News of the World (Nomads)

WorldNomads.com - What a month !

nomads-news — Mon, 3 Aug 2009 01:25:00 GMT

Here's a few newsworthy items that have made up the month of July.

WorldNomads.com Wins Innovation Award !

Well we all got decked out in the penguin suits and fancy dresses ( I was suited by the way) and tottered off to the 2009 Insurance Industry Awards. We were nominated in the 'Innovation of the Year' category.

The award was for "For organisations, teams or individuals operating in the insurance industry in Australia and/or New Zealand who have made a fresh and successful contribution to product development and/or customer service through innovation."

Well after some nervous moments and a few wines to settle the nerves, our name was announced to screaming from the team resembling that of a 'Jonas Brothers' fan club !

We're very chuffed at having won, but all feel we can do better. These awards give us a good kick along and keep us motivated to develop great products and travel services and deliver the best customer service we can.

Van-Tastic Adventures hits the Road !

As I'm writing this article, our first stage winners, Hamish and Adam, a couple of hysterical kiwi boys will be climbing into 'Geoff the Campervan' to take off on Van-Tastic Adventures - Queensland.

We've also just announced our second stage winners. Van-Tastic Adventures News South Wales was won by Kristy and Carly, who'll pick up the Geoff on September 18, for 6 weeks of road trippin' adventures.

Remember there are still 5 stages left to apply for, so if you and a mate have got what it takes to film, blog and win your way across Australia to $10,000, get cracking and APPLY NOW!

(Also, as a side note, spare a virtual hug for Alicia and Kristen, our WorldNomads.com marketing assistant and her travel buddy, who gouged the side of the van whilst driving it to Cairns for the first leg...ouch ! who said Americans can't drive....)

Documentary-Scholarship-Mayhem at WorldNomads.com!

Congratulations to our 2009 Video Documentary Scholarship winner, Maranatha Hay, self confessed documentary filmmaker, short-story writer and grand-champion chicken exhibitionist. She's off to Vietnam to shoot a Medical Trek documentary which hopefully will be screened on Nat Geo Adventure later in the year.

Applications are now open for the 2009 Travel Photography Scholarship. An amazing opportunity to travel with Gap Adventures and on-assigment National Geographic Photographer, Jason Edwards, to the Antarctic! Click here for more details.

Coming up !

We've got serious heads down, bum's up development work ahead of us. Lot's of changes will be happening to the site, improvements for our World Nomads journal owners, addition of more language guides iPhone applications and some significant changes to how we manage customer service, which will further enable us to support our travellers.

In the meantime, we hope you keep travelling safely !

Chris Noble
General Manager
WorldNomads.com
chris[at]worldnomads.com

Opinion: The Value of Twitter - Would I sell my first born?

nomads-news — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:02:00 GMT

Well, no.

Sure, those first few months were horrendous, the witching hours, the incessant crying, projectile...err, hang on, what am I writing about?

Ah yes... What would I be prepared to live with to ensure that I can enjoy the now daily ritual that is Twittering? Tweeting to my tweeps. Gettin' twitty. Building connections, partnerships, friendships and all that stuff !

It must survive !

Sure, Twitter is not short of VC funding, nor conjecture on how it plans to monetize the now stratospherically popular social networking 'can't eat gotta tweet' site.

Eventually, the model must be found ! because if Twitter folds, you're going to get a global meltdown not seen since the great Milli Vanilli scam of the 80's, perhaps even worse.

So would you...

1. Yield to the mind meld of behavioral advertising

It seems to have worked for Facebook. I'm definitely 'Hanging with under 30's', 'Lost 50 pounds in 20 days', have 'Swung with Singles', 'Learnt to Tango' and 'Given birth painlessly'.

All that from telling Facebook I'm 37 years old, male, married and would like to learn the tango.

Ok, so they got one right and yes I did click through. Who wouldn't want to lose 50 pounds in 20 days!

So imagine if Twitter got the algorithm right and managed to meld targeted ads into your twitter stream of which 3/10 ( that's 30% for the marketers who like it that way) were actually relevant and you did click through.

Given the 54 gadzillion daily tweets, I'm sure the revenue raised from an effective advertising program would enable Twitter to remove the VC's off the doormat.

I would imagine there might even be enough to go 50/50 with any number of international charities and punch a sizable hole in the worlds ills ! We've already seen a multitude of charities supported through some brilliant, socially conscious tweeters.

So would you cop it?

Would you embrace ads in your tweet stream in order to be able to run off to the toilet and tweetdump with total abandon (sorry, but you know you have, admit it and we'll move on).

2. Pay not to be bombarded with 'behavioral' ads

In order to ensure you can continue to 'go gansta with yo tweeps', keep your tweet stream pure with only the best of Brogan, magic of Mashable and the not so boring world of WorldNomads, what would you pay?

$5 a month? $10 a month?

What price would you put on a clean Twitter experience? or what investment would you make to keep it running?

Maybe if we don't, then Twitter will have to find a way to keep the lights on, and advertisers, KPI-ROI-R-E-S-P-E-C-T are waiting at the door to drive a wedge into our behavioral not so subconscious, and I'm probably one of them.

What will it be Tweeter?

Well as we know, it's not up to us, no matter how many posts we write, forum arguments we have, or the power of pro blogger celebs, it's in the hands of Twitter. (Note to Twitter: Either way, please don't F*^%& it up!)

Chris Noble
General Manager
WorldNomads.com
chris[at]worldnomads.com
twitter.com/WorldNomads

Chris Noble is the General Manager of WorldNomads.com and Co-Founder of FootprintsNetwork.org. He is NOT a writer for Mashable (obviously), has never spoken to Chris Brogan and has only been caught twittering on the toilet once, by his son, whose too young to understand (or forgive).

New features in the World Nomads Journals

nomads-news — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 01:08:00 GMT

Last week we launched a bunch of new features in the World Nomads journals. Here’s a look at the changes.

For the Social types…

For all of you socially connected types, we've just added in some new stuff to the WorldNomads journals that allows you to link to your other online profiles; Facebook, Myspace, Twitter etc. For example, check out the sidebar of my blog or you can see the Follow me icons in the photo above.

To get this feature going on your own journal, log in and go to the 'About Me' tool. Copy and paste your profile URL's into the spaces provided and hit save. Oh, and if you haven't written a profile or uploaded a photo, it's a great time to start.

For the shy types…

In the past it was compulsory to put in your email address if you made a comment. This field has never been searchable by the spam-bots, but none the less, we had requests from shy, anonymous types to make it optional. See below? If looks the same as other comments, but if you hover over my name, it doesn't show you any email address.

If you've already got a WorldNomads Blog you can make your comments look sexier by logging in first. It will put your profile photo and blog-link next to your comment

For the multi-lingual types...

We’ve noticed a huge number of people writing in Italian, Spanish, Swedish recently … Hopefully in the future we can pull together all stories in your particular language, but first of all we need to work out what language you’re writing in.

There’s now a language option in your "Journal Admin: Settings" tool

Some multi-lingual bloggers mostly write in Spanish and occasionally write a special post in English just for their mono-lingual friends. In this case, you can also choose the language on each separate story.

For the video fans...

We asked our WorldNomads Facebook group what sites they liked for uploading travel videos. There was good feedback about Vimeo. And for good reason – the quality is much better than YouTube and you have the option of playing a full screen version from your journal. So we’ve added support for Vimeo into journals too.

We also made the size of the video window a bit bigger so it matches the size of photos.

I hope that these small changes allow you to better connect with your family and friends when you travel ... and make them all jealous with amazing videos and stories.

If there's any suggestions you have for improving the journals, drop me a line. Happy – and safe travels

Christy
christy.mccarthy [at] worldnomads.com
Community Manager, WorldNomads.com

Meet World Nomads in Melbourne

nomads-news — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Want some tips on travelling safely? Got a tricky question about travel insurance? Want a free luggage tag? Then come meet the gang from World Nomads in Melbourne ~~next~~ ~~weekend~~ today (Sat 21st) and tomorrow (Sun 22nd) at the Melbourne Adventure Travel & Backpackers Expo.

Daily Travel Presentation - "Top Tips to Travel Safely"

Whether it is your first trip overseas or an annual pilgrimage, before you stuff your bikini or iPod into your bag, come to the Expo to get some tips on how you can stay safe while travelling.

We'll take you through an easy travel checklist covering the different ways you can research where you're going and other tips to help you stay safe on your next big adventure.

Travel Talk Room 1 at 12.30pm daily

Melbourne Adventure Travel Expo

When: 10am - 4pm, Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 February 2009

Where: Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton, Melbourne, Australia.

Stand 80 and Travel Talk room 1 at 12.30pm daily - "Top Tips to Travel Safely"

Expo Entry: $7 per person (or get a 1/2 price voucher from the expo website)

About Us

Come meet a few of the World Nomads team in the flesh!

Graham Kingaby is the Insurance Director for WorldNomads.com and can tell you anything you need to know about travelling safely, even in the most dangerous places. An insurance expert, Graham has over twenty years experience in the International Personal Accident & Travel Insurance markets and has managed specialist’s personal war and terrorism risks as a broker and underwriter at Lloyd’s of London.

Phil Marks is World Nomads' Product Manager. If you've got a question about World Nomads Travel Insurance (or really anything travel related), then Phil's your man.

Katrina Greeves is World Nomads' Partnership Manager (Asia Pacific). A passionate traveller, if your planning an adventure, then she's all ears! Katrina works mainly with our partners in the travel industry.

Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009

nomads-news — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:51:00 GMT

Many of you will be aware of the devastating bushfires that tore through Victoria, Australia. Over 180 lives were lost and the death toll is expected to rise significantly. Thousands of homes and businesses have been destroyed.

As an Australian-founded company, everyone at World Nomads has been deeply affected by this tragedy. We have both, on a company level as well as personally, looked to support the efforts being made by organisations such as the Australian Red Cross to assist at this time of need for the victims of the bushfire.

If you would like to support as well, please visit the Australian Red Cross website where you can make a donation online.

Bleak or chic? Definition of a hostel changing

nomads-news — Tue, 3 Feb 2009 01:31:00 GMT

At least once in your travels you’ll stay somewhere which pushes your definition of a suitable place to stay. For me, it was a dodgy place in Pakxe in Laos, close to the Thai boarder. The illegal mezzanine floor accessible by a dodgy bamboo ladder into an airless room the size of 2 thin, single mattresses side by side wasn’t the issue; it was the 44 gallon drum oozing with slime in the “bathroom”, which raised my eyebrows and prompted a quick exit the next day.

Whether it is the bed bugs or noisy neighbours, hostels sometimes undeservedly have a bad reputation for cold showers and crusty mac’n cheese on the stove. Of course there are always exceptions, with hostels nowadays rivalling boutique hotels in terms of facilities and location. Made for “flashpackers”, many chic hostels now offer private rooms, ensuites, pools and free internet, bars and restaurants and a unique social experience unmatched by hotels.

Our friends at Hostelworld are trying to change the definition of the word hostel in many of the popular dictionaries which currently term a hostel as “shelters for the homeless” or “supervised lodging for young people on bicycle trips”. More than 1,200 people have signed the petition so far, supporting the campaign to redefine “hostel” as a “Budget, fun, sociable accommodation for people of all ages.”

According to Hostelworld’s library research, the term ‘hostel’ comes from the Latin ‘hospes’ for guests and has been applied to lodging houses of all standards throughout the ages. It became synonymous with cheap, no-frills accommodation after the war when youth hostelling became popular and into the 1960s when students needed affordable rooms while travelling around Europe on tight budgets.

How do you define a hostel? Do you agree with the Hostelworld definition? What is your best (or worst) hostel experience? Share your experiences in the comments, or simply join in the Hostelworld.com petition at www.hostelworld.com/petition.

Katrina Greeves
Partnership Manager - Asia Pacific
WorldNomads.com

katrina [at] worldnomads.com

Case Study - From little things, big things grow : Utilising e-commerce to drive a CSR strategy

nomads-news — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 07:50:00 GMT

Tackling CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility

One of the most challenging things a company can face is how to decide what form their CSR strategy might take.

Do we take a holistic approach and look at all of the potential pillars in terms of our social, ethical and environmental impact? Do we bite one off and square up our carbon impact? Do we get caught in the constant argument over how we should measure all of the above or do we just bite the bullet and do something?

We bit the bullet.

WorldNomads.com is a travel company, a technology company and a community of like-minded travellers. We operate online and we support our travellers on a number of fronts but principally by providing them with global travel insurance and travel safety services and products.

We’re also acutely aware that our World Nomads travel to some of the poorest countries in the world and yet receive such warm hospitality from less fortunate people.

The Tsunami in 2004 brought into harsh focus the need for WorldNomads.com to support developing and impoverished countries. So how could we combine our knowledge of online technology, our customers desire to give back and support worthwhile initiatives being undertaken, on the ground, in those countries?

The following is a case study of how we chose to utilise technology to drive our CSR strategy and a call to action to get involved. (Apologies if it sounds a little pitchy...it is!)

What is Footprints?

Footprints is the ‘glue’ between individual donors and charitable projects. Every time a World Nomad purchases travel insurance, they can choose to donate between $2-$10 to a community development project being run by one of our charity partners.

Footprints uses web technologies to facilitate economic efficiencies across thousands of tiny transactions. We felt that by positioning this donation at point of sale, making it less than a cup of coffee, that we’d be able to garner support from our community minded travellers.

Footprints is a sophisticated online reporting system covering multiple currencies, time-zones, businesses and projects; it is truly global in its scope and it runs 24/7.

By working with our charity partners to provide discreet projects, with fixed budgets and determined outcomes, we’d be able to provide far greater transparency. Our World Nomads could see exactly where their $2 was going and we’d be able to report back to them exactly what was achieved. With Footprints passing on 100% of the funds raised, we were confident that our WorldNomad.com community would support this initiative.

What has Footprints achieved?

With over 90% of World Nomads choosing to donate, Footprints has raised almost $600,000 from more than 180,000+ individual donations.

It has funded community projects in 18 countries including:

• Provided 300 sight-saving surgeries
• Built one primary school, repaired another & trained over 200 teachers
• Gave a whole village solar-lighting
• Installed water & sanitation in 3 schools and 3 villages
• Provided medicine to 3 communities and 4 orphanages
• Helped 40 vulnerable kids get through school
• Created kitchen gardens, buy egg-laying chickens, provided meals

Footprints has also spawned a documentary series currently screening on Nat Geo Adventure channel.

Why do we do this?

We all know the world is awash with poverty, injustice, intolerance and insecurity, but we believe everyone has a moral responsibility to do something about it. Footprints is our contribution.

We can’t be the only ones

One of the great things about working with a bunch of social philanthropists and web technologists is they get restless, “It’s worked for World Nomads, so why can’t it work for another company? How do we make it happen?”.

So was born the Footprints Network. The Footprints Network is an alliance of like-minded e-commerce businesses and their customers who fund community projects that improve the quality of life for those living in impoverished communities.

We’ve re-engineered the technology as a web service (API) that enables any business that is transacting online, to integrate Footprints into their purchase path and start funding projects.

What's in it for business?

Online customers are smart and they care about the ethics and values of the companies from which they purchase. So we wanted to provide a solution that other businesses could utilise, one that provided

• A ready-made CSR program

Although the projects we support are primarily community and social development ones, as the Network grows, so will our capacity grow to fund environmental projects.

• No up front cost to join

This is not a profit mechanism for Footprints. World Nomads investment in running and maintaining the program is our CSR investment.

• A means to connects with customers, at and beyond the sale!

It might be less than a cup of coffee, but when you show a customer the difference their donation has made, when they can see it, you’ve made a connection far beyond the sale.

• Companies with the option to support projects important to them and their community, at varying donation rates.

As long as the projects meet the Footprints guidelines, a network partner can choose to fund either projects from the pool, or ones of their own. Imagine if iTunes became a partner, something as simple as a 1 cent donation would have yielded over 50 million dollars since they went live.

• A mechanism to positively position their brand and fosters word of mouth

I want our World Nomads to be proud of what they’ve achieved through Footprints and yes, if they tell their friends and they buy our travel insurance, or your product and donate, even better. We can only sustain our CSR initiatives whilst we sustain our businesses at the same time.

• A tipping point for consumers.

Although it was not our intention when we set out, we saw an immediate increase in our conversion rate. Outside of price, Footprints is the number 1 reason why our customers choose buy through World Nomads.

• A way to build and foster business relationships

Be it charity partners, media partners, network partners, Footprints has enabled us to share a common value. It’s enabled us to work with people who are passionate about the difference they can make and excited by the ability to involve their community.

• Improves employee attraction, retention and motivation

It is common knowledge that these days prospective employees care more than just about the salary when choosing which company to work for. I love the fact that our last three World Nomads hires chose to apply on their desire to want to be involved in Footprints.

We've learnt that by providing the tools for consumers to contribute, particularly when they're already purchasing and by maintaining transparency at all times, you can develop a level of engagement and impact on the ground, far and above expectation.

If you’re interested in joining the Footprints Network or want more information: Visit the website www.footprintsnetwork.org or email Christy McCarthy, Community Relations Manager at christy[at]footprintsnetwork.org

Chris Noble
General Manager
World Nomads.com
chris[at]worldnomads.com
twitter.com/WorldNomads

Opinion - Social Media : Wake Up and Smell The Engagement !

nomads-news — Thu, 8 Jan 2009 19:35:00 GMT

There has over the past few months been a lot of heated debate about the business value of Social Media.

A lot of it seems to be centred around the commercial ROI of advertising through the various Social Media channels.

Will Facebook start to yield stronger advertising revenues? Will ads on Bebo work? How can you monetize your presence on Flickr? is Twitter a waste of even 140 characters? Why did my wife buy a dog when I last went overseas? (ok, maybe not the last one).

In my humble opinion, I think businesses, particularly those in the travel space, need to look at Social Media from a different perspective and as I've stated "Wake up and Smell the Engagement!".

Here is my take on how Social Media can and should primarily be used by companies on both a B2C and B2B front.

Pop the lid on the people !

Social Media provides a real opportunity to present your brand in a more personalised way, peel back the company skin and position your staff as real human beings.

Companies should encourage key personnel to become engaged, on behalf of their company, but through their own voice, in social media channels that are relevant to them based on their interests as well as the target segments of the company.

You're a trekking company looking to 'engage' with those consumers interested in trekking. You have a staff member who happens to be passionate about photography and sharing their pictures. Why not encourage that staff member to manage your company Flickr account, upload their photos and build a community around trekking photography.

From there you can run competitions, discussion topics etc that build your company and staff profile in a relevant and engaging way, whilst promoting your business, without having to overtly advertise.

GeckoGo and Where I've Been started as Facebook applications and now have created thriving travel communities. Other companies such as BootsnAll, Travellerspoint, Gadling, Nile Guide, TripWolf, TripIt, Matador Travel (the list goes on) have successfully utilised engagement and social media to build active communities.

Turn Engagement into product ideation

A WorldNomads.com journal user was bailed up in jail because he tried to speak the local language, got it wrong and probably told the policeman that "His wife was born of goat". This for us spawned the idea of building audio language guides, which we used our community to assist in building phrases, which have turned into 20 language guides. Over the last 2 years they've been downloaded over 600,000 times and the x-sell to travel insurance has covered the cost of creating them. Our brand is now mobile and our World Nomads have been provided with a relevant and useful travel tool.

The listen, learn and respond technique has greatly assisted our business when applied to Social Media.

Build Positive Word-of-Mouth

We've utilised Social Media channels to discuss (not advertise) both the travel programs we run (eg. Travel Scholarships) as well as disseminate vital Travel Safety information that is not only relevant to our own World Nomads, but the broader travel community as well. By tracking through simple tools such as Google Alerts and RSS feed readers (Bloglines etc) and our own analytics program, we've been able to monitor the levels of influence our content has had, as well as monitor what degree word-of-mouth has on our sales and it's been significant.

We've seen more sales through Facebook as a referring site than any Ad Network we've used in the last 12 months and we're not using paid advertising on Facebook.

Support your CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities

As a brand, we're passionate about travel, but also about giving back to those places less fortunate than our own. We hoped our World Nomads shared the same view so we decided to focus our CSR efforts into building Footprints. A mechanism whereby our travellers could donate, when purchasing travel insurance, between $2-$10 to sustainable community development projects around the world. 180,000+ donations later, 35 projects funded and a 90% donation rate proved just how much our community shared the same values that we did.

So we discussed this initiative through our various social networks and " These projects are great, how do I see more about them" spawned our Positive Footprints documentary series which is now screening on Nat Geo Adventure channel. " I'm an ecomm travel business, how do I get involved" has seen the creation of Footprints 2.0, The Footprints Network. A network of like minded companies funding community projects through the Footprints API and passionate, community minded travellers.

It is the community that drives this initiative, we're just the mechanism to make it happen.

Building business relationships through Social Media

From a B2B perspective I've been shocked at how effective Twitter has been in terms of building our partner base. As Twitter (Facebook to a lesser extend) enables you engage on a far more personal level, you very quickly find like minded peers, companies that share similar values and that makes it far easier to connect and ultimately do business.

We've done market research through GeckoGo, have co-promoted programs with companies such as TravellersPoint and Matador, shared articles through our Travel Safety and Travel Tips section, all off the back of twitter conversations.

Social media has allowed us to connect very quickly on the CSR front with networks such as Business Fights Poverty, Pepy and Just Means. All strong supporters and voices for our Footprints Network.

Social Media is becoming one of our primary mechanisms by which to engage and build business relationships.

Can you wrap it up now !

Social Media is a means by which companies can effectively 'engage' consumers and like minded businesses to position and give personal voice to your brand, develop and build new products and services, support CSR activities, energise your partner development activities as well as meet your commercial and marketing objectives.

You might be able to successfully 'advertise' but don't only focus on this aspect of Social Media, you'll be missing a sizable number of opportunities.

On a side note, I haven't gone too far into discussing 'measuring customer engagement', but here's an excellent article written by Brian Haven, formerly of Forrester Research - Marketing's New Key Metric - Engagement. It's a bit of a bible for us.

Well done for getting this far ! Please leave a comment and let us know how you've engaged through Social Media.

Chris Noble
General Manager
WorldNomads.com
chris[at]worldnomads.com
twitter.com/WorldNomads

Chris Noble is the General Manager of WorldNomads.com and Co-Founder of FootprintsNetwork.org. He is NOT a Social Media Maven, Guru, Expert, God, Pioneer, Rockstar. He is, in the words Julia Roberts didn't use in the chickflick 'Notting Hill' - " Just a boy, standing in front of Social Media, asking it to love him!"

Opinion - The Sin in Doing Good Deeds - New York Times

nomads-news — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:15:00 GMT

I've just read an excellent article by Nicholas D. Kristof and placed an excerpt below.

"If a businessman rakes in a hefty profit while doing good works, is that charity or greed? Do we applaud or hiss?

A new book, “Uncharitable,” seethes with indignation at public expectations that charities be prudent, nonprofit and saintly. The author, Dan Pallotta, argues that those expectations make them less effective, and he has a point.

Mr. Pallotta’s frustration is intertwined with his own history as the inventor of fund-raisers like AIDSRides and Breast Cancer 3-Days — events that, he says, netted $305 million over nine years for unrestricted use by charities. In the aid world, that’s a breathtaking sum.

But Mr. Pallotta’s company wasn’t a charity, but rather a for-profit company that created charitable events. Critics railed at his $394,500 salary — low for a corporate chief executive, but stratospheric in the aid world — and at the millions of dollars spent on advertising and marketing and other expenses.

“Shame on Pallotta,” declared one critic at the time, accusing him of “greed and unabashed profiteering.” In the aftermath of a wave of criticism, his company collapsed."

Click here to continue this article.

The article raises all sorts of questions, particularly as a for-profit company that has invested a significant amount in our own corporate social responsibility program, The Footprints Network.

Without the support of WorldNomads.com, Footprints would never have been created and raised over $500k from over 180,000 donations.

On the other side of the coin, Footprints has allowed us to speak to, partner with and work on behalf of many organisations that we'd never normally have the chance to. Have we profited? in that regard yes, do I feel bad, not in the least. I have immense pride in what we've achieved through both WorldNomads.com and FootprintsNetwork.org and know we would never have managed it were it not for riding on the back of travel insurance transactions.

Sustainability of our core business enables sustainability of our philanthropic endeavors. Simple as that.

Is your company running a CSR program?, please share with us in the comments section below

Chris Noble
General Manager
WorldNomads.com
chris[at]worldnomads.com

The Bottom 6.5 On The Road Travel Joys - 2008 (in reverse order)

nomads-news — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 23:55:00 GMT

There has been a rampant explosion of Top 15, 20, 100, 5 travel lists over the past couple of months and to be frank..I think it needs a shake up.

I thought about the Top 10 things to do instead of creating a top 10 travel list, but then I thought , stop, you're being a cynical bugger, those lists can provide insight and relevant information, so lay off.

Not being a fan of the 'lay off', I've instead decided to start at the bottom, to try and trigger global change through highlighting the things I dislike, without too much ranting and start a ground swell, short format, revolutionary movement ! Ok, maybe just a comment or two.

So here it is !

The Bottom 6.5 On The Road Travel Joys - 2008 (in reverse order)

6. A passport and 'digital' copy of my itinerary should be enough to get me through a transit lounge. What else do you need? Why do I need to wipe out a tree ( ok, a tiny undiscovered tree that produces a single A4 piece of paper)

5. Speaking LOUDER English as a tourist in a foreign country doesn't make you any more understood to a non-English speaker, it just makes you look like a goose and someone who was too cheap / lazy to download a language guide or pick one up from a street vendor !

4. 24 hours ahead of you, packed plane, over 6ft, poured into your seat, scoffed at by the air hostess for asking for, well, anything and ear phone jack is broken, iPod battery dead, noooooooooo.... I'm feeling ill thinking about it.

3. Listening to other travellers complain and even get angry at the street hawkers in places like Vietnam and Cambodia. YOU live on 2 dollars a day.

2. Hotels breakfasts that finish at 9am, wake-up calls never made, $32.95 for a plate of fried meats, baked beans and scrambled eggs from a packet.

1. Being questioned for 3/4 hour by a customs officer because you bought your ticket 1 week before left ( which is apparently terrorist behaviour) then having your bag tipped out needing to go through your toiletries one by one as people walked by, "Why do you need these gastro pill Sir? <insert smart ass comment and extend questioning> "....nice

0.5 It only makes me slightly grumpy and I get a little chuckle out of it, watching NG-ego, two NGO's fighting over who should be thanked first for their involvement in a community development project, c'mon boys & girls, share the love.

That's it for this week's list, please leave a comment with any other bottom travel things !

Chris Noble

WorldNomads.com
General Manager and bottom list builder
chris[at]worldnomads.com

Sharing stories on travelling safely

nomads-news — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:00:00 GMT

Let's face it, the only time you ever read about travel insurance is when a trip has gone horribly wrong with a travel scam or monkeys that bite.

The WorldNomads Safety Hub is now available to share via RSS to keep up to date on travel news, interviews and reviews from our safety experts.

In light of recent events in India and Thailand and some a close call of nature on Chris' last trip to Vietnam, we thought it might be useful to call on a few of our travel and safety experts to share a few tips on how to stay safe while travelling and what to do when things go wrong.

The WorldNomads Safety Hub was the end result, and we’re offering it to anyone in the travel space to share it around to keep everyone out of trouble when they're out enjoying their adventure.

Need inspiration?

Make Travel Fair recently published our travel safety stories straight from the Hub. It makes talking about travel insurance so much more interesting and relevant, and will help to keep your customers on the road, travelling safely for longer (got to love that!)

How do you get our Travel Safety stories?

Simply subscribe to the WorldNomads.com Safety Hub RSS feed and build in the smarts into your blog or website to pull through the stories as they are published.

For all of our World Nomads Partners, you can append your affiliate code to each story, and then each referral is trackable in your online account.

What's your best safety tip?

Leave us a comment or send us your stories on ways to keep travelling safely, and we'll feature the best ones.

Katrina Greeves
Partnership Manager - Asia Pacific
WorldNomads.com

katrina[at]worldnomads.com

Irish residents benefit

nomads-news — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:00:00 GMT

World Nomads now offers a new insurance product to our Irish travellers, provided by Millstream Underwriting Ltd.

The main benefit improvements are compared below (based on a single policy):

IHI (the old policy insurer) Millstream (the new insurer)

Medical - Euro €250,000 Medical - Euro €3.75 million

Baggage - Euro €800 Baggage - Euro €1,500

Dental - Euro €165 Dental - Euro €375

Cancellation - N/A Cancellation - Euro €6,250

Personal Liability - N/A Personal Liability - Euro €2.5million

Curtailment - N/A Curtailment - Euro €6,250

If you are an Irish Resident, you can get a quote or ask us a question via email - infoirl [at] worldnomads.com.

For all WorldNomads.com Partners, if you have questions about our new Irish product, please contact our dedicated customer support team for our partners - wnpartners [at] worldnomads.com

Phil Marks
WorldNomads.com Product Specialist

World Nomads 2009 resolution #1: share the love

nomads-news — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 07:53:00 GMT

In 2009, we want to give you, World Nomads' Partners more love ... we want to tell everyone about you!

We want to know what you are up to: tell us about your new travel products, services or experiences; your travel tips and tricks; your research, pictures, thoughts and ideas.

Simply tell us what you’re doing, send us your stories, add us to your PR list and we’ll aim to spread your news through our blog and our social networks facebook, twitter, Youtube and flickr.

Add a comment here or email me - katrina [at] worldnomads.com

Katrina Greeves
Partnership Manager - Asia Pacific
WorldNomads.com

katrina [at] worldnomads.com

Gallery: World Nomads

nomads-news — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 06:49:00 GMT

Merry Christmas et al

nomads-news — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 06:37:00 GMT

From all the team we wish you a very...

Merry Christmas
geseënde Kersfees
gëzuar Krishtlindja
gleckika Wïanachta
miilaad majiid
Shnorhavor Surb tsnund
Eguberri on
З Божым нараджэннем
subho baradin
sretan Božić
Nedeleg laouen
весела коледа
Christmas nay hma mue pyaw pa
bon Nadal圣诞快乐
bon Natale
sretan Božić
veselé Vánoce
glædelig jul
vrolijk Kerstfeest
gojan Kristnaskon
häid jõule
gleðilig jól
hyvää joulua
joyeux Noël
noflike Krystdagen
bon nadâl
bo Nadal
Ahali tseli
frohe Weihnachten
kala christougenna
jwaye nowel
mele Kalikimaka
christmas sameakh
Krismas ki subhkamna
boldog Karácsonyt
gleðileg jól
naragsak a paskua
selamat Natal
Nollaig shona
buon Natale
sugeng Natal
meri kurisumasu
assegass amegass
Noheli nziza
seun-tan chu-ka-hae-yo
Noela we pîroz be
souksan van Christmas
felix dies Nativitatis
priecīgus Ziemassvētkus
bun Denâ
su Kaledoms
vrolik Kersfees
schéi Chrëschtdeeg
sreken Bozik
arahaba tratry ny Krismasy
selamat hari natal
il-milied it-tajjeb
Nollick ghennal
meri Kirihimete
god jul
eydet mobârak
Wesołych Świąt
feliz Natal
baxtalo Krečuno
un Crăciun fericit
C Pождеством Xристовом
ia manuia le Kerisimasi
Nollaig chridheil
Срећан Божић
krisimas yakanaka
Chrismas joon wadhayoon
vesele vianoce
vesel božič
dobro dedek
feliz Navidad
god jul
maligayang pasko
ia orana e te noeraสุขสันต์วันคริสตร์มาส
Noeliniz kutlu olsun
Shuldyr Ymuśton
Z Rizdvom Hrystovym
Mừng Chúa Giáng Sinh
Nadolig llawen

And a safe and happy new year

When the going gets tough; the tough get travelling

nomads-news — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:06:00 GMT

Global consumers will go ahead with their travel plans even though they do worry about the economy.

Earlier this month, we got together with our friends from GeckoGo and polled 1162 travellers to find out how they were affected by the global economic meltdown.

While 43% of survey respondents answered that they felt "terrible" about the current economic environment, only 15% have cancelled their trips. 51% of travellers still plan to fly the same amount over the holidays, with 22% planning to travel more than last year.

Most are still travelling but are looking for ways to save money

30% will spend more time travel planning and to try to get a better deal

31% plan to travel off-peak

27% said they would spend less on accommodation, with 24% saving by staying somewhere more "modest"

51% of Americans say "looking for travel deals" is a key way to save money

Americans worried by economy more than rest of world

Of all respondents, Americans were the most worried, and it was affecting their travel plans.

68% of Americans felt "terrible" about the current economic environment, and 22% have cancelled their trips.

40% of Americans plan to fly less this holiday season, and 44% plan to spend less money on their next vacation.

Travel insurance considered a necessity

Travel insurance is considered a necessity by many and is the least affected by the economy. In fact, 10% of respondents are more likely to purchase travel insurance due to the economic situation.

Only 7% of respondents would cut travel insurance before other expenses such as accommodation, activities, trip length, and food.

63% of consumers purchase travel insurance at least sometimes when they travel, and 32% purchase it all the time. 42% consider emergency medical and dental coverage to be the most important reason for purchasing travel insurance.

Holidays are for visiting family

66% percent of respondents usually visit their relatives over the holiday season

70% planning to see their relatives the same amount as last year, and another 13% more than last year.

Spending plans stay the same for majority

68% of all respondents plan to spend at least the same amount on their next vacation, compared to 46% of Americans.

Your thoughts?

What does your gut tell you about how the industry will be affected?

Send us your thoughts or customer research. We're always keen to hear what's happening in your part of the world.

Cheers,

Chris Noble
GM World Nomads
chris [at] worldnomads.com

Travellerspoint.com - 'Winter' Photography Competition

nomads-news — Tue, 9 Dec 2008 10:51:00 GMT

Our friends over at Travellerspoint are running their photography competition again, with the theme this time being 'Winter'.

Worth promoting to your community, friends, family, even those you dislike but feel like giving pre-Christmas cheer to!, if they're mad for photography.

' The competition is sponsored by HotelClub.com.au, who allow you to book over 48,000 hotels in 122 countries.

Enter for a chance to win a A$500 HotelClub.com.au voucher, a Globetrotter's Logbook and an increase of your photo storage limit by 5GB.

Submit up to 3 of your best and most interesting shots of winter scenes.

The runner-up will receive a Globetrotter's Logbook and a 5GB increase of their photo storage limit.

You can nominate your photos anytime before December 15.'

Travellerspoint is one of those sites chocker block ( aussie slang meaning - lots of) full of amazing articles from some of the most far flung corners of the world. It's regularly used by our own staff and other World Nomads journal users as another source of travel inspiration and advice.

Run by Peter (peter[at]travellerspoint.com) and Samuel Daams (samuel[at]travellerspoint.com), a couple of extremely well travelled souls. Pete lives down in Melbourne and Sam is up in Norway ( someone stole the others action man as a kid!). Drop them a line if you're keen to find out more about Travellerspoint.

Final Call to Become a Published Travel Writer

nomads-news — Thu, 4 Dec 2008 09:21:00 GMT

WorldNomads.com Travel Writing Scholarship closing in one month

The 2009 Travel Writing Scholarship closes on January 9, 2009 so please spread the good word if you feel the following scholarship is relevant to your community, friends, family and even those you're not much of a fan of, but feel like being nice pre-Christmas!

Open to all aspiring travel writers worldwide, the scholarship recipient will go on assignment to Kerala, India in early 2009 with travel writing mentor David Stott, spending 10 days on tour with The Blue Yonder exploring the River Nila civilization and 10 days writing and reviewing for the upcoming Footprint India Handbook.

General Manager of WorldNomads.com, Chris Noble, says the scholarship is perfect for non professional writers who have a spirit of adventure and a passion for travel writing.

“Becoming a published travel writer is a dream for many travellers,” says Chris.

“At WorldNomads.com, we’d like to make that dream come true for one compelling storyteller.”

The successful applicant’s brief will include being flown to India from their country of residence by WorldNomads.com, from February 16th – March 7th 2009, to participate in the tour and travel writing assignment.

The Blue Yonder Tour, specifically tailored for the scholarship recipient, will be based on the age-old tradition of story telling that reveals the uniqueness of the region and the importance of rivers for a sustainable life. It will include interactions with musicians, folk artists, bell metal workers, potters, sand miners, fire worshippers and ritualistic healers, and planting saplings at the 'Traveller's Forest', a community driven eco-restoration project

Mentor – travel writer and photographer – David Stott, who specializes in coverage of India, will provide guidance on travel writing, before the recipient will head out to spend 10 days researching, reviewing and updating essential travel information for the Footprint India Guidebook.

“The combination of the tour and guidebook assignment has been selected to provide an insight into the range of travel writing opportunities available – from the descriptive to the practical,” says Chris (me again).

“The Scholarship is part of our annual WorldNomads.com scholarship program, which gives ambitious and talented students the opportunity to work with professional mentors in the areas of travel writing, documentaries, photography and podcasting.”

The entry process includes a 500 word or less travel focussed essay based on personal experience around one of the following themes:
a. 'A Journey that Changed Lives'
b. 'Responsible Travel'
c. 'Adventure in an Unknown Culture'

If you'd like any further information on the scholarship, don't hesitate to contact our programs manager, Amanda Byrne at amanda[at]worldnomads.com.

WorldNomads.com and Footprints Donations hit the $500,000 mark !

nomads-news — Mon, 1 Dec 2008 03:09:00 GMT

It's with great pleasure, loud voice and a fair whack of yahooooo that we can announce that our online philanthropy project Footprints , has now raised $500,000 from more than 180,000 micro donations since its inception.

For those of you who might not know, Footprints is an 'opt-in' donation program that allows online customers to make a micro-donation (e.g $2) to tangible projects across the globe that help improve the lives of those living in impoverished communities.

WorldNomads.com started the program with the philosophy that ‘you are never too small to get involved and make a difference’.

In our own travel experiences, we were often humbled to receive generous and gracious hospitality from local people in far out places, even when they experienced severe shortages of basic needs such as food, water, housing, health and safety.

We believe there is a moral obligation to give back to the communities in which we travel and we believe that is an ongoing responsibility, not just today.

Footprints so far has successfully funded 34 projects in 18 countries, changing the lives of thousands of people living in poverty. A full list of projects currently underway is available at http://footprints.worldnomads.com/

These seemingly tiny contributions have added up to make a huge difference. Our community and partners (YOU!) have got firmly behind the program. We currently have a 90% 'strike rate' from World Nomads customers.

Footprints raises funds on behalf of our project partners who are responsible for their management and implementation. Footprints does not fund projects with any significant 'administration' overhead so that they have a real effect in the communities for which they are intended.

We're also putting out the call to like-minded e-commerce companies that wish to get involved and help make a difference. Our amazing tech team have engineered the Footprints technology as an API which enables other e-commerce companies to integrate footprints into their own purchase path. Collectively, the businesses, their customers and our project partners are known as the Footprints Network.

If you're keen to get involved, contact Christy McCarthy at christy@footprintsnetwork.org