I've heard that the Mona Lisa sits gracefully in the Louvre in Paris. I can't tell for sure. Though I've visited the museum three times in the past four years, I was forced to return twice without even making it to the lobby, thanks to the serpentine queues at the ticket counter. The third time, I made it to the counter, but was the only one there. It was their weekly day off!
There are two ways to avoid such expensive tragicomedies. The more common one is to sign up for a package tour that throws in everything for a flat sum of money. Travel agents might tell you that you can take your spouse, kids, pets, and neighbours along for the price of half a ticket, but you can bet it's all been accounted for somewhere else. The second way is to do it all by yourself. Take full control of your trip by tapping into the benefits of the Internet. That's exactly what my wife and I did before we embarked on our European honeymoon recently.
Here's how you too can plan that dream vacation down to the last detail:
Be prepared
Research your destination thoroughly before getting there.
Reading up about various destinations in advance and preparing a detailed itinerary saves time. You know exactly what to see, where to eat and how to move about when you get there. As any seasoned traveller knows, planning a vacation to a distant land can be an adventure in itself (it's a lot like window shopping). We started our research three months before the big day arrived. The best online travel guides we could find were Lonely Planet and Rough Guides.
Comparison shopping
Find out who's got the best routes and prices.
It's possible today to buy air tickets online. However, the frequent flyer knows that you can squeeze the best deals only when you sit across the desk with your travel agent. Nevertheless, travel sites can provide comparison services: You get to see available flights to your destination, the operating dates, stopovers, special offers and prices all on a single page. The danger of leaving flight selection to travel agents is that you could end up flying an airline that's convenient for them. We queried Travel Jini and Outlook Traveller for flight information, decided exactly which airline was right for us, and then shopped around in the real world for the best prices on our selection.
Ensuring your booking
Book your tickets weeks in advance to avoid disappointment.
Not just air tickets; we reserved our seats on the Eurostar train that would take us from London to Paris, booked tickets for the Phantom of the Opera and even ensured that we were ready with entrance passes to museums and other attractions. All this was done a month before we landed in London.
Jumping the queue
Don't waste the day standing in line for tickets.
The most obvious advantage of booking online is that it saves time. With a fair bit of planning, you can make optimum use of every single day of your vacation. Many museums, theatres, sightseeing tours, concerts and events make tickets available through sites like The Way Ahead Box Office and Ticket Master. Other popular attractions have their own sites. After booking your tickets, collect them from kiosks at the venue by validating them against your credit card. Then walk right in!
Saving money
E-tickets can be cheaper than those bought at the counter.
Book a London Eye ticket and get a Thames River cruise at a discount. Take a combined ticket for Madame Tussaud's wax museum and London Planetarium, and save £4. The deals you get when booking online aren't found at the counter. Online discounts are an incentive to get more people to book via the Internet instead of crowding around the venue.
Paying in Rupees
Carry only as much foreign currency as needed.
There's a widespread myth that paying for online transactions by international credit card is expensive. The truth is that the exchange rate is comparable to buying foreign currency in a bank. Also, one of the fringe benefits of buying tickets online beforehand is minimising (or completely avoiding) the need for travellers' cheques. Getting fleeced by an exchange bureau in the name of commission and service charges is bad enough to ruin anyone's day. The less currency or TCs you take, lesser the losses due to conversion. This little tip can save you a small fortune.
Making new friends
Get them to host you for free.
Getting a roof over your head, with heating and local cuisine can be the most expensive component of your vacation. But if you surf a few personal sites and blogs, you will surely find someone willing to play host, show you around town and keep you well-fed -- all in exchange for a couple of fluorescent pink sarees and a Lagaan VCD. The Internet is all about person-to-person connections. Use it to your advantage!
Today, you still need to maintain good relations with your travel agent, for there's nothing more reassuring than having your air tickets confirmed for you and getting those visas on time. However, all indications are that the Net is turning out to be the traveller's best friend, philosopher, and guide.