In my next life I want to be a Japanese tourist!

No kidding.  Japanese tourists really have it down.  I’m jealous.

Think about it:  they’re everywhere.  You could be in the middle of arctic Canada watching the Northern Lights or wandering the Beriloche region of Argentina, and, inevitably you will encounter a Japanese tour group.  Usually led by a man in a suit carrying a little flag or an umbrella with cat ears on it, something so that he doesn’t get lost in the crowd.  I don’t know if it’s a cultural thing, that the Japanese are culturally obligated to explore this world, or if it’s down to sheer population (there’s only so much room in Japan, so 30% of them must be on vacation at any given time? Yes, I’m kidding.  Sort of), but they just seem to appear in more places all the time than any other culture.

It could also be that they’re easier to notice, too, as they tend to travel in large groups.  This is a great idea.  There’s nothing more fun then hanging out with a whole bunch of your friends in a cool corner of the planet, the memories you’ll share can last a lifetime.  The only downside to large groups is that the logistics of arranging them are a royal pain, as, in my experience, as soon as you find a date that works for 80% of the group the other 20% will not be able to go/find it too hot at that time of the year/be called for jury duty, and then the group that was alright with the date in the first place won’t want to go without them, so you scrap the plans and start again.  After three or four attempts at this, most groups just say screw it, divide into smaller two to six people groups and each get the vacation they want.  The Japanese just seem to manage the group dynamic so much better.  If there’s a secret, please share it with me, because I’m dying to know.

There’s another reason why I tend to notice Japanese tour groups, too: their fashion sense.  It’s insane.  In the best possible way.  They just don’t play by the same fashion rules that us boring westerners do, and it rocks.  I was walking downtown Vancouver the other day and was passed by a tour group entirely made up of Japanese students in their late teens/early twenties, and I had to stop and marvel.  It was hot and sunny, and there was a girl in a floor length lace dress (housecoat?) with cowboy boots and a giant flowered hat, while her friend was in rainbow striped leggings and a floral blouse, and the guy behind them was wearing gangster baggy jeans, high-tops and a frilly tuxedo shirt. If I tried to wear any of that crap someone would ask me if I got dressed by grabbing random things from the bargain bin at Value Village and then probably ask me if I needed a lift to the halfway house, but on these uninhibited kids the looks worked. I’m gobsmacked.  And totally envious.  Because they looked so purely, truly happy.

And then there’s the photo thing.  At any given moment there will be 400 Japanese tour groups around the world posing for photos.  Every ten minutes they must stop and take a giggling, squealing “look where we are now!” photo. While flashing the “peace sign”.  Anything can be the subject of the photo, as pretty much everything this world has to offer is cool enough to be commemorated in your digital camera.  I work in a mall that, for all intents and purposes, looks exactly like every other mall on earth, and six months ago we had a tour group walk through the mall and they posed for group photos in front of our boring travel agency office window, the mall directory, the water fountain… and they had the same enthusiasm for that as they would if they were in front of Buckingham Palace or the Arc de Triumph.    Photo finishing companies in Tokyo must be rolling in the cash!  Now that’s how to make a buck, let me tell you.

I’m inspired.  I want to travel the world while having a joyous, “I don’t care what anyone thinks” attitude and taking ten million photos.  So if you’ll excuse me, I need to charge my digital camera, round up some friends, don my duck hat and see the world.

Peace sign.

Tags: camera, fashion, funky, groups, Japanese, tourist, tours

The Amazing Race – Travel Lovers’ Porn

        Yep, I said porn.  Because that’s essentially what the Amazing Race is – Travel Porn.  It’s exciting.   It temporarily allows you to live vicariously through someone else, doing things so out there you might not have even fantasized about them.  It teaches you new tricks to try in real life.  And it satisfies that travel craving, while leaving you wanting more.  The best part is that, instead of having to go back into the special part of the video store, you can get it for free Sunday nights on CBS.

          For you uninitiated (shame on you), the premise is simple: race around the world with no advance knowledge of where you’re going next and very limited funds, completing various tasks as fast as possible, and if you finish first you get a cool million dollars.  If you finish last at certain checkpoints (called pit stops) you’re eliminated.  That’s it.  This is proof positive that the journey is the attraction more than the final destination, as the ending is usually one of the most  anticlimactic parts of the whole race.   But on the way you got to see just how cool the world is.

            I’m insanely jealous of the challenges they’ve gotten to do over the years.  I won’t lie, I would totally blow off my job/friends/whatever to be able to do what the racers get to do.  After seeing it on the race, I tried ziplining and, as you’ve probably noticed from my past posts, I’m hooked.  Now I just want to push my boundaries farther.  Over the years they have rappelled down Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janiero, climbed the Eiffel Tower in Paris, navigated the chaotic train system in Mumbai, herded llamas in Peru, made noodles in  Macau  and shopped at street markets in South Africa.   According to the previews, next week they’re climbing the Singapore Flyer giant ferris wheel in Singapore.  It’s nuts.  The general public may  not  have access to all of the incredible things that the racers get to  do, but for the most part the places are acessable, and with a little bit of research  you too can  enact  your own Amazing Race.  They show some off the beaten path  locations/attractions that you might have missed otherwise  and  I  have to admit that occasionally at work when someone will ask  me what there  is to see in Coober Pedy, Australia (amongst other random destinations that I  don’t know anything about and have definately  never been to) I draw on what I’ve  seen on TAR and  answer that there are opal mines and houses built underground to escape the heat.   It’s helped me finalize more than one sale, let me tell you. 

             Despite the fact that it’s essentially a game show on a global stage, The Amazing Race is at it’s heart a travelogue, and, just like Globe Trekker or Rick Steve’s Europe, it gives you a glimpse at the conditions, attractions, and people of places all over the world.  India is always a good example, as so many of the racers go there expecting nothing but  poverty and crowds, but leave surprised at the resilliance of the people and the beauty of the countryside. Through their eyes we see it, too, and gain a greater appreciation.  I had never heard of Wat Po, the temple of the Reclining Buddha in Bangkok until I saw it on Season 1, but it blew my mind and that one episode gave birth to a fascination with Thailand that I still have to this day.    You can bet your ass I made sure to go to that temple and take craploads of pictures when I finally made it  to Bangkok.   

            The  racers might be doing everything at warp speed, they’re still traveling and facing the same trials and tribulations that we all do on our vacations.  They have to fight with the same flight cancellations and lost cabbies we all do, and watching them deal with these we can learn  – both from their mistakes and  their successes.  Case in point: never be rude to an airport ticket agent. They have  your vacation in their hands, and with one  little keystroke they can  sentence you to a fifteen hour flight in the middle seat in the back that doesn’t  recline and is right beside the squirming kid.  In season 2 when everyone was jockeying for flights from Iguassu Falls, Brazil to Cape Town, South Africa, team after  irate team was told there was no space on the  earliest and most convenient  one-connection flight via Frankfurt.  That is, until Danny and Oswald, the fabulous, suave and super polite guys from Miami asked.  Suddenly seats miraculously appeared and they cruised to a happy first place, all because they were the lone rational team.

     Finding a local guide is another great tip that teams commonly use.  Granted, on the race teams, particularly Mirna and Charla, will do everything short of kidnapping locals to get their insider information.  Please don’t do this.  Ask nicely.  Leave a tip.  But this is still an awesome idea.   Locals know more about the destination than anyone, and they’re usually just as excited to learn about your hometown as you are to learn the ins and outs of theirs.  This can get you from point A to point B much faster and tip you off to new, out of the way places that you would not have otherwise ever known about. 

      During all of this, the teams are navigating all these stressful challenges with their friend/partner/relative.  I always say the test of any relationship is a vacation, because your communication skills tend to shut down when you’re stressed and fatigued.  The “villans” in each season are not usually the teams that are horrible to other teams, but the teams that are horrible to one another.  The classic example is Jonathan and Victoria in season 5, where he not only screamed at her the whole way, but actually physically shoved her in anger.   Just watching the way these teams melt down serves as a reminder  not to act  like that to your friend/family member/anyone, no matter how jetlagged you might be. 

         And my personal favorite tip the I’ve learned from TAR: “Rapido” does not mean fast in every language.  It’s not that teams haven’t tried, but when you’re in Windhoek, Namibia, the cabbies are just going to give you a “stupid tourist” laugh and continue moving along at whatever speed they want to.  That being said, it’s always a good idea to learn a few words in the local language.  I’m not suggesting taking the Berlitz course or anything, God knows the teams usually can only learn what they get from the other passengers on their inbound flight and they get around pretty well, but a simple ”yes”, “no”, “thank you”, “how much?” and “where’s the bathroom?” can get you a long way.  Particularly the bathroom one.

          I could go on, but really, you just have to watch it yourself.  Even if you don’t glean anything more from the show than some pretty destinations and a whole lot of fun, it’s worth it.

Tags: 108 coin ritual, Bangkok, fun, interesting, Jet lag, The Amazing Race, Tips, travel, travel porn, Wat Po

The Ins and Outs of the Honeymoon Registry

                I’ve got weddings on the brain again.  First, let me qualify this.  I am currently sitting on my couch watching W (the Women Watching Will be Whimpering and Weeping network) as Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz find vacation love in the Holiday, and tomorrow I’m going to buy my first-ever Bridesmaid dress.  Plus, I have a destination wedding group and a handful of honeymoon price enquiries on my desk at work.  Put it all together and you can see where my head is at.   Anyway, it’s got me thinking about the intricacies of registering for your honeymoon, or, as I like to call it the “either be ready to kick your family’s butts into gear or give up on the whole idea” registry. 

             I don’t want to sound cynical, because I’m not.  It’s just not easy watching the crestfallen Bride and Groom’s faces when they come to book their dream honeymoon with the money contributed by their family and friends only to find that instead of Bali they can only afford to go camping for a week.   This has happened with all but one of the honeymoon registries I’ve ever seen, and the reason behind it is simple: to get the best price on a vacation you have to book early, but the vast majority of wedding guests don’t even think about a gift until the night before the wedding.   People are lazy.  And cheap.  Another drawback of the wedding registry is that it gives your guests the added pressure of giving a gift with the price tag still attached – they can’t give too little or they seem cheap, but with the economy being what it is, no one has that much extra lying around anymore, so unless you’re that special they’re not going to break the bank to pay for your vacation.  Consequently, most wedding registries get one, maybe two hundred dollars in them by the time the happy couple has to book their trip.  All the rest of the contributors will try calling the night before/morning of the wedding only to have me tell them to just give the Bride and Groom the cash at the wedding, because there’s no honeymoon left that needs paying for. 

         For all you Brides and Grooms out there, this paragraph is for you.  The honeymoon registry can be an awesome thing, but you have to be prepared to ride your guests like quarterhorses to get them to pay.  The biggest tip I’ve got is to plan ahead.  If you’re throwing your wedding together last minute, do not even bother to register for your honeymoon, because you have to book your honeymoon immediately.  But if, like most engaged couples, you have a year of planning and save-the-dates and details, then you’re golden.  Send out notices and the travel agency’s card with your invitations, and don’t forget to include a contribution deadline.  Two months prior to the wedding is a good time frame – not too last minute, but still a reasonable amount of time for you to book a trip at a decent price.   The week before this deadline, start sending out reminders.  Your agent will help you with this, but just send out a quick email blast, post a notification on your Facebook, and make sure your guests remember that if they miss this date, they should start shopping for an actual physical gift instead.   To go along with this, the Bride and Groom have to keep their expectations realistic.  When caught up in the throwes of wedding fever, it can be so easy to imagine spending your most important vacation ever on an idyllic south pacific island in an overwater bungalow (and it’s always an overwater bungalow in these fantasies) , ignoring the CAD$1000.00 per night price tag because you assume your family will pay for it.  Please, please have a backup, cheaper but still fantastic, plan, just in case you actually have to foot the bill yourself.  You don’t need the last minute panic of re-planning your honeymoon combined with the last minute scrambling for the cash and all the other last minute details you have to sort through. 

        Registering for your honeymoon is a great thing, but it’s not as easy as pointing the little bepper gun at the latest set of butter knives at the Bay.  It takes a bit of coordingation on the part of the the couple, the guests and the agent, as well as a realistic outlook.  If you’ve got all this, your honeymoon is going to be awesome. 

Tags: bride, groom, honeymoon, planning, registry, wedding

You drive like crazy

        It seems like the most convenient thing to do.  Why bother having to sort through bus and train schedules on your trip when you could just rent a car and go where you want when you want?  Hold up there a minute, Skippy, make sure you know what this entails or you could be dealing with more hassle than you’d ever anticipated.  If you’re from Canada and heading down to California for Disneyland, for example, then I wholeheartedly encourage a car rental.  You’re familliar with the makes and models of the cars on offer, you know the basic road rules, as they’re the same up here, and you can read the street signs.  These three criteria are not going to be met everywhere, though, so I recommend doing a little online research before you even consider getting behind the wheel. 

    First off, the majority of rental cars internationally are standard transmission.  You need to specify an automatic at time of booking, and be prepared, they’re usually a higher price due to their uniqueness.   So if you can’t drive stick and don’t want to wind up like those Amazing Race contestants repeatedly stalling out in the middle of traffic and enduring the wrath of the locals, you have two options: either practice a bit before going (driving your cousin’s borrowed standard around parking lots for a few hours is so much cooler than learning all the bad hand gestures the hard way on your trip) or cough up the extra cash and get one you can drive.

               Similar to this is the “check which side of the road your chosen country drives on” rule.  I’ve had clients who were perfectly capable of driving standard, but kept missing gears in New Zealand as they were shifting with their left hands while remembering to drive on the right side of the road.  This is also why renting a car in London to drop off in Paris is not possible, as your steering wheel is not going to magically switch sides mid-ferry crossing, and there are a lot of people out there that think the side the wheel is on dictates the side they should drive on.  A client asked me that once, if they could follow the French or the English road rules while in France with an English car.   I am not making this up.  Luckily, I didn’t have a car rental company that would allow him to do this itinerary, so I was spared from having to explain to him that the French don’t like cleaning up after hundreds of tourists killed in head-on collisions near the port of Calais.

      Similarly, if you can’t read the street signs, or understand the basic laws of the road, don’t drive.  When in destination you’re subject to local laws, and ignorance is not a legal defense.  Legal matters aside, by driving yourself you also have to navigate yourself to your destination, so learning the local words/signs for things like “stop”, “road closed” and “if you drive down this road you will be shot”  are a good idea.  I’ll get you started.  “Ausfhart” is German for “Exit”.  There, I’ve just saved you hours of driving down the Autobahn, giggling to yourself and wondering why all roads lead back to the town of Ausfhart while the city you’re looking for never appears.

       Then there’s the little matter of practicality.  Some places it’s actually more inconvenient to have a car than take public transport, particularly if you’re spending a prolonged time in a major city centre.  London is a great example of this, where just driving into the city centre will cost you GBP$7 per day as a congestion charge.  Then there’s the horrendous lack of parking, high traffic congestion combined with the crazy streets that can change names every block or just stop for no reason (not kidding about this, taxi drivers have to study maps and test-drive the city for years before they get their license – passing a test ominously called “the Knowledge”), and when you add it all up it’s enough to have you thrown up your hands in exasperation and abandon your Hertz in the middle of Trafalgar Square in favor of the Underground.  At least on the train you know you’ll eventually wind up at your destination.

      All this being said, a car rental can be a great way to get from one place to another, moving at whatever pace you choose to, as long as it’s under legal limits.  It gives you the freedom to buy that ten-gallon jug of drinking water on sale at Target because you know you don’t have to carry it all the way back to your hotel carefully balanced on your head.  You can reach so many off the beaten path places that major transportation links might not get to.  So rent away – I have some great rates! – but make sure it’s the perfect decision to make your dream trip all you want it to be

Tags: Amazing race, Ausfhart, car rentals, England, France, German, international, London, Tips

The ultimate relationship test – traveling with someone

         “We’ve been best friends since ninth grade, we’ll have the best time in Europe!” 

         “I love him!  Three weeks on the beach will give us time to connect more!”

          “You’re going to Asia?  Me too!  Let’s go together and save on the hotel costs.”

            It seems like such a good idea at the time.  You get along with/are dating/are married to/share similar interests with someone and you decide “gee, Steve, wouldn’t it be awesome if we went on vacation together?”  Picking your travel companion is usually done even before the destination is chosen, but before you begin to suggest a trip, stop and think about it.  No, I mean, really think about it.  There’s no greater test to a relationship than travelling together.

             Let your mind wander back to your childhood.  When Mom and Dad packed you, your brother and your ten thousand suitcases of crap into the van and took off for a weekend up at the lake.  By the time you reached mile eight someone had thrown something, someone had been insulted and someone was crying.   Just because you’re grown up and not necessarily with children doesn’t make a vacation any easier, as it still involves the same components:  long hours trapped together and unable to escape, tedium where you have to struggle to keep yourself occupied or come up with something to say, stressful connections or deadlines, and exhaustion.  Everybody reacts to these factors differently, and if, when she’s over tired and jet lagged, your best friend gets really weepy and needy or she gets so bitchy she’s taking shots at your family/career/significant other/fashion sense/pet, she may not be the ideal person to be with.  Unless, of course you are prepared to handle this. 

             And don’t forget, you’re going to be just as unpleasant.   We all have our triggers.  God knows, I fly all the time, but if anyone I’m traveling with wants to wait and check-in for the flight less than the recommended three hours prior, I’ll take them out.  We can relax once we’re through security, but until I know I’ve  made my flight and am not going to have to run/beg/risk having my seat given away to a standby passenger, I’m in go mode.  I don’t fucking care if you’re going to have to go sixteen hours until your next cigarette, that’s not my problem, so let’s get a move on it.  Apologies to anyone I’ve told off in this situation over the years, but I still get this way every time I step into an airport, ticket in hand, and I don’t foresee this going away any time soon.  Consider yourselves warned.

         My point is that when it comes to traveling with someone, you have to, as my boyfriend always says when he does something that mildly irritates me  (like leave his damp – they’re always damp – socks beside the hamper instead of two inches to the right in the hamper) take the “good with the bad”.  If you can work through your differences in extreme conditions, then you’re going to have a fantastic time together.  But if you have a mental picture of this person being perfect and they fail to live up to your expectations, you’re going to have issues.

          Travel can test even the strongest relationship, bringing you closer than ever or tearing you apart.  The way I see it, if neither passenger comes home in a body bag or handcuffs, it was a success.  If times get occasionally testy just remember, you’re normal.  That’s just part of the experience and (unless you’re the one in the body bag) you’ll laugh about it later.

Tags: boyfriend, family, friends, girlfriend, scary, tough, travel, weird

Vancouver: Ready to welcome the world

We’re in the home stretch now – less than 30 days until the winter Olympics get underway.  Personally, I’m excited, I love the Olympics and having it right here is going to be cool.  I’m going to be watching it on TV (afford to go to the events?  You have got to be kidding me) and going “hey, I know where that is!  I went to school down the road from there!” Or whatever. I always get excited when I see places I recognize on screen, which happens frequently, this is Hollywood North.  Like the end of the Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, when they’re walking through a building to a restaurant, I actually squealed “ooh! thats the library!” aloud.  But anyway, during the olympics this is going to be happening at an alarming frequency.  Anyone who knows me, consider yourself warned.

The city itself is starting to show noticeable finishing touches.  The construction walls are coming down on Granville for the first time in like 6 years, we have the spiffy new Canada Line skytrain from the airport to the city center (which rocks!) and even the ads on bus stops and park benches are now citywide exclusively for the official Olympic partners.  Needless to say you can go blocks and see nothing but McDonalds, Samsung, Coca Cola and some random company I’ve never heard of before, but that apparently is the official vaccine supplier for the athletes.   If I can survive the crazy-long commute times – God knows I can barely get on the train on some normal mornings, and when you add eight million extra visitors we’re going to need the people to cram passengers on the trains like they have in Japan – I hope to wander around downtown a bit during the games, because the vibe is going to be electric.  All the excitement, the street performers, free shows, random overheard conversations in different languages to pretend to understand and happiness.  It’ll be great.

If you happen to live in Vancouver and are hoping to get away on vacation during the games to escape the crowds, why haven’t you booked yet?  Do you really have that much money just hanging around that you don’t mind paying eight times the regular price?  The destinations you’re heading to probably have lots of space left, it is the low season, but the flights departing Vancouver don’t and are going to cost you a mint.  At this point it’s not how much but what’s left.  There are a lot of people I see on a daily basis who are surprised by this, but think about it: all the athletes, their fans and supporters are coming and going throughout the games – most of them don’t stay for the whole time, they just jet in, do their event and take off, as do their fans (to avoid a ridiculous hotel bill, as everything’s expensive), and when you combine that with the regular people traveling, there are shit tons of people coming in and out of YVR and only a certain number of seats on the planes.  If you still insist on trying to book for mid Feb, do it now.  Like now, now.  Stop reading this and book this instant or else you’re going to be totally out of luck.

And if you already have tickets, remember that at this point (thanks to the underwear bomber) you can’t take any carry-on onboard the plane with you.  And the heightened security due to that, combined with the heightened Olympic security, means that you’re going to be spending forever in line.  Get to the airport early.  Really early.  3-4 hours early.  Any later and youre going to be in line sandwiched between the chaotic family with the screaming baby heading to Disneyland and the Blackberry-addicted businessman who texts continuously as your plane takes off without you on it.

I’m sure the city will change when the games start, and I’m looking forwards to it.  What it’s going to be like I don’t know, but I’ll report back with the details in two weeks

Tags: airports, commute, crowds, excitement, last minute travel, Olympics, public transportation, security, skytrain, vancouver

Need Christmas gift ideas? Go abroad!

My favorite time to go on vacation is the fall (well, technically my favorite time to go on vacation is any time, but you know what I’m getting at). The reason for this is not the lovely crisp air and possibility of a sample sale, but so I can do all my Christmas shopping in destination. It’s great. Combine that with Christmas shopping (my other excuse to go wild – within budget, of course – shopping time of the year) and it’s the best combination since cookies and milk.
What better way to cut down on costs? I always call vacation shopping my “get out of jail free” shopping – I’ve technically already spent the money buying the currency, now it’s just trading it for goods. So as long as I don’t overspend what I’ve brought with me and have to break out my debit card, I’m golden. It’s a second layer of protection to make sure I stay on budget. With exchange rates being what they are, the dollar goes farther in many countries, so you can also get bigger, better, more awesome gifts for your loved ones. And you can plan for this in advance, too. A couple of years ago I knew I was going to bring back Costa Rican coffee for everyone for Christmas (plentiful, not too heavy to carry, and world-renowned while not being budget-busting) but the guidebooks said that the quality was best in the whole roasted beans as opposed to the grounds. So all year I covertly checked with every coffee-drinker I know whether or not they had a coffee grinder. If they didn’t, they got one for their birthday! That year was great, I got built-in ideas for birthday gifts, too
Speaking of more awesome, instead of yet another scarf or gift card from Sears, I can guarantee your Aunt Mil is not going to get two of those hand-carved Guatemalan wine bottle holders from that tiny stall on the side of the tiny winding mountain road. That is going to be memorable. And knowing that you were thinking of them while on your great adventure, they appreciate the gesture more (in my experience, anyway). Plus, even if they don’t like it, they’re not going to return it (the airfare is too expensive) so you don’t need to worry about keeping the receipts.
The coolest thing, though, is that you can essentially get your loved ones anything, and it’s still special, because it’s from wherever. Seriously. Anything. “Yeah, it’s toothpaste, but it’s from Ecuador, so you don’t pronounce it Colgate, you pronounce it ‘Col-gaaat-eh’.” If someone gave you a couple of small pieces of wood tied together at one end with a string from the local Wal-Mart, you’d be thoroughly unimpressed. But if the same thing came back from Spain and were called castinets, now that’s cool.
So, if you’re having trouble coming up with Christmas gift ideas, just go on vacation between now and the holiday season, and everything will all fall into place for you. Simple, really.

Tags: BlogSherpa, budget, Christmas., coffee, gifts, shopping, souvenirs

The Importance of Travel Agents

           Welcome to the internet age.  You can now buy a condo, meet your future spouse, learn how to hotwire a car, blog incessantly about your travels, and probably save the world all while still in your pajamas and happy bunny toe socks.  You can also book your next vacation all by yourself.  But just because you can, should you?  Despite having the universe at your fingertips, there is still reason to go to your local Travel Agent and get them to do the work for you. 

         I’m not just saying this because I am one (okay, that’s a teensy part of it), but Travel Agents are still important assets.  We really do have a wealth of information that you’re never going to find online – we talk about popular destinations on a daily basis and/or have probably been there (most tourism offices go to great lengths to get agents to visit so they can better sell their destination).  Even if we haven’t visited ourselves, we  probably know someone (a coworker/past client) who has been recently and can feed off their feedback.  Plus, we sit at computers for a reason, as we have access to a slew of specialized computer programs that can answer most inquiries with just a few clicks or keystrokes.   Think of it this way: one day you want to go to Australia, so you hop online and book a return ticket for Sydney leaving next week.  Seems perfect, right?  But if you didn’t know you needed a Visa to enter Australia (based on Canadian citizenship), the second you got to the immigration counter at Syndey International you’d be denied entry and sent home on the next flight, not getting any of your money refunded.

             Agents have your back.  More than almost anything, that’s the biggest service we provide.   We’re here to support you in booking and planning your dream vacation, but also to help you clean up the mess if something goes wrong.  We have lots of industry contacts who we’ve built up relationships with over the years, and if there’s a glitch in your trip, we can go straight to the source and get it sorted out as smoothly as possible. It’s a symbiotic relationship, we support their product, they do their best to help us (and, consequently, you) out in a crisis.  Plus, my company, at least, has more than 400 agencies across Canada, so they don’t want to make us mad.  We control a nice amount of the selling power across the country, so we wield a little more pursuasive power as the travel companies don’t want to loose our business.  I’ve had cases where suppliers will go above and beyond to get a matter sorted out to the client’s satisfaction solely because I was calling on behalf of my company.  Online, you get none of this.  The classic case is a woman who tried to book herself to London, England and accidentally booked her ticket to London, Ontario (the prices were probably pretty similar!).  She was screwed, and there was no one to blame but her own ignorance.  No online booking site is going to refund any money just because she didn’t read the fine print.  If she had booked with an agent, on the other hand, she would have been going to England correctly in the first place

            Then there’s price.  Travel agencies understand as well as anyone that in these tough economic times price is the bottom line, and that is why we have a vast network of suppliers – suppliers who do not sell to the public – that offer wholesale “bulk” prices and special contract prices just to us.  These are usually better than or at least comparable to anything that could be found online, and without an agent you would have missed out.

             Yes, we charge service fees.  All agencies do it, and if they say they don’t, that’s because they’ve hidden it in the bill and called it a “tax”.   We have to.  No business could stay afloat if all they did was give out information all day and not get paid for it.  And yes, this adds to the price of your vacation.  Think about it, you’re paying for service, booking security and peace of mind.  There is a difference between price and value, and what we offer is definitely valuable.  When you get to Europe and realize you’d accidentally booked yourself into a hotel with one shared bathroom for all the rooms, or come home from the worst all-inclusive vacation ever and want to file a complaint about it, instead of just sitting and fuming, you could contact us and we could help you get it all sorted out while you sit and fume.

              What it all boils down to is this:  I love my job.  I love creating people’s dreams on a daily basis and sharing all I know with my clients.  It’s new and exciting every day, as I don’t know what adventures the day holds.  Don’t get me wrong, dealing with distraught clients, stupid questions and annoying airlines isn’t always sunshine and roses, but at the end of the day there’s nothing better then hearing from an excited passenger that I had just sent them on the best vacation they’d ever had.  So call your local travel agent and let them put their expertise to work on the best trip you’ve ever had

Tags: London, price, service, travel agent, value

Vacation calories do count, but you can survive!

               I’ve been there.  That point in your vacation when you look back on what you’ve consumed and are hit with a wave of guilt and don’t even want to walk past that full-length mirror every hotel room has because you suddenly notice an extra paunch hanging over the top of your bathing suit.  And it sucks.   In my case it usually brings on a mild (okay, maybe not so mild) panic attack and the remainder of my trip’s spent venting to my travel companions just how awful this feels (I’m still apologizing for that).  Consequently, now I’ll do whatever I can to minimize that feeling (and avoid the “oh my God, will she just shut up already?” glares from my family and friends.  What I’m getting at is that too many of us think that because we’re in a new time zone, all the nutrition rules we have to live by on a normal day suddenly don’t apply and let ourselves go.  But with just a little bit of work, it is possible to survive your vacation with your waistline intact, and all without  taking away from your fun.

             This may sound ridiculously simple, but just monitor what you eat.  I’m not saying you can’t have that amazing (and huge) sundae with the glossy red cherry on top, I’m just saying don’t have one every day.  Or don’t have one after your deep-fried meat-of-some-unidentifiable-species with deep-fried-veggies and deep-fried-fries dinner.  It’s the same basic principle you’ve heard a thousand times: try to choose veggies, fruit and anything fresh whenever possible, and avoid anything that, if you ring it out, you can use the drippings to polish your new hardwood with.  I know the breakfast buffet is included in the room rate, but that doesn’t mean you have to personally eat everything they prepared, there are other guests to help with that, too.  Or if you go all out on breaky, have a smaller lunch and dinner.  The same goes for alcohol, too.  I know it’s liberating not to have to be accountable all the time, but six beers and you’ve racked up over a thousand calories, over half your daily target without your body even knowing it.  Moderation, people, moderation! 

              Regardless of how angelic your eating habits may be, if you’re doing nothing but lounging around like Jabba the Hut all day you’re gonna end up looking like, well, Jabba the Hut.  You have to move it to loose it.  Don’t worry, I’m not going to launch into some complex eighteen-step workout plan that you can do daily in your hotel room with only some minor equipment that you have to haul from home.  With luggage allowances being what they are, no one is going to haul your own set of dumbells and an elliptical trainer through security, and any article that suggests it is totally full of crap.  If you can’t get it in destination, it’s not worth it.    But this is where the simple fact that you’re on vacation actually helps with your exercise plan.

                Personally, I’m not a lie-on-the-beach-all-day-and-turn-over-at-regualr-intervals kind of girl.  Not only am I too pale for that much sun, but I also have the attention span of a gerbil.  Consequently, from the time I set down in a new city, I’m on the go, wanting to see everything this exciting place has to offer.  This translates into a hell of a lot of walking.  Be it walking around a museum or zoo or shopping mall or just walking because I’m too cheap to pay for a taxi for that short distance, I’m constantly on the move.  Unless you have a very active job back home, for most of us this translates into more movement than we normally do at our desk jobs and equals calories burned without actually having to think about it.  I had one client recently asking me to book him a room at a Cancun all-inclusive resort as far away from the buffet as possible to help him stop all the extra snack runs.  Or, as he said, at least burn some extra calories walking there.  This same client also thanked me for the gym membership he had to get to burn off what he consumed on his last holiday, but that’s beyond the point.  Make sure you wear comfortable shoes and you’ll find you don’t even notice the extra ten minutes it takes you to hoof it, but your body will.

                  Many hotels, resorts and cruise ships have gyms, but do you really think you’re going to get up early to squeeze in a thrty-minute cardio session before your jungle tour after staying up a little too late last night?  Me neither.  But if that tour includes a hiking component, your workout is taken care of for you.  Or if you go into the ocean/pool and actually swim (enough to get your heart rate up) instead of just bobbing like a cost guard buoy, you’re good to go.  If activity can’t be included in your busy day, this is where it’s time to get creative.  Do some lunges or squats while waiting for your turn to use the shower in the morning.  Find the music video channel on the TV and dance around like an idiot (who’s watching?  Your spouse has seen it before.  Or better yet, have them dance with you).  Have lots and lots of sex.  Lift your carry-on bags as dumbells.   Run the stairs up from the lobby every time you get back to the hotel.  Personally, I’m fond of the dance around like an idiot option, and if you’re ever in Costa Rica, I strongly suggest Telehit, the Spanish pop is awesome!

             See?  That’s not so bad, is it?  All you have to do is remember not to overeat on the things that you wouldn’t touch without crippling guilt at home and get your blood pumping in some way daily, and you should be good to go.  I’d never say you’re going to loose weight this way – hell, it is your vacation, you’re going to eat the fun stuff – but it can keep you from gaining, so you get home at least in the same shape you were in before (buh-bye, Jabba the Hut).   Don’t forget, it takes 3500 extra calories (or an extra 500 calories a day) to gain one pound of fat, so a little indulgence is not going to kill you.   But neither will a half-hour of beach volleyball :)

Tags: BlogSherpa, calories, Costa Rica, dancing, diet, Exercise, gym, pool, Telehit, vacation, weight

Insurance – why you want it, but don’t.

              It was embarrassing.  I was in highschool, looking forwards to going down to Seattle with my first able-to-drive-without-adult-supervision friends for a little outlet shopping, and Mom refused to let me go unless everyone going had travel medical insurance.  So we all paid the CAD$2.00 for one day’s coverage, went, and grumbled about how we didn’t even need to use it.  But now, looking back, I see how right she was.  That’s the whole point of having insurance, to have it but not use it.  If you do have to use it, it means something horrible has happened, and nobody wants their vacation ruined.  Plus - and take my word on this, I see it every day at work - all those unused insurance policies seem like a bargain the second you actually have to make a claim.  

            Here in Canada, we take a hell of a lot for granted.  With our free medicare we can go the doctor or hospital any time we need to and only have to pay for the prescribed medication.  But the second you cross any international boarder, all those luxuries are gone.  Years ago we had a client who drove across the boarder to play golf in Blaine, Washington, when he had a heart attack. You could practically see Canada from where he was, and since he wasn’t going to the US for long, he didn’t worry about insurance.  Then he got the bill for the medical treatment and ambulance transport back to Vancouver, and he had to mortgage his home to pay it off.  Granted, that’s an extreme case, but no one wants to go into serious debt in exchange for their health.  You shouldn’t have to trade one necessity for another.

                Then there’s cancellation insurance, the most underrated of all policies.  Nobody plans to cancel their vacation, if they did they wouldn’t have booked it in the first place.  But nowadays pretty much everything in the travel world is at least partially nonrefundable, so if you do have to cancel, you’re going to pay for it.  For the most part, cancellation insurance covers you if a serious medical condition pops up prior to your departure.  Just deciding not to go is not covered.  Some policies do offer “change of mind”, where, a certain number of days prior to departure you can cancel for any reason and claim back a percentage of your travel costs, but it’s never, ever, 100%.  If you break up with your boyfriend or get into a fight with your roommate and just cannot imagine traveling with them anymore, the change of mind clause would kick in and you could at least recoup some of your costs.  Once I had a honeymoon couple who called off their wedding right before it was supposed to take place, and were no longer speaking to one another.  They had opted not to take the cancellation insurance because they figured hey, it’s their honeymoon, there’s no way they’re going to cancel.  The bride ended up going on the vacation alone (most packages don’t allow name changes, so we couldn’t substitute a friend instead at that late date) while the groom stayed home and sued her to get his money back.  Last I heard they were still in litigation. 

                   Oh, and not getting your passport/entry visas in time is not covered by insurance.  Ever.  It’s considered your own fault for not getting the paperwork in sooner.  If you find out you can’t get your passport in time enough days prior to departure the change of mind clause in your cancellation policy may help you get some of your cash back, but for the most part, you’re hooped. 

             And please, God, do not assume your credit card will cover you.  Yes, some credit cards offer cancellation/medical insurance, particularly the higher-end platinum cards, but whatever you do, call the credit card company and double-check what coverage you have before you decline the optional insurance offered by the travel agency.  Sometimes the credit card coverage is all that you need, but they’re notorious for having low limits on how much they will pay out in case of emergency, or restrictive age limits.  One of my clients had relied on his Avion card for years without a problem, but when he did need to make a claim, he was told that, while his card did offer full coverage, he was a year older than the age limit, so he got no coverage at all.  So please, please call your credit card company and make sure you know all the details before you rely on their insurance.

         It hurts to add that extra CAD$200.00 or whatever to your already expensive trip.  I know.  But in comparison to the money and heartache that not having insurance can cause, it’s a small price to pay.

Tags: BlogSherpa, budget, Canada, cancellation, health, insurance, medical, USA