Notes
Plain-English notes on travel, prices, and how we build this site. Signed, dated, no fluff.
5 September 2026 · engineering
Which Newcastle? The hardest easy question a hotel site answers
One word, ten places, four defensible rules and three wrong answers. What I learned about place names, and what a traveller can do about it.
3 September 2026 · engineering
A hotel price without dates is not a price
Planning a real trip to Sri Lanka and India broke my own wishlist — so searches, hotels and bookings now live together in trips, with the dates kept.
2 September 2026 · industry
The town R&R built: a US carrier is back in Pattaya — and there are still rooms
U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Gage ThomasPattaya exists as a resort because US servicemen came ashore for R&R in 1959. This week the USS Abraham Lincoln brought about 5,000 more — and there are rooms.
1 September 2026 · engineering
The crawlers that cost me money and pay me nothing
Last month my tiny database bill more than doubled. The culprits weren't visitors — they were SEO companies reading my site to sell what they read.
23 August 2026 · industry
The fixture list is not the fixture list
Kick-offs move for television and away tickets arrive late, so supporters book rooms before they know the date or whether they are going. Why free cancellation is the correct way to book football.
22 August 2026 · engineering
The suite is bigger than the site
From no tests in April to 16,419 across 1,131 files — 217,000 lines of test against 136,000 of application. What that bought, and what it did not.