Posts Tagged ‘Travel’

TBEX Q&A

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

Pam over at Nerd’s Eye View is going off to TBEX, a conference for travel bloggers in its second year. She wrote a post about going to this year’s event in New York City, why she wants to go, and she’s also been wondering what makes her fellow travel bloggers tick. She asked the following questions of herself and her readers:

Who’s your favorite travel writer?
Henry Miller. He is hands down my favorite American writer who was also an expatriate both inside and outside his homeland.

What’s your favorite blog for reading about travel?
I rarely read other people’s stuff. For the same reason that I don’t look at other people’s artwork very much. I get too inspired in the moment, and I tend to absorb other people’s ideas and concepts and then it changes my work – but usually not for the better!

What percentage of your travel is sponsored trips?
None, or maybe 1%. If I could find sponsored trips around the subjects that I like to write about – art, language, culture, food – I would make more of an effort to go on them.

Do you have a day job, supporter, other source of income?
I am so lucky in that I have a room in a house in Berkeley that was given to me in trade for pet sitting. I also petsit for other people. In my day jobs I have both a huge tech and print publishing (separate experiences) background and am looking for my next job. It’s been tough. I think it’s tough because I’m older now (wink), and also because I have my own site on my resume and people really don’t understand why I would want another job.

What’s the last travel book you read?
I don’t read travel books. I do read novels and non-fiction that give a strong sense of place. I’ve started Ross King’s Judgment of Paris.

Where do you come down on Eat Pray Love?
Absolute garbage. It might make an ok movie, but I’m not holding my breath.

Do you think blogging and writing are the same thing?
I like to think so, but it isn’t. Everyone can string words together but not everyone can do it well.

But I will say that a blog is defined by it’s owner, so if you want to write narrative in it, then why not? That was the intention of artist-at-large.com when I started it – it was going to be all narrative, creative non-fiction, with a sense of place mixed in with needed travel information. Now though, with the feeling of trying to keep up, I write narrative when I can and write blog posts when I have to. I’m doing that all over the site, but specifically in the Tuscany blog right now. I’ve been writing down my memories there.

Why are you blogging?
My friend K. in Paris asked me that once when I was visiting. Actually she asked me why I write – which I actually equate with my online stuff because that’s where I put everything.

I told her I write because no one ever listens to me.

I also come from a family of storytellers, so it just seemed like the next logical step to put my stories online.

Who have you met at TBEX that surprised you and why? [TBD]
Since I haven’t been to TBEX yet, I haven’t met anyone. But I have met a few travel bloggers here in the Bay Area. I can’t say that anyone really has surprised me in any way. Maybe it’s a bit surprising that none of them are as jaded as I am …

What have you learned while at TBEX? [TBD]

I’m not getting to go to TBEX this year. Someday I will be in the same town at the same time as the conference, but it didn’t happen this year.

Where Would You Go?

Friday, April 17th, 2009

So. Say your birthday is coming up, like soon, and you have a little stash of cash left from a trip this spring that didn’t happen. That destination is topping 100 degrees this week and it’s not looking as inviting as it was in January. You like to celebrate your birthday week – which is really two weeks this year because the birthday is on a Sunday. The week before and the week after. You could go anywhere that wasn’t expensive (think flying on Tuesday and staying in hostels). You like art, archaeology, photography, foreign (to you) language, the beach, (but it doesn’t have to be a beach trip because you’re a little overweight and not comfy in a suit) and good food. Where would you go?

#followfriday Travel on Twitter

Friday, March 13th, 2009

Twitter has taken on a life of its own these last few months. It is amazing the things that can happen on this social networking site. I’ve connected with a number of artists and travelers that I would not have had access to if I had not been on twitter. Some of us here in San Francisco have even met and networked in person too.

#followfriday is the day we give a shout out to some of our favorite tweeple. So here are only a few of the folks I read or talk to over twitter in the travel category!

* Miss Expatria @MissExpatria
* Pam Mandel @nerdseyeview
* Christopher Elliott @elliottdotorg
* Elliott Ng @elliottng
* Shannon Hurst Lane @Cajun_Mama
* Jen Miner @MudslideMama
* Kara Williams @MountainMama
* Wendy Perrin @wendyperrin
* Kim Mance @KimMance
* Jen Leo @jenleo
* David Lytle @davitydave
* Donald Strachan @hackneye
* Gary Arndt @EverywhereTrip
* Leif Pettersen @leifpettersen
* Matt Kepnes @nomadicmatt
* Craig Martin @craig_martin
* Debbie Dubrow @deliciousbaby
* Austin Hill @aghman
* Kelly of Travellious @kag2u
* Caitlin Fitzsimmons @niltiac
* Sheila Scarborough @SheilaS
* Nancy Brown @Nancydbrown
* Jamie Pearson @TravelSavvyMom
* Valerie Conners @vmconners
* Lonely Planet Labs @lplabs
* Ann Lombardi @thetrpchicks
* Nick Vivion @worldli
* Marilyn_Res @Marilyn_Res
* Nicole Lerner @nlerner
* Lara Dunston @laradunston
* Michael Holland @MichaelBKK
* Jeff Steiner @jeffsteiner
* Barbara Drake @barbaradrake
* DonnaMuse @DonnaMuse
* Happy Hotelier @HappyHotelier
* Todd Lucier @toddlucier
* Peter West Carey @pwcarey
* Madam Mayo @madammayo
* Lanora Mueller @WritingTravel
* Alison Brick @alisonbrick
* Kayt Sukel @TravelSavvyKayt
* Christine Glibert @almostfearless
* Fiona Ashley @fionaashley
* Manzanilloblog @manzanilloblog
* WorldHum @worldhum

Ok, I got tired … if I missed you, feel free to post your @ in the comments!

Look for a new twitter list next week on #followfriday !

Comparing User Interface Friendliness On Airline Web Sites

Friday, March 6th, 2009

Here’s a boring post.

I’m putting my Quality Assurance hat on now, so you are going to get to see another side of the artist-at-large in this post. And in the process a few of the airlines will get a free critique of their web applications that allow us to purchase tickets online. This post is a follow-up to the previous post, My American Nightmare, and is a round-up of my experiences in trying to get out of the country as inexpensively as possible.

One would think that all of the airline sites would use pretty much the same applications to enable the public to buy tickets directly from their web sites, and on the surface it does look that way. But spend any amount of time on any of the sites and the differences – the quirks and the features – start popping through. I’m not going deep into the software application that is running the engine, I’m just doing a little on the surface, what we call, black box testing. No pun intended. Just poking around. And not much of what I’m going to say has been done for any other purpose than purchasing a ticket, I didn’t intentionally compare these sites, I was intentionally comparing prices.

My flight plans are/were out of the US and into Mexico.

Kayak.com – easy to use
The first web site I always check for pricing is Kayak.com. It is not an airline web site, but it aggregates the latest prices out there, from cheapest to most expensive and finds pricing on airlines that you may not have considered flying for your next trip. The Kayak site is fairly easy to use and clicking through on a fare may or may not take you to the airline’s web site. It could also take you to CheapTickets, Orbitz, Hotwire, etc., depending on where they found the price. But you get to pick which site you are going to click through, so it won’t be a surprise. All in all it’s one of the best price aggregators out there on the web and a great place to start researching your trip.

A lot of the time the cheapest fares can be found directly on the airline’s web site.

United.com – user friendly
United’s site is fairly user friendly. It’s main color is a peaceful light blue, with playful graphics, which when going through the frustrating process of trying to find the best fare, really makes a positive difference. The web site is doing its best to keep you happy through the process. The default settings on finding a price do three things right – search by both schedule and price, set the default departure time at ‘Anytime’ and when the schedule comes up, it puts the non-stop flight/s first at the top of the list and then the rest of the flights are in order of departure times. It also notes the least expensive fare at the top of the page, so you can immediately know if there is a flight you can afford on that day. You can easily change your search criteria, such as the date of departure in the sidebar without having to start your search all over again. In all of the searches I’ve done on United, the server responds in a reasonable amount of time. I don’t think I’ve seen any hiccoughs from the server.

United’s site is the only one I’ve been on lately that shows the total price (airfare + taxes/fees), so there are no surprises on the purchase page.

USAir.com – a little outdated interface, but usable
USAir is the airline that got me into trouble in the first place :p For years and years if I was late for a flight they would just stick me on the next one. No problem. If I bought a ticket and wanted to change my flight, no problem. They were like flying in a giant schoolbus. No longer. Well, it is still like a giant schoolbus, but the laisez-faire attitude is no longer there.

The site is immediately usable for people searching for round trip fares for specific dates, but to search for one-ways or flexible dates, one has to click through to a second page. The form fills in default dates so you need to remember to change them. There is no option to search by schedule and lowest price, only one or the other.

JetBlue.com – fairly user friendly
Not only can you search round trip or one way from the home page, JetBlue remembers your recent searches so you can just click on the link and the form is automagically filled in. The search results are in a seven day spread given by price and schedule, but the daily tabs don’t show the least expensive prices. Light colors and minimal information makes the site easy to use. For my destination though JetBlue was the most expensive.

Mexicana.com – somewhat user friendly
Mexicana’s web site make me want to fly them just because. That also might be because the current photo on the home page is of the place I’m trying to get to … I’m searching for flights to Mexico so this might make more sense than if I were flying somewhere else. The web site feels light and airy. Mexicana has the intuitive default settings, but one has to remember to choose which country you are sitting in before it will find flights and prices. Otherwise a pesky little pop-up appears as a reminder. It takes a while for it to go away, and you can’t do anything until it disappears. There is a way to automagically detect the physical location of the request, so I don’t quite understand the significance of having to remember to choose it. It also won’t believe that you know the airport code and you have to pick your airport out of a pop-up list, even if there is only one choice. Flights are given in a kind of sort of order according to departure time, although you can choose how to sort them from the drop down menu at the top of the page. For some reason the just after midnight flights are always at the bottom of the list rather than the top. Flights and prices are given for a seven day spread, so there is no opportunity to change flight info in the sidebar. Flights on this airline have been reasonably priced every single time I’ve searched them, and I’ve been watching their fares for about a year now. And for what it’s worth, all flights go through Mexico City. Unless you might be going to Guadalajara. But if you are going beyond Guadalajara, you’ll get routed through Mexico City.

AA.com – frustrating
I’ve been stuck on the American Airlines web site because that is where my canceled ticket cash is stashed. So I am kind of being held hostage by them. In my daily perusal of their site for an inexpensive replacement ticket I have found their site to be slow enough that I can almost watch the gears turning in the background. I have had reserved flights disappear from My Reservations queue hours before the purchase deadline. So that when I go back to purchase the ticket, not only is it not there as I thought it would be, the flight is now fifty bucks more than it was. So my search starts all over again. Seat availability is only viewable if a flight is put on hold. To change criteria for a flight search, one has to go back to the home page and start over which feels cumbersome given the strain it causes on the server. One also has to remember to check all the appropriate boxes as the defaults don’t make sense. The default criteria are to search for morning flights by schedule, not price. Maybe that is making sense to one subset of their passengers, but not to me. Maybe it’s a cash flow thing, as if you search with their defaults, you’ll almost always come up with the more expensive tickets first. The look and feel of the site is a bit outdated and could use a lightening up. I know that the AA site is using the corporate colors, but it could use them in a way that doesn’t feel daunting or governmental.

    Tips for the airlines:

  • Check your form fill in defaults. The broadest choices are the best.
  • I’m all about minimal design. Busy sites just confuse me. Decide which info is really needed for the purchase.
  • Minimize the number of pages one has to click through to get to purchase.
  • If you allow holds, give the actual time the hold runs out and/or send an email an hour before a hold is canceled.
  • Make it easy to change search criteria during the searching process. Going back to home page is just as easy as going to another airline’s site.
  • This is not 1996 – the center tag is your friend.

Got any thoughts on any of these airline’s web sites? Post them in the comments area!

From The Daybooks

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

August 12, 1923: At last we are Mexico bound, after months of preparation, after such endless delays that the proposed adventure seemed but a conceit of the imagination never actually to materialize. Each postponement became a joke to our friends and source of mortification to us. But money had to be raised, and with rumors of my departure many last moment sittings came in, each one helping to secure our future. … — Edward Weston, photographer, from The Daybooks of Edward Weston, I. Mexico

Yes, I know very well how Mr. Weston must have felt, but I’m sure he understood in the end that these things happen in their own time. There really is no control over where, how, or when someone might travel. It happens when all things that are needed come together at once. And then poof! we’re off.