Read the Fine Print Before Buying Travel Insurance
If you buy travel insurance for a group tour make sure the payment of any claim from the insurer goes to you and not the tour company. Christopher Elliot explains that with some travel companies (e.g., Overseas Adventure Travel), “when you buy travel insurance with your trip, the insurance payment goes to the company, which then pays you.” And even then the tour company may be slow in paying the money or may never pay. If you choose to buy travel insurance, it’s better to buy it from the insurance company rather than the tour operator. That way if the insurer pays a claim they will pay it to you and not the tour company.
What’s more, the insurance company will have a claims procedure that will take time and effort. Without proper documentation, your claim may be denied. Be prepared to fill out forms and wait.
In addition, I suggest you consider buying cancel for any reason coverage, especially in current times. There may be political unrest, the risk of illness or other reasons that make you uncomfortable with the trip that won’t be covered by travel insurance. For an additional premium you can get cancel for any reason coverage which generally will pay 75% of what you paid for the trip. You will still lose money but a lot less than the full amount of the trip.
If you file a claim it may take the insurer a long time even to review it. You can expect to receive emails like this:
Thank You For Your Patience!
We are checking in to let you know we received your documents and we are still working to complete your claim. We sincerely apologize that our review process is taking longer than usual. We’ll provide you an update when your claim has been reviewed. You can check the status of your claim by logging into your profile or by visiting the link below.
If you have received more than one of these letters from us, please disregard the others.
On the other hand, if you travel a lot you may be willing to accept the risk of losing everything you paid the tour operator. Just don’t count on the tour operator to care about your level of fear or discomfort.
Buyer beware.
See also, Should Overseas Adventure Travel cover my airfare for a canceled pretrip excursion?
United States Supreme Court
A Nice WordPress Gallery Plugin
My hobby is photography and I’ve been looking for a WordPress gallery plugin I like to display image galleries in blog posts. I’ve tried many but they would not do everything I want or were cumbersome to use.
I just found GT3 Photo and Video Gallery Pro and it does everything I want it to do. It’s also easy to use. The free version does a nice job but the Pro version adds a lot of nice features and cost $19 for a one year license. This is an example of a gallery I created with the plugin. And I think the gallery looks great on mobile as well. All the settings are available in the block editor which I find ideal for me. This post includes another example a GT3 gallery.
A complete guide to Bluesky 🦋 – mackuba.eu
A complete guide to Bluesky 🦋 – mackuba.eu
I want to thank Kuba Suder of Poland for this well written and detailed guide to Bluesky, which he periodically updates. I have a much better understanding of what Bluesky is all about because of it. I learned about it by reading Michael Tsai’s excellent tech blog.
’Photography is a way to be in life’
I have long admired the work of Sam Abell. This video is not just about promoting a new camera. It’s about life.
Abell is on Canon’s website as a Canon Explorer of Light so I was surprised to see him promote another brand of camera.
Books About Paris
Gregg Rutter, a photographer from Minnesota, recommends these books about Paris on episode 478 of the Join Us in France podcast:
- Paris, the Novel, by Edward Rutherford, historical fiction
- Seven Ages of Paris, by Alistair Horne, history - I listened to this sweeping history of Paris and enjoyed it very much. It’s 20 hours and 49 minutes long and worth every minute. The narration by Derek Perkins is superb.
- In Montmartre, by Sue Roe about the art scene
- In Montparnasse, by Sue Roe about the art scene
- The Paris Bookseller, by Kerri MaherEve, about the writing scene in Paris
- My Life in France, by Julia Child with Alex Prudhomme
- A Moveable Feast, by Ernest Hemingway
Gregg later recommended the following books:
- Dawn of the Belle Epoque - The Paris of Monet, Zola, Bernhardt, Eiffel, Debussy, Clemenceau, and Their Friends by Mary McAuliffe
- Paris, City of Dreams - Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann, and the Creation of Paris by Mary McAuliffe
- Twilight of the Belle Epoque - The Paris of Picasso, Stravinsky, Proust, Renault, Marie Curie, Gertrude Stein, and Their Friends Through the Great War by Mary McAuliffe
The Value of Having Your Own Domain
I have always preached using your own domains for all vital email. Sure, we all have burners with various providers for all of the junk, but I would never use a Proton Mail, Tuta, or Fastmail domain for anything which is important to me, such as a financial institution or work communications. ANY service could shut down or kick you out tomorrow. When you use your own domain, you can easily forward it to another service within an hour.
The post also stresses that redundancy is also important:
I maintain a paid package through Proton Mail, Tuta, and Fastmail at all times. I can store all of my domains at any of them whenever needed. While I doubt any of them are going away any time soon, I have redundancy.
I have paid email accounts at both Protonmail and Fastmail. I’m glad I do.
Pan Am ‘First Moon Flights’ Club
Between 1968 and 1971, Pan American World Airways issued over 93,000 “First Moon Flights” Club cards to those eager to make a reservation for the first commercial flight to the Moon. The cards were free. I was a proud member.
The Club originated from a waiting list that is said to have started in 1964, when Gerhard Pistor, an Austrian journalist, went to a Viennese travel agency requesting a flight to the Moon. The agency forwarded his request to Pan Am, which accepted the reservation two weeks later and replied that the first flight was expected to depart in 2000.
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human to step foot on the moon.
On September 9, 1969, the United States Postal Service issued a 10 cent postage stamp showing an astronaut walking on the surface of the moon. It was called the “First Man on the Moon” postage stamp. According to the National Postal Museum, the stamp was made from the same master die that the astronauts took with them to the moon. Additionally, it was the largest stamp the United States had issued up to that point.
Pan Am sent members of the “First Moon Flights” Club “First Day of Issue” envelopes. I was excited to get mine and still have it. I now doubt I will make it to the moon. But it was an exciting thought.
Unfortunately, Pan Am did not survive. It went bankrupt in 1991.
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress in Washington, DC is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, films and video, audio recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.
Congress moved to Washington, D.C. in 1800 after holding sessions for eleven years in temporary national capitals in New York City and Philadelphia. Also in 1800, as part of an act of Congress providing for the removal of the new national government from Philadelphia to Washington, President John Adams approved an act of Congress providing $5,000 for books for the use of Congress—the beginning of the Library of Congress.
However, in 1814, the British burned Washington, destroying the Capitol and the small congressional library in its north wing. Former President Thomas Jefferson offered to sell his comprehensive personal library of 6,487 books to rebuild the Library of Congress. Congress accepted his offer in 1815. Jefferson’s concept of universality is the rationale for the comprehensive collecting policies of today’s Library of Congress.
The Library of Congress is among Washington’s top attractions. Every Library of Congress visitor must reserve timed-entry pass. Passes are available here. It’s worth planning ahead as slots fill up.
Sources: Library of Congress, Wikipedia
Simone Veil (1927-2017)
An interesting podcast episode recounting the life of Simone Veil, Holocaust survivor, abortion rights activist and former president of the European Parliament.
Jodie Foster interviewée en Français
Jodie Foster est très talentueuse. Actrice et réalisatrice très impressionnante. J’adore.
Pour que je prenne un rôle, il faut que ce soit quelque chose qui m’obsède. Et je savais très bien que mon âge, la cinquantaine, allait être une période pauvre. C’est un moment un peu confus pour les femmes. Les gens ne savent pas écrire de scénarios pour les femmes de 50 ans. Ce qui m’intéressait, c’était de jouer des personnages plus vieux que moi, comme dans Désigné coupable [2021] ou Hotel Artemis [2018]. Mais c’était difficile, parce qu’on me proposait un peu les personnages que j’aurais joués à 40 ans. Et je n’ai plus 40 ans.
Lake Needwood, Derwood, Maryland
Lake Needwood is a 75-acre (300,000 m2) reservoir in Derwood, Maryland. Located in east of Rockville, in the eastern part of Montgomery County, it is situated on Rock Creek. The lake was created by damming Rock Creek in 1965 with the goal of providing flood control and reducing soil erosion. The Rock Creek Trail begins at Lake Needwood and can be followed along the course of Rock Creek, ending at the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. It’s a great place for walking, biking and running.
You can see more photos of Lake Needwood here.
Finished reading: Seven Ages of Paris by Alistair Horne 📚
I listened to this superb audiobook and enjoyed it. It’s 20 hours and 49 minutes long and worth every minute. The narration by Derek Perkins is superb.
Podcast: ‘Washington Welcomes’ Hosted by David Rubenstein
The Economic Club of Washington, DC has a podcast called Washington Welcomes. David Rubenstein, co-Founder of Carlyle Group and the Economic Club Chairman, interviews global leaders to discuss the major issues of the day. Rubenstein is witty and attracts a high caliber of guests. The episodes are under an hour long.
Highly recommended.
Text-only Websites
Sijmen J. Mulder has a wonderful directory of websites composed simple, marked up, hyperlinked text. These sites load quickly, scroll smoothly, spare your battery.
There are some interesting light sites on Mulder’s list including a text version of NPR. Try them. They load lickety-split.
Report: Former Google CEO Bought Former Jackie Kennedy House in Georgetown
Former Google CEO ERIC SCHMIDT and his wife, WENDY, are the anonymous buyers of the historic Georgetown mansion that JACQUELINE KENNEDY ONASSIS used to own and that sold at auction for $15 million in November, a Georgetown neighbor familiar with the purchase told Daniel Lippman. The N Street house is formally called the “NEWTON D. BAKER House” after a former secretary of War and also known as the “Jacqueline Kennedy House” since she lived there for a year after JOHN F. KENNEDY was killed (she paid around $175,000).