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Be your own travel agent
Choose Affordable and Safe
Vacations on your own
Having decided where you want
to head for your vacation and a general idea of the itinerary then the most
important task is making flight arrangements and accommodation. You have a
choice of making a trip to your travel agency or via On-line. Now it gets
interesting.
Let me share a recent
story.
A good friend of mine Collin an Australian was visiting me in Penang for a week
and he was planning to continue on to Thailand. He has never been to Thailand
before.
I was expecting him to go to a travel agency to book his tickets etc. but no, he
used my PC to get on the internet to plan his itinerary, book his hotels and plane
tickets with his credit card – and this was interesting- he printed out the
ticket on a A4 paper and when at the Airport he practically walked through to
board the plane after the immigration, security checks and boarding pass
verification and he had only a carry on luggage. No waiting in queue at the
counter to get a boarding pass etc. By the way Collin is 72 years old.
Increasingly people
are doing their holiday planning and booking entirely through the internet and
usually it is very safe. Of course you do hear complaints and grouses but then
this happens on bookings through an agency too. Airlines have direct booking
websites and even hotels too. You now have access to information that even your
travel agency sometimes may not have.
I have put together
some simple steps to help you plan your next holiday by using the internet to do
your research. Be your Own travel Agent!!
Step No. 1
Open your favorite
browser. Navigate to Google search box.
For e.g. you are planning a trip to South East Asia.
Type” South East Asia Travel n Tours”
Generally to the part of the world you want to travel to.
Browse through several websites. Narrow down your search to specific locations.
You then choose those that provide the most relevant information.
Step No. 2
Check the
relevant country’s visa requirements and any immunizations required.
Step No. 3
Once you have narrowed down to the hotel/ resort Details. You need to check out
its locations. Browse through reviews of the hotel/ resort.
Look out for any location specific information such as local availability of
transport or Car rentals, how far is the airport etc, safety and generally where
the Action is. Please feel free to use the WebPages in this website to help your
search.
Step No. 4
Based on Step 3 results use Google earth maps to get a good idea of the
locations you intend to visit and stay. This is a great tool for visualization.
Step No. 5
Search the Airline sites for the flight to your intended vacation location.
You may find bargains for booking done through their website. Please take note
that budget airlines sometimes do not fly to main Airports.
Step No. 6
Draw up an itinerary using a spreadsheet or just plain paper. Match your
hotel/resort availability and airline flight availability. You might want to add
a cost column to give you an estimated budget.
Juggles around the arrival and departure dates, prices vary and you may work out
a bargain for yourselves.
Step No. 7
Confirm the availability of the flight before making the hotel/resort booking.
Read and check carefully before entering your credit card details. Get all the
confirmation and make printouts.
CAUTION
Do not store passwords in your computer. Make sure you have antivirus software
running with the latest updates. Many credit card identity thefts are through an
unprotected Computer.
You are most welcome to
leave your comments and share your experiences at my
Blog. Thanks - Ian
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