Holiday Booked & Why I’ll Never Book Greyhound Buses In America

So yes! Remember when I talked about my holiday? Well it’s finally booked, here’s my final itinerary:-

A few changes were made from the original itinerary, largely due to problems (more on that later), and advice from readers. The two main changes are the following.

  • Less Time In Richmond – A day and a bit is apparently enough, because there’s nothing much there.
  • Less Time in Toronto – On the 15th, I’m doing a night bus between New York and Toronto. Primarily because it’s the best option. I know that a lot of people suggested I spent a day or two at Niagara falls, but I couldn’t. The reason is solely down to one company.

Greyhound Buses

Oh my days, I’ve never known a difficult to use website. Nothing is made obvious, as I’m pretty sure it’s organised like this to make the company a lot of money (more on that later).

Here’s a real life example. On the 7th of June I wanted to go from Richmond, Virginia to Washington DC. I placed the details on the website, as you can see here:-

Upon clicking on search schedules, notice the date that’s searched for:-

So all of a sudden, I’m now getting a bus on the day before. Not exactly helpful is it? Why is there no seemingly point to say “Sorry, we can’t do Tuesday, here’s Monday instead!”. I don’t want a bus on the Monday, I want a bus on the Tuesday!

I know Dan will probably take the piss out of me for it (because I did when he did something similar a few months ago), but it caught me out. Foolish, or should the website have done more? I’m pretty sure I won’t be the only person to “fall” for this.

Either way, after Greyhound got my money (which they’ll probably keep, as the refund enquiry process takes 14 days), I went to megabus.com. Sure enough, it worked out easier, cheaper and friendlier than Greyhound. Admittedly they don’t go to Niagara, but I’ll live.

In conclusion – Greyhound, I’ll never use your services again. Your website seems like it’s out to trick me (which it did), and problems don’t seem easy to fix.

When One Website Bear Scrapes Another Furry Bear’s Website, That Makes Me A Sad Little Panda

I can’t be the only person who thinks of this when people talk of the Google Panda Update?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5I9TWMA4U8[/youtube]

Who lives in peace ‘neath in Mountain View?
Google Harassment Panda!
Who explains Google harassment to me and you?
Google Harassment Panda!
Don’t cloak that, don’t link there..
Don’t be evil says the silly old bear!
He’s come to teach you what’s right and wrong..
Google Harassment Panda!

In other news: I’ve noticed nothing untoward, so I’m going back to bed/pub/doing what I should be doing.

WWE: When is it Not Ashamed To Be a Wrestling Promotion?

In the last few months, me and a few of my wrestling fan mates (of which there is numerous) have been having a good giggle at the WWE, and it’s refusal to be called a wrestling promotion.

They have tried to distance itself from the name since the mid 80’s, when they used it to get passed being listed as an athletic event so they wouldn’t have the same regulation as boxers (“wrestlers? No, they are superstars!”), but recently it’s got a bit silly, PR departments have been agressive in emailing sources in press coverage asking for titles that mention the word “Wrestling” changed, even removing coverage when journalists not wanting to change. Jokes about how many times the word “Wrestle” was said at Wrestlemania (which is probably going to be changed in name next year to something like “Entertainamania” – hey that could work as a name) did the rounds over the weekend, and as somebody who is involved in the wrestling business in such a small way, I find it amusing.

However, the other business I’m involved in is SEO, and – during a boring evening pissing about on the internet – I found this:-

Furthermore, here is the Meta Description, where it explicitly says it’s targetting wrestling fans!

<META NAME="description" CONTENT="Wrestling merchandise from WWEShop.com
includes a huge variety of WWE DVDs, action figures, accessories &amp;
more at everyday low discounted prices. WWEShop.com satisfies all
WWE wrestling merchanidise needs for the wrestling fan in all of us!">

I don’t blame WWE for this. After all, if you sell wrestling merchandise and don’t include the words “Wrestling Merchandise” in your title and meta description tags, then you are – quite frankly – pants on head retarded. Certainly I applaud your SEO team and if Vince McMahon is reading this, I suggest you give them a pay rise for bringing in a lot of sales for standing up to your branding department (who, really, should be fired).

Oh and whilst your at it. Give Zack Ryder a push.

I’m not sure either of those will happen, in fact I’m pretty sure that the word “wrestling” will be removed from the title and descriptions!