Posts by Charles Ramos7

silvermarlin9 said:Look, most of it is basically just sitting "cemented" in a bank account anyway, so it’s not like I can just grab it on a whim... it'll have to be in dollars, obviously, since that's what we deal with here—but what happens when everything shifts over to the Euro? I'm just worried about the exchange rate going haywire and getting stuck with some terrible conversion rate. 😂

silvermarlin9 said:So, I've got 20 $0.00 sitting in savings. Is it actually smart to swap at least some of it into dollars and then put that into a CD? Sure, the interest rate is lower, but isn't it safer if the dollar just keeps climbing against everything else? 🙂😲🙄
I was thinking about grabbing maybe 2,000 dollars to lock away, while leaving the other $1667 in dollars?

What would you guys do if you were holding that much cash?

Sam Ruiz60 said:I have my doubts. It feels like someone whispered in Vujčić's ear that this current path just doesn't make sense, and now we're seeing a subtle shift in defense policy. Is he already preemptively pivoting to avoid an intervention from the Federal Reserve?

How exactly are we supposed to reduce wages? I can't see any other way to make this work, unless we go through with a massive devaluation of the dollar.

wearytrucker22 said:http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...96O1CT20130725

wearytrucker22 said:Every single flight to and from Tunis has been canceled.
But honestly, what can you do? The deals were too good to pass up. Screw it—life’s short, and as long as those trips were dirt cheap, I'll take the headache.

driftingfalcon57 said:A colleague of mine just got back from the Dominican Republic. Two weeks of all-inclusive luxury plus a few island excursions, all for a pretty decent price.

When she finally touched down, I asked how it went. She just talked about the restaurants, the cocktails, lounging by the pool—she said the highlight was definitely the little pigs they roast on a spit. Apparently, it’s incredible.

That was basically her entire summary of a two-week trek to a Caribbean paradise. Honestly, most people come back with those exact same impressions, whether they're staying at an all-inclusive chain in Turkey, Tunis, Morocco, or somewhere similar.

As for me, I spent a single day on Long Island this year. I could go on for two hours about our experience, though I suspect Long Island isn't exactly the crown jewel of what America has to offer. (Sure, prices are a bit steeper than in Washington, D.C., but paying $5.75 cappuccino
didn't bother me one bit.

wearytrucker22 said:I've stayed in those all-inclusive resorts exactly three times, and it’ll never happen again. The first time wasn't even that bad, except for how they treated us like cattle, tagging us with those plastic wristbands.
By the end of a fifteen-day trip, though, you realize what a total joke the whole thing is and it just gets under your skin. They don't actually serve a bottle of wine at your table; instead, everyone has to line up at the bar like animals just to have some bartender pour out a tiny splash of wine. In a supposed five-star all-inclusive hotel, actual service doesn't exist—unless you count the people clearing away the plastic cups.
Basically, the service isn't zero stars; it's non-existent. The food is like a cafeteria; you have to wait in line to scoop your own food onto your plate, basically serving yourself and your wife. You go on vacation to relax, but by the end, you feel like you're working as a waiter. Everything seems fine until you're in a group and decide you want a drink. When it comes to what you can drink, they dole out tiny portions. Eventually, our group of guys ended up having to "borrow" some glasses from some German tourists just so we could actually drink properly—we were swapping two-ounce pours back and forth so one guy was always heading back to the bar. It wasn't that they banned us, it was just that they limited us to one glass in hand. The next time, we just took a 19 miles taxi and picked up twelve bottles of the cheapest wine and a crate of water for about $20. We gave the bartender $15 to "steal" some ice for us so we could chill the wine in a plastic bin we also bought. This was in Tunis.

In Turkey, they totally ripped me off. They advertised a golf resort but conveniently forgot to mention that the golf course is 20 miles 19 miles away from the hotel and you have to pay $15 for a taxi to get there. Honestly, maybe it's my fault; I thought the hotel was in a major hub like Atlanta, but it turned out to be way out in the sticks near Alanya. I figured it was just a typo in the brochure. And the prices outside the hotel in Turkey? Mind-blowing. A crappy coffee is $3, a beer is $5, and restaurant prices are pretty much the same as back home.

Greece, Spain, Sicily—now that's much better. You pick a hotel with breakfast, and usually, it's in an actual town where people live right next to the hotel. Prices are clearly marked, and you have everything from local eateries and pizzerias where lunch is $5 to high-end places where you can spend $5,000 if you feel like it.
Coffee goes from maybe $0.75 to $1.20, beer is $2-$3, and wine ranges from $3 to $1,000 depending on what you're after.

Aaron Gonzalez4;45995284 said:
That kind of crowd is just peak hypocrisy—paying for an all-inclusive getaway in paradise, while exploiting people under the palm trees...QUOTE]
I'm not sure what you mean by "slaves." You can find all-inclusive resorts in Spain, Greece, or Malta... even here in the States, though it's not quite as common everywhere.

Rebecca Green7 said:Received. I have been working in the federal civil service on a permanent basis for many years now, and my income is steady and reliable.

Aaron Gonzalez4 said:And what, you planning on swimming to Italy?

And then what happens when you actually reach the hotel? A taxi driver will charge you an arm and a leg—seriously, they'll treat you like a walking ATM. Public transit is a joke, and restaurant/cafe prices? They aren't exactly cheap either—nothing compared to the deals we get back home. I couldn't even find a stupid little souvenir magnet for less than five bucks. Honestly, the sights are pretty much the same level of excitement as what we have over in Vir.

Thankfully, the crowds are mostly retired folks from the UK, so the whole scene is just a total circus.

Aaron Gonzalez4 said:Total nonsense.

I swear, I’m sick of these journalists and their "calculations"... Not long ago, they were trying to argue that it’s just as cost-effective to drive down to Split via the interstate or take an AT&T connection because you can pick up a few pounds of lamb along the way. 🙏 😁

Cheap "all-inclusive" resort tourism simply doesn't exist here—and honestly, thank God for that. If someone wants to drop $500+ just to lounge by a pool and hunt for some boytoy, they can easily head across the Mediterranean with a bunch of tacky German tourists. Besides, visiting during the peak summer season is basically like shooting yourself in the foot.

Comparing any other coastline to ours is borderline blasphemy.

Service and restaurant prices fluctuate wildly; the real "best buy" will probably be the Albanian coast for a long time, though their tourism industry is stuck in the 60s, dreaming of looking like a cheap knockoff of Lloret.

If people have a problem with fast food along the coast, they should try actually interacting with the locals—then they might find a decent meal for a few bucks on Maui (where you can still find great apartments for two for maybe $50-$60), let alone in the less hyped destinations.

Edit: I just remembered those "brilliant" investigative reporters mentioned Malta and Cyprus as our competition. Please. By the time you actually get there, you've blown through a huge chunk of your annual budget, and don't even get me started on how expensive things are over there.🤣

wearytrucker22 said:Where exactly were you staying? And please, don't give me Tunis, Egypt, or Turkey.
You could suggest even worse places, if you're willing to accept that the maximum salary for you and every single citizen in America would be maybe 100 bucks a month.
Honestly, it's embarrassing to admit that current wages in hospitality venues along the Gulf of Mexico are around $4,000$1667 for seasonal workers who get food and a place to sleep while working 10 to 12 hours a day. And sometimes those shifts run crazy long, from 18 to 24 hours.