Travel Tips

Aloha Single Travelers! Cruise Hawaii in Style This Spring at Bargain Prices

2005-10-27T16:14:00.000-05:00

By PRWEB

Singles Travel International offers 11-day Royal Caribbean Cruise for the Price of 7 Days

LOCKPORT, IL (PRWEB) January 22 2004--This spring, from March 25 to April 5, 2004, join Singles Travel International in the Pacific aboard Royal Caribbean’s Legend for an 11-day cruise from Honolulu to Ensenada, Mexico, for an unbelievable bargain price of only $1,576* plus airfare. The intimately sized, 1,800 passenger ship will be home during the visit to five favorite Hawaiian hotspots: Honolulu (overnight), Maui (overnight), Kauai, Hilo and Kona on the Big Island. The travelers will then enjoy the next four days at sea on the way to Ensanada, Mexico.

Singles will enjoy 11 nights in stateroom accommodations, welcome aboard singles-only cocktail party, tropical Hawaiian luau in Maui, complimentary drinks before dinner on four sea days, unlimited gourmet meals, welcome and farewell parties, single dining and activities. Of course, in addition to including all meals onboard, the other benefits of a cruise vacation will be included, like spectacular shows, swimming pools, casino, health club & optional spa facilities, duty-free shopping and much more. A Singles Travel International escort ensures that you are always in good company throughout the cruise.

Singles Travel International offers an optional Adventure Sports Package that includes 6 activities: 2 hikes, 2 biking excursions, kayaking and surf lessons, for only an additional $595. Expert adventure professionals will be on hand to assure safe, yet exhilarating, experiences on each island.

* Rate is per person, based on double occupancy in an inside stateroom and does not include airfare, air taxes, cruise taxes and government fees. All fees and taxes are subject to change and fares are subject to availability.
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Singles Travel International: With over 20 years of experience in travel consulting, Singles Travel International provides worry-free travel that meets the unique needs of solo travelers. Every group is accompanied by at least one Singles Travel International escort who is available 24 hours a day to provide assistance or answer questions. Although a Singles Travel International trip is a terrific way to meet people, travelers can be as involved as they would like in the tour activities, spending their time with the group or relaxing and exploring on their own. Singles Travel International takes the risk out of having to pay a single supplement by offering a roommate guarantee program.

Singles Travel International contact: Tammy Weiler, (877) SOLO-TRIP, (877)765-6874, or www.singlestravelintl.com (http://www.singlestravelintl.com).

Media contact: Beth Peterson, (708) 383-5989 or e-mail protected from spam bots.

Air Travel Expert Tells Americans: "Take the Train"

2005-07-24T20:55:00.000-05:00

By PRWEB

US air travel`s current strong recovery from the prolonged post-9/11 doldrums - a rebound already bringing with it more flight delays, congestion and security hassles -- should prompt an urgent reassessment of America`s neglect of its rail system.

Austin, TX, (PRWEB) March 12, 2004--US air travel`s current strong recovery from the prolonged post-9/11 doldrums - a rebound already bringing with it more flight delays, congestion and security hassles -- should prompt an urgent reassessment of America`s neglect of its rail system, travel expert David Rowell told a Texas travel industry group this week.

"Air travel has become a form of cruel and unusual punishment," Rowell, Seattle-based publisher of The Travel Insider, a widely-read weekly for sophisticated travelers, told a meeting of the Austin Business Travel Association. But he added that it is about to get very much worse as passengers return to the air. America badly needs to review its travel priorities and invest heavily in rail, he said.

Referring to a recent Travel Insider study which showed air travellers now arrive at an airport 81 minutes before their flight is scheduled to depart, Rowell said, "The total travel time for an air journey has lengthened substantially since 9/11. In those same 81 minutes, a high speed train could take its passengers more than 125 miles."

Amtrak`s main problem and the reason why it can`t attain profitability is its lack of services, according to Rowell. "In Europe, over 90% of train routes have more than five trains a day. In the US, only 5% of Amtrak`s routes operate at this level, and 75% of the Amtrak network has only one train a day." Rowell explained, "Amtrak`s high fixed costs are simply not spread over enough services and passengers to break even."

Rowell, who founded and grew a large travel wholesale company in which air travel business predominated, advocates a massive national investment into short distance (under 400 mile) high speed rail links, connecting major population centers and offering a service that would be faster, more convenient, less expensive, and safer than flying or driving. "High speed rail would be very expensive," he said "but so too are the alternatives. California is poised to adopt an ambitious $37 billion high speed rail project, but it has been estimated this will be offset by a saving of $87 billion that does not need to be spent on more freeways and airports." He suggested that the Dallas - Houston - San Antonio - Austin - Dallas triangle would be well suited for such high speed rail links, with trains traveling up to 200 mph giving short journey times.

Other countries have no hesitation in making massive investments to grow their rail networks. Britain, a country with one sixth the US population, and already blessed with a comprehensive rail system, is spending $15 billion on improvements. Australia has just added another 1,000 miles of track. "America needs to catch up with the resurgence of rail elsewhere in the world," Rowell said.

Rowell pointed out the nation spends over $30 billion of federal money on highways every year, while Amtrak struggles to get even $1 billion in funding. The result is a crippled operation that is unable to provide the level of services to bring people back to rail. "Amtrak can be saved only by visionary expansion, not by further cuts in budgets and services. With steadily increasing energy costs, and the continued security fears associated with air travel, we should focus on the most energy efficient means of passenger transportation out there - rail. As for security, no train could ever be driven into a building."

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Spring Break in Europe Starting at $232

2005-07-06T19:02:00.000-05:00

By PRWEB
(http://pdfserver.prweb.com/pdfdownload/182492/pr.pdf) Download this press release as an Adobe PDF document. (http://pdfserver.prweb.com/pdfdownload/182492/pr.pdf>Download)

Star Alliance™ partners United and Lufthansa recently launched a students-only sale through StudentUniverse.com for spring break travel to Europe.

Watertown, MA (PRWEB) November 26, 2004 -- Why not go to Europe this spring break? With the amazing student airfares available through StudentUniverse.com, that should be a pretty easy decision. Star Alliance™ partners United and Lufthansa recently launched a student-only sale through StudentUniverse.com for travel between January 14th and April 10, 2005. "We`re very excited to provide this fantastic Europe sale to our customers," says StudentUniverse`s Director of Airline Product, Renaud Cyr. "This means that students can go to destinations like London or Paris for as low as $232 with top notch airlines like United and Lufthansa."

According to StudentUniverse.com, there seems to be a new trend when it comes to spring break destinations. While sunny destinations like Panama City, Daytona Beach and Cancun have traditionally been the most popular places to go, more and more people are looking to experience Europe. "Paris is one of my favorite places to visit in Europe", says Rasmus Andersen, a frequent traveler and registered StudentUniverse customer. "There are a lot of great landmarks to see and I always find something interesting to do while I`m there."

Andersen is clearly not the only young latté-lover out there, as flights to Paris comprise 20% of searches to Europe conducted on StudentUniverse.com for departure this spring. Other top destinations include London, Rome, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. Combined with Paris, these five locations make up half of all student travel to Europe.

Not all students are aware of the discounts available to them. Airlines routinely offer lower prices to college students, but the verification process for many conventional student travel brokers has been complicated and expensive. Traditionally, students have been required to visit a store, where they must provide documentation of enrollment and purchase a $22 International Student Identity Card in order to gain access to student discounts. At StudentUniverse.com, students are automatically verified online and there`s no need for a card to be bought. This gives students an easy way to shop for and book their travel 24 hours a day from anywhere they can get onto the internet.

"We look at the student market as a unique opportunity to let young travelers test our outstanding product at affordable prices", said Ellen Benson-Brehm, Manager Direct Passenger Sales at Lufthansa. "We believe that the students will greatly enjoy their experiences and make United or Lufthansa their airlines of choice the next time they are traveling to Europe".

The round-trip fares below are for students only and available at StudentUniverse.com and must be booked by December 30th, 2004.

About StudentUniverse.com
StudentUniverse.com is the largest online provider of discounted student airfares in the United States. The company launched its online presence in 2000 and has partnerships with most major international airline carriers and online travel websites including Orbitz, Travelocity, Cheap Tickets, and
Yahoo Travel.

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Bigmouthmedia On Board

2005-06-22T22:46:00.000-05:00

By Heather Luscombe

Bigmouthmedia, the award-winning Search Engine Marketing company, has been selected to drive internet traffic to the National Express website. In an ever-increasing online marketplace, National Express hope to capture their share of the potential coach travel market amongst well known travel booking heavyweights such as Expedia and Lastminute.com.

Kevin Milnes, Digital Marketing Manager at National Express, said the objective of the SEM campaign is more about perception than education. Consumers are already aware of the National Express brand and service offering, but are perhaps less likely to consider coach travel as an option when planning a journey online.

With 1000 UK destinations, and a further 500 throughout Europe and Ireland served by partner Eurolines, National Express offer in excess of 1.5 million different routes and this is where the use of search marketing can make the biggest impact. Visitors driven to the National Express website by searching for a specific journey are already pre-qualified, and in a very strong position to convert to bookings.

After extensive research and a number of proposals from a variety of SEM companies, National Express chose bigmouthmedia based on their technical expertise, longevity in the marketplace and impressive client list. Milnes said the deciding factor was that “bigmouthmedia were truly open and honest throughout the consultation process. I felt they were clear about every step of the campaign, and this transparency is essential to any business relationship”.

Steve Leach, bigmouthmedia’s MD said “We’re delighted to add National Express to our growing list of travel sector clients. They have a strong brand and huge potential for dominance on the search engines”

The new client win comes at an exciting time for bigmouthmedia, in a year which has already seen the company surpass last year’s turnover figure, double the team based at their Edinburgh headquarters, and win the public and industry vote for ‘Best Use of Search’ at last month’s prestigious digital marketing awards, the Netimperatives.

Bigmouthmedia is based in Leith, Edinburgh, with offices in London and Madrid, and is headed up by Steve Leach and Lyndsay Menzies.

The company specialises in search engine marketing for big brands – boasting an impressive list of clients, including Sony PlayStation, the Bank of Scotland, Marks and Spencer, British Airways, Sony Ericsson, King Sturge, Laura Ashley and MTV.

My Top Ten Tips For Selling Travel on eBay

2005-06-14T16:02:00.000-05:00

By Ellen McNulty

Becoming a seller on ebay can be daunting. Becoming a travel seller can be impossible, unless you know the secrets. My tips on selling on eBay can apply to all categories of items, but some steps are unique to selling travel.

The travel industry is highly regulated on EBay, as it should be. High standards keep out disreputable sellers and scam artists, and adds to your own company’s trustworthiness when you are approved by eBay..

1. Before you are even thinking about selling travel on eBay, it is important to get a username and email address just for eBay. Registration is free and only takes a few minutes. Register as a seller and you can use the same username to buy as well. Choose a name that reflects what you sell i.e., “Bermudabound” rather than “sexyblueeyes”. Other eBay members will come to recognize you by your User ID, so it`s a good idea to choose one you`ll want to use for the long term.

2. Your eBay name has sunglasses (i.e., read “shady character”) for the first 30 days, so don’t try to sell anything while you are wearing shades. Use this time to buy on eBay and learn good practices from other sellers.

3. Set up a PayPal account. EBay buyers feel more confident purchasing something from a seller who accepts PayPal. According to PayPal, “Listings that offer PayPal are 6% more likely to sell and experience a 5% average increase in final price.” Go to www.Paypal.com (http://www.Paypal.com). Get a business account. Registration is free.

4. In the first 30 days, buy small items on EBay, pay for them promptly. I have always found eBay sellers to offer good values, provided that you check their feedback listing first.

5. Pay your seller promptly, because then you will always get positive feedback from your seller. Your feedback profile is the most important aspect of your reputation at eBay. Feedback is extremely important on eBay, as your future buyers can evaluate you at a glance. Even one strike against you counts heavily. Your feedback score also helps later with qualifying to run banner ads on eBay, and to have eBay pay some of your advertising costs.

6. Create your “About Me” page on eBay. Use this page to tell other eBay users about yourself and your interests, your experience and your products.

7. While you are waiting the 30 days, also become a) ID verified and b)square trade approved.

a) Get ID Verified through eBay as an extra sign of security for buyers. When a member gets ID Verified, a third-party company working with eBay confirms the member`s identity by cross checking their contact information across consumer and business databases. You`ll see the ID Verify icon in verified members` profiles.

b) The Square Trade Seal is one way for sellers to show bidders that they are committed to high selling standards and have had their identity verified by a third party. You will need a credit card and your IATA, ARC, or seller of travel number. Both are requirements for selling travel, and you must place these numbers as the first lines of your ads on EBay. All members listing airline tickets, cruises, vacation packages, or lodging must be participants in the Seller Verify by SquareTrade Program. This program combines verification of sellers with ongoing monitoring. For instructions on this, go to eBay.com (http://eBay.com).

8. When you are ready to list your items at auction, sell small stuff first, building customers and credibility. Sell all items with no reserve, at the lowest price you can afford to accept, and fill all orders promptly.

9. Choose carefully what you will sell. You cannot sell some travel certificates, and all listing must list the exceptions, blackout dates, and extra taxes and shipping charges. Travel agents, and other businesses selling travel services are regulated in eBay. According to the eBay rules for selling travel, “Businesses and individuals who sell and/or arrange air or sea travel or accommodations (but do not directly provide the travel service themselves) may list air and ship related travel items (i.e. airplane tickets and cruise trips), along with accommodations, on eBay only if they are licensed as sellers of travel lawfully able to do business in all 50 states and they themselves will be booking the travel for the winning bidder. Their listings should clearly set out their California seller of travel license number as well as any other license information required in other states. It is against eBay policy for travel clearinghouse affiliates, that are not actual agents booking the travel themselves, to list travel auctions on the site. Sellers are required to include the following disclaimer in all listings for travel exactly as it appears below and in a text size and color that can easily be seen and read by all bidders:

"By listing this auction I verify that I am the actual travel agent or travel provider and not a third party affiliate. The travel/accommodations in this auction will be booked directly through me and not an outside agency. I also verify that, other than the government taxes and related government fees stated within the listing description itself, there will be absolutely no additional fees, charges or after auction purchases associated with booking the travel within this listing."

For travel services other than air or sea travel, businesses and individuals may offer gift certificates or coupons that are issued by a specific provider of travel, such as a gift certificate to a particular hotel. They may not, however, offer travel club memberships or "choice travel"
certificates.”

10. Build a store. EBay stores are free for the first 30 days. Afterwards, they are $9.95 a month. According to eBay, Store sellers see on average a 25% incremental increase in sales the 3 months after opening their Store.” Here is where you can list all those other items that are higher priced, but good value at a low listing fee - at about 02 cents, rather than $4.80 for an item over $500. Auction and Fixed Price listings appear in your eBay Store as well as in eBay Search and Listings. The store allows your buyers to peruse your other items in addition to your auction items. Go to: http://pages.eBay.com/storefronts/openbenefits.html (http://pages.eBay.com/storefronts/openbenefits.html)

For examples of travel stores on eBay, take a look at: http://stores.eBay.com/Travel-Ireland-and-Britain_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm (http://stores.eBay.com/Travel-Ireland-and-Britain_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm)

http://stores.eBay.com/Himalayan-International-Tours_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm (http://stores.eBay.com/Himalayan-International-Tours_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm)

Mc Nulty is President of Lynott Tours, specialists in travel to Ireland and Britain. Ellen assists retail travel agents in listing their wares on EBay. Lynott Tours has been selling travel for 35 years, and can be found on the Internet at www.lynotttours.com (http://www.lynotttours.com).

lynottads@aol.com (mailto:lynottads@aol.com)

Travel Canada: The Calgary Stampede

2005-06-07T20:11:00.000-05:00

By Jean Sutherland

Welcome travelers to Cowtown, Canada! This two-week long festival starting the first Friday after June 2nd can showcases everything under the sun to do with ranching. Here is a short description of the attractions, events and festivities this world-renowned event has to offer.

Travel Canada: Stampede Parade

Those traveling from outside of Canada have most likely already seen a Stampede Parade: the estimated TV audience is well over 2 million people at last count. But nothing compares to seeing this kick off party in person! Visitors in attendance will view over 160 entries that can include marching bands, large horses, the RCMP, and the Stampede Queen and Princesses.

Travel Canada: Chuckwagon Races

The end of every Stampede evening in Calgary, Canada begins with the chuckwagon races – an event travelers flock to by the droves. Nine heats of four wagons and 16 outriders compete starting at 8:00pm in the Grandstand at Stampede Park, and afterwards partygoers are treated to live music, entertainment, and fireworks.

Travel Canada: Stampede Breakfasts

A not-to-miss, every morning event at Stampede, visitor to Calgary, Canada, can eat breakfast for free at one of the several hundred Stampede Breakfasts around town. Pancakes, juice and entertainment is shared, free of charge, to tens of thousand of attendees on a daily basis, all in the spirit of the Wild West.

Travel Canada: The Million Dollar Rodeo

The Stampede rodeo has been wowing travelers to Calgary, Canada, since 1912, with saddle bronc, bareback, bull and barrel riding, along with some tie-down roping and steer wrestling to boot. Over 50 of the world’s best compete yearly for the largest purse of a regular season professional rodeo.

Travel Canada: Old Time Rigs

Have you ever wanted to ride a horse-drawn rig, and see the sights of the Old, Wild West? Well, if you get your free tickets early, you can. Volunteers start corralling people at the NE corner of Fluor Rope Square at 8:30am every Stampede morning, and travelers to the Canadian city can grab them on a first come, first served basis. The tour starts at 9:30am promptly, and takes travelers to a free pancake breakfast and a short, one hour tour of the downtown area of Calgary, Canada. Visitors are then dropped off at Stampede Park at the main north entrance when finished.

Travel Canada: Square Dancing

Every day, from 10:00 – 12:00 noon, travelers to Canada’s Stampede can learn how to square dance from the pro’s. The corner of Stephen Avenue and 1st Street SW (across from the Bay) hosts this all ages, all experience level fun time, cowboy style.

Travel Canada: Western Showcase

Like many large exhibitions such as the Calgary Stampede, travelers to the Canadian event can view the arts and crafts that present and preserve the Western Heritage. Cooking shows, live entertainment (such as Cowboy Poetry), photo exhibits and original western art are all proudly displayed for the world to see in Hall D of the Roundup Centre.

Jean Sutherland is the owner of the informative website http://www.spasoftheworld.com/ & http://www.spasoftheworld.com/spas/index.html She has worked in the travel industry for over 10 years.