Top travel tips...

[BWFC_Insane]

There is nothing more ghastly than American holidaymakers with unrealistic expectations.

I once heard one bawl out a poor waiter cos the hotel didn't have their choice of branded burger relish.

I've seen them give hotels 1* awful reviews on tripadvisor for the simple reason that there was a powercut for half an hour of their 1 week stay and it inconvienienced them because they wanted to watch a movie or some such shite.

[bobo the clown]

I did overhear this one day in a restaurant in Tours ..... "You'd think they'd take dollars ... after we saved them in the '41-'45 war !"

[Burnden Paddock]

Don't be two minutes late for Ryanair check in.

This advice comes from man who did not make it to Guimaraes away...

bastards...

Do book a hotel and have a good night's sleep before your flight. Don't avoid paying for a room, by sleeping in Munich Airport and remaining so until your gate has closed and also missing the numerous telephone calls from yours truly. That's precisely what my brother in law did after the game there. This results in a very long and very expensive train ride home.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Top Tip 3 - Always use Tripadvisor before booking a hotel, but ignore the reviews by Americans

Yep. 90% have no passport, of the 10% who have half rarely travel.

Of the 5% who do travel, 4 of 5 think they should be treated like royalty for being so daring and compare everything to standards they know are infeasible.

The 1% left are decent enough chaps though.

Americans often start urban legends but here they seem the victim. One American living in Europe looked into the matter. I apologize for the length but there are 50 states. Note that only in the Southern States does the percentage dip below 30% and and only one is just lower than 20%.

One of the things I’ve often heard while living in the European Union is the tmeme that only 10% of Americans own a passport. This assertion is usually followed by the quazi-urban legend that George W. Bush never had a passport before becoming president. Which, it turns out, is not true.

Such a low number wouldn’t have surprised me. After all, the United States is nearly thrice the size of the EU and borders only two foreign countries, while the EU is made of 27 countries and depending on how you want to count them borders another 19.

Alison was nice enough to bring this data set about passports from the ever-awesome data.gov to my attention.

The data was only for the past four years, so I had to do some estimates based on issue rates and the 2000 census numbers, but the result is the above infographic and the table below:

State Population with Passport
NEW JERSEY 68.36%
ALASKA 65.01%
MASSACHUSETTS 63.42%
NEW YORK 62.47%
CALIFORNIA 60.19%
NEW HAMPSHIRE 59.39%
CONNECTICUT 58.50%
WASHINGTON 57.28%
VERMONT 56.32%
MARYLAND 56.21%
MINNESOTA 56.14%
COLORADO 54.88%
RHODE ISLAND 54.40%
FLORIDA 52.83%
ILLINOIS 52.06%
MAINE 51.62%
ARIZONA 51.24%
HAWAII 49.94%
UTAH 49.36%
VIRGINIA 49.16%
TEXAS 48.80%
NORTH DAKOTA 48.30%
NEVADA 46.84%
MONTANA 46.63%
PENNSYLVANIA 45.11%
DELAWARE 44.93.05%
WISCONSIN 43.70%
OREGON 43.39%
MICHIGAN 42.89%
WYOMING 41.40%
IDAHO 41.24%
IOWA 39.34%
NEBRASKA 38.97%
GEORGIA 38.73%
KANSAS 38.18%
SOUTH DAKOTA 37.69%
NEW MEXICO 37.11%
OHIO 35.71%
MISSOURI 35.32%
NORTH CAROLINA 34.18%
OKLAHOMA 33.23%
INDIANA 32.73%
SOUTH CAROLINA 32.09%
LOUISIANA 29.47%
TENNESSEE 28.78%
ARKANSAS 25.14%
ALABAMA 25.03%
KENTUCKY 24.94%
WEST VIRGINIA 20.43%
MISSISSIPPI 19.86%

[bobo the clown]

Facts, facts Monty. Don't go ruining a rant with facts.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Facts, facts Monty. Don't go ruining a rant with facts.

Well, HP has just returned after a lengthy absence and I didn't want him to flee again because of (unsubstantiated) anti-American rants...

[boltonboris]

It's okay. Communistworkethic is coming back..

[Bruce Rioja]

Don't mistake 1500hrs for 5pm.

I did once .... just once. It not something you repeat.

Haha. I went to Milan a few weeks ago and we flew at 6. Problem was neither me nor my mate clarified with each other that it was 6pm, hence I got a phonecall from him at Manchester Airport at 5am asking where I was. He had a looooooooong wait.

I once missed a filight home by 24 hours!

I once presented myself at the Gardermoen check-in desks a month early!

[a1]

Don't joke with airport staff about having a bomb in your suitcase, like my dad once did.
Honestly, the way they overreact...

" Look God, if I was building a chemical weapons plant, I wouldn't make it look like a chemical weapons plant, would I? No! I would make it look like a chocolate chip factory or something "

[Bruce Rioja]

Or check your passport is still in date and valid as my dad failed to do once.

And that it has the requisite period still to run so as to be in line with the requirements of your destination. I.e. USA = Six months.
Am quite sure they only ask for six months as the recognise that's how long it might take you to get past Homeland Security.

[jmjhb]

TripAdvisor is horrendous. Might as well call it TripAdvertiser.

[BWFC_Insane]

TripAdvisor is horrendous. Might as well call it TripAdvertiser.

I've read about that but it mostly seemed to be the odd very disgruntled hotel owner complaining with a lot of spurious claims by ex employees most of which were unsubstantiated. IIRC.

I suspect there is an element to that. But equally use a bit of noggin power when reading it, and for me its still and invaluable resource.

[Annoyed Grunt]

TripAdvisor is horrendous. Might as well call it TripAdvertiser.

I've read about that but it mostly seemed to be the odd very disgruntled hotel owner complaining with a lot of spurious claims by ex employees most of which were unsubstantiated. IIRC.

I suspect there is an element to that. But equally use a bit of noggin power when reading it, and for me its still and invaluable resource.

My Mrs swears by it when looking for holidays.

[malcd1]

TripAdvisor is horrendous. Might as well call it TripAdvertiser.

I've read about that but it mostly seemed to be the odd very disgruntled hotel owner complaining with a lot of spurious claims by ex employees most of which were unsubstantiated. IIRC.

I suspect there is an element to that. But equally use a bit of noggin power when reading it, and for me its still and invaluable resource.

My Mrs swears by it when looking for holidays.

I look at it quite often. Provides good insight to the location in relation to the 'sights'.

My advice. Ignore the top 10% and ignore the bottom 10%.

[ohjimmyjimmy]

Just common sense really to take on board the views of those members with say 5 or more reviews on their profile...also if 50 out of 60 people give something a 5, and the other 10 a 4, chances are it's going to be ok.

[BWFC_Insane]

I think jmjhb was referring to claims that tripadvisor have been accused of favouring certain hotels and hammering others. Accusations of fake reviews, leaving off good/bad ones etc have been made etc....

[Annoyed Grunt]

Don't watch programmes about plane crashes the night before you fly.

[Jakerbeef]

State Population with Passport
NEW JERSEY 68.36%
ALASKA 65.01%
MASSACHUSETTS 63.42%
NEW YORK 62.47%
CALIFORNIA 60.19%
NEW HAMPSHIRE 59.39%
CONNECTICUT 58.50%
WASHINGTON 57.28%
VERMONT 56.32%
MARYLAND 56.21%
MINNESOTA 56.14%
COLORADO 54.88% S
RHODE ISLAND 54.40%
FLORIDA 52.83% S
ILLINOIS 52.06%
MAINE 51.62%
ARIZONA 51.24%
HAWAII 49.94%
UTAH 49.36%
VIRGINIA 49.16%
TEXAS 48.80%
NORTH DAKOTA 48.30%
NEVADA 46.84% S
MONTANA 46.63%
PENNSYLVANIA 45.11%
DELAWARE 44.93.05%
WISCONSIN 43.70%
OREGON 43.39%
MICHIGAN 42.89%
WYOMING 41.40%
IDAHO 41.24%
IOWA 39.34%
NEBRASKA 38.97%
GEORGIA 38.73%
KANSAS 38.18%
SOUTH DAKOTA 37.69%
NEW MEXICO 37.11%
OHIO 35.71% S
MISSOURI 35.32% S
NORTH CAROLINA 34.18%
OKLAHOMA 33.23%
INDIANA 32.73%
SOUTH CAROLINA 32.09%
LOUISIANA 29.47%
TENNESSEE 28.78%
ARKANSAS 25.14% S
ALABAMA 25.03%
KENTUCKY 24.94%
WEST VIRGINIA 20.43% S
MISSISSIPPI 19.86%

Hmm, Democratic states in bold. Swing states with 'S' and Republican ones the rest.




There's a connection but I can't quite make it out...

[Lord Kangana]

Don't be two minutes late for Ryanair check in.

This advice comes from man who did not make it to Guimaraes away...

bastards...

Always, always, always check your flight status 24hrs before returning from abroad when flying Ryanair. They quite often drop half full flights and expect you to make your own way to another airport three hours away 2 days later. They don'tt give a shit. And they've done it more than once.

Oh, and top tip for not getting ripped off by them for whatever made up reason it is this time, is to argue the f*ckers to a stanstill 'til they give in. They're on an incredibly tight schedule, and can't afford a bolshy passenger to hold them up. Stand your ground folks.

[Montreal Wanderer]

State Population with Passport
NEW JERSEY 68.36%
ALASKA 65.01%
MASSACHUSETTS 63.42%
NEW YORK 62.47%
CALIFORNIA 60.19%
NEW HAMPSHIRE 59.39%
CONNECTICUT 58.50%
WASHINGTON 57.28%
VERMONT 56.32%
MARYLAND 56.21%
MINNESOTA 56.14%
COLORADO 54.88% S
RHODE ISLAND 54.40%
FLORIDA 52.83% S
ILLINOIS 52.06%
MAINE 51.62%
ARIZONA 51.24%
HAWAII 49.94%
UTAH 49.36%
VIRGINIA 49.16%
TEXAS 48.80%
NORTH DAKOTA 48.30%
NEVADA 46.84% S
MONTANA 46.63%
PENNSYLVANIA 45.11%
DELAWARE 44.93.05%
WISCONSIN 43.70%
OREGON 43.39%
MICHIGAN 42.89%
WYOMING 41.40%
IDAHO 41.24%
IOWA 39.34%
NEBRASKA 38.97%
GEORGIA 38.73%
KANSAS 38.18%
SOUTH DAKOTA 37.69%
NEW MEXICO 37.11%
OHIO 35.71% S
MISSOURI 35.32% S
NORTH CAROLINA 34.18%
OKLAHOMA 33.23%
INDIANA 32.73%
SOUTH CAROLINA 32.09%
LOUISIANA 29.47%
TENNESSEE 28.78%
ARKANSAS 25.14% S
ALABAMA 25.03%
KENTUCKY 24.94%
WEST VIRGINIA 20.43% S
MISSISSIPPI 19.86%

Hmm, Democratic states in bold. Swing states with 'S' and Republican ones the rest.




There's a connection but I can't quite make it out...

One might imagine the reason Republican Alaska is so high is that they need a passport to get to other states...

Meanwhile I read

In 2009‑2010, 60 percent of Canadians held a valid passport. Canadians in British Columbia and in Ontario continue to be the primary holders of passports. On a per capita basis, possession rates are lower in the Atlantic Provinces, and lowest in Nunavut. In general, they tend to be higher in cities than in rural areas. The highest rate of change in passport possession occurred in the province of New Brunswick, climbing from 35 percent in 2008‑2009 to 45 percent in 2009‑2010. It is closely followed by Saskatchewan (climbing from 40 to 48 percent) and Manitoba (45 to 53 percent).

While some 80% of British people have passports.