wild_turkey

Don’t ride the ferry. Fly in and enjoy the flight. If connecting through St. Martin, use St. Barth Commuter whenever possible. Winair is ok and has more flight availability, but Commuter is better. Also be careful in the SXM airport to listen for your flight announcement because both Commuter and Winair have been known to depart early if they have confirmation that all passengers have arrived in the airport. If connecting through San Juan, Tradewind Aviation is your only option but they are great. They have their own security access point and lounge and their customer service is excellent.

What’s your point? Unless you think Pfizer had a choice between developing a vaccine with temporary immunity or permanent immunity and willingly chose the former.

I received this information today so it looks like you can safely schedule a trip as long as you have A) been vaccinated B) get a PCR test C) stay 7 nights or longer. —————— It is now possible for travelers coming from North America to again vacation on St. Barth! The criteria for entry is to be fully vaccinated (age 18+), AND provide a negative PCR Covid test taken 72 hours or less before arrival, and a confirmed reservation for a minimum of 7 nights – villa or hotel. NOTE: Children under the age of 18 are exempt from vaccination requirement. Entrance is subject to approval, and St. Barth Properties is pleased to manage the process for all our clients. Contact us for details and to book your stay. We look forward to welcoming you to St. Barth!

I'm curious to know more about these problems for both the JnJ and AZ vaccines. 6 cases out of 6.8 million seems exceptionally low, but given that all of the cases of CVST occurred in women ages 18-48, I would like to know how many women in that age range received the vaccine, just to give some perspective more specific to the affected demographic. I would also like to know if any of the affected patients have pre-existing medical conditions or other risk factors for clotting disorders. I'm sure that will be a part of the ongoing investigation. For the AstraZeneca vaccine, of the original 11 patients, 1 patient had Von Willebrand disease, anti-cardiolipin antibodies, and Factor V Leiden. The study published in NEJM listed the other patients as having no other medical conditions, but did not specifically say one way or the other if other risk factors (oral contraceptives, obesity, pregnancy, smoking) were present. Here is the study for anyone interested: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2104840 It is frustrating for this to occur because it will certainly be a talking point for anti-vaxxers and it will likely influence some people who are on the fence to avoid all vaccines.

Oh and I saw you mentioned looking at Cheval Blanc or Le Toiny. If you go the hotel route, I personally think Cheval Blanc is the better choice of those two. It's a beautiful hotel on Flamands Beach which is surprisingly quiet but easy to get other places. Le Toiny is a little more isolated so it would be a farther drive to get most places, plus the Le Toiny hotel is not directly on their beach so you have to ride in a shuttle to get down there. It's about a 5 minute ride but not walkable and that might get annoying to do on a daily basis. That said, the beach restaurant/bar area at Le Toiny is one of my favorite daytime hangouts on the island, so if you don't end up staying there, I think it's definitely worth a visit for lunch and then make an afternoon of it in some chairs at their beach. We are staying at Hotel Christopher this time around. They don't even have a beach, but like Johnny Sack mentioned, you end up driving to lots of different beaches anyways. Christopher has a great pool with amazing views (see above), a great restaurant, and a nice spa.

Just a small fyi, St. Barth has been closed for travel since early February and there is no official word on when it will reopen. I don't think St. Barth has ever had much of a problem, but they are dependent on Guadeloupe and St. Martin for medical support and those islands have not fared as well. The decision comes from mainland France, so even though St. Barth wants to be open for tourism, they can't make that decision independently. They are scheduled to receive vaccines on April 19 and there should be enough to cover everyone on the island that wants one. The expectation is for the island to reopen in late April or early May, which will once again be dependent on all travelers having a negative PCR test prior to arrival, unless they decide to make an exemption for vaccinated people sooner, which has also been rumored but not confirmed. We are booked to be in St. Barth the first week of June. I'm optimistic it will actually happen.

Just went to Dayne’s BBQ at Lola’s Trailer Park and it was excellent. Panther City BBQ has long been my favorite but I would say this is very close if not better. I really like the outdoor setup there too.

Just ordered a Model Y for the wife. Long range model, black exterior, upgraded wheels, white interior. Estimated delivery late May.

Houston We Have a Podcast - it’s a NASA podcast about human space flight. Pretty good if you’re into that sort of thing.

Yes, if you roll the 401k into a traditional IRA and then do a backdoor Roth IRA conversion, you will have to pay the taxes on that. You might be able to split it up across multiple years so you don't take the tax hit all in one year. Or it might not be worth it at all, depending on your age and the amount in your 401k. Assuming you don't have an existing traditional IRA, you could also just start fresh with a traditional IRA that is used entirely for backdoor Roth conversion.

Correct. Unless you count the Vanguard traditional IRA that holds no money in it beyond the few days a year it’s serving as the vehicle to get money into the Roth IRA.

I use Fidelity for my brokerage account (not an IRA) but I use Vanguard for my backdoor Roth IRA due to their low fee index funds. My Vanguard account contains a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA. The traditional IRA is merely a vehicle for getting money into the Roth IRA. I make contributions to the traditional IRA about 4 times a year to hit the $6,000 max. The money never gets invested while in the traditional IRA, where it sits for about 2 days max before doing the backdoor conversion into the Roth IRA. Once in the Roth IRA, it gets invested into a mix of 3 different funds: 1. Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSAX) 2. Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund (VTIAX) 3. Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund (VBTLX) These are all index funds which have extremely low fees compared to the mutual funds, individual stocks, or ETFs you would buy through Fidelity. More specifically, these are the Vanguard "Admiral Shares" which are even lower fees than Vanguard's regular index funds, but the Admiral Shares require a specific minimum dollar amount (I think it's $10k?) to qualify, which you wouldn't have starting out, so you would start with the corresponding basic index funds (Investor Shares), which would be VTSMSX, VGTSX, and VBMFX. They will automatically convert to Admiral Shares later on once you have enough money in the Roth IRA. I know this is all kind of unsolicited advice, but I was at the same point you are a few years ago and I got a lot of different opinions, read several books, and spent time on the Bogleheads forum. It seems like this is the most foolproof approach to retirement planning you can do. You won't get rich by picking a hot stock like Netflix, but you will do very well for yourself over a long period of time. Besides, you can use your Fidelity account for a brokerage account where you play around with GME and other stock gambles. Also, if anyone else reads this and thinks there is a better way to do it, I'm all ears. This has just been my autopilot approach since making the initial decision to go with it.

Thanks for the input. I’m leaning towards that last week of August headed into the first week of September so the weather should still be nice but hopefully the crowds will be less. Croatia is already open, FYI. Need a negative PCR test to go. Tentative plan is to arrive in Zagreb at noon on a Friday, then fly out of Dubrovnik or Split the following Sunday. So that would give us 9 nights. I would like to divide that among 2-3 locations. Vis is for sure on the agenda. I’m told Rovinj and Zadar are good stops. Any other suggestions?

Next? Has he been taking land/homes thus far?

This. For all of you getting your panties in a wad over this and complaining about his motivations and self interest, would you prefer that Musk and SpaceX use Boca Chica without ever giving anything to the local community?

Just finished Defending Jacob and think it was a good watch overall. Definitely a little uncomfortable at times, but it was a much more polished version of HBO’s The Undoing.

I’m interested in Croatia in either mid July or early September. Any reason to pick one time over the other? I’d like it to still be warm enough for beaches but I was thinking September might cut down on crowds a bit.

What’s the best way to buy crypto these days? Coinbase? I have a Coinbase account from years ago with nothing in it. I also have PayPal and Robinhood but don’t use either. Suppose I want to scoop up some BTC or ETH on the next dip... do I need to have $10k or whatever already parked and waiting in one of those accounts or does it transfer quickly from my primary bank account?

This ended up working fine. Got an antigen test in Texas on Thursday evening, spent Friday-Sunday in Tulum, used my test to fly home without ever having to bother with a test in Mexico. Of course, that only worked because I did a 2 night trip, but it was easy for anyone in that situation. The Cancun airport didn't appear to put a lot of effort into verifying Covid tests. An airline employee briefly looked at our tests, and either he was really quick at seeing the info he needed or he just didn't care. Also filled out the Mexico travel form online, but it only asked a few questions and never required an actual copy of the test.

I've been needing to try M&O. It's about a mile from my house so nice to hear that it's good. I'm hoping that entire area builds up more.

I probably eat Kincaid's the most out of that group, but probably enjoy Rodeo Goat the most, especially if weather is good and can sit on the patio. Not sure I intended them in that particular order.

I'll second a lot of the recs here... BBQ - Panther City is my favorite. I like it better than Derek Allan's or Heim. Haven't tried Dayne's yet but hear it's also good. Sushi - Hatsuyuki (W 7th area) or Shinjuku (Magnolia). Don't care much for Blue Sushi or Sushi Axiom but that's just me. Burgers - Rodeo Goat, Hopdoddy, Kincaid's, Tommy's... they're all good to me in their own way. Coffee - Craftworks, Summer Moon, Ascension, Trinity Coffee House Other spots I like... Casual - HG Sply, Winslow's, Press Cafe, Salsa Limon, Nonna Tata, Malai Kitchen, Coco Shrimp Fancier - Ellerbe, Pacific Table, St. Emilion, Paris 7th, Wishbone & Flynt, Provender Hall, Waters, Grace

Muchas gracias! Btw, any suggestions where to eat dinner?

I just found this info on the CDC webpage FAQs: [quote]Q: Can a test taken before departure from the US be used to return within the 3-day timeframe? How will testing requirements be handled for short trips? A: If a trip is shorter than 3 days, a viral test taken in the United States can be used to fulfill the requirements of the Order as long as the specimen was taken no more than 3 days before the return flight to the US departs. [/quote] https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/ea/covid-testing-required-us-entry.html So it looks like I'm good to go, but I think I will still follow rage's advice of getting to the airport early enough to scramble for a rapid test if someone gives me trouble.

Well I was tempted to get an antigen test here tonight, before flying down in the morning. That would save me from messing with it later and eliminate the small risk of getting stuck in Mexico from a false positive test.