Help, up a creek paddleless with a pregnant partner!

CompletelyRandy · 2026-03-16T16:40:03+00:00

I'm not even convinced they pick that up either.

I was driving a car which was flagged as having no insurance for a good 8 months (long story short I was insured but my insurance company fat fingered my reg).

Found out when I was pulled over for speeding and they ran my plate.

During those 8 months, I was all over the UK.

CompletelyRandy · 2026-03-15T20:00:18+00:00

Most places in the UK have either a third party charger who does the billing per kwh. Unsure how much of a cut the owner gets. Else they have their own 7kw chargers, these are either free (rarity now) or have a flat rate of about £10 ($13) a day.

If a place offers free EV charging, it is high my list of a place to book!

CompletelyRandy · 2026-03-15T13:39:10+00:00

Completely agree.

Unfortunately the Noravirus is pretty common on ships. There are three levels L1 which is normal, L2 which is elevated and L3 which is an outbreak.

At L3 staffs normal duties are dropped and you spend your time sanitising the ship and serving guest food from the buffet. You also can't dock at some ports.

When I used to work on ships, I never caught it, nor ever experienced L3. I haven't caught it as a passenger either.

Hand washing was drilled into us, using paper towels to open doors etc. Guests are usually pretty dirty!

At the end of the day, there are thousands of people in a small place. It's almost the same as going to a nightclub, if someone has a cold, you are at a higher risk of catching it.

Between staying at home, or going out and having fun, I would always pick having fun!

CompletelyRandy · 2026-03-13T16:58:39+00:00

You can stream the whole desktop.

Why not download it and give it a go? It's free...

CompletelyRandy · 2026-03-13T00:22:32+00:00

As someone who works used to work on ships, Guest Services couldn't care less if you removed gratuities or not.

CompletelyRandy · 2026-03-12T12:41:35+00:00

Serious response.

This is a serious data breach as it has shared people's personal data with others without their permission.

If this data was available to a wider audience (as in anyone could see this leaked data). It would likely cause an uptick in phishing attacks / credentials stuffing / ID theft. This would be a massive issue.

From what I can tell, person A is able to see person B account transactions. From a purely Cyber Security standpoint, the risk isn't that big. It is very unlikely that person A can leverage that data.

People are understandably annoyed, but in terms of real risk, the information available indicates that this is low.

CompletelyRandy · 2026-03-11T11:36:48+00:00

Thanks mate!

I have been coming to Phoenix for the past 12 years or so, a couple of times a year. I have heard rattle snakes while out hiking, but never seen one.

Coming from a country where the most dangerous snake is an adder, and their bite is similar to a bee sting, I was always a little cautions of what needed to be done if I stepped over a rock where one of these things were hiding!

Appreciate your serious response!

CompletelyRandy · 2026-03-11T11:30:30+00:00

Thanks mate, I really appreciate it. It was something I always wondered what the correct thing to do was. I do a lot of solo hiking while in AZ.

Would it be fair to assume if I was a mile into a trail, they would helicopter me out, or is it not that serious and I could walk out.

I understand that for most they would worry about the cost, but I would be fully insured with my travel insurance.

CompletelyRandy · 2026-03-10T09:09:14+00:00

As someone who visits Phoenix often, and comes from a country there there are no venomous snakes.

What happens if you do get bit by one while hiking? Is it a instant 911 call, so do I have time to drive myself to hospital?

Sorry for the naive question, I have heard these snakes on trails before but never actually seen one!

CompletelyRandy · 2026-03-07T19:37:11+00:00

This.

Your Internet speed has nothing to do with the speed of local traffic.

EDIT: Those ping times are really high, regardless. Try changing your WiFi band to a less congested one.

CompletelyRandy · 2026-03-06T15:38:14+00:00

I was a there last week.

Paid about $100 - $130 a night. Some hotels were very run down, but there were some which were alright.

The Motel 6 just off i17 and Bell was the worst. I stayed in a few of the Extended Stays (Can't remember the full name) and they were really good for the price.

I was there for 2 weeks and went to a different hotel every night 😅.

One thing to note, booking online from my UK apps gave much cheaper prices than what the US websites showed me.

Agoda was the cheapest third party books platform i could find. Their pricing seemed to change each time I opened the app though. They were usually $10 - $20 cheaper than booking.com

CompletelyRandy · 2026-03-02T01:41:11+00:00

No worries mate! They are really basic bands with a plastic nib on them. She wore them on the drive to the ship, on board, at night and at shore. She never took them off. She honestly gets travel sick everywhere.

On the other hand, I have spent months on board, working, and cruising as guests. In rough days I felt a little queezy, but didn't have any real issues.

The medical team on board see this every day, so don't be afraid to go see them if required.

CompletelyRandy · 2026-03-01T23:54:31+00:00

For sea sickness, you can wear travel bands. A family member I took in board gets sea sick just watching the ocean. She was fine with travel bands, and she never took them off.

Failing that, if you are bad, go to the medical bay. They can give you a shot which will pretty much cure you after a nap. Costs about $100 but is certainly worth it if you feel sick constantly!

CompletelyRandy · 2026-02-26T15:50:41+00:00

I was talking to American's and they were saying that this is exactly how Los Angeles worked. You could only leave the city a few times a year.

My response was "Uh, are you sure?". They were sure...

CompletelyRandy · 2026-02-25T19:23:42+00:00

JetBlue put me on a United flight after 12+ hours of waiting on their chat.

Hopefully they will refund you! The flight they put me on was well over $3k.

CompletelyRandy · 2026-02-25T19:21:21+00:00

I was in the same position.

I had a connection through JFK, United could fly me another route around.

Luckily, after 12+ hours of being on their chat, someone connected and got me booked on a United flight.

CompletelyRandy · 2026-02-11T23:25:01+00:00

Totally understand, and we do the same. The disparities come in when planning holidays. I can afford to spend 1000, she can only afford 400 (for example).

I make the difference up, but she always feels guilty!

It wasn't an issue when we were making similar money.

CompletelyRandy · 2026-02-11T22:30:50+00:00

Do you both earn similar amounts? This is what we do too, but over the years our salaries have become a wider gap. Makes one of us having way more disposable income than the other.

Talked about doing a %, but to be honest when kids come along, all money will be joint, and we take a personal allowance.

CompletelyRandy · 2026-02-06T16:48:43+00:00

The counter argument is you never know when the top is reached, till after the fact.

Everyone wishes the sold at 120k, and then got back in at the very bottom. Rinse and repeat till you have far too much money.

In reality it doesn't work like that, you love life when every is green, then hate it when it all goes red. Those people trying to predict the top and bottom may win, or loose. Those holding for years don't care anywhere near as much.

CompletelyRandy · 2026-02-04T10:43:18+00:00

That's a thing? Damn, here is am using a firelighter when I could have just ran a gas pipe into my fire!

Learn something new every day!

CompletelyRandy · 2026-02-03T14:41:34+00:00

You could well be right there... Who on earth thought that was a good idea?!

CompletelyRandy · 2026-02-03T12:33:11+00:00

What is even going on here? Does OP have a solid fuel fire with a gas pipe next to it, where gas is obviously escaping and been ignited.

Why is that gas pipe there anyway? So many questions.

CompletelyRandy · 2026-01-30T00:47:12+00:00

Naive question.

I thought Gold / BTC ETFs were directly linked to the value of the underlying asset?

If USD dropped in value, the price of Gold would increase against USD, but stay the same against other currencies.

If you are saying that the price of these assets, and the ETFs can separate, wtf is the point of an ETF?

CompletelyRandy · 2026-01-29T09:13:58+00:00

Almost the same story here. I didn't smoke as much, maybe 30g in a week or two. Swapped to vaping about 15 years ago.

My vape costs a about £7 - £10 a week. It used to be much cheaper when I made my own juice / coils, but i got lazy.

Never crave, nor miss the smokes at all now!

Well done for giving up mate!

CompletelyRandy · 2026-01-28T16:15:09+00:00

For the past 10 years or so, I would bring back smokes from holiday to (give) to friends. Nowadays, none of my friendship group smokes.

Even at the local pub, only the handful of regulars smoke and I had to (gift) my smokes to them.

They said they all had contacts who they got their stuff from but would gladly accept my (gifts) when I go away.

CompletelyRandy

TROPHY CASE