I'm a web designer, travel marketer and long term wanderer, on the road since 2003. Check out my
Walking Men 99 is a public art installation featuring pedestrian traffic light walking men from around the world. The work can be found at Church Street, Park Place and Barclay Street, near the WTC construction site in Downtown Manhattan.
Flight Review: Iceland Express – New York – Reykjavik – London
[Ed Force One - Iceland Express with Iron Maiden livery at Keflavik Airport]
Cheap flights to Iceland and flying with a rock star pilot
Iceland have two airlines that operate internationally from Keflavík (near Reykjavik): the full service airline Icelandair, and low cost airline Iceland Express. I booked with Iceland express purely on price. While Icelandair have a frequent Flyer program, it’s not part of an alliance so it is useless for those not from Iceland.
Iceland Express fly to destinations in Europe and North America, so it is possible to include Iceland as a Transatlantic stopover. If you book in advance this may be the cheapest flight between New York and London, and you get the bonus of visiting Iceland while you’re at it. Flight segments can be booked on the same ticket, connecting in Keflavík or, as I did, take a few days off in between flights.
Iceland Express
Iceland Express is based in Reykjavik but it is owned by Astraeus Airlines from Britain, thus your flight may say “operated by Astraeus”. As it is a budget airline there is no inflight entertainment or free meals. The flight times are short enough so these services aren’t missed.
Celebrity Pilot
This year Iceland Express have Bruce Dickinson as a pilot. Bruce who? I hear some of you ask. Bruce Dickinson also happens to be the lead singer for Iron Maiden. Don’t let that put you off though, as he is a licensed commercial airline pilot with years of experience, as well as being the Marketing Director for Astraeus.
[Bruce Dickinson circa 1983 (from An Evolutionary Study Of Bruce Dickinson’s Hair).]
My flight from New York to London was on Ed Force One, which is an Astraeus owned jet with Iron Maiden livery. When I saw I was going to be flying on this jet I was so excited. I thought it might have been the bands private jet, and I had visions of a jacuzzi, lounge chairs and whatever else goes on in private jets of rock stars. Sadly it was the usual 3×3 seat configuation and no backstage rider menu.
From Reykjavik to London Mr Dickinson was a passenger on the flight, commuting back home to England after flying the overnight flight from New York. If you didn’t know who he was you wouldn’t pick him for a rock star. With his trimmed hair and smart Iceland Express suit, he really does look like a pilot.
To see Bruce in uniform check out this travel Q&A with Bruce Dickinson by Lonely Planet’s Robert Reid.
Another Stopover Option
[Visit the Blue Lagoon]
If you have booked two connecting flights and there is a few hours in between flights it is possible to visit the famous Blue Lagoon, as it is only 20 minutes from the airport. There are special buses that run from the airport to the Blue Lagoon, so if you have time it sure beats sitting around in the terminal (with no wifi).
Flight Details
Flight: Iceland Express 5W 514 Date: 25 Aug 2011 From: Newark(EWR) To: Reykjavik (KEF)
Flight: Iceland Express 5W 511 Date: 30 Aug 2011 From: Reykjavik (KEF) To: London (LGW)
Walking the High Line – New York City
New York now has two walks in my good walks section (New York is that kind of place) with The High Line Park now added to my collection. While not as epic as the Broadway Walk, this walk is far more relaxing, with no traffic to contend with and a length of just one mile.
the High Line is a disused railway viaduct that runs along 10th Ave on the Lower West Side of Manhattan, between 30th st and Gansevoort St (near 12th St).
An easy walking path, with no bikes.
Parts of the walk feature the railway track that used to run along the line.
Walking above the traffic at W17th St.
The park features landscaped gardens of wildflowers and grasses that you might expect along a disused railway line, and there are plenty of resting benches along the way.
The highline ends, so soon – boo. Originally the High Line ran south to Clarkson St (about another 14 blocks), one street short of Houston St, but that was demolished. Thankfully such a large section of track was spared. The good news is that there are plans to extend it further north from 30th St.
Walking the length of Broadway, New York
New York’s Broadway is a road that runs the entire length of the island of Manhattan (and continues through to the Bronx). Everyone has heard of Broadway, but before I first visited New York I just assumed it was the name of the theatre district.
Ever since I discovered this geographic curiosity I have often thought about walking from top to bottom. When I was in Newport I casually told my hosts Kevin and Brigitte of my idea while we were pouring over the legendary New York Subway map. Far from thinking I was crazy, they thought is was a worthy challenge and wanted to come as well.
Being that it was summer we got started at 6am. It is already light at this time of year in New York and it was ideal walking weather.
We arrived at 210th St station to begin the walk. It turns out we should have started at 225th station as that is just next to the Broadway Bridge on the Bronx side of the river.
At 225th St on the Bronx side of the Broadway Bridge.
On the subway there was a man with a bum bag in walking shoes who didn’t look like he had any business getting the train to the Bronx at 5.45 in the morning. He got out with us and started walking down Broadway as well, so I am not alone in wanting to walk Broadway. A quick search on google shows plenty of other Broadway walkers out there. I wonder how many people a day do this walk?
The walk took 6 hours and 45 minutes, which included breakfast, lunch and coffee breaks along the way. We had no time limit on our walk so we could stop as often as we wanted. Our only rule was that we had to stay on Broadway, so any enticing shop off Broadway would have to be noted and visited some other time.
Before this walk I had never been higher than 130th St. Seeing the grand parks and buildings in the 200′s was unexpected for me and it was interesting to see such a varied cross section of neighborhoods across the island. Walking Broadway is a great way to experience Manhattan.
Walking Broadway Photo Gallery
Montmartre or Manhattan? Isham Park in Inwood.
Fort Tryon Park.
125th St Station.
Tom’s Restaurant (as seen on Seinfeld)
Grand apartment blocks of the Upper West Side (Ansonia Building).
Street piano project at Times Square.
The Flatiron building looks even flatter when you look straight down Broadway.
Broadway and Broome in SoHo.
Finishing up at Number 1 Broadway.
Central Park, New York NY – USA
Central Park as viewed from the Top Of The Rock (Rockefeller Center) New York – USA.
TBEX'10 Review – New York City
I was in New York on Jun 26/27 to attend the annual TBEX (Travel Blog Exchange) conference. I had heard much about the first one held in Chicago in 2009, so I knew I had to attend this one.
The event was attended by 300 travel bloggers and PR representatives. The friday night was a dedicated opening night party hosted by Weber Shandwick Travel & Lifestyle at the Omni Berkshire Place. The saturday and sunday were the conference days with a wide range of speakers and panel topics represented.
Gary Arndt of Everything Everywhere.
The highlight of TBEX
Reflecting on my notes I would have to say that I didn’t really learn anything I didn’t already know, or that I could have found out online, from the talks. That is beside the point. The greatest highlight for me was good old fashioned networking.
I got to meet so many people that I know from my online world. It was great to be part of such an interesting community of people, especially seeing that most of us don’t get to mingle with our work peers all that often.
I knew some people just from their online avatar. I have chatted with many people who were there online. I had met a few people previously, such as Jodi Ettenberg and Gary Arndt, who I met in Bangkok earlier this year. The blogger I have known the longest online is Johnny Jet, who was as friendly and likeable as he comes across in his newsletter. I first stumbled upon his site way back in the year 2000, which is an eternity in the online world.
Yours truly and Johnny Jet.
Tacos!
I love Mexican food, so I was happy to see that a taco truck was hired by Diamond PR. It actually turned out to be an inspired move, as it was the fastest way to clear out the convention room.
Taco Truck.
Best Networking Tool
I thought it was ironic that in a room full of tech savvy digital nomads, the most popular networking tool wasn’t an iPhone app but the humble paper business card. I recently had some made in Bangkok, not thinking I would ever be able to give them all away. I ended up getting through half of them.
Good old fashioned business cards.
TBEX’11
At the end of the event the location for TBEX’11 was announced. And the winner is…Vancouver. I am very happy about that as I have never been there, so this will be a good excuse to go.
Thoughts on TBEX
The old adage is true that time flies when you are having fun. Everyone I spoke to agreed that the weekend wasn’t long enough. I know it is usually most practical to have conferences on weekends so you can’t really make it any longer. I would though like to see some smaller panels on specific topics, as well as places to chat.
If you are a travel blogger/travel writer and are looking to improve your game and join a great community, then you should consider coming to Vancouver in 2011. Bring plenty of business cards.
Heading to New York and TBEX '10
My principal job as a web developer means that don’t need an office and I can work anywhere in the world. While I enjoy working my own hours, not wearing a tie or answering phones, most of my work related social interaction occurs online.
This week I will be hanging up my cloak of virtual anonymity and be meeting my travel blogging peers at the Travel Blog Exchange TBEX ’10 in New York City.
I don’t need an excuse to visit New York, so visiting for this much anticipated travel event is a great double.
I Am Not My Avatar
When I represent myself online I usually use my Nomadic Notes Avatar. I do this for 2 reasons:
1) Branding
2) I can’t be bothered keeping my face picture up to date across dozens of social media sites.
Nomadic Notes Avatar
That does mean though that when I go to industry events I usually have to introduce myself as “James Clark…Nomadic Notes”.
So if you are going to TBEX’ 10, this is what I look like. Look out for me and say hi. You may have to introduce yourself by your real name and your user name as well.
Yours truly, Laviating.
5th Avenue Subway, New York – USA
5th Avenue Subway, New York City – USA.
They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway
The neon lights on Times Square get bigger and brighter every year. Even public institutions like the police department and subway have flash neon banners to blend in with the look of the precinct.
[NYPD Broadway]
[NY Subway at Broadway]
New York City parking, New York – USA
Stacked parking system, New York City.
