zondag 24 mei 2009
A few years ago when I was looking for a book to read during my holidays I came across a book written by Floortje Dessing. She is an Dutch television host, presenting programs about traveling. In this book she wrote about 25 routes around the world you can not miss. But the subject of the book doesn't really matter, (except that it's about traveling). The thing I want to talk about are the sites she's mentioning at the end of her book. And believe me they are amazing.
For example http://www.thebluefish.com/. Unfortunately the site is redecorating at the moment, but when I visited it some time ago it had a lot of exceptional packages for their customers. Some of them were:
A week as James Bond, with excursions like sleeping in the suites used for the movies, enemy evading speed boat training (a chase could easily be arranged)and a top-secret transport to Zhukovsky Air Base for flight training exercise in military jet (ranging from MIG 21 to the latest SU-30). Meanwhile you're traveling all around Europe. Or if you want something else you can also propose you're girlfriend during a Broadway show. All actors are part of the plot of course.
The description the blue fish is giving of themselves is also quite unusual. "Bluefish Concierge is not a gopher service, an old boy’s network or a snobby bunch of party crashing showoffs. Please don’t call us to pick up your dry cleaning; that is simply not what we do. Instead, we offer the highest level of personalized travel, transportation and entertainment-related services to corporate executives, celebrities, professional athletes and other discerning individuals interested in living life to its fullest."
Or http://vocationvacations.com/, another extraordinary company. If you keep dreaming of a job as a dude rancher, wrestling commentator, make-up artist, wedding coordinator or an animal therapist this is the company for you. You name it and it's possible. Three days of one-on-one mentorship in your dream job. It's not cheap but you do get the chance to see what your dream job is like!
My favorite among the sites in the book is http://www.unusualhotelsoftheworld.com/ .
The site is about * surprise* unusual hotels! And when I say unusual I mean unusual. For example a lighthouse , an underwater hotel, a tree house ,a church or a hotel in the shape of a dog. In Sweden it's even possible to stay in a Silver mine, a 155 meter underground! My favorite is the lighthouse, especially because I read somewhere that they would bring breakfast to you in the mornings. I think it's amazing to wake up with a stunning view of the sea and some croissants.
"Holiday fast approaching and need urgent inspiration? Need to be on a plane like yesterday? Just fill in the form below and our panic specialists will contact you and ease the stress. Deep breaths. Help is at hand. " This is what happens when you hit the panic button at the site of http://www.blacktomato.co.uk/ .It's an English tour operator with a hip and modern website. They won several awards for being best/innovative travel website. Certainly interesting to check it out. They're also offering a lot of special packages.
I have to admit that none of these options are cheap. But you have to admit that they are unusual and amazing. At least I wish that I had the money to book a trip with them.
maandag 18 mei 2009
A few lectures ago we were discussing branding during services marketing. What do customers expect from a certain brand and how loyal are they to that specific brand. You can divide customers into a loyalty ladder:
Mission to Marzipan
Jamaican me crazy
Karamel Sutra
maandag 11 mei 2009
A few weeks ago there was an international week at InHolland. It actually came like a surprise because no one had seen it coming. But it was a pleasant surprise! It was a nice break from the normal lectures, with new fresh subjects. During the international week there were several guest lecturers giving lectures. There were lecturers from Egypt, Belgium, England, China, Australia, Poland, Finland and I think I'm still forgetting some other countries. Each of them gave several lectures through out the week.
At the beginning of the week there was a grand opening, with artists and music. There was also a possibility to participate in an interactive networking event. From the organization you got a card with a certain color and you had to find two other people with the same color to earn a free lunch. I thought that the event was really well organized and set up in a creative way.
Of course students need an incentive so that's why the free lunch was added.
Because I didn't had a lot of time that week I was only able to visit 5 guest lectures. The lectures I visited were about ecotourism, verbal and non verbal communication, marketing across cultures, a comment on global advertising and a lecture about the macro economy of China. I thought that the lectures about ecotourism and the macro economy of China were the most interesting for me. The content of the lectures of marketing across cultures and verbal and non verbal communicating was quite the same as the content of our own lectures. That's why they weren't as interesting as the other lectures. A comment on global advertising was also interesting but quite general.
The lecture about the macro economy of China was really interesting although economy is not my favorite subject. I thought it was especially interesting because the lecturer made use of a translator. A funny thing was that during the lecture you could see when he was about to tell a joke. First he started laughing than the translator. After her translation we finally got the joke. The lecture was also given from a Chinese perspective which is interesting because most of the time you only hear things about China from a western perspective.
The lecture about eco tourism was also really interesting because I would like to work in that field in the future. The lecturer told us a lot about researches she did concerning ecotourism in Australia. The lecture made things more clear to me, like that people will always harm the environment and that ecotourism is not the solution to save the environment but a way to find a balance between tourism and saving the environment.
Sheila Peake mentioned during the lecture that there is a lot of attention in Australia for ecotourism. It made me more enthusiastic to maybe study abroad at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia. But when I visited the Study Bazaar and asked about it she said that they only exchange one student per year with Inholland. That’s a shame because that’s makes it a lot harder to get an exchange place. But it's still the first year, there is still a lot of time to look for places to study abroad.
Because of my work I didn't got the opportunity to visit more lectures. I would have loved to visit the other guest lectures as well but there will be a next year. The other students were generally also really enthusiastic about the guest lectures! (half of them because they could earn an ICA point with it and the other half because they really thought it was interesting). Generally I think that the whole international week was a success and I would love to see this event return next year, and maybe even longer?
maandag 4 mei 2009
A few weeks ago I was running some errands together with my mom when she suddenly told me that they were invited again to go sailing. My parents have already been invited five times before, and they really enjoyed the weekend sailing. I always wanted to come long since the ship they're sailing with is really awesome, but I always had to work during the weekends so that was impossible. But this time I was free to go, since I'm not working in the weekends any more. I asked one friend to come along and this weekend we were set to go!
When I was little and we used to go sailing in the summer I always saw these huge ships in different harbors. They had two masts sometimes even three, numerous sails and a lot of people on them. For me there was always some invincible attraction. And now I was going to sail with one of them, finally!
The ship that we went sailing with is called the Moeke Zorn. Moeke Zorn is a clipper (a type of
ship) has two masts and is about 26 meters long. Another nice interesting thing is that most of the ships have a typical dutch name. Those typical dutch names just fit exactly with the ships. It would be really ridiculous to give such a ship a fancy name like Thrillseeker or Zinderella. The Moeke Zorn is even named after an old Dutch lady (I don't think she's alive anymore) and her picture hangs inside the cabin of the ship. Most of those ships are over a hundred years old.
We already left Friday evening to go to Enkhuizen, to be able to depart as soon as possible Saturday morning. We installed ourselves in our huts and got acquainted with everyone who was going to sail along. The son of the owner (the person who invited us to go along) was going to be the captain and a young guy was going to be 'de maat'. This last guy is a sort of assistant to the captain. While the captain is steering he is managing the sails together with the help of the passengers. All the people who came along were invited by the owners of the ship. The owners invite every year friends to come along sailing during a spring weekend.
Saturday morning we left Enkhuizen and we set sail for Medemblik. We crossed the IJsselmeer and arrived after a sunny day at the end of the afternoon in Medemblik. 'De maat' said that it was also called Mädchenblik because of the girls, (Mädchen is german for girls). I forgot to mention it before but there are always a lot of german groups at the ships, really A LOT.
When we arrived we explored Medemblik, which is a lovely village with pittoresque houses. After that we started cooking. The kitchen inside the ship is really excellent considering it's within a boat. A lot of kitchens within normal houses can't compare to that kitchen. The owner of the Moeke Zorn who came along was a terrific cook and with assistance of me and my friend we made a terrific pasta with salad. I really have to try out that recept another time.
The next morning we got up early again and after a solid breakfast we left shore on our way back to Enkhuizen. The weather wasn't as good as the first day, but the sailing was terrific. The force of the wind was about 4/5 using the scale of Beaufort. A little turbulent weather with a bit of rain, although it was cold it felt really good. To stay warm there was a nice hot soup as a lunch.
Around 3 o clock we arrived at the harbor already and we had to say goodbye. The weekend was terrific and it was great to sail with such a ship. When is the next weekend?
