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Saturday, December 20, 2008

#339: Movies on Buses/Airplanes with sound over PA system

I was annoyed by this in Argentina. They would play the movies on the buses and planes over the PA system, instead of what I am used which is having the sound muted and if you want to watch/listen to the film, you plug in your ear phones. I did not enjoy having to listen to bad movies on my 21 hour bus ride, especially this terrible Drillbit Taylor.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

#337: Exhaust smell in foreign countries

Living in a country with good motor vehicle emission standards, you forget the much of the world doesn't have the standard of living to enforce these rules. Even in a fairly well-off country like Argentina, I became annoyed at smelling exhaust, even in the smallest of towns in Patagonia. It just took one idling pickup or bus to stink up the whole area in a wide radius. Also, to make matters worse, they leave vehicles idling a lot. I think it might be due to being scared that it won't start up again if they shut it down while waiting to drive off. Severity: 4

#336: cheap napkins in some Argentina restauants

Some restaurants in Argentina had napkins that were basically like wax paper. Totally unsatisfying to wipe your mouth with. Severity: 3

#335: Places not opening for dinner till real late

In Buenos Aires, almost all spots for dinner did not open till 8pm. I understand that most people might want to eat late, but there still has to be enough business during the week that you could open early. I was walking around all day and starving and couldn't go to the places I wanted to because the timing was not right. Severity: 1

#334: Airport taxes in foreign countries

This isn't about hating these type of tourist taxes, which I do. This is about having the stupid process of paying it at the airport before you depart, rather than instituting and automated system where the tax is included in your ticket and remitted to the government by the airline. I guess people need jobs. Severity: 1

#333: No tap water in restaurants in Argentina

You just can't get tap water brought to you in Argentina. Even when I was by glaciers and the tap water was the best you could possibly have and better than bottled water, I could not get them to understand the concept. That, or they just refused. One time, a guy just poured me a little bottled water in a glass at no charge, but that wasn't the point. I find bottled water the ultimate in wastefulness when you have fine tap water and I didn't want to contribute to the waste. Severity: 3

#332: Having to ask for the check in Argentina

On my trip to Argentina, I found it a bit annoying to have to ask for the check every time. They just never would come by and see if you were done or not. Sometimes, you like not being rushed, but often it was quite obvious I was ready and having to say "La cuenta por favor" so much became irritating, though it was one of the few phrases I mastered. Severity: 2