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Lifehacker • 7th June 2018

How to Pick the Perfect Travel Shoes for Your Adventures Around the World

Epic journeys call for top-notch footwear that can handle anything. You need a pair of shoes that are so comfy, protective, and versatile you won’t even think about them the entire trip. Here’s what you need to know before you go. To get this guide started on the right foot, I got some help from another worldly traveler, Henrik Jeppesen. He’s the popular Dane that traveled to every country in the world before he turned 28, and is currently in the process of visiting every territory in the wor

Lifehacker • 7th June 2018

What "Personal Space" Means to the Rest of World

We all have an invisible bubble around us we like to call our “personal space.” If someone hovers inside too long, you feel uncomfortable. But everyone’s bubble size is different from culture to culture. Here’s what those bubbles look like around the world. A recent study, published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, shows that culture plays a significant role when it comes to personal space. Using a graphic-based survey, researchers asked 9,000 participants from 42 different countr

Lifehacker • 7th June 2018

The Countries That Are Actually the Most Dangerous for Tourists

The world can be a dangerous place, especially for careless travelers. The U.S. State Department does its best to alert tourists of the risks, but those warnings don’t always paint a clear picture. Turns out, the countries issued the most travel warnings aren’t always the most dangerous. Is traveling to countries that have been issued alerts and warnings, like Mexico, Mali, Israel, and Pakistan, deadly for American tourists? Sort of. Data gathered by Data.World and Priceonomics shows there is d

Lifehacker • 7th June 2018

11 Things That Can Get You Kicked Off a Plane and How to Handle It

When it comes to flying, crew members do whatever it takes to make a flight comfortable, pleasant, and most importantly, safe for their passengers. Anything, or anyone, that stands in the way of them doing their job gets removed. Like this stuff, for example. Unsurprisingly, there’s a lot of stuff you can do on a plane that can earn you the boot. Why? Well, the flight crew basically gets the last say. They don’t have to report an expulsion to the FAA, so they won’t hesitate to yank out any wr

Lifehacker • 7th June 2018

This Is What Happens When You Damage Priceless Art

When I was 16, my French class was fortunate enough to visit France. We immediately went to the Louvre upon arrival in Paris, but I was so wiped out by jet lag, I sat down and fell asleep. The spot I had chosen, however, was actually an ancient work of art. Here’s what would have happened had I broken it. It’s a nightmare scenario. You wander through a gallery of gorgeous artwork only to trip and accidentally punch a hole through a priceless painting. It actually does happen. In fact, a 12-ye

Lifehacker • 4th June 2018

The Best Ways to Ask for Compensation When Something Goes Wrong On Your Flight

While most flights go off without a hitch, annoying things do happen. Delays, diversions, busted tray tables, malfunctioning entertainment consoles, and spotty wifi can turn a run-of-the-mill flight into an unpleasant experience. When bad stuff happens, consider asking for compensation like this. Before we get into the details, keep in mind that airlines are only required by law to compensate you for a few things. Namely, involuntary bumps, unreasonable delays on the tarmac, and lost luggage.

Lifehacker • 30th May 2018

Airport Time Is a Welcome State of Limbo

For many, the airport is a place filled with frustration and anxiety. But for others, the airport is a peaceful place where you don’t exist—no one does—and I love it. You’re allowed to do absolutely nothing, and sometimes, that’s exactly what the soul of a weary traveler needs. There was a great piece about airport layovers in the New York Times recently by Sasha Chapin. In it, Chapin expressed praise for the layover, calling it a “healthful, restorative bore,” and I couldn’t agree more. Long

Lifehacker • 30th May 2018

When It Comes to Focus, Use It or Lose It

Welcome back to Mid-Week Meditations, Lifehacker’s weekly dip into the pool of stoic wisdom, and a guide to using its waters to reflect on and improve your life. This week’s selection comes from Epictetus and his Discourses. In book four, chapter 12, he tells us that our attention is something easily lost if we’re not careful: “When you have remitted your attention for a short time, do not imagine this, that you will recover it when you choose; but let this thought be present to you, that

Lifehacker • 23rd May 2018

Great Success Comes at a High Cost

Welcome back to Mid-Week Meditations, Lifehacker’s weekly dip into the pool of stoic wisdom, and a guide to using its waters to reflect on and improve your life. This week’s selection comes from Lucius Annaeus Seneca in his enlightening essay On the Shortness of Life. He suggests you be wary of unchecked ambition and the endless pursuit of success: “So, when you see a man repeatedly taking up the robe of office, or a name well known in public, don’t envy him: those trappings are bought at th

Lifehacker • 16th May 2018

How to Avoid Vacation Rental Scams Online

Vacation home rentals are a fun, and often affordable, alternative to hotels, but they’re also less regulated and more prone to scams. Crooks have come up with plenty of schemes to make a quick buck off of oblivious vacationers using nice photos of non-existent rentals and up-front cash security deposits. That’s why it’s important you know how to spot fraudulent listings online. Not only are vacation rental scams possible, they’re big business for criminals. According to fraud protection comp

Lifehacker • 16th May 2018

You Only Need to Focus on the Present

Welcome back to Mid-Week Meditations, Lifehacker’s weekly dip into the pool of stoic wisdom, and a guide to using its waters to reflect on and improve your life. This week’s selection comes from Marcus Aurelius and his Meditations. He recommends you focus not on the past or future, but the present alone: “Do not let the panorama of your life oppress you, do not dwell on all the various troubles which may have occurred in the past or may occur in the future. Just ask yourself in each instance

Lifehacker • 11th May 2018

Not Declaring Food to Customs and Border Protection Could Cost You Big Time

When you travel internationally, there’s a whole song and dance of answering questions and declaring items you have to go through before re-entering the U.S. When Customs asks you if you have any food to declare, declare every food item you have—just in case. It all comes down to Question 11, Part A: “Are you bringing fruits, vegetables, plants, seeds, food or insects into the United States?” Most of the time, I hastily check off “no” because I don’t even stop to think about pre-packaged stuf

Lifehacker • 10th May 2018

Here Are the Countries U.S. Citizens Can Visit Without a Visa

If you’re a U.S. citizen with a valid passport, you’re able to freely travel to more places in the world than most other countries’ citizens, and it’s probably a lot more than you realize. All you need are some vacation days and a plane ticket. As of right now, holders of a valid United States passport can travel to 177 different countries and territories around the globe without having to apply for a travel visa before departing. That’s out of about 218 possible destinations, meaning you can

Lifehacker • 9th May 2018

The Only Thing Keeping You From Improving Is You

Welcome back to Mid-Week Meditations, Lifehacker’s weekly dip into the pool of stoic wisdom, and a guide to using its waters to reflect on and improve your life. This week’s selection comes from Roman philosopher Gaius Musonius Rufus. In his ninth lecture, he talks about how not even exile from your homeland can stop you from gaining knowledge: “Furthermore, how should exile be an obstacle to the cultivation of the things that are one’s own and to the acquisition of virtue, when no one was e

Lifehacker • 4th May 2018

Fly Early If You Want to Depart and Arrive On Time

Flight delays occur fairly regularly, but they’re a lot less likely to happen at certain times of the day. If you need a flight that’s almost guaranteed to stay on schedule, you better put on a pot of coffee—you’ll need to leave bright and early. According to stats from The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Air Travel Consumer Report for February, morning flights are the most punctual options. In terms of scheduled departure times, the rate of on-time flights starts around 92-95% in the ear

Lifehacker • 3rd May 2018

Finding Your Moral Compass Hurts

Welcome back to Mid-Week Meditations, Lifehacker’s weekly dip into the pool of stoic wisdom, and a guide to using its waters to reflect on and improve your life. This week’s selection comes from Epictetus and his Discourses. In book three, chapter 23, he suggests that ethical improvement is not a cake walk—and it’s not supposed to be: Ethical philosophy is not meant to be fun. The study and application of virtuous thought stings. You’re being confronted with concepts that may radically oppos

Lifehacker • 25th April 2018

Train Your Mind for Constructive Thinking

Welcome back to Mid-Week Meditations, Lifehacker’s weekly dip into the pool of stoic wisdom, and a guide to using its waters to reflect on and improve your life. This week’s selection comes from Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations book five, section 16. He encourages the practice of thinking good, positive thoughts regularly: Your mind will take on the aspect of the thoughts you have on a regular basis. Your soul, your consciousness, the “you” inside of your vessel, is shaped by those thoughts. So

Lifehacker • 18th April 2018

You Can Always Do Something to Improve Your Circumstances

Welcome back to Mid-Week Meditations, Lifehacker’s weekly dip into the pool of stoic wisdom, and a guide to using its waters to reflect on and improve your life. This week’s selection comes from Seneca’s On the Tranquility of the Mind. In chapter 10, he suggests that you can find a way to improve any situation with the power of reason and clever thinking: No situation is so bad that a smart, level-headed person can’t find a way to make the best of it. For example, even the smallest of spaces

Lifehacker • 17th April 2018

How to Make Sure a Budget or Foreign Airline Is Safe

Budget airlines are a decent option for cheap travel, but they’re also known to be uncomfortable, they nickel and dime you for every little thing, and now, people are questioning the overall safety of these low-cost flights. These four tips will help you pick a budget or foreign airline that meets all the right safety standards. Look, flying is pretty darn safe. The odds of you being involved in an incident are incredibly small, and the odds of you dying in said event are even smaller. But wh

Lifehacker • 11th April 2018

You Should Do the Right Thing Because It's the Right Thing to Do

Welcome back to Mid-Week Meditations, Lifehacker’s weekly dip into the pool of stoic wisdom, and a guide to using its waters to reflect on and improve your life. This week’s selection comes from Marcus Aurelius, in Meditations, book seven. Far along the book, in paragraph 73, he chastises those who want or expect more when they’ve done a good deed: There are only two things that matter when it comes to doing good unto others: you doing the good deed, and another person benefitting from that