Question

English in Hong Kong

5/26/2016 8:55:42 AM I’m now traveling in Hong Kong and have talked with at least 120+ people, including airport, cafe, restaurants, police, hotel, bank, shop clerks, station attendants, money exchanger, etc… but only 5 people cannot speak English, one of them is a security guard (age 50s or 60s men), another one is a beggar […]

Outdoor climbing tour in/departing from Bangkok

11/17/2015 4:17:11 AM Yes, companies exist (or, at least, existed recently) which provide guided outdoor rock climbing trips departing from Bangkok. Two examples from a May 7, 2014, post on expatlifeinthailand.com (cached here): Bouldering just outside Bangkok with Proclimber Thailand A small purist bouldering club with a very small (and hot) wall hidden in the […]

How to avoid getting hassled in Indonesia?

4/25/2016 12:34:53 PM Selling something I live in Indonesia so I get it a lot. When they come at me I banter with them. I tell them (the taxi drivers) to find the taxi “over there”. I tell them “besok” (tomorrow). Until they get confused and give up in disgust because their friends are laughing […]

Any fast internet (good wifi) in Ubud (Bali)?

Any fast internet (good wifi) in Ubud (Bali)?

6/16/2016 3:20:08 AM There’s really great wifi at Outpost coworking in Ubud another one of my favorite spots is Bali Bohemia. Really chilled out environment although sometimes there wifi cuts out and they have aggressive monkeys all around that will potentially try to steal your food. For coworking, Outpost, best place for productivity in my […]

ITALY: Missed the train due to wrong information provided by the seller

6/21/2015 2:11:12 PM Your case should be covered by EU passenger rights (Regulation (EC) 1371/2007). According to the regulation you should be able to get a refund of 50% of the original ticket price. Additionally they should refund the ticket for the new train (but you should have asked Deutsche Bahn employees in Munich on […]

What happens when someone inadvertently enters the UK without a landing interview?

6/15/2015 2:25:52 AM (I think this is more of a question for https://law.stackexchange.com/ than travel but I shall have a go at it.) They are not merely in violation of a rule, they are in violation of the law and potentially committing a criminal offence. Entry to the UK is tightly regulated by the Immigration […]

Do the maximum allowed dimensions for baggage include the handles?

6/12/2015 7:23:23 AM Short answer to the question in the topic: yes. It may depend on the airline but e.g. EasyJet explicitly states “including handles and wheels” and I would say it is a general rule. In your case it may be not allowed. Size may be checked at the gate by having you put […]

Is it rude to sit next to a passenger if other seats are available?

6/9/2015 10:32:54 PM As far as I can tell, Qatar Airlines has “free seating” in the sense that you can select your seat at the time of check-in. I would expect that the seat you chose is then printed on your boarding pass. (This is as opposed to, for instance, Southwest Airlines, where your boarding […]

Can my wife and I swap seats in different classes during a flight?

6/8/2015 12:45:45 AM I’ve done this several times, on United and on Singapore Airlines. It’s never been a problem for me. I didn’t ask the cabin staff, but only did the swap once during the flight so it wasn’t very disruptive. I didn’t take any overhead luggage out and move it about…perhaps that would have […]

Going to France and Italy – what payment forms are preferred?

6/6/2015 8:17:34 AM In France, cards are widely accepted anywhere (and not more in Paris than in rural areas), but in small shops there’s often a limit on the amount. In Paris the card is generally refused for anything less than 15€, sometimes 20€ but that’s in extreme cases. In rural areas, the limit is […]

Importing a brand new laptop in the UK from the US. Can it be confiscated by customs if undeclared?

6/26/2016 1:35:17 PM The chances of you being asked about a laptop is near to zero. I have travelled in and out of the US hundreds of times with two laptops, an iPad, two iPhones, iPod, headphones, disk drives, digital cameras… the only thing they have ever looked at was the drives looking for kiddy […]

Do I need to register anything specific to use Uber in another city?

6/2/2015 3:56:00 PM No. I am also registered with Uber in London and have successfully used it in Amsterdam, Cape Town, and other cities. It’s the same account, same process. Of course, you’ll be billed in local currency – and don’t forget you may have to pay roaming data fees on your phone contract. What […]

What are the future European Union roaming fees/pricing charges?

5/31/2015 8:33:50 PM It’s not clear. As far as I know, nothing has been ruled out or abolished, it’s just that announced dates for vote/approval for new measures slip and nothing has happened yet. There were no further mandatory price cuts planned in the current regulation after the ones that took place last year and […]

Are "violation points" applied to EU licences outside of their home country?

5/22/2015 6:47:56 PM There is no EU-wide system to handle penalty points and driving bans. In fact, those systems are probably more diverse than you realize, in some countries you ‘lose’ points until you have none and must surrender your license, in others you ‘gain’ points and exceeding a threshold has consequences. The number of […]

Train strikes in Berlin – does it make sense to book an advance ticket?

5/29/2016 10:22:55 PM Pre-booked tickets can be significantly cheaper. And I mean significantly. I got some tickets for about a third of the normal price. So what if there is a strike – you still want to travel, best case you travel a bit later, worst case you get your money back. Booking later wouldn’t […]

When do I clear US customs and immigration if connecting at a US airport to my final destination elsewhere in the US?

12/12/2021 11:57:40 AM I encourage you to accept Nate Eldredge’s answer, but I would like to add to it. This is a very common question. People sometimes seem puzzled about the reason behind this practice; after all, why force travelers to undergo a potentially time-consuming examination while changing planes. They have enough stress, and the […]

Is camping still permitted in Zzyzx?

3/25/2020 3:16:59 AM The BLM hasn’t run Zzyzx since 1994. It’s now within the National Park system. No camping is permitted along the road or in any parking lot, and rangers frequently issue tickets. Everything around Zzyzx Road is considered National Park Wilderness. Will Amtrak honor a saver ticket from an earlier station when other […]

Will Amtrak honor a saver ticket from an earlier station when other saver tickets are sold out?

6/30/2017 8:37:44 PM I asked a similar question to an Amtrak agent a few days ago. Here’s what he told me: Officially, your ticket gets treated as a “no-show” and is “subject to automatic cancellation” if you haven’t boarded the train within two hours of the originally-scheduled departure time at your ticketed station. He said […]

Tipping for free drinks in the USA?

12/1/2022 5:46:33 PM Tipping in North America has become such a hot button issue. It is customary to tip and is usually a percentage of the cost of your food/drinks (or what the cost would have been). But there have been so much writing happening on this topic like: Why is the tip calculated on […]

How much cash to carry for a conference in the Netherlands?

7/12/2015 2:58:52 PM In the UK, there are exchange companies that will sell you overseas money with the option to pay a small charge so they will buy it back at the same rate. I therefore get a lot more cash then I would do so otherwise, on the last day of the trip, I […]

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