Financial & Travel Musings

I’ve been on quite a lot of rv holidays over the years and one thing that’s always quite striking is just how different they are considered in different countries and in different seasons.

For example, typically you’ll see the RV photos featuring the wide-open roads of the western half of America with not another soul in sight. Certainly, that’s a common use for motorhomes as any of us who’ve travelled around the “wild west” during summer would attest but it’s far from the only place you’ll spot them.

Very common apparently on the east coast are the older generation of RV travellers who can often be seen in mobile villages as they move around various campsites in large groups. Many’s a campsite can appear to be a retirement home in the New England fall.

And then you get the more intrepid RVers who venture out into the real wilderness that makes up the centre of Australia. You quickly find that the warnings to carry enough fuel and water aren’t just for show. Even on the main highway you can find several hundred miles go by before you can refuel and for those that set off on the tracks with the beefier RV rigs you need to take extra fuel and water to see you through to the next bit of civilisation.

Finally, let’s not forget the complete nutcases who take 40 foot rigs into the centre of cities! Whilst we found it hard enough navigating Chicago with a 25 footer (medium size in America, large in Australia), we saw one crazy person parking (rather better than I do my car!) a 40 footer right beside the water tower in the centre of the city.

Popularity: 24% [?]

Trying to change the perception of a hotel chain is fraut with dangers. For one thing, unless the number of customers is extremely low, you obviously don’t want to lose any of the existing customer base.

Even upgrading facilities is something best not taken too lightly. Surely not? If it’s an upgrade that doesn’t affect the price that you need to charge, then go for it. The problem is that almost all upgrades do affect the pricing structure. For instance, one really successful little restaurant chain that we generally aimed for ourselves is in the process of a major facelift. I stress “facelift” becase the offerings haven’t changed dramatically though the naming of the items on the menu has taken a distinct lurch upmarket which has been accompanied by a doubling to trebling of all prices on the menu. Net effect is that a restaurant that used to be packed pretty much all the time now has very few people eating there.

So, it’s with some tripidation that I see the hotel reservation promo over at Econolodge to accompany their new look. Still, at least they’ve heaps of market research muscle behind them so it should go really well for them.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Asbestos is one of those things that nobody considered the risks upfront and which was used so extensively in the past that there are oodles of people around the world currently suffering from the effects of what has proved to be a very dangerous substance indeed.

The use of it was so widespread that these days you find, for example, Mesothelioma lawyers specialising in defending the rights of those suffering from just one of the side-effects of asbestos. Sadly, that’s just one of many diseases that can be traced back to exposure to asbestos years earlier and just one of the selection of generally horrible ways to die that asbestos exposure offers up to those exposed to it.

The fatal nature of many of these asbestos related diseases means that it’s essential to get yourself a specialist legal team who can move quite quickly as often the life expectancy following diagnosis is measured in months rather than years. With that short time period the last thing you want to be doing is worrying about how your family will survive without you so a quick and substantial settlement is preferable.

Popularity: 22% [?]