World Traveler

Update World Traveler to get new, premium content and plug-ins, such as the popular Flight Assistant option.

By now there are definitely some out there wondering about the number delineating current and past versions of World Traveler. Although such numbering is common in the application industry, we’ll make it simple for you. There really is only one version that matters: World Traveler 1.05.4.

Just to be clear, this is the “latest and greatest” World Traveler, and it is the same World Traveler currently pre-installed on a number of Nokia S60 3^rd and 5^th generation phones.

In fact, the story goes back only to June 2009, the month that the World Traveler mobile travel platform first hit the market. Considering that the first version of World Traveler did not have some of the platform’s current (and most popular) premium content, such as Flight Assistant and Hotel Zone, updates and new versions were bound to come.

The first version, in fact, while immensely popular, included only the World Map, the World Clock feature, Currency Conversion and Weather.

About 10 months, several new versions and almost two million users later, World Traveler now offers Flight Assistant, which allows specified flight searches, as well as automatic flight information alerts and updates (and which will soon feature a flight rebooking feature for alternative flight needs); Hotelzon, which enables searches and hotel reservation booking in more than 90,000 cities world-wide; Connect, which enables automatic shifting from internet or WiFi connections preset by the user; Travel Safe, a virtual vault used to store sensitive or critical information such as passport/credit card numbers through a user’s mobile—and more plug-ins are along the way.

These include Travel Plan, which will enable complex scheduling and travel information to be codified and available through the mobile, as well as the coming iPass plug-in, which, thanks to Psiloc’s cooperation with American WiFi hotspot powerhouse, iPass, will allow world-wide WiFi hotspot access via mobile at rates significantly below typical roaming fees.

Likewise, the new versions and updates have allowed World Traveler to work through the early—and infamously complicated process—of offering these services in 18 languages world-wide. In one case, for example, the country listing was inconsistent and featured Abkhazia, which is a region in Georgia, as an independent state. Apart from the political sensitivity of the issue, for accuracy’s sake an update was immediately issued that corrected the list.  

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Once viewed as the epitome of luxury travel, British Airways is again seeing its reputation tarnished by crippling strikes. Shown above is the last flight of the Concorde, the renowned supersonic jet which last flew for BA in November 2003. Photo by Arpingstone/courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

With the British Airways (BA) strike hitting a third, awful day—and with a four-day strike promised for the end of the month—the airline question for many travelers has already been answered.

At least in the short-term, BA is out and any other airline that offers stability in the form of on-time departures and arrivals is in.

This may sound harsh—on one hand unions are fighting for better pay and working conditions and on the other hand the BA management is fighting to save the company from massive losses that could endanger the future of anyone associated with the airline—but if there is a third hand, it is simply that in the increasingly cynical world of airline travel most passengers simply do not care.

That’s right. As egotistical as it sounds, most of us simply do not care if you are making more or less money or whether or not you got that yearly raise. A ticket is (although this is often forgotten) a contract, and just like any other kind of contract, its fulfillment is key to the happiness of both sides.

For the weekend or leisure traveler, delays caused by the BA strike very likely ruined or at least put an ugly damper on what was a nice vacation. For the business traveler faced with ongoing turmoil, delays mean wasted trips, missed meetings and chunk of company cash down the drain that may or may not be compensated in the near future.

In tough economic times this really hurts.

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The geriatric factor is likely hurting the image of casinos, which are also suffering from the prolonged world-wide economic downturn. Photo by Raul654/courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Although the story is somewhat well-known, it is just as equally distorted. Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, the man who launched the real casino business in Las Vegas, has through time somehow gone down as a tragic hero. His vision of an oasis in the desert ended in death at the hands of a mafia hit man simply because the mafia did not believe the profits would ever match either his dream or the millions in investment that had already been paid to make it possible.

The Mafia was wrong. Bugsy, tragically, was right, but the world only learned so quite after the fact.

So the story goes.

Unfortunately, the real story was in a sense much less tragic. Siegel was a well-known mobster, rapist, murderer and otherwise walking disaster when it came to organization and business. Likewise, he reportedly hated the desert, never wanted to live in Las Vegas and almost single-handedly ruined the Las Vegas strip before it ever got started.

So the Mafia killed him.

This time the truth is thus less romantic, less appealing and certainly much less inspiring than many would have us believe. And not surprisingly, more than half a century since the true inception of Sin City, it is difficult not to wonder whether the “gambling-plus-tourism-equals-success” formula does not also now need a healthy dose of realism.

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Hluboka and nearby Czesky Krumlov are must-sees on the Czech travel circuit. Photo by Ivo Jansch/Wikimedia Commons.

With the winter in Europe still pounding in, we thought we’d take a break from our regular semi-serious to serious to very serious blog coverage of news events, travel developments and do’s and don’ts for the traveler. In part, this comes as a response to a query I received from an associate after demonstrating World Traveler (after he learned that yours truly was once a hardworking manager in a Prague travel agency)—and in part this comes from the fact that yours truly is rather eccentric when it comes to castles, ruins and anything gothic or related to the middle ages.

And in part, this comes from… well, no I have no real excuse, but hey, this is a Friday blog, so let’s have some fun.

So back to the point.

The Czech Republic quite possibly exceeds all of its neighbors when it comes to outstanding castles in a relatively small space—although both Slovakia and Austria also rate highly in this regard. Below are nine World Traveler Online favorites, although this is by no means a complete list. In fact, one of the best things about the Czech Republic is castles seem to pop up in unexpected places. A good spring or summer road trip guarantees pleasant surprises, but even in winter the following castles (and a good Czech Hospoda or pub) are worth the journey.  

1. Hluboka/Czesky Krumlov. If you have time to make the three-hour train journey from Prague, Czesky Krumlov and especially Hluboka, which is nearby, is a must see. Hluboka has the wow effect that you might expect from a Disney movie. A real white castle full to the brim with the kinds of things castles are supposed to have, including tapestries, medieval furniture and an untold amount of stag horns mounted on the walls. Moreover, Czesky Krumlov is the kind of small Bohemian town that might make you wish you were (more…)