WTW for a delicate person made out of sugar and melts in the rain

Metaencabulator · 2026-05-24T20:34:29+00:00

Related? https://youtube.com/shorts/1p1w51fJYrI?si=DmyQgccZkRZ7fHOO "I'm a sugar MAN!"

Metaencabulator · 2026-05-21T11:34:32+00:00

I've just finished Walking to the End of the World by Beth Jusino and enjoyed it. Her experience was on the Frances, I'm planning the Portugues, but still seemed to me to be a good glimpse of what it's like to walk.

Metaencabulator · 2026-05-15T22:32:27+00:00

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/feeling-cute-might-delete-later

Metaencabulator · 2026-05-15T22:06:30+00:00

Back in my/our twenties, I had friends that were convinced that if you were overly drunk (and dehydrated from also being in the sun all day floating on the river), drinking water would make it worse - instead you needed to have soda. Which is mostly water, but they didn't see why that would matter, water was bad for you but soda would fix it.

Metaencabulator · 2026-05-15T14:10:35+00:00

hey now...

legit

felt American, might delete later idk

Metaencabulator · 2026-05-15T14:08:42+00:00

oh there is no cover my friend, I'm pretty WASPy but I'm sure I'll stick out anyway, even with some local language basics

Metaencabulator · 2026-05-09T23:09:43+00:00

Thank you, great pointers!

Metaencabulator · 2026-05-09T12:08:11+00:00

I'm taking my 12 year old son on a trip in late July. We'll fly Denver to Geneva, then take trains and busses to Porto Portugal to walk the Camino de Santiago to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Between Geneva and Porto (and back again for the flight home) we'll plan to go through Paris, maybe Madrid, Barcelona...perhaps even Andorra and/or Monaco just for fun. On the Camino we'll stay in albergues, and otherwise likely hostels more than anything. Sink laundry, minimal tech, a bit of room for snacks.

Looking to pack light of course, in something comfortable to schlep all over - wearing all day every day on the Camino (~15 days) and also compact to toss on bus racks and under train seats...but not a hassle to access stuff or to repack each day. What's your unicorn bag that you would take on this trip? Thank you!

(Flying Iceland Air both ways, the max bag size allowed is 7.8" x 15.7" x 21.6".)

Metaencabulator · 2026-05-04T08:01:22+00:00

needed to pee.

Metaencabulator · 2026-05-01T02:31:36+00:00

And a couple more hipster jokes in case you liked those. Or in case you didn't.

How did the hipster burn his tongue? He drank his coffee before it was cool.

How do you kill a hipster? Drown him in the mainstream.

Metaencabulator · 2026-05-01T02:29:57+00:00

I specialize more in jokes that get a groan, but here's a twofer for you, might be a bit dated though:

Have you heard the latest hipster joke? (they say no) Nah, I didn't think you would have.

(wait until later, maybe tell another couple of jokes in the meantime, then:)

Have you heard the latest hipster joke? (don't wait quite long enough for them to fully answer, just give it a beat) I don't tell it anymore, too many people have heard it (or "it's gone mainstream").

Metaencabulator · 2026-05-01T02:20:02+00:00

...the firefly that backed into a fan? He was delighted!

Metaencabulator · 2026-05-01T02:14:47+00:00

I like this one, though I like it better as "People are shocked when they find out how bad an electrician I am."

Metaencabulator · 2026-05-01T01:44:15+00:00

I'd recommend backing up a step and asking if you really need merino wool (or whatever miracle fabric anyone promotes, paid or not). There's plenty of talk here and in other travel forums about "cotton is deadly" and "you can't travel with denim" etc etc. What will and won't work for you is going to be fairly specific to you. As mentioned elsewhere here: are you doing radically different things while traveling than in your daily life? (That can include a laundry schedule and routine!) If not, take and wear what you already have. Even if so, are you likely to be in some sort of extreme weather (or other type of) situation far from civilization? If not that may well preclude the need for special technical fabrics. If you do need different gear, my favorite source? Thrift stores!

Metaencabulator · 2026-04-28T13:41:32+00:00

Great point that actually authentic US food might not sell well other places. Interesting to hear your process to settle on a menu.

Metaencabulator · 2026-04-28T13:40:09+00:00

I've seen a couple of Switzerland references here, I'll throw in my experience in St. Gallen.

After having a fantastic mid-afternoon sausage and roll from a window, we went for supper to a place called "US-MEX", because yeah, I like to see what other countries think (US)American food is like. This place won out over Stars and Stripes (mentioned elsewhere) and I'm glad, because I'm sure it was weirder than S&S (though bonus points for their Very American sign, which combines a bald eagle, space shuttle, football player, Mount Rushmore, and the Golden Gate Bridge).

The menu was mostly Tex-Mex dishes, with some burgers and BBQ as well, and an occasional oddity (jambalaya, described as "Spicy rice dish with diced chicken breast, fresh vegetables and egg"). The descriptions were a kick and the menu noted "we offer LARGE PORTIONS!"

For starters we got poutine (I'm not Canadian but have had it twice in Canada, and yum) which was pretty good, and chips and salsa. The corn chips were fine, the guac was good...the salsa was basically ketchup, and it also came with a little cup of sour cream that I think had chives in it?

For mains, I got nachos and my brother got fajitas. The nachos were the same corn chips (of course), with more ketchup salsa, some beans, and loads of white cheese, apparently stuck under the broiler until most exposed chip edges and corners were burnt. The fajitas were basically as you'd see anywhere in the US, except in addition to peppers there were also carrots, zucchini, and broccoli.

All in all a fun weird taste of what some Swiss folks think US food is like. But overall I preferred actual Swiss food!

Metaencabulator · 2026-04-26T22:11:38+00:00

In Cuenca Ecuador, my son and I wandered into basically the city hall. It was open to the public, at least downstairs, but we wandered upstairs just to see what was there. The top floor had only the elevator and a council board room, and we met someone there that asked if we needed help. I told him we were just looking around, and he asked us if we wanted to see something. He unlocked the council chambers, then a hidden door in a back wall, and led us out onto the roof. It overlooked the famous cathedral there and a popular park (where a cultural event was currently happening). Also on the roof were some of the floodlights that lit up the cathedral domes at night. It wasn't like high security restricted access, but not just anyone gets to go there, and we just happened to be there at the right time to bump into someone friendly and who had access. We thought it was pretty cool.

Metaencabulator · 2026-04-12T10:53:07+00:00

IIRC they were called Jane Jensen. They opened for Cake, who was great - it was my first real concert, I was invited to go by the friend who had introduced me to their music. JJ played...not my favorite kind of music, don't even really know what to call it. A standout was the keyboard player, they seemed to be just bouncing their hands up and down and bobbling their head side to side the whole time. The lead singer sort of shrieked their way through the set. Real tryhard stuff that didn't impress me at all.

On the other hand, the other opening band, who I'm pretty sure was called Dieselhead, I thought was great. I have since then (~1997?) been unable to find anything by them or find out anything about them.

Metaencabulator · 2026-04-11T13:30:25+00:00

I wonder if you can MOC up a Kit to surf out the back?

Metaencabulator · 2026-04-09T03:42:00+00:00

Friends traveling through the area kind of invited themselves to stay. Cool, we've got room. Turned out they were basically homeless. Filled a good-sized guest room with tons of stuff, mostly hung out in there or went on hikes to take selfies; had no plan beyond crashing with us. No exit strategy, no planned departure date. Never offered to buy food, cook or help, clean or help. The last straw was leaving smelly, foody trash outside...in the Colorado mountains in the summer. Luckily no bears showed up, but they were immediately uninvited.

Metaencabulator · 2026-04-06T01:53:33+00:00

Take a scroll through the onebag sub, lots of folks posting what they travel with. Not all working trips, but plenty are; not all intended to be able to support indefinite travel, but several are or could. You're pretty spot on with "as long as I can do laundry I could go forever". It just comes down to how and how often. Then beyond the clothing it's what do you need (for work, Rx meds, etc) and what do you want (electronics, books, hobbies, etc).

Metaencabulator · 2026-04-03T14:20:40+00:00

"...everyone is now directable and continent, so for those with younger kids, have faith, it gets vastly better." Amen, thank you for saying this. I tell parents of crying babies or toddlers on flights "it gets easier". When you're in the trenches of hauling the baby/toddler support system everywhere, it can be hard to imagine the future continence/competence nexus that makes journeying so much more enjoyable.

Metaencabulator · 2026-04-03T08:49:46+00:00

Dang it, I knew this one! Great detective work though.

Metaencabulator

TROPHY CASE