Train Miles

I had a light bulb moment yesterday when I was booking three return journeys on trainline.com. Why was I not getting rewarded for all of my spending? Why has no one introduced Train Miles? I googled it today and found Virgin Trains had proposed the idea back in June 2007 and the last comment was 'When is this going to happen?' dated 07/09/2008. It had 1147 votes of support. Does anyone know what happened to the scheme?

Another good point is one that was made on Excess Baggage this Saturday. Why do we have so many trains (high frequency) which should provide travellers with flexibility and yet you have to book months in advance to get a reasonably priced ticked? Wouldn't it be better to have a flat (lower) rate so that you can jump on a train when you get there? You shouldn't have to pay extra for the privelege of having an open ticket.

Acts of Kindness

This is such a great idea for a writing competition from Global Giving and a fabulous prize as well. I recommend reading through a few entries HERE.

I think its such a good idea, I would like to see it as a permanent blog. Its a well needed antidote to all the ranting, moaning, negative spaces on the internet.

The many uses of a guidebook

I agree 100% with Vicky Baker's 'In defense of guidebooks' posted 18th June on Going Local Travel.

Guidebooks have a valuable place in the traveller's tool kit. They give you that cushion of reassurance that you have come prepared. It's a perfect back up for the independent traveller. I personally use them to get some background information on a place and to find interesting tit bits to share with my fellow travellers along the way. No where else do you have a hand-held condensed copy of useful and often very interesting information on a place. You never know when you might have a burning question about the date of a particular building and more often than not guidebooks hold the answer.

Buying the guidebook is also part of the anticipation. You buy it. You carry it around for weeks before departure just to remind yourself that you're going away somewhere and then 5 minutes before you land, you start to read it.

One of the greatest benefits of guidebooks, it has to be said, is your chance to display your great adventures on your bookshelves. I use my collection of Rough Guides to (perhaps not so subtly) say, 'just look how well travelled I am'.

Italy earthquake - from a local perspective

This by Elena, YSPerson South Italy

" It’s hard to try and write about the current situation in my country and remain “politically correct”. I suppose that in the rest of the world the media talked about the earthquake in terms of a natural disaster, I suppose you all read the usual kind of articles that you can find in these cases: the rising toll of deaths, the damages caused, the reaction of the government, some interview of a survivor… and so on. But within the country where the event happens, it’s a whole other deal: its not about sadness, its about rage. Against who builds houses poorly, against bureaucrats that authorize builders, against politicians that create the legal and economic circumstances that push and justify this chain. Against journalists that act like vultures searching for every tear-jerking story they can find (pretty soon they’ll start interviewing cats and dogs about their losses…). Against organizations that collect goods and money that don’t deserve our trust (some steal, some disperse, some despotically decide who’s to be helped and who is a sinner…). Against our very own “Marie Antoinette” that replies to the desperate that don’t have bread: “well, eat cake then!”.
Against unclear information about the unattended alarms, that will become more and more mysterious, until, a few weeks from now, everyone will have forgotten about the left over families that are still living in metal containers or tents (see the San Giuliano case, 2002).
Against “selective justice” that protects the puppeteers in black suits, as our prime minister proudly demonstrates.
Please excuse my pessimism, although my area luckily hasn’t suffered damages, the tremors have been continuing day and night since the big earthquake on Monday, and our nerves are a bit… well, shaken. "

Should we still visit Thailand?

Political disruption overseas often leads the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office to advise against travel to that country. Not to the disrupted town, or even that region, but against visiting the whole country. The FCO are in a difficult position of course, accountable for the welfare of British citizens and therefore must be cautious, but we have seen the impact this has on local communities whose income is reliant on tourism.

Recently I was asked by Tom Hall at Lonely Planet to comment on visiting Kenya, which was a destination hounded by bad press during the December 2007 political disruption. During this time I received emails from local contacts who expressed the real and devastating impact of this situation. Families could not put food on the table nor send their children to school. Such is the mismanagement of the tourism industry that local suppliers are forced to live hand to mouth, so when the tourists leave, so does their livelihood.

So what can we do? It's actually quite simple - we keep visiting, while avoiding areas of tension. Advice from Tapanee, our YSPerson in Bangkok, for travellers concerned about the situation in Thailand was this:

" The political situation in BKK is not as bad as it looks on TV. I was quite annoyed because cameras get the worst of the images and keep looping them while they are reporting so it gives Thailand a really bad image in the international eye - it makes it look worse than it actually is.

Right now as you already know, the protests have ended. While the protests were going on they were very much localised, and the streets that were not in the protest area were really normal - you would not know that anything was going on.

Right now there is a state of emergency in BKK, but the situation is really calm - the state of emergency has been declared, but it is mainly to stop the red shirts from re-gathering (that is not allowed under the emergency decree) and there is absolutely no violence on the streets at all despite the emergency state. In fact, everything is quite pleasant and we're enjoying the last few days of the Songkran festival, with mad partying now that the protests are over!'

Tapanee's reports echo those of many others living in Bangkok, but at the end of the day it's your choice. You should never visit a place that you feel is dangerous but be sure you are armed with all the facts before writing off a destination. As many have before, you might find that once you've spent a couple of days there you fall in love with the place.

****

Always take advice and do contact us for free, impartial information.

Other wonderful destinations we'd highly recommend but get 'bad press':

* Colombia
* Ethiopia
* Rwanda
* Sri Lanka
* Uganda

Interview with UK Minister for Tourism

At the Best of Britain and Ireland Show, last week, Barbara Follett MP UK Minister for Tourism announced the publication of the DCMS Framework on Sustainable Tourism. The Framework aims to lay out the Government’s stance on sustainable tourism with advice for industry on how to embrace changing times. Mrs Follett was then interviewed for VISION on Sustainable Tourism about the Framework’s intentions and potential impacts on the industry.


A key point made by the Minister was that “sustainability is not as cataclysmic as everyone makes out, this is a learning curve. For example, we need to manage the amount we fly sensibly. But, dare I say, it is media hype that makes this difficult. We need careful management”. Mrs Follett went on to argue that in relation to the current economic crisis, sustainability issues are here to stay, saying “sustainability will have a bigger impact than anything else on the shape of the industry. The current economic crisis will be a shorter period of disruption but we have experienced similar things in times gone by and they pass. When it comes to sustainable tourism the change will happen once and remain”.


When asked about accreditation schemes Mrs Follett drew attention to Green Start Scheme which is an ‘opt in’ programme for travel organisations, something that Mrs Follett believes is critical to its success. “We don’t want to force companies to comply, we want to ensure they understand the scheme and then opt in”



Finally The Minister was asked if she has advice to the tourism industry about the future of the sustainable travel, to which Mrs Follett replied “Keep calm, this is not as bad or as difficult as it sounds and we need to keep going and find new ways of doing things. This is a case of business evolution, simply with new parameters.”


Interview by Sally Broom, Founder of YourSafePlanet, on behalf of VISION on Sustainable Tourism



DCMS Framework on Sustainable Tourism in brief:

• Challenge 1 - minimise environmental impact and resource use

• Challenge 2 - address the impact of tourism transport

• Challenge 3 - improve quality and make holidays available to all

• Challenge 4 - improve the quality of tourism jobs

• Challenge 5 - maintain and enhance community prosperity and quality of life

• Challenge 6 - reduce the seasonality of demand

Is green the new luxury?

As part of the ITB CSR Programme a panel discussion “Who is the EcoTourist” was held that yielded some interesting results.

Jurgen Maier of American Express Int presented results of research they conducted looking into the green marketplace, which suggested that a typical eco-traveller is around 30 years old living a broadly healthy lifestyle that is good for themselves and good for the world – the “Conscious Consumer”. “Green” says Amex is new luxury

Andrew Harding, founder of Nature and Kind said he believed that travellers desire more immersive and diverse experiences yet lack the time to research holiday options. Harding suggested here that green and ethical travel is actually not the luxury commodity; it is time that we crave..

The important point was made that going local actually costs less while being a more sustainable way to travel, and so the future of eco-travel may not be considered luxury only that it makes sense.

Going local makes as much sense to business as to the consumer by saving time and money while enhancing the overall experience. Harding also argues that ‘responsible tourism’ often coincides with emerging niches in the market and is an effective way of securing new business in difficult times, a way of looking ahead to the future. So, if the eco-traveller is the ultimate prize, how do we go about winning that market?

Amex’s research found the key interests of this customer lie in a unique experience, value for time and money, access to valuable knowledge and the opportunity to be conscientious. Some established points here along with new ideas of building a holistic package that affords the customer that feel-good sentiment.

Consumers occupying these niches are loyal, passionate travellers, argues Harding, and there are rich rewards for any company that can strike a relationship with them.

So how to do this? Offering something unique, intimate and responsible. For inspiration look at Ritz-Carlton’s work in community participation. Sue Stephenson explained how the company’s hotels are all connected with local projects, supported actively throughout the year by their employees. Guests who show an active interest are invited to visit the projects and even be involved, proving a huge hit all round, not least with families. This initiative was enlarged after Hurricane Katrina boosted interest.

Ritz-Carlton suggests these breaks allow visitors to understand how their trip is making an impact locally.

The most interesting thing about this programme is that it is not marketed, promoted only by word of mouth and yet with 50% uptake.

Marc Aeberhard, founder of luxury Seychelles Frégate Island travel, adopts a similar approach. He says that the truly green credentials of their resort, which again are not actively marketed, are only fully demonstrated on a guest’s arrival and this is where that message has its strongest impact. As with Ritz-Carlton’s approach encouraging visitors to participate and learn during their holiday there is huge potential here to combine a strong sustainable tourism policy with a fantastic product and service.

What does this say for how ‘green’ and ethical travel is combined into traditional travel packages? It seems customers don’t want to be labelled as ‘green’– perhaps there are too many socialist connotations with the term, but this begs the question, as had been so often asked before, whether a change in language is required to stimulate a change in perception. Green washing agendas have demanded a chance in language and accountability, leaving the seminal question as whether eco travel is just the new form of travel.

The panel moderator concluded by suggesting that ‘conscience’ as an attitude could replace the rhetoric of green to bring about a shift change in the way people travel and the way company’s operate.


Sally Broom

First published on TravelMole

What does travel mean to you?

Travel means something different to everyone, as with each individual trip we take. Yet we treat travel as a group of generalisations – backpacking, luxury travel, volunteering, cultural exploration and so on. Travelling is, or should be, about the individual experience you want to have and the one you ultimately do have.

Each trip can be a unique formula that is tweaked to include all the things you enjoy most. What's more, people are often really important to that process. We meet amazing people randomly and it invariably makes a huge difference to our trip, but such chance encounter depends largely on our mindset. If we are in a rush, having a bad day or feeling a little insecure in a new place then our attitude and persona changes dramatically and the chance of meeting that great person decreases. Think about it - you're having a bad day or it's raining, you don't want to meet anyone else let alone go looking for them. But then consider you're having a fantastic morning, walking along with a spring in your step and bump into someone. The chance that you'll engage at that moment is significantly more likely.

This is important to consider when we travel because arriving in a new place is exciting but often disorientating and it takes time to find our bearings. During this our heads are often inside a guidebook or filled with directions for getting from A to B. But these moments are critical to our resulting travel experience and a positive initial experience has a big impact on our overall trip.

We find that when we are already equipped with a little local knowledge and especially when we know someone in the destination it changes our whole attitude. We become more personable, so that the chance of being open to and encounter with a great person increases.

Now, it would be fantastic if we could all be open minded and chilled the whole time but in reality we are not and there are a huge number of influences on that attitude. So YSP is, effectively, the chance to encourage this to happen by introducing you to a great local person before you arrive.

It’s like having a connection to that place before you get there, so you start the relationship with the destination before you arrive. The value of the overall experience increases and this means when you do arrive you’re already miles ahead of the crowd. While the tourists are standing outside the airport with blank stares you are already on the way, ready to hit the ground running.

So YourSafePlanet doesn’t replace those wonderful chance encounters that flexible planning allows, or the stumbling across buried gems and unknown adventures. If anything the YSP connection enhances the chance of that happening because you are more open to the possibility. And interaction, as we know, is what travel is all about.


Other great websites offering that invaluable local connection:

• www.whl.travel - the original website for connecting to great local service providers and ensuring more of your money is spent locally
  
• Another great website offering connections to great local knowledge is www.spottedbylocals.com - check them out!
• Find a local tour guide www.leaplocal.com
• For authentic local travel experiences try www.tourdust.com
  

To pay or not to pay, that is the question

A note in response to this blog

Daniela Papi, founder of PEPY writes about the need for volunteers to make meaningful contributions to the projects they join. If a volunteer does not provide an unfulfilled skill set then a financial contribution ought to be offered.

YSP strongly supports the notion that contributions must be meaningful, but with regards payment for placements I believe this should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Ideally I would like to ensure every volunteer donated a 'decent' amount of money to their host project, but so many are put off with the idea of paying to volunteer when this is not the case for volunteering at home. Perhaps the duty should be for the connecting organisation to donate part of their revenue rather than the volunteer? This is something we must consider with YourSafePlanet.

I deliver a keynote speech this Thursday on social enterprise for the Annual Conference of the Specialist Schools and Academies trust. I will argue that social enterprises and NGOs/charities alike must be run as businesses in order to achieve their goals. Relying on grants or donations removes long term sustainability which is vital for long term positive impacts.

The question here, therefore, is whether an organisation can ever sustain projects by providing a steady inflow of volunteers with cash donations. My feeling is that they might do better donating a proportion of their own revenue and delivering volunteers when requested. But then do we run the risk of recreating profit-making volunteer companies?!

I think I’m returning to my original argument - although more time-consuming a case-by-case basis is the most reliable.

Calling all volunteers!

Requests for volunteers

TANZANIA

Oreteti Cultural Discoveries, run by YSPerson Tanzania, Gemma Enolengila

Noonkodin Secondary School is desperate for volunteer English teachers who can help primary school leavers to make the transition to English-medium secondary school studies, so if you have a few weeks to spare, please consider helping out at this rural school in the heart of a Maasai village. Costs start from $995 USD for a one-month package, which includes all your food, accommodation, return transport from Arusha to the school, Swahili tuition, a donation to the school, a two-day orientation with a professional guide in a real Maasai homestead (where you can learn to make bead jewellery with the women, identify medicinal plants and milk the goats, in a breathtakingly beautiful mountain setting) and a Class C residence permit. We can offer packages of up to five months in duration and are particularly in need of teachers between March and May, when the rainy season may put off less intrepid travellers!


We are also looking for someone with early childhood education experience (preferably a qualified teacher although not essential) to spend 9 weeks in a small preschool on the outskirts of Arusha and 3 weeks in a Maasai village preschool. In Arusha they can choose to stay on site or in a hotel. The volunteer would ideally be able to get involved in curriculum development and production of teaching resources too. They should be fluent in English and have some basic word processing skills. The placement costs are as follows:

440 USD basic program fee
150 USD Swahili tuition
Minimum 400 USD donation to be split equally between the two schools

Optional extras:
Airport pickup 50 USD
Village guide (strongly recommended) 210 USD
Village orientation 100 USD
Food & accommodation on site in Arusha 50 USD per week


KENYA

With Haller Foundation and YSP Colleague Niduk

Haller is in need of a volunteer for 3 months to provide basic but vital I.T. training. This will include training on how to use Word, Excel and other applications, as well as explaining glossary terms, for example what a desktop is, how to save files, typing etc. The impact this can have on students is significant and will enable those taking part to improve their skills and employability.


Any volunteer would be able to stay at the volunteer cottages which costs just $10 USD a day.



If you can help please contact YourSafePlanet:

E| info[at]yoursafeplanet.co.uk

T| 0141 416 4622



NB: NO MONEY FOR PLACEMENTS IS PAID TO OR TAKEN BY YOURSAFEPLANET

Ashoka Geotourism Challenge

The annual Changemakers Geotourism Challenge is again underway, a wonderful source of inspiration and local insight into the world of sustainable tourism. Entrants are those organisations, initiatives and individials that promote and enhance Geotourism, defined by National Geographic as: “tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents.” So make sure you join or nominate others.

Ashoka is a wonderful organisation, brought to my attention by colleagues in Hong Kong when I visited the Social Enterprise hub there. Ashoka desribes itself as a global association of social entrepreneurs. This is especially pertinent as next week I present to the Annual Business and Enterprise conference for the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust. I'm speaking alongside Kevin Brennan, Minister for the Third Sector, and the theme of the day is social enterprise.

Much of the discussion will revolve around building ethical and social business learning into our education system.

Any thoughts?

sally(at)yoursafeplanet.co.uk

Can volunteering truly be win:win?

It am often surprised by the level of negative press targetting gap years and volunteering. Increasingly people question the value of a Western traveller arriving in a country and hoping to 'save the world', and that's a positive thing. But opinion seems to have swung completely in the direction of the sceptical and the scathing. Most positive attitude towards volunteering overseas has been scewed. Why?

Companies offering volunteering holidays, often those associated with gap years, have been pitched against charities and not-for-profits in fierce battle. The former argue, often with support from local partners, that without their schemes vital work in conservation and development would not take place due to lacking resources. However check any travel forum and you would likely find a disgruntled volunteer who feels fleeced by the price of a project and asking if they should have simply donated the money directly to a local cause. But is that possible?

Your Safe Planet is in a fairly privileged position working with local stake holders worldwide. We connect travellers with trusted local experts in the places they want to visit. A common theme throughout our network is a passion for sustainable tourism and engagement of visitors with the community. This ranges from our ‘YSPerson’ in Trinidad being a long-standing advocate of responsible travel to the Caribbean to our YSPerson in Spain who runs her own ecotourism and community volunteering company. This gives YSP an insight into the situation at the very grass roots and, in general, this is what we find:

1. There is ground-breaking work taking place at the global grass roots without input from international bodies
2. International bodies can support local work by providing profile and sponsorship
3. Local stake holders are the best informed about how to work against a certain local problem but benefit from sharing best practice with similar projects
4. Volunteers are a useful resource when they can offer relevant skills.
5. Visitors are of benefit to local projects if they promote that work and donate money to the cause while they are there.

Finally, we find there is a need to provide a connection between the local project and the overseas visitor or volunteer. Any organisations with this aim as its core ethos will provide an important service to both customers: the volunteer and the project. Done transparently, projects have access to extra manpower and possibly specialist skills as well as financial support, while the volunteer feels they are getting the necessary support in finding a suitable placement and getting a fair deal.

Can such organisations be profit-making? Yes, we believe so, as long as they are not taking money away from the community or project in question. If a service is being provided to a traveller or volunteer then fair payment should be taken. However the key again is transparency. This is the wonderful opportunity offered by the internet – freedom to information to make informed decisions. We can now check internet forums to see if we should be using a certain company or visiting a particular place and find out from our peers what their views are. I hope this will be used wisely and to democratise travel.

As an industry of travel providers we need to make our local service providers a core customer, not supplier. They should be treated with the same respect and consideration as any traveller. Not only will this mean tourism becomes a more responsible business but that everyone involved will benefit. There is a win-win opportunity here for the taking, but rather perversely it requires a middleman. Which is something I never thought I’d hear myself say.
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So, as an example of a locally owned and run programme, here is a message I received from YSPerson Tanzaniza, Gemma Enolengila:

We are looking for someone with early childhood education experience (preferably a qualified teacher although not essential) to spend 9 weeks in a small preschool on the outskirts of Arusha and 3 weeks in a Maasai village preschool. In Arusha they can choose to stay on site or in a hotel. The volunteer would ideally be able to get involved in curriculum development and production of teaching resources too. They should be fluent in English and have some basic word processing skills.

The placement costs are as follows:

440 USD basic program fee
150 USD Swahili tuition
Minimum 400 USD donation to be split equally between the two schools

Optional extras:
Airport pickup 50 USD
Village guide (strongly recommended) 210 USD
Village orientation 100 USD
Food & accommodation on site in Arusha 50 USD per week

(NB: YSP takes no commission from these fees or money from local projects)

Hello, and welcome to YourSafePlanet

You wouldn't believe it...

We've been blogging all over the place for the last two years: for The Guardian, Make Travel Fair and several other websites, but not yet collated all our blogs in one place!

So this is our blog, just for YSPers, providing news from our global network of local contacts and exciting developments for YSP in general.

We hope you enjoy it, we hope you interact with us and we hope you might find some inspiration for your travels to see the world a different way... through local eyes.

Thanks and happy travelling

YourSafePlanet
Connecting you to the grass routes of travel