Extra Weight = Extra Charge

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-troke/beware-of-extra-weight_b_693146.html

Source: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/00799/overweight_799485c.jpg

The writer had bad experienced in losing his checked luggage during connection flights. For this reason, he made a cardinal rule for himself that no matter how long the vacation was, he would squeeze everything to his carry-on bag.

However, one time the staff at the waiting gate weighed his bag and said it was 1kg overweight. It was impossible for the writer to offload 1kg of stuff from his bag just minutes before boarding. He had no choice but checked his bag.

When he got on the plane, he had an extremely overweight guy sitting next to him. The writer had to give up his arm rest and 20% of his seat to his neighbour. The writer felt annoyed being harassed at the waiting gate for his extra 1kg carry-on bag while he was assigned to sit next to a gentleman who probably weighed 200lbs more than him.

The writer used a soft and gentle way to express his dissatisfaction towards his over-weight baggage. He also included a sense of humour element in his article. When he described how the overweight gentleman squeezed into his seat, it was just like the way the writer tried to squeeze his carry-on bag into the metal bins near the boarding gate he mentioned earlier in his passage. This made his article more entertaining.

The comparison he used – 1kg overweight bag and the seriously overweight neighbour passenger – made a big contrast. It helped in supporting the writer’s argument, making the airline staff unreasonable to cause all that hassle at the boarding gate just because of his 1kg overweight bag.

The article also hit the timeliness element. Spirit Airline announced earlier that they were going to charge passengers for their overhead bin luggage. Other airlines such as United Airlines and Air France have decided to charge extra fees for overweight passengers who were unable to fit in a single seat.

Sources:
1. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/04/06/spirit.carryon.fees/index.html
2. http://www.enduringwanderlust.com/united-to-charge-large-fliers-double/
3. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/7038141/Air-France-to-charge-obese-passengers-for-two-seats.html

Alternatives on the Snowy Mountain

http://blogs.theage.com.au/travel/archives/2010/08/theres_more_than_one_way_to_skin_a_mountain.html

Source: http://www.stignacelodging.net/UserFiles/Image/attractions_events/snowshoe.jpg

As the title suggested, the writer, Rachael Oakes-Ash, was trying to give us alternate activities on a mountain.

In this article, Rachael introduced snow shoeing to the readers. In the beginning, Rachael did not understand why people have to walk up and down the snow when they can be going up by chairlifts and flying down on skis. She was then convinced by Peter Cocker from K7 Koscuisko Adventure that snow shoeing was as cool as other sports up on the snowy mountain. Rachael also pointed out that snow shoeing was a good option for families and beginner skiers.

Same as Rachael, I have never thought of going to the snowy mountain without skiing. Her article reminded me the days I went there with my mother who didn’t want to try skiing at all. She was standing on the snow watching me go up the hill and ski down for the whole afternoon. I observed my mother was not the only mother who was watching without actually skiing. I agree that snow shoeing would be a good family activity. Then the mothers don’t have to just stand there with nothing else to do. They can enjoy the walk and the scenery along the way. And for those who are beginners or never plan to try skiing, they can get a glimsp at the top of the mountain.

Rachael’s article is simple and direct. It is easy to follow. Readers will automatically be attracted to go for a try. However, I think she could include a few safety tips for snow shoeing to make her article more complete. The website of Redfeather and Life123 listed some useful techniques for snow shoeing, such as what to wear, where not to go and to stay in groups. Snow shoeing might seem easy but who knows when blizzards might be coming.

Rachael used a number of hypertext in her passage which made it easier to link readers to another page for further information.

This is a public relations piece. It was acknowledged at the end that "the writer snow-shoed as a guest of K7 adventures".

Source:
1. http://www.life123.com/sports/winter-sports/snowshoes/how-to-snowshoe.shtml
2. http://www.redfeather.com/content.asp?id=548&pageId=36

Never Easy to Travel between Mebourne and Sydney

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/blogs/travellers-check/australias-busiest-air-route-everything-is-broken/20100809-11rzk.html

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200802/r225857_895374.jpg

This article is about how uneasy it was to travel from Melbourne to Sydney and the other way round.

The writer, Clive Dorman, shared his experience of leaving home at 5:20am to be an hour early for the 7:45am flight from Melbourne to Sydney. However, he hit two traffic jams on freeway, then the courtesy bus at the airport delayed, the self check-in kiosk couldn't read his ticket, the flight was close when he was still in the time-consuming queue. He somehow got on another flight but then the flight was slowed down when it was approaching Sydney because of “high winds”, leaving him only 10 minutes to catch his onward flight.

Clive’s flight from Sydney back to Melbourne was not much better.

Clive started off his article with Bob Dylan’s decision of jumping from a folk song singer to a musician. However, neither Bob Dylan nor his switching to a musician was related to the article. The reason for mentioning Bob Dylan was merely to bring out his song, Everything is Broken, which he thought of when he was stuck up by Australian’s busiest air route. Clive could have simply mentioned the name of the song.

Clive used a rather special approach to express how uneasy his ride from Melbourne to Sydney (and vice versa) was. Instead of writing in paragraphs, complaining what happened, he listed out the time and incidents so that readers can judge by themselves.

However, this approach made his article like a log book which is rather boring to read. Readers are not interested in knowing at exactly what time he was on a highway or on the plane. He could have added some of his personal feelings instead of merely listing out what happened.

Why Are We Forgeting the Hiccups?

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/blogs/the-backpacker/holidays-why-you-forget-all-the-parts-that-suck/20100802-112ak.html

Source: http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/10_04/nationalex1pA_468x328.jpg

Ben Groundwater reminded us that travelling was not always smooth and pleasant. But if you look back at your travel experiences, you will almost always forget about the little hiccups along the way. Ben suggested that people would 'automatically dump all the bad bits and just remember the good times'.

I do agree with Ben's view that travel can never be as perfect as we plan to be. In fact, sometimes all those little hiccups in our trips are the best parts of our travel experience. They are the bits and pieces that make our trip special.

It is true that we always only remember the best parts of our trips but we never know why. The title of the article was very successful in catching readers’ attention and making them read through the whole passage to find out the reason.

Apart from his achievement of climbing up a live volcano, Ben also listed other common examples of bad travel experiences, such as the endless waits for public transport, or being misled by photos on hotels’ website. Quoting examples which everyone would have encountered makes it easier for readers to understand his point of view.

Towards the end of the article, Ben asked a lot of questions and it appeared that he did not have an answer for why people forget the part that sucks. In fact, he put the answer in the very last line of his passage. I guess no one can agree less with his conclusion - 'it's [holiday] better than being at work'.

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