Internet Pre trip: I traveled for over 40 years - by thumb in my early days in boots in the Scouts, a Lambretta came next, then my first old car followed by new old bangers to the beaches of the Costa Brava . My thumb, boots, bikes and bangers took me all over Europe and the United Kingdom before concluding that a charter flight to Spain on an old 'Connie' could go on the beaches and bars much faster and allow more time to enjoy the local travel opportunities in a carriage and the occasional bus and train. "Go West and Prosper" seemed like a good idea so that instead of taking an 8 hour flight, I took a transatlantic crossing eight days of Tilbury to Montreal on the Stephan Batory Polish Ocean Lines to ensure that jet lag did not disrupt my travel plans. A few years later, I crossed the pond again on a ship, but this time it was 5 times bigger and I went in style on the QE2 and dined in Queen's Grill enough away from my previous experience. I strongly recommend travel on the ocean but can not see me on one of the modern cruise ships going from port to port constant queues up and down to buy t-shirts. However, I made 10 Windjammers and Star Clipper cruise in the Caribbean have all been memorable (hopefully Windjammer Barefoot Cruises recover from their problems). But I digress. I read that Canada is a spectacular country, from sea to shining sea, and my entrance into the St. Lawrence to Montreal, then west in a van Econoline old the Great Lakes, across the Prairies to the Rockies before finishing whale watching off the Pacific coast of Vancouver Island has been a journey of wonder for a guy from London. Today, the scenery is always spectacular and the best way to go by road is still so renting or buying a car, RV or motorcycle, take the train or bus tour, but do not forget maps, a fly rod, good shoes and take your time. My favorite part of the Canada / US travel for adventure to be northern BC and Alaska, hiking the Chilkoot Trail in the steps of gold seekers in 1898. The Northwest Territories canoe on the Nahanni River and the Yukon to drive from Dawson City to Chicken, Alaska. If you love the outdoors and can put up with some bugs, cast a fly and scale a few hills or drive on dirt roads endless sharing space with moose, caribou, elk, bears and eagles, then these are the places to put on your list. The pleasures and experiences in the conduct of Inuvik on the Dempster Highway and the Prudhoe Bay on the Dalton Highway, or even the Canol Road can be felt by them. I said the Alaska Highway, but now it is easily accessible by car as opposed to above. Today, the cost of driving such distances can say that sharing the journey with others is necessary, but simply vanning or RV and camping is an excellent way to see beyond the horizon. Some adventures in road must now be reserved in advance so that when I traveled the Chilkoot Pass and Denali was just a matter of turning up, registration with the local ranger office and out position. A little more planning is needed for today's traveler and cost considerations for long flights or drives were somehow be countered by more careful planning. In the days of gasoline prices reasonable, I would not even consider the costs of driving or flying and drove to Key West from the northwest coast, the west coast of Baja and the west coast of New York . Once, I even stole my taildragger 1946 of the Pacific Fleet to the Atlantic and back with about 5 gallons per hour of aviation fuel. Before the oil crisis and the credit I drove from Rio de Janeiro to Lima, down to Tierra del Fuego and back to Rio covering over 15,000 miles of spectacular scenery and without taking into account the cost of gas. South America should be on your itinerary too! Some other memorable players who may now need a mortgage with the gas companies including London and the canyon of Nordkapp, Norway, New Zealand skippers and solitude of the far north of Australia and the stunning coastline of Western Australia by stopping at Monkey Mia and Wave Rock. We tend to forget that the real cost of travel today is often less than 40 years during my travels. In 1977, my plane ticket round trip between Canada and Australia cost over $ 1,700 in 1977 dollars if today it is much cheaper to fly, even with the airlines gouging for fuel, extra luggage, no service and no fun. Method Big Mac price comparison as developed by The Economist gives a good measure for most expenses today than yesterday, but my cost of $ 1,500 to get a pilot license private in the 1970 looks cheap compared to today, but obviously not when you use this principle Big Mac. Other travel costs are also much less expensive today, but that does not mean that travelers should not consider the many ways to save costs that can then be extended or improved to travel travel experiences Post-Internet: In my 40 years of travel I had to use agents to make travel even easier reservations and buy tickets, not even thinking to ask if they had "been there, done that?" It was simply a If the absence of other options for purchasing travel. Now we have unlimited choices and can find travel agents, better prices, improved information on selections and around the world for our trip - without ever leaving home. The Internet now gives travelers ideas and options for where to go, when to go, why go, what to do, Who delivers and how to save money and offset costs. We can search and find experts to travel each option. If we are comfortable with the Internet, we no longer have to go to a travel agent to make reservations and buy tickets, but to book with some of the most travel brochures that continue to produce paper Glossy and offer all packages and tours that sell only through the agency system. The Internet also allows those of us who are smart enough to know when to consult a travel agent up with knowledge, experience and skills (KEE) of destinations and activities to know where to find them . There is no more need to use our local agents when we can we find another place in the world. When we do not need "knowledge and can do it ourselves we simply surf the Web so we can book directly with tour operators and travel wherever we decided to go. Some travel agents use their own circuits, there are both wholesale and retail trade, certain consumer choices that limit the sale of their "preferred" suppliers and professional consultants have years of experience invested in the acquisition of knowledge, experience and expertise and are worth their weight in gold for the discerning traveler. Beware however, as some experts are also called destination and some of these designations merely require the agent to pass a rudimentary test offered by the offices of tourism, destination marketing groups or tour operators and my opinion, may damage the reputation of the travel industry. A specialist is not necessarily an expert. Travel is probably the most widely used commercial Internet and retail agents if they are to exploit this exciting medium to provide "knowledge" and "kee skills to a global audience, not just their local community, they must adopt the changes that occur. Travelers can now seek answers to the 5 W Travel and important 'how to save money and offset costs by having information at your fingertips. And then it occurred to me that even Internet travel prices often include an element of the commission, even when sold directly to consumers. If we book directly with operators we should not have to pay full retail price as we do for ourselves what a retail agent would normally do for us. A dilemma for the operator to show that both a retail and an option of cost may deter many agents selling services that travelers can use an agent for free advice and book directly with the operator to obtain a "net of commission" price. Obviously, this two-tiered pricing is often not available, but travelers who do not need advice should also not be penalized by the retail price. A new way must be found and I think I've found it! The need for a fairer price tariff is why I developed the Top Travel Bills Top Club travel program and I even found a dot com to it. All selections travel to the site are net prices for the Commission members who handle there own travel arrangements directly with operators bound on the club website using our coupon program. I'm inviting travel operators around the world to participate in this program, B & B, motels, hotels Luxury Lodges, Eco Resorts, Beach Resorts and Adventure Tour Operators wishing to promote their products and services for travelers are comfortable with direct bookings and reservations. I am also invited travel agents with knowledge, experience and expertise of destinations and activities to showcase their skills to a global audience of travelers and members of this club travel news. I am wary of "special agents and want only the experts to present their services. This opportunity is available to the travel trade without cost, except for them to offer prices net, wholesale or outlet for club members and visitors to the website using travel vouchers top. I think this program offers fair fare prices for travelers booking direct. The operator should pay the fees anyway, but now travelers to save money, because they make their own arrangements. Top Travel Club opened in mid-April 2008, offering thousands of travel vouchers up for more than 70 countries with nearly 150 travel operators on board. Each week we add more travel operators with more options for members. Currently you can get discounts on lodging, adventure travel, boats, tours Culinary tours hiking, biking and diving, flags of the automobile and RV rental and fishing guides, safaris , vacation rentals, travel single women and ranches. Members get the good without charge by paying an annual fee and non-members can purchase the bonds on the website Top Travel Sites at greatly reduced prices to face value. The future growth of restaurants, travel clothing, travel insurance and the opportunity to access tickets consolidators who wish to deal directly with consumers. The way I've traveled and how I see travel is that consumers should have unlimited access to all travel opportunities with the ability to do their duty of care or find a professional who can provide advice and quality services at fair prices, and find all this without requiring long hours of research. To learn more about the new way of compensation for travel costs please go to the Top Club travel and apologize for some of the spelling (traveler or the traveler), but this is m has learned. Until we all understand the meaning, long live the difference!
