Travel tech Q&A: C3 Business Solutions' Conrad Bates
In this week's ZDNet Travel Tech Q&A, C3 Business Solutions managing partner Conrad Bates talks about how he manages to satisfy his passion for cycling when travelling abroad, the time when the plane he was on rolled off the runway, and his drug of choice to combat jet lag.
What tech do you travel with and why?
I always travel with a diary that has all meetings entered into the time zone I'm travelling to. Bad diary management is bad performance.
I also make sure I have maps on my phone to get me to the meeting — thank goodness Google Maps is back on the iPhone!
How do you deal with jet lag?
I buy Melatonin over the counter in the US and take it as soon as I get on the plane to get me into the time zone of the place I'm heading. It regulates the sleep-wake cycle by chemically causing drowsiness and lowering the body temperature, putting you to sleep.
What travel websites do you use?
Strava.com allows me to look at the most popular bike rides in a location, and then connect.garmin.com allows me to plan rides in a destination city and put the rote plans into my Garmin (cycling GPS) so I don't get lost. I've mapped rides in Australia, Dubai, France, and the US.
What was your biggest travel disaster?
In Indonesia, when I was flying from Bandung to Surabaya to Bali, our plane stopped mid take-off in Surabaya, rolled off the runway and into the mud. I spent the next 14 hours in an airport without air conditioning and 40-degree heat waiting for the airline to find another plane.
It turns out some Indonesian planes are not up to stringent international flying regulations!
Is there one thing you must do before you leave home?
Weigh my bag. Bike bags weigh a lot, and the last time I didn't weigh it, I ended up having to buy another bag at the airport, since my other one was already 8 kilograms over the maximum weight limit.
What was your last tech purchase?
My GPS. It's a Garmin Edge 800. It maps my rides all around the world so they can be put on strava.com.
What is your dream travel tech to have on planes, in airports, or at hotels?
An iPad stocked with movies I want to watch, rather than the movies they play on the plane.
Favourite destination city to work or visit and why?
France. To watch the Tour de France, of course.