A Time of Magic

Although you might think that gift cards have been around forever in fact in their current form they’ve quite a recent innovation.

These days you can find a gift card just about everywhere from all the major retailers through to some quite small shops and that’s before you even consider the likes of phone cards. So many that I’m sure that just about everyone has received one at some time in their lives and, in case you’re wondering, there are collectors of the things too.

One big downside is that you can usually only use the card in the outlet that issues them which is more than a notional problem as people are finding out at the moment since the cards issued by retailers that have gone bankrupt can’t generally be used.

If you’re only staying in one place for a few days or even a week or two the sensible way to go is a hotel usually. If you’re planning on staying for a year or more then purchase or long term rental is the way to go.

What do you do if you’re in the middle ground between those two extremes?

Well, a whole new category of extended stay hotels is available in various locations around the world these days looking after exactly that market. Clearly in a very extended stay your needs will be different than they are if it’s an overnight deal and therefore the services and how they’re offered are quite different than is the case for the numerous hotels targeting the overnight and short stay market.

One of the things that I find myself checking out when I’ve been travelling a lot for a while is the quality and type of luggage that everyone else is running around with.

It’s the seasoned travellers that I try to check up on as those are the people that have been through all kinds of airports and finish up getting truly appropriate luggage for the job. I don’t really include backpackers in that as they’re generally one trip travellers rather than people who travel regularly from one year to the next. With them you’ll find all kinds of inappropriate straps and whatnot on their packs which are just asking for trouble going through the airport belts.

What you rarely see are seasoned travellers with softsided luggage. There are just way too many ways to get them ripped open that hard sided like Delsey luggage is the way to go. Why Delsey? Well, basically they’re Samsonite with a lower price tag and generally seem that little bit more rugged to me. Forget all about the designer labels as they’re for show and rarely for use (though as carry on baggage they’re generally the best around).

Won’t this cost more than a soft-side bag? Not really, when you consider that a hard sided case will last for quite a number of years whereas you’re sure to have to replace the soft bag on a regular basis.