Desicow.com blog

Are you going to fly US - India with a kid ?
How do you keep a kid entertained on board an airplane?
What about Onboard snacks for your kid?

There are many such questions which come to mind. Here are some quick tips which can make your next family travel more convenient.

1  planning the date :
Less crowds means less stress! If you have the option, book your flights for non-peak travel times: Mondays - Wednesdays, at midday, or in the evening.

2   Packing :
Pack plenty of entertainment for the flight, including snacks, drinks, and activities. Bring far more than you think you’ll need–you never know if you’ll be delayed.
* What to bring? Pack activities such as books, activity/coloring books, travel-sized board games, playing cards, and CD players. If your child has a portable video game system or LeapPad®, you will never appreciate it more. (Be sure to charge it the night before!)

3  Prepare your child:
Prepare your child for the trip. Tell him what to expect at the airport and on the plane, and give him tips for how to behave. (When checking or screening baggage, reassure your child he will get his belongings back — something many kids worry about.)
* Remind your child that it’s illegal to make any kind of jokes about bombs. According to the FAA, even a child’s jest can result in fines and delays.

4  Time to board
Take-offs and landings can be painful for little ears. Bring along ear filters, which buffer eardrums against rapidly changing air pressure. Encourage your child to swallow by offering beverages, gum, or hard candy.
* For maximum entertainment valve, bring toys out one at a time, and put one away before introducing the next.

5  Use of restrooms
Make your kids use the toilets before boarding the aircraft as they are spacious and much cleaner compared to the aircraft ones! Carry baby wipes as you will need them a lot in-flight for a  quick wipe up. Be sure to put them in a place easily accessible to you throughout the flight.

6  Seat choice
Only choose bulkhead seats if your baby needs a baby bassinet. If not get any other seats in preference. My reason for this is that at the bulkhead seats the armrest cannot be moved, while in normal seats the armrests can go up. This is far better if your baby wants to lie down on the seat with her head on your lap.

Federal Aviation Administration strongly recommends that smaller children be seated in Child Restraint Systems (”CRS”) — in other words, your child’s car seat or booster.

Here are the FAA’s weight guidelines regarding child safety seats:

* For babies less than 20 lbs., use a rear-facing car seat

* For children 20 - 40 lbs., use a forward-facing car seat or booster

* For kids weighing more than 40 lbs., use the airplane seat belt

7  Ear pressure
If your baby is on a bottle or breastfeeding, give them the bottle or the breast for take-off & landing. It’s the best things for their ears and they will also be relaxed.

If your child is big, then carry cotton or ask for earplugs as soon as you board the aircraft. Make use of them for take-off then save them for landing as the crew may not have any fresh ones left by then. This helps the kids tremendously if they don’t know how to pop their ears.

8  Health

If your child has a cold please ensure you have seen a doctor before the flight to check if the child is fit to fly. Even if the doctor says it’s OK, please use your judgment. I see kids flying a cold and they really are in a  bad state for take-off & landing. It is extremely painful for them if they are all congested & blocked up and they cannot pop their ears. It is very dangerous to their eardrums too!

9  Bottle heating

If you ask the crew to heat up the baby bottle, please check the temperature of the liquid yourself periodically and don’t depend on the crew. They are extremely busy and no-one is free even for 5 minutes to stand by the bottle. Crew can unfortunately forget about your bottle for a long time and most crew in Ecomony Class are not mothers themselves (as they are very young) so they do not necessarily know the right temperature for a child’s feed.

Crew are most willing to help you but please remember, they are extremely busy.

10  Rubbish

Get a carrier / plastic bag from the crew, to put your garbage in and keep your area clean. Carry fragranced bags to dispose of daipers and put them in the toilet bins.

Bonus tip: Clothes

Carry a change of clothes for your child ALWAYS and it is advisable to carry a change of top / t-shirt for yourself too. You NEVER know when you will need it…

Recently my mom was scheduled to travel to Mumbai from San Francisco on Lufthansa flight. I was looking for some companion on same flight. Someone to stop by her seat a couple of times during the flight and make sure that she is being taken care of. She doesn’t speak English, which creates a big challenge for her to get to correct gate on transit.

I tried all sorts of options to find companion:

1) Asked all friends to check if someone was traveling by same Airlines.
2) Registered with Travel companion websites like:  sulekha.com, safarsaathi.com, humrahi.net.
3) As a backup I requested wheelchair option although my mom is fit & fine.
4) Posted emails on mailing list at work place and local temple community.

Nothing worked for me.

My mom was stressed out whole month before flight since she was nervous to travel alone. I was worried too, however I kept saying to my mom that “It cools! You will be OK!”

On the day of flight we went to airport early and waited close to Check in queue. As soon as we see some Desi guy or family, we would smile, go next to them and ask “Are you guys heading for Mumbai?”

Third person we spoke to turned out to be a couple with a 3 year old kid who were there to fly Mumbai. We explained our situation and requested if they would help us by making sure that Mom gets some company. They were more than happy to help my Mom.

This couple was of big help, next day I spoke to Mom after she reached Mumbai and she told me about how helpful that couple was.

I promised myself next time when I am traveling to India, I will look around for Parents, smile and just check with them if they needed any help.

Beth Whitman has written a very nice article about why people should still Travel to India. After recent attacks there were news all around the travel industry that lot of people have started canceling their trip to India. Beth describes 4 good Reasons Why You Should Still Travel to India.

This is something that happened a couple of years ago when I was fresh from India. I’m sure many of you may have had similar experiences. (Of course my tickets, paid for by my employer, were purchased from Desi Travel Agents, though it is a less known fact that travel agents get you the best of deals on air tickets).

Having recently opened an account with Bank of America, I had to go over to the bank, which was across the street to inquire about something. My office was on the outskirts of the city, so ample space available for parking, courtyard, small lakes, beautiful trees, wild birds, lawn…..

So here I was at a the edge of a road junction, admiring the lawn, the trees and the birds, the beautiful pond, and the sunny weather. Suddenly I realized that a big SUV has stopped about 20 feet away from me while I was looking the other way. The lady driving the now stationary car moved her hand suggesting that I cross the road. And for a split second I was amazed….. too amazed to understand what was happening. I swiftly took control of the situation, realizing that she assumed that I was standing there to cross, with a motion of my hand I conveyed that I’m not going to cross, and took small steps in the direction I wanted to actually go (along the road) with a smile which I hope, conveyed a THANK-YOU. The car then left…. but I couldn’t take the smile off my face.  WOW !!! I was left to myself with a big sensation of WOW. People actually wait for pedestrians to cross first, and then drive away. Though now I take it for granted that they will stop.

I am sure you have heard of B2B (business 2 business) and B2C (business 2 consumer) models. An entity/business provide service or product to other business or directly to consumers.

DesiCow.com project is based on B2B2C model.

Let me introduce yo uto different actors/elements in my project:

1) Travel Agents [Business]
Travel Agents beat all prices when it comes to buying Air tickets to India. They do excellent job as far as this business is concern. DesiCow.com aims to give additional business to Agents by helping them reach to wider pool of people from all over USA.

2) Community [consumer]
I am building a community (portal) where Indians (living in USA) take part in their shopping process (shopping of Air Tickets to India).

Hence Desicow.com serves Businesses[ Travel Agents] to sell tickets to buyers[consumers].
“B2B2C”

What does consumer get out of desicow.com project?
Desicow.com enables you to easily get quotes from several Agents[we just have 2 agents as member, but this list will grow with time]. And I am repeating it again “Ticket Agents beat all prices”.

What does Travel Agents get out of Desicow ?
If you are some travel agents heres my message for you “Desicow.com project is based on fact that you guys do excellent job in selling Air tickets and beat all price. Desicow.com user base is growing day by day. Everyday I see number of visitors growing. By becoming member of desicow.com you get more visibility amongst this community”.
Since my website is new I will be more then oblidged to make sure that early members[Agents] eventually get more priviledges on this website in future.

What do I get out of desicow.com ?
I am software engineer at heart with inclination towards entrepreneurship. I like to create new things, make difference, like to see that 1000s of people use my work and help me grow it. I am passionate about this porject and like I have doen in past I will desicow a big success.

In the flight to USA, they showed instructions on the in-flight video display about immigration and customs formailties. For most of the visas that are applicable to ppl from India, we need to fill form I-94. Tired & half asleep I watched the details in the flight video, not understanding much. Luckily for me, there was an experienced desi gentleman next to me who helped me to fill out the form. Though, I had to make 3 attempts before getting everything right on the form.

Soon we landed at Washington D.C (it was Dulles Airport IAD, I think), stood in line for the Immigration. I was still quite groggy, and sleepy from the flight. They told me to wait behind a yellow line, till the officer calls. Other ppl got calls from their respective officers, but unfortunately for me,  I stood there waiting for the officer to call. But he wouldn’t call !!!! Now what, my tired half asleep mind panicked. I stood there for what seemed like tens of minutes. After a long time, a security guard told me loudly (I’m sure he was angry), why are you waiting, go to the counter. “Arre but”, I thought, “its written on the board to not go till you are called.”

So then, I gathered some courage and started to go to the counter, certain that i’m going to be scolded by the immigration officer for coming to the counter without him calling me. Luckily for me, there was no shouting. I think that officer didn’t want to work that day, so he just didn’t call me.

Then came the usual verification of original docs, passport, & taking the I-94. Once all that was completed, the officer stamped the I-94 form with my immigration status. Gave me the rubber stamped Customs form, to be given at the customs declaration counter. Much relieved, I was like…..  America here I come …..

Alright the heading was just to create curiosity and make you read this blog entry

Desicow.com is not a silly website. Its a simple website which solves some real world problem. Its a average website for an average user. Nothing rocket-science about it. More details about desicow.com’s purpose will be disclosed after website is launched.

regarding name “Desicow.com”

Who the hell keeps name of a website “Desicow” ?

Who the hell wants to buy or sell tickets to India on a website named “Desicow” ?

Isn’t “Desicow” some carazy silly funky name ?

Yes! It is.

However here are good reasons for selecting this name:

1) If you are have spent time searching for a good domain name you will know that almost all sensible names in the world are already taken by some one.

2) DesiCow.com is easy to remember.

3) try conveying this website name to someone on Phone, I bet you dont need to spell it. Its easy to pronounce and understand and there is no confusion about spelling mistake.

4) think of www.Monster.com - what comes to your mind ? ..A job site, rite? Do you ever think of a real Chinese monster with a lion head and gusting fire from his mouth Nops! only thing that comes to your mind is JOBS. Same way Desicow.com will eventually become a brand name amongst Desi junta. Once they know about what website does, this name will just remind them about buying and selling air tickets to India.

5) for many users(first timers) silly funky name itself creates little curiosity.

If you go out and ask 10 Indians “What are different places/ways to buy Air tickets to India ?”. Some of the answers you will get :
* local Travel Agents
* websites like makemytrip, priceline, kayak etc

If you go out and ask 10 Indians “Who gives the cheapest?”
9 out of 10 will tell you that “Travel Agents”

There is no way you can beat price given by travel agents. If you have an impressions from those funky ads claiming $500 ticket to India, they are absolutely false claims. These are just marketing tricks to get you interested in those website. If you don’t agree with me go to these websites and ask them to give you that $500 ticket and believe me they will come up with 10 UN-doable conditions in your travel for buying that $500 ticket.

Travel Agents give best price.
(how they get cheapest ticket will be discussed in some other blog entry).

Before starting Desicow.com project I asked myself one question: Is Desicow.com something I will use personally when shopping for Air tickets to India? answer was ‘YES’.

I checked with 10 different people and they said they will use it too.

If it helps me, if it helps 10 other people in my network, I am sure it will help 100s of people like us.

I am starting a website where Travel Agents will be able to get in touch with potential customers who are shopping for air tickets to India. Of course tickets need to cheapest and should beat all other prices.

Mr. X runs a travel agency, selling tickets to India. Business is doing all good.

One fine day he comes across a website which claims to solve an important issue in same business and also claims that website will give boost to Mr X’s business.

For some reason Mr. X decides to give this website a shot, so that he is not left behind in competition. Within minutes Mr. X realizes that website does solve problem if it is able to attract users who are shopping out for Air tickets to India. He also finds that website is not free. There is a small fees involved in using website to get business out of it.

Is it wrong to ask your first few customers(Travel Agencies in my case) to pay for using website?

Almost all of my friend said ‘YES’. Everyone said - “make it FREE for first few Agencies”

I can guess some of the reason they are thinking:
1) Travel agencies will avoid using website because of fees involved.
2) no one wants to pay money to a new website.
3) You will get more travel agents on board if you make it free
4) Its always easy to start asking for fees once website gets bit old and popular.

However I have some different thoughts in my mind.

1) A business owner doesn’t care about some small amount of money, if in return, website is really helping his business. In fact he will surely avoid wasting time on some website which doesn’t help him(even if it FREE).

2) As business owner instead of spending small amount he is more concern about how he can get more out of this website, promote his business and sell more tickets.

3) Desicow.com is actually bringing a travel agent closer to potential ticket buyer; its way better then wasting money on other websites for advertisement.

Desicow.com is going to give Travel agents 100s of ticket leads over a period of time. Travel Agents will get access to these leads from all across USA.

I want these travel agencies to push me to add more tools and features to website. I want them to make me go crazy fixing any issues and get more potential ticket buyers. This kind of coomunication will only come in to picture if these travel agencies have paid for using website. They are serious about business and now they have paid to use desicow.com , so desicow.com better be a sincere website.

Hi there!
This is the first blog entry from the official blog of DesiCow.com website.

What is DesiCow.com ?
- its a simple website to help you buy cheapest air tickets to India.
- its not a world-changing website but it solves one simple problem which all Indians face when they are shopping for cheap air tickets to India.

Website is still in stealth mode and I am planning to launch beta version within next 10 days. Please keep watching this space to know more about desicow.com website and team.