STA Travel's "GlobetrekkerBob" makes booking travel a virtual reality!
Hello, my name is GlobetrekkerBob Lane , and I am the Branch Manager of STA Travel Island. For nearly a decade, travel has been a passion in my life; I have spent over 3.5 years traveling internationally in 29 countries, in addition to spending 2 years working as a travel advisor in Cambridge, MA. I left STA Travel in 2004 to undertake a personal journey in which I traveled around the world in 800 days. I won't bore you with the details but I did get to surf with butterflies.
I have returned to STA Travel as the first virtual travel agent, setting up an office for Real Life travel plans in the virtual environment of Second Life. I will provide the same services found in any retail branch of STA Travel to our online customers who have internet access, be it your home or an internet café on the banks of the Mekong River. I have posted office hours in the lobby of the main office at STA SLI, and will be happy to schedule consultations outside of the posted times.
I believe that SL is changing the way the travel industry operates today and am tremendously excited to be a part of that change. If you have any questions for me, be it about travel, STA Travel Island, or whatever happens to be on your mind, please drop by, and we'll talk.
My Office Hours are:
Monday: 4-7pm SLT
Tuesday: 4-7pm SLT
Wednesday: 4-7pm SLT
Thursday: 10am-1pm SLT
Friday: 10am-1pm SLT
Saturday: No scheduled hours
Sunday: No scheduled Hours
Thanks,
Bob
Meet the Team: Matt from STA Travel - OUR ISLAND OPENS TO THE PUBLIC: MONDAY, APRIL 23 @ 8 am SL time/11 am EST
Hi, my name is Matt from STA Travel and my avatar is Dixie Nagy. We are excited to welcome all virtual world travelers to STA Travel Island!
It has definitely been an amazing few months working on this project. It is fascinating to see how Second Life residents from all over the world can engage and interact with one another in a totally new way. 3-D virtual worlds I believe, give us insight into what web sites can and will increasingly look like in the future. More interactive, more engaging and definitely more social!
From STA Travel's perspective, we saw an opportunity to help college students and universities learn about this emerging technology and set about creating the "softest landing" in Second Life to date. We also wanted to make sure that SL residents are continually surprised and entertained with a number of cool new features such as the dorm room concept as well as entertaining social events. From our travel partners perspective, we wanted to provide them with a fun, new platform to interact with potential new residents and give them the opportunity to experience this new social platform.
I want to say a couple of big thank you's. All the crew at The Electric Sheep Company, Electric Artists, Prof. Blake Ives from the University of Houston and Hilary Mason from Johnson & Wales University have all been amazing to work with.
I hope you enjoy!
-Dixie
Meet the Team: Makaio, STA Travel World Tour Sim Designer
Hey there, Matt here - also known as Makaio Stygian in-world. I work as one of the lead developers for Electric Sheep Company doing various types of production ranging from 3D building and texturing to coding, animating as well as some light sound editing. Currently on the STA Travel project, I have been assigned to design the layout and structure of the World Tour sim along with Barnesworth as well as creating some of the buildings within it.
I have been creating content within Second Life for over the last two and a half years, the most recent year being in bulk for ESC related projects. While working in Second Life is my job, it's also creative outlet.
In addition to ESC projects, I work, in my spare time, as a developer for The Wastelands. The Wastelands is currently a two sim project founded by in-world developer NeoBokrug Elytis. While technically described as a residential sim, the developing team has brought a regionwide combat and crafting system into play for residents and visitors alike. Additional perks have also arisen from resident contribution such as a gladiatorial arena and movie nights at the drive-in, usually featuring post-apocalypic flicks to mirror the sim's overall theme.
I'm immensely excited to be able to work with the amazing developing crew from Electric Sheep Company, ElectricArtists and STA Travel. I will be updating soon on structural details of the sim layout so stay tuned!
- Makaio
Meet the Team: Barnes, Builder for STA Travel in SL
I am Barnesworth Anubis, one of the builders of the STA Travel region in Second Life. I have been an active SL resident since June 2004 and have enjoyed creating and building since my first few days in SL.
For this STA Travel project, I will be working with the build team on designing, building and texturing the different sections of the STA Travel Main Island . I have always loved trying different styles and creating immersive places for people to explore, so I am very excited about this project. It should be a fun and interesting challenge bringing this all together.
- Barnes
Posted at 5:41 PM in STA Travel Interview | Comments (0) |
Meet the Team: Damien, Designer of the STA Travel Office
Hi, my name is Damien Fate and I created the STA Travel office in Second Life.
I was lucky that I had pretty much full control over the look and feel of the office building, from exterior to interior, so it was a good opportunity to create an office space that was spacious yet comfy, and cool yet professional looking.
The external shell is pretty simple on three of the four sides, the exception was the front facing wall which I wanted to be a great combination of glass, steel and stone, creating a huge window into the world of STA Travel.
As soon as you walk into the office you're immersed in a stunning visual surrounding, showing off inspirational images taken by STA Travel customers from around the world, from Amsterdam to Zimbabwe, on boards, posters, hanging flags and a picture showcase above through a 'magnifying glass' style mezzanine - you can't escape the tremendous feeling of what is out there in the world, just waiting for you!
On the left side of the ground floor you will find an information area, with fareboards, virtual brochures and computer monitors providing direct links from Second Life to the STA Travel website!
On the right side there is a consultation area, where visitors can have a one on one chat with an STA representative, this is on two chairs in a depression in the floor in front of a world map - an essential item to any STA Travel Office!
Initially I had planned to have just two floors for the office area, including a lounge area and the picture showcase, however I thought it would be much cooler to have it split off into two side wings and a middle top floor. I've placed a nice social lounge on each wing with the central top floor being the showcase area. Pretty much all the office is visible from this point and it all comes together nicely.
There were no drawn plans for the office, as I said it was pretty much under my own control and I went with what felt right, starting with a blank white canvass inside and adding the drops of color and form as I saw fit. Who knew I am an artist afterall!
-Damien
Meet the Team: Torrid, STA Travel's Event Coordinator
Hello, I’m Torrid Midnight. Torrid is my Second Life name and the name most people are familiar with. I have been involved in Second Life for almost four years, two and a half of those years I designed fashion. I’ve participated in many community events and projects in Second Life, including a weekly podcast. My experiences eventually led me to where I am now, working for the Electric Sheep Company.
My role within ESC is production and the majority of that production centers on events. I enjoy my work and I love the opportunity I receive every day to be part of such a talented, creative, and driven group of people. I will manage events for STA Travel and there are some great activities planned so get ready to have some fun!
I will be sharing STA Travel event announcements with you as they’re scheduled and explaining what you can expect to find when you attend. I also want to help those who are new to Second Life understand what an event in a virtual world involves. Be watching for more information and I’ll see you soon!
- Torrid
Posted at 6:08 PM in STA Travel Interview | Comments (0) |
Meet the Team: Cory Edo - Project Manager of STA Travel's SL Islands
Hi! I'm Sara Van Gorden, but you can call me Cory Edo, my Second Life avatar name (and according to Google, the name most people know me by). I work for the Electric Sheep Company, and while my general role is graphic designer and 3D builder, for the STA Travel project I'm also helping in the role of project manager.
I've been active in SL for about two and a half years, and with the Electric Sheep Company for the last year working professionally within SL. I can say without hesitation that my work with ESC and within SL in general is my passion, and I'm extremely lucky to be able to do what I love for a living.
I also have an ESC related blog called I work with sheep and pixels where I put up Photoshop tutorials and the occasional metaramble about working in a virtual office, in a virtual world, with very real people.
Throughout the course of creating the STA Travel islands, I'll be going over the higher level elements of what it takes to put a project of this scope and magnitude together, working with a variety of people in different roles to create an in-world presence for STA Travel that's fun, unique, informative, entertaining, and full of activity.
This is a fantastic project, and I'm extremely excited about the team – Barnesworth, Makaio, Damien, and Crystalshard are all artists of the highest caliber – and this is my third direct project with ElectricArtists, a great group of professionals who bring a lot of organization, great ideas and enthusiasm to any project they work on. I look forward to leading you through the project process in collaboration with the rest of our amazing team members. Talk to you soon!
- Cory Edo
Posted at 4:33 PM in STA Travel Interview | Comments (0) |
