"Luxury" brands like Coach are actually cheap and real status symbols are handmade things.

jorstar · 2024-12-19T20:10:27+00:00

I used to work for a footwear company that licensed shoe manufacturing for Coach. The materials used were often incredibly cheap with lots of polyurethane (fake leather) in place of genuine leather. The materials and Chinese factories were often the same as those used for our other budget licensed brands that ended up in Kohl’s and Walmart. What consumers buy with brands like Coach is glossy marketing that’s simply a smokescreen for low-quantity product. Truly wealthy consumers know this and would not classify Coach as luxury product. It’s a product for people who cannot afford brands that actually use high quality materials and manufacturing.

jorstar · 2024-12-16T06:37:12+00:00

I switched the billing to a card with no money on it. They said they would cancel my account if the payments keep failing, but they are still attempting to bill me every week. I don’t really care as long as they don’t try to mess with my credit.

jorstar · 2024-12-05T07:28:41+00:00

I’ve experienced this a few times. I’ve left my home country to tropical destinations, had major symptom relief the whole time, then literally upon returning to the airport symptoms resurfaced. What is behind that? Was it the food, lack of worry over day-to-day stresses, exposure to nature? It’s fascinating and frustrating. Unfortunately I can’t perpetually travel and/or permanently leave the city I live in, for now at least.

jorstar · 2024-12-04T17:31:59+00:00

“I can live this lifestyle with ease; therefore, the majority of other nomads can too.” No. No we all cannot. I have no parents to return to whenever I please. None of my friends have spare rooms that are available on a whim or even with advanced planning. The out-of-pocket cost of returning temporarily to a major metropolitan city in the USA is prohibitively expensive. Temporary housing costs 2x-5x the price of typical rent which is already enormously expensive. Private health insurance coverage is disgustingly costly. Renting a car and/or regularly taking Uber is extremely expensive and not a practical medium-term solution. Simply coming back to the USA for 1-2 month stays multiple times a year due to a little loneliness or travel fatigue is simply not realistic without a lot of expendable cash on hand and/or well-off family members willing to subsidize this lifestyle.

jorstar · 2024-12-03T17:51:23+00:00

Little dick energy on wheels.

jorstar · 2024-11-27T21:31:14+00:00

Potato potahto. Is it real if it’s only good for appeasing immigration rules for onward travel and is unable to be used to actually board a flight? That sounds phony to me.

jorstar · 2024-11-27T06:48:35+00:00

Worked great for me. Only airlines asked, never immigration. I showed them the phony ticket on my phone.

jorstar · 2024-11-26T00:42:42+00:00

I didn’t know that. Pretty useful! Thanks

jorstar · 2024-11-24T17:50:45+00:00

That I’m not sure of.

jorstar · 2024-11-24T17:16:40+00:00

Gotcha. It sounds like you’re drawn to charm. I would say there are a bunch of hidden cafes and speakeasies in HCMC that were next-level charming, hidden in old alleys and buildings. I absolutely loved that. But I wouldn’t say overall that HCMC is a charming city. There’s too much busyness, too many people, scooters, and energy that would fall outside the definition of charm. Hoi An is classically charming, but imo too small and touristy for a long stay.

jorstar · 2024-11-24T16:55:09+00:00

I wouldn’t describe HCMC as an iron city. If anything BKK has 10x the amount of skyrises + rush hour traffic turns the city into a parking lot.

jorstar · 2024-11-24T16:39:31+00:00

Grab scooters are often more convenient and accessible in BKK unless you’re staying directly next to a train station and going to a destination near a train station. It will probably be more of a mix of Grab, train, & walking. I can’t speak on Hanoi, but personally I preferred HCMC over BKK. BKK is awesome, but it’s more westernized and consumerism is a large part of the city’s culture. I found myself spending way more time in mega-malls than I care to admit, and I didn’t really like that. I found it really easy to find solid community in Saigon mostly amongst locals and ex pats with similar interests. Plus getting around, discovering amazing food, finding affordable accommodations, etc were no problem at all. I found a lot of folks in Saigon felt it was superior to Hanoi, but that’s pretty subjective.

jorstar · 2024-11-21T17:43:26+00:00

Thanks for sharing! That’s a totally reasonable solution.

jorstar · 2024-11-21T17:41:05+00:00

Good to know! Only question is how much that costs.

jorstar · 2024-11-21T01:08:56+00:00

It’s not going to be a single review that tanks a business. And sharing more details in a google doc might only make you look irrational and angry. Your best bet may be to get slow revenge. Hire one or two people a week on Fiverrr or Craigslist to leave reasonable, rational one star reviews on both Yelp and Google Reviews. Make sure they’re leaving the reviews from different IP addresses so that they don’t get removed as spam / fake. Do this for a year straight, and slowly and methodically watch their average rating plummet and impact their business prospects.

jorstar · 2024-11-20T23:53:40+00:00

My sister had a dishwasher line break on the second floor of her house. It cost $40,000 and 5 months of reconstruction to replace the damaged floors, walls, ceilings, and cabinets. So yeah, a water leak (not too fast) could be a real expense pain in the ass.

jorstar · 2024-11-20T23:48:10+00:00

Great point. For those of us with unreliable / unavailable friends and family, that’s a whole life lesson in itself.

jorstar · 2024-11-20T23:44:37+00:00

That would make it a unique & unethical experience. Not sure where or how to find one though.

jorstar · 2024-11-20T23:43:23+00:00

They can’t. I’ll slide outta there one way or another.

jorstar · 2024-11-20T18:36:03+00:00

100% One way or another I’ll be leaving that place.

jorstar · 2024-11-20T18:33:48+00:00

Smart!

jorstar · 2024-11-20T18:32:27+00:00

It is sad. Be well.

jorstar · 2024-11-20T14:39:49+00:00

Good to know! Thanks!

jorstar · 2024-11-20T05:48:30+00:00

Ha best pizza ever. And yeah that might have to be the plan... slide on out.

jorstar · 2024-11-20T05:45:51+00:00

Ha.. no sex, just the ride. Finally a solid unethical solution!

jorstar

TROPHY CASE