The Squatting B&B Network: Guerilla hotels.

When I was younger, I always looked at punkers who were squatting buildings. I also visited some and some were quite nice. It had all the basics and the atmosphere there was unique. In Budapest you have the principle of Ruin Bars. Old, decayed buildings are transformed into community centers and bars. The best parties were to found there.

My idea today is to create a hotel network of guerrilla places to stay. You basically turn empty buildings and places into sleeping facilities with extra’s. You charge travellers for their stay and make money by offering extra services such as food, drinks and parties. Living adventurous for the B&B operators, adventurous lodging for travellers. Both will have an awesome time.

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Future of Food gastronomy trips: Meet the topchefs of the future.

“Nowhere in the world do they have more Michelin stars per square kilometer than in Belgium.”

A service site that has reserved tables in upcoming restaurants with top chefs (to be) and facilitates organised travel trips for super gastronomy experiences. Foreigners & foodies will be astonished by the power of food and drinks that upcoming chefs with their unbridled creativity and cooking techniques serve. This can be ordered by our e-commerce service site; It provides you with a detailled program, hospitality, transport, hotels, restaurant reservations,… We will also make sure you have a lot of suggestions for small walks, exhibitions visits, shopping, … for the time you’re not eating 😉

So you can leave your credit card at home. All is paid upfront so you don’t have to worry about a thing. Just enjoy the best food with the best chefs-to-be in the restaurants that form the future of the eating experience.

Just a grab out my new favourite restaurants for the future:

• Graanmarkt 13, Antwerpen
• L’Esco, Wetteren
• Vrijmoed, Gent
• J.E.F., Gent
• Eten bij Lieven, Brugge
• L’Air du temps, Namen
• …

autourdumon.de: Find a travel compagnon dating service.

For some people it’s hard to go on holidays. They don’t like to organise it, they don’t like to look for people to travel with. Some even hate it and decide not to go on holidays anymore because the fear of going alone. Autourdumon.de is a website where you can find people to travel with.

How does it work?

• You schedule yourself an interview on the website so you agree to the mediation dating service terms and conditions.
• You attend your interview wherein you will be asked for your preference travel destination, travel activities, travel compagnon, and get screened a little on personal and financial health…
• Every month you can attend organised travelspeeddatingsessions via webcam where you can meet potential travel partners.

Once there is a ‘click’, you go on holidays together. Everything regarding the trip will be taken care off within the (premium) budget you have for spending. Except packing your own luggage… 🙂

What if the Railways were run as a public/private club? #oipd

I have to admit I’m a real fan of traveling by train to work and back. I’m a forenzer who enjoys those 45 minutes to prepare some work, enjoy the Metro newspaper, catch up on my social media streams, watch people and make up stories around them or simply write this blogpost. Two days ago I took a new 1 year subscription and I was wondering why it did cost me so much. The service is quite often ok but not tremendous. Every now and than, I prefer going by car and not by train because of tight scheduled meetings in several cities. And I take holidays… I also believe i get my tickets inspected only around 30% of my rides.

What if the railways were run as a public/private club?

For the public part of service, everybody could come and get a transport ticket (not a guaranteed seat!) and take the train immediately to the destination of their choice.  The private part however is the subscription formula in which people pay a membership fee for using the services the railways offer (wifi, workspace, waiting rooms indoor, daily coffee …) In return the members of the Railways can reserve a guaranteed seat of the train of their likes and get the invoice of at the end of the month.

Although there are a lot of points to consider in this railway experience innovation, technology and infrastructure are the two main areas to invest in.

For instance; You can work with small screens in the seats or ceilings pointing out a seat is taken by mr(s) x or not at all. A small sensor in the seat notices whether a seat is taken and can be billed. The build-in mechanisme triggers a message to the member asking whether he has missed his train and would like to reserve a seat on the next one. Being a Railways member guarantees you your favorite spot at the bar while you can drink as much or as little as you like in benefitting from the extra services.

I would believe this is the vision Belgian Public Railways (@nmbs) and its new boss, Jo Cornu should aim for.
And I believe @kodel could help them with that!

Restø å gøgø; the travelling chef. #oipd

A (tv) show about a chef that travels the world to less developed places in Africa, Asia, America to do some food education. Everywhere he goes, he asks for ingredients (he has a suitcase with tools and spices) and delivers a culinair experience (meals) in return while giving some advice on how to make most of the ingredients.

Event Countdown Checklist Apps. #oipd

The Event Countdown Apps publishes a series of event countdown apps with useful event checklist apps for events. Ranging from wedding planning to what to take with you for your travels, or the daily routine habits, it gives you all the information you need spread towards, and based on, the calculated event date. This combined with shared wiki-ish to do lists, and all integrated with one another, make this series unbeatable in the household league.

StartupTravelers.com – Create a startup with strangers while travelling. #oipd

For me, vacation is purely meeting new people, visiting places, good food, more drinks than usual, catching up a bit on sleep. But after two or three days, I get bored. And I get plenty of ideas when travelling. So StartupTravelers is an idea that basically beats Startupbus (in which I participated in the first Europe edition 2011) because it’s more open because of it’s self-regulating community of startuptravelers who will advice and evaluate along the (travel) way. 

The concept of StartupTravellers.com is a website platform where you can meet likeminded people who love to do/realize/work in a startup and combine that with travelling. Who doesn’t get inspired by travelling? Everybody, right?

First, you look for an idea, people or a period in which you want to travel. Secondly, you decide with your fellow startup travelers where to go. The platform offers some nice pré-defined routes (mostly by train) in. These routes have the advantage that you can also combine the working (while getting from point A to B) with meeting people who will evaluate your startup and perhaps offer you a place in startup accelerator program or seed capital. Online other startup travelers can follow your trip, interact and provide your startup with valuable input.