A Scribbler’s Jumbled and Overflowing Notebook

Posted on Mar 27, 2024 by nickrichards38

We all have our little ways of whiling away the odd five minutes of down time, such as daydreaming, playing Sudoku, or idly doodling. One of my favourites is, especially during meetings, noting odd words from a speaker’s presentation or jotting down what may, oftentimes, appear to be unrelated or irrelevant bits of information but that may one day be useful.

It’s a revelation to learn that information,  while perhaps unrelated, is never irrelevant or insignificant; instead, it’s invariably bankable, occasionally vital, sometimes deal-making, and, come the unexpected occasion, very useful.

For people who like to fill a notebook, whether digital or physical, to overflowing, never really knowing if or when any of it will ever be useful, an opportunity will present itself, one day, and when it does, there will be something immensely satisfying about pulling that one particular fact out of a metaphorical hat.

Quantum What?

In a recent episode of a Canadian crime series (The Murdoch Mysteries) I streamed, one of the detectives, a certain Llewellyn Watts—a character seemingly lacking in social grace to begin with—picked up a book on a person of interest’s desk about the principles of quantum physics.

The detective admitted he knew nothing about quantum physics, and neither did I. Who, apart from a select few, would know where to begin explaining quantum physics. And then one night, at 3 a.m., it occurred to me that I’d written down, somewhere, the most basic of an explanation.

Several years ago, the subject of quantum physics, or rather quantum computing, came up in a TV show, The Blacklist (see below), and not knowing anything about the subject, I went on the Internet and, skipping Wikipedia, looked for, and found, a short explanation that would have to satisfy my curiosity, and believing it might someday serve a purpose, I duly took note:

“Quantum Computing is the science of using binary units (1s & 0s) at the same time, in parallel, rather than separately/individually to accelerate the computing process.”
(Quantum meaning something being present in two places at the same time whilst not being there)
Extract from The Blacklist Redemption S1EP7 “Whitehall”

I won’t go into the validity or the relevance of the explanation, suffice to say, that being, curious and wanting to retain this particular explanation, I noted it for future reference because you never know.

An Artful Note-taker

The detective from The Murdoch Mysteries, much like D.I. Humphrey Goodman from Death in Paradise or Will Trent from the same name TV crime show, all have distinctive ways of taking and storing notes, but all have the same objective: retaining information in a way that best suits them and perplexes others. In Death in Paradise, apparently adverse to using run-of-the-mill police notebooks, D.I. Goodman jots down notes—mental aids—in a confusing collection of slips of paper, beer mats, and the like, which he then stuffs into pockets.

Fortunately, a detective sergeant is on hand to remind him which pocket the slip of paper went into; and then there’s detective Watts, who, although he does have a police notebook, ignores the fact that the notebook is already overflowing and adds more scraps of paper so that every time he extracts the notebook from his coat pocket, a flurry of paper falls to the floor; and then there’s Will Trent, who, being dyslexic, records everything on a pocket mini cassette recorder.

As someone who used to fill physical notebooks with scribbled notes on trips and events before transitioning, sometime in the early 2000s, to digital, the end results, if not the methods of the three detectives, weren’t lost on me, proving that, regardless of the method, the ultimate goal is always the judicious use of the retained information.

Cometh The Hour, Cometh The Word

I read once that Prince Charles, now King Charles, had a notebook on his night table into which he recorded his dreams each morning.

This particular writer prefers what could be called a mental acuity exercise: make a mental note; retain a key word, mnemonic style; go back to sleep; get up the next day; and, as soon as possible, write down a fuller version of the thought or snippet of information, duly investigating its veracity before confining it to a scribbler’s already overflowing and jumbled notebook.

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A Dutch Parenthesis

Posted on Feb 21, 2024 by nickrichards38

Almost five years to the day after leaving Germany for the Netherlands and another professional relocation, my wife and I, together with our two cats, Katy and Gruscha, and four rather large suitcases, boarded the Eurostar at Amsterdam’s central station; we were on our way back to France.
The Flying Dutchman

It had been eleven years since we’d left France to pursue career opportunities in Germany and ultimately the Netherlands, and boarding the train signalled the end of an era, the end of a productive period of professional migrancy.

On the face of it, the decision to return to France may seem irrational; after all, we had left France in search of better employment prospects, social mobility, and a break from what makes France French. If rationality had anything to do with it, we would have returned to Germany, but it didn’t.

Lookin’ for soul food and a place to eat.

There was more to it than that, of course. It wasn’t a whim or complete reversal of a carefully thought-through choice made some eleven years earlier. It wasn’t, either, some subconscious yearning for more pep and spontaneity that we found lacking in the Netherlands, or even the German Gemütlichkeit, such as we had experienced in Munich.

It was the Dutch way of life itself that helped us decide. The Netherlands is itself a nice place; it’s a dependable country, efficient to a fault; it is comfortable, to the point of being monotonous; the Dutch make a point of honour of being direct, and pithy; and then there’s the food: eating is a necessity, not a social function, and the food reflects that.

We eventually came around to understanding, even assimilating, some Dutch characteristics, such as why the Dutch are frugal, pennywise and pound smart (why buy something you can’t pay for outright or frankly don’t need), qualities we hadn’t given much thought to previously, not even in Germany. We also realised that a beeline is a beeline and understood why the Dutch are direct, terse, and have no time for hogwash.

Castle Dragon Scar

Castle Dragon Scar – Roger Dean

A Kasteel, but not a Chateau.

The Netherlands is a small, low-lying country, so after five years, we had experienced most, but certainly not all, of its sights and specialties—the castles and forts, the cheese, the tulips, the herring, and more—but, even if it was an interesting experience, we missed the geographical diversity of France, its culture, and of course, its food. And while there are plenty of French restaurants, so-called “bistrots”, and even food trucks in the Netherlands, what was missing was the French attitude.

It is safe to say that most, but not all, foreigners go to the Netherlands for the work, especially the highly qualified expats and economic migrants possessing the required skills, a category I corresponded with. Such foreigners may take to the Dutch culture, its food, and its language, like ducks to water; others have difficulty learning the language and live in a bubble.

One English author I followed on Twitter, Ben Coates,* shared quite enjoyable insight into life in the Netherlands, but it wasn’t for us. Neither of us felt particularly at home with the Dutch culture as we had been to the French culture, or, to a lesser degree, to the German culture. It happens.
*This author was so comfortable in the Netherlands that he eventually settled there and took (dual) Dutch nationality, but this was never an option for us. 

With the end of our initial statutory five-year residency period approaching, we applied for and were granted permanent EU residency in the Netherlands, which, had we so wished, would have ultimately paved the way to naturalisation. But did we want to follow that route in a country we didn’t feel any profound or emotional attachment to? And so, after weighing the pros and cons, my wife and I decided that permanently living in the Netherlands requires the corresponding aptitude that neither of us possess.

Economic Nomads

We are nomadic; we love travelling*, and why not transform travel into an advantageous gain when the occasion presents itself?
* One of the things that drew my wife and I together was our shared interest in travel, but after understanding that economic mobility was no longer important to us, we decided it was time to put down roots and gather some moss.

LedZep1

Brexit: A Lead Zeppelin?

And so, we boarded the Eurostar on our first leg of the journey to Paris, and as we crossed the frontier into Belgium and then into France without us even noticing, the adage “Never say never” never rang truer.

Living among France’s neighbours made the very cultural quirks we wanted a break from, despite their defaults,  all the more relatable. Those very idiosyncrasies were what gave us a sense of feeling at home in France and made us feel like nomads elsewhere, living in a bubble; never looking to integrate.

Would Brexit and the loss of freedom of movement ruin our plan to return to a life in France? Only time and numerous back-and-forths with the French immigration and naturalisation service will tell.

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Freedom of Movement: Myths and Realization

Posted on Dec 27, 2023 by nickrichards38

The story of a young British boy named Alex Batty recently caught the attention of the UK press and public. The young British boy, now a teenager, was discovered one evening, walking alone down a road in south-western France, after six years living off the grid with his biological mother, who wasn’t his legal guardian, and maternal grandfather.

Albatross

Roaming Free

Among the many stories in the news, this particular story stood out. It was a curious story, a human drama that unfolded in places such as Morocco, Malaga in Spain, a “spiritual” commune in the Pyrenees, Toulouse in south-west France, Oldham in the United Kingdom, and Finland*.
(*News reports differed as to the mother’s actual whereabouts; some reported that the boy’s mother was trying to travel to Finland, others reported that she’d already left…)

This was intriguing because, aside from those Britons with newly discovered Irish ancestry, how did this British family manage to enter the Schengen zone from Morocco, if indeed they did, and then freely circulate within the EU at a time when UK nationals, relocating for work in the EU, were getting acquainted with the Schengen Zone’s complex and member-state-defined immigration procedures for “third-country” nationals?

Freedom of movement, Sovereignty and Article 50

That being the context, this British family seemed to have been travelling around Europe, albeit clandestinely, since 2017 without, it would appear, a Schengen visa or a post-Brexit resident permit.*
* Stories of British nationals omitting or neglecting to regularise their EU residency status in the wake of the 2020 withdrawal agreement are legion. The consequences were draconian and surprised more than one.**
** Brexit also impacted EU citizens long established in the UK with permanent residency who neglected or simply didn’t think they needed to “regularise” their residency status.

EU-network

Since invoking the Article 50 TEU (Treaty on the European Union) Withdrawal Agreement in 2020, the UK is “De Jure” and in the eyes of the EU a “third-country” nation and UK citizens seeking to establish a life in the EU—for example, by investing in real estate—must obtain a long-term visa, then a resident permit, and supply bio-metrics and other data for immigration registration purposes.*
* Daily life, health care, financial stability, including taxation, and security of a third-country national depend on registration, especially when host countries such as the Netherlands have a centralised immigration database that all other Dutch administrations access as required.

Assimilating the System

For UK nationals, arriving in the EU from the UK, travel documents are now required. [Caveat]

An EU resident UK national travelling from within and while remaining within the EU Schengen Zone may simply book travel and accommodation, as explained in a previous article. Non-EU citizens with resident permits do not need to present travel documents when crossing internal borders but are advised to produce their resident permit if asked.

Where matters start getting complicated for UK nationals with EU resident permits, is when they want or need to durably relocate, i.e., for more than 90 days, from one Schengen zone country to another. Where they set out from and/or their residency status is of no consequence in the new host country, as re-registration* in the destination host country is obligatory.

*When registering, a deciding factor could be whether a UK national relocating has lived in the EU for a long time, has proof, and can demonstrate never having travelled outside of the Schengen Zone for longer than permitted by immigration laws specific to each EU member state…it does happen.

EU-EFTA-EEA_UK

Representation of EU, EFTA, EEA & UK

While those profoundly in favour of Brexit may disagree, from an EU perspective, the UK is no different than any other third-country, newly rediscovered state sovereignty or not… and rather than being a case of “we won, get over it” it is very decidedly a case of “EU house, EU rules”.

Nevertheless, there are actions that the European Commission (EC) and the UK government could take, or may already be taking to harmonise policies and expectations. However, the rapprochement with Brussels and any, potential, future assimilation of EU policies, directives, and regulations is a matter only for the designated and accredited official negotiators and assumes they are competent.

The UK and the EU are talking to each other, and it would appear that an agreement has been reached allowing UK citizens, under certain conditions, to reside in certain EU countries longer than the current 90/180 rule permits.

For everyone else, i.e., UK tourists, expats, and economic migrant holders of a permanent EU resident permit, such as this author, continuing compliance with the immigration processes of the host or potential host country is an unquestionable requirement.

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The Soothing Sound of the Ocean

Posted on Nov 23, 2023 by nickrichards38

What follows is a short fictional story to illustrate an attitude and an approach taken by one couple to reach a mutually fixed objective; any resemblance to persons living or actual events is, as they say, purely coincidental.

The Scribe

The Scribe – George Cattermole (1800–1868). Photo Credit: The Cooper Gallery

***

One morning, as Anton Parris and his wife, Fleur, were sitting in the salon of their 4th-floor suburban Amsterdam apartment drinking tea and discussing tomorrows, Fleur put her cup down and said “I want to go and live near the ocean; Bordeaux would be nice”.

Anton paused to consider what Fleur had just said and gather his thoughts before responding.

Going Home

Of course, Fleur meant Bordeaux in France, and he wasn’t all that surprised by that; after all, they’d been talking about leaving the Netherlands for a while, and, among other destinations, they’d even considered returning to France at one point, their home for many years, but life had intervened and that idea had been set aside.

Anton had been to Bordeaux twice previously, once in 2010 with Fleur and once some 20 years prior to that during a solo roundtrip of south-west France. Indeed, Bordeaux would be nice.

Anton and Fleur grew silent and gazed out of their living room windows, each seemingly contemplating Amsterdam’s distant skyline. Their apartment, like many homes in the Netherlands, had large windows, ideal for a country notoriously lacking in sunshine and clement weather, and so, with the field of vision their fourth-floor location provided and, for once, some decent weather, they had a clear view over the neighbouring rooftops to the high-rise skyline of Amsterdam’s business district away in the distance.

AMS-henge

Amsterdam-henge

But Fleur didn’t say “sea” as in the perennially cold North Sea, 40 kilometres due west from where they lived, nor did she mean the pleasant Spanish Costa Blanca Mediterranean they had come to know quite well; she said “Ocean,” and Anton knew exactly what she meant. Fleur was referring to the Atlantic Ocean, and specifically the region of the Atlantic Ocean between Bordeaux and Biarritz in Southwestern France. Fleur had set her sights on Bordeaux, and Bordeaux it was going to be.

During the lull in their conversation, it occurred to Anton that while Fleur had been gazing at the same distant high-rise skyline as him, her thoughts, like his, were most likely elsewhere. He also sensed that because Fleur was sitting at an angle to Anton, her view of the skyline was different from his.

It also didn’t escape him that the same may be said regarding moving back to France. He couldn’t read her mind, so it was important for him to fathom Fleur’s thoughts. Although Anton saw the benefits of returning to France, Fleur certainly had different expectations. What were they?

In the Manner of Converging Waters

They eventually continued their discussion after gazing out the window a while longer, and Anton realised that while their viewpoints didn’t differ much, they did differ, and while they shared a lot of common points and complemented each other—Anton, the project manager, and Fleur, the creative—it was best to leave nothing to assumption.

Indeed, the distant skyline was a good analogy, and Anton—the aquarian (familiar with various philosophies of water (and some of its paradoxes)) to Fleur’s Pisces—knew the benefits of assimilating Fleur’s perspective as Fleur did with his. They recognised that harmonising their differing views was for the greater good—in this case, moving to Bordeaux, as it had so often been in the past when experiencing some quite turbulent, uncharted waters they’d had to navigate.

After finishing their tea, contemplating the distant skyline, and discussing, among other things, a tomorrow they still couldn’t fix a date for, Anton and Fleur stood up, happy, if for no other reason, than, in the space of a tea pause, they’d taken the time to talk to each other.

***

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Trip Advisors and The Reality

Posted on Oct 24, 2023 by nickrichards38

Avid readers of travel guides and trip advisors, will have certainly come across some descriptions of hotels or places of interest and wondered at their veracity, for example: “Tucked away in the French south-western region of the Cévennes, a natural park of stunning beauty and not far from the town of Millau, now famous for its bridge, the Chateau D’Ayres Hotel, a 16th-century chateau and site of an ancient Benedictine monastery, sits splendidly in its 6 hectares of private parkland…”

A Chateau in the French Cévennes

Back in 2010, my wife and I received a gift voucher for a weekend for two in the hotel of our choice, so we decided to go and check out one establishment in particular for ourselves to see if it lived up to its description.

The voucher came with a guide and one prerequisite: we were to choose a hotel belonging to a specific group of Chateaux hotels. Thankfully, we had the guide because the list of chateau hotels in picturesque locations was considerable.

We needed to choose one from the list and see whether it lived up to its description, but where to start? There were so many chateaux hotels, all in splendid settings and of different types to choose from. From palaces to manors, from mediaeval onwards, located across France, they all offered a variety of themes, ranging from regional products, gourmet, romantic, rustic, sporting, family, spa & cure, seaside, mountain, forests, to, of course, the historical.

Options, Options, Options

Because there were so many options, my wife and I decided to filter our search criteria. To begin with, we excluded all the offers within a 100-kilometre radius of home because, being limitrophe, we could visit them anytime. Next, we excluded all offers beyond a radius of about 400 to 500 km, or 4 to 5 hours of travel time, because we wanted to arrive early enough to enjoy the romantic dinner for two the voucher mentioned.

Then, as we had recently been to the beach, we eliminated that option, along with the spa and family with children themes. And, since we lived in Grenoble, the capital of the French Alps, we ruled out the mountain theme, which left us with romantic, forests, regional products, gourmet, and historical chateau themes.

Chateau d’Ayres Hotel.

Chateau d’Ayres Hotel.

An Overabundance of Choice

After some discussion, the regional products and forest themes were eliminated, which left us with a short list, with my wife preferring some options and me others. With some negotiating we found a compromise: a hotel apparently within relatively easy driving distance that regrouped the gastronomic, romantic, and old-world chateau themes we found appealing: the Chateau d’Ayres Hotel.

We examined a map and traced a direct route, and according to our calculations, the hotel’s location was some 4 1/2 hours from our starting point.

To help my wife position the hotel’s location, I’d shown her a map of the Cévennes and its location relative to several places we’d previously visited (Beziers, Montpellier). I explained the geographical and geological interest of the Cévennes, with its rivers and gorges, and why it’s classified as a nature reserve park. Apparently, my explanation did the job, as she agreed.

As far as the hotel was concerned, it was an abbey that became a chateau. I’d once lived in a country manor house—a fishing club for staid and established middle-class English society on the banks of the River Tamar in Devon, England—and liked the style, architecture, and interior of such period buildings. I was quite looking forward to seeing my wife’s reaction.

Chateau d-Ayres

Chateau d’Ayres

The Route

As noted previously, we estimated that it would take approximately 4 1/2 hours to complete the route we traced from Grenoble to our destination. What that particular estimation did not account for was that this particular route was via the A7 autoroute, also known as l’Autoroute du Soleil, which, while the most direct route to the Mediterranean, contains some of the most notorious traffic black spots on the French motorway system.

There was, however, an alternative route, one that would take us to Valence and then west, across the River Rhone, through the Ardeche region’s vineyards, over the scenic southern side of the “Massif Central”—at an altitude of 1000 metres—along some deceptively quiet long straight roads (and multiple radars), past ancient volcanoes, down into the Cévennes National Park, and into the small town of Meyrueis, located near Millau.

The Hotel

Seven hours after leaving home, we arrived at the hotel, and it was exactly as we had seen online: a discreet country manor house nestled in among 20-metre-high conifers. My wife’s initial reaction to the hotel was exactly what I had hoped it would be, and her reaction as she stroked the horses in the enclosure next to where we had parked our car made me feel that we had made the correct decision and that the long drive there had been worthwhile.

White Horse

White Horse

After check-in, we made our way up the central stone staircase, adorned with deer antlers, tapestries, and ancestral paintings, and meandered through tiny passageways until we reached our room, quaintly named “Petunia”.

Chateau d-ayres-staircase

Chateau d’Ayres central staircase

The room, although small and the fittings somewhat “time-honoured,” had an old-world charm about it, making the presence of complementary products and a frustratingly empty minibar seem almost out of place.

The Room

The Petunia Room

Thankfully the view from the window made you forget about all the things that irritate you in a hotel room, and after freshening up, we went downstairs to the bar for an aperitif before proceeding to the restaurant for dinner.

When we arrived at the hotel, I wondered whether, being a chateau, formal dress for dinner was expected, but a glimpse around made it clear that although this was definitely a chateau hotel, the atmosphere was informal and family-friendly.

Dinner was pleasant; our weekend package included an evening menu for two and a glass of champagne, wine, and coffee, which we enjoyed. On the other-hand, the atmosphere of the restaurant was subdued, and although not normally one to comment on ambient temperatures, I did find the ambient room temperature fresh. As for the music. Usually, you would expect something light and convivial, Vivaldi, Mozart, or classical Spanish guitar, anything to create an ambiance, what we heard was far from light and convivial.

The Restaurant

The Restaurant

Sitting facing each other and peering over the candle, a glass of wine in one hand, we hadn’t really taken any notice of the music until the 3rd movement from Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 2 started filtering into our subconscious. My wife and I stared at each other in disbelief. The restaurant’s sound system was playing “Funeral March.”

Dinner over, we left the restaurant somewhat hurriedly and retreated to the adjacent salon for coffee. There was a sense of déjà vu as we entered the salon and sat down in the thickly upholstered red leather recliners because at one time I had somewhat fortuitously lived at a ducal manor-cum-fishing club residence on the banks of the River Tamar in England.

The Lounge

The Lounge

Although the salon’s interior design was resolutely French, with its “Regency” period wallpaper with peacocks, ferns, and other decorations, the structure, its situation, and the original purpose of the room definitely reminded me of the above-mentioned English country manor house, where after dinner the ladies would retire to one room and the men in another for Cognac and cigars, after which everyone would meet up for a round of gin rummy.

The next morning, after a relatively good night’s sleep, breakfast and a quick walk outside the hotel entrance for photos, it was time to checkout, again a major step when evaluating the quality of a hotel, but as with the check-in, everything went smoothly and the brief goodbye from the proprietors was a nice gesture to finish the visit with.

Junctions and more choices

Driving away, we discussed our stay and agreed that aside from the odd choice of music at dinner, overall we enjoyed our stay. The idea of a chateau hotel is appealing, and thirteen years later, the Chateau d’Ayres is a business concept that appears to be thriving.

We came to a fork in the road after travelling a few kilometres. One path led east, towards the Massif Central and home, while the other led south and west, ostensibly away from the Massif Central and in the direction of Millau.

Millau is some forty kilometres from the Chateau D’Ayres hotel and is reached by driving through some very spectacular scenery, that of the gorges of the river Tarn, and some very photogenic villages. Taking the longer, but infinitely more scenic route through the Gorges to Millau was well worth the additional driving time, especially when it’s sunny.

The reputation of Millau is such that whether you’re young, foreign, or both, you go to Millau for the bridge. If you’re French and/or of a certain age and you drive into Millau, you are so relieved that traffic jams that once made Millau so difficult to drive through—it being a major artery for traffic coming down from Paris via Clermont Ferrand and heading for the South Coast—are a thing of the past. Now, if you want to drive into Millau, it’s because you really want to, or if you were looking for the bridge and took the wrong turn at a junction.

The Millau Bridge

The Millau Bridge

The bridge at Millau is undoubtedly an amazing piece of architecture. Massive but unobtrusive, it blends in rather well with the surrounding countryside. After a brief halt at the souvenir shop and museum and the mandatory photos of the bridge towering above us, we headed towards the motorway access road that actually joins up with the A75 motorway, known in French as “La Méridienne”, connecting Montpellier in the south to Clermont Ferrand on the northern edge of the Auvergne Volcanoes Regional Nature Park.

Although the trip back to Grenoble was longer, it actually took less time, thanks mostly to the A75 motorway, one of the lesser-frequented French motorways. We had, despite a tour of the Tarn gorges and the brief halt at Millau, opted for the faster route rather than using some of the region’s picturesque “Routes Nationales” and had bypassed the towns with their lot of stop/start local traffic, we had transited on our way to the chateau.

Retournerai-je au Chateau d’Ayres?

As a tip of the hat to a French food and travel critic whose style I admire and whose post visit signature question is: “Would I go back there again (retourneria-je)?” Would we go back to Chateau d’Ayres? Probably not. Not because we weren’t satisfied, but simply because there are so many more chateaux to visit in France.

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Amsterdam – Valéncia (AMS-VLC): Mining Travel Data

Posted on Oct 12, 2023 by nickrichards38

When a marketing service, such as Holland Travel Marketing, announces that Valéncia is “the most popular city of Spain among Dutch travellers,” it’s a fact based on actual data.

Transavia's Peter Pan

Why Mine Travel Data?

Although I’m not Dutch, I have made multiple trips this year from Amsterdam to Valencia, Spain, and because of my own experience with data storage, I can see how this particular source may have come to that conclusion.

To begin with. It is safe to assume that every piece of data concerning these trips—from my preferred booking methods, choice of accommodation, airline tickets (where, and how the tickets were purchased), seating zones and choices (extra legroom, front, window or aisle, etc.), lounge visits, preferred carriers, loyalty programme, purpose of the trip, food preferences, etc., not forgetting, of course, the post-travel satisfaction survey—has been captured, filtered, mined, and marketed by the companies such as Holland Travel Marketing.

Combine my data with the data collected from the other approximately 188 passengers in a typical 189-seater Boeing 737-800, and a data pattern emerges. This pattern, when consolidated with the data from the approximately 85 to 110 flights to Valéncia per week (all carriers included), produces sufficient big data on, for example, trends or seasonalities that, when extracted and transformed into a data model, enables airlines, aggregators, and marketeers to improve operations, customer service, targeted marketing campaigns, and ultimately, profitability.

************
Seasonal vacationers might not be particularly concerned about the volume of data being collected or how that data might influence tertiary interests, market trends, and demographic models. The utilisation of a traveller’s data and how it is enhancing the travel experience—beginning with the airport visit, check-in, boarding, aircraft, and even seating—is or at least should be of prime interest to any traveller.
************

KLM SKY PRIORITY

Footprint

Analysis of my data will have determined that my flights were booked through one of the many regional European online travel agencies that collate extensive information not only about the flight and airports but also on travel destinations; analysis will also have determined with which frequency I will have accessed these agencies.

Next, analysis will then have shown that I book with KLM or Transavia for this specific route (AMS-VLC) and avoid low-cost carrier alternatives; that flights are occasionally booked directly through the carrier’s website but generally, and for convenience’s sake, through the top flight aggregator; that I will either choose a middle (Plus) or a maximum (Max) priced economy priced offer, but never the basic, cheapest priced economy offer.

Finally, analysis of my data will have also established that I prefer KLM over Transavia because I’m a member of the Flying Blue loyalty programme, and that when travelling with my spouse, KLM’s Embraer E195 Cityhopper 2-2 seat configuration allows me to book an economy comfort window seat for my wife and an aisle seat for me, but that when travelling alone, Transavia’s Boeing 737-800 3-3 seat configuration enables me to book an aisle seat every time, preferably on the right side of the plane, anywhere between rows two to five, but never the first row.

Customer retention

To complete the picture, analysis of my travel data will undoubtedly reveal that once and only once the flights were purchased, accommodation was reserved via the top vacation rental platform (Airbnb) or the top travel/accommodation aggregator (Booking.com)*  alternating between three different styles of accommodation: hotel, Airbnb, and short-term rental.

Data analysis will also have recorded how frequently these sites are used and potentially filter the choice of brands of accommodation frequented within the same location, but not why. Analysis might not have captured either the reasons for switching accommodations, such as the style of accommodation or a particular feature on offer at the time of booking, or the accommodation’s proximity to a specific point of interest or business location.

* What analysis logically couldn’t capture was if a customer hadn’t booked accommodation online, did they book accommodation directly with the provider, and if so, why?**

** Partners are required to pay the aggregator a commission for each online reservation. What many travellers may be unaware of is just how financially dependent smaller partners—hoteliers, but not chains, landlords, and hosts of all kinds—are on the aggregator’s prompt payment of fees due.***

*** references:
https://www.dutchnews.nl/2023/10/thousands-of-booking-com-hosts-are-still-waiting-to-be-paid/
https://nltimes.nl/2023/07/17/bookingcom-halts-payments-hosts-technical-maintenance

Leading Luddite

Luddites and Disruptors

Question: Do modern “Luddites” invent machines to disrupt the technologies that trouble them?

The collection and analysis of data may not yet so intuitive that it can determine a traveller’s real reasons for travelling, other than for work or pleasure. That said, such data collection methods may already be available and computable thanks to the intervention of AI, home assistants, and other ubiquitous home-, mobile- or vehicle-based technologies. The question is: should such technological advances be embraced and enhanced for a better travel experience, or challenged, lest they be employed in “a fraudulent and deceitful manner“?

*****

Comments: These posts offer a personal and hopefully positive point of view. In an effort to improve the quality of the reader experience, constructive comments are always welcome; all other comments will be assessed.

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Writing “Stuff” on Internet

Posted on Sep 28, 2023 by nickrichards38

The perception, or misconception, today is that social media offers a safe space and a certain degree of protection, even impunity, for those expressing a point of view. Social media should offer and be respected as a safe space; however, as none other than Mike Tyson said, social media is making people too comfortable.

Internet and Safe Spaces

It’s unlikely that many people would want to take Mr. Tyson to task for his opinion on that matter, but there are those who simply can’t help but raise their heads over the parapet and, disregarding the notion of safe harbour, antagonize and polemic others, including boxers elsewhere, often for no other reason than the satisfaction of having prompted a reaction. It is best not to forget the real-world consequences of virtual reality misconceptions.

An example, one of many:
A Twitter troll in the UK, thinking their virtual safe space granted impunity, decided to mock a British boxer with a series of disparaging comments. Needless to say, the troll was unpleasantly surprised to see the boxer, as had been announced, appear at the troll’s front door.

Another reality check, of a less physical but an equally effective nature, happened when a Dublin-based hotelier was approached by a so-called “influencer” seeking a quid pro quo.

The “influencer’s” quid pro quo was a gratis weekend stay at the hotel in exchange for free exposure to the influencer’s 78,000+ social media following. The retort from the hotelier, detailing his own substantially larger exposure was one any faculty offering Social Media influencer courses would do well to add to their curriculum.

This particular exchange resonated because, while knowing little of boxing, I do have a fair degree of experience and am acquainted with the ins and outs of hospitality and the hotel trade.

To be brief, a time long before the Internet, social media, and so-called “influencers”, I was the co-owner of a restaurant in a small French town (I was also server, dishwasher, occasional cook, and “goffer” errand boy) and did whatever was needed, whenever it was needed to run a business.

Le Nautile

Some things Will Never Change

In hindsight, it was a trying time and nothing to wax lyrical about, with more thought given to making ends meet than anything else, and the only influencers we ever lost any sleep over were the bank, the tax authorities, and the social security administration. It was a time when criticism was expressed at the table or outside, not remotely or virtually.

Fundamentally, nothing appears to have changed. The work is the same, the hours are as long and as anti-social as they ever were, and the clients, still as judgmental if not discerning.

The difference now is that artisans and entrepreneurs must be mindful that every client is potentially a critic with a platform, that every self-respecting influencer with a revenue-generating Instagram/TikTok account or YouTube channel is an opportunist on the lookout for a quid pro quo, and that consequently, artisans and entrepreneurs must be just as artful in the control and usage of images and communications.

Scales of Justice

The case of the Dublin-based hotelier was eloquent. Not only did the entrepreneur show acumen with their handling of the interaction, but by detailing the extent of their social media exposure, they, hopefully, also gave the quid pro quo-seeking influencer something to ponder on. The peak of the exchange came when, having reset the scales of social media justice, the entrepreneur then went on to explain how, on top of everything else, they, and I quote, also wrote “stuff” on internet.

*****

Comments: These posts is to offer a personal, distinctive, and hopefully positive point of view. In an effort to improve the reader experience, constructive comments are always welcome; all other comments will be considered.

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Awaiting The Big Reveal

Posted on Aug 30, 2023 by nickrichards38

It’s been a while—three months—since my last post, which begs the question: what could possibly have happened during that time that merited a quiet period?

“… And how do you explain this gap in your resumé, Mr. R?” … a question I doubt I’ll ever hear again.

There is no such thing as a setback.

As it transpires, a lot can happen in three months; in fact, the mind may boggle at what can happen and be achieved in three months.

Shifting Paradigms

For example, paradigms may shift; a company may revise its strategy; site offices may downsize; Corporate may issue reassurances of continuity; personnel may [choose to] relocate to greener isles; other personnel may choose not to and be granted garden leave (with a package for a good buy); with said package in hand and in pursuit of an objective, several trips to a future place of residence may happen, so yes, there’s a lot and more that may be shoehorned into three months.

But more crucially, something may have happened during this time that forced the reprogramming of a critical milestone further down the road, despite the fact that, at first glance, what happened had no bearing whatsoever on the milestone or its purpose.

An immutable milestone. “Some things will never change” (Bruce Hornsby)

Whatever the reason, a deep dive into a maze of administrative procedures ensued leaving no time to ponder and rue or, assuming you have a garden, get the hoe out.

The concern was no longer about how whatever happened happened in the first place. It happened, and a rethink of priorities was necessary since the conundrum it had created was akin to having to put a Chinese puzzle box back together, not knowing where to start and without knowing whether all the [right] pieces were there until the very end.

And to that end, a number of different tasks need to be completed—some aligned, some major, some minor; some must-dos, some that had to be completed on a given date—no sooner, no later—and some you weren’t aware of. Everything must flow together, and the sooner, the better.

*

If there was one thing in all this that could have possibly kept me awake at night, it was not the mass of tasks, all equally important, that needed doing. It was not even the why, nor the how, nor the what-for, nor even the when they needed going—and I admit, I am prone to procrastination—but the need to see it all coming together, because, you see, in world of VAK, I am a V the Visual. It was the revealing of the final construct I needed to see, but it kept eluding me.

…and then, as if detecting a creeping sense of frustration, the subconscious sends a signal: I dream I’m walking along a cliff path towards a beach but on reaching the edge of a precipice I’m forced to stop. I look down at the beach below but see no way of reaching it. And then, looking round to my left, I discover a path that will allow me to continue on my way down to the beach below.

*

A bridge and a Conundrum

When the paradigm shifted, a bridge was crossed, and while one of my core principles is to never burn a bridge unless there is a very good reason to do so, there was no reason to consider burning anything this time because there was simply no reason to want to go back or even to continue along that particular path; the bridge had been crossed and way was forward and elsewhere, and the puzzle box of a conundrum I was faced with was far more important than remorse or cogitation; there were things that needed doing and they needed doing with an unencumbered mind.

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Comments: These posts offer a personal, distinctive, and hopefully positive point of view. In an effort to improve the reader experience, constructive comments are always welcome; all other comments will be considered.

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Fascinating Stories and One-Star Reviews

Posted on Jun 9, 2023 by nickrichards38

Over on Reddit, where else, there is a subreddit dedicated to one-star reviews. It’s a concept that reflects a growing cause-and-effect phenomenon (you sow, we reap) and is being amplified across social media, with other subgroups elsewhere—Instagram and TikTok, to name a few—also collating what now appears to be a boundless source of amusement… and revenue.

Given that everyone has an opinion, and voices it, the idea is amusing to a degree and may have a future, but in a mercurial social media environment where internauts like myself have fleeting curiosity and/or short attention spans, time will decide when tastes in amusement change and other quirky or bizarre social media idiosyncrasies replace current sources of amusement or interest.

But, in the meantime, from Amazon to TripAdvisor and beyond, we all do it; we’ve all left what we consider perfectly relevant reviews. After all, why ask for reviews if not to measure a person’s likability* or a brand’s space in the market? I try not to abuse one-star reviews because, in the spirit of doing unto others…,  they are supposed to serve a genuine purpose: that of alerting readers to a genuine issue. For example, I recently purchased a footrest for my home office desk. As it’s ergonomy 101, I went on to Amazon, sought out a suitable footrest, and purchased it. It arrived, and I started making the most of it until one day, three weeks after purchasing the said footrest, I heard a crack, and the footrest broke in two.

* On Instagram, a person said, “Put a photo in a post and no one cares; put the same photo in a reel and count the views. It’s because, while people may not like you or care who you are, they are nonetheless watching you”.

At about the same time as this happened, Amazon sent out one of their frequent post-purchase botmails asking me if I’d like to submit a review on articles I’d purchased recently. It just so happens that I did. Entitled “Cheap and Plastic,” the review, in about 10 words, explained that I knew that I was buying something cheap and plastic. I just didn’t expect it to break three weeks after purchasing it. A fair enough appraisal, I thought, objective, on point, and, as I saw it, a long way from some Amazon one-star reviews you can read.

Audience And Reception

One question to consider is whether authors of one-star reviews are aware of or even care that others may be using their reviews as a source of amusement and, thanks to advertising, a potential revenue gain, or whether they realize that they are a part of a larger phenomenon and have the power to influence others and purposefully seek to harm targeted people or micro-businesses, who are frequently unable to counter detrimental and utterly disjointed social media behaviour.

Comparable to what in my trade we refer to as malware or a DDoS attack, here the “hackers” review has the potential to impact a business activity devoid of the necessary resources of bigger enterprises or corporations to contain and counter such attacks.

Having co-owned and ran a restaurant a long time ago, long before social media, I shake my head when reading some of the one-star reviews about restaurants and I imagine professionals and ex-professionals alike shake theirs when reading reviews about their respective trades. Some of the reviews may be justified and documented (no smoke without a fire, etc.), some are debatable, and some are unjustifiable, perhaps stemming from pure petulance.

The irony of it all, fortunately, is that reviews, whether unfavourable, unflattering, or simply annoying, whether done purposefully or not, produce entertainment, whether questionable or not, for others. In the end, you could argue that it’s Karma’s way of bringing harmony where none, or the exact opposite, was intended.

*****

Comments: These posts offer a personal, distinctive, and hopefully positive point of view. In an effort to improve the reader experience, constructive comments are always welcome; all other comments will be assessed.

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Worlds of Appreciation – Annecy, France

Posted on May 7, 2023 by nickrichards38

What makes Geneva, Switzerland, so important to this particular traveller is not so much as a destination in itself, regardless of all the institutions and trades it’s renowned for, but as the portal it’s been to other destinations: the Swiss Alps, the Berner-Oberland… France.

Rediscovering Routes and Roots

And once again, Geneva was acting as a connector for a long-overdue and somewhat spontaneously planned family reunion across the border in the nearby city of Annecy, France.

Lake Annecy

Lake Annecy, France

Fish out of water

If you can imagine a fish being released back into a river, or in this case, a lake, that was how it felt to be going back to France after a five-year hiatus, four of which, in the Netherlands. My wife and I were going back for four re-energizing days of family rebonding, of re-immersing into a one-of-a-kind culture, of shopping, and, of course, of local French food… “I love it when a plan looks like it’s coming together”.

Trusting others

Stepping off the flight from Amsterdam in Geneva airport in late April was the end of part of the journey where its progress depended on others doing their job because sometimes, as with pilots, they have skills you don’t and because sometimes, as with Uber drivers, it suits you.

It depended on an Uber driver picking us up and dropping us off at the departure terminal. But that goes without saying, doesn’t it? It’s what they do, isn’t it? Yes and no, and just maybe it also depends on your profile. For example, cancel a trip too often and see whether it goes without saying, but this time, the driver delivered, and that what’s matters.

It depended on the passage through airport security being quick and without incident, which it was, barring the “all-embracing”, in-depth, post-full-body scanner pat-down that hopefully assured the security agents that I was hiding nothing, anywhere, on my person.

Lake Geneva

⁹ Flying over Lake Geneva

Last but not least, it depended on the KM air crew getting us safe and sound to Geneva, which of course they did, with the only cloud on the horizon at circa 7000 metres being a rather joyless and typically Dutch whole wheat cheese/vegetarian sandwich.

KLM are, it appears, rather proud of their reportedly vegetarian cheese sandwiches, so much so, they serve them, without variance, on virtually all their (European) city-hopping flights, at least those I’ve taken with them so far (Geneva, Florence, Alicante…) which rather attests to their popularity, it would seem.

Interlude in Lounge 25

With a few hours to spare, it has become a habit to check into KLM’s Schiphol Lounge 25 because, familiar with their in-flight catering on city-hopper flights, it’s an opportunity to make the most of KLM’s airport hospitality in a less stressful environment, with a choice of light but nice food and drink and even a glass of champagne, which the in-flight catering service may offer in business class* but certainly not in economy class.

*Upgrading from economy to business class is possible, but judging by the few occupied seats in business class on our flights, not many people considered it worth spending an extra hundred Euros on a 400 Euro ticket for a 75-minute flight.

Misty Mountain Hop

In order to complete the journey, a rental car was needed for the circa 45-minute drive from Geneva to the charming lakeside city of Annecy in France. The excitement was growing.

Autoroute A41

Autoroute A41 – 8.44PM

Once the car collected from the rental agency in Geneva Airport’s Parking 51, it doesn’t take long to reach the French border crossing. Spend four years in the Low Countries, and you tend to forget what highways elsewhere are like. Spend four years in the Netherlands and you also forget how magnificent the sight of, still, snow-capped mountains* in the distance can be.

But the excitement needed tempering; if not, the distracted driver runs the serious risk of being blitzed by a strategically placed radar, positioned in a bend at the bottom of a long descent of the invariably sparsely frequented (A41) Geneva-Grenoble autoroute. Fortunately, living in the Netherlands teaches you, if nothing else, self-restraint while driving; there’s only so fast you can drive on dense, congested Dutch highways.

* Lake Annecy locals will tell you that if there is still snow on the nearby mountains, it’s still be too chilly for swimming, unless perhaps you are Nordic.

Chaîne des Aravis

Le Lac d’Annecy

Culture and subculture

According to the tourist guides, Annecy is a pleasant, photogenic city, full of history, fun to walk around, with lots to see—a pearl of a city and the Venice of the Alps. It’s all that and certainly more.

Although historically interesting and picturesque, Annecy is, however, just one of a number of places of interest in the region worth visiting. Some visit Annecy specifically for the culture, the scenery, or the skiing. We came to visit family, millennial residents of Annecy, and to get a glimpse of their life, as residents of Annecy; what shops, markets, bars or specialty restaurants they visit, when and why.

Objective achieved. We visited, saw the sights, went shopping, and, most importantly, we re-bonded, understanding that, whatever the plan or intention, close family and relational ties are unique and should always be nurtured.

With that thought in mind, four days later, we undertook the reverse trip back to Amsterdam, happily passing up on KLM’s cheese sandwich along the way because this particular fish was going back with some infinitely more flavoursome French cheese in his baggage.

*****

Comments: The purpose of these posts is to offer a personal, distinctive, and hopefully positive point of view. In an effort to improve the reader experience, constructive comments are always welcome; all other comments will be considered

… and please consider buying me a coffee https://ko-fi.com/ripper38

 

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