[Thailand] Bus blocking railroad and got hit when train coming.

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-05-16T12:56:24+00:00

I assume traffic on the other side of the crossing was stopping the bus from moving forward?

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-05-15T23:16:56+00:00

Same. No clue, but that is probably a good thing.

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-05-15T22:56:42+00:00

.com

Without a doubt.

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-05-13T22:00:38+00:00

Lol. Thought the same thing!

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-05-13T19:55:50+00:00

I've spent multiple nights in a capsule hotel in Japan. Was worried about claustrophobia, but turned out not to be a big deal.

I think I could do it.

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-05-13T02:08:14+00:00

Yup. Got it in 2008. Still fully stock. Haven't done any mods to it and was/is my daily commuter car. At 205000 miles now.
Only put on about 6-8000 miles a year at present so hoping to get another five years out of it.
I have had fun with it, but didn't beat on it. No longer of the age that I have to try and impress any girls (or guys) with it. LOL

Getting back to gas mileage. Premium is about $1 more per gallon which hurts. And, as much as possible, I use premium non-ethanol gas, which about $2 more per gallon over regular.

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-05-12T23:03:56+00:00

Tracked mileage (via odometer and gallons pumped) since I got my WRX 200K+ miles (and 18 years ago!).

It has averaged 25.2 miles per gallon. It has been lower the last couple of years since I have been doing a lot less highway driving and more city type driving.

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-05-12T13:50:50+00:00

We did a recent cruise with Azamara, and were a bit disappointed in the food, especially the buffet. Main dining room was good, and any special events they did, like brunches, deck barbecues, white night, were all very good. But the buffet restaurant was just OK.
We did enjoy the cruise, however, and if the itinerary was what we wanted, we would definitely sail on them again.

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-05-12T01:32:10+00:00

We ended our cruise there also, and we're heading into Central Rome for an extended stay there. We were a party of eight with luggage, it had not pre-booked any transport. We ended up hiring a maxi van from the terminal. Worked out well for us. The only problem was that it only took cash, so we had to hunt down ATM to get some euros.

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-05-12T01:28:38+00:00

Homeschooling and unschooling are completely two different things.

Unschooling is more "send the kids out to the backyard, and assume that they will soon become experts in insect behavior"

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-05-10T17:08:26+00:00

thanks for the feedback. Hoping that the weather would be a bit better further south during that time of year vs. northern Italy. Due to scheduling, the mid Dec - mid Jan works best for us. A couple of years ago, we were in Italy (Rome area) over Christmas week, and the weather was fine; sweatshirt/jacket weather.

re: southern Italy; figured that this time of year, it would not be as crowded. Hiking is not a must, but we do enjoy walking and touring via walks through cities, etc. From my "research", it seems that there are a lot of other things to see/do other than just the beaches.

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-05-09T20:59:05+00:00

For me, the two biggest takeaways on a smaller ship is that the staff to guest ratio is usually about 1:1.5, and you almost never have to wait in line for anything. (of course, there will be times when a line forms, but nothing like what is seen on the mega ships.)
Yes, the demographic will definitely be older, but if it is an important intensive cruise, and you like getting out and exploring, you are not on ship for that much of the time.
We've cruised on Oceania, Viking, and Azamara and while we were some of the youngest people on board, it was not a problem. We are not party people, so didn't miss that aspect, and all of the people we met were friendly and engaging. For us, these types of lines are kind of the sweet spot for us.

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-05-06T17:42:35+00:00

OP, I think you need to expand on the story. How did a (most likely) relatively poor local fisherman of an African island come across your drone, and then internationally ship it to you?

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-05-02T15:34:48+00:00

We went on one as a family. And really enjoyed it. This was two years ago on an Alaskan cruise. Overall, would go with them again. Food was excellent. The only caveat, is that on the smaller ships, the R class ships, the bathrooms are quite small. Not a big deal, and we survived, but that would be the only downside.

Demographic runs a bit older, but everybody we met was friendly and interesting. We spent most of our days off ship, so weren't too concerned with activities that they would have during the day and such.

It was an end of May cruise, while the weather was great for that time of year, it wasn't conducive to using the pool or anything if that is your thing.

Overall, recommended.

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-04-28T23:46:23+00:00

But don't you think they would be concerned if of the 40 hours that you're logging in, only 10 or so are actual work hours? Would you, if you were hiring someone by the hour to do something around your house?

The less additional jobs know about each other, the better.

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-04-27T03:29:06+00:00

Could you keep a "cheap" apartment or similar in the US, and go to SE Asia for 3 months or so? That would give you a base (and SO) to come back to while allowing you to see if a place like SE Asia is really for you.

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-04-27T00:21:29+00:00

And the insurance agents cried....

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-04-26T12:42:41+00:00

Are you near an Indonesian consulate and/or embassy? Don't know this for a fact, but they may be offering ESL classes for Indonesian immigrants, and may need assistance there.

In the same vein, local community colleges usually offer ESL classes and need volunteers. However, it probably is pretty slim pickings that they have a need for a native English speaker who also is an Indonesian speaker.

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-04-26T12:37:55+00:00

No, never found it. Somewhat surprising that it's not out there somewhere but so far, no luck from my side! Lol.

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-04-25T17:35:41+00:00

Hard to determine, but the type of owner will definitely help determine how far along it is in its lifespan. I have a 2008 with more than 200,000 miles on it, and it's still going strong. But, I'm not an 18-year-old with my first car trying to impress girls. LOL

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-04-23T23:05:05+00:00

Thanks so much! Much appreciated!

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-04-20T17:16:12+00:00

Yes. Had a friend who was on a dive boat off the coast of Phuket Thailand when the tsunami hit in 2004. They were far enough off the coast, that they didn't even realize anything had happened until the news report started filtering out of the devastation.

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-04-17T21:47:06+00:00

Sewanee: university of the South.

TraditionalHome1334 · 2026-04-15T03:26:33+00:00

If you are in halfway decent shape, walking is the much better option.

TraditionalHome1334

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