September madness

I usually hate planning to this much detail when travelling, especially in developing countries. But the main trips are booked out so far in advance, there wasn't much choice with only a month off work. So after months of planning, the South American itinerary (should really do this for a living), currently looks like this:

London -> Miami -> Lima, Peru (1 night)

Lima -> Cusco

3 days Cusco

4 days Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

5 hours sleep (in a bed hopefully)...

Cusco -> Lima, Lima -> Quito, Ecuador

4 days Amazon rainforest: Quito -> Coca -> Yasuni (& back again)

1 night back in Quito/travel to Guayaquil -> Galapagos

8 days Galapagos islands -> Quito, then

6 days Latacunga -> Quilotoa -> Latacunga -> Riobamba -> Alausi -> Quito -> Otavelo for the big Saturday market to stock up on presents day before flying home and going in to work the day after.

I had to give up Colombia.

(and Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Chile this trip)

Domestic flights and accommodation haven't been booked yet. If anyone has any advice or recommendations from previous experience for any of the above, especially for surviving the Inca Trial and Amazon, bug repellent, sleep deprivation, physical exhaustion, fast recovery, would be muchísimo appreciated! 

I challenge any sane person to be envious right now. Days of just travelling, never camped before let alone at 2000-4000m, not that fit, don't like bugs, recently developed fear of flying, the idea of being out on the open sea for 8 days worries me slightly, even if it is on a yacht what with tsunami warnings earlier this year, not being a good swimmer, sharks...

Going to be a fun trip :)

Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism by Natasha Walter

It has been a while since my last Blogspot entry, not least because I have been busy setting up my main website livonyeow.com (a work still in progress), and haven't yet figured out how to incorporate the two together.


This entry is a book review which I posted on Amazon and has received good feedback so far.

"I had a mixed reaction whilst reading this book. As a 20-something female who was born and grew up in London, I have both personally experienced and witnessed some of the changes over the past decade from when I was in (a single sex) secondary school to the things my younger sister tells me goes on now (we went to the same school). For example, first time sexual experiences brought down from age 15/16 to 12. The increasing number of young girls who aspire to be models and put the greatest emphasis on outward appearance (breast enhancements, etc.) and securing 'rich guys' - something I also witnessed in South Africa (5 year olds with highlights too!), rather than challenging themselves to advance in careers they may otherwise be good at. 

Now I'm not really one to criticise as I was indeed one of these girls out in tiny skirts clubbing in the middle of winter at 16 - a phase which lasted about a year. I took the higher education route, and even had a brief stint doing modelling test shoots, but at the same time I've always had an interest in politics, ambitions to pursue a successful marketing career, and one day own my own Tourism business (with Travel and Wildlife photography work on the side). I therefore find some of Natasha Walter's critique a little simplistic. 

A topic which is most upsetting to me today is the belief, as discussed by Natasha Walter, that women in authoritative positions are perceived in a certain, often negative way. Hillary Clinton for example. For those who followed the US presidential candidate and presidential race, many were appalled by the sexual innuendos attached to Sarah Palin and the insults directed Mrs Clinton's way. In fact I think women in London are being particularly affected by this. You only have to experience rush hour to see that its most often the women who have the least manners and feel they have to act aggressively to get ahead. 

I bought this book after seeing a review in Stylist magazine (in rush hour funnily enough). Although I agree with a lot of the argument put forth in the book - reporting good science as one example, it also occurred to me that women and the media are primarily responsible for this backward trend. What also occurred to me whilst reading Living Dolls was that having spoken friends and other women in their 30s, many have made the choice to forgo successful careers for 'more meaningful options' be it raising a family or pursuing low-paid passions - which they are often able to do because they have partners in well-paid jobs for support. Having also spoken to men, it surprised me that many would be only too happy to relinquish breadwinning pressures and in fact, be stay-at-home dads. 

What seems to upset men with regards to feminism from personal observation is that they think women today get to 'have it all' if they want whereas they still feel society's pressure to conform to male stereotypes, i.e. apparently its much 'easier for women' crossing boundaries if they so wish. Therefore I don't feel that all the arguments put forth in this book are necessarily valid, which leads me to the topic of Biological Determinism. 

The topic of biological determinism and the nature vs. nurture debate has been of great interest to me since studying A Level Psychology and I found this text particularly interesting with regard to this. Its definitely made me think twice about reinforcing certain gender-based behaviours and interests if or when I eventually have children of my own. 

The next decade should be an interesting one."

Virgin Atlantic follow up

Check out the comment I received in response to my last blog entry, which I posted a link to on Virgin Atlantic's Facebook fan page.  Hey, maybe the next time I fly with them I'll have mayo rather than mustard sandwiches! Here's hoping :)

Greg Hamling is based in Virgin Atlantic's Gatwick office and is assigned to help with general enquiries about the company's flights and/or services.

New Virgin fan alert

*VIRGIN ATLANTIC*

I recently booked a flight with Virgin Atlantic for my first trip to the USA - London to Los Angeles. Even though it was slightly pricier than other airlines - Delta, and Continental for example, I booked with them for a number of reasons:

1) The return flight only cost £30 more than an indirect, and therefore more inconvenient and time-consuming flight. Personally however, I probably wouldn't have spent much on a direct flight so its a thumbs up here to VA's pricing strategy.
2) High-profile incidents in the news about both american airlines Delta, and Continental, i.e. Virgin's so-far-so-good safety record
3) Word of Mouth recommendation of Virgin airlines from my cousin's blog, albeit that was a flight from LA to Melbourne
4) Overall brand reputation.

As the below quote indicates, this view is backed up by other research:

'The online reputation index claimed Ryanair was the worst performing UK operator with a score of (-62%). Virgin Atlantic was the only airline to come out with a positive score (33%), followed by BMI (-12%), British Airways (-21%) and EasyJet (-23%).' - UTalkMarketing Editor, Clark Turner.

There's nothing better than when a service meets or even exceeds expectations. Personal highlights included the following:

1) A huge selection of movies - I had a whole list I wanted to get through and didn't manage it.

2) I didn't submit a meal request (no beef) when I booked the flight or even 24 hours before as you're supposed to. On my trip to LA I was given the most amazing sweet chilli prawn and rice dish from a higher class (although I did have to wait and see what was left as I left the request until after they'd actually started serving!). On my trip back to London, I informed an attendant just before they started serving and actually got a chicken dish delivered to me before they started serving the whole of Economy class - I was finished by the time they got to me! Of course I found this particularly amusing. BIG thumbs up.

3) All food and beverages were great. Beverages were also served frequently and water was easily available at water points - I'm also a fan of a little blue cone-shaped plastic cups.

4) The little airline pouch - I'm a big fan of these.

5) The outbound flight was delayed but we made up most of the time. The return flight back to London was early.

6) No problems with baggage check-in (even though I was a few kilos over coming back to London) and reclaim.

7) Baggage check-in staff and plane attendants were really friendly and helpful. This is supposed to be a given but even this often can't be taken for granted anymore - if I had to name names, I talk about the reputations of Alitalia and Air Canada in particular, even though I've never flown with them. You may be surprised to know that Virgin flight attendants' wages are amongst some of the lowest in the industry and compared to airlines such as BA therefore you know that, 1 - they really want to be there, and 2 - they're recruited well.

All of the above points served to reinforce my opinion of the Virgin brand as a whole and in particular Virgin's travel services. A man I was sitting next to who dealt in antiques and is well travelled on this route also told me matter-of-factly that Virgin Atlantic is the best London to LA carrier and he wouldn't consider flying with anyone else.

Now if I had to be really picky, there are a few things which I believe could be improved upon, because let's face it, nothings ever perfect enough! Here's my very short and even, generic list:

1) Movies could be slightly more up-to-date. On Malaysian Airlines for example, I've always gotten to see things which haven't yet been released in the UK. This is therefore a novelty for me. However I doubt I will be booking MA anytime soon as their direct flight prices are almost extortionate.

2) Both chicken sandwich and wrap on the flight from London to LA had mustard in them! I hate mustard...why can't people just stick to good old mayo! I therefore had to kind of starve for 2 of the 3 meals as the vegetarian option wasn't much better.

3) Air cabin temperature was a bit on the warm side. You really do need to wear a T-shirt on the flights or face having jumpers, jackets, and the airline blanket on top of you for 10/11 hours.

4) The usual one - a little more leg space for when the person in front puts down their chair. I'm small and I still end up getting trapped. I flew American Airlines from LA to San Francisco whilst I was out there and even though my initial outbound flight was cancelled the seats were a really good size with lots of leg space - no doubt for the average American 'size'.

If the above four points could somehow be actioned by Virgin Atlantic, their service would be perfect...at least for moi. Even so, alongside South African Airways, Virgin Atlantic now rates as one of my favourite airlines and I will definitely be flying with them again in future.

As an end note, I suspect Singapore Airlines would also live up to its reputation and be included in my top-rated list. Now I only need to plan a trip in order to write a review on Singapore Airlines!!! Hmm, now I wonder if they'd consider sponsoring a flight to SE-Asia for me...

My new website

*NEWS*

My new photography-based website is up and running.
Check it out at http://www.livonyeow.com

My first entry dated 20th March titled 'Munchies', is dedicated to one of my favourite topics - FOOD, on my recent trip to California.

It is still a work in progress.
Please feel free to post comments or share your thoughts on it.

Livon :)

Moral Thermostats

*Moral Self-Regulation*

I came across an interesting article in Marketing Week (dated 14.01.10) by Richard Madden on the subject of Moral Self-Regulation.

The basic premise behind the concept of moral self-regulation is that when consumers, or rather human beings do something morally good in one area of their daily activities, they then feel ‘entitled’ to do something more selfish as a way of 'balancing' this act out. One of the examples Madden gives is that of a research study involving charitable church-goers; whereby a change in the local tax regime made giving to charities more advantageous. Imagine what then happened. The value of donations went up, and the frequency of church-going decreased. Take another example of a study that found those who have a higher sense of self-worth feel more ‘entitled’ to choose the route of maximum profit in a choice between profit and environmental responsibility. Those who felt a sense of being sinful tended to make the altruistic decision. Fascinating.

‘Trading off’ is something we all do to some extent on a daily basis. Just think about those individuals who ‘treat’ themselves to an extra slice of cheesecake, and then ‘compensate’ at the gym (or at the very least in their heads). Back when I used to me more disciplined (between the ages of 14 and 18 funnily enough), a meal at Maccy D’s or pizza used to equal an extra 50 sit-ups that evening. That was my way of making junk food ok. I wish I had that kind of discipline nearly 8 years later. So in a way this trading off can be a good thing, but then again it can also burden one with a constant stream of guilt, which needless to say can lead to a whole fountain of other problems – OCD, food complexes, various disorders, depression and the like. So the question seems to be, what is most beneficial?

Now, just imagine what the world would be like if people didn’t possess such moral thermostats to regulate their behaviour. On the one hand we have criminals, and on the other we have those devoted full-time to helping others with no thought of either moral or financial reward for themselves.

The implication of moral self-regulation from a Marketing POV? Madden proposes selling sin in the parish newsletter, and virtue immediately after a transgression. Now, there’s food for thought.

Product Placement: The Twilight Saga - New Moon

*Marketing strategy: Movie Product Placement*

I'm a new Twilight saga fan. I've been to see New Moon three times in the course of about 10 days (although one viewing doesn't really count as the screen kept freezing so I got a free second round ticket from Vue).

We all know about the most famous product placement example, i.e. 007 -the James Bond franchise. I've compiled a list in my head of all the product placement picked up on on my first visit to the New Moon movie, further reinforced by the following two times. I have a good memory and as an International Marketing student I became increasingly aware of this branding/product strategy throughouyt my four years of study. I have to say that it sometimes detracts slightly from movies and US TV shows for me these days, knowing the covert way such a strategy is designed to get into a viewer's mindset.

So, without much ado in order of appearance (to my knowledge):

1. SONY - pink, automatic digital camera, possible 10.1MP (which Bella receives for her 18th birthday from her dad)

2. VOLVO - initially mentioned in the Stephanie Meyer books as the Cullens family car (used to blend in with normal humans - or rather, 'pale faces'). Of course, the films must stay true to the books! Volvo probably regard this as a marketing coup. It may also be effective as part of any brand/product re-positioning strategy.

3. CANON - black, photo printer (which Bella uses to print part pics)

4. APPLE mac laptop - black (used for emails). No surprise here; Apple pretty much dominate the entire US (teen) market, e.g. pushed heavily in The O.C. and countless other US series' and movies

5. VIRGIN Atlantic - plane trip from USA to Italy (which Bella and Alice take) - visual optimised by light and clouds.

6. PORSCHE 911 - this is actually in the book - an idea for writers to obtain funds? Sounds terrible! But then again, who doesn't want a 911, especially in canary yellow, of which there are only 2 in the world. Reinforcement at work here.

7. TUSCANY, Italy - tranquil landscape shots maximise the view of the place as an idea holiday destination for some. May I suggest the older viewer segments 30+, couples, and the retired?

As you can probably tell, I pay a lot of attention to detail, BUT...
I wonder if there's anything I missed from this list?
I wonder also what was left out of the final cut.
I also wouldn't be surprised if future movies in this franchise were almost entirely sponsored by big brands.