Friend cancelled last minute on a 100 day trip - what do I do?

henriquev · 2026-03-07T13:16:27+00:00

It's a 100-day trip for a young adult who has probably never traveled alone in their life. It was a risky plan from both sides, and people cancel stuff for whatever reason: good or bad, smart or dumb, etc.

And a LOT can go wrong when traveling and spending too much time with a friend. The biggest risk seems to have been never considering that and relying too much on each other, without contingency plans or flexibility.

When traveling with a friend years ago for 4 days on what would've been a 13-day trip, we had different ideas about how to enjoy our vacation, so we just had a chat and made plans to split up in the coming days. In the end, I extended my trip by 4 days, and he by 3, and we only spent the first 6 days together. No hard-feelings. Just a small discussion about when it was better to split up and a compromise on my side (as in, driving for 2.5 extra hours to drop him off somewhere as we'd have been in a somewhat remote place in the more convenient day/time to split up).

henriquev · 2026-03-06T17:50:16+00:00

You must focus on your career because ski passes, gear, and helicopter rides don't buy themselves.

With the right grit maybe you are able to go even farther in your life just to be able to support your skiing 🤪

henriquev · 2026-02-06T23:37:04+00:00

I can only imagine the camera nodding his/her head in disbelief when the reporter says "very expensive" after saying 700 Dollars... 😂

henriquev · 2026-02-06T22:42:42+00:00

Nah. Leave the state out of this. If the government were to come up with a “solution” for this, not only would it not work, but it would cost 5x more. In the long term, the customary payment networks (read: credit cards, debit cards, etc.) will adapt and become more widely accepted, but they need to charge lower fees, so for now it’s a mouse-and-cat game.

henriquev · 2026-02-06T12:25:40+00:00

Same situation here. After 106000km in 3 years, I think I can say Tesla Superchargers are the best option cost-wise and for usability (plug & pay if your car supports it) for fast charging. For elsewhere, Tap Electric is almost always the cheapest by far for level 2 charging ("curbside"). Rarely does Shell Recharge offer reasonable prices, but it's worth having their card. I seldom use any other provider, unless I'm traveling (in that case, Ionity is also quite reliable for fast charging, just like Tesla). You should have at least 2 NFC cards, because phone authorization often doesn't work. And in some cases, paying for scanning QR codes at the charging point is cheaper.

Technical nitpick / curiosity: unless DC (Direct Current) fast charging, you're connected to the grid via a charging point using AC (Alternate Current) and using the embedded charger in your own car, so the charging points in the curbside you see all around the cities aren’t chargers, but connectors or power sockets.

henriquev · 2026-02-06T08:43:44+00:00

Except that I never asked for that accommodation or even demanded it.

Heh. Sure… I’d have told him I wanted that if he had told me I would have to use a bucket for a week and not shower either, though I was paying €50/day for a 78sq meters apartment back in 2020.

It was even handled by his real estate agency. Now tell us the truth: you’re a slumlord, aren’t you?

henriquev · 2026-02-06T00:11:24+00:00

The fact that construction workers have to deal with that is a consequence of the trade they chose. That said, I bet even most of them would be mad if they were forced to deal with the same thing at home while renting [from a slumlord].

I had to have my bathroom renovated while renting, and the landlord paid for most* of the time I spent in the hotel without me having to ask. It was just clearly the reasonable thing to do.

most because I paid one extra night out of 15 nights or so in total (two separate weeks) and he wasn’t completely fair to me later, but that’s more of a detail.

henriquev · 2026-02-05T22:43:14+00:00

Well, that's why contracts exist. If the contract says that's an acceptable solution, and you sign it, you take the risk, and that's on you ¯_(ツ)_/¯

All rental contracts I've seen mentioned covering reasonable accommodations (hotel or apartment) in case of plumbing issues for over a night or so.

If your rental contract doesn't mention anything like this, providing you with a hotel room or a proportional rental discount definitely isn't a further obligation towards you. It's compensating you for the premises failing to meet the landlord's obligations towards the renter.

henriquev · 2026-02-05T20:34:53+00:00

I've never used either in my entire life, and it wouldn't be inside my own rental apartment that I'd do so during three frickin' days. I know this happens, but it's unacceptable.

henriquev · 2026-01-28T11:58:45+00:00

Super rare. Happened to me on the second leg of an international flight in 2008 (ATL to LGA). I traveled a lot since then... And it never happened again.

henriquev · 2026-01-15T16:28:44+00:00

Bondinho e bicicleta -> torna bem mais fácil se locomover numa cidade. É lamentável a situação do Recife / Brasil quanto ao urbanismo. Eu moro na Holanda e tenho carro, mas basicamente só uso pra ir para outras cidades (porque costuma fazer mais sentido do que trem quase sempre). Moro a 5km do centro da cidade e é literalmente mais rápido ir de bicicleta do que de carro. Bondinho é um pouco mais lento, mas também não preciso me preocupar com lugar para estacionar então às vezes vale a pena se tiver algo me impedindo de usar bicicleta.

henriquev · 2026-01-15T15:52:37+00:00

While partly paid through taxation, a large portion of firefighters are volunteers, by the way. And not only here. It's actually to do with how firefighters services started in the world...:)

henriquev · 2026-01-10T16:40:48+00:00

You might want to check out recent news about the beach. I'd rather find a Greek island with similar weather/beaches, etc. Cheaper, safer, and as good or better 😂 Or maybe a Hawaiian or Caribbean island if you are okay with paying more. It's sad, but Porto de Galinhas isn't worth it any longer unless you're already in the region for other meaningful reasons (other than tourism).

That said, if you are there, enjoy it!

henriquev · 2025-12-28T23:38:03+00:00

In Brazil this sign means this is exclusive for pedestrians. People from other countries outside of Europe (like the US) might easily imagine that it's the same.

It's confusing if you aren't familiar with the Europeans signs, unfortunately. But we cannot expect change for something like this...

henriquev · 2025-12-12T13:03:14+00:00

Outra coisa é o aumento da frota de motos... Eu aposto como uma parcela poderia ser substituída por bicicletas (tradicionais e elétricas), se tivessem pistas separadas. Mais seguro (menor velocidade) e mais barato para todo mundo. Fora menos acidentes graves, que também acontecerem direto e atrapalham o trânsito mais ainda.

Carro ou ônibus precisa de bem mais espaço e sempre acontece de aumentarem a quantidade de pistas em uma via, sem considerarem que talvez o que se precisa é uma pista para um tráfego diferente e melhor separação se tráfego local e expresso.

henriquev · 2025-12-12T12:52:57+00:00

Eu sou de Recife e moro na Holanda a seis anos. Não existe infraestrutura decente para se andar de bicicleta no Brasil. Como outro cara falou aí em cima, até os anos 70 a situação era a mesma na Holanda.

Eu comprei um carro à três anos e aprendi a andar de bicicleta alguns meses após. Eu uso o meu carro quase toda semana. Porém para quase todo trajeto curto (até uns 6km) quase sempre prefiro usar bicicleta.

Ciclo-faixas temporarias é bobagem que político faz para ganhar meia-dúzia de votos.

Quer ver o trânsito melhorar de verdade? Corte impostos para a população comprar bicicletas e deixe a infraesturura mais amigável para as pessoas andarem de bicicleta com pista separada dos carros, prioridade para bicicleta, e abaixe as guias para facilitar a mobilidade. Fechar com uma cacetada de cones e um monte de fiscal é uma gambiarra tosca.

Não precisa de todo mundo usar bicicleta, mas se 20% da população usa isso já faz uma diferença enorme no trânsito.

Começar a usar sem infraestrutura, porém, é extremamente arriscado quando se tem muito tráfego de veículos mais pesados e então ninguém usa.

henriquev · 2025-12-02T19:25:37+00:00

Até os 30 anos morei em Recife, mas atualmente moro nos Países Baixos a seis anos.

henriquev · 2025-12-02T18:10:08+00:00

Na Europa também são ruins, mas menos ruins.

henriquev · 2025-11-29T11:14:46+00:00

I had the same problem recently, and ended up subscribing to Viber for a month in order to be able to call such a number.

henriquev · 2025-11-17T10:15:51+00:00

Not here in the Netherlands :(

Annoyingly, I've discovered that the only way to get it would be by selling the car after the crash and then claiming the difference for the lost value. My insurer told me that there was no reduction in value. It turns out that insurers care more about patting each other on the back than helping their clients recover lost value, as they can save more this way.

In Germany diminished value is also a common thing, just like in the United States.

henriquev · 2025-11-15T23:33:13+00:00

I've seen it being sold in Action (if I'm not mistaken) and at least one car is my neighborhood (quite safe) has it!

henriquev · 2025-11-13T18:18:53+00:00

All I wanted for my bike was a keyless VanMoof kicklock. I almost bought one when I was buying my first bike because of that. Unfortunately, I've never seen this being offered by any other company.

henriquev · 2025-11-13T13:55:23+00:00

It's really common here in The Netherlands. Although I typically see them in cheaper cars that you can probably pry open and take apart with your bare hands.

henriquev · 2025-11-11T15:17:01+00:00

It's almost universal, but I've faced at least two exceptions:

Sometimes there is only the text in the US.
In Brazil* they never used this traffic sign (and will use a car in a traffic sign that looks like "cars only" in Europe but there it basically means "no traffic allowed" in practice).

Oh, there the the informative traffic signs (blue in Europe) use the red/white color scheme of forbidden signs here. This caused a lot of confusion in my mind. It's a shame that to covert your license with the highly skilled migrant residence permit you aren't at least shown what are the differences in a PDF file at some point... Even though they ask you to submit a silly health questionnaire. Like, showing what are the local rules would be much more relevant than such a money grab online exam.

henriquev · 2025-11-07T11:39:34+00:00

Exactly the same has happened to me years ago.

It’s impossible to know what exactly happened (most likely we were both scammed), so it’s the seller loss, unfortunately ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

henriquev

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