We love taking trips, whether it’s a short road trip or a longer trip by air to some distant exotic place. But all too often we fail to plan for our trip and the result is frustration and annoyance.
- For road trips, get the right maps and plan your route thoroughly. Everything won’t go exactly to plan, but at least you’ll have much fewer nasty surprises.
- Never, ever make a joke about bombs or terrorists near security at an airport. Many people have jokingly mentioned they have a small bomb in their case as their luggage is being inspected. Later at the police station, they deeply regretted their stupidity.
- Be immediately suspicious in airports, railway or bus stations when someone bumps into you. It may be a pickpocket. Also be aware if something is spilt on you, or a spot on your clothing is pointed out to you. These things are designed to distract your attention from what is going on: the theft of your valuables.
- While cruises make planning easy with their all in charges, there is likely to be many extra items that you should budget for. These include taxes, surcharges and fees, tipping, drinks, some shore excursions, shopping purchases, etc.
- The most obvious thing to check on before setting off on a foreign trip is the state of the local weather where you are going. You don’t want to arrive in a tee shirt if it’s snowing, or in a fur coat if it’s in the 90s.
- When travelling with children bring along recent photos of each one. If a child gets lost, the photo will prove invaluable in helping to locate the child again.
- A trip to a theme park will suffer from a lack of careful planning. Some parks are so big that planning is essential. Get a list of all the rides and a map of the park, as well as opening and closing times, before setting off.
A discount travel package allows you to visit your favourite destinations at lower than normal rates. In short, your dream vacation with your family is no more a dream, it has come alive. Being able to travel cheaply does not mean that you will always get the best deal. Therefore, it becomes very important to plan and evaluate different discount travel packages and select the one that fits your budget and needs.
A discount travel package is one way of saving your money on trips to popular destinations. Travel agencies can help you decide on a package that suits your pocket. they have multiple packages and you get a handful of options in front of you.
A travel agent can even customize your travel package according to your background. This includes the time and duration of stay, popular places in and around your destination and even accommodation. These things should be taken into account when you decide on a travel package. Also, due to immense competition in this industry, one should always compare packages with other agents. This will give you bargaining power, if possible.
A discount travel package doesn’t need to have all those things which you have in your mind. Guesswork or assumption might not help here, so speak up and inquire properly, say “yes” only when you are 100% convinced with the details mentioned in the package brochure.
To be on the safer side, you can contact your friends or relatives who have been on a discount travel package. They will have something important to share with you. Their experiences can guide you to prevent unscrupulous people from offering cheap discount travel packages and taking you for a ride!
Remember, a travel package that is well planned and managed can lighten your travelling load and make the trip more valuable and fun.
Travel Clocks Can Make Traveling Much More Homelike
Today’s traveller has many needs. Among the many needs are travel clocks. These clocks are necessary for obvious reasons even in the day and age of hotel wake up calls, a travel alarm clock is a kinder gentler way to be awakened than the excessively loud hotel room telephones.
Travel clocks now come in all kinds of shapes and sizes so that you can bring them with you and have a little display of personality or a small taste of home. Travel clocks can also offer a method of you keeping your time when travelling rather than relying on the hotel services which are on local time for the area in which you are travelling.
You can also involve your children in your travel by allowing them to choose a travel clock for you that will remind you of them every morning, not that you won’t be thinking of them anyway, it’s just a good way to make them feel that they are important to you even when you are away.
We often forget the importance of feeling at home when we are travelling. Little things such as travel clocks, candles, photographs of friends and family can go a long way toward making you feel at home no matter how far away you are. Travelling, especially when travelling on business, can be quite a lonely endeavour. Anything that makes you feel less alone and isolated is a good thing to bring with you when you travel.
Whether you travel often during your business or you only travel for family vacations, good travel clocks will have a huge impact on the way you wake in the mornings and your overall enjoyment of your trip. Make a point of choosing a clock that has an alarm that will wake you in the morning without being overpowering and obnoxious and if you can, choose one that will help you feel much less homesick.
Beware Of Travel Scams
Unlike most products, travel services usually have to be paid for before they are delivered. This creates opportunities for disreputable individuals and companies. Some travel packages turn out to be very different from what was presented or what the consumer expected. Some don’t materialize at all!
If you receive an offer by phone or mail for a free or extremely low-priced vacation trip to a popular destination (often Hawaii or Florida), there are a few things you should look for:
- Does the price seem too good to be true? If so, it probably is.
- Are you asked to give your credit card number over the phone?
- Are you pressured to make an immediate decision?
- Is the carrier simply identified as “a major airline,” or does the representative offer a collection of airlines without being able to say which one you will be on?
- Is the representative unable or unwilling to give you a street address for the company?
- Are you told you can’t leave for at least two months? (The deadline for disputing a credit card charge is 60 days, and most scam artists know this.)
If you encounter any of these symptoms, proceed cautiously. Ask for written information to be sent to you; any legitimate travel company will be happy to oblige. If they don’t have a brochure, ask for a day or two to think it over; most bona fide deals that are good today will still be good two days from now. If they say no to both requests, this probably isn’t the trip for you.
Some other advice:
- If you are told that you’ve won a free vacation, ask if you have to buy something else to get it. Some packages have promoted free airfare, as long as you buy expensive hotel arrangements. Others include a free hotel stay, but no airfare.
- If you are seriously considering the vacation offer and are confident you have established the full price you will pay, compare the offer to what you might obtain elsewhere. Frequently, the appeal of free airfare or free accommodations disguises the fact that the total price is still higher than that of a regular package tour.
- Get a confirmed departure date, in writing, before you pay anything. Eye sceptically any promises that an acceptable date will be arranged later. If the package involves standby or waitlist travel, or a reservation that can only be provided much later, ask if your payment is refundable if you want to cancel, and don’t pay any money you can’t afford to lose.
- If the destination is a beach resort, ask the seller how far the hotel is from the beach. Then ask the hotel.
- Determine the complete cost of the trip in dollars, including all service charges, taxes, processing fees, etc.
- If you decide to buy the trip after checking it out, paying by credit card gives you certain legal rights to pursue a chargeback (credit) if promised services aren’t delivered.
If it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.
Last Minute Travel Made Easy
The growth of the Internet and budget airlines has turned last-minute flights into a huge industry – you can just be surfing around, and then, right there, there’s a flight cheap enough for you to buy on impulse and go away this weekend. If you’re thinking about booking last minute flights, however, there are a few things you need to know.
An important point to make is that you can’t trust the prices you see quoted in advertising for last minute flights. This is because of the common practice of excluding booking fees, airport taxes and all sorts of other little extras from the price – these all get added on just when you’ve got your card out and you’re ready to pay, in the hope that by then you won’t want to back out.
Also, you should realise that just because a flight says it goes to a big city like London or Paris, it doesn’t mean that the airport is anywhere near. Budget airlines use smaller airports to avoid paying the higher airport charges at the larger ones, and these smaller airports can be as much as two hours away from the city centre by often unreliable public transport. In some cases, you can end up paying as much as you did for your plane tickets just to get a train to the place you thought was your destination.
On airlines that take bookings for seats, it is also worth noting that last-minute flights will only have the seats that no one else wanted, which usually means the ones in the middle of the row. This can be very important if you get airsick, or if you want to sit together as a couple or family.
The biggest gotcha is that last-minute flights are always non-refundable. If you are going to buy one on impulse, make sure you can make it first, as there won’t be any backing out of the deal afterwards.