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Meryl Streep is one of the most overrated actress there is. There is literally no difference between any role she does. Take 10 movies and cut random scenes from each movie and see them – you won’t know the difference between any and you’ll be forgiven for mixing up all of them. I have no idea why she has such a following.

I need to unlearn my photo taking habits. With camera advancements in last couple of years, the iPhone has become my de-facto camera on all my trips everywhere. But because its just with me all the time, coupled with no headache of space on it, I have become extremely trigger happy. The end result is after each trip I am left with thousands of photographs to sift through, with so many duplicates and triplicates of the same thing. I have major FOMO of not capturing something, but then when I look back after the trip is over I have zero interest in majority of the photos. So the qn for me is, how do I take *less* photographs, but ones that matter? How do I get over that FOMO feeling and decide that experiencing a place is enough, and the photo that I take must account for *something*. I dont how to unlearn my habits, but I know I need to! Any tips?

I honestly feel like the latest trends in having multiple recycling/trash bins based on type of material is idiotic – like where you see multiple bins, one for *waste*, one for *bottles*, one for *paper* and one for *compost* etc. This is such a low stake decision for majority of people that it ought to be simpler than this for people to actually listen. 90% of time people do not have the patience to sort out what goes where especially in a hurry. The result is every fucking place I have seen this multi-bin approach (airports, malls, etc), every one of them has trash in it negating the very purpose of putting them out in the first place. Keep it simple – trash, or recycling – people do not want to spend time on low stakes decisions. And yes, accept the fact that maybe you can only recycle bottles/cans but at least do them right instead of this wasted effort of every bin becoming trash anyway.

One of my small nit against *Oppenheimer* is Ludwig Goransson’s music. While watching the movie itself, his music overwhelms & absorbs you completely, and I think its music while *watching* movie on big screen contributes heavily towards how it impacts the viewer. However, that said, there is nothing memorable about its soundtrack. Unlike Zimmer’s work on *Interstellar* or *Inception*, Ludwig to me doesn’t bring that timeless quality of Zimmer to Nolan’s movie. A large part of *Oppenheimer*’s music in fact sounds very much like *Tenet* which was also done by him. I honestly wish Nolan went back to Zimmer for his movies, but seems unlikely.

*Oppenheimer* was very, very, very good. Nolan is just a master at story telling isnt he? Forget Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer, what a bravura performance as Strauss by Robert Downey Jr, ooff! He owns every scene he is in.

Finally watching Oppenheimer today and the non imax theater is full!

Domestic air travel is suffering it seems while international air travel is booming according to Airlines. Good! Who the fuck will want to travel domestically if they can travel international for almost the same prices these days? I as an American genuinely do not feel safe traveling to at least half the states within my own country, so yeah I’d rather travel internationally than pay out of my nose here and contribute to states that are so fucked up that people should think thrice to even consider going there (Yeah, I am looking at you Florida).

For our central Europe trip, we booked Le Meredian at both Munich (for one night) and Vienna, and IHG intercontinental at Budapest. At Innsbruck and Prague we booked boutique hotels, with Prague being a 5 star as a trip ender. Each of the big chain hotels were fantastic in their own ways. The room at Vienna was huge even by American standards and comfortable, while IHG had an amazing view of the Buda Castle with a comfortable sized room. Munich was great as well. At Vienna, the staff went out of their way to give us recommendations on things to do, tell us which places were overrated and where to get good coffee that locals went. At Budapest the hotel gave us nice chocolates and snacks on checking in.

The worst experiences? both the boutique hotels at Innsbruck and Prague, though the Innsbruck hotel made up for it. We booked a “triple” room at Innsbruck hotel, and when we checked in they told us they gave us a standard double because we didnt indicate 3 people. We were like why the F would we book a triple room if we were not three people to begin with, especially considering the room was more expensive! After a rude conversation with the hotel front desk, the staff came back and simply gave us a third room and comped it. The third room came super handy and staff then also ensured we had all we needed in terms of room.

At Prague however it was a different story all together. This was by far the worst 5 star I have stayed at and it was frustrating. To begin with, we booked their one bedroom suite with note that we had kids, and we also wanted rooms next to each other. We also told them we’d be checking in late and wanted a surprise champagne for our wives in room. Cue to checkin time, there is only one person manning the checkin counter and the dude had some serious attitude. First he was surprised we were three people and then he’s like yeah your rooms are floors apart and nothing can be done. We get to the room and find out there is no third bed for the kid. So we go down again to checkin and complain, at which point the front desk guy threw a fit and said ok he will set up the beds for us. After one hour, he finally shows up and makes the third bed, with much huffing & puffing and throwing a fit. I was like dude, fuck you, its a 5 star, I empathize this is not your job, but if you’ve been told to man the hotel shut the fuck up and do your job. Next up, our champagnes are left warm in the room and we are both like uh, what the F do we do with warm champagne bottles? It doesnt end here – the other family discovered a dirty towel in their bathroom which wasn’t changed. What did we get for all the complains we made? *Sorry, it shouldn’t have happened* by the manager and thats it. We of course made an official complaint against the night manager but something tells me nothing much will come of it.

This experience has basically affirmed that when in Europe, skip the boutiques and stick to the American hotel chains. You will be in much better hands, in much better accommodations and much better service.

I’ll say this about Americans: they are some of the most approachable people you can run into while traveling overseas. They are often the chattiest and will offer you help without you even asking; they’ll happily share (annoyingly also) whatever they know and more. Most of ’em will have no qualms starting and continuing a convo with you for a while. Next to them, Australians are another bunch of people with similar nature. Of course as a desi I wouldn’t have any problem talking to an Indian, but they are reserved, as are most Europeans. I’ll be honest – I love that about our countrymen and often find it so easy to just get information from a fellow American than anyone else coz they will have no problem sharing that info.