Planning ahead

My mother once said that there are two types of people in this world - planners and plungers. Planners seek to be prepared. They make lists, do research, scope out the scene, and after careful consideration, embark on a considered plan of action.

There are several additions to consumer Web sites which I would like to see introduced, if only because they would make my life (and of course, the lives of others just like me) slightly easier.

Basheera Khan, UK correspondent, ITWeb

Plungers, on the other hand, leap blindly into every situation that arises, regardless of whether these situations exist out of chance or desire. Either way, they take the path immediately open to them, and in cases where money is involved, they pay the price accordingly.

Those who know me will agree wholeheartedly when I class myself as a planner. It`s not just the peace of mind which attracts me to this path. I`d be one of the first to agree that at times, there can be no planning, no forethought. At times, circumstances demand immediate action, with the effect that any plans already in place have to be hastily rearranged or altogether discarded.

But when the situation allows for it, I plan. In the course of this planning, it`s occurred to me that there are several additions to consumer Web sites which I would like to see introduced, if only because they would make my life (and of course, the lives of others just like me) slightly easier.

For example, if airports were to provide a comprehensive listing of the retail outlets available in the duty-free shopping areas, and if those retail outlets could provide a catalogue of products on a week to week basis, it would make it a lot easier for someone like myself to decide whether to buy that fancy new camera I`ve been coveting for the last month.

Another case in point; in arranging my return to the UK, I neglected to purchase a rather vital train ticket. Booking online was easy enough - it`s the fulfillment which has thrown me for a loop. Wonder of wonders, the ticket issuing office is at a different station entirely than the station from which the train departs. Tickets for this journey can only be issued at two stations - both of which are miles away from the departure station. I can`t think of a reason why this should be so, but who am I to criticise the obviously shortsighted vision of the companies in question?

That little glitch prompted another desire: to see a travel planning facility into which one could enter all the different legs of a journey, to calculate the approximate time it would take say, to check one`s luggage in at one station, and nip across town to another station to pick up a ticket which could conceivably be issued anywhere in the world - but is currently limited to being issued at this particular station and no other, thank you very much.

Seriously though - for a destination that attracts thousands of visitors every month, a resource like that would be fabulously helpful. With some tweaking, it could be deployed through the national tourism board within any country or city and the information delivered across a variety of media. If it were implemented and marketed with just a grain of common sense, I think it would be a runaway success.

Apologies are in order. In my last column I bemoaned the lack of route planning services online in SA. To my chagrin, I had overlooked the Shell Geostar service. Though it takes some time to work through the route planner, the results served up are impeccably helpful.