Internet Surfing for Holidays - Junior Surf Champ Chelsea Tuhay of Barbados at Bathsheeba Beach
The Travelmole news site today highlighted the surprise results of a survey carried out by Greenlight into the busiest online surfing search days for holidays in the UK. Carried out in mid-May this year you would naturally assume its got to be over the week-end. But you would be wrong....Its "Monday B---dy Monday"! Well I guess that's not so surprising after all given the UK weather so far this year.....Having had a funfilled soggy saturday and sunday and then retuning to the office following a crowded commute to work, the most uplifting thing after your tea/coffee and gossip with your office mates is probably to hit your desktop looking for holidays! At least you will look as if you are working!
A few years back at Cheapflights.co.uk. when I was first there, we used to watch patterns in visit activity very carefully (still do I'm certain.). What was interesting was that it was the lunchtime break time when searches for flights became most active. Flight search activity would then drop sharply and continue to fall off gradually until early evening. Then returning workers, fired with the need to get away from work routines and UK weather etc etc., would log-in and start to seek flights to the Med's liveliest resorts and beyond. The result was a significant spike in flight search activity. International News events trigger spikes for destinations as well. When the last Pope died, Rome, which was normally about 20th or below as a popular destination, shot up to second place for about three days as many of the UK's faithful sought to be there for the new Pope's election.
. One of the most interesting came about one day when two UK premier League footy clubs were fighting out for a place the next European Cup semi-final which was to be played in Europe. At half-time Team A were ahead and we saw a huge spike in searches for Rome where the semi-final was to be played. We could even identify that the majority of the hits were coming from Team A's home region. Then when Team B were ahead the reverse was true. I can't remember who won but it did show that the internet does have the power to put the public's likes and dislikes on record.
The internet, being a digital environment, is tailor-made for garnering stats. The scope and power of the Internet to gather intelligence is truely awsome and more than a little worrying as that power can easily become abused by unscrulous businesses or "the Powers that be". In the UK at least there are rules to prevent the collection of personal data without that person's consent. However, unfortunately, rules are made to be circumnavigated, as we have seen recently in the media in stories about illegal Tax Avoidance .
On that subject, APD avoidance can actually be legal. Its worth taking the Chunnel or a ferry to Europe or to Ireland if you are flying to a higher band APD country, especially as a couple or as a larger party flying in a premium cabin. A party of 4 flying to Australia for instance will save £736 in Premium Economy or in higher 'turn left' cabins. That's an awful lot of "tinnies" or Oz Chardonnay to be able to buy and celebrate with when you get there! Even a party of four travelling to Oz in Economy will save £368 less the cost of the Chunnel/Ferry.
Lovers are not at their best when it matters. Mouths dry up, palms sweat, conversation flags and all the time the heart is threatening to fly from the body once and for all. Lovers have been known to have heart attacks. Lovers drink too much from nervousness and cannot perform. They eat too little and faint during their fervently wished consummation. They do not stroke the favoured cat and their face-paint comes loose. This is not all. Whatever you have set store by, your dress, your dinner, your poetry, will go wrong.
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