How Can Flying Private Be Cheaper Than Flying Commercial?

Posted on November 18, 2018 by traveljunkies

Flying Private Can Be Cheaper Than Flying Commercial.

Today, there are many options if you’re considering flying private.

Although more often than not, flying private is incredibly expensive, it is becoming more affordable thanks to boutique airlines like Blackbird Airand Boutique Air.
Flying private is often the most advantageous option for business owners that want to make the most of their time.
People can either charter a private flight, participate in fractional ownership carriers, or own their own aircraft.
Private flying might be affordable if you’re taking a handful of routes, including San Francisco to Las Vegas.

For more information visit https://www.thisisinsider.com/flying-private-vs-flying-commercial-cost-2019-1

HOW TO START A VIRTUAL BUSINESS SO YOU CAN TRAVEL FULL TIME

Posted on November 5, 2017 by traveljunkies

Bryanna has successfully done that with her Virtual Powerhouse business.

Here’s how …

When we decided to hit the road full time with our family we had no idea we would start a virtual business to fund our travels. At the time my husband had a 9 to 5 job he could do remotely.

We quickly learned we didn’t like the restraints of a 9 to 5 on the road. Instead we wanted the freedom to set our own schedule and to sleep in in the morning and go exploring on a Monday.

Hence the idea of starting our own Virtual Business.
We had no entrepreneur background yet we knew people were out there doing it so we just had to figure out how to do it. That was a little over a year and half ago.
Our business has since grown, changed and evolved which is part of the process of living a life of freedom.

Things can change and change is good.

* Travel For Health *

Posted on July 14, 2017 by traveljunkies

8 Reasons Why Traveling Is Good for Your Health

(Original article by Karen Reed for PositiveHealthWellness.com)

Traveling is one of the best things that you can do for your health. It helps your physical and mental health, with many travelers saying that it’s also excellent for the soul.

There are no limits when it comes to traveling, except for what you can afford. You can sight-see around some of your most dreamed about countries or choose exotic adventures. Go by rails, car, or even by boat. There are just so many options, and they will all help you in ways that you have never imagined.

You’re Able to Get Moving

The biggest benefit of traveling is the amount of movement that you will do. You will constantly be on the go, even if you are taking a trip on a cruise. There are sights to see and things to do!

Challenge Your Brain to Improve Its Health

The brain is another muscle that needs strengthening and challenging. While it doesn’t necessarily work in the same way as other muscles in the body, it can be developed and improved over time. The great news is that travel has been shown to help improve the brain health.

Get Away from the Everyday Stresses in Life

The more you get away, the more you move away from the everyday stresses of life. You get to take your mind and body out of work, family life, and other problems.

You’ll Find It Much Easier to Cope with Stress

Getting worked up about everything is causing your heart and other organs to fail. You won’t be happy, and you’ll feel exhausted every single day. You need to step away and start traveling. Getting away from the everyday stresses isn’t just a way to unwind. You’ll find that traveling helps you cope and deal with stress so much better. In fact, you can find that situations that were once a nightmare are those that you breeze through when you return.

Boost Your Creativeness to Boost Your Health

Did you know that more creative people are healthier? Okay, so this isn’t in every single case, but you will help to improve your life and health by focusing on a more creative approach. The great news is that traveling will help to improve just how creative you are in life.

Boost Mood and Thoughts Through Social Connections

Isolation is one of the worst things in life. While you think that you may like the quiet, it can be draining on you emotionally. Humans aren’t isolated creatures. We crave the social interaction of others. Maybe not every day, but we do benefit from some social interaction regularly—and definitely not just with kids!

Find It Easier to Boost Weight Loss Efforts

If you’ve ever wanted to lose weight, you want to look at traveling more. Let’s focus on the activity element that was our first main benefit of traveling. When you do more activity, you instantly burn more calories. You make it easier to get rid of the excess calories that you eat on a daily basis.

Try Out Alternative Lifestyles and Health Remedies

When you visit new cultures, you get to experience how other people live. This isn’t just about developing new social thoughts or beliefs, but also about witnessing health remedies and different types of lifestyles. Traveling will let you try out the alternative lives safely and without too much commitment. It’s possible to get away from the touristy areas and focus on how the real people live.

Where Will You Travel First?

Traveling really is one of the best things that you can do for your health. This is something that supports both your physical and mental health. You will get to support your emotional health and life a better and more natural life, even when you’re not traveling.

The eight reasons to travel more above are a snapshot of the way you will benefit. There are just so many more reasons to travel to help protect your health.

This is an extract of the article written by Karen Reed.
You can see the full article here https://www.positivehealthwellness.com/fitness/8-reasons-traveling-good-health/

* HOW TO CREATE A PODCAST *

Posted on September 14, 2016 by traveljunkies

Why Create a Podcast?

For some very compelling reasons including:

The proliferation of smartphones
All-pervading bluetooth technology in cars and homes
And the powerful ability to start a conversation with an audience that’s keen to hear what you have to say or are interested in buying what you are selling.

Listeners can hear you on their morning jog or daily commute, time often spent listening to music, and you have your audience tuned in to what you have to say or promote or sell, even if they only have a few minutes to listen.

Here’s a simple road map for creating a podcast

It can be a bit daunting to get started for the first time which is why the team at Copyblogger have produced this road map for creating a podcast.

Creating great audio content involves many steps and these are the simplest and most effective ways when starting from scratch.

Even if you’re just writing and recording a script and letting someone else do all the production work, this road map will help you appreciate everything that comes together to create a podcast

Read more about why Copyblogger is betting big on podcasting … http://rainmaker.fm/audio/rainmaker/copyblogger-podcast-network/

Big Businesses Putting On The Squeeze

Posted on December 19, 2015 by traveljunkies

In a recent survey of more than 3000 small businesses in the leisure industry we asked the question …

What are the two or three things that concern you most in your business?

Not really surprisingly two of the top three were about customers namely …

Not enough customers
Not a regular supply of customers
Not enough time to do everything

These were followed by many comments about cash flow, recruiting and keeping staff and the cost of advertising.

But a number of replies were concerned about the way big businesses use their size, budgets and influence to put the squeeze on small businesses.

So is competion fair?

One of the replies was from Nick Marshall who with his wife Lizzie has been running holiday rentals for nearly 25 years and owns Cairns Holiday Homes in North Queensland Australia.

Nick has seen lots of changes in this time and none moreso than the effect the Internet has had on his business and no doubt on many other small businesses

Here’s what he had to say..

Dear Cliff.

Thank you for the feedback regarding the effect of large corporate interests taking a huge bite out of holiday rentals for doing little more than listing properties.

This was bound to happen. The internet, in its early days at least, offered a far cheaper method for small businesses to potentially be seen. The only way that small business could advertise in the mass media was through the traditional media of the press, radio and tv. For most of us that meant small ads in the classified columns or, at much greater cost, taking out an ad in the weekend travel pages of a national newspaper.

Twenty five years ago that was costing me nearly A$300 per week. In Australia the “rivers of gold” as the Fairfax newspaper group’s weekend advertising columns were known was decimated by the swing to the internet and the rise of eBay and many other alternatives. Not surprisingly they took action and bought a site called Ozstays which became Stayz.

That site had been started as a listing site for holiday homes and apartments in 2001 but soon started listing hotels, motels and resorts – probably because the founders realised that the more listings they had, the more they could sell the site for. Stayz was purchased by Fairfax for about $12 million in 2005 and then sold to Homeaway for around A$220 but that included more than A$150 million of debt. Even so, it was a very good return on investment. Homeaway, which has grown by a string of worldwide takeovers, was after the 50,000 odd listings and gross margin that exceeded 56% in 2012.

None of this should surprise but I really do not see how these very large businesses can survive with their present business model. They are all actively trying to separate the supplier from the customer until after the booking has been made.

Unfortunately, the majority of holiday homes do not have a brand name (such as a hotel might have). Customers are taking a real risk when they book a home without the opportunity to talk to the managers or the owners.

The large sites like Homeaway, those operating under its name and AirBnB are expecting the public to trust their own brand name. Unfortunately, problems are happening ( trashing of properties, theft, prostitution etc) because none of these corporate sites are able to check out their clients. Flipkey is, I think, in a slightly better position because of its association with TripAdvisor which is the giant in customer feedback for all things to do with holidays.

Sure, these large listing sites do now attempt to verify ownership but their whole model is based on the owner or manager providing all the details of the property (copy, photographs, calendar data) when they list.

Homeaway recently passed 1 million listings worldwide and AirBnB has around 600 thousand listings.

With the amount of debt these corporations are carrying, there is no way that they can support their customers by providing a service that answers questions about individual properties. By preventing the pre-booking connection between the customer and the owner or manager, they are essentially saying “Trust Us!”

I do not think this will work because trust is breaking down everywhere at the moment. This provides an enormous opportunity for home owners and managers to get off their butts and build their own websites which will better serve their customers.

Of course, it is very hard to have a one property site which is going to be seen because the gateway is Google and there are only so many page one spots. Having said that, there are still many home owners who are not making use of Google Local for Business to be seen.

Property owners have to get together with other property owners in the same region or even the same suburb in large cities. Some areas already have well run websites specialising in that area. Support them.

Getting a good domain name is not as hard as it might seem. A name containing the name of the suburb, the village, the town, the region or sub-region or region is often available. Building a wordpress website is the easiest and least costly part. The hard bit is keeping the website updated and running an interesting, relevant and useful blog on the site to build up authority.

It is hard work and very time consuming. The days of list and forget are over – unless an owner wants to spend thousands more for elevated listing positions. It takes commitment and contribution by the owners to make it work.

Those who don’t take the plunge now will be lost in the listings. There is a wealth of good advice on the web – Matt Landau and Heather Bayer for example. This subject was touched on at the Vacation Rental World Summit this year. The cost of the webinar recordings is a small price to pay for the great advice offered.

The web is about doing it yourself rather than expecting others to do it for you.

Yours sincerely,

Nick Marshall

http://www.cairnsholidayhomes.com.au

Some pretty insightful words from Nick not only about the effect of large businesses but also about the difficulties businesses of all sizes face in the rental property market, and some advice to owners and future owners of rental properties.

We also heard from Christopher de Hrussoczy-Wirth, Kitsilano Cottage, Vancouver, Canada who sees the financial clout big businesses have on the industry and how they infliuence local government, and from Uwe-Dorte Bockwoldt of Tyll’s Dive, Roatan, Honduras who says that much of the solution is in their own hands.

Christopher wrote …

First would definitely be the incursion by big captial into the highly successful realm of residential based accommodations industry. The folks behind the vast infusion of capital into the directory listing and booking parts of our industry are ill suited to support and cater to the actual needs of what started out as a bunch of Mom & Pop operations. We really don’t want or need corporate types telling us how to run our businesses. Yet their deep pockets have given them a strangle hold on a segment of the accommodations industry that is now being victimized by its success.

Another concern that is escalating is the prospect of increasing local government regulations, mostly being driven by major hotels who see our industry as a threat to their bottom line.

——————————–

Uwe-Dorte wrote …

Hi Cliff

Have enjoyed your tips and hints.

The travel and tourism industry is very competitive and as small businesses we are invariably stretched for time and in many cases don’t have the necessary skills to compete with bigger businesses.

As a very small business, The ups and downs during the year can be concerning. We are aiming to get a a more steady flow again.

We do not need to be crazy busy, but need steadiness. We are building it up getting more and more repeat divers.

We are sliding down our rank in Tripadvisor. We do encourage new divers to make a review. But having so many repeat divers coming several times a year for years, it is hard to expect them to continue putting on reviews after each visit. The bigger shops have bigger turnover and many more people writing reviews.

Am afraid I am not promoting what we do good enough.

So many thanks to Nick, Christopher and Uwe-Dorte for their feedback and to the many otheres who took time to reply to us. It is very much appreciated.

Cliff Chapman

www.traveljunkies.com

If your businesses is being affected by “Big Business Practices” then we would love to hear from you.

What Does EHIC Really Cover?

Posted on July 28, 2015 by traveljunkies

A EUROPEAN HEALTH INSURANCE CARD IS A MUST IF YOU’RE HEADING OFF TO THE CONTINENT. BUT WHAT PROTECTION DOES IT ACTUALLY OFFER?

WHERE CAN YOU USE IT?

You can use your card anywhere within the ‘European Economic Area’; so that’s all the countries in the EU plus Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and it also applies in Switzerland. You can find a full country guide on the NHS website.

Travel further afield and there’s no cover under the EHIC scheme, although some countries do have reciprocal arrangements with the UK, like Australia, New Zealand and Croatia, where you can get reduced cost medical treatment.

WHAT DOES AN EHIC COVER YOU FOR?

You’re entitled to healthcare on the same basis as the locals in whatever country you’re in. But this is the ‘basic level of state healthcare’, and as each country’s healthcare system varies, your EHIC may not cover all your costs.

If you’re on holiday in France and need medical treatment, then you’ll usually be expected to pay a doctor or dentist directly, even with an EHIC, but can pick up a treatment form which enables you to apply for a refund. You should then be able to claim back around 70% of your costs, which you can do by calling the NHS Overseas Team on 0191 218 1999. However you’ll need to submit your receipts and treatment form so make sure you hang on to any paperwork you’re given.

In Spain and Switzerland dental treatment is generally not available under the state system so you may well have to stump up. And in Cyprus, while it’s free for a doctor to issue you with a prescription (if you show your EHIC), you may get charged to pick it up from a chemist unless you visit a state pharmacy.

If your EHIC won’t cover the full cost of any treatment, you may be able to claim back the remaining ‘unpaid’ portion of the bill from your travel insurer. Some insurers like Churchill will waive the usual policy excess if the bulk of your bill is covered by your EHIC.

HOW TO USE IT

In practice you should be able to claim your free or reduced cost treatment by simply showing your card to the doctor, dentist or consultant carrying out your treatment.

But as your EHIC cover only applies in state run hospitals and clinics, (not private ones), be sure it is the state version you’re going to, and if you ask your tour rep for advice on which doctor or dentist to use, make sure they know you’re going to be getting any treatment using your EHIC.

EHIC OR TRAVEL POLICY?

So which is best to use and when? There’s no hard and fast rules on this but the Association of British Insurers (ABI) recommends that your EHIC is best kept for relatively routine treatment, such as if you need antibiotics, develop toothache or have a scrape that becomes infected.

Even if you don’t need to make a claim on your travel insurance for a minor incident like this, it’s best to let your insurer know that you’ve had medical treatment abroad.

If you’re unlucky enough to need more serious or emergency medical treatment then the ABI recommends using your travel insurance as policies provide not only medical cover, but will often cover other subsequent costs, which can be anything from rearranging your flight home, to having a family member stay on with you and even taxis and transport to the hospital for further appointments.

With some travel policies you’ll also be able to claim back things like the cost of phone calls which can quickly add up and would naturally be excluded if using your EHIC.

DO I NEED MY EHIC ON ME TO CLAIM?

You’re covered for travel from the date of your application for up to five years, and if you’re abroad and lose your card you can apply for a provisional replacement certificate by calling the NHS overseas team on 0191 218 1999.

You’ll need to give details including your name, address, age and national insurance number but a temporary certificate can then be issued to the doctor or hospital treating you.

APPLYING FOR AN EHIC

Make sure you apply for a free card on the official EHIC website. There are some commercial sites out there charging fees of around £9.99 a time to supply them, which is a complete con!

Thanks to Love Money News
https://www.lovemoney.com

Cliff Chapman
http://www.traveljunkies.com

Insider’s Guide To The Best Of Duty Free

Posted on April 28, 2014 by traveljunkies

Where to shop and where to avoid.

Your friends will love you …

Wherever and however you travel there’s likely to be tax free opportunities but are they all good value?

Whether it’s designer clothes, jewelry, perfumes, watches, the latest electronic gadgets or duty free cigarettes and alcohol the 2014 taxfreetravel guide shows you the best places to shop and where to avoid.

see more . . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cliff Chapman
www.traveljunkies.com
Great travel deals around the world

How To Bargain Fairly

Posted on April 25, 2014 by traveljunkies

Bargaining is a two way process and it’s important that both sides feel they have done well from the bargain.

Don’t try to screw every penny out of the deal. A dollar to you is trivial but is more important to the seller. Accept that they will try to rip you off but that’s part of the game. If you don’t want to play the game, just walk away, or better still, avoid the place altogether.

Never make the first offer, always get the seller to state their price first.

Don’t buy the first time round. Shop around to get an idea of the going prices. It will send a message to the seller that you might buy from someone else, and it will make your bargaining easier.

To get the best price just walk away. Tell the seller you like it but it’s too expensive. You’ll find the price goes down more the nearer you are to leaving. The seller needs to sell more than you need to buy.

And remember it’s their way of life and they have to make a living. So join in and enjoy yourself. You can always walk away.

Please share this and keep everyone happy 🙂

Cliff Chapman
traveljunkies

Tourist Scams

Posted on April 10, 2014 by traveljunkies

Some of the world’s most popular tourist scams (and how to beat them!)

A recent report by the City of London’s Police National Fraud Intelligence Bureau has revealed that holidaymakers are falling victim to £7 million worth of travel scams each year.
Over a 12 month period over 4,500 cases of holiday booking fraud were reported. Whether you’re distracted by pick-pocketers or fooled by bogus websites, there are a number of popular scams that catch out tourists from all over the world.

However, there’s no reason to let this put you off booking or taking a holiday – many of these scams are easily avoidable by being extra vigilant and especially careful with your belongings and surroundings when holiday planning and travelling.

To help you stay in the know, here’s ten of the world’s most popular tourist scams, along with some advice on how to beat them:

A distracting splat

This popular scam is particularly prevalent in South American countries, but has claimed victims all over the world. A traveller may feel a wet splat on their shoulders, head or back – usually mustard, mayonnaise or some kind of other substance that’s sure to feel sticky and unpleasant. “Concerned” by-passers will offer to help clean you up, potentially relieving you of your bag or valuables at the same time. This is a classic distraction, and similar tactics can involve anything that might suddenly distract you from your bag or pockets.

How to beat the scammers: Try not to get fazed if you find yourself dolloped with sticky goo and politely, but firmly, refuse the help of anyone in the vicinity. Don’t take off your bag until you have moved to a quieter area out of site of the potential scammers. Also, keep money and other valuables tucked away in money wallets under your clothes rather than in your pockets so they cannot be easily reached.

Fake police officers

This trick involves presumed authority figures such as police officers approaching unsuspecting tourists, giving them sudden and unfair fines for small infractions that may not even exist in that country, like stubbing out a cigarette on the street. These figures are often fakes who pocket the cash or, even worse, take tourists details to be used for fraudulent activity later on. Similarly they may pull you over to ‘check’ your car, robbing you in the process.

How to beat the scammers: Always ask for identification when approached by these kinds of authority figures. If in doubt, call the local police station to confirm whether they are legitimate.

Closed tourist attractions

Particularly popular with tuk tuk drivers in South East Asia, you may find when asking to visit a certain temple or landmark that your driver will ‘kindly’ inform you that it’s closed that day. Instead, they know of another great tourist spot that you’d like instead. It’s highly likely that this is a scam, which could result in the taxi driver getting a cut of your entry for this other attraction and you missing out on your plans for the day.

How to beat the scammers: Stick to your original plans and don’t let them convince you to go elsewhere – at worst you’ll simply need to make another taxi journey if your tuk tuk driver was being genuine.

Non-existent accommodation

Scams can strike before you’ve even left home – often at the early booking stage of your trip. Websites advertising private accommodation may look legitimate, but many travellers have been left stranded when they’ve arrived at their destination to find out that their holiday home doesn’t even exist. Not only are you left out of pocket for the money you’ve paid, but you also then need to fork out cash for more accommodation.

How to beat the scammers: Make sure to check for reviews when possible – don’t just rely on testimonials on the site. If other consumers have had problems or have been the victim of fraud, then it’s likely they’ll have posted details about their experiences online. Also check that the accommodation provider has the relevant credentials (like being registered with ABTA) to ensure that they’re legitimate.

Wrong cash notes

This generally tends to take place in taxis, especially at night and often driving from airports to hotels. When it comes to paying, you hand over a note – say a $20 – and the driver takes it from you, before turning around with a smaller note, implying it was the one you originally gave them and that you’d only, in fact, handed over $5. It’s likely that the cabbie simply switched the notes and is preying on jet lagged tourists who are too tired to be sure of what they handed over. You then end up coughing up even more cash to your scammer.

How to beat the scammers: Make sure to say out loud how much you are handing to your taxi driver as you pass it over. If need be, ensure that both you and your driver have seen the note clearly so that there is no confusion.

Careful on the camels

Visitors to popular tourist attractions like the pyramids can enjoy taking camel rides for the perfect Egyptian experience and ideal photo opportunity. To get up on these impressive beasts, their owners will happily encourage the camel to lie down, but when it comes to getting off the animal again, they won’t let them lie down until you’ve paid over a much higher sum than may have originally been agreed.

How to beat the scammers: Book your camel rides as part of an organised tour to avoid being caught out high and dry.

Gifts from strangers

Your parents may have taught you never to accept gifts from strangers, and that still stands when you’re exploring a tourist destination. Examples of this scam include charming locals placing friendship bracelets on your wrist or souvenir gifts in your hand without your permission and then refusing to leave you alone until you have given them money. If a tourist refuses to pay up, they may get angry or bothersome, causing distress until the weary traveller simply hands over their cash.

How to beat the scammers: Be vigilant with strangers bearing gifts and don’t take anything from them. If they do manage to give you a bracelet or unwanted souvenir, simply ask them to remove it or take the item back before you call the police.

Not enough change

Another popular taxi driver scam is simple but extremely frustrating for visitors, particularly when just arriving at the airport. The driver will wait until you hand over cash to pay and will simply inform you that they don’t have any change to give you back. It’s fairly likely that if they’re taking you from the airport, you will only have larger notes available and they will be able to pocket the difference.

How to beat the scammers: If this happens to you then stand your ground – ask them to change the note in a nearby shop, cafe or even in your hotel.

Gold ring trick

A trick that has been witnessed all over the world, involves a local scammer discovering a ‘gold’ ring or valuable on the floor and sharing their excitement with a nearby tourist. They then offer to sell the ring to the tourist in the hope that the visitor will hope to make money by selling it on elsewhere. Of course the ring turns out to be worthless and the tourist ends up out of pocket.

How to beat the scammers: Here they are just appealing to greed, hoping that you will be looking to make yourself some extra cash. Just walk away and don’t let them convince you otherwise.

Fake airline tickets

Bogus flight tickets account for around one fifth of travel scams¹, with flights to West Africa said to be a particular target. Fraudsters often claim to sell tickets on behalf of well-known airlines, but are in fact completely unauthorised. These scammers have been known to target travellers by advertising on social networks like Facebook and then use the consumer’s details to pocket money and even commit identity fraud.

How to beat the scammers: If a cheap fare looks too good to be true, it’s likely that it probably is, particularly when advertised through an unknown third party. Never send money or give your bank details online – if possible always pay on credit card so that you can claim back lost money if necessary.

Find out more

To find out more about travel scams and what to do if you’ve been a victim, check out this guide to avoiding scams when booking a holiday.

Published by Stephanie Sheehan, a travel expert (and city break fanatic!) at Propellernet.

Useful Links:

http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/news-and-appeals/Pages/abta-and-police-issue-warning-on-rising-holiday-booking-fraud.aspx

http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/fraudsters-steal-7-million-a-year-from-holidaymakers-mar14

A Place In The Sun

Posted on March 1, 2014 by traveljunkies

A Place in the Sun Live takes place at Olympia London on 28th-30th March 2014. It’s the official exhibition of the hit overseas property TV show and is the perfect place to find your holiday home, investment property or retirement pad abroad.

The Hub at A Place in the Sun Live

There’s a world of overseas property information under one roof including;

Over 150 property agents and developers selling thousands of properties

Homes of all kinds from just £20,000 to over £1 million

Specialist zones for France, Florida, Italy and Portugal with free specific buying advice

Free advice seminar and Q&A sessions with experts from across the industry

Exclusive show offers and discounts

Expert currency, tax and legal advice

Free copy of the latest issue of A Place in the Sun magazine

Meet A Place in the Sun’s TV presenters Laura Hamilton, Jasmine Harman, Jonnie Irwin and Amanda Lamb

Some of the highlights at A Place in the Sun Live