I travel a lot using mass transportation, be it trains be it planes, but in my daily trips I encounter a lot of people. I consider it one of the big benefits from my travelling about: you encounter a lot of people. It is also a moment where I can observe people's behaviour, which sometimes is puzzling.

One of the things of any kind of mass-transit is that when you get in or out, a lot of people generally have the same idea. In trains it is a bit easier than in planes, but the idea is the same: everybody has to be squeezed through a door, finds his/hers route and finally get a place to seat (if available). This always was a bit stressfull moment, because it invloves a lot of people in a small space all trying to move in a short time.

Recently, I discovered a worrying trend: some people are more occupied with their phone than with getting on with what they are doing. You probably know what I mean: people who are getting in or out, still being glued to their webbrowser or movie on their phone. They walk around a airport or trainstation without even looking away from their phone. Getting in is like watching for a second and back to the phone again. They don't mind the people around them that have a higher pace in life and get blocked.

To me and a lot of fellow passengers this kind of behaviour is frustrating: these people really slow down the line when getting out. People really should pay more attention to their environment instead of their phone....

Posted on Friday 09 of April, 2010 [23:05:48 UTC]

Most people recognize the firm words about turning off your phone. While there still might be a pretty lively debate among field experts about the effects of mobile phones on the electronics inside a plane, this is somthing you don't want to mess around with. It is a legal requirement and this is one of these occasions where you rather want to be safe than sorry.

Oddly enough, most people don't turn off their phone during take-off and landing. Personally I attribute this to unfamiliarity with the device: most people don't realize that simply pressing the power-button doesn't turn off the phone. What does happen is that the phone will enter a sleep-mode, which still can be active for GSM-signals. Even when phones are put into flight mode, they still might be harmfull during take-off and landing. To guarantee a safe take-off and landing, you really need to turn a phone off completely.

Oddly enough, the way to turn off a phone has become a defacto standard. By pressing the power button for a couple seconds (usually around 4 seconds) the phone will ask you to initiate a shutdown procedure. This will guarantee that your phone will not pose a threat to the plane while flying.

Posted on Monday 15 of March, 2010 [23:20:43 UTC]

I see a lot of airports and I do see some of them on a regular basis. During those visits you see the small changes that happen over the years. Sometimes its a revamped area, it might be a new restaurant. Small changes, but interesting. One of the changes at Seattle airport is the introduction of free WiFi. A great service that not many airports provide. To me it is great progress because it will allow me to work and hook up before there will be a longer black-out in communication. It makes life just that little bit easier when you are travelling. SEATAC did score some points there with me.

However, one issue is still not resolved: I need to have electricity to work as well. Airports are designed in a horrible way when it comes to working: there are no tables, no power plugs in convenient places, no nothing. That is annoying. It is a form of insensitivity that frustrates me. Even modern airports like Heathrow completely ignore my needs as a travelling business person. I like to work, and to (keep on) doing that throughout my travel I require electricity. People will seek it, making them do anything to get it, like this:

So airport management, please provide us with some power in a convenient way.

Posted on Saturday 20 of February, 2010 [01:33:08 UTC]

Most hotelrooms look alike: a bed, a small table, a TV and a bathroom. As far as equipment goes, you generally should be happy when you get some electricity. However, the Courtyard Marriott in Bellevue did provide an excellent equiped room: besides power sockets everywhere, they provided a hub for transferring your laptop video and audio to the big screen TV in your room. This opens up a lot of possibilities, including watching my favourite video streams as well as my own movies. This is a great addition to local hotel services I extremely value.

Posted on Saturday 20 of February, 2010 [01:17:11 UTC]

As many you know, I am not a fan of in-flight entertainment. It is a mediocre way of keeping people occupied, and it generally isn't worth your time considering it as an option. Before my flights I always check what movies my airline offers, and it is a extremely consistent experience: a collossal disappointment. That is why I bring my own entertainment. I'll load my laptop with movies, put XBMC over it and you are in business.

Today, a lot of my fellow passengers found out the hard way that it is pretty smart to bring your own entertainment with you. The crew could not get the in-flight entertainment system to work properly, so almost the entire aircraft was stuck with 1 single movi with horrible sounde, for 10 hours. The only exceptions were the people that brought their own movies, which were about 5 of us on an entire flight. Most of those 5 did not anticipate on having to support themselves for the entire flight, leaving them all with a drained battery halfway through the flight. I was the only one who managed to squeeze over 10 hours of movies out of my batteries, making me the only one not really being affected by this problem.

Posted on Tuesday 16 of February, 2010 [00:10:30 UTC]