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By admin, January 12, 2010 7:33 pm

Ski Resorts for BeginnersBreckenridge

Breckenridge’s Peak Nine training area is one of the best in Colorado for novices and those with intermediate skiing skills. The very smooth, dry snow makes perfecting parallel turns easy, and the high-speed quad chair life means more time to practice and less time traveling. Breckenridge also provides challenging ski slopes for advanced skiers. Many local hotels provide ski-in and ski-out access to Breckenridge’s trails.Buttermilk

Buttermilk took top honors last year in SKI Magazine’s ranking of ski schools nationwide. Buttermilk is part of the Aspen ski resort network, and is ranked second (after Snowmass) as the nation’s best ski destination for families. Classes are small, and the 200 instructors offer personalized instruction designed to get novices on the slopes quickly and safely. All 43 runs are easy enough for beginners, and once you get out of the glut of beginners at the bottom of the slopes, the well-kept trails offer scenic beauty and excellent skiing.Copper Mountain

Copper Mountain is a perennial favorite, also located in Colorado, and offers some of the lowest-priced packages to be had in the Rockies. Long, wide novice trails occupy the west portion of the resort, and progressively more difficult skiing can be found in the eastern half. Located near Vail, Copper Mountain shares the high country’s superb snow conditions and provides adequate if not spectacular lift access.Crested Butte

Crested Butte Another superb Colorado beginner’s venue, features long, smooth, well-groomed runs on which to practice parallel turns and other skiing techniques. Crested Butte, recently the host of the U.S. Extreme Skiing Championship, offers advanced skiing and 150 acres of novice terrain. You can find discount accommodations and even free skiing at specified times. A popular resort for skiing holidays.Deer Valley

Deer Valley Utah is another location that features smooth, well-groomed, open ski slopes and runs that offer beginners a lot of choice without pushing them past their limits. First-time skiers will delight in Wild West, a beginner’s-only area, free from the unexpected assaults of hot-dog professionals. Deer Valley reportedly offers the best food and customer service in the Rockies.Mount Snow Vermont

Mount Snow Vermont is reportedly the best Eastern venue for skiers who want to move up from novice to professional skill level. With a wide choice of rapid lifts on its gentler trails, Mount Snow clearly values the beginning skier, and the excellent cruising runs will keep more advanced skiers happy as wellNorthstar-at-Tahoe

Northstar-at-Tahoe California offers a wide range of ski slopes for the novice and intermediate skier. The terrain is primarily intermediate, and the lower runs are as good as any in the West. For novices who still fear lifts, Tahoe offers a conveyor belt modeled after airport conveyors, called the Magic Carpet, that will whisk them up the slopes without causing a panic attack. Tahoe also has slopes for more advanced skiers.Park City Utah

Park City Utah is large enough to offer an opportunity to all levels of skiers, from the first-timer to the advanced. The 3,100 feet of vertical drop makes it seem like an advanced skier’s resort; the large network of open intermediate runs provides a venue for the intermediate skier, and the addition of several new lifts make even the central runs accessible to beginners. Other good beginner’s resorts include Snowmass, in Colorado, which features a Treehouse Kid’s Adventure Center and the Elk Camp Meadows training center. Or visit Steamboat, high in the Colorado Rockies, famed for its welcoming, down-home atmosphere and 164 trails which cater to everything from the novice to the professional. For Vermonters, Timberline features 1,000 vertical feet of runs and one long beginner’s trail. Upper Midwesterners can ski Welch or Afton, in Minnesota. Afton is reported as less pricey, but Welch offers better beginner’s slopes. The lifts at Welch are a little slow and cranky, but the slopes are groomed more often.

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By admin, January 5, 2010 8:24 am

Do you like to travel? Would you like to travel more? Would you travel more if you could find some real bargains, say 50% or more off the regular retail price, not just the 10% AARP or 10% business discount often available at motels?
If you do like to travel, I’m sure you have gone the route of search-engine searches for discount travel, only to find the major Internet booking engines with their flashy “lowest prices guaranteed” all offer exactly the same prices.
The truth be known, some bargains do raise their heads above all the “cheapest prices guaranteed” but good luck finding them. You must tenaciously search every day, and even then some of those specials are alive for only a few hours. Is there an easier way? I think there is, and you can turn travel into business.
Yes, those bargains are there, reserved for the travel professional in the form of travel perks, business tax deductions and sales commissions. Consider these points:
•Own your own booking engine and earn commissions on all travel booked through your site — your own travel and the travel of anyone and everyone that you can drive to your booking engine.
•Operate a legitimate travel business and you can apply business tax deductions to your own travel as long as you include that travel in your business plan, and you keep accurate records.
•Many travel industry businesses offer familiarization trips, FAM trips for short, to professional travel agents and agencies so that they can then “sell” these services to their clients. These FAM trips may offer huge discounts or free accommodations and trips when the agent books 8-10 clients for the same accommodation or trip.
•Travel agents can build their own FAM trips calling the travel vendor directly, offering some form of advertisement back home, and requesting travel professional discounts.
This month my wife and I are taking a quick summer vacation to Canon City, Colorado, for a ½ day white-water rafting adventure in Bighorn Sheep Canyon and a 2-hour train ride in a vista-dome through the Royal Gorge. We have acquired two nights’ lodging because we want to further explore the business opportunities in the area. We contacted the vendors as travel professional with an offer to do a write-up on their company and publish it on the Internet. In return we received ½ off the raft trip and the lodging and complimentary tickets for two for the train ride. After applying business tax deductions, we estimate that we will realize close to a 70% savings or $300 on this one very short trip. Not too shabby!
You can indeed travel for less and travel more. In fact, your travel can become your job. What a great life!

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By admin, January 3, 2010 7:42 pm

These days travel can be stressful enough. If you are the kind of person who prefers everything organized for you and everything included with no hidden costs, a travel package may be just right. Packages can differ as to what is included, but they generally include all airfare, accommodation and usually some meals, activities and ground transportation.

The concept of a travel package is older than many people think. In 1841, Englishman Thomas Cook chartered a train to take a group of people on a twenty mile train journey; the cost of the trip included food for the day, which was a novel idea at the time. Thomas Cook grew to be one of the largest and most well respected names in the history of travel and a major influence on the travel industry.

Today, travel packages are still popular, despite the internet having made it easier to plan and book trips on line. Packages range from airfare and a couple of nights in a hotel, to all inclusive trips of several weeks at luxury resorts. Travel packages can be found to just about anywhere in the world. It’s the perfect way to see a place that you might be reluctant to visit on your own. Whether you will be wine tasting in France, hiking in the Himalayas, or scuba diving in the Caribbean, you can easily find a package that works for you.

One big advantage of a package is that they are generally less expensive than buying all the components of your trip separately. Airlines and hotels often sell blocks of seats or rooms at lower prices. The savings are then passed on to the traveler. There is always an exception to the rule and it pays to check the total costs of both options before purchasing your package. Most major airlines offer their own packages, which are nearly always less expensive than booking air and hotel separately.

Some packages include an event or activity that is difficult to see if you had to book it yourself – particularly appealing are sports packages or packages for a unique event. It’s virtually impossible to attend the Olympic Games unless you buy some sort of a package. A New York or London package might include tickets to a sold-out show; a ski package might include the use of slopes that are often booked up; a golf package might include a guaranteed tee time.

Check the conditions of your package carefully to see exactly what is and what is not included. Whereas the most important components, airfare and hotel, are probably included in a package vacation, some other potentially costly things may not. If meals are included in your package, does that mean breakfast, lunch and dinner? What about alcoholic drinks with your meals? Also, is ground transportation, bus or taxi from the airport to your hotel or cruise ship included?

Be particularly careful of extras such as activities or excursions – both of which can be costly parts of any trip and are often not included in a travel package. One of the best features of a cruise is the option of taking a tour or excursion at different ports of call. These are not always included and the cost can add up. The meals included may just be breakfast, rather than three meals a day. And determine whether tips are included in your package, another potentially costly item.

Although it is nice to have everything booked and paid for all at once, the ideal package should offer some flexibility and some time to do your own thing. If you are taking a tour of Europe, you will want some free time to just shop; and if you are on a driving tour of the Southeast US, you don’t want to be sitting in a bus all the time. Many more complex packages will include the occasional free day; and you may find that you have a choice of activities or events.

Some independent and experienced travelers claim that a travel package takes away some of the spontaneity and flexibility that traveling can provide. That is true to some degree, although the convenience and cost saving are worth it to many people. And if you are a solo traveler, you may find that you are charged more for the dreaded single room supplement that tour companies levy; although sharing a room with a complete stranger is certainly a good way to meet people.

So is a travel package right for you? Only you can decide that. It may depend on your budget, your destination and your comfort level as well as whether you just want to let someone else do the planning.

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By admin, December 23, 2009 8:08 am

On the surface, many individuals feel that all of the information on flights, hotels, rental vehicles and other aspects of a vacation are on the internet. While it may be possible for you to find good deals using the web, the best value can be found by consulting a travel agent. This value comes because the agent provides resources and knowledge that is difficult to obtain on your own.

The foremost advantage of working with a travel agent is experience they bring. He or she has likely been working in the field of travel for years and has learned all of the ins and outs of the industry. Even brand new agents have their colleagues to help them learn the ropes. Most agents also undergo rigorous training. This experience and training will allow the agent to serve the consumer very effectively. Perhaps the most beneficial aspect of the experience and training is an agent’s ability to understand the fine print. Sure, you can go on an airline ticket search engine and find what seems to be the cheapest deal. But do you know what you are really getting for that money? More importantly, do you know what you will be missing out on because of the discount? There may also be hidden charges, fees and taxes as a part of the apparently cheaper ticket price, driving what you actually pay up as much as a few hundred dollars. A more expensive flight may often be the best value. The travel agent will always know.

A second advantage that a travel agent can boast is connections. Over years of service, agencies develop relationships with individuals throughout the world. This means that you can have the best options available for you before you even begin your trip. Looking by yourself you may be able to find a great deal of information on what to do at your eventual destinations. However, only a travel agent with good connections can really take care of all the details. Using their ability to get information about the area where you will be visiting, they can get every aspect of your vacation taken care of, even the most miniscule of points. Instead of stopping for lunch at a place that looks okay from the outside, you can be recommended to the perfect local cafe. Instead of wrangling through throngs of tourists to get to an overpriced monument, you can be told the best times during the day to hit each spot. For example, many cities have one day a week in which public museums are open for free. Your agent will be able to find out the best times to go anywhere. All in all, the agent can use his or her connections to set you up with the best possible ways to have the vacation of your dreams.

A recent trend for online travel shopping is packages. Companies will get together to put hotel, food, flights and many other amenities altogether into one bundle that will leave you spending less money. But these bundles are not always as great as they seem. Not only can you end up having to pay hidden fees and charges, but you can also be lured into a sense of security that everything will be taken care of for you. Sometimes everything is not taken care of. It is easy to get yourself trapped into buying an all-inclusive package thinking that you will not need much cash while on vacation, only to find that any slight change in plan is going to change your bill drastically. There also may be little details not covered in your package that you would never think about ahead of time. With any package deal the fine print can be a very important thing, and if you do not have a complete understanding of what you are doing, you could miss something crucial. But travel agents know the industry jargon. They know the best websites, what the packages actually contain and they are out to get you the best deal. Sometimes buying a package that is not the cheapest, but only slightly more expensive will lead to you having a much better vacation. It is not that travel agencies do not take advantage of special packages and promotions. It is that they know the best way to use them.

A final and very beneficial advantage of using travel agents is simply that they are after your best interests. Any supplier of service, whether an airline, hotel, restaurant or rental company; is looking to sell you their product. They also may not tell you when another company offers a better service for a very similar price, or a similar service for a better price. A travel agent wants you to come back again, and therefore will work to find you the best value deal with whatever supplier is offering it. Within that, they are looking for the best deal for you, not for an anonymous internet customer. Using a travel agent can ensure that you have the plans in place to give you a perfect vacation. Also, if something goes wrong during the vacation, the travel agent will be available to help fix the problem.