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Saturday 2004-04-10 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Using webmail
Interesting problem: my whole approach for this travel blog hinges on being able to use webmail in Internet cafes on the road. I haven’t really looked hard at webmail accounts until yesterday evening though: I never used any.
On the SpamCop newsgroup someone suggested Fastmail (FM) and I decided to try an account. My idea was though to have a string of accounts, throwing each away after being used once. That sounds simple, but isn’t:
- you need another email account to verify the account when signing up; but I’ll be away for 65 days, and (also with other services) accounts will expire after 45 days not being accessed; and with FM if you terminate an account, it still stays active for 7 days
- also, FM doesn’t allow you to have multiple free accounts; Tmicha.net does not have that limitation (but does have the 45-days rule)
- that requires other means of evading keyloggers and sniffers in Internet cafes than simply discarding an account after use; various copy-and-paste strategies have been brought up in discussions, as well as using a USB flash drive (which may not be usable everywhere).
So, we’ll see… I may end up with a combination of strategies and using several providers in a “chain”.
Update 2005-08-19: Sadly, Tmicha.net was teken over by an Irish company and no longer provides free, spam-free email accounts.
Thursday 2004-04-22 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Using webmail - solved!
SikaSpam on the SpamCop spamcop.geeks newsgroup came with a brilliant idea today: install SquirrelMail on your VPS system. “Takes only 5 minutes,” he said.
Well, installing it took me a bit longer than that (I’m an RTFM junkie, and the FM was somewhat confusing for me, and in one place even incorrect) but it got done — it’s faster if you don’t RTFM! Then I read up on SSL on Apache but couldn’t get it working; it turned out I had to get my host to activate SSL for me which cost $55. (It also turned out that all my reading taught me a lot about setting up SSL on Apache — none of which applied to VPS. Grrr). I actually created my own certificate (cost: 0$). So now I can use SquirrelMail over a secure connection. Then I installed a bunch of plugins that make it even more secure, plus a number of just “handy” plugins. All set up now!
Meanwhile from the Fastmail user forum I also got a list of anonymous webmail forms: no login needed, hence no password to be captured. I’m keeping those, as well as FastMail, as a backup (all listed on a handy help page I made on one of my websites).
I’m all set for emailing; no need for a USB thingy now.
Saturday 2005-09-17 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands
“Can you take your shoes off, please?”
I go downstairs with my luggage a bit early and just when I step out the taxi arrives, with Carla and Gwendoline on board. We have a smooth an luxurious start of the trip: we’ll be able to lug our luggage more than enough later! Amsterdam is quiet at this time — but the airport is crowded.
Security after check in is interesting: the gate beeps at me (as I expected since I have a metal buckle on my belt; a lady frisks me. So far normal. Then comes the surprise: “Can you take your shoes off, please?” OK — I’m expecting she’ll take a good look at my shoes, but no: first my feet are frisked, too, and then my shoes have to go through the scanner!
After that we shop a bit, then go to the gate; we leave on time.
Thursday 2007-04-12 - Al Mukalla, Yemen
No breakfast
When I get back to the hotel, Hussein is sitting on the stoop outside, next to Mohamed. We’re going to have Yemeni breakfast today, Hussein tells me: with beans. Looking forward to that (I’m fond of all kinds of beans), I go up to my room to pack and write a little.
When I get downstairs with my luggage at 10, it turns out that everyone missed breakfast: Hussein had arranged it all but forgotten to tell us breakfast would be at 8… Good thing I had a big glass of mango juice this morning in the new town.
When we leave, we’re also acquiring a policeman, riding in one of the cars: he’ll be escorting us to Bir Alī.
Wednesday 2009-05-20 - Tehrān, Iran
Double oops
Our flight to Tehrān is short and uneventful; now we have some time to kill before our connecting flight to Mashhad. There´s a TV on in the large waiting hall; a football match is attracting an ever-larger and more excited crowd and I amuse myself watching the (mostly) men watching the screen which I cannot see, and write a bit for my blog.
Then it´s time to check in for our connecting flight and we go through security — men and women separate as is usual in Iran. Fluids are not considered a security risk here, so you can bring your bottle of water, and the security ladies are quite friendly. One picks me out and wants me to open my hand bag — I´m not phased by that because although it didn´t happen so far on this trip, I quite often have to open bags because of the electronic equipment I´m carrying. ¨Do you have a knife?¨ she asks? ¨No, in my checked bag¨ I say. She starts to go through my bag, takes out one of the small pouches, and produces my Swiss army knife. My mouth drops open: I was absolutely sure I´d put it back in my toilet bag! I ask if I can still check it in, and Carla supports me by remarking it´s quite valuable. Then, right behind me, Madelon has exactly the same problem. The lady gives us a good look over, quickly discusses our case with (apparently) a superior, and takes us to a small office where a man sits behind a desk. For both of us he writes out a slip, puts a stamp on it, sticks one part to our boarding card, and the puts the other away with the knife. He looks reassuring. Then the lady takes us back again, and we can board the plane with the rest of our hand luggage. We´re told we´ll need the slip stuck on our boarding card to get our knives back — how, we have no idea.
When we land in Mashhad, we´re still waiting for our luggage to come off the plane when a man in a fluorescent yellow vest walks towards our group, looking around, and carrying something in his hand: I see some green-and-yellow and recognize the slip for our knives. Sure enough, he has both our knives, each neatly packaged in a transparent plastic bag. Phew!
