Introduction

As of writing, I have been traveling for 76 days, and it calls for a healthy amount of ranting. 

1. Supermarket bags

The plastic bags in the produce section of supermarkets that requires surgical precision to open and put stuff into.

2. People who snore

I remember one night in a hostel in Valencia, where, in particular, one roomie snored so loudly that it was audible through my earplugs. When he finally stopped, another roomie followed suit with equally loud snoring for almost an hour, meanwhile, everyone else in the room gave each other the look of “let's give him a budge and see if it stops”, which did not help!

3. FaceID

Half the time it's scanning your face it doesn't work. If you have the slightest facial expression or if you wear anything on your head FaceID gives up - which happens a lot when traveling and having your hands full.

4. The HBO MAX app 

First, the streaming service has changed its name a million times, and now it's just “MAX”, which sounds stupid and is annoying to search for when you're used to searching for HBO in the browser - and in the app search bar on your phone. Second point, the app has pop-up ads for other shows in the app and sometimes interrupts the start of an episode by showing a trailer for another show. Third point, sometimes when I want to watch downloaded content, the app refuses to show it unless I turn off Wifi and data - how dare I be online while watching a downloaded show! Lastly, the streaming service doesn't have the shows you expect considering Warner Bros (which includes DC Comics). Want to watch some old Batman movies? Too bad, they're stuck in some contractual restriction that makes it impossible to watch without pirating it.

5. Hotel keycards

It takes up space in your pocket, which I wouldn't mind if that was all of its inconvenience. But I have now experienced 3 times that the keycard has been “demagnetized” or otherwise lost its NFC encoding. I've been locked out of my dorm room at night on my way to the restroom and locked in a hallway because the card suddenly stopped working and unlocking doors. Fortunately, the hallway incident passed quickly when someone, who happened to be going the same way, opened the door from the other side. It turns out that certain kinds of keycards can lose their encoding by having them too close to electronics.

6. Oat milk cafes

Coffee shops that only offer oat milk (yes, they exist) piss me off. It's the kind of cafe that only offers vegan, non-dairy milk alternatives like rice, almond, and soy. It's likely with good intentions that some cafes use Oatly exclusively, but oat milk tastes bland, has less nutritional content, and fucks with blood sugar.

7. Crappy air fresheners

It's always the poorly kept bathrooms in hotels or public places that have cheap and chemical-smelling air fresheners. As you might expect, the potent perfume smell mixes with the toilet smell and creates a new stench I call like to call tropical fart.

8. Guided tour groups

If you see them, it's already too late. They always walk around in large groups, filling narrow streets or hallways. They are probably the places you want to see, so don't expect to navigate around them.