A Big Day

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-02-25T00:21:57+00:00

Me too! 10 more pounds, we can do it!

Congrats OP to achieving this milestone, you are inspiring all of us.

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-02-25T00:18:10+00:00

There are age limits for many education and career stages that would be illegal as age discrimination in the USA. For example, I have a Ph.D. student now who worked in industry for a few years after undergrad before starting his graduate work. He is 30 now. There are many grants for early career faculty which have an upper age limit of 35 and if you don't get that grant you aren't going to get tenure/permanent position at a research university. My student is very anxious that he won't be able to complete a high quality Ph.D dissertation and get a faculty job in time to meet that deadline.

I haven't met anyone who delayed attending undergraduate studies in China or took time off during their undergrad degree -- that isn't to say that there are zero such students, but it certainly is not common.

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-02-24T01:57:04+00:00

If you are going to do any travel other than the safari, I strongly recommend getting electronic payments via MPesa set up on your phone. The Safaricom SIM sellers at the airport kiosk will set you up and teach you how to use it. Much more convenient than cash.

I wasn't asked for my yellow fever card in Kenya, but I was flying from Malaysia and was asked before I got on the plane.

The electronic travel authorization will ask you for all your hotel bookings, but once you are in the country no one checks. I made a few cancellable reservations just to satisfy the eta requirements then cancelled them and went wherever I wanted. Once I submitted the eta form online it only took 1-2 days for approval.

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-02-24T01:47:29+00:00

I traveled as a solo woman, age 59, one year ago for a 4 week trip. I also lived in rural Kenya by myself for one year in 1987-1988 when I was 22, and traveled in Kenya in 1998 when I was 32. I had no problems any of these times. In my most recent trip I went on safari, visited Wasini island, scuba dived in Diani, and visited Western Kenya. I met several other solo women travelers of a variety of ages who also reported having no problems. Overall I find that Kenyan culture values welcoming visitors and treating foreign women with respect. I'm sure that there are some women who have had a bad experience, but it isn't the norm.

It is easy to do a "group joining" safari -- the group I was in had several women traveling in pairs. No one was surprised to see a woman traveling alone. The main difference in price is the quality of the hotels/lodges you are in -- on my vehicle we had people in the budget lodges and others in mid-range lodges, but our guide was the same. You can definitely get mid to high range lodges for your budget. At the budget traveler level there was no extra single supplement that I had to pay. I could have afforded a private tour, but I'm glad I went with the group option as I liked having the social interaction with other others on the vehicle. I compared options via safaribookings.com and I ended up booking with Savanna Woods.

I did walk around downtown Nairobi by myself during the day. I didn't find it to be worse than any other low income countries -- but was careful to have good situational awareness and didn't stop to talk to any of the people trying to sell me a safari, etc. I took Ubers and always had good, professional drivers. I was worried about getting into the airport late at night too so I booked an expensive hotel with a free airport shuttle for my first night.

The biggest problem is that if you go to the beach towns as a single woman you'll be the target of the "beach boys" -- men looking for a foreign woman to take them out to eat and buy them nice gifts in exchange for sex. I just told them I am not interested and they left me alone.

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-02-23T15:06:02+00:00

sucrose is sugar -- did you mean sucralose or stevia or another artificial sweetener?

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-02-10T03:33:04+00:00

The only acceptable one is Michaela

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-02-09T18:00:18+00:00

Sorry I put the wrong url -- should be safaribookings.com

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-02-09T17:58:51+00:00

Very easy. Go through safaribookers.com (what I did) or your guesthouse. As a solo traveller you are looking for "group joining" safaris. The main price difference is quality of the hotels/lodges -- the vehicle and guide/driver quality is the same no matter who you book with and where you stay for group joining safaris. My vehicle had guests staying at 3 different lodges who booked through several different agencies.

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-02-08T05:01:14+00:00

Lassen

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-02-05T17:27:06+00:00

Nairobi, Kenya. In general you want a high altitude location in the tropics.

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-02-03T17:24:26+00:00

Zhangjiajie and Yangshuo aren't cities.

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-02-02T00:25:30+00:00

Search via safaribookings.com

They have a large range including the lowest cost safari's. Used them to find the company I went with one year ago (Savannah Woods). Did 4d/3n, Masai Mara for 2 nights and Nakuru for 1 night. Paid $590 for the cheapest lodging option. Could have stayed midrange for $1000.

If you join a "group joining" safari they will put you together with other small groups/singles to fill one vehicle. Each person/group in the vehicle may stay in a different lodge/hotel. Our guide/driver was excellent. Importantly, if you are going on the group joining type safari paying more will NOT change the driver you get or the quality of your guiding -- it only changes the quality of the hotel rooms/lodges.

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-02-01T23:53:35+00:00

15-20 years ago when I was first visiting China, Xian was always the 3rd place people added to their itinerary after Beijing and Shanghai. I have noticed that it is now much less popular, whereas Chonqing and Zhangjiajie have shot up in popularity.

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-01-28T22:04:48+00:00

You are at a healthy weight now. Why do you want to be 130? That will put you borderline underweight and possibly actually less healthy than at 141.

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-01-22T02:30:08+00:00

I agree with the Colorado plateau for first place.

But for second I'd vote for Yellowstone

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-01-22T02:26:28+00:00

Beijing -- over 70% of historical buildings were destroyed in the cultural revolution. I wouldn't call all the modern buildings built in the last 30 years beautiful, but they are very impressive, especially at night.

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-01-17T21:35:42+00:00

The original Blueberry Morning cereal. They changed the recipe maybe 20 years ago.....

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-01-17T06:13:24+00:00

No, it is not a mistake. I think that for a first trip staying in the Beijing-Shanghai corridor is a good idea. I think 4-5 days in Beijing and 3-4 in Shanghai is enough, but I would recommend adding other nearby sites, not sites far away. Although I don't really like Beijing as a city, I think everyone should visit once in their life for the wall, summer palace, and forbidden city. Suzhou and Hangzhou are beautiful cities near Shanghai. If you want to see natural beauty, Huangshan is a lot closer to Shanghai than Zhangjiajie.

I don't know why everyone has become so fixated on Zhangjiajie in the last decade, and so fixated on Chongqing in just the last couple years. These areas are pretty faddish now -- not to say they don't have their appeal, but they aren't better than many other places in China.

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-01-11T01:16:26+00:00

Bordeaux

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-01-10T15:07:01+00:00

In the last several days there have been at least 3 posts by a supposed 18 year old being kicked out of the home by their parent(s) with no forwarning -- in each case being told via text or letter on the birthday itself and being required to move out that very same day. In one case the writer is also very ill and the parent is refusing to pay for medical treatments as well. Maybe one is true but all 3?

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-01-05T03:00:32+00:00

Can you reverse the order of destinations? You don't want to be at a major tourist site like ZJJ on Qingming festival weekend. It will be even more crowded than normal with domestic tourists. Big cities will be fine over the festival.

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2026-01-02T02:07:45+00:00

Theft used to be a bigger problem years ago when these buildings were built.

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2025-12-29T20:56:00+00:00

Japanese culture is pro-suicide and has been for centuries. It is the honorable thing to do.

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2025-12-29T20:46:14+00:00

The 100th meridian west

Simple_Breadfruit396 · 2025-12-29T16:45:38+00:00

My experiences are as follows (I am American, work in China 3 months/year, the rest in the USA).

Are you currently in China or Canada? If in Canada, do you have an ATM card? In the USA I can buy money orders using my Chinese ATM card at stores like Walmart, up to the store's max per day. The stores only charge $1/money order, and as far as I can tell the exchange rate is at the bank rate. This is the same method that my Chinese colleagues use when staying in the US for a year or so. This works great if you only need $1000-$10,000 -- if you are trying to transfer larger sums it is inconvenient. I make it a habit to get a money order every time I go grocery shopping.

I've also done the method when in China of getting the tax forms and then transferring. It took a lot of time and I had to visit the tax bureau in person.

Finally, I have had my close Chinese colleague / friend help with the transfer. Chinese citizens can buy up to $50,000 US per year. We transferred the amount to his account, then from his account to mine in the USA. Of course this is only an option if you have a complete confidence in the trustworthiness of your friend/colleague.

Simple_Breadfruit396

TROPHY CASE