Taking off Travel blog

According to a recent study vacation planning makes us happier than taking a vacation. I found this little titbit through a post on by Christine Garvin on the Matador network, titled The Truth About Happiness and Travel. In it, the author examines this study and finds that there might be some truth in those results but I began to think about how this applies to my own situation, and concluded that I didn’t entirely agree.

Planning A Trip

For me, while there is some anticipation in the planning stage  of a trip (mainly because I’ll be thinking about a really great place) this part of the process can also be stressful. That could be because I’m a control freak — or to be a little kinder to myself, like to get every detail right. When making decisions about how to travel and where to stay, I have no idea how it will turn out. Depending on how good my research is, that might be a cause of stress.

Where’s The Fun?

I agree with Christine Garvin that some parts of travel aren’t as much fun as they could be. As I said before, when ranting about the things that annoyed me about travel, spending hours in queues even when you are using the fast bag drop, the interminable security process, cramped seats and poor airplane food (when you get any) make the journey to your destination not that much fun. Some people relax the minute they decide to go on holiday; I only relax when I’ve reached to where I’m staying. (I’m not saying that’s the way to do it; that’s just the way I am.)

Vacation Travel — Still A Thrill

Where I disagree, however, is in finding that the actual vacation experience is less thrilling than I anticipated. Generally speaking I really enjoy vacations. They represent a good chance to see, do and eat something different. They are a change of scene. It doesn’t much matter whether I am traveling for a short while longer period — I still enjoy the experience of being in a new place. Keeping some perspective also helps make vacation travel an enjoyable experience. If you don’t expect everything to be the same as it is at home then you will find difference exciting rather than exasperating.

For me, this was the best point Christine made in her post:

The point of travel is not only to achieve a high return on happiness – it’s also to learn about ourselves, other cultures, and even to be challenged to grow via those pesky annoyances.

I definitely agree with that.

I’ve never been mugged on vacation. That doesn’t mean that everywhere I’ve travelled to has been a walk in the park. Caracas is no picnic but I managed to spend a month in the city without getting into serious difficulty (unless you count the scary night I’ve already told you about). Staying out of trouble is often a matter of common sense. Here are some travel safety tips that will make your vacation more enjoyable.

Safety At Home

First of all, give yourself less to think about taking care of safety and security at home. Get someone you trust to look after your house keys and emergency information and to swing by your home every so often to make sure that everything is okay. Put delivery of mail and publications on hold and use timers to program your lights, TV and radio to give the illusion that your home is occupied. Let your neighbors know that you will be gone so that if they see someone in your home who shouldn’t be there they will alert the police. Read more »

I’m just back from a trip to Florida, in the Hollywood/Dania Beach area. (It seems the person who planned the area was originally from California, hence the name.) It was fun. Flying in and clearing security went smoothly, and we were through in less than half an hour. Just as I was thinking we’d be in the pool by 2, we hit a snag – the extremely lengthy Alamo car hire process. We had prebooked so it should have been smooth. Instead we had to wait for the rep to:

• double check our reservation
• try to con us into upgrading to a bigger vehicle (for more money)
• try to sell us insurance coverage which we already had
• get a GPS system

Finally, we had to be bussed to the Miami offsite airport parking lot to collect our car. Most of the time when I hire a car, the reps give me the car that’s available. With this Alamo rental, we had the novelty of walking to the appropriate parking lot section and picking anything we wanted – and all of them were quite big enough for our luggage, despite the rep’s dire warnings.  We plugged in the GPS (later to be christened the ‘gremlin’ but that’s another story) and away we went to our hotel, one of the Marriott chain.

Pool at Marriott Springhills Suites, FL

The room was spacious, though the bathrooms needed a refurb and we had a great view of the pool and a few palm trees. (Overall, we thought the hotel was a good choice, as it was close to places to eat, local attractions and Interstate 95 without being too noisy.) Free internet access and breakfast added to the value. By about 4.30 we were finally able to hit the pool, which was practically deserted. That’s what you get for traveling at the tail end of the season when most kids are back at school.

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Flexibility can help cut vacation costs

We’re all feeling the pinch of the current economic climate. Everything costs more, while many of us have less ready cash, so how do you have a good holiday anyway? Here are some tips for reducing the cost of your vacation – not just at this time of year, but all year round.

Grab That Fare Now!

If you see an unbelievably low fare on the dates you want to travel, book it immediately. You can almost guarantee that it won’t be there when you return. The word from travel agents (just in case you hadn’t already noticed) is that fares have gone up and seat numbers have gone down. That means it’s a seller’s market for air fares and there’s no incentive to discount.

Sacrifice Some Of Your Holiday

It’s great to be there on the key holiday dates, but you could save a fortune if you sacrifice some of that family time and travel on the holiday itself. The cost of your ticket will fall, and if you’re not going too far, you could still be there in time to enjoy the holiday festivities. Whether you’re traveling for Christmas, New Year’s, Thanksgiving or Labor Day, this will make your trip more economical. Read more »

Indy Park Ride & Fly

Indy Park Ride & Fly and 1st Class Express Airport Parking, two offsite airport parking facilities servicing Indianapolis International Airport (IND) have merged to create a bigger, better Indy Park Ride & Fly in conjunction with the opening of the airport’s new Midfield terminal.

“After 11 years and over 1.5 million parking stays, we’re extremely excited to relocate to the new Midfield terminal,” says Amy Strohmeyer, Indy Park Ride & Fly’s General Manager. “Our new Indy Park Ride & Fly facility will hold more than 2300 cars, and will be the largest off airport parking operation servicing the new Midfield terminal.”

This Ronald Reagan Parkway facility offers the same outstanding, hassle-free service as before, plus more parking spaces, long-term or short-term parking, car care services, enhanced self-parking option, free shuttles to the airport and back, 24 hour surveillance, secure, fenced-in lots, complimentary luggage assistance and more. For an even faster airport parking experience, travelers can sign-up for the Indy BizXpress Fast Pass member program, which will allow them to simply drive in, park, ride & fly.

Another brand-new bonus offer  available at this new Indianapolis airport parking facility is Long-weekend Savings. When traveling from Thursdays to Mondays between November 13th, 2008 and March 2nd, 2009, customers will save more than 40% on Indianapolis Airport parking with discounted rates as low as $6.00 a day. Read more »