2008 Woodie Awards
Students planning summer trips should look online
Yekaterina Barilov
Issue date: 4/24/06 Section: Arts & Entertainment
4/24/06
Travel Web sites are making it easier to plan a vacation. A good place to start is Yahoo's Trip Planner. This gives you an opportunity to organize your travel plans and browse through accounts of other people's trip experiences.
Travellers post highlights, hidden gems, ways to save money and warnings about tourist traps and places that rip you off.
Trip planners also have saved trips that are already planned out day by day and a list of hotel options, transportation and things to do. People who take the trips can rate them and write feedback. This is at .
The Web can help with passports, too. If you're a United States citizen, you only need your passport, which allows you to travel freely though Europe and in countries like Mexico and Canada. If you're a permanent resident and green card holder, you will need to apply for a Shengen Visa.
Don't just look on one site like Orbitz or Travelocity, which rarely give you the cheapest rates for plane tickets on the Internet. Take the time to do some research.
The Mercury News prints a weekly travel section every Sunday that contains a summary of the cheapest flights online to popular destinations like Paris and Madrid.
It's a good idea to check for yourself since there are often possibilities to save hundreds by making an extra connection or two.
Another possibility is to go with a company like STA Student Travel or Eurotrip. These specialize in low-budget travel packages around the world and can provide you with housing options, transport, airfare and things to do all at once.
They also offer travel insurance, which protects you from losing money on things like delayed or cancelled flights, medical bills, lost baggage and offers 24-hour assistance. You can find them at and http://www.eurotrip.com.
If you're planning on traveling to a popular destination you have several options for accommodations. The cheapest way to go is a hostel, which can range from $20 to $40 a night. Although not exactly luxurious, hostels usually attract young students from around the world and the staff is friendly and helpful and speaks English. These are also good places to find information about things to do around town and meet people.
Many Web sites book hostels but http://www.hostelworld.com is the most popular and provides ratings of every hostel by other students. More than 80 low-budget airlines provide service throughout Europe reaching as far south as Egypt and as far east as Russia.
Two helpful sites offer comparisons between all 80 airlines. These are Attitude Travel at http://www.attitudetravel.com/lowcostairlines/europe/#map" and Which Budget at http://www.whichbudget.com/. Both provide direct price comparisons based on your destination and country of departure. Which Budget also provides cheap flights in the United States.
For train travel, besides the Europass, about 5,000 different rail passes are available to students. Rail Saver helps you to choose and compare rail passes and also offers a good choice for those who don't yet have a specific itinerary. You can find them at http://www.railsaver.com.
For students who prefer to stay on the American continents, international travel is possible by visiting Mexico and Canada - both close enough for weekend road trips.
When traveling to Mexico make sure to visit cities beyond the usual Cancun and Tijuana. They can often bring rewarding surprises. Plan to spend about an hour or two at the border on a good day, and make sure to bring proper documentation, so the police won't fine you heavily for not carrying your green card or passport.
For anyone traveling across the United States, Southwest Airlines is an economical option. Trips can run as low as $49 and as high as $300. The price depends on availability and the time between the ticket purchase and date of flight.
Make sure to check in early and plan way in advance (think ahead no less than 21 days to get the cheapest ticket).
If tickets are not available, they will let you fly stand-by, which means you get on the plane if somebody else doesn't make it. This is expensive and risky.
Road trips can be rewarding if carefully planned. Yahoo Travel has a lot of possibilities like a planned out drive down Highway 1.
Travel Web sites are making it easier to plan a vacation. A good place to start is Yahoo's Trip Planner. This gives you an opportunity to organize your travel plans and browse through accounts of other people's trip experiences.
Travellers post highlights, hidden gems, ways to save money and warnings about tourist traps and places that rip you off.
Trip planners also have saved trips that are already planned out day by day and a list of hotel options, transportation and things to do. People who take the trips can rate them and write feedback. This is at .
The Web can help with passports, too. If you're a United States citizen, you only need your passport, which allows you to travel freely though Europe and in countries like Mexico and Canada. If you're a permanent resident and green card holder, you will need to apply for a Shengen Visa.
Don't just look on one site like Orbitz or Travelocity, which rarely give you the cheapest rates for plane tickets on the Internet. Take the time to do some research.
The Mercury News prints a weekly travel section every Sunday that contains a summary of the cheapest flights online to popular destinations like Paris and Madrid.
It's a good idea to check for yourself since there are often possibilities to save hundreds by making an extra connection or two.
Another possibility is to go with a company like STA Student Travel or Eurotrip. These specialize in low-budget travel packages around the world and can provide you with housing options, transport, airfare and things to do all at once.
They also offer travel insurance, which protects you from losing money on things like delayed or cancelled flights, medical bills, lost baggage and offers 24-hour assistance. You can find them at and http://www.eurotrip.com.
If you're planning on traveling to a popular destination you have several options for accommodations. The cheapest way to go is a hostel, which can range from $20 to $40 a night. Although not exactly luxurious, hostels usually attract young students from around the world and the staff is friendly and helpful and speaks English. These are also good places to find information about things to do around town and meet people.
Many Web sites book hostels but http://www.hostelworld.com is the most popular and provides ratings of every hostel by other students. More than 80 low-budget airlines provide service throughout Europe reaching as far south as Egypt and as far east as Russia.
Two helpful sites offer comparisons between all 80 airlines. These are Attitude Travel at http://www.attitudetravel.com/lowcostairlines/europe/#map" and Which Budget at http://www.whichbudget.com/. Both provide direct price comparisons based on your destination and country of departure. Which Budget also provides cheap flights in the United States.
For train travel, besides the Europass, about 5,000 different rail passes are available to students. Rail Saver helps you to choose and compare rail passes and also offers a good choice for those who don't yet have a specific itinerary. You can find them at http://www.railsaver.com.
For students who prefer to stay on the American continents, international travel is possible by visiting Mexico and Canada - both close enough for weekend road trips.
When traveling to Mexico make sure to visit cities beyond the usual Cancun and Tijuana. They can often bring rewarding surprises. Plan to spend about an hour or two at the border on a good day, and make sure to bring proper documentation, so the police won't fine you heavily for not carrying your green card or passport.
For anyone traveling across the United States, Southwest Airlines is an economical option. Trips can run as low as $49 and as high as $300. The price depends on availability and the time between the ticket purchase and date of flight.
Make sure to check in early and plan way in advance (think ahead no less than 21 days to get the cheapest ticket).
If tickets are not available, they will let you fly stand-by, which means you get on the plane if somebody else doesn't make it. This is expensive and risky.
Road trips can be rewarding if carefully planned. Yahoo Travel has a lot of possibilities like a planned out drive down Highway 1.
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