Author Topic: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai  (Read 37939 times)

Offline tzifanya54

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Re: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai
« Reply #60 on: October 21, 2015, 09:48:34 PM »
You need to get out more:
http://m.costco.com/gasoline-q-and-a.html

"Q: Can anyone buy fuel at a Costco Gas Station?
A: The Gas Station is open to Costco members only. There is an exception: Costco Cash Card customers do not need to be Costco members."


ETA- sorry for hijacking the thread @Yehuda. Now back to your regularly scheduled TR
I'm just saying it's funny bec I have never experienced otherwise. And T&C are meaningless, as we see in NY,NJ,CT it's not the case.

Offline efflpetzel

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Re: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai
« Reply #61 on: October 22, 2015, 03:28:29 AM »
Quote
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5777/21902801808_efef92bfa8_c.jpg


Rofl ;D ;D
I haven't laughed this much in a while

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai
« Reply #62 on: October 22, 2015, 09:12:27 AM »
Wow, great TR! Thanks for sharing all the details! The hard work is appreciated :)
Thanks, appreciate your kind words.

there was a sighting of lox.. from regal.. I guess they didnt want c"v to go away from the minhag from many generations
Sorry, don't get it...

ETA- sorry for hijacking the thread @Yehuda. Now back to your regularly scheduled TR
Hah, no worries.
Tzfanya - My research into this specific Costco was that you needed membership.

Wow, Wednesday and Thursday in the same post! Impressive! Too bad about the top of Waimea Canyon, but it definitely looks like you had a great time overall. I don't think I could've spent that much time at any hotel just relaxing if you paid me!
Hehe, Thursday was really short, so I figured I'd finish the Hawaii part in 1 post. We weren't just sitting around the hotel. We spent hours and hours swimming. But, I do understand what you're saying.

Rofl ;D ;D
I haven't laughed this much in a while
Glad I could entertain.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai
« Reply #63 on: October 22, 2015, 09:34:43 AM »
Friday, 8/21

After waking up at the crack of dawn to go to Shacharis with Yehoshua :P (to his credit, he did tell me when later Minyanim were), I hung around the house while the Yehoshuas went to work until it was a more normal time to wake my wife. We walked just a few minutes to breakfast Pico Cafe where we got some awesome smoothies for a slightly pricey $6 each.






Interesting way to get people to help pay the CC fees, I guess…

After breakfast, it was time to sightsee. I hadn’t done much research, but that was because Yehoshua really just laid out the main touristy activities, and we decided that’s what we wanted to do. With plenty of Uber referral credits at our disposal, we grabbed one from the cafe and headed to Rodeo Drive. The free 11 minute ride priced out at $5.60. Pretty good prices in LA. We jumped out of the car and headed down the famous street.



The morning haze that LA is apparently famous for was out in full swing.



I don’t know how busy Rodeo normally is, but we were confused by how quiet the street was. It was already after 11AM and every store was empty. Every store was also staffed with "sophisticated" employees by the doorway seemingly standing guard as if to say – Ha! You WISH you could afford to shop here. Of course, being LA, things had to be a little interesting…



It was fun to browse through as we walked to the end of the street, where, just across the street, we found the park that houses the Beverly Hills sign.



We continued to walk into the Beverly Hills neighborhood and really weren’t too impressed with the houses (at least on the streets we walked on). Most were smaller than 5 Towns houses – although just as boringly boxy. :-X :-[ Being LA, though, we passed some more interesting things...


Everyone needs a Statue of Liberty on their front lawn, right?


Dr. Seuss’s house? Yehoshua informed us it’s known as the house with no straight lines

After hitting up 2 of our touristy goals, it was time for lunch. I know LA is all about its food, but we decided to just go as close to our next stop as possible, so a free 15 minute/$9.15 (it was surging!) Uber later, we arrived at Pizza World.



I wasn’t in the mood for pizza, so I took a chance and started with the nachos, which turned out to be DELISH!



I then stuck with my Mexican taste buds and went for the empanada, which was basically like more nachos just with guacamole, rice and beans. If only stores had pictures of their food (I know, it’s not so easy). Whatever, the nachos were good and so was this despite having to avoid the beans (not really my thing).
 


Total cost for the 2 of us was $31, which isn’t cheap for a pizza place, but we didn’t really get pizza. After filling up, we walked across the street to the Farmers Market in the parking lot of the Grove, where we spent a few minutes browsing.



We then turned around and entered The Grove. When I first heard about it, I couldn’t understand why people make such a big deal about visiting a mall, but within minutes, I understood why. It’s a really nice outdoor mall, with a great feel to it.





The trolley adds another special element to the atmosphere (although we did not ride it).



After a while of browsing, we grabbed another Uber for our next destination. 20 minutes ($7.89) later, and we pulled up to Hollywood and Highland. This intersection, as well as the streets in the surrounding area make up LA’s Times Square.



It’s also home to all the famous Hollywood stars.



We walked around, avoided the creepy costumed people that somehow made their way here from Times Square ;), found a huge candy shop and stumbled into another really nice open-air mall.



A few floors up, we got our mandatory view of the Hollywood sign.




A little closer for you

As it was starting to get late, we grabbed our final Uber to head back to Yehoshua’s. However… once we got in the car, our driver – who informed us we were his first-ever Uber ride ::) – said his Uber account just kicked him offline. We checked my phone, and I, too, was locked out. He tried to get it working for 5 minutes, but then we all just gave up, got out, and unfortunately, requested a Lyft (couldn't get my Uber to login). Luckily, I had a $5 credit on that account, and we opted for Lyft Line (similar to Uber Pool) to save some money. There was already someone else in the car, so we were 3 altogether, and his stop was on the way to Yehoshua's. After we dropped him off, the driver tried picking up another passenger, but they were a no-show. Finally, after 28 minutes and $11.45 after the discount (including Prime Time surging), we got off… at the wrong place. Turns out we were a 15 minute walk to Yehoshua’s, and I put in the wrong address. :-[ We made it back in time to get ready for Shabbos and that was the end of a wonderful touristy day in LA!


Shabbos, 8/22

After meeting the Yehoshuas last year for a Shabbos in Venice and getting along so well, he kindly invited us for Shabbos in LA once he heard we would be there for Shabbos. Shabbos by their home was wonderful. We had a great time looking over all their Shutterfly books and shotglasses :) and enjoyed scrumptious meals! We checked out some of the Jewish neighborhood in the afternoon, and before we knew it, Shabbos was ending. After Havdala at around 8:15PM, we quickly packed up our stuff, said our goodbyes to the Misses and then Yehoshua once again graciously drove us to LAX for our 11:05PM flight. Without checking bags and with TSA Precheck, we were at the gate with plenty of time to spare, which was nice. We considered heading into the UA lounge, but decided we really didn’t need it, and within a few minutes, we boarded the plane. Turns out I hadn’t mentioned to my wife that we were flying J, so was pleasantly surprised. Even though it wasn’t lie-flat, it was still a nice, wide seat.



We got some drinks and got ready for sleep.


No lie-flat and no glass cups :P

There’s no KSML option on LAX-EWR (although that should change once all the UA flights from NY to LA switch over from JFK to EWR), but we weren’t hungry, so we just drifted off to sleep. I always have difficulty sleeping on planes, and I probably got in just a couple of hours, so I’m not sure whether these J seats actually helped me sleep more or not, but the overall experience was definitely better than sitting in coach. Morning came, and we landed just around 7AM. Without any bags, and in my favorite-EWR, we were in an Uber in just a few minutes. One last free ride later ($20 – crazy how much cheaper Uber in LA is) to my mother’s house, and we got into our own car and headed home. We were glad to have flown Motzai Shabbos so we had a full Sunday to rest and recuperate.

And that’s all he wrote! What an awesome trip; thanks for reading!

Offline benjie1305

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Re: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai
« Reply #64 on: October 22, 2015, 09:39:20 AM »
*clap clap*
Work hard, Play harder!

Offline 3yummyboys

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Re: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai
« Reply #65 on: October 22, 2015, 10:02:27 AM »
Amazing! Thanks for taking the time!
Our phones kept dying also, especially in Waimea. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with roaming.

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai
« Reply #66 on: October 22, 2015, 10:54:54 AM »
Bravo! One thing though: LA has fog/marine layer/low clouds in the morning. Haze is usually when it's sunny too, but what you saw was just fog. I'm glad you had a nice time though!

Offline stbaum

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Re: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai
« Reply #67 on: October 22, 2015, 11:07:45 AM »
That profile pic is beautiful!
My greatest achievement? I am fluent in FRIENDS quotes

Offline tzifanya54

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Re: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai
« Reply #68 on: October 22, 2015, 01:40:05 PM »
Amazing! Thanks for taking the time!
Our phones kept dying also, especially in Waimea. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with roaming.
Roaming deffinetly sucks up juice way more than regular.

Offline tzifanya54

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Re: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai
« Reply #69 on: October 22, 2015, 01:41:24 PM »
Thanks for taking the time. Very detailed and helpful report. I gotta ask did you use cc at pico cafe and pay the $0.75 fee?  ;)

Offline LoLo

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Offline @Yehuda

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Re: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai
« Reply #71 on: October 22, 2015, 09:07:26 PM »
*clap clap*

That profile pic is beautiful!
Thanks

Amazing! Thanks for taking the time!
Our phones kept dying also, especially in Waimea. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with roaming.
Thanks, who knows? My phone's charging was actually messed up, and I just got a new phone because of it.

Bravo! One thing though: LA has fog/marine layer/low clouds in the morning. Haze is usually when it's sunny too, but what you saw was just fog. I'm glad you had a nice time though!
Thanks! And sheeeesh. lol

Thanks for taking the time. Very detailed and helpful report. I gotta ask did you use cc at pico cafe and pay the $0.75 fee?  ;)
I paid with CC ::)

Offline Ergel

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Re: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai
« Reply #72 on: October 22, 2015, 09:24:38 PM »
And asked for the $.75 back?

To see the nice house in Beverly hills you have to go further in. Need a car to do that
Life isn't about checking the boxes. Nobody cares.

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai
« Reply #73 on: October 22, 2015, 09:34:04 PM »
And asked for the $.75 back?

To see the nice house in Beverly hills you have to go further in. Need a car to do that
You can walk, it's just easier with a car.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai
« Reply #74 on: October 22, 2015, 09:39:49 PM »
And asked for the $.75 back?

To see the nice house in Beverly hills you have to go further in. Need a car to do that
No... lol
Ah, good to know.

Offline tzifanya54

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Re: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai
« Reply #75 on: October 22, 2015, 10:02:39 PM »
And asked for the $.75 back?

To see the nice house in Beverly hills
  you have to go further in. Need a car to do that
Nothing to write home about IMHO.

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai
« Reply #76 on: October 22, 2015, 11:22:14 PM »
No... lol
Ah, good to know.
Leaves room for a return trip.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai
« Reply #77 on: October 23, 2015, 10:47:47 AM »
Leaves room for a return trip.
Ha! That is not why I would return.

Offline Dan

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Re: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai
« Reply #78 on: October 23, 2015, 10:57:01 AM »
Nice TR.
Moral of the TR: Everyone plans their HI days with tons of stuff to do, but forgets to factor the need for downtime in that planning...
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline Marco Polo

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Re: A DDF Dream Fulfilled: @Yehuda’s Trip to Kauai
« Reply #79 on: October 23, 2015, 10:58:43 AM »
Nice TR.
Moral of the TR: Everyone plans their HI days with tons of stuff to do, but forgets to factor the need for downtime in that planning...
Plus jet-lag usually has you crashing a lot earlier in the day then you imagined.
Quaerite et Invenietis.