Blog

er, sorry, Travelstart :)

Here are the latest ALEXA.COM rank for the travelindustry in South Africa.
We are bigger than Kulula.com

Flysaa.com                 22,619
Travelstart.co.za        109.122
Flightcentre.co.za      171,844
Flynationwide.co.za  205,593
Thompsons.co.za       471,332
Kulula.com                  552.163
1time.co.za                  2,464,151

Our organic traffic is now more than 6000 unique visitors per day.

Do not change forex into local Zimbabwe currency as you will get the official bank rate of exchange, which bears no relation to the reality of the cost of goods in Zim, and you will then find everything that they pay in Zim Dollars VERY expensive!

Take forex cash (USD is best, but they can also use Rand, UK pounds and Euro to a lesser extent)

You MUST produce the original bank letter that you are given at time of purchasing your travellers cheques in your home country, or the Zim banks will NOT exchange travellers cheques. Travellers cheques are also not accepted widely at restaurants etc, so rather avoid them if possible.

Mastercard, diners and Amex are no longer accepted in Zim. The only credit card that is sometimes still taken is Visa. HOWEVER, if you pay by visa credit card, again the bank official exchange rate will be used when the bank calculates the rate to be charged to their card in their home currency. It makes everything very expensive indeed...

So book and prepay as much as possible in advance (hotels, transfers, and excursions). Large USD bills are also not accepted everywhere, so USD 50 or smaller are the best denominations to carry.

From UTC in Joburg.

WoOoOo!! :)

I've just completed my first music video, Go Against Us by Trusenz (on the Pioneer Unit label) and I have the pleasure to request your company for the world premiere viewing at the Design Indaba Expo at the CTICC in Cape Town.



The video (that I directed, designed, animated and produced) will be shown at the Film & Fashion show at the following times:

- Friday 23 February @ 17h00 (World Premiere!!)
- Saturday 24 February @ 11h10
- Sunday 25 February @ 14h50

The Day Pass is R40. More information available at the Design Indaba Expo site.

Hope to see you there! :)

PS: Thank you Stephan, we're all enjoying immensely the conference!!!! :)

There´s a nice little piece about Travelstart and our service in the latest Femina.
Check it out.

Top airlines with Travelstart according to number of passengers are:

Nationwide
South African
Kulula
BA
Mango
1time
KLM
Virgin
Swiss
Air France

Way to go Nationwide.

Nationwide has a interesting concept. They have a low cost operation, they have low fares, not the lowest, but a better serviceconcept than it´s low low cost rivals.
I think if you want to be competitive then having a low cost base is your entry level to be part of the game.
Serving peanuts is not a competitive advantage even though some european carriers still believs that the magic lies in the little shiny package that is handed out instead of food.
Nationwide is the jetblue of South Africa and I look forward to see them expand their serviceconcept while still having competitive fares.

This is Anand.
He joined us a month ago and is project manager for our global affiliate marketing project.
Anand was previously with forwardslash in Cape Town.
He does martial arts and rumours has it that he has a white pair of jeans that are see through... The ladies at the office are still waiting to see them on.

Here is our first published top ten destination list based on what people booked on Travelstart in January

Cape Town
Johannesburg
Durban
Port Elizabeth
London
George
East London
Nelspruit
Amsterdam
Frankfurt

Our very first newsletter went out on the 14th of Feb. We had a few minor hitches getting it out but that didn't damped our excitement at seeing it arrive in our inboxes.

We will be sending them out twice a month. If you'd like to get your very own newsletter packed with travel ideas and airline and hotel prices, simply click the 'newsletter subscription' link at the bottom of every page.

I love the NT Cutter.

It's deceptively simple, to the point that you don't even think about its design. However, every detail has been considered and optimised.

Forget the iPod, this is industrial design at its best - no fuss, elegant, cheap and simple.

It's easy to change blades without needing tools (like you do with a Stanley knife). The blades are scored into small sections that can be snapped off regularly to keep the blade sharp (another deficiency with the Stanley knife). The instructions come in Japanese too - how cool is that! :)

At Travelstart's user experience lab we spend most of our time obsessing over every detail of the way people interact with our systems and information. If we do our job well, no one notices our work - which is just how it should be.