5 ms·

It only takes one time arriving in a new city by air at 11pm and your phone becoming non-functional prior to reaching the rental car to make one bring a redunda

It only takes one time arriving in a new city by air at 11pm and your phone becoming non-functional prior to reaching the rental car to make one bring a redundant set of paper directions to get to the hotel.

samatman 5y ago
My redundancy these days is having a cellular-equipped iPad. It's saved my bacon a few times at this point. Basically a (large and unwieldy) cell phone I can pull out when my main driver falls dead. Pro tip: install ride share apps on the tablet in advance, because in a serious UX fail, Uber and Lyft both want you to receive an SMS code to activate accounts. I was lucky that time, that getting my iPhone out of airplane mode at 1% battery wasn't enough to trigger forced shutdown. Lyft doesn't even have a separate app, but Uber actually offers an iPad-native experience, but is unable to activate you without SMS. Which, along with standard voice calls, is the one thing a data plan associated with a phone number won't let you do except from the primary advice.
- syntheticnature 5y ago
  As part of my firewalling work from personal at my new job, I have been thinking "cellular iPad" for an ultra-portable personal machine that can also poke a personal server if needed. (Well, that or Pi 400, but I worry how well the Pi 400 would hold up for travel, or about getting a hotel room with no easy HDMI on the TV)
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  > Pro tip: install ride share apps on the tablet in advance, because in a serious UX fail, Uber and Lyft both want you to receive an SMS code to activate accounts. I was lucky that time, that getting my iPhone out of airplane mode at 1% battery wasn't enough to trigger forced shutdown. Of course regular taxis are also still a thing ;)
  - romwell 5y ago
    Uh-uh. Because you can just use a payphone to call one, right? When I lost my phone in Madrid, and realized that I have no way to call a taxi, since I was staying in a residential area where you don't see taxis in the streets. My Spanish was barely sufficient to explain my predicament, and I lucked out because a random convenience store clerk called me a taxi from his phone. Which reminds me: in case you didn't notice, there are no more payphones. In 2001, I could walk up to one, and use one of them Yellow Books to do anything you could do one the phone. Today, you need to have a smartphone to do many basic things.
    - kojeovo 5y ago
      The comment thread mentions flying into a city by air. There are taxis at airports without fail anywhere I've been
      - DocTomoe 5y ago
        That very much depends on location and time. Smaller airports particularly, in off hours, may only have ten to twelve, which is not enough for that late plane that's coming in.
        kojeovo 5y ago
        Fair point although worst case is you wait longer
      - romwell 5y ago
        Try flying into not-even-that-rural Iowa.
        kojeovo 5y ago
        I would bring a phone in that case. I would bring a phone in any case.
    - GekkePrutser 5y ago

samatman 5y ago

My redundancy these days is having a cellular-equipped iPad. It's saved my bacon a few times at this point. Basically a (large and unwieldy) cell phone I can pull out when my main driver falls dead. Pro tip: install ride share apps on the tablet in advance, because in a serious UX fail, Uber and Lyft both want you to receive an SMS code to activate accounts. I was lucky that time, that getting my iPhone out of airplane mode at 1% battery wasn't enough to trigger forced shutdown. Lyft doesn't even have a separate app, but Uber actually offers an iPad-native experience, but is unable to activate you without SMS. Which, along with standard voice calls, is the one thing a data plan associated with a phone number won't let you do except from the primary advice.

syntheticnature 5y ago
As part of my firewalling work from personal at my new job, I have been thinking "cellular iPad" for an ultra-portable personal machine that can also poke a personal server if needed. (Well, that or Pi 400, but I worry how well the Pi 400 would hold up for travel, or about getting a hotel room with no easy HDMI on the TV)
GekkePrutser 5y ago
> Pro tip: install ride share apps on the tablet in advance, because in a serious UX fail, Uber and Lyft both want you to receive an SMS code to activate accounts. I was lucky that time, that getting my iPhone out of airplane mode at 1% battery wasn't enough to trigger forced shutdown. Of course regular taxis are also still a thing ;)
- romwell 5y ago
  Uh-uh. Because you can just use a payphone to call one, right? When I lost my phone in Madrid, and realized that I have no way to call a taxi, since I was staying in a residential area where you don't see taxis in the streets. My Spanish was barely sufficient to explain my predicament, and I lucked out because a random convenience store clerk called me a taxi from his phone. Which reminds me: in case you didn't notice, there are no more payphones. In 2001, I could walk up to one, and use one of them Yellow Books to do anything you could do one the phone. Today, you need to have a smartphone to do many basic things.
  - kojeovo 5y ago
    The comment thread mentions flying into a city by air. There are taxis at airports without fail anywhere I've been
    - DocTomoe 5y ago
      That very much depends on location and time. Smaller airports particularly, in off hours, may only have ten to twelve, which is not enough for that late plane that's coming in.
      - kojeovo 5y ago
        Fair point although worst case is you wait longer
    - romwell 5y ago
      Try flying into not-even-that-rural Iowa.
      - kojeovo 5y ago
        I would bring a phone in that case. I would bring a phone in any case.
  - GekkePrutser 5y ago