FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[57Johnnie]

Folks -- I know it is really hard to talk about COVID-19 without also talking about politics, but you need to do so.

One way to try to do this is to not call out politicians by name. That is a good start. Thanks.

Thanks Pat +k
You might add or specific position.

[GoldandBlueBU]

Adding to the scenes theme...One of my favorite pics that i ever snapped. In 2015 we took a hurriedly arranges family trip to Florida. Our only other trip there had been to Disney and i hated it. We decided on Clearwater Beach and stayed at the Hilton right on the beach. The hotel is the only property on the beach that is allowed to have alcohol right on the beach. Didn't have a view of the ocean and all four of us were crammed into a two bed hotel room. It turned out great...we could walk out to the beach and i remember the NCAA sweet sixteen basketball was being played that weekend and I went to a couple cigars bars and watched some games. On one of our last nights the sunset was about perfect and i captured this pic of my girls as this sailboat passed by.

We had a Florida trip cancelled for the last week of March / first few days of April.  The 6 year old was disappointed, obviously, but it is in line with everything else being cancelled, so she gets it.

The 3 year old has had the news broken to her about a half dozen times...she's equally surprised / disappointed every time.

First world problems, I know....

Thankfully Delta extended our flight credits through next year, so we can just re-use them.

[faunch]

Adding to the scenes theme...One of my favorite pics that i ever snapped. In 2015 we took a hurriedly arranges family trip to Florida. Our only other trip there had been to Disney and i hated it. We decided on Clearwater Beach and stayed at the Hilton right on the beach. The hotel is the only property on the beach that is allowed to have alcohol right on the beach. Didn't have a view of the ocean and all four of us were crammed into a two bed hotel room. It turned out great...we could walk out to the beach and i remember the NCAA sweet sixteen basketball was being played that weekend and I went to a couple cigars bars and watched some games. On one of our last nights the sunset was about perfect and i captured this pic of my girls as this sailboat passed by.

We had a Florida trip cancelled for the last week of March / first few days of April.  The 6 year old was disappointed, obviously, but it is in line with everything else being cancelled, so she gets it.

The 3 year old has had the news broken to her about a half dozen times...she's equally surprised / disappointed every time.

First world problems, I know....

Thankfully Delta extended our flight credits through next year, so we can just re-use them.

My soon to be 16 year old the other night said, "We should take and all-inclusive vacation." Mom and I shot that down in hurry. I've decided my favorite holidays are staying in a decent AirBnb or rental and communing in a neighborhood. I like having the comforts of home (kitchen, coffee maker) but having the ability to walk or take a short drive to restaurants and local spots. By far my most enjoyable vacations have been done this way.

[GoldandBlueBU]

My soon to be 16 year old the other night said, "We should take and all-inclusive vacation." Mom and I shot that down in hurry. I've decided my favorite holidays are staying in a decent AirBnb or rental and communing in a neighborhood. I like having the comforts of home (kitchen, coffee maker) but having the ability to walk or take a short drive to restaurants and local spots. By far my most enjoyable vacations have been done this way.

100% agree!  We've done a couple of VRBO's in FL shared with my siblings and have had great experiences.   That's what this one was to be as well...

[faunch]

My soon to be 16 year old the other night said, "We should take and all-inclusive vacation." Mom and I shot that down in hurry. I've decided my favorite holidays are staying in a decent AirBnb or rental and communing in a neighborhood. I like having the comforts of home (kitchen, coffee maker) but having the ability to walk or take a short drive to restaurants and local spots. By far my most enjoyable vacations have been done this way.

100% agree!  We've done a couple of VRBO's in FL shared with my siblings and have had great experiences.   That's what this one was to be as well...

This was going to be my accommodation in Portland a couple weeks ago...maybe this summer:

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/28492088?s=67&sharer_id=44436267&unique_share_id=73c79343-d313-4d2e-9460-9ca73428d9cc

[DuffMan]

If all went as planned, we'd be flying back from FL right now.

[Pat Coleman]

Folks -- I know it is really hard to talk about COVID-19 without also talking about politics, but you need to do so.

One way to try to do this is to not call out politicians by name. That is a good start. Thanks.

Thanks Pat +k
You might add or specific position.

One would think that a specific position does not inherently have to be political, but I have to concede that the world does not currently work this way.

[jknezek]

My soon to be 16 year old the other night said, "We should take and all-inclusive vacation." Mom and I shot that down in hurry. I've decided my favorite holidays are staying in a decent AirBnb or rental and communing in a neighborhood. I like having the comforts of home (kitchen, coffee maker) but having the ability to walk or take a short drive to restaurants and local spots. By far my most enjoyable vacations have been done this way.

100% agree!  We've done a couple of VRBO's in FL shared with my siblings and have had great experiences.   That's what this one was to be as well...

Take a look at VRBO's position in regards to rebates vs Airbnb. I've used both but will never use VRBO again. Luckily our only outstanding reservation was with Airbnb and the host had no interest in rebating my money despite the stay at home orders both here and there. Airbnb did the right thing and refunded me and some to the host. VRBO would have just happily left me screwed over.

[GoldandBlueBU]

My soon to be 16 year old the other night said, "We should take and all-inclusive vacation." Mom and I shot that down in hurry. I've decided my favorite holidays are staying in a decent AirBnb or rental and communing in a neighborhood. I like having the comforts of home (kitchen, coffee maker) but having the ability to walk or take a short drive to restaurants and local spots. By far my most enjoyable vacations have been done this way.

100% agree!  We've done a couple of VRBO's in FL shared with my siblings and have had great experiences.   That's what this one was to be as well...

Take a look at VRBO's position in regards to rebates vs Airbnb. I've used both but will never use VRBO again. Luckily our only outstanding reservation was with Airbnb and the host had no interest in rebating my money despite the stay at home orders both here and there. Airbnb did the right thing and refunded me and some to the host. VRBO would have just happily left me screwed over.

I was actually pretty pleased with how things went on our refund, both with VRBO and with the property owner.  The owner of the VRBO property gave us 50% back, though they were contractually obligated to give us absolutely nothing, so that was nice.

VRBO fully refunded their portion of the fee, and we obviously got the deposit, cleaning fee, and lodging tax all back 100%. It was just the nightly rental that we lost out on. 

If you cancel 60+ days out, you get it all back, so I don't have any issues with them, though I think it does vary a bit by property owner.

[OzJohnnie]

My soon to be 16 year old the other night said, "We should take and all-inclusive vacation." Mom and I shot that down in hurry. I've decided my favorite holidays are staying in a decent AirBnb or rental and communing in a neighborhood. I like having the comforts of home (kitchen, coffee maker) but having the ability to walk or take a short drive to restaurants and local spots. By far my most enjoyable vacations have been done this way.

100% agree!  We've done a couple of VRBO's in FL shared with my siblings and have had great experiences.   That's what this one was to be as well...

This was going to be my accommodation in Portland a couple weeks ago...maybe this summer:

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/28492088?s=67&sharer_id=44436267&unique_share_id=73c79343-d313-4d2e-9460-9ca73428d9cc

"The Aristocrat". Chuckle.

[OzJohnnie]

The 3 year old has had the news broken to her about a half dozen times...she's equally surprised / disappointed every time.

It's cruel to laugh, but the innocent, pure hopefulness of the very young is beautiful.  It breaks your heart and makes you laugh at the same time. 

[OzJohnnie]

If all went as planned, we'd be flying back from FL right now.

I was having a beer via Zoom with a couple friends last night and one of them had won a holiday earlier this week in a raffle he had bought months ago.  A 10-day cruise!  That caused quite a laugh.  We, of course, encouraged him to take the trip immediately.  He had actually already been issued a rain check by the cruise company to defer the trip a couple years.  He and his wife were still undecided whether they would do it or not.  Uh...

[OzJohnnie]

Booooo!

First the virus now this?  Pretty soon it won't be worth getting out of the bed in the morning.

It's constitutional for Ocean City to ban women from going topless in public, federal judge rules

[jknezek]

My soon to be 16 year old the other night said, "We should take and all-inclusive vacation." Mom and I shot that down in hurry. I've decided my favorite holidays are staying in a decent AirBnb or rental and communing in a neighborhood. I like having the comforts of home (kitchen, coffee maker) but having the ability to walk or take a short drive to restaurants and local spots. By far my most enjoyable vacations have been done this way.

100% agree!  We've done a couple of VRBO's in FL shared with my siblings and have had great experiences.   That's what this one was to be as well...

Take a look at VRBO's position in regards to rebates vs Airbnb. I've used both but will never use VRBO again. Luckily our only outstanding reservation was with Airbnb and the host had no interest in rebating my money despite the stay at home orders both here and there. Airbnb did the right thing and refunded me and some to the host. VRBO would have just happily left me screwed over.

I was actually pretty pleased with how things went on our refund, both with VRBO and with the property owner.  The owner of the VRBO property gave us 50% back, though they were contractually obligated to give us absolutely nothing, so that was nice.

VRBO fully refunded their portion of the fee, and we obviously got the deposit, cleaning fee, and lodging tax all back 100%. It was just the nightly rental that we lost out on. 

If you cancel 60+ days out, you get it all back, so I don't have any issues with them, though I think it does vary a bit by property owner.

You got a very accommodating host.

[miac952]

We got lucky with our VRBO host as well. He actually proactively called us about changing his policy for cancellation. We will definitely try to get back there at some point. VRBO's approach as a company however was very disappointing.