Come Join Me For Pizza And Travel Tips. Win A Free Spot!
I’ve decided to resurrect a really old idea. Ten years ago, as I was getting acquainted with the frequent traveler community FlyerTalk, I hosted a happy hour at a restaurant I was an owner of in Georgetown. It was a great way to meet my fellow travelers and I even met uber-blogger and co-founder of Milepoint, Gary Leff.
I got the idea to resurrect it when I saw my good friend Scott from Hack My Trip doing happy hour events for travelers in Seattle.
To that end, I’ll be hosting a travel happy hour at Generous George’s restaurant in Herndon, VA on Saturday, June 14th at 5:00pm.
If you live in the DC area (or will happen to be here then) and want to attend, all you have to do is leave a comment here about one of your favorite places to travel (and why).
I’ll randomly select up to 10 folks and buy you dinner. We’re having pizza and pasta, and this is a kid-friendly event, so your children are invited as well.
They’ll be able to make their own pizza while the adults can share travel tips. I’ll be answering questions all night long while serving up pizza!
Thank you for sponsoring a happy hour; it’s a nice idea.
One of my favorite places to travel is Romania. The country is large and varied, inculding mountains, the Black Sea,and larger cities with good food scene and friendly people. My wife has relatives there, so we also get to see family. Her godfather makes excellent homemade wine. And, I get to drive a manual transmission car, which I haven’t done here in 20 years.
South India (eg: Hyderabad). High tech and traditional areas are split out as oil and water. It was eye opening to experience bazaars and markets in encumbered by modern technology.
Mark and Owen, I haven’t been to either place. Both are on the list for the future!
Mark,
My company has a large office (1,000+ people) in Hyderabad. I always thought it was very very hot and not particularly attractive a town. I’m glad to hear you like it. What are some of the things that make Hyderabad a good destination? To be honest, I’m kinda not looking forward to going. Anything positive you have to say would make me feel better *laugh*
David
It is definitely hot for most of the year – but I’ve lived in Panama for a couple of years, so that wasn’t bothering me. For me, it was an eye opening cultural experience. Going to the Begam bazaar, small markets, Golconda Fort were all great experiences for me. There so much more to explore – I want to check out Chennai or Bangaluru at some point!
Good to know! Yes, everyone speaks longingly about visiting Chennai 🙂 I’d like to see it, too!
I would love to meet others in this area who share my interest. Your offer to buy dinner is certainly gracious, but I am happy to contribute.
I crave novelty, so I don’t know that I have a favorite place, unless I described it really broadly as Europe.
I love the bustle and culture of large cities, but am equally thrilled to travel the tiny roads of far northern Scotland or the remote towns and monasteries of pre-break-up Yugoslavia.
I backpacked around the world the summer after I graduated from college and have loved seeing the world ever since!
Katherine, your favorite place is whatever you make of it. And yours sounds just fine!
(I’m nowhere near D.C., so don’t consider this an entry for a spot. However, very cool idea!)
I’ve always been a big fan of Hong Kong. Great city culture, nightlife, and very photogenic. But also some really surprisingly spots to get out into nature and walk for a day or a week. Beaches, amazing food, etc. It has literally everything I want in a city!
Stephen, we still haven’t made it to Hong Kong. I thought it might end up on the list last year but it didn’t. You’re making me jealous!
Why not this year? Oct-Dec is really the ideal time to visit as far as weather goes, and if memory serves there are a couple of festivals around then as well. I’d bet you could still find plenty of flights on points, too.
Stephen, it’s a distinct possibility. It would more likely be a mileage run to help re-qualify for EXP or 1K. I have a bunch of award flights this year. I’m in search of EQMs and PQMs!
Awesome! I’ll look forward to seeing posts about it. If you’re looking to do any of the hiking/outdoors stuff, I’d be happy to offer a few recs before you go.
Tokyo. I grew up there and have a bunch of friends in Tokyo so I try to go back at least twice a year.
I used to live in Great Falls before I moved to NJ and I’ve been looking for a reason to visit so I’m in! See you on the 14th!
Mike, I hit Tokyo two years ago for the first time and loved it!
My current favorite destination is tulum Mexico. The restaurants in the area were amazing and the beach, particularly in the nature preserve was amazing! Thanks so much for hosting this event…would love to meet you!
Ajay, I’ve been to Tulum a handful of times and love it. I remember fondly bringing my wife there on our honeymoon to show her how beautiful it was.
I have a wedding that night otherwise I’d have loved to attend. We met at the DC ftu last year learned a lot from all of you! Anyway I’ll always have a soft spot for the UK as I traveled there four winter breaks during college to visit friends and my gf at the time. Doing Tokyo and Hong Kong this summer so looking forward to that!
Jeremy, sorry you won’t be in town. Sounds like you have a fun travel plan this summer!
The Croatian coast and islands are my current favorite. Not quite undiscovered anymore, but Croata has good infrastructure, is safe and a good value compared to similar places on the Med. Live close by so would love to come free dinner or not.
Kim, Croatia is also on our list! I’m working on freeing up extra spots for dinner in case we have more folks than I’m giving away spots for. I’ll either make them available for people to pay or might do something to raise money for charity. Stay tuned….
My favorite international destination is London. It’s a city jam packed with great food, great culture and is always easy to navigate and explore, which makes it one of my favorites. Combine that with great hotels, and a great airline experience getting over, and it being a stepping stone point for exploring the rest of Europe, and it becomes one my favorite European destinations!
By the way – I live in Fredericksburg, VA, so only a short drive up for me.
Jamie, I’m in “very like” with London. I don’t quite love it but I’m eager to go back again. It is a great city with a lot of history.
My favorite place is a good beach in the Caribbean. We have been to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, etc. I live in Herndon so would love to meet likeminded folks in the area. Great idea. As somebody else said, I would love to contribute towards dinner too.
– narayana
Bruges is one of my favorite places. It is beautiful, walkable, has history, art, chocolate, and beer. When the tourists leave at night or in the early morning it is amazing. I also went ballooning here which was a wonderful experience.
I would love to attend, but don’t have a car and live in NoVa. My fav place to travel thus far is Italy because of the scenery, the food, the culture, the people.
Krystyna, I’m a huge Italy fan as well. If you live in NoVa, can you get to Herndon?
Favorite place to travel – tough one – I really enjoy Khao Lak, Thailand – beach and relaxation about 90 minutes north of Phuket Airport.
Very cool idea by the way on the meet-up!
What a cool idea – thanks for hosting! My favorite place to travel is Barcelona – the food, the architecture, the history – it’s always a refreshing and inspiring place to visit!
Shari, we loved Barcelona, especially Sagrada Familia and the food. Looking forward to a fun happy hour!
I absolutely loved southern Italy! Sorrento, Pompeii and Capri were all absolutely gorgeous…and delicious!
Tracy, we loved Southern Italy us well, Pompeii especially. Are you local or will be in the DC area for my happy hour?
I’m sorry I didn’t see this earlier. Yes, I’m in DC and would love to attend the happy hour!
My favorite place to travel is New Zealand. I am training for triathlon and New Zealand hosts a bunch of amazing triathlons. I want to complete a triathlon there and take a couple of weeks vacation there.
I live in Reston and the best thing about it is that airport is just 5 min drive. I am out from the flight and will be home in less that 15 minutes.
Ravi, I’ve never been to New Zealand but it’s very high on our list. My wife has run multiple marathons and a couple tri’s.
My favorite place is just outside macclesfield, uk. Tiny little village hotel there and just beautiful country. I need to go for work but it’s so pleasurable I hardly mind having to work! Would love to join your party next month (I’ll be just coming back that day from the uk).
Thanks, Matt! We haven’t been to that part of the UK.
I live in Herndon and would love to take part. One of my favorite places to travel is Paris. Not only is it a beautiful city with amazing food, but it is a great walking city with plenty of activities for kids.
Michael, we just got back from taking my daughter to Paris for Valentine’s Day weekend! We really enjoyed it, can’t wait to go back.
What a fun idea! We’d love to join you – and will have just returned from one (actually two) of our favorite places to travel, Italy and France – beginning in Venice, ending in the Dordogne area of France. Thanks for the invite!
Anne, we’re headed to Venice again this summer as well. Can’t wait!
My favorite spot is Cappadocia in Turkey. The strange karst rock formations can take days or weeks to explore, the cave hotels all have so much personality, and the view from a hot air balloon is spectacular.
Ed: would love to attend, although I don’t think that restaurant and Herndon are very metro-friendly. Maybe I can hitch a ride with somebody though, and perhaps next time you do an event downtown (how about Blue Duck Tavern so we all earn Hyatt points?).
Daniel, we’d love to have you! Maybe we can find someone who can come get you at the Metro. I haven’t been to Turkey yet, but it’s on the long list.
Oh, and there’s always Uber, Daniel! From West Falls Church metro I’m guessing it’s a $15 or $20 cab ride, but that really is a guess.
One place? Ohhh so hard! I’ll keep it recent and say staying with the kids in a real castle in Austria was a treat, and we loved Salzburg…esp. Hellbrun, the “prank” garden.
Love it! I’m looking forward to Hyatt’s castle at Baden Baden in a few years. See you next week!