When I flew out of Japan last April, I was shocked to discover that 80% of the Tokyo Narita Airport staff had become Sri Lankan.
I made it but it involved a lot of running/power-walking and skipping lines sometimes by design (my flight was included in the âfast laneâ of going through security, which wasnât that fast due to a malfunctioning scanner) and then asking to cut everyone at passport control. What a fucking nightmare that airport is.
Made it to the gate 10 minutes before scheduled departure. And apparently I wasnât the only one who was delayed because a dozen other passengers joined me on the bus.
Thing is if I was older, had kids with me, disabled, or had limited mobility, I wouldnât have come close to making it. But an able-bodied, sorta youngish person travelling alone, I can pull it off. Not a good sign that Lufthansa did this to a lot of people on other flights who donât have my advantages.
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How good were they at speaking Japanese?
The ones who accosted and hounded me for my personal details on my way out of the country after checking in spoke it quite well. The ones administering the covid tests on the way back in seemed quite incapable.
But there are a lot of Sri Lankans here in Japan on working visas, many of whom have lived here for years and so have had plenty of time to learn the language.
Going on a winery tour today, five different willamette valley wineries. Itâs a private tour, just me and my wife and the driver, who I am pretty sure is the owner of the tour outfit. Itâs like seven hours total, service from the hotel door to door. No tasting fees included in my tour package.
What do I tip this guy? $100?
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Sounds exactly right.
Depends on the cost of the tour?
I donât normally tip self-employed tradespeople. Is it common to tip a guide when there is no middleman skimming off the price?
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I usually do, but I never know for sure.
But if itâs something like a tour, where theyâre giving you info the whole day, a tip seems reasonable.
I guess I feel less inclined to give big tips to owners than to employees, because the owner is already getting all of the fee. Guess I might round up to a round number, or to whatever seemed like a fair total price for the value he added, rather than a particular tip number.
Really curious for a trip report, though. Weâre still getting to know the area wineries.
Yeah thatâs reasonable. But if the owner is doing all the work and could be the only employee?
Yeah this guy is wildcatting. He know what heâs talking about and knows the area really well though.
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That is good and all, but I would not feel all that compelled to tip a certain amount, just what seemed like a fair value of what he added on top of the fee or to up a low fee to be something that reflects the value of his time.
One area I know where sole proprietors get tips is charter boats. @jmakin could shed light if he hadnât been chased off by the ModWars.
Personally I think itâs dumb, I donât tip stadium vendors because they get 15% of sales or whatever.
Planning a foreign study course to Costa Rica next winter (and hopefully every year thereafter). Two weeks, with 12-20 college students. Any strong location or activity suggestions for this demographic? The course will be âHealth, Well-Being, and the Human Experienceâ - generally focused on teaching students how to build resilience/mental health while also exposing them to how these factors are achieved in other cultures/environments.
Tentative itinerary is San Jose - > La Fortuna â Monteverde - > coastal Puntarenas.
Did this exact trip except ended at Manuel Antonio. Was great! 15ish years ago though so donât remember many details.
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Weird to think a sole proprietor wouldnât get tips when a corporate tour would. This would mean a $100 tour with a company gets $120 revenue from you but once the worker buys his own van to run the tour himself he only gets $100 total. A pretty big leg up to the corporate option, in other words.
Of course, tipping in general is stupid.
The person doing the actual work in the first example almost certainly gets less than a hundo
Ok recap:
First stop: https://sokolblosser.com/
Excellent staff, wines were great all around, they have a great tasting room and a very respectable menu of snacks. Great views.
(This was probably my favorite stop of the day overall)
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2nd stop: https://www.holloranvineyardwines.com/
This outfit feels very small scale and scrappy. There is a very rudimentary tasting room but it is sufficient, the wines are good and the staff was great.
View from the tasting room (this is probably spectacular in the summer):
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