Coronavirus

Seems to be getting bigger every day.

Travelers are warned about "all but necessary travel to China."

I do have a friend traveling to SE Asia soon and has a VISA for China. I wonder if he will need to change his plans.

And yesterday our State Department reported "Do not travel to China."

So there.

Car Rental part two

So I am now checking car rentals for two foreign trips.  The first one is easy, the same price at three different sites:  Direct from the car rental, plus American Airlines and Triple A.  All the same price.

The second trip is not so easy.  So to simplify, let's use the same car rental company rented from the same airport (not downtown).  Same length of rental AND same car.  So I try the same three  sites I just mentioned, then I searched from the local airport, a different airline (not flying AA this time) and then instead of the dot.com (US website) I used the countries website. 

Now the websites wanted me to cookie them so they know I was inquiring about costs from the US.  But long story short, rates were are random AND if I booked via the local site using their currency, the costs were 30% higher!  Again there are a bunch of added fees like CDW and such, but I was just looking for the base price plus taxes and airport fees.

There are benefits to prepaying as opposed to paying at the desk.  And I don't mind prepaying IF there is a chance to get a refund should something happen.

So for my first trip I will probably wait a bit and just book direct with the car rental company.

For the second trip .... I just don't know but need to do something since the summer travel time may reduce supply.

Happy shopping.

Oh yeah, I blogged about this back in March.  And a shot of the car I dinged in Martinique.  Same style of car, but this shot is in Switzerland.

Car Rentals

Ever notice the variable pricing for renting a car?  When I travel and need to rent a car, I realize that I also need to shop for the best deal.  The airlines offer extra miles,  AAA says they have special pricing and other benefits and so on.

Of course the car rental companies are different too.  The style of car (e.g., sub compact, Standard SUV etc.) might be the same size but the car will be different.  For instance a Ford versus Toyota versus Hyundai.  You see, a big difference?

And then there are different prices for city versus airport pickup!

Loyalty programs help, but since I don't rent a car that much, I haven't joined them.

And don't get me started on the extra insurance.

I remember I dinged a bumper on a car in Martinique, and despite the extra insurance, there was still a 1,000 Euro deductible! Fortunately my credit card picked that up.

State Department Labels

So if you visit travel.state.gov, you will see the new travel advisory system.

It is meant to simplify the warnings our state department issues for Americans traveling abroad.  For instance Hurricane Irma hammered the Caribbean this past fall, so I should't plan to return to Tortola for one of the Full Moon Parties. (There is also the Bomba Shack.)

Trellis Bay

Bomba Shack

Crime is becoming another issue for many other vacation spots, so even popular Providenciales (TCI) has been issued a number 2!  I am heading to the UK later this summer and Terrorism is a threat there.

I wonder how others are warned about visiting the US?  UK warns its citizens about terrorism, health issues and natural disasters in the US.  See my prevsious post here.

Virtual Tourism

It is now the time during my Travel and Tourism Planning course where the students plan a vacation trip following graduation.  I have them read this paper for starters since they will all be using the web to get flights, hotels and other information about their destination.

The citation for the paper is:

Bristow, R. S. (1999). Commentary: Virtual tourism—the ultimate ecotourism?. Tourism Geographies, 1(2), 219-225.

The assignment is this:

GARP0213             Travel and Tourism Planning                                                             Lab 5: Travel Itinerary

Principle:  The purpose of this lab is to learn how to plan an itinerary for a tourist vacation.  You are to prepare an itinerary for a two person vacation between (or within) 17 May and 31 May 2015 for the country you explored in Lab 4.  The travel dates must be adhered to and you will be flying coach.  You are to prepare two different costs; with at least a 20% difference.

Procedure:  Start your lab by describing the destination geographically.  That is, describe the human (e.g., social, economic, political etc.) and environmental (e.g., climate, terrain, vegetation etc.) characteristics of the region.  Base this information from the material from Lab 4 although you may wish to embellish on the previous work. A detailed map of the country will be needed for the details of the trip.  That is, if the trip is confined to the international airport city, that city’s map is needed, if you plan to visit areas in the country, a more regional map is needed.   Included in the adventure are to be the travel info to and from the airport and parking, flight information from Boston (BOS) or Bradley (BDL) (round trip airline flight numbers, cost and flight times), ground transportation (how are you going to getting around and not by hitchhiking), lodging (hotels, hostels, B&Bs, camping, etc.) and several specific destinations you plan to visit.  Plan your trip to visit at least two destinations. 

Also include information necessary in advance of the trip that is passport and/or visa requirements, medical interests and other related advance details.  Costs for a pair of travelers should be determined.  These costs must be broken down for air, transfers, lodging (no all-inclusive’s!), ground transport, food, admissions and incidentals.  While the total cost is needed, you must not use a package deal.  Comparison shop.  Orbitz may not provide the cost that American Airlines quotes.  Finally, offer some travel tips that TripAdvisor or VirtualTourist may suggest

Outcome: Arrange a 5-7 page portfolio as is you were a travel agent preparing this for a client.  Remember, you are to prepare two costs and that will mean the itinerary may change as well as lodging.  A comparison table will simplify this.

Assessment:  This lab is worth 50 points.   Presentation is all important here since you are trying to convince the client to purchase this tour from you. 

Sun Path Diagrams and travel

Want to know what time and in what direction the sun will rise where you are?  What about where you might  travel.
Well, you can use a sun path diagram to help you answer that question.  An explanation of what the diagram does is found here.

(source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/90/Sun-path-polar-chart.svg/300px-Sun-path-polar-chart.svg.png)

This complicated graph plots the movement of the sun across the sky from sunrise to sunset, what azimuth (compass direction) and what altitude above the horizon.

Got it?

Travel Planning

Based on the Recreation Phases of Clawson and Knetsch (1966) model of the recreation experience, they proposed 5 stages:

Anticipation:  here I am planning a trip.  Looking at guide books, travel websites, Google Earth and so on.

Travel to:  Here we are driving, flying, taking a train or what ever to get from Home to our final destination.

On site:  This is the vacation or business trip at some other location.

Travel back:  Often tired, broke and full of memories, typically just want to get home to my own bed and Biscuit.

Recollection:  Ah the memories, photos, video and all those memories.  I typically will try to edit down video and photos and such into a 10-15 minute DVD clip to share with family and friends.

Think about your travel planning.

Citation:  Clawson, M., and Knetsch, J. L. 1966. Economics of outdoor recreation. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins Press.