It’s Monday, which, for most people, means back to work. After two glorious days with your friends, families and your the comforts of home, it’s back to the office. But, before you can get to your place of business, you first need to commute. Many of you spend hours sitting in traffic. Others wait for trains while tapping your feet and looking at the time. No matter how annoying your commute is, however, odds are that it’s more comfortable than the one endured by our friends in Tokyo. The subways there are notoriously crowded. How crowded? They’re so packed, that workers on the platforms push people in so that the doors can close. And when the doors do close, try to make sure that your jacket doesn’t get caught.
TripAdvisor launches free Mobile City Guide apps for Android users
On Tuesday, October 11, 2011, TripAdvisor launched their free Mobile City Guide apps for Android users. The apps cover twenty popular destinations, some of which include Paris, New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and London.
Benefits of using the app include:
- Reviews of restaurants, hotels, and attractions
- Suggested city itineraries
- Interactive walking tours
- Historical and cultural information on a destination
- Weather reports
- Transportation options
One great thing about this app is that the information is given to you in real-time, so everything you read is current and up-to-date. Also, information from the app can be accessed whether the user has a data connection or is offline.
Says Adam Medros, vice president of global product at TripAdvisor, “We think travelers are going to love the comprehensive information our free Mobile City Guides provide in popular world cities. A tremendous complement to our popular TripAdvisor site app, these guides offer even more city detail, including itineraries and interactive walking tours.”
Traveler Q & A: Pavia Rosati
Pavia Rosati is the founder of Fathom, a recently debuted travel website. Fathom is smart and beautifully designed. It’s full of exciting short briefs about various destinations across the globe.
Rosati, as you’ll see from her answers below, is an experienced editor and an avid traveler. Her enthusiasm for Fathom’s subject matter is palpable and infectious. We love Fathom and can’t wait to see how it’s going to develop.
Q: Good day, Pavia Rosati, and welcome. How would you describe your occupation?
A: I am the founder and CEO of Fathom, a new travel website. It’s my job to help connect you to places and experiences you didn’t know you were going to love.
Q: Tell us about Fathom.
A: Fathom cuts through the clutter of the online travel space with stories and destination guides that are as practical as they are inspiring. People typically go to a travel website for one of two reasons: They know they’re going to London, and they need to know where to stay and what to do. Or they think, “I have two weeks off…I like nature…Where should I go?” Fathom addresses both needs through two main sections: Guides and Postcards. Guides have quick information about the basics: hotels, sites, restaurants, and itineraries. Postcards are inspiring travel stories organized around the passion points of travel with a “I Travel for the …” theme: I Travel for the Food, I Travel for the Thrill, I Travel for the Kids. We aren’t motivated by what’s expensive or what’s trendy. We’re interested in what’s special and what’s awesome. Sometimes that’s a three-Michelin star lunch at Le Meurice; sometimes it’s a five-euro falafel at L’As du Fallafel.
Q: What are you trying to do with Fathom that hasn’t been done by other travel sites?
A: I wanted to create the one-stop travel website that I could never find. You know how the best travel guide is the email you get from a friend who lives there, detailing what you need to do and know? That’s the spirit that motivates us. I used to spend 80 hours researching dozens of sites to boil my findings down to an essential nugget of information. Fathom aims to deliver that nugget. I don’t want to wade through a list of 200 shops in Buenos Aires; I want 20 that are amazing. I want to know what locals know. I want pre-edited links to the best articles, websites, and online resources. Perhaps most importantly, Fathom recommendations are not driven by a mega travel agency’s vast and impersonal database; our recommendations are personal and special.
Q: How do you anticipate Fathom developing? For example, will the city guides grow in number?
A: Absolutely. It’s a big world, and we want to get everywhere. Postcards are updated continually, and we will launch several new guides every month. Reader feedback will be critical: We’ve had a lot of requests for Amsterdam since launching, so look for that soon. We want more Postcards from Fathom readers, a community we call the travel-proud. This fall, we’ll launch Boutique, with our favorite travel products; Traveler Profiles, based on the popular Fathom Questionnaires; and My Itineraries, so readers can save the places they want to go.
Q: How did your decade at Daily Candy prepare you for this endeavor?
A: First and foremost, it’s where I met my partner, Jeralyn Gerba, Fathom’s editorial director. We had one priority at DailyCandy: We had to delight our readers every day. To achieve this, we had to be trustworthy, we had to recommend quality places, and we had to deliver information readers wanted in a way they wanted it. And it helped if we had a great time doing it. These are excellent editorial priorities. By the way, before DailyCandy, I spent four years running the Entertainment Channel at AOL. That taught me a thing or two about building and serving a big audience.Q: Enough shop talk. When you’re not traveling, you split your time between New York and London. Care to share a secret hometown place or activity in either metropolis?
A: My life tends to revolve around what’s in front of me at the dinner table. In New York City, the bar at Tocqueville feels like a hidden escape, and breakfast at Balthazar feels like homeroom. At the end of the day, I always want to eat everything on the menu at L’Artusi. In London, I love Del Parc in Tufnell Park (of all places!), where two men cook and serve delicious Spanish/North African small plates from a closet-sized kitchen in the middle of the tiny dining room. And I love Moro, but who doesn’t?
Q: What are your favorite places to travel?
A: Sometimes I travel to feel familiar in a foreign setting. I could spend every weekend at Lo Scoglio on the Amalfi Coast and never tire of it. Similarly, I lived in Paris in college, and going back is like visiting an old friend. Other times, I travel for the difference and the discovery. Recent revelations include desolate and dramatic Salta, in northwest Argentina, and Sri Lanka, where I spent an incredible day on Taprobane Island. I loved Syria, and I hope it can recover from its political tumult and be the great country it should be.
Q: Where are you planning to travel next? And where are you dying to go?
A: Oh, the never-ending list. The wish list for the next few months includes Lake Austin Spa, Bighorn Revelstoke, Cartagena, and Portugal’s Douro Valley. I was married last year and am hoping for an eventual honeymoon in Chile. It’s my great embarrassment that I’ve never been to Southeast Asia — Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia. Zambia. Shanghai and Hong Kong. I’m obsessed with the Canadian Maritime Provinces. And in case my husband reads this, yes, honey, I’m dying to go to Tokyo, too.
Q: Where do you have no interest in ever visiting?
A: Cuba. I think I missed it. Though if an opportunity presented itself, of course I’d go. I’m curious about everything.
Q: Give us a travel tip or secret. Or five.
A: 1. Never eat airplane food. 2. You won’t use 50 percent of the stuff you’re packing, so leave it at home. 3. Find a local market to get a real flavor for a place. 4. It’s easier to go away than you think it is. And it’s always worth it. 5. I watch the sunrise on the last morning of every trip I take. I’m not suggesting that you do this; I am suggesting that you invent a travel ritual that you can share with yourself everywhere you go.
Q: What’s next for Pavia Rosati?
A: More sunrises in new places, and sharing them on Fathom.
Did you enjoy this Q&A? Check out previous Gadling Q&As with travelers like Jodi Ettenberg, Zora O’Neill, and Philippe Sibelly.
[Image: Jimmy Gilroy]
Photo of the Day- Rainbow Bridge
Today’s Photo of the Day of Rainbow Bridge in Tokyo, Japan, at night. comes from Flickr user Marc-André Mireault who captions “The rainbow does not really come fro the bridge itself, but from the colourful boats in front of it!”
Do you have an image you would like to share with us? Upload it to the Flickr Gadling group pool. If we like your image we might just pick it to be a future Photo of the Day.
Post-quake life in Tokyo: 6 weeks after
One of the absurdities of the modern media cycle is that news stories seems to drop off the radar well before they reach a conclusion. While there are still occasional mentions of the situation here in Japan, for the most part the media has moved on to Libya, Osama Bin Laden, Governor Schwarzenegger and the scandals at the IMF.
Six weeks after the fact, the situation in Japan has most definitely not reached a neat and tidy conclusion. This past week saw the decommissioning of the Hamaoka nuclear plant, the release of pictures from Fukushima capturing the moment that the tsunami waves first hit and the anticipated resignation of TEPCO’s disgraced CEO.
Clean-up efforts are still underway up north, and it is going to be months if not years before all the debris is removed. The longer-lasting questions will be to what extent Japan can expect a future public health crisis, and whether or not agricultural capacity can resume to previous levels. Japan’s commercial production will also continue to suffer from disrupted supply chains and lack of consumer demand.
Here in Tokyo, the economic gears continue to churn and life goes on as best it can. In fact, to the casual visitor it can appear as if nothing catastrophic really ever happened at all. With that said, please indulge me for a few hundred words as I give a quick update on post-quake life here in Tokyo.In short, things are good, but they could be better.
The terrifying aftershocks that paralyzed Tokyoites for the month following the 9.0 temblor appear to have finally stopped. Not entirely mind you, but to the point where you can reasonably expect to sleep through the night without being woken up with a shake. Of course, Tokyo lies at the convergence of three plates, which means that the likelihood of another major seismic event is highly likely.
Yet people are much more prepared than they were before. Department stores across the city continue to sell earthquake kits comprised of essential items including hard hats, flashlights, spare batteries, first aid kits and freeze dried rations. Schools and businesses are also actively drilling people on how to escape from buildings and reach the nearest shelter.
Private and public infrastructure improvement is also underway across the city. My building is currently having all of its piping refitted to meet higher safety ratings. The gas company has also made the rounds to ensure that there was no damage to its storage tanks and transfer lines. Across the street from where I live, there are crews working around the clock to reinforce a weakened drainage canal.
It’s certainly debatable whether or not these minor improvements can increase the resistance of a city as massive and earthquake susceptible as Tokyo. But they certainly do go a long way in calming mass fears and reassuring residents.
The other major issue continues to be electricity shortages, especially since it will still be quite some time before the country’s power grid is fully restored. Summer is also around the corner, which means additional burdens on the grid imposed by air-conditioning. This threatening storm cloud does however have a silver lining – the Japanese are embracing green technology and eco-practices like never before.
DIY hardware stores including Tokyu Hands and Ikea are promoting compact fluorescent and LED bulbs. Television programs are also encouraging Tokyoites to fill their balconies with plants. Broad leaves and hanging vines help to block invasive sunlight and keep down internal temperatures. They also go a long way in beautifying a city best known for its rampant use of concrete and neon.
In recent years, Japan’s conservative armies of self-dubbed salarymen and office ladies have grown accustomed to more relaxed summer dress codes. This ‘Cool Biz’ campaign allows companies to opt for business casual, thereby going easy on the air-conditioning without discomforting its employees. This year, there is even talk about going one step further by allowing casual dress days that permit the wearing of shorts and sandals.
As I posted earlier on Gadling, food scares remain one of the most pressing issues facing Tokyoites. In their defense, the government has done a decent job of scanning produce, meats and seafood for radiation, along with certifying products from affected areas. This is all in conjunction with economic promotion efforts to get Tohoku farmers, ranchers and fishermen back to work as soon as possible.
Still, frightened consumers are instead choosing produce from western Japan and imported meats from Australia, Canada and the US. At my local fishmonger, which used to only stock seafood from around the Japanese archipelago, I can now find Argentine shrimp, Chinese crab, Norwegian whitefish, Canadian salmon and various tropical species from across Southeast Asia.
Rather predictably, tourist numbers remain low, and many hotels and other tourist-related businesses are struggling to keep their doors open.
While vacationing at a popular hot spring resort this past weekend, I discovered that I was in fact the only guest in a building equipped to lodge and feed several hundred! The staff had all packed up their personal belongings and returned to their hometowns, leaving behind a sole caretaker to answer phone calls and keep watch over the property. On the bright side, I’ve never before had such personalized and attentive service!
Japan has weathered through great challenges before, and few have little doubt that they’ll do so once more. And in the great scheme of life on this planet, six weeks is a rather short period of time. On that note, I will continue to update Gadling readers as to the status of post-quake life in Tokyo, and together let’s hope that my next blog will bring rosier news.
[Images courtesy of the Wikimedia Commons Project.]