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Need some help planning my trip to the US

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Thank you, man! Me too! I'm incredibly excited. Happy that it's a lower profile game to increase my chances of getting tickets in what will undoubtedly be a difficult season getting tickets.

I remember doing back flips off my couch watching that Thunder game - must've been incredible in the arena. Somehow we always managed to beat them with a rubbish team. How did you go about getting tickets for that game? Just trying to get as much information as possible before I decide exactly where I buy from.

Oh really? Melbourne or Australia? That's awesome. When'd you come here? What did you enjoy most?

You can do the standard sites like Ticketmaster or Stubhub, but will undoubtedly only find tickets with severely inflated prices. I recommend checking out Flashseats (owned by D Gilbert I believe). I have been able to find good deals on tickets there in the past. The tickets automatically transfer to your credit card, so you just swipe it when you are entering the arena. It's hard to tell what kind of deals you will find on there considering the hype for this season, but if I were a betting man, I'd still say cheaper than the regular sites.
 
I'm pretty sure we just used Ticket Master for the tickets. Pretty simple. I'm sure you won't have any trouble getting them, especially this early. We got ours about two months before and there was lots of seats left. Even with how many more tickets will be sold this year, I still think you'll be fine. Also, if you can afford it (which I'm sure you can, judging by this amazing trip) its so worth it to spend the extra money on good seats. I've never had bad seats at the Q, but I have in Charlotte, and I would definitely recommend getting good seats. The experience is much better.

And about Australia, we went for a little over 2 weeks a few years back. We spent a week in Melbourne, a week in Torquay and just one day in Sydney. Melbourne and Torquay were phenomenal, but I wasn't a huge fan of Sydney besides the Opera House. My favorite thing was seeing such a different culture, and trying all of the food. And it's the most beautiful country (continent?) I've ever seen. Also just little things like learning how to play pick up cricket.

I've traveled a lot, but Australia blows everywhere else out of the water. (except for the flight :chuckles:)

Perfect. Looks like Soda Popinski is going to help me out with getting some seats in Section 111 which seems to be a pretty good location. Obviously the ideal thing would be to get courtside seats, but while I'm ambitious, I'm certainly not made of money haha. What sections have you sat in, in the past? As this is going to be my first time in the Q and I have no idea when I'll next be able to return, I want to make the experience as enjoyable and as memorable as possible.

That's fantastic. Melbourne is certainly the much better city of the two. What time of year did you come? We're the sporting capital of the world (thus my overzealous Cavs passion :)) so it would've been good to catch some local games. 100,000 people at the MCG watching AFL footy is sensational stuff. Torquay is definitely an interesting one. How'd you end up there/find out about it? A beautiful place and am surprised that it attracts international tourism - I actually thought it was just a Victorian thing! Sydney indeed is very overrated. Not as much to see/do as there is here in Melbourne other than the landmarks of course.

But culturally it's simply superb. Immigration of the 50s certainly helped with that - now we have authentic cuisines from anywhere between Italian and Thai food which I'm sure you would've had the luxury of experiencing. Where'd you learn to play cricket? Great to hear that you did some local stuff. And yes, I refer to Australia as a country. I still call "Oceania" the continent that encompasses New Zealand and other smaller islands/countries as well.

Haha! Everyone always hates the flight. The crazy thing for us is that we don't know any better. To get anywhere, we have to travel a significant and lenghty time. It's all normal for us :)
 
Thanks for all the tips guys!

So as far as Cleveland is concerned, definitely like the location of the Renaissane but think we're going to get with the Hyatt this time around - seems closer to the Q and we like the look of it a little more. Either way, both are close to each other so it's really 6 of one and half a dozen of the other, right?

We're just stuck with LA now. Not sure whether to stay in West Hollywood or Beverly Hills or somewhere else? Anybody got any tips RE: this?

Also waiting for the schedule to release so I know exactly what dates to be in Cleveland. The last thing I want to do is plan a trip and have us not playing during that particular time! Either way, we're going to construct our itinerary to accomodate game day.

Stay in WeHO preferably on the Sunset Strip...you won't regret it. If budget is no problem stay at the Standard. Otherwise the Best Western just down the street is another good choice. It's been 8 years since I lived on the west side of LA but there are a good half dozen hotels in that 3 block area. Any of them would be a good choice. When my parents would come visit from Ohio they would sometimes prefer to stay up on the strip because there was so much to do within walking distance. Lots of restaurants, clubs, bright lights, street traffic and pedestrians up and down the strip at all hours of the night kinda like LA's version of Vegas. Even if you're not into the club scene there are lots of outside restaurants, comedy store, shops, and people watching. Beverly Hills is a short distance away but all the hotels are way overpriced and sterile..the stores are way, way overpriced esp as you get closer to Rodeo Drive. Overall there just isn't as much to do in BH esp at night.
 
Stay in WeHO preferably on the Sunset Strip...you won't regret it. If budget is no problem stay at the Standard. Otherwise the Best Western just down the street is another good choice. It's been 8 years since I lived on the west side of LA but there are a good half dozen hotels in that 3 block area. Any of them would be a good choice. When my parents would come visit from Ohio they would sometimes prefer to stay up on the strip because there was so much to do within walking distance. Lots of restaurants, clubs, bright lights, street traffic and pedestrians up and down the strip at all hours of the night kinda like LA's version of Vegas. Even if you're not into the club scene there are lots of outside restaurants, comedy store, shops, and people watching. Beverly Hills is a short distance away but all the hotels are way overpriced and sterile..the stores are way, way overpriced esp as you get closer to Rodeo Drive. Overall there just isn't as much to do in BH esp at night.

Thank you for that. I think we looked at The Standard but it was a little pricey unfortunately. Do you know much about The Mondrian on Sunset Blvd? I think we were leaning towards that last night.
 
Perfect. Looks like Soda Popinski is going to help me out with getting some seats in Section 111 which seems to be a pretty good location. Obviously the ideal thing would be to get courtside seats, but while I'm ambitious, I'm certainly not made of money haha. What sections have you sat in, in the past? As this is going to be my first time in the Q and I have no idea when I'll next be able to return, I want to make the experience as enjoyable and as memorable as possible.

That's fantastic. Melbourne is certainly the much better city of the two. What time of year did you come? We're the sporting capital of the world (thus my overzealous Cavs passion :)) so it would've been good to catch some local games. 100,000 people at the MCG watching AFL footy is sensational stuff. Torquay is definitely an interesting one. How'd you end up there/find out about it? A beautiful place and am surprised that it attracts international tourism - I actually thought it was just a Victorian thing! Sydney indeed is very overrated. Not as much to see/do as there is here in Melbourne other than the landmarks of course.

But culturally it's simply superb. Immigration of the 50s certainly helped with that - now we have authentic cuisines from anywhere between Italian and Thai food which I'm sure you would've had the luxury of experiencing. Where'd you learn to play cricket? Great to hear that you did some local stuff. And yes, I refer to Australia as a country. I still call "Oceania" the continent that encompasses New Zealand and other smaller islands/countries as well.

Haha! Everyone always hates the flight. The crazy thing for us is that we don't know any better. To get anywhere, we have to travel a significant and lenghty time. It's all normal for us :)

I'm pretty sure I actually sat in 111 if I'm remembering correctly. It was wonderful.

And what you said about Torquay makes sense, I remember there not being many tourists there. And we were there over Christmas. But we had a free place to stay there because our Melbourne friends have a house in Melbourne and Torquay! Both phenomenal places. And there was just a group of people playin cricket in a field and we joined in, nothing too competitive. Loads of fun though.

Also, two of my favorite things from Australia were the drink Solo and meat pies. So damn good.
 
Just want to bump this quickly for the locals..

I need clarification that I'm not going to get robbed when I visit E.99th and St. Clair lol. I was asking across on a Bone Thugs board I'm on and they said that even if I want to jump out the cab and get a quick photo, they often look at robbing tourists wanting to take photos at the "famous corner."

Anyone got any other insight into this? Obviously I don't want to go there if it's not safe, but would really love just to drive by the area to see what it's all about. Been on my bucket list for near 10 years.
 
Sorry guys, just bumping this. Would really appreciate if anyone had any ideas regarding the above!
 
No idea on that one. I sense the danger is exaggerated. I'd talk to the cab driver. They will have a good sense of if it is safe or not. Or don't take a marked cab.
 
Just go during the day and you will be fine. Ive been in that area many times during the day and its fine. At night though. :party smiley 004:

There really isnt much around there either. If you want to get a photo, I would suggest getting an uber driver having them take you there get the pic, then head over to little italy which is about 10 minutes away and get some outstanding food.
 
Just go during the day and you will be fine. Ive been in that area many times during the day and its fine. At night though. :party smiley 004:

There really isnt much around there either. If you want to get a photo, I would suggest getting an uber driver having them take you there get the pic, then head over to little italy which is about 10 minutes away and get some outstanding food.

Thanks for the tip @WUJU! I was actually strongly contemplating using Uber over in Cleveland to head out that way as the service has recently started to take off in AUS so I think I might definitely do that.

I'm actually going to go first thing that Friday morning (I arrive the night before). Do you think this will be okay? I've seen the area hundreds of times in videos and in photos so I'd just like to experience it in real life.

Thanks for the tip on Little Italy. Where abouts is it? I'm actually half Italian myself so would be very keen in seeing the Italian food that Cleveland has to offer!
 
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Sounds like a good plan!

It's not very far from it. Maybe like ten minutes away in a car. Google little Italy Cleveland. Mama Santas pizza is the best
 
So I'm just doing a little more research now RE: our plans in Cleveland. Obviously there's no Browns football at the end of January but I'd love to at least go for a little tour of the stadium.

Did some research on the FirstEnergy Stadium website and read the following:

The modernization project at FirstEnergy Stadium is underway and will take place in two phases during the 2014 and 2015 off-seasons. For the safety of our fans we will not be offering stadium tours during this time. We apologize for any inconvenience and look forward to hosting you at FirstEnergy Stadium in the near future.

Please call (440) 824-3361 or email Tours@ClevelandBrowns.com for more information regarding tours.

Can anyone confirm that these renovations will be happening? And if so, is there anyway I can get some sort of 'Browns' experience when I'm there? Would be an awful shame to go all that way and not experience anything football related at all.

Thanks again guys!
 
@CavsSimmy I have no idea, but if you want to get a football experience and want to go a little bit out of Cleveland, go to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (in Canton).

Very cool experience.
 
Thanks @Simon. Times a little limited - how long would it take to get to from The Q roughly?
 
Thanks @Simon. Times a little limited - how long would it take to get to from The Q roughly?

Depending on the routes you take, I'm guessing around an hour.

That's if you have time of course.
 

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