Interview with Nirmal, Founder of @TravelTagBlue
Shaping Cultural Experiences
Travel has been an integral part of my life since I was a young child. I grew up in a multicultural, bilingual home in the Netherlands with a Polish mother and a Dutch father. My
Update & BBC News Link
A brief update: One interview video will be uploaded tomorrow evening. I believe the BBC News One-Minute World News provides well-balanced reporting of news, hence why I wanted to share it. Top stories on May
From Nigeria to Boston
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VNkCazT_T4&feature=youtu.be
When you first meet Oluwagbeminiyi Osidipe, you encounter a very vibrant, friendly, and unique personality. Oluwagbeminiyi or Niyi – as she shortened her name for simplicity – was named by her mother, who had a “very personal experience” when she had her, Niyi explained. Niyi is a Yoruba Nigerian transplant who arrived in the U.S. in 2006. As one of the most densely populated (West) African countries, Nigeria derives its name from the river that spans its land. To the South, it borders the Gulf of Guinea to the Atlantic Ocean. Originally colonized by the British, Nigeria gained independence in 1960. Its main ethnic groups are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, who speak English and their own respective languages, while major religions include Islam, Christianity and indigenous beliefs. Niyi shares her story, her views on politics, cultural differences she’s embraced with humor, and what we can learn from each other by expressing curiosity. Her message is simple: travel enriches us through its exposure to new cultures, and enables us to grow.
Mark Twain on Travel
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” (American author Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad).
Have you had the opportunity to travel (extensively, within your country, or even once abroad)? Can you relate to Twain’s sentiments? How does travel enrich us?
Pleasing The Taste Palate
Food has the wonderful quality of uniting us no matter where we are. There is nothing partisan or narrow-minded about food. It simply invites us to indulge, create recipes, and share with others. Two of my favorite Polish dishes (included in collage) are pierogies and barszcz czerwony – a beetroot soup – served on Christmas Eve in Poland. How does food bring us together? What are some of your favorite dishes and why? Can food trigger memories?
Stereotypes: Truth or Fiction?
DEFINING STEREOTYPES: “An idea or statement about all of the members of a group or all the instances of a situation.” (Merriam-Webster). Stereotypes enable bias and preconceived notions to perpetuate, but can also reveal valid
Annual Human Rights Report
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Euro Crisis & Emerging Stereotypes
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Remembering Tiananmen
Today marks the 23rd anniversary of Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in Beijing, China. Inflation, a lack of career prospects, the fall of Eastern European communism, and political corruption, are all said to have fueled anger
Coffee's Uniting Power
A cup of coffee can bridge cultural gaps. At least, that’s what Gizem Salgicil White, founder of Turkayfe.org, believes. Her organization aims to create awareness of Turkish culture, particularly within America. Gizem is a Turkish native,
When you’re traveling, there are lots of moving parts before your journey, during your trip, and after you arrive. Dealing with logistics of packing (and unpacking) your suitcases, making sure you have proper documentation and/or vaccinations, preparing your carry-on with necessary reading, snacks, and water for the road, and more, are a lot to handle, but it’s what’s required.
That’s where handy travel tools and apps come into play to reduce stress and let you focus on enjoying your travels. I recently talked to the founder of TravelTag, a luggage tracking app for iOS and Android. TravelTag uses Bluetooth devices called Beacons to track your checked bags. The Beacons broadcast their unique identifier to nearby tablets, smartphones or smartwatches, which enables them to perform an action (track your bag) when in close proximity to it. You’ll be able to track your bag through the Beacon and on a free TravelTag app for iOS or Android.
Read the full interview with Nirmal Parihk, President and CEO of Digital Wavefront and Inventor of TravelTag, to learn more about TravelTag and Nirmal’s own perspectives on travel.
What inspired the idea to launch TravelTag?
Nirmal Parihk : I make 4-5 trips each year involving airline travel. Back in early 2015, we were experimenting with Beacon technology and the various possibilities and applications. That’s when, during one of my trips, I found myself waiting at the baggage carousel when the thought suddenly occurred to me. Why not develop an App that alerts you when your bags arrived on the carousel? Then, I wouldn’t have to be tethered to the carousel. I could move around freely avoiding the large cluster of strangers, carry on a conversation, perhaps get a coffee, take a restroom break, etc. And, a few months later, we had an App for it!
How did you develop TravelTag?
Nirmal: Well, we thought of several blue-sky ideas for Apps using the new Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Beacon technology. The possibilities were quite exciting and nearly endless – retail, restaurants, airlines, banking, museums, colleges, universities etc. We had a grandiose vision at first, but decided to tone down a bit and act responsibly within the constraints of our own resources. Then, this idea of tracking bags struck me. We went through several versions tweaking the UI, getting better with each iteration at working with the technology. We finally released our MVP in October 2015. And, since we’re all about delivering a better user experience, we went back to the drawing board in January and redesigned everything about the App from the ground up. We just released the new version of TravelTag for iOS on March 23, 2016, and TravelTag for Android on March 17, 2016.
How do you think TravelTag will change how we travel?
Nirmal: What I like about TravelTag is that it’s simple enough that anyone can use it, and it solves a universal pain point – no matter what your airline or your destination. If you’ve checked in a bag, or two, you’re headed straight to the baggage carousel upon arrival. And, this is where you have to endure an “unknown” amount of wait time. Sometimes it’s 18 minutes, sometimes 80 minutes. For most people, it’s somewhere in-between. You never know. And, for that amount of time, you are stuck at the baggage carousel going through anxiety, frustration, anger, etc. What a riot! And, why are we putting ourselves through this?
What has the feedback on TravelTag been so far? How has it helped travelers?
Nirmal: People who have used it absolutely love it! We’ve been delivering freedom from baggage carousels from Seattle to Singapore in more than a dozen countries. They’ve been able to transform this last-mile travel experience thanks to TravelTag. There are even use cases, which we had not designed for. For example, @MeshyMind of @FarandFamiliar recently used it to check on her bags while traveling by bus on the roads of Uruguay! We got a surprise kick out of that use case.
Share your worst luggage loss experience so far. What happened and what was most frustrating about it?
Nirmal: That happened on a recent trip to India. My flight was switched at the last minute from Boston, so I knew I was in for a surprise when I arrived in Bombay (Mumbai). But, I was hopeful and perhaps wishful. I arrived at like 1:35 am, headed to the baggage carousel, waited almost 50 minutes, only to learn that my bags had not arrived. Then, I had to go find the airline agent and fill out some paperwork to report them before I could head home. What a nightmare! And, to make things worse, I was there for a wedding. So, I had to go shopping the very next day. The only silver lining was that the airline covered that!
Tell us about your travels. What was your most interesting trip to date?
Nirmal: I don’t travel much for work, so those trips are short and uneventful – just the way they should be. The most interesting and memorable (recent) trip would have to be Summer 2014 road trip traveling through Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy and Switzerland. We spent a few days in each city taking in the culture, enjoying all the tourist attractions, and taking in local cuisines. It was a blast!
Where is the most interesting airport you’ve been? Why? Tell us what was unique about it.
Nirmal: The Bombay (BOM) airport recently inaugurated a new terminal (Terminal 2) for international arrivals. I had the opportunity to arrive 2 weeks after the opening and I must say it was the BEST experience after 16 years of flying back and forth! It is an architectural delight, showcases a lot cultural art with murals that almost come alive, sporting warm colors, Bollywood scenes and superstars, and – clean bathrooms. This would be a universal complaint about bathrooms in India. Ask anyone. So, hello, T2!!
As a traveler, what do you personally love to explore when abroad and experiencing a new culture? Is it new food, history, meeting locals, or more?
Nirmal: Absolutely! I like to immerse myself as much as I can to take in everything – the weather, food, culture, history, etc. I must admit, I am a bit conscious at the same time. Everyone has a different threshold. I am not sure where I fall on that scale, but I certainly try.
Where do you see the travel industry heading from a technology standpoint? Do you see shift where everyone is connected and using apps to navigate?
Nirmal: Technology is unfolding before our eyes and is changing the world! Travel will be no different. I predict that within a few years (or perhaps sooner) we will have a suite of connected Apps – across the agency, airline, rental car, hotels, luggage tracking, tourist attractions, local cuisines, arts scene, bus schedules, etc. – to bring you a unified experience. As a traveler, your experience will be seamless – although under the hood there may be several (trusted) Apps. One of the things we aspire to do with TravelTag is to help automate the lost baggage reporting process. Passengers will be able to report their lost or misplaced bags inside the App, get a confirmation (code) from the airline and be on their way – without ever having to find an airline agent and filling out mounds of paperwork! Another idea born out of a frustrating personal travel experience.
To learn more about TravelTag, visit TravelTag.Blue. And, be sure to follow TravelTag on Twitter and like TravelTag on Facebook.
Hi! I'm the founder of Culture With Travel and #CultureTrav. Please chat with us on social media and contribute in the comments! Follow @Nicolette_O
