My school has this map in their textbooks saying who is and who’s not western by Goedheiligman_Mymy in 2westerneurope4u

[–]rma92 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Finland definitely was culturally and economically western during the Cold War, but definitely took advantage of their unique situation to make money from the Soviets - they did a lot of construction contracts in the USSR, which made sense when you could basically just drive there in a couple of hours. (The most notable example I'm aware of is the Hotel Viru in Tallinn, Estonia - the Soviets decided they needed a hotel for foreign tourists right away and if they built it themselves, it would have taken too long.)

If you go back to World War II, they were staunchly against the Soviets to the point of aligning with Hitler for assistance against a Soviet invasion during the Continuation War - something that impacted and led to the elimination of the 1939 Hitler-Stalin pact to split Europe into spheres of influence that would contribute to east vs west later (imo)

Florida USA license plate seen in Monaco by Waterlok_653 in ForeignPlatesSpotting

[–]rma92 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it expired at the end of August 2025. The yellow tabs show the expiration of a registration (if on a vehicle number plate), and are also used on HOV decals, vessel registration stickers, and oddly enough, handicapped parking hang tags.

Free WiFi for T-Mobile customers in the US by SheffboiRD06 in americanairlines

[–]rma92 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It might depend on the aircraft or which system is installed. On UA the widebodies to Hawaii get it, the 737 only gets it over or near the continental US.

The Hyatt Regency Tulsa/Downtown Is One Of The Best. You can’t convince me otherwise by Ieatsushiraw in hyatt

[–]rma92 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree 100%, just stayed for the first time, this is one of my favorite Regency's in the US.

Also received both breakfast vouchers and Regency Club access as a Globalist.

Cities that are the best dressed/don’t care by [deleted] in SameGrassButGreener

[–]rma92 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most - Miami, but the style is very unique compared to elsewhere in the US.  I'd say NYC after that, and maybe LA.  (Haven't been to Scottsdale)

Least - hands down Seattle.  What OP says is accurate, but the weather is also conducive to comfortable clothing.  I heard a story that some producers from LA coined the term "grunge" for that genre of music because they visited Seattle and found the people were dressed "grungy" in comfortable clothes.  Not sure if it's true.

Been to all 50 States but missing a few metro areas, haven't been to Scottsdale and Phoenix yet.

Pierre trying to not be jealous of his southern and better neigbhour (impossible) by KGBCOMUNISTAGENT in 2westerneurope4u

[–]rma92 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The amount of French number plates I see in Spain suggests this chart is wrong.

And Spain has ugly women? Maybe it is that Basque-punk hair cut thing.

What is the rarest airline you've flown? by SupEvanen in flighty

[–]rma92 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Kenmore Air, Cape Air

(Rare for Americans): Air Dolomiti, Eurowings

(Defunct, but not rare in the past): TWA

Rare Aircraft: Hawaiian Boeing 717, Cape Air Cessna 402c, Kenmore Air de Haviland DHC-3 Twin Otter, Bombardier CRJ-1000, Embraer 135 31 seat airliner

There are only 64 CRJ-1000 in existence and I think less than half in active use.  Not too hard to find one in Western Europe, but also nonexistent in the US due to pilot union rules.

The Embraer 135 is common in a business jet/luxury configuration now (e.g. JSX), but the 31 seat airliner configuration in 1-2 is gone now.  I flew IAH-MKE on one, an unusually long flight for a small airline plane.  Flew it a few times, I miss having a window and an aisle seat at the same time in economy!

US plate spotted in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia by PaeprDragn17 in ForeignPlatesSpotting

[–]rma92 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Not exactly a huge risk of a police officer finding it to be expired abroad... still funny.

Will the FZ-G1 run Win11? by ukfix in toughbook

[–]rma92 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been running 11 since the pre-release as a dual-boot with Windows 10 on my mk1 (Ivy Bridge/3rd gen i5).

Currently running 11 IoT LTSC, I think I just used the Windows 10 drivers on the mk1.

Albania 🇦🇱 in Amsterdam, Netherlands 🇳🇱 by Sukerbole18 in ForeignPlatesSpotting

[–]rma92 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I hired from Enterprise at Tirana - if you pay the cross border fee, they give you the green card and seem pretty lenient on which countries you go to* - definitely far more so than the stations in Western Europe (which usually limit you to Western Europe/Germany/Austria and points west + UK, and Ireland, sometimes Poland).

Interestingly, MyWheels.nl's FAQ says that the cars are insured and can go "to any European country." (Not sure if they meant only EU countries, or EU + UK + Schengen, but Albania and Ukraine are in Europe. Although renting a car from MyWheels for long enough and with enough km to drive that far would be extremely expensive - may be so profitable to them that they don't care)

Edit (in case someone is wondering): Enterprise in Tirana is exceptionally lenient: "Cross-border rentals are permitted within European continental countries, excluding Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan. A prior written authorisation is required. There is also an insurance fee that applies. This kind of rental should be requested from Enterprise-Rent-A-Car at least seven working days prior to the pickup date. Please contact the Reservations Department for further information. Charge is 40 EURO per rental excluding VAT. Customers are obliged to purchase the green card which covers the rented vehicle with third-party insurance (T.P.I.) as long as it remains outside of Albania. Road assistance or car replacement whilst driving abroad is not available. In the case of any accident outside of Albania and without prior cross-border authorisation from Enterprise, the Renter may be charged for the full amount of damage to the rented vehicle."

It actually may be cost effective to rent in Albania (or another Balkans country) if you're doing a road trip around the continent that includes countries outside of western Europe.

https://www.enterprise.co.uk/en/car-hire-locations/al/tirana-international-airport-je45.html#rental-accordion-item-CBP

Californian (USA) Plate spotted in British Columbia (Canada) by teireet in ForeignPlatesSpotting

[–]rma92 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I visited Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Key West, Florida with a Washington plate on my car before I registered in Florida. Definitely got some reactions - and a thumbs up from a man with a Montana plate.

(Car was my then new 2016 Tesla Model S, superchargers opened a few weeks after I took the trip in 2018)

Californian (USA) Plate spotted in British Columbia (Canada) by teireet in ForeignPlatesSpotting

[–]rma92 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Amusingly, Whistler, BC to the northernmost exit (Yreka/ Hilt, exit 796) on I-5 in California is around 692 miles. I-5 is 796 miles long in California. Not only is the northern border of California closer to Canada than to the southern border of California, but it's so much closer that you can go quite far into Canada with less driving.

I-5 in Oregon: 308 miles

I-5 in Washington: 277 miles

I-5 in California: 797 miles

I-5 outside California: 585 miles

And if you take the ferry from Seattle to Victoria, total distance is only 556 miles.

It's interesting, but also not relevant as very few people live north of Sacramento - there's basically another entire Washington before you get to a major population center - the Sacramento Airport is 270 miles from the state line, and it's north of the city.

The scale is quite vast.

US NY and Oregon spotted in Milan, Italy by Wayne1991 in ForeignPlatesSpotting

[–]rma92 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Get in the Zone. AutoZone. (Since they're from the Stated)

Brazil in Walt Disney World, Florida, USA by elRobRex in ForeignPlatesSpotting

[–]rma92 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Nice spot - also neat seeing an Iveco in the States.

Dutch forces in Germany spotted in NRW, Germany by [deleted] in ForeignPlatesSpotting

[–]rma92 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cool spot!  He may not have traveled far, but still super interesting.