dimanche 17 août 2014

International Travel Secrets



What is the real secret to cheap international travel? it's the same as the secret to doing anything for less. Learn to be an opportunist. Opportunistic travelers get to travel more, see more & do more. Of coursework, you can ignore this advice if you have unlimited currency.
I went to Ecuador because it was cheap. Honestly, are not there plenty of interesting places in this world? Why not choose eight you can travel to inexpensively? The other places will be there in the future, & you may have an opportunity to go to those places cheaply at some point.
Ecuador is my favorite international location. You can still get a decent meal for eight dollars. U.S. dollars, by the way, since that is conveniently the official currency of Ecuador now. From the beautiful snow-capped Andes mountains, to the Galapagos Islands, you'll seldom run out of places to explore in Ecuador. Travel there is safe & inexpensive.
Cheap Countries
South America in general is inexpensive, & the most affordable countries are, in my opinion, the most beautiful. These are the countries along the Andes mountains; Ecuador, Peru, & Bolivia. Argentina, thanks to it's recent economic troubles, is once again a cheap place for travelers as well.
In Central America, it costs  little to travel & holiday in both Nicaragua & Guatemala. Nicaragua, in particular, has become more stable & safe for travelers in recent years. Costa Rica is a wonderful , & though it's eight of more expensive counties of Central America, that probably still leaves it cheaper than Europe.
In Asia, India is still low-cost,  if you stay in the numerous hostels & boarding houses. Thailand & Indonesia are also  cheap. With all international destinations, the plane tickets will be your single biggest travel expense. This is  true with the asian countries. Being there is cheap, but getting there may not be.
Cheap International Travel Tips
Wherever you go, there are things you can do to keep it cheap. Eat where locals eat, for example, instead of at the tourist restaurants. To keep it  cheap, eat fruit from street markets (wash it well) & packaged snacks from grocery stores.
Visit the free & cheap attractions first. It's possible you'll have so much fun that you'll seldom get around to doing the expensive things. A higher price means better quality with travel bags, but not with travel experiences.
For cheap accommodations find out where local visitors from within the country stay. Negotiating room charges is common in some areas. In Banos, Ecuador, we negotiated our room rate down from $12 to $6 per night, by paying for several nights in advance. Consider hostels, if you don't mind sharing a room. they are much more common overseas.
Busses are cheaper than taxis in any country, but be careful of crowded city busses, where pickpockets hang out. jogging is even cheaper, & it's a great way to learn about a city.  ask the locals where the dangerous parts are before you wander  far.
Cheap international travel is often only as cheap as your plane tickets. Use the techniques outlined on our site to save big on tickets, or search the fares to several interesting countries. If eight is $500 less than the others, consider going there. $500 can buy a few extra days, or an extra mini-vacation some other time. 

cheap discount holiday travel

Many people believe that it’s more difficult to get cheap holidays for families, but if you research, you can find some great money-saving deals.
Family holidays are inevitably expensive because of the number of people travelling. In addition, most families are bound by school holidays, which means that they have to travel during the year’s peak seasons – Christmas, Easter and the summer. Try these tips to help keep costs down.
1. Travel out of season
If you have children that are below school age, then travelling outside the school holidays is a good way to keep costs down. Flying just a week before or after the main holiday periods can make a big difference to the price. For short breaks, try mid-week instead of weekend.
2. Try different accommodation
Instead of hotels, look into renting a self-catering apartment or villa. These are usually much cheaper than hotel accommodation and although you have to buy your own food, you can still make good savings, and you get the additional benefit of flexibility – eat and come and go as you choose – which is ideal for a family holiday.
3. Book early
If you like to return to the same place each year, then think about booking early. The earlier you book, the cheaper it can be and you can always book your accommodation and then wait for cheap flights to be released later on in the year. Register with online sites to get notification of good deals so that you can make savings as soon as possible.
4. Special family deals
Look out for package holidays that offer free flights or accommodation for children. Check out the small print to make sure that you really are getting a deal, but these are often great ways of ensuring that you don’t have to spend a fortune on your family holiday.
By starting early and taking the time to look at special offers and family deals, you can take your family on a great holiday for a great price. 

Caribbean Travel

When it comes to island destinations, the Caribbean and its islands are one of the most popular vacation spots in the world. Here you can have the best of everything from gorgeous beaches, wonderful surf, sailing, scuba diving and snorkeling, to great food, exciting gambling casinos, shopping, and a wide range of nature-related activities. And accommodations? No problem! With cheap Caribbean travel plan, you can get a whole range of affordable accommodations from basic to the most luxurious all inclusive-resorts and rental villas.
Scroll down below for a list of our cheap Caribbean travel accommodations picks.
Dover Beach Hotel
A place that epitomizes Barbadian hospitality, the Dover Beach Hotel offers you cheap Caribbean travel accommodations tucked away on a secluded white sand beach where island warmth, peace, and tranquility are in abundance.
Located a mere 15-minute drive from either airport or from Bridgetown, the Dover Beach Hotel is also right within walking distance of the St. Lawrence Gap, famous for its lively nightlife, duty-free shopping and many bars and restaurants as well as other activities.
All accommodations at this cheap Caribbean travel hotel are either seafront or garden views with air-conditioned bedrooms, kitchenette, telephone, and private patio or terrace. There are weekly cocktail parties and nightly events. Amenities and facilities available include the following:
Children rates
Restaurant
Convenience store
Laundry service
Baby-sitting
Nearby shopping
Nearby tennis
Nearby banking
Air conditioning
Ceiling fan
In-room safe
Beachfront
Bar
Children-friendly
Cribs
Daily maid service
Pool
Nearby water sports
In-room kitchens
TV available
Telephone in a room
Bath tub
Private balcony
Fax available
Morne Fendue Plantation House in Grenada
What's old is new again as Grenada? historic Morne Fendue Plantation House adds not, not two, but thirteen new guest rooms. Since 1974, the Morne Fendue has been welcoming visitors where they can enjoy overnight accommodations at this glorious estate. Each room offers cheap Caribbean travel accommodation for two guests with enough comfortable space to go around and a generous queen-size bed and modern bathroom facilities. What? more, the rooms also offer access to the estate? grand kitchen. But the highlight of each guest room is definitely the extensive balcony that overlooks scenic Mt. St. Catherine and the majestic sea where you can get excellent sunset views of the cheap Caribbean travel destination of Grenada.
Nevis and St. Kitts
For cheap Caribbean travel accommodations in the islands of Nevis and St. Kitts, try the following places:
Jonathan's Villa Hotel at Mount Lily, Nevis offers seaside charm and great secluded spots.
Yamseed Inn at New Castle, Nevis is a quaint little inn, offering comfortable accommodations for a reasonable price.
For guest houses, try Al's Cottage at Farm's Estate in Charlestown, Nevis. You can also try Meadville Cottages, Cabindish Villa, Pinney's Village Complex, and Central Cottage ?all of which offer cheap Caribbean travel accommodations at convenient distances from the most happening places in the region. 

cheap family vacation packages

Finding cheap family vacation packages has never been easier with the information and speed of the internet. Family vacations can become expensive and even more so the larger the size of the family.
To search for cheap family vacation packages appropriate for you and your family, you can find results faster if you already know answers to questions like these:
1. What kind of trip do you want? Have you decided what city or destination you want? Will you travel to a single destination or will there be more than one city involved in your vacation? Do you wish to have a family theme park vacation or a specific activities-related vacation such as hiking, skiing or wind-surfing?
2. What type of cheap family vacation package do you want?
a. Flights, car and hotel
b. Flights and hotel only
c. Hotel and car only
3. Where will you be departing from and when will you leave?
4. How long will your vacation stay be?
5. How many adults, children and/or seniors will be traveling?
With answers to the above questions, you will be able to quickly begin serious online searching for the best cheap family vacation packages available.
Another type of the cheap family vacation packages becoming more and more popular are the "Road Trip" family vacations. You enter your zip code and number of hours maximum you want to drive by car, then search for popular destinations within your specified number of driving hours and the vacation packages that are available.
From mountains and beaches to national and state parks, theme parks and destination cities - there are so many possibilities available with internet search capability. Years ago, it took a lot of effort and time to search and compare vacation packages. Not any more!
Don't let finding a great vacation package price be the problem that keeps you from having that deserved vacation with your family.

cheap london guide

Online hotel reservation allows you to reserve a hotel in advance to virtually any destination worldwide. There are many quality websites on the Internet that offer online hotel reservation facilities to worldwide destinations. Most of these websites also offer special hotel discount rates, virtual hotel tours, a list of hotel room facilities, hotel reservation tips and a lot more service to make your choice easier.
Why reserve hotels online?
There are many benefits of reserving your hotel online. Some of them are as follows:
• Most online hotel reservation websites allow you to take a virtual tour of discount luxury hotels so that can help you to decide better.
• As online reservation websites have hundreds of hotel listings, you get a chance to compare between different discount hotel rates, hotel amenities and fix up on the best deal.
• You can get direct access to any hotel discounts, special offers or hotel events and cash-in on them.
• Online hotel reservations are much faster than conventional methods allowing you to book a hotel room way in advance.
• Many online reservation websites give you information regarding discount hotels and combination deals allowing you to save up on money.
• You can get access to hotel brochures, discount coupons, festive offers and more.
• Most hotels offer 'cancellation policies' on your hotel reservations that give you flexibility.
Things to Check before/after hotel reservation
• Check discounted hotel rates for extra person, included breakfast, parking facilities, hotel shuttle services, pet policies etc.
• Check and carefully read the cancellation policy the hotel offers
• Check for special interest rates if any
• Check if the hotel offers special customer requests (customer request facility allows you to book a room of your choice)
• Check if the room rate is per person or per night
• Check for status of your reservation through mails/websites and enquire if delayed
• Make sure your hotel reservation is confirmed (generally confirmation should take place in 2 -5 hours for real time reservations)
It is no longer necessary to pay extravagant prices. Deals are found daily, whether it's an overage of seats on a specific airline, or unreserved room in major hotels; there is a reasonable travel package with your budget in mind.
Travel agents of course, will be able to find some great deals, but when the seasoned traveler makes use of the Internet, it opens up a whole new selection of travel deals. While the prices are unrivalled at times, there are some steps that need to be taken to ensure that you are in fact, getting not only a good travel package, but also, a great one! All of these will package airfare, hotel, car, and even schedule major attractions or entertainment at the click of a button. The prices are often much lower than an agencies advertised package price, and are just as reliable. Cruise travel packages under the budget category have become as popular as air travel and are also offered through Internet travel companies.

Bizarre travel guide

Carrying a travel bag and looking around the places of historical and sculptural importance. Is that what you conceive as a holiday? If yes you haven’t seen or heard enough. The traveling experience can be more than rewarding if the choice of the places to visit is bizarre. And more so going to those untouched places can be one hell-of an experience. May be it is going in to the wilderness of the Amazon or the endless Kalahari,  the fun never ends. Some places definitely provide more then you can ask for.

For those who have seen all the obvious and usual places to visit these can be the fun trips. Hunting vampires in Transylvania or getting close to the sharks at the sea, every thing that you never thought about makes the trips one to remember. The popularity of these goes to the extreme thinking of the tourists and the efforts of the tour organizers. The trips include many out of the world experiences. One of them is the storm chase. It’s like trying to cut through the storm risking all you have for the thrill of the lifetime. 

Many may think it unusual but many people consider hunting for Unidentified Flying Objects as there idea of an adventure trip. People cite the UFO’s and then the most common places to find them are prepared for the tourist and wait for them to return. This also comes, sometimes with unusual alien citing which add the extra thrill to the adventure. The much known area 51 is on the list of such enthusiasts and they claim to have made visits. Museums and memorials dedicated to the alien s and their things are there at many places across the United States.

The scientific advancements are giving hope to the concept of H. G. Wells regarding time travel. The tourists definitely would like to venture into some adventure, which can take them to the past. This seems a bit too complicated but this is fast becoming the most sought after concept and people are willing to pay for the same. There are risks attached to it and there seems to be a lot of time that remains before this thing to get materialized; yet the craving is never-ending.

Another adventure that the people have been indulging into for years is the treasure hunts. In the pursuit of hidden treasures many people venture in to the deepest of seas and the innermost of the forests looking for them. Even the mystery of the Bermuda triangle is also intriguing and the tourists don’t want to miss a chance to go there. Well, to do that one has to make a trip and go because no tour operator will take the risk.

Then the latest in bizarre adventure list is the concept of space travel. With the theories regarding possibilities of life on other planets people are willing to go to outer space for the trips of there life time. This is one of the possible traveling ideas because it has been experimented and people have actually been to space for a trip. The space tourism seems to be the nest thing in traveling brochures. 

Cheap Weekend Break

One of the most significant aspects of vacation travel in Europe has been the recent explosion of interest in the short break vacation market. No-frills airlines have led the way to opening up cheap routes from London and regional airports to destinations all over Europe. A short weekend break in some thrilling city has now become a viable alternative to sitting home in front of the television set.
A UK survey of Britain's vacation habits recently shows that this weekend escape plan is now worth a phenomenal £34 billion a year. People are spending an average amount of £760 a year on these short breaks, flying off to European cities, cultural festivals and sporting events.
The three-day break is most popular, with 21% of respondents taking Friday off work to fly out and 34% arriving back late Sunday evening, giving them some 55 hours away.
Edinburgh and Glasgow were some of the most popular weekend break locations in UK, while Paris, Amsterdam, Palma, Dublin, Brussels, Venice, Nice and Madrid were their most popular European weekend destinations. Other airlines have reported strong interest in Prague, Rome and Barcelona.
The key ingredients to a successful weekend break away were spending quality time with a partner, sampling local food and drink, cultural sightseeing, weather and, (for the ladies), shopping. Nightlife, perhaps unsurprisingly, was more important to the younger travelers than the more elderly.
Psychologist Dr. Aric Sigman said, "The results indicate that the British have now developed proper escape plans to counterbalance the fact that they work the longest hours in Europe. The low cost and accessibility of short haul travel now enables people to act out the growing need to be physically and geographically removed from their everyday surroundings in order to truly get away psychologically and emotionally. In fact it has been found that when it comes to dealing with stress, frequent short breaks are more effective than infrequent long holidays. What is interesting is that most people spend their weekend breaks in a low-key way involving time alone with their partner, dining and R&R as opposed to the frenetic activity and nightlife sought by previous generations."
Whatever the reason, many UK residents are now taking advantage of rock bottom no-frills prices to spend four or more short breaks in the thrilling cities of Ireland, Scandinavia, Europe and the Mediterranean during the summer months, the German Christmas Markets and Alpine or Spanish ski slopes in winter. Visitors to the UK from North America are also taking advantage of these no-frills flight options, spicing up their vacation in England with short breaks in cities as far afield as Copenhagen, Berlin, Prague in the Czech Republic, Spain's Barcelona and Athens in Greece.
Given the astronomical prices charged by West End restaurants where dinner for two can set you back £250 or more, it makes sense to take off for a paella to the sound of Spanish guitar in Barcelona, a spaghetti and a bottle of Bardolino under the stars at a pavement restaurant in the Piazza Santa Maria in Rome's Trastevere, or a more expensive romantic dinner for two on a Seine bateau mouche in Paris. Before only the jeuness dore and the jet setting glitterati could afford such extravagances. But things have changed and many prefer to take a number of such fun jaunts through the year rather than undergo the hassles concomitant with organizing a long vacation.