BootsnAll's Travel Typepad

Will online travel tools make travel agents obsolete?

I don't know about you, but I'm old enough to remember a time when planning a trip meant a call to a travel agent. Back then, there were very few options for travel-planning that didn't involve having someone else do the bulk of the research and booking. The whole process was very hands-off as far as the traveler was concerned - it was about submitting a wish list and then not thinking about your trip again until you got a call from your travel agent telling you what your options were. The individual traveler had almost no idea what went on behind the scenes to come up with those options.

Boy, how times have changed.

Frankly, I can't imagine letting someone else plan my trips for me anymore - and that's not just because I work in the travel business now. It's just so bloody easy to research, plan, and book a trip yourself these days thanks to the internet that the idea of bringing in a middle man just seems cumbersome and unnecessary. And there are plenty of great tricks to help you independently plan your trips without spending all day on it, too.

One of my favorite tools that many airfare websites use these days is a fare watcher. The idea is that you tell the system about a particular route (or several) that you're going to be flying and it'll let you know (via email usually) when the flights on that route go down or drop below a particular price you've entered. It's brilliant, especially if you're not dead-set on a certain travel date. When I knew I had to travel to San Francisco to visit the Italian consulate, but didn't have a specific date in mind, I set my fare watchers to let me know when flights to SFO from Portland went down by $25 or more. I got a good price on a ticket, and I didn't have to set up camp in front of the computer.

I've yet to find a similar tool for tracking hotel room prices, but that still doesn't mean hunting down a good deal on a room has to become a full-time job. Many websites now will search for hotel room vacancies from several sources at once after you've put in your travel information. It's a time-saver, since you don't have to browse the offerings at every site and you only input your information once, and it also lets you compare prices between different providers to if certain sites routinely have the best prices. For that trip to San Francisco that I took, once I had my flight arranged I just plugged my trip dates into one website and was able to find a cheap hotel in San Francisco that suited my needs - without spending hours at my computer.

It would take something extraordinary for me to think of using a travel agent again for my own travel needs - and yet I know that internet travel research isn't for everyone. Some people, whether through lack of time or interest or perceived expertise, just feel more comfortable leaving the work to someone else. (In my mother's case, that often means calling me.) I do think, however, that with more and more tools making travel research online easier, it's just a matter of time before even my mom has planned her whole trip without consulting anyone.

What's your favorite online travel planning tool?

Contemplating a Trip to Dallas

As I write this, I'm sitting in a hotel room in Naples. WiFi is free here, although I have to keep going up to the front desk to ask for another password - they come in two-hour blocks. Which is how I know there's a couple from Dallas, Texas staying in this hotel, too. They were coming back from dinner the last time I went up to get a WiFi password. I didn't notice the Texas ID until they'd left the lobby, but it made me think.

It's not that I'm surprised to see Americans here (although there are far fewer Americans traveling in Italy than in years past, and infinitely fewer in Naples), it's the Texas thing that got me thinking. Texas is an enormous state - much larger than some entire countries - and yet it's a place I've basically never visited. Sure, I've been through random airports on layovers from place to place, but I've never made a trip to Texas in order to see Texas. Which, given how much I travel outside the U.S., struck me as odd.

There's a huge state in my own country that I've never seen.

(No, I've never been to Alaska, either, and it's huge, too - I know. But getting to Texas is much easier than getting to Alaska, so that's less surprising to me. Moving on.)

Two of my colleagues have recently spent time in Austin, which (from their accounts) sounds essentially nothing like the Texas I imagine. For something a bit more like the Texas of my imagination, I think I may have to see if I can find that Dallas couple during the rest of my stay here and ask them about their city. Because what's more Texas than Dallas, right?

What I do know about Dallas is that it's easy to get there. An enormous state deserves several enormous airports, and Dallas has one of Texas' primary airports. Well, technically it shares the airport with Fort Worth, but who's counting? Flights to Dallas can, therfore, be quite cheap - as long as there isn't some convention or something going on that means everyone's flying into town at the same time you are. What's more (again, as long as there's no convention going on), there are plenty of cheap hotels in Dallas, too. And we're talking about some nice places, too - hotels that cater to business travelers and offer serious bargains when the business travelers leave. In other words, weekend visitors may be able to score a room in a much higher class hotel then they're used to just because the convention has just skipped town and the hotels just want to make sure there aren't any empty beds.

The only element of a cheap visit to Dallas that I don't think I'll be taking advantage of anytime soon is the DFW airport parking... I mean, it's a great service, and there are great prices on it, but that would mean that I'd have to be living in Dallas and have driven my own car to the airport. It would also mean that I was leaving Dallas, not visiting it. And I quite like living in the Pacific Northwest for now. Still, good to know what's available, right?

Amsterdam, there are many reasons to go, not just sex and drugs

Amsterdam, the city of weed and women right? Well yes and no. It is easy to see why Amsterdam is such a highly sought destination. The Prostitution is legal but the marijuana on the other hand is tolerated. Travel to Amsterdam is something that has interested me for a long time because I am curious about seeing such a liberal place. I come from a very liberal part of the US and I feel pretty luck to be able to say that. There is just something kind of interesting about seeing a place with such liberal points of view regarding a broad range of ideas. It is not just sex and drugs but also assisted suicide, art freedom of speech, and many other things. It seems the idea with Dutch lawmakers is to let the people decide what is right or wrong for them and allow the individual to make the decision. This is not something that I have personally witnessed either in the states or anywhere else for that matter so I am very interested to see how it works.

The history and culture of Holland is also a draw for me. There are amazing Museums like the Van Gogh Museum. The Canals that you can get around the city on and being able to bike safely around the city are all great reasons to go as well. There are many resources to find out the best places to check out in Amsterdam. One that is filling the niche about Sex, Drugs, and city life is the Amsterdamlogue from BootsnAll. It is a travel guide but also a running commentary about Amsterdam and what is going on there both behind the scenes and in the scene.

Cheap travel to expensive destinations, it can be done

When going to places like England on a trip from the States you pretty much have to factor in the cost of everything to make the trip work. England is expensive and the US dollar is plummeting horribly. So as soon as you get there you lose a dollar for every pound that you exchange. Getting there can be very expensive as well but it doesn't have to be. There are cheap flights to England specials all the time on the internet. It is not always obvious how to find them, but once you do it will be worth the research. Now there is also the Cheap Travel Scout from BootsnAll. Just recently launched, the experts on the CTS can help you find deals on air tickets, discount hotels, and vacation packages.

So all is not lost when trying to find good deals and travel to expensive places like England. Once you are there it will be worth the money to be traveling. It is always nice when you don't have to pay a lot to travel, but if you want to see other things than third world countries you will have to lay down the cash to do so.

Traveling in Europe for the professional eater

I am planning a trip to go see a friend of mine who is staying in Amsterdam. I will probably stay with them part of the time and stay in some different Amsterdam Hostels to check them out as well. I know that I want to see the sites and take a canal tour while I am there. I will probably use Amsterdam as a starting point to go check out other parts of Europe. I am thinking about going to Italy since I can get cheap Venice airfare from Amsterdam. The airfare isn't the only reason of course since more importantly I want to eat myself stupid in Italy. How could I pass up the opportunity to go to European countries for the summer and eat my way through them. If I have time I want to make my way to France as well and try to do some professional eating there.

What a great way to see Europe really. Going to a few countries that take their culinary delights very seriously and eating my way through them. It is something that I have been thinking about for a long time but haven't really considered it a reality. That is until a friend told me that they were going to be living in Amsterdam and I could come visit if I wanted to. I am pretty sure that I can find some reasonable hotels in Paris, to make the French part of the trip possible. Of course there are so many other parts of France that have amazing food I could even leave Paris off the list if I can't find good deals to accommodate my budget. I suppose like the hostels in Amsterdam I could find something in Paris as well.

Where I stay isn't as important to me as where I get to eat. I will be willing to give up my own comfort to be able to eat in a part of the world that has shaped the gourmet food industry world wide. Although I am not expecting to be blown away by the food in the Netherlands I am sure I will find other things to enjoy while I am there, but that will be for a future post.

New York for a week

Traveling outside of the US might be hard for a lot of people this year. The reasons are simple, money and time are on short supply right now in this country. I hate feeling like the glass is half empty and in fact it is kind of a good challenge to see where your budget can take you. So how about New York. It is in the US so it will be cheaper to get there than say getting Venice airfare would cost. With cheap hotels in New York it is totally possible to spend a week there and enjoy the place with the money you do have. New York can be a great place to suck in some culture and travel experience without leaving our borders. If I can find some cheap tickets to get me there I think this is a week long trip that I can look forward to this summer.

Is it possible to travel cheap when going to Australia?

Going to Australia is kind of a daunting feat. The flights to Australia alone usually are about $1500 or more. That can be a hard sum to come up with to go travel, but to pay that for just the flight can make a trip for just a few weeks downright expensive. I guess part of the solution is to find some discount hotels that are in cities that I want to check out and try to find places where I can cook my own meals. I suppose that would be hostels or try to hook up with friends that I have there.

Pacific Northwest in the Summer time

It is true that it rains quite a bit here in the Pacific Northwest. In fact it rains so much that a good friend of mine just decided to pick up and go to Arizona for an undisclosed amount of time. I think it had something to do with the weather but don't quote me on that. So for all of you that can't stand the rain, don't come to the PNW. At least not until June. When it is 105 degrees and you are literally sitting in front of your A/C wishing it was just a few degrees cooler so you could go outside and enjoy the sun or move without sweating. Think again about the PNW and how all that rain and wet cool weather has made places like Seattle temperate in June and July to be around 80 degrees.

Seattle can be an awesome place in the summer. It is still an urban jungle with many types of green trees and tons of water all around the city. The downtown area is hot due to the concrete and cars but otherwise it is a great place that you can walk around and enjoy without having to go inside to get cooled off before you actually start to melt. I suggest checking out the hostels in Seattle and enjoying the sites during the months that it isn't going to rain on you for endless hours or days at time. You can see a Mariners game and walk down in the waterfront area, have some fish thrown at you, and get some beer at the Pike Place Market.

So next time you start thinking about how great it is to live in place where it never rains consider checking out some of the places that have the most beautiful summers anyone could ever ask for, the Pacific Northwest. It only rains here 8 months out of the year.

Business travel for the small business

So you are a small business owner and you have to send an employee or yourself on a trip for the BIZ. The hard part about that is it costs money. Trade shows and trade events happen all the time and they are a networking extravaganza that can help push along your business. So you have to decide is it worth it to send an employee, pay them, pay for the travel and expenses and maybe not see much come from it in the short term. If the answer is yes then think about how you can save some money to make it work.

BootsnAll Travel Network is there to help travelers. Everyone knows that but what about business travelers? The Business Travel Logue is where it's at for business travel. There are options to make the pain of spending the cash a little better. Think about staying in cheap hotels or getting discount airfare. Both of these options can be great for saving some cash when duty calls and you have to travel for the business.

Traveling to Europe this summer with BootsnAll

It is that time again to start thinking about the summer and what you are gonna do with yourself. Maybe you have two weeks off or maybe you have three months. Either way you probably want to do something exciting. BootsnAll wants to help you plan a great summer trip. There are a couple of things that stand in your way but they are easily overcome if you are creative.

The Dollar being the weakest it has been since most of you were born is probably the biggest hurdle to getting out of the country and having a good time in the process. The other is that the euro and the British Pound seem to be on an upswing. So what are we Americans going to do? Well we can stay at home, but that seems kind of lame. So instead BootsnAll has given out some needed advice on how to travel abroad but not break the bank. If you want to fly to Europe there are cheap ways to do it. Plan ahead and order your tickets now. Look into hostels instead of staying in a hotel. Or take a tour through the many public markets that have amazing local food to get the best deals on sustinence.

However you decide to travel this summer keep in mind that the experience you are getting is worth it, even if you are paying more than you ever thought possible.