Archive for the ‘Social Travel’ Category

Flynet: Lufthansa finally offers wifi

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

Whether you prefer the disconnected feeling or loathe it during long-haul flights - Lufthansa Airlines now gives you the option of broadband access if you want it. Now wifi on a plane isn’t exactly novel. The announcement of SkyNet, er, we mean FlyNet, leads us to believe that long flights, that are usually out of range for current wifi technology, will now be equipped to fulfill any internet addiction.

The best part of the FlyNet launch is the interactive video Lufthansa put together on how useful access to the internet can be. Of course, if you are a social network loving traveler like most gtrot members, we’re guessing you don’t need any advice on how to burn 6 more hours on the internet.

Click to watch:

If you try out FlyNet - let us know if it lives up to the hype. You can find us on Facebook or Twitter.

Starwood Partners with Foursquare

Monday, May 16th, 2011

Starwood Preferred Guests who use Foursquare are now getting more than just badges. SPG’s latest partnership now awards Starpoints for members who link their account.

To avoid non-hotel guests from racking up points in their closest Starwood Hotel lobby, the program only awards 250 points when you have a confirmed reservation at the hotel.

We’ve seen a growing number of gtrot members linking their Foursquare accounts to gtrot to help track the places they’ve been. It will be interesting to see if more travelers sign up for Foursquare to get rewarded. This notion of earning travel awards in exchange for place check-ins is nothing new.

Travel rewards site TopGuest which rewards hotel guests ‘just for being there’ has supported multiple top check-in services and hotel loyalty programs since 2010.

So, would this make you sign-up for Foursquare if you haven’t before?

Starwood Preferred Guest | foursquare.

The Future of Travel

Wednesday, May 11th, 2011

We’re all still waiting for commercial jet packs, flying cars and regular trips to the moon but what does the future of travel really have in store for us? The folks at Google UK put together their thoughts in the following short video.

It looks like a lot of customization, sharing and use of mobile check-ins are in store. We would argue that all of these things are super important today. That’s why we’re working to add more personalized suggestions for your trips and tailored offers to save you money while traveling. I can only hope that we won’t even need mobile phones to get to the moon. Mobile chips embedded in our skin, maybe?

The future starts now. So start sharing your trips on gtrot today!

YouTube - Future of Travel.

Where have you been?

Monday, May 9th, 2011

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. -Ferris Bueller

Take a moment, think about all of the places you’ve been. Let’s start with countries. Now cities. Now museums. Now about restaurants? Pretty daunting, right? Well, thankfully we live in a world where it’s becoming easier to remember the places we’ve enjoyed in the past.

When you sign up for gtrot, not only can you easily add the cities you’ve been to, you can also see all of your past Foursquare check-ins related to each trip. Now when someone asks you about that great pizza place you ate at in New York City over Thanksgiving - you have a go to source to share it.

So whether you’re looking to share great advice on places you’ve been or just want to reminisce about places you went - share them on gtrot. And since the present quickly becomes the past, share your upcoming plans by adding them in gtrot or by forwarding your itinerary to [email protected] to instantly get advice on your trip from friends.

So where do you want to travel back in time to? Share your thoughts with us on Twitter and Facebook.

Photo by the talented explodingdog.

Best ice cream in Istanbul

Friday, May 6th, 2011

Sure we’ve had some great ice cream, gelato and sorbet on our travels but never, I say never, have we seen an ice cream show like this one. Looking for the best ice cream in Istanbul, Turkey? Find this cart manned by this guy. It surely won’t disappoint!

Compliments to LilacTV for sharing this social travel gem!

Share your favorite travel videos with us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/socialtravel