Mini Travel Guides

10 Budget Air Travel Tips

Traveling by air has many advantages, particularly when you go a long distance. Air travel is quick. You arrive at your destination without spending days getting there. Air travel is safe compared to driving your own car. Also, a person can arrive at his destination after a flight rested, relaxed, and ready for work or whatever comes next.

Air travel, without proper planning, can be very expensive. That is especially true now with the legacy airlines adding on every possible fee that they can come up with.

The good news is that by following some time-tested, well thought-out travel tips, you can usually do air travel for a reasonable price. The remainder of this article will include 10 budget air travel tips.

1. Be flexible.
Air fares are higher some days of the week than they are others. The time of day your plane departs can also affect the ticket price. Check out different days and times that fall within the parameters of when you can travel.

2. Check prices at discount airlines.
Southwest, JetBlue, Frontier, and Spirit are all referred to as low-cost airlines for a reason. Their ticket costs are often less. Also, they tend to either not charge a luggage fee, or the first bag is free.

3. Check on the Internet, but also talk to a travel agent.
When you do both, you can be sure you are getting the lowest possible fare.

4. Sign up to receive discount airfare e-mails.
If you type “discount air tickets” into your favorite search engine, it will list companies that will keep you aware of discounted prices by e-mail.

5. Start early to look for a good fare.
Don’t wait until the last minute to check ticket prices. You don’t have to book your ticket until you are ready, but a good price could come early.

6. Buy a vacation package.
If you are going on a trip that involves air fare, hotel, and a rental car, or airfare plus either of the other two, consider buying it all at once from the same discounter. You can usually save a significant amount.

7. Consult “name your own price” websites.
Priceline.com and hotwire.com ask how much you will pay for a ticket. There are restrictions; but, if they accept your price, you can save up to 40%.

8. Investigate flying as a courier.
A company hires you to go and uses your luggage allowance to transport time-sensitive documents or materials.

9. Check prices to alternate airports.
Large cities sometimes have more than one airport. Often other cities with an airport are near the destination that you need to reach.

10. Choose your destination based on ticket cost.
People often have a list of places they want to visit. Their travel dream is to go to and experience many different places. One travel plan is to purchase cheap tickets that are on a special promotion to a place the person would like to visit. Buy the ticket, go, enjoy it, and mark it off the list.

Buying your airline ticket as cheaply as possible will allow you to go more and do more.

In this present economy, spending on vacations can put a heavy hand on your budget. But there are certain tips that can let you enjoy your trip and also save some money. For instance, you can save money on airfare by looking for round trip tickets rather than one way tickets. Booking connecting flights can also help you save a deal.

Another important aspect of travelling is food. Most of us are unaware of good places and end up taking most of the meals in the hotel we stay, which can turn out to pretty expensive. Hence a great way to save money during travel is by planning and having your meals for cheaper price outside the hotel you stay. Cooking for yourself is another option to consider as it not only helps save money, but is also fun as well.

When on vacations, we spend most of our time travelling and spend equally huge amounts on taxis. But by booking for car rentals in advance you can save big bucks.

Steve Perillo, the CEO of Perillo Tours, a travel Company that specializes in trips to Italy, hosts a travel show, where he gives a lot of useful travel trips. Pauline Frommer, an acclaimed travel expert and creator of several travel guidebooks was invited as a guest on the Steve Perillo talk show, where she shared her experiences on budget travel and also gave some tips on travelling cheap. She suggested that tourists can travel for less by trying alternative accommodations, such as private apartments, monasteries, convents, and other religious accommodations. Johnny Jet, a US based expert travel blogger also appeared as a guest on the Perillo Travel Talk Show. He is of the opinion that being friendly to the gate agents and flight attendants can ensure a smooth trip. He also gave viewers tips on how to get cheap business class and first class seats as well as information on hotel booking.

For more information and useful travel tips offered by Johnny Jet and Pauline Frommer on the Steve Perillo Talk Show, check out the episodes on www.perillotv.com.

Whether you’ve traveled a lot in your life – or have hardly really ventured out much at all – it never hurts to brush up on a few top travel tips. Although different advice may apply depending on where you’ll be going, there is a core set of tips that make sense no matter where you’re heading. These tips will help keep you safe, save you money – and have the absolute best time possible. Learn more by reading on below.

1. Don’t Over-Pack

One of the most common mistakes that people make when traveling is bringing too many things. You don’t really need to bring a fresh change of clothes for each day – there should be laundromats, for example. Contending with a massive, bulging suitcase at each stop is never any fun. Pare your belongings down to as few as possible to have the easiest time.

2. Notify Your Embassy

If you’ll be traveling out of the country, it never hurts to notify your embassy. Give them your basic travel itinerary and contact information. That way, if an emergency arises back home they’ll be able to get a hold of you easily. It’s just one more way to gain peace of mind when overseas.

3. Obey All Local Laws

Different countries have different laws. Research what the laws of the country you’ll be going to are, and make sure to follow them. Nothing ruins travel plans more quickly than getting in trouble with the local authorities. Be conscientious about obeying their rules and you will have no trouble whatsoever during your holiday.

4. Check Travel Sites For Advice

Once you’ve decided on a particular destination, sign up with a travel website and keep an eye on the tips and advice being posted there. Things can change in the blink of an eye, so monitoring those discussion boards and other websites is a smart move. You’ll keep abreast of how things are in the place you’ll be going, keeping ahead of current events and other issues.

5. Buy Travel Insurance

Travel insurance isn’t always necessary, but in some cases it makes sense. If you’re not in top notch health, rely on prescription medications or will be traveling to a tumultuous part of the world, consider investing in a bit of travel insurance for protection.

6. Invest In A Decent Backpack

Being at the mercy of tourist traps selling overpriced drinks and snacks can cost you a lot of money. Invest in a high quality backpack and bring along your own snacks and drinks to tide you over throughout the day. You’ll save a bundle of cash, and you’ll keep body and soul together as you tour the area.

7. Learn The Local Lingo

Another great thing about the Internet is that it allows you to learn a bit of the local lingo of wherever you’ll be visiting. Find out a few key phrases if a different language is spoken, or find out a few popular slang terms so you’re not surprised on arrival. Learning new words is fun!

8. Talk To Others About Their Experiences

If you know someone else who has visited the same place you’re going, talk to them and find out if they have any tips about what you should absolutely see – and what you should avoid. It can be tremendously helpful to get a good friend or family member’s take on a particular area, especially since you know them so well and can trust their opinion.

9. Make A Packing Checklist

In the weeks leading up to your departure, write up a thorough packing checklist so you know everything you absolutely must have. This should include all of the necessary documentation, as well as maps and other important travel information. You don’t want to arrive empty handed!

10. Bring Along The Essentials

Most of the time, it is far cheaper to bring along your own batteries, film and toiletries, if possible. Therefore, stock up before leaving and pack them along. Although you want to pack lightly, you don’t don’t want to spend a small fortune on these things upon arriving at your vacation destination. Plan ahead and you’ll save money and can avoid wasting time looking for these things.

Finding a general travel tip does not have to be difficult, as long as you know where the right places are to look. There are a few different resources that are available to you and which you can really take advantage of when it comes to the planning of your trip, and even the smallest vacation travel tip is going to be to your advantage.

Now if you are looking to find a general travel tip, one of the best places to start is on the Internet. When you look online you can pretty much find everything imaginable. The Internet is an amazing resource, one that you should take advantage of when you are looking for a general travel tip.

Tips

When it comes to a general travel tip, one of the best is to double check your list. You want to make sure that you have a list and then mark everything off the list as you pack. This is important so that you can make sure that you have everything that you need and make sure that you are not going to forget anything.

This is important because the worst thing that could happen is for you to get all the way to your destination only to realize that you have left something at home. You also want to make sure that you choose the right destination to travel to, and this is probably the most difficult step of all.

Planning your accommodations is also going to be important on your travels. The Internet is a great resource to use here, and you want to do some comparisons between different hotels and other lodgings in order to choose the one that is going to be right for you. There are lots of different options out there, and you just want to make sure that you are going to get all the amenities that you need.

You are also going to need to be aware of the details, so for instance if you have pets that you are bringing along you need to make sure that your accommodations allow for pets to stay with them. As you can see, finding a general travel tip is never hard to find, and with the resources mentioned here you can do it very easily. If you want even more help, talk to a travel agent, who is a professional in this area and who is going to be able to offer you all the information that you want.

This discount travel idea was eventually stumbled upon because travel can be quite expensive compared to most people\’s incomes. Unless you are pretty well off, you will not be able to travel as much as you like until you master some very simple discount travel techniques. The art of budget travel is more than just a couple of saving tricks. There is an overall strategy which you can, and should apply to every element of your journey.

For example, you should explore charter flights and last minute offers, etc. to get the cheapest possible flight. When you travel to a foreign country, you should get to know some of the locals and establish just where the cheap places to eat and stay are. Discount travel involves a series of minor things that when used together result in big savings, and allows even those on a moderate budget to travel in comfort and style.

A major discount travel tip for if you want your money to last longer while you are in a foreign country is that of bargaining. In most other countries, particularly those of the developing world, bargaining plays a big part of everyday life, and you will find yourself continually overspending if you do not participate in it.

Most North Americans are terrible with these types of negotiations, although you can\’t really blame us. Negotiations just do not play much of a role in our daily transactions except for major purchases like buying a car, and perhaps even with a property investment. Most of us are just not accustomed to it and we definitely are not used to haggling over small everyday items.

The first thing to understand – and a great discount travel idea – is that in the third world, everything is negotiable, and usually very heavily negotiable. When you start to haggle, you will soon see that the kind of negotiations going on in other parts of the world is very different from the North American style. People often start with numbers that are twice or more than their desired amount.

The first step in negotiations is to not be in any kind of rush to get a taxi or a hotel room, or to purchase the item. Take your time to ask around and if you can, find someone local who will (hopefully) give you an idea of a good price. The other thing to remember is that you must be willing to walk away, or at least good to pretend that you\’re willing to walk away. Often you will find that by showing a lack of interest and willingness, the transaction amount will be reduced, without the need for specific bargaining on your part.

When you get the hang of bargaining you\’ll find it pretty easily, and in some cases fun. The most important thing to remember when you are in a foreign country, is that your status as a North American will usually label you as rich to the local population, even if it does not seem that way to you. If you will not be charged twice – or more – for every single thing you do when you travel you have to get used to the idea of collective bargaining.

Amazing vacation tips that guarantee discount deals for International vacations, budget flights, cheap holiday accommodation, discount entertainment, and more important international vacation tips… http://GlobeCheap.com

The number-one rule in packing for a trip is to pack lightly because we often forget how frequently we’ll have to lift or carry our luggage during our travels. Consider how, you’ll be dragging your luggage into the trunk of your car and out again, through the airport, off of the luggage carousel, through another airport, back into the trunk of your rental car and out again until finally you get to the hotel where hopefully they’ll have a porter.

On top of having to lug your bags around, your airline will have strict rules on the size, weight and the number of bags you can travel with-for both carry-on and checked baggage. Make sure you check your airline’s website for current information on restrictions and don’t assume that what you took last time will be allowed this time-especially if you are travelling on a different airline. Luggage size and weight restrictions can vary by airline or travel destination.

*MONEY-SAVING TRAVEL TIP*
Packing lightly for your travels can save you money. Many airlines are now charging fees for overweight bags, oversized bags, and for checking more than the allowed number of bags per passenger.

Other great reasons for packing lightly: shorter waits around the luggage carousel, less need for porters (and tips!) and easier Customs inspections (after all, if you had to force your bags closed, imagine how happy the Customs agents will be!)

Travel tips for packing your carry-on
Your carry-on should contain all your most valuable items and must-have documentation like:

•    Your wallet
•    Your passport
•    Your tickets
•    Your traveller’s cheques
•    Your emergency medical travel insurance
•    Your medications (be sure to keep them in their original bottles)
•    Phone numbers and addresses of where you’ll be staying
•    A small amount of local currency for immediate use when you arrive
•    The maps you’ll need to get where you are staying once you’ve arrived
•    If you must bring valuables like jewellery with you, your carry-on is your safest bet – but leave them at home if you can.

Travel tips for packing your checked luggage
The following tips should help you keep your luggage light and leave enough room so you can pack souvenirs when you return:

•    Find out if where you are staying offers laundry services or has facilities you can use. This is one of the major secrets of packing lightly.
•    Coordinate your outfits around a central color so you’ll be able to mix and match.
•    Plan your outfits so you can layer instead of bringing lots of coats.
•    Take a solid color sweater that will match any outfit to use to keep you warm
•    Why pack the rain gear if rain is nowhere in the forecast? Check the weather online, so you can pack weather-appropriate clothing without wasting space on things you won’t need.
•    Rolling clothes rather than folding them will help prevent wrinkles and optimize your limited space.
•    Take small sample sizes of toiletries that will last just long enough instead of huge bottles.
•    Don’t waste an inch of your luggage space, pack underwear and socks inside your shoes. This will also help your shoes keep their shape. Pack your belts around the edge of the luggage.

A final travel tip
Although already mentioned as one of the items you should keep in your carry-on so it doesn’t get lost, emergency medical travel insurance is a must-have for all Canadians. Even Canada’s Consular Affairs don’t mince words when they say on their website “DO NOT leave Canada without supplementary medical insurance.”

Even for the smallest of accidents, or the most common illnesses, emergency medical travel insurance offers you protection by ensuring you get the attention you need, when you need it while not having to worry about how your emergency treatment will get paid.

Before you leave, get emergency medical travel insurance quotes from competing insurers online and get the coverage you need. And don’t forget to pack it with your other must-have documentation!

Compare emergency medical travel insurance today!

When it comes to receiving advice regarding travel you will find that people will mostly talk about flying and airports as well as hotels and budgets as well as choice destinations. However, there is another side to travel that most people are not aware of and for which a few choice travel tips are available. A travel tip need not necessarily always help you save money but it can still prove to be invaluable for people that travel – whether they travel often or casually.

Removing Gum

A simple travel tip is the one related to gum. Not many people are aware that in order to remove gum from your hair or from your garments or from your shoes, the best solution is to use ice cubes that will help in hardening the gum sufficiently to make it easy to break it off. You should also welcome another useful though less well known travel tip which pertains to removing collar stains.

The best way to remove collar stains is to pour some hair shampoo on the stain and to then spread the shampoo to all parts of the collar. Shampoos are effective in removing oils from a person’s hair and will also do the same for skin oil that causes collar stains.

Often, a situation arises when you have to wash your clothes but your hotel does not have its own laundry to help you get the clothes clean. A simple travel tip in this regard is to hang your clothes in the bathroom in which all the lights are switched on. By morning, you will find that your clothes will have dried out completely and will look clean as well.

Sometimes room flies might bug you in your hotel room and you also don’t have bug sprays to get rid of the flies. A simple travel tip in this regard shows you the benefit of using hair sprays instead. On the other hand, in order to freshen up your clothes you can also use laundry detergent which can be applied to places where you sweat a lot such as your underarms and the front of your shirt. Then you can rinse off the detergent and dry your clothes and have them looking fresh and clean once more.

For those people who are neophytes about traveling to foreign countries there are several useful international travel tips that will help ensure smoother travel. Some of the travel tips that you will come across are those that are a bit out of the ordinary and ones that people normally do not think about. However, many times an occasion will arise when these very uncommon travel tips will come in very handy and so are well worth learning about.

Much like other islands in the Caribbean, the tourism industry of St. Kitts has recently been courting the serious traveling golfer. With over 50 million devoted golfers worldwide and far more recreational players, Caribbean golf resorts are turning to golf as a focal point of their tourism efforts. According to published statistics, the traveling golfer, on business or vacation, both travels more often and spends approximately 35 percent more per trip than an average tourist.

Throughout the entire Caribbean, the golf industry continues to grow at an incredible rate. Within the last 10 years, many of the world’s most recognized golf course architects have lent their skill to Caribbean soil, including Jack Nicklaus, Tom Weiskopf, Greg Norman and Peter Dye.

In regards to St. Kitts, it certainly helps that the island’s climate and environment are perfectly suited for such golf course construction. In addition to heavenly weather, everything from the jungles to the beaches remains remarkably well-preserved. With one of the centerpieces of St. Kitts tourism now in place, the coming years will see at least four new tournament quality courses. Here is an outline of what to expect in the future and some travel tips to make the most of your Caribbean golf vacation.

At the heart of St. Kitts’ golf course development and tourism plans is the recently remodeled Royal St. Kitts Golf Club. Developed in conjunction with the St. Kitts Marriott Resort and Royal Beach Casino, the 6,900-yard, par 71 golf club majestically overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Designed by award-winning architect Thomas McBroom and essentially rebuilt atop an existing course of lesser renown, the Royal St. Kitts Golf Club has already established itself as the premier links-style course in the Caribbean.

To accompany the beautifully updated course, the Royal St. Kitts Golf Club also has a luxurious new clubhouse with a restaurant and bar, locker rooms and a full-service pro shop. The Royal St. Kitts Golf Club will also house the Faldo Institute by Marriott, a state-of-the-art training and education facility. If that isn’t enough for you, the Marriott Hotel has 648 guest rooms and suites, three swimming pools, the 35,000 square foot Royal Beach Casino and the 15,000 square foot Emerald Mist Spa.

Slated to open in early 2007, the $14-million La Vallée Golf Course designed by Charles Howard will be a traditional links layout coupled with impressive views of the Caribbean Sea, small neighboring islands and Mount Liamuiga, the island’s highest point. In the future, this St. Kitts golf club will be surrounded by private villas, a new marina and a luxury hotel.

In the Sandy Bank area, a $295 million Caribbean golf resort is scheduled to open in 2008. Besides the luxury hotel and its trimmings, the complex will include another much-anticipated championship course. With a layout designed by Rees Jones, brother of Robert Trent Jones Jr. and one of the leading golf course architects in his own right, the course is destined to be yet another gem in a growing collection of St. Kitts treasures.

The most recently announced project is the Kittitian Heights Resort at Belmont Estate in northwestern St. Kitts, only 20 miles from the capital of Basseterre. The $195 million development is scheduled to open in 2011 and will include a course designed by Ian Woosnam, the former Masters Champion.

On St. Kitts sister island of Nevis, the Four Seasons Caribbean Golf Resort is another great design by Robert Trent Jones Jr., one of the Caribbean’s most active architects. Finished in 1991, the course certainly set the standard for things to come on the islands. Now, a new layout designed by renowned Canadian golf course architect Doug Carrick, scheduled to open in 2008, will carve a path through the coconut groves on the foothills of Mount Nevis.

Traveling in foreign countries can be a wonderful, uplifting experience that will never be forgotten, but there are also perils and difficulties that can arise on any trip, especially those that are outside your own country. In part 2 of this article series we discussed how to prevent sickness from local foods and water while away, how to carry cash with you safely and how to use credit cards while abroad and much more. Now here are even more international travel tips that can help you have the best family vacations while you are abroad:

* As with any plane trip you take, airlines can lose the luggage that is checked in as baggage on the flight. So to counteract that possibility, be sure to take all important papers that will be needed for the trip including visa, passports, medical and insurance documents, trip schedule, lodging information, driver’s licenses and so forth in your carry-on luggage just in case. That way it never leaves you as you make the trip.

* It is also a good idea to include a few clothing items in your carry-on bags that can get you through a couple of days in case your luggage is lost.

* To cut down on the amount of luggage that you have to carry, consider shipping the larger, more bulky items instead so that you can retrieve them at your first lodging destination and nor risk having them lost or misplaced on the flight.

* It’s always a good idea to have a small first-aid kit along with you on the trip that can be retrieved handily in the case of an emergency.

* White sneakers often brand you as a tourist in foreign countries, so try to use medium brown to black shoes that are also comfortable for the trip as they tend to blend in with almost any kind of foreign attire.

* Be sure that you know what the local taxes are that apply to any purchase made as they vary widely in foreign countries and can sometimes be more expensive than the item itself.

* Become familiar with all customs requirements regarding foods, plants and so on before you travel so you aren’t denied entry for any item that you have purchased while on your trip.

All trips require some advance thought and preparation but vacations outside your own country call for even more diligent research beforehand. By using the international travel tips and suggestions made in this article series, you should be able to be better prepared and have the perfect family vacation.

Your holidays are booked, your bags are packed and you think you have everything you need—money, passport, tickets, and clothing for every occasion. What more could you possibly require?

For almost 41% of Canadians who do not always travel with it, the answer is emergency medical travel insurance. Whether simply forgotten or deemed unnecessary, the fact is that travel health insurance should be a must-have before you leave the country.

When you are away from home even the most minor injuries or illnesses can become a major expense. So while an accident or illness can happen anywhere at anytime, emergency medical travel insurance helps to protect you from the unexpected costs that can come with a visit to a doctor or hospital outside of your home country.

Consider for example the following estimates: A stay in a US hospital typically costs about $2,500 Canadian per day. Even more shocking is that if your condition is serious and you require intensive care, it is not uncommon that you would end up paying about $10,000 per day.

If you’re not worried about the costs, because you believe your province’s health insurance plan will cover it, make sure you look into your province’s coverage first. You may be surprised to learn that if your province’s health coverage does extend outside of Canada it will likely be limited.

For example, if you are an Ontario resident travelling outside of Canada you will be covered for emergency care from a physician but only for as much as that service would have cost in Ontario. And, if you need to stay in a hospital to receive emergency services you are covered up to $400 per day for intensive, complex care. If it is less intensive, the maximum is $200.

Why risk it, when emergency medical travel insurance is so inexpensive?

There’s a good chance you’ve spent hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on your trip. For a few extra dollars, you can protect yourself by ensuring you get the attention you need, when you need it while not having to worry about how your emergency treatment will get paid.

The following travel health insurance quotes can be found easily online and show how little emergency medical travel insurance actually costs:

• For travellers aged 16 to 40 years, emergency medical travel insurance is available for as little as $15 for a 2 week trip—or for as little as $26 for an annual travel health insurance policy that covers you for every 2 week trip you take in a year.

• For travellers aged 41 to 55 years, emergency medical travel insurance is available for as little as $15 for a 2 week trip—or for as little as $27 for an annual travel health insurance policy that covers you for every 2 week trip you take in a year.

• For travellers aged 56 to 59 years, emergency medical travel insurance is available for as little as $21 for a 2 week trip—or for as little as $28 for an annual travel health insurance policy that covers you for every 2 week trip you take in a year.

Quotes are for single and annual trip emergency medical insurance for a resident of Ontario travelling overseas or to the US.

Without emergency medical travel insurance, an illness or injury could not only ruin your vacation but would likely have financial consequences for years to come. Why risk it when emergency travel health insurance costs so little and can save you so much? Not to mention the peace of mind it will give you knowing you’re covered.

Don’t leave home without travel health insurance. Compare emergency medical travel insurance quotes online today and get the coverage you need for your travels. It is a travel tip that could save you thousands of dollars.