CEO of Flightfox here. We still absolutely use both technology and humans (that will always underpin our value prop), but we moved from the previous competitive crowdsourced model to a one-on-one model. The short story is that travel search benefits more from depth rather than breadth (at least at the expert level). With multiple travel hackers working at once, they can only invest $fee/n-hackers worth of time and there is a ton of overlap. With a single hacker, they receive all of the $fee and can dig deeper and deeper to uncover better results. The crowdsourced approach was definitely more interesting to consumers, but the results were inferior, especially on the customer service side. Now, we’re actually transitioning behind the scenes from a one-on-one to a collaborative model, which is bringing us new benefits, but requires more systemization.
Today, we target corporate travel, but we still work with individuals; you just need to click the Get Started button and we ask if you’re an individual after that. This pivot of sorts came from the fact we can deliver significantly more value to corporate customers (more customer value = more conversions, retention, referrals = better business & happier team). Consumer travelers typically only want the lowest price. If their “price to beat” is on a low-cost-carrier, we can rarely help. That becomes a dissatisfied customer despite us explaining “we’re here to help with your next trip”. Corporate travelers have greater requirements such as convenience, comfort, miles, hotels, perks, expertise, emergency response, off-site planning, large groups… the list goes on. With consumer travel, we were using a small subset of our tech and expertise; with corporate travel, we use everything and constantly need to expand our tech and expertise.
Hope that explains everything. Happy to answer any specifics about finding travel deals, since that’s what we do every day for 1000s of customers.
There are certainly downsides to living in Finland, but you picked a poor comparison in taxes. Taxes in the US are NOT low. Income tax is only one of many taxes in the US. In some states/cities, your property tax can exceed income tax. My state has extremely high taxes on cars too. It all adds up to a lot of money and a relatively high total tax rate. I wouldn't be surprised it a significant number of people in the US have a higher total tax rate than the Finnish average. Of course you can choose low-tax states, but the US as a whole certainly isn't some sort of tax haven.
Not an expert an the area, but from what I read the
US is a tax heaven for the super rich, Finland certainly is not. Progressive tax rates are high. There are creative ways to get your (should I say their?) income avoiding progression, then it's flat 30%.
Both are taxing the normal mortals, Finland probably slightly higher.
I'm a paying customer of Trustle, for a few months now, and absolutely love the service. I don't know the founders, I just work with one coach and couldn't recommend her highly enough. I proselytize to friends and family, but they never seem to understand and just give me blank stares as I explain how much she helps. Maybe I do a poor job pitching, but I don't think that's it.
If I had to guess, I think most people prefer to be reactive, not just with children, but in every facet of life. Whereas other people (especially on HN) are instinctively proactive and are always looking for new ways to invest in the future. The reactive people don't seem to understand why I need the help of a professional when my infant child seems calm and grounded. Proactive people understand immediately; they get that it's an investment.
When I signed up, I didn't even know what Trustle was planning to offer. They said they do "parent coaching". Huh? I just knew for $x/month if I could bounce ideas off a professional it would be more than worth it. Fast forward a few weeks and I quickly learned to trust my coach's advice more than any pediatrician, day care worker or family member. The reasons are long and detailed, but suffice to say I'm a serious fan.
I've spoken to my coach a couple of times about tough situations, like sleep problems (she was impossibly helpful), but mostly I see value in our discussions about learning, discipline, philosophy, independence, etc. I've come to love her pragmatic, balanced and evidenced-based approach.
Thank you for sharing your experience! The most rewarding part of this process has been seeing the way parents feel supported by our coaches, and they really are amazing.
This is a favorite topic of mine. My wife and I spent about 10 years living on five continents and traveling extensively though six (~50 countries) looking for the perfect place to live. We define "living somewhere" as renting a home, connecting the utilities and exhausting our visa. Long story short, we decided to settle in Boulder, CO (USA).
It's worth mentioning we're pretty independent, probably to a fault, and have no interest in living near family, despite having children (sorry fam).
We've lived in the following places: Bay Area, USA (twice); Berlin, Germany (twice); Montreal, Canada (twice); Chiang Mai, Thailand (twice); Sydney, Australia; Bangalore, India; Cusco, Peru; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and a handful of other places for shorter periods.
We first settled on Montreal, but on our second visit, we decided to try somewhere else. The same happened with Berlin and it's still my wife's favorite city to visit. Boulder was just a major step above the rest for us personally: friendly people, very active lifestyle, some tech/startup scene, sunny weather, mountains, etc. We've been here three years now, which is our record for staying anywhere, and we've never once thought about anywhere else.
If anyone is at the beginning of a similar journey and search, get in touch.
I'm still at the beginning of my journey, but I've found that in each new city I have to establish and grow a friend circle and it can be slow and difficult and lonely (I don't travel with a partner). Do you have any solutions or tips for this problem?
I haven't been traveling quite as long as GP but here's my two cents. Even as an introvert getting social interaction improves travel so much.
In a new city try to find a 'social hostel' (not a party hostel, unless that's your thing) with organized walking/food tours. Go on said tours and chat with everyone. After the tour see if anyone wants to get dinner/drinks/sight-see together.
Basically everyone in common areas at a hostel will be open to conversation at least. Be the initiator, chat with people, organize a group to go get dinner, etc.
If you aren't good at being the initiator, try to find someone who is and befriend them. Add people on whatsapp/messenger and setup a hostel group chat.
Befriend people who are also traveling longer term, they're usually more open to change plans a bit.
Socializing takes more effort and most relationships will be fleeting, that's the nature of the beast. But nothing makes a trip like organizing a small group of friends to travel together to a few different cities. You can create much stronger bonds and even some life-long friends.
This is probably my prejudice but 'social hostel' to me suggests under 30yrs old. I find at my age while I have no trouble hanging out with people in their 20s there are issues. For example having to eat at the cheapest places because none of them are financially secure yet. Or listening to their 20 something issues and feeling far outside of that time. There's also probably getting use to more comfort as in the comfort of a nice private room with a nice bed and nice private bathroom instead of a cot and shared bathroom. You could say that's being spoiled but the older you get the more likely you have back problems or bathroom problems that the comfort helps with.
I feel like you're way too defensive about your viewpoint! This seems 100% understandable. This guy is just talking about what's worked from his experience.
If anything, I can't imagine having more money making things harder. Wouldn't you be able to join a travel group? I guess the main issue there is people would probably be coming with their families, though.
There's gotta be some way to meet other bachelors who are decently well off.
- join local communities that interest you (cycling, running, chess, gaming, etc)
- don't be shy about being explicit about meeting new friends. there are others out there just like you and you'll find just by simply saying "im looking for new people to meet" will make it much easier
- drink! I hate to say it, but drinking (nothing excessive) makes meeting people much easier
I've been lonely enough times in my life (due to moving to new places) that after you've done it enough it sorta becomes regular practice. I like to remind myself of a Tobias Funke quote "there's dozens of us, literally dozens of us!"...in other words, you're not alone no matter how small you think you are.
Go to meetups. Language exchange meetups are the most diverse in terms of what people you meet do for living. Programming meetups let you befriend people from IT circles.
On Friday I visited a Mundo Lingo meetup in Buenos Aires and met a lot of interesting and nice local people (along with travellers from other countries). If I was planning to stay longer I'd say I could have met there one or two people I could be long term friends with. And it was so easy and enjoyable. Normally I'm not good at social events, like parties or generally interacting with strangers at clubs and pubs, but the atmosphere there is the most friendly.
After a few years we started valuing friendships more and more. I don't have any solid tips other than making it a genuine priority and treat it like an ongoing project. Learn how to make contact, get better at approaching strangers, etc. That said, it is nice to eventually settle down and build longer lasting friendships, though those you build on travels don't have to disappear if you keep in touch and revisit each other. I think I've learned it's better to have a larger and wider variety of friends even if some are distant than a smaller homogenous group of friends.
Creating a new network in a new dwelling place can be a great experience because the bonding experiences you have with people will create your mutual history. For example, if you walk across campus with a lady it's not too distinct a time for either person, perhaps. But, were you carrying just one umbrella and offered to share it, your joint venture under the canopy, shielded from the rains, would be [more of ]a bonding experience and help swiftly build a relationship. In short, don't shy away from adversity, it is the wall you scale to reach the horizon. My usual strategy is to go to places where I can meet other travelers (typically a low-key hostel i've found via guide-book) and once you start connecting with travelers it's easy to grow your field of friends. Which is cool, because the bigger your field of friends, the more likely you are to connect with the someone who is super groovy for you as you are for them. Or the crowd, or the group, or the sextuplet. The singular-pair partnering is a bit antequated for my tastes, the relationships of harmony and Love among people can appear in so many ways. (Thinks to self: This is such an involved question I almost regret beginning to answer it at this point but I would like to add in finality, that) finding a partner is not an easy task to be undertaken like shopping for a one-time commodity, it is a joint journey of co-discovery that begins when one person is whole in their own, and both be able to comfortably accommodate a binary star system in their heart.
In meeting people, you may want to simply be in places where you can peaceably interact with new friends. It depends on the calibre and quality you seek. A library near a research institution will likely yield interesting discussion, but that's not to say you won't run into a chemist on the beach.
Probability (odds of interaction) is good if you want to try and get a hold on events and mingling. Consider Tokyo, a hypertech culture compared to many places that requires scheduling a month or two out on your calendar just to meet up with a buddy. It's bizarre, and perhaps a trend common only to the big city, but it's interesting to take note of and do-as-they-do. In Japan, people use Mixi for networking, oftentimes there are get-togethers situated around specific activities like tennis, movie-going, karaoke, enjoying the cherry blossoms with SLR, etc. Getting roped into an activity or finding local get-togethers like that can really expand your network rapidly, and with a shared-interest you at least have a reason to keep meeting up.
Bees are attracted to a variety of flowers, and every flower is vibrant, has strength, has fragility and delicateness, and it has its own lock on the situation. The flower is always a flower, but unfolded to different degrees. It doesn't waver in being a flower. When the flower is 100% its best flower, the bee comes to the flower.
> The bigger your field of friends, the more likely you are to connect with the someone who is super groovy for you as you are for them. Or the crowd, or the group, or the sextuplet. The singular-pair partnering is a bit antequated for my tastes
This is something that personally put me off the nomadic lifestyle. It seems to be a very common theme, and the concept of "locationships" as well.
If GP is the same way, I'd recommend to GP to first find a partner that's open to traveling, and then go traveling with them. Otherwise, the world is your oyster as sova said.
> finding a partner is not an easy task to be undertaken like shopping for a one-time commodity, it is a joint journey of co-discovery that begins when one person is whole in their own, and both be able to comfortably accommodate a binary star system in their heart.
I feel that was a very poetic way of explaining finding a partner. Thank you. You have a way with words.
Hah funny enough my story is about the same. My wife and I spent much of the last 10 years traveling (although only for a few years together). Since I was working remotely I worked from a few countries in South America, Australia, New Zealand, and a variety of countries in Europe.
We finally settled down in Boulder in 2016 although we still travel a few months every year with our 2-year-old son. Boulder is a really amazing place (but very expensive). For us, we wanted a place with easy access to nature, a ton of sun, good tech scene, and walkability. We love that we can easily walk downtown, to the library, to the farmer's market, and to the grocery store with ease. We both grew up in Arkansas where you have to take a care everywhere which we dislike.
My wife and I used to travel a bunch, but we have a 6 month-old now and start to find ourselves pretty pinned down and not easy to go on even short trips. The good thing is I made the jump to a remote job so we now have flexibility, but infant care is currently proving to be quite time consuming.
How old are your children and how do you deal with their needs with your living in different states and countries? How is their schooling?
I currently live in the suburbs of Bay area so the remote job is working out great, I can enjoy Bay area conveniences and food without suffering the commute traffic. But we would like to live in other places too, provided that we figure out plans for the kid, with regards to schooling etc.
Interesting. I loved Berlin but absolutely hated Boulder (the people, not the place itself which is beautiful). Also hit the bay area twice. I think Boulder is pretty different once you have a family and money vs. trying to make it there when you're a confused 28 year old between jobs like I was.
I am at the beginning of this journey. My fiance and I booked 3 months in bellingham starting in february, then for summer we will go to Portland or omaha, then fall will be boise, winter will likely be in denver or boulder. Looking forward to exploring the world the same way you and your wife have.
Why do you like Berlin?
I live 4 hours from that city and I consider it to be one of the best in Europe. I'm particularly interested why others like it because I still have it on my list of life targets :)
We liked Berlin because it is cheap, has good diversity (I know, Boulder is one of the least diverse places on the planet in contrast), has lots of recent history to explore, public transport is good, a culture that's interesting to us, a decent amount of English spoken, tech scene, startup scene, lots of great places to visit only a short flight away (keep in mind we're from Australia), and most of all it just felt right the two separate times we lived there.
What ended up driving us away was the red tape running a startup in Germany and dealing with taxes, etc. Normally we wouldn't let this deter us, but we had a shortlist of other places we liked just as much.
Sydney is a beautiful city, but still part of a rather insular and inwards looking country. House prices are obscene (but are finally dropping!), the public transport is a disgrace compared to any European city, and if you work in tech, the really good jobs have only started to appear in the last 2 or 3 years.
I left it for Berlin, and mostly don't miss it (apart from days like today where I could perhaps tolerate weather slightly warmer thatn 0º.)
The 787 is quieter than the A380 from the outside (fewer engines, less thrust), but a little louder on the inside (thinner fuselage, engines closer to fuselage).
The A350 is the best of both worlds and is on par (or slightly quieter) than the A380 on the inside.
For the best experience, try the A350 on Singapore or Qatar in business class.
What I think you’re asking for already exists. You didn’t mention price, which makes a big difference, but price aside, route data is available in both raw and GUI form. Check out flightconnections.com for a GUI tool.
Price is what consumers care about and without a perfectly efficient (or regulated or monopolized) market, there will never be a single source of all prices for all routes. This doesn’t exist for food, clothing or many genuine commodities.
Someone else replied with a link to ITAs white-paper that discusses the difficulty of the problem you’ve described. But, that only considers cash flights; what about fast trains, frequent flier miles, buying and using points, credit card bonuses, best rate guarantees, combining low cost-carriers, charter airlines, cargo flights, consolidator deals, local deals, company benefits, etc.
It’s a huge market that feels like it should be commoditized but is actually quite differentiated with significant barriers to entry.
My personal experience at Flightfox is overseeing the booking of travel for more than 60,000 people using travel websites rather than traditional GDSs (Global Distribution Systems - what travel agencies and online travel agents use). Our team has used most of the websites mentioned here and never relies on just one.
Most coders here could build a simple tool to make their searches much more effective and efficient:
* Accept date/route/class input, like “10SEP DEN-FRA first”
* Open tabs to 5-10 of the best and most varied travel websites
* Skim the results and book
Doing this rather than sticking to a single site will yield much better results and make your search more efficient. The largest OTAs have real proprietary deals, the best of the aggregators search the best search engines, and the best search engines combine the most airlines (even LCCs) in creative ways.
If I had to choose 5 flight websites for such a tool: Kayak, Google, Orbitz, Skyscanner and Momondo.
Given this, you may wonder what’s the point of Flightfox. We started with a pure focus on travel hacks (much more advanced than searching 5 OTAs), but we now do our best work managing travel for businesses. For consumers, we can only use one skill: saving money. For businesses, we can become their entire travel department and put everything we know into practice. Not just saving many $1000s/month, but helping with finance strategy, loyalty programs, upgrades, 24/7 emergency support, super-cheap business/first, etc.
@jkaljundi, Do you work out of Garage48? My co-founder and I just landed in Tallinn, literally 30 minutes ago. We flew from Canada to Helsinki and caught the ferry across to Estonia.
We came here for a brief change of scenery and because we've heard so many great things about doing business here. Many of our suppliers are in the area too. We'll drop by Garage48 tomorrow and see if there are any short-term spots.
Interested in a coffee sometime this week? We plan to be here for 1-2 weeks. My email is in profile.
Neo, is this you? :D The blog post is a bit hard to go thru. I'll just grab the 3 cheapest ones. Btw, how am I supposed to use those codes? What Matrix? (no trolling intended, I honestly want to know).
Most of the flight hackers use Matrix because you can run more powerful searches. If you click "Advanced Routing Code" then type in one of those lines, then add origins and destinations served by that airline, you'll get a list of prices.
If people want, I can also post a full list of the origins and destinations per airline here.
Hi mtrimpe, we measure NPS for exactly this reason, to find out how well we're delivering exceptional value and a memorable experience. The NPS absolutely does take dissatisfied customers into account. Dissatisfied customers are some of the quickest to rate :)
In your specific case, it's likely you chose the option for the experts to do everything they can to help you save. The challenge of our business is that some people want more trickery, then some like you want less trickery. It's our job to segment customers early, understand what each wants, then provide the right result. We've made a lot of improvement with this.
For example, you mentioned a few things that don't exist anymore:
- We do not have contests
- We do not have winners
- Experts also do support
We made a lot of these changes to make sure customers like you receive a more personalized service. We realized this is the key to creating consistent value. You can read about those changes here: https://flightfox.com/business/why-we-abandoned-crowdsourcin...
That does sound like a nice balance, but there's also value in having a single number. We noticed this going to our current two question system.
For example, with only one question, you can get anyone to rate at any time with a single click of a link (e.g. in an email). As soon as you have more than one question, customers have to visit a form with multiple fields and click a submit button.
This may not sound like a big deal, but it is. Also, having a single, easy to understand number helps us engrain the NPS in everything we do. Everyone on our team knows our NPS. Our experts even have their own NPS. They can recite each others' most recent scores. It's not easy to get an obscure metric like NPS engrained into everything like that.
That said, I do particularly like the question about repeat custom. We can measure it from our data, but intent to repeat sounds interesting.
Today, we target corporate travel, but we still work with individuals; you just need to click the Get Started button and we ask if you’re an individual after that. This pivot of sorts came from the fact we can deliver significantly more value to corporate customers (more customer value = more conversions, retention, referrals = better business & happier team). Consumer travelers typically only want the lowest price. If their “price to beat” is on a low-cost-carrier, we can rarely help. That becomes a dissatisfied customer despite us explaining “we’re here to help with your next trip”. Corporate travelers have greater requirements such as convenience, comfort, miles, hotels, perks, expertise, emergency response, off-site planning, large groups… the list goes on. With consumer travel, we were using a small subset of our tech and expertise; with corporate travel, we use everything and constantly need to expand our tech and expertise.
Hope that explains everything. Happy to answer any specifics about finding travel deals, since that’s what we do every day for 1000s of customers.