Posted in
Uncategorized by
admin on June 2, 2010

Travel nurses are healthcare professionals such as registered nurses or therapists who travel to various locations to work for certain portions of the year. They usually work up to four travel jobs per year. A travel nurse can work in any region in the United States and many International regions. Most nurses secure a travel nursing career through a reputable travel staffing agency.
A career as a travel nurse can be personally and financially rewarding. Most people who have experienced life as a travel nurse say it is an exciting profession and a great way to earn a living. A travel nurse will enjoy living in new and exciting locations, reside in wonderful accommodations, and work in excellent hospitals. Other benefits include:
Travel Assistance: Most reputable travel nurse agencies will arrange such travel details as directions and maps. They should also have a 24-hour emergency hotline.
Great Pay: While on assignment, travel nurses are offered comprehensive packages consisting of excellent pay with many benefits and bonuses. Annual earnings for an RN travel nursing jobs can be as high as $110,000.
Your Facility Choice: Most travel nurse agencies have available jobs in all 50 states and at the highest ranking hospitals.
Free Private Housing: Housing accommodations are selected by travel nurse agencies for their excellent services and amenities that may include spas, swimming pools, and fitness centers.
Flexible Work Schedule: Many nurses choose a career as a travel nurse because the stress of a traditional hospital can be the result of long hours and increased physical demands. Travel nurses have more flexible work schedules. It is often much easier for a travel nurse to plan for special engagements and vacations
Free Health and Dental Insurance: Travel nursing agencies offer many free comprehensive health plans to meet all their client’s needs. Dependents can also be covered at a nominal cost. Travel nurses can also receive supplemental insurance that provides income if they are unable to work as a result of a non-work-related illness. As well, professional liability insurance should be offered at no extra cost.
Work Protection Plan: A work protection program should be offered by a reputable travel nursing agency because it ensures that if a shift is cancelled, you will still be paid.
Travel Expenses Reimbursement: Most travel nursing agencies will provide travel allowance to nurses. Travel allowance may be given before you depart or as a reimbursement after you arrive.
Tax Advantage Plans: Tax laws allow full-time travel nurses to receive non-taxable credit for meals.
Licensure Reimbursement: Travel nurse agencies will reimburse nurses for their State Nursing Licensure fees for every travel assignment. They will also help travel nurses acquire a State Nursing License.
Auto Club Membership: Many travel nurse agencies offer a discount or free membership to an auto club. Travel nurses will have access to roadside assistance, hotel discounts, rental cars, free trip routing with detailed directions and maps, emergency check cashing, and no fee travelers checks.
401(k) Plan: Travel nurses can enroll in a retirement 401(k) plan where a portion of their earnings will go into a retirement savings plan.
Free Course Upgrades: Many travel nursing agencies will provide free education courses so nurses can keep up with new technology and education.
Referral Bonuses: Travel nursing agencies will give bonuses to travel nurses who recruit other health professionals into their travel nurse program.
While the pay and bonuses of a career in travel nursing are very rewarding, travel nursing positions are highly sought after. It is important that you keep up with modern education and experience. There are hundreds of agencies that specialize in placing travel nurses. Registering with several agencies will increase your assignment choices. With the right planning and knowledge, you will discover great joy with a career as a travel nurse.
Posted in
Uncategorized by
admin on June 2, 2010

Your travel agent can be an integral part of planning your vacation, especially when used wisely. A travel agent is an invaluable resource when you have decided to plan a trip. They can help prevent travel complications while at the same time getting you the best value. However, it is important to remember that each travel agent is different. So, to ensure that your travel agent is a good match for your needs, here are some common questions to ask.
Question 1 – What is your specialty?
It is important to know what your travel agent’s specialty is. He or she may specialize in certain destinations or products, such as cruises or adventure tours. You will also want to ask what types of travel your agent specializes in. For example, you would not want to book a trip for a large group with an agent who is not experienced in such services.
Question 2 – What are your fees?
Obviously, you know that you will be compensating your travel agent for his or her time, planning expertise, work, and advice, but knowing the fees upfront is always a good idea. Some travel agents work on commission, some charge a flat rate, and some charge per service. It is also best to be upfront about your travel budget and be clear that your total budget includes travel agent fees.
Question 3 – What are your hours of operation?
You will need to know when your travel agency or agent operates. Be sure to get the toll-free number in case of an emergency as well as an alternate number for after-hours necessities. If your travel agent has email or a website, you will also want to note that information as well.
Question 4 – What happens if something goes wrong?
Sometimes, it is impossible to avoid inconveniences while traveling. Such inconveniences may include a delayed or cancelled flight because of poor weather. Discuss with your travel agent what happens in such circumstances and how he or she responds to these problems. Always be clear on your travel agent’s policies.
Question 5 – Are tickets refundable?
If you’re working with a travel agent, it is likely that you are planning this trip well in advance. In addition to last minute inconveniences that may occur, such as poor weather cancelling a flight, things in your life may change as well. Find out if your trip is refundable, partially refundable, or if a cancellation fee applies. It is also a good idea to check if reservations can be exchanged.
Question 6 – Do you have special relationships with travel suppliers?
Many times, your travel agent will be able to get you a great deal, which may not be available to the general public. Cruise lines, tour companies, and hotels often offer perks such as upgrades, free parking, and other deals to travel agents who have worked with them before. If your agent has this type of influence, take advantage of it!
Question 7 – Have you traveled to my destination?
There is nothing like first-hand knowledge. If your travel agent has traveled to your destination, he or she will be able to speak from experience. A well-traveled agent will be able to make informed recommendations and provide sound advice as opposed to one who has not visited the areas you are considering.
Question 8 – Can I get a better deal if I travel on a different day?
This question is integral to establishing a better deal if your travel dates are somewhat flexible. Remember, even when working with a travel agent, peak travel times and seasons still apply. Let your travel agent know that while your original itinerary is ideal, if there is a better deal to be had, you may consider traveling at a later date.
Question 9 – Where can I learn more about my destination?
In many cases, travel agents will provide customers with information, such as brochures, about your destination. If the brochures are not sufficient enough for you, ask your travel agent where you could do a little more research. He or she should be able to easily point you in the right direction.
Question 10 – Will I need a passport or visa?
If you are not sure if you will need a passport or special visa to travel to your destination, ask your travel agent. If you do need a passport or visa, he or she will also be able to instruct you on how to obtain one.
Question 11 – What questions do you have for me?
Always ask your travel agent if he or she has any questions for you. Travel agents should always ask you a few questions about what you are looking for in a vacation. This is necessary so that they will be able to come up with the best itinerary for your interests and budget.
The best travel agent for the job is one who is willing to work with you, has extensive knowledge, and is receptive to your priorities as a traveler. However, you will need to ask the questions outlined above to get started. Remember, your agent should be more than willing to answer any of these questions, or any others that you may have.
Posted in
Uncategorized by
admin on June 2, 2010

These days, many families have their put their vacation plans toward the bottom of their list of priorities. During tougher times, a vacation can seem to simply cost too much money. However, if you are thinking about going on a vacation, you might want to look into working with a travel agent to save money on vacation expenses. Working with a travel agent to plan your vacation means you might be able to afford the trip you thought you would have to put off until next year. For this reason alone it is definitely worth exploring the possibility. So how can working with a travel agent save you money?
Your travel agent will help you get the most out of your budget
Whether your travel budget is $500 or $5,000, working with a travel agent is probably the best way to make the most of your money. Especially if you’re traveling on a tight budget, the skills, knowledge, and experience of a travel agent can be invaluable.
Just make sure when you’re discussing travel plans with your agent, you are absolutely clear about how much money you have to spend. If you want to travel as cheaply as possible, make sure your travel agent understands this so that they have a good idea of the types of travel and accommodation they should be finding for you.
Your travel agent can quickly access a number of providers
Travel agents typically have access to a large network of travel, accommodation, and activity providers. With computer systems that provide access to travel agents all over the world, they can quickly locate details of discount travel providers in many countries. This is one of the main reasons why working with a travel agent is a good idea when you’re on a strict budget. They have access to a large number of different resources, software, and industry contacts, all of which they can use when hunting down the best bargains.
Your travel agent knows the cheapest times to travel
Some days are less expensive to travel on than other days. Red-eye flights and stand-by flights can be less expensive, but direct flights can cost more than taking a circuitous route that involves several different connections. Your travel agent should be very knowledgeable on the process of all this and knows that flights booked on Friday, Sunday, and Monday are generally more expensive. You stand a better chance of saving money on flights if you’re flexible about your travel dates.
In addition, your travel agent can quickly tell you if your vacation plans fall within a peak season during which flights to your destination are significantly more expensive. This means that you can modify your travel plans if you wish. Changing plans may include a cheaper destination or traveling during the offseason to save money on your flight.
Advanced booking is another factor that your travel agent can use to help you get cheaper flights. You should be booking at least six months ahead to get the most affordable tickets. Your agent should tell you that the holiday season is always a relatively expensive time to travel, no matter how far in advance you book.
Your travel agent has access to bulk discounts and consolidated tickets
If you’re willing to travel as part of an organized tour, your travel agent can help you access travel and accommodation. There are also specials for activities that are significantly cheaper than what you would spend if you did the same activities alone. This is because as part of a tour you can take advantage of bulk discounts. You can even organize your own tour through your travel agent, and the organizer might get to travel for free!
Consolidated tickets provide you with the chance to save on your air travel costs. A consolidated ticket is simply a ticket which was purchased by the agent as part of a large group of tickets sold by the same airline. The agent gets a bulk discount on the tickets and can pass that discount on to their clients.
Your travel agent has industry contacts and experience
This translates into money being put back into your pocket. Your travel agent may be in regular contact with many industry professionals, and might be able to get you a great deal on a tour being planned by another agent. If you’re flexible with travel times, your agent may advise you to adjust your trip dates to travel during a cheaper part of the week, potentially saving you hundreds of dollars in travel costs. An experienced agent should have expert knowledge of your travel destination and can provide advice on budget accommodation and activities. The agent may often be able to provide discount coupons, free passes, and other incentives.
Best of all, none of these advantages come at a price! You can take full advantage of the wealth of knowledge and experience that your travel agent provides, and can potentially save a great deal of money in the process.
Posted in
Uncategorized by
admin on June 2, 2010

Tourists
The origin of the word “tourist” date back to 1292 AD. It has come from the word ‘tour’. A number of experts have defined the term:
“Tourists are the voluntary temporary travelers, traveling in the expectations of pleasure from the novelty and change experienced on a relatively and non-current round-trip”.
“Tourist is a person who makes a journey for the sake of curiosity for the fun of traveling”.
Tourists are:
-Persons traveling for pleasure, health and domestic reason.
-Persons arriving in the sea of sea cruise.
-Persons traveling for convention.
Tourism – the first commercial venture.
A religious Englishman called Thomas Cook in 1841 arranged, for a fee, a one –day rail excursion from Leicester to Loughborough for 540 members of a temperance league. Thus the first bona fide travel agent was Thomas Cook.
While Cook himself did not make a profit on this first venture, he was a man of vision and was convinced that there was a need for a skilled “travel arranger”. So by 1845 he had become the first full-time travel agent, operating train excursions from Leicester. The next year he chartered a train and steamer for an excursion to Scotland for 330 people. In 1851 Cook arranged ocean steamship travel and accommodations for more than 1,50,000 visitors to the World Exposition in London and in 1856 he operated the first escorted “grand tour” of Europe. Tours to Europe and Middle East were also conducted and, in 1872, the first around the world tour was conducted.
Tourism as a Service Industry
Tourism as a service industry comprises of several allied activities which together produce the tourism product. Involved in the tourism product are three major sub-industries. They are: -
1. Tour operators and travel agents.
2. Accommodation sector (hoteling and catering) and
3. Passenger accommodation.
According to international estimates, a tourist spends 35% of his total expenditure on transportation, about 40% on lodging and food and the balance 25% on entertainment, shopping and incidentals.
The product in this case is not confirmed to travel and accommodation but includes a large array of auxiliary services ranging from insurance and entertainment and shopping, demand generation, in addition to the consumer motivation, is also heavily dependent upon powerful persuasive communication both at the macro (country) level and the micro (enterprise) level. The participants in the process of this service business can be illustrated by the figure below.
Some of the pointers to nature of tourism as a Service Industry
1. Tourism accounts for nearly 6% of world trade.
2. Bulk of tourism business is located in Europe and North America. , with 1/8 of the market being shared between the other regions.
3. The highest growth rate in tourism in recent years has been in the third world.
4. Tourism, like most pure services, because of the character of inseparability, exemplifies a product, which cannot be sampled before purchase; the prospective consumers have to travel to a foreign destination in order to consume the product.
5. The major players in the tourism market include a number of intermediary companies. Some of them transnational in character, some of them exhibit
vertical integration, both backward and forward, acquiring interests in all major sectors of this service industry.
The Tourism Product- Factors Governing Demand.
Because of the unique nature of the nature of tourism product- it being an amalgam of the characteristics of a destination and the infrastructural as well as managerial efforts of the promoter, the determinants of tourists demand emanate from both individual tourist motivations and the economic, social, technological factors. Some of these are:
• Income Levels
In the last 30 years, disposable incomes around the world have shown upward trends, thus allowing more money for activities like leisure travel. Smaller families have meant higher allocations per person in the family. More and more women are entering the workforce and in real terms the cost of travel has fallen. The dramatic rise of tourism in the last 50 years can be attributed in a large measure to the combined effect of more leisure time and rise in both real and disposable incomes.
• More Leisure time:
Increasing unionization of labour right from 1930 onwards has reduced the number of working hours per week. Changing managerial orientations towards human resources have increased the levels of pay and paid vacation time in most developed countries. Now people have longer periods of leisure, which could be allocated to travel.
• Mobility
Better transportation and communication services have made the world a smaller place, and have brought both exposure and awareness of distant lands to larger sections of potential tourists across the world. Faster modes of transport have cut down on travel time, making it easier for people to economically plan and execute trips abroad.
• Growth in Government Security Programmes and Employment Benefits:
The growth in government security programmes and well entrenched policies of employee benefits mean that quite a large number of families may have long term financial security and may be more willing to spend money for vacations.
Tourist Classification:-
Tourists can be classified into the following seven demand categories:-
1. Explorer: – Very limited in number, these tourists are looking for discovery and involvement with local people.
2. Elite: – People who favour special, individually trips to exotic places.
3. Offbeat: – These are filled with a desire to get away from the usual humdrum life.
4. Unusual: – Visitors who are looking forward to trips with peculiar objectives such as physical danger or isolation.
5. Incipient mass: – A steady flow, traveling alone or in small-organized groups using some shared services.
6. Mass: – The general packaged tour market, leading to tourist enclaves abroad.
7. Charter: – Mass travel to relaxation destinations, which incorporate as many as standardized, developed world facilities as possible.
The Travel Decision:-
The average tourist is faced with considerable uncertainty regarding the decision and may have only scanty ideas about distant destinations. His evaluation of alternatives is also limited to the extent of this awareness about possible destinations. The stages of travel decision can be described as: -
1. Travel Desire:-
The first step where the need to travel is felt and the pros and cons are thought about.
2. Information Collection and Evaluation:-
This stage involves the process of finding out the trip from travel agents, books and acquaintances . information so collected is evaluated against criteria of cost and time constraints, alternative possibilities, relative attractiveness of destinations, perceived ‘safety’ o the alternative destinations etc.
3. Travel Decision:-
This is the decision phase involving selection of destination, travel, mode of accommodation and activities to be undertaken.
4. Travel Preparation and Experience:-
This involves tickets, bookings, travel, money and documents arrangement, clothing and undertaking of the travel.
5. Travel Satisfaction Evaluation:-
The whole tourism expenditure is constantly evaluated before, during and after the experience is used to influence future decisions.
The marketing concept for the travel and tourism industry is profit driven and customer centric (unlike sales which are volume driven and target centric).
Service Marketing Triangle
Service marketing is unique in many ways in the travel and tourism industry. There are 3 players in the transaction process:-
- Company: A travel and tourism company listens to the customers and evolves/develops the travel/tour package and it communicates the attractiveness and the utility of that very tour package directly to the customers. Here it (the company) performs external marketing. The company makes promises to the customers.
- Providers: They are a travel company’s internal customers constituting employees and agents. The company does internal marketing with the providers educating and motivating them about the idea of the particular tour package which they can offer to their customers. This is done to enable the providers to effectively carry out the service transaction process. The providers make provisions for office space, accessibility and connectivity. The company enables promises to be kept by this infrastructural association.
- Customers (Travelers): The customers are the reasons that the travel company exists and for whom the company has designed the traveling and touring package as well as set up the infrastructural facilities and spent money on employee development programmes. Here the providers are the only ones who interact with the customers, like the travel agents interact with the customers and not the company. The agents perform interactive marketing which is on-time, all-time, every-time. This is the most crucial aspect of service marketing in the travel and tourism sector. Those agents have the responsibility of ‘keeping promises’ made and enabled by the company. The providers (agents) are responsible for the perceived quality level of the service transaction. This underlines the uniqueness of service marketing.
Tourism Products:
1. Accommodation
• Hotels
• Motels
• Boatels
• Flotels
2. Destination
• Natural Scenes
• Historic Excellence
• Artificial Beauties
• Social Cultural Excellence
3. Transportation
• Infrastructural
i. Airways
ii. Railways
iii. Roadways
iv. Waterways
• Local
i. Local transport
4. Tour operators
• Travel companies
• Travel agents
• Guides
5. Shopping
• Handicrafts
• Handloom
• Books
Marketing mix for tourism product:
The designing of the marketing mix variables in case of tourism is significant as it helps the marketer in conceiving the right ideas, particularly to raise the acceptability of the tourist product by stimulating and penetrating the demand. Framing of a proper marketing mix is significant because it helps the tourist organization in accomplishing the objective and projecting a fair image.
Product Mix:
Tourism is a composite product with components like attraction facilities and transportation. Attraction deserves an intensive care. It includes natural site, places of historic interest, events and cultural attraction.
The facilities compliment attraction. The facilities include accommodation, food, transportation and recreational facilities. The transportation component includes the vehicles and infrastructure. Innovation in the tourism product helps raising the sensitivity. The users of the service are looking forward to better and improved product.
The provider of the tourist is a travel agent or the package tour. A well conceived and designed package tour, covering a wide range of tourist attraction at an economic price, helps in attracting the potential tourist.
The travel agent performs numerous activities such as hotel arrangement and accommodation, site seeing arrangement, domestic transport arrangement, air travel arrangement etc.
In a true sense the tour agents and the travel agents are the vehicles who can give a fillip to the tourism industry, provided they are well trained.
Pricing:
Pricing of the tourist product is complex. Geographical location of the destination, seasonality and varying demand affects the pricing decision.
In India the pricing strategies become important for promoting or contracting the tourism industry, since more than 40% of the total population are below the poverty line. In order to develop the tourism industry more and more potential users are to be transformed into actual users.
When a tourist proposes to visit a particular place, the total cost of his traveling also include the expenses incurred on transportation, accommodation and communication.
Liberal pricing strategy is found to be a productive pricing decision, particularly in case of tourism industry. The pricing strategy which includes low income group people, student and retired persons can be more effective. This is possible if the government concessional and subsidized infrastructural facilities to the potential tourist below the average income.
The different pricing methods generally used are cost based pricing, demand based pricing and competition based pricing.
Promotions:
The promotion mix includes advertising, publicity, sales support and public relations.
The purpose of promotion is to make available the information to the user. Advertising the sales promotion can be effective when supplemented by publicity and personal selling.
Radio, TV, newspapers, cinema and printings are some of the important vehicles for traveling of messages. Effective slogans raises the effectiveness of advertisement.
Another important component of the promotion mix is public relation. It helps in projecting the image of an organization. Public relation and publicity include regular articles and photographs of tour attraction, use of TV and travel journalists to promote editorial comment.
Public relation officer plays an important role. He should be efficient, active, impressive, intelligent and well-behaved.
Good image projection can be made if the PRO manages the affair like a professional. It is said that word of mouth is the best form of publicity. The word of mouth promotion is an important tool in tourism marketing.
Place:
The tourist centers should be located at suitable points if the tourists spots are natural there is no question of selection. In a vast country like India with a divergent socioeconomic and cultural patterns, the promotion of domestic tourism encourages unity in diversity.
Infrastructural facilities, transport and communication are important for development of tourist centres. The site selected should have natural surroundings, increased accessibility and improved amenities. At the same time it is also important that the ecological balance is not disturbed. Since growing ecological imbalances leads to pollution, some important steps like promoting afforestation, promotion and beautification may be undertaken in countering the side effects of atmospheric pollution and maintaining ecological balance.
Posted in
Uncategorized by
admin on June 2, 2010

Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } <!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Wingdings; panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:2; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 268435456 0 0 -2147483648 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p. MsoNormal, li. MsoNormal, div. MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:. 0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12. 0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8. 5in 11. 0in; margin:1. 0in 1. 25in 1. 0in 1. 25in; mso-header-margin:. 5in; mso-footer-margin:. 5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div. Section1 {page:Section1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:1703945296; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:-1535873982 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:?; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-. 25in; font-family:Symbol;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} –> /* Style Definitions */ table. MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:”"; mso-padding-alt:0in 5. 4pt 0in 5. 4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:. 0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10. 0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”;}
Choosing a travel agency to handle your next vacation as opposed to dealing directly with an airline presents numerous benefits. Here are a few of the benefits you enjoy:
Wealth of information
Because of their experience and wide connections with people in the hospitality industry, travel agencies are in the best position to provide sound advice when it comes to the following points: off peak and peak travel times, budget travel, hotel and meal deals, excursions, shopping bargains, and other tourism-related topics. Much will depend on your preferences. For instance, are you interested in a golf holiday, a fishing trip, a museum jaunt or a spa type of vacation?
Discounted fares
Travel agencies and online travel agencies are great for bargain hunting and usually get the best deals from their network of contacts. They also purchase air tickets on volume, consolidated tickets, enabling them to buy air tickets at considerably higher discounts.
Extended network of suppliers and providers
Given that travel agents deal every day with hotel managers, restaurant owners and managers, bed and breakfast supervisors, tour operators, limousine companies, and other people who offer a specialized service, they know who and what are offering better prices and when. So travel agents have a wealth of information on just about anything related to travel, and because they network with other travel agents, they get to exchange valuable tips. Consider yourself fortunate if you happen to be dealing with a travel agent who seems to know “just about everyone” in the travel industry and who can offer you the discounts that she reserves for preferred clients.
Group discounts
If you tell your travel agent that you and your friends want to travel together or that you’re taking your family of four on a Kenyan safari, he or she might be able to slash off more dollars from your air tickets because you will be travelling in a group. Sometimes, when you buy three adult tickets, travel agents will let your four-year-old travel for free or at a much lower price. Travel agents can, at their discretion, extend courtesy discounts to groups. The more seats are bought and the more rooms are booked, the higher the discounts they receive.
Perks
Travel agents also have access to suppliers and service providers who hand out “bonuses” or perks. These are the nice extra incentives that say, hotel managers would give to agents so that the next time the travel agency has a large group of travelers, they choose the same hotel. Meal vouchers are another example that travel agencies have a constant supply of to give to loyal customers. For example, if you and your friends like to visit Las Vegas a lot, your travel agency may give you slot chips worth $50. 00 to use on machines, or free passes to a stage show or concert. So you see, it does pay to develop good relationships with travel agencies especially if you’re a frequent traveler.
Specialization
Some travel agencies specialize in certain types of travel and cater to a certain age group or specific professional groups. Some travel agencies have more strengths and capabilities than other travel agencies. One travel agency may know the ins and outs of Eastern Europe or may know what the best budget restaurants in Tokyo are. Other travel agencies may cater specifically to retirees, students or government officials.
When a travel agency handles a large account like a mid-size company whose executives travel weekly, you can be sure that travel agency is in a position to offer significant savings on plane tickets or hotel reservations. If you have a friend who works for a large company and his company uses one travel agency, you could ask him to request the travel agency for special deals. Because travel agents are grateful for the continuing patronage of their company clients, they will most likely share tips on how to travel on a shoestring budget for the executives’ children.
Don’t let one unfortunate experience with a travel agency discourage you. Find another. If you deal with the airlines directly, you’re just another caller to them, whereas if a travel agent calls the airline on your behalf, the airline will recognize the travel agency as a regular customer and hence would be more inclined to extend courtesies.
What you need to do before calling a travel agency is to decide:
· Specific travel dates
· Where you want to go, where you want to stay and whether you’ll need a car or rail passes
· If you’re willing to travel on a restricted ticket or as a standby passenger
· What activities you’d like to do once you arrive in your destination
By giving your travel agency complete information, she can be more efficient in helping you plan your next vacation.
Posted in
Uncategorized by
admin on June 1, 2010

There are more than five reasons an online travel agency can save you money but the top five is a great start. Global statistics are pointing to the trend that online shopping for travel deals is way ahead of online shopping for books, electronics and clothing. For example, in Canada, about 45% of Canadians in 2007 looked for an online travel agency to book their travel, that’s a 9% increase from 2005 reports.
Here are the top five reasons why an online travel agency can save you money:
1. No overhead – many online travel agencies don’t have a physical location where they have to purchase furniture, supplies, and hire staff. In fact, many online travel agents operate from the comfort of their homes. All they need is a high speed Internet connection and access to global reservations systems. So the money they save on rent, utilities, personnel and other logistics constitute savings they can pass on to their customers. By booking online, you also save on trips to and from a travel agency in your area. You not only save money, you save precious time and gas.
2. Comparison shopping – by searching for travel deals online, you have the luxury of comparing prices provided by various online travel agencies. The idea is to read the fine print. You can compare them on the basis of:
· Actual fares and discounts
· Package deals
· Coupons and freebies
· Travel insurance
· Group discounts
· Last minute bookings
· Variety of travel deals (do they specialize in a particular country or to a particular age group?)
· Senior citizens’ deals
· Hotels and meals and transportation
· Tour guides
· Penalties for cancellations
That’s the beauty of online shopping. You’re not scampering from one travel office to another just to get an idea on prices. You can compare online deals and then narrow down your choices to three, ten or fifteen. If you have time on your hands, you can really save yourself some money by doing diligent research.
3. Ticket consolidation – many online travel agencies have access to a database of discounted tickets. Sometimes when they have excess inventory, they are forced to get rid of as many tickets to make way for the next travel season where they can purchase in bulk. Travel agents usually share information on discount tickets that are still available for sale, and prices are reduced on these tickets for “selloff. ”
Air travel consolidators allow customers to compare airfares from as many airlines as possible for a specific route and for a specific time period. Not only can you save money on your ticket, but you can also find the best flight that suits your schedule best.
4. Wide network of travel-related services – online travel agents, through frequent bookings and constant research have a wealth of information that some travel agents with no online presence don’t have. Because of their ability to network rapidly with various people who work in hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, railway and restaurants, online travel agents are able to find the best deals for you.
The name of the game is called “relationship building. ” Through frequent contact, online travel agents can squeeze out more discounts and free coupons from tour operators and hospitality establishments like hotels and restaurants. Instead of spending $10. 00 for your lunch while travelling, your agent can offer you a meal ticket in exchange for your business, not to mention the fare discounts they are also able to offer.
5. One-stop shopping – travel writers know about the “clout” of travel agents. When it comes to flight arrangements, rental cars, tour excursions, cruise information and accommodation, and hotels, travel agents have a lot of clout. They can provide a complete travel package, including shuttle service to and from the airport and even the services of a personal tour guide if requested. By doing all your travel and travel-related shopping with a reputable online travel agency, there is no telling how much you can get done within a short amount of time.
Note that your online travel agent has more buying power than individual passengers when it comes to airline seats, hotel accommodation or cabin space in the yacht.
It used to be that travelling last minute was expensive. Not anymore with online travel agents! In many cases, unsold seats on flights or unsold rooms in hotels are offered to travel agents a few weeks before departure date at considerably discounted rates so they can be sold immediately. If you are travelling last minute, ask your online travel agent for last minute budget deals. Chances are you might get what you want, provided your travel dates don’t fall within peak travel times. But you have to ask, not assume that it will be offered automatically!
Posted in
Uncategorized by
admin on June 1, 2010

When planning a trip to Europe, there are a ton of available resources for travelers. With this is mind, it is often time-consuming to wade through all of the websites to find really valuable information.
Here is a list of some of the top travel resources for planning a trip to Europe.
1) Wikitravel
This is one of the best sites for travel available. It is open source, so it is constantly updated; further, it is usually locals or people who have direct, experience with an area who contribute information. Thus you get localized information you might not have gotten elsewhere.
2) World Travel Tips
This is a huge, comprehensive resource for world travel. It includes forums, articles, links, free membership and much more for every continent. Their European section covers every European Country and offer in-depth information about each one.
3) About. com: Europe for Visitors
This is a great site dedicated to travel in Europe from About. com. Geared towards everyone from first time to experienced travelers, it is a goldmine of European travel and planning information.
4) Virtual Tourist
This is a great travel guide. Their motto is ‘real travelers – real info. ” This seems consistent with the site, which has everything from transportation reviews to the best travel deal and trip planners. The site also includes forums where you can read about other people’s adventures in Europe.
5) Travel Europe
This is an swicki (cross between a search engine and wikipedia) where community users can add, remove and improve the results. This particular swicki is geared towards travel in Europe and is a great resource fro planning a trip to or in Europe.
6) Visiteurope. com
This is the European travel commission’s guide to Europe and is packed with tons of useful information, articles, advice and much much more.
7) Europe for Visitors
This is a site that offer European news, general advice, specific country advice, hotels, links to city guides, tourist offices and much, much more.
8. ) Europecities. com
This is a comprehensive portal site that offers European city reviews and guides to hundreds of European cities and over 40 European countries.
9) Travel Library
Travel Library is an impartial resource for travelers and offers a plethora of resources that offer in-depth travel information, from hotel and hostel ideas to travelogues and most popular locations.
10) Europa: Traveling in Europe
A huge site that offers tools and information for over 30 European Countries. Each country has their own site dedicated to travel resources, information news and more from that country. Categories for visitors include: documents you will need, choosing a time to travel, getting there, staying healthy, money, shopping, communicating, pets, and if things go wrong.
11) Europa: Your Europe
While this site is geared towards European citizens, it still offers tons of great information for visitors outside of Europe. Information categories include: working in Europe, education and study, living in Europe, traveling in Europe, consumer protection, European citizenship and diplomatic protection.
12) European Union Website
This is the official website of the European Union. It offers news, educational resources and tons of links to information about what’s going on in Europe and well as youth travel portals, travel guides, transportation information and much, much more.
13) Yahoo Answers
This is a great place to ask questions and get answers about anything Europe related. You ask the question and get a number of answers, then choose the answer that fits your question best. This site is great because it gives you several points of view to read and learn from and is focused on sharing knowledge.
14) Travels Wise
This site offers tons of information about travel in Europe and countries including Belarus, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Iceland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, and the Ukraine.
15) Rick Steves’ Travel Tips
This site is a large portal site that offers tips and advice for exploring Europe safely, effectively and confidently. From packing tips and safety to accommodations and communications, you will find what you’re looking for.
16) Travel Punk
This site offers travel tips and advice targeted at backpackers, budget travelers and tourists. Offers tons of great information as well as travel tools and resources for finding cheap flights and accommodations.
17) TERC Europe Travel Tips
Offers tips on traveling in Europe and categories run the gamut from packing tips and staying healthy and safe to money matters, budget planning, food and accommodations and much more. It is a huge site that is well worth visiting for any Europe travel-related needs.
18) Accessible Journeys
This is an awesome travel site that offers a wealth of information, tips and travel advice about accessibility and traveling in a wheelchair. With information on everything from traveling with your wheelchair or scooter to equipment rentals, handicapped parking permits in Europe and accessible ways to travel, it is a great resource.
19) Europe Travel Tips
A large portal with tons of travel tools, articles and information about travel in 40 European countries, from Austria to the United Kingdom.
20) Independent Traveler
Great site offering lots of travel tips and advice to independent travelers.
21) Travel-and-transport. com
This is a highly useful portal that offers basic and necessary transportation information for Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway and Sweden. New to the site is a route planner that is especially handy.
22) Travel Notes: Europe
Comprehensive travel notes and advice for traveling throughout Europe. Lots of links, resources and tools for travelers.
23) Open Travel Info
Great travel site with a large amount of travel and Europe related information. The forums and articles are especially useful.
24) Discover Europe
Another excellent portal site that offers a wealth of tools, resources and links for travelers to learn about different European countries and plan their trips effectively and efficiently.
25) World 66: Europe
This is a great wiki site that allows members (free) to change and information. It has a great travel guide, maps, and resources for getting to Europe and getting around it. Members can also post photos and there is a cool photo gallery of different places in Europe. Well worth checking out.
26) Backpacker. net
Geared towards backpackers, this is one of the better sites for information, advice and travel planning for backpackers. Users can submit and read recommendations for hostels, tours, bars, beers and much more.
27) WorldWideBackpackers. com
This site is another excellent resource for backpackers and other travelers. While it is geared towards backpackers, there is a wealth of rich information for all travelers, so you should definitely pay them a visit.
28) Gate 1 Travel
This is a travel site for Central Europe. there is a wealth of information that is super handy; they offer info from climate and clothing advice to packing, required travel documents, travel insurance, transportation, communication and much more.
29) Backpackeurope. com
This is another site that is geared towards backpackers in Europe but is highly useful for all travelers. Has Europe travel tips, advice on packing, hostels and hotels, transportation and links to other travel resources.
30) Gemut. com
This is a great travel site that offers visitors advice on everything from car rental and rail travel to hotel reservations, money matters and much more.
31) Travels With Friends: Travel Tips for Europe
Travel tips and advice from planning your trip to executing it. The site’s creators travel Europe and research sites, accommodations, destinations and much more, so there is great, first-hand information available on all aspects of travel in Europe.
32) Suite 101: Eastern Europe & Russia Travel
Travel, culture and trip planning and advice. This is an excellent resource for finding out more about Eastern Europe and its cultures.
33) Traveler’s Point
Europe advice, tips and travel help for all European countries.
34) Budget Travel Online
Great site offering ideas, how-tos, advice and tips for travelers.
35) Yahoo Travel
Yahoo’s comprehensive travel site offers a wealth of information on all European Countries and many of its countries. Another great resource to check out.
Posted in
Uncategorized by
admin on June 1, 2010

Sell off vacations info dot com website is a unique and therefore an extremely important travel website on the internet in modern times, its importance is that the website alone, allows the traveller full free access to some of the most detailed travelling articles ever written on the internet today.
The sell off vacations info website have a unique function within the travelling community, which resolves the most important aspect of choosing the exact vacation, vacation rentals, flight to any where in the world, booking the ultimate luxury cruise, or even finding the most affordable hotel or booking the destination car rentals.
The uniqueness of the travel website is its unique feature of collecting and collating the vast array of the finest travel and adventure holiday articles and travel guides from the best sourced and knowledgeable travel authors, then offering the unique opportunity to the traveller to study in depth, the destination and travel, guides and destination and travel articles even before booking the vacation, vacation rentals, booking business flights, booking flights, cruises, hotels or car rentals.
The advantage of this unique service to the traveller is that the travelling website will not charge a cent for freely accessing the vast array of travel articles, this reading service is absolutely free and with no commitment to buy any products or services mainly as we don’t sell services or products, so you have no fear of hidden charges or any payment pre-conditions.
This complete travelling articles service is provided free and paid for by the very kind sponsor, the travel website, sell off vacations dot info, which pays for/sponsors the uniquely free travel articles and destinations guides. All in all without the kind sponsorship from sell off vacations dot info, this unique service would not be available and the travelling public would be deprived of this unique service and facility.
To the average traveller to from all countries of the world, booking and purchasing a vacation, flight, cruise, vacation rentals, car rentals is only the first step in the complicated function of taking a well earned and well deserved vocational pursuit and returning from the sell off vacations, holiday relaxed from a stress free pre-planned and pre-prepared vacation.
The importance of pre-planning and pre-preparation is one of the key attributes of booking and then enjoying a trouble free vacation, vacation rentals, and Caribbean cruise, business flight, flight and even car rentals all these ordinary and every day endeavours, which is likely to be accomplished many times a day by ordinary people throughout the world.
But to have any possibility to accomplish a successful travelling venture, prior to the vacation, one must research the relevant travel articles and use the relevant details – relevant to your individual needs, and through preplanning and combined with the preparation, which is necessary prior to the start of the vacation, expect to accomplish a relaxed, stress free and successful vacation, holiday, or flight without the hassle often experienced on the last minute panic type of travelling experience.
There are definite advantages associated with booking your vacation, holiday, business flight, flight, hotel, car rental and even your vacation rental on line with you the paying consumer in control of simple function of online booking facilities.
The paying consumer accepting control and empowered to search for and identify the exact travel package that is best suited to your individual needs, based on the simplified facts found in the free travel articles, free articles on sell off vacations info dot com, even include articles specific to travel tips of the most important tasks involved in selecting your travel package easily and effectively on a needs led basis, and tailored to your own intimately specific needs specifications and all through the efforts of you making important informed choices.
The unique facilities of sell off vacations info dot com and its kindly sponsored partner sell off vacations dot info allow the consumer to select their ideal needs based travel package at sell off prices – through informed choices and unique sell off vacation search facilities, which allow the consumers a unique opportunity to bypass the high street travel agent.
We are now at the critical stage of the valid and often hidden or certainly not publicised, the intricate workings associated with booking your vacation, holiday, trip vacation rentals, luxury cruise, Caribbean cruise, even the simple booking of a hotel and car rentals. Using the combined websites – sell off vacations info dot com and sell off vacations dot info, the consumer have an unique opportunity to book and purchase their travel package online and benefit from sell off vacations prices
To justify visiting these two unique travel website and paying less through sell off vacations online, then it is extremely important to understand the intricate workings of the high street travel agent, at this stage, must be considered.
To enter a high street travel agents premises and book your vacation, you will automatically, without any doubt, increase your travel package quite significantly, especially when you consider, the travel agent, at best, will be booking your travel package from the same, or very similar, travel agents booking facilities that is offered on sell off vacations dot info.
The exception, to this rule is two fold; firstly, sell off vacations dot info, have a unique opportunity to search the travel agents database facilities for vacations at last minute sell off travel package prices, which are sold at sometimes significantly reduced pricing just to increase the passenger capacity of individual airlines throughout the world – this sell off facility in the depressed financial times is even more important to both the airlines and the travel consumer, than a decade ago.
I am not suggesting the high street travel do not have access to similar sell off vacation prices, but, consider one very important aspect of the high street travel agents and the way in which they are forced to compete.
Secondly, imagine for a moment you enter your high street travel agents office, with the intention of booking and purchasing a vacation package.
The sales representative will input your particular travel package query into the intensive travel agents database. I suggest, the high street travel agent representative will be presented with a long list of possible relevant booking prices and each selection will display differing prices – search sell off vacations dot info, and the travel search results will display a large pricing difference which the booking travel agent will ultimately offer to the potential customer as a selection.
At this important stage of the articles argument, we must consider influences on an individual high street travel agent representative, which may have an adverse influence on the selections that could be considered to be relevant, and not necessarily based on the finances or worse still the individual travel needs of the potential travel customer which will be processed through the booking agent.
Consider the high street travel agents have physical premises, and these premises can present a financial burden – rents, leasing, utilities- electricity to power the computer networks and lighting heating, and more importantly employer/employees salaries and commissions – sometimes large commissions, on each on each and every travel vacations, vacation packages, luxury and basic amenities cruises, vacation rentals even booking hotels and car rentals.
So, with a multitude of pressures on the travel agent representative – critical decision making is even more critical, if the travel agent representative’s salary is commission based, the higher the vacation package sale price the possibility of more financial remuneration, and in this credit crunch times, with families organisations cutting back immensely their travelling commitments, the high street travel representative may be facing financial pressures, stressed workloads, which may be beyond anything they may have experienced previously, and may have an adverse influence of their decision making associated with selecting the needs based travel vacation holiday package available to the consumer.
Buying your vacation related packages from sell off vacations dot info, you will be presented with similar travel prices from similar global travel booking databases, the travel package prices will also include sell off vacation prices which offer the potential travel consumer an extremely affordable travel package options, and even more amazing the potential travel customer/consumer will bypass some high street travel agent representative sometimes adversely difficult travel packages decision making and select the exact travel vacation, holiday package based on individual needs – financial needs and individual preferential needs.
The travel vacations decision making will be based on the expertly written advice contained in the free travel and destination articles and free guides freely available on sell vacations info dot com and her sponsor partner travel website sell off vacations dot info.
Posted in
Uncategorized by
admin on June 1, 2010

Cutting travel program fat without compromising strategic objectives
The global economic downturn is hitting business travel where it hurts: According to a new survey by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), more than 70 percent of U. S. travel managers plan to spend less on corporate travel in 2009. The results represent a sharp shift from an earlier ACTE poll (Sept. 2008), which found that only 33 percent of U. S. travel managers were planning on cutting travel spend in the year to come.
While the ACTE survey may have focused on the U. S. , the challenges faced by travel buyers and travel managers cut across all sectors of the globe. From reducing travel to tightening travel policy, and from renegotiating with suppliers to adjusting travel behavior, travel program stakeholders are intent on cutting trips and curbing expenses.
The silver lining to the financial storm clouds, says Kathy Jackson, executive vice president.
Story highlights:
* Travel buyers and managers now able to make changes that were impossible in the past
* New role for account managers in understanding and supporting client business drivers
* Changes to travel policy, approval process, traveler behavior are leading savings mechanisms for cost-conscious companies
* Demand management and online technologies are key supports
For Global Client Management at BCD Travel, is that the economy is enabling travel buyers and their respective teams to make changes that, quite frankly, have never been achievable in the past.
The challenge, adds Jackson, is to save on travel spend without compromising on business objectives: “As hard as it may be to foresee, the recession will not last forever. Companies will need to emerge from the downturn with plans for growth and solid business relationships in place- and travel is a crucial element in supporting growth and retention initiatives. “
Teri Miller, senior vice president for Global Client Management in the Americas for BCD Travel, sees a major opportunity for travel management company account managers in the current situation: “Account managers need a deep understanding of the customer’s business drivers to enable them to anticipate and add value, rather than react. As an example, if a client is closing manufacturing plants in three countries, our account manager will explain how travel patterns will shift as a result, illustrate what effect that may have on supplier contracts and provide a plan for optimizing potential impact. “
What steps are BCD Corporate Travel clients taking to combat the recession?
Companies need to look beyond the big-ticket items, says Jackson, and filter adjustments through every component of a trip. “It may be tempting to focus exclusively on air ticket costs, but for some programs, air may make up only as much as 20 percent of total T&E expenditure. Our account managers, often with the support of a consultative engagement from Advito [the independent consulting branch of BCD Travel], help clients focus on the total cost of trip, including hotel, ground transportation and even restaurant costs. “
A list of some of the decisions in which BCD Travel is supporting its clients’ recession-management travel strategies is below.
The choices and decisions being made represent a major opportunity for companies to make lasting beneficial changes to their travel programs, says Jackson: “As with any diet, success is incumbent on making change a way of life, not a 30-day wonder regime. “
Changes in travel policy
Growing corporate cost-consciousness is manifesting itself most prominently in the refinement and enactment of more stringent travel policies. Among the common cost-cutting elements BCD Travel is seeing: shifting from business class to coach class (variations include mandating coach class for all travelers regardless of hierarchical level and increasing the business-class flight-time threshold); down-tiering hotels (i. e. , three-star instead of four-star); mandating the use of public transport rather than taxis; and retaining frequent flyer miles for business travel rather than personal travel.
BCD Travel is also seeing an increase in the use of rail and low-cost carriers within EMEA, says Felix Vezjak, senior vice president for Global Client Management in EMEA: “Companies are much more likely to accept what were formerly seen as inconveniences (i. e. , secondary airports) in exchange for savings. However, particularly in the case of low-cost carriers, companies need to ensure that their travelers always use the preferred booking channels (online booking tool and agency) of choice to ensure adequate reporting and security tracking. “
For further suggestions on refining and enforcing travel policy, see our Feb. 2009 article “Reliance on compliance. ” Changes to travel approval process
Whether it’s instituting an official approval process where one might not have existed or – as is more common – making existing processes more restrictive, this cost-cutting method is winning wide-spread support among BCD Corporate Travel clients as an easy “quick win. “
As part of a concerted travel-cost reduction effort, one of BCD Travel’s global clients, which has over US$450 million in annual travel spend and more than 325,000 employees worldwide, changed its travel approval process radically to incorporate the following:
# No travel unless approved by a vice president on a single trip basis (<150 VPs in the company)
# No last-minute travel (under seven days’ advance purchase) unless approved by an executive vice president (<15 EVPs in the company)
Demand management (travel reduction or travel freeze)
More and more companies today view demand management as one of the biggest opportunities they have to control or reduce costs without compromising their overall business goals and requirements.
Among the possible steps companies can take to reduce travel demand:
# Eliminate all non-client-related travel
# Freeze attendance at industry conventions and conferences
One BCD Travel client refers to internal meetings as the “mother of all travel,” and has implemented the following methods to reduce the travel they generate:
# Prioritize video/web-conferencing for internal meetings
# Reduce number of meeting participants (all participants must be on agenda)
# Require meetings to be planned around travel, rather than vice versa
# Eliminate hotel nights before and after the meetings
# Choose meeting venues based on total cost, including travel and employee time spend
Travel management company as educational and staffing resource
BCD Travel has played an important role for several major clients in helping educate travelers and travel arrangers on a range of subjects in order to improve their ability to support the companies’ savings initiatives. For some clients, BCD Travel account management has provided workshop sessions for travel bookers; for others, the company has created “Tips and Tricks” documents for cost-savvy travel that clients have made available to all travelers.
Some clients have also had to face internal downsizing, resulting in the loss of key travel personnel. In one recent case, following the departure of the travel manager, BCD Travel has been able to dedicate a resource to that role. The account manager has also supported the client by conducting analyses to forecast further headcount reduction ahead of online adoption drive. This headcount reduction has been written into the budget for 2009.
Increased use of online booking tools
In order to save on transaction costs and streamline processes, companies are increasingly mandating that all domestic or point-to-point travel be booked online. Online tools can also play an important role in supporting changes to the travel policy and to traveler behavior, says Miller: “Companies can modify booking tools to ask travelers about the necessity of a trip or offer alternatives to the journey before proceeding to booking. “
Program consolidation
Finally, says Jackson, the economic downturn may present a significant “carrot” for companies that had been looking into consolidating their travel services regionally or globally: “Consolidation of multiple country services into a multinational service center, for example, can represent considerable savings in resource and process costs. However, companies must be sure that their organization is prepared to fully support consolidation in order to fully achieve the benefits. That means asking questions like, ‘Do we have a consistent travel policy in place that spans the markets involved? Are there language constraints that would be met by the service center?’”
Posted in
Uncategorized by
admin on June 1, 2010

Guide To Prague City Breaks
Knowing where to go in Prague while on a break either during traveling through or stopping and staying is to know something about the city itself. Prague is the Capital of the Czech Republic and a famous historical city as well. Prague is known for hosting events like the Film, Music, and Writers Festivals as well as Fashion Shows. There is more money going through Prague than most places in all of Czech.
Prague Hotels & Sights
Prague has a wide range of hotels offering luxury and budgeted stay. The famous hotels of Prague are Corinthia Panorama, Corinthia Towers and Hotel Hilton Prague. Not to mention Prague has some of the most inspiring architecture around, one such is the St Martin Rotunda with its beautiful rounded design and historical significance. What about the grand Prague Castle and the glorious St Vitus’s Cathedral with its many spires and stained glass windows. Both of these will inspire even the most hardened of hearts and give you a memory you will never forget.
Prague City Break Attractions
There are other magnificent Churches you can visit while you are on your Prague city break, the Church of St Nicholas that brings the old world style and modern glamour in one. Then there is the view of the Wenceslas Square or the Prague Gardens such as the Petrin Park. The bridges in Prague are something else that should not be missed one fine example is the Charles Bridge.
The Neo Gothic towers of St Peters and St Paul, here you can see where myth and legend meet history are viewable by anyone and everyone as the first seat of Czech Princes and Princesses. You will also want to visit the Astronomical clock dial, which was made in 1410 by Mikulas of Kadan and Jan Ondrejuv called Sindel. There is also the National Museum to visit, the Rudolfinum or House of Artists and of course the many art galleries. You can find yourself basking in history or mixing it with the modern world.
Getting Around Prague
While on your Prague City Break you might find yourself wanting to spend more than a few hours wandering around and need a place to stay. Well with the new Ruzyne Airport only 20 km northwest getting there is easy, public transportation made up of trams and Buses or car rentals you can get around Prague easily and efficiently. There are many hotels in Prague to choose from Corinthia Panorama, Corinthia Towers and Hotel Hilton Prague to renting an apartment.