The Internet can provide a great wealth of information to us about destinations around the globe. All you need to do is log onto any travel oriented website to find reviews, photos, videos, guides and advice all at your finger tips. But is this preconceived knowledge ruining the excitement of travel in the 21^st century? We seem to be so caught up in having a good holiday that we are forget the best experiences and surprises can happen when we least expect it.

Many people I talk to speak of “the surprising delight factor”. These can best be described as unexpected events which enhance your overall holiday experience. This could be visiting a city while a festival or a movie premier is in town, or seeing a natural event such a volcano erupting or a meteor shower. These events can really make holidays and leave you feeling like you have got real value from your trip because you saw something special that people generally do not see. I wonder if we did not plan our visits so severely or do so much research beforehand, could we encounter more “surprising delight factors”?

Well in theory yes. Most holiday destinations have many things to see and do all year round so there is a good chance of turning up and there being an event you did not predict, but going on holiday unprepared is certainly not in the mindset of most holiday makers. Holiday makers generally plan their trips around what is going on at the destination or the time of the year. Our lifestyles are probably to blame because the average family will only go on one major holiday a year due to school holidays, budgets and time constraints, and therefore getting the one escape right is rather crucial.

I think backpackers are the most likely to encounter the “surprising delight factor” because they tend to travel on whims, change directions and be more spontaneous. They travel with a more liberal mindset and tend not to do so much planning in advance which is why it can be such a rewarding to travel. When I was travelling the world as a backpacker I encountered a traditional Japanese wedding while visiting a shrine in Tokyo, and saw baby koalas in Sydney Zoo and felt I had experienced a “surprising delight factor” of my own.

Perhaps in the future holidays will become redundant as our technological experiences become richer and more life like. Why would someone need to visit the rainforest or Niagara Falls if they could sample the sights, smells and signs online from their living room via the Internet. It is unclear how technology will shape travel in the future and the impact the web will ultimately have, but for now I suggest travelling the open road and taking each experience as it comes. Let me know what you think the future holds.

Do you ever stand at the luggage reclaim conveyor belt and pray that your bag has not been lost in that void somewhere between check in desk and your airplane? Well if so you are not alone and light is at the end of the tunnel. Could microchips in the luggage labels be the answer?

As a backpacker you rely on the items you carry in your bag as they are the bare necessities you need to keep yourself dressed, clean and generally presentable for the period of time you are away. Being so dependent on these things highlights the tragedy it would be if your backpack was to go missing at an airport during one of the many flights you may take on your journey. Unfortunately lost luggage is far from uncommon as the Bureau of Transportation Statistics estimated that between May and July 2007 over a million items of luggage were either lost or damaged in the USA alone, which would make anybody a little unsettled throughout the flight.

However, a solution is being tested in airports across the US, Kuala Lumpur, Japan and Beijing. Instead of using bar code systems which rely on directly aligned lasers reading bar codes and filtering the bags towards aircrafts, minute RFID chips are placed in the luggage tags. These RFID tags can be picked up and read by an antenna from several feet away, and unlike bar codes, the readings are not obscured by dust or other luggage. This has lead to a much more reliable system of routing bags to the correct destination. In fact, with the tags being read when routed to the aircraft, when being put on the aircraft and when being unloaded at the destination, lost luggage can be tracked precisely and flawlessly.

Although trials have proved successful for this new method, the price of implementing these RFID tags is greater than the bar code alternative. As RFIDs have many more uses than luggage labelling, mass production will see prices fall per unit in years to come. The implementation of a system such as this would also mean a total upgrade of the systems currently in place at many airports around the world. Despite this being worth the investment, it would still an enormous project.

Until then you can purchase your own luggage tracking units from independent manufacturers if you do worry excessively about your baggage, or take your chances and hope that your luggage does not enter that forgotten baggage grave yard lying beyond the desks at check in.

My previous post got me thinking about the possibilities of commercial space flights and space tourism. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to enter orbit for either the experience and/or to travel to the other side of the world in a fraction of the time. Well the Virgin group headed by Richard Branson could make this possible by 2012.

Initially the space craft will be limited to a six person cabin, and will only fly from California and then later from a spaceport New Mexico. The 2.5 hour space flight has caught many eyes with 65,000 people showing interest despite the $200,000 price tag, but clearly there is still a long way to go before it will have benefits other than being pretty cool.

This all seems well and good but it has been met with different reactions. The biggest issue underpinning the concept is safety. Many people, including myself to an extent, would be apprehensive in taking a trip into space. Virgin Galactic’s answer is a mandatory 3 day training session at the spaceport to get used to the gravity difference and to ensure that people can make the most of the experience. This could be quite annoying for holiday makers wanting a last minute escape to Australia, but on the plus side I would imagine this training/briefing would only have to be undergone once. Medical checks on the other hand could be necessary for each take off.

So what will this do for the future of air travel? Clearly this is not affordable for the average person but if competition emerges and prices fall, space tourism would be a welcome reality to reduce lengthy flight times. I think it is a definite possibility that by 2020 we could see spacecraft which will take hundreds of passengers into orbit much like the planes of today. Virgin aims to make the possibilities of space travel available globally and are looking to build spaceports around the world. I don’t think this will spell the end for traditional long haul flights just yet because to make space trips affordable will take time and probably competition from another provider. Watch this “space”.

More info at http://www.virgingalactic.com/