Sidenotes: Facts and Thoughts Beyond Travel

If you are a data junky like us, you will certainly appreciate the fresh Global Digital Traveler Research 2017 by Travelport, based on interviews with 11,000 travelers from 19 countries worldwide. Here’s a snapshot of the key findings.

Key Findings of the Global Digital Traveler Research – Infographic by Travelport

Taking a closer look, we were particularly impressed with the following results:

– 60% said they would be lost without their smartphone, but 43% would switch off all devices (so, at least 3% is already lost and where are the moderates here?)
– 68% of Indonesian travelers book their trip on a mobile device (jeez, really?)
– 63% of senior travelers (those over 55) “know exactly what they want” when researching a trip (the wisdom of age… yeah sure, but how sad is that?)

Anyway, the report also includes a list of the most digitally-dependent countries and the top ten are not exactly the ones you would expect. In fact, the ranking looks like this: 1) India, 2) China, 3) Indonesia, 4) Brazil, 5) Saudi Arabia, 6) Mexico, 7) South Africa, 8) United Arab Emirates, 9) Colombia, 10) Italy.

To find out more, download Travelport’s Global Digital Traveler Research.

Want to travel the world without leaving home? Here’s your chance (kinda). Google has partnered with Discovery VR to launch Discovery TRVLR, a 38-episode immersive series which promises to take you “in every corner of the globe across all seven continents”, starting from Auckland, New Zealand.

How can you go wrong here, at least as a tourist? There’s no doubt you’ll save precious time and money compared to a real life, pre-packaged tour.

Find all episodes of Discovery TRVLR on YouTube or the Discovery VR app. They can be comfortably experienced in VR with the new Google Daydream View headset as well as with Cardboard, Samsung Gear VR, and Oculus Rift.

This year again we will take part in l’Alternativa, an Independent Film Festival held in Barcelona, Spain (or is it the self-proclaimed Republic of Catalonia?). A whole week to enjoy the screening of more than 200 movies from around the world and engage in various activities, including debates and workshops.

Cinema is a reflection of our society and helps us to ponder the crises that we live in. Based on this idea, most of the movies selected for the 24th edition of Barcelona’s Independent Film Festival deal with topics such as human rights, personal freedom, and overcoming borders. Save the date: Nov 13-19, 2017.

Thanks to the popular TV show Game of Thrones, whose winter scenes mostly take place in Iceland, the country has welcomed 1.8 M foreign visitors in 2016, up 40% from 2015, and is expected to reach 2.4 M by the end of this year.

Brand Finance, that annually reveals the world’s most valuable nation brands, considers Iceland the best performer in 2017 and sums it up with an auspicious “money is coming”. There can’t be over tourism with all that space, eh? Hmm…

In case you are wondering, in the ranking, led by the US and closed by Cyprus, the worst performing nation brand is Uzbekistan. Now you decide where to go for the next holidays… The full report “Nation Brands 2017” is available here.

An acclaimed film director (Agnes Varda) and a young, brilliant photographer (JR) travel around rural France with no fixed plan in mind. To guide them is the power of images, which in this case serve to preserve the memory of the places.

Faces Places is an inspiring documentary/road movie of rare tenderness and gentle irony. The unusual couple works perfectly even though she’s losing sight and he always wears sunglasses like J. L. Godard. Past and future shake hands.