5 ms·

All of this advice is great except "Hawaii" which is merely good advice. There are much cheaper beach towns with unbelievable weather that aren't so isolated.

by eof 14y ago

All of this advice is great except "Hawaii" which is merely good advice. There are much cheaper beach towns with unbelievable weather that aren't so isolated. Hawaii is particularly nice for US residents without a Passport, but you should get a passport! I recently did something very similar, though I was at several beaches and in a couple mountain ranges. There is a sort of inverse relationship between adventure and monetary cost with regard to what your options are and you have a lot of choices. Hawaii is relatively low on the adventure and high on the cost; while something like Nosara, Costa Rica is a bit more of an adventure, and a bit cheaper while things like the language barrier still won't be distracting from getting work done.

Aloisius 14y ago
On the flip side, Hawaii is basically wired for fiber and is the connection point for a large number of transpacific fiber runs. That said, I've lived in Hawaii. Island time is real. When surrounded by a bunch of people who all stop working at 3 pm and constantly have parties, you stop getting stuff done. Also, I missed people to talk to about books, politics or even culture.
kijin 14y ago
Do Americans really have such a strong aversion to getting a passport? Why is "you don't need a passport to get to X" even in the list of reasons why you should go to X? A passport is just another piece of ID. Yeah, it's a bit too bulky to carry around in your wallet, but most of the time you don't even need to carry your passport around. Is it really so difficult for Americans to get passports? Or is passport-talk just an oblique way of saying "you don't need to worry about visas"?
- saryant 14y ago
  It's not visas, Americans only need those for a handful of countries and an American passport is #5 for visa-free entries worldwide, ahead of even Switzerland and Canada. [1] The problem is that getting the visa is 1) expensive ($137 when I got mine five years ago) and 2) time-consuming. Standing in the post office for hours sucks and even finding out which post office will accept your application is difficult. I had to drive to three different post offices because I got bad information over the phone. The whole process took me about two weeks. Getting my French visa, which was the purpose of my passport, took less time. So for your average family of four, [4x$137 + time] isn't worth it just for a more interesting beach than Waikiki or Miami. Not saying I agree with that logic but I think that's how a lot of Americans view it. There's enough to see domestically that it's not worth the added expense for a lot of people. I'm not one of them—I only started travelling internationally two years ago and I've filled five pages of my passport and will have another seven stamps and a long-stay visa in there by August. That, however, is not a normal travel pattern for most Americans. [1] https://www.henleyglobal.com/citizenship/visa-restrictions/ https://www.henleyglobal.com/citizenship/visa-restrictions/ (Whether or not Americans know how few countries require visas is another issue)

by eof 14y ago

Aloisius 14y ago

On the flip side, Hawaii is basically wired for fiber and is the connection point for a large number of transpacific fiber runs. That said, I've lived in Hawaii. Island time is real. When surrounded by a bunch of people who all stop working at 3 pm and constantly have parties, you stop getting stuff done. Also, I missed people to talk to about books, politics or even culture.

kijin 14y ago

Do Americans really have such a strong aversion to getting a passport? Why is "you don't need a passport to get to X" even in the list of reasons why you should go to X? A passport is just another piece of ID. Yeah, it's a bit too bulky to carry around in your wallet, but most of the time you don't even need to carry your passport around. Is it really so difficult for Americans to get passports? Or is passport-talk just an oblique way of saying "you don't need to worry about visas"?

saryant 14y ago
It's not visas, Americans only need those for a handful of countries and an American passport is #5 for visa-free entries worldwide, ahead of even Switzerland and Canada. [1] The problem is that getting the visa is 1) expensive ($137 when I got mine five years ago) and 2) time-consuming. Standing in the post office for hours sucks and even finding out which post office will accept your application is difficult. I had to drive to three different post offices because I got bad information over the phone. The whole process took me about two weeks. Getting my French visa, which was the purpose of my passport, took less time. So for your average family of four, [4x$137 + time] isn't worth it just for a more interesting beach than Waikiki or Miami. Not saying I agree with that logic but I think that's how a lot of Americans view it. There's enough to see domestically that it's not worth the added expense for a lot of people. I'm not one of them—I only started travelling internationally two years ago and I've filled five pages of my passport and will have another seven stamps and a long-stay visa in there by August. That, however, is not a normal travel pattern for most Americans. [1] https://www.henleyglobal.com/citizenship/visa-restrictions/ https://www.henleyglobal.com/citizenship/visa-restrictions/ (Whether or not Americans know how few countries require visas is another issue)