I’ve come across a lot of Italians traveling to Albania on vacation. Even the supermarket was mostly packed with Italian products, because apparently it is an Italian supermarket.
Heading back to Cincinnati next month for an obligatory family visit. Anything new there worth checking out?
Have you eaten at a Jeff Ruby restaurant?
Have not. Also not a steak eater, though I see they have other stuff on the menu as well.
Good stuff?
The steak is pretty awesome. Have not had anything else (well whatever sides and dessert we had were also good).
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I leave for Kosovo early tomorrow morning.
I have no idea how it will top Albania though. The bar has been set pretty high.
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Ten minutes after arriving in Prizren, I walk into a cafe asking if they accept card and their response is to offer a free coffee. Felt so bad accepting it that I got the cheapest coffee on the menu.
Kosovo basically a lock for friendliest country in the world at this rate.
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Try a brothel next…
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I’ve been eating at the night markets in Taipei the last few nights and god damn there is some amazing stuff. Scallion pancakes, scallion bread, hanbaobao, pepper buns, melt in your mouth braised pork w/ mushrooms, spare rib + herb soup, beef noodle soup, all types of wontons and xiaolongbao, shrimp egg cheese bites, roasted scallops, hot pot, fried chicken, etc. Prices are super reasonable. Lu ruo fan is amazing value for $1. Woof. Plus the all the milk teas, papaya milk, avocado milk, strawberry cream tea etc.
The only thing I really didn’t like was the oyster omelette because it had this thick gelatinous goop in it that I found very off-putting. Stinky tofu was just alright. Same w/ blood sausage. And my one foray into offal soup was enough.
The bad new is I woke up today with a throbbing knee, I managed to retrigger my gout that hadn’t I hadn’t even thought about for a looong time. These dishes are like high purine kryptonite, and I went off the deep end. So I’m gonna have to take it easy on the night markets for now :(
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n1
I missed out on Taiwan while I lived in China. So disappointing.
I mean not technically. I did visit Kinmen.
Yeah, it took me a long time to get here. Kinda makes me wonder what I was thinking shipping off to small town China to teach English back in the day when I could have opted for Taiwan instead! Eminently better longer term livability. The tourist attractions in Taipei aren’t really anything special compared to other Asian megacities, but the vibe is cool, people are friendly, public transit is super easy, the food is great, good hiking around, seems like a very comfy place to live.
And now I’ve got 2 weeks to train it around the island :)
You gotten some beef noodle soup yet? My Taiwanese friends always had a special place in their hearts for that dish.
I haven’t flown Southwest in a looooong time. I’ve got boarding position B25, that’s not too bad right? $50 to upgrade to A1 - A15 for a 3 1/2 hour flight.
How picky are you? If you just want a window or aisle anywhere, you are good. If you want an exit row or bulkhead, spend the $50.
Totally not picky, traveling alone. Just checked out the SW reddit and the overwhelming consensus is that getting an upgraded pass is not worth it.
I have paid $25 to move up from the Cs when potentially getting my bag in the overhead was in doubt, but $50 from B25 is pretty steep.
C is very iffy (depends on which size of 737 you’re on if you wanna get nerdy about it) but mid-B’s you’re almost guaranteed a non-middle seat. There’s a slight chance people from a previous flight remain on the plane skewing the numbers, but it’s usually only like 10 people. If, as a rando, you got a mid-B seat, then my gut is the flight isn’t full anyways.*
The nightmare with southwest is that there’s only an un-sittable middle seat left for you with big dudes in window and aisle. I actually had a client who caused this intentionally—he was a pretty big guy (like 6’0” 275ish) and always flew SW, and when he boarded he would find the biggest guy on the plane in an aisle seat and sit in the corresponding window seat. The goal was so to make the middle seat impossible to sit in and thus the very last seat chosen, nearly guaranteeing an empty seat. The downside is what if the flight is full? Well, that’s only a downside for someone else; not his problem.
He was a total deplorable and abusive client and I was thrilled when I stopped having to work for him.
(*It depends a bit on originating airport but for non-morning flights you’re best case is pretty much late-B for a full flight even if you have your finger on the check in button 24 hours in advance (it’s best to set an alarm). People with status as well as connections who have already checked in will automatically be ahead of you—that’s usually like half the plane. Clearly I have flown southwest way too much fml.)
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Just once so far, but not from a place that specializes in it. But yea, a good beef noodle soup is definitely elite
This is how I got B25, checked in five minutes after it was available.