An Oscar-winning Travel Movie

There were plenty of surprises at the Academy Awards, but A Real Pain from Jesse Eisenberg had already pulled in BAFTA and Critic’s Choice trophies before Kieran Calkin got the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. On the surface, it’s a story about two cousins going on an organized Jewish remembrance tour of Poland and we travel along with them. Of course the real story is the family history and personality dynamic between the two characters and how it plays out with the guide and other group participants. I watched it on a Delta flight and highly recommend it, streaming available on Prime and Hulu according to IMDB.

Apply and Pay an Extra $12.50 to Visit the UK

Our co-founder Kevin Kelly reminded me that the Electronic Travel Authorization to visit the UK is in place already for non-EU citizens since he had to apply for one recently. Since the UK is no longer in the EU, European visitors will soon have to cough up extra money too: 10 British pounds, as of April 8. Despite this process feeling just like getting a visa, the government insists that “An ETA is not a visa, it is a digital permission to travel.” This seems like a minor semantic difference when “it is still recommended to allow up to 3 working days.”

Wi-Fi on the Big 3 U.S. Airlines

I had surprisingly good free Wi-Fi on my most recent U.S. flights from Delta and United. On Delta I just needed to log in with my loyalty account info, on United with my T-Mobile info. One of these days American Airlines will join them, but right now they’re just trying it on three routes. “The airline emphasized that the free WiFi is only in the testing phase right now and did not say when or if it will expand the complimentary service to wider parts of its network.” Meanwhile, a flight of theirs got delayed for hours last month when a passenger named their phone’s WiFi hotspot “I have a bomb.”

Searches Without AI

It’s no secret that Google’s search results have deteriorated badly the past couple of years, partly because of advancing their own ad interests above everything and partly due to favoring AI results over researched articles from real experts. You’ll get a lot less of both from making Duck Duck Go your default search engine (with less invasive tracking too), but if you want more human results from Google or Bing, you can put “-AI” at the end of your query—a shortcut for “minus artificial intelligence.” Apparently swearing in your query works too, though I haven’t tested that.

A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.

03/13/25