jwenting

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visits	member for	1 year, 5 months
	seen	May 17 at 6:48
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	1,716 reputation	bio	website		visits	member for	1 year, 5 months
28 badges		location			seen	May 17 at 6:48

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May 16	comment	What are good security tactics for sleeping in airports? stay well clear of any mosque area and certainly don't use the fountains unless you're a muslim. They consider that highly offensive and you could end up beaten up, arrested and charged with religious crimes, or worse.
May 14	answered	What “undocumented” benefits are there to being an “elite” frequent flyer?
May 8	comment	Is €16 per gelato a common scam for Rome? @AndrewGrimm I've encountered it several times in Italy (pre-Euro), Turkey, and other countries with essentially worthless currencies (and thus already high numbers on price tags for even minor things). Always check whether the price presented on a bill makes sense is the name of the game.
May 8	comment	Is €16 per gelato a common scam for Rome? Far more important to watch out for the Italian scam of adding a few zeros to the amount of the bill, which was very common before the Euro (the Lira amount was so high most people didn't notice anyway until they saw the actual price on their credit card receipts back home in their own currency). With the Euro introduction this has largely dried up, but apparently at least some still shift the comma a few positions, which might end up with you paying €16 for a €1.60 gelatto. Which is likely what's happening here, and is not specifically Roman or even Italian.
May 6	comment	Is it better to ship bicycle from Egypt to Leipzig, Germany or to buy/rent one? @HadyElsahar newspaper ads, bicycle shops...
May 1	comment	Megabus from Amsterdam to Brussels It's also about how much you value your time. Bus takes several hours longer, that's poor value for money IMO (unless you value your time at less than €10 an hour).
May 1	comment	Transit visa for Uzbekistan passenger as always with such questions, ask the appropriate (in this case Australian) consulate or embassy.
May 1	comment	Why do airports sometimes detect traces of explosives in bags? @vartec hence the false sense of security. Without the theater the security would be 99% what it is now (and likely higher than it is now as the resources could be employed for things that do work, like more air marshals and profiling, think what the Israeli are doing, unobtrusive monitoring stations on approach roads, people flagged there picked up by security quietly and unobtrusively before they even reach the checkin lines for questioning).
Apr 29	comment	Why do airports sometimes detect traces of explosives in bags? @vartec I know it's about giving people a false sense of security and deterring the amateurs :) The professionals aren't going to try sneaking a bomb through security, they just get one of their own hired on the security team and drive it right through the main gate and onto the tarmac to be loaded in the cargo bay.
Apr 29	comment	Guided tours of Japanese nuclear power plants I know Dutch plants used to offer tours, but only to special groups like highschool classes and student societies for physics departments. And then only after submitting lists of attendants well in advance to perform security checks on everyone. No ad-hoc admittance indeed, certainly not past the visitor center and gift shop located outside the security fence.
Apr 29	comment	Why do airports sometimes detect traces of explosives in bags? and celluloid, the base for photographic film, also triggers them. Even after moving to digital cameras I was flagged more often than not because there were still traces of celluloid in my camera bags from before the switch.
Apr 29	comment	Why do airports sometimes detect traces of explosives in bags? @vartec and how would those detect homebrewn or foreign explosives lacking such traces? Things like that shoe with a Semtex sole? The detectors might detect those markers, but also trigger on things common chemicals found in explosives, which is why they tend to trigger on photographic film (celluloid and silver halides).
Apr 24	answered	Can I take a flight to Canada which stops in the USA, if I have restrictions from entering the USA?
Apr 24	comment	Why do airplanes at every airport disembark at the left (port) side? @Flimzy I'm sure my highschool Dutch and English teachers (the latter Oxford and Cambridge trained) are more authorative than wikipedia :)
Apr 23	comment	Why do airplanes at every airport disembark at the left (port) side? Historical detail: the term "port" is NOT the English "port" as in harbour facility (though that word might be derived from it) but comes from the Dutch "boord", the side of a ship. Starboard is Englisised "stuurboord", "steering side", the side containing the steering wheel in a ship (in aircraft that's reversed with the captain on the port side, in helicopters the captain sits on the starboard side).
Apr 23	comment	Why do airplanes at every airport disembark at the left (port) side? And traditionally, the doors on the right would have not had folding stairs (in current production aircraft, those are usually not present at all). These days, they're usually less wide, just wide enough for maintenance crews to enter and load trolleys for the galley (the size of which is standardised internationally).
Apr 22	comment	Is there a way to get to the top of Mount Everest without hiking too far? was hoping the higher camps might be reachable by helicopter (even if there are no regular flights, I'm pretty sure there have been medevacs so something could I guess be arranged if you have enough money to burn).
Apr 22	comment	Is there a way to get to the top of Mount Everest without hiking too far? of course he would not need to land on the summit, depending on what he considers "too far". If he's happy to climb from one of the lower camps, a helicopter becomes feasible.
Apr 19	comment	Is it allowed to carry “a knife” or “a pepper spray” while traveling by road in the Schengen area as a woman? @vartec indeed, but there they're more actively prosecuted, given way less leeway and thus more afraid of the law still...
Apr 19	comment	Is it allowed to carry “a knife” or “a pepper spray” while traveling by road in the Schengen area as a woman? @vartec in part, but also because they have a large subsection of the population that considers rape (in the strict definition) to not being a crime but their god given right to do to white females.