Travel hacks and advice

[The AD]

Guidebooks are certainly part of it, but even with a guidebook you have to make choices on which sites you are going to see, where you'll stay, etc. You can't do everything.

[jm2e]

Our 2 week Italy trip; just got back.
Lessons:
Patagonia 100L Black Hole Wheeled duffel was a gift to self for this trip and I really like it. Had looked at a the Orvis Trekkage LT 80L but glad I went with the duffel. It’s a perfect size for overloading without going overweight. Collapse-able bag is key for not taking up too much space in little hotel rooms.
I still love my Black Diamond Stonehauler Pro 30L as a perfect carryon. ($99 at Steep&Cheap right now). Better on all measures than Patagonia & TNF equivalents. I can’t do rollers because of reduced capacity and less flexibility with making it fit in the plane. Gate checking can suck sometimes and I’ve always been able stuff my duffel somewhere. I move faster through airports with a backpack than I do dragging a little shopping cart around.
Bring a spare duffle on the way over. 3/4 of the shit from my carryon for the way there gets checked on the way back. And gifts. I use a Black Diamond Stonehauler 120L but wish I had the 90L. Too east to go overweight on the big fucker.
American Airlines can eat a dick for customer service. We flew on AA, BA, and Virgin. Virgin had the nicest plane and the best customer service by a large margin.
Poor Tings is literally soft porn with Emma Stone and completely unedited on Virgin. I’ve seen every part of Emma Stone, and I’ve seen her fucked in every position as well as thoroughly eaten out by a hot black chick, and masturbating with food. I was laughing at how weird the experience was on a plane, on an aisle seat, in the front row. (I checked for nearby children after the first holy fuck scene).
Rental car was easy, but Eurocar tried to scam us into a more expensive rental by saying our car wouldn’t be ready for a couple hours. My wife finished up on work while I drank coffee until they agreed to give us the car we reserved. Google Maps has totally changed Euro driving for me. It’s still challenging dealing with roundabouts and toll mazes, but totally doable.
Spend the money on the extra appetizer, the wine, the gifts. The trip costs are in the air tickets, hotels, dog sitter, car rental. $500 for more fun is insignificant in the total cost of the trip.
Oh, we also did a half day canyoneering. The idea seemed silly at first, but our friend runs the guiding company and talked us into it (and didn’t charge us). It’s ridiculously fun. We gave the full cost to the guides as tips. Would pay to do again.


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[dan_pdx]

Midway through a six-day hut to hut hiking trip in the Dolomites now, completely socked in at the Rifugio Lagszioi, a mountaintop hut famous for its 360 degree views. Nonetheless, fuck yes, do some hiking and stay in huts, it's spectacular (when not socked in).

A few logistics:

-we got here by flying into Venice and getting the Cortina Express bus. Leaves from the terminal parking lot and costs 25 euro. Good alternative if you're not renting a car. In Cortina, you can transfer to local buses. Reservations recommended and the website won't let you purchase tickets outside of Italy, so use a VPN or get someone in Italy to help.

-depending on the rifugio, some have private rooms as well as dorms. They close for the winter, so we're told if you want to guarantee a private room, book in the next few weeks. Otherwise, you're going to be one of hundreds of inquiries they start working through when they open. We booked through a guide service in November, 10 months ahead, and got a mix.

[old goat]

Guidebooks are certainly part of it, but even with a guidebook you have to make choices on which sites you are going to see, where you'll stay, etc. You can't do everything.

A good guidebook will tell you enough about the attractions to allow you to decide which to see and which to skip. It will give you a few hotels in various price ranges. It will tell you how to avoid lines when possible. It will suggest some restaurants (we use one guidebook for sites and hotels, a second for food.) It will give you sample itineraries for various lengths of stays. It will tell you how to handle logistics.

We don't like whirlwind trips--we try to stay at least 3-4 days in a location, at least a week in major cities. During that time you can pick up tips from locals. And the best part of a trip often happens while your on your way between tourist attractions. We did a week in Rome where we tried to see every Caravaggio in the city--making our way around to see them was as cool as seeing the paintings. You can do a lot of research if you want, but somebody has already done that for you. As far as AI--I wonder which guidebooks it rips off. And I doubt you will get better advice from TGR than from a guidebook.

While we're at it may I suggest the Tour du Mont Blanc. About 100 miles around the massif--France, Italy, Switzerland. Hut to hotel to hut etc. We did the standard slow version--11 days with one layover. I have a trip report on it. We used a company to make our reservations and provide cards with the route and variations for the day, along with good places for lunch etc. Even without the cards the route is very well marked. No need to go guided unless you want the company. I'd suggest staying in the refuges up high (about 2K meters) when you can but splurge on hotels when you stay in towns. We stayed in a couple of dorms that were as basic as the refuges when there were nice hotels nearby. We did that because we thought we would meet people from different countries but people weren't that sociable for the most part. BTW--the standard greeting is bon jour in all 3 countries for some reason. And everyone you pass on the trail will say it.

[summit]

EDI car rentals are a total shite show

[MontuckyFried]

Rental car was easy, but Eurocar tried to scam us into a more expensive rental by saying our car wouldn’t be ready for a couple hours. My wife finished up on work while I drank coffee until they agreed to give us the car we reserved.

LMAO. Of course. Evidently, that's the typical Italian rental car experience. Did your interaction go something like this?...
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CkyoAe__2H4

Laura Ramoso's hilarious btw, if you haven't seen her stuff. Her German mother and Italian dad impersonations are the best!

[54-46]

Midway through a six-day hut to hut hiking trip in the Dolomites now, completely socked in at the Rifugio Lagszioi, a mountaintop hut famous for its 360 degree views. Nonetheless, fuck yes, do some hiking and stay in huts, it's spectacular (when not socked in).

A few logistics:

-we got here by flying into Venice and getting the Cortina Express bus. Leaves from the terminal parking lot and costs 25 euro. Good alternative if you're not renting a car. In Cortina, you can transfer to local buses. Reservations recommended and the website won't let you purchase tickets outside of Italy, so use a VPN or get someone in Italy to help.

-depending on the rifugio, some have private rooms as well as dorms. They close for the winter, so we're told if you want to guarantee a private room, book in the next few weeks. Otherwise, you're going to be one of hundreds of inquiries they start working through when they open. We booked through a guide service in November, 10 months ahead, and got a mix.

Great tip on booking. Love Lagazuoi



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[bodywhomper]

Thanks for more info, ideas, thoughts about Dolomites. We will soon be buying a guidebook or two and likely borrowing a few more.

I don't think it's too early to book flights, but what dates, airports and pricing are you seeing? We're usually booking 6-10mo out for international flights; usually as far out as possible as we are booking with miles. You can use Google Flights price tracker to give you a sense of historical price trends and it should give you a prediction on upcoming price trends.

She has only just started looking on google and setting up google flights. I haven’t looked myself. She was seeing ~$950/person on air Portugal for mid-June. SFO-Venice with layover in Lisbon on the return.

[riser4]

Kids these days: https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/08/trave...now/index.html

[nickwm21]

My wife just cooked her cheap travel steamer on Parisian 240v….

Good reminder to check cord labels before packing…


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[old goat]

How is that transformers on electronics power cords and chargers do fine on 220V? (And also don't seem to care about polarity.)

[anotherVTskibum]

How is that transformers on electronics power cords and chargers do fine on 220V? (And also don't seem to care about polarity.)

Most transformers for low voltage stuff are auto switching so you just need a different plug; my understanding from a computer tech perspective is that the cost to build auto switch power supplies is substantially less than the support cost of requiring users to flip a switch, at least when it comes to actual computers.

You do have to read labels, though--Motorola radio chargers for the commercial radios we used as a charging staff are available in both dual voltage and US only models, and attempting to use the later in a Norwegian hotel will release magic smoke. I'm not sure why polarity doesn't matter, but that seems to be true for most electronics these days.

Apple computer chargers used to always have swappable plugs so you could use the same power brick in a two-prong configuration, with a longer cable and three-prong plug, or with the foreign plug of choice. The newer MacBook Air chargers are more like phone chargers, which is annoying.

[jackattack]

How is that transformers on electronics power cords and chargers do fine on 220V? (And also don't seem to care about polarity.)

look up Switching Mode Power Supplies (SMPS)

Apple computer chargers used to always have swappable plugs so you could use the same power brick in a two-prong configuration, with a longer cable and three-prong plug, or with the foreign plug of choice. The newer MacBook Air chargers are more like phone chargers, which is annoying.

Why is it annoying that Macbook is now compatible with USB-C? I think it's amazing. I can travel with a multi port usb power supply with a simple plug adapter to charge all of my devices: phone, watch, camera batteries, laptop, tablet, headphones, etc...

[muted reborn]

look up Switching Mode Power Supplies (SMPS)



Why is it annoying that Macbook is now compatible with USB-C? I think it's amazing. I can travel with a multi port usb power supply with a simple plug adapter to charge all of my devices: phone, watch, camera batteries, laptop, tablet, headphones, etc...

My old Macbook pro charged through USB-C, my newer Macbook Air is not charged through USB-C, it's similar to the old magnet chargers Apple used years ago.

[jackattack]

My old Macbook pro charged through USB-C, my newer Macbook Air is not charged through USB-C, it's similar to the old magnet chargers Apple used years ago.

Like 2021 and later MacBook Pro, 2022 and later MacBook Air is compatible with both MagSafe 3 and usb-c. The male adapter end of the MagSafe 3 cable plugs into a usb-c port on the ac adapter. The apple adapter will provide 140w through the magsafe cable, while usb-c is limited to 100w. That's fine for a trip where I can use the same cables for multiple devices.

[anotherVTskibum]

look up Switching Mode Power Supplies (SMPS)



Why is it annoying that Macbook is now compatible with USB-C? I think it's amazing. I can travel with a multi port usb power supply with a simple plug adapter to charge all of my devices: phone, watch, camera batteries, laptop, tablet, headphones, etc...

It's not USB-C that annoys me; I'm very happy for that. I traveled to Europe and everything except my radio and video camera could charge via USB (laptop, phone, heated sock batteries, DeWalt battery), and the video camera really annoyed me because there's not really a good reason for it not to support USB charging (the factory charger voltage and current is low enough that USB would be viable).

It's these chargers that I'm talking about:
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/M...d47d324606e322

I thought the ones we got with our last batch of MacBook Airs were more than 20W, but they were that form factor. I'd much rather have higher wattage and the older form factor that allows for swapping plugs:
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/M...3f6be36380dda4

[jm2e]

You brought a Dewalt battery to Europe and weren’t arrested? I’d have assumed that thing would be too big. Unless you aren’t referring to the implied cordless tool battery.


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[anotherVTskibum]

You brought a Dewalt battery to Europe and weren’t arrested? I’d have assumed that thing would be too big. Unless you aren’t referring to the implied cordless tool battery.


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The program I was working for has a storage unit in Munich with gates, coaches' skis, etc, including some drill batteries after I convinced one of the other coaches that he should just buy some to leave there rather than covering any evidence of the word "lithium" on the battery and checking it.

His success rate with the latter technique wasn't great, but it was better than I'd like if I was on the same flight.

[muted reborn]

Like 2021 and later MacBook Pro, 2022 and later MacBook Air is compatible with both MagSafe 3 and usb-c. The male adapter end of the MagSafe 3 cable plugs into a usb-c port on the ac adapter. The apple adapter will provide 140w through the magsafe cable, while usb-c is limited to 100w. That's fine for a trip where I can use the same cables for multiple devices.

I'll be damned. thank you for that.

[bodywhomper]

She was seeing ~$950/person on air Portugal for mid-June. SFO-Venice with layover in Lisbon on the return.

seeing tix on google for 5 peeps at $3600 on air portugal: SFO-lisbon-Milan; $3750 on british air/american: sfo-heathrow-milan; and $3750 on american: sfo-philly-milan.... claims of rates at ~$1700 lower than usual. Are they likely to go lower?

What do you all do for travel insurance? get a sapphire credit card? find insurance with squaremouth.com? or something else?

[old goat]

We use travelguard. We've never comparison shopped or researched if there are better alternatives. I've only had one claim--we were reimbursed about 2000 dollars each for unused helicopter time on an Alaska trip. I was a little surprised that they paid it no questions asked, with documentation from the operator. That was over 5 years ago so I don't know if the same coverage would be honored.
My wife took out a policy for an Asian trip that was canceled due to covid. She was refunded by the airline and the tour operator. Travelguard refused to refund the premium or even offer a credit.

[nickwm21]

What do you all do for travel insurance? get a sapphire credit card?

In the EU right now with a 7mo pregnant wife; so did a decent amount of research on this.

I did not buy any supplemental third party travel insurance….

If you have:
- A perked up travel credit card (with tickets and hotels purchased thru it)
- Decent health insurance
- Bought a non-budget airline ticket (something other than the lowest tier).

…You should have no problems cancelling or getting home with coverage if shit hits the fan…

You would probably need third party travel insurance to cover any third party tours / excursions….

BTW - booked this entire 10d trip with Chase points, so if you don’t already have a travel credit card; you’re doing it wrong…



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[MontuckyFried]

Poor Things...
...on a plane, on an aisle seat, in the front row...

There is NO way I could've watched that movie with others around, let alone on a plane. I watched that one by myself and it was STILL unnerving, which I guess was sort of the point but still. That is absolutely wild they have that one available for an in-flight movie.

[zion zig zag]

I’ll get extra travel insurance depending on the trip. If the location is very remote or third world I like to have a little extra repatriation coverage. And if the trip has lots of moving parts where delay would cause me to lose money I look for extra delay and cancellation coverage. I usually use Squaremouth to compare plans and read reviews of payout difficulty.

[singlesline]

You're probably fine without it (assuming decent credit card), unless you are doing adventure sports of some sort.

And if you want extra coverage because you're doing fun shit, then make sure your travel insurance actually covers it...because a lot of them specifically exclude things like skiing off piste (which in europe is everything that's not a groomed run), rock climbing, etc.

I bought a policy from "World Nomads" when I went to switzerland this past winter. They specifically include off-piste in the standard plan and backcountry touring in the "explorer" plan for a few bucks more. Some other insurers offer an adventure sports rider for an extra fee

Didn't have to use them for anything important, but they did cut me a check when SWISS Air stiffed me on paying for gear I had to buy due to delayed luggage (SWISS would only pay 50% value on stuff I bought...and stuff is fucking expensive in swiss ski towns). World Nomads sent money fast without question after months of trying to argue with SWISS Air.