Travelblather

Regular Times columnist Matthew Parris just wrote a piece about guidebooks.
He says:

"…what is it with guidebooks and their inability simply to spit
things out? A must-see is praised lavishly; a should-see is praised generously;
but a don't-bother is praised faintly - or, more often, left out altogether. It
is as though the very act of publishing a guidebook to a country is to be taken
as a kind of homage.

But once you've bought the guidebook, you're probably going anyway. And once
you're going, one of the things you most want to know as you plan a too-short
visit with too many places to visit, is what to leave out."

He has some examples. To quote a couple: "Barcelona is dangerous, and can be dispatched in
a weekend: there are about five things to do. The Paris Metro at night is
filthy and scary."

He's missed the point – because he's thinking like a feature-writer or
columnist, not a guidebook writer.

Write a travel feature and you are opinionated,
selective – you're supposed to be. He may well think there are only five things
to do in Barcelona but anyone who has written a 40,000 word guide to the place
will argue otherwise. There are five things that he personally thinks are worth
doing, but other visitors with different tastes may find the stuff he thinks
awful, totally enthralling.

As a guidebook writer it's not your job to be over-selective. You need to be
inclusive and cater for as wide an audience as possible. When I was writing the
new Frommer's Day By Day guide to Seville I included places I personally
wouldn't go to, because they would definitely appeal to some kinds of visitor.
The amusement park La Isla Magica is a great example. Absolutely not my idea of
cultural, authentically Spanish Seville, but for a family with young teenagers…
perfect.

Matthew also argues that each guidebook should include places to absolutely
avoid as well as must sees. If he knew how tight the space is in a guidebook
these days he'd appreciate that you have enough difficulty fitting in the good
stuff… So, Matthew, if it's not in my guidebook… don't bother seeing it.

I just read an interesting piece by Mark Frary on the Times' website.

He talks about how Singapore airlines are the first to offer
the facility to plug your iPod through the plane's entertainment system. And wonders
who will actually use it. He suggests five things he'd like to see on planes:
1) Decent coffee – here, here. They've got
the wine and even the food pretty decent these days. Why is the coffee still so awful?
2) Cockpit and Galley cams - so you can see what the flight crew are doing -
nice idea, but I think it could be seriously worrying for fearful flyers.
"My god! The captain took his hand of the joystick... we're all  gonna
die!"
3) Quiet aisles - fab idea this. Aisles where you are assured there won't be
attendants' trolleys bumping into you the whole time if you're in the aisle
seat. Like me he prefers the aisle seat, but hates getting woken by passers-by in
the night. I can't see how you would ever make this work in practice.
4) Your own choice of TV programmes - fill in a form pre-flight to select what
you want to watch. Another good one. I've been on several flights of late with
limited options for films... they're always the latest kid-friendly Hollywood schlock.
I hate that stuff. ("Honey I ate the hamster!" or whatever… ugh) Give
me something arty with subtitles.
5) At seat drink dispensers - water on tap to ease dehydration. Bit hopeful
again. Can you imagine the mess?

I'd add:
- A library of books about the place I'm visiting – or else a web-style
information site as part of the entertainment system.
- More space in economy… I've yet to fly the new Airbus 380
but gather that even in economy there's much more space. Just an extra inch or
two between the seats would be so good. (For those of us who can't afford
Business Class…)
- Internet Access. Forget mobile phones on flights which
would be just awful, but web-access would be so useful for work and play.

And how about a window in the toilet? That would make the
loos so much more pleasant. (Just don't try and open the window to clear any
unfortunate aromas in there… OK?)

I just spotted I had 700 Trustcard Plus points on my LloydsTS Trustcard credit card. They've been accumulating for years! Maybe I could get a free flight or something? I called to find out. The only redemption opportunities these days are (wait for it) for purchasing high street retail store vouchers at a 10% discount. So I could buy £700 worth of vouchers for £630! Hilarious. Hardly an incentive to use my card... I actually have to spend more cash to get the discount vouchers in the first place! These days margins on everything are so tight there's very little slack to give back to customers as 'rewards'. I reckon it's far better to just haggle for a cheaper deal in the first place...

A report in the Times yesterday quoted Bruce Treloar, who is Trading Standards Lead Officer for Holidays and Travel.

“It is almost a fraud if you pay for priority boarding
and you are not able to board first. It is misleading because you are not
getting anything for the extra charge."

Treloar quoted the example of a holidaymaker from Burgess Hill, West Sussex, who
paid for priority boarding, only to be marshalled onto a bus to be taken to
the aircraft, which then filled up with non-priority boarding passengers.
When the holidaymaker complained he was refused a refund.

He is absolutely right. That is tantamount to fraud. But I must admit I have sniggered as I've watched this kind of thing happen on several occasions when traveling with both Ryanair and EasyJet.

I wonder why anyone bothers with priority boarding? You know the deal with low cost airlines. You're not paying for service or frills so don't expect them. The way these businesses are organised and run means that extras have been taken out of the equation right from the word go to minimise costs. Attempting to add them back in and charge customers extra for them just won't work in practice. I hate flying with these guys... it's awful. You are really aware of the fact that you are just a number. But that's the way it is. You're paying for the absolute minimum.

Maybe in a few years when oil prices hit $200 a barrel and the low cost airlines have gone out of business we'll go back to the days of flying less often, paying more... and being treated like customers. (Though the mess BA recently made at T5 would suggest even so called 'full service' airlines are a tad lacking when it comes to focussing on the needs of their customers.)

We might even appreciate and value the experience of flying that bit more in the process. 

My publisher Frommer's asked me to write a short piece about what it's really like to write a guidebook to coincide with the publication of the one I wrote for them - Day By Day Seville. You can read the full story here: http://www.wileyenews.co.uk/2008/05/follow-the-guid.html