Mobissimo

Well, first we have to get in the poll, so get on there and suggest us as a site. By some strange oversight, Mobissimo was not included. How dare they forget us. Follow this link and enter Mobissimo in the Travel Planning category. Then keep checking back here to vote. Tell them how much you love our international coverage, award winning writing, and witty, witty newsletter.

Power to the MobiPeople!

You think more of the hotel amenities when it comes to designing a hotel. After all, you don't want to be spending too much time in your hotel room, you're visiting the city right? A look into what hotel room will be like in the coming years.

CHICAGO - What will the hotel of the future look like?

Think robotics, customized rooms and downloadable amenities.

That's according to a project called The Hotel of Tomorrow, organized by Gettys, a Chicago design firm, and the Hospitality Design Group. Companies participating in the project range from Starwood Hotels, Starbucks and Whirlpool to firms specializing in architecture, electronics, bedding, lighting and wallcoverings.

I don't know what the youth hostel of the future will be, but that's where I stay. Anyway, it looks like personalization is the main focus. From the channels you watch on TV to the songs on a personal iPod, feeling right at home seems to be the objective here.

Lockheed Martin is evidently working on a business jet that can travel at 1,200 MPH without emitting the loud crack associated with the Concorde and other super sonic jets:

The sleek, 130-foot-long QSST (for "quiet supersonic travel") aircraft is being designed for a Nevada consortium called Supersonic Aerospace International, or SAI, at an estimated cost of $2.5 billion.

Aimed at business executives and diplomats, the QSST will fly at nearly twice the speed of conventional business jets and have a range of 4,600 miles nonstop -- Los Angeles to New York in just over two hours.

It could be ready for boarding by 2013, according to the company.

Read more on Wired News.

You've been using Mobissimo for some time now and think you know all the ins and out of this incredible site. There are a few things you may not know and this mini-tutorial will help you get the most out of Mobissimo's travel search.

• PowerSearch. You can search up to 3 destinations from one origin, i.e. Kansas City to Tokyo, London, Nairobi in one search. You can do this on the front page, Search Results side seach box, and OneBox as well, just separate the destinations by a semi colon (;). You can even mix up your destinations, if you don't know the airport code, or do, you can search by either or both, so for example you can so SFO to GIG; GRU; EZE (Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires) or you can so San Francisco to Rio, GRU, buenos aires ... you get the point, we've made it very easy for you to enter your destination information.
• SuperPowerSearch. You can search whole areas, i.e. Europe, Asia, Latin America, Caribbean. For example, you can search SFO to Asia, Europe, etc. You will be taken to activity search where you will see the cheapest fares AND the dates for which it was searched during the last two week period, all this data is collected from users like you. Holy moly, we show you exactly when that fare was available, you can replicate that search or do your own. Magic. This is truly addicting, soon we'll be offering rehab clinics for recovering SuperPowerSearchers.
• OneBoxSearch. On the front page, you can try OneBox search, Mobissimo's industry only natural language travel search. You can type in SFO to NYC on July 8 to July 14, or any other combination, it's natural language, the simplest is SFO to NYC Jul 8-14, it's that simple.
• ActivitySearch. From all Mobissimo searches (front page, results page side box, OneBox), you can search for activities. You don't know where you want to go, but you want a beach? You can type in New York to Beaches and you will get results based on what you wish to do. We have tagged (Web 2.0) destinations with activities in their respective cities and are adding them on a daily basis, so go for it and try it out. SFO to blunt, Reno to reggae, Paris to surf, Tokyo to California Museums ... the list is endless.
• TravelCloud. The box with the activity and destination words on the front page is clickable. By clicking, you will prepopulate the search for that activity or destination, all you need to do is supply the origin (where you're traveling from) and the dates and you're all set. The size of the word indicates the popularity, so you can see for what activity/destination MobiUsers are searching.

Mobissimo has the capability to get you to where you want to go in so many ways, with so many possibilities - and more products are coming to satisfy your need to travel.

'Web 2.0 products and functionality are crucial to travel search.' says Peter S. Shin, Director of Business Development at Mobissimo. 'Only Mobissimo has the search tools that are revolutionizing the way travelers search. In addition to fare comparison, we give travelers the tools and advanced search capability for creating the perfect trip - no other site delivers this.'

There you have it, we'll continue to let you now about product releases and enhancements in the future. As always, your feedback is inherent in our product planning, several products at Mobissimo have been born from user feedback.

Maine.  Hard to get to but worth the effort.  Check out this article in the NY Times about the author's quest for the perfect lobster roll.  

 “I only come here for lobster rolls,” said Stacy Marotta as she finished lunch 75 miles to the northeast at Red’s Eats in Wiscasset. She and her husband and sons drive 12 hours every summer from their home in Cleveland to this part of Maine, she said, and Red’s “is our first stop when we get into town and our last stop as we head out.”

The lobster roll — “the lazy man’s lobster,” Mrs. Marotta said — traditionally consists of a toasted hot dog bun topped by pieces of fresh lobster meat and a little bit of something else. The something else is a subject of disagreement.

It's lobster, you can't go wrong any way it's prepared.  You can fly to Portland, Maine from the west coast for around $350 and stay in Kennebunkport for less than $100 on Mobissimo.

Well, we're getting back to cheaper fares from the summer time fare extravaganza. If you travel to Europe in the summer, you're going to pay, simple as that. Some good fares here and probably the best time to go, in my mind.

For flights departing 09/07 returning 09/15

A layover can be a good or bad thing.  If you have a layover in Frankfurt, you'll usually hang out at Beate Uhse, but now you have a resource to check if you want to rest a bit before your next flight.  Here's a great site for executive lounges.

Escape in to an exclusive oasis of relaxed tranquillity at an extensive number of airports throughout Europe. If you are fed-up with hustle and bustle of busy airport terminals and are craving for an exclusive environment where you can relax and unwind before your flight then book yourself in to one of Penauille Servisair’s Lounges today.

Each of our Lounges is designed using imaginative textures and colours and make use of natural light and natural materials to provide a tranquil environment where you can relax, work, have a drink or just catch up with the news - it's your choice.

Penauille Servisair, on behalf of our 700 customers, looks after more than 102 million passengers a year thanks to its extensive network based in 143 locations, spread across 28 countries and 4 continents.

This is a great service for those of you who travel a lot.  But if you travel a lot, you'll probably already have access to Red Carpet, HON Circle, Admiral's ...   Anyway, perhaps you don't, so spend a little, rest a lot.

You gotta love Ryanair. A week after calling the UK government's security measures non-sensical and ineffective,

Ryanair, Britain’s largest passenger airline today (14th Aug) described the UK Government’s “revised” security measures as nonsensical and ineffective. These measures will not restore normality to the London airport. Delays and cancellations will continue while these measures are in place.

they post this humorous little pic on their site.

This is from a while back, but this mark an extremely important move in the airline industry.  VLJs or Very Light Jets, well one in particular - the Eclipse 500, have been approved by the FAA.

Eclipse Aviation has received provisional certification for its Eclipse 500, the first very light jet (VLJ) to obtain Federal Aviation Administration approval. But the company will not begin customer deliveries until it obtains full type certification, expected by 30 August.

Provisional certification includes operational limitations that will be worked off over the coming weeks. Full type certification will allow single-pilot, day/night visual and instrument flight rules (IFR), reduced vertical separation minima operations throughout the aircraft’s flight envelope, Eclipse says. Final performance figures include a 370kt (685km/h) maximum cruise speed, 41,000ft (12,500m) ceiling and 2,080km (1,125nm) NBAA IFR range with four occupants.

Municipal airports, i.e. smaller outlying airports will benefit from this as these VLJs can take off/land on a much shorter runway.  Does this spell the end for propeller planes?  Could be, but the price for VLJs is still high, at around 1.5m so the price point will have to drop before the props see the grave.

Galicia, Spain, this is from where the famous Sheen/Estevez family hails.  So is it full of boozers, drug addicts, and porn star lovers like Charlie?  No, it's much more than that.  Santiago de Compostela, Vigo, La Coruna, so many places, so little time.

I'd wanted to visit Galicia for a long time; Miguel was my tipping point. The landscape, on which few American tourists set foot, was reputed to have a wild, almost Irish beauty (indeed, Galicia's people are Celtic in origin), and the coast is famous for its seafood. What's more, Galicia is poor and somewhat underdeveloped, and my wallet needed relief. In his e-mail and text messages, Miguel struck me as a kind person who knew his way around. Spending a few nights in the isolated countryside is one thing, but isolation itself is another. So the cousin of a friend of a friend was just what I needed.

Spain is one of my favourite places as you know and Galicia is a not often visited part.  Mainly because it's not super sunny and warm and also because it's kinda hard to get there.  Using Mobissimo MobiCombo, you can get from NYC to LON right now for $500, then a ticket from London to Bilbao, which is kind of close for around $80 round trip.

A travel guide from an unexpected source.  Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin has taken on the challenge of writing a travel book upon his retirement.

His travel book, "For a Better World: Jiang Zemin's Overseas Visits," includes 167 pictures of Jiang with leaders ranging from former President Bill Clinton to South Africa's Nelson Mandela. It describes Jiang's campaign in the early 1990s to thaw ties with the United States and the West and end the diplomatic isolation imposed on Beijing after it crushed pro-democracy protests in 1989 — an incident that the book avoids discussing.

What better world traveler than a diplomat?  Considering there are almost 2billion people in China, I think it's safe to say this will be a best seller.

The constantly changing list of what is allowed and what is not on carry-on luggage on airplanes has been changed again.  But this time to the traveler's benefit as rules are a bit more relaxed.

The Transportation Security Administration announced new rules Sunday giving airline passengers permission to carry up to 4 ounces of liquid nonprescription medicine.
TSA had previously banned all liquid medications.

TSA also said all passengers will be instructed to remove their shoes during security checks. The shoes have to be placed on an X-ray belt for screening before passengers can put them back on. Until now, the agency had strongly suggested putting shoes on the screening belt but hadn't required it.

As always, Mobissimo suggests that you check ahead of time to find out what has changed in order to make your flying as pleasant as possible.

Now that the airlines are on high alert and travelers are not able to take liquids or gels in carry-ons, here's a link to a few experiences witnessed recently

A major terrorist attack was foiled in London. There are few details about how this happened and the scope of the attempt, but it appears that this was an attack on the scale of 9/11.

LONDON - British authorities said Thursday they thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up several aircraft heading to the U.S. using explosives smuggled in hand luggage. Security was raised to its highest level in Britain, and carry-on bags were banned on all flights. Huge crowds backed up at London's Heathrow airport as officials searching for explosives barred nearly every form of liquid outside of baby formula.

MobiBlog in no way compares to AP or Reuters for such information, but we want all our users and readers to know that in addition to finding them the best fares, we are ultimately concerned about their safety and well-being. Be safe out there.