About Buta Airways Baku - Tbilisi fight

13 August, 2019 | Travel guides | 15 seen

Buta Airways is an Azerbaijani low-cost virtual carrier, headquartered in Baku, with its primary operational base at Heydar Aliyev International Airport. It is a fully owned subsidiary of Azerbaijan Airlines.

We fled with Buta Airways at the start of August 2019 from Baku - Tbilisi. The flight was served from Heydar Aliyev International Airport Terminal 2. And that's what I really enjoyed - Terminal 2 is quite small, no need to travel long distances to find gates and so on. Really compact and neat.

We bought three adults tickets and paid about $300 for that. Our baby girl (13-month-old) for the first time in her short flying carrier got a separate seat

Air distance between Baku to Tbilisi is about 450 kilometers (280 miles). The flight takes about 1 hour. Despite labeled as a low-cost carrier  - Buta Airways serves free onboard snacks and what's more important has plenty of the legroom. Buta Airways fleet consists of Embraer 190 aircraft., which can take up to 106 passengers. 

The E190/195 models are a larger stretch of the E170/175 models fitted with a new, larger wing…

Top Best Selling NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming Laptops

12 August, 2019 | Laptop Reviews | 43 seen

The GeForce® GTX 1660 Ti and 1660 are built with the breakthrough graphics performance of the award-winning NVIDIA Turing™ architecture. 

Get amazing performance and image quality while live streaming to Twitch or YouTube. GTX 1660 Ti and 1660’s dedicated hardware encoders deliver 15% improved efficiency over prior-generation graphics cards and are optimized for Open Broadcaster Software (OBS).

Unlike with PC's where you can extend your computer with a GPU, when choosing a laptop your options are more limited and in general, you cannot change the graphics card.

In this article, I've listed some of the best selling NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 TI gaming laptops available for sale on Amazon.  Most of  the gaming laptops listed below feature either latest 9th generation intel core i7 or AMD quad-core Ryzen 7 processor 

• Top 20 Gaming Laptops with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB Graphics card
• Top 5 Best Selling Intel Core i9 (Gaming) Processor Laptops
• Top 10 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Gaming Laptops

A…

Goodwill Gori Higway

11 August, 2019 | Shopping Venues | 71 seen

Goodwill near Gori - Tbilisi Highway is a convenient rest area/supermarket/ eatery while driving to Tbilisi (from Kutaisi or Batumi, for example)

Goodwill was one of the first supermarket chains in Georgia. I wouldn't call this store a supermarket in the classic sense, as mostly here are sold long-lasting food items, though there is a stand for fresh products, like milk, eggs and so on).

We keep stopping here, to buy some milk, coffee or Pringles chips and to take some coffee, when returning back from trips to Tbilisi

Goodwill near Gori - Tbilisi highway

There is also located Socar gas station

On the opposite side of the highway (driving from Tbilisi), there is a Wendy's store

How To Withdraw Funds from Deribit

9 August, 2019 | Crypto | 116 seen

Withdrawing funds from Deribit platform is very easy. Keep reading to learn more.

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links to deribit.com options trading website, by clicking on links on this page and by making investment on derbit.com, I might earn affiliate income at no cost to you.

I'm not a financial advisor and I don't give you any advice, I'm just sharing my own experience. Investments in stocks, funds, bonds or cryptos are risk investments and you could lose some or all of your money. Do your due diligence before investing in any kind of asset. 

Log in to Deribit.com , make sure you have selected Ethereum tab from the upper navigation menu:

Ethereum tab

from the menu on the right side, under your username click on Withdrawal

Ethereum withdrawal from Deribit platform

Warning: Only withdraw directly to your Ethereum wallet, not to other exchanges. Withdrawing to other exchanges might result in losing your funds.

Enter details for Ethereum…

Antalya Aquarium

8 August, 2019 | Tourism objects | 11 seen

As one of the biggest aquarium complexes of the world, Antalya Aquarium offers inspiration, entertainment and education all at once.

After touring the 40 thematic aquariums, you will come across the biggest tunnel aquarium of the World with a length of 131 meters and a width of 3 meters.

We paid about an hour and a half long visit to Antalya aquarium in June 2019. We booked a trip here while staying at Kirman Belazur Resort &Spa from Pegas Touristik, and paid about $100. The fee included a ride to and back from our hotel for two adults and a baby and entrance tickets at the aquarium. 

Antalya aquarium

Antalya aquarium features - worlds biggest tunnel aquarium (length of 131 meters), Snow World Ice museum, XD cinema, Tropical reptile house (separate tickets should be purchased)

Different species of fish at Antalya aquarium

The largest tunnel aquarium of the world will be waiting for you with a length of 131 meters and width of 3 meters inside the main tank with a capacity of more than 5 million liters. Please remember to take a look at the story of the…

July 2019 Dividend Income Report - $247.06

7 August, 2019 | Investments | 20 seen

Welcome to the twenty-seventh (#27) dividend income report, covering earnings I've made from dividend-paying stocks and peer to peer lending in July 2019.

Hawk-eyed blog readers will notice that I have dropped cryptocurrency lending from the top. And that's true, I have stopped lending crypto online on Poloniex.com, instead, I'm trading crypto options on Deribit. 

Our baby daughter last July turned 1, and for that special event we traveled back to Latvia (spent 2 weeks there) - had a nice family gathering and very awesome 1-year birthday celebrations at Baltvilla hotel

Birthday decorations for our baby girls birthday at Hotel Baltivilla restaurant terrace

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links to mintos.com peer to peer lending and deribit.com options trading websites, by clicking on links on this page and by making investment mintos.com or derbit.com, I might earn affiliate income at no cost to you. Also, I'm not a financial advisor and I don't give you any advice, I'm just sharing my own experience. Investments in stocks, funds, bonds or cryptos are risk…

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Zoom Lens Review

26 July, 2019 | Digital Photography School | 15 seen

At the end of July, I finally got replacement lens for original Canon Rebel T5 (Canon 1200D) DSLR camera - I ordered online from Amazon Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Zoom Lens.

For the original kit lens, the autofocus stopped working properly and for the most time I had to shoot in manual mode, it's perfectly fine for me, but I admit having working autofocus is really neat, it can help a lot (for example in bright sunlight).

I was inching between 18-55mm zoom lens and 24mm pancake lens, but after all, I went tor the 18-55mm (as I have been shooting with it for the last 4 years)

Top 5 Best Selling Canon EF / EF-S Lenses 2019

Designed for high-quality still image and video capture while being compact and lightweight, the new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens features the optics, AF and image stabilization necessary for shooting in any number of situations.

Please note this article contains links to Amazon by clicking on links on this page and by making a purchase on Amazon site, I might earn an affiliate income from that at no cost to you.

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Zoom Lens…

Fix for Drupal 'Social Share Counter' module - Facebook Counter Not Working

16 July, 2019 | Drupal Development | 12 seen

I have been using Drupal's Social Share counter module for some time already. It worked great until recently it stopped and all posts were showing 0 shares.

After a quick research on the modules issue page, I found the solution: Facebook share counter not working

Facebook has changed its API recently, so the URL http://graph.facebook.com/?id=URL, which is used by the module no longer works and the share counter is always 0.

There is also a patch provided to fix this issue:

Gonio Fortress

14 July, 2019 | Military Heritage | 19 seen

Gonio fortress, previously called Apsaros, or Apsarunto, is a Roman fortification in Adjara, Georgia, on the Black Sea, 15 km south of Batumi, at the mouth of the Chorokhi river. The village sits 4 km north of the Turkish border.

Gonio has been on my radar since I probably first visited Batumi back in the Summer of 2011, but for the first time, I visited this ancient Roman site at the end of April 2019, while doing an easy weekend trip around the region of Adjara.

The entrance fee was 3 GEL (April 2019)

Fortification walls at Gonio Fortress

For those of you interested in history:

The oldest reference to the fortress is by Pliny the Elder[ in the Natural History (1st century AD). There is also a reference to the ancient name of the site in Appian’s Mithridatic Wars (2nd century AD). In the 2nd century AD it was a well-fortified Roman city within Colchis. The town was also known for its theatre and hippodrome. It later came under Byzantine influence. The name "Gonio" is first attested in Michael Panaretos in the 14th century. In addition…

One Year Anniversary for the Child's Stock Investment Portfolio

13 July, 2019 | Investments | 13 seen

Today, on July 13th, we are celebrating both 1-year anniversaries for our baby daughter and her stock investment portfolio.

In today's article, I will shed some light on the second (investment portfolio) a year after.

Originally I come up with a plan to build a high-yield $10,000 child investment portfolio by the time our baby girl will turn 2. (July 2020). Right now we are looking at $80-$100 monthly dividends by the time she will turn 2.  

Since July 2018 we have invested $5,485.07 in 8 stocks. In our first year, we have generated a dividend income of $241.36 ($71.12 back in 2018; $170.14 in 2019). That's about 4.4% dividend yield.

Unfortunately, we have experienced a -4.75% value drop, luckily dividends level things up, and after the first year, the value + dividends = -0.13%. 

Market value

HP ENVY x360 - 15-cn0003ur Convertable Touchscreen Laptop Review

9 July, 2019 | Gadget Reviews | 54 seen

HP ENVY x360 - convertible touchscreen Laptop is the latest addition to our home office. Bought at the local Tbilisi shop in early June 2019. Paid about $1,150 but I believe you could get one much cheaper on Amazon

Equipped with Backlit keyboard, FULL HD 1920X1080 screen resolution, this laptop will make many envy it. lol

Top 20 Laptops with Full HD 1920X1080 Resolution

From its distinctive materials and iconic design, this PC exudes unparalleled beauty. Built thin and light for those on-the-go - expect premium design features including a brilliant backlit keyboard, seamless profile, and geometric pattern speaker grill.

Top 20 Best Selling Laptops with a backlit keyboard 2019

Please note this article contains links to Amazon by clicking on links on this page and by making a purchase on Amazon site, I might earn an affiliate income from that at no cost to you.

HP Envy in a box

More power, more security, and more ways to do it all. The convertible 15" (38.1 cm) HP ENVY x360 lets you adapt to anything your day has in store, without sacrificing power or…

Kirman Belazur Resort &Spa Review in Antalya, Turkey

5 July, 2019 | Hotel reviews | 27 seen

Situated at the seafront, Kirman Hotels Belazur Resort & Spa has a private beach but you don't need a beach when you have one of the longest warm water outdoor pools. 

There is a water park and a bowling alley on site and guests can enjoy the restaurant and bar. Free WiFi is featured throughout the hotel and free private parking is available on site.

We booked a tour package from Tbilisi to Turkey's region of Antalya and chose this 5-star resort hotel in Belek (the total amount we paid for this tour package with a charter flight from Tbilisi to Antalya and Back was about USD 1,200 for a 6-night stay). Our trip took us here in early June 2019. For booking this trip we chose the local Georgian company Discovery which sold us a tour in partnership with Pegas Touristik

Top 5-star Luxury Hotels in Belek (Antalya /All - Inclusive)

For me, this was the first time experience booking all-inclusive tour package with a charter flight. Actually, there are not many all-inclusive hotels from my travel list, the last one I remember was back in 2016 in Spain's Torremolinos (see: Hotel Parasol Garden…

June 2019 Dividend Income Report - $299.51

3 July, 2019 | Investments | 18 seen

Welcome to the twenty-sixth (#26) dividend income report, covering earnings I've made from dividend-paying stocks, peer to peer lending (both fiat and cryptocurrencies) in June 2019.

At the start of June, we booked an All - Inclusive tour package from Tbilisi to Turkey's Antalya and spent a week in a 5-star hotel SPA and resort in Belek.

I made the following long exposure picture in the last evening while in the resort:

Kirman Belazur Resort and Spa 5-star hotel in Belek, Turkey

Learn more: Kirman Belazur Resort&Spa Review in Antalya, Turkey

$299.51 was taken from dividend stocks and peer to peer lending in June 2019. Ahh, so close to crack $300, that we could even smell it, but unfortunately not this time.

Actually, I doubt I will manage to crack $300 anytime soon (at least not this year, though anything could happen), but on the other hand we are in the two hundreds

Additional $408.80 were made from options trading, but as options trading is not actually a passive form of making money while…

Latvian - Georgian Cafe 4You in Gori

30 June, 2019 | Restaurant reviews | 48 seen

Now besides hostel in Tbilisi, Latvians have a cafe in Gori

Latvian - Georgian Cafe 4You is located on Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue 34, Gori. 

Opened for the public in 2018, this place serves pastry, cakes and a huge menu of a different kind of meals (both Latvian and Georgian style), you can get here both some salty Gori style cutlets and even Kiev's cutlet, not to speak about salad olive and more. 

Overall feeling  - The Soviet Obshchepit (общепит) - sometimes I just can't resist it. lol

Cafe 4You in Gori

Pastry at Cafe 4You

Now, they had a very good cheesecake, a decent chocolate cake. Oreo cheesecake was a joke. The best oreo cheesecake I've found so far is at Tbilisi Hard Rock Cafe. 

Riga black balsam

Now, there is one more place in Georgia to find Riga Black Balsam

Kiev's cutlet with a balsamic sauce

This place serves wine from a small nearby winery Chateau Ateni.

Tbilisi - Baku by Train Ticket Information

29 June, 2019 | Travel guides | 28 seen

At the end of June 2019, I finally bought train tickets Tbilisi - Baku for early August 2019. I have plans to spend my 34th birthday in Baku, Azerbaijan. 

The train is departing Tbilisi daily at 20:35 and arriving in Baku at 08:50, In total it takes about 12 hours and 30 minutes to get from Tbilisi to Baku by train

It seems there is no option buying tickets online yet for Tbilisi - Baku line (although I found there are some tour agencies selling tickets online, see: International Tbilisi-Baku Train, though the price might be double when using travel agency).

The option we used was visiting Tbilisi Railway station and buying a ticket over the counter and what's even more interesting when buying over the counter it's asked to pay for tickets in cash, despite they have a VISA terminal. On my question why don't we pay by card, the kind cashier replied that the Tbilisi - Baku line is operated by Azerbaijani Railways side and they accept only cash. The cashier was able to speak very good English. 

For purchasing tickets, we had to show our passports (baby passport wasn't asked…