Planning Travel on the Web

A presentation by Joel MayOn the web in the “Presentations” section

of www.ewingsnet.com

Major Travel-Oriented Web Sites

• Six sites offer "full-service" travel planning and destination reviews as well as hotel and transportation booking services. – Expedia (www.expedia.com)– Kayak (www.kayak.com)– Orbitz (www.orbitz.com)– Sidestep (www.sidestep.com)– Travelocity (www.travelocity.com)– Yahoo Travel (travel.yahoo.com)

Major Travel-Oriented Web Sites

• You should routinely check them for information

• In this presentation, however, we will additionally focus on the more specialized or "boutique" travel planning sites.

The Five Most Important Travel

Questions• Where to Go? • How to Get There? • What to Do There? • Where to Stay/Eat There?• What will it cost and what

will the weather be like?

The Five Most Important Travel

Questions• Where to Go? • How to Get There? • What to Do There? • Where to Stay/Eat There?• What will it cost and what

will the weather be like?

Where to Go

• Deciding where to go may be the most difficult of the four steps, after all you have an infinite number of possibilities. Start by asking yourself:– What activities do I like to do on vacation?– What physical limitations do I have that

might limit where I can go or what I can do?– What sort of climate do I like? – How do I like to travel?

• Get information from dedicated travel information sites – Discovery Travel (travel.discovery.com

) •click on Travel Ideas to start to get

some idea of where to go •click on Destination Guides to

choose a geographic location •Scroll down to Travel Forums to

obtain personal opinions and tips about various destinations

Where to Go

• Other great travel information sites include: – Lonely Planet (www.lonelyplanet.com) – Trip Advisor (www.tripadvisor.com) – Concierge (www.consierge.com) – Rick Steves (ricksteves.com) Note: Europe only – Rough Guides (www.roughguides.com)– Moon Travel Planner (www.moon.com) – And a brand new one, WikiTravel (

wikitravel.org)

Where to Go

• "Google” the name of a location you think you’d enjoy and read about it

• Try phrases like – New York sights – Seattle vacation review – Cancun guide – France travel – Vienna highlights

Where to Go

• Another good place to start is Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.com). Just type the name of your preferred destination into the search box on the left side of the screen.

Where to Go

The Five Most Important Travel

Questions• Where to Go? • How to Get There? • What to Do There? • Where to Stay/Eat There?• What will it cost and what

will the weather be like?

How to Get There• Getting there by car

– Rental Cars (www.carrentals.com)

• Getting there by RV– Rental RVs

(http://www.cruiseamerica.com/

• Use a mapping program – Google Maps (maps.google.com) – MapQuest (mapquest.com)

• There are many web sites devoted to automobile travel, including – Free Trip (www.freetrip.com) – Roadtrip America (www.roadtripamerica.com) – Mile by Mile (www.milebymile.com) – National Scenic Byways (www.byways.org)

– Roadside America (www.roadsideamerica.com

) and, most important of all- Speed Trap Exchange (www.speedtrap.org)

How to Get There

• Getting there by train or bus– Amtrak (www.amtrak.com) and – Greyhound (www.greyhound.com

) have their own web sites where you

can reserve space and purchase tickets

How to Get There

• Getting there by plane– When flying, there are usually

multiple airlines available to you. – Hence it is to your advantage not

to book flights with individual airlines. Instead use one of the big six:

How to Get There

Major Travel-Oriented Web Sites

• Expedia (www.expedia.com)• Kayak (www.kayak.com)• Orbitz (www.orbitz.com)• Sidestep (www.sidestep.com)• Travelocity (www.travelocity.com

)• Yahoo Travel (travel.yahoo.com)

How to Get There

• Or a new site that advises on speed, comfort and ease:

http://www.insidetrip.com/

• or, for discount tickets purchased at the last minute: – Priceline (www.priceline.com) – Cheap Tickets (www.cheaptickets.com) – Lowest Fare (www.lowestfare.com) – 30 Places to Find Cheap Airline Tickets

(snipurl.com/1wtc6)

How to Get There

How to Get There

• Most of the web sites on which you can access schedules, reserve seats and purchase tickets work in a similar way:

How to Get There• Some sources of information on air travel:

– Airport information including maps, parking and other facilities (www.amadeus.net/home/airports/en/index.htm)

– Aircraft seating charts (www.seatguru.com) – Average waiting time in the security line

(waittime.tsa.dhs.gov/index.html) – Transport to and from the airport (

www.airportservice.com)– Long-term airport parking (

www.longtermparking.com)

How to Get There

• More sources of information on air travel– Prohibited and Permitted items

(tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.shtm)

– Tips to make air travel more comfortable (www.remote.org/jochen/travel/tips/airtravel.html)

– Air Travelers' Rights (www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/travel/flyrights/flyrghts.htm )

The Five Most Important Travel

Questions• Where to Go? • How to Get There? • What to Do There? • Where to Stay/Eat There?• What will it cost and what

will the weather be like?

What to do There(specific locations)

• Use the “big six” to seek out information– Expedia (www.expedia.com)– Kayak (www.kayak.com)– Orbitz (www.orbitz.com)– Sidestep (www.sidestep.com)– Travelocity (www.travelocity.com)– Yahoo Travel (travel.yahoo.com)

• Use a dedicated information site like Fodors (www.fodors.com)– Click on the Destinations tab – or click on the map – or type the name of your destination

in the search box

What to do There(specific locations)

• Use Google (e.g.)– seattle walking tours– new york sightseeing– prague theater – tijuana nightlife

What to do There(specific locations)

• Ocean Cruises: Cruise Web (www.cruiseweb.com)• Freighter Cruises: The Travelers’ Notebook • (http://thetravelersnotebook.com)• Theme Cruises: Locate Theme Cruises

(http://www.vacationstogo.com/theme_cruises.cfm)

• Yacht Cruises: SeaDream Yacht Club (www.seadreamyachtclub.com)

• River Cruises: Affordable Tours (rivers.affordabletours.com)

• see also: Cruise Critic (cruisecritic.com)

What to do There(Cruises)

• Affordable Tours (www.affordabletours.com)

• Tour Vacations to Go (www.tourvacationstogo.com)

and my two personal favorites• Tauck Journies (www.tauck.com/)• Vantage Travel (www.vantagetravel.com)

What to do There(Escorted Tours)

• Adventure Vacations: Gorp Travel Away (gorptravel.away.com)

• Educational Vacations: Shaw Guides (www.shawguides.com)

• Senior Vacation Packages – ElderHostel (www.elderhostel.org) – Senior Summer School (

www.seniorsummerschool.com) – AARP Travel (

www.aarp.org/travel/destinations) – Elder Treks (eldertreks.com)

What to do There(Vacation Packages)

The Five Most Important Travel

Questions• Where to Go? • How to Get There? • What to Do There? • Where to Stay/Eat There?• What will it cost and what

will the weather be like?

Where to Stay/Eat There(Hotels)

• Use the “big six” to seek out information– Expedia (www.expedia.com)– Kayak (www.kayak.com)– Orbitz (www.orbitz.com)– Sidestep (www.sidestep.com)– Travelocity (www.travelocity.com)– Yahoo Travel (travel.yahoo.com

Where to Stay/Eat There(Hotels)

• Or get discounted prices at •Priceline (www.priceline.com) •A1 Discount Hotels (

www.a1-discount-hotels.com) •Hotels.com (www.hotels.com)

• Use theWeb site of the hotel chain you prefer or look up chain hotels around the world in All Hotel Chains (all-hotel-chains.com)

• Find pet-friendly hotels (www.petswelcome.com)

• B&Bs BedandBreakfast.com (www.bedandbreakfast.com)

• Rentals and Time-Shares – Vacation Homes (www.vacationhomes.com) – Vacation Timeshare and Rentals (

www.vacationtimesharerentals.com) • RV Parks and Campgrounds: Go Camping America

(www.gocampingamerica.com/ParkSearch.aspx) • or try Googling "lodging" + the destination

you've chosen

Where to Stay/Eat There

(Other Lodging)

• Use a big six site• Use a restaurant directory web site:

– Fodors (www.fodors.com/reviews/drevselect.cfm)

– Zagat (www.zagat.com) Note: click the Restaurants tab

– Chef Moz (www.chefmoz.org) – or Google "type of food you want

restaurant near city, state or zip code"; e.g. italian restaurant near pennington nj or indian restaurant near 08648

Where to Stay/Eat There

(Restaurants)

The Five Most Important Travel

Questions• Where to Go? • How to Get There? • What to Do There? • Where to Stay/Eat There?• What will it cost and what

will the weather be like?

What Will it Cost and What Will the Weather be

Like?

Additional Travel Information

• Passport, Visa and safety information from the State Department (travel.state.gov)

• Health information – Center for Disease Control and

Prevention (www.cdc.gov/travel) – International Association for Medical

Assistance to Travellers (www.iamat.org)

• Information for Disabled Travelers (access-able.com)

Additional Travel Information

• Currency conversion (www.xe.com/ucc)

• ATM locations: – Visa (snipurl.com/visa_atm) – Mastercard (

snipurl.com/mastercard_atm)

• Travel insurance information (www.insuremytrip.com)

Additional Travel Information

• WiFi locations (www.jiwire.com/search-hotspot-locations.htm)

• Cyber Cafe locations (cybercaptive.com)• Clean Bathrooms (

www.thebathroomdiaries.com)• Expected weather (

www.wunderground.com/tripplanner/index.asp)

• Travel Gear (snipurl.com/Travel_Gear)

Planning Travel on the Web

•Enjoy the Planning•Enjoy the Trip

Available on the Web:www.ewingsnet.com (click on the Presentations

tab)joelmay@yahoo.com

The End