Anyone around?

Beachy730

Thanks FTL!  Yeah we had a big, late lunch so we have just been putting dinner off.  

Kara I have been looking at the weather and am very glad it's supposed to be nice there this week.  It has been really cold here the past few days and I don't want that while we're looking at houses and yards and stuff.  There have been lots of talk of snow and stuff here though so hopefully we have no issues getting out or back.  

firsttimersluck

Beach you haven't seen any snow down there yet? We had snow and I'm only 25ish miles up from you. Lame. I like it on my yard and house.. not on the roads >_< haha 

Although definitely ready for some skiing!

Glad to hear that you'll get some 60s weather over there. That'll be a nice escape from the 30s! 

Danidawn20

hmm, if you get a furbaby, what kind?

Here is mine (his name is Winston and he just turned one year old)

kara811

FTL: LOL. It's okay though because I mostly got everything else I wanted for our wedding. He basically said this, "I love you, you're worth more than anything in the world so do whatever it takes to make you happy with this wedding," but he didn't realize how dangerous that can be when said to a woman! Haha Beach: oh no! I've been hearing about the snow there, my IL's have snow right now, saw and the pics and couldn't believe it. Hopefully Thanksgiving won't be bad for them. And have a safe flight! How long are you here for BTW?

Danidawn20

FTL- thank you. 

I'm sure once the school week starts, my activene will go down, but there are always weekends. 

Beach- Is the weather bad?

We have had unsually warm weather, today was 59 degrees, the normal is suppose to be like 20 degrees. And there is no snow, so far, which is not normal. 

kara811

Dani: Winston is a cutie! We would get a small dog, we were thinking about it but most likely wont get one. It will be an extra on our monthly rent too! Are you guys going on a HM?

Danidawn20

We are going on a HM, but Fi has it planned out as a surprise for me. He is having my best friend (one of my bms) pack for me, so I won't know until we get to the airport. He is also having her take me shopping for it.  I don't know if he thought about me figuring it out while I'm shopping for it, so I'll try not to and just let it be a surprise.

Beachy730

FTL that's weird that you have had it and we haven't.  I think they had it in Everett too, and we are basically in the middle of the both.  Unless we got it and melted before I even noticed.  We are dog sitting for a friend and have been keeping all the blinds closed since she barks at EVERYTHING!

We fly back on Thanksgiving Kara.  It was waayyy cheaper, and we figured it was no different being in the air on a holiday or just going to eat at some random restaurant.  

firsttimersluck

(answers for beachy because idk where she went.. probably dinner) 

The weather isn't really bad here yet. The mountains just got hit with 28 inches of snow yesterday, but that just means that the slopes open this weekend! 

The lowlands are somewhat clear, but snow/drizzle has been happening off and on yesterday/today. I think that's allt he snow we're suppose to get for a while now though.

Dani- cute pup! I want a dog  

THAT IS SO AWESOME!! That he is planning the HM in secret!! haha what a silly and sweet man I love it :} 

What are you hoping for? 

ETA: haha.. of course I write that and beach responds.. I fail... Sorry for putting words in your mouth beach!

Yeah skagit is a weird spot. Even Stanwood is! I remember three years ago I worked in Marysville and lived in Standwood. We got 3 inches of snow and when I made it to the freeway it was rainy.. I made it to Marysville it was in the 60s. WTF?!! Idk how that happens.. crazy WA :P

kara811

Dani: how fun!! Now I'm really curious where you'll be going. Beach: I didn't know you were here for that long! Where are you staying, the Lodge? I've flown Xmas night before. The day of big holidays are definitely a lot cheaper to fly.

Danidawn20

FTL- thank you.I am hoping for someplace warm and tropical. I think Puerto Rico would be nice, or I would love to go to Italy. 

firsttimersluck

gah! I'm envious of the trip! We couldn't work out a HM because of random stuff H was going through in September. We're hoping for an Alaska cruise this Jan/Feb though to make up for it.. and then something right before H deploys. 

Beach have you looked into the AK cruises at all? They aren't too bad in prices and are suppose to be AMAZING. I totally want to be on the top deck in a hot tub looking at glaciers. 

That would be amazing. 

ETA: Italy is pretty cool, but I think I would only want to visit there again if I was on a cruise so I could see a LOT in a little amount of time. 

Has he given you ANY hints whatsoever??? Now I'm soooo curious

Danidawn20

Kara- are you excited that you have almost been married for a year?

FTL- My fear is that we won't get a HM, I hope we will. 

Beach- I had a friend whose parents went on an AK cruise and they loved it.

kara811

You'll love Italy!!! Oh how I miss it.....

ETA: Just don't take Alitalia, worst airline ever. 

kara811

It's all I've been thinking about lately! Well, mostly our anniversary trip. We really want to go somewhere in the Caribbean. It's so crazy how fast time has flown by since that day. I really am becoming an old married hag!

Danidawn20

I do not believe in old married hags. 

Anyway ladie, I should get goingto bed.. I have a Vet appointment early tomorrow morning.  

It was great to chat, I loved it!

Good night.

firsttimersluck

hahaha

Kara- Noted. 

Night Dani. 

I suppose I should call it quits since it seems all others are.. Dam being on the West Coast and three hours behind..  

Beachy730

Sorry I keep disappearing.  I just put my stromboli together and stuck it in the oven.  Dang I feel like we are just eating a drunk dinner tonight since it's so late! 

Yeah Kara we were supposed to be there a full week.  Flights next Saturday were outrageous, so we looked at Friday and it was cheaper.  Our realtor said most offices would be closed Friday anyways, so we just decided to do Thursday instead.  Then we can come home and enjoy a few days of H being on leave here, since we are running very short on time left together before he leaves.

FTl we did look into the Alaksa cruise for our "honeymoon", but the timing didn't work out for us since they didn't start for the season until May.  H's ship has been in and our like crazy all summer so it was near impossible to get leave, and we needed to go home.  So instead we went up to Whistler for 5 nights after he got back from deployment, and that was awesome.

kara811

FTL: H and I have vowed never to take Alitalia ever again. They were such big pain in my behind!

Beach: How long is H on leave for? Is he missing Christmas again this year since I know they're leaving soon? H's ship don't even know if they have that Friday off which really puts a damper on our Thanksgiving plans. I am really crossing my fingers that they are though but he does have duty Saturday too. 

I too, would like to go on an AK cruise!! Maybe when we settle down in WA. 

firsttimersluck

Thanks for the tip, Kara. I seriously appreciate it!

What was the biggest complaint you had with them, outta curiousity?

beach- isn't that how it always works? haha.. Yeah we're looking into them for this winter. 

We wanted to during the summer as well, but they only seemed to be 7-14 day trips during the summer months because those are the popular months to travel. The winter months has more 4-day trips and stuff.. much more reasonable to fit in (and afford, let's face it!) We're going to try. 

But MAN whistler would be awesome! I have been keeping my eye on livingsocial for a good whistler deal! We do Stevens a lot though, since it's one of the cheaper places and still great slopes (plus I'm a waste of money because I'm a total newb to the skiing thing) 

What's the boat schedule for your h? (ie how many months out to how many in port?) Idk if you can/want to say that in this public forum.. so I understand not saying anything.. I suppose I could just seattletimes it. 

kara811

I guess I never told this story before on here but here it goes. Morning of our HM I get a call from Delta notifying me that the first leg of our flight is delayed which wold have made us miss our flight to Rome from Atlanta, so I call Alitalia and tell them the situation, and guess what they tell me? The flight has been cancelled long ago, we have no reservation from Atlanta. I was like WTF?! I was never notified of this shiit! Basically I spent 4 hours on the phone with both Alitalia and Orbitz(we booked through them) the morning of our supposed HM flight. At first they were giving us a flight 2 days later and I didn't budge and argued and they finally got us a flight from JFK, it was such an exhausting day! 

Now Part 2, big earthquake in Japan happens and we find out that Alitalia cancelled our flight from Milan to Tokyo the day before our actual flight. They did book us a flight to Osaka which is 5 hours away! They didn't notify us of this either, I just saw the status online. Yet again, we spent hours on the phone with them because we needed to get to Tokyo and they would only fly us to Osaka with no transportation back to Tokyo. Anyway, H's ship ended up telling us not to go back to Japan(it was a crazy time for military folks then) so we cancelled our flight and paid for a flight home to WA instead. Alitalia wouldn't refund us anything but our tax money which we never got to this day. We spent soo much money on international phone calls from our hotel because of all this crap, even with getting in touch with H's ship too. Our hotel in Venice, we had $200 worth of calls!!! Ridiculous!

I actually just read an interesting article from the HM board yesterday, apparently there's an EU regulation regarding flight delays and cancellations. Airlines are supposed to reimburse you money for any inconvenience they did to you. This poster got 600EU for her flight being cancelled, and even with a flight being delayed you're supposed to be paid too if the time goes over your orginal arrival time. This is for any flight flying into or out of the EU. I am trying to find out more about it, because I would love for damn Alitalia to compensate us for all the stuff we went through with them!  

Anyway, sorry I wrote a novella. I still cringe when I think about Alitalia.. lol I better sleep now, it's late! Night!

firsttimersluck

Oh man kara.. That blows crazy amounts. I'm so sorrry you had to deal with that at all let alone on your HONEYMOON! gah! Noted. THey are horrible with communication and I will never use them. 

Delta and blow big time, but they at least are good about giving you tons of crap for it. Last Christmas we got stuck on our way from SeaTac to Nashville and every time we would go to the kiosk to check on the status, it would spit out a free meal voucher every time. We ended up with 4 each plus a hotel voucher by the time it was done... It was pretty hilarious actually, and distracted us from the fact that we were stuck at SeaTac for forever. 

Man. I can't imagine going through all that pain that you went through! Especially on such a special occasion. Definitely keep looking. the EU is great with that kinda stuff (from personal experiences of Frankfurt Airport). I hope they do SOMETHING for you after all the crazyness that ensued  

Beachy730

FTL definitely keep watching Living Social, I know I have gotten several Whistler offers from them in the past.  We ended up just booking our place separately, and it was gorgeous!  We had a two story condo thing, with a private hot tub on a balcony, with a gorgeous view of the mountains.  It was WELL worth the money!  Plus it was right near Whistler Village so it was a short walk to all the restaurants and shops.

http://www.whistler-glaciersreach.com/1bdrm-ht-im.html

firsttimersluck

aww you are so sweet thanks for the link!

Wow that's awesome! 

That's what we're hoping for. The squadron always goes in on a cabin on random weekends in jan/feb but I'm not a fan of rooming it up with a big group.. This looks like the way to go. 

Yeah livingsocial has had some great deals so far! I'm just holding out a little because I know they'll get better as the season goes on. 

I signed up for groupon as well but it's way more complicated than livingsocial. We have done some awesome trips this summer with LS. 

Have you been to Steven's Pass at all? 

Beachy730

No I haven't gone there at all.  H was gone all of last winter, and will be for this winter too.  When he leaves here for deployment they aren't coming back to the west coast, so we probably won't go.  

Whistler was awesome.  It's not cheap since the Olympics were there and it's a popular place now, but tons of fun restaurants and shops and stuff.  I didn't even ski or snowboard at all (H did on 2 days) and I still had a great time and loved it.  How can you not when you soak in a private hot tub with this view?

But yeah I'm sure you'll get some good deals on there.  I'm really sad we're moving because I would love to be able to go back.  We have said we wouldn't mind moving back here though eventually, so one day hopefully we'll go back!

firsttimersluck

You guys move *roughly* before us, no? We only have a little over a year left year. The Navy decided to screw us over (shocking :P ) so we have no idea where we're going next :P We'll find out while H is deployed. 

H hated this place until he finally got to spend a summer here.. Now he is sad that he didn't get more backpacking in. This state is increidble for that. 

I know what you mean! Omg prices went crazy high since the olympics!! gah!!!! I got to meet a lot of famous people, working at  a Starbucks close to the border.. super cool.. but I would trade it for having better deals on skiing and lodging  

I know that your H will be gone for the last bit of your time here, but I'll keep look-outs for you (and me) on good deals to enjoy the time we have left here! So much to do, so little time! 

How did dinner turn out?