Travel Industry Journal

Mobile Music

Pro Travel — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:10:32 +0000

Here’s a new gadget that will get your wheels spinning: Cy.fi, the world’s first wireless bike speakers.

There are two parts to the device: the transmitter and the speakers. The cy.fi transmitter attaches to an iPod. The iPod stays in the cyclist’s pocket and transmits a signal to the speakers, which are attached to the handlebars. Unlike headphones, the cy.fi won’t obscure important traffic noises, and cyclists will never have to reach into their pockets to skip songs (the controls are all on the speaker dock). Granted, it also means that your guilty-pleasure music can be heard by everyone (come on, we know you’ve got “Ice, Ice, Baby” on there).

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The greatest writer’s retreat in the history of the universe

Pro Travel — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 09:08:38 +0000

The first thing you learn as a writer – or in my case I just figured it out about a year ago - is that you really need to have your ’space’. The space where you go to write. It should be comfortable, virtually devoid of distractions, with all necessary tools and equipment ergonomically placed and in top working order, with at least one clichéd sexy assistant attending to your every need, like the Portuguese girl in “Love Actually” or, for the ladies, Alfred from “Batman”.

I have had non-stop, whimpering, maddening, hair-yanking, sobbing space issues since the day I sold my house in 2003. Allow me to briefly illustrate a few of the ’spaces’ I’ve had to endure in the past four years:

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Killing batteries in Barcelona

Pro Travel — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 08:08:02 +0000

In a few hours I will climb into a couchette on the night train to Madrid, bringing to a close my week of trudging around Barcelona with all six pockets of my cargo shorts ludicrously over-filled with various journalist battery-powered gadgets, maps, pamphlets and breath mints. These shorts are an integral part of my Travel Writer Tool Box and I can’t live without them, but when I run across the street to catch a bus, the contents of the pockets swing around, my knees get all banged up and I feel like my shorts are going to drop to the floor. This is what it must feel like for women to run without good chest support. My cargo shorts need a sports bra.

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