Skyscanner Infographic

Skyscanner reached out and offered a great infographic on the difference between flying Pan Am (then) and Ryanair (now):

Via cheap flights specialists - Skyscanner.net | Grab the code to embed this on your site

How to Get Into Business Class on Your Mates

Many years ago, as I was carefully planning my honeymoon, Lady Luck appeared in the form of cheap business class flights with Singapore Airlines. It feels like a lifetime ago (well before my current days of enjoying one of the many perks of business travel that are the much revered business class flights) and at that point in our lives, bargain basement economy seats were all we knew.

We baulked at first for two reasons: one, because we were ignorant to the heaven-in-a-seat that is business class; and two, because even at their heavily discounted price, these seats were still not what we would have generally considered to be “cheap”.

Fortunately, as we were not overly excited by the idea of receiving bed linen and cutlery as wedding gifts (nor were we thrilled by the idea of wasting the full day in Myers that is required to successfully complete the registry trawl through their home wares section), we had set up a gift registry system with our travel agent that invited our wedding guests to contribute the money they might have put into a wishing well, into our honeymoon fund instead.

Thanks to this bit of foresight (and a bit of luck) we were able to splurge out, snap up those tickets and hence have our first taste of business class and our first experience flying with Singapore Airlines. These were both life-changing events (relatively speaking).

Flying business class is a massive eye-opener to the humble cattle-class traveller, so it’s not hard to understand why my life’s motto became, “once you go business, you never go back”. Well, at least you never willingly go back to economy and if you do have to, then you may shed a little tear as you board the plane and turn right (towards the arse-end of the plane), rather than left (towards that shining beacon of comfort and civilised flying up the front).

Flying Singapore Airlines was also a massive eye-opener. This airline is renowned for being the best in the business and they have bagged a heap of industry awards including Best Business Class Airline Seat at World Airline Awards, and Passengers Choice awards. They are hugely deserving of these accolades and they are my first choice of airline when it comes to holiday or business travel.

These days my business class bum is flown around the world courtesy of my obliging employer. For their generosity in providing business class flights in my budget I thank them dearly… and I also work that little bit harder to close the deal. For at the back of my mind is that niggling thought… the thought of potential budget-cuts reverting my flights to economy. Oh the horror!

Five Great Travel Apps for the iPad

One of the best reasons to get an ipad (as if you need to justify it) is for just how useful it is when you travel a lot. If you’re anything like me and move around a lot for business, but always found a laptop a bit too heavy to lug around then the iPad is a godsend. Light enough not to be noticed and powerful enough to handle any word office tasks you might need to do while en route, it also acts as an entertainment console and an e-reader all in one. But best of all are the apps designed specifically for travelling in this article we’ll look at the five best iPad apps for when you’re on the road:

AllSubway – A personal favourite this one, it does one job and does it well. Allsubway will bring up high quality and well laid out subway and underground maps for over 100 major cities across the planet. Not only does it allow you to browse these maps offline and in the underground or metro trains themselves it also stops you looking like a lost tourist with the traditional underground maps. Wonderful.

Kayak: Known as ‘the most popular iPad travel app’ for good reason. Kayak offers a one-stop-shop for seamless searches of hotels, flights and car rental deals. From within the app you can book your hotel room direct as well as following your flight’s status and organizing the itinerary of your trip.

XE – Regular travellers will know just how useful XE currency converter is when heading abroad. Again, XE have become the number one currency conversion place by doing one thing and doing it well. Their new currency conversion app carries on this quality and what’s more it’s free!

Weatherbug Elite – This app has saved me on countless occasions from going out with the wrong clothes or packing the wrong stuff in my suitcase. A decent and reliable weather app offering free and constantly updated weather forecasts.

iBooks – I took some convincing to read books on the iPad but when you factor in how much weight you save by having them all on one iPad and reading them electronically, it becomes a no-brainer for the regular traveller. Throw in Apple’s high quality software and an easy to use interface that offers both bookshelf and reader, as well as syncing your last page across all your ios devices and this is an indispensable piece of software.

Alex is a regular traveller and travel blogger. He would love to be reviewing hot and faraway exotic places but mostly ends up reviewing English B&B’s and Travelodge discount codes .