Taking off Travel blog

The theme of today’s travel photo post is the sea. Here are some great photos which capture its variety.

Sea Turtle vs Land by dibytes

Red Sea Octopus by prilfish

Large rocks inside the crystal clear waters of the sea -by Horia Varlan

Three boats on a calm sea by Horia Varlan

And to finish off, this soothing video of the second largest aquarium tank in the world:

If you’re taking a trip abroad, whether for business or leisure, then there are certain things you need to be able to say. Years ago, I was visiting Germany and faced a language barrier. My German was rudimentary and although most Germans I met speak excellent English, I happened upon someone who could only say ‘hello’. That was a good start but it didn’t really help me with what I needed to know. Since, then I’ve always tried to be better prepared.

Key Phrases

When I’m traveling to a new country, there are a few key phrases that I try always to learn. By far the most important is being able to say “I don’t speak (insert name of language). Do you speak English?” By the way, I am not a linguaphobe. I speak French and Spanish and now a bit of German but there are some countries where even those languages won’t get me very far. Read more »

Suitcase.com has recently published its Consumer Luggage Report 2010. Among its key findings were:

57.4% are now packing lighter and using smaller travel bags, and 56.5% check fewer bags, due to increasing airline fees and restrictions.

72.3% most commonly use carry-on bags during air travel.

79.1% consider luggage size and dimensions the greatest influence on their decision to purchase, with luggage weight (69.3%) the second-most deciding factor.

44.2% prefer lightweight materials the most when purchasing luggage.

88.9% consider wheels the most important luggage feature, with retractable handles (71.4%) the second-most important feature.

The Taking Off Travel Blog talked to John Ebb, CEO of Suitcase.com, about the findings, especially related to business travel.

1. John, what can we learn about business travel behavior from your Luggage Trends survey?

Based on the survey results from those travelers who stated they fly for business more than 50% of the time (with the majority taking more than 10 trips a year) now use lighter, smaller suitcases (61.5%), and check fewer bags (53.8%) than in previous years. In addition, these business travelers use carry‐ons 79.4% of the time.

What are the latest luggage trends?

When purchasing luggage, these business travelers consider luggage size and weight (89.7%) the greatest influence on their luggage purchases, with specialized luggage features and functionality (73%) the second‐most important factor and luggage weight (71.7%) the third factor.

Many of these business travelers included in their responses that they seek the added features and functionality of durable wheels (91%) and retractable handles (71.7%), when purchasing luggage. Several responses also mentioned preferring to switch their airlines to one without baggage fees, such as Southwest Airlines, rather than bringing different luggage. Read more »

The treasure hunt is alive and well. Remember how much fun it was to bury items and then hunt for them, either on your own or with groups of friends? Some people have never tired of that thrill and there are a number of ways you can still enjoy finding buried treasure.

Letterboxing

With letterboxing small boxes are hidden various locations. They contain a unique stamp (which is often handmade) and a logbook. Those are the basics but they may include other things as well. The idea is that when you find a letterbox you use the stamp inside it to stamp your own personal logbook whilst using your own signature stamp to mark the logbook contained in the letterbox. In order to find the letterboxes all you need to do is follow the clues which are left on letterboxing community sites.

Hitchhikers

A twist on letterboxing is that sometimes a letterbox contains another letterbox which the finder must remove and take to another location, placing it inside a third letterbox. Read more »

There are some vehicles that just call your name. Just seeing them makes you want to hop in and take a ride or, even better, own one. Just for fun, I’ve put together my list of vehicles that did that for me. Here’s my list of five vehicles that make traveling cool.

5. Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Nymph submarine

Sir Richard Branson is always travelling in cool vehicles — and I’m not talking about Virgin planes. The Necker Nymph aero submarine is like an underwater plane and can glide on the surface of the water.

4. K.I.T.T.

I’m not the only one to think that KITT was the best thing about the Knight Rider series. A sleek, black, sporty vehicle that talked — and talked back to David Hasselhoff. I’ve always liked the idea of vehicles that could communicate, which is why this makes my list.

Read more »