Yet more AirBnb issues

2016-06-17

I know you're wondering why I keep using AirBnb if there are so many issues

It's basically because I'm homeless and I need a place to stay. Other than a hostel the cheapest hotels are $100−$150 a night. Go to booking.com and check. Pretty much every city there's 5 tiers of prices. Bottom teir is hostels. Next tier up is $100−$150 a night. That's $3k to $4.5k a month which is a lot of money. Yes, I'm finally working on settling back down and renting an apartment at which point I won't be looking to rent short term apartments. In other words I'll stop using AirBnB. That said wasn't going to bring up this latest issue .. until AirBnB called. See below

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The Unintended Consequences of Cheap Airlines

2016-01-14

This is just a very minor thing I noticed but ...

I needed to book a flight from Singapore to Hong Kong. I checked and the prices were pretty crazy.

$69 for Tiger (which is rated 1 out of 5 stars) $105 for JetStar (rated like 1.5 out of 5 stars) $520 for Singapore Airlines

That's it! There's no sliding scale. The 3rd option is 6x the first option!!!

I asked some friends what they would pick. Some said pick Singapore Air because sucky travel experience ruins everything. Others said the flight is only 4hrs so don't worry about a bad experience as it will be over quick.

I ended up going with Singapore Air mostly because they had a flight time that fit my schedule. I needed to get into Hong Kong with plenty of time to get to the city before it gets dark since I'm going to an AirBnB and not a hotel and it will be harder to find. Too early and I'm stuck with my luggage for several hours. I am cry about the cost but what−cha−gonna do.

Anyway, that's all beside the point.

The point is, as I was flying from Tokyo to Singapore (different flight) on Singapore Airlines the headphones they gave me were broken. I checked a couple of things and was able to mostly conclude the problem was the headphones, not the entertainment system.

But, ... While I was doing that it got me thinking. Because there's a lower price option I start to feel entitled to better service. If I fly from SG to HK for $520 and something is broken or service is bad I'm likely going to be extremely upset that I paid 6x the price of the cheap airlines and didn't get flawless service.

Before super cheap airlines when the diff was say 10% it wouldn't have been a big deal but now ....?

No idea if that will have any real pressure or not on non super budget airlines.

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Istanbul - Scam, Scam, Scammed

2015-10-07

In the first 30 hours I've been in Istanbul I've been scammed 4 times

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Form Over Function

2015-09-02

I recently stayed at an apartment which you can see from the picture is a pretty nice looking apartment

It's got the fancy show nothing cabinets that hide everything

It feels a little like living in some future sci−fi apartment from Logan's Run or the Jetsons.

But ... after the initial "wow, cool" factor wears off I soon realized whoever designed this stuff really wasn't qualified to design it. I suppose I'm being harsh but gees, so many things are poorly thought out.

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AirBnB not all roses

2014-09-08

AirBnB hasn't been all roses. My first experience in Hawaii was awesome but most experiences since then have been less than stellar.

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Notes about Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice

2014-04-09

I took my first trip to Italy. I started in Rome, then Florence, Milan, and finally Venice.

The short version is, Milan was best but over all I Italy didn't live up to the hype for me.

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Manoa Falls

2014-02-20

I was in Honolulu looking up a restaurant or something on Google maps and I saw a marker for "Manoa Falls". I had never been and I assumed it would be like Opaekaa Falls or Wailua Falls in Kauai. Both of those are just off the road. You get out of your car, walk 50 feet, see the waterfall, get back into your car. At worst I thought it might be like Akaka Falls on Hawaii which is nice paved with steps and walkways with rails.

Instead it was a dirt path about 1 mile long. It was a drizzly day and so it was all really muddy and slippery.

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Tromsø Notes

2014-02-19

Notes to myself about Tromsø

Small town on Island. Kind of reminds me of Kauai as their populations are similar although I don't know if the population I read is just Tromsø city or if including the surrounding area makes it much bigger

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Amsterdam Notes

2014-02-19

Random notes to self about Amsterdam

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Amsterdam's Red Light District

2013-10-09

I visited Amsterdam's famous Red Light District. I thought about visiting it alone but decided a tour would probably be more fun so I signed up for this tour. Our tour guide was great. Very sex positive. Very supportive of the working girls. I highly recommend it. Here's some notes and thoughts.

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