Well I guess I have been a little slacking in the blog department, but I guess I hope my microblog could be looked at as a whole blog from time to time.
I get to go on my first trip with GVSU athletics tomorrow morning beginning at 4:45 a.m. I am heading to Denver/Golden, Colo. for the NCAA Regional Final game with women's soccer. Should be a good trip.
Through all of the planning and preparation I have decided to talk about technology and travel because in truth, technology has simplified travel. Or has it?
Going with the pro technology (more or less internet, computer-based technology) and travel I will say that I would much rather book a flight, hotel, car, etc. through a website than talking to a human. 1)Because it is all in front of me. The info, the prices, disclaimers, etc. right there on my screen for me to read instead of listening to someone (who normally is not a native English speaker) rattle off things that may or may not impact me throughout my trip planning. 2) It is easy. End of story. and 3) I HATE being on the phone with any company for more than five minutes. Half of the time the operator doesn't under stand your question and the other half you are punching a combination of at least 12 numbers in order to reach someone to really give you an answer.
Then there are the other things while traveling that are great. Wi-Fi (on flight, in airports and sometimes on buses), Cell phone chargers in the airport and now in some airplanes and the ability to get non-stop updates about flight changes, hotel information, etc. right on your phone.
Now to the bad side. With booking I really don't think there are a lot of negatives, though I really wish they would allow you to cancel and rebook a ticket online. Many carriers still do not allow this. Sometimes travel, even though its work related sometimes allows you to get away, but with all of this connectivity though, you are expected to constantly be updating this, sending that and doing this. Add in a two-hour time difference and you could be getting up well before your normal time in your current time zone just to keep up with the demands of your native time zone. EXHAUSTING!
Plus I have two computers: a desktop and a laptop. One I do all of my design work on and notes, etc. and the laptop is basically for word, and stat crew (the program we used to update athletic stats). So now I have to think about everything I may need on my MAC desktop and hook it up with my PC laptop.
And get this: I googled technology and travel tips and more than 300,000 results popped up. Now relevancy beside that is still a lot of information. So here are my own personal tips:
1) Get your stuff together - cords, chargers, batteries, etc. and make sure you really need all of them.
2) Make your laptop EASILY accessible to get out of your bag for security (one of my biggest pet peeves).
3) Download apps if you can that include Flight Tracking, Weather Updates, Flight check-in and even some for pure entertainment...I personally love angry birds.
4) Take the time during the travel to relax, even if for only 20 minutes, but turn everything off and just be. (Yes this is really zen, but I think it gives a refreshing take on the rest of your trip.
5) Bring "old-fashioned" technology such as a book or magazine and get into that instead of reading on your Kindle or iPad.
and finally...6) Sit back and enjoy the flight.
Until next time...
I think its GradGirl 7.0
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