American Tourister ESTEEM LITE

Like most frequent travellers, we believe it’s important to pack lightly, even when (like we were) on a road-trip and there are no baggage weight restrictions.

The right luggage can make all the difference and we were glad to each have an American Tourister Granada with us. It’s well made, lightweight and its wheels roll smoothly. It comes with useful built-in compartments for extra space. It can be expanded to fit in all those last-minute souvenirs which means you can pack more without worrying about finding another bag. It also has a fixed combination lock for additional security.

It’s ideal for annual vacations, since it accommodates several days’ worth of clothing and comes with a bottom handle making it easy to handle.

American Tourister Achiever

Since we were carrying a laptop, cameras and gadgets to keep The Wanderers community updated on our trip, the Achiever backpack from American Tourister proved to be extremely handy. The cushioned compartment helps to keep the laptop safe from any sudden impact. Plenty of compartments make it easy to keep contents organized and compact. The back padding makes it comfortable to carry the backpack around (even when there was a lot of walking involved). It’s roomy, rugged and loaded with thoughtful conveniences like a side pocket for water bottle and an organizer for keeping pen drives and chargers. American Tourister offers an 18-month warranty on the Achiever backpack.

25 Nov 2011

http://www.thewanderers.travel/blog/

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 295 user reviews.

With America’s Transport Security Administration recently ‘celebrating’ its 10th birthday, we’ve been reflecting on the massive changes in travel over the past couple of decades – especially the changes wrought by September 11, the reason for the creation of the TSA.

One of the biggest changes in travel has been a loss of innocence. Remember back in the day when, if you were a cute enough kid, you could actually visit the cockpit without suspicion of being a cunningly disguised batch of anthrax?  Back when you could practically lug a gallon drum of face spritzer on a plane instead of decanting it into containers as annoying as they are minuscule? Back when security didn’t pat you down like they were paying for it?

But what we’ve lost in innocence, we’ve gained in convenience and information – whip-quick booking confirmations and vivid online reviews warning against bedbugs and lumpy pillows.

So before you start Googling that fantastic pensione someone tweeted about, cast your mind back *cue wobbling, fuzzy screen*…

Deciding where to go

Then: You would browse brochures at a travel agent or peruse travel guidebooks at a bookstore or get inspired by a friend’s travel photos…

Now: Your access to the minutiae and ephemera of the world through blogs, travel shows, social media and online magazines can set your compass spinning wildly. You get sent a link about Portland’s burgeoning food truck scene and before you know it, you’re Pac NW-bound.

How you got there

Then: Flights were less frequent, there were fewer airlines and budget options and no Frequent Flier miles to grease the wheels, so travel was more planning and less whimsy, more patience and less high-speed. And you went to – gasp – a travel agent.

Now: You scout around online for the best deal, bang in your credit card and off you go. You can check in online, print out your boarding pass, you are the travel agent!

Choosing and booking a hotel

Then: It was brochures, guidebooks and word-of-mouth – and actually phoning the place to book.

Now: It’s getting deals in online newsletters, booking through various online engines and a good dose of cheers and jeers from the people power on hotel review sites.

What it cost you

Then: As Bob, one of our backpacking readers said: ‘When talking to the young travellers these days they have the impression that it would have been cheap to travel back then. I tell them that if cost me the equivalent of $400 for a one way boat ticket to England and at the time I was getting $50 a week. They then realise how cheap it is to travel today.’

Now: The inconceivable thought of a budget flight from London to Belgium for less than a tenner is now a reality. And think about it – 20 years ago, a flight from Australia to England cost around $2000. Today? Around $2000.

How you stayed in touch

Then: You wrote letters, sent postcards and occasionally lashed out on a long-distance phone call from a phone booth. If your loved ones were travelling, you didn’t expect to hear from them that often because they were ‘abroad’ – that magical place where what happened in Vegas could really stay in Vegas and not end up on YouTube.

Now: You can email, Skype, tweet and update your journey on Facebook, all with rapid-fire frequency… You can always still go old school with a postcard but finding a post office still seems to be one of travel’s biggest hurdles.

How you got local recommendations

Then: The Tourist Information Centre was your port of call for all things local. Sadly, many of these centres are facing closure as people look to the internet for suggestions. Googlemaps and GPS means you don’t even need to ask TICs for directions anymore.

Now: If you want to know where to get vegan yum cha in Ulan Bator, rest assured someone will have a blog about it.

Jane Ormond

17 Nov 2011

www.lonelyplanet.com/australia/travel-tips-and-articles/76543

Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 based on 168 user reviews.

This article is written by Aashish Gupta, founder of Yellowleg.com — The Discerning Traveller’s Bookstore

Travelling with family and friends is fun but there is a different thrill altogether if you happen to be a solo traveller. Here are some of the things you must keen in mind while travelling alone though.

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime — Mark Twain.

Isn’t Mark Twain absolutely fantastic with his witty yet truthful one-liners? I am currently reading the book The Innocents Abroad written by him, which unveils the true spirit of travelling and is undoubtedly one of the best books ever written about excursions away from home.

So how does one start? I am sure you must have been to lot of places, met lot of different people and have enjoyed your travel. Were you there with friends? Family? Friends and Family? If yes, I am sorry to say but you might have missed that special novelty the place had to offer.

Consider this, what if you are given an opportunity to go somewhere you’ve never been before? And that too you’re asked to travel all alone! What do you say to yourself?

Surprisingly, I come across majority of people who usually end up responding to that question as ‘Yaar, main wahan akela jaa’ke kya karunga? (What do I do there alone?)’ and snub that opportunity which could have given them more rewarding experiences than they possibly could ever imagine.

And to your surprise, you may never know when travelling alone taught you to reach out to strangers and be compassionate and empathetic towards people around.

So have an open mind and the next time when you plan a vacation, think about travelling solo and take that leap! I’m sure you won’t regret it!

So how can you travel alone? What things to pack up? What to do while you’re alone? Read on.

Sounds too cliched, right? But it’s not. It’s really very important to have the information handy before you visit any unknown place.

Find about the culture, people, food, the local laws and the best time to visit. This will make you confident and fearless enough about the unknown factor.

If possible, get a local map and be sure that you carry it around every time.

Maps usually help create a mental image where you’re going.

Moreover, if you’re just more inquisitive, you can visit online forums where you can just post a specific query about the place you want to go and within minutes you’ll have it answered.

Guidebooks also usually provide a list of local police station, hospital, emergency cab service numbers. Better safe than sorry!

Tip: Websites like WikiTravel, Lonely Planet, Wikipedia can be of great help. Lonely Planet has an array of books published on almost all the international destinations. Pick one and you’re ready to go! Remember, the more information you have about the place, the better you can deal with any given situation.

Budgeting is an art. What kind of a traveller are you? Do you shop on impulse? Or you buy things ONLY when you need them? Do you like to splurge? Or a shoestring budget is more than enough?

When you know yourself better, you can spend better. Deciding a budget and sticking to it is one of the best way hone your self-discipline skills.

For instance: You must decide how much you want to spend every day: Room/Dorm rent – Rs. 500, food – Rs500 for and Rs. 500 for miscellaneous expenses, if any.

So a budget of Rs. 10, 000 is more than enough for a weeklong trip. You can always save at times where you really can.

It really doesn’t make much sense if you rent out an expensive yet luxurious room and you’re out all day seeing places. Rather you can always go for a dormitory, which is usually comes at 1/10th rate of a luxurious room and can become another place where you can socialize a bit.

If you take a dorm, I am sure you’ll have lot of interesting people around you from different walks of life. Just another way to enjoy your journey! So it all depends upon you the kind of choice you want to make.

Tip: Budgeting can leave you stressed. Just to make it simpler, set your priorities as in what you really want out of your trip. One more thing, every choice will come with its price. So be it having a beer or exotic food, ensure that you know how much you’re spending on what, keep a tab!

Ask yourself what is it that you really need? Asking this over and over while packing can be of great help.

From regular clothes you wear, to goggles, sandals, shoes, socks, deodrants, soaps, cosmetics and some heavy ones like cameras, batteries, chargers, books are something you can think about.

If you’re going to a city, you can always buy things whenever you need them. Stuffing your backpack with all the things that you use every day will only leave your backpack way too heavy and you being worn out carrying it along. Rather than taking 2-3 pairs of jeans, you can always go for cotton trousers or khakis that are light and comfortable.

Tip: Whatever you’re packing, ensure that you travel light. Always! Since you may never know when you might miss a bus, train or even a plane. So carrying around that loaded baggage with you can give you a tough time. You never want to be left frustrated with pondering over why you packed so much!

When you’re alone you can be yourself. But soon there will be time when you will realise that you feel awkward being alone, you search around and there’s no one to talk to, no one to share with what you’re up to, how and what are you feeling and the list goes on. Don’t lose heart and stay bold!

There’s a way to deal with it, what I do is I simply jot down whatever things I faced all day including anger, happiness, excitement, loneliness whatever in my travelogue. It helps me cope up with myself. And the next day I start afresh!

Whatever things you are experiencing you can write them down before the day ends, and soon you’ll start appreciating it.

This method may or may not work for you, but within first couple of days of your travel, I am sure you’ll find your own ways to deal with your emotions!

Soon you’ll start to enjoy being with yourself and that’s when you enjoy things around you.

Travel is one of the best ways to self-discovery; it’s the best teacher where the world is your classroom.

Carpe Diem!

There are many more things that can be written here. I wish to cut this article short by quoting few lines by Dr. Seuss

Congratulations!
Today is your day,
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

Yes, you’re off and away!

Bon Voyage!

Aashish Gupta

2011

http://www.rediff.com/getahead/slide-show/slide-show-1-travel-travelling-solo-4-tips-to-remember/20111111.htm

Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 175 user reviews.

This article is written by Adish Jain, who is a geek, gamer and travel and music enthusiast.

Who says booking air tickets and keeping an eye on the flight status can only be done by sitting in from of a PC with an internet connection? Those were in the pre-application era where the world was restricted to a big monitor. Today, applications have changed the way we live by pushing all this and more, to the small display on our smartphones. Listed below are a few apps that will let you book flight tickets and track real time flight status from anywhere, anytime.

Kayak: Booking flights has never been so simple. This app has an intuitive interface that lets you choose from round-trip, one-way or multi-city. Capable of automatically detecting the location and the nearest airport, it allows you to choose the destination by typing the city’s name. It works well with domestic as well as international locations and is just like an online web portal where you can select your preferences – exact date, flight cabin (economy, premium, business, first), non-stop journey and number of passengers. The search lists various flights along with the travel fair, airline, departure and arrival time. And while viewing details, you can always book the flight simply by calling the listed vendor. (Available for iOS, Android, Symbian, BlackBerry and Windows Phone).

Skyscanner: As the name suggests, this app dedicatedly searches through the numerous flights and comes up with the cheapest options available. The neat layout allows users to select the departure city and arrival city from the drop down menu along with the date. There is one touch option to select the return as well as the non-stop flight. This quickly comes up with plenty of flight details along with the air-fair in Indian currency. The search can be sorted using airline, duration, and landing as well as take off signages. It does store the latest search history and lets you share the information over email. (Available for iOS and Android).

MakemyTrip: This is one name you will be familiar with. Coming from makemytrip.com, this application is available only for BlackBerry smartphone owners. Similar to the web interface, it performs various tasks smoothly, from booking flights on the move to cancel tickets, get e-tickets and track refund. Checking flight status is also enabled on this application. While using the app, you can search for the latest travel deals along with the nearby places to eat. (Available for BlackBerry OS).

Flight Aware: We don’t just always end up booking flights but tend to keep an eye on the departure-arrival time when someone known is travelling. The FlightAware app is designed for such a situation. It lets you track the flight using your flight number and tail number. In case, you have none, you can always search through origin and destination. Regular travellers can save preferences including my aircraft, my airport, etc. Using the current location, you can view the nearby aircrafts flying and mobile push notifications which would give details such as estimated departure time, departure and arrival notices and gate/terminal assigned. (Available for iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone).

Airline Applications: Catching up with this trend, some of the leading airlines too have come up with their very own mobile applications. This includes American Airlines, Air France, Lufthansa, British Airways, AirAsia, Singapore Airlines and Fly Delta to name a few. These are available on download from the respective applications stores. Most of these are available for Apple iPhone and Android smartphnes but a few of them are also compatible with the BlackBerry and Symbian operating systems.

Adish Jain

10 Oct 2011

http://travel.hindustantimes.com/travel-stories/download-your-very-own-travel-appssistant.php

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 258 user reviews.

This article is written by Meenakshi Bhalla, a Businesswoman  and a travel writer, based in Mumbai, India

In my light traveling mode I often imagine myself zooming off to travel with not much beyond the basic clothing and a piece of flint:)

But in reality when traveling we do pack in lot of gadgets. From iPods to noise-canceling headphones, digital cameras to GPS trackers, they take up space, can consume electricity and distract us from actually enjoying the trip. Things that will keep us safe if left to our own means we can keep ourselves entertained and usefully occupied.

Some gadgets that are a ‘must carry’ when traveling:

A multi tool holder- knife/corckscrew /pliers


A spare lock

An adapter plug for all devices: laptop, camera charger, cellphone charger, ipod… Its a pain to carry multiple cables all the time.


A handy first-aid travel kit. Must haves: bandages, painkillers essential tools for dealing with the bumps, scrapes, safety pins, duct tape, sting relief wipes, moisturizing wipes, alka seltzers…

A notebook and pen, you never know when the urge to write or make notes may strike

Tip:How do you fit a month’s worth of clothes into a 22-inch carry-on? By sucking the air out with vacuum packing bags. While you’re at it, it never hurts to bring along a half-dozen Ziploc-style bags, too:).

Of course, your ideal gadget list will also depend on what kind of a traveler you are. Hikers and campers may want headlamps instead of flashlights, or hand-crank radios instead of battery-powered, while urbanites may see little use for a first-aid kit. Go ahead and pick your gadget companions sensibly to pack along in the bag:)

Meenakshi Bhalla

2011

http://meetravels.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-05-02T23%3A35%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=10

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 281 user reviews.

The writer of this article Gagan Sharma is a Mumbai based outdoor and adventure travel expert who writes for various publications

Its smart to learn from mistakes of other people. You can also learn about the common mistakes tourists make in Paris mentioned below and make sure to avoid them while visiting Paris. This would make you trip even more enjoyable.

Visiting Only Louvre Museum – Its quite surprising that majority of tourists in Paris only visits Louvre Museum. The painting of Mona Lisa is the prime attraction of the museum. However later tourists feel sorry for missing out on several other museums like Rodin Museum, Centre de Pompidou on their visit.

Short Trip To Paris – Around 8 million tourists to Paris only spend average of 2.7 nights in the city. Its awfully less time to visit one of the most popular tourist destination in the world. It is advised that tourists should spend at least 7 days in Paris to enjoy all the major attractions as well dinning and shopping.

Sightseeing Only Major Attractions – This is the most common mistake tourists make in Paris. Most of the tourists only visits Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Even in the case of Lourve Museum, tourists cut short their trip by visiting only Mona Lisa. There are other attractions like Parisian Catacombs, La Madeleine, Sacré Coeur etc that too should be visited by the travelers.

Driving in Paris – Driving a car in Paris could be nightmare for the tourists considering there are several roundabouts without lane markings, parking problems etc. Driving in Paris is difficult even for the locals. Its better to opt for Metro or Bus as the means of transportation in Paris.

Overspending on Food – Several tourists go for a fancy restaurant and orders best wine and cheese for dinner. These tourists ends up spending a lot of the food that they regret later. Its better that tourists stick to fixed price they would like to spend on food in Paris.

Top of the Eiffel Tower – A view of Paris from top of the Eiffel Tower is something every tourist wants to see. However in the tourist season of Paris during Peak hours one could have to wait in lines for hours just to get to the top of Eiffel Tower. In several cases tourists end up disappointed due to thick smog that ruins the view. There are several other points to get a view of entire city. One such point is Sacré Coeur.

http://www.easydestination.net/blog/index.php?itemid=2306

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 based on 158 user reviews.

Before going, certainly going on a trip it helps to know what make the run, stress-free experience. Learn how to avoid wasting precious vacation time and how to travel within your budget while and this certainly is while getting the actual most out of your vacation.

Join in travel or like something else an automobile club can, certainly can save you like as in yourself money on maps, hotels,  car rentals, visits to museums, fairs, exhibits, galleries businesses, etc. Creating an itinerary will, like actually will save money, time and headaches.

Some people think that, certainly that planning ahead of time takes the actual fun out of travelling and makes it less adventurous. Nothing could be, and really be further from the actual truth. Take note of this part, it pays to be prepared.

Create Travel itinerary

Determine how many as in lot days you like as in yourself will travel. Mark List of the actual towns and places you like as in yourself plan to visit. Road map find how many as in lot miles you like as in yourself have to travel between towns, calculate how much time it will, like actually will take to travel. record on your itinerary.

On the actual internet find points of interest you like as in yourself want to visit along the actual way. Look for museums, historical monuments,  national parks, state parks, fairs, exhibits, galleries, etc. Record on your itinerary. Decide which places you like as in yourself want to visit, how much time it will, like actually will take to visit and how much time it will, like actually will take to get there. Record on your itinerary.

Decide how far you like as in yourself want to travel every day. This determines where you like as in yourself will spend the actual night. Record towns on your itinerary.

Look for hotels at your destination on the actual internet. Wait to make reservations until your itinerary has been, actually been finalized. For each travel day record: where you like as in yourself will start the actual day how many as in lot miles you like as in yourself will travel which laces/events you like as in yourself will visit where you like as in yourself will spend the actual night? how much money you like as in yourself will spend that, certainly that day for food, lodging and events.

Review and revise your list. Make sure to keep this is in mind. Ask, will you like as in yourself have enough time to do all the actual things you like as in yourself want to d.ill you like as in yourself have enough vacationday.ake changes as well as necessary. Figure out your budget: add up the actual cost of hotels, events/activities/ how much money you like as in yourself will need for food, gas and fun spending.

Add up the actual total projected cost of your trip and make adjustments if you like as in yourself find that you like as in yourself are going, certainly going over your travel budget. After you like as in yourself have create.inal budget, make hotel reservations.

Take Copy of your tour itinerary and leave another copy at home for your family or like something else friends. Take note of this part, include the actual phone numbers of the actual lodgings where you like as in yourself will be, and really be staying so they know where to find you like as in yourself in case of an emergency.

Raj Aryan

25 Jun 2010

http://blogs.rediff.com/peoplefav/2010/06/25/how-to-travel-smart/

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 208 user reviews.