KNOCK OFFS:
KNOCK OFFS:
SCOOTERS:
I read on a website where tourist shouldn't bargain when in poorer countries. Pay the asking price.
Excuse, me. Which mansion did you just walk out of?
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For one, I am not wealthy. It takes me a long time to save up enough to go on a trip and I have to travel as cheaply as possible.
Secondly, no vendor is going to sell his product so low as to lose money. Irregardless of how low his prices are, they are above what he expects to sell it for. They work in a tourist industry and they know that tourists want to bargain so their prices are set high.
In fact most prices aren't set until they see the cut of the potential purchaser.
Walk into any souvenir store and see how many items are priced. The vendor waits until the person asks ²How much? Then sets the price according to how fat he thinks the buyer's wallet is.
On the other hand if you are getting work done I pay more than the asking price if I feel it is worth it.
In Cancun, while at the beach I broke the frame of my glasses. In town I found a small jewellery shop who obviously created his own products. At first the man was reluctant to work on my glasses but I showed him that the two sections of framed needed welding and he was familiar with welding pieces of jewellery together.
Very carefully he removed the plastic lenses and nose pieces and after much adjusting of the stuff scattered about his work bench managed to align the two pieces and weld them together.
For this he wanted the outrageous sum of 40 Pesos. I gave him 50 and thanked him profusely.
Another time, the catch on the bottom of my fin bag ripped and I took it took a shoe maker on Isla Mujeres. I showed him how I would like it reinforced and when I went back the next day he wanted 20 Pesos and I gave him 25. Good work deserves a reward and I am sure that he had under priced himself.
To the Start of This Tip BARGANING
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DO NOT TRY TO USE CAMERAS IN THEATRES:
Most theatres, cinematic, or stage, have cameras and censors. They will know when you try to use your camera to take pictures of the presentation. They will know which seat you are sitting in. You will be asked to turn over your camera or leave the theatre. Upon leaving the theatre you will be given your camera, minus the images that you took.
IN CASINOS AVOID: TAKING PICTURES OF WAITRESSES, PEOPLE GAMBLING, & GAMBLING MACHINES, OR GAMES.
Pictures may be taken, inside casinos, of restaurant and lounge entrances. Try to avoid capturing faces of other patrons or staff.
To the Start of This Tip CAMERAS
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When traveling by plane, have a fully charged battery, a power supply, or put your computer in your check in baggage. They will ask that you turn your computer on and it must pass through the check point separately. Don't leave it in a back pack to send it through the X-ray.
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At one airport the inspection officer wanted me to put my power supply in my check-in baggage. I eventually found a supervisor that assured her a power supply couldn't be used as a weapon. It couldn't be used on the plane, very few planes have power outlets, but I wanted to recharge my battery during plane change in L. A. X. Under the windows of the waiting room are power outlets and I found a quiet corner where people wouldn't be tripping over the cord.
If you are using Windows XP it takes a long time to start up and to shut down. So allow yourself plenty of time for check in.
Computers are not allowed, and I don't know why, to be turned on during take off, landing, or taxiing of planes. So if you are on a short flight, between meals, and filling out entry forms, you won't have a lot of time to use them.
Actually a laptop or even a notebook is not very practical in economy class. There really isn't room to tip back the monitor far enough to see and still keep the keyboard away from your stomach far enough for easy access of the keyboard.
While on one plane the open notebook fit nicely below the catch, on the back of the seat in front of me, that holds the tray in place. I almost screamed in pain when the little passenger from hell, on the seat in front of me, tossed himself backwards. I thought for sure the catch would break the lid of my notebook. Luckily the plastic that Compaq uses to make their computers is stronger than it looks. Though I moved my computer back, I eventually put it away as the little monster in front of me was continually rocking himself back, against the seat and I didn't think my computer was designed for a bounce test.
In retrospect, after several trips, I think it is simpler to wrap your computer in your clothes and pack it in your check-in.
PS: Last year I switched to a Mac Power Book. i got an older one to get a 12" that runs OS 10.4.
The 12" fits better on those little tables and the 10.4 takes a lot less time to boot up or shut down than Windows.
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When traveling by car, in Mexico, I read, somewhere, that one should be wary when buying fuel.
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Usually each fuel pump will have two attendants, one will start the pump while the other comes to your window to talk to you.
The advice I found on the web, was, don't tell the man at your window how much you want.
Get out of the car, go over to the pump and look at the different grades and prices.
Then make you decision, telling the attendant, how much you want, of which grade.
Othewise you may find that when you get out of the car the second attendant has already begun the pump.
He may not have set it back to zero and you may pay for fuel you never received.
I have always followed this advice and I always know the pump is reset before fueling begins.
To be honest, I don't think that an attendenat has ever tried to cheat me.
To the Start of This Tip DRIVING
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To the Start of This Tip EATING UTENSILS
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Pictures, of the real n73, are courtesy of C/net
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When you leave your room, make sure the door, and windows, are locked.
When in your room, lock the door, and apply the night safety.
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After we had checked in, while looking for the elevator to our room, a man came out of a hallway, between two elevator banks. He was wearing some kind of service uniform and asked me for the phone number to the hotel. I found this strange as we were in the hotel.
I told him I didn't know and he replied that it would be in the papers I was holding.
After shuffling through the papers and commenting that I didn't see it he told me which piece of paper it was on. We found an 800 number which he said would do, memorized it, or pretended to, and disappeared in the direction of a bank of telephones.
This had me curious as I realized that the papers we had been looking at clearly stated my name and my room number.
As we crawled into bed for a late afternoon siesta, I heard the door open, stop against the night latch, and then close.
There had been no knock on the door and I wondered if it was the man I had encountered downstairs
To the Start of This Tip LOCK YOUR DOOR
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Normally I only travel with a few dollars to get to and from the airport. Other than that I only carry my bank card and credit card.
Large purchases in foreign countries are done with credit card and smaller purchases are done with the currency of that country.
When you withdraw funds at an ATM, or ABM, in a foreign country your bank will withdraw the funds from your account at the prevailing exchange rate.
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ATMs can be found almost anywhere and are far more convenient than trying to find a bank to cash a traveller's cheque. Many stores won't cash traveller's cheques and many banks will only cash them during certain times of the day. Whereas many stores have ATM and the ones in the banks are usually open 24 hours a day.
I generally withdraw two or three thousand at a time to save withdrawal charges, hide most of it in a hotel safe, and carry only what I am going to need until I get back to the hotel again.
CUBA: In the hotel zone all prices are in in American dollars.
Change, smaller than a dollar, may be given in Cuban pesos or may be given in a new Cuban currency that is equivalent to an American quarter, dime, etc.
These coins are only for use in Cuba and are worthless anywhere else.
MEXICO: Jun. `02 The date of this writing is important as money values fluctuate constantly.
The Mexican peso was worth 5 Canadian dollars or 9.3 American dollars.
Most merchants were accepting the American dollar in the equivalent of 10 pesos. At that time, therefore, it was worth it to find an ATM that would dispense American dollars, as well as pesos.
In June `02 you could purchase the American dollar at a rate of $1.65 Canadian. The American dollar would then become ten Mexican pesos but the $1.65 Canadian exchanged directly would only become Mexican 8.25 pesos.
As much as I hate using American money when travelling in places other than America, The united States of, in Cuba you have no choice and in the tourist areas of Mexico it is worth it to do so. (You save $35 dollars on every hundred $100.
Maybe my math is screwy there but it is cheaper to Us Yankee green backs than pesos. At least it was in the Cancun area during May `02.
To the Start of This Tip MONEY
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if you are on house power take out your battery.
Only put it in if you need it.
Your battery will live much longer.
If you leave your battery in all the time, every time you turn on your computer, it starts to charge, if only for 5 seconds.
A battery is only good for 2000 charges.
To the Start of This Tip NOTE BOOK (LAP TOP) BATTERY
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Little problems, mechanical failures, leaky taps, loose fixtures, electrical outlets that don't work, etc.
Guest of hotels should always report such problems as the chamber maids don't notices these things and, if they do, they are not mechanically inclined and don't realize they present a problem that needs to be repaired.
To the Start of This Tip ROOM PROBLEMS
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Before leaving on my last trip I read a tip about renting scooters. They said that one should stay away from congested areas as most people who rent scooters are first time users, or at best, novices, and there is a great danger of injuring oneself or other users of the street.
Just the fact that you are not used to the equipment, which is very much different from driving a car or riding a bicycle, can, at the very least, be very annoying to others.
In particular the tip pointed out the use of such machines on Isla Mujeres in Mexico.
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They pointed out how small the island was and how most places were accessible by foot.
While on Isla Mujeres I did rent a scooter and I did tour the town. And of course, as it was only my third time using such a vehicle, although an experience driver of all sizes of four wheel vehicles, I did have some problems and caused the odd bit of inconvenience to other users of the street.
However I never blatantly disturbed people or purposely went where common sense would dictate that one shouldn't.
A point in case is the downtown core.
All the streets are one way. Often the arrows are hard to find, as they are mounted on the walls of buildings, not on sign posts.
If one can't find the arrows, one can simply look at which way the cars are parked. If they are parked on the wrong side then that is obviously the direction the traffic is flowing. Yet consistently I would observe people driving the wrong way, against the flow of the traffic.
Most of the main street is barricaded at the end of each block. These barricades are removable so that merchants can get supplies to there establishments.
The barricades, even when in place are spaced enough that a bicycle or a scooter can fit between them.
To any, but the most ignorant, it is quite obvious that vehicles are not allowed in these areas even if the barricades have been removed.
One evening, while a street performer was juggling with flaming torches some bone head on a scooter decided he should pass between the barricades and wind his way through the tables and chairs set out in front of the restaurants.
The juggler was forced into having to back up so as not to burn the two idiots on the scooter.
This was very hard for her to do as she couldn't take her concentration of the torches to see what was behind her.
Fortunately the young lady was talented enough to be able to shuffle backwards while maintaining control of her torches. And luckily there was no one or nothing behind her for the few feet she needed.
Without stopping or waiting, the scooter continued to wind its way past the juggler and through the crowds along the street.
One thing I have learned in my life is that `Common Sense' is not all that common.
When riding a scooter or operating any type of vehicle, use some common sense, or walk.
To the Start of This Tip SCOOTERS
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Taxis vary from city to city and country to country.
CANADA:
In small towns taxis work on flat rate. In larger towns, and cities, they work on meters. They don't bargain prices and they don't drive around the wrong way to get a higher fare.
CHINA:
In Shanghai; taxis work on meters and they are not allowed to accept tips. Some drivers will if they feel no one is watching but if caught they could lose their job. At the airport you will find cab drivers who are off shift and park their cabs in the passenger parking zone. If there are no cabs available in the taxi line they will approach you. If you show them, on a map, where you want to go they will quote you a price. It will be approximately double the regular rate. Bargaining at this point is recommended. Try to get it for half of what is offered.
MEXICO:
Some towns post the taxi rates on signs near the main bus and ferry terminals. In some towns the taxis are divided between those who can pick up at the airport and those who can drop off. In other words a taxi that brings a fare from town has to go home empty. If you walk off of the airport property you can catch one of these taxies for a lot less money than one that is sitting at the arrivals gate.
I travel even cheaper by bypassing all cabs and locating the city bus. Or what in Cancun is referred to as the `Worker's Bus'. A taxi from the airport to town is 280 pesos but the bus is only 40.
In Zihuatanejo taxis within downtown are 13 peso for locals and 15 pesos for tourist. (Jan. 2001) If they try to charge you more than this, write down the cab number and report him to the nearest police officer.
To the Start of This Tip TAXIS
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Tipping is muchly overrated. Originally started by dirty old men who wanted to impress young waitresses.
In the middle of the last century truck drivers would tip waitresses as much as a dollar for a single cup of coffee. The idea was that sooner or later the trucker would be coming through broke and hungry and the waitress would give him a free meal. (Contrary to popular belief, truck drivers do not make much money.)
I read recently where the suggest tip is 20 to 25 % of the bill. That is alright if you are a flamboyant American but unfortunately it sets a bad example for people who have to work for a living and can't afford such extravagances.
Tipping should not be based on a system but on the amount of effort a person puts into what they do. If a waitress does a good job, she gets a pay check. If she does a poor job she should get fired, yet many is the time I have seen poor service be rewarded with a tip, just because tipping has become a habit.
If you don't feel like giving, or can't afford to give, a tip, then don't. It is not mandatory. And in fact, in some cases, such as cab drivers in Shanghai, illegal.
The average person, away from home, drops a minimum of a dollar a tip per meal. Average 3 meals a day, 7 days a week, that is $1,000 a year. As I seldom eat in the same restaurant twice that is $1,000 a year that I am giving to people I will never see again.
Would you walk up to a stranger and give them a $1,000?
I would rather use it for my child's education, or a plane fare to Mexico.
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I asked a valet what the procedure was for tipping.
The valet told me that he was an employee and didn°t need to be tipped but normally customers gave a tip of $1-2 when the valet presents the car keys, when the customer picks up his car. Also, an acceptable tip for the bellhop is $1-2, in the room, when the bellhop delivers the luggage. An equal tip can be paid to the bellhop when leaving. You can pay him, in the room, when he picks up the bag or at the curb when you put the bags in the car. However if things are busy, the bellhop who picks up your bags in the room may not be the one who delivers them to the car.
To the Start of This Tip TIPPING II
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Toilets come in various sizes and shapes and quite often without lids or seats. If using a seat is important to you, ask the desk clerk before you check into a hotel. Also learn how to, in the local language, ask if the toilet has a seat. Flapping your hands like a toilet seat going up and down will lead them to think you are wanting to know if it has a flush handle.
If in doubt, ask to see the room. They never mind climbing all the stairs to show you the room. And you might find something else that will turn you off.
While inspecting a room to see if the toilet had a seat I noticed the shower only had one tap. Despite the fact that the desk clerk had assured me the room had hot water, there was no hot water tap in the shower.
I have heard people mention that when using a toilet one should never put toilet paper in it. In my travels I have only seen one sign, in a restaurant in Puerto Morelos, that said put toilet paper in the trash.
Many is the time that I have see signs that say, `Do not put paper towels in the toilet'.
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One would think that would be obvious but apparently it isn't.
I learned, at a very early age, while trying to hide an uneaten apple from my father, that toilets cannot take anything. Yet I have witnessed friends scrape their plates, after supper, into the toilet.
When one looks at a toilet it looks like a large funnel. The upper part is big and round, or oval. And the bottom, beneath the water is small, about 4 inches in diameter. It looks like it can handle most anything.
However, if one takes a look at the side of the bowl, at the back, close to the floor, you can sometimes see that the 4Ó hole quickly become 2 inches.
Not only does it become smaller, it makes a sharp bend and curves back up, reverses direction, and curls back down again.
All plumbing: sinks; showers; tubs; and toilets, in a house have sharp curves in the drains. It is called a `pee trap' or `gooseneck°.
The purpose of the gooseneck is to trap water. The water stays there until the next time you use the implement at which time the old water is washed away and the water you use then takes it's turn sitting in the trap and preventing smells from coming up the pipe and entering the room.
Do you remember the old outhouses where everything just went down into a hole in the ground and the smell came right back up?
And of course you could just dump anything into an outhouse. It could take it and there was no gooseneck to plug up.
Of course, now, your waste doesn't go into a hole in the ground, it goes to a treatment plant.
Neither the goose neck nor the treatment plant are designed to take every, or any, thing. See my article `Shit' about treatment plants.
Toilet paper has been designed to go into septic systems and treatment plants. It breaks down very easily in water. Ever tried to dry your hands with toilet paper?
On the other hand facial tissue, commonly called, Kleenex, is designed to stay strong when wet.
Neither facial tissue, or anything else, other than toilet paper, and human, bodily, waste, should go into a toilet.
Why then, if toilet paper is designed to break down easily in water, will it plug up a toilet?
Because people use too much at one time.
Many people, particularly females, like to rumple up the toilet paper in a big ball. As soon as this hit's the water it becomes a soggy mass of fibre. The inner part of the ball is unable to dissolve in the water and therefore the ball is unable to pass through the tight, tiny, curve in the gooseneck, inside the base of the toilet.
Two or three squares, of toilet tissue, at a time, laid flat, in your palm, repeated two to four times, as required, will do the job quite nicely, without plugging the toilet
To the Start of This Tip TOILETS
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Montezuma's Revenge. Montezuma's revenge is a wicked upset stomach, complete with cramps, trots, and nausea. But often your stomach will be upset to a lesser extent. Whether traveling across the country or around the world, water, food, and spices, vary from place to place. Consuming products unfamiliar to your digestive system can cause you to get the runs. The most common catalyst is water.
Simply moving from the wet coast of North America to the dry interior or from the mountains to the prairies can affect your bowel movements.
As a cross country trucker I always carried several gallons of water from my home. If I was on a short trip I had enough to get me home again. If I was on a long trip I would gradually introduce my stomach to the water wherever I travelled. A bit at a time, gradually increasing the amount until I was drinking more of the local water than what I had brought from home. Consequently I had little stomach problems.
Everyone's stomach contains bacteria that aids digestion. Someone has told me that Montezuma's revenge is a lack of bacteria. What happens is that the local water removes the bacteria that your stomach is used to. As your stomach can no longer digest what you put into it it tries to get rid of it. I'm told a cure for this is Kaopectate. However that is more a cure for diarrhoea, which is not the problem.
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Before leaving for Mexico I contracted some type of stomach bug so I was already in need of the bacteria before I got to Cancun. I found the product , after visiting several farmacias, where no one understood what I was talking about, in Farmacias Paris on Ave. Yaxchilan. There I was lucky enough to meet a fellow shopper who was conversant in English and Spanish and was able to convey to the druggist that I wanted a bacterial culture for my stomach.
The instructions call for; FOR ADULTS, 1 to 3 vials, 3 times a day.
However I felt that I was already over the worst of the problem and only took two the first day and one the second day. Then throughout my trip, whenever I felt that I was getting loose, I would take one. About once a week.
To the Start of This Tip UPSET STOMACH
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I never thought about it until I came to write this article. I never carried bottle water with me like I do in Mexico but I was only there in the winter and one didn't need to worry about dehydration. In restaurants I invariably had tea.
Most hotel rooms supply thermoses with hot water as tea is the standard beverage. Most people carry thermoses, or jars of tea, with them.
CUBA:
Havana: I have received mixed messages .
Varadero: All the hotels are on a filtered system. Feel free to drink tap water.
MEXICO:
Drink lots. If you are not used to a dry climate always consider dehydration and heat stroke. Always carry a small bottle when you leave the hotel. If you are going back to the hotel shortly after you have emptied your bottle, don't toss it, take it back with you and refill it. Most hotels supply water.
Consider all water and ice cubes NOT safe. Including some bottled water. There is one brand that is suspect, it has a bad odour when you open the bottle. In small stores, before you open the bottle, check the seal. They may have refilled the bottle from the tap. Your major brands are generally safer. Check the label, the small print on the bottom, `A subsidiary of'???' is good. (I won't mention the brand but it is well know.)
In large resort hotels, SAFE.
Most budget hotels will supply a large bottle or cooler in the lobby.
CANCUN: I have received mixed messages. Supposedly the water has gone through 2 filtering systems yet many locals won't drink it. In the Hotel Zone it goes through a third filtering system and is considered safe.
USA:
Similar to Canada in that most water is safe to drink. Although one may want to be wary about swimming in the South East as there are things in the water that bight.
Here again you will probably find alkaline water that is not drinkable in desert or near desert areas.
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To the Start of This Tip WATER
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