Tagged With "online travel agent"
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Re: Boston in the fall - suggestions please!
Hi Dr. F! We anticipate staying around 2+ weeks (flexible) and whilst "leaf watch" is the prime excuse, we expect that the route will touch on all 6 counties (?) of New Hampshire. I cannot believe how long it has been since we were able to travel...
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Re: Experience Lalgarh Palace with Palace on Wheels Train
Without doubt this mode of travel appeals to some people. However, on our travels through Rajasthan we encountered tour groups from the Palace on Wheels on a couple of occasions and felt that going by road, with a car and driver, suited us much better. You simply saw a hell of a lot more, had much more contact with the local people, and were not tied to any schedule. We stayed at the Laxmi Niwas Palace, which is part of the Lalgarh site, and it was very pleasant indeed. (Whilst there are...
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Re: Crashing the geocache
Is there a main website that the geocache folks have set up? You could also ask over on Craig's list www.craigslist.com in the "community" section of where ever you want, or even where the kids are traveling to..... I would do some research, but Europeans are into travel alot, maybe they have done it more than the Americans ever had since they have been around longer? I hope this helps.....
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Re: Whom did you say was flying this plane?
At least an automated plane would not have to "shield its eyes" from some nut with a laser pointer. http://www.news.com.au/travel/...frfq80-1226780573826
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Re: How'd We Live Without Travel Apps?
I love Yelp as well, and there is a app called Happy Hours. It shows me restaurants with their own happy hours and happy hour menu. I also like hiking trail apps. Those apps tells me hiking trails in the cities I am traveling in (in the US). I recently tried Wishbeen. It is a web application though. It's a travel planning and sharing web. I like it a lot because it helps me browse travel itineraries made by other travelers, and I can easily modify them for my own trip. It also has a map...
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Re: How'd We Live Without Travel Apps?
A lot to be said for what might be the ultimate travel app category: Maps and GPS. I know people have their favorites (Google's not the only one, according to my wife...) but almost everyone uses some version on their phone or tablet. Another good one is local transit. Most big cities have a route-finder on their transit site, but you have to find it. But Google Maps and HopStop and some others have transit info for most big cities. One downside: Apple is as bad as Google about business;...
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Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Staying in the UK is no more expensive than being a tourist in the USA. You wont get a month in London. Same as me travelling from the UK to New York. Silly Prices ! So decide on what you want to do over here and start planning, Have a look at the YHA web site. Youth Hostels Association. Forget the Youth reference. My Kids aren't Youths anymore. And I use them too! They are used by Travellers like yourself - and me - across Europe. They are Family groups and Ramblers ( Countryside Walkers)...
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Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Getting around the UK is very easy using Public Transport. Students travel around the country all the time - going to Uni and back home for the weekend. Friends going to weddings and folks going to London. London - like big Cities in the US - is a Traffic Nightmare ! Fortunately the UK is about the same size as a US State. Maybe Florida ? So its only a few hours by road. Trains are much faster - but more expensive, You're choice. So... look at http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx They're...
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Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Wow, this is turning into a real education!! I checked with my uncle and yes, I can fly Chicago to Manchester and return from either London or Paris to Chicago. The ticket is free to him and he said he would cover any fees as a "graduation gift to me" (he's a pretty cool dude!), but I don't want to burden him with a heavy departure fee, so maybe Paris would be the way to go. I'd like to leave about Friday, May 9th and return 4 weeks later, June 6th. A few days later and returning a few days...
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Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
That's helpful too, Rob. So with your guys advice, I'm thinking of the following plan, which still has holes I need to fill. I actually like the idea of Paris more than Scotland for this trip, plus I worry about the cost of travel to Scotland back so unless I can get a really cheap plane ticket or train ticket to Edinburgh, I think I'll drop that and focus on eastern UK and then on to Paris. So this is where I'm at now: 1) Arrive in Manchester. Maybe ??2 days 2) Travel Liverpool. 3 days 3)...
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Re: Renting an apartment in Europe
AirBnb, and the other major rental agencies, have cancellation policies upfront that give you some choice. AirBnb has several levels ...one allows you to cancel almost up to the last minute, others have shorter deadlines. An advantage of using an agency that works this way...pretty much like a hotel booking site...is that the intermediary is holding your deposit and that can save hassles. Obviously, rules about dissatisfaction vary also, but usually if it can't be ironed out, you'll get at...
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Re: Finishing college. Need help planning trip to U.K,
Hi guys, hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. It was good to be with my family again. Visiting and catching up with everyone took longer than I'd thought, but did do a little research into the trip and came out with this plan. Basically, with GarryRF's advice, I think I'll focus my time in the north to save money cause my budget is limited. After that I'll finish my vacation in London and Paris. I need to find places to stay but more important now just to frame the trip. The details I...
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Re: Minneapolis in the winter
The Mall's more interesting than you might think - besides the shopping there are the restaurants, amusement venues, and events going on. Here some info about stuff to see at the Mall http://www.mallofamerica.com/attractions To get to the Mall of America you Take Metro Transit (easy and clean) From Minneapolis Hiawatha Light Rail (Route 55) - The Hiawatha light-rail line offers fast, frequent service from downtown (5th Street) to Mall of America. Hiawatha light-rail trains leave every 7.5...
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Re: Gifts to bring back from Portugal or Barcellona
I may not be much help, because we tend to send postcards to the grandchildren from each city, with notes about what we've seen and think they would be interested in, and to avoid filling the suitcase with physical items. But for those few things we do buy, we usually go to the market! One of our travel rituals, on the first day when we stock the apartment, is to look for a local preserve or jam that we don't see at home (skyberries in Stockholm, for instance). Once we've found one we really...
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Re: Finally some good news! Whistler or Banff
I don't ski either (bad knees), but I've visited both of these destinations. There are pros and cons to each. Both is a little over an hour's drive from their closest major airport, Vancouver for Whistler and Calgary for Canmore. Whistler is close to the coast, but high up. So they usually have good snow, but depending on the year, it can get soggy by spring and sometimes ice crusted. Banff area is far more likely to have nice light powder during the spring break season. Some people swear by...
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Re: Films that affected your Travel destinations
Originally Posted by Travel Luver: I really enjoyed the Harry Potter movies! Gave me a real sense of England, and of course all that magical stuff was great! Hope to visit England some day. We'd love you to come and visit England but I hope you wont be a bit disappointed when you don't see any Nimbus 2000s crossing the sky. But we have some wonderful Castles and Steam Trains.
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Re: Films that affected your Travel destinations
Originally Posted by Travel Luver: That's very nice of you to say, Garry. I do want to go to England and no, I won't be disappointed if the trains are just steam trains. This year I'm hoping to go to Portugal, but maybe next year England? I hope I can ask you some questions when I'm ready to go.
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Re: Films that affected your Travel destinations
Originally Posted by GarryRF: Originally Posted by Travel Luver: That's very nice of you to say, Garry. I do want to go to England and no, I won't be disappointed if the trains are just steam trains. This year I'm hoping to go to Portugal, but maybe next year England? I hope I can ask you some questions when I'm ready to go. Anytime!
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Re: Doctor List for Traveling
Are you a worrier? Do you run to the doctor at the first sign of possible trouble? Are you particularly clumsy and break bones? If the answers are no, as it sounds like they might be, I'd say don't bother with the insurance. If you need an English speaking doctor in Italy you'll find one. Your hotel or any pharmacy will help. It won't cost an arm & a leg if rumor is true. I don't know precisely because even though I travel a lot I answered no to all my questions too, don't need doctors...
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Re: Doctor List for Traveling
SueZee, wherever you travel in the world your hotel will find you a suitable doctor who will speak enough English for your needs - just like Dr.F says - and Italy will have plenty. Don't bother with lists as they will always be out of date by the time you might want to use them, plus it will no doubt not list a great doc that the hotel knows is just around the corner! At the worst the hotel will have an English speaking staff member sit with you to help translate. Conversely, I do think that...
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Re: Doctor List for Traveling
Mac says, a good travel insurance policy is an absolute requirement - The part he left off was "for me", for him. Insurance, any kind, is playing the odds. When you buy it you're betting you'll have a disaster. When you don't you're figuring the likelihood of a dire event is low. If you take an occasional trip of short duration and can afford insurance, sure, why not. When the number & length of trips begins to mount and the budget becomes more of an issue then maybe not. It's called...
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Re: Doctor List for Traveling
As with many things travel, insurance is a matter of choice. Travel Health Insurance seems to be a lot more expensive in the US than elsewhere. Policies in the US usually include trip cancellation and medical coverage and often run 5-6% the cost of a trip. Given the amount you travel, Mac, the investment of a few hundred dollars a year seems prudent to me. But when I was 30 the thought of insurance never crossed my mind. Not once. A few years ago I did start buying trip cancellation (and...
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Re: Best Outdoor Workout Spots?
We travel indie style, taking public transport whenever possible. Jumping on and off buses and trains with luggage takes a certain level of physical fitness. We try to start trips in good shape because, if not, we shape up the hard way with all of that walking to bus stops and running for trains. You have not really lived until you have jumped, with bags, at the last possible instance, to catch the ferry behind Amsterdam Centraal just before it pulls away from the dock.
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Re: Hi Everybody! I'm new here.
Originally Posted by Travel Luver: Hi Ted, I think we're all pretty new here. I'm from the Pacific Northwest. Welcome to the group. I get out to LA some. My business takes me to Ventura County (Amgen). Any good tips for a place to eat out that way? I saw the link to www.roadfood.com on a different thread, so I'll check that out, but wonder if there's some place you like to go. Hi Nature Lover, Amgen is T.O., just west of the San Fernando Valley and I really never go there. But about 20 miles...
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Re: Share Your Budget Tablet and Laptop Picks
Originally Posted by Travel Rob: Hi FlashFlyer, I noticed the different colors of the Wolvol have different prices. This Lime Green one was only $109.94 when I looked. http://www.amazon.com/WolVol-W...W/ref=pd_sim_sbs_e_3 I'm going keep my eye on that brand though and see if they have a device in the f uture that will meet my needs .I'm impressed at their price levels.
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Re: Share Your Budget Tablet and Laptop Picks
As Kermit the Frog says, It's not easy being green ! I like products in bright colors. It keeps me from losing things, especially when I travel. Hard to miss a bright green tablet, even in the gloomy corner of a budget hotel room or tucked into a dark airplane seat pocket. It is good to read about these bargain tablets. They can only get cheaper during the upcoming holiday sales.
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Re: Hi Everybody! I'm new here.
I'd like to add my welcome, too, Ted! To you and all of our members, thanks for joining and for visiting TravelGumbo, and for your contributions to this website. Spread the word! We want T.G. to be a fun and interesting place for people who love to travel!
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Re: How to not miss a connecting flight
There are a lot of good tips in the article about streamlining your connections. While I mostly enjoy flying, travel days are busy and tiring enough that I hate to be rushed. I try to get to the airport early (often I've been grateful that I gave myself that extra time), and I don't take flights that have connections I consider too tight. I like at least 1.5-2 hours between my connections. I've been delayed on arrival often enough that having less time than that is no fun. As planes travel...
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Re: Air Miles vs Low Fare Airline
I was just reading a Chris Elliott piece on when people get so fed up with air travel they stop flying altogether. He interviewed a man who owned a travel company, Spencer Carlson and the positive airline example he gave was Norwegian. So it seems like my good experience is the norm with them. Here is this link: http://www.seattletimes.com/li...-to-take-it-anymore/
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Re: Air Miles vs Low Fare Airline
I can live indefinitely with 2 sets of clothes, 1 to wear & 1 to wash, 1 extra pair of shoes, all in a day pack. I wouldn't necessarily WANT to do it, but I could, rather than stop flying if, say, the airlines reduced baggage limits to 10 pounds altogether. It's the same old story, I figure, if for any reason, you can't or won't travel (time, money, fed up, whatever), you just don't want to enough. One excuse is as good as another. Good to hear about Norwegian. I repeated the exercise...
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Re: Something completely unrelated to travel
I know many people who have travelled for a better career. Residents of North America often travel away from their birthplace. Here in the UK my family have lived within 2 miles for at least 150 years. We have strands living in the US and Australia. But we like to keep in touch. Travel isn't just about vacations. Nice video.
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Re: Help with mobile phone for Morocco
One more thought. Think long term. If you're likely to travel again and might need a phone again, buying one will be even more cost effective. And buying one after you arrive will be least expensive. Phone service in the US is notoriously expensive. People in developing countries all have mobile phones because of the lack of infrastructure for land lines. So low-income working people all over the world rely on cell service and it must be cheap. So doing as the locals do when you travel...
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Re: London- multiple questions
You've gotten some great advice! I think that as a daytrip, Liverpool pushing the fringes of what you want to do because of the cost and travel time (total 5 hours). Maybe best to make an overnight of that one?
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Re: GPS v. Sicily = WTF
I have mixed feelings about GPS. Sometimes they're a good send. Other times they make for hazardous driving. As a rule, I still prefer old fashioned maps. Call me old fashioned..... As Pheymont said, hope you can share some of those great Sicilian travel experiences with us, Rbciao!
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Re: Contemporary philosophers
“To move, to breathe, to fly, to float, To gain all while you give, To roam the roads of lands remote, To travel is to live.” Hans Christian Anderson
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Re: How loooong does it take to get to your airport?
I think it depends on where one lives. Yes, those three cities may be faster; however should someone live IN Oakland, it may take them mere minutes using public transportation to get to the Oakland airport. And, using Oakland as an example, it takes me less time to get to the Oakland airport from my house using public transport than it would if I were to take my car simply because of traffic. However, to travel to my home to San Francisco (SFO) it is actually longer to take public transport...
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Re: Republic of San Marino
Great report and photos! I'll make sure that I add San Marino on my ever expanding travel list.
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Re: How to Irk the Brits
The first thing that surprises me on this blog is how eager people are to believe any of the pure drivel that film makers produce. Yahoo send a team to London to be controversial. That's the script. They don't want to tell a story of people who are just like the folks you left behind in America. No. That's not going to grab anyone's attention. PHeymont has lived in both countries and knowingly avoids such divisive journalism. Wherever you travel in the world you find people who are giving ,...
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Re: How to Irk the Brits
Like all myths exaggerated with a grain of truth or not, he lives on, along with his companions the Snobby Brit, the Nasty Frenchman, the Pushy German and all the rest. These days, it’s easy to find articles creating new misconceptions about Japanese and Chinese tourists. Point being, whatever these so-called “national characters” are, they are built on ignorance and prejudice; it is one of the great things about travel that they seldom survive actual experience.
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Re: Beating Jet Lag
I hate to say it, but I think that Songhua Ni's advice—sleep as much as you can, and walk around a bit—is going to work much better for front-of-the-plane flat-bed-seat people like him than it is for the rest of us. I recently had the pleasure of New York-Doha round-trip on Qatar, bumped up to the front, and it made an immense difference in my sleep, especially the quality of it. Otherwise, my best advice, based mostly on trans-Atlantic travel, is get on the plane to Europe tired, sleep as...
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Re: Are you a chatty seat-mate?
Meeting and talking to people is one of my favorite things about travel. Of course if the other person is busy or resting that's a different story.
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Re: Are you a chatty seat-mate?
Originally Posted by Travel Rob: Meeting and talking to people is one of my favorite things about travel. Of course if the other person is busy or resting that's a different story. So Rob, I take it you're in the chatty column? Nothing wrong with that -- just curious.
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Re: The world's most expensive flights!
I enjoy first class travel - at budget prices. There's no better feeling than rubbing shoulders with someone who's paid a thousand more than me to travel in style. Getting an upgrade is an achievement - a sense of accomplishment ! Anyone can travel First Class ! It takes a Wiley Coyote to buck the system !
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Re: How do you use the internet while traveling?
I have not been to Japan, but generally my travel experience with internet access has been much more positive than yours. I've generally had good luck with getting on line in Europe, South America and even Southern Africa. Once in a while the internet might be down at a place I'm staying at, but usually it's quickly repaired. Exceptions to this are very rural areas, like in Patagonia and where I'm heading next week, Yellowstone National Park. There is really not internet available at most...
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Re: Is Visa everywhere you want to be?
I know of several people who rely on these prepaid Visa cards during their travels, and it's good to know people need to clarify their use. I usually just travel with credit cards, debit card (for ATM withdrawal), with some cash in a money belt for emergencies.
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Re: Outdated Information, Print & Online
This is problematic, especially when it comes to accommodations and restaurants in my experience, because ownership and management changes and closures are far from rare in the travel industry. A lot of guide book publishers have on line sites which provides updates to the guidebook. But that takes lots of effort and this is a real downside of printed media -- its short half life. Glad to hear you're looking at Sri Lanka! It's a wonderful destination.
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Re: Books That Sent You Packing (your bag, that is)
Detectives and espionage thrillers. George Simenon in France, Eric Ambler all over and especially in Istanbul, an expanding list of Scandinavians going back to Maj Sjovall/Per Wahloo and including Mankell, Nesbo and Larsson; Arnaldur Indridadsen and others in Iceland, Brunetti and Montalbano in Italy...the list is endless and appears to be a real driver of our travel. I've tried to think why, and I think it is in part because detective and spy novels, when well done, are of their time and...
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Re: Books That Sent You Packing (your bag, that is)
People always laugh when I tell them this but the book that most inspired me to travel was Arthur C Clarke's "2001 a Space Odyssey". It made me want to see the universe -- or at least Clavius Base on the moon. It wasn't until later that I learned I'd have to settle for staying on the planet. Little did I know those journeys would one day lead me to the home and friendship of the man who wrote the book that so inspired me.
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Re: Books That Sent You Packing (your bag, that is)
I get booksellers' e-newsletters and paper catalogs and run across interesting travel-related items from time to time. Many are on remainder sites so "quantities are limited" but when a post is fresh here, you'll likely get it if you want it. Spotted today in the Daedalus Books catalog is one by Ian Buruma, Bad Elements: Chinese Rebels from Los Angeles to Beijing , " a dissident's eye-view of the world's most secretive superpower, observing, "Strange things happen when Chinese dynasties near...
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Re: World's most attractive libraries
And I thought you weren't a fan of "best of" lists, DrF. There are as many of these lists as there are opinions, I think. Here's another: http://www.miragebookmark.ch/m...esting-libraries.htm I think the Bodleian in Oxford may be my favorite, not because of the Radcliffe Camera, shown, but the interior of the old library proper, which can be seen on tours. It isn't as ostentatious as some on the list, but it's ancient and intimate, which appeals to me infinitely more than huge open spaces...