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rankourabu

The Isreal post really nails how he really hasnt travelled anywhere even though he has been many places.....

AAExPlat

Yup. Taxi driver as a tour guide. Lol.

CodeAdam10

He was with his parents and someone offered him ease / comfort through their travels and he went for it. I don’t think he was able to properly emphasize (in his blog post) that he believed the driver would just take them from Point A to B to C to D without causing the unnecessary situations or ultimately overriding what sites they had wanted to visit. Sure, it was a gullible moment — and he shouldn’t have tipped after being insulted — but it can happen. This is generally a problem with those who are genuinely good hearted people and expect the best from others. Now I don’t know Lucky personally nor have I ever met the guy, but yes, his fault is that he generally expects the best from others and is sometimes left surprised. Which is what happened here IMO.

MCIUnitedGuy

Come on. I think a lot of the ire directed at him in this thread is over the top, but accepting a "tour" from a taxi driver in the Middle East because he expects the "best from others"? Would you say the same thing if he accepted a drink from random "new friend" in Istanbul? That sort of thinking can get you in trouble almost anywhere in the world. An experienced traveler who is selling his expertise to a large audience really should know better.

Also, "ease and comfort" are almost never available at a steep discount. (Unless you book ex-CAI or get in on one of those airline "flash sales" HURRY!)

kokonutz

I don't know a single person whom I consider to be a 'traveler' who would find him or herself in this situation. Which was the point made: "he really hasnt travelled anywhere even though he has been many places....."

As noted many times in this thread, Ben's utility is in photos and descriptions of premium airplane cabins and western chain hotels, not is his travel advice nor experiences which are almost always cringe-worthy.

And that's fine. He doesn't have to be good at everything to be useful. ^

84fiero

It was a newbie mistake for someone who has traveled so much. Caveat emptor. Still, I don't think he should have felt bad for speaking up to the driver. Chalk it up to a lesson learned for Ben for next time and hopefully to some of his readers as well.

JonNYC

Still sounds like non-indifferent jealousy to me.

GUWonder

I have known this kind of thing to happen to people who have even traveled rather extensively in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia on their own and are anything but naive.

I'm not born yesterday, but even I've been taken along for a ride by a driver in places where my suspicion level has been rather high.

His experience on that trip seems to be travel advice of a sort: beware of being taken for a ride by tour guides/taxi drivers -- no matter how experienced.

rankourabu

And tip them after

GUWonder

After being taken for a ride of sort, I did tip a group of crooked landside, self-appointed arrival baggage handlers working with a crooked prepaid taxi driver; I tipped some outdated foreign currency notes with no value at any bank. My way of buying my way out of the situation and getting the last laugh with a ride out of it.

kokonutz

Sure. Happened to Ben and he has ‘traveled extensively’.

Except he hasnt ‘traveled’ At all.

ymmv, as they say.

GUWonder

Some may say that latter part applies to everyone posting in this thread, but then we are back at an example of people throwing stones from glass houses without even “knowing” that they haven’t “traveled at all”.

Would you say an impoverished Rohingya refugee on his only international trip fleeing Myanmar on foot without any ID to try to save himself and a nine year old little sister from being a repeat rape victim at the “hands” of the Myanmar “security” forces has “traveled extensively” or “not at all”? By that measure as a comparison, I would say that I have not traveled.at all. And yet if I told FBI I hadn’t traveled at all, you can bet that such answer would make me vulnerable to prosecution.

kokonutz

I have no idea how to respond to this other than to say perhaps you should try your hand at a Points and miles blog. Your analysis would fit in quite well at Boarding Area!

maybe it it will help if I clarify: with experience comes wisdom. Things like where when and how to change money in various countries without getting ripped offf. How to find accommodations outside of western chain hotels without getting ripped off. And yes, how to see a place and get around without getting ripped off. And also what to do if one finds oneself Getting ripped off. .

That post demonstrates a lack of wisdom which comes from a lack of experience. Just like his Cuba Post demonstrated. It’s a pattern: take Ben out of the premium cabin to western hotel back to the premium cabin routine and you get away from his area of expertise and get to see him make rookie mistakes.

thats all.

GUWonder

I find the market for miles/points bloggers to be rather saturated, and it really is not my cup of tea. For me as a reader, the blog market in this space was more interesting several years ago. But in this regard, I've got way more in common with you than with OMAAT and the other FT-spawned bloggers.

OMAAT was never really all that interesting to me, but I couldn't but be amused and satisfied by a rather young kid taking their hobby from FT and making it into a rather lucrative business venture that stays on the correct side of the law AFAIK and generated the blog/blogger a rather lucrative stream of money out of what had been the then-kid's hobby. Lot of significantly older adults who considered themselves to have "traveled extensively" and had FT as a base didn't consider monetizing their knowledge/resources and experiences. Not sure what that says about who is more naive or less.

With experience comes wisdom? I wouldn't be all that sure about that. More generally, with experience comes knowledge, not necessarily wisdom.

Rookie mistakes? I think we all make some of those. But not everyone has the confidence to expose themselves as not being perfect, even when not a rookie.

Let's make this a bit more simple: if the FBI, in the course of an investigation, asked you if OMAAT's founder had traveled extensively or not at all, what would you say?