I am in a hotel room with a manjaro plasma (OS) up to date with LTS kernel (latest) . I was having multiple issues with my system - system freezes, black screen with blinking cursor, etc. So as I need the laptop to do work, I used an attached usb to do a full Timeshift restore from a month ago.
On rebooting, I get an error msg. See error screen — Postimages
I am writing this on my phone. I don’t have access to another pc. Is there anything I can do or am I up the well known creek?
without a means to boot the thing - from USB, for example
you are there:
although I never heard that analogy before, I think I know what it means
That’s a long way back up the Creek. I’d suggest a system snapshot at least daily, keep one daily and one weekly then one monthly for dire emergencies.
But how about backup? How can you restore your data if you reinstall?
Thanks for your reply Ben. The Timeshift snapshot from a month ago was after a fresh install, so I thought that was the safest option 
My data is stored separately using Vorta. It occurred to me an option would be to download a bootable iso to my phone then use a usb otg. But there are no otg cables/adapters available locally. 
If I had to guess a culprit for my problems, I would pick electron.
Anyway, lesson learned. Don’t leave home without a bootable usb. 