Mappin

I’m going to be very interested to see what Mappin have in store, but whatever it is, I’m sure it will be of interest to readers of Trundlin.

Keep your eyes open for a future post and follow the Mappin team at @letsgomappin.

Summer Sun and Sunflowers

As the weather descends into winter here in the UK my mind starts to wander to next year’s family holiday.

My children will be 14 and 11 and are keen to go surfing – Polzeath in Cornwall being their favourite spot so far.

Being a cyclist, I find the lanes of Cornwall a little hectic at times so whilst I can run on the coastal path or find quiet lanes to ride on my thoughts are leaning towards a holiday spent in Ste Catherine de Fierbois a few years ago where I spent many happy hours navigating the quiet roads amongst the sunflowers.

I’m sure Cornwall will win for August 2012, but I do have another thought – the 2012 Tour de France visits the North East coast and Boulogne, so perhaps I can squeeze in a Gallic trip to see how @markcavendish is warming up for the Olympic Road Race?

Why Trundlin?

Live life at breakneck speed, and what happens? (apart form breaking your neck!) – you forget. What did you do? Where? Who with?

This is what I love about evolution. The balance is (mostly) maintained.

To help me remember my travels I JPEG, I MPEG, I tweet, I dopplr, I email, I write and well, I RECORD everything in some way or other, as well as sharing it with my fellow human beings.

My favourite memory jogger? the still image, will video kill it now there are cameras like the Nikon D90 that can record HD video? I hope the still image doesn’t get reduced to a footnote in history?

Any thoughts readers?

“Eco” Hotels ?

“Greenwashing” is one of my favourite “mot du jour” at the moment.

I’d love to be “green” – but with a family of four, two cars and a job working for a subsidiary of an airline my carbon footprint is the size of a yeti! (Note: Car No.1 turns into a rail season ticket in 2 months time).

As with most middle class suburbanites in 2008 I will apply salve in the form of some eco products when I next shop at my local multi national supermarket.

I will also consider staying at the “aloft Lexington” next time I’m in Boston (http://www.starwoodhotels.com/alofthotels/hotels/index.html).

It looks pretty cool, and with a light dusting of eco credentials, I’ll report back on how “eco” is “eco” !

Washington DC Hotels still available for 20th January 2009…..just!

If you want in on what is almost universally being hailed as an epoch defining moment then you should move swiftly. Reports are saying that Washington DC hotels are full for the inauguration (news report).

Kimpton Hotels are a great value option where you get class beating service and facilities. Their Hotel Madeira is still showing availability for Inauguration Day, but act sharp !

DC is a great destination for a leisure break at any time and is easily reached from anywhere on the Eastern seaboard. If you don’t mind trundlin a little further then its one of the most connected cities in the world!

Autumn Colour (or Fall Color?)

One fine way to see the autumn leaves turn is from the saddle of a bicycle. Rolling for 469 miles through the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina and Virginia the Blue Ridge Parkway would make for a great fall road riding route. Visit www.blueridgeparkway.org for maps and info.

Sometimes you just have to drive…..

I would love an electric car. Technology isn’t quite there yet, so they’re not practical for long journeys. My grand tourer of choice would be a Porsche 911, one of the most iconic cars in my view, although out of my league and a tad too thirsty to e driven without guilt.

However, there are electric cars that are starting to cut the mustard. Even some that are faster than a 911.

Have a look at the Treehugger post linked to above, and make up your own mind. They might be faster, but boy have they been hit with the ugly stick. The Shelby actually looks OK, but the much lauded Tesla and the Tango are fugly!

Trundl, but trundl in style I say. We need a balance, an equilibrium of technology and form (and economy!). When these arrive, I’ll be ready with my cheque book.

Twixt Seattle and Vancouver…..

……lies Bellingham, one of those places in the Pacific Northwest that constantly features in magazines’ “Best towns to…” features.

Check out the Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism website’s outdoor recreation page for an idea of what you’re missing .

Escape from Wall Street

Imagine this nightmare scenario. Confidence fails, banks tumble, the world’s governments try but can’t arrest the slide, stock markets continue…… I think you’re with me here. No imagination required!

If I was working in Manhattan, I’d look to escape ‘capitulation’ by heading for the hills, or more precisely, the Catskill mountains of upstate NY.

http://www.bigindiansprings.com is the sort of retreat to salve your nerves and recharge your batteries ready for another week of ….. ups?……downs?…… Predict correctly if you can!

For all you tech geeks……

http://www.trundlin.com was conceived as a service in the SaaS mould, and is still in the early stages of development.

To keep the URL occupied, and build some traffic I’m blogging about parts of the travel sector that interest me and will correlate with the trundlin application once it gets further than an alpha concept!

This site is currently built on the WordPress platform and hosted by www.wordpress.com.

Over the next few days / weeks / years (I’ll come back and edit this when I have a better idea of timelines!) I aim to transition this to a self hosted WordPress site, so I can add extra functionality (including iPhone optimised GUI and an iPhone favicon).

All this in advance of rolling out the Trundlin service – which as you can probably guess will be a SaaS / cloud / Web 3.0 thang based on a certain top selling mobile device……..