UIR - Affairs

.My Dream Travel Destination

? 7:59 PM, Friday, May 16, 2008

There are too many heart-breaking news recently, which convince me that the world is really going crazy:

The 7.8 magnitude earthquate in Sichung, China. An estimated of 65,000 people already dead.
The cyclone in Myammar raised the death toll to 43,318, with nearly 28,000 still missing.
The soaring rice price due to the lower agricultural production.

Any piece of the news makes me depressed and wonder what's the world going on. Anyway, Let me take a short break from all these now. It's time to think about my dream travel destination.

There are many places I would like to visit. But France is the one that makes me go "wow". This is one of the reasons that I took up French Language as one of my CDS subject last year. I am just waiting for the right time to do the right thing. Haha..

I remember during my French language project, I had the chance to browse through some of the 'Travel in France' websites. And I am mesmerised by the beauty of France.

According to one of my friends who went to Paris last year and information I gathered from the internet, the following are some of the "must-go" places in France...

Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower is an iron tower built on the Champ de Mars beside the Seine River in Paris. The tower has become a global symbol of France and is one of the most recognizable structures in the world. Named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the Eiffel Tower is the tallest building in Paris. More than 200,000,000 have visited the tower since its construction in 1889, including 6,719,200 in 2006, making it the most visited paid monument in the world. Including the 24 m (79 ft) antenna, the structure is 325 m (1,063 ft) high (since 2000), which is equivalent to about 81 levels in a conventional building.

Musée du Louvre

The Louvre Museum in Paris is the largest, oldest and most well known museum in the France. Even those not interested in art cannot help but admire the magnificent building of the Louvre Museum in Paris. Originally built as a military fortress in the 13th Century, the Lourve Museum was a royal palace for several years during the 16th century before becoming a museum in 1793.

Notre Dame de Paris

The Notre Dame Cathedral is located at the eastern part of the Île de la Cité in Paris, and has a Gothic style which is considered the finest example of this kind of architecture, is one of the most visited attractions in this city and is still used as a Roman Catholic cathedral.

Other than exploring the stereotype image of Paris, I would also love to spend my times at the countryside of France, experience the lifestyle and taste the essence of la vie française

I have to stress this -- French Wine (cos it was the French project topic I did last year, thus a bit of wine information taken from my project)

France is one of the oldest wine producing countries in the world. The classification and variety of the wine is complex because of the diversity of wines in France.

French wine is the number one choice for wine enthusiasts.

Do you know?

Franch wine is named by the region it comes from. Thus, only sparkling wine that comes from the region of Champagne can be use the patent name of Champagne

Burgundy (Wine region) is the home to some of the most expensive wines in the world.

Some of the information are taken from the following website
http://www.justfrance.org

Evaluation of the travel website

Purpose:
A well-known world travel guide, provides detailed travel information for over 90 countries worlwide to consumers and license content to third party sites including:
Greece | England | Spain | Italy | Germany | France | Portugal | Russia | Japan | China | India | Thailand California | Florida | Canada | Australia | Peru | Mexico | Argentina | Cuba | Brazil | Kenya | Egypt | Turkey
also they supply many top-ranking travel companies in the world with destination information for their public websites as well as many smaller travel and property websites. In addition, they also produce a unique World Airport Guide, a Resort/Ski Guide, a World Cruise and Port Guide and Attraction Guide.

Coverage
This website provides a wide converage of informtion about France
Information of many hot destinations in France are provided for users to browse, such as Paris, Cannes, Bordeaux, Nice and etc. Maps are also provided for users. Visa application, hotel, flights, transport information, french culture, french food and drink, french language and french business. In addition, they also provide information of other countries.

Authority
This website has affiliations to the many companies such as Hotel.com. Since there are so many affiliations, it is an authoritative website. The team consist of in-house editors and international network of multilingual freelance journalists and travel writers have been able to create travel guides specifically for this online environment. Moreover, since the website has been in service for more than 27 years and it is very well-known in its industry, thus the reputation is verified.

Accuracy
Since the website provides travel information for over 90 countries worldwide for online users and top ranking travel companies, the information on the website must be very accurate. In addition, it also links to many other well-known travel -related partners, therefore the information on the website has to be accurate. There are also no grammar or spelling mistakes in the content

Currency
The information on the website is up-to-date. The website updates the information on the website on a regular basis. Moreover, specific dates for each festivals in France is reliable. The information for activities in France has to be current so customers can enjoy the holiday there without too much fuss. Also, since it provides detail information for many travel companies, it is essential that the information on the website is current.

Accessibility
This website is accessible as it does not required any registration to access the information online, so there is no cookies or bookmarks.

Usability
The website is user-friendly and intuitive. The topics are properly arranged into categories, thus users can locate their desire information easily. Also, this website provides links to other useful websites, for example, users can book air-ticket online conveniently without the need to check out a flight company again.

Presentation and Arrangement
There is an appropriate arragement of photos and texts. Photos are placed according with the information. The background colour (white) matches with the all the images and texts colours.

Overall
This website is very useful for travellers who intent to visit France. Very comprehensive information about France, from dinning to accomodation to sir-ticket and etc...Basically, users can find everything they need for their holiday in France. Also, they provide up-to-date information of the festivals, activities and special events. Thus, i believe, the aim and purpose of the website has achieved.