review Archives - Your Mileage May Vary

Comparing The iPad Pro Versus MacBook Air For Working On The Road

Toward the end of 2018, it became evident that the technology I used while traveling was woefully inadequate. I had a first-generation iPad Mini to watch movies or TV shows on the plane and an 11-inch MacBook Air from 2011 to write on for our blog while on a plane or in a hotel room.

I replaced the battery in the MacBook to try and preserve its life and did a full format and reinstall of macOS High Sierra to remove anything that was slowing it down. Still, I could only have a few tabs open on Safari or no more than a few programs open before it started to get sluggish.

As for the iPad Mini, it had reached that point where the newest iOS will no longer update. That also meant I could no longer update any apps, except those that still made versions that worked on such an ancient device. I got a constant lag when streaming video, even with a strong WiFi connection.

It was time to upgrade.

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Luggage Review: American Tourister (Under The Seat, “Personal Bag” Size) 4 Kix Rolling Tote

When Joe went on his (very first) business trip a while back, I decided to surprise him and show up at his hotel the day after he arrived. My goals were (A) to do it as cheaply as possible and (B) for him to be surprised and not find out ahead of time (which, under our circumstances, was not a simple task). I’m happy to say that both goals were accomplished ;-).

You can read about my entire planning process and how it all went if you’d like (I must say it was, to date, the best surprise I ever pulled off). But this post is moreso about the luggage I used during the trip.

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Flight Review: Virgin Atlantic Premium Economy LGW-MCO On A 747

For the return flight on our impromptu trip to London, I booked us in Premium class on Virgin Atlantic from London Gatwick direct to Orlando. It’s wonderful being able to fly non-stop from London to your home airport, even if it means flying with a bunch of kids who are so excited to be going to Disney World.

Unlike the redeye we took on an A330 from New York to London, this flight was on a 747. There’s still something about flying on one of these planes that makes air travel feel special. What wasn’t special was the inability to pick seats on our flight. Knowing that I forgot to assign us seats on our flight to London, I tried to pick seats on the Virgin Atlantic website as soon as possible, but it said none were available.

I sent a tweet to Virgin Atlantic to see what was wrong.

What a proper British way to tell me, too bad, so sad.

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Product Review: spAIRtray, “The Hassle Free Airline Window Shelf”

spAIRtray bills itself as “the world’s first window shelf for extra room on most commercial aircraft window seats.” It had honestly never been on our radar before but the makers of spAIRtray contacted us a while back, asking if we would review their product. We agreed, with the understanding that we would give an honest review.

We received no compensation for this task, other than getting to use and keep the spAIRtray they sent us.

Here’s what we thought of it.

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Our Meal At Sharks Underwater Grill, The Upscale Restaurant Inside SeaWorld Orlando

It’s easy to find quick service places at just about any theme park around the world, since they’re usually pretty plentiful. Finding sit-down, fine dining restaurants inside theme parks can sometimes be a little more difficult; there just aren’t very many to be had. In fact, at SeaWorld Orlando, there is exactly one – Sharks Underwater Grill. Although it’s been around for over 16 years, neither Joe nor I had ever eaten there. So when we went to the theme park for our annual visit to see their Christmas lights (for the uninformed, SeaWorld has, by far, the prettiest Christmas light of any park in Orlando) we intended to fix that. And fix that, we did…

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