Taking off Travel blog

Relax and enjoy your business trip with these tips

When traveling for business, it’s all go and it’s no wonder that busy executives sometimes get stressed out. But there’s a lot you can do to reduce the hassle of business travel, and it starts right from the planning stages.

Planning And Booking Your Business Trip

Gone are the days when planning a business trip meant schlepping to travel agencies or spending hours on the phone. You can search for the best route online, and make travel arrangements that are both cost effective and comfortable. And it’s not just the actual flight you can book - you can also pre-book accommodation, offsite airport parking, rental cars and sightseeing trips.

Fly direct if you can, but if you can’t, then leave some flexibility in the schedule. This is good both for missed connections and for your own health. Making your connection a couple hours later than your inward flight will free you from a possible five mile jog across an airport with your luggage. Believe me, I’ve done it and it’s no fun at all. Read more »

I love looking around the travel blogosphere to see what’s new. This week I’ve decided to look on the Alltop travel site, of which the Taking Off Travel Blog is a proud member. Here’s a flavor of what you can find. The Conde Nast Daily Traveler has a post on cheap chic hotels, otherwise known as ‘properties that have grown up in the last few years and are aimed at people traveling on a budget but who don’t want to compromise on style’. Meanwhile, the Intelligent Travel blog from National Geographic is in a festive mood, highlighting some Mardi Gras moments.

I’ve been following the Travel Rants blog on Twitter, and Darren has always got something interesting to say. This week, he’s discussing the treatment of disabled travelers. If you’re in the mood for a rant, then weigh in on the issue of security fees at Rick Seaney’s blog. Read more »

When I first started traveling, we gave very little thought to the effect of travel on the places we visited. That has changed. Along with eco-friendly travel, people are talking about sustainable travel and responsible travel. But what exactly is it, and does it mean we can’t have fun any more? Not at all.

What Is Responsible Travel?

A simple way of looking at responsible travel is that we should be aware of the impact of our travel choices. The ResponsibleTravel.org site describes it this way:

With the opportunity to travel, however, comes a new responsibility to all travelers to ensure that their activities do not upset or destroy the very cultures and environments we choose to visit.

Lonely Planet has a great article on the topic which says it is ‘assessing our impact on the environment and local cultures and economies - and acting to make that impact as positive as possible.’ Read more »

There’s a lot more to planning a business trip or a holiday than simply booking travel, making airport parking reservations and finding accommodation. These days you can find out a lot about where you’re headed by visiting sites for countries, cities, destinations and attractions. The only trouble is that those sites are designed to sell you on the delights of the places you are visiting. To find out what actual travelers think, you need to browse the travel forums. Here are nine forums where you can start your research.

Try these forums to plan and discuss your next trip

BootsnAll Travel is all about independent travel, with stories and blogs to make destinations come to life. The forum is sorted by destination, with active discussions of travel issues on all the major continents and regions.

Business Traveller, the magazine for business travelers worldwide, has been around since 1976. Its forum deals with any subject related to travel, with the most popular topics being airlines, airports and frequent flyer programs.

Cruise Critic is the place to go if you are traveling by sea. With five million plus members, there’s a wealth of information on everything cruise related. The forum also includes discussions of individual cruise lines. Read more »

Use these tips to get discount business travel

Everyone wants an upgrade, but it’s not always easy to get one. But instead of waiting till you’re checking in, you can arrange to travel in style and save money too with a discounted first class or business class ticket.  Let’s face it, who wouldn’t want a better, more comfortable seat, more leg room and perks and freebies? Here are some starting points for getting discount business travel and discount first class travel.

TravelTek

Traveltek specializes in discounted premium airfares, and claims to offer savings of between 40 and 70 per cent. In some cases, that could mean that your business class ticket is not much more expensive than an economy class fare - and far more comfortable. TravelTek offers fares to Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand - and also offers discounted domestic fares through United, American and Continental. Read more »