Category Archives: Trip Reports

a red lock with white text

No More Ransomware – Get Your Digital Life Back!

Lately, it’s hard to miss the news coverage of hackers placing malicious code on computers all over the world that encrypt the entire system making it inaccessible by the owner.  The latest example was the wanna cry ransomware attack in May, 2017. The idea is simple, make the owner pay to have their own files unlocked.  The hackers spread the code in a number of ways: “phishing” scams or by opening infected documents that are sent as email attachments.  Once the code is on the target computer, it goes to work encrypting the hard drive, and anything stored there is hidden from the owner.  If the owner pays the hacker’s ransom, the computer is decrypted by the use of a code.

a screenshot of a computer error Continue reading

a blue logo with a white background

Which Trip Should I Use with the Alaska Airlines Companion Fare?

The yearly Alaska Airlines Companion Fare that comes with the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card is awesome. However, the question becomes, WHICH trip is the best trip to use it on? I’ve had the credit card and gotten the companion fare deal for many years now. But this year was the first year that I had three potential uses for it. A good problem to have. Maybe you’ve had this good problem as well :)

It did, however, require a thorough look at comparing prices and hotels. If I’m paying cash for a hotel stay, I always use Pruvo to monitor for price drops, so that figures into my choice too. I also looked at what other miles/points I had available for these routes to finally make my choice. It was a lesson in perseverance! Here’s what I did. I was originating from San Diego and my trips were to Hawaii, New York City, and Boston. My dates for Hawaii and Boston were somewhat flexible, but my New York City dates were not.

a map of the united states

Great Circle Mapper: http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=hnl-san,san-bos,san-jfk

Continue reading

a pink sign with black squares and white text

T-Mobile DIGITS: Use Your US Phone Number Anywhere

Most of us travel and use our US carrier to roam while we are in another country or buy a local SIM.  There are benefits to both methods, so let’s take a look at the options.

Buy A Local SIM

If you buy a local SIM, you are essentially getting a local number in the country you are in.  Most of us don’t care about the local number; we value the high speed data package that comes with the local SIM.  This presents a small problem though; if you value making toll free calls to the US or receiving calls on your local number, you won’t be able to do that with a local SIM.  You also will not be able to send or receive any text messages from your local US number.

Use Your US Carrier To Roam In Another Country

If you use this method, for example with T-Mobile, depending on your plan, you can likely receive text messages for free on your US number. This can be useful for several reasons: phone calls generally cost a small amount and data is free.  The disadvantage to using this setup is the data is usually severely throttled by the foreign carrier and some people find it useless because it is so slow.

a famous monuments of the world Continue reading

a heart made of coffee beans

Revisiting Shelli’s World Coffee Tour – Refill Cafe in San Diego

I’m always excited to be able to add a new coffee house to any of the lists I offer you in my Bean Around The World Series. And today, we’re adding one to the San Diego group. It’s called Refill Cafe. I finally got a chance to check them out over the weekend. I had driven by their location many times since they opened a year ago, but never stopped in. For some reason, I assumed rather than using their own roast, they were using a more nationally known roast. You’ll notice in my Bean Around The World Series, I never review coffee houses that don’t roast their own beans because I’m looking for special places that are local for us all to enjoy and support.

Because I really like the way the space looked from the outside, I decided to call Refill and see whose beans they used. Much to my delight, they use Bird Rock beans, which is a roaster in San Diego whose coffee, as well as their spaces, I really like. So that got me interested in heading over to Refill and checking them out. And I’m really glad I did.

The owner, Nathan, had just gone home when I got there late afternoon on a Sunday. However, the staff were super friendly, especially Alexia, who was very patient, friendly, and answered all my questions :) Though Nathan hasn’t had coffee house experience before, he put together a great place. It has both great indoor and outdoor areas with plenty of tables nicely spaced out. And though it’s on a major street, it’s situated in such a way as to avoid the street noise. There’s good street parking that is unmetered. That’s a rarity in San Diego. It’s not in any of the bigger tourist areas, but if you’re near the zoo or Balboa Park, it’s very close.

a group of people sitting at tables in a restaurant

Refill in-door seating

Continue reading

a black letter b and b

Part 5: Interview with a Professional Uber/Lyft Driver – Uber’s “180 Days of Change” & In-App Tipping

Please click here to read the other parts of this ongoing interview series with Harry Campbell, The Rideshare Guy.

Uber sure seems like a cyclone of controversy and change these days. I wonder if they had the title “180 Days of Change” already picked out before Travis Kalanick was ousted as Uber’s CEO? But what we know they meant by “180 Days of Change” are all the Uber changes to benefit the drivers, who seemed to come in third behind customers and Uber itself, in Uber’s business model.

Here at TWG, we have our Uber insider, Harry Campbell. Whenever there’s something about Uber we want to know or understand better, he’s the man! In his latest article, he goes over ALL the upcoming changes, explaining everything so you can really make good decisions not only about tipping, but also about whether or not you even want to use Uber and support its business.

a screen shot of a phone

Continue reading