We had great hopes for the Dole plantation on Oahu, being great fans of their pineapple soft serve. Alas, it was a pure tourist trap.

The train ride was the only good part: the soothing sounds of the engine combined with the rocking and the outdoor breeze led to the best nap I’ve ever had.

These signs work for raising awareness as much as they do for prevention. Case in point: we were half an hour too late to see those sea turtle eggs being deposited, so the next few mornings we were up even earlier for our morning walks hoping to catch another nesting. Without any luck, of course.

A perfect sunny day in the Windy City, which may not be called “Windy” for the reason you think.

The foliage may not be the prettiest, but the that cherry is a thing of beauty. At Green World Coffee Farm on Oahu last October.

April is here, and so starts the season of family travel! Two years ago this month we visited Epcot for spring break, saw this plush toy and realized that between the name and the September birthday Doraemon closely resembles a junior member of our family.

The latest walkalogue from Chris Arnade confirms what I have already suspected to be the case: that Belgium is the promised country, and that the area around Antwerp in particular is where I would want to be if I were still in Europe.

On a sadder note, it seems that Brussels is the capital not only of the European Union but also of McEurope, and is to be avoided.

One day spent in Miami and after a few encounters at stores, restaurants, cafes, etc. it is with some sadness that I have to report that I am most definitely not made for these climates. How does any work get done with so much waiting in line while the cashier is chatting to the customer in front?

A friend asked me this morning whether Apple Vision Pro is a good enough substitute for business class airplane tickets.

The short answer is: no, especially not on red-eye flights. It will never be able to substitute the ability to lay down flat and actually have a good night’s rest. The “no” is more qualified for daytime trips. If you weren’t planning on sleeping anyway, you would probably be able to do a lot more on your Mac with an AVP in economy than without one in first class. That qualified “no” turns into a qualified “yes” for shorter flights in business class — say, American coast-to-coast — where you don’t even have the option of laying down flat and even if you did there isn’t much time for sleep even on a red-eye.

Keep in mind that a cross-Atlantic business class ticket is more than twice the cost of an AVP, and once you spend the money on it it’s all gone. You get to keep the AVP, and even use it on land. Ben Thompson has made this point several times on Dithering, and even had an episode called Vision Pro on a Plane. He also noted that the number of people able to afford AVP but still regularly fly economy is small, but not zero. I can confirm, as I am one of those people: I have taken more flights in the first two months of this year than all of last year, and will take many more in the months to come, so the investment was worthwhile. Your own milage may vary.

P.S. I can confirm that you can charge AVP while in use. The battery seems to have been designed for that very purpose, since the UCB-C charging port is on the same side as the cable going to the headset so that you can have two cables on the same side of the battery while it’s in your pocket. And even economy seats have power outlets these days, unless it is a very short flight where battery life wouldn’t even be an issue.

P.P.S. A great thing about AVP is that it isn’t a large electronic device, so you don’t have to put it away during takeoff and landing. In fact, an interesting use case would be for people afraid of flying. I imagine the fear is elevated during takeoff and landing, and wouldn’t it be nice if they could watch a movie at Joshua Tree instead?

P.P.P.S. If you are to bring an AVP onto a plane for purposes of entertainment, one thing to remember is pre-downloading things you are going to watch. It is amazing that we can text and surf the web while flying, but in-flight internet is bad for anything else.

A proper paella, with a thin layer of short grain rice. Seafood instead of the original Valenciana since I’m not a fan of snails, but I’ll have to try it next time.

Flaneuring in Valencia. It’s my first time back in Europe in 7 years and as much as I like DC, living there kind of made me forget what a proper city can look like.