Traveling

[GoCubsGo]

It honestly amazes me that planes don't fall out of the sky every day. The incompetence and bureaucracy is staggering.

The airline said her bag was lost, but her tracker said otherwise. So she flew to get it

Literal, real-life 5-minute solution: "Chicago baggage, this is Phred" "Hey Phred, this is Don in Denver. Could you look to see if there's a large black bag with purple stripes and a long net thingy sticking out of it over by baggage return" "There is? great. send it to us. Thanks"

But would they do it? Nooooo!

Personal disclaimer: I did a lot of work for some airlines back in the day, and on advisory requests as recently as last year, and they've every bit as screwed up as you think/are afraid they are. If there are If there is more than one way to do something, they'll take the most complicated way every time.

The lack of basic common sense and the inability and unwillingness for their own mistake to accommodate a customer is astonishing. Air travel is a crap shoot, if everything goes right great.

If something goes wrong the customer is 100% screwed.

Hard to believe someone wrote this with a straight face.

When a traveler is stuck, the first thing to do is to speak with someone from the airline they booked their travel with, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. In several instances, customer service representatives for airlines can issue food and hotel vouchers for stranded passengers and resolve other issues like baggage logistics.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/28/us/a ... tions.html

[O Really]

"someone from the airline..." Right. Sure, just grab anybody with the right tag on their shirt. They'll be happy to help you. "In several instances..." Right. Several instances over 10 years somebody might have done that. But even assuming the employee is sympathetic and wanting to help, they're limited in what they can do and everybody else in queue is yelling at them too.

[Vrede too]

"someone from the airline..." Right. Sure, just grab anybody with the right tag on their shirt. They'll be happy to help you. "In several instances..." Right. Several instances over 10 years somebody might have done that. But even assuming the employee is sympathetic and wanting to help, they're limited in what they can do and everybody else in queue is yelling at them too.

En route from Manaus, Brasil to Missoula my checked backpack/suitcase took a detour to France. A nice rain jacket and a few other items were missing. The airline did pay my claim.

[Vrede too]

Coin balance test on a high speed train in China

348 km/hr = about 209 mph. Fuck airplanes.

Meanwhile in Canada we get shaken up like a champagne bottle going 80km

as of the first quarter of the year, China’s utility-scale solar capacity has reached 228GW, more than that of the rest of the world combined.

Not a fan of China by a long shot, but I'm glad they are succeeding and showing the world how it's done in this facet. Infrastructure has always a great long term investment. Much better than wasting it on weapons. Kudos.

If the U.S. has not fought so many wars, we would have had the same infrastructure probably. I rode in a highspeed train from Nanjing to Hangzhou in 2019 in China which costed about $30 for business class. The distance was equivalent from NYC to Boston.

[Vrede too]

...

Oceanside in the news:

A California Beach Town Is Desperate to Save Its Vanishing Sand

IMO, let the sand go and adapt. Time and tide wait for no one. Maybe sue Exxon.

[O Really]

We live about 200 yards from Buccaneer Beach. It has indeed lost it's sand, but it's not really much of a beach - not large enough to be a major attraction. It's more like a little neighborhood beach - one of several along that way - that is across from a little park. Here's the entire beach:



Harbor Beach is less than a mile north of Buccaneer. No sand shortage there.

[GoCubsGo]

We live about 200 yards from Buccaneer Beach. It has indeed lost it's sand, but it's not really much of a beach - not large enough to be a major attraction. It's more like a little neighborhood beach - one of several along that way - that is across from a little park. Here's the entire beach:



Harbor Beach is less than a mile north of Buccaneer. No sand shortage there.

Where are you guys at now?

[O Really]

Where are you guys at now?

Aldergrove, BC, about 50 km east of Vancouver.

[GoCubsGo]

More Reasons to Never Go on a Cruise

[O Really]

That, and being stuffed in with a few thousand people that you have no idea what diseases they have or sanitation habits they follow. Not to mention the herding.

[GoCubsGo]

That, and being stuffed in with a few thousand people that you have no idea what diseases they have or sanitation habits they follow. Not to mention the herding.

The thought of the petree dish buffet lines makes me queasy.

[O Really]

Buffets are also referred to as "trough dining."

[Vrede too]

Buffets are also referred to as "trough dining."

I avoid them. I have no will power and am always tempted to 'get the most value' by pigging out with endless trips back to load my plate.

I've never wanted to be a cruise passenger, but back when I was a seaman I daydreamed about working at sea without scraping and painting. I never pursued it and I've seen some reports that working conditions aren't great for ships' nurses.

[GoCubsGo]

Buffets are also referred to as "trough dining."

I avoid them. I have no will power and am always tempted to 'get the most value' by pigging out with endless trips back to load my plate.

I've never wanted to be a cruise passenger, but back when I was a seaman I daydreamed about working at sea without scraping and painting. I never pursued it and I've seen some reports that working conditions aren't great for ships' nurses.

Early in covid there were a couple of stories about how unhygienic buffets really are.

They're absolutely gross. I've been done ever since.

https://youtu.be/OOvENoZMmK4?si=PbcsMbSKLDapKtF8

[Vrede too]

...

This might be worth a detour on your way home:

'I've never seen anything like this': Death Valley gleams with water, wildflowers and color



That's a lake!

[O Really]

Thanks for the pics, but that's a bit more of a detour than it might seem. The closest detour point we could start from is Bakersfield, about 200 miles away from the available entrance. And then there's fuel costs, yada. And I'm sure it can be beautiful but we're more beach/mountain/forest people than desert people. But we do have a visit out to Anza Borrego planned for this winter.

[O Really]

The last time before now that Lady O and I spent much time around Napa Valley was the year before the film "Sideways" came out. And watching the film was particularly fun because of that recent trip (without quite so much avoidance of Merlot). In the years since then, a lot has changed. Population growth, lotta traffic, the big fire that affected a lot of the wineries and their older historic facilities, etc. And prices. Especially prices.
Throughout the valley, practically every business is some kind of wine shop along with whatever else it does. Barbeque joint and wine (real) https://www.bountyhunterwinebar.com/menus/ Gas station and wine shop (real) Bicycle and wine shop (made up, but could be real). And glasses start around $15 and up. Way up.

One of the highlights of our long ago visit here was the Sterling winery. They're up on top of a hill and visitors take a gondola up. From the terrace you look over a gorgeous valley of vineyards and if you're there late afternoon, as we were, you may get a great sunset. And on that visit, the servers were getting quite generous with the "tasting" - basically filling up glasses if they looked like they might get empty. I don't remember what they charged back then, but it didn't seem like much at the time. Maybe $10, and buy your ticket at the entrance. Unfortunately Sterling was one of the wineries significantly damaged in the 2020 fire, and has been closed and undergoing renovations since then. It will re-open October 29. But. Now they'll be requiring advance reservations. Now basic tickets will be $55, going up if you want to be where the good views are. Now visits will be timed.

And sadly, it seems in most cases through the valley, where an old building was fire damaged it was replaced with a new industrially-looking building rather than rebuilding the classic historical look.

And traffic. Did I mention traffic?
Still a beautiful area, though, and overall we've had a good time, but the guys from "Sideways" wouldn't recognize it.

[GoCubsGo]

The last time before now that Lady O and I spent much time around Napa Valley was the year before the film "Sideways" came out. And watching the film was particularly fun because of that recent trip (without quite so much avoidance of Merlot). In the years since then, a lot has changed. Population growth, lotta traffic, the big fire that affected a lot of the wineries and their older historic facilities, etc. And prices. Especially prices.
Throughout the valley, practically every business is some kind of wine shop along with whatever else it does. Barbeque joint and wine (real) https://www.bountyhunterwinebar.com/menus/ Gas station and wine shop (real) Bicycle and wine shop (made up, but could be real). And glasses start around $15 and up. Way up.

One of the highlights of our long ago visit here was the Sterling winery. They're up on top of a hill and visitors take a gondola up. From the terrace you look over a gorgeous valley of vineyards and if you're there late afternoon, as we were, you may get a great sunset. And on that visit, the servers were getting quite generous with the "tasting" - basically filling up glasses if they looked like they might get empty. I don't remember what they charged back then, but it didn't seem like much at the time. Maybe $10, and buy your ticket at the entrance. Unfortunately Sterling was one of the wineries significantly damaged in the 2020 fire, and has been closed and undergoing renovations since then. It will re-open October 29. But. Now they'll be requiring advance reservations. Now basic tickets will be $55, going up if you want to be where the good views are. Now visits will be timed.

And sadly, it seems in most cases through the valley, where an old building was fire damaged it was replaced with a new industrially-looking building rather than rebuilding the classic historical look.

And traffic. Did I mention traffic?
Still a beautiful area, though, and overall we've had a good time, but the guys from "Sideways" wouldn't recognize it.

That's actually kind of sad, guess you can't go home again (at least in NAPA).

How much does it cost to moor the UAV for a night?

[O Really]

Apparently the land is too expensive to make money with rv parks and there aren't a lot. And the ones there are are either (a) expensive or (b) trailer parks that have a few rv spots. The one we're in ranges from about $80 to a little over a hundred. It is a nice park, though. When we were traveling 5ish years ago, you could find decent spots in the 40's. Now if you get a good place under $60 you're lucky. A lot of people have cut way down on their travel because of the cost of parks and gas.

[GoCubsGo]

Apparently the land is too expensive to make money with rv parks and there aren't a lot. And the ones there are are either (a) expensive or (b) trailer parks that have a few rv spots. The one we're in ranges from about $80 to a little over a hundred. It is a nice park, though. When we were traveling 5ish years ago, you could find decent spots in the 40's. Now if you get a good place under $60 you're lucky. A lot of people have cut way down on their travel because of the cost of parks and gas.

You may have answered this before, but can you buy a spot for your semi permanent homesite (rent it while you're away) and travel seasonally?