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Destinations

An Introduction to Spanish Culture

February 20, 2009 by admin Leave a Comment

You arrive in a foreign country, tired and jet lagged, and within a short time you have offended the local people. You wonder what you did wrong, how could you possibly offend them? You know that you did nothing different than what you normally do at home and you wonder if this is the problem. Often, we expect people to do things exactly the way we do things at home. This is why you need to have an introduction to Spanish culture and try to avoid offending the local people.

Some people come back from their vacations and they say the country was full of foreigners. What they fail to understand that we are the foreigners. Our culture is foreign to them and they will expect us to encompass their culture and not expect them to conform to our culture to make us feel more at home.

Many people might find it surprising that in some areas, very few Spaniards actually speak English. This can be quite a challenge; especially if you find learning a new language difficult. Some people who can speak English won’t speak it because they feel that, as a visitor, it is our place to communicate with them. Some of this goes back to the culture of the country. It is wise to try to learn at least some of the language.

Food is a big part of the Spanish way of life. Paella is a dish that is generally associated with Spain, but there are far more dishes which are part of the culture of Spain. The dishes change as you move to different parts of the country.

With the change in life in Spain, some of the cultural ways of life are also changing. Some of the religious customs still remain but many have been replaced. Casual clothing is acceptable, but beachwear should be worn at the beach or pool. If you need to wear a black tie, then you will normally be informed about that. Eating in the evening is a late affair, normally after 9 pm.

Fiestas are also part of the Spanish culture and they are celebrated with wild parties and a time for a holiday. There are many festivals celebrated and you can get a real understanding of the way of life for the Spaniards.

* January sees the San Sebastián festival which is a short event and the whole area dresses up for the occasion.
* February is the time for Carnaval to be held, which is held throughout the country.
* March sees Valencia having a week long celebration called Las Fallas, which involves all night dancing, drinking, fireworks and processions.
* March/April is Semana Santa which is the week before Easter. There are many parades through the streets. Seville is the best place to witness these parades.
* April is the time for Feria de Abril which is a week long party.
* July is the Running of the Bull festival.
* The last Wednesday in August is La Tomatina where the people of the Valencian town of Buñol use the surplus of the tomato harvest by throwing them around in a riotous fashion.
* August is another time for heavy drinking along the North coast where the Semana Grande occurs.

This will give you an introduction to Spanish culture so you can enjoy your vacation to Spain.

Filed Under: Europe

Airfare For World Travelers

February 19, 2009 by admin Leave a Comment

There is so much beauty around the world that many of us may never get to experience because of never having enough money to possibly even consider planning for something so huge. What you need to know though, is that it can be possible, if you do the right research. Do not let the fact that you are not super wealthy keep you from experiencing this wonderful world that surrounds us. The best way to achieve something such as having the ability to travel the world would be to do the research, if you can believe it, you can achieve it. Cheesy right, but I am serious, the world is really at your fingertips and if you could just experience a small piece of it, your life would be more joyous and the memories of traveling these locations are simply irreplaceable.

By choosing locations that are much more well known, your chances of being able to find better deals will really increase. Many travel consolidators will give you the very same advice, for when you are choosing your travel destinations that you will be able to afford. Choosing destinations that are popular, will give you the opportunity to be able to enjoy planning for a beautiful far away vacation of your dreams, because of all of the airliners competitors that are out there. You could have the option of purchasing a tour package, which includes the airfare and your lodging or hotel expenses, so make sure that you inquire about these kinds of deals when talking with a travel agent or going through a travel consolidator for these purposes.

Perhaps you have thought about traveling to Europe before, if so, you may want to consider flying to London. Because of it not being in such a remote location and it being such a popular tourist attraction, the expenses will be much cheaper. If you can plan a trip to London by purchasing a packaged deal then you will get off much cheaper in the long run. Once you arrive you can choose to take a train to all of the many other more remote locations throughout the day. It is cheaper visiting these locations this way, instead of considering actually having to purchase airfare to fly to all of these areas, that is where you would run into much more higher expenses.

If you would rather choose a North American experience for your much needed vacation, then you should probably think of considering purchasing airfare tickets to wonderful, exciting, Las Vegas. This is a very, very popular destination that many people choose to experience atleast one time in their lives. Because of it being so popular and such an enormous tourist attraction, you will find that they offer some of the greatest deals, more so than many other locations would ever dream of offering. Las Vegas is known best for its affordable vacation packages and when purchasing airfare to Las Vegas it is known for having some of the cheapest offers available to you that you could ever imagine, when thinking about traveling some place fantastic for a vacation.

Filed Under: Europe

Airfare During The Holiday Seasons

February 19, 2009 by admin Leave a Comment

Every traveler has their own way of doing things, thinking they may be able to save a little time and money, most importantly money. Airfare can be really quite expensive as most of you know, so finding ways to cut back on some of those costs is a very important part of your holiday travel planning. By looking at all of your options when deciding to plan your holiday travels you will be giving yourself the ability to save a substantial amount of money, instead of breaking your pocketbook before your journey even continues, leaving you feeling frustrated and irritated. Traveling is about having fun, not fretting these little mishaps that could turn into being big mishaps financially.

Having the ability in finding possible reduced airfare prices during the holiday seasons can be rather difficult but highly probable, if you play your cards right. Most businesses jack up their prices throughout the holiday seasons because they know that most people will pay that extra money no matter what, in order to get where they need to be and returning back when they need to. Some people will pay more than they had ever imagined during these times of the year but you do not have to settle for these unbelievable prices hikes.

Choosing the correct departure date when traveling during the holidays is much more important than planning the preferred returning date. Departure times mean more than anything else, when it comes to finding little ways on being able to save quite a bit of money on airfare during holiday travels. If you are not an experienced traveler but you know someone who is then you should definitely consider discussing your airfare options with them so that you can increase your chances of finding a cheaper airfare during the holidays. It is possible with the right amount of research and learning the in’s and out’s of the airfare prices at differing times of the year and how they base their ticket price depending on what time it is that you will be traveling, departing and then returning.

Just like with shopping malls and stores, so many will increase their prices because they know the amount of shoppers will increase at this time and no matter what prices they have to pay, the people will be paying it if they have to. The same goes with airfare pricing during the holidays. Even if you can not find a great bargain on your airfare you still have places that you have to be at certain times and you more than likely will pay that extra, if needed to. The amount of travelers also increases during the holiday seasons. What people forget though, just like with shopping, you will find the right discounts, if you take the time out to do so and do the right kinds of researching before planning your holiday travels. It is worth every cent to ask around and research before you take the plunge and just end up settling with some ridiculously high holiday airfare tickets.

Filed Under: Europe

Airfare Consolidators

February 18, 2009 by admin Leave a Comment

Airfare consolidators have the ability to save the air travelers hundreds of dollars on their chosen airfare. If you have never gotten tickets this way, then you should consider going into any travel agency and inquiring about an airfare consolidator. They will be able to provide you with the information on getting an airfare consolidator for your airfare tickets. When choosing a reliable, trustworthy, travel agency, you will have the ability in allowing them to purchase these tickets for you, without charging you too much for them, in order to do so.

Keep in mind though, that the consolidated airfares will change on price, literally from minute to minute. Keeping this information updated online is almost impossible, so it is best to contact your travel agency and they will be able to take care of all of it for you, so you do not have any worries. They will contact the airfare consolidators and get direct up to date information from them on purchasing a ticket and what it will cost you and how long you have to purchase it at that price. Going through a travel agency will save you so much time from all of the headaches of planning to get a good consolidated airfare ticket for your travels. Saving money on airfare will give you that assurance of knowing that you will now have more money to enjoy while you are away on your trip.

Knowing for sure that you have chosen the right travel agency for your traveling purposes, can be a quite difficult and frustrating task. Do the proper research available to you on the internet, for what questions you may need to ask when choosing the right travel agency and what you should be able to expect from the travel agency that you do end up choosing, for your traveling guides and instructions on purchasing a cheaper airfare ticket, by choosing an airfare consolidator for your purposes.

Some of the things you will need to look for when searching for a good, reliable travel agency would be, does the agency have an ARC number, are they a member of the International Airlines Travel Agent Network, and always make sure that they are a member of the Outside Sales Support Network. These things are vital to know when you are deciding which travel agency to choose from for your travels.

Some may not think that it really matters which travel agency you choose but finding a trustworthy travel agency makes all the difference when it comes to everything being planned properly and correctly and not having to spend more than you should. The only disadvantage of using an airfare consolidator is that you may not get everything completed as quickly as you had hoped. Finding these kinds of deals can sometimes take more time than you may be wanting to spend on purchasing cheaper tickets for your travels. Just keep in mind that if you have chosen the right travel agency, you can rest assured that they will get the job done for you, with hardly any complications. In many cases, most of the airfare consolidators will only sell to a very qualified travel agency, because of the standard set by the United States Air Consolidators Association.

Filed Under: Europe

Airfare Can Be Confusing To Understand

February 18, 2009 by admin Leave a Comment

Understanding airfare can be quite confusing for some inexperienced air travelers. The concerns about how much you may end up paying for your airfare is sometimes so overwhelming that you just simply decide that you can not afford to fly, so you may decide to spend hours and hours or days and days driving, spending all of that money on gasoline and being so exhausted that you can not even enjoy yourself. That is just NOT the way to travel. If you are contemplating purchasing airfare for your travels you need to shop around when doing so.

There will be many affordable options available to you, if you take the time out and do the right kind of research. You just have to know where to look and allow yourself enough time to plan for your flight, so that you are not stuck waiting until the last minute, that never helps you in saving money. Most people are always in a big hurry to get where they are going, there is no quicker way than to go by flight. If you can allow yourself enough time to pick and choose from different airfare tickets that are available then I am sure that you will find that affording airfare is something that can happen.

Once you get online to purchase your airfare tickets, you may find out that it is more confusing than it is helpful. There are just so many different things to consider and choose from, that it sometimes feels impossible to actually make the decision. Some of the things that you should remember when searching online for airfare tickets is that you have many options when choosing which type of airfare you are needing for your trip. Roundtrip tickets are available to you, so are last minute tickets and you will also find discounted tickets and depending on where you may be going, they also offer international tickets to you.

Roundtrip airfare are tickets where you have the ability to depart from the airport and return to the airport with just one ticket. Having only one ticket to have to keep up with is a great thing, in this busy world that we all live in. This is for sure the most popular type of ticket to purchased for your traveling purposes and many times you will find that these types of tickets can be much cheaper than some of the others and you can purchase these right from your home computer.

I do not even want to talk about last minute airfare, whoa, let’s just say, NO! This is not the type of ticket that you would really want to consider purchasing if it can at all be avoided. Discounted airfare tickets can be found on the internet as well, just be prepared to plan for these tickets far in advance. International airfare is not very popular anymore, as you would imagine. Whatever your expectations may be when it comes to finding reasonably priced airfare, just keep in mind that it is available but you may have to be more flexible and you might not always get the seats that you desire. You have to give a little to get a little, right.

Filed Under: Europe

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