Unwrapped travel

Singapore is an expensive place — especially if you’re planning a few nights out. So here a story covering some of the best happy hours in Singapore. Enjoy!

As I mentioned in the previous iPhone travel Apps post, one of the iPhone apps I find very useful for Travelfish.org is Everytrail. It allows me to use the phone to track where I am and also to mark waypoints (points of interest) as I go. While it isn’t accurate down to the centimetre and can have a bit of a hissy fit if the phone coverage slips (or as in my case when I forgot to turn 3G back on) it’s generally more than good enough for our purposes. I can then upload this data to OpenStreetMaps (OSM) and use it to improve the accuracy of their maps, which we in turn use in our iPhone travel apps.

We just had a couple of days off on holiday in Ubud up in the hills of Bali and as OSM’s maps were not quite up to scratch, I took a walk around the Monkey Forest Loop adding in the laneways and backroads I wanted. I’ll go back this week to do some other areas that need some work and we’re there again next weekend to do some of the rice paddy walks.

Here’s a before and after screenshot of the area in question.

Before and after screenshot of Ubud mapping

As you can see it isn’t a huge difference, but there’s enough laneways and so on added that it will improve the usefulness of the app when people are using this map in our upcoming iPhone App for Bali — and eventually when we swap out the Google Maps for OSM on the main Travelfish.org site.

I walked the map out and the whole thing was 6.5km long and took me 1 hour 44 minutes and 57 seconds to walk out (yes Everytrail remembers everything). I also marked the longitude and latitude for 60 odd properties in the area, though we don’t place that data into the OSM system, keeping it the Travelfish.org database instead. The changes above took just a couple of hours to be reflected into the live OSM map for Ubud – not bad huh!

For reference, compare the OSM maps to Google Maps’ effort.

Google Maps screenshot of portion of Ubud

The Google Map for the Monkey Forest area has all the main streets more or less right but is missing the laneways I’ve just added to OSM and also some of its waypoint are totally wrong: Ibu Oka’s and Mozaic for example are both marked in the completely wrong location (off by kilometres). To be fair these are sourced from other sites (TripAdvisor is this case) so aren’t really Google’s fault, but they do serve to prove the point, there’s no substitute for going there yourself!

Last week we headed across to Kuta Beach on southern Lombok for a holiday. While it wasn’t exactly a work trip, as we plan to cover Lombok anyway I thought I’d try a bit of an experiment and do some research solely on my iPhone4. The result? I’ll never buy a sheet of grid paper for mapping again!

One note before I get started: I realise not everyone is quite the Apple fan-boy I’ve developed into, but in many cases there are Android equivalents to what I’m going to cover here.

Mapping: Everytrail Pro
I love drawing maps — really — but as anyone who has tried to draw a map from scratch knows, it can be a trying process. Roads don’t line up, alleys disappear, and don’t get me started on towns with hills and valleys. Once you’ve got it down on paper, you then need to mark the points of interest — now was that guesthouse on the left or the right? The taxi rank on the northwest or southwest corner? Oh God, it’s 40 degrees outside — do I really have to walk down and check? You know the drill.

One app makes this all go away. Everytrail Pro records a GPS track as you go — it’s incredibly accurate — and you can punch in points of interest (waypoints) as you go. This then records the longitude and latitude for each place. Once you’ve finished walking out the map (or doing it by motorbike or car for bigger towns) you can then upload the data to your free Everytrail account, from where you can then download it in a variety of formats — I take it by GPX for transfer into OpenStreetMaps, which is the platform we’re slowly migrating to with Travelfish.

Even if you’re not after the road layout, Everytrail can still be used to punch in data points as you go, so you can then supply them to your publisher with longitude and latitude points — something that I’m happy to wager is going to increasingly become a requirement.
EveryTrail Pro in iTunes (US$3.99)

Waypoints
If all the mapping is overkill, but you still need longitude and latitude, Waypoints is an excellent app for telling you exactly where you are. It works better if you stand outside, so get a reading before you walk into the club. I’ve generally been able to get a reading within five-metre accuracy. It does give elevation readings as well, but I’ve found them to be a bit more mysterious.
Waypoints in iTunes (US$2.99)

WiFi Finder
WiFi Finder is a crowd-sourced application that lets you find WiFi (free and paid) sources that are nearby. I’ve found it to be pretty useful, though 3G coverage here in Bali isn’t too bad so I find myself needing WiFi less than if I was in one of those developing cities like Sydney, Australia where free WiFi is about as easy to find as a reasonably priced latte. The great thing about it is you can download the database so that it works offline, meaning you don’t have to HAVE WiFi to FIND WiFi! Duh! This is useful not just for your personal use, but if your brief includes listing places that offer WiFi.
WiFi Finder in iTunes (Free)

Gowalla and FourSquare
As Facebook Places isn’t active yet in Indonesia I couldn’t give that a run, but I tried both of these apps and definitely prefer Gowalla — Foursquare feels way too much like a pissing contest for my liking. Tripadvisor also has a similar app. Whichever one you choose, these can be very useful in discovery. Turn it on, allow it to use your location and see what pops up nearby. On Gowalla you can click on a particular place that’s nearby and it will tell you how many people have checked in there. This could be a sign of a popular place worth checking out.

A note on both of these apps: the information, especially the location, can be off. For instance, Foursquare lists Frangipani in Bali (a bar a 30-minute drive away) to be at the end of my street — so don’t use either of these as a definitive source. There’s no substitute for going there yourself.

Secondly, while these were both useful, personally, I’d prefer talking to people and you’re certainly tying yourself to an “electronic niche” in relying on these too much.
Gowalla in iTunes (Free)
Foursquare in iTunes (Free)

Twitter
If you’re not on Twitter already, get on it. Set up a hashtag following destinations you’re going to be writing up and save them as a search. Be specific, but not too specific. So, #bali is a better fit than #indonesia. Then keep an eye on the stream and see what people are tweeting about: it could be a new bar opening, a hotel with crappy service or a beach you’ve never heard of. Twitter can be a great discovery tool — but it can also be a major time sink, so be disciplined!
Twitter in iTunes (Free)

More discovery
There are a slew of other location-based travel apps of interest, but one that really stands out from a discovery point of view for finding hotels is HotelsCombined’s iFindHotels. You just turn it on, let it detect your location and then it shows you all the hotels it has in its system nearby. Then you can click on the ones you’re interested in to see if they fit the profile for the properties you’re looking to review. A few other apps have similar functionality.
iFindHotels in iTunes (Free)

Instapaper Pro
This lets you clip interesting online stories (could be magazine or news stories, travel write-ups, blog entries and so on) and save them to your iPhone for reading later. You can also sync it with your desktop. It is a very good app and I’d recommend it to anyone who reads a lot online.
Instapaper Pro in iTunes (US$4.99)

PDF Reader
If you’ve grabbed some resources in PDF format (or any other kind of research material — train and ferry timetables spring to mind) then this is a great app for reading them easily.
PDF Reader in iTunes (US$0.99)

Photos
The camera is a built in part of the iPhone, but if you’re taking snaps of accommodation (if you’re not already being asked to do so, expect to be asked soon), consider turning on “Location Services” as that will stamp all your pics with longitude and latitude. The camera is also useful for all the other typical stuff: business cards, timetables, shots to jog your memory and so on. Obviously organise your photos into albums – they’ll be easier to keep track of and sync with your computer when back home.

Notes & Voice memos
Two more built-in (and so free) apps. My process was to review a property, snap photos, and then once outside jot all the details into “Notes”. I’d just start a new page for each listing. If you find the keyboard tricky to work with, then record a voice memo instead — either way you’ll have all your first impressions recorded immediately, when they’re freshest, which should result in better end-version write-ups.

Email & Skype
Email is built in and obviously helpful for receiving those emails from pesky editors. Skype is handy for calling them to tell them to leave you alone (use the above-mentioned WiFi Finder to find a free connection to call on).
Skype in iTunes (Free)

One app that is missing?
Evernote is the one overarching app that would be perfect to collect all this information into, but, as far as I can see, there is no way to export the information back out again, which makes it close to useless for our purposes.

Update:
Thanks to @hackneye and @bm_ for pointing out that Evernote actually does allow you to export the data (in a HTML format with the images in subdirectories etc, or in an XML format) so it could be a nice envelope to stuff with all the data you collect afterall!
Evernote in iTunes (Free)

In summary
With one iPhone you can record your notes (typed or voice-recorded), find WiFi, record longitude and latitude, look after pretty much all of your mapping needs, take photos to jog your memory for when you’re writing up 40 near-identical thatch bungalow operations, use location-based apps to stalk other travellers and see what they’re into, receive emails from annoying editors and yell back at them via Skype. Then there’s the browser (mobile Safari) which is handy for online research and checking the football scores.

Sure the iPhone isn’t a cheap phone, but, combined with even just some of the above apps, you’ll be amazed just how much time it can save you while you’re on the road. Publishers are forever demanding more work for the same coin and they’re increasingly going to be asking for data like longitude, latitude and accommodation photos. For once it needn’t be a headache.

Just don’t forget to back up!

Got any suggestions for other apps to ease a travel guide writer’s pain? Please share!

Oh and one more thing, if you’re in an app-buying mood, don’t forget to check out our travel guide apps for Southeast Asia!

If you’re running a travel blog and view it as a potential income source, stop calling it a travel blog and start calling it a travel website.

From the content director’s (sorry I just can’t use curator) point of view, the process doesn’t change one iota, but from the advertisers point of view the perception can change considerably.

Stop calling yourself a blogger. Start calling yourself a writer (or photographer, artist etc).

Stop running a blog. Start running a travel website.

Through 2011, every Monday we’ll feature an interview with a person working in the travel, tourism and hospitality industries across Southeast Asia. From masseuses to restaurateurs, princesses to paupers, we aim to bring a diverse range of voices here to Travelfish.org to shed some insight into travel in the region or the region itself.

Our first interview of 2011 is with Dougald O’Reilly, an archaeologist and the founder and director of Heritage Watch, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the preservation of Southeast Asia’s cultural heritage. We chatted with Dougald by e-mail in a conversation that traversed looting, antiquities trafficking, Cambodia’s struggle to preserve its history and, well, he did mention Tomb Raider once.

About 3 days, 3 hours and 19 years ago I was outside Waterloo station in London at the end of a 12 hour drinking binge when I ran straight out onto the road and into the path of a woman driving home. She hit me square on my left leg and I was flung about 20 metres forward, landing in the middle of the road, smashing a handful of teeth out and knocking myself unconscious. I was bleeding from nose, ears and, well all over my face.

The driver was hysterical as she thought I was dead.

I know all this because my drinking partner, a Kiwi by the name of Chris, was on the other side of the road and pretty much saw the whole thing happen. The paramedics said the only reason I wasn’t killed was because I was as drunk as I was. I ruined Chris’ New Years. I ruined the driver’s New Years, and I most certainly ruined my mother’s New Year’s Day the next day when she called from Sydney and I told her what happened.

I should have stopped drinking then.

In the years before and since, I’ve been stabbed, shot at, robbed and almost maimed myself in more ways than I care to remember as a result of drinking and needless to say I’ve offended and hurt people close to me by things I’ve said and done (or not said and not done) while drinking.

I’m done.

I’m sad to say I’m stopping. Really. I enjoy drinking and I love getting drunk. Start with a martini or two, a few g&t chasers then on to a steady night of beer. But as people who know me know, drinking for me involves drinking till there’s none left. A dozen pints in Bangkok? no problem — I love to get drunk. Don’t bother making me a single, I’ll start with a triple please. There is quite simply nothing like it.

Many a morning, more and more commonly as the years have rolled on, the morning after the night before has seen me swear I’d not drink again, or at least not till that night. My health has suffered, and my kids have probably never seen me in a restaurant for lunch or dinner without alcohol in front of me.

It’s an easy decision to make when you can barely move for the aches and pain, which is why I decided to stop drinking a couple of weeks ago, when I was utterly sober and sensible.

So this New Year’s Eve, I had my last drinks, at a friend’s birthday party cum New Year’s bash.

I’m done.

I’ve spent the last twenty years of my life hammering my body with drugs and alcohol. Twenty years of drunkedness easy. The next twenty years are, for me, going to be twenty years of sobering up. It’ll take the best part of a decade to soak all the tequila, vodka and gin out of my system and at least another decade for the beer.

The decision to stop drinking is an easy one. The method of stopping is more of a challenge, but I’m just as determined to stop as I was once to get drunk.

Expect a lot more mocktail reviews of Travelfish

So what do you do with 24 hours in Bangkok when you’re stuck up the Sukhumvit/Siam Square part of town? Sam was recently in that very situation and here’s her take on 24 hours in Bangkok. Enjoy!

Making a customised version of your website, tailored specifically for mobile phones is a challenge. This morning I had the misfortune to come across one of the worst I’ve seen — and from people who certainly have the resources to be doing a far better job. Accor Hotels.

How to do it wrong

I wanted a simple bit of information — the telephone number for the Lombok Novotel — so I picked up my iPhone (as I planned to call them from it) and Googled “novotel lombok“.

Exhibit 1

Exhibit 1

Bingo! Pretty much just what I was looking for. So I clicked on the number 1 result for “Lombok Novotel“. The result however, wasn’t quite what I expected. After being redirected through a couple of domains, I ended up at an advert for an iPhone app.

Exhibit 2

Exhibit 2

The app sounds kind of interesting, but all I wanted was the phone number, so I opted for “No”… thinking I’d get the hotel page for the Novotel on Lombok. But no, instead I got a hotel promotion page for two hotels, one in Berlin and one in Prague.

Exhibit 3

Exhibit 3

As neither Berlin nor Prague are all that close to Lombok in Indonesia this was … unexpected. It seems that the app had totally forgotten what I arrived looking for and I was going to have to start from scratch. So I scrolled down a little and got the search prompt. Given it was a search, I just typed in Lombok.

Exhibit 4

Exhibit 4

Fool that I am, I didn’t notice the asterisk next to the “Check-in” field (afterall I didn’t want to check-in, I just wanted a phone number). Likewise I didn’t bother with the other fields. You know where this is going right?

Exhibit 5

Exhibit 5

Yup. I had to enter a date of arrival (even though I didn’t have one). So I did.

Exhibit 6

Exhibit 6

Fingers crossed!

Exhibit 7

Exhibit 7

Finally! This is the hotel whose number I’m looking for. Of course the telephone number isn’t displayed, so I risked a click on the hotel’s name.

Exhibit 8

Exhibit 8

Eureka!

So just seven screens from the initial Google page I was able to find the telephone number of the Novotel Hotel on Lombok, which, should you care to know, is (+62) 370 653 333.

To add to the misery, there doesn’t appear to be a way to override the Accor website’s mobile detection, so even though I really wanted to, there was no way for me to access the “traditional” website on my phone.

This is extremely poor usability to round out what was a thoroughly crappy user experience. Accor could and most definitely should be doing far better.

How to do it right

In comparison, if I clicked on the Google page on my laptop I was taken to this page.

Exhibit 9

Exhibit 9

And there you go, (a bit blurry I know) the phone number for the Novotel on Lombok. One Click! Fancy that! Google really does work wonders sometimes!

I recently did a mountain bike ride from Kintamani to Ubud in Bali with a couple of friends and wrote the story up here for Travelfish. Mountain biking in Bali. Enjoy

Yes, on a bit of a Bali burn at the moment. More info on Travelfish for the port town of Gilimanuk and the remote Christian communities of Blimbingsari and Palasari.

Enjoy!