The Mindful Traveler

Australia Plug

Traveling with a hair dryer or curling iron? It may or may not require a converter to safely power up overseas. How about your cell phone and tablet? These have built-in voltage converters, so only an adapter is needed to plug into a foreign wall socket. 

Here is the skinny on powering up your devices in foreign lands.

Adapter or converter?

Most of the time, what you need for plugging in overseas is simply an adapter plug, not a converter. 

While it...

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If you ask 10 Americans how they tip in the US, you’ll get 10 different answers, right? 

These days, nicer restaurants typically expect 15% to 20% on top of the bill for good service, and 18% or more is often added onto the bill for larger parties. But that doesn’t mean that’s what folks will tip. 

Do you deduct tax from the total before you calculate the tip in a restaurant?

With cab fare, you might tip up to 10% or just round up the fare by...

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