Find A Trip You’ll Love In Just Ten Minutes!
Tips to Choose a Trip in Ten Minutes and Benefit From Off-Season
Deals… REALLY!!
Designed for the impulsive buyer of travel who missed her
summer vacation but not recommended but if you are going to blitz the
brochure! Put some structure in your vacation, courtesy of The Women’s
Travel Club. Most airlines and tours define ‘off-season’ as after Labor
Day, but with more people traveling, the cut-off can be different.
Obviously, for tropical places the seasons are reversed as they are for
niche trips. For example, India is best in November, Iceland’s northern
lights do not appear until October 1st, and for East African migration,
June or July is migration time, although that varies from year to year.
We are noticing more and more travelers are too
busy to really do their homework so we created this "quick and dirty"
list to help out and for readers of Womencorp.org, we added some off
season tips. And by the way, beginning at the end of August, many
airlines have sale fares on the Internet and in print!
Tips for women in choosing a trip:
1. Make sure the people in the brochure look like you! Off-season tip:
are they wearing expensive coats and technical clothing and you are a
hand-me-down gal?
2. Hate small print? At the very least, please read the cancellation
penalties and find the point at which the company can cancel on
you. Off-season used to be slow, so tour operators were flexible,
but not now. Travelers are grabbing autumn deals and besides that,
global warming is making formerly chilly spots a little more comfy. Try
Italy and Portugal in November with www.womenstravelclub.com
3. Hotel quality: Google the hotel used in the capital city on the
itinerary for a general flavor. A/C might not be as important
off-season but it does muffle street sounds, gear changing trucks
(which are bigger with more lenient EU regulations on size) and noisy
neighbors calling Tokyo at midnight.
4. Red flag the word "from". That means you are looking at the lowest price. And when you spot an autumn deal in the paper, airlines now
quote $xxx each way not mentioning fuel surcharges or taxes. Fuel
surcharges can be $150 traveling round-trip to London and more than
$300 if you are flying to the Far East.
5. To gauge pace: If breakfast, lunch, and dinner are included, you are
on a slow moving trip! Beware of overpacking as airlines are now
charging more aggressively for over-weight. Layering for chilliness in
off-season is the lighter way to go!
6. Financial security: Only pay by credit card both deposit and
balance. And check for travel insurance availability. One of the
beauties of off-season is less air traffic so less missed
connections. But beware of late season storms and weather if you live
in the southeast or southwest! Travel insurance will usually cover you
if your flights are delayed by weather. If you are not sure if your
local situation will qualify for repayment, cut out a newspaper article
about the local tornado or other situation like road closure which
delayed you for further proof to the insurer if you have to make a
claim.
7. Forget the number of days; most companies include travel days. Only
look at the number of nights! In some parts of the globe, as you go
north and further south, the days are shorter off-season allowing fewer
hours for your daytime touring. Study the itinerary to make sure you
will actually be able to see the palace you are passing by.
8. Check trade association memberships like ASTA, BBB and IATA. Most
have renewals for these associations on December 31st, so your tour
operator cannot claim they are almost renewed.
9. Prompt responses from the company indicate they are customer
friendly. Prompt email responses let you know they cater
to Internet savvy travelers. This applies year-round and staff
will be back from summer vacations by September so no excuses
that “we were short-handed”and could not call you back promptly.
10. Check that the company has a street address. This is true off and
in-season. Do you really want to invest thousands of dollars with
someone working in their spare bedroom?
More About The Author…
Phyllis Stoller founded The Women's Travel Club
during her personal quest to find travel friends. It became more than a
unique tour operator but also an advocate for women's travel and safety
needs. She has appeared on local and national TV including CNN,
The Today Show and Lifetime Television for
Women. She writes on the subject of women and travel and
has been quoted in newspapers such as The Wall Street
Journal, The New York Times, and The Chicago
Tribune, and magazines such as Travel &
Leisure, Working Woman, Time and Newsweek.
Get More Tips, Strategies And Articles About Travel For
Women HERE
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