Then Europe-bound ex "Pointers" started to write, asking the truth about places in the travel glossies... "Come on, Ted, is X really good or just the freebie assignment of a tame travel writer?"

They became so frequent, James suggested I photocopy my previous month's itinerary and comments... et voilá, my outspoken, often funny, sometimes bitchy, always fair and always truthful personal journal was born. It started out as a few "Letters from Abroad" and grew into the 22-page, monthly, Edward Carter's TRAVELS©.

Some issues have traveled even more than my readers - special anthology editions were seat-pocketed in First Class on all British Airways flights for more than a year.

Then I spent several years developing my database of hotel experiences into a CD-ROM which was ported to the Internet in 1995 as the Interactive Travelvision Network. It won awards and brought me to the attention of John Williams, the head of biztravel.com.

John had left his post at American Express to be President and CEO of a unique travel website. He hired me to create an online magazine for frequent business travelers within the site. biztraveler consisted of 40 departments and, if printed, would be about the size of the monthly Conde Nast Traveller. I and my staff of 3.5 people produced a new issue every fortnight, and won many awards. However, biztravel.com became a victim of the "dot com" bubble, and evaporated as its assets were acquired and executives dismissed.