I flew in to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) recently and was very impressed with this water dispenser.
Designed to fill reusable water bottles, and located directly after security, it makes lots of sense for travelers to easily get their own water bottles filled without having to buy the disposable kind.
Clean drinking water is good, healthy, and, often taken for granted, which is a bit of a problem since we don’t attach enough value to it.
Even better is the fact that the number of plastic bottles being sent to landfills is being reduced. America currently has an obsession with water, but too much of it is either being wasted or the containers are simply not being recycled.
This is a great alternative, and I hope we start seeing more in other public spaces.
Have you seen these water dispensers at other airports or other public spaces? Share your experience in our comments field!
Dubai is a city of contrasts. Modern skyscrapers and highways are adjacent to souks and bazaars depicting a traditional way of life. Flashy new cars are parked next to workable older vehicles. Women in spiky heels and short dresses walk next to those clad in burquas and headscarves. Men in djellebas and headdress converse with others in well cut western suits. Breakfast has hummus and pita bread plated next to pork sausage. 
Buying anything in Cuba is a tale of two currencies. I arrived in Havana with many, many U.S. dollars in my pocket. I knew that I couldn’t use a credit card, and I assumed that like in most places around the world, American currency would be used if necessary. But I quickly learned that as a foreigner, my transactions would be in CUCs, or kooks, as they are called.
Cuba has a long tradition with sugar and rum. Beginning in the 1500s, sugar was cultivated on the island, becoming its biggest export and cash crop. Slaves were brought from Haiti to work the fields, cutting the cane. In the 1700s, as distillation became more prevalent, the crop was used to produce rum, and soon entire villages were created to process the sugar cane and distill it into rum. The sugarcane is crushed to obtain juice, which is then fermented with a mixture of yeast and water.
Sugar is so sweet that we don’t often think about its bitter side. For centuries it was the basis of a triangular slave trade between Africa, the Caribbean, and England. Slaves were brought from Africa to work in plantations in the Caribbean, sugar was exported to England and the United States where it was converted into rum, and manufactured goods were sent to Africa to exchange for slaves, who were shipped back to the Caribbean.