World Airline Awards
Every summer SKYTRAX compile information from 14 million surveys taken by over 90 nationalities. The result of these surveys leads to the World Airline Awards. The results for 2007 are:
Entries in category Travel
Airlines of service past
I am haunted by the airlines of service past, to paraphrase Dickens. There is a certain scandinavian airline which has a questionable reputation. Henceforth it will be known as “The airline that must not be mentioned”, or “you-know-who” for short (pun intended). Some years ago, that airline screwed up. Again.
Barcelona bicing
I just came back from the Catalonia region of eastern Spain, where we rented a car and roamed through beautiful Mediterranean villages. In Barcelona, I noticed some people riding red bikes. This is actually called Bicing, a big thing right now. During 2007, over 100 bike stations has been constructed in the city, strategically located near metro and bus stations.
Moleskines of the world
In the digital society of 2007, I suppose that plain notebooks are on the decline. However, there are times when you don’t want to bring a laptop. This is where the classic Moleskine notebooks enter the scene. Due to the quality and portable format, I find them very useful and always bring one or two with me on all travel occasions.
New wonders of the world
About 2300 years ago, a list of seven wonders were compiled. The so called wonders of the world were spectacular man-made constructions located around the Mediterranean. They were the Khufu pyramid of Giza, hanging gardens of Babylon, colossus of Rhodes, lighthouse of Alexandria, temple of Artemis, statue of Zeus in Olympia and mausoleum of Maussollos.
Increased speed in global cities
I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Oslo, restoring mind and body after interesting lectures during daytime and a lot of urban walking in the evenings. One of my favorite things to do is to explore large cities by foot. Marvel at the shifting architecture, discover interesting people, smell the bakery and tune in to the local pace of life.
The dancing globetrotter
Matt Harding was a game designer at ActiVision who got tired of his work. Four years ago, he decided to do what many of us dream of but never get around to: He simply quit his job and travelled around the world.
Realistic subway maps
I recently wrote a post about free subway maps. As we all know, good subway maps are a visual guide to the system and not by any means an accurate map of the real city. What seems close on a tube map could very likely be a large distance in the real world.
Free subway maps
Did you ever wanted to bring a subway map in your pocket without ripping a page from your Lonely Planet? Now you can. Travel site Amadeus.net has put together a site with hundreds of metro maps.
Mythbusting in Wellington
I’m currently in Wellington, New Zealand. At latitude 41°S, it’s the southernmost national capital city in the world. This is about as far south as you can be without hiking through Patagonia. Being south of the equator once again, this time I actually remembered to personally debunk an old myth: The statement that water drains “backwards” in the southern hemisphere.
