tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102991782009-11-11T18:07:15.661ZThoughts & experiences of an online travel editoronlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.comBlogger363125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-42480780123771802422009-11-01T16:08:00.008Z2009-11-01T16:41:03.894Z

I've started noticing (probably years after the event!) a new concept creeping into the travel pages of the local press in the USA - the 'one tank (of gas) trip'.I haven't found a definition yet - Are we talking one tank there & back? What's the average mileage of an American car these days, and the average petrol tank capacity? - but the concept seems pretty straight-forward: travel features and

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-60904660950538822872009-10-22T10:19:00.004Z2009-10-22T10:46:25.962Z

I was a bit horrid to @carolmarlow last night on Twitter. I quoted her latest tweet and added "#twitterusefail" as a hash tag.In Twitter-speak that means "Lame tweet". In truth, it was. But my reaction was more out of disappointment than irritation.Carol (who I've met once) is an extremely capable MD of a huge cruise company, which is probably why she doesn't have much time to tweet more than

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-20233220339076645922009-10-01T09:08:00.004Z2009-10-01T09:25:21.247Z

Hmm, puzzled by this one...Visitors to SE1 were welcomed by the sight of snow yesterday as Potters Field Park was transformed into a wintery scene. The surprise snowfall was down to Aer Lingus who were celebrating the launch of their new winter flights from Gatwick by engaging 130 people in a mammoth snowball fight.The 130 descended on the snow to take part in the fight which lasted an impressive

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-87155343435392934382009-09-28T10:50:00.005Z2009-09-28T11:02:45.506Z

You know that long-anticipated transfer of 'world dominant power' status from the USA to China? Well, if not militarily, or economically or in space, here's another small example of where that could be happening - the adventure park industry, where the big names, until now, have all been American: Universal Studios, Six Flags, and of course the daddy of them all, Disney. It seems we may be adding

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-88978599046633700042009-09-17T12:45:00.007Z2009-09-17T13:49:36.870Z

"The proposed $10 penalty for entering the United States is being sold as a 'tourist promotion' measure, but only in Alice in Wonderland could a penalty be seen as promoting the activity on which it is imposed" - Ambassador John Bruton, Head of EU Delegation to the USA, 9 Sept 09I think that says it all really.A week ago, the United States Senate passed the Travel Promotion Act 2009 "to

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-35388899051834918092009-09-14T10:07:00.007Z2009-09-14T15:39:58.784Z

I was talking this morning with Mark Hodson (@101holidays) about Andy Perrin and how, as Mark put it, he is one of the nicest guys in travel. It got me thinking: this industry (travel) is full of nice people.It would be invidious to name them, but I know loads and loads of really nice people running travel companies. In fact, other than a few slightly hard-nosed individuals that I never

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-52525584600760749702009-09-09T08:14:00.004Z2009-09-09T09:00:18.284Z

Hehe. I just went to post something on Twitter and got a 503 error - No available server. After a couple more tries I noticed the time.Duh! Of course!It has just passed "the moment" 09:09:09 on 09/09/09I'm just guessing here, but where would thousands of people who wanted to mark, celebrate, comment on "the moment" go to do just that? Twitter! I bet it was swamped.But it highlights an

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-5351270215066067302009-09-07T13:22:00.009Z2009-09-07T16:44:48.503Z

Somebody* suggested, in a kind of Dr Samuel Johnson moment, the "-cations" should be collected and recorded for posterity. If you think that's a good idea, it was mine. If you think it's a very BAD idea... it was * @alexbainbridge ! It all started with @neilmac 's tweet: Greycationers?!? Please no. Enough. http://bit.ly/1RI7rH Definition Culprit Yaaycationer Exuberant holidaymaker @

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-90539090862428340732009-09-01T20:27:00.008Z2009-09-01T20:56:06.031Z

I'm good at heights... well, I was.In 'former lives' I was always the one who went to the top of big yacht masts at sea, armed with a spanner. Or happily walked around on theatre fly-tower grids, hundreds of feet above the stage. Or jumped out of aeroplanes (with parachute), or stayed in flimsy ones (microlight - without parachute), or was happy to be parascended (again, with parachute) behind

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-17431206635740717092009-08-19T15:45:00.005Z2009-08-19T16:33:32.992Z

All parents know this. In fact, all adults know this scenario.Your toddler does something or says something really funny that cracks everybody up. Then they go on repeating it, or variations of it, in the hope they can get the same response again.Subtlety is just something that comes with experience. But even adults don't fully understand the importance of subtlety and freshness. A joke is NEVER

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-89407091576484017162009-08-18T07:49:00.004Z2009-08-18T08:16:43.625Z

I'll admit I did check the dateline at the top of this story to ensure it wasn't April 1st.This is a new online service from Canada, which was being promoted yesterday at the Tourism Futures conference on the Gold Coast, Australia, according to The Age.The zerobaggage idea is to build a community of users and suppliers in cities worldwide. Then users can travel to those cities with no luggage,

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-18663033803568903172009-08-17T13:29:00.003Z2009-08-17T13:45:02.236Z

Go to the Oxford Airport website and you'll see they have just re-badged themselves as a London airport!Purleeze!It has taken many years for me to sometimes refer to Luton as "London Luton" and I only finally did so because I realised it is a few miles nearer London than Stansted, which I have always considered to be a London airport, largely because it was only there in the middle of the

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-77678721481973099652009-08-17T09:33:00.004Z2009-08-17T10:18:32.608Z

Janet Street Porter - The Independent, 16 AugInterestingly, teenagers have already sussed Twitter is crap and aren't taking it up. According to a Nielsen survey, only 16 per cent of the people twittering are under 25, while a whopping 64 per cent are between 25 and 54. The largest group of users are aged 35 to 49 – and that's enough to deter the young. The use of social networking is already

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-4980175063277046282009-08-13T15:05:00.004Z2009-08-19T08:30:07.240Z

I started some notes a while back for a blog post on The Ten Daftest Names in Travel, but that pesky Guillaume Thevenot has beaten me to it! Curses, Mutley!!!!!So, here are the seven I had so far.(And let's just get the disclaimer out of the way first. I'm not in any way suggesting these are bad companies or bad products. Far from it. I just don't think they've done themselves any favours in

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-47331513825468106642009-08-11T16:32:00.003Z2009-08-11T17:03:21.207Z

I posted a comment today on Brand Republic's article about the Rupert Murdoch proposal to charge for news articles, in which I suggested a business model that might make it viable, but I was really thinking aloud, so I'm gonna re-write it and refine it a little here...Like most people, I've been pretty sure that charging for online news is a non-runner. The pay-for-news concept is fundamentally

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-53681477736739919112009-08-10T09:24:00.004Z2009-08-10T10:00:03.466Z

The Italian newspaper La Stampa reports that last week's high profile hotel thefts on Sardinia involved the removal of room safes that were only held in place by polyfilla.In the raids, both at hotels in the Iti Hotels chain, a Saudi princess is reported to have lost jewelry and cash worth 11 million euros and a Moroccan businessman lost 150,000 euros. A third raid in Portofino on the Italian

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-35807809796764240612009-08-09T12:57:00.011Z2009-08-10T07:31:51.064Z

A couple of years ago I wrote a blog post outlining an un-exploited travel market segment, which I called Virtual Friendships (VF). If you are an agency with MICE experience, or an operator with escorted group experience - especially groups assembled from multiple departure points - this might be a sector you should look at. Start first by reading my post about Virtual Friendships, which, in

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-9169111336436760122009-08-07T16:02:00.004Z2009-08-07T16:27:52.850Z

Somebody at Nikon had an inspired 'flash-of-genius' moment...No more friends & rellies (Let's talk strine!) crowding around you to glimpse the photo you just took on a tiny screen that will switch off in a few secs to preserve the precious batteries. Instead, you click a switch and project it onto the nearest wall! Brilliant! (...though the batteries may not be all that pleased!)The latest camera

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-79059003520835049882009-08-04T11:44:00.008Z2009-08-19T17:33:15.280Z

A short news item about a hotel package including a tour of one of the crab boats in the Discovery Channel series: The Deadliest Catch, drew my eye to the Edgewater Hotel in Seattle."Wait a minute! I know that name!"Mispent teen years spent listening to Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, especially their famous live gig at the Fillmore East, ensured that for me and thousands of others, the

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-66702554267798345352009-07-21T09:55:00.004Z2009-07-21T10:23:23.918Z

Yesterday I had an approach from onvisible, which is the online PR division of Brahm PR in Leeds. They were pushing the launch of a 1000 x £10 hotel room night promo for Visit Leeds, and were helpful sorting out some photos for me.This morning I get a release from Resonate, which is part of Bell Pottinger, promoting Leeds as a short break destination and their client, National Express' various

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-43998481265915416132009-07-20T12:44:00.005Z2009-07-20T13:56:41.125Z

There's no compelling reason for this post... other than, it gives me a thinly-veiled excuse to post this photo of a truly beautiful car - the Bugatti Veyron - parked outside the Bugatti family home.Starting last week, and running through to 20 Sept the town of Molsheim is celebrating 100 years of iconic car manufacturing.In 1909, the Italian born Ettore Bugatti chose Molsheim in Alsace as the

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-60464582228382841512009-07-17T17:14:00.008Z2009-07-19T15:05:05.449Z

They certainly don't feel important right now. Self-esteem is very low as they are attacked from all sides. Their fees have been slashed and burned by publishers who by & large treat them like shit and demand all rights in perpetuity... plus free photos too.And they get no support from anyone else, just derision and contempt poured down on a pack of 'miserable whinging freeloaders'. But I was

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-46708898430053119942009-07-15T11:49:00.008Z2009-07-15T23:14:15.892Z

US authorities recommend Americans keep their RFID passports in alloy sleevesOh the delicious irony!Probably...Somewhere in the Pentagon there's a General thinking: "The trouble with insurgencies is that you can't tell who the bad guys are. Wouldn't it be great if our clever scientists could come up with a foolproof gadget to identify the terrorist in a street full of civilians and blow him up

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-26662424821257647372009-07-10T11:43:00.007Z2009-07-10T13:57:46.593Z

OK, I am pretty much the last person in travel media to post this, and plenty has been said about it already by the likes of Neville & Shel and Alex Bainbridge and Nathan Midgeley etc ...But it is a great (and self-explanatory) video (and the truth is, while I was aware of it before, I've only just got around to watching it!).....enjoy!Apparently a 'grown-up' at United who knows what social

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10299178.post-83693768461370987182009-07-09T11:47:00.003Z2009-07-09T12:42:43.792Z

I saw the Guardian's story about News of the World phone hacking breaking on the Internet late last night, and I've been watching it go into high gear this morning.It's a story I've been morbidly keeping an eye on because I used to know someone at NotW who I suspect might get caught up in it. As usual Twitter is the index to any new stories/angles but I've been surprised that the 'conversation'

onlinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902040076973941233noreply@blogger.com1