Latest

A practical memo covering the finances, accounts, insurance, and logistics that keep things running — written for the person who'd have to figure it all out if I wasn't around to explain it.

By the time you hand over your boarding pass, a government risk score already exists for you. Here's what's being collected, who sees it, and what you can actually do about it.

SSSS on your boarding pass means you've been flagged for extra screening. It's annoying, rarely explainable, and says more about how border risk systems work than it does about you.

Your passport isn't just a travel document — it's a record of everywhere you've ever been, evaluated by people whose job is to find problems. Some stamps close more doors than others.

I filed a FOIA request expecting a few dry records. What came back was 50+ pages of physical descriptions, secondary screening notes, and border officer remarks I didn't know existed. Here's how to read yours.

At the U.S. border, the Fourth Amendment doesn't apply to your phone. Officers can search it without a warrant — and they do. What's actually on there, and what you can do before you land.

The most complete surveillance profile on you as a traveler isn't in a government database — it's sitting with your airline. And you handed most of it over voluntarily, in exchange for miles you'll probably never use.