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Editor’s Note — TRO wants to remind its Travelgram readers the articles presented here are meant to assist you in remaining informed and prepared to discuss travel news of the day with clients.
Destinations
Exploring The Medieval Treadwheel Crane In Gdansk, Poland
Transporting goods by boat has been the backbone of the world’s economy for centuries. Massive cargo ships are unloaded by skilled dockworkers using skyscraper-sized cranes. But how did ships disgorge their goods in the days before steel girders and hydropneumatics? The seaside town of Gdansk, Poland, has one answer: a multi-story wooden crane designed in the 1300s.…
— Forbes
How to Best Celebrate Christmas in London
Christmastime in London has long set the scene for Charles Dickens’s treasured novels and many a blockbuster rom-com. This year, locations across the city are offering travelers memorable ways to experience Britain’s most beloved holiday traditions. Christmastime in London has long set the scene for Charles Dickens’s treasured novels and many a blockbuster rom-com. This year, locations…
— New York Times
Tours and Activities
How to Travel the World and Bottle Your Own Wine While You're at It
On a sunny afternoon in Tuscany this past September, approximately 40 people sat along a narrow table under a leafy pergola, dripping with red grapes. On one end, friends, couples, family, and strangers chatted with the matriarch of this hillside estate, Sarah Sesti and her daughter Elisa. Way over on the other end sat a group of eight men, who occasionally burst into an Italian…
— Fortune
Mexico City's 'walking fish'
Frankie was missing half his face. A fungal infection had come over the little axolotl, a native amphibian of the waterways of Mexico City. But Frankie, along with other axolotls, have a special talent. Veterinarian and axolotl researcher Erika Servín Zamora, who was also Frankie’s caregiver, said she was astounded to see the animal’s remarkable regeneration abilities that she’d read about in…
— BBC
Cruise
For some unlucky travelers, ‘disembarkation sickness’ strikes after the cruise is over
For Katy Breuer, the symptoms start as soon as she steps off a cruise ship. She feels dizzy and disoriented, can’t eat and can’t find her land legs. “It’s debilitating,” says Breuer, an executive coach from Vienna, Va. It could be worse. For some travelers, the rocking never ends. They suffer from mal de debarquement syndrome (MdDS), a rare and chronic form of reverse motion sickness.…
— The Washington Post
Families and Active Passengers Are the "Next Generation" of River Cruisers
Multigenerational groups, active passengers and those who have never sailed on waterways are among the river cruise passengers of the future, according to Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). Flexible dining times, more restaurant options, larger ships and different categories of cabins -- including dedicated family rooms -- are some of the growing trends that will be seen on…
— CruiseCritic.com
Transportation
London-Glasgow passengers choose rail over air
The proportion of people travelling between London and Glasgow by rail rather than air has reached a record level, according to Virgin Trains. In the 12 months to July 2019, 29% of passengers chose to travel with the train company rather than fly. This is nearly two percentage points higher than the previous record set in 2014, during the Commonwealth Games. Fastest flights between…
— BBC News
Flight Attendants Have a Secret Language You Didn't Know About
What kind of secrets are flight attendants keeping from passengers? Turns out, it’s all hidden in the way they speak. You’ve probably noticed that flight attendants use a certain vocabulary when they talk to each other inflight. Certain words like “red eye” or “dead head” might be fairly well known amongst seasoned travelers, but there are a few words that you might not be familiar with.…
— Travel+Leisure
China's steam passenger night train
A train speeds across the checkerboard tracks of Chicago's bustling Tower 18 junction, sparks flying from wheels that you can almost hear screeching. Across the Atlantic in Aisgill, deep in England's beautiful Yorkshire Dales National Park, a steam locomotive weaves its way through a snowy nighttime landscape barely visible through the sooty darkness. And in China, a local passenger train…
— CNN
Lodging
Your next vacation should look like this
Picture the scene. A beach heaving with bodies. Sunbeds racked up alongside the pool. High tower blocks of rooms, one packed on top of another. Tourists clustered round the buffet. All in a complex gated off from the local community. A classic example of the kind of travel that devastates the environment and gives nothing back to local communities? Hell for those of us who like to think…
— CNN
The Ski And Wellness Resort In Italy To Get To Before Everyone Else Does
While the world’s top skiers head to Bormio for the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup races (December 28-29 in 2019), a time when this town near the Swiss border turns up in the media spotlight, the resort is a little-known destination for many international schussers, who are more likely to aim their Rossignols and K2s down power pistes in St. Moritz, Courchevel or Cortina d’Ampezzo. Bormio has…
— Forbes
10 cosy B&Bs, hotels and pubs for winter
The Angel Hotel in Abergavenny is a former coaching inn on the edge of the Brecon Beacons national park, with the Black Mountains close by. We found the bar’s old-world feel of warm lighting and wood-panelled walls a welcome hiding place when the weather took a turn for the worse. To fully enjoy the wonderful colours of the local foliage at this time of year I’d recommend joining one of…
— The Guardian
Other and Odd
The tourists nobody wants
Rowdy groups of bachelor parties. Backpackers asking locals to pay their way. The hordes that pour daily off cruise ships, choking up city centers. It wasn't so long ago that tourists were (relatively) feted in the destinations they visited, with locals relishing the chance to earn money through a tourism economy. But today, with traveler numbers becoming out of control, and tourists dwarfing…
— CNN
Escapes: Travel is messy. Don't worry. Just be ready
Hong Kong. LAX-it. The news this week is that travel is fun except when it’s not. My name is Catharine Hamm, and I’m the travel editor for the Los Angeles Times. And it’s all fun and games until someone has to wait two hours for a car they hailed with an app. But be of good cheer: We do have things that will lighten your heart (Fare sale to Hawaii! Free national parks admission! A…
— LA Times
Not Using Your Vacation Days Makes You Less Productive at Work, Experts Say
A few years ago, while the news cycle was abuzz with one political story after another, Dr. Rebecca Gilbert went on a cruise. Somewhat cut off from the outside world, her work, and the constant parade of news — she felt nervous. But rather than let guilt creep in, as it often does for so many Americans on vacation, Gilbert made a conscious effort to embrace it. “I was concerned…
— Travel+Leisure
Today in History
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was born on this day in 1922. Vonnegut is arguably one of the finest novelists of the 20th century, one whose works will be remembered and read for generations to come. Vonnegut's sense of irony and black humor found its way into the literary psyche via novels such as…
— Travel Research Online
Editorial Musings
Building relationships in 2020
by John Frenaye
Monday November 11, 2019
2020 will be he re before I know it. Once I get over the fact that I am actually still alive heading into 2020, I will sit down and get serious about growing my business for the next year. I cannot rest on my laurels and as Mike Batt has always said—if you’re not growing, you’re dying!
While the Chinese may be celebrating the Year of the Rat in 2020, I am going to be celebrating the Year of the Relationship.
“Would you mind giving me a ride to the…
— Travel Research Online
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Publishers Corner
Active Listening
by Richard Earls
Sunday November 10, 2019
There is an art to listening well. Listening is certainly more than hearing what your travel client or supplier is saying. Hearing a critique or commentary is a good beginning, but the art of active listening involves two additional steps that are indispensable to effective communication. If you don't bring all of the components of active listening into a conversation, chances are you will miss something important.
Good active listening also involves questioning. Have you fully understood what the speaker is saying? The best way to know is to reformulate what you have heard into your own words and then asking the other if your understanding is correct. There are times when shades of meaning are lost or…
— Travel Research Online
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Mike's Morning Missives
What's The Difference?
 I was sitting on the couch on a Saturday morning when my wife shared a video of the young golf phenomenon Jordan Spieth with me. The President’s Cup was being played in Korea at the time and the young Mr. Spieth was hitting out of a greenside bunker.
When his club scooped the sand with a “thunk,” sand began to fly everywhere while the ball was slowly plopping softly onto the green and began meandering toward the hole. “Ka-plunk.” The ball disappeared into the cup. (This never happens to me.)
That was the moment my mind began to do its thing. The difference between a professional and an amateur just unfolded before my very eyes. What is the difference you…
— Travel Research Online
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Upcoming Training Opportunities
Secrets of Selling to the Affluent Traveler
Tuesday, November 12, 2019 at 11 am EST/8 am PST
The affluent travel market is one of the fastest-growing segments in the industry. Luxury cruise lines are investing billions of dollars to meet anticipated demand over the next five years. It’s not just ocean cruises: affluent travelers are adventure seekers, expedition cruisers, and river cruisers. And yet, according to an annual survey conducted by a leading industry weekly publication, agency focus on luxury travel is DOWN 5%!
Register Now ➠
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