Another movie that is going to harm the airline industry…

The movie 'Airline 93' is being released in the next couple of weeks and I believe that this movie is going to have a bit of a bad effect on the airline industry.

The movie is about the September 11 terrorist attacks and I think that it will remind people of what happened and before you know it air travel will be down again. No one wants to see a movie like that before they travel and I know that no airline would dare show it on their inflight entertainment.

Fingers crossed that it isn't going to have a huge affect but I'm sure there will be some sort of rebound.

What are your thoughts on this?

I flew with Singapore Airlines and I liked it!

As you may be aware, I have been doing a fair bit of flying lately and all of the segments so far were with Singapore Airlines (SQ).

Here are a few of my observations:
- Service was friendly and welcoming
- The food was good. It was also nice to see the menu before being asked whether I wanted chicken or fish.
- The in-flight entertainment had a good choice of movies and TV shows.
- My only complaint was that when I was playing a game on their in-flight system, it kept crashing. But it only happened with one game so luckily I was able to still play other games.

If you have had experiences with airlines, good or bad, feel free to add a comment!

Why can’t airlines make the safety video more interesting?

I understand that there are probably rules and regulations but when I look around the plane when these messages are on the screens no one is watching. Could you imagine what would happen if they made them a little more entertaining?

How about adding a little something to make everyone look up & pay attention. Surely then people would watch it? Or why not change the images in the ‘back of seat’ pamphlet so that they tell a story?

I think that it is time that the airlines looked at the way they are doing things and checked to see if things could be done a little better? I know I would watch the safety video if things were more interesting!

Thankyou!

I just wanted to say a big thank you for reading my blog. Since the 15th of January, I have made 110 posts so far and I love it!

It has been great hearing your comments and knowing that you find what I write is interesting and worthy of your time.

So here is a BIG thankyou to everyone that takes time out to read what I write!

Travel Tip #8 - Don’t forget the Departure Tax!

This is an important one as I have been caught out with this!

There are a lot of countries that have a departure tax. Sometimes it is included in your air ticket taxes other times it is not.

When you go to the airport for your departure flight, always have enough local currency or cash you can convert to pay the tax.

Why is this do important? Simple. If you can’t pay your departure tax, the local authorities may not let you on your plane - not a great way to end your trip!

Luckily when I didn’t have any cash on me, a nice American couple paid it for me…this is probably the only time in my life I have ever been lucky! And I would definately repay the favour if someone infront of me didn’t have the cash…

A great blog about hotels!

As hotels are a huge part of the travel industry, there is a great blog out there called Hotel-Blogs.com

The blog is written by Guillaume Thevenot and he has a great insight into the hotel industry from their advertising strategies, to new things they are doing & just general news in the hotel industry.

If you are interested in hotels, this is a blog definately to keep an eye on!

Why couldn’t I find anything to do in Singapore?

I have been to Singapore a few times now and I still find it a challenge to find something to do that isn’t touristy. Sure I can go on a ‘Duck Tour’ or be charged way too much money to do some typical city sightseeing, but I want to get to know the real Singapore. I want to discover what the normal tourists don’t see. 

Why aren’t there tours that run a full day excursion where you meet locals and eat where they eat and see the city from their eyes? 

Is there something wrong with wanting more than just typical tourist sites? Why is that countries always try & promote things that you can find in any other city like theme parks and shopping centres? I have never been to a city where they offer ‘out of the way’ activities or trips. 

Am I the only person that wishes to see what ‘real’ life is like in any city that I go to?

And now I’m in Vancouver, BC Canada & I love it!

So after a short flight from San Francisco (1hr, 40 mins), we landed in Vancouver last night & I was so happy…I love Vancouver. It is quite easily one of the best cities that I have been to in my entire life and I have been to quite a few now.

The weather is beautiful and I can't wait to go for a walk along the seawall from Yaletown to English Bay and stop at Vera's Burger (the best burgers) then walk up Robson St (shopping area) and then just generally chill out.

Anyway, gotta get out in the sunshine and enjoy the city…we are hear for a few days & then we are off to Victoria, on Vancouver Island.

Tour of Death – would you do it?

There is a tour operator based in Hong Kong that runs a ‘Funeral Exploratory Tour’.

Now this isn’t something that I have ever heard of being done…this so-called tour takes elderly people on visits to funeral parlours, mortuaries and coffin shops to help them prepare for death. Now they say that it is emotionally comforting for the elderly to know what happens to them when they die.  

Is this just a company that is trying to profit on the issue of death or is this what people want?  Honestly I can’t see this type of tourism taking off, but who knows…maybe it will.

War Tourism – an interesting segment in tourism

After my recent trip to the Demilitarised Zone between North Korea & South Korea, it got me thinking how many people may have been on this tour as part of a holiday focused on the Korean War? I’m sure there were definitely some war buffs, as they knew dates and what buildings were, so I imagine that they also visited the War Museum and other sites that were important during the war. 

And now as I am leafing through the Travel+Leisure magazine, I have come across an article about Gallipoli and ANZAC tours that are operated so that people can pay their respects to people that died in the war. The magazine even has a suggested itinerary so that you don’t miss out on any of the important sites.

There are also specialised tour operators that focus just on war tours. Some of these are: 

Boronia Travel
Albatross Travel 
Battle Tours         
TJ Tours 
Anadol Tours

As each year passes, more and more people are attending these destinations, so is this an area of tourism that will be around for many years to come? And will there eventually be a waiting list to go on one of these tours?