Road Trip Car Set Up

...than buy an exceptionally affordable car that might take several months ... take the form of a road trip across Europe. Cities, motorways, mountain ... the actual time required to set up the tent. These small details ... The true character of a car only becomes clear when you ..., is the direction itself. A car that can perceive its surroundings ... demonstration or a genuinely good car. But I will not beg ...

... will CERTAINLY have it's own set of expensive issues as Ford... Jeep or Nissan Frontier and set it up for decent offroad use? I... be just a one day trip so you know this will ... trails and other fun off road stuff, but it is nowhere ... dirt bike and a sports car.

... today heading home from a trip and i am still kicking... walking back to the car. Had a leisurely breakfast parked up next to a tree... amount of traffic on the road when i set off just headed home instead. ...

... "IMHO"): - I hired a car but on balance regretted it ... you'd be fine as most road users seem steady and I... smaller hotels are not really set up with air con as they... of times) - The cable car up the Ulriken was great and ... say it was a great trip - would have been even... more advanced booking (and no car!) Thanks for those that gave...

... unnecessary race-based hysteria through actions set up by three presidents (Ford, Carter,...on earth - I’ve had car issues in my past and ...was staying focused on the road ahead. (At one point during ...to step out of the car and see “Spiral Jetty” off ...word a lot on this trip) view of Logan as I ...it - the town lit up and fronting a panoramic wall ...saw it, its spires lit up against the eastern mountains on ...

...an estate agent. The archive trip was a success, I took ... 40 years they gave up the franchise, but remain a .... I'd stopped at a set of lights just outside of ... Volvo V70 XC pulled up next to me. I'd never ...a nursery just across the road and her cousin ran the ....7mpg once I filled up at home. I have had .... One of them went up to Scotland to do some ...more. I believe that many car makers are on the scheme ...

Published today on Jezebel, the following article concerns the growing threat of climate change. As the world's obsession with personal vehicles grows more and more, the risk of a literal hot box grows in lock step. ​ From the article: ​ "A pair of married San Francisco senior citizens, who tragically were found dead in their still-running car on the side of the highway in Northern California this week, having driven into an area under extreme heat warnings where the temperature had risen to 109 degrees in the middle of the afternoon. Judith and Wylie Sheldon, both in their mid-80s, had set out from their home in the Bay Area on a road trip up to Ashland, Oregon, for that town’s well-known Shakespeare festival, planning to meet two other couples for dinner that evening. They never showed up, and were ultimately found deceased on the side of the highway, somewhere north of the town of Redding, California." ​ Collapse related because Judith and Wylie Sheldon are not the first to die and will not be the last. We are fast approaching a world where living indoors and traveling from A to B will require high emission climate control. ​ Climate control... an ironic name for something we need because we absolutely cannot control the climate - only destroy it further. ​ The Sheldons were headed to a Shakespeare festival. Old Will once wrote "the very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream." ​ We should heed his warning and reflect on how we got here. submitted by /u/Sad_Attitude9999 to r/collapse [link] [comments]

Retail Brand: Nail Reformation I have a concert tomorrow night and my baby shower Sunday so hopefully these hold up! I think I did pretty good putting these on while in the car 💁 only one is noticably crooked to me! Let me know what y'all think! submitted by /u/imtakingmy-time to r/PressonNail_Addict [link] [comments]

This was our first trip to China. Although we are well travelled but China was daunting and I had postponed it a few times. But when visa free travel was announced for UK citizens , I felt it was now time. I’d like to share my experience hoping it’d encourage others to visit this spectacular country. We travelled to Beijing, Dunhuang, Jiayuguyan, Xuanbe wall, Zhangye, Danxia Rainbow mountains, Lanzhou, Bingling Si, Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Lang Mu si, Labuleng si, Xian, Gubei water town, Simatai wall and Jinshanling wall. Some of of these places are totally off the beaten track. We had private guides and drivers for the Silk Road section. Xian, Simatai and Jinshanling we managed on our own. I’m extremely satisfied with the service of our travel agent Leah Zhang of Silk Road Travel. I contacted several agencies including the big ones like China Discovery and China Highlights. I wasn’t impressed with them. Silk Road Tour, based at Urumqi is a much smaller agency, flexible and importantly much cheaper. I hope to return to Xinjiang/Karakorum highway next year and use their services again. We are British Indians. Although we speak King’s English but everyone in China understandably assumed we were from India. India China relationship is improving but still not brilliant. Not once did I feel unwelcome, whether in very remote places or in the big cities. I got used to hearing the phrases “Yindu/ Yindu ma ?” My views (which are entirely my views and of course not everyone would agree): 1. Alipay: when my first transaction went through it felt like I had won the lottery. I had set it up at home in advance. In a couple of places, they accepted Wechat only. My Barclaycard/Halifax Visa were accepted in Beijing shopping/hotels/restaurants. A few times when I scanned the Alipay code from the vendor and tried to pay I found that the payment options with international cards were greyed out. Don’t know why. Never happened when they scanned my QR code. Use the Alipay to scan the QR code in shops/street vendors to order items directly. Alipay is Zhīfùbǎo in Chinese. Undoubtedly the most user friendly Chinese app. Cash was also accepted in most places although I hardly used it. 2. Wechat : I found setting up from home way more difficult, needing support from another Wechat user ( Leah helped) and the translate function was erratic. I had added the cards, verified my identity and thought that’d be enough. But when I tried to use it in China, it asked for further verifications causing problems as I was not using my UK number to receive SMS. I did not use Wechat other than keeping in touch with guides and Leah. Tried booking the National Museum tickets through Wechat. It was impossible. 3. E-sim : used the 5G one with 2 GB daily limit from Trip. It worked smoothly as soon as we landed. It was mostly 4G service. Dropped connections a few times but not a big issue. Trip e-sim was way cheaper than Airalo/Holafy. Did not use any local WiFi network at all, so no comments on VPN 4. Managed to access Insta/FB/WA/Google map/ Google Translate and all other websites/apps that I needed. 5. 12306: I have a love hate relationship. After many unsuccessful attempts to verify ID through the app I tried through the desktop site. It demanded my selfie with my passport. Uploaded and Hey presto, verified within 24 hours. Same with my wife. Never received any verification for my e-mail but the tickets were visible in the app. I use Pixel 10 and the last step where you click the button Done, the button was covered by the phone battery status. So frustrating. After a while I did figure out the technique of tapping a little far away and below to get the tickets. Use it in place of Trip. Trip does not give instant notifications and if you are like me making multiple (six for me) train journeys then the commission does add up. The refund rules are also better at 12306. The system stupidly split up my wife and I into two different rows even when I booked within an hour of opening. We requested the nice gentleman and he was happy to swap so that we could sit together. You’ll get the System Busy message a few times. Do not give up and try to use in the Chinese working hours. I arrived at China and found that my app had inexplicably stopped working properly. Something to do with the esim ? Who knows. I was able to log but no upcoming tickets were seen. Got very worried but when logged into their desktop site saw the tickets there. Phew ! 6. Train travel: We travelled in both first and second classes. I tried to book First Class but they were all Sold Out on day 1 for several journeys. I think those were not released. Some of them became available again closer to the date. Second class was perfectly acceptable but for journeys beyond 2-3 hours I feel First class was better. More space to stretch. Noise was not an issue for us. Luggage space: Not enough, especially for people like us who are travelling for three weeks with two large bags. Limited space, especially if you are catching a train not from its origin, and your large bags may not fit in the designated space. Try to tuck the suitcases behind the last row of seats. You are going to be away from the bags. Don’t worry. This is China. No one is planning to run away with your bags. I’ll show photos later. Trains are fantastic. I was reading about the debacle of HS2 in the UK when travelling at the speed of 351 KMPH. Toilets were western style and reasonably clean. You get a drink and some snacks in the first class. Stations are huge, arrive well in advance. Be very careful with any sprays at the security, keep aside or show in advance. Watch the display boards carefully as sometime they make you board from different gates for the same train, depending on your coach number. Stand to the left to use the extreme left gate for manual scanning of passport. The trains can be very long. Look at the numbers on the platform floor for your coach, either Purple/yellow depend on class and if in doubt ask the staff. We found all the railway staff very helpful. Although it says you are allowed to carry 20 kg only but no one bothered to check the weight of our bags, which were above the limit. 7. Plane travel: Security is even tighter than India. They practically disassembled my Nikon, body and lens separated and checked each battery individually. We all know about CCC power bank. Checked meticulously, not only on domestic but even on the flight back home as well. In the domestic flight with Air China, I was prepared to pay the 1% of the fare fee/Kg of extra weight. Our bags were about 22 kgs. The check in gentleman did not ask anything at all. 8. Entry: Fill up the form electronically 48 hours before and make sure you have the actual postal address of the first hotel. Just not “Beijing.” Do not worry about mentioning all the cities you'll be transiting through, you can add three. The automatic finger print scanning machines at Daxing did not work for many tourists. Do not fret. Just proceed to the normal counter and the officer will sort it out for you. The immigration officer asked me one question. A much better experience than JFK last year, where I was grilled for ten minutes. 9. We flew with China Southern Business. This is my first time with any Chinese airline. I was a bit anxious but the advantage of avoiding Middle East and a direct overnight flight from London which was significantly cheaper, swayed me. The crew were nice, food and drink average, no wifi, IFE offerings very poor but the plane was a new A350 and flatbed seat was great for overnight flight. You get Avios for BA. I booked tickets through Trip. You can’t do online check in. I’ll happily fly with China Southern again. 10. Tax refund: Make sure the shop participates and fill up all the pre-authorisation forms from the shop. At Daxing I had to get a copy of my Boarding pass first, but did not check my bags, got the forms stamped, they did not ask to check the goods, checked the bags, cleared security and then again had to go to another desk to get the refund. We accepted cash. Although the rate is 11% but you actually get between 7-8%. Well, every penny counts. 11. Food: we are Indians in origin and used to spicy food. My wife is a Jain and vegetarian by religion. I also do not eat red meat any more. We did not have any major issues with food other than in Gannan. Along the Silk Road there are many Muslim restaurants which served absolutely delicious spicy food. Top notch. I loved the Biang Biang noodles. Did not like the Chinese hamburgers at all. I have some experience of using Chopsticks but I'm not confident. I mentioned dao cha (knife/fork) and in some places we did get those, but in some remote places they looked surprised. No issues, by the end of the first week I had become much more confident with chopsticks. In Beijing there are decent Thai restaurants as well. Do not go looking for Indian curry. There are only a handful in Beijing. I fell in love with the special Dunhuang Yoghurt. Wonderful. Reminded me of Rabri from India, I like strong coffee and I was missing that. Luckin coffee was decent but not up to my standard. My wife drank gallons of tea. 12. Shopping: Dry fruits, silk scarves, stone jewelleries, nougats ( my favourite is the Macha one) and tea of course. Some local artefacts. I was dragged to the shopping malls of Wangfujing for one whole day. What a torture. Guess what, I ended up buying a pair of Clark’s shoes. almost half price compared to the UK. 13. You must carry your passport all the time. We went to the Qianmen street and were surprised to see that there was security and passport check. 14. Didi: I used the mini app in Alipay. Worked well. Only once I felt I was cheated. On the way to terracotta army, I noted that Didi said there would be additional toll. On arrival I saw the driver had added 26 RMB as toll and also 15 RMB as car park fee. I was surprised as I did not see him entering any car park and I had not checked the receipts for the toll. I was determined to beat the crowd at the terracotta army entering at 0830 so did not have the time to dispute and it was not a huge amount. On the way back I found the Didi driver charged only 13 RMB for toll and no car park fee. Also it is dynamic pricing so changes considerably. Beijing traffic is terrible. Better to walk or take the metro. 15. Crowd: let’s be honest. You don’t go to China and visit popular places looking for peace and solitude (especially on a Sunday). But if you time it correctly and are happy to move a little far away from the mass trodden path, you can still have a decent experience. Some of the places that we visited were remote and we loved it. There was a not a single tourist at Bingou Danxia trails or near Gahai lake. I had spent first twenty years of my life in India and travel back home regularly, so pushing, shoving, elbowing, getting poked in the eyes by umbrellas etc won’t trouble me too much but I can see why some western tourists find invasion of private space so difficult to cope with. Just stand your ground and give it back. 16. Toilets: the dreaded topic. I have nothing against squat potty and I do feel it is more hygienic and an anatomically correct posture. But for someone who is not used to that or has joint problems it can be challenging. You also need the correct attire otherwise you may pee on your pants. It was not too difficult to find western toilets in big cities and popular tourist attractions but not in the small towns, not even in the restaurants. You must must carry your own tissue paper. The cleanliness was hugely variable. My wife told me the ladies’ toilet after the exiting the Forbidden City was dirty beyond words with the proverbial stuff all over the floor. I saw similar situation at Bing ling as well. I have photographic proof if anyone is interested. Others were reasonable. 17. Safety: It was a joy to be able to carry the phone on your hands when walking without the fear of getting that snatched off your hand. Or carrying the backpack facing away from your chest or even having the wallet on your hip pocket. Once I had left my phone on the desk of a shop when filling the tax refund form and had walked away. I realised within a couple of minutes and ran back. The staff had put it away in a drawer! We arrived at Beijing West station at 1130 PM from Xian and then had to walk for fifteen minutes to our hotel. I was obviously a tourist. I even had to ask some locals for direction. Not for a second, I felt threatened. I had the misfortune of once arriving at King’s Cross station after 10 pm and then had to walk to my daughter’s flat at Grays Inn road. It was an experience that I don’t want to repeat. I’m not going into political debates but I genuinely wish it was like this in the UK. Only once we felt uncomfortable at Xian, near the Bell tower. Two young men followed us and when we sat down they also sat down nearby and one of them moved to the side where I had kept my rucksack. We are not easy targets, it was a crowded place. We decided to go for a coffee inside a hotel and they moved away. The touts will approach you at stations for taxi, just ignore and go to the official point where someone will help you. Make sure the driver flips the meter when he/she starts the journey. 18. Language: big problem of course but I am used to that. I went to north Brasil last year where even the airport check in staff did not speak anything other than Portuguese. With Google translate and simple phrases we coped. Everyone tried to use the translate app when communicating with us. The conversation mode did not work very well. It is much safer to type and translate. Very few/practically none English-speaking channels in the hotels, outside Beijing. 19. Pollution: no worse than what you’ll find in many cities of India and south Asia. I was impressed with the number of electric cars but still it is far from achieving 100 % goal. 20. Trip: fantastic site. I booked most of my hotels through Trip and several airport transfers, Great wall tickets, attraction tickets and everything worked smoothly. They kept on offering me discounts enticing me to use Trip more. In no particular order these are my highlights. Mogao caves, Dunhuang Yogurt, Biang Biang noodles, boat journey across Yellow river Stone Forest to Bing ling si, Jinshanling wall , absolutely stunning Danxia rainbow mountains ( even on a cloudy day), Langmu si under the cliff, architecture of The Silk Road hotel at Dunhuang, The Giant Wild Goose pagoda and the dancing fountains at night, the vastness of the Tibetan plateau at Gannan and the little boy with his family on the top of the Xian wall, who was desperate to try his English and came up to me and said, “Welcome to China”. A few photos, all from the phone. I’ll return with proper photos taken with my Nikon. 谢谢 submitted by /u/nomadchak to r/travel [link] [comments]

Lately I’ve been seeing more people sleep in their cars during trips, especially when hotel prices get crazy during peak season. Some hotels are literally almost the same price as the flight At first I thought sleeping in the car sounded kinda extreme too, but after doing a long road trip myself and trying it out, I honestly liked it way more than I expected. I got a custom mattress setup for my 6th gen RAV4 and I’m not even kidding — this is probably THE thing you need if you wanna sleep in your car comfortably. Otherwise your back is gonna be destroyed the next morning lol. What surprised me most was how peaceful it felt. After driving all day, laying down in the back with the windows cracked open was actually super relaxing. And waking up and immediately seeing mountains/ocean/lakes outside the car was honestly such a cool feeling. But yeah… definitely learned a few things the hard way too: Window screens are 100% worth it You NEED airflow at night, especially in summer, but without screens the bugs will absolutely attack you. Parking spots matter WAY more than I expected Some places are noisy all night, some just feel sketchy. Also make sure overnight parking is actually allowed there unless you wanna get woken up by security at 2am Temperature can ruin the whole experience Too hot or too cold = no sleep. A small fan helped me a LOT. Keeping the car organized is actually super important Once the car gets messy everything becomes annoying really fast. I also recommend getting a mattress that can be packed away quickly because setting everything up every night gets old fast. Figure out bathrooms/showers ahead of time Especially for girls. Seriously. This part matters more than people talk about. Stuff I personally think is worth buying now: Good car mattress Window covers/screens Small fan Portable battery/power bank Storage bins/organizers Honestly though, the biggest benefit was the freedom. Instead of dropping hundreds on hotels, I could spend more on food, random stops, and staying on the road longer. After doing a real long-distance trip like this, I can definitely say it wasn’t just a one-time thing for me. Anyone else here tried car camping or sleeping in their car during road trips? What’s the biggest mistake you made or something you now think is absolutely necessary? submitted by /u/Ok_Resolution_1606 to r/roadtrip [link] [comments]

The following is a true story. Only the names of the humans have been changed. But Charlie gets to keep his name. He earned it. In the dead of night, almost 10 years ago, someone dropped off “Christopher” at a local shelter, into their surrender space with no accompanying information. No history, no records, no stories of who this dog was, other than a name. Then, on June 22, Tim went to the the local pet store for a shelter adoption day (fun note: that pet store was just hundreds of feet from this dog’s future home). At the event , Tim met this cute, medium-sized, black, white, and brown Australian shepherd mix, with supposedly a dash of Rottweiler. Tim had wanted an active, high energy dog in the hopes that it would make him also be active and high energy. The dog charmed Tim; it was love at first booty-scoot. They played fetch with a ball. The dog chose Tim that day. The dog became Charlie on the drive home. At first, Tim took Charlie everywhere - the hardware store, friend’s kids birthday parties. Charlie seemed well adjusted and was well behaved. Then, as Charlie came to love and care for Tim more deeply, he wanted so badly to protect him from the dangers of the world, especially from other dogs and anyone that dared come to the door. Charlie became the ultimate protector. He was a guard dog. Soon, some quirks started to emerge with Charlie. Clapping, dancing, and hugging weren’t allowed around Charlie. He didn’t trust women, or smokers. You were not allowed to yell or cheer for anything without Charlie coming in and trying to keep the peace. Everything had to be calm, quiet, and tranquil under Sheriff Charlie’s watch. He was Tim’s dog, after all; he knew exactly what Tim needed at that point in his life, especially as he was processing a break up. The two bonded deeply and fiercely, and Charlie wasn’t going to let anyone get in between them. Then James showed up at the door one day, and despite some initial growls, Charlie felt something was different. This bearded man seemed okay, and Tim felt comfortable around him. They went on a hike together at a local state park and became friends. The next few weeks Charlie saw a lot of James, but then there was a long break, though Charlie didn’t know or understand why. Charlie’s feelings for James, however, didn’t change. When James and Tim started dating again, Charlie now had two in his herd that he had to protect. Which was somewhat of a surprise when Charlie tried to murder James with a chef’s knife that he’d hidden in the couch in March 2018. Somehow, Charlie knew that James was coming over to break up with Tim. So when Tim wasn’t looking, Charlie grabbed the knife from the counter where Tim had been cutting salami, and took it to the couch. After licking off the tasty salami bits from the knife, he stashed it in the cushions of the couch. Then, when James came over to tell Tim the relationship was over, James sat on the knife, piercing his jeans and giving him a 1-inch cut on his right butt cheek. Well, James wasn’t going to be breaking up with Tim if he needed him to drive them to urgent care! The plan worked, and James changed his mind and stayed together with Tim. They started to become closer. About a year later, in May 2019, Charlie and Tim moved in with James. On a road trip to Southern California in December 2019, Charlie was with Tim and James when they proposed - to each other! - at Death Valley National Park. In October 2020, Charlie was the ring bearer at Tim and James’ wedding, right at the place where they’d all gone on their first hike together. Then, in October 2021, Charlie got to have his own huge backyard at what became Casa de Charlie. He roamed the grounds, patrolled for squirrel invaders, dug multiple holes where he could lay to keep cool, and basked in the sun just off the back porch. This is where he would solidify his role as garden gnome, standing guard by James as he worked in the garden, protecting against any squirrels or rabbits that dared steal James’ garden bounty. Through the years, Charlie got to explore beyond the backyard of Casa de Charlie. He went on many road trips to California, where he ate In-N-Out, played in the sand at the beach, and met, and somewhat tolerated, his cousins. Charlie got to visit 9 national parks of some of these road trips, where he wondered why he couldn’t join on all the hikes. But he loved the parks, nonetheless. Charlie was a camping dog, he was a hiking dog, he was a mountain dog. Charlie loved joining Tim and James on trips to many of the state parks and national forests around Colorado. He relished smelling all the things on long hikes, of course after pooping just far enough away from the trailhead to make it inconvenient. Charlie once saved James and his brother on a hike in a local wilderness area when they miscalculated how long it was going to take them, and as the sun set and it started getting darker and darker, Charlie was able to find the trail and lead the back to their car. Charlie loved drinking from a mountain stream or lake. Now, he didn’t like swimming in it - just standing in it deep enough where it never touched his belly. All he needed was to taste the cool, clean water on his big, pink tongue. That’s all. But, the best part about the mountains was when Charlie found SNOW! Any patch of snow was an opportunity for revelry by rolling around in it, digging into it, and feeling it all over his thick, black, beautiful coat. Snow was the best, and never was an opportunity wasted to make a dog angel in a patch of mountain snow. Over the years, a select few people got to become friends with Charlie. These were people he could trust to treat Tim and then James well, and who would be willing to give him back scratches. These friends were all thoroughly vetted before they all were accepted into Charlie’s inner circle. There was some family that he got to know and love. He only kinda tolerated dog cousins. But, his favorite were Grandma and Grandpa, who became like his second herd. He loved being with them - sitting in the chair by Grandma, backing up to her to allow her to scratch him, letting Grandpa take him on walks and only minimally trying to yank off his arm. He loved laying on the patio, soaking up the sun, and chasing away all the dogs that walked nearby. They became his favorite people, too. Charlie has come a long way from that night at the animal shelter, all by himself. He got a new name, got to explore so many beautiful places, made new friends, and had a family that loved him so much. He’s had a beautiful life filled with so many adventures. But more than anything, he’s loved and cared for Tim and James so fiercely, with all his heart, unwavering in his duty, committed to the end. Charlie was here, all right. He will always be here with us. We will carry him with us, for he shaped so much of our lives, forever. Our Charlie. Our Charles Montgomery. Our Chuck. Our Chuckles McGee. Our Charlie Boy. Our Booboos. Our Bubba. Our Good Boy. We love you, buddy. We already miss you something fierce. submitted by /u/milehighmarmot79 to r/DOG [link] [comments]

Visited the Nilgiri hills during the monsoon and these photos still don't do justice to how surreal it actually felt in person. The entire drive was just endless tea estates, empty wet roads and thick mist swallowing up the hills. That old whitewashed house sitting quietly between the tea bushes genuinely looked like something out of a movie set. Stopped the car multiple times just to stare. What got me the most was how the clouds were literally at eye level. You could watch the mist moving across the slopes in slow motion. No crowd, no noise — just rain, wind and green as far as you could see. If you're planning a Nilgiris trip, go during monsoon season. Yes the roads get tricky but the views are absolutely unreal. Completely worth it. 📍 Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu 🗓️ Monsoon Season submitted by /u/SN0W-MaN5 to r/india_tourism [link] [comments]