Travel is My Life; Work and Pleasure

Saying “Thank You” is the extra mile which makes the difference;

I’ve been working in the travel industry for almost 2 decades now; it’s a bloody hard work. Clients don’t really know what you go through to ensure their trip is perfect and satisfaction is guaranteed; thus, you hardly hear the words;” Thank You” from your clients.

From time to time I join cruise ship tourist groups who arrive Israel for a one day tour with Patra Travel.

Last month I helped an elderly man, weak in heart to walk the entire Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. He came all the way from the US to see the holy sites; I was not about the let him go back without actually visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

It was a tough physical challenge, so along the walk I nicknamed him “Tiger”.

Yesterday I’ve received this by snail mail and wanted to share

Mr. Bernard, it’s me who needs to thank you; what an honor to meet a gentleman as you.

They live on tourism (real pure tourism and sex tourism), so why do they think that closing the airport with riots will they improve their conditions?

The little people don’t think of the “after shock effect”, its been almost 24 hours that the 2 Bangkok airports are closed. This means all flights into Thailand are diverted to other destinations. Bangkok being not only a tourism destination it’s the South East Asia largest hub - and now it’s shut down!

The aftershock effect;

Airlines which now diverted the aircraft elsewhere will not be in able to shift back in a flash. After all, Thailand is a profitable destination but there is a point where airlines’ CEO cut the costs and shift traffic and utilizes aircrafts elsewhere.
A few important tips:

1) If you are in Bangkok now - crawl back to where you came from; the PatPong

a. And make sure your hotel booking is secured for the next few days

2) If you’re on one of the “Koh” (Islands) - go get a banana shake and a body massage.

a. Make sure your hummock has not been taken by some businessman who was left behind…

3) If you need to travel via BKK Airport - find an alternative.

a. BEFORE you start your travel,

b. Don’t trust the connecting flights from BKK to the further destination will operate,

c. Beware of OVERBOOKING - airlines might not be able to carry you on board as there are thousands of people waiting in line before you :)

Air Asia X has confirmed first flight on the route London (UK) to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) will be in March 2009.

The advertised price is 99 GBP round trip… the airline will operate 5 times a week, carrying 286 passengers a direction.

I wonder what do; CEO Tony Fernandes & Owner Sir Richard Branson think they will be doing better than Oasis Airlines who closed their sole route London HongKong a couple of months ago.

Are there so many more Brits going to Malaysia - I thought HongKong will be a larger and by far more important hub of service.

Touch Down” for Royal Caribbean; they launched the largest cruise ship in the world; Oasis Of The Seas. The ship will actually board the first passenger in Dec 2009, though the vessel is in the water already.

It’s not really the best time to try and fill up 6296 passengers.

Can Royal Caribbean be optimistic having built a 1 billion Pounds floating city?

I hope projections are to be met; 1.5 million passengers are expected to take a cruise in 2009.

So; is it only the size?

Nops, for the first time they are trying to reduce the fake and improve the reality alike style;

Real life park; where the growing trees are planted in the ground in real soil. (Will they have a Vet. And an Agronomist onboard to make sure no animals, bug or insects who travel the world for free?)

It’s the closest to a real city with a feeling of walking in Paris, London or New York, the arcade and the shopping area looks like a pedestrian area; with the feel and look of a real live and kicking city.

At first it looks fun, even cool; so many low cost airlines on the runway. Having taken the picture I wondered about 2 issues:

The Reasoning; does departure punctuality = no penalties;
The Consequences: is it safe to be all “standing” there together so close?
Facts, data, and knowledge is more than welcomed to be shared here.

Originally: World Travel Market - It’s the annual largest travel show in London. Having been there last week I should advise them to change the name to:

Walk - the milleage you walk there is unreal, I advised my partner to the trip to dump her high hills and move to Nike - she only took my advice on the second day…

Talk - the amount of Bla Bla you hear is enormous - everyone wants to sell you something.

Money - Everyone wants to make money, close a deal, bring tourists. The Travel business is a perishable market; a room at the hotel cannot be stored to be sold tomorrow, nor can a seat on a flight etc. It’s very much like the Fish Industry = if you don’t sell you smell…

Therefore, you find yourself walking & talking all day long about how to make money in the travel business.

More than ever, I enjoyed South America booth and Iran. South America was very happy, colorful and in motion; which attracted many visitors to their stands - look at the photos bellow.

Being an Israeli the visit to Iran booth was special, I was invited by the Azadi International Tourism Organization to have tea with Mr. Mahmood Karimi and discuss world travel issues.

Did he gave me his card so i will not forget his face?

I flew out of Stansted Airport a couple of days ago; quite an experience; I assume its due to the crowd - the Low Cost Airlines Travelers. 
At the current situation everyone wants to cut costs, I just wonder at what price. In my humble opinion as long as passengers’ safety is not on the line all means are acceptable.

If you look at the photos you would be able to see that all the airlines; EasyJet, Air Berlin, Ryanair, Thomson; all connect to the Air Sleeve Terminal for passengers to be able to board and off board safely. However, you will see the; “take a walk on the tarmac” style of German-Wings Airlines who are saving money by not paying for such services to Stansted Airport.

Why use the old style AirStair when the airport is equipped with top of the range Jetways, afterall, Stansted Airport is a well equipped, designed and functions like a Low Cost Airline hub.

Its not me who says it; you could all watch Ryanair CEO; Michael O’Leary saying it out loud;
Ryanair at a press conference talking about flying UK to USA - over the Atlantic for funny prices. Thus, if you fly transatlantic for 10 Euro you would probably have to pay for the BJ whereas, in his business class its gonna be for free…

Thats an airline i want to fly with tonight

A new UK based airline has opened by a private group of investors.

“Air Sylhet customers will always be treated with respect, due care and consideration and be offered a pleasant flight experience”

Having said, that there is great concern in the security community regarding the whole concept of a Muslim Only Airline; Air Sylhet.

Is it a pure tourism concept or a new terrorism highway between the British Muslim community and the Arab World?

How will they check who is a Muslim? I hope its a joke and we can all enjoy the airline service.

BTW: Sylhet, also known as Shilhat in the ancient times, was an expanded commercial center in Bangladesh

According to the latest USA Visa Weaver Program the following passport holders will be granted electronic US entry permit, thus, will avoid the long queue and interviews to receive a US entry visa.The online application must be done at least 72 hours prior to entry into the United States of America. https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov

Then, who is so lucky to avoid the hassle of getting a visa? Andorra; Australia; Austria; Belgium; Brunei; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Iceland; Ireland; Italy; ; Japan; Liechtenstein; Luxembourg; Monaco; Netherlands; New Zealand; Norway; Portugal; Sun Marino; Singapore; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; United Kingdom.

I actually read a cool post by Tony Wheeler (founder of Lonely Planet) comparing embassies attitude between encouraging and discouraging tourists through their visa departments.

Those are the moments I wish I had more than one nationality.