Travel

The Great Hotel TV Failure

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hotel tv media centre

This is an older story from April 2024. We were visiting M’s parents and staying at an Aloft Marriott. Pretty good hotel, actually. Kids didn’t like the breakfast, I did. There was a pool. Close to the in-laws. Great value overall.

There were a couple days where M had the car and it was just me and the girls at the hotel. We decided we’d watch a movie, which kicked off the classic “how do we get the thing on my device onto the TV” problem.

I’ve debated traveling with an HDMI cable. It works. It’s just annoying to bring, and I never feel like packing it. So when I noticed the TV actually had an AirPlay option in the menu, the tech part of my brain started geeking out. This felt like one of those rare moments where hotel tech was finally catching up with reality.

At least in theory.

In practice, it refused to work. At all. I tried everything. And as someone who works in tech, there’s always that moment of “I cannot be defeated by a hotel TV,” but eventually you either give up or swallow your pride. I called their support guy. He came upstairs. He didn’t even know the feature existed until I showed him the menu for it. Still no luck. Completely dead.

So now it’s me, two kids, and no movie.

My workaround? I ended up ordering a Chromecast through DoorDash. Someone literally drove to a store, picked it up, and brought it to the hotel. Kind of wild. I don’t even know if that’s a thing in the UK. If it is, I’ve never tried it.

The Chromecast itself was tiny and cheap and came with its own little HDMI tail. Plugged it in, powered it up, connected it to my phone, and that was that. The hardest part was waiting for the movie to download on the hotel Wi-Fi. After that, everything just worked.

We watched Ghostbusters: Afterlife. The kids loved it so much we ended up seeing the sequel in the theater later.

The bigger point here is that the fancy casting feature Marriott advertised was a complete fail. Maybe they’ve fixed it since. I hope so because letting people cast from their own devices is safer and easier for everyone. I’m definitely not signing into a hotel TV with my Netflix credentials. No thanks.

I still have that little Chromecast. I don’t use many Google devices anymore, but this one is so small and so useful that I keep it around. Do I actually remember to travel with it? No. Should I? Probably. But whatever.

Planes, Trains, and Getting There Anyway

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After I got the word that my brother in law had passed away, I immediately booked plane tickets. We found a flight out of Heathrow at 12:50 p.m., planned a normal morning, and headed to the airport.

It was not until we were already on the Elizabeth line, almost there, that I noticed the alert. Our flight had been delayed by seven and a half hours.

We needed to get to New Jersey that day. The funeral was the following day, and missing it was not really an option. Any flight leaving London the next day would get us there too late. So once we arrived at the airport, we went straight to the airline’s Special Help counter to see what could be done.

They were able to get us confirmed seats on the 6 p.m. flight. Technically, that was an improvement. It was about an hour and a half earlier than our newly delayed flight. But it was still very late. It would get us into New Jersey that day, but very close to midnight local time.

The only other option they offered was standby on the noon flight, which was actually earlier than our original departure. We went through the security routine, grabbed some breakfast quickly, and then went to the gate when they called it for the noon flight.

When boarding finished, there was exactly one seat available.

My wife and I talked it through quickly, and I got on the plane. She stayed behind with the kids and planned to try to fly standby on the 3 p.m. flight, and if that did not work, take the 6 p.m. flight we already had confirmed.

The idea was that I would meet my mom, get a car, and head either to my sister’s place or the hotel.

That part did not work out.

I landed without issue and got an Uber to the hotel. My mom’s flight was cancelled entirely. She was rebooked to JFK, while I had flown into Newark. From there, she took the AirTrain, the Long Island Railroad, and New Jersey Transit, and went straight to my sister’s.

My wife was not able to get on standby for the earlier flight and ended up on the 6 p.m. flight after all. She managed to rearrange the rental car and arrived at the hotel close to midnight New York time.

So in the end, we all got there. Just not together. And not in the way we expected.

To be fair to the airline, there had been a major blizzard the day before. By the time we landed, things were slowly getting back to normal. Still, the whole experience felt like planes, trains, and automobiles in real time.

Hectic, exhausting, and strangely memorable, for all the wrong reasons.

Minor note. I wasn’t sure when I was going to post this one. Since it involves travel and today the girls and I are flying home from our term break holiday I thought it was appropriate to post it. If all goes to plan we should be boarding the plane home a few hours after this posts.

That Time Apple Air Tag’s Did Save The Day

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In recent years I’ve seen plenty of people recommending the use of Apple AirTags when travelling. Some airlines even let you share your AirTag location with them so they can help track down lost luggage. Looking back, I guess I was a bit ahead of the curve, because as soon as AirTags came out, I bought a bunch and put them on our bags.

In 2021, we flew to Madrid on British Airways and I had AirTags on all four pieces of luggage. The flight was delayed leaving Heathrow due to BA issues, and when we finally landed and were waiting at the carousel, I opened Find My to check. Three of the bags showed as nearby, but the fourth was still pinging from Heathrow. Immediate red flag. Sure enough, someone from baggage claim walked around with a list of names, and my bag was on it. The one with all my stuff, of course.

We filed the paperwork, went to our Airbnb, and I made do with what I had. The next day, baggage services still claimed they couldn’t find it, even though by then the AirTag clearly showed it sitting at Madrid airport. The people on the phone were rude, unhelpful, and not even located at the airport itself. After a full day of frustration, one finally suggested I go to the airport in person.

So I did. It was a 15 to 20 minute cab ride, not too bad. The crazy part was how I got in: I was told to knock on a door past customs, explain myself to security, and they just waved me through with no checks at all. As a security-minded person, that was insane. But it got me in. I showed staff the AirTag location, they asked for a photo of the bag (which I barely had), and after 20 minutes of searching in the back, they found it.

I was relieved. Without the AirTag, I doubt I would have seen that bag for days, if at all. It had already been two days and I’d had to buy clothes just to get by. The phone support was useless, and it was only the tracker that made the difference.

Since then, I’ve been completely sold on using AirTags whenever we travel. I’ve also learned to always take a photo of the luggage beforehand, and to make sure the AirTag batteries are fresh. It’s the only reason I got my bag back in Madrid.

Building My Own Custom GPTs

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With some downtime on the bank holiday Monday, I finally tackled something I’ve been wanting to do for a while: creating several custom LLMs. I’ve been tinkering with agents for work and figured it was time to apply similar customizations for personal use.

Lately I’ve been bouncing between ChatGPT, Perplexity, Venice.ai, and even the new Proton AI for privacy. ChatGPT now lets you build custom GPTs, so I gave it a try. While we were on holiday, I had jotted down some customization requirements for a handful of GPTs I wanted, and this felt like the right time to build them.

For the past six to eight months, I’ve been planning holidays with different LLMs. The main frustration has been having to restate all my preferences every time I opened a new chat. Starting with a custom GPT just made sense—especially since I’ve got several term breaks to plan for over the next school year. Programming the GPT was straightforward. I haven’t used it to plan a full trip yet, but I’ve got the base built and I’ve started tinkering. High hopes for this one.

I also put together, though haven’t tested, a CISSP study guide helper. I want to sit for the test but don’t have a study buddy, so I figured why not make one?

Then there’s a slightly different use case: a custom GPT for days out with the kids. Same idea as the travel planner, but without flights and hotels—it’s more about what’s going on in London. I’m actively planning a week with the girls now and most of it is set, but I’ll see if this new GPT adds anything useful. The hardest part here was integrating the data I’ve been tracking on a Trello board with all the activities we’ve done or still want to do. I wanted the GPT to be able to use that context, but I’m cautious about sharing too much personal information with ChatGPT. That’s why I also use Venice.ai, which is a privacy-protecting, open-source based AI. Still, I experimented with exporting the Trello data to JSON and importing it into ChatGPT, and after some trial and error I finally got it working. In this case I had to use ChatGPT since I ran into file size limits with Venice.ai.

I’ve got a few more ideas I want to play with, but for now the three or four GPTs I’ve already built will keep me busy. I need to actually use them and see how they perform before I go any further. Early impressions are promising. Even so, as I remind colleagues and my kids, quoting the Doctor from Doctor Who: the AI lies. Don’t ever trust it completely. If you keep questioning it, though, the results can be pretty good.

Tapping Through France: A Cashless Holiday at Disney and Beyond

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We’ve just come back from a week in France. Two whirlwind days at Disneyland Paris followed by a slower stretch at a resort. The rides, the food, the lounging by the pool… all wonderful. But the thing that surprised me most wasn’t the fireworks over the castle we didn’t actually see because by then we were too tired and had already headed back to the hotel. What stood out was that I managed the entire trip without touching a single euro note or even pulling out a physical card.

If you’ve read my past posts, you know I’ve been on a bit of a mission to go wallet-less. In daily life at home, I rely almost entirely on my phone or, even better, my watch for tap-to-pay. The convenience is unmatched. That said, whenever I travel abroad, I usually hedge my bets. Extra cards tucked into the bag. Mental note of where the nearest ATM might be. Because international trips can be tricky: not every place is set up for seamless digital payments, and the last thing you want is to be stranded without cash.

But this time? Smooth sailing. Disney was as high-tech as you’d expect, and even the resort didn’t skip a beat. From meals to souvenirs to a quick coffee at the pool when we didn’t have our wallets or phones, a tap of the watch worked perfectly. No fumbling with euros, no need to break a bill just to grab a snack. I didn’t expect it to be this easy.

Back in the UK, it’s already rare that I run into a situation where cash is essential. Even the local ice cream van has a contactless reader these days. And while I know France isn’t representative of every country in Europe or the world, it was reassuring to see just how far tap-to-pay has spread.

The takeaway? For certain destinations at least, traveling cashless is no longer a gamble. It’s becoming the norm. That’s one less thing to worry about when packing, and a little more space in the pocket for, say, an extra croissant or two.

Saint Michaels Mount

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The only way on this island is by boat or walk across at low tide. I warned the girls that when it was time to go we either left to walk out before the tide came. The alternative was they could stay with mommy and take a boat back. We all made it back to the mainland without any boat trips!

All I Did For My Birthday is Go To The Grocery Store

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Yes, you read that correctly: the main activity for my birthday was a trip to a grocery store called Omega Mart.

So while the title is technically true, it needs some context. For a milestone birthday (let’s leave the number out of this), we planned a long weekend in Las Vegas. Hopefully, I’ll write more about that trip later. Including M and myself, there were about eight of us. I had a pretty solid plan for the evenings—this is Vegas, after all. Plenty of speakeasies for good cocktails and amazing food. But I hadn’t put much thought into daytime activities for our few days there.

While running through ideas with a friend who’s been living in Vegas since college, he suggested Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart. I had no clue what it was, but the group was up for it. The group we had in total was eight people, though our numbers shifted throughout the weekend as some people arrived early and left early, while others came later and stayed longer. Initially, we planned to visit Omega Mart the day before my birthday with 6 of us that was there, but between scheduling issues and a downpour, we couldn’t make it. Thankfully, one of my friends managed to reschedule usfor the next day, which worked out well because two friends who were arriving that night could join us, too. That made it a full house.

On the day, I discovered that Omega Mart is… a supermarket disguised as an interactive art exhibit. Or maybe it’s an interactive art exhibit disguised as a supermarket? I’m still not sure. After spending hours there, I’m not entirely certain of much about Omega Mart.

Omega Mart is located in a warehouse-like complex called Area15. You enter the store as you would any regular grocery store. There are aisles stocked with products you can actually buy—each one weirder than the last. I wanted to take home half of them! (See photos for some truly bizarre examples.) After a few minutes of browsing the aisles, I was really enjoying myself, and then things got weird—in the best way possible. I noticed a hidden passageway through one of the freezer doors. A friend suggested waiting until everyone was ready before going in, but after a minute or two, my curiosity got the better of me, and I went in anyway.

What awaited us on the other side felt like stepping into another universe. I think that’s actually how they describe it. Almost on cue, a friend who we were waiting for outside in the freezer aisle wandered in from a different passageway, saying, “Oh, you found this place too!” Glad we didn’t wait for them!

We spent the next few hours exploring this alternate universe, with the occasional detour back to the grocery store. Everyone had a blast. What I didn’t realise at the time was that there were interactive storylines and mysteries woven throughout the place. One of my friends texted his teenage son about it, and his son immediately told us to check out the freezer. Apparently, he was already familiar with Omega Mart. Until two days prior, I had no idea this place even existed.

Honestly, describing the alternate universe we explored is hard to do justice here. I recommend checking out their website and reading some reviews. I’ll post a few photos, but it was visually captivating enough that I wouldn’t hesitate to return if I were in Vegas again.

When we’d seen enough, we exited Omega Mart and headed to a bar in the middle of Area15, right by Omega Mart’s entrance. I ordered an old-fashioned, smoked right in front of me, while a friend ordered some crazy drink that was lit on fire and bubbled up with a massive bubble before he drank it. Yes, we took several photos and videos—it was awesome.

We did other things too. Before Omega Mart, we had a fantastic dim sum lunch. Later that evening, we went for an amazing steak dinner. Living in London while most of my friends live around New York, I was genuinely touched that so many made the effort to come out and celebrate with me.

If you asked me to describe my perfect birthday, it probably wouldn’t have included a place like Omega Mart. And yet, I had a fantastic time. A solid reminder to always keep an open mind!

The Kids Meal

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On a flight to the States a few years ago I commented to the flight attendant when my kids didn’t like the meal that I want the kids meal since they looked much better than the adult ones. The flight attendant said they are and she recommended that I ask for one next time. I felt a bit odd doing it so I never did.

That is till this week. I am going on a flight without the fam and the menu did not look great so I figured I would order the kids meal. Let’s see how awkward that looks when they deliver it!

Why Do We Always Have to Choose Between Convenience and Privacy?

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It was a bit disturbing how fast using Global Entry got me through Passport Control at JFK today. I did not show my passport at all. I just had my picture taken and then walked by a guy at a terminal and he said my name as I walked by saying I was good to go. Entire process was maybe 2 minutes including the one minute for a kiosk to open up to let me take my photo.

In one way that entire process was right out of several movies. So cool us. On the other hand is having a US government agency have my facial recognition profile on file for a few minutes quicker passport control? I am struggling to answer that after looking at the passport control line as I walked briskly to the exit.

Spoilers, I am in New York for 3 days this weekend. Surprise everyone I did not mention that to. That is not the focus of this post but kind of a tip off that I am in the states going through Global Entry. This trip may spawn some other posts especially since I may have time to write while further traveling.