The real cost is the seat reservation fees they don't tell you about up front. I used a pass last summer and every fast train in Italy or France needed a paid booking on top of the pass. That spontaneity gets expensive fast when every "hop on the next train" moment comes with a 10 to 30 euro fee. You end up planning just to avoid those fees, which kills the whole flexible point. It feels like a bait and switch after you've already paid for the pass itself.

My buddy was trying to fix his old lawnmower for weeks and was totally stuck. He posted a blurry picture of a rusty part here, and some guy in another country knew exactly what it was from a model he used to own. The fix was just bending a piece of wire a certain way, something no manual would ever say. He got it running that same afternoon.

But what about people with good screens, @brian303?