Big in Japan: Bye-bye, but not sayonara

by Matthew Firestone on

This is a difficult post for me to write…

After more than 18 months of blogging from the Land of the Rising Sun, I have unfortunately decided to retire my Big in Japan series.

First and foremost, and I have immensely enjoyed writing about all of the weird, the wacky and the wonderful randomness that comes out of Japan.

On that note, a big domo arigatou is in order for all of the readers who followed my postings, left comments, and encouraged me to keep on writing.

I would also like to thank the wonderful staff at Gadling – you all know who you are – for putting together the best damn travel blog on the web.

So, what’s next? Good question (^_^)

I’m going to be retuning to southern Africa for a few months to work on some guidebooks for Lonely Planet. But, as they say in Japanese, this is merely bye-bye and not sayonara.

What’s the difference you ask? Great question (^_^)

Sayonara translates to ‘farewell,’ and this is hopefully anything but. So, stay tuned, as there is a good chance I might make a return in the not too distant future…

Budget Travel – The Low Cost Carrier

by Scott Carmichael on

Summary: The low cost carrier (LCC) may seem like a new development in the aviation world, but the concept is anything but new. The first real low cost “no frills” airline was Laker Airways, which took off back in 1966 from the UK, and shuttled passengers to destinations all around the world for as little as $50.

Laker Airways provided the inspiration for many of the current low cost carriers, and even major airlines like Virgin Atlantic took a close look at Sir Freddie Laker’s business model to learn from his experiences and mistakes.

A low cost carrier is exactly what the name implies – low cost. In order to offer these low prices, the airline naturally makes some cuts. You won’t find anything “free” on the majority of these carriers. Everything from drinks to checked luggage will add to the price of your ticket, but in return you are able to book an insanely cheap fare.

Finding a low cost carrier: Several days ago, Jeffrey wrote about some basic ways you can find a low cost carrier. This information is very important, because almost all low cost carriers handle their own bookings, and do not participate in sites like Expedia or Travelocity. There are 100’s of low cost airlines out there, so if you can’t find what you are looking for, try entering your destination into Google, and a airline or other resource is bound to pop up.


When not to use a low cost carrier: As you navigate the low cost airline websites, you may notice a trend – many of them do not use the airport you expect them to.

For example; Ryanair flies from London to Brussels. Their destination is not to the “normal” airport of Zaventem, but “Brussels South Airport” in Charleroi. Zaventem airport is just 10 miles from the Brussels city center, Brussels South airport is about 50 miles with no direct rail link.

You’ll need to take this into consideration when you book a ticket, as the trip from Charleroi to Brussels takes about an hour by bus and will add about $30 (round trip) to your ticket.

The same goes for many other airport destinations serviced by a low cost carrier. Before you hit “purchase now”, always pull the airport up on a map, and check out the airport site to determine just how much of a hassle it will be to get to your final destination. Saving $50 on a ticket is meaningless if you have to spend another $50 just to get to your hotel.

The low carrier will not always warn you about these remote destinations, so make sure you do your homework. One more thing to keep in mind is that many of these airports are low cost themselves, so do not expect too many facilities.



Too good to be true? When you research a low cost carrier, and compare their prices with a normal carrier, you’d be forgiven if you wondered whether the whole thing is too good to be true.

If you come across a $3 fare on Ryanair, don’t be too suspicious, these carriers sell millions of tickets, and many of them do indeed start that low. In fact, some of these airlines are amongst the largest in the world, all thanks to those cheap tickets.

Of course, you do need to keep in mind that even tickets on a low cost carrier are subject to taxes and other surcharges, so your $5 ticket could easily become $60.

Competition = good: Don’t always depend on the low cost carrier. On routes within Europe where competition is stiff, you’ll often be able to find similar rates on the legacy carriers. For example; easyJet charges about $42 for a one way ticket from London Luton to Amsterdam. But British Airways charges just $68 for a flight from the much nicer Heathrow airport to Amsterdam. If you are on a budget, but still have a little cash to spare, consider your comfort before committing to a low cost carrier.

Booking on a low cost carrier: As i mentioned earlier, don’t expect to use your favorite booking site to book a ticket on a low cost carrier. All these carriers handle their own bookings. This means you’ll have to select the cheapest airline yourself.

A great place to start is FlyLowCostAirlines.org, this site has most major low cost carriers in their database, and allows you to enter your destination to locate all the low cost carriers that operate on that route.

Low cost carriers are everywhere! When you think of low cost carriers, most people will think of the airlines they recognize – Spirit, JetBlue and Southwest are all very well known in the US.

There are however 100’s of other low cost carriers around the world. Heading to India? Check out GoAir. Going to China? Take a flight on Spring Airlines. A convenient list of all the low cost carriers in the world can be found at Wikipedia.

Get your expectations straight: There is no easy way to say this – low cost carriers are not a luxurious way to travel. If you are used to flying in the first or business class cabin, and having a flight attendant look after all your needs, then a low cost carrier is going to be mighty disappointing.

Book your ticket with the correct expectations, and your flight will be just fine. Remember, most of these flights are under 2 hours, and the money you saved will go towards a nice dinner at your destination. If you board the plane expecting full service, then you are going to be in for a nasty surprise.

What to be on the lookout for: Every low cost carrier will do what it can to “upsell”. During your booking process, you’ll be offered all kinds of additional services, for a fee.

Some of these services may be cheaper than buying them directly, but others may not be the best value out there. If you have money to spare, you may want to consider paying for “priority boarding”, which allows you to board in the first group, greatly increasing your chance of getting a decent seat. This is especially important if you are traveling in a group and do not want to be split up.

Remember, almost no low cost carriers do the seat assignment game, so as soon as the boarding doors open, you are on your own to snag the seat you want.

One other thing to keep in mind, is that not all airlines let you check in for free at the airport. Ryanair is a good example of an airline that charges for checking in at the airport, so don’t be surprised if your family is charged an additional fee, just because you were not able to do an online checkin.

Through the Gadling Lens: Prepping for a trip

by Karen Walrond on

Recently, I received the following email from someone I’ll call “Willy” (because that’s his name):

“We’re going sailing in Tortola this summer with another couple, and I want to take some great shots. How can I prepare in advance of my trip to maximize success? All I can think of now is to look through Flickr and get inspired. Any other ideas?“

This is such a great question, Willy — and I’m not just saying that in the vain hope that by flattering you, you and your wife might take me with you. I’m of the firm belief that a little pre-planning before you get on that plane (or boat) can result in the photographs of a lifetime. So, if you permit me a little fantasy time, here’s how I would plan if I were invited on a sailing trip in Tortola with friends. (But, you know, no pressure, Willy.)
1. First, buy a guidebook. I know, I know — this is very un-web-2.0 of me. But the fact is that chances are really good that while you’re traveling, you won’t have access to an internet connection (particularly if you’re on a small sailboat), and it’s always nice to have a handy guide that has just about everything you could possibly want to know about your destination country. A quick search on Amazon reveals that this guide book on the British Virgin Islands is one of their more popular — but if you have friends who’ve already visited, and have a recommendation, take their word. In any event, get the book.

And then, before you actually start your vacation, read the book. Many of these guidebooks are written by people who have actually spent considerable amount of time in the location (or, in some cases, live there), and can give you lots of insight into your destination — which, in turn, can help frame the types of shots you’d like to take. Read it with a photographer’s mindset, and mark the pages you’d like to return to, and plan accordingly.

2. In addition to guidebooks, check out blogs and travel websites. If there’s one thing that blogging has brought us, it’s first-hand experiential opinions of every topic under the sun. So, in addition to perusing Gadling for stories on your destination, use services like Google Blog Search and search for terms like “British Virgin Islands” or “Tortola” or whatever your destination to see what people are talking about, what images they upload, and any other nugget of inspiration. And for what it’s worth, I never head anywhere without first checking out Fodors.com — their “Fodor’s Choice” category on their destinations listing their don’t-miss sights has never let me down.

3. Now that you’ve done your research, start looking for inspiration. By this point, you’ve read your guidebook, and checked out the websites. Now is the time to start searching for images for inspiration. Do Google image searches and Flickr searches based on your destination name, but also based on what your research has turned up: remember, you’re not just trying to copy the images of your destination that have already been taken, but you’re also looking for inspiration from shots of other destinations or activities which might be similar to what you’re going to be experiencing on your own holiday.

Let me explain.

Taking Tortola and the British Virgin Islands as an example, in addition to searching on the destination name, you can do searches based on “beaches.” Looking through our Gadling Flickr pool, you might stumble across this shot…


… uploaded by StrudelMonkey, which is sort of the classic beach shot. Note the play of the colours of blue, white and green, and the coconut tree placed off to one side to help frame the shot. Beautiful.

But then, you’d also come across this shot:


… again, another amazing shot, this time by Arachide, and again showing the play of blues, whites and greens. However, in this shot, it’s all about the tree, and not just the ocean and the sky. It makes you think about other, different ways to frame your shots, and keeping both of these shots in mind when you travel can help you broaden how you might want to capture the seascapes.

Finally, check out this shot:

Okay, so this beach shot (captured brilliantly in Nova Scotia by borderfilms (Doug)) undoubtedly looks nothing like the beaches of the British Virgin Islands — but how cool is the perspective provided by his fisheye lens? You probably wouldn’t want to take all of your holiday shots with this lens, but for a fun change of pace in your vacation album, this provides some additional inspiration.

One more example — this time, doing a search for “sailing” in the Gadling pool, produces this pretty fantastic “in the moment” shot by Kouiskas:

… but you know what? What if, once you get out there on the boat, the sunsets aren’t perfect, and the water isn’t that blue? Are you just going to give up, and put your camera away?

Likely not, if you also found this shot:


I think you’d agree that the weather was hardly cooperative in the shot captured by il lele, above — but what an amazing image! The contrasts are beautiful, you can almost feel how hard the rain is coming down. A shot like this almost makes you hope for a bad day at sea!

And all of the shots above were found before we even started doing searches for “tropics,” “sunsets,” “lush,” “green,” “sand,” “surf,” “seafood,” “drinks,” “mountains,” “coastline,” and heaven knows what other words we can come up with. Just let your mind go, and see what you find.

4. Once you’re inspired, decide what sorts of photographs you’re going to try to capture, and the equipment you’re going to need to do it. Remember that you’re not just going to shoot scenery shots, but you’re going to want to capture some still lifes, some shots that show the colours and the moods, all types of shots (we talked about the kinds of shots that make a complete album here). And in Willy’s case, since he’s going to be traveling with his wife and friends, he’s definitely going to want to capture some portraits of his travel companions as well. Once yo
u’ve figured out what types of shots you’d like to take, this will help you decide what equipment (particularly lenses, if necessary) you’ll want to pack.

5. Finally, if you don’t have all the equipment you’d need to take all those shots, consider renting. So now that you’ve been inspired, and you feel like you won’t be able to live without that huge 18-200mm lens, or that fantastic fisheye, (or, heck, and underwater camera for your once-in-a-lifetime SCUBA dive), do you go out and spend tons of money? Not unless you really want to — remember, there are companies that will allow you to rent photographic equipment just for your trip. As described in this great post on Shutter Sisters, companies like LensRentals will allow you to rent particular lens, with reasonable insurance rates in case something happens to the equipment. If you do all of the above planning early enough, the equipment will arrive at your doorstep via FedEx in plenty of time for your trip.

So, Willy (and those of you who are planning equally exotic vacations), hopefully this post will help you plan for your trip. And, you know, make you so grateful, you’ll feel moved to invite me along.

Just saying.

Karen is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. You can see more of her work at her site, Chookooloonks, and feel free to send her your photography questions directly to karenDOTwalrondATweblogsincDOTcom. She’ll happily tackle them in upcoming posts.
And for more Through the Gadling Lens, click here.

Tuesday Travel Trivia (Week 15)

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Trivia has been with us ever since Adam first quizzed Eve on which day of the week God formed him out of dust and blew life into his nostrils. (Spoiler alert: It was the sixth.)

Last week’s winner Alex got nine out of ten headache-inducing questions correct. Can you become our next winner? Look over the following questions and submit your answers in the comments. No Googling!

  1. In the critically-acclaimed 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire, the main character, Jamal Malik, was born and raised in the slums of what Indian city?
  2. What’s the name of Brazil’s currency?
  3. The government of what island nation receives about US$4 million per year from those using its internet domain suffix “.tv”?
  4. Anthony Burgess, best known as the author of A Clockwork Orange, also wrote a book set on the Malay Peninsula called Time for a Tiger. What popular product does that title refer to?
  5. A UNESCO World Heritage Site frequented by travelers to Southeast Asia, the city of Luang Prabang is located in which Asian nation?
  6. What TV tough guy became the youngest Brit to scale Mount Everest when he accomplished the feat at age 23?
  7. Sean Penn’s 2007 film Into the Wild was based on a book of the same title written by whom?
  8. What “The” city is the Netherlands’ third largest, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam?
  9. The symbol pictured above, found on most maps, is known as a what?
  10. What three-letter airport code forms a word meaning “not strict or severe; careless or negligent”?

The answers to last week’s questions, as always, are found below the fold…

  1. What 1980 movie contains the following classic exchange: “Can you fly this plane and land it?” “Surely you can’t be serious!” “I am serious– and don’t call me Shirley.” Answer: Airplane!
  2. What country is the world’s most populous democracy? Answer: India
  3. There are cities named “Tripoli” in at least four countries. Name two of them. Answer: Libya, Lebanon, the US, and Greece
  4. The fifth-largest banking center in the world, this group of islands in the Caribbean is home to more registered businesses than people. Answer: the Cayman Islands
  5. How many countries in the world end with the suffix “stan,” meaning “land”? Answer: 7 (Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan)
  6. What is geographically unique about the Russian territory called Kaliningrad? Answer: It’s an exclave, since it’s entirely surrounded by more than one state (and neither of them are Russia).
  7. Michelangelo’s statue of David is located in a museum in what Italian city? Answer: Florence
  8. The name of one African country contains in the middle of it (not at the beginning or end) the complete name of another African country. What are the two countries? Answer: Mali and Somalia (I thought this question was a doozy– congrats to all those who got it.)
  9. True or false: The world’s 100 tallest mountains are all located in Asia. Answer: True
  10. What American author wrote The Innocents Abroad, the story of his journey aboard a retired Civil War ship, the USS Quaker City? Answer: Mark Twain

SkyMall Monday: Goldfish in a Bag Soap

by Mike Barish on

SkyMall Monday loves kids. We’ve looked after them when their noses bleed and when they are embarrassed by their baldness. But this week we’re not here to solve their problems or help take any pain away. Today we’re going to discuss something that every kid wants. Something that every kid begs his or her parents for. Something that kids cherish and love more than anything else. That’s right. We’re talkin’ hygiene! We’re talking Goldfish in a Bag Soap!

Oh, did you think I was going to say, “pets?” Yeah, I could see how you might have made that mistake. What, with the picture of the fish and the talk of children cherishing things. But what kids really love is a good glycerin soap. Trust me, I’m a 30-year-old single male with a history of short, self-destructive relationships. I know children.

Kids today have short attention spans. They’ll be bored with regular bar soap. Liquid hand soap? Go back to 1988, grandpa! Is that a loofah? Geez, you might as well just ask the kid to bathe with Brussels sprouts. If you really want to connect with your child, then you need to be on the cutting edge. You need Goldfish in a Bag Soap.

Think I’m crazy? Think soap that looks like a goldfish that you won at a carnival from a rigged game run by a bunch of grifters is bizarre? Then read the product description and begin drafting your apology to me:

This looks just like your little pet-except it’s a bar of soap. The more you shower or bathe, the closer you’ll get to the toy goldfish inside.

You see, people?! It’s not the destination, it’s the journey. With each wash, you’ll inch ever closer to the toy goldfish inside! And what happens when you reach it? What fate does this cleansing gift from SkyMall have in store for us? What did I just tell you about it being about the journey?! Geez, it’s like you don’t even pay attention to me.

So, the next time you come home and your kids come running to ask you if you bought them a gift, tell them to close their eyes, hold out their hands and get ready. Then pour some water on those hands, give them the Goldfish in a Bag Soaps and tell them to scrub hard. Kids are filthy.

Check out all of the previous SkyMall Monday posts HERE.