Archive for the ‘Articles’ category

Best Places to Travel

January 26th, 2011


There is no single answer to the question of where are the best places to travel on vacation. The first question to ask is not what place to go but instead what kind of traveler are you?

What Kind of Traveler Are You?

* Are you a Phileas Fogg? Are you a world traveler who measures success by the number of countries visited?

* Are you a Robinson Curuso? Do you enjoy the out of the way and off the beaten path?

* Are you a Geoffery Chaucer? Is the trip more about the people you travel with than the destination?

* Are you a Henry David Thoreau? Is your ideal vacation just a quiet place near home?

There are many different traveling styles or different goals for travel.

* You can travel to get away from it all.

* You can travel to learn about a new culture.

* You can travel to party.

* You can travel to reconnect with family and friends.

* You can travel for adventure.

What is Your Travel Style / Budget?

Some people would rather stay home than stay any place that did not have 5 stars. Others could not imagine staying in any place more fancy than a youth hostel. Some who would love to stay at the fancy resort can’t afford to.

Before you travel you need to figure out your travel budget and style. What kind of style you like will help determine where you can afford to travel and for how long. My wife and I planned a trip to Hawaii before our first child was born. After looking at our budget we had to decide that a road trip to San Diego would be a better option.

One if by Land, Two if By Sea… Three if By Air?

Do you like road trips? If so how about an domestic itinerary. If you like the outdoors or history you could visit national parks. If you like sports consider a tour of major or minor league ballparks. If you like big city lights would a trip to New York, Chicago or Las Vegas be within your range?

Do you like cruises? Consider only packing and unpacking once and letting your hotel (ship) travel from port to port. From the East coast of the United States Bermuda and the Caribbean are both easily accessible. From the west coast Mexico or Alaska offer very different vacations.

If you love to fly and can afford it then Europe, Africa, Asia and South America beckon.

Europe offers familiarity for American visitors but with loads of history. Europe offers destinations from the familiar London and Paris to less familiar destinations like Croatia, Slovenia and Estonia. You have to be willing to deal with another language or driving on the other side of the road.

Africa offers unforgettable wildlife experiences or the wonders of ancient Egypt. It also offers ancient churches dug into the rocks of Ethiopia or far off destinations like Timbuktu. It will require many travels to get further outside their comfort zone.

Asia offers ancient cultures and new economic powerhouses. Your trip might be to overwhelming places like New Delhi which will challenge even veteran travelers or safer more familiar destinations like Singapore.

South America offers better exchange rates than europe but less political stability. It offers European style cities like Buenos Aires or ancient Incan cities like Machu Picchu.

One thing I have learned from hosting the Amateur Traveler for over three years is that there are many more places to travel than I had originally considered. It had never occurred to me to:

* Go to Tonga and swim with whales.

* See the stone churches in Ethiopia.

* Do a night tour of Petra in Jordan.

* See the wild horses in Mongolia.

The more I learn about travel the more places I want to go. What is the best place to travel to? For me it is always the next place.

By: Chris Christensen

About the Author:
Chris Christensen is the host of the popular Amateur Traveler travel podcast.

The Amateur Traveler is an online travel show that focuses primarily on the best places to travel to. It includes both a weekly audio podcast and a twice monthly video podcast. It also includes a blog with travel news, stories and resources.



Western Coast of Costa Rica For Honeymoon and Other Activities

January 26th, 2011


If you are planning to travel for the purpose of a honeymoon, the western coast of Costa Rica is the better choice. Honeymooner’s can relax in their beds with spacious bathrooms. Spas also abound this part of the country.

The western Costa Rica coast vary from the eastern coast so much that the choice between the two will determine your trip’s focal point and activities. For those couple having their honeymoon in Costa Rica or other activities like a family on vacation or business travel with just a short time like a week to spend their holiday, the choice between the two coasts of the country is important to consider. In this article, we tackle the things that the west coast of this country, the one facing the Pacific Ocean, will offer for the planning tourists especially with honeymooners.

The country’s west coast is home to majority of the luxurious spots as majority of the cities and provinces facing the Pacific Ocean are home to European and North American expatriates. Due to the foreign population, the Costa Rican natives have taken advantage of the tourism rates and built concrete villages. This part of the country has less culture to offer, however, with more focus on the luxury comforts for the upscale tourist markets. Nevertheless, comfort and a time to relax are what you are looking for in a honeymoon vacation.

The western cities are where the restaurants and fast food chains are. The cities have concrete sidewalks with choices for shopping sprees. The west coast is very popular with most travelers with the beaches a bit crowded. Nevertheless, there are upscale resorts that are exclusive enough for those looking for space. A caveat though is that hotels easily fill up during high season, so book that dream vacation early.

The west coast is also ideal for those seeking a family-friendly vacation and travel. Business travelers to Costa Rica experience the easy access to their required amenities for their business needs while here in this side of the country. Moreover, families will appreciate more choice with family actives and amenities.

By: Ian Maranon

About the Author:
Check out Costa Rica Travel Deals, the best source of information on Costa Rica attractions, budget travel tips, activities, travel planning, fishing, honeymoon, airfare discounts, and travel tips.

For details on getting the adventure of your life, follow the traveler’s blog in the Costa Rica Trips Blog.



Cheap Asia Travel – How to Get Cheap Tickets – Plane

January 26th, 2011


Traveling around Asia for more than 10 years and living in Indonesia for almost 7 years now. I often have been in situations where I was looking for a cheap airfare. From my first experiences I had the feeling it was quite different to deal with domestic or international flight. For sample, in most countries when you purchase domestic flight ticket you won’t get any differences price between two “one way” tickets OR one “return” ticket. Except of course a slightly discount for the return ticket.

Now, when is coming to international air travel it is harder to find Cheap Asia Travel tickets. Sometimes, you can even get cheaper return ticket. So if you plan to travel in many different cities (round trip with many transit stop) it can be hard to find good deals. However the following advice should helps you find the Asia Cheapest Flight available online.

I separate this article in two parts, international and domestic flight.

First, let’s talk about international flight. There is a lot of good web site around there, but you will need to do a lot of searches before you find what you really want. I suggest you to start by looking for the available airplane companies which deserve the concerned country you are flying to or from.

For sample, if you are in Indonesia and want to flight to Australia, you will most likely have to choose between Garuda and Quantas. There are possibilities to use other flights companies such as Malaysia Airlines or Singapore Airlines. But you will loose a lot of time during your trip as you will have to transit to this cities.

As you will see in the following article about domestic flight, Air Asia is one of my favorite when is about to flight in Indonesia. And this is also true when is to find the Asia Cheapest Flight as they deserve more than fifty cities in the region.

About domestic flight, I experienced two totally different experiences in Indonesia and Australia.

In Indonesia, if you want to buy a domestic flight ticket you will have plenty of choices. Indonesia is a vast Archipelago of tropical and Virgin Islands constitute of more than twelve’s thousand islands. More than three thousands of these Islands are inhabited and I believe that more than hundreds of them get an airport. So, you can imagine the number of possibilities and market available in Indonesia. The main company airlines in Indonesia are Garuda (also provide international flight), Merpati, Mandala, Lion Air, Adam Air, Star Air, Batavia, etc..

Find the cheapest airline ticket is one thing, but don’t forget about safety. I don’t have any statistics about safety right now so I prefer not mention specifically any of them. But if you had read the newspaper these last few months, you probably know what I’m talking about. Some of the above names are probably famous around the world right now, but probably not for the cheapest airfare…. But don’t worries too much as airplane remind one of the safest transportation systems in the world.

After you had eliminated the worst flight company from your newspaper research, you can start compare price between few of the companies. Just go to Google, type the company name and you should find their web site in manner of seconds. If you looking for ticket long in advance (let’s say more than three weeks), you will find that most of ticket have similar quotes with the international and most reputed national company…..Garuda Indonesia. And that’s the problem in Indonesia if you want to order domestic flight more than three weeks in advance…No cheap airfare ticket available. You will have to wait the “perfect” time to order your ticket (between three weeks and two weeks in advance…. be careful after that it could be too late) and you should be able to get 20% to 70% discount.

Obviously there is another way to find cheap domestic ticket plane if you want to order you ticket long time in advance. You can use Air Asia. They have very cheap airfare and good website. This is a service from Malaysia, and they provide many other cities and countries around Asia. A really good solution for Cheap Asia Travel.

In Indonesia, AirAsia only deserve the main cities such as Jakarta, Denpasar (Bali), Medan, Surabaya, etc… Globally, they fly over fifty cities around Asia. The service is limited (no seat pre-reserved in check-in), but it is safe and their fees really defy all concurrences for this range and types of services. They really get the Cheapest Flight in Asia I have seen so far. So, have a look….

In Australia, it seems to works mostly like in the others western countries. More you booked in advance more chances you have to get a cheap airfare. I heard Quantas have some interesting packages available, like you buy a kind of atonement and can get great discount for a certain number of flight. If you need a lot of flights it could be advantageous. But the cheapest way to buy airline ticket is probably to book online with Blue Virgin or Jet Star. Both of them deserve many different cities in Australia, but not necessary the same one. So, it really depends where you want to go. Sometimes, its worse make some deep research to get better fee. For sample, once I was looking for a cheap airfare between Sydney and Darwin. Blue Virgin offered 450 AUD (via Brisbanne) and Jet Star doesn’t have this possibility. But when I check more deeply some others cities, I found out that I can get Sydney-Adelaide for 99AUD and Adelaide-Darwin for 167 AUD with Jet Star. Total 266 AUD. I just saved 184 AUD. Sometimes you will find better price with Blue Virgin. It all depends of the availability. So good search and good luck.

By the way, JetStar also provide some of the Asia Cheapest Flight as they deserve many others country such as Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc…

For more information, you can visit the author Blog : Cheap Asia Travel

By: Chris Hanten

About the Author:
The writer is an expatriate living in Indonesia for many years. You can find more article and tips about travel in asia and advice about purchasing cheap flight tickets at: [http://www.cheap-minute-airline-tickets.com]



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