I'm an Australian, based in the Washington, DC, area of the United States. I spend a lot of time there with Jasmine, Australia's best-known speedsolver of the Rubik's Cube. Prior to the US, Jasmine and I were based in London, UK. We have also lived previously in the United States and Australia.

I have worked for an Australian business rules and compliance company since 1999 in Australia, the US and the UK. I have also lectured in IT and Law related topics at King's College, London, and at The Australian National University.

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These are a few of my favourite links:
- Jasmine's site
- Jasmine's blog
- Mikal
- Daveydweeb
- Beth
- Lyn
- Doug
- Marissa
- Lisaloha
- David (Greenomics)
- Paul's Ramblings (music)

Hits since 1 Sep 2004

[/United Kingdom] permanent link

Flying in the UK

I was probably lucky to have just finished a few weeks of intensive travel (Belgium, the United States, Denmark) before the announcement a few days of a plot to attack aircraft flying between the United Kingdom and the United States. Jasmine and I were thinking of booking a leisure trip in a couple of weeks, but we may opt for a train trip, given the ongoing chaos and restrictions at British airports.

In addition to all the discussions about terrorism itself, there are some interesting threads appearing online about the implications of these events for the travel industry. For example, Seth Godin writes on his blog:

When you need an additional 90 minutes, can't bring your laptop (or even a book on some routes) and can't have a bottle of water, the calculus for most trips is fundamentally changed. Years ago, Tom Peters argued hard and long for the value of showing up, of being there in person, of establishing a face to face relationship with the person on the other side.

The prevalance of online video, constant skype connections and the multiple threads of data we get online, combined with the enormous overhead that flying now brings might just change the story for a long time to come.

The Times has also started to explore this idea in detail. For example, it ran articles on Saturday about the deserted duty-free stores which are suffering from hand luggage restrictions, flight cancellations and delays at security; about both airlines and travel insurers refusing to accept liability for expensive items like laptops and iPods which now must be checked as hold luggage under the current rules in the UK; and about the effect on business of being unable to work on planes and having to hand in mobile phones before security. The last-mentioned article quotes an estimate that the British economy will lose £3.2 million per hour as a result of current restrictions!