The totally off-topic thread

[Nigelinoz]

Thanks amaroo,
that's very helpful.
Cheers
N'oz

 

[anat0l]

Has anyone had success with putting their laptop in their checked in baggage? for various reasons I don't want to lug my rather weighty laptop around
ABX,SYD and BNE airports on Friday and was thinking about wrapping it in bubble wrap then putting it in my laptop bag and wrapping that in towels etc and
putting it in my suitcase but am slightly concerned about possible damage.
Does anyone have any views on the topic?
Cheers
N'oz

I would not risk it for a second.

My father had to carry two laptops overseas once, and you bet he carried both in his hand carry.

In theory, if you wrap it up enough and pad all sides with soft items, you might be alright. Putting it in it's original box with original packing may be alright for the road courier, but not for your suitcase being thrown around by the baggage handlers and surviving mid-air turbulence. (Though come to think about it now, how do couriers / freighter companies move laptops around the place, e.g. in aircraft, safely?)

The biggest concern is probably pressure on top of the laptop pressing down on the back of the screen. Except for some laptops (and even Macs are dubious), the top is easily compressible. Soft items help reduce immediate force but prolonged or repeated impact is the bigger risk.

This is not the same theory as carrying a bottle of wine - at least the sides of the glass bottle are fairly sturdy, and the only moving parts inside the bottle is the liquid.

Note that none of this is obviously certain - some have probably gotten away with it fine, and others have horror stories (and I have to admit I've only heard the horror stories, even more horrifying when the victims realise that almost no insurance will cover them). But if it were my laptop, even if it was a 4 kg monster, I would not be risking it by packing it into checked bags.

 

[simongr]

What was your previous frequency? Monthly?

Having done both monthly and fortnightly pays, I'm happy with the latter. One does have a genuine argument in that the former forces better management of cash and cashflow, though.

I was previously monthly - I have certainly felt less cash rich over the past 18 months. I did rolling average cash forecast before we went live and it showed about a 3 - 4 k net reduction in the rolling average compared to monthly.

 

[rechoboam]

Perhaps it changed recently. When I last booked a ticket to the US, Qantas were VERY clear that the ticket itself would not be issued until the ESTA or similar details were added to the booking. And true to their word, I didn't get the ticket until I had entered those details (I left it for a day or so).

Same here. They didnt explain how- i had to call. Then they charged me twicw for the ticket...all sorted out now

 

[drewbles]

I'm stuck in Los Angeles for a Night on the 28th of this month and i'm looking for a decent hotel.

I'm checking out of the Hyatt Century Plaza on the 28th and then checking in to another hotel down town on the 29th, so figured i'd find a nice place for a night.

Anyone have any recommendations circa $200 a night? I can't seem to find anything in Westwood for under $350-400 a night (W etc).

 

[JohnSydney2000]

I haven't stayed there yet (it is on my list) but if you are of a certain age, and want a few Hyatt points, you could try the Riot House.
See Andaz West Hollywood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia .
You could even ask for room 1015.
Happy travels, John.

 

[drewbles]

I haven't stayed there yet (it is on my list) but if you are of a certain age, and want a few Hyatt points, you could try the Riot House.
See Andaz West Hollywood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia .
You could even ask for room 1015.
Happy travels, John.

I only have status at Hilton so it's not really important for the brand.

*edit*

I've decided to stay here. Bugger the budget. I can get a suite there for the price of a standard room t the W

 

[JohnSydney2000]

I only have status at Hilton so it's not really important for the brand.

The Andaz was also very pricey

Ok, Riot House $251++ AAA rate incl breakfast
For Hilton nights-
The Beverley Hilton $221++ Luxury Beverly Hills Hotel | The Hilton Hotel In Beverly Hills, CA
Hilton Checkers Los Angeles (for the faded style) $134++ Downtown LA Hotels - Hilton Checkers Los Angeles Hotel, CA - California
Hilton Universal City $134++ Universal Studio Hotels | Los Angeles Hotel | Hilton Universal City
or Doubletree in Culver City $81++ Culver City Hotels - DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Los Angeles - Culver City, CA

Best wishes for your stay in Los Angeles. John.

 

[drewbles]

Ok, Riot House $251++ AAA rate incl breakfast
For Hilton nights-
The Beverley Hilton $221++ Luxury Beverly Hills Hotel | The Hilton Hotel In Beverly Hills, CA
Hilton Checkers Los Angeles (for the faded style) $134++ Downtown LA Hotels - Hilton Checkers Los Angeles Hotel, CA - California
Hilton Universal City $134++ Universal Studio Hotels | Los Angeles Hotel | Hilton Universal City
or Doubletree in Culver City $81++ Culver City Hotels - DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Los Angeles - Culver City, CA

Best wishes for your stay in Los Angeles. John.

Thanks John.

I should have been a little more clear in the initial post..

I'm looking for a nice hotel, regardless of the brand. I'm checking into a Hilton for a little over 2 weeks on the 29th so for one night, i'm looking for something a little different/quirky.

I'm staying in the Andaz New York this w/end which looks great. I've heard good things about the West Hollywood Andaz also.

Either way it'll be a good night im sure

 

[PineappleSkip]

Has anyone had success with putting their laptop in their checked in baggage?

I've done it a couple of times and said laptop works OK however couple of times not a large testing sample.

I can't say the same for W...ways who destroyed my old desktop in a removal.

Cheers skip

 

[rechoboam]

I would not risk it for a second.

My father had to carry two laptops overseas once, and you bet he carried both in his hand carry.

In theory, if you wrap it up enough and pad all sides with soft items, you might be alright. Putting it in it's original box with original packing may be alright for the road courier, but not for your suitcase being thrown around by the baggage handlers and surviving mid-air turbulence. (Though come to think about it now, how do couriers / freighter companies move laptops around the place, e.g. in aircraft, safely?)

The biggest concern is probably pressure on top of the laptop pressing down on the back of the screen. Except for some laptops (and even Macs are dubious), the top is easily compressible. Soft items help reduce immediate force but prolonged or repeated impact is the bigger risk.

This is not the same theory as carrying a bottle of wine - at least the sides of the glass bottle are fairly sturdy, and the only moving parts inside the bottle is the liquid.

Note that none of this is obviously certain - some have probably gotten away with it fine, and others have horror stories (and I have to admit I've only heard the horror stories, even more horrifying when the victims realise that almost no insurance will cover them). But if it were my laptop, even if it was a 4 kg monster, I would not be risking it by packing it into checked bags.

I have had numerous items like disposable cameras stolen from checked in baggage in the past. Especially in developing countries. If you are taking an old laptop just to watch '2 1/2 men' and its worth nothing anyway, fine...even the bigger Macs like the old Macbook have the hinges messed up by lateral forces so if it were mission critical I would give it a miss. I use a macbook air for travel now and you would barely notice it in your bag.

 

[medhead]

Back at work after a month off. My USB is not being recognised by the PC. The lights come on and flash, the Safely Remove Hardware thing says it's present. But it quickly goes to sleep mode and no drive letter shows up. I've also gained a shared drive while away and it just might have taken the letter that the USB usually uses (not that that should matter).

The USB works on my MacBook pro. I've rebooted once.

Any thoughts?


Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app so please excuse the lack of links.

 

[Mal]

Back at work after a month off. My USB is not being recognised by the PC. The lights come on and flash, the Safely Remove Hardware thing says it's present. But it quickly goes to sleep mode and no drive letter shows up. I've also gained a shared drive while away and it just might have taken the letter that the USB usually uses (not that that should matter).

Several reasons, but it depends what access you have to your machine to be able to fix. Win XP or Win 7?

 

[medhead]

Several reasons, but it depends what access you have to your machine to be able to fix. Win XP or Win 7?

It's XP. I have no access I think, I was able to install firefox but not the flash plugin (or whatever it's called) for firefox.

I've just rebooted with the USB plugged in and I can see it as G:\ My new network share, on G:, is missing now. There must be some sort of conflict, but it's strange that the USB insists on taking G: Looks like a call to Helpdesk is required


Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app so please excuse the lack of links.

 

[Mal]

I've just rebooted with the USB plugged in and I can see it as G:\ My new network share, on G:, is missing now. There must be some sort of conflict, but it's strange that the USB insists on taking G: Looks like a call to Helpdesk is required

Yeah, there can be conflicts, especially with WINXP. Normally I'd advise to go into Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Disk Management (this is from memory, I'm currently using Win7) and re-assign the drive letter for the USB, but I don't think you will have the correct rights.

Help Desk may need to assist.

 

[drewbles]

Ended up scoring nicely. Thanks to the Complimentary Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond match through the OneWorld MegaDo, I ended up managing to use one of my 4 complimentary confirmed suite upgrades for the Andaz West Hollywood.

Seriously looking forward to that (it gets excellent reviews!). I can't believe I forgot I had 4 to use by the end of this month (managed to use 3 of them!).

 

[rechoboam]

Yeah, there can be conflicts, especially with WINXP. Normally I'd advise to go into Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Disk Management (this is from memory, I'm currently using Win7) and re-assign the drive letter for the USB, but I don't think you will have the correct rights.

Help Desk may need to assist.

I agree. In fact after dealing with almost this very problem for 6 hours on a Saturday I got rid of all my PCs in favor of Macs

 

[Mal]

Wow, there's a blast from the past... My flight on Air Australia turned up on my credit card as:

OZJET AIRLINES PTY BRISBANE QLD

 

[Simo]

XP for computers is great.

All of our internal programs work on XP, If you want to use other versions of windows you have to load the patches. PIA

Why don't they sell XP still on new computers instead of having to get it installed and costing more cash.

 

[medhead]

Yeah, there can be conflicts, especially with WINXP. Normally I'd advise to go into Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Disk Management (this is from memory, I'm currently using Win7) and re-assign the drive letter for the USB, but I don't think you will have the correct rights.

Help Desk may need to assist.

I agree. In fact after dealing with almost this very problem for 6 hours on a Saturday I got rid of all my PCs in favor of Macs

Mild moment of panic this morning about 18 minutes before I was due to give the presentation that I was preparing and I remember my USB drive problem. :shock: Luckily I then remembered I have a second USB drive that works.

Call logged with the helpdesk. They asked me to remove it from its USB port and try another one (there are 4 on the front panel). I played the game and was nice about it.