Vacation Home Rentals

posted by Vacation Home Rentals on Jul 16

Going somewhere for a holiday or need to get to a wedding or cruise?  Start shopping early!  There have been capacity cuts on all the airlines these last couple of years, so there will be fewer seats for those holiday flights. 

If you’re going on an impromptu trip, you can look and book at the last minute, but if if it is a special occasion like  Christmas or Mother’s Day or a wedding or that cruise, booking a flight at least six weeks ahead is probably a good idea.

Internet booking gurus say it is better to book your flight online is a Monday or Tuesday.  Airlines typically lower fares early in the week and raise them again toward the weekend.  Start your quest for booking a flight with a search engine that does a comprehensive fare search…. on a site like Kayak.  You should get more flight options with the best schedule and price.

If you want to save money, consider driving to a smaller airport.  Airfares can be cheaper from those outlying airports and parking may be cheaper too.  If your time off allows it, try to fly on non-peak days.  (For instance — in the U.S., avoid the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after… those are definitely PEAK travel days and will be the most expensive.)

Dont limit your search effort to the big search engines.  Check airline sites in your search for booking a flight.  Airlines pay commissions to other booking engines, so more and more they are posting the best air fares on their own sites.  There may be specials that other search engines can’t find.  These specials often pop up for a short time, and they’re usually not advertised.

It’s best to avoid itineraries that involve several connections or several airlines.The more stops you have, the greater your chances for missing a connecting flight.  You might save a couple of dollars if every thing goes right, but you’ll have a real headache if things go wrong…. and if you’ve got to be there, a couple of extra bucks for a non-stop or direct flight is well worth the peace of mind!  Get up early and catch the first flight… it’s the one that is least likely to be delayed.

If you MUST be there for that holiday or wedding or cruise, we suggest booking your flight at least 24 hours before you need to be there.  If you have a connection, make sure there is enough time to get to the next plane… even if the first one is delayed.  Look for a minimum connection time of two hours. 

Weather delays happen summer or winter and the airlines are not responsible for these.  They will not compensate you.  They will try to get you on the next available flight, but that might not be until the next day, and if you haven’t allowed enough time, you may miss the boat or the wedding.

Be smart when you’re booking a flight online, and your vacation will get off to a good start…. and you’ll get home on time.

posted by Vacation Home Rentals on Apr 11

Air Travel-Pros and Cons

The popularity of air travel has been increasing in the past few decades.  Air travel is convenient and safe and these are the main reasons that have contributed to the increase in popularity of air travel.  The following are some of the positive and negative factors involving air travel.

Disadvantage: Airplanes Cause Pollution.

Pollution is the biggest problem caused by air travel.  Airplanes emit greenhouse gases into our atmosphere which contributes to things like global warming.  Global warming increases the average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere and people who want to avoid such a rise in temperature are alarmed by this effect.  In order to overcome this problem many airlines nowadays make efforts to become more environmental friendly. One of the ways in which this is achieved by many of these airlines is to retrofit winglet devices that make the aircraft fuel efficient.  In addition, many airlines have started upgrading their fleet of aero planes to modern fuel efficient aircraft by spending millions of dollars.

Disadvantage: High Cost

One major disadvantage in traveling by air is its cost. In many instances it is inexpensive to travel by car to certain destinations instead of going by air. There are ways to get around this by taking advantage of discount
airline travel.  You can decide to fly in case you get a very good deal on your airfare.

Disadvantage: Fear of Flying

Many people refrain from flying.  In case anybody flew in a flight which experienced extreme turbulence or some type of other event they feel terrified and hence do not prefer to fly.

Advantage: Speed of Travel

The greatest advantage about air travel is that it is much faster to reach between places as compared to other means of travel; however these places have to be connected by air. The duration of travel by road between two different places in the United States may be a few days as compared to travel by flight which will take only a few hours. The savings obtained in this mode of air travel gives you an opportunity to enjoy your vacation for a longer period.

Advantage: Easy to Travel Long Distances

Air travel also allows us to travel to faraway places that would otherwise be too difficult to travel to.  We can fly to any destination around the world. Flying to far off destinations takes longer duration; however they are still shorter than the time taken if you had to rely on alternative modes of transportation.

Advantage:  Safety

With regards to other forms of travel, air travel is considered to be one of the safest.  We normally hear more about car accidents taking place as compared to air accidents. Similarly, there is no dearth of train accidents. As regards to air travel related accidents you will find that the frequency of occurrences is relatively minimal. For many people this makes it an easy decision to choose air travel over any other form of transportation.

Choosing air travel is a personal decision, based on the factors discussed above along with a multitude factors not discussed here.  For most travelers safety, speed of travel and cost are the over riding factors.  As long as cost remains affordable air travel will continue to grow in popularity.

posted by Vacation Home Rentals on Apr 10

Pros and Cons of Air Travel

As the decades have passed air travel has continually grown in popularity.  There are a wide variety of reasons that have contributed to the increase in popularity including convenience and safety.  The following are some of the positive and negative factors involving air travel.

Disadvantage: Airplanes Cause Pollution.

The biggest drawback for traveling by air is the pollution.  Emission of greenhouse gases by the airplanes into our atmosphere results in things like global warming.  For those people that try to limit their impact on the planet this could be a serious drawback.  Nowadays many airlines are taking necessary actions to reduce the global warming effect by becoming more conscious about the environment. One of the ways in which you could do this is by retrofitting winglet on the aircraft that makes the aircraft fuel efficient. In addition, many airlines have started upgrading their fleet of aero planes to modern fuel efficient aircraft by spending millions of dollars.

Disadvantage: High Cost

High cost of travel makes many people avoid traveling by air. It is frequently much less expensive to fuel up the car and drive to where you need to go instead of flying.  There are ways to get around this by taking advantage of discount
airline travel.  You can decide to fly in case you get a very good deal on your airfare.

Disadvantage: Fear of Flying

Many people simply do not like to fly.  In case anybody flew in a flight which experienced extreme turbulence or some type of other event they feel terrified and hence do not prefer to fly.

Advantage: Speed of Travel

The greatest advantage about air travel is that it is much faster to reach between places as compared to other means of travel; however these places have to be connected by air. Driving in United States between places could take you a number of days whereas you could cover this distance in a few hours by flight. This gives you extra days for enjoying your vacations because you save a number of days by traveling by air.

Advantage: Easy to Travel Long Distances

In case you have to travel to far off destinations you will find that it is difficult to travel by any other mode other than air travel.  We can pretty much travel to any destination around the globe by air.  Flying to far off destinations takes longer duration; however they are still shorter than the time taken if you had to rely on alternative modes of transportation.

Advantage:  Safety

It has been found in general that air travel is the safest form of travel as compared to other travel modes. Every year you will find a lot of fatal accidents occur because of car travel. It is also not uncommon to read about train derailments as well.  This is not to say that air accidents do not take place; however frequency of such accidents is very small.  For many people this makes it an easy decision to choose air travel over any other form of transportation.

Choosing air travel is a personal decision, based on the factors discussed above along with a multitude factors not discussed here.  For most travelers safety, speed of travel and cost are the over riding factors.  As long as cost remains affordable air travel will continue to grow in popularity.