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Heidel Ber Gensis

00:24

@Berwyn a RLD in Russia seems like a problematic idea..

Berwyn

02:32

@HeidelBerGensis How's the Riyadh RLD?

Heidel Ber Gensis

02:51

@Berwyn I wish..

JoErNanO

07:21

@Willeke Awesome. Here's 50 rep for you.

JoErNanO

07:43

This is gold:

Brexit's broken promises Health care, immigration

►

Mark Mayo

@JoErNanO gotta keep you on your toes

JoErNanO

:D

The Bounty Bonanza is a wild success. You should be proud.

Mark Mayo

I'm glad it's doing well, but we still have 150 unanswered questions to target :)

JoErNanO

That's because I've been busy at work. My young padawan apprentices @mts @Willeke @Berwyn @JonathanReez @ZachLipton @CMaster @chx here are doing an excellent job nonetheless. Congrats to them.

chx

:)

mts

07:51

@JoErNanO I still can't believe you were doing actual work. Always thought you lived here on TSE ;)

Mark Mayo

@JoErNanO I'm hearing a lot of excuses, we expect you to knock off 10 a day ;)

at least hit your 200 cap :)

mts

And since we're all together right now, please give this 400 bounty an answer

10

Q: How do I find the cheapest date to book a given hotel?

I am looking for a site or service that allows me to search a hotel (or hotels, or a specific beach/location) for the cheapest date. Most sites want you to tell them when you plan to visit. I WANT the site to tell me when to visit based off of the best price

I really don't want to give it to waste

Mark Mayo

mmm, isn't hte answer "it depends'?

oh I see now

chx

If such a service exists, I'd be surprised

I mean, why anyone would care a specific hotel

mts

not expecting a complete answer, some similar trick would be fine as well. I've heard it would exist e.g. for marriott, i.e. similar to the ihg and hostelworld ones i posted

chx

07:54

I can see a calendar view of cheapest offering in an area useful but I am not 100% even that exists

mts

because you have a nice hotel picked out and are flexible with your dates :)

I would actually care, yes

Mark Mayo

@chx I've used skyscanner for flights for this reason

so could totally see the reason for the hotel

mts

@chx there used to be, see the Q linked in comments there

Mark Mayo

as that can affect your budget as well

chx

Well, of course, for flights.. I guess. Why not hotels.

mts

07:55

@Berwyn has a script set up answering exactly this Q I put the bounty on for Hyatt but I could not convince him to post an answer

JoErNanO

@MarkMayo People don't vote for me anymore. They either vote for you or @Berwyn. salty salty salty :D

Mark Mayo

if you're planning a weekend to city XYZ, you want to know if flights+hotel are going to be less or more on any given upcoming weekend

@JoErNanO it's all about the panache ;)

JoErNanO

@mts Still haven't submitted this damned article. The day I do you'll invite me over for steak and wine. :D

chx

Yeah, thinking of it, never saw anything like that for hotels.

JoErNanO

@MarkMayo Are you saying I'm not reckless enough? :)

chx

07:57

Wonder why not, it's a very similar GDS query isnt it

JoErNanO

@phoog Is in the house!

@MarkMayo I'll show you wreckless!

phoog

Greetings

Mark Mayo

@JoErNanO haha, no no, we love your quality answers :)

mts

;)

chx

Off topic question. is there a stackexchange (there are so many these days!) where I could crosspost reddit.com/r/Music/comments/4q72h0/…

Mark Mayo

08:02

not that I'm aware of...

JoErNanO

@MarkMayo I'll start doing like @Berwyn, being all sarcastic and all and maxing out my rep seventeen times in a month. Consequences will be on you.

Mark Mayo

(shifts weight of ban stick from hand to hand, watches with interest)

;)

JoErNanO

Q: Layover in Frankfurt for 1h40m - is it enough? What happens otherwise?
A: I don't know I always arrive super early for my connection flights.

:D

Mark Mayo

Downvote, you've never even been to Frankfurt.

JoErNanO

Hey hey we allowed @Berwyn to answer "I don't know" to the bidet question. No downvotes. Is this because he's a Brit and they're already in too much trouble as it is? :)

chx

08:05

There are many 90 min MCT at Frankfurt

Doing 100 min is risky

JoErNanO

We allowed @ZachLipton to answer a question about Americans dumping tea in the water. :)

chx

So the answer is: depends.

JoErNanO

We allowed @chx to get Canadian citizenship. :)

chx

LOL

JoErNanO

Has Travel.SE gone mad?!

phoog

08:06

Maybe if Britain had bothered to learn how to use a bidet public opinion would have favored the remain camp.

JonathanReez

@JoErNanO hopefully I'll be less active soon and actually continue traveling :)

chx

The citizenship judge, bless his heart, realized the pickle the CIC was in and his writeup while containing only true facts have omitted some crucial other truths which lead me being approved

JoErNanO

@phoog Ah see, with these wise insights you should be a UK politician.

chx

but it was really a basket case: I already have filed for citizenship a second time under the new law so if he denied me then I would've gotten it anyways a year later just wasting everyone's time and money

Zach Lipton

@JoErNanO hey, someone named Mango was asking the question about fruity tea in the first place

JoErNanO

08:08

@ZachLipton This place is a circus. One simply can't make this stuff up. :)

chx

But the real madness is Brexit. I still can't quite believe it happened.

JoErNanO

@JonathanReez Travelling is bad for your health. Go work.

mts

Sorry to step into a discussion about, tea, bidets and brexit (hopefully unrelated), can someone please upvote my comments here so that the Q doesn't get closed (if you agree of course) travel.stackexchange.com/q/72292/32134

chx

upvoted

JonathanReez

@mts I disagree. Please check the top answer for the proposed dupe. It has links to all possible scenarios of this Q

Zach Lipton

08:10

the EU Parliament is meeting in extraordinary session now

chx

CMaster

@chx I think that would be on topic on english.stackexchange.com or ell.stackexchange.com

JoErNanO

@mts Edited title to fit question scope.

CMaster

although check their help centres first before posting

mts

@JonathanReez then we should dupe on one of the linked posts but not that one

chx

08:12

ELL maybe

English perhaps not but I will double check.

mts

no new user is going to follow a forest of links if not even I am doing so

CMaster

I've seen meaning questions posted and answered on both

JoErNanO

@mts So did the UK vote to Leave because we have bidets and they don't? That's weird since right now some of their politicians look far worse than bidets.

mts

@MarkMayo +1 on your new answer :)

Mark Mayo

@mts yay! :D

JoErNanO

08:14

@mts Oh come on don't upvote the 111k man. Hes' got more than enough already!

Plus he's a mod! Doesn't need rep. He's got the blood diamond.

Mark Mayo

/JoErNanO has been kicked for whining

;)

here you go, I added 3 new bounties earlier today:

5

Q: Two different workshops in one J-1 visa period

A friend of mine is accepted to attend 2 training workshops each of them has a period of one week with min 45hrs/wk. The 2 workshops are provided by different institutes. He applied for B1 visa but got rejected for wrong visa type. I advised him to apply to J-1 Student visa. But I am confused, si...

usa j1-visas

6

Q: Can I leave South Korea to reset the 90 days visa counter?

My friend tells me that I can leave South Korea for 1 night and re-enter, to reset my 90 days. For example, an American could enter Korea and stay for 90 days and then go to Japan or China (any place outside of Korea), and return to Korea and have the passport stamped for another 90 days. He tell...

visas tourist-visas visa-runs

6

Q: As an Indian citizen, can I apply and have both a B1 and F1 visa?

I got admitted into a university in USA and received my I-20 for the same. I am yet to apply for my F-1 visa. The program start date is 8th August, 2016. Meanwhile, I also got selected for a Youth Cultural program by an organization in USA, which requires me to travel to USA from 18th June to 10...

visas usa indian-citizens b1-b2-visas f1-visas

Zach Lipton

didn't know we had an anti-whining ordinance in here :)

mts

@JonathanReez I looked into the linked posts that seem relevant. one of them has been closed as dupe of the same circle of posts and the other one has the multiple entry case but not the single-entry one

CMaster

"You may award your bounty in 26 minutes

Mark Mayo

go wild ;)

CMaster

08:16

phhhhh

JoErNanO

@MarkMayo Awesome. I'll go do some work. :)

Mark Mayo

about time!

JoErNanO

@MarkMayo :D

Where is @HeidelBerGensis when I need him to fight Travel.SE authority?!

retreats in a cave

mts

@CMaster has done an excellent job on bounties, consistently 100+ rep and lots of them

Zach Lipton

he was here cracking jokes earlier

CMaster

08:18

I never feel like 50 rep is much of an incentive

mts

it used to be but not during bonanza

not even the 400rep is an incentive for anyone

CMaster

and I don't really care for rep anyway (as long as I can still close/open vote)

Mark Mayo

I dunno, they get answered

JoErNanO

@mts That's a hard question man.

CMaster

so happy to dish it out

I'm still on 7k actually

so perhaps I should have been offering 200 bounites

mts

08:19

I hint again, rumor has it there's a fairly easy answer for Mariott out there

Mark Mayo

you've offered <2k in bounties, that's a good effort :)

CMaster

(as an aside, while I don't care about rep, per se, I do enjoy getting upvotes0

mts

I agree here, we are not voting enough

CMaster

that wasn't a begging comment

I was just musing on my own motivations

mts

that is you guys are, I hit the vote cap again yesterday :)

Mark Mayo

08:20

146 unanswered questions remaining

CMaster

but yeah, some of these unanswered, bountied Qs still sit around at 3/4 upvotes

and then the answer gets like 2 upvotes and the bounty

Mark Mayo

maybe in July we should have a new comp or commitment - from people to hit the vote cap every day for 31 days

mts

that's hard

problem is not to vote on BS

but yeah, some Qs still count as unanswered because the answers got no votes. On the other hand, some of those answers rather deserve a downvote

chx

@CMaster I believe ;) ell.stackexchange.com/questions/94940/… this is narrow enough for an SE question.I saw similar ones closed as opinion based so tried to make it very clear what I am looking for.

mts

Anycase, going to do some work now, keep voting, be happy and peace :)

CMaster

08:24

@chx Looks good. You've given a concetre section and asked for the explanation

chx

Now I googled more (not sure why i didnt before) and instead of the disturbed believe lyrics i googled disturbed believe meaning it turns out noone has a clue either :D

Mark Mayo

lol

chx

Apparently there's a site for lyrics meanings and there's a seven page debate on wtf this means

Well, putting it together into sentences is a good first step.

It really hasn't happened in twenty years that I completely failed understanding something written in English so this irked me seriously

CMaster

Song lyrics are often not sensical

It seems to be about beleieve your own lines

Mark Mayo

Some days I wonder if I understand English, and I've spoken it my whole life ;)

CMaster

08:34

buying in to some false world view

Hmm

I'm finding sites that claim to do what @mts wants

but none of them *actually do it

Mark Mayo

the date thing?

CMaster

yeah

Mark Mayo

I've been searching too. Keep thinking I see it in screenshots but the actual site requires dates to be completed before searching :/

CMaster

I've found one that has a checkbox of "I don't know what dates"

and it even tells you what the cheapest 1-night rate it has found is

but when you click through

it only shows you the deals for the last dates you enterted

Mark Mayo

posted it on facebook to see if some of my travel friends know as well

Down to 29 bounties on offer, c'mon guys, we've only got a couple of days left!

chx

08:50

Down to?

I thought we had commitments for 30

meta.travel.stackexchange.com/a/3655/4188 there's ten people offering three each

Mark Mayo

29 active bounties

we've had 35+ at times

chx

that's strange

Mark Mayo

Active bounties

Also a bit of a shame we've got so many bounties on old questions

I mean sure it'll get some interesting / new answers, but it'd be nice to draw attention to unanswered ones

chx

that's what i put bounties on but no answers :/

Zach Lipton

I should be asleep but I'm watching the European Parliament instead. it's everybody beat up on the UK time

chx

08:55

UK not for long

bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-36645355

Soon England or perhaps Little England.

If Scotland does this vote , I expect brutal numbers, perhaps as much as 70% to break with England

CMaster

I still say that a nationalist tory government will just ignore/supress any attempts to break away

Much the way that Madrid does with Spain's seperatists

chx

Well, the Scot First Minister already floated the possibility of vetoing of a UK Parliament veto to trigger Article 50

I have no idea whether they can do that

But if so it'll be such a shitshow

CMaster

Well, the Westminster parliament isn't needed themselves to trigger art 50

Zach Lipton

there are apparently constitutional problems trying to leave the EU without the consent of Scotland and NI

chx

Do you have a source on that?

Because of that's so, then this turns into something like a Stan and Pan comedy show, I swear

Zach Lipton

09:00

indeed I was just looking for it

constitution-unit.com/2016/06/13/…

in full fairness, other scholars question that assessment (ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/research/europe/briefing-papers/…)

chx

Sorry, the English name is apparently Laurel and Hardy.

Zach Lipton

lol now it makes sense :)

reading basically everything the constitution unit folks put out on the subject is instructive

basically the statues that created the devolved parliaments bind them to EU law

Mark Mayo

0

At time of writing (June 28th, 2016) we have: 166 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers 146 questions with no answers a 99%ish answer rate, which puts us at 16th overall on the network I'd like to track this with the goal of getting the answer rate up to 100% (with rounding, at least)...

discussion featured unanswered-questions fun statistics

@JonathanReez I think you were after this ;)

Zach Lipton

which either creates the ridiculous situation where Scotland is part of a non-EU UK yet legally bound by EU law, with no recourse to EU courts to interpret it

Mark Mayo

Celtic Revolution time! :)

chx

09:03

@MarkMayo especially with the old questions where the questioner is no longer to be found, those questions can never be closed -- or would just an answer with an upvote be enough?

@MarkMayo an alternative is that we flood the site with another 18000 questions and quickly answer them :P

CMaster

I've not read anything that convince me about the constitutional necessity of consulting the deveolved parliaments

Mark Mayo

they can't be accepted, but if they're answered and the answers garner upvotes, then they move off the unanswered list.

we did it last year, went quite well, one sec

chx

mmmmmmmmmm

that's good then

Mark Mayo

12

At time of writing (August 18, 2015) we have: 262 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers 219 questions with no answers a 98%ish answer rate, which puts us at 29th overall on the network I'd like to track this with the goal of getting the answer rate up to 100% (with rounding, at least)...

discussion unanswered-questions statistics

the 2015 one

chx

I will post "foobar" to every old question , you upvote it, done!

Mark Mayo

09:05

got it down to ~47-50 questions

from ~250

CMaster

and remember, that parliament itself can simply include in any motion they pass "This overrides any previous devolution agreements"

Mark Mayo

in about 6 weeks

CMaster

and legally, that's that sorted

chx

I remember , that was the competition that @JoErNanO won :)

Mark Mayo

He's never really won a competition ;)

but you raise a good point, there was an associated comp

I'll track it for a few days, then after the bounty month of June, we might start a comp for it

CMaster

09:07

Hmmm

Art 50 itself says that

chx

6

Q: February Answerathon - last man standing competition - WINNER JoErNanO

To give people time to enter, this will start on February 6th, UTC at midnight. Rules: To stay in the competition, you must: answer an unanswered question not asked by you AND receive an upvote. to prevent the advantage some timezones may have, if there's no unanswered question you can answer,...

discussion unanswered-questions fun competitions

Sure he did.

CMaster

"Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements."

Mark Mayo

Can the rest of the EU enact Art 50 and boot the UK out? ;)

@chx yeah I was just mocking him ;)

CMaster

So that's a fun one to disentangle fror the UK

chx

I just got a question in Hungarian -- and it seems noone asked this before on travel SE? How odd. "If I am banned from the US can I travel to Canada? cic.gc.ca/english/department/laws-policy/agreements/… indicates the two countries are sharing information."

Is it ok if I post this one?

Or did I miss it and someone already asked it

@MarkMayo that's the strange thing, there's nothing the EU can do to the UK legally

Mark Mayo

09:10

that is odd

re the banning question, if it's not on here already, post it, it sound sinteresting

mts

@CMaster thanks for that answer, it is great! +1 from me and the bounty unless someone else programs a webtool within the next few hours :)

chx

0

Q: Can you travel to Canada if banned from the USA?

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/laws-policy/agreements/can-usa-agreement.asp indicates the two countries are sharing relevant information. So would Canada refuse entry to someone who is banned from the US?

usa canada

there we go

quick, answer it so it doesnt drag down our answer ratio :D

Zach Lipton

@CMaster see the link I posted above. In theory Westminster isn't supposed to legislate on devolved matters without consent from the devolved parliament, and changing the competence of a devolved parliament could be considered such a form of legislation.

but we're talking about a country that calls a pile of "these are the important laws" a constitution, so who knows?

chx

@CMaster ell.stackexchange.com/questions/94940/… :D

that's just golden.

CMaster

@chx That's not quite the least helpful answer I've ever seen on SE

but it's not far off

chx

09:20

But it's hilarious!

CMaster

@ZachLipton Honestly, it's more like "these conventions are a constittuion"

chx

I am in tears of laughter

CMaster

but then, all constittuions are completely reliant on convention

chx

That's a very good pun.

CMaster

@chx why did you use a code block in the Q?

chx

09:21

How do you format it otherwise

Zach Lipton

sure, and given the UK's reliance on "we've always done it this way" as a dominating force, it almost works to have conventions as constitution

chx

How do you add a line break but not a paragraph break on SE?

Zach Lipton

those are the basic laws of British bureaucracy after all: "we've always done it this way; we've never done it that way; who do you think you are?"

chx

@ZachLipton LOL

@CMaster seriously, I am on Stackoverflow and SE for six years now and I have no idea how to add a linebreak which is not a paragraph break.

Zach Lipton

I think Gayot described it in some answer as TITWTA: this is the way things are

CMaster

09:23

@chx I'm not sure that you can. I think its a markdown thing

chx

Exactly!

So how else would you submit something where the linebreaks are important?

CMaster

I mostly just put up with the line breaks being paras

but I can see your reasoning

CMaster

09:42

@mts I think, actually

that I've mostly answered the question that yours isn't a duplicate of

rather than your actual question

oops

JoErNanO

09:56

@MarkMayo Hey hey! Go check my profle. :P /cc @chx

Mark Mayo

pft

JoErNanO

@MarkMayo That's one title you can't take away from me! :P

When the hell are you coming to Europe @MarkMayo? So that we can play musical chairs and avoid meeting once again. :)

chx

Yeah, a travel SE global meeting would be hard. The logical place would probably be either London or Los Angeles.

mts

to have a linebreak I think all you need is a few spaces and then a new line

@CMaster I was thinking about that too, you could post there as well but do not remove your answer since it still answers the hotel query as well, and if only in the mariott part

JoErNanO

@mts Where?

@chx London? I don't want to get a visa. Come to Schengen.

mts

10:05

12

Q: How do I find the cheapest date to book a given hotel?

I am looking for a site or service that allows me to search a hotel (or hotels, or a specific beach/location) for the cheapest date. Most sites want you to tell them when you plan to visit. I WANT the site to tell me when to visit based off of the best price

online-resources bookings hotels tips-and-tricks

and the answer linked in comments which is not a dupe

JoErNanO

I meant for the linebreak.

mts

I also have one answer in the cheapest date per city question and thinking to remove it, as it does answer the other question, not this one

oh, in answers

were you talking about comments / chat?

JoErNanO

@mts Use html: <br />

chx

@mts "Again go to the booking site, choose a wide range of dates, a hotel, then a room type and then your rate. Proceed to the next booking step and there on the left under "Your rate" click "View Rate Description and Rate Rules" where you find the rate per night:" that, to me, looks like "sticker price" and not the special price you might get if you search for a specific date

@JoErNanO the linebreak guy was me.

@JoErNanO after I posted ell.stackexchange.com/questions/94940/… @CMaster asked why I used code formatting.

JoErNanO

@chx Then you go use <br />. :)

Although I think that the quoting environment will not respect it.

chx

10:09

It does

I just edited it

check ell.stackexchange.com/questions/94940/… this now

just for that comment it was worth posting it :D

JoErNanO

It does:

3

Q: Code and table formatting sandbox

Use this post a sandbox for formatted code and tables. You can also use an online tool to generate these kinds of tables. Tables ╔══════════════╦════════╦═══════════════╦═════════════════╗ ║ Country Code ║ Prefix ║ Currency Code ║ Time Zone (GMT) ║ ╠══════════════╬════════╬═══════════════╬═════...

discussion testing

Mark Mayo

@JoErNanO dude I just got back from India ;) I'm eyeing up the US in August (have my visa interview on Thursday) and then we'll see

JoErNanO

@MarkMayo Come to Europe. We have no more Brits. :D

@GayotFow I might have an answer to that Trabocchi question.

Mark Mayo

@RoflcoptrException the mods page shows you as inactive/absent but you've been online in the last 3 hours and done actions. Is this in error or are you intended to be marked as such? :/

JoErNanO

10:24

@MarkMayo Stalker.

Mark Mayo

I click through it at least a couple of times a day, and it's been showing it like that for a good while now ;)

mts

@chx good point, indeed you are only getting the price for that particular rate. I'd be confident about this with IHG where I know their rates fairly well but in other cases I might be missing out on a better price. Want to post that as a comment?

Mark Mayo

Onism: The Awareness of How Little of the World You'll Experience

►

mts

12:26

Folks, I might want to throw a bounty on this question here, but have we agreed that it is on-topic and not for Expats?

3

Q: Getting a Chinese work visa with an unused valid tourist visa

If someone has a valid and unused Chinese visitor (L) visa, can they apply for another Chinese visa (of a different type)? A Russian friend of mine recently attempted to apply for a work visa at the Chinese consulate in Irkutsk, Russia, and was told by someone working there that she could not app...

visas china tourist-visas russian-citizens working-visas

mts

12:59

And now here is one for all the Schengen experts, please take a look to this:

0

Q: Schengen overview CW to avoid duplicates

We are getting a lot of Visa questions here and the high number of already existing questions and answers makes it hard to keep track at times. My feeling after being on the site for a while is that user @GayotFow does an excellent job at keeping the UK-visa questions sorted, due to extraordina...

discussion duplicates

@Relaxed @JonathanReez @GayotFow and all those I forgot (shame on me) or can't tag here

Mark Mayo

couple of awkward answers here:

2

Q: Applying for other visas after Canadian visa refusal

Hi my Canadian transit visa was refused because my travel itinerary didn't have my name on it. The embassy told me I can fix the issue and reapply again and my visa will be issued without any further problem. My question is will this refusal affect my future travel plans, as I am afraid this ref...

visas transit canada visa-refusal

anyone else got some better advice?

mts

@MarkMayo did you see my meta post? Am I right about the blog post thing?

Berwyn

13:15

@mts how about changing your meta post to be about all types of questions that could do with a community wiki canonical answer?

mts

I think that would be too broad but if this Schengen one is successful we could do similar CW posts for e.g. UK visa, air-travel and other stuff out there

Berwyn

and how about a "canonical" tag for specific answers that should be used for targets of duplicates

ok

mts

sounds good. suggest it on meta or create it right away

@Berwyn are you going to post an answer for Hyatt to this question if I beg you one more time? travel.stackexchange.com/q/62745/32134 I really think just a rough outline of what your script does and your general experience with the results would be valuable and I could give it another bounty besides to the answer of @CMaster

otherwise I'll likely award that bounty soon

Berwyn

No. I don't think my answer would be useful

Q: How do I do X? A: You write a program to do it.

Not useful

mts

alright, thanks nonetheless. I rather thought your experience useful, i.e. that any combination of dates might end up the cheapest when booking a stay of a couple of days

Berwyn

13:23

I think that's a different question though

mts

Actually yes! You want to ask it? Otherwise I'll have a go ;)

Berwyn

I've got lots of experience of this issue. So I could think up a good question

with some examples

will do

mts

Go ahead!

Berwyn

later today

Gayot Fow

@JoErNanO put it in!

JoErNanO

13:25

Reality check needed:

0

A: Traveling to USA from NZ, how much money do I need for CBP to let me in?

Upon entering the US you will have to prove that you have sufficient funds to sustain yourself for the entire duration of stay in the US. Much to our disappointment, the CBD does not specify how much is "enough funds". There is no fixed amount per day. Indeed, such an amount depends on spending h...

Berwyn

@JoErNanO My bidet answer wasn't sarcastic! And anyway, it was converted to a comment

JoErNanO

@Berwyn Bugiardo!

:P

mts

looks good to me

Berwyn

sarcasm: a sharp and often satirical or ironic utterance designed to cut or give pain

No pain given!

I think the word you're looking for is "funny" :D

When I last went through CBP I was asked how much money I had. I said dunno, about $10, then let through

JoErNanO

Someone please answer this:

6

Q: How to apply for a Belarus tourist visa without booking a hotel?

I'm planing a day's visit to Minsk on 19th June. I arrive at 6.30am on the sleeper from Warsaw and depart at 10pm the same day on the sleeper to Moscow. However the train times mean that I will cross the border from Poland just before midnight (i.e. on the 18th), and cross the border into Russi...

visas uk-citizens belarus

Berwyn

13:31

I wonder if they're expecting me to have too much rather than not enough

mts

Can someone please validate my new bounties meta.travel.stackexchange.com/a/3694/32134

This newest one should be easy rep

4

Q: What are the least crowded times to visit the Aquarium in Brooklyn, NYC?

If having less crowds is an important consideration, when is the best time to visit Brooklyn Aquarium? (which times of year - preferably summer, which days of week, which times of day).

planning sightseeing new-york-city

@JoErNanO the Belarus one is hard IMHO, no idea how I should find a reference for that. Worth way more than 50rep, or am I not seeing something

thanks!

JoErNanO

@mts Good things come to those who try hard. Or to those who post sarcastic answers as @Berwyn. :D

No problem.

@GayotFow I found a map of trabocchi and the phone number of a few.

Gotta take some time to write up a proper answer since I can't use sarcasm nor plume. /cc @Berwyn @MarkMayo :)

Berwyn

There a quite a few trabocchi on yelp

If you need any wordsmithing help, just ask ;)

JoErNanO

@Berwyn You'll just answer "I married an Italian. I've never eaten in Trabocco." :P

Berwyn

Doesn't cover the tipping angle

Wouldn't like to give an incomplete answer

JoErNanO

13:41

:D

And they say Brits have no humour.

Mark Mayo

@mts you mean the CW thing for Schengen? I try to stay well clear of Schengen ;)

mts

@MarkMayo no probs with that, but in the meta Q I am mentioning a meta post of yours from 2013, did ever a blog post get out of that?

Gayot Fow

@mts Would you please edit your cw question to put in a graphic of tagged questions over time? A time series of 'schengen' frequency over two years? I wanted to see some analytical grounding for your proposal.

mts

@GayotFow I have neither time nor knowledge to produce a graph over time but there are now 968 questions tagged Schengen and in June 2013 that number was 104

Gayot Fow

@mts Is there a seasonal effect?

mts

13:58

@GayotFow I'm afraid I can't answer those detailed questions, I'm not well-versed with the data explorer tools of SO

Gayot Fow

@mts Is the current intake proportionate to the total intake?

mts

I plain don't know. Do you intend to suggest the CW is only useful if there is an elevated rate of Schengen questions?

I rather based my suggestion on the premise that already now I see many questions improperly treated as far as I can tell without my expertise

JonathanReez

@JoErNanO I've always wanted a badge in [sex], so thanks for suggesting a bounty ;)

JoErNanO

@JonathanReez I'd put that "unless you speak impeccable Russian" sentence in bold italics size 75000 if it were me.

JonathanReez

@mts I remember NASQ (Not Another Schengen Question) was a popular acronym back in the day

mts

14:04

@JonathanReez way to go it seems :) travel.stackexchange.com/tags/sex/topusers

thanks for editing the Schengen CQ!

JoErNanO

@mts Mmmmm, I should get me some sex.

Gayot Fow

@mts Not at all, but we always like to see something with some sort of objective support behind it. I have it in mind that the number of Schengen questions is decreasing in proportion.

And visa questions in general are highly seasonal

Berwyn

Looks to be tricky to get a sex badge given the paucity of relevant questions

JonathanReez

@JoErNanO honestly, any foreigner who looks semi-presentable can get laid in Russia anyway

JoErNanO

@JonathanReez There's a chance for @HeidelBerGensis too? :D

JonathanReez

14:12

Yes, but not sure about yourself... :(

Gayot Fow

@JoErNanO I opted not to answer that question about the red light areas in Peter

JonathanReez

although you can impress ladies without knowledge of using the bidet

JoErNanO

@JonathanReez That's OK we'll go drink vodka together as lonely unlayable-in-Russia guys.

Berwyn

Would be polite to use the bidet beforehand

mts

@GayotFow I see your point and I thought about backing up with examples when posting but those would then be easily corrected and no longer serve. I might finally give the SO query tool a try this evening but no promises. I do hope the post is useful nonetheless in the meantime.

On a related note, is there a recommended tutorial for the SO data explorer? And is there an access limit with 7k rep or was that only for site statistics?

Gayot Fow

14:16

@mts The proposal is fine, but as a guy who has been involved in visa faq's for a long time...

JoErNanO

@Berwyn With both hands?

Gayot Fow

Anyway, it is in the DNA of SO sites to want something substantive :)

mts

data.stackexchange.com/help found it, will look to it later

Gayot Fow

@mts The results may be surprising.

Gayot Fow

14:33

@mts I won't down vote or comment on your proposal, but I would not engage with it without seeing something hard and convincing. I'll just hang back. That's a fair position for me to take.

JonathanReez

Sorry, I've missed @mts 's proposal

what was it?

Gayot Fow

@JonathanReez He proposes to make a community 'go-to' for schengen

JonathanReez

oh, I've though it's somethins about Data.SE

Gayot Fow

It's an interesting proposal, but at the moment, it's without substantive grounding

@JonathanReez I will give the Data.SE a lash also

JoErNanO

14:51

Trabocchi answer coming up

Gayot Fow

@mts @JonathanReez let's all become gurus in the data explorer

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