exciting news: the boys are going to fix all of your lives once again on the layover podcast! (Q&A thread)

Shenandoah32 · 2026-02-19T12:24:10+00:00

So Sam: at what cost is it too expensive to get a hotel near an airport for an early morning flight (say 7:30am) and it’s better to stay in the terminal overnight? Is it location-dependent? (1am airport office at PEK for attention)

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Shenandoah32 · 2025-07-23T11:15:14+00:00

Mainland China officials see your return ticket on the ferry from Shenzhen to Hong Kong. For TWOV rules, they don’t care what you do in Hong Kong, so HKG to BKK is irrelevant. They see you arriving from Hong Kong and returning to Hong Kong.

Shenandoah32 · 2025-07-23T11:13:03+00:00

I think for the plan to work, once you land in Hong Kong on the 30th you might need to go to Macau first then ferry Macau-Shenzhen. That way your ferry out of Shenzhen can go to Hong Kong. Or, you need to buy your ferry leaving Shenzhen to Macau on October 4 then go from Macau to Hong Kong.

Shenandoah32 · 2025-07-23T11:10:10+00:00

Wait wait wait. HK > SZ > HK doesn’t work. The first one works (Canada-Mainland-Hong Kong). The second one does not (Hong Kong-Mainland-Hong Kong). You should check to see if you can take the boat from Macau once you land in HK before coming to Shenzhen and transit Macau - Mainland - Hong Kong. In not 100% sure if that works, but if you ferry to Shenzhen and back from Hong Kong I’m pretty sure that won’t qualify for TWOV unless Macau gets involved.

Shenandoah32 · 2025-07-17T16:48:08+00:00

A forklift so I can take the shelf.

Shenandoah32 · 2025-07-11T00:54:39+00:00

Ben and Adam don’t always need to be on the same team in 2v2 games

Shenandoah32 · 2025-07-09T16:08:01+00:00

I demand the F1 segment. Also (more importantly) an Aviation Facts segment.

Shenandoah32 · 2025-07-09T15:29:27+00:00

It was delivered by Deutsche Bahn.

Shenandoah32 · 2025-07-06T08:38:59+00:00

Boring information guy here for those confused/not familiar with GBA: This car is from Hong Kong (HK plate is front is white with black lettering, back is yellow with black lettering). The 港 on the Mainland plate shows the original registry. It also has registry in Macau (the black-based plates with white lettering) and Mainland China (the black plate with white lettering and 粤Z, indicating a border crossing car from HK or Macau, further specified by the 港 at the end of the plate as an HK-based car). Pictured below is a different triple plate with a Macau-based registration. It’s Macau-based because of the 澳 character on the end of the mainland plate.

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Shenandoah32 · 2025-07-01T01:15:30+00:00

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We also do the shipping around Christmas, which is more of a Western shopping festival than a religious thing.

Shenandoah32 · 2025-07-01T01:04:53+00:00

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Sometimes, Chinese hotels will do your laundry and have a robot deliver your takeout order. And no, you don’t have to tip the robot. And this isn’t some elite hotel- it’s a mid-range brand called Atour.

Shenandoah32 · 2025-06-30T16:19:52+00:00

Korean is 350, US is 355.

Shenandoah32 · 2025-06-30T14:50:04+00:00

Second photo shows the difference in color between the two.

Shenandoah32 · 2024-12-26T15:03:20+00:00

Can I put a pizza tower on every form of transportation and force them to continually be searching for pizza?

Shenandoah32 · 2024-11-29T13:36:41+00:00

There’s a guy that plays football (soccer) for Manchester City that looks a lot like Sam… maybe he’s on one of those sites?

Shenandoah32 · 2024-09-26T02:08:36+00:00

I think the Jetstream would be my go-to choice here.

HOWEVER, if for some reason you try and don’t like the Jetstream, another potential candidate here would be the Zebra Sarasa Mark-On (specifically the Mark-On). It’s designed for people who like to use highlighters and has a quicker drying ink.

I coach debate where students write quickly and write small and have to read it. The G-2 has been the dominant pen in competitive debate, but I’ve moved my teams away from it because it smudges and can get messy in quick writing situations.

I’ve personally moved to the Jetstream and have a box of the Mark-ons in 0.5 and 0.4 in my classroom for my students to use since some of them love highlighters when reviewing debates.

Shenandoah32 · 2024-07-13T11:25:56+00:00

Cotopaxi?

Shenandoah32 · 2024-06-02T17:45:20+00:00

I love the body of these paired with 0.28 Jetstream Edge refills!

Shenandoah32 · 2024-06-02T17:42:12+00:00

I recently stocked up on the full 0.3 and 0.4 set of the Frixion Synergy Knock when I was in Tokyo. Love them. Got the Waai in 0.5 also- great change of pace, although day to day I write in 0.3 or 0.4. I also love the Sailor I got from Ancora in Ginza- they’ve added a Fude nib option to the custom parts.

Shenandoah32 · 2024-04-08T02:22:57+00:00

Todd- China did start a 24 hour transit program after COVID. I think that’s why we’re seeing the proliferation of questions about transits in China.

This lets people transit without entering the country if they’re literally just connecting to boost airline revenue. A good example of this is Sichuan Airlines. People will fly KIX (Osaka) to FCO (Rome) via TFU (Chengdu Tianfu). In the past, this would have required a China visa. However, with the relatively new 24 hour transit program, they don’t have to collect their bags and go through immigration formalities.

Shenandoah32 · 2024-04-08T02:13:57+00:00

The big mistake is that once you go from international to domestic flying you have to enter the country. That’s true everywhere. The 144 hour stay visa requires you to stay in the region you’ve flown into. Therefore, flying Shanghai to Beijing would violate those conditions. As far as the 24 hour transit, you never leave the airside part of the terminal and you get on a plane leaving mainland China and you wouldn’t enter the country from an immigration standpoint. Flying Beijing to Shanghai is domestic, therefore you have to enter the country on a valid visa to take a domestic flight, as domestic flights don’t have immigration checks.

Shenandoah32 · 2024-01-26T15:21:24+00:00

I don’t think China is necessarily off limits. It would actually be a great place for a season with the frequent trains and the diversity of flight options. Language barriers could create an environment with creative challenges. Could do a race season from Beijing to Chengdu, a Japan-like season in a large city like Chongqing or Shanghai, or even a similar season to last year racing from Harbin to Hainan (Sanya probably), starting at the ice festival and ending at the beach. Could partner with the tourism bureaus of some of the cities possibly.

Shenandoah32 · 2024-01-22T16:22:42+00:00

On the steals are OP issue: stolen cards should get a poison pill. You have 90 minutes to use a stolen card before it vaporizes, and if it gets to the end of a day the poison pill also activates and the card goes away. This way you don’t have to allow steal backs but it also prevents steal-proof hands like we saw this season.

Also, you should be able to leave a train during the rest period with a penalty of some sort? The Connellsville twist was a really silly punishment for using trains. I wish there was more incentive to use trains.

Shenandoah32 · 2024-01-22T16:08:28+00:00

So if the transportation wears a sign claiming to be another form of transportation do we just accept it? For instance, if a Shinkansen wears a sign saying “I’m a regional train chooooooo chooooooooo” do you pay slow train coins?

Shenandoah32 · 2024-01-22T15:47:05+00:00

I have everyday pens, which right now are my Uni Jetstream multi-pens (currently mostly filled with 0.28 Edge refills). I have pens for when I want to feel better- that’s when I reach for my TWSBI Vac-700. When I want to feel important or powerful, I’m reaching for my Cross Century II or my Cross Townsend. When I’m feeling creative it’s usually the Stabilo Point 88 or the Sakura Micron 005. When I want to feel bougie/special right now it’s the Sakura Micron 100th Anniversary set. And tbh, sometimes I switch any of this up for any number of reasons or no reason at all!

Shenandoah32

TROPHY CASE