For your convenience, here is news that is pertinent to business travelers. On a personal note, that Victorinox gadget got my attention!

Best travel gadgets of 2009

Get in gear with the very latest smartphones, laptops, and essential trip accessories.

 

FAA to propose new rules on airline pilot hours

Federal aviation officials say they may ask Congress to require airlines to obtain the full training histories of pilots before hiring them.

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I always welcome your feedback.

Toolie®

For your convenience, here is news that is pertinent to business travelers.

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When in Rome, an Executive Coach Learns How It s Done in Italy

When he s instructing multinational executives, a development coach often learns as much as he teaches.

 

 Emirates Grounds its one and only Airbus A380

Emirates have grounded its one and only airbus A380 that is operated on its Dubai to New York flight, with a Boeing 777-300ER temporarily put on this route.

Emirates have not said much about the grounding apart from saying that their Engineers are working on an unspecified Electrical issue, an Arabian Business Newspaper has also reported the following quote from Emirates,

 

Our teams are working hard to minimize any inconvenience caused to our passengers. Our A380 will be deployed on commercial service again as soon as possible

Other sources suggest that Emirates A380 is expected to be placed back into service by 12 September.

For your convenience, here is news that is pertinent to business travelers.

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Aspiring to Rate Rooms When Everyone is a Critic
Given the slump in travel, you would think there would be no room for another hotel rating business. But no.

For Some Airlines, Recession Doubts Are Taking a Back Seat
With few exceptions, airlines are maintaining their efforts to keep high-paying travelers satisfied with premium perks.

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Your comments are always welcome!

Toolie®

It’s been far too long since I last posted here — I’ve been really busy on other fronts. But summer is here, and I’ll be getting back on the road soon. I am really looking forward to that prospect.

In this month’s newsletter (due out in a few days), I wrote about using RSS Feeds to stay current with business travel news, and I’m going to have my blog do the same. I’ll be sifting through BUSINESS travel news stories for you, to make sure you get what’s really applicable, not just a bunch of leisure travel content. I’ll also include travel alerts from the US State Department that mention passport issues, and other items of interest.

Each blog post that contains travel news will have this preamble:

“For your convenience, here is news that is pertinent to business travelers.”

…followed by a separator line and the news story or stories.

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Fares Are Low, but Airlines Are Trying to End That
For weeks, airline executives have been gingerly asserting that revenue seems to have stabilized after the deep plunge in the first five months of the year. But they say they see no clear sign yet that things are improving.

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 Clicking the links will take you to the original news site.

I’m excited about providing this service to you, and I’ll be adding new business travel news sources as appropriate. Speaking of RSS feeds, NOW would be a really good time to subscribe to my blog feed. Just click on the “Entries RSS” link at left to add the feed to your favorite news reader.

Thanks!

Toolie®

Most of my business travel writing is pretty practical; I don’t “wax eloquent” very often, but on this most historic day, I must share a few words with you.

I’ve been privileged to travel to 32 countries so far, and I think the thing that startles me most about interacting with people from other cultures is how closely they watch the USA. Never was this more evident than tonight when the new president-elect was named. That news was front page on nearly every newspaper across the globe. Here are headlines just from Europe:

London - Times: http://www.timesonline.co.uk
Paris - Le Monde: http://www.lemonde.fr
Deutche - Die Welt: http://www.welt.de
Italian - Il Sole 24 Ore: http://www.ilsole24ore.com

We learned so dramatically in September how intertwined we are as a global community, and the days following have been dark and uncertain. The restoration of hope and re-establishment of business success will be a person-to-person effort. Business travelers are de facto ambassadors of this effort — the front-line troops, if you will, building relationships face-to-face across town and across the globe in the everyday activities of commerce.

I, for one, choose to take the optimistic view, to draw inspiration from the example of our “most unlikely candidate” turned “president-elect.” Fellow travelers, I invite you to recognize and participate in the opportunity to rebuild our global economic community; to endure the airport delays, marginal food, and tired feet, knowing that what you do every day contributes to a greater whole. We have challenging days ahead, but we also have each other.

Be kind. Share a smile. Have a good trip, and come home safely.

Blessings,

Toolie®

As you can see, my blog has some new clothes! I found a Wordpress Theme I liked and I tweaked it over the last few days to match my business colors. The photographs in the header and footer are some that I’ve taken on my travels.

It’s truly a joy to be a travel writer and photographer. In fact, when I’m on an open-top, double-decker tour bus shooting photos of landmarks and architecture, I’m almost giddy. I waited a long time to own a professional camera, and because it shoots 8 frames a second, if I can get something into the viewfinder, it’s mine!

Business travelers rarely have time or make time to get out and see the city they’re visiting (which is the point of my previous blog post and video), yet most can spare 2 hours to go to dinner. As silly as it may feel to ride around on one of those tour busses, they turn out to be one of the most efficient ways to get a feel for the place. Most of those hop-on, hop-off busses last about 2 hours, and will return you to the point of origin. Even if you don’t get off the bus, you can at least get a look around and snap some photos to bring home.

Next time you’re headed to a new city, tuck that small point-and-shoot camera you own into your pocket, jump on the tour bus, and “take your best shot!” It’s fun and relaxing.

I have been trying to figure out how to communicate an important concept in my monthly newsletter, and I realized that “showing’s better than telling” so I let my Flip Video camera do the talking…er….filming. 

My monthly business travel newsletter covers travel techniques, technology for travel, and intelligent thinking about cross-cultural issues like this one. Wanna subscribe? Visit www.tooliethetravelguide.com to sign up.

Toolie®

Click to Play Podcast

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In my monthly business travel newsletter for August 2008, I completed the second of a 2-part series on using your PDA to read and handle email on the road. The podcast above is an interview with computer-savvy artist McAlister Merchant, an award-winning industrial designer and long-time Macintosh user who recently acquired one of the new iPhone 3Gs. We talked about his strategies for retrieving email on the road whether you’re a high-mileage traveler or not. McAlister also gave his impressions of the iPhone both as a user and as a designer.

If you’re a Windows user and you’re curious about the iPhone, you’ll especially appreciate McAlister’s description of the user experience. I had about 30 minutes to test my email connections with McAlister’s phone while doing research for my newsletter, but McAlister gives a much more thorough description of how the device works, how sturdy it is, and what it’s like to work without a stylus, an idea that is foreign to most Windows PDA users.

Hi there, I am Toolie® the Travel Guide, and I’m a business travel expert. I’ve been a business traveler for 13 years now and I never get tired of seeing new places and meeting new people. My business travel advice is practical, and logistical, and designed to get you from point A to point B efficiently. I am also a technology expert with 25+ years of experience, but I am especially interested in tools and services that make travel easier.

I’ve been writing a monthly business travel newsletter for 4 years, and you’re welcome to join my newsletter list at http://www.tooliethetravelguide.com.

During 2007-2008, I created some audio segments for the National Speakers Association monthly CD called “Voices of Experience.” The response was so positive that I decide to continue podcasting here. I’ll be posting blog entries and podcasts on an irregular basis, so the easiest way to keep up is to subscribe to my RSS feed by clicking here.

The rest of the time I’ll be sharing my travel tips, commenting on issues of interest to business travelers, and sharing some of my travel stories with you. I hope you find this information useful.

Toolie®