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Horse Racing Tips (FREE) Today's Best Bets (£31,358 Profit
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Achievement Tip Masterpost
LONGEVITY Complete a LifeComplete a full life All you have to do for this one is die. You probably have it by now, but if you're super attached to your first Bitizen, you can always save your Bitlife and play somebody else wastefully or hold out until they pass. OctogenarianSee your 80th birthdayNonagenarian90th birthdayCentenarian100th birthdaySuper-centarian110th birthdayMega-centarian120th birthday Get on a healthy diet and garden and meditate twice a year. I like Nutrisystem. It's expensive, but I have advice for managing that below... Strong GenesAchieve a 500-year generationLong Lineage1000-year generationLiving Legacy5000-year generation Never don't have kids. I like leaving everything to the youngest child and playing as them, but that won't make your kids happy with you or your heir. Your call. Either way, it helps to have a couple Bitlifes going in case you get tired of living carefully. Sometimes you're gonna want to be more reckless, you know? WEALTH MillionaireBecome a millionaireMy Second MillionAchieve a net worth of $2m Now that we have Royalty and Sports, this is a lot easier. Traditionally, if you're hot (95%+), drop out of high school and get your GED ($1k, you can do that in a couple years of dog walking/freelance gigs) and wait for a singer or actor career. If not, work hard in school and go to the gym often. Check your parents' stats and if they're generous make sure you pass your drivers test (maybe even ask if you can get a nicer one! immediately sell your car, they lose value fast) and take a martial art. It's much cheaper if they pay for it ($1K per tier in some countries) and gets you in good shape. If you're athletic, grind at a sport from middle school onwards. If you're not, try some athletic-adjacent clubs and go to the gym and for walks often. Pets count as additional walks which you can take from age 8+. When you're in good shape you can get a soccer scholarship (which can become a/)or a professional sports contract. More sports tips below, same with other careers. Basically try to get famous, not through politics. Or be hot and marry rich/have rich parents who die/be royal. MultimillionaireAchieve a net worth of $10mRichNet worth of $20mSuper RichNet worth of $50mStinking RichNet worth of $100m Get a couple million first, then invest it in real estate. Or do ads if you're famous and it won't ruin your career. Helps to be big on social media for influence on that stuff. Fix up 1M+ houses and flip them when they've hit a value of 2 or 3 million. If you've got great karma or you're a religious figure of some kind, exorcise some mansions. You can do it all that way, or keep grinding careers. BitionaireAchieve a net worth of $1b It's hard to get here from 0. Helps to leave everything to your youngest kid before you die after living a long, fruitful life. You can let your kid "take over" your assets at any time without tax now, that's the best way to do it. Then as soon as they're 18 make them famous/invest in real estate and repeat. CAREER ActorBecome an actor Be hot. You can drop out at 16 and get your GED for $1k (ask your parents for money or do freelance gigs for a couple of years). If you're not, go to the gym and for walks often. Pets count as additional walks which you can take from age 8+. Grind at a sport in school if you can to keep your health well and get plastic surgery at 18. Generally if your appearance stats are low it's either a nose job or liposuction that will fix it. Always go to the best plastic surgeon. Marry rich if you have to or work for a couple years if you have to, but start the career as soon as you can. Always work 5 more hours a week than required and compliment your supervisor if their coolness is high. Sleep with people in Hollywood (bosses coworkers etc). Your spouse/parent will generally be mad if you're in rude magazines, so hold off on dating unless they're cool or make them deal with it. Airplane PilotBecome an airline captain Grind in school and keep your mental health well. No drugs but drink if you feel like it, just make sure you can go to AA or whatever. Always work 5 more hours a week than required and compliment your supervisor if their coolness is high. If you're rich and you've inherited an airplane or you can afford lessons, take them. Go to University for a science thing that isn't biology lol. Start your Pilot Apprentice job. At Inner PeaceWork 75 years as a monk Follow my longevity tips above and don't party or drink or do drugs. Always be honest. Meditate. Don't date. CandywriterWork for Bitlife Be born in Tampa, United States. Go to university for Information Systems. You'll get the achievement right away when you're hired. CEOBecome a CEO Go to school for Finance. Get a job. Work hard every year. DentistBecome a dentist Go to university for biology, then dental school. Work hard every year. DoctorBecome a doctor Go to university for biology, then medical school. Work hard every year. Fire ChiefBecome a fire chief Stay in good shape. Work hard every year. Jack Of All TradesHave 10 careers in one life Work at retail and food service jobs for less than a year, then go to university to get even more opportunities. Keep going for different paths. JudgeBecome a judgeLawyerBecome a lawyer Go to school for english. Go to law school. Work hard every year. Last ResortSeduce your boss to save your job Be hot. Work fewer hours than required at your job. Make sure your supervisor is attracted to your gender and low professionalism. When your boss tries to fire you, seduce them. People Person Start with your less popular coworkers and work your way up. Pay attention to their stats so you know what they want. Get hard-to-get people with Bitlife Bitizenships ($5). Combat Armed & DangerousKill someone with a learned martial art move Get to the top level of a martial art, (especially in prison) pick someone old to attack. Start a fight with them. Midieval AttackGet attacked with a midieval weapon Kinda chance. Just keep picking fights. You can get into a lot of fights if you're rude at nightclubs or to people on the street. Sometimes if you attack your loved ones or enemies with a weapon they'll kill you with a sword or something. No GrasshopperEarn the top belt in a martial art Each martial art has 10 tiers. They can cost $1k+ if you're an adult so if you've got generous parents take advantage. Sensei SanEarn the top belt in every martial art Have health above 50% when you take a martial arts lesson. Follow above tips. Parents will probably only pay for one set of lessons, so pay for the other arts yourself as an adult. At $10k per martial art, it will probably cost you $40k-$50k. Disease AddictedSustain 3 addictions at once Play Blackjack or go to the horse races often with mid-tier mental health. Get addicted to pills or some other hard non-psychedelic drugs. Start drinking last b/c it'll kill your health. Try not to let your Bitizen get depressed or you might die, lol. All addiction is dangerous so it may take a few tries. Bubonic PlagueContract the bubonic plague Have low health and luck out. I got it in the UK. Foam at the MouthContract rabies Try to take home every wild animal you see. One might bite you. If you succeed, take it to the vet. If it doesn't have rabies, release it. If it does, don't treat it! Take it home and bathe it until it bites you. SicklyContract 10 diseases in one life Best if you're not vaccinated, but just have mid-tier health and be really social. All afflictions count. Successful RehabHave rehab cured at a rehab center Go to fancy rehab if you can afford it. Do it from your military deployment to go AWOL. WitchcraftGet cured of a disease by the witch doctor Eye of newt and cow tongue are iffy. Always start with health at 100. They've fixed cancer and sickle cell for me. Entertainment BitBoiWatch Bijuu Mike on YouTubeBTS ARMYGo to a BTS concert Keep asking friends to watch YouTube/go to concerts every year until you get those options. Movie JunkieGo to 5 movies in one lifeMoviegoerGo to a movie Go to the movies every year. It's good for your relationship if you go with somebody. Fame Brightest StarAchieve maximum fame Actor, model, writer, athlete career path. Keep doing every bonus thing (talk shows, books, pose nude, commercials) and verify on social media. CenterfoldPose for Wank magazine Agree to pose nude every time until you get it. I think this one has women mostly but I can't remember. EndorserGet paid $2m for a commercial Easy if you're a high paid actor or model doing an international commercial. K-PopBecome a famous Korean singer See my wealth advice. Follow it with the "background singer" career and start in Korea. Fertility DNA DonorMake 25 sperm donations in one life This one is hard b/c you can only do it once a year and only until a certain age. So start at 18 and don't stop. I think you have to be American. Maybe UK and Canada too? Not legal everywhere. Try not to miss a year. Fabulously FertileHave 10 children in one lifeFertile MyrtleMother 25 children in one life Meditate every year. Start at 18. You have to be cis. Eat healthy and exercise. Get boyfriends and have unprotected sex with them so you don't get STDs. You can be a mother up until like 51 if you're healthy and lucky. Keep having sex until you get pregnant. Smart SeedGet artificially inseminated with lawyer sperm Start at 18. You have to be cis. Be fertile (tips above). Keep pulling up the option to get artificially inseminated until a lawyer comes up. Don't listen to your partner if they don't want you to do it LOL. Super SpermHave 100 children in one life Be a cis dude. Meditate. Be handsome. Have a million girlfriends. Use the dating app to keep dating young women. Don't abandon any kids but leave girlfriends as soon as they're pregnant. Hire every surrogate that will take you if it's legal. Sue them for the max ($200k) if they bail (not miscarry). Three's CompanyHave triplets Sometimes this happens if you're a dude with luck or while you're doing Super Sperm. Sometimes if you're a woman it's luck too or when you do IVF with your partner's sperm or other artificial insemination. Military Career MilitaryServe your full career in the military Tips for staying alive below. Retire as soon as you can. GeneralAchieve the rank of general in the military Be a good Army person. Grind at work like 5x a year. Keep in shape. Be nice to your seargeant. AdmiralReach the rank of admiral in the military Be a good Navy person. Grind at work like 5x a year. Keep in shape. Be nice to your seargeant. Absent Without LeaveGo AWOL in the military Be deployed with an addiction and check into rehab. Whoops. ExcavatorClear 10 minefields Be deployed, and use a minesweeper solver to not die if you suck at minesweeper. Pet Adopt Don't ShopRescue every pet in the shelter You gotta have a few houses. Then you're good. You gotta do it all in one year so have like a lot of houses. Like 5 at least. Tips for getting rich above. Horsing AroundOwn 50 horses in one life You gotta have a bunch of ranches. Buy a few horses a year. Tips for getting rich above. Just Keep SwimmingBuy a goldfish and release it. You can do this one as a kid too if your parent gets you a goldfish. Natural SelectionRescue every pet in the shelter This one took forever. Just keep buying dangerous exotic pets and rescuing every dangerous animal you see. It's luck. No ProbllamaBuy a Llama Buy a ranch in Afghanistan. Go pet shopping. Prison AftermathEscape prison in a riotInstigatorPrison riot Get good at Snake. Keep rioting. Works best in low security. Takes a couple tries, kind of luck. Behind BarsSpend 50 years in prisonTrue Lifer75 years in prison Do a murder in a country without the death penalty (Canada). Murder with full health at 18. Get a prison job. Meditate and work out every year. Keep your head down. Try half-heartedly to escape every once in a while so you don't accidentally get parole or something. But if you get out you can always go back. Rob a bank or something. But keep your health and behaviour up in case you get sick and need to go to the infirmary. GangstaJoin a prison gang Go to a medium or higher security prison. InmatingGet a lover pregnant on a conjugal visit Be a cis man with high fertility. Have a good relationship (80%+) with an 18 year old cis woman. Make sure she isn't on birth control. Do a small crime, get a prison job, and meditate. Request a conjugal visit. JusticeGet freed from prison by appeal Be rich. Wait a couple years after you're sentenced for something non-violent. Mercy MeGet granted clemency Be a nun or a monk for 50+ years. Don't retire. Do a murder. Get a prison job. Meditate, work out, go to the library, and write letters to home. You won't know until the year you're scheduled to die, so hold on. Midnight ExpressGet sentenced to Turkish prison Be born in Turkey. Do a crime. TheseusEscape a supermax prison There are a ton of Bitlife prison guides. Do a murder and escape from death row. Royalty ExecutionerExecute 5 people Be king. Or queen. Top dog, either way. It helps to have enemies or friends to make enemies. MarkleMarry into the royal family Be a commoner in a country with royals. Be cute. Go on lots of dates. It'll pop up and be part of their name. They could be a viscount or whatever, no member of the royal family is too far removed. MonarchBecome a monarch Start as prince or princess and inherit the throne. NapoleonGet exiled to a distant land Keep executing people. And do a bunch of disservice. Reign Over UsReign as monarch for 100 years In a country where Prince/Princess is top monarch or where your king/queen parents are low health/dying, keep your health up until you're a super-centarian (see above). Sports CantonGet inducted into the football hall of fame Be a great football player. Be famous. Play as long as you can. Keep being famous after football as long as you can. I stopped being famous at 40 and got inducted at 60. ChristianoWin the Ballon d'Or Be a European soccer player. Keep winning championships (see below). Full RideWin an athletic scholarship Start playing sports in middle school. Become captain of at least one team with a pro league. GiggsyWin 13 career championships You can train each stat up twice in a turn if you trade teams, but you'll lose respect, so pick your moments. Grind your whole life. Keep going to the gym. Trade teams when you guys start losing. Stay on top. HookerYell at a leopard Try out for professional rugby with high athletic stats. Choose Hooker as your position. LanceWin a championship while doping It's safest to dope the year after a drug test. Try it for your second or third championship. Real Estate House HunterMake $2m from flipping a house Buy a $2m house. Leave it to your kid. Sell it. See above. Mansion PartyThrow a party in a mansionReal Estate MogulPurchase real estate worth $10m combinedTrailer PartyParty in a trailer Pretty straight forward. If you're broke start with the trailer party. Then buy mansions. Advice for getting rich above. School Brothers ForeverGet hired by a frat brother Be a jock. See sports advice above. When you're in two sports at university, compliment the jocks' leader. Be good looking (plastic surgery if needed, see above) and google the answer to the question if you need it. Google high-level frats and pick one. Then when you get hired after school one of them might hire you! Earning that ASeduce your teacher Be really attractive and compliment your teachers who are attracted to people of your gender. Take the opportunity to sleep with them if it arises. Naughty ChildGet expelled from school Be rude as hell to the principal/headmastedean Swimming Star Start swimming as young as you can and stay in shape. "Work harder" every year. Social Media Social MediaJoin social mediaSocial Media SharerPostSocial Media OversharerPost 5 timesSocial Media StarGet a million followersCheck!Get verified Join all social media platforms at 13. Be pretty and keep posting. Follow above advice to get famous in any public career to get more followers. Start with Instagram for verification around 100k. By the time you're a lead actosupermodel/etc you'll have 1m followers. Vehicle AntiquedKeep a car running for 200 years. Buy a brand new car. Do maintenance twice a year. Pass it on to your kid (18+) and repeat. Car collectorAssemble a car collection worth $1mLamboBuy a Lamborghini Buy a lambo and a bunch of other fancy cars. Who cares. See advice above for money. Not The Yellow OneBuy a submarine You need $5b for this to show up reliably. Titanic TroubleRun into trouble on a yacht Have a shitty yacht or shitty luck. Go for a bunch of rides. Animal Animal RescueRescue an animal Helps to have 100% smarts. Read childrens books so you don't have to tap too many pages. It'll only take two or three. Deaf LeapordYell at a leopard Buy a leopard from the exotic animals dealer and yell at it when it misbehaves. Gorilla and the FistGet decapitated by a gorilla I had to buy so many gorillas from the exotic animals dealer to get one crazy enough to decapitate me. Just keep bathing it and letting it attack you every year until it kills you. UnicornFind a unicorn Go for like 10 walks a year. Have good karma. Hungry Hippo !!! NEEDED !!! Apparently Egypt is good for this. Lion Tamer !!! NEEDED !!! Apparently Kenya is good for this. Crime Balcony BuccaneerSteal 100 packages in one life It's a lot easier to avoid punishment by wielding your title if you're a monarch. This one took me ages as a civiliian. BurglarBurgle 25 homes in one life Play Snake well Cold KillerKill 10 people in one lifeSerial KillerKill 25 people Start with random homeless people. If you're a royal exert your title to avoid punishment. Keep buying your way out of prison as long as you can. Then start killing other prisoners, start with the oldest and work your way down to the strongest ones. Work out and meditate every year. Pay guards for protection if you can but you probably won't be fucked with if you keep strong and murderous. DillingerRob 5 banks in one life If you're royal you'll get away with it. Make sure you have a getaway car either way. Clown mask/closest equivalent and handgun/closest equivalent work best. Scare to DeathScare someone to death Do a murder but pick scare to death. Works best if they're old. Bugatti Bandit !!! NEEDED !!! Going Anywhere !!! NEEDED !!! LOVE Black WidowWidow 5 husbands in one life Start using the dating app when you're 18 and go for old guys. Best if they don't have kids and if they're rich. Propose after you fuck when your relationship is at 100%. I like to be on birth control for this. Golden AnniversaryBe in a marriage for 50 yearsDiamond AnniversaryMarriage for 75 years Keep seeing movies together and fucking and complimenting each other. Cute as hell. Just marry young and try to both stay alive. Fake ItPropose successfully with a fake ring Works best if you're rich and they love you and they're dumb. Family PlannerConvince a lover to go off birth control Be a cis man. Be in a strong relationship with a cis woman. Ask her to go off birth control. Easiest if you're married to her. Maiden NamedMarry a man who takes your last name Marry a man and don't change your last name. Kind of a luck thing. Make sure your relationship is strong. MultigamistGet married 10 times in one life Pre-nups and widowing make this easier but do you. Love them and leave them. If you're a young guy it's really easy to get older women to agree to marry you. StudHave 100 lovers in a single life Hook up like crazy. Date all you can and fuck all of them. Use protection so you can stay alive. Wedding PlannerAgree to an arranged marriage I did this in India as a woman with wealthy, religious parents. Bejeweled !!! NEEDED !!! General All AlongHave a parent who comes out of the closet Could be luck. Or you can cheat it with a Bitizenship by making both parents gay and unreligious. BegoneExorcise your own ghost Be an exorcist. Buy a haunted house. Do what you do best. Booty CallHave a successful Brazillian butt lift Be healthy and have good karma. Use the best doctor. Cross your fingers. They still only work 1/3 of the time. Cliff DiverGo cliff divingHeroSave someone's lifePlayer PerksAccept a casino's hospitality offerSnake SnackEat a snakeZAP!Get struck by lightning Random event Dignified DonorDonate a 1m+ heirloom to charity Get your heirloom every day. Appraise it. Donate the first $1m+ one you get. Flamin' HotSurvive 60 years on a Hot Cheetos diet Get liposuction every couple of years and work out and walk a lot. Have no other conditions. Do your best. Get pets for more walks. Garden. Try to survive. Start at 18. Flee the CountryEmigrate to escape justice Escape prison and emigrate FrankensteinSurvive 5 botched plastic surgeries Keep going to the bad doctor. Go for risky procedures like butt lifts. Space them out to get your health back up. Goat GrabberJoin a goat grabbing team Be athletic and join a goat grabbing team at school in Afghanistan Human DictionaryRead the dictionary So much tapping. But eventually it will show up in your books. Be strong. HyperthymesiaScore 20 sequences on the memory test The worst part of Bitlife. I did this one by writing 1,2,3 or 4 on a piece of paper according to which # square lit up with my right hand and doing the puzzle on my phone with my left hand. Still took like 5 tries and was really frustrating. Take breaks and come back with a clear head. JackpotWin the lottery jackpot Keep your karma high and buy 10 tickets 5 times a year. You'll get it eventually. LowrollerGet refused entry to a casino Bet more money than you have on Blackjack. Once you're out of prison, try to come back. They'll turn you away. NightmareWake up from a nightmare As a pilot, buy a terrible plane. When it crashes, accept your doom. You might wake up. ParanightmareContract PTSD after a paranormal experience Try to have bad mental and good physical health (a hard balance. Try gardening, dieting, and fighting with friends or loved ones) and then try to exorcise stubborn ghosts. PerfectionAchieve perfect stats Pretty easy. Work out, get plastic surgery (lipo or nose job to start) and go for walks, read children's books (3 should get you to 100%) and go to the movies or on vacation. Rich JusticeWin a $1m+ lawsuit Get fired from a really high paying job like CEO and win your lawsuit. Run Bitizen!Win a bet on BitizenThere's Always CanadaEmigrate to CanadaWinnipeg, Eh?Visit Winnipeg Wait until it pops up as an option Say Goodbye To HollywoodGet deported from the United States Move to the U.S. without permission. Get caught doing a minor crime. SkeezyGet called "skeezy" Be an asshole at nightclubs and in the streets. Fight with your friends and coworkers, insult them and start rumours. SweepstakesWin the sweepstakes Set it up on a day where you'll be by your phone. Sign up every time you can. Try & Stop MeViolate a restraining order Stalk your ex. Do it again after they file a restraining order. Ultimate BetrayalYour spouse leaves you following a gender reassignment Have a terrible relationship with your heterosexual spouse. Get gender reassignment surgery. UnethicalBribe a college official Be rich and have dumb kids. Roswell !!! NEEDED !!! Sacrilege !!! NEEDED !!!
[REVIEW] My quest for the best true wireless earbuds under $50
Long story short, I went with the Soundpeats Trueshift 2. The wingtips keep them snug in the ear with little chance of falling out, the case rarely needs recharging, the lid is translucent so you can see the battery indicator and check both buds are charging properly, they’re IPX7 water resistant and the sound, while not the best, is nice and bassy. I haven’t tried the Fiil T1X, and they don’t seem to be available in the UK. Even if they were, I think I’ve bought enough TWS for 5 years. Greetings. Before I begin, I’ll talk about my earbud history. Skip the first 2 paragraphs to get onto the review. My first serious earbuds were the Sennheiser CX870. Then I got the IE80. Afterwards, I moved smaller in scope, going from the Soundmagic E10 to the E11C. I was scared of carrying around expensive earbuds, especially ones with removable cables. While they kept my IE80 alive longer than expected (although at the cost of sound quality, as I got 3rd party cables), I was scared that one day they’d get trapped in a door, and a lucky bystander would walk away with a £100 bud to use or sell. At least if the cables were soldered, they’d lose all value. While my E11C were under repair, I went cheaper and cheaper, even using the OEM buds that came with phones. When they came back, I thought about the days I spent without them. Did I want to continue using cables? I had a Oneplus 6, the last one to have a 3.5mm jack. My upgrade path was probably an S10, again the last mainline Samsung with one. Seeing the writing on the wall, I decided to check out the wireless gig, but at no more than £/$50.
These earbuds got returned almost immediately. I didn’t think it worth writing in-depth reviews of them.
Everything but the Mpow, Bomaker and Earfun use Micro-USB, and everything but the J29, Airdots, Trueengine and Earfun used touch controls. The cheapest recommended ones were the Veatool (J-Wack) J29, recommended by LTT in their 50 earbud shootout. The case is good, with a numerical indicator for the battery. Large eartips prevent them from charging, as it uses even smaller eartips that wrap round the body rather than stick out. These were the first buds I bought, and I was shocked. The GT1 Pro, Truedots II, Spunky Beat and Onyx Neo (Spunky Beat, but a worse case that tips over when open and lacks a lanyard, USB cable, and 4 light battery indicator) are constantly at a similar price. I know LTT gets crap from keyboard enthusiasts, but it seems they should add TWS to that pile. They felt like you’d expect cheap buds to feel; how a cable snob pictures cheap TWS to be. I considered settling, thinking this is as good as it gets without spending big bucks, and kept them for much longer than I should. They’re the equivalent of OEM, and shouldn’t even be in the same sentence as the products I’m about to list. Except maybe the Redmi (Xiaomi) Airdots. Having owned so many TWS, you start to notice similarities in the cases and buds. I believe Xiaomi owns QCY and Haylou, and they’re all coming out of the same factories. I think Soundpeats uses them too. Anyway, the Airdots are basically GT1s with buttons instead of touch controls. The case is tiny, which is awesome, but overall they don’t feel premium in the slightest. A higher bar than the J29, and at least from a brand you’ve heard of, I’d say they’re worth half what I paid, so £10. The Haylou GT1 Plus case was small but surprisingly heavy. It was quite clearly used, with stress on the box, fingerprints on the charging pin sticker, and dry earwax on the eartips, which unfortunately I didn’t notice until after I put them in. So yeah, anyone thinking they’re new because they’re shrink-wrapped, sorry to disappoint you. These were Kenneth Tanaka’s top pick, really? Above the Spunky Beat? The left earbud didn’t connect properly at first, and the sound was so bad, I thought they were fakes. The Taotronics were probably the worst. Yeah the Xiaomi, Veatool and Haylou were bad, but they had the decency to be cheap. These are £40, with sometimes £5, rarely £10 discounts. The box was very hard to open. It has the type of cardboard flap that’s pretty much impossible to open without bending, or showing signs of use. Of all the buds, these were in no-one’s top 10. The wingtips are useless, just hanging outside the ear. They and the Mpow M30 show that wingtips are not a guarantee of a good fit. It makes me worry about the Fiil T1X, which is out of stock in the UK. They sound lame, and the eartip stem looked kind of thick. Since they left a bad impression, I didn’t think it worth taking them off and trying the Mpow M5 tips. Like El-Jefe said, the Mpow M30 has noticeably worse sound than Mpow M5 (maybe it’s the codecs). The wingtips provide 0 support, even the biggest ones. It has a nice, small case, although only with a colour-changing LED for a battery indicator. I like how you can buy individual buds separately, but for a “sport” earbud, the Trueshift 2 is better. Not much more to say about them. The same goes for the Truedots II: very good contenders for £20-24, and make the J29 and others irrelevant. The case is tiny, and like the M5, they hang off the ear, being almost entirely supported by the eartips. You don’t need to worry about accidental taps because you double-tap to pause. But for the price, I think you can do better. In another world, they might have been top. The Trueengine SE had anaemic bass. Whatever the benefits of dual drivers were, I couldn't hear them here. They were big and bulky, used buttons, and the LEDs on them were a Christmas show. They were fairly expensive, although I regret not keeping them longer, to maybe see what all the hubbub was about the sound quality. I could’ve tried more tracks, but the best sounding earbuds didn’t need more than a few listens to assert their dominance. The Bomaker Sifi are Gamesky’s top pic of Top 10 True Wireless Earbuds Under $50. The Sifi II are better on paper, so they should smash it. IPX7, 7 hour battery life, small pill-shaped case. I find them overrated. They sometimes have a 10-20% discount, and at around £40 they were overpriced. The fit wasn’t great, with the rounded shape pushing themselves out of my ears every time I moved my jaw. This was exacerbated by their large size. The thin lid wasn’t the easiest to open, but by no means the worst. The eartips were notoriously hard to take off. The Earfun Free at £43 were the most expensive. I never saw them on discount, which the similarly priced Mpow, Trueshift and Bomaker were, even if small. The Keepa price history seems to agree. They have wireless charging, but I never tested it. I found the fit to be loose, wobbling while I walked. And they’re button powered, although they were by far the easiest to press. The Airdots and Mpow M5 had very stiff buttons, requiring a pinch-and-press. These ones were behind a membrane, so not much force is needed, although they pale in comparison to touch controls. Overall, they were just too expensive for their own good.
So what did I learn, when going into the top 5?
Frist, not all wingtips are made equal. The pointy ones on the Trueshift 2, which are replaceable, are better than short, flat ones on the M30 and Taotronics. However, they might dig into your ears, causing some discomfort. Still, that wears off after a few uses, and they’re a small trade-off for the rock-solid fit with little to no risk of falling out. Always check the different sizes. Second, a small case is preferable to a large one. A large case with a small battery just can’t justify itself. Small buds are also good. The less weight hanging off your ear, the more secure it is. Even better if it’s shaped to the contours of your ear. Plus, if you wear mufflers, big buds like the Trueshift 2 will get jammed into your ears. Third, TWS eartips have shorter stems than wired ones, owing to sitting deeper in the ear. Large eartips will push them out of a case and sometimes prevent them from charging, or the lid from closing. I tried the Spinfit CP360, which are eartips designed for TWS. While designed well, I only tested them on the Spunky Beat, Edifier and Trueshift 2. They need some teasing to pull them off, using string and a sharp plastic object. That’s the order from easiest to hardest to remove, and they’re pretty much stuck on the Trueshift 2 now. You see, they have a thin neck, which I’m worried will tear if I pull on them too hard. I only have 2 pairs. If I got one for £1, I’d risk pulling it off. Finally, touch controls are better than buttons. I don’t mind Micro-USB over C, but buttons are a deal breaker. The worst touch controls beat the best button. Multi-LED power indicators are also good. If I can give the Taotronics credit for something, it’s indicating that both buds are charging with the left and right LEDs on their 4-LED indicator, so you never seat them badly. So in 5 years, I know what to look for, and how to size up good earbuds from a distance. So onto the top 5:
In terms of sound quality: KZ Z1, Mpow M5, Spunky Beat, Trueshift 2, Edifier TWS1
After all this testing, you get ear fatigue. Like I said, it’s hard to tell what’s good, as they all kind of blend into each other after numerous A/B tests. I can tell you that the Z1 is objectively the loudest, followed by the Mpow M5. I think that’s also the order of audio quality too. The volume at ⅓ on the Z1 and ½ on the Mpow is already louder than the others at listenable volume. They both have a good seal, much better than the next two. The Spunky Beat has a nice bassy sound, with the Trueshift 2 being nice, but a little muddier. The fit is a strange one. Sometimes the Spunky Beat is very tight, but other times it has no grip at all. I think it depends on how dry my ears are, with them being a little more grippy when they’re the first ones tried on, and a little more slippery when they’re the last. The bass I get from them sounds more like an equaliser than an actually good driver, if that makes sense. Like they took a driver good for one thing, and tried to tune it to another. The Mpow and KZ sound better and more natural. The Trueshift 2 was a mixed bag. Sound is probably closer to the M30. While it’s good at hanging in your ear, that doesn’t mean the enormously wide tips will always position properly in it, so you might get some leakage, but nothing terrible. Oh the irony. An Edifier product is the worst sounding here. But that’s down to personal preference. The Edifiers are tuned for something else. Maybe mids or highs, but not bass. Pity, If only they had the Spunky Beat drivers, but then again, everything’s a compromise. If only the Z1 has the Edifier’s 12 hour battery life.
In terms of fit, from most to least secure: Trueshift 2, KZ Z1, Mpow M5, Edifier TWS1, Spunky Beat
I’ve already talked about the fit of the Trueshift 2 quite a lot. Fit-wise, I only really trust buds with sharkteeth wingtips. Even then, it feels like the eartips are doing most of the work (70/30, better than 100/0 on badly-placed eartips). Meanwhile, the shape of the Z1 really helps with the fit. They fit the contours of my ear perfectly, and all around feel like a premium product, with its metal earwax grill and clear eartips. With battery improvements, a better case and an IP rating, they might be good. I heard the KZ S2 ticks a lot of boxes (although apparently goes back on sound & fit), but I can only import it from China, so I would have to commit to them. I mentioned that I used the M5 tips on other devices. They were, IMO, the best tips. They even had that two-tone colour that you see on Sony Hybrid tips. The stem was grey. I regret not checking the small and large tips to see if the colours were different. Since they hang off the ear, I think the eartips are doing most of the work, both in fit and sound quality. The Edifier uses small tips by default. They get a good seal, and the buds fit the shape of my ear better than the relatively thin Spunky Beat. The Spunky Beat has 2 problems. The fit is finicky. Sure the buds don’t stick out much, but they’re very fiddly. The 2nd is that the button is too sensitive. The two feed into each other. In an attempt to not brush your skin against the button, you end up fiddling with it, making it very easy to drop. The eartips are tiny, and that lets the IEM rest on the ears. They’re the same style as the J-29. If you use bigger tips like the Mpow’s, they’ll hang outside the ears without touching them. Speaking of buttons, I had no issues with accidental taps on the other 3 (the Mpow uses a physical one – you can’t press it without it digging into your ears.) You have to double-tap to pause on the Trueshift (single tap is the less intrusive volume control), but that makes pausing harder, as the taps usually miss. Better or worse? I’d say it depends on how sensitive the button is. The Z1 and Edifier got it right, although that might be down to the Z1’s smaller surface area to tap on. Personally, I think Soundpeats should’ve worked on button sensitivity, rather than using 2 taps as a copout. I’ve pretty much given up on it, using it as a last resort.
In terms of case feel: Edifier TWS1, Mpow M5, Trueshift 2, Spunky Beat, KZ Z1
The Edifier case is excellent. So snappy to open, even if it’s glossy plastic (fine on buds, not so great on cases), and closes with a satisfying snap. Probably a good fidget toy, assuming it holds up. Fortunately you can buy a silicone case for it and other Edifiers. They’re the only buds I know of (that I bought) that have 3rd party accessories, even if they’re not “official”. It tells you about how Edifier is perceived against all these other brands, even if they’re doing a better job. It’s Micro USB, and has only one red LED at the front for battery indication. Buds come out and go in very easily. The Mpow has a faux-leathepleather case. It definitely stands out. It’s fairly large, with a 4-LED battery indicator, optional lanyard and Micro-USB. The buds are symmetrical, so you can put the left earbud in the right slot. Might be good for some, but it leads to them getting easily mixed up. Trueshift has quirks that can be spun as either strengths or weaknesses. The case is big and bulky, but it mirrors as a battery bank. And if you don’t want that, you can recharge 20 times (more if you don’t drain the buds fully) and never have to worry about charging the case. Ideal, since there’s a flap covering the USB-C charger and USB-A out. The lid is semi-transparent, so you can see when the buds are charging. The Spunky Beat case is one where it’s easy to mix up the front and the back. I like the lanyard and USB-A (some don’t), but I wouldn’t go for them specifically. As a monetary value, considering the Onyx Neo is £2 less and cuts all those features, I’d say that’s about right. It has USB-C charging, and the last dot of the 4-LED indicator is orange, and I’m not sure why. The Z1 is dead last. It’s omnidirectional, with a small lip on the front. The Micro USB is on the right for some reason. With the Spunky Beat, I sometimes mistake the front for the back when opening, but there are only 2 directions it can go in. Now look at a clamshell with 4 possible directions, and a very strong magnet keeping it shut. It doesn’t even feel that premium, just cheap plastic. You have to open it to see the colour-changing LED indicator, but at least it goes from green to red. Taking the buds out is easy enough, but could be better. The magnets are a little strong, as you see when they whip them back into the case.
In terms of bud feel: KZ Z1, Mpow M5, Spunky Beat, Trueshift 2, Edifier TWS1
Like sound quality, it’s a 2-horse race between KZ and Mpow, with the rest competing for 3rd. The KZ Z1 has a nice, glossy finish, with very clean text printed on it. The Mpow also screams quality, like the old Bakelite phones and clear text. The Edifiers were more of a cheap plastic, though. The LEDs aren’t obnoxious, but it’s very annoying having them flash at night every few seconds. Yes, we know they’re connected. I like that there’s no noise when you hit pause on them, unlike the Trueshift, which makes a very weird sound. Couldn’t they have gone with something normal? On the other hand, the LEDs are subdued, only lighting up white when paused, which is actually quite useful as a makeshift torch at night. The surface is matte, and picks up grease quite quickly. The Spunky Beat has good all-round build quality.
Final Thoughts
The KZ Z1 are the best sounding, period. Problem is the battery life. At first I didn’t care, but then I did some garden work with them in. After 2h38m, they “died”. They apparently had 30% juice left, but that didn’t matter. Every bud had an Australian or American woman’s voice for the “power on”, “pairing” and “connected” chimes. Seems as well as the same factories, they get the same voice actresses too. But the ZI has a Chinese woman doing the voices. When you get down to 30%, you’ll get a “low battery” alert from her every 30 seconds, and the sound will cut in and out, like when you block the antenna when your phone’s in your pocket. That was when I realised that I did indeed care about battery. Whether or not I had 30% left, they were unusable at low battery. Another thing to consider is recharges, The more you recharge a battery, the more wear you put on it, especially going from empty to full. And you’re going to be recharging a 2 hour battery often. Maybe it was a battery-saving measure. The Spunky Beat is probably the best all-rounder. Top marks across the board show it to be a jack of all trades. If I had to recommend a TWS for no more than £23, this would be it. Overall, it’s an absolute beast, above the Edifier and below my final choice.
Conclusion
In the end, I went with the Superman Buds. The case meant I could sell my 1-cell battery bank. I’m hesitant to keep more than one TWS. What would I do with the other one sitting around? Either way, these felt like the rugged, multi-purpose tool that would probably complement any other pair. They fill the niche of a no-nonsense workout pair. The only things replacing them are the Trueshift 3. They use the Airoha AB1536U instead of the Qualcomm QC3020, so no aptx. Who knows how much battery they could’ve squeezed out of it, although I never found battery to be an issue on this (or any non-KZ Z1 bud). At the end of the day, they were the best compromise. I look forward to the Trueshift 3. So much room for improvement. Maybe the gestures will change. There’s a Soundpeats app, but it doesn’t work, so any chance of remapping is gone. Maybe a built-in or detachable USB cable would actually be useful on this, unlike the Spunky Beat. The case gets warm when charging a phone. Pretty sure that’s normal, but with the buds next door, I do wonder if heat, or charging them simultaneously, will have an effect on them. The Spinfit Medium works great on them, although the seal is vacuum-like, so not to everyone’s tastes. I did try the Edifiers with the Spinfit Small (same size as the Edifier medium). They improved the sound quality, but they couldn’t make them sound different or bassier. Maybe the Fiil T1X is better than the Trueshift. But I’m burned out for now. Perhaps, if the landscape hasn’t changed much in 5 years, I’ll come back to them.
Trip Report - Drunken Trails of Tokyo [Solo - Spring 2019]
27/M/UK | Second Trip | Solo [27th March - 8th April] | Drinking & Hiking
I’m not too sure how these trip reports are supposed to work so I’m just gonna wing it, if it seems overly indepth it’s because I like the idea of using it for my own nostalgia purposes as well as hoping to help others with the planning of their trip
The Overview
This was my second solo trip to Japan with the first being 3 years ago where I travelled to Tokyo, Nara, Kyoto and Osaka, this time I decided to stay in Tokyo and make day trips out and about using Asakusa as a home base. I can honestly say even though I’ve visited Tokyo twice now, spending nearly 3 weeks in total there, there is still stuff I didn’t get chance to do and on another trip back I’d at least make another short stint in Tokyo. I will include all my photos to this report, for the sake of ease though the albums will use Google Photos because trying to upload large albums to imgur is a shitshow, I’ll link single images through imgur though as they have better integration with Reddit An album of a few of my favourite photos
The Journey
I flew in from Heathrow to Haneda and stayed in a AirBnb in Taito Ku (Asakusa) which cost me about £468 for the 10 nights with the flight costing £630, taking £1100 in spending money (I returned with 2000yen).
An Overview
My plan for this trip was to do a lot of hiking (I was coming to the end of a charity walk doing 20,000 steps a day for cancer research UK) and a lot of drinking, which Tokyo is the perfect venue for that mix. I can honestly say there wasn’t a single bad day within Japan (less so with my layover in China though), not even a day that I can call meh, every day was an absolute blast and made for the trip becoming my favourite trip I've ever done, really pushing outside my comfort zone in a good way.
Tips
Be flexible, it’s good to plan what you want to do, but don’t be so set in when you do those things, I moved Nikko back 2 days where the temperature went from being 1 degree and snowing to 20 degrees and sunshine.
It’s good to have free days, a day where nothing is planned at all maybe every 4 or 5 days in which you can fit in things you missed or something you were told about while being there, if not they can become a great opportunity for some bar hopping/ people meeting.
If you’re going solo go for the sim card over the portable wifi, it’s cheaper and generally better, it’s also more convenient to not have carry extra bulk around where you can avoid to do it.
Suica cards will speed up your travel time 10 fold, recommend grabbing one as soon you hit the city.
Something being 2 hours away doesn’t mean it has to be a crack of dawn - very last train back trip, Nokogiriyama for example can be explored in a few hours, if you don’t arrive until 12 you still have a ton of time.
My flight took me 9 hours to Beijing with a 5 hour layover before taking another 3 hour flight to Haneda, the timing meant I landed in Haneda about 4pm, which was probably the perfect time to land, enough time to explore a bit but also not so long that jet lag would be getting the best of me and I could sleep at a normal time.
Once getting off the plane in Beijing I bumped into another traveller who was on his way to Thailand so we went for a few beers at the airport (seriously why does a Chinese Airport only sell American beers?).
Once landing in Tokyo I went straight to the airbnb, dropped my stuff off and headed straight out to get a few more beers and to try and keep myself awake. My room being where it was meant walking to and from the train station would take me past Senso-ji which looks absolutely stunning at night.
My first meal in Japan ended up being a Yoshinoya beef bowl which would be the meal I ate most in Japan besides Karaage, as I’m not really the biggest foodie so quick cheap food does me sound. It was then about checking out Ueno park at night (or more specifically the crowds, it was ridiculously busy) before grabbing another beer at a bar based on a London pub calling itself an Irish bar selling Czech Beer… yeah work that one out.
Due to the chance of Torres playing (he didn’t) I grabbed some tickets for the Yokohoma Merinos vs Sagan Tosu game, Friday night kick off at the Nissan Stadium, which gave me the full day in Yokohoma.
From there it was a case of heading towards Minatomirai and walking along the Promenade. Yokohoma is a really nice city so this is definitely a walk I’d recommend. From then it was a case of checking into my hotel (I’d hired a capsule hotel so I could stick around to drink after the game) before heading off to the stadium with time to spare.
The game itself was a blast, a class atmosphere, awesome little pregame gambit where they reveal the home lineup. Being allowed the drink beer and get new beers while sat in the stand is a novelty I didn’t think existed anymore (literally you can’t even drink in the stands at Cheltenham for the horse racing). The game itself ended a pretty dull 0-0 but it had its moments, not exactly premier league quality but that’s a given.
After the game I grabbed a couple of beers in a bar nearby getting involved in the home and away fans drinking together and having a laugh before heading back towards my hotel. I had planned to hit up Chinatown but while heading through Sakuragicho I stumbled upon a bar, not the one I intended to head to but once I’d paid my 400yen seat tax and saw drinks were all 150yen it became a no brainer place to chill out.
It was here I made some friends, as I was about to leave this lad sparked up a conversation and that was that, we were chatting until 3am about everything from anime and games to cultural differences and what have you, it ended up being a proper laugh.
Then it was a case of stumbling into my capsule hotel at 4am, which really aren’t built for tall people, and especially not for tall drunk people.
Once I’d finally got back, showered, changed and ingested enough Pocari Sweat to stop the next 5 hangovers (and to ensure I didn’t get a proper night sleep for the next 2 days) I headed out to Odaiba.
Odaiba feels almost like a new university town, everything about looks like it was built in the last 5 years, with a beach with a view of the Tokyo skyline as well it’s definitely worth checking out. After posing with the giant Gundam and walking down the beach all the way to the end I had to head back. Initially I’d planned to hit up the imperial palace but I found myself drifting off on the train back and thought instead to head home for a nap.
That nap sorted me right out and ensured I was fresh and ready to go out, I had bought tickets for the Tokyo Pub Crawl, and event I enjoyed last time I’d came even if I was a bit more nervous, this time I made the absolute most of it, had a great crack, made some travel buddies and strolled in at 7am. If you enjoy clubbing then it’s definitely something I’d recommend, you get your moneys worth out of the £20 you pay for the event.
After sleeping until 2pm I headed out to Yoyogi Park (I’d planned to hit up a bar close to there that I remembered enjoying but plans changed), experiencing those crowds with a hangover was a bit much, seeing the standard Yoyogi park sunday madness was pretty fun though.
I had arranged to meet a lad from the night before at Golden Gai on the nighttime, it turns out he was looking to get there a lot earlier than anticipated, but as I wasn’t in the mood to be racing around while hungover (this was a free day tbf, I had planned for the hangover even if it ended up being nowhere near as bad as I was expecting) I went and met him at Golden Gai for about 5ish.
There isn’t too much to say about Golden Gai, it’s expensive, it can be intimidating and it damn near impossible to actually meet someone there because all the streets look the same, but I fucking love it. We drank some beer, chatted with locals and other foreigners, had some sake, had some snake marinated sake, played some music, had some Yakiniku and failed to understand that the ice is meant to quell the flames while you cook, it was a cracking night.
Then it came to leave to get back before the final train and this is where the touts come out to play, lucky they were easy to dodge with a simple ‘yeah mate I need to catch the last train’.
This is where the Pocari Sweat addiction did its damage as I got a whole 30 minutes of sleep on the sunday night, but as I’m on holiday I made sure to carry on regardless, aslong as I was walking it’d keep me awake (and I did a fuck ton of walking, literally 22 miles).
I also checked the weather report before heading out, rain was forecast but only after 5 which I’d be finished with my walk by then, having planned to do the Hiking route around Kamakura. Spoiler… the weather report was wrong
My train led me to a changover near Chiyoda so I took the opportunity to visit the area around the imperial palace, Coolish in hand. Not the most exciting of trip and I don’t think it added too much to the day besides extra footache.
After that I headed to Kamakura and started the hiking route, visiting Tsurugoaka and Hokokuji temples before entering the Ten’en hiking trail. The trail itself is pretty fun and not too challenging, not at least until half way through the walk (literally half way through) it not only started to rain but also threw some thunder and lightning into the mix, it right pissed it down as well, not just a little shower. Lucky I bought a waterproof coat, unluckily I was wearing shorts.
Also about halfway through the walk there’s a sort of rest stop run by an old couple with an incredibly friendly lady who was more than happy to talk to me. I’d recommend grabbing a beer and some food from there if it isn’t starting to rain as you arrive.
After getting royally drench I made it out of the Ten’en trail to Kenchoji temple, which I would have appreciated more if not completely soaked through. I tried to use the opportunity of cover to wait for the rain to pass, but I’m too impatient for that so I said fuck it, braved the Japanese Flu that the rain apparently comes with and headed back to town for some food and a much deserved beer.
Luckily this was enough for the rain to stop, and although I skipped out the Daibutsu hiking trail, I did find time to go see the Daibutsu itself and honestly if that’s what you’re coming to Kamakura for I’d like to recommend Mt. Nokogiri (Nokogiriyama) instead but more on that later.
On the way back I stopped off at a little bar called DRINK A GOGO which is a bloody cool bar, the guys got hundreds of records he plays of Japanese artists of vastly different genres, from old school hip hop to light rock, he also speaks a bit of English. Definitely check it out if you’re in the area.
After that it was a train back and some much needed sleep. With having walked 22 miles that day, my feet definitely felt that one, still dealing with a sprained toe didn’t exactly help matters either.
I ended up having this as a free day as the next set of days would be a bit crazy, and as I’d overslept a bit I took a late stroll into Shinjuku hitting up the batting cages for a bit then heading to the Shinjuku National Park for a chill out beneath the cherry blossoms. This is my second time going to the park and I can’t recommend it enough, just whatever you do DO NOT GO ON A WEEKEND, I walked past it on the Saturday afternoon later in the week and the queue was insane.
After that I headed to the bar I enjoyed the most last time I came to Tokyo but only got chance to visit the once, a little Irish bar just 10 minutes walk from the park called An Solas. Now I’ve got multiple stories from this trip alone as to why this bar is pure class, I did end up going on the Saturday as well but I’ll put them all here.
6 Reasons An Solas is my favourite bar in Tokyo
Even though I had only been once some 3 years ago the first thing the bar owner (an Irish guy btw) says is “I remember you” then proceeds to recall things I’d said about myself 3 years ago, like my reasons for travelling and what have you.
When I exclaimed this glass is awesome the Japanese girl who part owns the bar instantly says do you want one? And before I can even respond she’s already getting one out, cleaning it, getting a half pint one as well, bubblewrapping them and bagging them for me.
While chatting to a local who had travelled the UK among other places and a girl who was heading to Australia for a year (who I still talk to Instagram since coming home, seriously if you want to connect with Japanese people when you’re over there instagram is your friend) another lad walks in who had just returned from Mexico and buys everyone at the bar a shot of tequila. Pretty much everyone I met in there had either travelled or was from a foreign country which just meant there was a lot of stories to hear, met some great people in that place.
They do the absolute best Shepherds Pie, cheddar gouda and mozzarella on top, absolutely banging.
They are one of the few places in Tokyo to do Sapporo on tap which is objectively the best Japanese beer.
They were always willing to put the Football on for me so I could watch the Liverpool games I missed because they were on at 2/4am.
After drinking a hearty amount, eating some deep fried Pasta (because yeah that’s a thing apparently) I then headed to Ginza to see if I could get a booking for all you can eat a5 wagyu at Ginza Steak, which I got a slot for the next night. Then it was a case of heading home for some sleep, which having detoxed off the Pocari Sweat by this point I was able to get.
This day I had planned to go to Nikko but when I woke up I found out the weather was a measly one degree with snow, so I decided to switch some stuff around and suddenly found myself with nothing to do. So a quick 6am google search led me to Mt. Nokogiri, and it was an absolutely worthwhile trip.
A lot of the trains were stopped due to ‘passenger injury’ which if it is what I think it means then it’s a real shame and my sincere condolences go out to the family . This led to me getting a bus instead, which dropped me in the quietest town I’ve been to, Kazusaminato, with a view of Mt. Fuji in the far distance, and some very friendly locals.
The walk down the mountain was also really cool, seeing the underside of the mountain where they quarried it out making it look like something out of Minecraft. A lovely walk down, although the day did give me a bit of sunburn.
After heading back I went straight to my booking at Ginza Steak. Now I thought an 8:30 booking would give me enough time to get my fill of all you can eat… it did not. Not to say I didn’t get a lot of steak, but I could have gone for at least another 2 or 3 steaks, but as the place was closing I had to call it a day.
My initial plan was to rent a car and hit up mt. Fuji followed by Shosenkyo Gorge, but once I hit the countryside I decided to just stick close to Fuji driving around the five lakes.
The last section of the drive was over the mountain into the Yamanashi prefecture to a quiet little park that looked like it hadn’t been touched in years, before heading back and experiencing driving in Japan at its absolute worst… fucking trying to get through Ueno at 7-8pm, City driving at night with full rush hour is my worst nightmare. I eventually made it back on time with no fines to pay and then headed back, bumping into a bar in Asakusa that did Jazz Karaoke which was a very surreal experience but also an enjoyable one.
Would I recommend driving in Japan? If you’re coming from Tokyo honestly no, it’s ridiculously expensive just to get on the highways, just toll roads for days, but once you’re passed that into the countryside, it’s a brilliant experience, possibly my favourite place to drive, so if you do want to drive I’d probably recommend doing so from Hakone where I’ve heard good things, as that would be all the good with none of the bad.
It was time for the 3rd day trip in a row, the weather being a huge improvement over what it would have been, going from snowcoat weather to t-shirt weather in a matter of days. I headed to Nikko early doors having bought the Nikko day pass the day before, I also paid the extra for the limited express on the way there because local trains confuse the fuck out of google maps and I’d rather deal with that when I’ve woken up.
Once getting to Nikko I got on the first bus to Kegon Waterfall, first stopping off at the observatory for a pretty cracking view, before getting back on the bus and heading to the waterfall itself. After a beer and some lunch I head back down into the Nikko forest.
Nikko’s mix between the mountain and forest makes for a really cool experience, while the mountain area provides some wonderful views the forest provides temples and shrines hidden away amongst the trees. It doesn’t stop there either, upon exiting the forest you get this traditional bridge that makes for a very cool photo op.
Lore Time So within one of the shrines there is a carving of a sleeping cat, a local told me before my trip of the significance of this cat. Apparently the locals believed that at night the cat would wake up and roam around the area, so to quell fears of this happening the artist Hidari Jingorō came back and removed the cats eyes, so if it woke up it wouldn’t be able to roam around. I don’t how true this actually is, but it’s a nice story nonetheless.
Once I left Nikko on the local trains (spending the whole time confusing the fuck out of Google Maps) I headed back to Tokyo to meetup with some fellow redditors, using the group chat on LINE provided in each monthly meet up thread. The plan was to go drinking and then go Karaoke but the time from drinking to karaoke was barely enough to get tipsy, let alone drunk enough to actually enjoy it.
After that a few of us headed into Akihabara for some drinks, ending up at a darts bar, then some random bar where we had Kangaroo and deep fried crocodile (both taste amazing) then to some other places that escape my memory. All in all it was a decent night and I met some cool people. I walked back to Asakusa with another lad and then hopped off to bed about 5am (went to sleep with Liverpool at 1-1 versus Southampton and woke up with us winning 3-1 which was nice).
Day 10
The Last NightAlbum So my flight was at 2pm the next day, so you’d think I’d have a relaxed one today, especially as it was the first time I’d properly felt a hangover on the trip… that didn’t happen
First I went into Ginza to look for some souvenirs to take home and get some money out just to keep me going for the night (10,000 yen). I promptly gave up on the souvenir lark as the hangover was getting the best of me, so I did the only thing there is to do with a hangover when you have a free day… hair of the dog.
By 4pm I was back in An Solas, I’d made plans to meet some lads I’d met on the trip seeing as it was my last day, so I just chilled out in the bar for the rest of the afternoon, drinking, watching football, rugby, chatting with randomers all that jazz. By about 9oclock one of the lads I was gonna meet said he was going to Golden Gai, and this started the maddest string of events I experienced on this trip.
First I met him and his friend in bar in Golden Gai, we had a few drinks and headed to Omoide Yokocho for some sake and food meeting another girl we’d met the night before. Then we headed to an eel bar where the adventure begun.
First one of the lads ordered some eel which watching it be cooked was an interesting experience to say the least. At this point our group was myself (UK) a guy from Singapore, a guy from Taiwan and a girl from Finland, one of the guys stated how he wanted to go to a hostess bar and being in Kabuchiko it made sense to be the place to look for one.
Some searching led to some dead results, so instead he asked the Japanese guy (who had been having a bit of conversation with the girl in our group) where to find one and suddenly the night lit up. This guy it turns out himself used to be a host and after a quick phonecall, he was throwing us in a taxi and off we went.
First this guy pays for the taxi, comes to the bar with us (which it turns out doesn’t allow foreigners this guy just managed to get us in) and then after a good hour of drinking, trying to make conversation and doing some karaoke we go to leave and so I ask how much we owe, to which he says nothing, he’d payed for the whole shebang.
This left us in some random area in Tokyo at 3am, but with no trains until 5 we decided to continue on, first stop was a konbini for some strong zero and to get an idea of our surroundings to hopefully find a bar still open. A few minutes later a local girl walks in so we ask her if she knows anywhere to drink, next thing we know she’s leading us around the town trying to find an open bar for us, going absolutely above and beyond for some dumb drunk foreigners. Although she was unable to find anywhere we had to stop her before thanking her profusely because I think she would have just kept looking all night.
Instead we found a little 24 hour ramen shop that sold beer so we chilled in there until the first train back, which led to me being back in bed by about 530am concluding the crazy fun night before my train to the airport leaving at 11 (good job I was already packed).
Day 11
China
The next day was basically wake up, shower, train, flight. Not really much to talk about, until I hit Beijing again for another layover this time being 11 hours, I got the bus into the City centre hoping to maybe see the sights and get a few drinks.
I stayed in Beijing for maybe 4 hours before just noping out, after spending 10 days in Japan feeling safe as houses I legit felt scared in Beijing, no street lights on main streets, police absolutely everywhere, multiple police checkpoints, scanners for bags just to get on the subway, it wasn’t fun. Even getting a taxi back, I ended up getting into a deal (probably ripped off as well) with some sketchy guy who stuck me in his car then fucked off for half an hour before to find enough people to fill it before he left, honestly I should have just fucked off myself because it scared the shit out of me, but it did get me back to the airport at least, evenutally.
I think if I do ever go back to China I’ll visit Hong Kong, seems I’d enjoy it more, got a friend over there as well which would make it easier. Beijing was not an enjoyable experience in the slightest.
After that it was a nice 9 hour flight back where I had 2 seats to myself which made it a lot easier to just drift off, especially necessary as I’d stupidly planned to go back to work the day after I got back.
And that concludes my amazing second trip to Japan. Why I decided on the 10 days over 2 weeks I have absolutely no idea tbh, I really should have stayed longer, I had a blast though and would love to go again, possibly visiting Hokkaida/Sapporo next time. Although it may be another few years before that comes to fruition.
Baffo Great West End pizza restaurant. Fairly new. Did you know that Baffo is Italian for moustache? Balbir's An excellent West End Indian. Try the banquet if you're a large group! Bibi's Cantina A bit further out of the way, in Partick, Bibi's serves wholesome meals at reasonable prices. Bread Meats Bread Great burgers. Some say best in Glasgow. There's also a City Centre location. The Butchershop Bar & Grill Manhattan-style award-winning steakhouse. Eusebi Deli Restaurant and deli. Does a good breakfast. There's one in the East End too but it's a bit of a trek out from the city. The Finnieston - Taking pride in their Scottish seafood and award winning cocktails, The Finnieston Bar and Restaurant is worth a visit. Hanoi Bike Shop Vietnamese street food made from locally sourced ingredients. The Hug and Pint - Described by The Herald as one of the best restaurants in Scotland, the vegan food here is great. Family friendly with a venue downstairs for gigs. Mother India - Highly rated Indian food in the heart of Finnieston. Ox and Finch - Relaxed dining in a trendy venue. Continually voted one of Glasgow's best restaurants. Stravaigin - Gourmet concoctions from wild ingredients like grey squirrel, hedgerow herbs and sea urchins. There's an attached pub serving similar food. Tantrum Doughnuts - Not a restaurant, but still worth a visit. Handmade doughnuts and milkshakes. Ubiquitous Chip - One of Glasgow's most well known restaurants. You pay a bit extra for the experience, but the food is good. Worth a visit.
City Centre
Alston Bar and Beef - Smart, cellar-like restaurant and gin bar with mood lighting, for carefully sourced Scottish steak. Babu Bombay Street Kitchen - Serving Bombay street food and light curries for breakfast, lunch and dinner. BYOB. Brutti Compadres - Brilliant wee tapas place, a mixture of Italian, Spanish and Scottish food. Sort of industrial inside, but a great place and kinda hidden. Cafe Gandolfi - Fresh locally sourced ingredients in this Scottish restaurant. Don't miss the seafood here. Chinaskis - Good for both eating and drinking, this place has an old American style reminiscent of a speakeasy. Chinatown - Great Dim Sum at the weekends, good Cantonese food in the evenings or for yamcha. Côte Brasserie - Great French food. It's a UK chain so not unique to Glasgow, but the food is top notch. Dakhin - South-Indian restaurant serving entirely gluten-free food. Dhabba - Authentic North-Indian cuisine in Merchant City. Halloumi - A Greek-Cypriot Mezze restaurant. Tapas-style. Ichiban - Great for a quick bowl of noodles or rice plate, sushi is usually pretty decent as well. Khublai Khan's - Mongolian barbecue restaurant. Buffet food and plenty of exotic meats. La Boca - Traditional Spanish tapas bar and restaurant. Often described as the best tapas in Glasgow. Loon Fung - Authentic regional Chinese cuisine with a good variety of specials. Lychee Oriental - Chinese fine dining. Good menu. Nippon Kitchen - High quality Japanese cuisine and cocktails. Fantastic atmosphere. Opium - Chinese, Malaysian and Thai flavours infused in the food from this sleek restaurant. Paesano - Voted the best pizza in the UK. Fairly priced too. They're opening a West End location soon. Watch this space. Red Onion - Scottish restaurant. A critic's favourite. Good gluten-free menu for those that like that kinda thing. Rishi's Indian Aroma - Authentic South Indian food, they serve delicious dosa among other things. Roaster's Deli - Described as the best diner style restaurant in town. Reasonably priced as well. They have fantastic sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs and possibly the best pancakes in town - large and with a wide variety of fillings. Rogano - Specialising in Scottish fish and seafood, the decor in this restaurant was inspired by the Clyde-built Queen Mary. The Spanish Butcher - Incredible food in the heart of Merchant City. Spanish and Mediterranean flavours. Highly recommended. Tabac - Wee dark pub but the food here is great. Topolabamba - Mexican style tapas and more classic dishes. Try the Margarita Trio cocktails. Via Italia - A fast casual, authentic Italian eatery serving hand rolled Italian piada sandwiches, pasta bowls, street sides and chopped salads. Wah Kee Bakery - Freshly made Chinese buns, great for a light lunch or picking up snacks for later. The Wee Guy's - Cafe that does excellent lunch food. Their Full-Scottish breakfast is served all day and will knock your socks off.
East End
Cafe Tibo - Small independent cafe with a good food menu. Celino's - As well as being as excellent deli, Celino's is a fantastic wee Italian restaurant. It's well worth the short trip out of the city centre to eat here. Coia's Cafe - Italian cafe and deli, this busy wee place does excellent food to sit in and take away. Try the matriciana. Dennistoun Bar-B-Que - American food. They do BBQ (smoked with imported Texan oak), burgers and loads of imported drinks. Family owned and very popular.
South Side
Battlefield Rest - Small Italian restaurant in an old tram stop. Always busy, be sure to book! ORO - Formerly Bella Napoli, this restaurant has been described as the best Italian in the South Side, if not all of Glasgow. Ranjits Kitchen - Family-owned Indian restaurant. Cheap with giant portions. Strange Brew - Small cafe with great food. Catering for vegan and gluten free. Try the Croque Senor when you're in. Tinto Tapas Bar - With a few of these restaurants dotted around the South of Glasgow, Tinto's serves up an extensive range of Spanish food. There's one in the West End too.
Pubs
West End
The 78 - A vegan bar in Finnieston. Live jazz on Sundays and outdoor seating in the summer. Ben Nevis - Cracking pub, great whisky, and an old Scottish vibe without being cheesy. Dog friendly and live folk music a few nights a week. Brel - With a beer garden at the back of Ashton Lane, Brel serves drinks sourced from all around the world but specialising in beverages from Belgium. Brew Dog - Sitting in the shadow of Kelvingrove Art Gallery, eat and drink at one of the pubs of Scotland's most well known craft breweries. Keep your eye open for their City Centre location, DogHouse too. Coopers - Great for watching live sports. Distill - Cool wee pub in Finnieston. Handy for the Hyrdo. The Doublet - Old pub, unchanged in many years, but good. The Grove - Traditional 'old man' pub with a quiz on Saturday nights. It's normally got horse racing on the TVs. Inn Deep - Craft beer, next to the River Kelvin, dog friendly, decent pub food. Hillhead Bookclub - Great wee venue just off Byres Road. Good food and drink and a bunch of DJs keeping the place lively in the evenings. The Lismore - Good whisky selection. Make sure you pop into the toilet during your visit. The Park Bar - Live music from Thursday through to Sunday, close to Kelvingrove Park, often showing sports too. Solid Glaswegian pub. Six Degrees North - Brewing their own Belgian-style beer right here in Scotland, Six°North has a great selection of drinks to try out.
City Centre
13th Note - Vegetarian/vegan bar, but don't let that put you off! The food's surprisingly good and there's often live music downstairs. The Admiral Bar - Great boozer with excellent beer, good grub at a reasonable price and a good place for watching football. Avant Garde - A music bar serving Mediterranean style food. Live music at the weekends with a Saturday night Ceilidh. All are welcome. Babbity Bowster - A wee bit on the expensive side, but a unique boozer and one of the few city centre pubs with a beer garden. Bavaria Brauhaus - Bavarian themed pub. Has a proper authentic feel. The food's worth trying too. Bier Halle - Excellent beers, free hot dogs if you order a jug and 2 for 1 pizza most of the time too. Can get quite busy, but there's outside seating. Now taking card payments so there's no excuse not to go! Bloc - Loads of live music, cracking food. Blue Dog - Not to be confused with Brew Dog. Cocktails and often live jazz. Bon Accord - On the fringe of the City Centre, the Bon Accord is famed for its whisky selection. Whisky tastings can be arranged for groups. Comfy armchairs. Broadcast - Mainly known for its many gigs and club nights held downstairs, the pub is decent too. Eight Ball Pool Hall - Situated above one of Glasgow's oldest pubs, The Scotia, you can get a cheap pint of Tennent's here and get a few games of pool in too. Gin 71 - A dedicated gin bar with 71 different gins on offer. Recently opened a Merchant City location too. Horseshoe Bar - Claiming to have the longest bar in Europe, this pub has reasonably priced food and drink, shows live sports and even has a bit of karaoke. Howlin' Wolf - Open late, often with a live blues band, this pub also does Southern USA food. Hipstery, but worth a visit. Mango - Cheap drinks, live music on Wednesdays. It has an attached Latino themed restaurant. Max's Bar and Grill - Great pub grub, a good selection of beers. Highly recommended. Mono - Vegan cafe and bar with an attached record store. Nice N Sleazy - White Russians and Buckfast cocktails. Live music and club nights downstairs too. The Old Hairdressers - Nice little boozer with regular gigs and events and varying beer choices. The Pot Still - Famous for their selection of whiskies. Rufus T Firefly - Can get a bit packed some nights, but it's the best place to go if you're looking for a pub that plays rock. Sloans - Nice pub. The beer garden is surrounded by buildings so it's best to get the sun here during the day. Oh, and they have a Ceilidh every Friday night. Definitely not one to miss. Stereo - Centrally located pub. Good for food, clubbing and gigs as well. Vegan friendly. Super Bario - Bar with arcade machines. Only recently opened. Swing - An underground bar and club playing live jazz, blues, soul and funk. '20s style.
East End
The Dutchess of Duke Street - Nice pub, dog friendly. Pub lunches here aren't bad. Drygate - Another craft brewery and pub, next to the larger Wellpark Brewery. Full of hipsters, but worth a visit. Does brewery tours. Redmond's of Dennistoun - A bar aiming to be a little soulful place for the denizens of Dennistoun to gather, hang out, sip some craft beer and enjoy something to eat. West - You'll see their beers around town and they're brewed here. The food is good and the beer even better. Dog friendly and a huge beer garden.
South Side
Allison Arms - Standing out from the old-man pubs in the area, the Allison Arms is a friendly pub with a great pub quiz on Thursday nights. Clockwork Beer Company - Microbrewery and pub. The pub food is alright and there's a wee beer garden at the back for those rare sunny days. Church on the Hill - A gastropub located next to Queens Park in the South Side. Handy for Hampden and often showing sports. Glad Cafe - Self-described bohemian cafe offering craft beers and food. Everything the discerning hipster needs. Heraghty's - Good old fashioned boozer with well stocked beer fridge and very good whisky and wine selection. The Laurieston - Not as far out of the city as the other South Side pubs, The Laurieston is a popular stop on the Sub Crawl. Also handy for the O2 Academy. Mulberry St BaBistro - Nice pub which does excellent food, and has a beer Garden which gets the sun all day long. The Old Smiddy - Very unique boozer in the sense it's one of the few in Glasgow on a residential street. Reasonably priced and tasty pub grub. The Rum Shack - Over 50 different types of rum, Caribbean food and a cracking beer garden.
Clubs
City Centre
Art School - A great clubbing venue which hosts gigs from time to time, but typically DJs. The Berkeley Suite - Another good clubbing venue. Recommended nights are Walk N Skank (Reggae/Dub) and Supermax (Disco). Cathouse - The Cathouse Rock Club plays alternative music from pop-punk to metal across two floors in this City Centre location. Normally have decent drink promos. Flat 0/1 - Much like La Cheetah and Sub Club, you'll find a younger crowd here. Good for techno/electronica and club nights put on by local talent. Fairly cool look to it since it's a revamped flat made into a club. La Cheetah - Situated in the basement of Max's (see above), La Cheetah plays electronic music in a small, intimate environment. Sub Club - Playing all variations of house, electronica and techno, with plenty of resident and guest DJs. Great atmosphere. Closed Mondays and Wednesdays. SWG3 - Glasgow's own 'big space venue'. Typically puts on much larger events by bigger labels or names looking to sell a lot of tickets. Again, a lot of techno/electronica but they do host other artists which represent more genres.
South Side
The Shed - Expect cheesy music and a young crowd. It's the South Side's Garage. It's possible to have a good night here, but enter with low expectations.
Things to See
Museums
Riverside Museum - Glasgow's transport museum. Learn about the history of transport in Glasgow and see vintage vehicles beside their modern counterparts. Tall Ship - Moored just behind the Riverside Museum, the three masted tall ship Glenlee was orignally a 19th century cargo carrier. You're able to board and explore the ship. There's also an audio guide available. Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum - With free entry, frequently changing exhibitions and next to a huge park, there's really no excuse not to visit Kelvingrove. Glasgow Science Centre - With a planetarium and loads of exhibits, the Science Centre is a great family day out. Hunterian Museum - Scotland's oldest public museum exhibits displays of archaeology, palaeontology, geology and zoology, among others. There is a permanent display based around the life of Lord Kelvin, Glasgow's most famous scientist. Scotland Street School Museum - Originally a school designed by Mackintosh, this museum explores education in Scotland from the 19th century to today. Provand's Lordship House Museum - Built in 1471, this is the oldest house in Glasgow. Furnished with 17th century furniture, you can get a flavour of what it was like to live in medieval Glasgow. Scottish Football Museum - As well as being able to view the collection of national football memorabilia, you can tour the Hampden Park Stadium.
Art Galleries
Gallery of Modern Art - Moderrn art in the heart of the city. The exhibits are normally decent and like the rest of Glasgow's museums, you can just wonder in. Glasgow School of Art - You'll see hints of Mackintosh's design all around Glasgow. The School of Art offers guided tours both of the school itself and around the city where you can see examples of his work. The Lighthouse - A creative hub with exhibitions featuring buildings and architecture. Make sure you climb to the top of the tower for an extraordinary view of Glasgow. Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre - A theatre of kinetic sculpture, where hundreds of carved figures and pieces of old scrap perform an incredible choreography to haunting music and synchronised light. Koppe Astner - An art gallery with six independently sublet studios means there's a constant flow of artists and another creatives. Check the website as exhibitions change frequently. Mary Mary - A contemporary art gallery showcasing a number of different artists. On the same street as Koppe Astner, so plan to visit both. The Modern Institute - Another gallery with a varied line-up of art. Market Gallery - A charitable art organisation showcasing visual art. Located in the East End. The Telfer Gallery - A volunteer-led contemporary art gallery located at the Barras Market in the East End of Glasgow. Transmission Gallery - An artist-run gallery namechecked by Franz Ferdinand in their hit song Do You Want To. One of the more famous contemporary galleries. Celine - An exhibition space in the South Side of Glasgow. Run by artists. The Pipe Factory - An old factory houses art exhibitions and workshops. Plenty of wide open spaces, and situated right next to the Barras Market. The Whisky Bond - With an excellent view over the city centre, this workspace houses members of Glasgow's creative community. Art events are held frequently. The Common Guild - A gallery in the West End hosting both Scottish and international art. Notable for its rich programme of artist talks. CCA - Glasgow's Centre for Contemporary Art is a hub for all things art. A wide range of exhibits all year round. Tramway - A theatre venue in the South Side. Hosting ballets and dances as well as other traditional forms of art. Voidoid Archive - A West End gallery and archive space.
Tours
Glasgow Central Station Tour - Travel to underneath the modern station to experience the original Victorian subterranean sprawl Tennent's Brewery Tour - Founded in 1740, this brewery originally output stout and ales before being taken by Hugh Tennent who grew the site to what it is today. A brewing and history lesson in a single tour, followed by a visit to the on-site bar. Celtic Park Stadium Tour - Tour the largest stadium in the country and learn about the history and heritage of one of Glasgow's greatest teams. Ibrox Stadium Tour - Tour the stadium of Scotland's most successful club, including access to the dressing and trophy rooms. Glasgow City Chambers - Visit and tour the headquarters of Glasgow City Council in their magnificent listed building. Tours are free and run on weekdays. Glasgow Cathedral - Glasgow is famous for its architecture. This medieval cathedral offers guided tours and it's worth popping up to take a look in. Glasgow Music City Tours - A guided tour of the city's music scene. Visit Glasgow's most famous music venues and learn about the rich history of music in our city.
Day Trips
Loch Lomond Shores - The banks of Loch Lomond. You can get the train to Balloch from Queen Street Station. Beautiful scenery, long walks, a bit of shopping and an aquarium. Mugdock Country Park - The location of the start of the West Highland Way. Get the train to Milngavie and it's about a half hour's walk North. Lovely views and learn about the history of the park.
Other Cool Stuff
People's Palace & Winter Garden - See historic artefacts in the People's Palace or enjoy a look at the exotic plants in the Winter Garden. A stone's throw away from West Brewery too. Necropolis - A Victorian garden cemetery full of wonderful architecture and sculptures. They offer walking tours but it's recommended just to take an afternoon to explore. Great views of the city from the top of the hill. Glasgow Botanic Gardens - A beatiful park in the West End of Glasgow. There's a tearoom and multiple glasshouses to explore. Follow up with a walk down Byres Road. Glasgow Tower - Adjacent to the Science Centre, Glasgow Tower is a 127m rotating structure that provides fantastic views of the city. Glasgow Climbing Centre - Set inside an old church in Ibrox, Glasgow Climbing Centre caters for both beginners and experienced climbers. There's a great wee cafe up on the balcony. Grosvenor Cinema - Small independent cinema with an attached bar. Book a couch up the back and relax with a beer while watching the latest releases in style. Glasgow Film Theatre - From indie movies to film festivals, there's always something on at Scotland's most diverse independent cinema. The Good Spirits Company - Specialist whisky and spirits merchant, with tastings and masterclasses in a purpose-built room. Farmers Market - Held every Saturday, rotating between the South Side and West End, the farmers market brings a taste of rural Scotland to the city by giving residents access to a diverse range of affordable, healthy and locally produced food. Car Boot Sale - Scotland's largest car boot sale can be found every Sunday in the East End of Glasgow. Regularly attracting 500 sellers and 15000 visitors, it runs from 6am-3pm so be prepared for an early start if you want a bargain. Barras Market - Although not as infamous as it once was, the Barras Market is steeped in Glasgow history and runs every weekend. It's next to the world famous Barrowland Ballroom too.
Tourist Information
Glasgow has a tourist information office within the Gallery of Modern Art. There are also computers for use in the gallery, and in any of the city's libraries. Glasgow provides free WiFi on the major City Centre streets. It's not the fastest, but it'll do for messaging or looking up maps. The main Post Office in the city is located on West Nile Street, though there are plenty others dotted about the town.
Getting Around Glasgow
The Traveline Scotland app is invaluable for finding your way around (Web, iOS, Android). The Subway covers the City Centre and West End. The trains are frequent and inexpensive. An all-day travel pass is available. There are two major train stations within the City Centre (Glasgow Central and Queen Street) with frequent stops in the South Side, East and West Ends. There's an interactive map where you can view routes around Glasgow. Low level trains depart from these stations, these are not to be confused with the Subway. Busses are a bit trickier to work out. Google maps provides excellent transport directions (for trains as well as busses), but the First Bus official website can be a pain to decipher. Central Glasgow isn't huge, so taxis are fairly inexpensive. We've got Uber, Gett, and you can flag down any black cab on the street if it's got its light on. Glasgow Taxis is the biggest taxi company and if you want to book the the old fashioned way, you can call them on 0141 429 7070. Glasgow has a few good cycle routes. For short journeys, NextBike has you covered. There are bike rental stations dotted around the city and they're great value for money. For longer journeys, and to make the most of our National Cycle Routes, consider hiring a more suitable bike. Some suggested shops are listed here.
Weekly Update: TTR crew video series, MatchBX Climate Bounties, HYDRO “powered by Oracle”, SelfKey on Constant... – 30 Aug - 5 Sep'19
Sup folks! With this update, we will be completely upto speed with the latest in the Parachuteverse. Also this is a biggie. Parachuters from across the globe shared a slice of their life with us. This is going to be a fun ride. Buckle up! Here’s your week at Parachute (30 Aug - 5 Sep'19): This week’s 20k PAR winner from the Big Brother contest was BlackBullShark for correctly picking Michie as Head of Household. Congrats mate! And a belated Happy Birthday to Rene. Hope you had a blast. The tip storm you started in Wysker was definitely a thing to see. Unique hosted a trivia in TTR based on Maths and had a 25k PAR pool. Not bad at all. After a lot of deliberation, MUXE was delisted from ParJar. Read Cap’s article to know why. If you hold MUXE in your ParJar, worry not. Your balance is intact and it can still be withdrawn. Delisting means it cannot be tipped or deposited anymore. Benjamin’s Analysis Reports are a reader's delight. This week, the 2nd edition of The Parachute Post was released. Thanks for all the effort you put into these, mate. Victor hosted a trivia in TTR for 25k PAR in prizes. 15 questions worth 1.7k PAR each. Saweet! As you already know, the #PAR4PAR staking contest is now in stage 2. Click here to read details about it. Alexis’ haul from the Parachute Beer Exchange. Courtesy: Joakim Cap got hooked to @k16v5q5’s keychains as well We had one of the coolest contests in Tip Room so far. Shoot a video of your surroundings, of your city, of your life. And win some cool PAR. A Parachuters-Around-The-World video series. While we did have some winners in the end, every single entry deserves a shoutout. So here it goes:
Sondra (@Wingssosoft), thanks for a perfect start to the series by launching a literal Parachute from your balcony. It set up all the videos that followed like a Parachute that floated around the world.
Victor (@Vitico96), your city looks beautiful at sunset. Thanks for sharing those breathtaking views with us, Doc.
Tee Wai (@Trojak12), the river looked so serene and seems like a perfect setting for a boat ride. Thanks for capturing your home on camera.
Alejandro (@SmilaX96), what a great fishing spot! Thanks for sharing.
@ramsal12, loved the background music. Thank you for sharing the views around your house.
K V (@okodoko), the Greek countryside looks wonderful. Thank you for sharing snippets from your hike.
Foo (@MrDotsman), what can I say? You have the best views from your house in all of ParachuteLand. We are all jealous! And what did you buy in the end? Haha.
Lea (@lea8ndrea), super peaceful surroundings. Bet that pudding cocktail was delicious. Thanks for sharing.
@GodRACE), TTR Admins are the best indeed. And the church complex looks huge! Thanks for sharing.
Gisele (@giseleferreira) - I imagine the song was about the dog. It was a nice tune. Thanks.
@GeneralChumong, you guys look rad in those colorful attires! And what were you having for lunch? Thank you for capturing a glimpse of your life for us.
Elena (@elenademou), we can hear you loud and clear despite the wind and music. Haha. And your kid is super cute. Get'im into crypto while he is young! A nice stack of 1UP and PAR to get his college funds going.
Unique (@Ampog), dayum mate! This has to be one of the most well made videos in the whole series. Screenplay, background music, script, props. A full blown production piece. Great garden too.
Thiago (@Thiagodoming), adorable kid, awesome play area, and a great view. Thanks for sharing!
@thelonewolf112, the campus grounds look great. Best of Luck at University mate. Crush it!
@Smdvali, thanks for sharing the various views from around your city, snippets from your tea break and glimpses from your work. That Janmashtami pandal looked amazing.
Tito (@runingq), loved the music and the dancing guy at the start. Haha. Thanks for making the video.
Robert (@robertclaudiu), lovely office and a great piece of equipment you got there at work. Thanks for sharing.
@PurpleLoverO8, so much green, so much awesomeness! Thanks for sharing with us.
Pika (@pika143), looks like a great place for a quick break. Thanks for capturing it on camera.
@PeaceLove89, make a ParJar for your wife too! Then she will know why you spend so much time here. Haha. And breathtaking views too mate. Thanks.
@Mamihonik, those kids are hilarious. Lol! And thanks for sharing views from around your house.
Jeff (@jehggiurd), great fun little video mate! And perfect background song. Thanks for the walkaround.
Kauan (@ChefiaMaster), thank you for the performance. Though many of us didn't understand the language, we loved the music.
@AlteregoPT, those have to be one of the best views of Lisbon. Thank you for sharing.
Rogel (@Akoysayo), thanks for sharing a glimpse of your home with us.
And finally, Harry (@harrrr12) dude! Though this wasn't for the contest, it has to be one of the most beautiful places shared so far. Thanks for this.
A million thanks to everyone who took part. As Cap says: "It's beyond inspiring to see how cryptocurrency lives with so many Parachuters from so many different backgrounds". Snapshots from Victor's TTR Video submission for “Around the PAR World”. Beautiful! Ric and Alexis setting #PARTravel Goals The PayWithMoon (Moon) application is now part of the aXpire Blockchain Community as one of the companies in which aXpire has made an equity investment. Moon will have synergy with the upcoming PayBX product. Help create a greener world with the new Climate Bounties on MatchBX and earn some crypto for it. Win win! Victor’s weekly trivia at aXpire was a ton of fun. 10 questions. 1000 AXPR in total given out. Nice! This week’s aXpire burn saw 200k AXPR being sent to the genesis wallet. Damn! Hope you had a moment to participate in the aXpire + ThatMartiniGuy giveaway announced last week. 500 USD worth of BTC is up for grabs. CF made an awesome walkthrough video for the 2gether registration process. Check it out! 2gether got selected by The Juan Roig accelerator to be a part of the cohort. Woot! The BOMBX snapshot took place on the 1st of September. The XIO distribution will happen in the following weeks. Zach uploaded a video to explain how XIO will work in the BOMBX ecosystem and about the XIO portal. For 1000 XIO, what do you reckon the XIO Roadmap should be named? Let’em know here. And did you know that Etherscan now has a dedicated section for deflationary tokens? Good going BOMB for showing the way. 50+ startups have already applied for the XIO Incubator. Zachary invites in to chime in regarding the type of project that should go into the program. The latest Birdchain report details stats from the beta testing of SMS feature, CoinMarketCap listing etc. The three finalists of the Birdchain Art Contest was revealed in CEO Joao’s live stream which also covered other news from the project. One of the three finalists of the Birdchain Art Contest. Courtesy: @TarantuloTV Keep a track of Bounty0x news from their Republic page. The latest update is a summary of all events in August many of which have been covered by us already. The Switch token swap is now complete. The new token has been airdropped to ESH holders. Find all info about the new ESH token here. Fantom fans, if you want to see FTM listed on the Vietnamese BCNEX exchange, you can vote in their ongoing campaign. An upgrade to Fantom’s StakeDAG paper, the StairDAG was released which talks about a new consensus mechanism. For a quick recap of the month that was at Uptrennd, have a read of Jeff’s article. Jeff will also be interviewing OmiseGo CTO Robin Clart next week. So if you have questions about the OMG project, make sure to post it in reply to this tweet. Questions that make it to the interview will win USD 25 in 1UP tokens. Noice! One more public vote for an Uptrennd review went live this week. The platform is targeted to hit a few milestones this month. Go get’em! Opacity’s August update report was published this week as well. This update talks about growth metrics on the platform. Plus, there’s an ongoing giveaway for 2TB of storage space. Get on it! Opacity Account Growth and Forecast Catch up on the latest at District0x from the Weekly and Dev Report. The DANK faucet is now functional. Yay! Hydro Co-Founder Mike Kane was at the FiNext Conference this week to talk about Libra vs Hydrogen’s own Molecule. And if you are in Mexico, don’t forget to say Hi to the Hydro team who will be attending and presenting at the FINNOSUMMIT on the 13th. Hydrogen (along with TD Bank) won this year’s Tearsheet Award for Best Bank + FinTech Partnership. Hydro will host a webinar on the 19th on Open Banking. Click here to register. We had mentioned in a previous update that Hydrogen’s Atom solution was added to the Oracle Marketplace a while back. In latest news, the entire gamut of Hydro APIs now has the “Powered by Oracle” status. Sweet! This was also covered by Coindesk. HYDRO was the featured token on Publish0x back in April. Here’s some key figures from the campaign: 84k+ tips, ~640k HYDRO tipped out, 28k+ page views. Wow! Biz Dev Mark Anstead sat down with defiprime to talk about the platform for their blog post feature. Hydro Labs launched their Enterprise Solution initiative to build customised solutions for enterprise grade client. To get a recap of the latest developer and community news, click here and here respectively. Stats from the HYDRO campaign on Publish0x Silent Notary rebranded its blockchain brand from Chain-in-Law (CiL) to Integrated Distributed Ledgers (IDL) so as to better reflect its mission and vision. Check out the IDL website here. Silent Notary’s Ubikiri wallet entered into a partnership with CryptoTribunal to help with legal prosecution in cases of fraud in the blockchain industry. What will Ubikiri’s role be in this partnership you ask? Here’s an article to explain it. We have shared earlier that after the setback during STO, Blockport had to downsize its operations. The team shared an update this week after a while. They are exploring options to get the platform back on track. Best of Luck guys! The latest WandX development update also covers a 3 month roadmap. Sentivate Co-Founder Thomas DeMarchi appeared for an AMA with the Crypto Nation community. Sentivate did one of the biggest code pushes this week. Read all about it here. Sentivate Co-Founder Lew Knopp’s article on Arity (the project that built Sentivate) was published by The Daily Chain. Mycro’s MYO tokensale was officially closed this week. And with that, their bounty competition came to an end as well. The team continues to work on the Mycro Hunter app and is currently in the storyboarding phase. During this phase of development, the Mycro team visualises navigation and process flow We had shared in an earlier update about OST’s solution to create custom tokens. This week, the platform opened up UI components for developers to integrate crypto wallets in their apps. The Pepo app will soon be in closed beta. Let the team know if you would like early access or a private preview. Ost.com now has a live ticker of the mainnet transactions on the OST chain. You can borrow on the Constant platform with SelfKey’s KEY token as a collateral. All borrowings before the 10th of this month will also get discounted rates. In this week’s data threat advisories, we learnt about rogue security software, trojan horse and pharming. If you missed the first part of the series, here’s a rundown. Following up on last week’s USAF deal news, Constellation got more coverage this week from Cointelegraph on an article that explores what the Pentagon is looking into vis-à-vis blockchains. Plus, a shoutout from Blockfolio is always special. CEO Benjamin Jorgensen and Biz Dev Benjamin Diggles were interviewed by BlockchainBrad (Brad Laurie) on all things Constellation. And to close for the week, Constellation announced a partnership with Moonrock Capital to "collaborate on education and marketing around $DAG". And with that, we are all caught up. Whew! That was fun. See you again soon with another exciting update from Parachute + partners. Cheerio!
This Month In Google Home [2017-03] - Add your Easter Eggs/Feature Requests/Rants Here
This thread will do its best to summarize what is new in the world of Google Home this week. Add Easter Eggs/Feature Requests/Rants here rather than flooding the sub. Please check the current Easter Eggs and Feature Requests before posting. Any in-depth discussions should be made into new threads. Thanks!
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Stephen Harris’ top horse racing tips for Tuesday 21st July
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