Travel

TripIt is awesome

Tech, Travel, Web

Brilliant tip from Joel on Software about a new travel service called TripIt. I just tried it myself and the only issue I can see is that it doesn’t show dates in non-US format. I was surprised that it managed to parse a pdf attachment from Lufthansa and get all of the details right.

Joel explains very succinctly how it works.

It’s kind of magical. You don’t have to fill out lots of little fields with all the details, because they’ve done a lot of work to parse those confirmation emails correctly… it worked flawlessly for my upcoming trip to Japan.

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Travel Insurance

Thought Provoking, Travel

From the Undercover Economist

My girlfriend and I were planning to fly to Frankfurt on a budget airline. We were offered travel insurance, which I didn’t think was worth the £4.95. Still, my girlfriend insisted on both of us taking the insurance. Assuming the chance of surviving a plane crash is negligible, you do not get to enjoy the benefits of the insurance should a disaster happen. Most likely your family will get paid for your death. So the worst-case scenario is that you’re £4.95 poorer and dead; or at best, alive, but still £4.95 poorer. What is the rationality of taking out the insurance?

Great answer, especially the final line of the answer.

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Airports

Thought Provoking, Travel

From Crooked Timber

Here are the things most people would happily pay for at an international transit airport: – a shower – clean underwear (for those of us who habitually forget to pack it) – daylight – an exercise facility to help with the jetlag and minimise DVT – nutritious but not too heavy food – a nap, lying flat, somewhere quiet.

And here’s what is generally available: – Gucci – Chanel – l’Occitane – Bodyshop – Lacoste – Nike – a few plastic seats – McDonalds, dougnuts, and the local variety of fried, sugary dross to add a sugar hangover to your jetlag.

Munich

Travel

Settling into Munich has been really easy. In fact, I can’t think of anywhere I’ve lived in which has been so straightforward to settle in. I visited a bank last week and I already have a Maestro card, a temporary apartment has been a breeze to set up, there is no problem speaking English (although that may be a problem for my learning German) and there is tons of stuff to do. I found the English language website Toytown Germany and there really does seem to be a great community here. I may just be too busy to blog much! 😉