Filed under: Business, Global Economy, Travel
With fuel costs increasing, many of the airlines are looking for ways to make an extra buck or to lighten the load of the plane. Over the last year, we have seen that airlines have started charging fees for luggage. The main question I have for the airline industry is “Is it helping at all?” With the TSA regulations on liquids, gels and other carry on items, many people do not have any choice but to check their bags in. All of the carry on baggage which would have gone into the cargo bay of the plane is now stuck in the cabin with the rest of the passengers. The Houston Chronicle composed a very good article about a futuristic airline, and I have to say they do an excellent job in outlining the potential problems. I have heard about stories where people are willing to fly across the US and back again on the same day to save their frequent flier status. At the rate the airline industry is going, I would be tempted to do the same thing if I was in the same case.
Houston Chronicle article: Fees galore when flying in the future
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/steffy/5933335.html
Filed under: Travel, World Events
In China, there is one week called the Golden Week. This is the one week during the year where everyone flocks home to be with their families and to go on vacation. The weather during this week is supposed to be some of the best weather during the entire year. Right now, I am in Shenzhen, China with one of the Sametime developers for a customer visit. Unfortunately the weather this year is quite hazy, but the temperature is mild. I would propose that US companies also have a “Golden Week”, but I assume that would take out of our floating holiday…..just a thought.
Today also marks the day when the Olympic Torch relay occurs in Hong Kong. The Chinese Government has taken great strides to ensure that even the most prestine detail is attended to during the relay. Tsim Sha Tsui along Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor has literally been closed off and redecorated with Beijing 2008 Olympic promotional materials. While we would love to see the Olympic Relay in Hong Kong, we all know that its gonna be jam packed and will probably take a couple hours to leave any one area after the torch passes. In the interm, we have decided to pass up watching the relay and instead will do the tourist thing in Shenzhen.
[photoxhibit=1]
Filed under: Travel, World Events
After a few weeks of working on final projects and exams for my MBA, I am finally back and have time to continue blogging again. As many of you heard, Sametime Advanced was finally released. You can now download this from your normal channels. Stay tuned and I will start posting regularly again.
Filed under: Technology, Travel
Several weeks ago, I traveled to Asia to assist on a customer issue. I was one of the fortunate ones who did not get stopped mid-way to for any secondary searches, however for countless others the situation isn’t as pleasant. The US Department of Homeland security seems to think that searching through the data on a laptop, cell phone, iPod or Blackberry is equivalent to searching a briefcase. In some cases, all of the contact information was copied out or the electronic device was confiscated. Due to the type of work I do, I have customer files and other sensitive documents on my laptop which wouldn’t be of any interest to homeland security, but nevertheless I do not want them to fall into the wrong hands. This article has definitely made me rethink what I should store on my laptop when traveling internationally.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/06/AR2008020604763.html
Posted on September 4th, 2008 by Andy Yiu
1 Comment »