-
Double Booking Dark Pattern on AirBnB
·
1–2 minutes·
No comments on Double Booking Dark Pattern on AirBnBI recently booked a single night stay in London with AirBnB, who promptly told me on completion of payment that I already had a booking confirmed for that night, and would I like to cancel one of them? It’s easy to cancel, but you don’t get a full refund; AirBnB keep the booking fee, which was…
-
Canadian Travel Notes: Toronto & Ottawa
The Canadian National Exhibition (aka CNE/”The Ex) My understanding of state fairs comes largely from longform pieces in magazines like The New Yorker by people like David Foster Wallace, so it’s hard to compare the CNE in Toronto with others. My expectations weren’t high, but it still felt more soulless than I’d imagined. For example,…
-
Travel Tips, 2018 Edition
I’ve been doing an awful lot more travelling for work this year. Most of it has been between Edinburgh and London, but I’ve also had last-minute trips to San Francisco and Shanghai that required quick packing. To stay sane and organised, I’ve tried to streamline my luggage as much as possible. I’ve always travelled light,…
-
If you like tales of derring-do, you must check out John Bull’s three-part story, The Plane that Accidentally Circumnavigated the World, about the California Clipper seaplane in the midst of WW2.
-
Dǎoháng, or how to navigate in China
When you request an Uber in Shanghai, chances are they’ll call or text to find out where you’d like to be picked up. This poses a problem for people who can’t speak Mandarin, like myself. What to do? Reply with a single word: Dǎoháng. Supposedly, this means “just go where your mobile phone map tells you…
-
Ancient Egypt: Generation Country
I spent a week in Luxor in February, which qualifies me as an expert on all things Egyptian. OK, fine — but it does qualify me as an expert on being a tourist in Luxor. I had two thoughts per day, which makes fourteen thoughts in total: 1. The Baksheesh Problem “No, sorry,” he said, rapidly backing…
-
The Driving Penalty Points Problem
It’s safe to assume that in the next 10-20 years, a decent percentage of people – maybe 5-10% – will wear cameras that constantly record their surroundings. Such cameras already exist, of course, but they’re clunky and low-resolution; the ones we’ll see in the future will have a much better resolution and field of view,…
-
10 apps the BBC should make
Over the years, the BBC — which started as a radio service — has chosen to move into new, risky platforms including television, home computing, and the internet. It’s safe to say that we’re all quite happy with how those ventures turned out, so my question is, why stop there? The BBC should raise its…
-
Meaning and Magic on a Disney Cruise: Part 2
Read Part 1 here… Day 3: Valletta (Malta) Malta isn’t a place that I would go out of my way to visit. Its capital, Valletta, has plenty of charm and interesting architecture – a legacy from the incessant invasions and occupations by Greeks, Romans, Sicilians, French, British, and a bunch of other people you haven’t…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
mssv 