Heard about the Ryanair Romeo?
Now for a truly modern love story… When Irishman, Jamie Kelly, met his dream girl on a flight from Barcelona to Dublin, but managed to get separated from her at customs before getting her phone number, he turned to Twitter to track her down. Dubbed the ‘Ryanair Romeo’, Jamie went on a mission to be reunited with the girl he knew only has ‘Katie from Nova Scotia’. He rounded up his friends to launch a #loveatfirstflight #findkatie Twitter campaign. Worthy of your classic romcom storyline, the pair overcame this ‘hiccup’ when one of Katie’s family members stumbled upon the campaign and they are planning to be reunited soon. Here’s hoping for #happilyeverafter.
Google maps has struck gold again! In a collaboration with Constantine Valhouli – real estate developer and the man behind the NYC Music Map – comes the Early NYC Place Names, a new interactive map which will allow tourists and locals alike to explore the etymology behind the names of New York’s neighbourhoods, streets and parks.
This app allows its users to juxtapose the names of areas now against the names the Native Americans, Dutch colonisers and English colonisers gave them. What’s in a name? Well, in today’s real estate market it seems, quite a lot!It’s clear we’re moving towards a time of ‘wearable’ technology. As we become more reliant on technology in our everyday lives, the race to make life easier for travellers has begun. French train ticket booking operator, Capitaine Train, recently released an app for Android Wear technology. The smartwatch app notifies users 20 minutes prior to departure and displays all the relevant information required. Seat numbers and the e-ticket barcode are also shown via the app. However, users are not able to purchase tickets using their watch – this must be on the cards as the next technological advancement?
Taxi company Uber is set to launch a new service ‘UberPool‘. This service allows strangers, who are going to similar destinations, to share a ride and split the cost between them. UberPool works like the regular Uber service however; it pairs users up with another rider and lets them know the first name of the person they will be riding with. The taxi company has said that the new service is a ‘bold social experiment’ and is interested to find out about the interaction between riders. Uber is currently present in over 150 cities across 42 countries, the new UberPool service is perfect for travelling around cities making exploring fun and cheap. UberPool is set to be widely available by 15 August.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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