Etiquette
It wasn’t the most savoury of areas. The post office appeared to be situated next to some sort of junkie zoo – or at least a massively prolific drug rehabilitation drop-in centre. More importantly, however, the post office appeared to be closed. At least for another hour. Yet again, California had thwarted my attempts to [...]
Florida road-trip My recent jaunt around Florida has been something of an eye-opener. I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere else where I’ve enjoyed so much of what I’ve done without actually liking the place itself. Key West is an honourable, brilliant exception to this, but I found the feel of the state as a [...]
Continue reading about The percentage game: Florida’s tipping trickery
Misery at Orlando Airport Last Saturday afternoon, I touched down at Orlando International Airport. Two hours and fifteen minutes later, I was still on the plane. We weren’t allowed off because the immigration hall was full. Eventually, we were allowed in for the privilege of standing in the snaking queue for another hour and fifteen [...]
“You shall visit us next time you come to Tampere. We have four saunas.” By this stage, I want to crawl through the floor into a little grubby hidey-hole. There are some times in life where we do something because we feel we ought to rather than because we want to. In my line of [...]
An approach… I want to share an e-mail I received last night with you all. It went as follows (with the odd bit of evidence blanked out): “Sorry for the unannounced email. The reason I am contacting you is because we are running a competition for [redacted product aimed at 16 to 25 year [...]
Continue reading about How not to promote your product on travel sites and blogs
The right brand name The right brand name is undeniably important, and some companies spend millions on picking the right one. It is, therefore, probably quite annoying when people spell that brand name incorrectly. I should know – my surname seems to take on numerous variations when people try to spell it, and this really [...]
Continue reading about How to make sure your company name gets spelled correctly
Virgin Vouchers and Flying Club miles Earlier today, I tried to book two flights to Orlando. I got married in April, and part of our wedding present stash was made up of Virgin vouchers. That’s vouchers created by the Virgin group that can be used on Virgin group products – such as Virgin Atlantic flights [...]
Continue reading about Terms and conditions of endearment: Virgin Atlantic’s self-harming stupidity
Cheap joke gone crazy Earlier today, I tweeted a cheap gag about the newly departed and not-particularly-missed News International CEO Rebekah Brooks. You may have seen it by now. It seems as though the rest of the world has. At the time of writing, the link contained within it had been clicked 16,800 times. Now [...]
Continue reading about Going viral and Twitter’s attribution issues
I have a complex love-hate relationship with airport security. I hate the queues, I hate the seemingly random changes of mind over whether you need to get your laptop out and take your shoes off, and most of all I hate every person in the big hall of scanners and conveyor belts that is not [...]
Continue reading about The people who shouldn’t be allowed through airports
Dear hotel receptionists, Imagine someone comes into your hotel. They say they’re a journalist, and would like to see a room as they’re writing a city guide and need to recommend places to say. What do you think they’re asking for? Is it (A) to see a room? Or (B) to pointlessly swap business cards [...]
Continue reading about An open letter to hotel receptionists