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6 extra items to pack when travelling by yourself

<p>Travelling alone can be a life changing experience, but it also requires a few extra precautions. Pack these six things to keep yourself safe.</p> <p><strong>1. Doorstop</strong></p> <p>A simple wedge of wood or plastic can give you priceless peace of mind in a hotel room. Even if you lock the door, people might be able to break the lock or use a cloned key. A doorstop quickly and easily wedges it shut so you can sleep easy. If you want to go one step further, you can get special doorstop alarms that will emit a loud siren if anyone tries to force the door.</p> <p><strong>2. Extra lock</strong></p> <p>There are endless uses for an extra padlock or bike lock-style cable. You can double up on your hotel door, secure your train carriage or ship cabin, double lock your suitcase or chain it to something sturdy. Compact, sturdy locks are relatively cheap and easy to carry with you, and will deter most thieves or intruders looking for an easy mark.</p> <p><strong>3. First aid kit</strong></p> <p>If you don’t have a travel buddy to send down to the chemist, a simple first aid kit can be a lifesaver. Keep it stocked with band aids, basic bandages, pain killers, antibiotics, antihistamines and gastro meds, along with anything else you think will be useful. If you are really unwell, you’ll obviously need to see a doctor, but having the first line of defence within easy reach is always smart.</p> <p><strong>4. Whistle or personal alarm</strong></p> <p>If you will be walking through unfamiliar cities at night (or even in the day), a whistle or personal alarm can give you a feeling of security. If anyone unsavoury approaches you, a loud noise will startle them and generally scare them off. It also draws the attention of other people and makes them aware of your predicament.</p> <p><strong>5. Small torch</strong></p> <p>Never underestimate the power of a little light to make you feel safe. It’s great for finding your way through dark streets, looking for your keys in your bag or seeing the lock on your hotel door. You can get small lights that attach to a keychain or wallet and give out a surprisingly bright light. People are less likely to approach you if they feel they will be seen.</p> <p><strong>6. Fake wedding ring</strong></p> <p>This one is for the ladies – in some countries an unmarried woman is seen as an easy target. Buying a cheap, fake wedding ring can give you a simple cover. Men may be less likely to approach you and, if they do, you can simply say your husband is in the next shop or waiting for you back at the hotel.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </em></p>

Travel Tips

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Restaurant sparks outrage for "ridiculous" fee

<p>As inflation rates continue to rise it is not surprising that restaurants are charging extra fees, but one disgruntled customer was particularly shocked to see this "ridiculous" fee on their bill. </p> <p>The customer, who dined at restaurant and cocktail bar in Georgia, USA shamed the restaurant for charging their customers a $20 fee for “live band entertainment”.</p> <p>They shared their complaints on Reddit with a copy of their receipt and an unexpected fee at the bottom which read: “Two Live Band Entertainment Fee — $20”.</p> <p>Most people in the comments were equally annoyed and called the fee "ridiculous". </p> <p>“This is one of those leave money on the table, hand the waiter a tip and leave, sorry but if I didn’t order it, I’m not paying for it,” one wrote. </p> <p>“Great way to not have repeat customers,” said another.</p> <p>“This will backfire for them, just be honest and upfront," a third added. </p> <p>Other commenters were less sympathetic and did not understand why the customer was complaining when it looked like they could afford it. </p> <p>“When you’re paying seven dollars for a bottle of water, you really don’t get to complain about ‘unexpected costs.’ You knew what you signed up for," one commenter wrote. </p> <p>“Imagine a live band getting paid, huh,” another added. </p> <p>“They’re buying $7 bottles of water, they can probably afford it,” added a third.</p> <p><em>Image: Getty/ Reddit</em></p>

Money & Banking

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Obese woman sparks debate for not giving up extra seat for toddler

<p>An obese woman has sparked debate online after refusing to give up the second seat she paid for to a fussy toddler. </p> <p>The 34-year-old booked the two seats for her cross-country flight to visit her family for Christmas because she was previously unable to comfortably fit in one seat. </p> <p>All was well until the young woman next to her demanded that she "squeeze into one seat" so her son could sit on the other. </p> <p>"I am obese," she admitted on the Reddit thread. "I'm actively working toward losing weight and I've made progress - but I booked an extra seat because I'm fat."</p> <p>She added that she insisted on keeping her seat because she paid for it, but the mum "made a big fuss over it, and she told the flight attendant I was stealing the seat from her son." </p> <p>"Then I showed her my boarding passes, proving that I paid for the extra seat. The flight attendant asked me if I could try to squeeze in, but I said no, that I wanted the extra seat I paid for."</p> <p>The woman claimed that the toddler was only 18 months old, so he didn't need his own seat and could've sat on his mum's lap for the duration of the flight. </p> <p>"I got dirty looks and passive-aggressive remarks from her for the entire flight and I do feel a little bad because the boy looked hard to control - but am I in the wrong?" she asked other social media users. </p> <p>Many shared their overwhelming support for the woman and slammed the mum and flight attendant for their "horrific" behaviour. </p> <p>"The mum is an a**hole for not buying a seat for her son and assuming someone else would give up a seat they paid for. Odds are she was hoping there'd be extra seats on the flight so she didn't have to pay and used the lap thing as a loophole," one commented. </p> <p>"What's even the point of the extra seat if the flight attendants are going to let entitled people bully others into giving it up?" another added. </p> <p>"People buy entire seats for high-end musical equipment. Not even people. Their lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on your part," a third wrote. </p> <p>However, there were a few others that said the woman was in the wrong for causing an inconvenience. </p> <p>"If you are so fat that you have to have more than one seat on an airplane then you are selfish," one said. </p> <p>"Flights overbook all the time especially during the holidays - how can you justify having two seats to yourself?" </p> <p>"How much room does a kid take up, seriously? Yeah the mum should've bought a seat but that doesn't mean you have to be selfish and cause two people discomfort," another commented. </p> <p><em>Image: Getty</em></p>

Travel Trouble

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Parents slapped with hefty fee over badly behaved children

<p dir="ltr">Two parents have been slapped with a hefty fine tacked onto their restaurant bill after their children caused a ruckus during dinner. </p> <p dir="ltr">Kyle and Lyndsey Landmann were dining at a restaurant in Georgia, USA, when they were given a $50 fine for their allegedly badly behaved kids. </p> <p dir="ltr">Two weeks after the incident, Kyle took to Google to leave a negative review for the eatery to say he was “disappointed by the experience”. </p> <p dir="ltr">“The owner came out and told me he was adding $50 to my bill because of my children’s behaviour,” he wrote. </p> <p dir="ltr">“My kids watched a tablet until the food arrived, ate their food and my wife took them outside while I waited and paid the bill.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Lyndsey went on to tell <em>Today</em> that her kids were well behaved, although they were joined by other families, with 11 children in total at the table. </p> <p dir="ltr">“The kids were sitting at one end of the table and they were being so good,” Landmann said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“'I even commented halfway through the meal, ‘I can’t believe how well-behaved they are’.”</p> <p dir="ltr">After dinner, restaurant owner Tim Richter approached the table and told the party about the additional charge on the menu, which reads, “Adult surcharge: For adults unable to parent.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“Be Respectful to staff, property, and self. No Respect, No Service.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Landmann said she was expecting a compliment for the well behaved kids, but Richter said there would be $50 added to each bill at their table. </p> <p dir="ltr">When Landmann then asked for an explanation, she claimed Richter told her they were being “too loud”.</p> <p dir="ltr">He was angry that the kids were “running around outside” by the water after dinner, even though they were chaperoned by adults, she clarified.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I was like, ‘They were quiet the whole time’. He got in our faces and told us that we belonged at Burger King and not at his restaurant. We asked to speak to the owner and he said he was the owner,” Landmann explained.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I looked around the restaurant and everybody was frozen watching this show he was putting on. He was yelling.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The 61-year-old restaurant owner said that he implemented the rule during the pandemic, but never actually charged the couple, saying, “We want parents to be parents.”</p> <p dir="ltr">However, several other Google reviews blasted the quality of the service and the owner's attitude, including one that warns diners with children to steer clear.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: Facebook</em></p>

Money & Banking

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An entry fee may not be enough to save Venice from 20 million tourists

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sameer-hosany-292658">Sameer Hosany</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/royal-holloway-university-of-london-795">Royal Holloway University of London</a></em></p> <p>Venice’s history, art and architecture attract an estimated <a href="https://www.responsibletravel.com/copy/overtourism-in-venice">20 million</a> visitors every year. The city, a <a href="https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&amp;type=pdf&amp;doi=ac36ced945412121372dc892cc31498fb268247c">Unesco World Heritage site</a>, is often crammed with tourists in search of special <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/mar.21665">memories</a>.</p> <p>But for the people who actually live there, this level of tourism has become unsustainable. So from 2024, day-trippers will be charged a €5 (£4.31) fee as part of an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/12/world/europe/venice-tourist-fee-italy.html#:%7E:text=The%20City%20Council%20passed%20an,popular%20but%20equally%20fragile%20place.&amp;text=Starting%20next%20spring%2C%20day%2Dtrippers,5%20euros%20for%20the%20privilege.">attempt</a> to better manage the flow of visitors.</p> <p>The city’s mayor has <a href="https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tourism/controversial-e5-venice-tourist-tax-finally-approved">described the charge</a> – which will be implemented on 30 particularly busy days in the spring and summer – as an attempt to “protect the city from mass tourism”. It comes after cruise ships were banned from entering the fragile Venice lagoon in 2021.</p> <p>Both policies are designed to respond to the particular problem facing Venice, which is that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/02/venice-day-trippers-will-have-to-make-reservations-and-pay-fee">around 80%</a> of its tourists come just for the day. Research has shown that such a high proportion of day-trippers – who tend to spend little – <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0160738395000658">pushes</a> a tourist destination <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1541-0064.1980.tb00970.x">towards decline</a>.</p> <p>So from next year, all travellers to Venice will have to register their visit in advance and obtain a QR code online. Day trippers will then have to pay the fee; visitors staying overnight will not.</p> <p>Other exemptions include children under 14, as well as people who travel to the city for work and study, or to visit family members. To enforce the policy, the municipal police and authorised inspectors will carry out random checks. Anyone without the proper QR code will face a fine of up to €300 (£261).</p> <p>But some have expressed doubts about whether the €5 fee – the price of a coffee or an ice cream – will be enough to dissuade tourists from travelling to this iconic ancient city. One city politician <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/12/world/europe/venice-tourist-fee-italy.html">commented</a> that the charge means Venice has become “a theme park, a Disneyland,” where “you get in by paying an entrance fee.”</p> <p>Certainly the charge is a lot less than Bhutan’s (recently reduced) “sustainable development fee” of <a href="https://globetrender.com/2023/09/17/bhutan-woos-more-tourists-reduced-entry-tax/">US$100 (£82) per night</a>, which applies to all tourists, and was introduced to encourage “high value, low impact” tourism. Research also indicates that strategies aiming at persuading tourists to come at less crowded times <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780080436746/seasonality-in-tourism">do not reduce numbers</a> at peak periods, but actually end up increasing overall demand.</p> <h2>‘Veniceland’</h2> <p>But Venice has to try something. For <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/24/6937">researchers</a>, Venice is the embodiment of <a href="https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/book/10.1079/9781786399823.0000">overtourism</a>, and residents clearly suffer from the consequences – living with the congestion, environmental damage and affects on their lifestyle and culture that 20 million visitors can cause.</p> <p>This can then lead to a negative response, known as “<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348605007_Overtourism_and_Tourismphobia_A_Journey_Through_Five_Decades_of_Tourism_Development_Planning_and_Local_Concerns">tourismphobia</a>”.Another term, “<a href="https://dokufest.com/en/festival/2013/cities-beyond-borders/das-venedig-prinzip-the-venice-syndrome#:%7E:text=The%20film%20shows%20what%20remains,municipal%20council%20with%20scorn%3B%20a">Venice Syndrome</a>” has been used to describe the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275123001816#:%7E:text=It%20explains%20the%20data%2Dgathering,between%20urban%20form%20conditions%20and">decline of the city’s</a> permanent population, as citizens feel forced to leave.</p> <p>Venice’s population is around 50,000 and has been consistently falling, from a peak of <a href="https://www.blueguides.com/venice-in-peril/">175,000</a>. If the population falls below 40,000, there is concern that Venice will cease to be a <a href="https://www.responsibletravel.com/copy/overtourism-in-venice">viable living city</a>.</p> <p>Those who remain have often expressed their discontent. Well publicised protests have included the “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venice-funeral-idUKTRE5AD1DQ20091114">Funeral of Venice</a>” in 2009, a mock funeral to mourn the sharp drop in population, and “<a href="https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1065&amp;context=anthro_theses">Welcome to Veniceland</a>” in 2010, which claimed that Venice was becoming more of a theme park.</p> <p>And while “tourist taxes” <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616688.2019.1669070">remain popular strategies</a> to address overtourism, their effectiveness remains debatable. Instead, research suggests that a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14616688.2019.1669070">combination</a> of specific economic measures (like fees and variable pricing) and non-economic policies (such as educating visitors) is the best option.</p> <p>That combination needs to be specially designed for each destination. There can be no one-size-fits-all solution. A <a href="https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284420070">report</a> by the World Tourism Organisation on overtourism identifies 11 different strategies and 68 measures to manage visitors’ growth in urban destinations.</p> <p>Barcelona, often seen as a city which has done well in handling mass tourism, has successfully used a <a href="https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/216242/1/CESifo-Forum-2019-03-p20-24.pdf">well targeted approach</a>. This has included harnessing new technology to develop a data driven management system to control visitor flows and overcrowding. It also deliberately engaged with the public when deciding on policies, and came up with specific strategies like limiting the number of new souvenir shops.</p> <p>But it did not resort to charging an entrance fee. Venice will be the first city in the world to do so – and other locations struggling with mass tourism will be keeping a close eye on whether such a bold move turns out to be a success.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213703/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sameer-hosany-292658"><em>Sameer Hosany</em></a><em>, Professor of Marketing, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/royal-holloway-university-of-london-795">Royal Holloway University of London</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-entry-fee-may-not-be-enough-to-save-venice-from-20-million-tourists-213703">original article</a>.</em></p>

International Travel

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Junk fees and drip pricing: the underhanded tactics we hate yet still fall for

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ralf-steinhauser-1459112">Ralf Steinhauser</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-national-university-877">Australian National University</a></em></p> <p>You see a fantastic offer, like a hotel room. You decide to book. Then it turns out there is a service fee. Then a cleaning fee. Then a few other extra costs. By the time you pay the final price, it is no longer the fantastic offer you thought.</p> <p>Welcome to the world of drip pricing – the practice of advertising something at an attractive headline price and then, once you’ve committed to the purchase process, hitting you with unavoidable extra fees that are incrementally disclosed, or “dripped”.</p> <p>Drip pricing – a type of “junk fee” – is notorious in event and travel ticketing, and is creeping into other areas, such as movie tickets. My daughter, for example, was surprised to find her ticket to the Barbie movie had a “booking fee”, increasing the cost of her ticket by 13%.</p> <p>It seems like such an annoying trick that you may wonder why sellers do it. The reason is because it works, due to two fundamental cognitive biases: the way we value the present over the future; and the way we hate losses more than we love gains.</p> <h2>Present bias preference: why starting over feels too costly</h2> <p>In the case of booking that hotel room, you could abandon the transaction and look for something cheaper once the extra charges become apparent. But there’s a good chance you won’t, due to the effort and time involved.</p> <p>This is where the trap lies.</p> <p>Resistance to the idea of starting the search all over again is not simply a matter of laziness or indecision. There’s a profound psychological mechanism at play here, called a present-bias preference – that we value things immediately in front of us more than things more distant in the future.</p> <p>In their seminal 1999 paper, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.89.1.103">Doing it now or later</a>, economists Mathew Rabin and Ted O'Donoghue define present-biased preference as “the human tendency to grab immediate rewards and to avoid immediate costs”.</p> <p>They give the example of choosing between doing seven hours of unpleasant activity on April 1 or eight hours two weeks later. If asked about this a few months beforehand, most people will choose the earlier option. “But come April 1, given the same choice, most of us are apt to put off work till April 15.”</p> <p>In simple terms, the inconvenience and effort of doing something “right now” often feels disproportionately large.</p> <p>Drip pricing exploits this cognitive bias by getting you to make a decision and commit to the transaction process. When you’re far into a complicated booking process and extra prices get added, starting all over again feels like a burden.</p> <p>Often enough, this means you’ll settle for the higher-priced hotel room.</p> <h2>Loss aversion: buying more expensive tickets</h2> <p>Beyond the challenge of starting over, there’s another subtle force at work when it comes to our spending decisions. Drip pricing doesn’t just capitalise on our desire for immediate rewards; it also plays on our innate fear of losing out.</p> <p>This second psychological phenomenon that drip pricing exploits is known as loss aversion – that we feel more pain from losing something than pleasure from gaining the same thing.</p> <p>The concept of loss aversion was first outlined by economists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky in <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1914185">a 1979 paper</a> that is the third most-cited article in economics.</p> <hr /> <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543635/original/file-20230821-25-mca6ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543635/original/file-20230821-25-mca6ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=497&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543635/original/file-20230821-25-mca6ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=497&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543635/original/file-20230821-25-mca6ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=497&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543635/original/file-20230821-25-mca6ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=624&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543635/original/file-20230821-25-mca6ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=624&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543635/original/file-20230821-25-mca6ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=624&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" alt="A graphic representation of loss aversion. The pain from losing a good or service will be greater than the pleasure from gaining the same good or service." /><figcaption><span class="caption">How economists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky graphically represented loss aversion. The pain from losing a good or service is greater than the pleasure from gaining the same good or service.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk, Econometrica, Vol. 47, No. 2</span></span></figcaption></figure> <hr /> <p>Drip pricing exploits this tendency, by dragging us away from more “rational” choices.</p> <p>Imagine you’re booking tickets for a show. Initially attracted by the observed headline price, you are now presented with different seating categories. Seeing the “VIP” are within your budget, you decide to splurge.</p> <p>But then, during the checkout process, the drip of extra costs begins. You realise you could have opted for lower-category seats and stayed within your budget. But by this stage you’ve already changed your expectation and imagined yourself enjoying the show from those nice seats.</p> <p>Going back and booking cheaper seats will feel like a loss.</p> <h2>Do consumers need protection?</h2> <p>Empirical evidence supports the above theoretical predictions about the impact of drop pricing on consumers.</p> <p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21426">A 2020 study</a> quantified how much consumers dislike the lack of transparency in drip pricing (based on tracking the reactions of 225 undergraduates using fictional airline and hotel-booking websites). The authors liken the practice to the “taximeter effect” – the discomfort consumers feel watching costs accumulate.</p> <p>But drip pricing’s effectiveness from a seller’s perspective is undeniable. A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2020.04.007">experimental study</a> published in 2020 found drip pricing generates higher profits while lowering the “consumer surplus” (the benefit derived from buying a product or service). A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2020.1261">2021 analysis</a> of data from StubHub, a US website for reselling tickets, calculated drip pricing increased revenue by 20%.</p> <p>Which is why the tactic remains attractive to businesses despite customers disliking it.</p> <p>Buyers would benefit from a ban of drip pricing. Many countries are taking steps to protect consumers from drip pricing.</p> <p>The UK government, for example, announced a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/aug/21/growth-of-airlines-add-on-fees-sparks-calls-for-price-reforms">review of drip pricing</a> in June, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak flagging the possibility of measures to curb the practice. The US government is also considering <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/06/15/president-biden-recognizes-actions-by-private-sector-ticketing-and-travel-companies-to-eliminate-hidden-junk-fees-and-provide-millions-of-customers-with-transparent-pricing/">new regulations</a>, with President Joe Biden denouncing “junk fees” in his <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/02/07/remarks-of-president-joe-biden-state-of-the-union-address-as-prepared-for-delivery/">2023 State of the Union address</a>. Proposed changes include requiring airlines and online booking services to disclose the full ticket price upfront, inclusive of baggage and other fees.</p> <p>The effectiveness of measures, however, is <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4430453">still being debated</a>.</p> <p>In the meantime, your principal protection is making a more informed decision, by understanding why the tactic works. Bargains may attract you, but you can learn to not fall for hidden costs and align your choices with your budget and values.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211117/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ralf-steinhauser-1459112">Ralf Steinhauser</a>, Senior Research Fellow, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-national-university-877">Australian National University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty </em><em>Images </em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/junk-fees-and-drip-pricing-the-underhanded-tactics-we-hate-yet-still-fall-for-211117">original article</a>.</em></p>

Money & Banking

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"Unbelievable but true": Tourist outraged over shocking restaurant fee

<p>A tourist in Italy has been hit with a shocking fee from an upscale eatery after he asked for his sandwich to be cut in half. </p> <p>The anonymous man was travelling in Italy's picturesque Lake Como region, and stopped in at Bar Pace in Gera Lario, at the lake’s northern end, for a vegetarian sandwich and fries for lunch. </p> <p>Travelling with a friend, the man asked for the meal to be cut in half so they could share.</p> <p>After polishing off their lunch, the traveller was shocked when he was given the bill, noticing a charge he had never seen before. </p> <p>The man paid without arguing, but later took to TripAdvisor to leave a negative review. </p> <p>“Unbelievable but true,” the man captioned a photo of the receipt on TripAdvisor.</p> <p>The receipt lists the sandwich for €7.50 ($12.60), Coca Cola for €3.50 ($5.90), water for €1.50 ($2.50) and espresso for €1.20 ($2), along with the debated “diviso da meta”, or “cutting in half” fee, amounting to 2 euros, or $3.40.</p> <p>The confused customer gave the restaurant one star on TripAdvisor, far below the average of four and a half stars, based on over 100 reviews.</p> <p>After the review garnered a lot of unexpected attention, the restaurant's owner defended the fee to a local news outlet. </p> <p>“Additional requests have a cost,” owner Cristina Biacchi told <em>La Repubblica</em>.</p> <p>“We had to use two plates instead of one and the time to wash them is doubled, and then two placemats. It wasn’t a simple toasted sandwich, there were also French fries inside. It took us time to cut it in two.”</p> <p>She also noted that the customer did not complain or question the charge and clarified that she would have removed the charge from the bill, if someone had raised an issue. </p> <p>The extra charge is not unheard of in expensive cities and popular tourist destinations, with some cities in the United States are sometimes hitting diners with a share charge, or a split plate charge, to make up for the lower check average at a table, while some New York City eateries even ban the practice of sharing all together.</p> <p><em>Image credit: TripAdvisor</em></p>

Travel Trouble

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“A lesson learned”: Uni student lands herself in an overdue book nightmare

<p dir="ltr">A university graduate student received the shock of her academic career when an email arrived in her inbox to inform her she owed her school’s library a whopping $11,900 in overdue book fines. </p> <p dir="ltr">Hannah took to TikTok to share her story, posting a snippet of the horror email, and the news that her library account had amassed a debt of “$11,9000 owed for 119 lost books”. The books had been declared lost, though Hannah was quick to note that she was “still using” each of them, and had every intention of returning them once she was finished with her studies. </p> <p dir="ltr">To drive home the fact that the books were not missing, and instead safely in her scholarly possession, Hannah panned around the various piles of tomes stacked around her home, with a caption reading “the books aren’t lost, I’m just hoarding them until I finish my dissertation.” </p> <p dir="ltr">The email itself explained the books were marked as lost in the library’s system if they exceeded 30 days overdue, and that there was a flat rate of $100 per book in such instances. And according to the library, it was up to each patron to renew their books, and that Hannah “received overdue notices on the following dates prompting you to renew your library books before they are declared lost.”</p> <p dir="ltr">As she explained to <em>The Daily Dot</em>, she had checked out her collection three years prior while she’d been preparing for exams, and confirmed that she had received four reminders to either renew or return the books, but she’d put it off each time. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Then I got the automatic email,” she added, “saying all of the books were marked as lost and my account was charged $100 per book.” </p> <p dir="ltr">Hannah’s woe drew a mixed response from her audience, with some surprised that her library had even let her withdraw that many books in the first place, others unable to wrap their heads around the fact she could have let her situation get so bad, and many quick to defend the librarian, who they declared had only been doing her job. </p> <p dir="ltr">“My library only lets me check out 5 books at a time,” one wrote.</p> <p dir="ltr">“That’s why keeping library books past their due date is considered stealing,” another said, to which Hannah responded to promise her lesson had been learned. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Only 30 days over due??? Damn give a lil more time,” said one, with Hannah informing them that she’d had the books for years by that point. </p> <p dir="ltr">It wasn’t all bad for the budding scholar though, with Hannah explaining in another comment that “it was hunky dory”, as the library had waived her fees as soon as she’d responded to them, and that she’d been allowed to keep all 119 for an additional year. </p> <p dir="ltr">And, as she told another follower, “I’ve never replied to an email faster.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: TikTok</em></p>

Books

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Travelling abroad? Don’t be tempted to pay your way using your home currency

<p>Part of the joy of travelling comes from experiencing the unfamiliar – a different climate, culture or cuisine. But when it comes to paying for things abroad, we might feel more comfortable using the currency we are most familiar with, the one we use at home.</p> <p>This has recently become a common – and expensive – option for tourists withdrawing money from cash machines, or paying electronically in shops and restaurants. </p> <p>When a restaurant bill arrives for example, foreign customers may be offered the choice on the card reader to pay in their home currency rather than the local one. This feature, known as “dynamic currency conversion” or “currency choice” sounds appealing at first – a service which has done the hard work for you, converting the bill to a currency you understand, giving you a better idea of how much money you are spending. </p> <p>But it comes at a price – as the fees charged for this convenience can be exorbitant. In fact, <a href="https://fil.forbrukerradet.no/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/input-from-ncc-to-the-european-commission-on-dcc-30062017.pdf">one study</a> shows that the average fee applied to this kind of conversion is a whopping 7.6%, more than double the cost of paying in the local currency (usually between 1.5% and 3%). </p> <p>So suppose a French traveller goes out for dinner in a British town, and the final bill comes to £88.43, the equivalent of €100. Paying in UK currency, which would then converted to euros by the French diner’s bank, would lead to a payment of around €102. But using the dynamic currency conversion to pay the restaurant bill directly in euros would end up costing them €107.60.</p> <p>Despite the high fees, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/07439156231157721">our research shows</a> that more than half of international customers still choose to pay in their familiar home currency. The most obvious explanation for this is an understandable preference for the familiar when dealing with money abroad.</p> <p>But it is also true that the fees are not explicitly shown to customers. That is, tourists may see the applied exchange rate, but they are not shown the hidden fees or how that exchange rate compares with others. </p> <p>And while expensive for tourists, the currency choice “service” can be highly lucrative for those who operate it. The companies which provide dynamic currency conversion options earn significant conversion revenues – a portion of which is often shared with the business where the transaction takes place.</p> <p><a href="https://www.electronicpaymentsinternational.com/opinion/dcc-routing-revenues-away-from-issuer-into-acquirers-pockets/">Sources indicate</a> that extra revenues for retailers come to around 1% of the transaction value. We have also been told of well known department stores training employees to actively encourage foreign customers to pay for purchases in their home currency.</p> <h2>Greater transparency</h2> <p>And despite the high conversion fees involved with dynamic currency conversion, most government regulators around the world have been hesitant to intervene. One possible reason for this is that regulation would be seen as potentially hitting the profits of local businesses. </p> <p>The exception is the European Union (EU), which considers excessive transaction costs <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32021R1230">to be a barrier</a> to the development of businesses and aims to protect European consumers. </p> <p>The latest <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32021R1230">EU regulations</a> (not yet enforced) aim to enhance transparency by including extra information about the costs of currency choice on card readers and ATMs. </p> <p>This is a step in the right direction. But we would in fact encourage a reduction in the amount of information to make things simpler, so that customers are made aware purely of the percentage fee being added if they choose to pay in their own currency. We also think there should be maximum conversion charges to protect unaware customers from excessive fees.</p> <p>With the continued growth of international travel, it is crucial to find ways to help people make informed financial decisions when dealing with exchange rates and making payments outside of their currency zone.</p> <p>But for now, travellers are likely to spend more of their money abroad than they need to, because of something they intuitively feel will make a transaction simpler and less time consuming. </p> <p>So if you’re on holiday or travelling for work, our advice is to decline the option of paying in your home currency and instead opt for the more reasonable conversion fees charged by your bank. Your travel experience could end up much cheaper if you do.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/travelling-abroad-dont-be-tempted-to-pay-your-way-using-your-home-currency-202795" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Travel Tips

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Should I put more money into my super? What are the benefits and can I take it out before retirement if I need it?

<p>Superannuation is never far from the headlines lately, with the government recently calling for <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/consultation/c2023-361383">views</a> from the public on what the objective of super should be. </p> <p>The basic idea behind super is you set aside a portion of your pay over your working life, so you can build up a nest egg to see you through your retirement years. </p> <p>But what if you’re worried you might not have enough super by the time you retire? Yes, you could top up your super now and watch the nest egg grow through the magic of <a href="https://moneysmart.gov.au/saving/compound-interest">compound returns</a>– but what are the downsides?</p> <p>If you’re considering putting more money into your super, and want to know more about how the whole system works, here are the basics.</p> <h2>What are the rules about putting more money into my super?</h2> <p>First, make sure you know where your superannuation actually is and how much you’ve got so far. This <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/forms/searching-for-lost-super/">page</a> from the Australian Tax Office explains how to search for any lost super.</p> <p>The next thing to know is there are <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/super/in-detail/growing-your-super/super-contributions---too-much-can-mean-extra-tax/?page=2#Understanding_contribution_caps">limits</a> to how much you can contribute into superannuation. </p> <p>There are two types of super contributions you can make.</p> <p>The first category is called “<a href="https://moneysmart.gov.au/grow-your-super/super-contributions">concessional contributions</a>”. These are taxed at 15%, which may be lower than the tax you’d otherwise have to pay on that money. So making these super top-ups can not only grow your nest egg, but save you tax.</p> <p>The amount of concessional contributions you can make is A$27,500 per annum. That figure includes all the super your employer puts in your super account and any extra contributions you make under a salary sacrifice scheme or where you are claiming an income tax deduction.</p> <p>The second category, known as “non-concessional contributions”, means money you pay into your super withoutclaiming a tax deduction. This could be, for example, money from savings, an inheritance or a lottery win.</p> <p>There is a limit of $330,000 over three years (or $110,000 per year), for these contributions.</p> <h2>What are the benefits of topping up my super?</h2> <p>Two words: compound returns.</p> <p>Compound returns are where you earn returns not only on the original investment you put in, but also on any returns on that investment. As the government’s <a href="https://moneysmart.gov.au/saving/compound-interest">Moneysmart</a> website puts it, “you get interest on your interest”.</p> <p>Over the years, this means you could earn a lot more than you would if you didn’t top up your super. </p> <p>How much more? Well, it depends on the investment return and fees of your fund.</p> <p>But as an example: thanks to compound returns, putting an extra $100 per month into your super from age 30 could <a href="https://www.calc.help/industrysuper/add-extra-to-your-super">mean you retire</a> with an extra $65,000 in your account (here, I’ve assumed investment returns of 7.5%, accumulation inflation of 4% and salary inflation of 4%).</p> <p>And the longer it is there, the more it will grow – so starting top-ups early might pay off. </p> <p>This is particularly important for <a href="https://theconversation.com/spirals-and-circles-snakes-and-ladders-why-womens-super-is-complex-103763">women</a>, whose super balances may look a bit feeble if they take parental leave or cut their hours while raising a family.</p> <p>Then there’s the tax benefits of super top-ups. If you would normally pay a net tax rate higher than 15% on investments such as shares, your money will grow more quickly inside superannuation than shares.</p> <p>You may also be eligible for government co-contributions that add to your balance if you make a non-concessional contribution during the year and your income is less than $57,016.</p> <h2>So what’s the downside? Can I access my superannuation before retirement?</h2> <p>Basically, no. You must meet a “<a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/super/in-detail/withdrawing-and-using-your-super/withdrawing-your-super-and-paying-tax/?page=2#Conditionsofrelease">condition of release</a>” before being able to access your superannuation.</p> <p>The most common is retirement, defined as reaching the age of 65 or leaving work after reaching “preservation age” (which is 60 for anyone born after July, 1964).</p> <p>There are some <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Super/Withdrawing-and-using-your-super/Early-access-to-your-super/">special circumstances</a> where you may be able to access your superannuation early.</p> <p>These are very narrow, and include serious financial hardship or necessary medical treatment that cannot be funded any other way. </p> <p>Death or terminal illness also qualify for release.</p> <h2>But what if I need a deposit for a house?</h2> <p>This is a dilemma for non home-owners. After compulsory superannuation guarantee deductions and HECS-HELP, it may be hard to save a deposit.</p> <p>One of the few circumstances where you access your superannuation early is through the <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/super/withdrawing-and-using-your-super/first-home-super-saver-scheme/">First Home Super Savers Scheme</a>. </p> <p>If you make voluntary contributions, you may be able to withdraw these contributions for a home deposit. </p> <p>However, this scheme is very tightly regulated. You can read more about the rules for this scheme <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/super/withdrawing-and-using-your-super/first-home-super-saver-scheme/">here</a>.</p> <h2>So… should I put more money into my super?</h2> <p>It depends. If you do, make sure you understand you will not be able to access that money until retirement.</p> <p>If you own your home (or intend to rent until retirement) you may want to put more into superannuation while you can afford it, knowing it is contributing to a secure retirement. </p> <p>But if home ownership is your goal, you should think carefully about choosing between superannuation and saving for a home deposit.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared in <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-i-put-more-money-into-my-super-what-are-the-benefits-and-can-i-take-it-out-before-retirement-if-i-need-it-201950" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Retirement Income

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Parents leave baby at airport counter after refusing to buy extra ticket

<p>A couple were checking in for a flight from Ben Gurion International Airport to Brussels, Belgium on Tuesday when they made the decision to leave their baby behind. </p> <p>Upon their arrival at the airport check-in desk in Tel Aviv, Israel, it was revealed that the baby did not have a ticket. Rather than address the situation and ensure their child’s safe travel, the pair opted to proceed to security without their stroller and its young occupant. </p> <p>The airline they were flying with, Ryanair, state on their website that "infants can be included in a flight reservation during the online booking process." </p> <p>Following their process for booking with an infant, a message will pop-up to let travellers know there is a €25 charge (approximately $39) for each one-way flight the baby participates in from an adult’s lap. If the adults want the baby to travel in a seat of its own with the proper equipment, a seat must be paid for. </p> <p>The parents, apparently, had not made such arrangements for their baby. The matter was referred to officials, as confirmed by a Ryanair spokeswoman.</p> <p>"These passengers travelling from Tel Aviv to Brussels presented at check-in without a booking for their infant,” she told <em>CNN</em>, “they then proceeded to security leaving the infant behind at check-in.</p> <p>"The check-in agent at Ben Gurion Airport contacted Airport Security, who retrieved these passengers, and this is now a matter for local police."</p> <p>Reports of the situation were confirmed by the Israeli Airport Authority, who provided a statement to <em>CNN </em>and offered some more information into what went on. </p> <p>"A couple and an infant with Belgian passports arrived for a flight at Terminal 1 without a ticket for the baby,” it read. </p> <p>“The couple also arrived late for the flight, once the check-in for the flight was closed. The couple left the infant seat with the baby and ran toward the security checks at Terminal 1 in an attempt to reach the boarding gate for the flight."</p> <p>A video allegedly from the airport at the time, staff can be heard expressing their sadness for the child. Another woman exclaims, “she left him there, I swear!”</p> <p>Ryanair staff also voiced their shock over the incident, telling <em>N12</em>, “we’re never seen anything like it.” </p> <p>Despite reports that the parents were detained, an Israel Police spokesman told <em>CNN </em>that the matter appeared to have been resolved by the time law enforcement arrived on the scene, stating that "the baby was with the parents and there's no further investigation."</p> <p><em>Images: Getty </em></p>

Travel Trouble

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Unpaid and unequal: women’s extra workload affects mental wellbeing

<p>Women do the bulk of unpaid domestic work globally and the added burden has an impact on their mental health – but surprisingly there’s little independent empirical research about this.</p> <p>Now, there is data, which shows the double burden of paid and unpaid work results in increased depressive or psychological distress for women as unpaid labour increases.</p> <p>Researchers at the University of Melbourne reviewed the evidence for the gendered nature of unpaid work and consequences for mental health among employed adults, <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(22)00160-8/fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">publishing</a> their results in <em>Lancet Public Health.</em></p> <p>Public health researcher and lead author, Jen Ervin, says the research showed women were uniformly doing more unpaid work across every geographical and time setting.</p> <p>“What our review tells us is that, in addition to the economic penalty women experience carrying out most of the world’s unpaid labour load, there is a troubling mental health cost as well,” she says. </p> <p>While further research is needed, Ervin says the most widely acknowledged explanation for the impact on mental health is that the combined paid and unpaid workload triggers stress-related pathways. It also reduces time for activities known to be protective for mental health such as sleep, leisure and physical activity.</p> <p>The findings won’t come as a surprise to many, especially women, she says.</p> <p>Indeed. The study follows <a href="https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/news/47524-yet-again--the-census-shows-women-are-doing-more-housework.-now-is-the-time-to-invest-in-interventions" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">census data</a> confirming (once again) that Australian women do more hours of unpaid housework than men. And <a href="https://cew.org.au/2022-cew-census-an-urgent-wakeup-call-ceo-gender-balance-100-years-away/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">another report</a> this week commissioned by Chief Executive Women indicating caring responsibilities in the pandemic held back progress on women’s workforce participation and leadership.</p> <p>For what seems like an intractable problem, what can be done to change things?</p> <p>Ervin says, “we believe that policies such as universal childcare and normalising flexible working arrangements and extended paternity leave for men can help in shifting the dial and driving greater gender equality in the division of unpaid labour and unpaid care.</p> <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p205326-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> </div> </div> <p>“Some of these measures will also aid and facilitate the harder task of shifting some of the outdated attitudes and beliefs around labour division.”</p> <p>It’s important to note many men are taking a more active role in childcare and housework. But men can be limited in doing so by factors such as inflexible workplace arrangements or social stigma, she says.</p> <p>The University of Melbourne research focussed on employed adults, the ‘double burden’ effect of combining paid work with unpaid work, and how this subsequently creates issues of overload and time poverty. It found substantial gender differences.</p> <p>Of the 14 studies reviewed for the article – totalling more than 66,800 participants worldwide – five examined unpaid labour (inclusive of care), nine examined housework time and, of these, four also examined childcare.</p> <p>Overall, in 11 of the 14 studies, women self-reported increased depressive or psychological distress symptoms with increasing unpaid labour demands. For men, only three out of a possible 12 studies reported any negative association.</p> <p>An aspect not captured in the current review, Ervin says, is the difference in the gendered allocation of household tasks. For example, men often do less-time-sensitive outdoor or maintenance tasks such as mowing the lawn or cleaning the gutters.  These jobs aren’t as time-pressured as feeding a hungry child or driving them to an appointment.</p> <p>And while more difficult to measure, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13668803.2021.2002813?journalCode=ccwf20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">other research</a> shows women are also often carrying more of the mental load of household labour.</p> <p>Unfortunately, Australia is lagging behind many other countries when it comes to key gender equality indicators such as unpaid labour division, Ervin says.</p> <p>This week a <a href="https://cew.org.au/2022-cew-census-an-urgent-wakeup-call-ceo-gender-balance-100-years-away/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a> commissioned by Chief Executive Women drew attention to the lack of progress made by Australia’s top companies in appointing women to leadership roles. The report, prepared by management consultants Bain &amp; Company, says 73% of executive roles in ASX300 companies are held by men, and 85% of line management roles. The report says COVID-19 set back women’s workforce participation, as they took on the bulk of the increased caring responsibilities.</p> <p>This is consistent with <a href="https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/news/47524-yet-again--the-census-shows-women-are-doing-more-housework.-now-is-the-time-to-invest-in-interventions" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">findings</a> from other University of Melbourne research showing the “catastrophic” impact of the pandemic on women’s lives, especially for mothers. Restrictions such as school closures and remote learning added to the domestic workload for everyone, but the gender gap remained. Women, more often than men, reduced their paid work to meet the increased demands.</p> <p>The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute also <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/mental-health-maternal-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> maternal wellbeing was profoundly impacted by the pandemic, finding a third of women experienced clinically significant mental health problems during Victoria’s second lockdown, with ongoing fatigue and parenting stress.</p> <p><img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=205326&amp;title=Unpaid+and+unequal%3A+women%26%238217%3Bs+extra+workload+affects+mental+wellbeing" width="1" height="1" /></p> <div id="contributors"> <p><em><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/womens-unpaid-work-and-mental-health/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/petra-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Petra Stock</a>. Petra Stock has a degree in environmental engineering and a Masters in Journalism from University of Melbourne. She has previously worked as a climate and energy analyst.</em></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p> </div>

Mind

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Man’s desperate attempt to avoid baggage fees goes viral

<p dir="ltr">One man’s plight to avoid excess baggage fees has been caught on camera and gone viral. </p> <p dir="ltr">In the video, the male passenger can be seen kicking and shoving his bag into the luggage size checker as an airline staffer looked on.</p> <p dir="ltr">The man’s desperate efforts amused those around him, with giggling being heard in the background from fellow travellers, including the person filming.</p> <p dir="ltr">The video, which has now been viewed over 26 million times, was captioned, “Don’t die for EasyJet.”</p> <p>Eventually, the man was able to convince the staff member that his bag was the right size to count as carry-on luggage, only for it to then be stuck inside the metal frame.</p> <div class="embed" style="font-size: 16px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; caret-color: #323338; color: #323338; font-family: Roboto, Rubik, 'Noto Kufi Arabic', 'Noto Sans JP', sans-serif; outline: none !important;"><iframe class="embedly-embed" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 610px; max-width: 100%; outline: none !important;" title="tiktok embed" src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2Fembed%2Fv2%2F7135000263911329029&amp;display_name=tiktok&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40hotasfo_o%2Fvideo%2F7135000263911329029&amp;image=https%3A%2F%2Fp16-sign-va.tiktokcdn.com%2Ftos-maliva-p-0068%2Fb9ac55874a8840a382735f0dbbb4f95d_1661246711%7Etplv-tiktok-play.jpeg%3Fx-expires%3D1662991200%26x-signature%3DlT8PTmNwIg0BVzmFm2u%252F1Vfwtc0%253D&amp;key=59e3ae3acaa649a5a98672932445e203&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=tiktok" width="340" height="700" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div> <p>"He's going to miss his flight trying to get that out," one person quipped in the comments.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Rumour has it he is still trying to get it back out," another joined in.</p> <p dir="ltr">Meanwhile, some thought the staff member was clearly also just having a laugh.</p> <p dir="ltr">"The staff guy was just having a laugh, knowing well what was about to unfold," one person said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Others empathised with the traveller for trying to avoid the extra fees, with one person sharing, "EasyJet made me pay extra for my carry-on pillow, I still haven't recovered from the shock."</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: TikTok</em></p>

Travel Tips

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E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial at 40 – a deep meditation on loneliness, and Spielberg’s most exhilarating film

<p>40 years ago this month saw the release of Steven Spielberg’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083866/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial</a> – a film about a stranded alien, the boy called Elliott who discovers it and a bond of friendship that remains as magical and heartbreaking as it did back in 1982.</p> <p>We think of Spielberg movies today as thrilling roller-coaster rides, full of sharks, dinosaurs and swashbuckling archaeologists. Yet for me, E.T. remains Spielberg’s most exhilarating work: a deep meditation on loneliness, friendship and growing up in small-town America.</p> <p>Aided by John Williams’s Oscar-winning score and Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore’s touching performances, E.T. feels both of its time and for all time. As Spielberg <a href="https://www.contactmusic.com/pages/et2x21x03x02" target="_blank" rel="noopener">once said</a>:</p> <p>I think that E.T. is for the people we are, the people we have been and the people we want to be again.</p> <h2>A child in need of a friend</h2> <p>After the breathless trio of Jaws (1975), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Spielberg wanted to make a more intimate film about his isolated childhood in suburban Arizona <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/steven-spielberg-et-divorce-parents-anniversary-b2063879.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as he came to terms</a> with the divorce of his parents.</p> <p>At the same time, he had commissioned a script about a suburban family terrorised by a group of aliens with one befriending the family’s son. The DNA of both stories would make their way into this film.</p> <p>Like Spielberg, Elliott is a loner. He’s not playing sport, or going out with girls or getting into trouble. He is introverted and thoughtful. And in need of company.</p> <p>One of Spielberg’s great underrated talents is his direction of children. Many of his films feature young children at their centre – think The BFG (2016), A.I. (2001) and War Horse (2011).</p> <p>In E.T., Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore as brother and sister Elliott and Gertie bring credibility and pathos to their roles, fitting seamlessly into the southern Californian ‘burb culture recreated so fondly by the director.</p> <p>Spielberg’s grasp of childlike wonder is everywhere: notice how he shoots from the children’s eye level and shows adults only from the waist down.</p> <p>For the first time in his career, Spielberg rejected storyboards and <a href="https://ascmag.com/articles/spielberg-et-the-extraterrestrial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shot scenes chronologically</a>, allowing Thomas and Barrymore time and space to improvise. The domestic and school scenes (hiding E.T. from the mother, tempting it into the house with Reese’s Pieces, freeing frogs destined for dissection) all feel more real because of this.</p> <h2>And what of our alien?</h2> <p>Before E.T., Hollywood saw aliens as hostile critters intent on planetary carnage. The recent extra-terrestrials in Alien (1979) and The Thing (1982) had caused havoc and trauma.</p> <p>E.T. is different: partly modelled on the facial features of Albert Einstein, it is inquisitive, thoughtful, funny. In the delightful Halloween scene, Elliott throws a white sheet over it as a disguise, and E.T. suddenly spots a child dressed up as Yoda, excitedly repeating “Home! Home!”.</p> <p>From this moment, Hollywood realised the marketing potential of “cute aliens”; whether Ewoks, Grogu or Toy Story’s “Little Green Men”. It is small wonder that Variety <a href="https://variety.com/1982/film/reviews/e-t-the-extra-terrestrial-1200425287/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">praised</a> E.T. as the “best Disney film Disney never made”.</p> <p>The alien plays another role too: it fills the void of the absent father.</p> <p>Paternal lack and the strains it places on families is a familiar trope in Spielberg’s films, from Jurassic Park (1993) to Catch Me If You Can (2002) to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).</p> <p>All we know is that Elliott’s father is “in Mexico, with Sally”: left behind is a stressed mother and bickering siblings.</p> <p>Some contend that E.T. is a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4239568?seq=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">modern-day fairy tale</a> or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1982/08/15/movies/l-film-mailbag-is-et-a-religious-parable-073792.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a Christian parable</a>. For others, it is an illustration of “<a href="https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/18452/23096/9783631837801%20%E2%80%93%20Echoes%20of%20Reaganism%20in%20Hollywood%20Blockbuster%20Movies%20from%20the%201980s%20to%20the%202010s.pdf?sequence=1&amp;isAllowed=y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reaganite entertainment</a>”, upholding the sanctity of the nuclear family but distrustful of bureaucratic interference and governmental surveillance.</p> <h2>Spielberg at his best</h2> <p>E.T. earned US$800 million at the box office. Adjusted for inflation, four decades on, that is still the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films_in_the_United_States_and_Canada#Adjusted_for_ticket-price_inflation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fourth highest grossing</a> movie ever.</p> <p>For some naysayers, its success was further evidence of the special effects-laden, high-concept spectacle film that was beginning to reign in mainstream film culture. But I think E.T. is much more than that: it is a movie with a heart. The special effects are minimal. What counts is the story, and the boy and his friend.</p> <p>Spielberg’s films are to this day <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2011/12/critics-notebook-putting-steven-spielberg-on-trial-50244/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticised</a> as mawkish and overly sentimental, deliberately engineered to cynically manipulate our emotions. Not so in E.T.: the pleasure is genuine and the tears are earned.</p> <p>E.T. became a pop culture phenomenon. The shot of Elliott and E.T. on a bike, flying across the moon, remains an iconic image. “Phone home” has become part of our lexicon. Its message of peaceful coexistence between creatures from different worlds today seems more appropriate than ever.</p> <p>Aliens stranded on earth are a staple of contemporary cinema, from Under the Skin (2013) to The Iron Giant (1999). And Netflix’s current global hit Stranger Things contains a treasure trove of E.T.’s visual references.</p> <p>Spielberg may have made bigger, louder films, and more historically profound ones, but E.T. endures as his best.</p> <p><em><strong>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/e-t-the-extra-terrestrial-at-40-a-deep-meditation-on-loneliness-and-spielbergs-most-exhilarating-film-183985" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.</strong></em></p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

Movies

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Bride charges extra for uninvited guests - but there's a catch

<p>A bride has shared on a popular Reddit forum that she charged one of her wedding guests for bringing two uninvited children to the reception.</p> <p>"It was a small wedding at a small venue that has a strict capacity due to fire codes," the bride explained the reasoning as to why the guest list was strictly kept to invitees only. "One of my guests showed up with her two children, who were not invited, not in the RSVP, and obviously not in the seating chart."</p> <p>"She came in, decided to seat them at her table, taking away the spots of my other guests who were actually invited," the bride continued.</p> <p>"A small commotion broke out when she refused to give those seats back, and the venue manager noticed and said that we'd be charged a fine for exceeding capacity, as stated in the contract."</p> <p>The bride says when she got the bill for the reception, which included the costs of the uninvited children, she sent it to the guest and asked that she pay.</p> <p>"She claimed that it is not her fault, and that I should have factored in unforeseen charges when budgeting for my wedding," the bride said of the guest's response. "And she couldn't find a babysitter, so she had no choice, and that I should be grateful she took the effort to attend my wedding anyway."</p> <p>Reddit users quickly sided with the bride, but there were some responses that had added nuances.</p> <p>"Your ex-friend is [the asshole]. Drop her like a hot potato," one user declared.</p> <p>"She definitely had a choice – she could have stayed home with her two kids. There shouldn't be unforeseen charges at a wedding, especially not ones involving people that were NOT invited.</p> <p>One user, however, said the bride had some responsibility for how the situation played out.</p> <p>"You should have kicked her out when she showed up with [plus two]," they wrote. "You let one guest take two other guests' seats. When a 'commotion' started, you should have booted her and the kids."</p> <p><em>Image: Getty</em></p>

Relationships

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Are you ready for a bit of extra pocket money?

<p dir="ltr">Millions of Aussies will receive a bit of extra pocket money to help combat the rising cost of living. </p> <p dir="ltr">With the cost of petrol now sitting at $2.40 a litre, and fruit and vegetables having soared in price - Aussies are really struggling. </p> <p dir="ltr">As of March 21, singles under the age, disability support and carer payments scheme will receive an extra $20.10 a fortnight, adding up to $987.60.</p> <p dir="ltr">Couples under the same payments will receive an extra $30.20 a fortnight, adding up to $1,488.00.</p> <p dir="ltr">Senior Australians will also be able to access part of their pension earlier on as the asset test limit increases.</p> <p dir="ltr">For a single homeowner, it has increased by $6,750 to $599,750 and for a couple it has gone up by $10,000 to $901,500.</p> <p dir="ltr">Single Jobseeker recipients will receive a $13.20 jump in their pay up to $629.50, while those under Parenting Payment Singles scheme will get an extra $18.20 to $874.10.</p> <p dir="ltr">Help for renters will also be increased to $145.80 for singles a fortnight and $193.62 for families. </p> <p dir="ltr">Social Services Minister Anne Ruston described the 2.1 per cent increase to pension payments as the largest since 2013.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It gives us a higher weighting to fuel and transport costs in recognition of their significance to pensioners, which helps ensure the rate of the age pension maintains senior Australians’ purchasing power in the economy,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Labor Leader Anthony Albanese however slammed the Federal Government for being out of touch and claiming the increase would help. </p> <p dir="ltr">“This government is so out of touch that they’re prepared to spin out there saying how well pensioners are going to be off,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“When they get to the supermarket to buy products they find that everything‘s gone up.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The rise in the pension will not keep up with the costs of living. Pensioners are doing it really tough at the moment.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

Money & Banking

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Australia's hefty legal bill in Novak saga revealed

<p>During a Senate hearing on Monday night, the cost of Australia's legal proceedings against tennis champ Novak Djokovic were revealed. </p><p>The Department of Home Affairs reportedly had to pay an estimated $360,000 over the weeks long saga, but this is not the official final figure of money spent. </p><p>This hefty sum doesn’t take into account the division of legal costs that were awarded in both court stoushes that took place.</p><p>The Department of Home Affairs was ordered to pay the legal costs for the first Federal Court matter in which Novak first had his visa cancelled. </p><p>But Djokovic was ordered to pay the costs in his subsequent failed bid to overturn Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s decision to send the Serbian tennis champ packing for being unvaccinated.</p><p>“Hopefully they’ll net out to zero,” Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo said during the hearing.</p><p>The department’s legal group manager Pip De Veau said that the fees had yet to be paid, but it was estimated to be $360,000, not taking into account these cost orders.</p><p>“The combined estimate at this stage was in the vicinity of $360,000 without any awards going either way,” she said.</p><p>“Costs were awarded against the department in the first proceedings, costs were awarded for the department in the second."</p><p>“We’ll need to get the invoices and make the determination in consultation with Mr Djokovic’s lawyers as to how those two cost orders are sorted out.”</p><p>Novak Djokovic was deported before the Australian Open, stopping him from competing. </p><p>“I will respect the court’s ruling and I will co-operate with the ­relevant authorities in relation to my departure from the country,” Djokovic said at the time.</p><p>“I am uncomfortable that the focus of the past weeks has been on me and I hope that we can now focus on the game and the tournament I love.”</p><p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p>

Legal

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Woman avoids baggage fees with genius neck pillow hack

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While many travellers love to take advantage of cheap airline seats, the deals often come hand in hand with hefty baggage fees.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">One savvy TikTok user has devised a unique way to avoid the extra charges for luggage, using a travel neck pillow. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The traveller, who shares videos under the name @anayotothe on TikTok, uses the cheap neck pillow as a secret carry-on bag to get out of those pesky extra fees. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Trying the Spirit and Frontier pillow hack cuz I ain't tryna pay $60 for a carry on," the woman wrote on the video, referencing two American airlines.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She captioned the video, “My flight is in three hours let’s see how this goes!”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The woman picked up the travel pillow for just $9 from the US supermarket Walgreens, and proceeded to take the pillow stuffing out of the case. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She then stuffed all the clothes that wouldn’t fit in her backpack into the pillowcase, which could still be used to stay comfortable during her flight. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Everything fits except for this shirt!" the woman exclaimed, while showing followers her clever technique.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After sharing the video with her followers, the woman later confirmed that she boarded her flight successfully with her hidden carry-on luggage.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"On the way to Vegas and the way back, I didn't have to pay, with my travel pillow and my backpack," she said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While dozens of people commented to thank the savvy traveller for the tip, others also questioned if it was worth it to save money. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When questioned about her methods, the woman responded, "It took five minutes, also it was an hour flight… there was no reason I should pay $300 for a flight if you can just take one of the budget airlines."</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image credits: Getty Images</span></em></p>

Travel Tips

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‘Absurd’ fee may see family choose between their home and pet

<p dir="ltr">A Sydney woman who applied for permission to keep her dog in her apartment has left her with a $2000 fee she may have to pay, after she was told of a new bond that could be introduced for pet owners.</p> <p dir="ltr">Georgia Dawson’s two-and-a-half-year-old son Rafy has become devoted to her Staffy named Fav, but she said her family may have to choose between their home and keeping the pair together.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It’s a huge amount of money and it’s very upsetting,” Ms Dawson told<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.domain.com.au/news/they-bought-a-puppy-for-their-son-in-lockdown-strata-did-something-absurd-2-1110560/" target="_blank"><em>Domain</em></a>. “We want to stay in our home and we don’t want to be put in a position where we have to choose between our home and our family.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The 32-year-old has been living in the apartment complex in Sydney’s lower north shore with her family for the last seven months, and feels they’re being punished for doing the right thing.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Pets are family for many of us, especially after getting through Covid and maybe not being able to afford another child. But now it feels like we’re being punished - and for doing the right thing and applying for permission,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">The family’s shock discovery comes as the latest in the pets-in-apartments saga that has seen legal battles play out between residents wanting to live with their pets, and buildings that want the choice to prevent them.</p> <p dir="ltr">In August, a change in state law made it illegal to forbid pets in strata buildings. The change was the result of a four-and-a-half year litigation between resident Jo Cooper and her Darlinghurst building, Horizon, that saw a blanket ban on pets get overturned.</p> <p dir="ltr">A later judgement by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT), however, found that buildings did have the right to charge pet-owners fees of up to $300 to the “administration cost” of applications.</p> <p dir="ltr">But the notification Ms Dawson received, alerting her that her building was debating levying the $2000 bond on pet owners at its January AGM and news that other buildings are considering similar policies, has angered many animal-lovers.</p> <p dir="ltr">Emma Hurst, an Animal Justice Party MP who helped create the pet-friendly legislation, said she is raising concerns about Ms Dawson’s case and pushing for additional regulation.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It is outrageous that strata schemes are attempting to charge huge bonds and application fees in what appears to be an attempt to stop people having an animal in their home,” she said. “It clearly goes against the spirit of the recent changes to strata laws championed by our party.</p> <p dir="ltr">“These were designed to ensure stata complexes are animal-friendly but this is a blatant attempt to get around the new laws, and effectively block people from sharing their home with an animal by making it financially prohibitive. This affects the ability for families to rescue animals in pounds, or for victims of domestic and family violence to seek new accomodation with their companion animals.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Having recently published a review of state strata law, the NSW government has said it has “become aware of some practices that may defeat the purpose of the reforms and produce unjust outcomes”.</p> <p dir="ltr">It has recommended that its Department of Customer Service continues to monitor the use of the new pet-friendly laws to “determine whether further legislative change is necessary” to prevent unfair outcomes.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Real Estate

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Customer shocked by exorbitant service fee

<p dir="ltr">One customer was taken by surprise after dining at Salt Bae’s new London restaurant, when they were presented with the bill for $60,000 worth of food as well as a $9000 service fee.</p> <p dir="ltr">Salt Bae, whose real name is Nusret Gökçe, recently opened a new restaurant in the ritzy London neighbourhood of Knightsbridge. Diners at the establishment can expect to spend a pretty penny, including $1500 for a tomahawk steak and $55 for fries, but one diner wasn’t expecting a 15% service fee when they were presented with the bill.</p> <p dir="ltr">In addition to the exxy food and drinks, including $18,000 wine, the bill came with a 15% service charge, working out to £4829.10 on top of the £32,194 bill. That’s a charge of about $8933 on top of a $59,327 meal.</p> <p dir="ltr"><img style="width: 434.5156889495225px; height: 500px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7844861/https___prodstatic9net.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/47ad6063eed94bab9aaef210baf96b52" /></p> <p dir="ltr">The customer shared a photo of the cheque on Snapchat with the caption, “That’s just taking the p*ss”, and the image quickly went viral online, with many wondering how any meal could be worth those kinds of prices.</p> <p dir="ltr">Many critics say Salt Bae is overstepping his markups, which include charging $33 for asparagus and $20 for Red Bull, while others believe the prices, including the service fee, are justified considering the quality of the food and the potential to see Salt Bae do his thing.</p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CUTA32OsX6x/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CUTA32OsX6x/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Nusr_et#Saltbae (@nusr_et)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Gökçe originally went viral in 2017 with a video of him sprinkling salt onto a meal getting over 10 million views. He now has almost 40 million followers on Instagram, and his videos of him doing his thing in the kitchen regularly get over 5 million views.</p> <p dir="ltr">With the opening of his London restaurant, Gökçe now owns luxury steakhouses in Miami, New York, Boston, Dallas, and Beverly Hills in the United States; Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates; Ankara, Bodrum, Istanbul and Marmaris in Turkey; and Mykonos, Doha, London and Jeddah.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Laurent Koffel/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images</em></p>

Food & Wine

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