Site Update: August-September 2009
This site update comes to you live from Bali, Indonesia. I came here at the end of my trip to Bhutan and Nepal. When this goes live, I’ll actually be on my way home, courtesy of a Korean Air Lines “glitch fare” that I picked up a few months ago. Keep reading to learn more about glitch fares and what I’ve been up to recently.
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Each month I look back at what’s happened with AONC in the previous month. If you’ve missed some articles, you can catch up here. In this case, the update is a double issue, with links to the articles from July and August.
Writing
LIFE – I wrote about Running Around the World, What they say about Winners, Going to Extremes, Authenticity: You Has It, and Notes on a Full Life.
WORK – I wrote about Social Media for Introverts, Winners from the Unconventional Writing Contest, Product Launch 101, Business, Blogging, and Broken Windows, and Personal Responsibility and Showing Up.
TRAVEL – I wrote about This is How it Begins, Criteria for Visiting Countries, Getting to Saudi Arabia, Why I Went to Saudi Arabia.The Latest in Travel Hacking, How to File a FOIA Request for Your Travel History, and Cost and Value in Bhutan.
SITE AND STORE UPDATES – I wrote about Continuous Improvement: Malaysian Edition, Infrastructure and Public Accountability, Extreme Gratitude (Hometown Edition), Expanding the Pie in Southeast Portland, Kathmandu and the Social Web, and Kathmandu Taxi Rides.
(P.S. Thanks to everyone who has been participating in the comments section on the Monday and Thursday articles. You guys are incredibly smart.)
Travel
After a month at home, I took off for South Asia, with a one-week visit to Bhutan serving as the highlight. I also visited Kathmandu, Nepal and had a couple of stopovers (Bali, Kuala Lumpur) on the long trip home.
Before flying off to Asia, I met with 40 AONC readers in Los Angeles. Thanks again to everyone who came out! I’ve really been enjoying the chance to connect with more people everywhere I go.
I used a one-way awards ticket on Cathay Pacific to get to Kathmandu from my home city of Portland, Oregon (PDX-LAX-HKG-KTM). From there I traveled on Druk Air to Bhutan, the only carrier that serves the small airfield there. Coming back home, I took advantage of a “glitch fare” to fly Business Class on Korean Air Lines for just over $600. Glitch fares happen once in a while when airlines make a mistake and price a ticket far below its real value. In this case, the KAL flight (KUL-ICN-LAX-YVR) cost $618 instead of the $2800 it should have cost.
I was happy to pick up that deal, since in addition to getting me home at a great price and in relative comfort (KAL is no Cathay Pacific or Singapore Airlines, but they do a decent job), this ticket will also help me retain SkyTeam elite status despite the fact that I only rarely fly Delta these days.
When a glitch fare is available, the forums at places like FlyerTalk and SlickDeals will quickly fill up with posts of people who have been able to get it. You only have a short window of time (usually less than a few hours) to take advantage of it before the airline finds out what’s happening and reprices the fare.
You can see photos and videos of the trip here. As a matter of fact, I have a lot more photos in my new Flickr stream. Drop in to take a look if you’re so inclined, and add me as a contact if you’re into the Flickr thing.
Small Business
The big business news this month was the launch of my first product in several months, the Unconventional Guide to the Social Web. I’ve already said quite a bit about it in recent Sunday updates, so for now I’ll just say I’m glad it has been so well received. Thanks to everyone who bought it or told someone about it.
What’s Coming Next
Travel
Aside from a couple of domestic trips, I’ll be home to stay for the next month. My goal is to finish writing the first draft of my book, and then spend another month editing before I leave the country again.
Articles
This month I’ll write about the following topics, among others:
* Fearless
* The Kingdom of Bhutan
* The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Failure
* Legacy Projects, Part II
I hope you enjoy my writing, and I always welcome your feedback.
Audience Participation
You can participate in the development of this project in several ways:
Leave a comment at the bottom of any regular article. Feel free to add to the discussion at any time, and include a link back to your own site if you have one. (Note that the link goes in the “web site” field, not the big text box where you write your comment.)
Join my newsletter announcement list or add me to your RSS reader.
Follow my real-time updates on Twitter. I regularly solicit input on the articles published here, as well as send out links to other people’s great content. A “Daily Ass-Kicking” is included at no additional charge. You can also become a fan of AONC on Facebook.
Send other feedback. Use my contact form here to say hi or check in about something.
Tell your friends, or tell the world by submitting my articles to other social networking sites.
I appreciate the time you spend here. Don’t forget to change the world the way you think it needs to be changed.
-CG
Catch up on Previous Updates Here:
July 2009 (Kuala Lumpur)
June 2009 (Salt Lake City)
April 2009 (Dominican Republic)
April 2009 (Portland)
March 2009 (Portland)
January-February 2009 (Tokyo)
November-December 2008 (Seattle)
October 2008 (Seattle)
September 2008 (Seattle)
August 2008 (Seattle)
July 2008 (Karachi)
June 2008 (Amsterdam)
May 2008 (Vancouver)
April 2008 (Syria)
March 2008 (Los Angeles)
February 2008 (Seattle)
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Bali Image by Susanne Anette
