The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes ‘sight-seeing’. – Daniel J. Boorstin

Practical information

If you want to get inspiration for what to see go to a place that sells postcards an check out the things which seem interesting.

Take some snacks (e.g. an apple) with you while sightseeing to keep your energy level going.

You can sometimes pay entrance fee only once and then return on consecutive days without having to pay again. In order to be able to do this you may have to get a special stamp with the date or write your name on the back of the ticket. In some destinations such as Cancun, Mexico there are time share agents. They can offer you free food, discount tickets or even cash if you go and listen to a presentation (and to the endless argumentation from sales guys afterwards). If you can handle this it can be a good way to save money, but you have to look reasonably rich in order for them to give you the offer.

Personal Experience – The Punjab Plague Ploy

In Dehli a very nice gentlemen approached me as I was trying to find a place to buy train tickets. He kindly informed me that he came from the “Official Tourist Office” – something the metal badge strapped around his arm ensured. Perplexed by his badge and a being a newcomer in India I nicely took a stroll to the “Official Tourist Office”, which turned out to be nothing more than a regular travel agency. I said I wanted a train ticket to Punjab. People in the office were shaking their heads. “No, no, you can’t go to Punjab. People are dying there!” They were referring to a plague of some kind. And quickly offered a 10-day sightseeing tour to Rajastan instead. Well, I realized in time this was a bunch of crooks and found my way down to the official ticket office. Not surprisingly situated at the railway station, a few steps away from where he hooked me up.

In general, showing up at times when there are few people there is usually rewarding. Going to Taj Mahal in India in the early morning can offer great photo opportunities, while going there in the afternoon will give you a tourist invasion to cope with.

Tours

If you plan to visit sites which are visited on day tours (e.g. Petra in Jordan) but would like to avoid the crowds you can consider taking the tour day 1, stay overnight in a local hotel, go to the site early before the tour buses arrive day 2 and go back with the tour company on day 2. If you want to take tours the advice from fellow travellers is worth a lot more than that of the tour operators (who will try to sell you the tour where they get the highest commission).

If you travel alone going on a tour is a great way to meet people and to get advice on other things to do.

Personal Experience – The Balaton Blunder

I was staying in a private home near lake Balaton in Hungary. The house consisted of two floors with a common entrance door. The owner of the house showed me around the place and left me the key before he left. I was preparing for a nice afternoon sightseeing trek but when I tried to open the front door I found it locked. I tried to unlock it but the key did not work, the owner had left me the wrong key! The windows did not open and here was no back door. I gave up trying to pick the lock (I am an honest guy after all) and proceeded to yell out the window and wave. There were several people passing by but they all just smiled at me and waved back. After one hour the neighbour started to wonder what all the noise was about and finally got hold of the owner who came back and unlocked the door.

It is almost universal truth that most men dislike shopping and most women loves it. Shopping is one of the common reasons of quarrel among husband and wife. Husbands want to keep check on the expenses and wives keep telling that – shopping for this is important, shopping for that is essential, like that. But, things can be different if the wives start taking up smart approaches to fulfill their requirements and at the same time save money to please their husbands. There are several online websites that feature exciting voucher codes that can provide several promotional offers and discounted rates on diverse products and services. Such useful website is everydaysale.co.uk, which is utilized by numerous smart wives for saving money by the help of excellent discount codes.

By using voucher codes, the wives can even involve their husbands in the process of shopping. Generally, husbands find it boring and simply wastage of time to hop around different shops and stores and collect the required goods and items. With online discount codes or promo voucher codes, wives can involve their husbands into the process of shopping. This is because of the fact that – to shop with voucher codes there is no need to go out and spend hours for shopping. Within minutes various required essentials with exciting discounts can be availed online with efficient voucher code websites such as everydaysale.co.uk.

The world is very busy these days and no one has enough time to spend hours for shopping. In such scenario, such online buying options are gaining huge popularity. This is because of the fact that it is possible to purchase anything online without physically visiting a store. Whether it is clothing, kitchen appliances, groceries, home furnishings, books, etc; everything can be availed with online shopping. But, only easy utility for shopping doesn’t solve the purpose as saving money is equally important. Here comes the necessity of voucher codes and in that department, everydaysale.co.uk is one of the best.

Using the wide range of discounts and voucher codes at everydaysale.co.uk, wives are getting smarter in case of saving money. These discount codes provide perfect option for those who want to save money and shop on a particular budget. Only thing that needs to be taken care of is the validity of the discount coupon. Keeping in mind the expiry date of the voucher codes, the smart wives can save lots of money.

If you come to visit Bangkok for the first time, one of the first things you will notice is the busy streets and the traffic. The city is very different from other cities in Europe. Don’t get your holiday ruined by hours of waiting in traffic! Reading this article will take approximately 5 minutes, and those five minutes can save you endless hours of waiting.

The busiest part of Bangkok is right in the middle. Around the edges of the city, the streets are a bit more calm. When travelling anywhere around Bangkok, you should always use as much public transport as possible. Trains are better than taxis because they don’t get stuck in traffic.

The best method of getting from A to B is by using the BTS Skytrain. As the name suggests, it’s higher up than the roads. The Skytrain is connected to most of the shopping centers, so it’s a perfect choice of transport for a shopping tour. Once you get there, you will have to buy a ticket; there are one way tickets available and also a day ticket, which you can use as much as you want in a day.

Another option is to get a ‘Smartpass’; this is a credit-card sized plastic card which you refill with money and then just swipe it on a sensor at the entrance gate. This is the best option if you decide to stay for quite a while. Another form of transport in the MRT, which is a subway line. This also connects to popular places like shopping malls.

The BTS station connects with the MRT at three different stations, so it is easy to just jump out of the BTS and head a few floors down, to the subway. The ticket system in the MRT is very similar to the one in the Skytrain. There are also tickets available which work for both the subway and the raised train. To get to places which are not connected to either of the train systems, you will need to take road transport.

Taxi is a good choice, but can be slow because of traffic. An alternative would be a motorbike taxi as they can squeeze through traffic easily. The downside of the motorbike taxi is that it can be quite dangerous on the busy roads of Bangkok, Thailand. And if the trip is not too short, walking is also an alternative. Have a safe trip and a great holiday!!

Though traveling by Eurostar seems expensive, but that’s not true, you can book Cheap Eurostar Tickets easily through internet, all you need to put in is some extra efforts and time. Eurostar has revolutionized the whole travel market of people traveling from UK to mainland Europe.
How to book cheap Eurostar tickets?
To book Eurostar train tickets at reasonable prices, all u need to do is, keep going through it’s website now and then. It helps you to find the best seasonal offers, etc. The following points may help you to know more about booking cheap Eurostar tickets easily.
You should avoid traveling on national holidays and at weekends including Saturday night as it would result being an expensive affair for you.
You need to book the tickets 3 months in advance so as to get cheap train tickets successfully. If you book your tickets 90 days before your journey, you are likely to receive the best deals and offers. The cheapest Eurostar tickets are limited in number, so it’s better if you don’t delay your booking procedure and there price starts from ?65 to Lille and ?69 to Brussels.
Booking the ticket for going and returning together would be cheaper in comparison to booking them separately.
If you are traveling for a short period of time, it would be beneficial if you book an early morning train (5a.m. to 7a.m.) or take a train after 7p.m., as the cheap tickets are available for the off-peak time.
While booking your tickets you should surely check if fall under any of the special categories so as to avail special discounts. These are the following four special categories:
Senior (aged <60)
Youth (aged >26)
Child (aged 4-11)
Pass holder (if you have any of the rail passes such as Britrail, Interail and Eurail passes) these passes, purchased through Rail Europe in North America, include discounts on Eurostar. Children below 4 years of age can travel for free on the lap of the guardian.
Eurostar runs a royalty programme for its regular customers which are very beneficial as it provides them with many facilities like shorter check-in procedure, etc. The customers even get to earn points after every journey which may get converted into a Eurostar ticket or gift.
Before booking the tickets for once and all you should go through the Eurostar’s special offers page to know about the various offers and promotions available. There are many seasonal city breaks and offers that Eurostar comes up with, so you can choose the best amongst them.
Eurostar provides some great group-booking discounts as well. It is one of the smartest way of reducing the costs of the tickets. Travel agents also use the same method to book the Cheap Eurostar Tickets. So either you should book the tickets in bulk for your group or if you are traveling alone you should contact the travel agents.

When the pocket is light and the economy jittery, you don’t need to go for a costly accommodation in India. In fact, in India there is no dearth of cheap accommodations available, all you need is travel smarter in order to turn your trip into an enjoyable, smooth and affordable reality. Here are top ten tips you will find immensely helpful for landing a cheap yet clean and comfortable rooms while you are on India Travel.

1. Check Discounts: Check prices of different rooms and ask for discounts. Room prices may vary largely even within a hotel. For example a room with shower is cheaper than a room with tub. Air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned rooms have different prices. Similarly rooms with pool or garden views pricier. If you want a cheap room, say it. Some hotels have a few rooms that need renovation without private baths, which they don’t usually mention, figuring they would be unacceptable to tourists. And, if you plan to stay three or more nights, it’s worth asking if any discounts are available.

2. Consider Hotel Agents: As you step out from the airport or railway station, you’ll be met by some hotel agents offering their rooms for rent. They are usually just hardworking entrepreneurs who don’t have guidebook listing. If you like what the agent says, and the hotel isn’t too far away or filthy (many are), follow him to his hotel. You are obliged only to inspect the hotel. If it’s good, check into it. If not, leave. You are probably close to other budget hotels anyway.

3. Compare Prices: Sometimes hotels differ in prices for the same amenities and class. It is worthwhile to check and compare prices of the hotels in the locality. Some hotels raise their prices due to locational advantage as they are near some favorite hot spot. Consider searching for hotels a little far from such spots.

4. Bargain If It’s Off Season: The hotels are governed by economics of demand and supply. Prices usually rise with demand during festivals and special occasions such as Christmas or New Year. If it is off-season, try bargaining. If it’s too expensive, tell them your limit, they might meet it.

5. Come Early: Early birds get the room easily. If you anticipate crowds, arrive in the morning when the most and best rooms are available. If there is none ready until noon, take one anyway. Leave your luggage with the front desk, they’ll move you in later.

6. Think Small: Larger hotels are usually costlier than small hotels.

7. Let Hotel Managers Help: Have your current manager call ahead to make a booking at your next destination. If you’re in a town and having problem finding a room, remember that nobody knows the hotel situation better than the local hotel managers.

8. Consider a Chain: There are many hotel chains which offer cheap or moderately priced rooms. Although you may not find character, you’ll surely get predictable comfort.

9. Business Hotels: In Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Chandigarh and Bangalore, business hotels need customers in the winter and on weekends, when their guests are away. And, the later you arrive, the better the discount.

10. Buy a Good Guidebook: Good guidebooks are like good friends. They are like having a friend check places out for you. There are some good online guides too which can be of immense help to locate hotels while you are on Indian Travel.

Every Dopplr traveller can see a summary of their recent travels on their personal home page on the site, but this information is otherwise hidden from everyone else. Sometimes, it’s nice to share.
That’s why we created the Dopplr public profile, a feature available to every smart traveller using Dopplr for travel planning.
The public profile can be activated from your Dopplr account page at any time. The profile is a flexible, customisable web page that’s open to all, not just fellow travellers on Dopplr. It can be used to display a great deal of information, or very little information at all – depending entirely on the traveller’s wishes.
The profile is divided into four sections. The first is “About you”, and can be set to display information about a traveller’s home city, home page on the internet, forthcoming trips, travel statistics, and travel tips. There’s also an option here to hide the profile from search engines.
The second section is called “Past travel”. Display options here include past trips, notes on trips, accurate or approximate dates, maps, photos, and places from the Social Atlas.
The third section is “Planned travel”. Options here are planned trips, notes about them, accurate dates, and maps.
Finally, the fourth section is “Toys”. These widgets are less functional but more fun. The famous Dopplr Raumzeitgeist widget shows a map of the world, with all your travel destinations plotted by the frequency of your visits. The Velocity widget averages out your speed over all your trips; and the Timeline shows your trips during the last year in a simple chart.
In all sections, activating widgets is done simply by ticking a checkbox. Most of the displayed widgets can also be embedded in other web sites and blogs – simply hover over them to reveal a snippet of HTML code that can easily be used elsewhere.
The public profile is going to be different for everyone, be they a business traveller or a tourist. The custom options mean each traveller can just share the information they wish to. And of course, the entire profile can be hidden from everyone else at any time, with a single click. The profile is a great way to share your travel tips and experiences with friends and colleagues who are not on Dopplr. It’s the perfect visual summary of your movements, and a useful reminder of all the trips you’ve made during recent months.

On the surface, investing in a timeshare seems like a good idea. For a few thousand dollars, you get a yearly allotment of guaranteed time (usually a week) to spend at a luxury resort. Most salespeople usually emphasize the potential savings on future vacations. Some even portray timeshares as sound financial investments with long term rental or high resale values. The truth is that investing in a timeshare could be the biggest mistake you ever make.

Having a guaranteed week at a luxury resort sounds wonderful until you try to use your vacation time. Both fixed week and floating week timeshare owners are shocked to find out how difficult it is to use their timeshare when they want to. Although fixed week timeshares guarantees your unit on specific dates of the year, you may end up in an undesirable time slot. Or worse, you may be unable to take a vacation during your assigned time and end up missing out altogether.

Floating week timeshares allow you use your days at anytime of the year. However, if you are trying to take a vacation during a time of the year when a lot of other people are traveling as well, then getting the dates you want can be problematic.

Another downside to timeshares is the yearly maintenance fees. Although you own your timeshare outright, you do have to contribute money to the resort’s upkeep. These fees range from a few hundred to several thousands of dollars a year and the costs continue to increase during the life of your ownership. So even if you do shave $1000 off your vacation by not needing to rent a hotel room, if your maintenance fees are a $1000 a year, then you are really only breaking even.

Lastly, and most importantly, the resale value of a timeshare is very similar to that of a vehicle; it declines with age. The timeshare market is both saturated and depressed. Add to that the fact that timeshares are no longer an exclusive commodity and you have the perfect recipe for a failed investment. The Wisconsin Consumer Protection Agency recently reported that in the last 25 years, only about 3% of owners were able to resell their timeshares.

Anyway, you look at it, investing in a timeshare is not a smart move. If you really want to save money on your vacation, make effective use of the many travel discount websites available online. You’ll still have a fabulous vacation without the headaches of timeshare ownership.

people around the world traveling to israel in every single day, most of us want to save money on their travel, is it really possibly? first of all the answer is yes!

but then another question comes up, the question of HOW? well, the answer is easy: familiarity and right preparation! if you want to save money with your travel to Israel here is a few tips, but remember that the best tip is the answer above, knowledge is the power.

Israel is a great country for traveling in the middle east, it has a lot of tourist attractions and a lot of interesting nature resorts and places that are holy to the most main religions in the world, Israel is very unique and small, sometimes for a traveler a small country can be a big plus if you know what you are looking for, you can visit a lot of places in a short period of time and you can save time spent on the ways to get from a place to another, one of the benefits of traveling to israel is that you can make a cross israel tour with a bus, the bus transportation is easy to use and very cheap, also you can rent a car and enjoy more, sometime even more then fighting from place to another inside israel, Israel car rental is easy because a lot of the international car rental operates in israel and a quick search in the Internet will let you know what car you will need and how much it is going to cost you, you can also be smart if before renting the car you will get a map of israel for your travel and that’s how you can save time, its easy if you are planing your trip in the right way.

A flight to Israel can be found with a lot of airliners, but sometimes if you will look online in a few “around you country” airports you will find a cheap flight with no problem and sometime you can take the train from your home to some other airport and save money on the arrival to israel, if you do it in the time before you are there you will find the cheapest price out there!

another way is to save money with alternative ways of stay, you can browse the web and find people to host you, you can also check sometimes if its safe by other travelers recommendations, it is good if you will feel good with it, but you can also search for cheap hotels in a near by city, remember to get information about the transportation in there, Israel transportation information can help you to make the right calculation and then decide where is the right place for your stay, a hotel in the center of Jerusalem can be expensive but a hotel in the old city of Jerusalem can be a lot more cheaper, in eilat you can find hotels for 200$ but a room in a ceap hotel is available sometimes even for only 30$ per night, in a city like Eilat you will stay on the beach most of the time anyway so if you read about HOW the tourism in there is you can make the right choice with your expense, you can use this tips for anything with travel and save a lot of money, just remember to do your homework before you buy a flight ticket