21 days in Australia 2014

On 13th April 2014, myself and my 10 year old son are off to Australia until 4th May!
It's my third time travelling there and its my son's 1st time so he is super excited!!

I am writing this blog as a diary to outline what our plans are for each day.  We have family in Sydney Australia and we will be staying with them for the duration of our stay and also travelling with them to The Gold Coast in Queensland.

Below is a list of where we will be on each day of our trip and over time I will post photos of our travels...

Sunday 13th April 2014 - We will fly from Dublin to Sydney via Abu Dhabi
Monday 14th April 2014 - We arrive in Sydney Kingsford Smith airport and be met by my cousin and her family
Tuesday 15th April 2014 - After recovering from our jetlag we will get to grips with our new surroundings!
Wednesday 16th April 2014 - A trip to Taronga Zoo with the kids - Taronga Zoo is situated on an island in Sydney Harbour and is accessed via ferry.  The zoo is home to hundreds of breeds of animals including koalas, wombats and many many other animals.  After your visit to the zoo, to get back to the ferry we take a cable car ride back to the ferry over the whole zoo and this is a picturesque trip!!

Thursday 17th April 2014 - A jet boat ride around Sydney harbour - a thrilling experience for old and young alike!

Friday 18th April 2014 - A rugby match between The Rabbid-ohs and The Bulldogs at the ANZ stadium
Saturday 19th April 2014 - An AFL (Australian Football League" match between Sydney Swans and Fremantle Dockers at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Sunday 20th April 2014 - Easter Sunday - The Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb at dusk!  3.5 hours from start to finish where I will climb the harbour bridge - have a photo taken at the top with the city backdrop and then back down to the beginning!  You haven't seen Sydney until you've seen it from the bridge!

Monday 21st April 2014 - A trip to Katoomba by train and a walk around The Blue Mountains National Park
Tuesday 22nd April 2014 - A trip to Manly by ferry which is where the ocean meets the harbour
Wednesday 23rd April 2014 - A trip to the Powerhouse Museum, Paddy's Markets and Chinatown - a fun walking day out for all the family!!!
Thursday 24th April -2014  A trip to Balmain for the adults - the kids will be in "Easter Camp" for the day!
Friday 25th April 2014 - A chill out day before our trip tomorrow!
Saturday 26th April 2014 - 1 hour 20 minute flight to The Gold Coast Queensland and the beginning of a 5 night stay in Sea World resort where we will spend the next 5 days in the Theme Parks of Wet n Wild water park, Sea World and Warner Bros Movie World - the kids will be tired every evening and give the adults a bit of relaxation time!!!

Thursday 1st April 2014 - Fly back to Sydney
Friday 2nd April 2014 - Our last full day in Sydney - shopping and saying our goodbyes :(
Saturday 3rd April 2014 - Fly home from Sydney in the evening and arrive back to Dublin on Sunday 4th May tired and penniless!!!

The impact of Mobile Commerce on Business

Mobile Commerce is the use of a mobile device to view media, make transactions and to download items from anywhere in the World.
The industry I have chosen to describe impact that mobile commerce has had on it is "The Hotel Industry".

The feature that stands out the most when discussing mobile commerce is that the "reach" of Mobile commerce is endless - over 1 billion users globally allowing users to connect to millions of products.

When booking a hotel a customer can use their mobile phone to look at hotels all over the world, photos, descriptions, reviews and rates all from their mobile phone.  Sites like Trip Advisor use customer reviews to rate hotels in order of guest satisfaction and prospective guests can view these reviews before booking - the impact on the industry is that they need to be aware that customers are ready and willing to review their product / service and this normally ensures that hoteliers are constantly improving their customer service.

http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Hotel_Review-g186605-d559524-Reviews-The_Croke_Park_Hotel-Dublin_County_Dublin.html
The link above is a link to Trip advisors page reviewing The Croke Park Hotel in Dublin, the page shows that the hotel is ranked #4 of 178 hotels in Dublin.  Customers can view reviews and photos before they book.

Also in the hospitality industry, mobile commerce can be used by customers to check into their hotel room from their mobile phone - thereby saving them time standing in line at the hotel reception room.  This type of service would be used more by business travellers but it is a useful tool and can only have a positive effect on the hospitality industry.

Also whilst in a hotel, customers can view and pay their bill through their tv or from their mobile device and check out - all saving them time and also reducing the staff overheads for the hotel.

The number of airlines offering on-board mobile payments will increase from 5 percent to 36 percent in the next two years, according to a new report from WorldPay.  The report reveals that airlines will increase their focus on mobile as both a distribution channel and a payment method.  Some of the ways that airlines will extend their existing mobile services over the next couple of years include offering ancillary purchases such as seat upgrades, booking management, onward travel and in-flight purchases via mobile phones.

So the future of mobile commerce seems to be growing more and more to cope with demand from customers all over the world for fast, hassle free experiences.

Special Olympics

Special Olympics Ireland was founded in 1978 and over the past 33 years the foundation has grown and now boasts over 9300 athletes competing in 15 sports in 385 sports clubs throughout Ireland.

In 2003 the Special Olympics World Summer Games were held in Ireland in spectacular fashion.

The games were held in Dublin and ran from 21st to 29th June 2003.
177 towns and villages hosted athletes and their families from all the participating countries in the run up to and during the games.
30,000 volunteer officials (one of them being my own father) assisted in the running of the games and gave their time freely to ensure the smooth running of all activities.

The first World Games were held in 1968 in Chicago and approximately 1500 athletes took part.

The 2003 Special Olympics games were the first to ever be held outside of the United States and approximately 7000 athletes from over 150 countries participated including a 12 strong team from Iraq who needed special permission to participate despite the ongoing war in their homeland.
This huge rise in number of participants significantly shows how the games popularity has risen given the exposure of the World games.

The opening ceremony of the 2003 games in Ireland was an international success and included acts such as U2 and the Corrs and members of the Internationally acclaimed cast of Riverdance.  The games were officially opened by the late Nelson Mandela.  Special guests included Muhammad Ali, Jon Bon Jovi, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Roy Keane.

A caption of the entrance parade

The Special Olympics World Games take place every two years and the next World Summer games will take place in 2015 in Los Angeles.

Entrepreneurs John Whyte & Vivienne Lawson of Johnnie Cupcakes

            

Johnnie Cupcakes is a start up company from October 2009 and was set up by John Whyte and his partner Vivienne Lawson from Rathdrinagh in Meath.
John's previous occupation was an architect and Vivienne's background is in Interior design.  As a result of the economic downturn in 2008/2009 Johnnie Cupcakes was born when a kiosk in the Ilac Centre in Dublin became available and John and Vivienne saw an opportunity to begin trading from it.  With a disused photographic studio and storage area in their backyard, they refurbished this into a small bakery and Vivienne did a crash course in bakery and was assisted by a DKIT lecturer in pastry (Rosemary Leonard Lynch).
With a bakery staff headcount of 2 plus Vivienne the number of kiosks grew to 3 by the middle of 2010 and in 2013 the number of shops in Ireland has grown to 7 and Johnnie Cupcakes is now trading in 11 locations in the UK with 9 pending locations awaiting contracts etc to be completed.

Having won the "Outstanding Small / Medium Business award" in the Meath area in 2012 the company goes from strength to strength having moved their operations from the back garden to a purpose built bakery in Ashbourne Co Meath and now employing staff from the Meath area in their bakery and head office and over 70 staff in total in their kiosks throughout Ireland and the UK.



I asked Vivienne what she thinks sets Johnnie Cupcakes apart from it's competitors and she said "What makes us different, The kiosk model, specializing in one product line, looking at display in a different way to traditional bakery set up"

I asked John what he thinks the secret to their success is and his reply was "What makes it work, we started with an end game in mind, we have a five year plan, we are now in our fifth year and are drawing up another 5 year plan.  We are broadly in line with the plan, some things take longer, but basically it takes strong will, determination, the plan, good people  and some luck to make it work"

Below are some of the delicious items supplied by Johnnie Cupcakes


More images and information on locations and ordering can be found at www.johnniecupcakes.ie

Amazon - An overview of the service provided

Amazon is an online shopping website which is available in various countries from United Kingdom to Ireland to Australia, Brazil and Japan to name but a few.  Items available to purchase on the website range from electronics to clothing, books (both physical and e-books) to toys and games.

The Amazon website that I subscribe to is www.amazon.co.uk and that is the site I will be using screenshots etc to backup the information I will provide in this blog.....
When you first log into your Amazon account you are given a list of special offers tailored to your previous choices of both actual purchases and items that you have previously viewed on the website.  Below is a screenshot of my Amazon homepage...

One of the major benefits of an Amazon account is the relatively new "1 click payment service".  This feature stores your default payment and shipping information from your first purchase and allows you to purchase items by just using one click therefore removing the need to enter your shipping address and payment information therefore saving you time and allowing you to purchase items hassle free!  This Amazon feature sets it apart from other competitors who require you to re-submit your information every time you want to buy something.

Amazon have also recently introduced the Amazon Prime Service which guarantees a 2 day delivery time worldwide on millions of items.  In December 2013 more than one million customers around the world became Amazon Prime customers and the Holiday season of 2013 proved to be Amazon's most successful ever with more than 36.8 million items ordered worldwide on Cyber Monday which equates to a record breaking 426 items per second!  This information can be viewed in the following report from the Econsultancy website report at the following location http://bit.ly/1hFwt7i 

If you are new to Amazon, there are plenty of guides available on the internet to help you with your first purchase......  The video below will help you with your first purchase...

Amazon has a huge troubleshooting page too which minimises the need to contact the company should you have a problem... every question you could possibly need to ask is in the troubleshooting section and therefore removes the need to contact the company should you have a problem

I would highly recommend the Amazon service and can say that every item I have ever purchased from this site has been high quality and I have never had a problem with them.