Jun 30
2009

Currently, I am spending a lot of time in Brussels. You could say I am on permanent vacation here. You do not need to travel far to gain a rewarding travel experience. To illustrate my point, this last weekend, there was two Street parties within 200 metres of my apartment in Brussels.

The first was the Czech Street Party held in the street by the Czech Embassy. This took place on Friday night. The street was closed off and a stage erected, along with a number of tents highlighting what the Czech Republic has to offer. There were samples of Czech beers, wines, cheeses, sweets, and goodies given away at the stands representing the various regions. Of course there were brochures and help available for potential visitors to the Czech Republic.  I really enjoyed the Czech Music although the young Mandrage and Clou were more to my taste than Mig 21 and the headline act Kristophe. Czech nationals made up the largest contingent of the crowd which completely filled the street up to the front of the stage by the time the headline group was playing.

This is a video clip of Clou, a band from Prague in action.

Matongé en CouleursThe second Street Party was Matongé en Couluer. This took place on Saturday and Sunday on Chausée de Wavre and parts of rue Paix and even the junction of Chausée de Wavre and Chausée d’Ixelles. Like the czech Party, this is an annual event with stands selling African Foods and goods, filling the streets. Again a music stage showcased African music and dance from across the African continent as well as from Brussels. In addtion small bands were playing at other locations on the streets as well as a few DJ sets providing music for street dancing. In common with the Czech Party there was no entry fee for the events nor the music. An excellent opportunity to immerse myself in the sounds, colours, smells and tastes of different cultures without going more than 800 metres from my front door.

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May 4
2009

Twitter is an excellent tool if used responsibly. I am fairly new to the Twittersphere, but already I am finding some activities very annoying. Here is my Top 10 Terrible Tweets on Twitter.

Spoof Twitter profile

Spoof Twitter profile

10. I am not going to start with Tweets but Profiles. How many times do you read; “I am an expert at SEO, Web2.0, blah, blah, blah. My site is rated No1 on blah , blah , blah”?

Come on who are you trying to kid? If you were that good, you would not be posting tweets with links to your site. If you are that good, then go and spend time with your family and let someone else Tweet for your company!

9.”I am listening to “Your song” on Blah.FM”.

To be honest I don’t care. All you are doing is Tweeting a plug for the online radio station. Now if you were to Tweet  “Listening to: “I fought the Law, by the Clash”; I am reliving that failed bank raid, I carried out”. Then it might well catch my attention!

8. “Good morning, Thank you and welcome to all my new followers who joined over night”.

I really don’t like this. It comes across only a little better than the auto DM’s sent to new followers. This is just the thing that those operating pyramid follow schemes post everyday.

7. “RT @twitrant New web page: How Twitter can change the world. http;//www.twitrant.com/change_the_world.htm”

ReTweeting masses of Tweets to inflate your number of updates. Unless your followers are likely to be interested in a Tweet, don’t do it. If you can,  say why you liked that the Tweet you are ReTweeting.

6. “ @twitrant New web page: How Twitter can change the world. http;//www.twitrant.com/change_the_world.htm Please Retweet this”.

Asking followers for ReTweets, MrTweets, followfridays, Stumbles. etc. I’m sure I don’t need to explain this. If the Tweets are good, then they will get Re Tweeted and if we think Tweeple or their web sites are worthy of recommendations, we will give them. Its a sure sign of a commercial outfit, when they ask for this.

5. “New web page: How Twitter can change the world. http;//www.twitrant.com/change_the_world.htm”

Twitter streams that are nothing more than an RSS feed of their owners web site. So you joined Twitter, but can’t actually be bothered to Tweet about anything, so instead you add a widget to your site to automatically Tweet your web pages. Sorry, you will have to try harder.

4. “Pandemic of copied news headlines”

Looking up the news sites and posting the latest news headline. There are a few Tweeple that do this every single day. They just get a news headline, make a  TinyURL , then Tweet it. No thinking required.
My browser already has a BBC News Headlines button so I don’t need your copy.  Now if you were to give your reaction or feelings to that news maybe I would be interested.

3. “Look how wonderful I am, I have 2000 followers”.

Don’t you realise that all you need to do to get followers is to find out those who will most likely follow you back and follow them? Of course its also bad form to brag.

2. “A quotation on Twitter only needs Control C and Control V - John Williams 2009″.

Excessive use of quotations annoys me and I believe Twitter, as they have suspended accounts for excessive use. Looking up quotations is real easy on the Internet. Unless your quotation describes how you feel at a particular moment or reinforces a point, then don’t Tweet them. A long list of your favourite quotations just wastes bandwidth. Furthermore, as internet servers have quite substantial carbon footprints, they are hastening climate chaos.

1. “Click on the link and you’ll get thousands of followers”.

There are lots of pyramid follow schemes available for Twitter. As I said before all you need to do to get followers is to follow people, who will follow you back. Then you could have thousands are even hundreds of thousands following you. However you could also be following thousands of Tweeple as well. What good is that?

That’s my rant over. Actually, Twitter can be very useful and will only improve as stream filtering produces more relevant Tweets to your likes. Twibes seems like a good start in this direction, with Tweets grouped by like minded people and including up to three keywords. I am hopeful that Twitter will be an even better experience in the future. Which Tweets annoy you on Twitter? Where do you see the future of Twitter?

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Apr 22
2009

Thirty nine years ago a number of organisations with diverse goals, yet all concerned with a sustainable future on this planet got together. The first Earth Day was held in in 1970. The event has become mainstream.  It has been interesting reading surfing the net today as some of the news items have varied from positively helpful ways to secure a sustainable future on the Earth to pure Greenwash.

Using Earth Day to sell airline tickets

One company selling cheap airline tickets even tried to get some Earth Day Green points, by focusing on eco hotels, spas and even some green travel tips. Instead of being honest and saying that you shouldn’t take the flight unless there is no sustainable alternative. They simply say well green issues shouldn’t stop you flying. Of course they say you can offset. Offsetting though, is the last resort, as the flight will still produce carbon dioxide, as well as burn up a portion of irreplaceable fossil fuel.Of course the answer is to travel to the destination slowly using buses, trains, cycling or walking. This takes time and that is not compatible with the life we live. There is hope though, I will try to provide some inspirational examples in future posts.

Eco villas

Another company was promoting its eco villas. Some of the ones advertised were huge with their own swimming pool. Of course they had rainwater harvesting but usually for watering the plants not for flushing toilets. Solar panels, ground source heat pumps were on offer. I am not negative about the efforts made, but surely there is still lots of room for improvement. A private swimming pool maybe a luxury, but it consumes lots of resources in their construction, upkeep and that’s without all the fresh water they consume in areas that are often water stressed. Its better for the environment to use the sea or failing that communal pools.

Frivolous Earth Day Posts

Another site had a video post of Celebrities approach to Earth Day. I found it fairly shallow. OK, so the presenter pointed out that to be a green celebrity, you need to do more than drive a Toyota Prius (actually there are less polluting cars available), use reusable shopping bags and the like. I suppose the only test is to look at someones complete ecological footprint this is impossible without being intrusive, although one Hollywood film star who made a be green quote for Earth Day has a fleet of private jets, so I agree that we can’t take him too seriously. I certainly am far from green, but I am taking action that reduces my footprint month by month.

Why does Luxury Travel claim the Green credentials?

I find it just a little disconcerting to note that it is luxury travel that is claiming to be eco friendly. Often often long haul flights are required to access the location, the facilities occupy large amounts of land compared to indigenous homes. Whereas budget travel staying in small easily heated rooms with showers instead of Jacuzzis do not use anywhere near as much in the way of resources. Combine this with small family run hotels with locally sourced produce and your impact is going to be a lot less. Or perhaps you don’t agree?

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Mar 30
2009

Restaurants during Earth Hour

Restaurants during Earth Hour

On Saturday evening I made my way to Poelaert, by the Palais du Justice in Brussels. I waited until 8:30 pm and watched as the lights of Grand Place in the near distance and the Atomium on the horizon, were extinguished for Earth Hour. I was in a position to see many houses and blocks of flats switch off their lights and use candle power for an hour.

I then walked over to Grand Place. The area of Brussels I passed through has numerous Art Shops, bars and restaurants. All were open for business as usual and appeared to have made no effort to turn the lights off for Earth Hour. Upon arrival at Grand Place, the lack of lighting was instantly apparent. Once my eyes had become accustomed to the low light, the Hotel de Ville with its tall fine spire stood out against a dark navy blue sky across which dramatic clouds passed slowly. It looked more imposing than if it had been floodlit. Of course there were two or three bars and restaurants open in Grand Place, all using electric lights. It seems that when it comes to preventing catastrophic Climate Change businesses just don’t get it.

Last week, I had looked for bars and restaurants that were celebrating Earth Hour with a function, but to no avail. While Earth Hour was taking place, I walked in vain trying to find a candle lit bar or restaurant to have a drink, but instead passed establishments lit up like Christmas. What a shame, that a restaurant or bar couldn’t join in the vote for a safer future and provide a wonderful ambience for an hour at the same time.

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Mar 29
2009

Dogs, cats, perhaps even pet snakes , bring companionship and joy the their owner’s lives. Unfortunately, there have always been some who love their pets more than human beings. There are others who literally kill their pets with kindness by overfeeding them. Pets are ultimately a prisoner or slave to their owner. They are not free to roam, hunt or mate as they would choose.

It came as a surprise to learn on Twitter, that there is now a Pets only airline. Like many others I thought it was April 1st come early. I did some further research and found even bigger excesses. Hotels where dogs sleep in pyjamas in four poster beds. Where they have their own swimming pool and gym and where the hotel chef prepares meals for them. If you don’t believe me just put “dog luxury hotel” into a search engine.

Travel opens the mind, lets us see the world and its inhabitants in a fresh light and allows us to see the beauty of the planet we inhabit. Personally, I don’t see how pets can benefit from travel in this way. Of course they will enjoy playing on the beach and in the sea and  they are unlikely to miss their owners if they are together. I have no problem with pet friendly hotels, even the budget chains in France allow pets. What I can’t come to terms with is pets wearing pyjamas and sleeping in four poster beds in rooms equipped with TV’s.

One commentary I read on the reason for the Credit Crunch was that spending had gone out of control. They quoted the array of Christmas gifts, costumes and even pet stockings on sale as a sign that we had become addicted to spending for the sake of spending, even if it meant borrowing to fuel the addiction. It was reinforced by a visit before Christmas to a store in Cardiff where I saw the goods pictured below. All unnecessary and most likely not appreciated by the pets.

Pet holiday

There is a big difference between pet friendly hotels and pet only airlines monogrammed pyjama wearing pets sleeping in four poster beds. A line must be drawn between ‘pet friendly’ and wasteful extravagance. Where would you draw it?

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Mar 28
2009

Saturday is the last day of World Water Week 2009. I have ran out of water saving tips for travellers for now, but look to the future for even more water saving schemes by accommodation providers.  Here in Belgium, we have a toilet that is even more efficient than dual flush. I’m not exactly sure how it works internally, but all you have to do to activate it is depress the flush button. If you don’t touch it again it will empty the cistern. However depress it once before the cistern has emptied the flushing action is  immediately stopped. The user can then judge how much water is required at each flush. The cistern also has a house brick in it to limit the amount of water used in a full flush. This system is backed up with grey water saved from showering or bathing. When having a shower the first few minutes of water tend to be cold. Instead of letting this water go down the drain, it is caught in a bucket and used for watering our plants. Soapy grew water is transferred to the bucket and used to flush the toilet. It would be good to have a plumbed in system to use this grey water, perhaps supplemented by water caught on the roof. Hotels, apartments, villas and chalets can easily adopt water saving measures such as these. I urge them to do so now, as even in areas with no water shortages, it still consumes significant amounts of energy to pump water around. Other steps could be a return to earth composting toilets and dry urinals. These are a little more of a cultural change but will gain acceptance.

Water is a big political issue as I among many others, feel that access to safe water is a basic human right. Privatised companies can only charge for purifying and transporting clean water as well as removing waste water and treating it. I am not against Private Water Companies, but they should only be a contracted out service of governments and councils and must be answerable to them and the electorate. There should always be an ample supply of free safe drinking water to those that cannot afford to pay, even if it is from standpipes.

As I wrote in my first post, safe drinking water and effective sanitation is something that is not  universally available. One in eight people do not have safe water to drink and over 40% of the world’s population live without adequate sanitation. Non Governmental Organisations such as WaterAid do a great deal to provide solutions to the crisis and get actively involved in affecting political change. I have supported WaterAid in the past and am doing so this week by giving a charitable donation at www.wateraid.org. Of course there are other water charities including Just a Drop and Charity:Water.

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Mar 26
2009

Its Thursday on World Water Week so here are tips seven and eight,

Tip 7
Be careful with what you purchase while on holiday/vacation. For example take your own reusable water bottle and order tap water in restaurants. You will save energy, resources and even water over buying bottled water. You can also make a donation to the Back2Tap Campaign to help the developing world build new water and sanitation infrastructures. Buying products such as out of season fruit and vegetables that have been grown in water stressed parts of the world will probably cause some suffering in another part of the world. Avoid excess packaging as its resource hungry in its manufacture and can pollute water courses after you dispose of it if it is not dealt with properly.

Tip 8
Swimming pools are popular attractions at tourist resorts, hotels and apartments. They can also consume large amounts of drinking quality water. If it is a warm climate then swimming in the sea is probably a better option. Its one of my favourites if the water is warm enough and the sea is not full of jelly fish. If you are going to use a swimming pool, then how about trying a salt water pool. Like the sea they are easier to swim in as salt water is denser and gives better flotation.

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Mar 25
2009

Wednesday of World Water Week so time for two more water saving tips for travellers.

Tip 5

Report any leaks to your accommodation provider immediately. It could be a leaking tap or a toilet cistern constantly dripping water, but the water wastage over time is significant.

Tip 6

Do not support golf courses, theme parks  or ski resorts that consume excessive amounts of water. You as a consumer have the final say as to whether or not a business thrives or fails. Golf courses are often an oasis in a desert. This is because they consume vast amounts of water keeping their greens and fairways irrigated. Often this is at the expense of local agriculture and inhabitants. Golf courses  regions with a water scarcity should be looking at using strains of grass that do not require much water. Sure they may not look as attractive or be as soft to walk on, but they can be sustainable, whereas some of the oasis type golf courses certainly are not sustainable. The same applies to landscaped gardens in attractions such as Theme Parks. Finally ski resorts now increasing use snow cannons to supplement natural snowfalls with artificially made snow. An additive is used to stop the snow from melting as easily. This all ends up in the mountain environment. The process also consumes vast amounts ‘of water potentially straining local water supplies. Mountain-riders.org produce a booklet that compares the eco performance of many of the world’s ski resorts.  Check whether your resort relies heavily on snow cannons.

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Mar 24
2009

Its Tuesday of World Water Week 2009. Here are two more water saving tips for travellers.

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Tip 3

Do not leave the tap running while brushing your teeth. All you need is to wet the toothbrush.

Tip 4

In a similar vein. If you are staying in self catering accommodation, and are doing washing up, then use the dishwasher if it is provided. Dishwashers consume resources in the form of energy, raw materials, including water when manufactured.

If they are there use them.

They use less water than hand washing.

If washing up by hand then fill the sink. Do not use running water to wash your pans and dishes.

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Mar 23
2009

This week is World Water Week a cause very close to my heart as WaterAid is my favourite charity. It is a sad fact that 884 million people in developing countries have no access to clean water. Many walk miles for a container of dirty unsafe water each day. Every 17 seconds a child dies of a water borne disease. While about 70% of the Earth is covered by water only 3% is in the form of fresh water and the majority of this is in the polar ice caps. WaterAid works on projects to bring safe water and sanitation to communities. it along with other organisations is making slow headway as there was closer to 1 billion people without safe water 10 years ago.

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There is a long way to but as populations increase there can be no corresponding increase in fresh water on this small planet.

Tourism can also put strains on water supplies. It is a fact for example that the average water consumption by a French person is 140 litres of water per person per day while at home. When travelling this rockets to 300 litres per person per day! A typical occupied hotel room in the USA consumes 825 litres of water per day! A modern toilet flush will only produce 4.6 litres of water so there is a lot of waste.  These rates of consumption put tremendous strains on water supplies in some parts of the world. So how can we be more frugal with our use of water while travelling (or at home for that matter)?

Tip 1

Do some research before your travel. Will you be staying in accommodation that has considered sustainability. Do they have measures in place for conserving drinking water such as dual flush toilets, aerated shower heads and tap faucets, do they make use of rainwater or grey water? You might also want to consider energy reduction measures and waste minimisation measures adopted as well.

Tip 2

Obvious really but short showers consume less water than long deep baths.

Finally as it is World Water Week consider supporting a water charity such as WaterAid.

Information - WaterAid, Mountain Riders and Fairmont Hotels

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