I just received the happy news that Travel Babel was named one of the top 50 travel blogs of 2010 by
Awarding the Web, which was begun in 2002 by two University of Washington students who seem to have hopped on the web-wagon relatively early. I wish I knew who they are, but I don't.
According to their own site, award candidates are selected by their team of "research associates scouring the web" or by nominations from their subscribers. I'm sure mine was the former. Their site further explains that five unnamed judges score each nominated blog "across 20 different attributes" to come up with their own subjective scores. These ratings are combined into an aggregate score, and the five judges' aggregates are then averaged to give the blog its final rating. wards go to blogs in the 99% percentile, meaning just the top 1% of nominated blogs receive awards.
When I look at the other travel blogs in the top 50, I’m honored to be in such good company. The list of award recipients is not numbered, but it's not alphabetical either. Travel Babel is No. 34 on the list of 50, and I have to say that I'm thrilled that five judges cumulatively consider this to be the 34th-best travel blog around.
I flew into Bangkok for a brief visit last week, a trip that included a thank-you dinner for hundreds of overseas travel agents and media who were winding down from a mega fam trip.
It was here that I chatted to 92-year-old Kusa Panyarachun, managing director of World Travel Services in Bangkok, and senior president of the Tourism Council of Thailand.
Khun Kusa is a sprightly, neat figure in an expensive suit who attributes his longevity to the family genes, regular exercise and, he told me, “a few glasses of Australian Penfolds red wine each night”.
Educated in the United States, he served as a paratrooper in the US Army before returning to Thailand to build up the family travel business, pretty much from scratch.
His youngest brother was once prime minister of Thailand.
“I still go to work every day and I work very hard,” he said proudly.
During the recent political turmoil in Bangkok, which tourism people here guardedly refer to as “the incident”, the sudden downturn in business forced Khun Kusa to consider laying off many of his 600 staff.
Instead he cut everyone’s wages by 25 percent but did not sack a single worker.
“Now business is a little better and I am cutting pay only by 10 percent,” he said.
I asked him how long it would take for business to return to pre-incident levels.
Khun Kusa held out both hands in front of his chest and crossed his fingers.
Much of Bangkok appears to have its fingers crossed at the moment, including the bar girls as they try to drum up dwindling business.
Over lunch, the sales and marketing director of a Thai resort told me that the bars were operating as best they could while Bangkok is still under a state of emergency.
He said, “At two in the morning, the police come round to make sure the clubs and bars are closed for the night. The girls go outside, smoke a cigarette and when the police have finished their rounds, they open up the bars again.”
That’s Bangkok. It’s doing it tough but it won’t give in.
Ian Jarrett is editor TravelMole Asia Pacific
Dubai-based airline expands its large Triple Seven fleetEmirates Airlines, the Dubai-based, award-winning international carrier, has ordered 30 777-300ER aircraft to add to its 71 already on the books, of which 53 of this model are currently in service. The Triple Seven a long-range, wide-body airliner is the world's largest twinjet. Quite unsurprisingly, even before this latest $9.1 billion order, Emirates is the world’s largest operator of 777s. Plus, just last month, Emirates ordered 32 Airbus A380 planes.
The airline's strategy is to become a world-leading carrier and to establish Dubai as a central gateway to worldwide air travel. In all, Emirates already 86 777s (three 777-200s, six 777-200ERs, 10 7777-200LRs, 12 777-300s, 53-300ERs and two freighters, numbers that are mainly of interest to airline geeks. It operates the 777-300ER in a three-class configuration with eight first class suites, 42 business class seats and 310 Economy class seats, plus offers an additional cargo payload of 20.1 tons. Oh yes, it also operates 79 Airbus A380s, 70 Airbus A350s and seven Boeing freighters.
I didn't do the math because I don't do math, but Emirates did and says that its fleet totals (or will total, I'm not sure which) 204 widebody aircraft worth more than $67 billion dollars. In a lousy year for world aviation and the global economy in general, Emirates Airline recently reported its 22nd year of profit, up 416 percent to close at $964 million dollars over its 2008-09 profits of $187 million dollars. I add this only because there has been so much whining among US and international legacy carriers that I find all this quite remarkable. US gateways are New York, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Travel writer colleagues who flew Emirates not long ago to a meeting in Bangkok via Dubai reported favorably on the experience.
