A Lesson In The Wrong Way To Steal The Salt & Pepper Shakers from Virgin Atlantic

People have been pinching (that’s “stealing” for us Americans) the salt and pepper shakers from Virgin Atlantic for years. And no wonder…they’re shaped like planes and are adorable!

Humorously named Wilbur and Orville, the little plane-shaped spice pots, usually offered in either silver or black (but also with a limited edition run of red during December, 2017), have become so popular in the past 15+ years that the bottom of them even now say, “Pinched from Virgin Atlantic” (which, BTW, is a genius advertising campaign).

This post isn’t a diatribe about whether or not you should steal them – that’s up to you and your conscience. This one is simply how you DON’T want to steal them.

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All About Our First Experience With The T-Mobile International Internet Plan

Back in 2017, Sharon and I broke up with AT&T and switched to T-Mobile as our cell phone provider. It was a big change for us and we have been saving $60 a month on our phone bill ever since. For everyday usage, we still have the same horrible reception at our house as with T-Mobile as we had with AT&T (Note from Sharon: even though there’s a frickin’ cell phone tower less than a mile form our house. What’s up with that???). However, one of the big benefits of changing to T-Mobile was their international roaming program. When we switched, this was an industry leading benefit but since then other companies have copied the program.

To remain competitive, T-Mobile modified the terms of their travel program in July 2018, increasing the number of countries included from 154 to over 210. They also started charging more for actual phone calls, raising the price from 20 cents to 25 cents per minute. You still get unlimited text and data. Since I (Note from Sharon: We) feel this way about using my (our) phone(s) to talk to people, this works out just fine:

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The T-Mobile data plan is capped at 2G speeds so we were worried about being hampered with downloading data, but T-Mobile does offer an upgrade if you want to get high-speed data while overseas:

Includes up to 512MB of high speed data plus Smartphone Mobile Hotspot and unlimited calling for 24 hours in more than 210 countries and destinations. If you use all your high speed data during the 24 hour period, you will experience slower data speeds but continue to have unlimited calling for the rest of the period. You may purchase 2 passes per line in 24-hours. Once you’re out of high-speed data on your first pass, your second pass will begin, and the 24-hour period will restart.

The cost of 512MB of high-speed data is $5 per day and you can purchase two passes per day. We filed that info away in case we needed it but planned on trying to live with slow internet.

So how did the program work?

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Flat Earthers Cruise Being Planned (Note: Cruises Are Navigated By GPS, Which Works Because The Earth Is Round)

You can’t make this stuff up.

According to several sources (Forbes, Live Science, Tech Times, etc.), the Flat Earth International Conference (FIEC) is going on a cruise in 2020. The reason? In order to prove that Earth is not a sphere, they’re going to Antarctica to look for the ice wall that holds back the ocean.

Really?

Well, no, not really. Just only sort of. Read on…

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This Is Why You Shouldn’t Use Your Phone In The Secure Area When Entering The U.S.

Getting off of an international flight has its own set of unique rules that are different for every country. For example, I was surprised when I saw that the United Kingdom allows you to use your cell phone while waiting in line to clear passport control, which was nice since the line at Heathrow for non-UK or EU residents was over 90 minutes long when we arrived. The only thing not allowed was the taking of pictures or video while in the secure area.

When entering the United States, the rules are quite different. You’re not allowed to use your phone or a camera AT ALL until you clear passport control, collect your bags and clear U.S. Customs. On my last flight, I found out what happens to someone who chooses to ignore that rule.

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