Company Profiles: Spotlight on Travel and Tech

From the Olympic Sculpture Park and Pike Place Market to the Space Needle and Seattle Underground, Seattle and the surrounding area offer a wealth of opportunities for sightseeing and relaxation whether you have a weekend or more to explore.

Are you a creative type looking to design the perfect website to showcase your work? Like to travel, but don’t think you have the time or resources to build something beautiful? Well, look no further than Portfoliobox, a company specifically designed for creative professionals such as photographers, designers, architects, makeup artists, models and more. With a variety of templates and user-friendly tools, even a busy traveler can find time to build their dream online portfolio with just a few clicks from anywhere in the world.

PwC, a leading professional services network, conducted its most comprehensive retail survey to date in 2016, reaching out to nearly 23,000 online shoppers from around the globe to learn more about their interests and habits. Among the findings was the insight that affordability figures heavily into shopping decisions, with 60 percent of those surveyed choosing a favorite retailer because of its prices. Many are increasingly using their mobile devices while shopping as well, with 31 percent accessing coupons or promotional codes on their smartphones.

Once you’ve set your strategy using RewardExpert’s service, it’s a good time to start to research your lodging and sightseeing options. But what about last-minute entertainment? Whether you decide to take a spontaneous weekend vacation or find yourself with a spare evening while away on business, SeatGeek can help you find and buy tickets to the hottest sporting events, concerts and plays in any city you visit.

More Americans are choosing to travel internationally these days. In fact, according to CheapOair’s recent travel trends report, international air travel has increased by nearly 170 percent since 2013—with a 30 percent increase since last year alone.

Realizing you need to go to therapy is not easy. Then, finding a good therapist is a whole other challenge. Noah Rubinstein, founder and CEO of GoodTherapy.org, recognized these concerns and created the organization to serve as a place for anyone, anywhere, anytime to search for help. There are thousands of therapists from over 30 countries listed on GoodTherapy.org. “As we heal ourselves, we help to heal our world,” he stated.

The southern United States has always had something of a reputation when it comes to food.

A region long synonymous with such comfort food as pan-fried chicken, black-eyed peas and collard greens, as well as hushpuppies and beignets, its hard to talk (or even think for that matter) about the states south of the Mason-Dixon line without considering their vast contribution to gastronomy.

How do you define sustainable tourism? If your answer is eco-friendly you’re on the right track, but only partially correct. While environmental consciousness—or being green—is certainly a big component of true sustainability, there are other necessary factors to consider as well. These include the economy, or keeping money local whenever possible, and culture, or minimizing the negative impact of tourism on local society while maximizing the positive.

If you’re a parent, you know that teaching your kids about finances isn’t always easy. You may give your children a weekly allowance or reward them for doing something great. But do you really know what they’re spending or think they truly understand the value of a dollar?

According to a recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD), which runs the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 22 percent of 15-year-olds lack basic financial literacy.

Travel—whether you explore a new destination every few years or regularly hit the road on exciting adventures—can be transformative. For travel expert Wendy Perrin, founder of WendyPerrin.com, more than a few vacation experiences have been life changing. From her journey to the Galapagos Islands, to a pre-war trek through Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, the revelations have been numerous and often shared with her husband and two sons.

Summer is a popular time for families to vacation together, and according to AAA, more than a third of Americans expect to take a journey that is at least 50 miles away from home. With 79 percent planning a road trip, 51 percent preparing to visit a national park, and 33 percent anticipating a visit to an international destination, the opportunity for educational experiences abound.

More people are choosing to become digital nomads where they can work anywhere in the world. Many jobs no longer require an office because the work can be done online. Remote or freelance workers can earn money with an electronic device and a reliable Internet connection.

Healthcare in the U.S. is notoriously expensive. According to the number crunchers at the Department of Health and Human Services, national health expenditures were expected to hit $3.35 trillion last year—or an average or $10,345 for each man, woman and child in America. Hospitals collected 32 percent of this spending while doctors and other clinicians snagged 20 percent for their services. Prescription drugs purchased through pharmacies accounted for another 10 percent.

Did you ever wonder why your boarding pass has ads on it? And did you ever get the sneaking suspicion that those ads were targeted? If so, you’re right. Sojern is the company that started doing it back in 2007. These days the company uses insights from more than 350 million unique traveler profiles — along with billions of travel purchase signals — to help marketers target the right travelers, at the right time, with the right messages.

If you’ve ever been in an airport with time to spare, odds are that you stopped for some quick grub at a kiosk or sat down with your travel companions for nice meal. After all, eating is a big part of the airport experience, especially if you have a connection and there’s not much else to do. But few travelers are aware of the story behind the restaurants they find at the airport.

Do you have a habit of repeatedly visiting the same vacation locations? Are your family adventures beginning to feel a little less than adventurous? Would you like to break out of your travel rut and explore more of the world—maybe even a less accessible destination? If so, it may be time for you to consider working with the professional travel planners at GeoEx.

Alice Howell, GeoEx’s director of user experience and collaboration, recently spoke to RewardExpert about the inspiration behind the high-end adventure travel company, its current offerings, and her top five destination suggestions for this year’s summer vacation.

Have you been thinking about exploring new career options? If so, you’re not alone. According to one survey of U.S. workers, 22 percent are planning to change jobs in 2017. The number is even higher among younger employees—with 35 percent of survey respondents between the ages of 18 to 34 anticipating a change of employer.

Airplanes can take you anywhere there’s a runway, but there are enormous and complicated systems behind the scenes that make it possible for millions of flights a year to go smoothly.

At a time when 50 percent of Facebook users have more than 200 virtual friends, and the average Twitter user has nearly 350 followers, Pew Research Center data reveals 29 percent of Americans only know a few of their actual neighbors. Even more worrisome, 28 percent don’t know any of them at all. And because it’s hard to have confidence in strangers, it’s no wonder nearly half say they don’t trust the other people who live in their neighborhood.

When it comes to receiving one-on-one instruction, look no further than Wyzant, the nation’s largest online marketplace for tutoring.