Belgrade Airport Taxi Scammer

Belgrade Airport

 If you are arriving at the Belgrade Airport, be very careful about the taxi scammers. After a tiresome day at the Belgrade Airport due to the horrible AirSerbia, I encountered this Taxi dude. Before entering the taxi, as a smart traveler, I made sure he turns the taxi meter on. He clarified I will pay by card since I do not have local currency. Throughout the ride he kept saying how the country has become very expensive and fuel has become extremely expensive due to the wars. When we arrived at my booking.com apartment, the meter showed RSD 889 and the receipt he gave me correctly showed the amount. He shows the credit card reader for me to tap my card with the correct amount. Before I tapped, he quickly typed something. I assumed he was just choosing the currency or whatever. He had added a zero! So, for a 9 minutes quick drive, he had charged me RSD 8890 instead of RSD 889. 

That was USD 87.38 instead of USD 8.74. 10 times the money.  USD 78.64 more than the actual price. I got the notification that I was charged USD 87.38 from the bank. At that time, I did not remember the conversation rate between RSD and USD. I was already tired and at the bottom (thanks, AirSerbia!) I assumed perhaps RSD 889 is indeed USD 87.38. I had been to Serbia once before. But that was 11 years ago to remember anything. Especially the currency rate, when I was all tired after a tiresome day. When I came to the booking.com apartment, I had this uneasy feeling. My booking.com apartment was very close to the airport. It was not in Belgrade--the airport is indeed somewhat far from Belgrade City. But the apartment was in Surčin, the same town as the airport and it took exactly 9 minutes for the drive! So, this was an insult to pay this much. Something did not feel right. I decided to check my receipt and calculate actual amount using xe.com. Yes, RSD 889 should have been USD 8.74. That makes sense for the 9 minutes drive. If it is indeed USD 87.38 for the 9 minutes drive, that would have made Belgrade the most expensive unlivable city. The driver was hinting on the increased expense in Belgrade throughout the journey. I believe he was prepared to overcharge me in cash, if I decided to pay him in Euro or USD, since he knew I did not have RSD but had Euro and USD.

I immediately reported this to my bank, Bank of America (BoA), with the receipt and the ride path, showing it was just 9 minutes. The bank declined my dispute for the extra USD 78.64. I was horrified how they sided with the scammer, despite me having all the evidence. Then I called them and also published this story on Twitter. The first BoA agent said their AI system flagged and declined my dispute as an AI-generated dispute without human oversight! The second agent was very unhelpful and somewhat patronizing and rude. Uncharacteristic of a call-center person. However, by the time the BoA social media team came online on Twitter, this was resolved. Perhaps, the BoA social media team quickly had a human look over it and realized there was no AI involved in this story and dispute. It felt like it took them just ten minutes to resolve this scam and return me the overcharged USD 78.64!

I have been scammed by taxi guys. Usually, 16 euro instead of 12 euro. In the worst case, getting charged twice the amount. This was the first time someone decided to scam me 10 times! Such a greedy dude. If he had charge me USD 18 instead of USD 8.74, I would have ignored this scam. This magnitude is too much to ignore. 

Verdict: Avoid AirSerbia and Belgrade Airport if you can (more details on this later, if my time permits). But if you must use them and if you end up in Belgrade, make sure to avoid taxis. Public transport is free in Belgrade and you can easily take the bus to Belgrade city center. 

Take it one day at a time

Pula, Croatia

We all like to take it one day at a time. I do. We live in the present and every day is one more day. But in addition to one day, I also tend to have some additional units of time I usually consider. This blog post is just that!

1. Week 

Each day can be different. Monday to Sunday. But weeks tend to have this rhythm. Often all the Fridays feel the same, and all the Sundays feel the same. That is why week is my favorite unit of time!

2. Year. 

I want each of my year to be better than the previous. There are a few ways we can measure the year though!

2.1. Calendar year.

Yes, new year, new diary, new resolutions. I love how we start each year with that energy and optimism. Every year has a winter, spring, summer, autumn, and winter again! It is a circle. I love it.

2.2 Academic year.

This is going to start in the August. New academic year, new students, new faces. Also, coming back from the summer, ready for new adventures and the cold winters.  

2.3 Age.

Counting from the birthday. Age++. This feels special too. Getting older. Yes, we get older each day. But when the age is incremented by one, it feels special.

3. Month 

This does not feel that special. But, it is important in adult life. Bills, rent, salary, and other money stuff usually revolves in a monthly cycle (even though currently I am paid bi-weekly).

 4. Decade 

4.1. Literal decades.

From 1980s (I was just 2 in 1989, so it does not really count), 1990s (this is the first decade I should count. I have memories starting from 1992), 2000s, 2010s (this is my most favorite decade so far), and 2020s (hopefully this decade will overtake my 2010s. It is ongoing, after all. Started as a bad decade, but recovered quickly).

4.2. Age. 

0s, 10s, 20s, 30s, .... I am in my 30s and will be in my 40s next year! Decades of age feel special for a reason.

4.3. Decades counting from 5 y/o.

Although I was born in 1987, I have memories only from 1992. So I tend to calculate the decades  of age as 1992-, 2002-, 2012-, 2022-, and 2032-.

5. Half Periods 

This is dynamic. Any event, whether a semester, a year, a vacation, or a project visit, can be split into two. By tracking the half-period, you know which half you are in. If you have completed the first half, you know you have one more half to go. Just like a merge sort, splitting into halves help you plan the time surprisingly more efficiently. It also makes you appreciate the time better as this is more of a relative unit than a fixed one like everything else above.

6. "Seasons"

I look at my life as if it is a telenovela. In that sense, I see it as several seasons, with several episodes in them. Season 1: The young days (1987 - 2012), Season 2: Grad Student Life (2012 - 2019), Season 3: Postdoc/COVID-19 Period (2020 - 2023), Season 4: Faculty life (2023 - ). In that sense, I am in Season 4 since 2023 August and enjoying it! Bring that main character energy!

Finding a conference or journal to publish your article as an undergraduate

An undergraduate student recently asked me where should he publish his research work. This blog post is from the reply I drafted for him.

 

Depending on who you ask, you will get a totally contrasting opinion. I also answer the question based on who is asking. Let me explain.

Some researchers/professors want to strictly publish in top-tier conferences and journals.

You can check the conference ranking here: https://portal.core.edu.au/conf-ranks/

Journal ranking here: https://www.scimagojr.com/journalrank.php

For journals, Q1 means, top 25% journals. They are good to target.

For conferences, A* are the top-most ones. "A" are good too. Then you have B and C conferences. There are also unranked conferences. Unranked conferences are ok as long as they are not predatory. If you know who is organizing those, that can be good.

Don't submit to predatory conferences (such as those hosted by WASET) and predatory journals. Some journals are in the gray zone and not well respected. For example, MDPI and to some extent - Frontiers In. Avoid those.

Now, we should be realistic too. Most of the undergraduate research (including Google Summer of Code) is something undergraduates do during a semester. Then, once the semester is over, the students usually do not stick around. So, if we want to publish something out of that, either we should make it a part of a larger research, or aim accordingly. We are unlikely to get an "A*" conference or Q1 journal publication without some extra work beyond that one semester of undergraduate research.

Another factor to consider when you publish is the cost. For journals, Article Processing Fee. Open Access journals charge around $2000 or more. Many journals waive that fee for corresponding authors from developing countries. But you need to check. Otherwise, stick to journals that do not ask for that fee to publish.

For conferences, you cannot skip this fee. Because for conferences, this fee also covers the conference organization and participation cost. If you submit a paper to a conference, then one of the authors must attend the conference and present the paper. Some conferences allow remote presentation - but they usually still expect the full article processing fee (which can be almost $1000). So, if you are submitting a paper to a conference, be prepared to pay for that. Usually, your university should have some fund to cover your registration. But usually they cannot cover students who are not from the same university.

If you submit your paper to a conference, even if they allow you to present remotely if you want, it is best to go to present in-person. That way, you can experience the conference in full. But then be prepared to spend for the flight tickets, hotels, and meals. Usually, the total cost for such a conference trip (as a conference usually lasts around 4 days) is around $4000 (it depends on the location and the hotel you stay, of course). Then, the visa challenges. For many researchers from the developing countries, getting a visa to Europe or US is a challenge on its own. Oftentimes, it is not worth the hassle and we end up finding conferences that are in the same country where we live or a country where we already have a visa or a visa-free access.

So, you are going to make a decision based on all these factors.