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I bet the OP is dirt poor and can not afford to fly.... But trying his best to sound like a millionaire.... Kind a like everybody in CA does. Living like one.
And UPS lose stuff to like an urn with ashes.... Or was it fedex???
He does not sound like a well seasoned traveler. Neither am I, fly 12 times a year cross the Atlantic and never had any problems with TSA. On the contrary, They tread you like you tread them.
When I travel, I try my best not to look affluent. No watch, no jewelry, no iphone (just upgraded my $30 flip phone to get the $12/month Comcast plan!). No fancy clothing, or luggage. I'm invisible. I'm the boring Millionaire next door. The California fakes try to look flashy, but are in debt upto their eyeballs. I'm a polar opposite Dave Ramsay graduate...debt-free! Semi-retired at age 50.
I'm not a seasoned traveler. My travel frequency has plummeted since 9-11. I have not flown in 2+ years, 2 flights in ~5 years. I've been to Europe 4x, Canada 4x, Mexico 2x, PR 1x, Costa Rica 1x. Been to every U.S. State except Alaska...until July 2020. Only 20% of my travel has been for pleasure.
I'm a reluctant traveler. I despise commercial air travel. Once I'm on the ship, I'll be fine. It's just getting there, & back, that I despise. Some of the tips I've gotten here will help, so thx to all.
Last edited by beach43ofus; 12-07-2019 at 05:05 AM..
You've got everything backed up on a password protected external hard drive that you can leave at home, right?
You're wife is right about Amtrak. I don't know about that specific portion of their tracks, but out west Amtrak trains can be extremely late at times (speaking from experience here) because they share the tracks with the freight trains. The trains can be grungy too. I enjoy taking trips on Amtrak, but if I was on a tight schedule I'd be looking for some other method of transportation.
Have not had it backed up in 2 years. I used to have an IT guy to do it, but I moved to FLA, and lost him. I'll get it backed up somehow prior to trip though. I'll go to Apple store, but the box, and get lessons.
I think I'll do the airport shuttle someone spoke of here from Sea to Van airports. How do I pass through customs using the shuttle? In Seattle or Vancouver?
Last edited by beach43ofus; 12-07-2019 at 05:06 AM..
Have not had it backed up in 2 years. I used to have an IT guy to do it, but I moved to FLA, and lost him. I'll get it backed up somehow prior to trip though. I'll go to Apple store, but the box, and get lessons.
I think I'll do the airport shuttle someone spoke of here from Sea to Van airports. How do I pass through customs using the shuttle? In Seattle or Vancouver?
It's really quite simple. Just get an external drive and connect it via USB. Then look for an app called Time Machine in Launcher. It's fairly well simple from there. After that, you simply plug in the drive once in a while when you feel the need to back up. Wait for the light to stop flashing, go into Finder, and click on the little icon to the right of the drive, and click it before you unplug it. TIP:When you first plug in the drive, have Finder on the screen, so you will see what the drive looks like, or is called, for later actions.
I normally wouldnt worry about the laptop, but its a $3,500 Mac Pro w/ large screen, and I need to it work while I'm on this trip.
I would carry on the laptop, I would never check it or send it by mail. Where do you think it's going to be stolen? When you are going through security? I've been flying with a laptop for 25 years and have not had it stolen... yet.... actually I've never had anything stolen since my first flight in 1970. Yep, I'm old.
I never put anything valuable in checked baggage. I have never had anything stolen. I hate flying now but it’s a necessary evil to get to where I want to go.
It's really quite simple. Just get an external drive and connect it via USB. Then look for an app called Time Machine in Launcher. It's fairly well simple from there. After that, you simply plug in the drive once in a while when you feel the need to back up. Wait for the light to stop flashing, go into Finder, and click on the little icon to the right of the drive, and click it before you unplug it. TIP:When you first plug in the drive, have Finder on the screen, so you will see what the drive looks like, or is called, for later actions.
Are these Apple instructions? If so, I'll do it. Thx!
That, and the fact that the airlines and the TSA will each blame the other when things are stolen from checked bags and no one accepts responsibility.
I've shipped UPS 1,000+ times for my biz, and never had anything lost, damaged, or stolen.
Tring to save $, I shipped something ONE time USPS Priority w/ tracking, and it vanished! Its been ~1yr, so I'm guessing it's gone forever. Insurance never paid me either...no explanation. I got the last laugh on the crooks though...
The package I shipped was very heavy for its size, so it was obviously metal. The Postal Service worker theives had to think it was silver (that weight of Gold would have been ~$1M and nobody's dumb enough to ship that much value via USPS). How disppointed they must have been when they opened it and found Stainless Steel clips...specialty hardware unique to 1 use...sailboat rigging! Unless they owned a large fleet of sailboats, they had 40 pounds of useless trash. It did cost me >$1,000 though Lesson learned, don't trust the US Postal Service.
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Semi-retired at age 50.
Lesson learned, don't trust the US Postal Service.
