March 28th, 2010 | 
Author: In much of life, we are encouraged to do things in advance and be prepared. When it comes to booking a hotel, however, the early bird doesn’t always catch the worm. While there are plenty of deals to be had on advanced bookings, the best deals are often available at the very last minute.It is not unheard of to find late rooms that are up to 50% off or more. It may not be an ideal holiday idea if you like to plan ahead, but if you’re open to a new adventure, you’ll be surprised at the great deals you can find. Here are some tips to ensure you get the most out of your last minute holiday:
Stay flexible
Being flexible about dates and location will give you the very best chance of having an incredible holiday at a massively reduced price. Choose whichever is most important to you first, and then be willing to compromise on the other factors. The ultimate deals will be found if you are totally free as a bird, of course, but this is not always the reality.
Go off peak
If you go in the shoulder season, you’ll have a much better chance at finding a bargain, plus there will be far less tourists present. That’s not to say you need to go to the Mediterranean in the depths of winter or a ski resort in summer, but even just avoiding school holidays can make a difference. Many destinations will have a period during the year when you can get the best of both worlds, with less crowds and some great late rooms when the weather is still good as well.
Research thoroughly and reap the rewards
If you want to find the best deal out there, you’re going to have to put in a bit of leg work. The internet is a great place to start and you can sign up for weekly email newsletters from a number of sites that offer deals on late rooms, flights and package holidays. Smaller agencies often offer great deals so that they can stay in competition with the bigger travel companies. Comparative web sites are also a great way to access plenty of deals at once.
One of the hardest things to come by is a good discount rental car. You’ve heard it said that sometimes you get what you pay for, and this is often true with respect to rental cars. In other words, a low-rent vehicle often means you don’t get much in the way of quality. Not much of a bargain in the long run, is it? So, how do you end up getting a good discount rental car these days without driving away from the lot in something you might not otherwise want to be caught dead in? Here are a few timely tips.
When you bring back your rental car, make sure the tank is filled with gas from the cheapest station on the road. That’s not because you’re mean, it’s just because if you don’t bring it back full, the rental company will fill it for you with very expensive gas, and that will only hurt your wallet.
In order to take advantage of the discount available on a discount car rental, you’ll need to make reservations early. Some agencies will offer upgrades or discounts when a customer reserves the car early.
There is usually a discount for renting by the week as opposed to by the day, so be sure to ask about the weekly rate if you are keeping the rental for six or more days. You might get substantial savings on any days six and seven.
Packages like fly-stay-drive or fly-drive are great ways to get a good deal on a rental car, so ask your travel agent whether such options are available to you. You’ll find that most travel agencies and many hotels offer these options. It gives the consumer a good discount rate, and allows him to kill two birds with one stone.
When you approach a car rental company make an inquiry, on facilities to get discount car rental for frequent travelers like you. This should be done at the end of traveling session, so that your opportunity is not wasted and instead it is utilized.
When you’re looking for a cheap rental car, consider companies that let you tell them what your budget is and then give you a discount to match what you can spend for a car. It’s still wise to check out the reliability of the car rental firm, as there are some scam artists around nowadays.
Are you a customer in good standing with a particular car rental agency? If so, you might want to ask whether you can get a discount based on this long-term relationship.
If you make your car rental reservations over the Internet, you can tap into online discounts that many rental firms offer. To get the most savings and value for your money, compare the discounts offered by doing an online search.
If you are looking for the best way to get a discounted car rental upgrade, try arriving at the rental car center as soon as it opens. They will most likely be short on economy cars, and they will be almost forced to upgrade you because they will not have the car you reserved.
Posted in Travel Tips | 
Tags: car hire, car rental, discount car hire, discount car rental | 
No Comments »
The picturesque town of Paphos in Cyprus is a popular choice for holidaymakers seeking some class and culture on their Mediterranean holiday. The town itself and the surrounding area boast a multitude of luxurious accommodations as well as a good variety of cheap hotels so that a break here doesn’t have to break the bank.
The Capital Coast Resort & Spa is a new hotel in Paphos which is a good example of the quality of Cyprus hotels in the area. Despite being brand new, the resort can already claim to be award winning having been named as Leading hotel in Cyprus at the recent Hotels4ucom and Medhotels.com awards.
Boasting lovely views over the sparkling blue waters of the Mediterranean the hotel enjoys a priviledged location. It offers a full complement of amenities and facilities to service its selection of studios, one, two and three bedroom suites with attractive, contemporary interiors. Self catering, half and full board packages are available to allow for a range of holiday budgets.
Facilities are comprehensive, including plenty of dining, sports, relaxation and kids options. An a la carte restaurant, pool side bar, cocktail bar and roof top bar easily cater for all the food and drink needs of guests. Meanwhile, an onsite gym, swimming pools and various sports courts cater for the more athletic types. A Wellness Spa centre can also be found onsite, including a Finnish sauna, steam room and Jacuzzi.
Families can enjoy peace of mind thanks to the facilities on offer for kids, including a nursery and creche, and children’s swimming pool plus playground. A mini market and currency exchange are just an example of the other benefits on offer.
Holidaymakers wishing to explore the exciting Paphos area will find the Capital Coast Resort and its comfortable and stylish accommodation an excellent base. Whether looking for luxury or cheap Cyprus hotels the region will have something to suit. Aphrodite’s birthplace, the Troodos Mountains and a wealth of pretty villages and Byzantine monasteries and churches are just some of the sights waiting to be enjoyed.
If you are ever lucky enough to be able to bring a visit to the Garden Route in South Africa, you are in for a real treat. Kilometers of white sandy beaches on one side, flanked by mountains and rain forests on the other side make for a holiday paradise. The route starts in the west at Mossel Bay and ends at the Tsitsikamma rain forest near Plettenberg Bay in the east.
Arriving from Cape Town, you will first encounter Mossel Bay. This historical old town with its many finely preserved colonial buildings has an atmosphere and charm all of its own. It lagged behind the other Garden Route towns in development for many years, but nowadays it bursts at the seams with luxury hotels and guest houses. Standards are high: We could not help to notice that our hotel even had baby bath tubs available for those who travel with a baby.
A few kilometers to the east lies the resort towns of Klein Brak River and Groot Brak River. Both have been popular holiday spots for South Africans for decades. When it’s winter in the Northern hemisphere, it’s of course summer in South Africa. This makes the country the ideal winter holiday location for people from the North.
Sixty kilometers east of Mossel Bay you will pass the commercial hub of the Garden Route. George has many good restaurants, shopping malls and cinemas. This is where holidaymakers come to stock up on beer, movies and groceries. Twenty kilos east of George you’ll find the well-known seaside resort town of Wilderness. It’s trademark wide, sandy beaches and may restaurants draw thousands of tourists every year. I once spent a lovely evening at one of these restaurants where they had live music and the leader of the band had a Martin acoustic electric guitar, just like my own back home!
Leaving Wilderness, the road criss-crosses through a series of lush green hills and valleys where you will catch a periodic glimpse of the Indian Ocean to your right. A few km further to the east the road passes through Sedgefield. This is a timber-producing area with many lovely lakes. Despite asking around, we couldn’t find the fine costume jewelry wholesale distributor mentioned in our guide book.
Sixty kilometers east of George lies another historical town. Thirty years ago Knysna only came to life during the peak holiday seasons, but today this town can barely cope with the thousands of tourists descending upon it from all over South Africa and Europe during virtually the whole year. The waterfront area is particularly popular – not surprising taking into account the many excellent restaurants you will find there.
The last town on the route is Plettenberg Bay. This is where the wealthy and well-known hang out to see and be seen. There’s a legion of upmarket hotels and guest houses and just as many restaurants. A few km further to the east you arrive at the eastern border of the Garden Route – the Tsitsikamma rain forest. Here you will forget for a few hours that you are only 200km away from the semi-desert Karroo region – it’s a haven of waterfalls and ferns and you might even run into one of the few remaining elephants in the forest.
If you are a businessman with an International clientele, or a lone traveler eager to explore the wonders and beauty of the world, chances are China would be among the top of your list of places to go to. Whether you are going there for business or for leisure, China is an excellent destination – 130 million people who traveled to China in 2008 can’t be wrong.
There is a shrill thrill in traveling alone, particularly if you are going to a place for the first time. This is true anywhere in the world, so first timers would want to get Europe travel tips if they are going to that part of the globe, or tips for traveling to China alone if they want to explore the magnificence of this magical country.
The following are some tips for traveling to China alone, and some activities to consider while you are there.
Useful Tips for Traveling to China Alone
* If this is your first time in China, do not forget to bring a good camera along and take pictures to capture your first moments in this wonderful country.
* Pack in easy-to-carry bags so you can breeze through customs at the airport quickly. Until you have the proper documentations and visa number of airport officials will not be able to create any problems for you.
* One of the most important tips for traveling to China aloneis to ensure that you get the name of your hotel right. It would be better to learn the language of the place which you are going to visit. Better yet, have the name of your hotel as well as the address written in Chinese in a card which you can show to taxi drivers.
* Another of the top tips for traveling to China alone is to make sure that your agents have properly arranged for your accommodations and that your rooms are properly reserved. It would be stressful to arrive at your hotel only to find out that your room was not yet prepared nor is it available. Still, you could get great hotel rooms for a much lower price depending on the season.
* Plan your itinerary and where you want to go for the day. It would be great to get a map to the city you are visiting that is written both in English and Chinese. This is among the important tips which should not be neglected when traveling to China alone. Learn how to speak basic Chinese words and how to pronounce your destinations properly. Again, the same index card routine with the Chinese names of your destinations written on it would be a great tool to maximize your day and avoid getting lost.
* One must be able to communicate with the people of the place he visits anywhere in the world which is an important factor for traveling to China alone. This principle holds true even in China and it would be great if you could speak some basic phrases in Chinese. Anyway, there are English-to-Chinese interpretation services through mobile phones available and you can ask your travel agents to arrange one for you.
* There are several destinations to choose from in China and you should consider these tips for traveling to China alone. If you want an exotic island experience then you can go to Hainan in the southern provinces and enjoy a tropical Chinese beach experience. If you want to play golf with business partners or clients or if you just want to experience the game in a totally different land, then you can do this in one of China’s luxurious greens in Beijing, Hangzhou, Kunming and Shanghai.
* If you want to pamper your taste buds, then you can feast on China’s exquisite delicacies known throughout the world and get it here in all authenticity. Gastronomical tours can range from luxurious fine dining establishments, or you can be brave enough to try bizarre foods in China’s street markets.
Posted in Travel Tips |
Tags: China destination, Europe travel tips, Gastronomical tours, tips for traveling to china alone |
10 Comments »
It is common for people to think they understand what car hire is all about. It is only when things go wrong that people realize how little they know about car hire. This article gives you a few tips to think about when hiring a car.
The size of the car needs to be considered as it affects fuel consumtion and costs. Another thing to think about is the the type of journey that you will be taking and the number of people who will be using the car. Smaller cars will be suitable for two or four people on a normal routine journey. They save on fuel and are available at very low rates.
The likely terrain that you are likely to encounter, If you are going to be traveling long distances on rough terrain then go for a high suspension car. Another thing is if you can schedule your journey to be mid-week then it’s better than over the weekend or holidays. The rates of hiring a car during the week and over weekends are different.
Reading the lease agreement will not take too much of your time, make sure you pay attention to every detail. Each agency has its own set of rules that are different from those of another. The lease agreement is a legal document and if anything goes wrong you cannot say that you did not know.
One thing that should pay particular attention to is the clause regarding who is eligible to drive the vehicle. Extra drivers can be put on the lease but for an extra fee. If you are traveling with children there are conditions that are also stated in relation to this.
Some of the local car hire agencies that are recommended include any one of the following: budget car rental cape town south africa car hire bloemfontein rondebosch car rental
When renting a car make sure you understand the risk that you carry and the risk that is covered by the car rental company. It is always better to be sure than to assume.