Chris Blunt

On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:58:18 +0300, Markku Gr�nroos
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>"Spehro Pefhany" <[email protected]> kirjoitti
>viestiss�:nl3jc3pki22123egcss1f7vrbitem9vb0v@4ax. com...
>>
>> I carry a small bottle of shampoo, because I don't like the free
>> stuff. Maybe 200ml, which could last for several weeks. Not having a
>> mobile phone seems silly.
>>
>Why? When travelling on holiday, you need a phone. I don't need one.

I find a phone to keep in touch with people even more useful when I'm
traveling than it is at home. It also serves as a camera, an alarm
clock, a GPS, and a way to check my emails. Something so compact that
does all that and only weighs around 100g easily justifies being taken
along on any trips I make.

Chris

Sharx35

"Markku Grönroos" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] i.fi...
>
> "Spehro Pefhany" <[email protected]> kirjoitti
> viestissÀ:nl3jc3pki22123egcss1f7vrbitem9vb0v@4ax. com...
>>
>> I carry a small bottle of shampoo, because I don't like the free
>> stuff. Maybe 200ml, which could last for several weeks. Not having a
>> mobile phone seems silly.
>>
> Why? When travelling on holiday, you need a phone. I don't need one.

Likewise. I just can't understand why SOME people ALWAYS THINK they have to
be able to be INSTANTLY electronically linked to the rest of the world for
either incoming OR outgoing calls. Personally, that is part of the GLORY of
vacation...getting OUT OF TOUCH.

Sharx35

"Spehro Pefhany" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:58:18 +0300, the renowned Markku Grönroos
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>>"Spehro Pefhany" <[email protected]> kirjoitti
>>viestissÀ:nl3jc3pki22123egcss1f7vrbitem9vb0v@4a x.com...
>>>
>>> I carry a small bottle of shampoo, because I don't like the free
>>> stuff. Maybe 200ml, which could last for several weeks. Not having a
>>> mobile phone seems silly.
>>>
>>Why? When travelling on holiday, you need a phone. I don't need one.
>
> You never visit anyone when you're on holiday?
> You don't have anyone depending on you back home?
> You don't need to make reservations at a restaurant when you're
> travelling?
> You don't ever trip a credit card security flag and have to call?
>
> Any single one of those makes carrying a modern GSM phone well worth
> it, assuming you're mostly travelling where they will work.
>
> Of course if your holiday consists of travelling to a set location or
> two and staying in a fixed hotel, a cell phone may be a needless
> luxury, particularly if you don't have a demanding job, but in that
> case, the extra weight is of little consequence.
>

Demanding job, does your ****ING contract STATE that you have to be ALWAYS
in touch? Every motel or hotel or resort that I have EVER stayed in has
TELEPHONES. I simply make any calls I need to do every morning or evening
from the hotel I am in. I leave employers, family, friends, etc a copy of my
itinerary, including WHERE I will be each day and the phone numbers of my
hotels. That is a LOT cheaper than getting a cell phone and carting it
around.



>
> Best regards,
> Spehro Pefhany
> --
> "it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
> [email protected] Info for manufacturers:
> http://www.trexon.com
> Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers:
> http://www.speff.com

Sharx35

"Chris Blunt" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:58:18 +0300, Markku Grönroos
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>>"Spehro Pefhany" <[email protected]> kirjoitti
>>viestissÀ:nl3jc3pki22123egcss1f7vrbitem9vb0v@4a x.com...
>>>
>>> I carry a small bottle of shampoo, because I don't like the free
>>> stuff. Maybe 200ml, which could last for several weeks. Not having a
>>> mobile phone seems silly.
>>>
>>Why? When travelling on holiday, you need a phone. I don't need one.
>
> I find a phone to keep in touch with people even more useful when I'm
> traveling than it is at home. It also serves as a camera, an alarm
> clock, a GPS, and a way to check my emails. Something so compact that
> does all that and only weighs around 100g easily justifies being taken
> along on any trips I make.
>
> Chris

They take lousy quality pictures. No, you do NOT need GPS unless you are,
perhaps, on safari and surely the OPERATORS of the safari will take care of
THAT need. E-mails can be checked at any one of the MILLIONS of cyber cafes
in the world.

Sharx35

"Magda" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 19:24:56 -0400, in rec.travel.europe, "Rog'"
> <[email protected]> arranged some electrons, so they looked like
> this:
>
>
> ... Any ideas (for my wife) on how to pack for these limits:
> ... US-Europe... 23kg (50lbs) ea. (2 allowed);
> ... Inside Europe... a total of 20 kg (44 lbs); and
> ... Inside Greece... a total of 15lkg. (33lbs.)....
> ... plus a carry-on.
> ... I said, pack for the least weight allowed, which went
> ... over like a lead-balloon. =R>
> Let her pack as much as she wants and cope *all alone* with the
> consequences (carry the
> load herself, pay the penalties from her pocket, etc.). It will teach her
> a lesson in
> common sense.

You don't understand: for MOST of us married people, our finances are
COMBINED...when we married we COMBINED our fortunes, as it were. So it makes
NO difference whose wallet the overweight fees comes out of...the source is
the same.




>

Sharx35

"Alan S" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 04:41:34 -0000, [email protected]
> wrote:
>
>>> A better idea is to copy just the pages that one wants
>>
>>That's a good alternative, especially if you only need a few pages.
>>
>>James
>
> It seems a little wrong to chop down an extra forest rather

Chop down an extra FOREST? Give me a ****ING break, dipwad.


> than just cut out and carry the bits I want. To each their
> own.
>
>
> Cheers, Alan, Australia
> --
> http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/
> latest: Slovenia
> http://loraltraveloz.blogspot.com/
> latest: Mossman Gorge in the Daintree Rainforest

-Rog

"sharx35" <[email protected]> wrote:
> You don't understand: for MOST of us married people,
> our finances are COMBINED...when we married, we
> COMBINED our fortunes, as it were. So it makes NO
> difference whose wallet the overweight fees comes out
> of...the source is the same.

A few years ago, my wife and I were in a shop in Brussels,
and she arrived at the counter with her hands full. At that
point, I pulled out a CC, handed it to the shopkeeper and
said, "My job is to pay." He nodded and replied, "As it is
of husbands, everywhere."

Sharx35

"Rog'" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "sharx35" <[email protected]> wrote:
>> You don't understand: for MOST of us married people,
>> our finances are COMBINED...when we married, we
>> COMBINED our fortunes, as it were. So it makes NO
>> difference whose wallet the overweight fees comes out
>> of...the source is the same.
>
> A few years ago, my wife and I were in a shop in Brussels,
> and she arrived at the counter with her hands full. At that
> point, I pulled out a CC, handed it to the shopkeeper and
> said, "My job is to pay." He nodded and replied, "As it is
> of husbands, everywhere."
>

Ah, it works both ways. All our funds, except for RRSPs (Canadian equivalent
of IRAs--law requires that they be in ONE person's name) are in JOINT NAMES.
When the 1st person dies, ownership, o fnon-RRSP property, including real
estate or investments, reverts to the survivor with NO taxes having to be
paid until the death of the surviving spouse.



>

Manfred Aigner

Alan S wrote:
> On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 07:24:27 -0700, [email protected]
[..]
> I did 11000km through Europe in 9 weeks by car on the 2003
> trip;

And you are proud of that?

> I might have lasted the first 1000 on a bike but I
> suspect my wife would have quit at the 500 mark if she had
> started at all:-)

You would have seen much more interesting things on your first 100km on
bike ... do you really think your trip gets more valuable the more km
you do?

>
> The ride from Brisbane to Singapore would have been fun.
> Pedalo?

Definitely! ... At least in Indonesia it is absolutely no problem to
take your bike on a bus ...

Manfred

Alan S

On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:41:36 +0200, Manfred Aigner
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Alan S wrote:
>> On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 07:24:27 -0700, [email protected]
>[..]
>> I did 11000km through Europe in 9 weeks by car on the 2003
>> trip;
>
>And you are proud of that?
>
Proud? Odd concept for travel. We enjoyed it, which is more
important to me. We obviously enjoy different things. That
doesn't make either of us wrong or right.

And you are critical of that?

>> I might have lasted the first 1000 on a bike but I
>> suspect my wife would have quit at the 500 mark if she had
>> started at all:-)
>
>You would have seen much more interesting things on your first 100km on
>bike
>
Would I? Your opinion, not mine. Mostly we took back roads.
Some places we drove fast, some slow, some we walked a lot.
Some we places we stayed a week, some an hour. 11000km in 9
weeks is only an average of 175km per day, or 2-3 leisurely
hours drive. Not exactly flashing by the countryside. We
never felt rushed, we set our own pace.
>>
>... do you really think your trip gets more valuable the more km
>you do?

Valuable? Another odd concept for travel. No, it was neither
more nor less valuable. Nor was it more valuable because we
went 35000 flying miles around the world. It just happened
that those flights were necessary to see Europe and the USA
from here in a reasonable timescale. More costly, yes, but
not more valuable.

You seem to feel that all travelers should share your
concepts of pride and value.

>> The ride from Brisbane to Singapore would have been fun.
>> Pedalo?
>
>Definitely! ... At least in Indonesia it is absolutely no problem to
>take your bike on a bus ...
>
But difficult to pedal across the Timor Sea...or from my
place to Darwin.

>Manfred


Cheers, Alan, Australia
--
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/
latest: Slovenia
http://loraltraveloz.blogspot.com/
latest: Mossman Gorge in the Daintree Rainforest

kurkku

"Chris Blunt" <[email protected]> kirjoitti
viestiss�:[email protected] om...
> On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:58:18 +0300, Markku Gr�nroos
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>>"Spehro Pefhany" <[email protected]> kirjoitti
>>viestiss�:nl3jc3pki22123egcss1f7vrbitem9vb0v@4ax .com...
>>>
>>> I carry a small bottle of shampoo, because I don't like the free
>>> stuff. Maybe 200ml, which could last for several weeks. Not having a
>>> mobile phone seems silly.
>>>
>>Why? When travelling on holiday, you need a phone. I don't need one.
>
> I find a phone to keep in touch with people even more useful when I'm
> traveling than it is at home. It also serves as a camera, an alarm
> clock, a GPS, and a way to check my emails. Something so compact that
> does all that and only weighs around 100g easily justifies being taken
> along on any trips I make.
>
Fortunately I don't have to be available for other people at work by phone.
Actually I seldom carry a phone when I am out of home. When I am back I just
check the calls. If wandering in wilderness, a phone may be a good piece in
security terms, but on the other hand I have never went deep in to wild
vistas all my own.

kurkku

"Spehro Pefhany" <[email protected]> kirjoitti
viestiss�:[email protected] om...
>
> You never visit anyone when you're on holiday?
>
Not too often so that arrangements should be done by phone.
>
> You don't have anyone depending on you back home?
>
No. And even if I had, I don't see why I should carry a phone along.

> You don't need to make reservations at a restaurant when you're
> travelling?
>
I have never done so.
>
> You don't ever trip a credit card security flag and have to call?
>
It has happened to me that the vendor (typically a car renter) has not been
able to make a credit card provision at first. Anyways they have always had
a phone in the office.

> Any single one of those makes carrying a modern GSM phone well worth
> it, assuming you're mostly travelling where they will work.
>
I have arranged my travels so that there is little need to be instantly
available. When I want to be in touch to outside world I lease a computer
for a moment to send and receive mail. Sometimes it can be beneficial to
book for mass transportation in advance by phone but I leave this to the
hotel personnel. That's why they are there in the first place (typically the
language barrier hinders me to contact the agent anyways).

Manfred Aigner

Alan S wrote:
> On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:41:36 +0200, Manfred Aigner
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Alan S wrote:
>>> On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 07:24:27 -0700, [email protected]
>>[..]
>>> I did 11000km through Europe in 9 weeks by car on the 2003
>>> trip;
>>
>>And you are proud of that?
>>
> Proud? Odd concept for travel. We enjoyed it, which is more
> important to me. We obviously enjoy different things. That
> doesn't make either of us wrong or right.

Yes we do!
And it is not a question of wrong or right!

> And you are critical of that?

No, as long as I do not need to join ;-) .. would be probably as hard
for me to sit 200km in a car as it would be for you to join me on a
biketour ...

[..]
>>You would have seen much more interesting things on your first 100km on
>>bike
>>
> Would I? Your opinion, not mine.

Yes, I'm sure about that. Traveling by car or motorbike is too fast.
Walking or traveling on bike gives you the chance to observe the
environment and get a feeling about the landscape. Arriving to any place
after some physical exercise is a much better experience that getting
off a car. I'd compare it with climbing a mountain or reaching the top
with a cable car. You're by both ways on the top, but the experience is
a completely different one ...

> Mostly we took back roads.
> Some places we drove fast, some slow, some we walked a lot.
> Some we places we stayed a week, some an hour. 11000km in 9
> weeks is only an average of 175km per day, or 2-3 leisurely
> hours drive. Not exactly flashing by the countryside. We
> never felt rushed, we set our own pace.

You do 175km mostly on back roads a day? In 2-3 hours? That is an
average of 175/2.5 70km, which is really a lot on back roads ... I'dnot
enjoy ...

>>... do you really think your trip gets more valuable the more km
>>you do?
>
> Valuable? Another odd concept for travel.

Really? Odder than measuring km/days? Off course is a good trip
valuable, as a weekend at home and lazy Sunday in bad can be ..

> No, it was neither
> more nor less valuable. Nor was it more valuable because we
> went 35000 flying miles around the world. It just happened
> that those flights were necessary to see Europe and the USA
> from here in a reasonable timescale.

Ah, that is the problem. You try to bunch as many countries as possible
into a limited time frame ... well, if you enjoy that ;-)

> More costly, yes, but
> not more valuable.

there are other values than costs in $$ .. but well ...

> You seem to feel that all travelers should share your
> concepts of pride and value.

No, please not ;-), but I simply do not understand what could be the
nice thing of rushing through a country, stopping by in a tourist trap
and looking out for the next hotel sign

>>> The ride from Brisbane to Singapore would have been fun.
>>> Pedalo?
>>
>>Definitely! ... At least in Indonesia it is absolutely no problem to
>>take your bike on a bus ...
>>
> But difficult to pedal across the Timor Sea...or from my
> place to Darwin.

Well, this is probably as difficult as with a car! But once you mastered
Darwin-Kupang you would not have any problem with Kupang-Larantuka,
Labuhanbajo-Sumbawa etc. :-)

Giovanni Drogo

> >Why? When travelling on holiday, you need a phone. I don't need one.
>
> Until you need one, and then you need one.
> Phones are very handy devices in some situations.

Do not know if the last sentence is a pun (I believe in Germany they
call "handy" a cell phone, what in Italy is called a "telefonino").

I'm one of the few Italians who do not have a cell phone, and do not
regret it. What I regret, is that with the diffusion of cell phones,
there are less and less phone boots around, specially the coin operated
ones.

In general I do not have need to be contacted when travelling (or simply
when out of home or office), and if so I can leave contact numbers
(offices or hotels). Similarly I generally do not need to call anybody
when travelling, and if I'd need there is usually a phone in my hotel
room, or there are phone boots (unfortunately less now) or other public
phone points.

My only real emergency was when my mother was ill in an hospital in
Scotland, and our travel insurance agent had to communicate us a
reservation code for the pre-paid return ticket, and I had to leave my
hotel sometime before departure. This was elegantly solved using a
service offered by the scottish hospital. Every bed had an LCD screen
device which could be used to receive calls for free, and, with a
pre-paid card, to make calls and watch TV. Since my mother does not
speak English we had not enabled it at the beginning, but did that on
the last day. I tested the system and it was very clever (you dial a
number, and are then instructed to dial a code ... in reply you get a
message saying you are trying to contact the bed of Mrs so-and-so, soyou
can dial 1 to continue or drop the call). My mother was upset when they
changed her room, but the code actually follows the person so it was no
problem (and at the end I got the reservation code in my hotel in
advance). To warn my office of delayed return I used e-mail via the
free internet access in the local public library (very nice, apart a
blank stare when I asked whether they supported ssh ... but I managed
around it).

Slightly annoying was during a short business trip to Porquerolles
island, when I wanted to call home. Our "hotel" was a sort of army or
public service establishment, and rooms had no phones. There were public
phones in the corridor, but, as any other on the island, they weren't
coin operated, and did not work with my credit card, so I simply did not
call.

--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[email protected] is a newsreading account used by more persons to
avoid unwanted spam. Any mail returning to this address will be rejected.
Users can disclose their e-mail address in the article if they wish so.

Chris Blunt

On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 06:26:47 GMT, "sharx35" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>
>"Chris Blunt" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected].. .
>> On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:58:18 +0300, Markku Gr�nroos
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>"Spehro Pefhany" <[email protected]> kirjoitti
>>>viestiss�:nl3jc3pki22123egcss1f7vrbitem9vb0v@4a x.com...
>>>>
>>>> I carry a small bottle of shampoo, because I don't like the free
>>>> stuff. Maybe 200ml, which could last for several weeks. Not having a
>>>> mobile phone seems silly.
>>>>
>>>Why? When travelling on holiday, you need a phone. I don't need one.
>>
>> I find a phone to keep in touch with people even more useful when I'm
>> traveling than it is at home. It also serves as a camera, an alarm
>> clock, a GPS, and a way to check my emails. Something so compact that
>> does all that and only weighs around 100g easily justifies being taken
>> along on any trips I make.
>>
>> Chris
>
>They take lousy quality pictures.

In fact I think the 5 megapixel camera on my Nokia N95 takes better
pictures than my Canon IXUS which I bought only a couple of years ago.
It may not be a professional quality camera, I don't think anyone
would describe the quality as lousy.

>No, you do NOT need GPS unless you are,
>perhaps, on safari and surely the OPERATORS of the safari will take care of
>THAT need.

No, I certainly don't *need* GPS, but its was very nice to have while
driving around Thailand a few weeks ago. On several occasions it made
finding locations we were visiting a lot easier.

>E-mails can be checked at any one of the MILLIONS of cyber cafes
>in the world.

Of course, and that's probably what I'd do if I wanted to do any
serious work online. The advantage for me is being able to check
instantly from anywhere whether there's any email that needs attending
to in the first place, without even having to go near an internet
cafe.

Chris