One last thought - if you get to that last day and really don’t want to do another full day in Edinburgh, something like this might be nice instead of Glasgow. We visited both Anstruther (mostly for a boat tour, but it is a cute little seaside town) and St. Andrews (which I liked alot), and that gives you something with a different feel from Edinburgh and your Highlands day trip. But personally I probably lean towards only putting one long day trip into a 3 day itinerary.
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I moved to Lyon, France on a student visa for a year to study French at a uni in 2016. I ended up being fluent, but probably not quite a C1 level (which would be advanced). I wanted to stay in France so I needed to extend my student visa so I applied to a couple different business related programs.
As background, I graduated HS in 2002 and went to college for about 3 years in Nebraska, but really only completed about 2 years of credits, before getting into poker and barely going to class my 3rd year and then dropping out. So I was trying to get into 3rd year programs in Lyon. It seemed like there was an easy marketing program, that would’ve been perfect, but they rejected me. The only option was actually a year one master’s program in Finance. It actually looked like a pretty prestigious program and they interviewed me in French and English. I guess the English portion helped my cause and they accepted me. I’m still not sure how when even the rinky dink 2nd and 3rd year bachelor’s programs all rejected me.
The course load ended up being pure insanity. Like 32 hours in the classroom, and on top of that, being that my French wasn’t super good, probably another 30 hours of study at home. I went to the first class, opened up the textbook, and knew I was fucked b/c I understood about 10% of the financial jargon. I went home and made up some BS that my student visa had been rejected and I had to drop out.
Part of the issue was that I didn’t actually care about the Master’s, it was just a way to be able to keep staying in France. I still needed to play poker to earn a living and wanted free time to explore and maybe travel a bit, but that would’ve been impossible.
Even if I could’ve devoted myself 100% to the studies, I’m still not sure I would’ve been able to do it. On top of that, I’m sure the salaries would’ve been shit even if I used the Masters to try and get a job after. France is interesting in that almost everybody seems to be doing ok (necessities taken care of), but nobody is doing “well”. The difference in salary between working a min wage type job and like a mid-level salary at a good company is very minimal. Everyone I knew seemed to be earning between 20 and 40k.
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The story of most of Europe.
Honestly, I don’t mind it. Better than killing yourself working 60 hours a week in America to be middle class.
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Japan is much the same. It’s shocking how little salaried employees make, even those a good 20 years into their careers. Yet most people get by and have a reasonably decent quality of life (though long working hours remains an issue).
One of the side effects of this is that Europe and Japan seem surprisingly affordable when you’re an American tourist.
For example, I was just in Portugal and I was routinely getting 25-30 min uber rides around Lisbon for 6-8 Euros. Also in Europe, suggested tips on the app were 0.50/1/2 euros. If you wanted to give more you would have to do a custom tip.
The pricing struck me as odd, because if you had 4 people, in most cases you would be better off with uber than public transportation if you’re just paying the standard rates. That happens occasionally in the US, but not often.
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I think Portugal is an outlier on Western Europe. Most of the other places I’ve been don’t feel nearly an inexpensive.
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Buy a vacation home in Japan for $35,000!
What the title doesn’t mention is that they put another $200k+ into it to make it livable.
Well, $235K doesn’t get much in many major US metros. So, still a steal really.
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We went to Spain first, and our impression was stuff isn’t that bad at all. Even the Uber from Airport to central Madrid was only about 20-25 Euros, which would be low for most major US cities. Then we went to Portugal, and it was a whole other level.
They’re not inexpensive per se, but I’d still say a fraction of the cost of doing the same in the USA.
My wife and I stayed in Paris for a month in January 2022 and spent $1300 for a 1-br apartment in a solid area just north of Le Marais. We had a local market nearby and could get pretty cheap produce and even salmon wasn’t too expensive. For restaurants, we used La Fourchette a lot and almost never spent over $15 per person and had some pretty great meals. We could walk most places, but buying a 10-pass of metro tickets wasn’t too expensive. Lots of free museum entries and places to see, but even the GOAT museum, Le Louvre, was only 18 euros including an awesome Nintendo Switch guide (I’ve heard price has gone up). Anyway, I’m sure prices have gone up in 2 years, but I’d still venture to say you’re spending minimum 3x as much having the same experience in NYC or SF.
Yeah, re: grocery stores, UK felt pretty inexpensive compared to the US. A couple times after a meal out rather than ordering dessert at the restaurant we’d hit a grocery store and get a box of 3 or 4 ice cream bars for 1 EUR. And there were a lot of reasonable ready-to-eat options, like decent sandwiches, for ~3 EUR.
Pick one of these seats on a United non-stop from LAX to EWR in economy plus on a 757-200:
- A
- B
- C
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voters
My current selection and reasoning:
I am currently in seat C for the unlimited legroom and ease of moving around. That seat also has that pocket thing on the wall for a tiny bit of storage. But, the curve of the wall and the airplane door do limit the space a bit, which could make a case for seat B. Seat A has more limited legroom, but is a little wider than the exit row seats (due to monitors tucked in the armrests) and also has the advantage of storage underneath the seat in front, which neither B nor C have. Additional info: I am 6’3" and while no longer fat am in general a big guy. I do have priority boarding so assume that overhead storage space will not be an issue wherever I sit. In case it doesn’t go without saying, the seat on the aisle at the front is not available.
I prefer windows so I’m leaning towards C BUT I usually pack very light and board last so I depend on the seat in front of me for the space to put my bag (usually in this situation the FA will try to shove your bag into a closet or something).
Also be aware that these seats near the door can get pretty cold during the flight.
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C. The protrusion isn’t too bad. And worth it for the unlimited leg room IMO. Also, no under seat storage isn’t that big a deal on such a long flight. A few seconds after takeoff and before to remove and then stow your bag. Screen stowed in the seat - if there is one - is actually a bigger annoyance for me.
A wouldn’t be terrible. No interest in B given the other options.
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C > A > B, imo.
If I was as tall as LFS, maybe B > A.
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probably the lone B vote. 6’5 here and the window is a no go bc of that curve. and the ability to stretch out on a long flight with bonus points for being able to put a bag down to prop up my feet is the reason B is over A.
I’ll have my iPad so that’s not an issue at all for me.
Thanks everyone for your input!
also keep in mind that the screen in the seat also means that the actual width of the seat is slightly reduced
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Has anyone tried to book a ticket for a high speed rail ticket in Taiwan in advance from the US. I’ve tried the app and the website and they both go to some sort of screen of death for 3-5min before they tell me the attempt is unsuccessful.
I may just have to book when I’m there, which I suppose should be OK. But I’d just like to have it done.
I haven’t, but I’ve always had pretty good luck finding that type of info on TripAdvisor forums for various countries/transportation systems.
I assume you’ve generally followed what’s outlined here. FWIW, the first comment says:
I’d also like to add that none of my US credit cards work on the HSR website, but they work in the T Express app…another reason I prefer to use the app.
although it sounds like you’ve already tried that.