Travel hacks and advice

[Conundrum]

I thought everybody knew.

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/w...n/19craig.html

I live in the same town as ol’ Lar when it went down so pretty big news around here.

[Flyoverland Captive]

I thought that restroom was demolished?

[Conundrum]

Might have been. The bathroom I used seemed new but was in the same area. They definitely had wide stalls.

[SkiBall]

They want to make sure you are committed to the cause.

[phatty]

I always bring snacks in my backpack whenever I travel. Trailmix, bars, some candy usually. Apparently now they want you to pull it out and put in bin cuz my pack got pulled aside over it. Old couple in front of me as well. Guess I will make sure to put in its own bag here on out.

This happened to me 3 of my last 4 times at 2 different airports. After years of cruising thru security, I was pissed.

[Kenny Satch]

Speaking of bathrooms I always travel with coleman travel toilet paper
MEC has better paper but the coleman is small enough to put in your pocket with a plastic case dispenser You never know when or where you have to go. Roadside emergencies in the bush this comes in handy.

[Kenny Satch]

I'm sure it was mentioned but an extra pair of underwear. Wear ones you are ready to throw away because maybe a hot burrito with extra sauce that should've been tossed out days ago could turn a silent and deadly fart into a killer shart
And for God's sake never wear white pants. Never.
Black or dark brown just encase you can't keep your shit together.
On a return flight from Aruba this old guy looked like he sat on a box of melted chocolates wearing white pants. I approached him offer my extra batman boxers and t-shirt to wear around his waist until he could get to the restrooms. Poor old soul was so embarrassed

[summit]

On Kenny's brown note, I always have pepto tablets and immodium tabs in a little pocket of the backpack. It hasn't ever happened to me, but I wouldn't want to be on an 8 hour flight without some pharmaceutical backup.

[Foggy_Goggles]

So "secrets of the business traveler" has turned into "how to not shit yourself and what to do if you do shit yourself". You laugh, but I'm sure someone has a story about a high powered business man that showed up to a meeting....how do you say...less than clean.

It's like avalanche safety. While it is invaluable to train rescue protocols, it is best to not be in the avalanche in the first place.

Since we got here, someone bump that frozen thread about bathroom destruction.

[iceman]

I thought that restroom was demolished?

Ot at least slayed?

[old goat]

Watch "Up In the Air", with George Clooney.
pRana Zion pants are nice to travel in--the stretchy fabric and venitlated crotch are more comfortable than most pants. Last trip I spilled a cup of coffee on my lap and the pants were dry in minutes.
Zipping through US customs with GE (you dont need to carry the card, just scan your passport) is nice--you get ahead of all the chumps waiting in the regular line--only to have to wait because your bag is the last off the carousel. One more reason to have only carryon, especially if you have a tight connection after landing at the first us airport (by tight I mean 2 hours).

[Art Shirk]

Ok road warriors. Let’s play guess the location/terminal. There should be sufficient clues in this one.




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[Supermoon]

Looks like Boise, but I don’t think it is.

[Art Shirk]

Big Buck Hunter gave it away. Solid job.


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[Kenny Satch]

Watch "Up In the Air", with George Clooney.
pRana Zion pants are nice to travel in--the stretchy fabric and venitlated crotch are more comfortable than most pants. Last trip I spilled a cup of coffee on my lap and the pants were dry in minutes.

I now wear my MH chockstone pants whenever I travel. Besides the PJ like comfort it also great if I spill something on them. Not waterproof but still resistant enough not to get soaked.
I also have the super chockstone jacket with scuba hood which is great for protecting my scalp form any potential nastiness left by the thousands of previous passengers.
Yes I am a germophobe and that why I carry a small spray bottle of 99% alcohol. Sucks having this condition.
In 40 years my bare feet have never touched a carpeted hotel floor. Have to wear shoes or flip flops. I can't even get settled in until I wipe down every door handle, light switch, remote control, toilet seat/handle, facets and whatever else requires my hands touching.

Weird if I stay a friend's place and he's a dirty slob I have no such fear.

[huckbucket]

30 FPS


60 FPS

[iceman]

^^cool. what would happen at higher fps rates, do you know?

[huckbucket]

^^cool. what would happen at higher fps rates, do you know?

Cold fusion? Crack in space/time? I dunno. That's as high as my phone goes, thank the gods.

[JongDoe]

https://youtu.be/TviGil-U2HE



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That is a whole nother perspective there. Funny stuff.

[RShea]

The phone flashlight is key for finding the hidden outlets

All/most of the outlets on planes are now worn out, with the exception of brand new birds, and plug constantly falls out. Yay

Except when the charger plug is needed for said phone and using the flashlight for even a few seconds is enough to send the device immediately to dead status...

[RShea]

Also speaking of wifi- hotels can have some pretty poor excuses for wifi- free or paid, it really can suck even if there are not that many guests. But if you pay for sucky slow wifi then you are really going to probably cross that off your list of hotels to use in the future (unless as mentioned you have the unlimited data and good 4G cell signal that you can hotspot off of for your other devices.) Also if you find a hotel with good wifi in one room, make a note of that and try and get that room or one close to it each time, so you are not far from that good strong signal.

Some of the hotel chains are now requiring a certain minimum speed for wifi or they get marked down and or fail the franchise inspection. Still does not stop some hotels to offer less than 1 mbps download speeds and consider it acceptable. (Good well designed mesh wifi access points are not rocket science, but can be expensive to be done right...)

And if you are using public wifi, best to be cautious or have capabilities of a VPN service or connection if you are trying to do finances or at least ssl or https type of sites...

[booner]

Finally had some good luck with flights. I had been 0 for my last 2 trips on making it home on day I was supposed to.

Plan was to fly home from Orlando Fri afternoon and make it to local AHL game just in time to see my 6 yr old daughter skate between periods.

Upon arriving at MCO I get notification of my flight into Newark being delayed 35 min. My layover was 45 min so not looking good. It goes to 50 min delay minutes later...I look up weather in Newark and see 30 mph winds with 60 mph gusts.

I go straight to nearest gate attendant and see if they can route me through another airport. The guy yells across the terminal to another gate attendant, holds up 1 finger and points at me. Couple head nods and he tells me I'm all set...head over there and get on that fight. It was the earlier flight into Newark that had been delayed 1.5 hrs and was now leaving about 15 minutes before my original flight was supposed to.

I walk over, they open the lane barrier for me to let me board immediately (still a big lineup but I have good status)...right onto the flight with exit row seat.

Made it to the arena just in time to help her get dressed and watch her skate in front of crowd of 5k.

[JongDoe]

Never been to an AHL game, but the peewees between periods of NHL games are always fun to watch. You'll pay for that good fortune with the airlines down the road for sure.

[frorider]

Almost forgot: when traveling internationally with a shit ton of baggage, #flynorwegian.

[hafjell]

Another thing- For international travel, get a Fidelity cash management account. It is a free checking account with no minimums and no fees and they reimburse ATM fees worldwide. I don't carry a debit card linked to my primary bank- only my Fidelity debit card with maybe $800 in the account so if the card gets stolen my exposure is limited.

Also, get a chip and pin credit card. This is different than the chip and signature cards in the US. So many self serve terminals in Europe and Asia for buying things like train tickets require you input a pin into the machine. I use a State Department Federal 2% cash back card for this. Also, Apple Pay or Google Pay are very helpful because you can use your phone for contactless payment. Most Euro credit cards allow touchless payment but the US cards don't yet. Doing this can be really helpful and save time when you are in a crowded coffee shop or something.

+1 to fidelity card and chip. Know that Fido is not a bank so transfers in midtrip will take a few days.
Good tip on Apple Pay. Haven’t used that yet but will. Good exchange rates?