Recent Activity

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  Virgin America

  I miss the Concorde.  Nothing else comes close.  LHR-JFK in 3H 26M.  That was great.

  Posted 29 Oct 07

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  Concords - why did they fail?

  Too expensive to keep in the air as they aged, and the Air France accident didn't help matters.

  Posted 30 Oct 07

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  Mini-Bar Fraud-Do you cheat?

  I found this article interesting from news.com:

  MORE than half of Australian travellers have tried to cheat hotel minibars with tactics such as replacing bottled water with tap water, a survey by TripAdvisor, the travel booking engine company, has found.

  High prices are the main drivers of mini-bar fraud. up to 86 per cent of travellers worldwide thought minibars were too expensive, the Herald-Sun reported.

  “Travellers are scared of hotel mini-bars because of sky-high prices,” said Michele Perry, director of communications for TripAdvisor. “By lowering prices and double-checking bill charges, hotels could provide a mini-bar service that travellers would embrace.”

  Up to 59 per cent of Australians have tried to get their own back by consuming, say, bottled water from the bar and then trying to replace it.

  Yet despite the expense, travellers are prepared to pay for the convenience with one in two survey respondents saying ease of access was the main motivator for plunging into the mini-bar. Nine per cent of surveyed travellers blamed drinking alcohol for their min-bar splurges.

  A quarter of all travellers had had disputes with hotel staff over minibar charges, with men more likely than women to complain.

  New motion and weight sensor technologies introduced by some hotels as a means of tracking mini-bar patronage has led to accusation of mini-bar fraud. Sixteen per cent of travellers have been billed for simply adding items to a hotel room mini-bar/fridge or for moving contents around. Seven per cent said that they had been charged for merely storing their own items in a mini-bar/fridge.

  Have you done the swap on items in your hotel mini-bar or had a dispute with a hotel over your mini-bar bill? Share your experiences.

   

  Posted 29 May 07

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  Languages

  Just speak louder in your native language.  That's what most people do.

  Posted 28 Aug 07

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  Worst Airline in the USA

  They are pretty bad, but so are most USA domestic airlines if you're used to Qantas within Australia. (But I fly Virgin Blue 'cos I'm too cheap).

  Posted 28 Aug 07

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  What do you think is the best city in the world?

  1) Sydney 2) San Francisco 3) Vancouver 100,000) Detroit.

  Posted 07 Oct 07

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  Anywhere else but here

  Any beach where it is warm.  I hate winter!

  Posted 23 Jul 07

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  Longest Coastlines

  

  Posted 16 Jul 07

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  Buying a Car in San Francisco to Travel Across USA

  Look for a lease return Taurus or similar.  The domestics, if they're no older than 3 years or so, or a Camry, would be very reliable and probably could be had for the budget.  Best to try a dealer in that kind of car, Ford or Toyota and see what they have.  Look in http://www.sfgate.com or http://www.sjmercury.com and peruse the classifieds.  As long as he has evidence of title (pink slip) he should have no problems selling it.  Perhaps the dealer can arrange insurance, but I've never bought it that way.

  If he wants to save $$$ and live on the edge, he could always try craigslist, but there's a lot of dodgy crap out there and I wouldn't pay 10K.  Only bet what you can afford to lose. 

  Posted 12 Jul 07

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  San Francisco Guy in Australia

  Qantas may have some decent fares from SF as Australia is going into winter.  You should see if you can get a package deal on airfare and bundle some domestic flights into the int'l fare.  For reasonably priced domestic airfare try virgin blue  http://www.virginblue.com.au and jetstar.com.au.

  Posted 07 May 07