Travel for the Over 30s

OK the Internet is awash with Top Tips to Save Money on Vacation so lets get a bit more specific. This is going to be an occasional series where I look at ways to save money on your next trip.  They are not prescriptive, they won’t all work - they are just some thoughts which may help. Let me know what your favourite money saving tricks on  vacation transportation are in the comments. And yes I found an excuse to use some of my favorite traffic photos from Vietnam and Cambodia!

Travel Off-Season: avoid school holidays, avoid Christmas-January period in Australia, avoid Europe in July . Going off-season avoidthe crowds too.

Book a Middle of the Night Flight. Often flights are cheaper mid-week, they are often even cheaper at middnight -  I wonder why?

Travel by Bus Not Train: Usually a plane is even cheaper, but if you want to see something than usually a bus is cheaper, especially in Australia and UK.

Travel by Public Transit Not by Taxi:  A taxi is easy, relatively safe way, to travel in a strange town. Sometimes there are no other options - Dubai springs to mind, but that’s rare. Many cities have excellent public transit system, in rush hour its often to take the train from Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport of London’s Heathrow.  Of course you will need to have packed light to take advantage of this.

In many developing countries - don’t use public transit - its really not designed for tourists! Instead hire a tuk-tuk, rickshaw or motorbike rider - and yes they do take luggage, and no there are no safety belts or child seats provided!

Delay Collection  Of Your Car : Don’t collect your car from the airport just to pay for it to be parked at your hotel for a few days while you get over jet-lag and find its easier to use the metro or walk to see town. Delay hiring a car until you are ready to start touring - this can work at either the start or the end of your vacation.Hire the Smallest Car Possible. If there is one of you consider a motorbike or scooter rather than a car. Otherwise hire a small car, it will be cheaper to run, easier to park and cheaper to hire! In some countries - you won’t actually want to drive -an hiring a car with a driver for a  daily rate may well be cheaper than tours or a trying to drive yourself.

Drop Off Your Car At The Same City Sometimes you will get a fantastic price on a relocation of a vehicle, but usually its significantly cheaper to drop off a car in the same place as you hired it.

BookYour Flights and On Ground Transport Early  Booking early will sometimes get you good deals - particularly with budget airlines. There can also be savings with major car companies if you book early.

Use a Local Car Hire Company .  There are normally local hire car companies which are a lot bigger than the familiar names. The cars may be older - but who cares - they still work!

Well the Swedes do it again. We reviewed the hostel on the boat in central Stockholm, now there is a new budget option to stay in a plane at Arlanda - Stockholm’s major airport!

The Jumbo Hostel combines several inprobable concepts: a cheap airport hotel, a cheap comfortable bed in a plane and a cheap hotel in Sweden!  Yes this really is a decommissioned 747 - which once flew for Pan-Am but ended up a wreck whichhas been refurbished into a hostel near the entrance to Stockholme’s Arlanda airport.

There are 25 rooms in total most of which are 3-bed dorms with a facilites down the corridor. The exception is the deluxe flight-deck suite which includes an en-suite. All rooms have a flat-screen TV which includes information for arrival and departure. There is wifi throughout the Jumbo hotel and also an onsite cafe open to the public.

Rates start at around US$43 (350SEK) for a dorm bed to US$411 (3,100 SEK) for the cockpit room. Not exactly cheap for a hostel - but not bad for a unique experience at an airport hotel!

Uniquely there is an observation deck on the left wing for those 0f you who always wanted to climb out on the wing of 747-200 but never quiet dared to!  Not sure what it is with Europe and re-purposing structures into hostels - but I think I like the idea of this one better than that off a nuclear bunker

With airlines getting more and more focused on charging for extras then carrying a luggage scale is suddenly back in fashion. Fortunately they have improved in the last few decades. Do you remember the hook type device which you had to somehow attach your bag to and then lift it high enough to actually read it?

Well fortunately modern day digital luggage scales have got a couple of clever modifications. First off the read out is digital and freezes once you lift the bag off the floor so you can read it after putting your over-weight bag back on the ground. Also the screen is at the top of the device rather than in the front - also making it easier to read.

With airlines, like Qantas, charging up to A$48/ kilogram for overweight bag to Europe from Australian airports - having a digital luggage scale is a smart move. Particularly as many travellers now have to re-pack between international and domestic because of the different luggage and carry-on rules.

What’s reasonable to charged for at what’s not? Once extra and what’s not? The price of reducing airline fares has been the addition of more and more “extras” - some of which are pretty compulsory. Flying Virgin Blue in Australia if you don’t pay the extra $10 on booking you will get NO checked luggage allowance. Air Asia has great prices, a cheeky advertising campaign, but you’ll pay for meals and entertainment.

But along with paying for extra’s such as food, drink, headsets and access to the entertainment system -some airlines are taking it all a bit further.

How about charging “passengers of weight” (fat people to you and I) for an extra seat. I actually quite like the idea- if they can’t get the arm rest down why not - the person next door is being deprived of part of their seat!  I’m not saying I’m slim, but I can still get the arm rest down!

Lets take it to the logical extreme - well I won’t but this video does!

The huge A380 is pretty much the last word in modern aircraft and the A380 wars have been hotting up on long-haul routes.  Now Emirates is extending their A380 service to Auckland. Emirates will have A380’s on the Auckland-Sydney route 3 times a week from next week, with the aim of increasing frequency to daily A380 flights ex-Auckland as planes become available.

Auckland airport has had to do some work including widening runway’s to accomodate the massive A380.  The question being raised though is Emirates just dumping extra capacity on the Trans-Tasman route? Well Air NZ is asking it anyway and probably Qantas. For the traveler though its all good news. Even just with three flights a week thats an extra 1200 seats a week!

Emirates is also offering an affordable option to upgrade and see what all the fuss is about business and first class travel. If you use frequent flyer points to upgrade your NZ-Australia flight then they will give you a complementary return upgrade - smart move!Not sure that the first class showers are available though on the three hour flight from Auckland to Sydney

To be honest if you want to fly with a the best airline in terms of in-flight entertainment and food then ANY of Emirates planes beat the antiquated systems in place on Qantas or AirNZ - or go properly low budget and fly Pacific Blue - Australia’s Virgin Blue’s cousin.

Finally the farce of the 3-1-1 liquid rules introduced by the TSA but subsequently adopted by most other countries may be coming to an end ! Apparently there are now X-ray machines that can distinguish liquid explosive from liquid soap - a technology advance which is useful for once!

Initially at least you will still need to present liquids separately in a clear plastic bag - but by 2010 - even that should be un-necessary - wow almost convenient - go the TSA !

I wonder what will happen to the industry which has been built around producing the solid version of liquids. Not only shaving soap - which has been around a lot longer than foam anyway - but shampoo in the form of paper - which disolves on contact with water. Some of them are useful ideas - anyone who has had a bottle of shampoo break in their toilet bag will know the mess it makes.

BTW this photo is a picture of a Starbucks outlet at the airport GATE - after security - go figure!

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The main, full-service airlines flying from Europe to Australia and their departure cities and stop over options. All these airllines fly to Melbourne, Sydney and Perth unless otherwise stated.

Cathay Pacific

London, Rome, Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam

via Hong Kong

Emirates

Athens, Birmingham, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Hamburg, Istanbul, Larnaca, London (Gatwick and Heathrow), Malta, Manchester, Milan, Moscow, Munich, Newcastle, Nice, Paris, Rome, Venice and Zurich

via Dubai, Bangkok, Singapore

Also flys to Brisbane

British Airways 

London, Amsterdam, Milan, Vienna, Paris, Rome

via Singapore or Bangkok

Malaysia Airlines

London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Istanbul

via Kuala Lumpur

Royal Brunei Airlines 

London

via Brunei, Dubai

ex Perth and Brisbane only. Note Royal Brunei is a unique of all the Asian airlines by being a dry airline.

Singapore Airlines 

London, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Milan, Manchester, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Athens, Zurich, Copenhagen, Istanbul, Moscow

via Singapore

Thai Airways International 

London, adrid, Milan, athens, Paris, Rome, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Moscow, Zurich, Frankfurt or Munich.

via Bangkok

Other options are Qantas who code share with BA and use Singapore as their Asian stop-over. Air New Zealand also have services via Bangkok.

Consistently voted as the best airlines, especially for economy class are MAS, Singapore and Thai - all of which offer indvidiual seat-back multi-channel entertainment and a choice of meals, pre-dinner drinks and drinks with main meals. Overnight snacks and ice cream are also available.

Singapore Airport is generally voted the world’s best by the travelling public though both KL and Bangkok have new airports - they are both a long way from the centre of town.

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Back in September BA had a deal with free hotel accommodation in London - at the time the cheapest return airfare NYC-Lon-NYC was $472.

Now they have the same deal - 2 free nights in a selected London hotel - but the airfare price: $156 - thats $302 return! Ah you say who wants to go to London in the middle of winter - well true - but this deal, although you have to book NOW (before January 29) has date availability of: 27 Jan - 23 Mar.

The cheapest fare  is ex JFK and Newark but there fares out of Seattle and Washington that are less than $20 more!

The fine print:

• can get an extra $20 off if you register on the BA website
• minimum stay Saturday night - maximum 11 months
• $30 extra for flying between Thursday and Sunday

The free hotel’s look like good deals too. The come with the normal strings attached: only 1 free night if you are traveling solo but they are well located 3 star hotels in Knightsbridge, (for Harrods), Covent Garden (for the markets and theater district), Russell Square (for the British Museum one of my favourite areas) and Kensington (for the V&A Museem, Science Museum etc)

If you are not familiar with British hotels remember they will be a lot smaller than your equivalent US hotel!  And there may be stairs, but a  hotel with an included English breakfast is a good deal because that is the best meal of the day!

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Some days you just have to go with the flow when you are traveling - take some time out and watch the people around you and interact!

This is a fascinating - obviously staged for the ad but watch the public  join in - which shows that power of music and dance to bring people together. I can think of no better way of getting to know a country than joining the locals in dance or dance class!

Here’s a thought -the next time you travel try to take part in a public activity and get a chance to interact with the locals. In Vietnam head out out on the streets and 5am and join the Tai Chi or Ballroom Dancing classes which are held in every open space.

In Brazil - don’t just go and see Carnival - enrol in a Samba School and shake it all down! Yes foreigners can dance in the parade too. (But you need to commit to number of week’s reheresals)

Go to Vienna and dance at one of the famous balls. (You better enrol in dance class first and learn to waltz - they have standards there don’t forget the tails either!)

Go to Scotland and find a local ball or ceidleh - the Scottish country dances are generally easy and the other dancers will show you the ropes if you show an interest!

Head to Buenos Aires and find a Tango club or dance on the streets - in the city that invented the dance!

Go to almost any big or small town in the US and find a club or class for hustle (American jive), swing or even Square Dance.

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Will there be a lot of romantic couples looking for a Valentine Day travel deal this year? I suspect so, people will still want a short break to make Valentine Day special with their loved one.

The issue is going to be where to get the best travel deal for Valentines. Book early? Book last minute for Valentine Day travel specials? Well its hard to generalise as your part of the world may vary but there are lots and lots of travel deals around so why not try these apprpaches for the best travel deal for Valentines or any time.

• last minute bookings will generally get you the best hotel deal. Try sites such as lastminute.com   or expedia.com but double check the reviews of the property at tripiadvisor.comto see if its quite as good as the advertising;
• consider a luxury hotel in your home town or a nearby resort area. Skip the traffic and the hassle of winter driving and stay local but in luxury - leave the cell phone at home to have a real holiday!
• look for extras and upgrades - maybe let management know its your anniversary - even if its not! Those top-end chocolates and roses can make all the difference - well the chocolate anyway!