What is a “Travel Package”?

“I don’t need a package.  I just want to go to ….” (you fill in the blank).

There are different kinds of “travel packages”.  A “package” is the bundling together various components and giving the client one seamless trip.  Without you having to find each piece separately, we do it for you.

For instance:  Start with your transportation.

• Air
• Car
• Rail
• Cruise ship
• Combination

Companies called “Wholesalers” go out into the market place and negotiate with all of the above for lower prices than the public can get.  This becomes one part of the package

The next part is accommodations:

• hotel
• villa
• cruise ship
• motel
• resort
• condo

Where will you stay when you arrive at your destination?  Or maybe you have many stops on this trip and need all kinds of accommodations.  Once again, these prices are negotiated and put into your “package”.

Do you need transfers to and from airports and hotels?  How about sightseeing tours?  All day or part of a day?  How about restaurants?  Do you need to add activities such as skiing, diving, snorkeling, biking, hiking, shopping, golf, or any other adventure?  How about visits to local sites and knowledge of the history of the places you will visit? 

All of these can be included in your package.  The advantage is that you don’t waste your precious holiday trying to figure out where you are and where you are going.  If a foreign language is involved, you might have a hard time finding someone you can talk to.  Map reading can be confusing.  Will you be standing looking at a building or a landscape and know nothing about what you are looking at?

Here are some package trips that give you an idea of what the above is about:

• Disney-Orlando, California or other countries, as well as their new tours
• Las Vegas or Reno or other gaming destinations
• Mexico or Caribbean
• Europe or other countries in the world
• City visits in the US and other countries
• Hawaii or other South Pacific Countries
• Visits to archeological ruins all over the world

The ALL INCLUSIVE vs. Non All Inclusive.  What does this mean?  Some resorts have packages that include all meals, all non-motorized water toys, golf, local alcholic drinks, kids clubs, teen clubs, weddings, honeymoon packages, and many other activities at the resort.  Some destintions have many resorts by the same company and offer you the chance to go from resort to resort for different experiences.  These All Inclusives have taken huge leaps in the last 3 or 4 years.  To name a few are

• Sandals
• Couples
• Beaches
• Swept Away
• Super Clubs
• Palace Hotels
• Any many many individual properties

All Inclusives used to be the exception, now they are the norm.

Talk to a Travel Professional who can give you proper advise, like myself.  Then get out there and “see the world before you leave it”!!

Do I Have to Ride with Blue Hairs???

A motorcoach tour doesn’t sound exciting to you?  Let’s list what those are.

After many miserable hours of an airline flight or flights, you arrive in a city  you have never been to, hearing a language you may or may not recognize, and no friendly faces.  Enter the tour guide.

• You are met with a sign with your name and they speak your language. 
• You are gently led to baggage claim, which you might have spent hours trying to find on your own
• You are directed to a vehicle, perhaps given a cold drink and cold towel and a comfortable seat
• Next you are guided to the check in desk at the hotel, given your key and shown to your room.  Depending on the time of arrival, you may go to bed for the night, take a nap or go for a walk.  Usually up to you.  That evening there may be a welcome party to meet your other companions for your journey.  Then you get your instructions for the next day.

From this point on, you have a guide with you throughout the whole trip, until you are dropped at the airport for your flight home. 

The advantages

• You have someone who speaks your language.
• Someone who knows the history of every place you vist
• Someone will tell you great places to shop and places to avoid
• You save so much of your precious time not having to study maps and figure out which street to take and what you are looking at.
• Often you have some parts of days when you are on your own to shop, take optional excursions, catch up on sleep or do laundry
• Many tours now will spent more than one day in a city that has a lot to see and do.  You won’t feel so rushed from city to city.
• You get to meet the locals, hear their stories, meet their families, hear their music and learn a bit of a new language.

I have done escorted tours and been on my own.  Depending on how much time you have can decide which is best for you.  Learning public transportation on your own in a foreign language can take time.  Reading a map and figuring out where you are and where you want to go can be daunting.  You might drive around in circles for a few hours just trying to leave the airport.  Some cities have streets so crooked, that even a map doesn’t show every twist and turn.  And where to eat?  I have followed guide books and before the door of the restaurant shut behind me, I was backing out.  Depending on the season and any special events in a city, finding a bed might take a few days.  How does the train station sound?

Now back to the “blue hairs” (in case you don’t know that term – that is what tours used to be because they were all seniors.  The “blue hair” was what my grandma had from using “bluing” to whiten her hair and it turned it blue!).  There are tours for every age group.  Better yet, bring your own group of friends or family and make your own tour.  I can do custom tours to fit anything anyone can dream of.  From adventure-active tours to totally non active.  There is something for everyone of every age.  Even families with children now have companies that gear the tour just for them.  It is fabulous to take those children into the world and learn to make friends all over the world.  If you just have 2 to 4 people, a private car and driver is wonderful. 

You just want to travel on your own.  That’s fine.  Here are my suggestions:

• Get a train pass before leaving home. 
• Secure a rental car, if you will want one
• At the very least, book a hotel for the night you arrive and the night before you leave
• Pre book a transfer, both at the beginning and at the end
• In every city, find the Tourist Office, often with a big I on a sign, and schedule a tour.  Either partial day or more than a day.  I can also prebook those before you leave home, if you know the days you will be in what cities.
• Read guide books – Fodor and Frommers are good.  But there are many others
• Make an itinerary and stick to it.  Build in a day here and there to roll over in case something comes up or you decide to stay longer somewhere
• Don’t bite off too much.  See one area in full rather than jumping around
• A Spoke and Hub is a good way to see an area.  Go out during the day and back at night.  Many cities work well with that. 
• Talk to the desk at the hotel.  They are usually good tour guides and speak your language
• And MOST of all, be flexible.  Things just have a way of getting messed up.  Always have a plan B in your pocket.  Don’t have very high expectations and if something goes wrong, you can roll with it.

However you see it, just make sure you see the world before you leave it.

Looking for some ZZZZZZZZ’s?

Location, Location, Location.  Sound like a realtor?  No, it is about hotels when you travel.

Having traveled the world for over 60 years, I have stayed in the worst and the best – and best is more apt to be better!!!

When booking a hotel online, there are oh so many things you don’t know.  Here is my “helpful hint” — use a Travel Professional!!!  You still want to do it yourself?  Then you have no one to blame by yourself when things are not as they seemed to be.

• Where is your choice hotel located?  Good area or bad?  You can’t even tell by the description.  No hotel is going to tell you about the gate they lock at 6 PM at night.  Or that the train runs by at 2 AM every morning.  Or that the beach is several blocks away.  Or that the restaurants are a taxi ride away and you are arriving late at night having had nothing to eat on the airplane.
• The different room categories.  Do you know what partial oceanview, oceanview, oceanfront, mountain view, cityview, and nothing about a view means?  I have toured hundreds of hotel rooms and read their descriptions and you can’t believe what you read.  How about the hotel in Hawaii that had fabulous priced rooms that faced another building about 6 feet away looking into their rooms?  Or the view of the top of the roof and the garbage dump area when the dump trucks came by at 5 AM.  What are you wanting to see?  Or, better yet, not wanting to see?  Or does it matter?
• Maybe the hotel is under renovation.  The pool is closed and the beach is a mile away.  The restaurants are closed and you need to take a cab to get food.  Even the highest end hotels have to renovate.  Here is a clue, if the hallways have carpet rolled up, go some place else!!!
• This one is probably the worst – bed bugs!!!  Doesn’t matter the class of the hotels, this has become a huge problem all over the world.  Take a flashlight and make the room as dark as possible.  Look around light switch sockets, bed railings, and edges of carpet.  They like dark.  Also fleas.  They are really hard to see.  Best suggestion is do not put your suitcases or clothes on the floors and wear slippers. 
• Comfortable beds.  In the last few years there has been a huge shift by hotels to more comfortable bedding, pillows, and comforters.  If your bed has a blanket in a sack – make them give you a new blanket.  They change the sacks, but I have had some filthy blankets.  Some hotels now have pillow menus.  If you have allergies, ask for the kind of pillow that makes you comfortable.
• Bathrooms – oh my!!!  At one time in my life, my husband and I were in the remodeling business.  My huge complaint is dirty, moldy bathrooms.  Check behind the shower curtain and around the bottom of the showers.  The floors around the toilet and under the vanities must be clean.
• Smoking/non smoking.  If you request a non smoking room and know someone has smoked in it, tell the desk at once.  If they are full and can’t change you, ask for an ozone machine and go out to dinner for an hour.  Some floors are totally non smoking, but in Asia, they can smoke in the hallways and it can come under the doors.  You might want to stuff towels along there before you go to bed.
• Hotel Management.  Many times the hotel is great and then the owners change managers and it goes downhill quickly.  I have resources to tell me how hotels are doing in the last few weeks or months.  There is a high turnover in management and that makes such a  difference in the condition of that property.
• Known chains.  These are the safest way to book hotels.  But not always.  I have my favorites and would be happy to share with you.  Then there are groups of hotels such as “Leading Hotels of the World”, “Small Leading Hotels of the World”, “JDB Fine Hotels”, “Orient Express Hotels” and many more.  To qualify to be in these groups, the hotels must maintain very high standards.  Price is not always the issue.  I can book any of them without a worry.  They are closely monitored. 

Now I have had my say about booking a hotel.  Again I repeat, use a Travel Professional.  Now, if you only need one or two nights and are attending a convention or meetings, then book their convention hotel.  I’ve not had any issues in those situations.  But for a vacation or holiday, talk to someone who has an “ear to the ground” and can guide you.  I haven’t been everywhere, but I have resources who have and are going all the time.

Nighty night!!!

I’m Dreaming Part II

I HAVE A DREAM VACATION.  HOW DO I MAKE IT HAPPEN?  Part 2

 

 

WHERE??

 

Get a nice big map of the world.  Try to visualize the distances you are considering.  If this is a new destination for you, make a plan to take small bites, thinking you may not come back again.  Then do a thorough tour of the area.  Or do you just want “notches in your belt” for having stopped in a city or destination and the sites are not important, in which case you can go as far as your time and money permits.

 

v     Family trip?  Consider the ages and how much information they can handle.  A vacation at a beach is easier on younger people than a tour of a country.

v     Group trip?  Church, organization or club trip needing a tour bus and guide.

v     Couple trip?  Sun, sand and surf or skiing.

v     Heritage research?  Where are your ancestors from and how did they come to your country?

 

HOW??

 

Whether you think so or not, you DO need some professional assistance.  Even the simplest of trips need someone who knows and understands the travel process.  Without a travel professional, you are on your own and that can be very expensive and uncomfortable.  When you reach a destination, how do you plan to tour it?  Have you read up on the history and know what you will be looking at?  Going to a foreign place gives you a chance to learn about this history of the people and places.  A tour guide for a day or for the whole trip is worth every penny.  You can find them at Information Offices all over the world.  Some cities/countries require special documentation for visiting. 

 

v     Are you backpacking?  You probably need an airline ticket and perhaps a hotel for the first and last night.  Maybe you need a train ticket and some tips on the countries or cities you want to visit. 

v     Group tour?  This is so comfortable and a great way to learn a lot.  No worries about what hotel or what restaurant.  Someone to hold your hand from start to finish

v     On Your Own?  You may need a car rental, train ticket, a tour guide for 1 hour or 1 day.  Maybe knowledge about driving in certain areas and what kind of license or insurance is needed.

 

Your own research is part of the adventure.  A travel professional may have been there, done that, but that person doesn’t have the very same likes and dislikes you do.  Give us some ideas and we can fill in the blanks.