Touring Austria with tour operators

While in Austria during the summer of 2008, I took a couple of tours, as I have been doing the past several years.  I find that organized tours, while they can be a little confining, you learn so much more about the place that you are visiting than you would on your own … as least typically you would.  Usually tours are guided by local folk who love their culture and history, some are trained in these disciplines … and of course, some are just lousy.

Usually, I arrange my tours through Expedia, sometimes Travelocity, because I assume and hope that these companies have vetted the companies providing the tours.  Another source that I have tapped is TravelBound.  Often they offer even richer and greater variety of tours than Expedia and Travelocity.  Additionally, many of the tours that you find on Expedia and Travelocity are also found on TravelBound.

The one problem with TravelBound is that only travel agents can book tours.  Fortunately, I have a local travel agency that I can call and ask them to book tours for me.  Works every time.  So far so good with the tours that I have selected through their site.  The descriptions tend to be quite accurate.

Europe 2008 … travel planning

July 2008, I will be visiting three countries in Europe:  Austria, the Czech Republic, and Hungry.  Of course, I am traveling during a time when the dollar is very weak against the Euro.  The last time I was in Europe, June 2007, the dollar was much stronger.  So, what are we going to do so that we travel in the style that we like?

Many think that traveling to Europe or outside their home country is expensive … and it is!  But, international travel is not prohibitively expensive.  Well, the most expensive component of most trips is actually getting there, that is, air travel cost.  So, I am going to talk about transportation in this post. 

Our trip to Europe this summer is complicated because we are traveling from one domestic airport and returning to another and we are also arriving in one international airport and departing from another.  In reservation talk, we are planning a multiple city flight.  Oh yeah, I’m making all the arrangements too … for those who do not want to engage in teh agnozing process of searching for a flight may want to consult a travel agency.  I’m not the biggest fan of travel agencies when it comes to planning an entire trip, for example, lodging, activities, and so forth.  Last year, my trip was just too complicated for me to plan myself, so I had United make my flight arrangements. 

So, in searching for the best deals, I checked Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, and the major domestic airlines with service to Vienna.  This time Travelocity offered the best flights.  Travelocity was over $2,500 less expensive.  Wow!  When it comes to airlines book early, watch fares, and consider a frequent flyer program or an awards program.  Using reward points I saved almost $800.  [Yeah, there are issues with thess programs, which is why you have to do your homework.  American Express is excellent.  By the way, I do not work for American Express.]

In the past when I have visited multiple countries during one visit, I have used that countries domestic airline, but this time I thought what about using Europe’s rail.  Wise decison and much less expensive than an airline ticket.  Besides, if you have the time, you get to see more of the country this way too.  Europe’s rail system is also much better connected than what we have in the U.S.  Rail Europe provides official fares and schedules for Europe’s rail system.  Of course, you can buy your rail passes and make reservations securely at the site.  Do your homework here to find the best pass for your trip.  In our case, it is the European East Pass.  If you want to ride coach, a pass for 5 days use within a month will cost you around $220 and a first class pass will cost you around $330.  Much less expensive than an airline ticket and not much more timely when you consider having to check-in at the airport and retrieve your bags.  Remember to make your reservations.  Rail passes only provide access to trains, but does not promise you a seat on a particular train.  It’s been quite some time since I have taken an European rail, but the views are often beautiful.

So, if time permits and funds are limited, consider taking the train.  It may be less confusing and more interesting than a flight.

AAA Travel … okay, that was dumb

In early May 2008, I will be going to Colorado Springs, which I am excited.  Like so many of my travels, there’s a glitch.  Delta cancelled my departing flight from home.  The second glitch … I used AAA Travel to make my flight arrangements.  Since this is a business trip, it is easier to get reimbursed when I use the University’s official travel agency.

The first glitch … that happens when you travel.  The second glitch … well, that was just dumb.  Everything started fine.  I used AAA Travel to make my flight arrangements, paid for the ticket, and received my itinerary.  Some time after making my arrangements, a travel agent called to inform me that a segment of the flight was cancelled.  Okay.  She asked will it be okay to change your departure itinerary.  I asked, do I have any options if I wanted to get to Colorado Springs on the same day … of course, I didn’t.  So, the agent says you will be departing from Cincinnati on the same day.  Okay, thank you and I’ll wait for the confirmation.

I must admit that I am partly at blame because I did not ask about my return flight and probably did not attend too closely to what the agent said.  My other problem was not immediately checking the new itinerary closely.  So, I accept some blame, but who would have someone flying out of one airport and returning to another airport 80 miles away!  Apparently, the AAA agent who was trying to help me.  Now, this may make sense for O’hare and Midway or LaGuardia and JFK, because they are close and both cities, Chicago and New York City, have excellent public transportation that you can take to the airport or you could even use a taxi, but airports that are 80 miles apart.  That’s dumb!

Why don’t airlines make sense?

Recently, as in yesterday, I had to make airline reservations to Atlanta.  My reservations where under the 21 day rule for lower fares.  This I have no problem with.  Well, I have a little problems, because it cost so much more money!  But I can understand, well not really, but as travelers, we know that the later you wait the more expensive the ticket can be.  Of course, the opposite happens sometimes too where you get a great deal tickets at the last minute.

What I don’t understand is being able to offer an airline ticket and hotel room for less than the ticket alone.  This is what happened yesterday with Travelocity.  By the way, I could find so such deal on Expedia.  Using the same reservation dates, the airline ticket plus hotel room was half the cost of airline ticket alone.  There was also a car rental plus airline ticket option, but this was “sold out.”  I understand that travel agencies, which Travelocity and Expedia are, in a sense, make these types of deals with airlines and hotels and car rental agencies to help ensure the air plane is full, the hotel is at maximum occupancy, and that all cars are rented. 

So, my question is, if airlines are able to make these deals, what’s the true cost of flying?  Does the airline’s operating expenses increase the later passengers make reservations?  Is the airline industry “putting the squeeze” or taking advantage of passengers who have to make travel arrangement late?  If you are making arrangements two days prior to travel, perhaps you are desperate, do airlines see dollars to be made?  Of course, the opposite is true too, why should the passenger who wait the week before traveling get a better rate than me … just because the airline wants to fill the plane?

Cruising Alaska

One of my possible holiday trips this summer is a 7-day Alaskan cruise on Royal Caribbean.  Deciding which cruise line to take can be difficult, as it was in my case.  I’ve been critical of travel agencies and their cookie cutter service, which is one of the reasons why I painstakingly make my travel arrangements myself, usually online.  I like to customize my holidays the way that I want too.  Of course, there are some travel agents that do this … I don’t know who they are though.  But as I was trying to plan my holiday, it finally dawned upon me that I needed help.  I called Royal Caribbean and Holland America.  What a difference in the representatives.  Although both representatives were sales people, Royal Caribbean was a sales representative/travel agent.  The representative was knowledgeable and helpful.  He knew his ship, at least he appeared to know his ship, and all the services that Royal Caribbean offered … like the off-ship excursions.  Holland America on the other hand was a poor sales person without and travel agent skills.  Of course, I could have just been lucky or unlucky in the case of Holland America, but I may be rethinking my perception of travel agents altogether.

STA & G.A.P. — Travel for the young?

A couple of days ago, I received my periodic STA (Student Travel) email with updates on travel deals and destinations.  STA [a Swiss found company] has an office at the University of Kentucky and provide travel arrangement for students … young students.  By the way, I am a full-time graduate student and a full-time employee and I am not young … compared to the 18 — 22 year old who make up the majority of college students, but I am still a student.

I don’t know about your STA office, but the one at the University offers a significant number of prearranged packages from G.A.P., the Great Adventure People [a Canadian company].  My take on these two companies is that they really cater to budget conscious young people, e.g., those adventurous spirits.  Students are not their real focus.  Of course, they will take anyone’s money.

As I started, I receive an email from STA, “debunking myths about tours.”  Now, I must admit that what they were debunking like many myths and stereotypes had kernels of realism.  So, STA says don’t be afraid to take a tour.  Tours don’t have to be those boring stogy “look here, look there, touch this, don’t touch this …” bus trips that your parents made take on family holidays.  Also, don’t worry, you won’t be the oldest person on the tour either and it will actually be an adventure.  This is STA’s spiel.

As a person who likes to take tours, and admittedly sometimes we are the oldest people on the tour, they can be very informative and an adventure.  I don’t think that an adventure has to be on the back of a moped, driving down some alley way off the beaten path.  While this could be fun, I don’t think it is necessarily more of a tour than my climate control comfortable buses.

When to use a travel agent?

Whether or not or when to use a travel agency is one of those nagging considerations that I make as I plan or decide where I want to go.  To date, I have yet to use an agent, but there have been times when I wondered, should I have used an agent or not.

Here’s my idea of what I think a travel agency should provide.  First, I think that they should …

• Ask me about my interests and accommodation needs.
• Be much more knowledgeable about the destination.
• Be able to help me match my interest to what’s available.
• Provide literature. 
• Make my arrangements.

But, this has not be my experience.  I am usually given literature and told “these are the options.”

Thus far, I have never used a travel agency to make my full travel arrangements.  I have only used an agent twice.  The most important trip where I used an agency was the Galapagos Islands … and they were unresponsive after they got my money.  Everything turned out fine.  In fact, the only reason that I used an agency for Galapagos was because I could not find another way to make arrangements.

Making travel arrangements is hard work.  You have to make arrangements to get there, you have to find a place to stay, and you have to decide what to do.  The Internet has made this work a little easier.  There are many travel sites where you can find information, like Frommers; online agencies like Expedia; and travel blogs … like mine.

I tend to use some combination of these sources and like to make my arrangements because I like flexibility.  But travel agencies can be helpful when there is not good information online and they usually can find availability that the average users can not.  I wish agencies were more flexible.  If you are not as picky as I am, they can certainly de-stress your planning.