Vacation Hotspots / Travel info and tips

[majic]

i think we should have a section in the lounge dedicated just to that.. :p

we\'ve had lots of requests of where to go and what to do while there (niagara falls, vegas, europe, dominican, cuba) as well as where to buy tickets and where to get the deals..

what do you guys/gals think? this could be a review of sorts.. we all like to travel whether it would be an hour or two away from the city or to another continent.. there are a lot of seasoned travellers here that could give us n00bs some tips :D

lets hear it..

[LegoMan]

Whenever I travel to the states and want to get away for 3 days, I either use buddy travel passes or I use Site59. http://www.site59.com/

Basically the airline industry works like this.

Winter Season - Carribean
Summer Season - Europe

So if you\'re planning on going in the peak season be ready to pay the big bucks.

You can always get good deals last minute. The airline sells seats say 35-45% to travel companies and then try to sell the rest online or at the ticket counter. If a week or less before the flight is set to depart the airline doesnt have enough seats sold (generally looking to sell around 70-80% or more of the seats), then the airline discounts the tickets in order to bring up their load factor, which is not only important to avoid flying half empty but at the end of the quarter their investors want to see that people are flying on the airline.

So the best advice, keep looking, when you find something, keep an eye on it and around 1-2 weeks before departure purchase something. If you\'re not in any hurry wait till 1-2 days before and call the travel companies and airlines, and if you are going somewhere thats maybe not very popular, try standby. Generally a ticket thats $480 will cost you around $60 on standby (which the airline gives you for that price because they dont want to fly empty).

[majic]

this is gold :D exactly what i\'m looking for.. except i was thinking to make a subforum like

Toronto Mazda3 Club > LOUNGE > General Lounge > Vacation Hotspots / Travel info and tips and under there we\'d have a bunch of topics.. i dunno.. just a thought

this way we can keep \"when/how to travel on a budget? or pimpin style\" in this thread and then other threads for the destinations..

LegoMan, how would a regular joe doe know that the 60bux standby is 60bux? is it negotiable? does the airline usually have a \'lowest\' ticket price they can sell for? do you still have to add teh ridiculous $200 in \'taxes\'? thanks :)

[TheProfessor]

TripAdvisor (www.tripadvisor.com) <<< your best friend when trying to plan a trip and need some candid reviews and photos.

[LegoMan]

Usually its not negotiable because believe it or not there are alot of people that go on standby for each flight. The airline sets a certain price for the flight (not always $60) and it usually goes fast.

However, if you have made hotel arrangements, or are going with the entire family (including kids) dont go on standby. You can be bumped all day and all week and it will ruin your holiday. Sometimes airline employees cant fly on their passes because paying customers have priority and they are left on standby.

Busiest and most expensive flights are the early morning and late night flights.

So you best bet is to plan for an early afternoon departure.

Another tip is if you can, AVOID TORONTO PEARSON INTL!

If you are going to the states, Buffalo Airport will save you $100-200.

If you\'re going to Carribean or Canada, Hamilton and London are good airports that have very little airport taxes. Toronto\'s airport is now ranked #1 as most expensive airport to land in with the cost of landing a 747 here is $13,470-$17,500 at peak times. With the fuel surcharge and landing fees, downloaded to the customers to pay you will pay anywhere from $80-$240 extra fees ontop of your taxes, sometimes coming out to being more than your ticket...Ridiculous.


And yes the taxes are also added to standby prices as well.

[TheProfessor]

Here\'s a question that perhaps somebody can answer for me.....for all-inclusive types of vacations to the Caribbean, do prices actually drop the closer you get to a departure date? I know that is the general feeling, but my wife and I were watching a particular resort last year that we wanted to go to and said that we would wait for it to come down......that never happened. In fact, pricing went up and availability went down, so we actually ended up paying $50 more per person than if we had just booked a couple months in advance! Not a big deal, I know, but still, was that an isolated incident?

[LegoMan]

Its all based on supply and demand as well as availability. If there its peak season (March Break) for example, and the airline is selling out all their Cancun flights, the few seats that are available will go up in price. Sometimes airlines also overbook, incase of cancellations, they can still fill the plane if they didnt the planes would never be full and your ticket prices would go up even more. Going standby or reserve is more likely to happen with a large schedule airline as opposed to a charter airline such as Skyservice who doesnt even own the aircraft or set the price, its done by the four big charter companies that lease the planes. Tours Maison, Sunquest, Conquest and Sunwing which has also started their own airline.

[SGT06]

For the doing it yourselfer: lonelyplanet.com, frommers.com, selloffvacations.com, itravel2000.com, flightcenter.ca.

For students, there is usually a discount travel center on/close to campus (can\'t recall the name right now)

Travelling alone is always a challenge but if you are adventurous, it\'s an experience you\'ll never forget. Travelling with people you know is fun but you\'ll miss out on the some of the adventures as you\'ll most likely stick close together as a group. The bigger the group the less likely the local will approach you.

For the tourist, try one of the many packages that are available through travel agent shop. Should ask the agent about the typical crowd is like as tour operators tend to cater to a specific crowd (i.e if you are in your 20s, would you want to hang around with senior citizens for 2 weeks straight ?)

[iconicrocket]

Originally posted by PSIVIC


Here\'s a question that perhaps somebody can answer for me.....for all-inclusive types of vacations to the Caribbean, do prices actually drop the closer you get to a departure date? I know that is the general feeling, but my wife and I were watching a particular resort last year that we wanted to go to and said that we would wait for it to come down......that never happened. In fact, pricing went up and availability went down, so we actually ended up paying $50 more per person than if we had just booked a couple months in advance!

Actually it depends on where you go and at what time. I\'ve been watching the prices for Varadero, and just my luck, I\'m looking at booking for this Easter Long weekend. Guess what, prices just shot up about $200! over last week for the same All-Inclusive package and same hotel. Grrr!!! @$#*@#

Oh well, should have seen that coming. Hmmm... Now should I either wait it out or just book now.

[TheProfessor]

Originally posted by iconicrocket



Originally posted by PSIVIC


Here\'s a question that perhaps somebody can answer for me.....for all-inclusive types of vacations to the Caribbean, do prices actually drop the closer you get to a departure date? I know that is the general feeling, but my wife and I were watching a particular resort last year that we wanted to go to and said that we would wait for it to come down......that never happened. In fact, pricing went up and availability went down, so we actually ended up paying $50 more per person than if we had just booked a couple months in advance!

Actually it depends on where you go and at what time. I\'ve been watching the prices for Varadero, and just my luck, I\'m looking at booking for this Easter Long weekend. Guess what, prices just shot up about $200! over last week for the same All-Inclusive package and same hotel. Grrr!!! @$#*@#

Oh well, should have seen that coming. Hmmm... Now should I either wait it out or just book now.



Yeah, my wife and I are eyeing a couple of nice resorts in Varadero and Punta Cana and the pricing from last week to this week is quite different, and we don\'t even want to go away until Mid May!