Really At Home On The Road

by Brett Atkinson on

Martha’s recent post about apartments and home rentals as an alternative to staying in hotels was bang on. Across my last few trips I’ve tried to incorporate a few more leisurely nights staying in private homes in local neighborhoods and have usually made bookings through the Vacations Rentals By Owner website.

VRBO lists around 86,000 private homes available for rent in more countries than you’d think, and so far the standard of places I’ve rented has been great. You very quickly find local cafes for breakfast and soon develop an addiction to the local newspaper.

A few of the highlights:

  1. A houseboat in Sausalito, Califorrnia (lazy days on the deck with a bottle of Francis Ford Coppola’s wine)
  2. An apartment in the West Village, New York (hanging out with the locals downstairs at Tavern on Jane)
  3. A flat in central Prague (around 200 metres from Weneceslas Square, but totally quiet)

Thanks to casspixx on Flickr for the pic of one of my favourite New York bars.

Alaska Air: (Another) First Airline to Offer In-Flight WiFi

by Catherine Bodry on

There seems to be a WiFi battle going on between airlines — each is scrambling to be the first to offer in-flight wireless connections. Last month American Airlines said it would be the first. And before that, we got a tip that Southwest Airlines might start offering the service.

To Alaska Air’s credit, they’re only claiming to be the first airline to test the in-flight service. The company will begin trying Row 44’s system, a satellite-based service that is designed to work over water and across international borders. If all goes well, the airline could add wireless to each of its 114 planes. That’s good news for me, since I fly Alaska almost exclusively.

As for the cost of this convenience? The article only states that Alaska is “researching various pricing options.” But if you’re in economy class, I wouldn’t expect economy prices.

[via Reuters]

You Tube Becomes New (Zealand) Tube

by Brett Atkinson on

When you’re a tiny country of just 4 million people at the bottom of the world, you need to be innovative in your marketing activities. We’ve already reported on Air New Zealand’s innovative gay-themed flight and high-altitude fashion show.

Now Tourism New Zealand have set up the world’s first You Tube channel dedicated to a single country. It’s a follow on from the deal earlier this week when the team behind the Pure NZ marketing campaign took over all the home page advertising on You Tube for the entire day of September 18.

Check out the channel for loads of NZ-themed content about the country I’m proud (and very lucky) to call home.

The pic is of dusk under the Kaikoura Ranges in New Zealand’s South Island.

Web-Based Travel Organizer a Good Replacement for Personal Assistant

by Catherine Bodry on

When I first heard about TripIt, I thought there was no way I would ever consider using software to organize a trip. I’m a budget backpacker, not an international jet-setter, after all. But the more I read about it, the more I’m convinced that outside organization might be the way to go for me, especially with my mother constantly pleading for some form of an itinerary from me.

Gregg Brockaway, the co-founder of Hotwire.com, is launching what he’s calling “an intelligent travel organizer with a social twist.” TripIt organizes travel articles, street maps and confirmation e-mails for various flights, hotels, and rental cars, and the site’s software (called “the Itinerator” — how cools is that?) can read emails from more than 70 booking sites. It then takes all that information and compiles it into a single master itinerary.

There’s no booking feature, but the site acts as a personal secretary for everything else you use to plan your trip. So, while it won’t book your flights, it will take your flight information, order it chronologically, and add weather-related information for each destination. Enter an address and it will spit out driving directions and a map.

What more can one’s worried mother ask for?

[via Msnbc]

Test Your Travel IQ Through Facebook

by Martha Edwards on

I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a Facebook junky. And of all the great applications they have, I can spend hours on TravelPod’s Traveler IQ Challenge. Basically, you’re given a teeny tiny map and asked to identify where on it cities and tourist attractions are located. They range from easy (New York, NY) to somewhat difficult (Lisbon, Portugal) to holy-mother difficult (Dili, East Timor.)

You get points based on how close to the actual location you are … which sounds easy enough but it’s not. You can barely see Greece on the map, so trying to pinpoint the Acropolis is pretty difficult. The closest I’ve come is 50 km from the location for Winnipeg. And if the game itself wasn’t a big enough blow to your travel ego, you need a certain amount of points to go on to the next level.

If you’re on Facebook, I recommend you get it an test your travel know-how!