That's In-flight Entertainment
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday December 16, 2000
Passengers know what they like - and they like in-flight entertainment. According to Traveltrade magazine, airlines say their engineers spend more time keeping in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems fully operational than they do on aircraft maintenance. Airline expenditure on in-flight entertainment and communications has rocketed in the past decade, from $US400 million ($720 million) in 1992 to $US2,200 million this year. The leading IFE airlines are Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Cathay Pacific.
If you haven't flown overseas recently, things have moved on from the days when in-flight entertainment meant fixing your eyes on a bulkhead screen and trying to follow a film's action as other passengers blocked your view and the sound faded in and out on the headphones.
Many airlines today offer seatback video systems and allow passengers to choose from dozens of audio and video programs as well as online services. Children can access computer games; their parents can check the share prices. Next year, Boeing is introducing a Connexion system in the US that will offer "real-time" sports coverage, online shopping, Internet access and live television.
While in-flight phones have not been widely embraced, passengers in all classes love the wider choice of films. According to Traveltrade, American research shows that "very few businesspeople work on flights. Just like everyone else on board, they are wired to the plane's IFE system."
Developments in IFE technology are likely to include inflight ATMs and currency exchange and "smart card" technologies at the seat.
Going batty
Australian attention focused on the Blue Mountains, which was added to the list of World Heritage sites this month. But another park not so very far away was accorded similar status by the World Heritage Committee at its meeting in Cairns.
Gunung Mulu National Park, in the Malaysian State of Sarawak on the island of Borneo, was also listed. The 544-square-kilometre park has some 3,500 species of vascular plants, including 109 species of palm. It also contains the Gunung Mulu Mountain, a 2,377-metre high pinnacle that is said to be the most cavernous in the world. Its 295 kilometres of explored caves are home to millions of swiftlets and bats. It aso boasts the largest known cave in the world, the Sarawak Chamber.
The park is situated about 100 kilometres east of the northern Sarawak town of Miri. Malaysia Airlines flies Twin Otters from Miri to the regional airport at Mulu several times each day.
The entrance to the national park has backpacker accommodation, and the nearby Royal Mulu Resort will appeal to those with five-star tastes and budgets.
Let's do lunch
It's a long trek to South Australia, but the Barossa Vintage Festival 2001 is promising music, food and wines that might well justify packing the family into the car for an Easter pilgrimage (April 16-22).
Take your pick from varietal masterclasses (shiraz, riesling, cabernet and grenache, semillon), vineyard tours, the Penfolds Barossa rare wine auction or special dinners and lunches ranging from a "Fire, Feast and Ferment" blowout at Wolf Blass Wines to a long lunch at Peter Lehmann wines, enjoying tales of the Barossa over regional food prepared by Mark McNamara.
The program includes classical and jazz music evenings, harvest markets, picnics and much more, laid on by some of the most hospitable countryfolk you could meet. To order your copy of the program, phone the festival office on (08) 8563 0600 or 1800 812 662, or email info@barossa-region.org
- Tony Kleu
Open day
The new Changi prison museum will open officially in Singapore on February 15, the anniversary of the day in 1942 that Singapore fell to the Japanese.
Until August, the museum and chapel were huddled below the forbidding ramparts of the current prison. Its expansion meant that the museum and chapel had to move along Upper Changi Road North.
The new, larger museum will display a larger selection of POW memorabilia, including pen sketches (pictured at top), photographs, letters and items such as a hand drill used for making pipe stems. The chapel, built in 1988 by former Changi prison inmates, has been relocated to the new site. Former POWs and their relatives often tuck notes, flowers and other mementos into the chapel's palm-frond walls.
More than 50,000 civilians and soldiers were held at Changi, the most notorious prison run by the Japanese during the war. The site will be open daily from 10 am to
5 pm. Admission is free (except for guided tours).
Harbour delights
Guests who book a weekday
Escape package at Pier One Sydney Harbour will be able to enjoy a complimentary 90-minute harbour cruise on the hotel's own 60ft luxury yacht (pictured below). Escape packages at the hotel, which is in a Federation-era wharf at Walsh Bay, start at $235 a room a night throughout January. That price includes accommodation, breakfast and a yacht cruise for two guests.
Details and reservations: phone 8298 9999.
Voucher for it
The increasing desire of Australian travellers to pay in advance and hedge against further falls by our dollar is reflected in the 2001-2002 British Airways Holidays brochure for Britain, Ireland and Europe. Sightseeing tours and passes to various attractions can be paid for at this end, as can accommodation, car hire and rail passes.
The "Go As You Please" accommodation passes for Britain use a prepaid voucher scheme. Travellers can choose from B&Bs, hotels, inns or "mansions and manors", then purchase the required number of vouchers before they leave these shores. When in Britain, they can simply book a particular property a night or two in advance, and hand over one voucher per person per night. The vouchers are valid for one year.
The brochure is available from British Airways Holidays on 89048810.
B&B dreams
Do you ever dream of running your own B&B, playing mine host to a stream of charming and appreciative guests? The reality will be somewhat different, says Stewart White, the author of Bed & Breakfast in Australia - A Practical Guide for Owners (published by Market Probe Australia, $45). White operates a B&B and also runs TAFE and community college courses in owning and operating a B&B.
The book is strong on statistics. (although 95 per cent of Australians like a cooked breakfast, 94 per cent rarely eat them - except, that is, when they're on holiday.) It is also strong on practical advice: testing whether you are temperamentally suited to the job; planning, converting or building your B&B; marketing it appropriately; and, of course, serving the perfect breakfast. There's a list of helpful contacts at the back, too.
The book is available from mainstream bookstores or by phoning 4382 3685.
Now it's maps
Lonely Planet, the company that seems to launch new travel titles every day, has brought out yet another series. This time the Melbourne-based publisher has turned its attention to the road atlas market. The first three
titles are in the shops - Australia; Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia; and Southern Africa (each $19.63).
The maps are clear and attractive. The softcover format is smaller than the traditional road atlas, but just right for a glovebox or backpack pocket. (The title has been developed with the driver, pedaller and passenger in mind.)
Lonely Planet published its first title - Tony Wheeler's Across Asia on the Cheap - in 1973, and has hardly looked back since. With more than 560 titles currently on offer, it is the world's largest independent travel publisher.
Lost for words
Meanwhile, two new editions have joined the Lonely Planet rack of foreign language phrasebooks. The Greek and Indonesian phrasebooks are comprehensive, reliable and compact. Nevertheless, they are capable of raising a smile - and never more so than in the sections devoted to "Dating and Romance".
In just seven pages (Page 101 to 108, to be precise), the Greek phrasebook sums up an entire holiday romance - from "Can I sit here?" and "Do I know you from somewhere?" (not likely, I would have thought, when one person has his/her head stuck in a phrasebook) right through to "I want you", "Don't stop" and "Do you want a cigarette?" and then, tragically, "I don't think we're compatible" and "I want to stay friends". (It's not until Page 206 that you'll find a translation for "I have a migraine" and by then it might be too late.)
But there's much more: brief lessons on pronunciation and grammar, food, shopping, social issues, beaching and etiquette.
Just one question: why is there a women's health section, in which females can find translations for everything from pregnancy to cystitis and thrush, but no equivalent ailments for men? It seems unfair.
The phrasebooks cost $9.95 each.
© 2000 Sydney Morning Herald
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