NY Times realizes Twitter is useful for travel

by Tom Johansmeyer on

It takes the NY Times to catch up with the world around it … especially when technology is involved. Hey, the newspaper wouldn’t be in so much financial trouble if this weren’t the case. But, they don’t get it wrong; the reporters over there just take a bit longer to grasp what’s happening.

So, I was pretty psyched when I saw in the “Frugal Traveler” column that Twitter can be used to get dinner reservations – even when you’re on jury duty! Did you know that you can just peck a few characters into your cell phone or Blackberry and send it to thousands of people who might have an answer?

The Frugal Traveler is not ready to “Twitter [his] way across the country,” but the Gadling team is.

Snowboarder Twitters For Rescue

by Kraig Becker on

The “micro-blogging” phenomenon known as Twitter has captured the attention of many, while confounding others. In a nutshell, the service allows users to send out brief messages to friends, known as “Followers” in twitter-speak, sharing news and information or simply the minutia of your day.

The service came in especially handy for Jason Tavaria recently when he and a companion were snowboarding in the Swiss Alps and became lost in a snow storm. Despite being stranded in a blizzard, Tavaria’s iPhone still had reception, and he simply used his Twitter app to “tweet” his location, which he determined using the phone’s built in GPS. Rescue teams were able to locate Tavaria, who was unharmed and in good condition.

Tavaria’s companion, Rob Williams, was not so lucky. It is believed that while lost, and blinded by the snow, he fell of a 60 foot cliff and died. His body was later recovered from a stream at the foot of the cliff he went over.

The entire search and rescue operation played out over Twitter as well, with friends of the duo sending out messages and updates from the lodge while they waited for word on their rescue. At one point they sent out a request for Williams’ phone number in an attempt to call the young entrepreneur, who had founded the online music equipment site Dolphin Music.

This story is just another example of how connected we’ve all become and how technology is changing the way we communicate.

Virgin America’s Boston launch is today!

by Grant Martin on

Boston‘s day has finally come. At 2:30 this afternoon, the inaugural San Francisco – Boston flight lands, kicking off service from the carrier out of Beantown.

As part of the launch effort, the airline recently launched the Revolution Takes Flight website, where fans can nominate a non profit organization to which Virgin will soon donate a healthy $25,000.

Voting and selection for the winning organization culminate tomorrow evening, at which point Sir Richard Branson is going award the winners at the Liberty Hotel.

Gadling bloggers Grant Martin and Justin Glow will be tweeting onsite and causing the normal ruckus, so make sure to subscribe to our feed to catch any live updates/muses/throwdowns. But keep in mind: Boston is known for its potential to bring out the worst in travel bloggers.

You’ve been warned.

Yapta alerts travelers of fare drops — over Twitter

by Grant Martin on

Remember Yapta? They’re the scrappy airline website that keeps travelers informed in case their fare drops.

All that you used to have to do was log onto yapta.com, register your itinerary and watch the progress as the site automatically checked your ticket every day to let you know if changes occurred. If the price went down? You’d get an email, book your ticket and everyone would have a beer.

Now, Yapta has added the feature where they’ll Twitter you if your fare drops. Which means that if you have Twitter linked to your mobile phone, you’ll get the note immediately, dive into a cyber cafe, book your ticket on the spot and then get a beer.

But what if you have a web enabled phone and can check your emails on the road? Or what if you don’t use Twitter? Well, in that case it might not be as useful. But for the surprising number of us who do have Twitter SMS messages enabled, this service could save us a bundle. Give it a try at yapta.com.

Twitter: Can it change the face of travel?

by Jeffrey White on

I’ll confess upfront that I’ve never used Twitter. I simply can’t imagine that anyone out there is that interested in my moment-by-moment thoughts and whereabouts, to say nothing of the fact that I find the word “tweet” as both verb and noun somewhat silly to utter outside of an avian context.

That’s not to say I can’t see its usefulness. It is undeniable that “tweeting” is a force that is growing by the day, and it is changing, among other things, the way in which news is reported.

The first reports of US Airways 1549’s ditch into the Hudson last week surfaced as Twitter posts by bystanders on nearby ferries who suddenly found themselves steaming straight for the floating plane.

This raises an interesting question that columnist and blogger Christopher Elliott tackles here in a recent piece: To what extent can Twitter change the travel experience?

Elliott cites not only the US Airways example, but also live micro-blogging of a Continental flight that skidded off a runway in Denver last month and the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. These, of course, are incident updates and alerts. But Twitter is gaining ground as a source for basic travel information too. Want to know how the security line is at La Guardia the day you’re flying? Is your flight delayed? Chances are someone on Twitter is saying something about these things.

Elliott gives some basic tips for how to use Twitter as a travel resource, from setting up an account to building a network of fellow travelers. If you’re looking to become more connected to a virtual travel community, this seems to be one way to do that.

Elliott even addresses my own, and perhaps others’, reservations about Twitter by advising users to keep their posts interesting and meaningful. In other words, who cares if you’re waiting for your clothes to dry at the laundromat?

Be sure to check in with Gadling’s own Twitter page right here.