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Photo: ATM queue in Dublin downtown
Why are there plenty of ATMs in Dublin, still constant queues at all of them?
Why there are so few ATMs in Dar es Salaam, still no queue waiting at them ever?
My observation:
Interestingly, people in Dublin don't like to use their bank cards for paying for goods. They like to use cash. However, they don't like to carry cash. They like to carry bank cards. So when they need to buy something, they take a small cash amount out from an ATM, and then make the purchase using that cash, left only with the bank cards and no cash again.
Photo: train ride with food merchant in central India
Do you prefer to go by rail, or to fly? At which distance does your preference flip to flying? 200km, 500km, 800km, 1200km, 1500+km? What is the distance at which flying and train takes the same time? In west-EU or Japan vs. east-EU or India? How about comfort? Taking all the airport hassles, security regulations into account, where does Ryanair's comfort degree compare to TGV's?
Legislation, regulation can impact the above preferences hugely.
After a decade of cheap and worsening quality flights in Europe, maybe the continent is ready for a soon to be liberalized rail market?
It will be interesting to look at the continental travel landscape in 2020:
- what increased competition did to rail travel quality, prices, choice
- what the expanded, fast rail tracks did to travel times between European cities
- how the source for electricity to feed this system shifted from fossil to renewables
- how all the above together with raising fuel costs stole millions of passengers from flying to rail, and how that impacted air travel prices
Photo: man 'mounting' his compact digital camera to a tree as a makeshift tripod, in downtown Dublin, for an evening shot of a statue.
Photo: people in transit sleep at the Dubai airport Terminal 3.
What is accepted at airports versus other places in terms of what we do to create intimacy, privacy in public?
Also, the shared situation of waiting for a plane that raises the basic level of trust we have for strangers. What are the levels you can expect from others around you in airports versus other places in terms of trust, tolerance, good will?
Photo: henna tattoo catalog at a street artist and the end result in comparison. Stonetown, Zanzibar, Tanzania.
This cashier drawer left empty and open for the night, well visible (even specially lit) from the street.
A sort of information service provided for non-customers.
