We all love our kids but those times when we need them to pipe down and behave the most, are the times when all they want to do is run around causing havoc. For example. Sitting at the Airport when you are going on your family holiday for the summer. Trying to keep children who are excited about their holiday amused inside a boring Airport Terminal is no easy feat and can be pretty stressful at times. What if i told you that their suitcase could save the day and provide them with endless Airport amusement? You’d think i was barking but with Trunki yours kids won’t be barking, they will be moo’ing their way around the Terminal.

Trunki is a ride-on suitcase for kids that is colourful, fun and very stable. It features wheels, steering ‘horn’ grips and a contoured saddle for your childs comfort and safety. Although Trunki is extremely fun that doesn’t mean that child safety has been comprimised. The award-winning case features secure catches, soft rubber rims to prevent fingers getting chopped off and a sturdy towing starp for you to hold onto just incase they try to make a quick getaway on their Trunki. The 18L capacity also means that there is plenty of room for toys, books or whatever your kid’s choice of goodies are plus it is hand luggage approved so their is no need to check it with the rest of your luggage.

So I hear the rules could be changing very soon about being able to use mobile phones on a plane, ie we will soon be allowed to do it. I actually know a few people who point blank refuse to actually switch theirs off these days stating and I quote;

I just want to prove that they don’t cause any problems !

That’s a pretty brave decision, especially if you end up being proved wrong

So what’s my thoughts on this? Well I’m kinda in a half way house on this one. I must admit quite often during a long haul flight I get bored, and start messing with the onboard phone in my seat. Before I know it I’ve swiped my credit card and dialled the number. I must admit it is nice talking to someone at 35,000 feet while watching a beautiful sunset. That is of course until you get back to home base to discover that 5 minute chat cost you half a months salary. So on that point it would be nice to be able to make calls at a lower rate. Of course the airlines are not going to pass up on another revenue stream so I’m sure the costs will still be quite high, perhaps just not as high as with the phone in your seat.

I guess my issue is with incoming calls, both with myself and others taking them. You know what it’s like on a train or bus - multiple polyphonic ring tones going off making it actually more like a disco on wheels. I can see this being quite annoying on a flight, perhaps time to invest in some noise cancelling headphones. Then of course I actually quite like not being able to be contacted for that 10 hour flight to Houston. It gives me a chance to get done some of the things I’ve been letting slip. I know a friend who has the arduous task of flying first class with Virgin Atlantic and they allow incoming calls to your seat - his wife rings him up quite a bit !

I hear as well that, initially at least, it will only be 2G networks that will be allowed, ie voice and sms. Through time I’m sure 3G will be allowed meaning I can send some live video / audio / photos to my various blogs. Now that would be pretty cool. Of course all this may become irrelevant if the airlines bring back wireless on planes as then I’d be able to use Skype.

What’s your view?

So in my last post I spoke about how I make the most of any downtime I encounter when travelling either on business or vacation. In this post I’d like to speak about what I think is needed to make the frequent travellers experience more enjoyable.

Firstly at the airport. Wouldn’t it be great if they had a gaming centre available. Now I’m not talking about an arcade setup, rather somewhere to go, pay some money and have access to console and PC gaming. I couldn’t think of anything more enjoyable that whiling away a few hours with the likes of CoD4, GT5 and WoW. Perhaps one reason why something like this hasn’t taken off, even in the larger airports, is they are afraid of how many people like me would end up missing their flights, as they just wanted to ding that last level in WoW. On the plane. Well this is an easy one. Wireless please. Now this I guess for some is a double edged sword, given that if I am connected, and travelling on business, wouldn’t I be expected to do a spot of work on the plane. Well to be honest I actually wouldn’t mind that, as it would mean once I got to my destination I wouldn’t need to check in on a host of emails, especially if I’ve been doing a long haul flight. With wireless on board I can also blog, surf, use Skype and perhaps even ding that last level in WoW I wasn’t able to make at the airport. Having now travelled on Qantas I can without doubt say their in-flight entertainment is 100% better than that offered by British Airways, simply because they offer Video On Demand. I found myself on the BA flight home from Singapore struggling to work out when movies were starting, whereas on the Qantas flights the choice was at the touch of a button. (all airlines should take a look at how Virgin America is changing the game with their in-flight entertainment choices) Both airlines, neigh all airlines, also need to think about updating their gaming choice. Come on would it really be that hard to stick some XB360 arcade titles down and make these available? How about offering rental of both PSP and DS hardware and games, I know some of the Asian airlines already do this. I think airlines need to look at their customer base and they would probably realise that a lot of people travelling on these would jump at the chance to rent such accessories, even if it came at a small cost. At the hotel. Again I’d love to see the ability to rent the likes of a PS3 or XB360. Perhaps they could setup their own little private network in the hotel for a spot of online gaming.

Oh and one last thing I’d love to see, this time while I’m away from home base, would be for the mobile phone network providers to abolish, or at the very least reduce, roaming rates. It’s astonishing how easy it is to run up a massive phone bill when on International duty with even just a few hours of web browsing. I expect some additional cost, but at present, even when roaming in Europe, these costs can work out to be very expensive.

So there you have it, my own thoughts on what is needed in the coming years to my make life, and that other my fellow frequent travellers a little bit more bearable.