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Archive for the ‘Questions & Answers’ Category
Q&A: Should I buy a refundable ticket?
Is it ever worth buying refundable airline tickets? –Submitted by Marie
The great airline debate: get the cheap ticket and adhere to your dates or spend a little more and have the flexibility? The answer to this question lies in your personal circumstances and budget. Here are some factors to consider when making your decision:
- Do you have firm travel dates or do you want to have flexibility? If you have firm commitments on the back end of your trip, say going back to work or school, you probably won’t have the option to extend your trip so a refundable ticket may not be useful. But, if you think you may want to stay longer, you will be able to make changes without a penalty fee.
- Is there a possible reason why you wouldn’t travel? You book a flight months in advance not having an idea what your life holds them. Most of the time, it will be the same but, if you do have circumstances that could impact travel, such as a sick relative, you may consider a refundable ticket and travel insurance to help with last minute changes.
- What’s your budget? Refundable tickets are more expensive. The range varies greatly. Some airlines, like Southwest, which use a pretty simple formula for calculating airfare, make it easy for you to quickly compare the bargain-basement fare to the full fare and restrictions are clearly laid out. But, more often, you will have to craftily navigate the airline’s site to find the difference between deeply-discounted and full-fare. When you do your search, select both fare classes in separate searches to do a side-by-side comparison.
The benefits to booking refundable? Not only can you make changes as needed without penalty but you sometimes earn more frequent flyer miles and/or have a better chance of getting upgraded since they often rank elite members by fare class, in addition to status.
Have a question you want to see answered on DIWYY? Email it to kristina@diwyy.com.
Q&A: Planning a Grad Trip for 2011
After my graduation in June 2011, I am planning on taking a trip. How can I begin preparing for a trip a year ahead of time? –Submitted by Rose
Great question and kudos to you for thinking about how you are going to celebrate an important milestone in your life. Not only will you be able to save up money but you can also sometimes secure discounts for reserving and paying for a trip in advance.
Some considerations:
-Are you planning to travel immediately after graduation or are you going to wait until later in the summer? The June to August timeframe is quite busy for popular destinations like Europe. If you want to avoid the crowds, take a look at the Southern Hemisphere where you can find mild weather and low prices. Some ideas include South America, Australia, and New Zealand. Set on a European holiday? Consider waiting until after Labor Day to head to Europe. The prices will drop dramatically and the crowds with subside.
-Would you like to do an organized tour or independent travel? For organized tours, you probably won’t see the 2010-2011 brochures until this fall. If you are looking at a brochure from this season, do know that tours are often tweaked based on customer feedback so you may notice changes when the new catalogue comes out. For independent travel, you have a lot more flexibility. Some hotels will accept your bookings now but you’re probably better off waiting until the year mark hits officially.
-You may notice that an error comes up if you try to book a flight for too far out. Want to know why? Most airlines only allow bookings 333 days before travel. And yes, if you opt for a round trip ticket, you will have to wait until 333 days from your return travel day to ticket. Some airlines, especially when using frequent flyer miles, will let you call to book the first leg and place it on hold until the time thresholds have passed for the return leg.
So, what’s a girl to do?
- Start looking at destinations and get a general idea of what you’d like to do and see so you can ensure it makes it to the final itinerary. It never hurts to start doing some web research but I would hold off on buying a book until the trip gets closer so you get the most recent edition.
- Save money! You have a lot of time to save, which is great! Consider setting up a special travel account and encourage friends and family to contribute to that account instead of other gifts at birthdays or other holidays. Cha-ching…your travel budget will grow exponentially! If a Contiki Holidays trip is looking interesting, you can even set up a registry for your trip and people can pay Contiki directly on your behalf.
- If you have firm dates, mark the 333 day more on your calendar or put a reminder in your phone. Airlines often have a small supply of the deeply discounted seats which are first come, first serve. If you want to use frequent flyer miles, you will have the best luck of using them if you book early.
- Lastly, does your dream destination have a language requirement? You have plenty of time to take a class. Planning to do something that involves lots of physical exertion like climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro? Create a fitness plan now so you’ll be in tip-top shape.
Answered by DIWYY co-founder, Kristina Wegscheider. Ask your travel question by emailing her at kristina@diwyy.com.
Q&A: Hiking Trip in February
I’ve got a week off at the end of February that I don’t know what to do with and am toying with heading to somewhere abroad to go hiking for a week. Have any ideas? – Chris
Lucky you! The end of February is a great time to travel as it is more of a “shoulder season” so deals should be plentiful and you can head into Central America for warm days or to the Southern Hemisphere to catch the tail-end of summer! DIWYY did some sleuthing and has some suggestions for you to explore:
-Head down to Loreto, Mexico for 7-day Baja Multisport organized by REI Adventures. In addition to hiking, you will also get a chance to mountain bike, sea kayak, and snorkel. And to make your life easier, the price of all sports equipment is included in the tour cost. Tour starts at $1,699 (land only) and has two February departures: February 14th and February 28th.
-Have you hiked the Inca trail? GAP Adventures has a 7-day tour called The Inca Trail which will allow you to spend a few days hiking before seeing awe-inspiring Machu Picchu. The tour is priced at $749 and includes accommodations (combination of hotels and camping), several meals, guided tours, and support staff during the trek. GAP Adventures has numerous February departures.
-Why not head further south into South America and explore Argentina or Chile? Places like Patagonia, Cordoba, and El Calafate, would provide the right mix of relaxation and adventure. If you want to do something informal, look into buying a return ticket into a major city like Santiago (SCL), Buenos Aires (EZE), or even smaller Argentinean cities like Cordoba (COR) or El Calafate (FTE) and explore! If you opt for Cordoba, check out Qualia Tourism. Although the website is in Spanish, the owner, Martin, speaks English. The website features several excursions on varying lengths. Use Google Translate if you need help deciphering the site.
-Morocco is another option. We found a reasonably priced tour from Top Deck with their 9-day Moroccan Explorer trip. While it does not include hiking, it does include lots of culture and adventure! They have availability on February 20th for only $825 (land only). Flights into Marrakesh from the US will transit through Europe.
Do you have a travel question? Be sure to visit the DIWYY homepage and use our question submittal form!
New Q&A: Adding Additional Pages to a Passport
I have been traveling a lot in recent years and am running out of pages in my passport. Do I need to get a new one or can pages be added? -Submitted by Nicole
Great Question! I successfully filled up my passport a couple years ago and was able to get an additional 24 pages added. I even ran out of pages again a second time, and the State Department was able to add another section (The maximum is 72 pages per passport book). The process is very simple, and inexpensive, if you plan ahead and can work with standard processing.
To get started, you will need to complete form DS-4085 which can either be completed online and printed or printed and then filled out by hand. For standard processing (estimated at 4-6 weeks), you simply put your passport and the completed form in an envelope and send it off for processing. The Department of State recommends a traceable method of shipping like USPS Priority Mail.
If you need your passport sooner, you can opt for rush processing but it will cost $60. In this scenario, it is also recommended to use USPS Priority or Express Mail to send your passport. If you include an additional fee (usually around $15, but call for the current rate), they will send your passport back to you with USPS Overnight shipping instead of USPS Priority Mail.
If you are leaving the country within two weeks, you can make an appointment at a Regional Passport Office for processing.
Some other tips to remember (which I have learned from experience!):
-The Department of State will not accept FedEx or UPS as the mailing address for both standard and rush processing is a P.O. Box and neither companies deliver to these types of addresses. You best bet is USPS Priority Mail or Overnight Mail. Both will generate a tracking number for you.
-Always make a copy of the documents you send, just to be on the safe side.
-Prefer to have your passport mailed to another address other than your home address? On Line 6, put the address where you want it mailed to and in Line 10, put your permanent address. I like to have my passport shipped to my work location since someone is available for receiving it and it won’t be sitting on my front porch all day.
-When applying for a new passport, you can request a “business-size” passport (48 pages versus the standard 24) for no additional cost. This will save you time and money in the long run if you anticipate a full travel schedule in your future.
Have any other questions about passports? Post them here and I’ll be happy to answer them.
Happy Traveling,
Kristina (currently a holder of a gigantic 72-page passport!)
New Q&A: Post-college Plans
I’m a college senior thinking about what to do after I graduate. I’m planning on grad school but want to take a year or two off and live/work abroad. Do you have any recommendations on where to begin the search? I’m open to exploring different options! -Submitted by Hannah
Thank you for your question. Taking some time off after college is a great idea for a couple of reasons:
-When else in your life will you have the opportunity to just take off and explore the world?
-Even though you have your degree, you may not be entirely sure what you’d like to do as a career. Traveling and experiencing the world could help identify a particular area to focus on.
-And my favorite reason (coming from an HR person): when it does come time to interview for jobs or apply for graduate, think of all the cool stories you will have to make yourself sound like the most interesting person in the world? At one interview, I started talking about travel (which can be connected to just about anything) and the interviewer asks me all the places I had visited. I listed those off and I think I impressed them…after all, I did get the job!
Now that you are pumped up, let’s explore some possibilities. Working abroad is a viable option considering having some sort of income will assist in your travel ventures. Additionally, if you go through a program, you are likely going to have a much easier time securing a Visa. Here is our short list of some ideas:
-Work aboard luxury yachts in the Caribbean (a la DIWYY co-founder, Jerri), Au Pair in Europe, or work on a farm in New Zealand. Good sites to check out include Extraordinary Jobs for Ordinary People and Transitions Abroad.
-Teach English Abroad. Endless options can be found online but be sure to thoroughly research a program and check its credentials before signing up. One legit organization we recommend is The Japanese Exchange & Teaching Program (JET).
Volunteering Abroad is also a way to give you meaningful experience that you can take back into your professional life when you go to home. You could do anything from helping at an AIDS Orphanage in Tanzania to working at an elephant rehabilitation center in Thailand. For ideas, we recommend checking sites like VolunteerAbroad.com, Cross-Cultural Solutions, and Habitat for Humanity’s Global Village Program. Like working abroad, be sure to thoroughly research the organization you would be going with. If possible, try to talk with people who have previously participated in the program to get a testimonial.
As a last option, traveling on your own (either independently or with a tour) is easy because you make your own schedule! If you do this method, we recommend getting a “Round the World” or Regional ticket so you have the flexibility to book flights as you go within certain parameters. For this type of tickets, check with your travel agent or the major airline alliance websites (oneworld, Star Alliance, SkyTeam).
New Q&A: Travel Deals for Students
I would LOVE to travel more but, being that I am still a student, budget is still a top consideration when I am planning my trips. Where can I find the best deals on flights and tours? -Submitted by Amy
Being in college is usually a Catch 22: you have the time to travel but don’t have the income to be doing so. As a result, you need to get creative in your travel planning which can sometimes mean planning way ahead or waiting until the last minute. Since these planning styles are not suitable to everyone, here are some additional strategies for the people who prefer something in between:
-When you begin researching flights, check out websites like Kayak.com. Kayak is great because it searches all airlines and has a ton of search parameters to use (nearby airports, flexible schedules, weekend travel, etc). I usually do my research here and then ticket on the airline carrier’s website.
-Look for tour companies that incorporate the flight cost into the overall price—this can equate to a substantial cost savings, although you sometimes do not get to choose your airline. I recommend checking out Gate 1 Travel and Contiki who both offer deals for flights and tours. Gate 1 Travel travelers are of all ages and their tours typically hit the major sightseeing spots in the region you will be visiting. Contiki, who coordinates tours specifically for travelers ages 18-35, occasionally run specials where there is a flat rate for airfare which can also be to your benefit, especially if you are flying to a popular country during high season. For both of these companies, I recommend subscribing to their newsletters so that you are the first to hear about any deals.
-Along the lines of “being in the know”, I recommend becoming fans of your favorite airlines on Facebook and also subscribing to their email newsletters. This way, you will be alerted for flight deals and also packaged vacations specials. I am a fan of Virgin America on Facebook and they are constantly advertising their amazing fare deals within the United States. I also get the email newsletters from the major US carriers (American, Delta, and United) to see if any routes are deeply discounted in the near future.
-Since you are a student, be sure to also leverage the deals you can get from flashing your school ID. Vendors like STA Travel specifically cater to the college audience in terms of flights, tours, and rail passes and usually have physical locations near college campuses. If you are between the ages of 16-25, you can qualify for certain Rail Europe discounts.
Good luck in your travel planning! If anyone has other suggestions, please post a comment here or on our Facebook page.
Do YOU have a travel question you’d like answered?? If so, use our submittal form on our website.
