Free Mobile Application/E-guide to Les Deux Alpes - NEW from Ski-Ride Productions

The barefoot sand dancing nomad inside me hankers after the traditional wonders of travel: an invaluable tip from a cheerful bus conductor or a philosophical point to ponder etched onto a wooden bench top by the ocean.

But even I have to admit that there's room in my rucksack for destination e-guides. That said...as long as the content held by the e-guide is really worth the effort of scrolling and scrolling and scrolling some more to get the info I need.

I carry my mobile everywhere and because it definitely attracts less attention than whipping out a floppy and flapping fold out city map when I'm lost, I'm all for using my mobile for navigation and information purposes when travelling. However, if an e-guide for mobile phones delivers a mere edited down version of guidebook content, rendered devoid of depth following the transfer from print to digital media, then I'd much rather pass on this technology until it offers a little more substance.

But enough about me. Here's more about Ski-Ride Productions' latest TXTguides™ - mobile guide to Les Deux Alpes, France written and updated monthly for ski and snowboarders.

If the SkiSpot guidebooks written by Francis Johnson and published back in 2005 are anything to go by, the content of his e-guides will be far from factually thin on the ground and won't waste travellers' time with superficial and spindly sentences. The SkiSpots guidebooks were densely packed with destination facts and useful piste information, right down to how many snowboards fitted in the lockers at certain ski stations. Reading these original guides from cover to cover, I was stunned by Francis' attention to detail.

Francis Johnston (director & executive author at Ski-Ride Productions) announced:

"I’m delighted to add this great resort and ski area to the Ski-Ride series. Les Deux Alpes is one of the biggest and most popular ski resorts in the Southern French Alps, and a particular favourite with freestyle enthusiasts, with a well-deserved reputation for guaranteed snow and lively apres ski.

Now, anyone planning to visit this great area can use this in-depth guide to fully plan their visit, and then take it with them on the slopes. Since virtually everyone carries their mobile phone with them wherever they go, they don’t actually need to pack anything extra in order to carry masses of up-to-date information at their fingertips".

The resort-specific guides are published in a specially-developed electronic format that allows them to be saved/read on mobile phones with no need for a network signal in order to use them at home or abroad. Plus there's the added bonus of no additional weight in your ski jacket.

All TXTguides™ are licensed free-of-charge rather than sold and readers can freely share the guides with friends via email & Bluetooth. Crucially, the content is also updated every month during the European ski season.

Other titles include:

Val d’Isere & Tignes (Espace Killy, France), Soldeu-El Tarter & Pas de la Casa (Grandvalira, Andorra); plus Arcalis & Pal-Arinsal (Vallnord, Andorra).

There's lots more detail at ski-ride.co.uk/txtguides/


Look out for my full review of Les Deux Alpes TXTguide


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Travels in Texas, 2002 - an article from the Sandwagon vaults

Perfectly horizontal streams of smoke, consistently dense and pulsing, were floating along the Colorado River. As I walked closer, it became obvious that these were not physics- defying smoke signals but streams of Mexican Free-Tail bats, storming off down river to obey their daily instinct to feast on clouds of flies.

I watched the show with locals and visitors, workers heading home for dinner alongside families sharing this wonder of urban wildlife. Half of the crowd leant over the Congress Avenue Bridge, looking down onto the flux of Free-Tails in flight, while the rest stared up from the river banks into the concrete arches that make such perfect roosts. The audience’s collective ‘wow’ mixed in the air with the delicate and continuous drum beat of several thousand flapping bat wings.

Guidebooks had recommended a visit to the Texan state capital on a summer’s evening to see the world’s largest urban bat colony in action. The reality exceeded my expectations – as did the Lone Star State itself. Texas revealed itself to be as much of an unknown culture for me as an indigenous Amazonian tribal village, and I fought off the distractions of my superficial research and those subconscious flashbacks to TV’s Dallas. There were genuine adventures to be had here, beyond the fiction.

I’d been prepared for houses the size of Southfork with closets spewing forth a lifetime’s supply of Stetsons. The roadside hazard of a fast-food chain selling ‘Chicken and Biscuits’, however, was a surprise. Visions of chicken nugget and Garibaldi combo meals with a side of HobNobs amused me so much that I swerved my hired Grand-Am. Thankfully a Texan friend saved me from more near misses.

“Yes, biscuits,” she said, bemused. “What’s so funny? They’re just the bread part of a fried chicken sandwich, you know.”

I didn’t know that, until I came to Texas.

This culinary discovery was matched a few evenings later by truly gargantuan jacket potatoes as lengthy as fish and chip shop-style battered cod. Since then, neat rotund spuds have never quiet looked the same. Neither has aging soft-rock star Phil Collins!

My Texan driving adventures should have been accompanied by strains of Country music played by chirpy local radio station DJs. That was until – hours into the Austin to Fort Worth leg – I gave up station surfing and gave into the Genesis front man. There was no escaping Phil.

Lastly, Fort Worth’s train station became as memorable a hallmark of my Texan adventures as the incongruent soundtrack. It was rush hour at Trinity Station. The entrance hall was eerily empty and so devoid of activity that the stunning aqua and steely grey of Art Deco pillars, walls and ceiling bore down ominously on me, as if mourning busier times before air-conditioned cars replaced train tracks.

This and all of my memories of Texas still surprise me, and they all remain as vivid as those of my destination that day at the station – Dallas’ Dealey Plaza, its book depository and that grassy knoll.
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Cat and Dog Lover needed for Free Accommodation in Syros - Escape the Hanger now!

When SandWagon kicked off its first leg of this round and round and round the world journey of off-beat travel news, I ran a feature called 'Escape the hanger!'. Back then I inhabited a hanger of an office devoid of natural light, views or personality. This didn't sit well with my creative tendencies and undeniable travel urges. It took being 'penned in' to the extreme.

Anyways, 'Escape the Hanger!' was my little way of inspiring other claustrophobes to swap the day job for a freer lifestyle overseas working with travel companies, tour groups, volunteering, whatever caught my eye and set me dreaming of a life less tethered.

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Queen Mary, Long Beach, California - All (Californians) Aboard For FREE ADMISSION

Californians who've found themselves all spent up after the Christmas festivities are being offered a Happy New Year present of unlimited free days aboard this famous local landmark, throughout January 2009. General Admission is normally $24.95.

"Realising that we are all living through difficult economic times, we thought that offering free admission to California residents during January would be our small way of helping to ring in 2009 on a positive note," said Queen Mary General Manager Jay Primavera.

Fully-subscribed Golden State residents should head along to the Queen Mary's box office with their documentation of residency and photo ID at the ready. Awaiting visitors on board is the largest collection of Art Deco artwork in the US plus the 1930's glamour of 307 original staterooms spread between three decks. It's all available to discover courtesy of a free self-guided tour that's thrown in alongside the open-house admission.

The Queen Mary has been a Long Beach resident for the last 40 years, so if you've yet to pay homage to this old girl of the seas January 2009 is a prime opportunity to get well-acquainted with her....or plan your royal wedding aboard...or make a dinner reservation at the Five-Star Sir Winston's restaurant...or scope out the scene ahead of the Queen Mary Scottish Festival.

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Stuttgart's Christmas Market - Festive Photos

So, it's the time of year that the Sandwagon wraps itself up warm in a tinsel decked garage to see out the bleak mid winter. We'll be back again in the New Year, looking forward to all of the weird and wonderful travel news we'll come across, rather than the run of the mill bandwagon stuff. In the meantime, here's some festive images straight from Stuttgart to get us in the mood for Christmas Day.

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Amsterdam - 4 random reasons to love this city. Just incase you need them

Heaps of the coolest, cosy bars, complete with cuddly cat bouncers.

Vast varieties of canal side buildings that keep architecture high on the city break agenda.

Bikes, bikes and more bikes, but best of all, ornate bikes.

Getting lost in the maze of Dam's streets and finding some ivy bunting.

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Does travel writing style rule over travel writing substance? Check these out

As a follow up to my previous post Travelling without a safety net, I really wanted to talk about the online and offline writing that informs and inspires this travel sandwagon.

It's quality travel ponderings that are wonderfully written and illustrated, rather than bandwagon factual content, that gets me excited. Endless lists of predictable restaurant reviews are surplus to requirements when you trust your eyes, ears and instincts to lead you around a new destination.

And as for the important details, including police station addresses, transport hubs and opening hours, I still trust the traditional travel publishers to get it right. A copy of a guidebook or a quick surf on Lonely Planet gives me instant information gratification. If that fails then I'm happy to head to the tourist information office once I'm in situ. Does anyone actually believe that ploughing through 1001 user generated comments on Milan's dialing code is good use of their pre-travel research time? It's worth accepting that sometimes travel information can come as easily as trusting a paid travel writer.

So, on with the Sandwagon travel writing roll of honour. Check out these sources of travel inspiration:

Online inspiration

My Marrakesh {a place for lifestyle and design} and the bemused tales of an American family's quest to build a guest house in Marrakesh.

Road Junky ... written to make you think, laugh and get a rough feel for a country. For the inspired, independent traveler. The person who can just get up and go. The person who is moved by what he/she sees. The dreamers.

Itchy Feet Magazine an online travel magazine published six times a year, committed to sharing travel tales and experiences from all over the globe.

Miss Expatria 'The Internet’s leading enabler of travel addiction,' comes to you from the other side of her dreams, and she is telling you it is worth it.

A Good Man in India An honestly written, insightful Travelogue.

Fully Booked Events with an edge in New York. Parties, press events, launches, shopping events. For those who are not invited...get invited for free.

Best in print

Le Cool Changed My Life Guidebooks Hardback beauties, refreshingly free of generic guidebook pagination. In their own words, 'LE COOL works with local editors, writers, photographers, illustrators and designers to create unique books that truly reflect the experience of each city.' Just brilliant.

H.V. Morton's classic journeys Respect to Methuen for re-releasing these travel gems. Morton introduced me to a new age of travel - a bygone age. Trust me; wandering cities with an appreciation of the past is far more rewarding than clinging to your internet connection and reading another inarticulate, subjective s user generated review.

Do you agree that travel writing style does rule over substance?

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Ryanair's Inflight Magazine Two Minute Guide to Bologna - information update

The age-old issue with travel guides, features and magazines is the waiting, waiting and more waiting between editions, until there's an opportunity to update an annoying snippet of outdated information.

Printed words, especially about cities, run the risk of being riddled with inaccuracy literally the day after they've been written. Pubs close and are replaced by restaurants, banks close and are replaced by pubs, museums that were last week's top freebie tip start to charge an entrance fee, bakeries become nail bars and hotels go bad, bankrupt or up in flames. That's just the urban life cycle, it happens and it's exactly why guidebooks include disclaimers about the accuracy of their content. But disclaimers don't make an editor feel any better about the travellers who, armed with their material, will certainly experience disappointment.

This is where the digital age does indeed rule. Long live the net and the instantaneous edit button. Horrah.

I'm posted now to help the editorial team of Ryanair's inflight magazine and any travellers to Bologna who fancy some jazz with their after-dinner espresso.

Ryanair's Two-Minute Guide to Bologna, on page 115 of the current inflight magazine, lists Cantina Bentivoglio as the 'top jazz venue in town with shows nightly from 10pm'.

I headed there on Sunday to find that the management were currently re-evaluating the 'nightly' jazz rule. After I'd peeled off scarf, gloves, coat and jumper, the waitress shared the news with me; 'tonight is their (jazz bands') night off'. It was a real shame, but we settled for drowning our sorrows in a bottle of red wine and good conversation.

We didn't try the food at Cantina Bentivoglio but it certainly was popular with the exclusively Italian diners. The ample dishes that arrived to nearby tables made me wonder if we'd missed out on more than the jazz that evening.

Sandwagon's tip: contact Cantina Bentivoglio before you head there for jazz, just to make sure that there's a show. Use the contact details on their own site.

I've emailed the Cantina for updates and I'll keep you posted when I hear from them.
Posts in a similar vein are:
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Travelling without a safety net

My Life Before Travel Guides
Before working for a UK travel guides publisher, I was well travelled and knew my stuff but I never fully subscribed to guidebooks. I did read them; for example, the entire Rough Guide to the USA, in preparation for my very first job in the travel industry. Prior to landing that job, I also spent a month lugging around two random inter-railing guidebooks, plus a copy of Thomas Cook's European Timetable. Those guidebooks were, for no particular reason at all Let's Go Europe and Katie Wood's Europe By Train. When I first started to travel, I wasn't loyal to any particular publishing brand, and to be honest the only reason that I read guidebooks was for background information and any pertinent destinational warnings.

My inter-railing trip didn't end in disaster just because we didn't follow the guidebooks' hints, tips and suggested itineraries. Even though we tried to call listed hostels, to book a bed in advance of our arrival in a new city, more often than not we either forgot to call (too busy having fun), the hostel didn't pick up or the published number was out of date. This was no worry. In the 90s, backpackers didn't arrange all of their travel in advance, online, so we simply rocked up straight from the station and always landed a safe place to sleep.

The main reason that we neglected our guidebooks on that trip was not because they sucked, but because it was more fun, and just as effective, to collect pointers and tips from fellow travellers as we arrived at consecutive train or bus station. Those waiting for the next train out of town were always more than happy to pass on where they'd just stayed, eaten, visited or enjoyed.

We weren't reckless inter-railers either. We just preferred to heed the warnings of less fortunate travellers that we met, rather than rely on the wise words of our printed 'bibles.'

Talking to other travellers has always been sensible
The popularity of user generated content strengthens the case for what every traveller knows in their hearts: that speaking to a person who’s just been in the same boat, plane, hostel or bar can't be beaten. It's fantastic that pages and pages of user generated travel content exists these day. But I do worry that it’s often irrelevant and out of date by the time you actually need to apply it to a real life travelling situation.

I'm still more likely to respect and act upon the opinion and recommendations of a backpacker who's sat beside me at the hostel bar - full of warnings after having survived a sticky situation - rather than the musings and rants of a faceless online reviewer, or a flippant online guru who aggregates travel ‘content’ for their site without editorial moderation. Such sites often smack of working more in the interests of their page rank than in the interest of circulating travel karma.

I’m not just a cynic, but a professional editor with a duty to question the source of published travel information. Readers should always question the source of any travel content and also the motivations of the contributor and site publisher. It’s so much easier to trust that the backpacker sat beside you in Amsterdam has actually visited The Red Light District recently. He/she has nothing to gain from sharing their insights with you, other than a warm glow inside and perhaps a friend for life. The online content provider may not have visited and may not really care how their content will now play out in your travels, as long as you've hit their page, stayed a while and improved their analytics profile.

Guidebooks can be really useful
Maybe we were just plain lucky on that inter-railing trip not to need the nitty-gritty health, safety, crime and medical information that differentiate guidebooks from travel literature and glossy travel features. Maybe we missed out on a myriad sights, memories and must-dos because we didn't plan our itinerary around an author's recommendations. But on the flip side, perhaps we made more of our time in Europe because we didn't join a bar-crawl at the base of the Spanish Steps like main other inter-railers do, or because we didn’t bypass Monte Carlo like many do because it's not the typical shoestring stop off.

Blissfully unaware of recommendations and guidebook facts, we just relaxed with our own agenda, followed our instincts and trusted in 'us'. Rather than be influenced by 'Best of' lists and 'Top Tens,' we spent nights in whichever bars looked and sounded like good fun, and we made a beeline for the major sights when we came across them.

Do travellers really need guidebooks?
Travel can be just as, if not more, rewarding when you don't take along a guidebook as a safety net. But travel publishers are in business because they do the hard work for you. They vet the writers (experienced travellers) and have procedures in place to ensure that details are as up to date as they can be. Travel guide publishers make money because the inspiring, informed voice of a travel writer can be just as valuable a travel companion as the great guy or girl you hook up with at the diving school in Dahab. You just have to interact with their recommendations in a different way to how you’d interact with an actual, physical being sat beside you.

Depending upon your destination, there’s always some background reading to do before hitting the road. And if I'm heading off the beaten track, I'd much more confident reading the succinct advice of an objective, experienced travel writer living in situ than the subjective snippets that are sprinkled across various blogs, review sites and online forums, or aggregated into a central site by a canny web guru.

Once the logistics of travel and transfers are behind you, leave your travel guidebook in your hostel room and just hit the streets, wander, talk to people and follow your own instincts. Perhaps put out a Twitter for suggestions once in a while and just play it all by ear. Take in the major sights by all means - I'm not suggesting that missing out on The Last Supper in Milan, for example, does you or the city any justice - but find your own sights too. Refer to your printed or electronic guide in times of absolutely boredom or desperation. Your memories will be more colourful and your post-trip conversation infinitely more interesting for it. And if you too are a travel blogger, your travel content will surpass generic, SEO ridden travel drivel in the quality stakes.

So, Sandwagon reads and respects traditional travel guides and travel writers, but also loves to go it alone and trust the recommendations of other travellers in the same boat. Meeting a traveller in a destination and learning from them is different to reading user generated content online. Without editorial moderation, online content may be out of date, totally fabricated or written by someone whose opinion you wouldn't trust if you met them in the flesh.

Are you cynical about online travel content?

Will we always rely on a travel safety net of some sort? Read more!