Ive been doing something like this for years to pick up my daughter. One round trip departing from my city at the beginning to her city, 2 round trip tickets from her city to mine to get her there and home, then use the return leg of my initial ticket to get back. Never had any issues.

Have to second the backpack thing. Can think of a few others to add, but the ones that are easiest are-

Putting it through the paces with places I’ve lived and traveled and know well, its not that bad for a general snapshot, but some things are laughable. Don’t know their data set for safety, but it is wayy off. Taxi prices are higher than what they give as they seem to be just giving the price for flag fall for what…

I think a lot of people miss the point with the coffee recommendation(or at least I view it differently). It’s not about denying yourself things, it is more about thinking what is actually important to you and prioritizing it. Most people who buy coffee(or go out to lunch, or insert similar habit here) are doing it…

TBH, this is a really easy repair (left side, haven't had to do right). No soldering involved, plenty of slack in the ribbon cables, only thing stuck in using glue/tape is the battery and it isn't that strong. Not saying there isn't so one design issue that needs to be addressed(have done it on booth my sets of…

Yeah, I’m talking about something that is totally different. A hostess bar is somewhere that has hostesses, people payed by the bar to provide companionship for the (male only) clientele. The expectation is that the guy buys them drinks (heavily watered down and overpriced) in exchange, for which the hostess receives…

In Shanghai, if you are on East Najing road(and tbh, there really isn’t a good reason, its not interesting), and anybody approaches you to talk, its a scam. Do not go anywhere for tea, to see an art show, or help anyone practice their English. The tea will cost hundreds per glass, the art will suck and be overpriced…

Depending on the plane, there is a ledge that functions as a hand rail running just under the overhead bins. It is mainly there to help steady you when you are walking to and from seats(which is why it drives me crazy on those flights when people walking steady themselves on my seat, but I digress). However, if you…

Will second the swamp cooler if you live in a drier clime. Had one growing up, and it would do a wonderful job on the rooms it hit. After I moved out, mom had centeral air installed, and griped about the cost increase in electricity. Don’t really know why she didn’t just invest in better ducting/another cooler for the…

It really detracts from your point when you say this yet use the wrong cast. Either that or it’s time for me to go to bed because I’ve missed the sarcasm :-P

Counterpoint- finding those “friends” takes a lot of effort, and it only gets harder to do the older you get, and you will be glad you have them when other people in your life are gone. I agree with you to an extent, don’t just treat it as a place to crash, but part of growing up is spending less time with your…

Yikes. You know a practice is bad and invasive when I’ve lived in China for almost a decade and could not even imagine it happening. Police showing up to raid a bar and not letting people leave til they pee in a cup, sure, but bar staff even asking to see ID? Never.

If you are in shanghai and want an escape without leaving the ring road, head to (bare with me on the name)- Environmental Theme Park of Suzhouhe Mengqing Garden(苏州河梦清园环保主题公园). It’s situated on Suzhou creek, so it usually gets a nice breeze even in the dead of summer, has a variety of different ares and water…

Like I said, travel experiences must differ. I almost never fly domestically in the US, most of my flying is international in and out of China, or domestically within China. I usually start on portals, check to see if the airline itself is any better, and book whatever is cheaper. I will freely admit that the…

Going to have to say that our travel experiences differ greatly, as I often find significantly better deals through 3rd party sites rather than dealing directly with the airlines(seems to be about 50/50 split, give or take). Have had not issues with the 3rd parties used either. Like anything, the more places you look…

With travel medical insurance, go for something with a lower up front cost and higher deductible to save some cash, because odds are you most likely won’t need to use it. If you do though, make sure you read all the fine print and contact the insurer before anything major. In my experience, they design their policies…

I find on long flights, paying the most attention to when you are going to land matters most so you can sync your clock up. If you arrive early in the day, then yeah, wanna sleep a lot on the plane a lot so don’t sleep the night before. However, if you are arriving in the evening, you want to be absolutely exhausted…

Agreed on the fetishizing thing here. They go out of there where to get into nuances about Japan, but do things like rely and a foreigner in Hong Kong for information about Mainland China in an article. At the same time, encouraging all the Laowai to visit Japan and nowhere else means less obnoxious tourists for me to…

Have spent a fair amount of time traveling and backpacking, packing cubes are good for some things, but if you really want to save space in your bag, go with something that compresses for your clothes. I swear by Eagle Creek’s hand rolling vacuum bags. Provided you pack right, things actually don’t really wrinkle. For…

Well aware of that. More meant all you ever see here travel-coverage wise outside of Western countries is Japan and maybe Bali.