put a ton of weight on her to get her to sink, and that causes her to be afraid that she has too much weight and is somehow gonna forget how to control he bouyancy and she'll sink to the bottom.
None of her concerns are exactly rational, and I think she even admits that, but it's hard to get yourself to stop being nervous or anxious about something just through talking about it.
I doubt she'd go for the Xanax, but it's a good idea
Can you create opportunities for her to have more chances to get used to it before you go?
Re: xanax... it takes just an itsy-bitsy piece to do what you're after here... just the tiny size of it might help...
"The only change is that baseball has turned Paige from a second-class citizen to a second-class immortal." - Satchel Paige
HOF
Posted 24 September 2015 - 01:58 PM
We can go do the pool portion of the class again for cheap, which I think we'll do, but aren't really any opportunities to go out and actually dive somewhere real. Her fears now seem to be more environment based than simply being underwater.
I think she'll do it and eventually have a great time. I just think we'll try to schedule a little day trip or better yet just some shore diving if we can before doing a big 2- or 3-night liveaboard.
HOF
Posted 25 September 2015 - 05:46 PM
HOF
Posted 14 January 2016 - 03:28 PM
Chris, can you change the title of this thread to 2016?
HOF
Posted 14 January 2016 - 03:29 PM
I am kicking myself, and would recommend that anyone who has an inkling of seeing it, go and visit Istanbul as soon as you can. You don't know what's going to happen in that part of the world, and some of the news we've read have made us uneasy about visiting but it's regularly no. 1 for most beautiful cities. It's also cheap and you can fly non stop from Dulles. I've made a vow that it'll be the next European city I visit. At any rate, that's my pro-Turkey plug.
Terrorist attack there yesterday, killed 10 German tourists.
So sad for so many different reasons.
HOF
Posted 14 January 2016 - 03:33 PM
My uncle is Turkish, they go over every year or so, his mother still lives there.
Hope things calm down over there.
CFB Analyst
Posted 09 March 2016 - 11:44 PM
My sister is getting married in Verona in July. She lives in Munich so I'll probably fly there for a couple days first and then head down to Italy.
Don't know how long after the wedding I'll be able to stay in Europe, but I really hope to take the opportunity to drive down the Dalmatian coast of Croatia. Then head inland and visit Mostar and Sarajevo in Bosnia....it will be 20 years ago this fall that I was deployed to Bosnia, and I always said I'd go back someday to see how they rebuilt. It really was a scenic country.
HOF
Posted 10 March 2016 - 09:14 AM
My sister is getting married in Verona in July. She lives in Munich so I'll probably fly there for a couple days first and then head down to Italy.
Don't know how long after the wedding I'll be able to stay in Europe, but I really hope to take the opportunity to drive down the Dalmatian coast of Croatia. Then head inland and visit Mostar and Sarajevo in Bosnia....it will be 20 years ago this fall that I was deployed to Bosnia, and I always said I'd go back someday to see how they rebuilt. It really was a scenic country.
I was in Croatia and Montenegro last September and drove the Dalmation coast from Kotor in Montenegro to Split. Absolutely gorgeous. Drove through the tiny stub of Bosnia that separates Croatia, but I want to go to Bosnia too. I have a friend from the northern part of the country, but the southern part looks awesome too. She still seems sour about that part of the country -- so I don't press her on the subject. I'd like to see the bridge jump competition in Mostar.
I Miss McNulty
Posted 10 March 2016 - 09:41 AM
There is baseball, and occasionally there are other things of note
"Now OPS sucks. Got it."
"Making his own olive brine is peak Mackus."
"I'm too hungover to watch a loss." - McNulty
@bopper33
HOF
Posted 10 March 2016 - 09:48 AM
Went to Guadeloupe a few weeks ago on Norwegian Air out of BWI -- new routes from the US to there and Martinique for CHEAP. It's a budget airline that makes you pay for a check in and choosing a seat, but we didn't pick seats and were still seated together. The plane was also half full so that was nice. You do have to pay for everything on the flight, even water, so bring your own food and water. It's a 4 hr flight.
They speak French in Guadeloupe and Martinique, and not a lot of english and there aren't the mega resorts they have in Cancun and Jamaica, so it may be off putting to some but you can still go there for cheap and not spend a lot of money. The Euro is as low as it's been in 10 years, pretty close to the dollar, so you can go and pretty much spend the same kind of money on food and drinks as you would here.
CFB Analyst
Posted 10 March 2016 - 02:29 PM
I was in Croatia and Montenegro last September and drove the Dalmation coast from Kotor in Montenegro to Split. Absolutely gorgeous. Drove through the tiny stub of Bosnia that separates Croatia, but I want to go to Bosnia too. I have a friend from the northern part of the country, but the southern part looks awesome too. She still seems sour about that part of the country -- so I don't press her on the subject. I'd like to see the bridge jump competition in Mostar.
Definitely want to see the rebuilt Stari Most. The rubble of the original bridge was still lying in the river below when I was there, all they had was a temporary footbridge crossing the river.
I think the mistrust among the ethnic groups will probably always be there....it always was, even before the breakup of Yugoslavia. Hopefully they can at least manage to exist peacefully.
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