Q&A with CheapOair
Posted September 30, 2009 , comments closed
CheapOair - 300 million airfares and then some
Editor’s note: We were looking for some cheap airfares recently and came across the travel website CheapOair.com, which specializes in cheap airfares. We were intrigued, so we sent them some questions. Erin McBride, their Director of Social Marketing, was kind enough to reply.
Q: In a nutshell, what is CheapOair? How is it different from all the other airfare sites out there?
A: Casually speaking, CheapOair is an online travel discount retailer. We offer over 300 million airfares, all with a low airfare guarantee. We also sell hotel rooms and rental cars. We also just recently began offering train fares as well. We’re the #7 rated travel website according to Hitwise.com. And we have the technological foundation to deliver affordable tickets to every region in the world.
Q: 300 million airfares? Wow, that’s a lot. We’ve also noticed that, unlike some of the other air sites, you have great deals for off-the-beaten and far-flung path destinations such as India and the Philippines, as well as round-the-world tickets and tickets for students, seniors, etc. Where did you get all of these cheap airfares?
A: We negotiate fares with over 300 airlines, so we have an excellent selection of tickets for all types of travelers no matter where they’re going
Q: Who knew there were even 300 airlines in the world. So is there any cost to travelers for using your site?
A: Absolutely not. CheapOair is free to use. And in fact, we do not require memberships or subscriptions to use the site.
Q: What’s your most popular travel destination this week?
A: Orlando, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas - in that order. This is typical of most weeks. All three are major convention cities, as well as holiday destinations. Additionally, what Los Angeles lacks in vacation travel, it makes up for by being a major hub as a gateway to the Pacific.
Q: Do you think the “CheapO” model could be applied to other areas besides travel?
A: Selling travel products online requires a rather sophisticated search engine technology that is unique to the travel industry. Typically, offering and an airline ticket online from one city to another will search a myriad of airfare and routing options that are optimized to show best priced tickets. In addition, travel products such as airline tickets, hotel and car rental rates are dynamically priced and are subject to yield management objectives by the various providers. In other words, an airline ticket for the same routing and flight itinerary from A to B may have a price today that is different from a price two days later.
Q: Do you have easyjet-style aspirations to move into other areas?
A: No. We’re pretty focused on travel. We’d like to keep it that way.
-Viator Travel Team
Top Five Day Trips From Paris
Posted , comments closedThere’s enough to do in Paris to keep a visitor occupied for weeks, but for those who do wish to venture further afield, there are a series of awesome destinations that can easily be checked out in a day trip from the French capital. From cathedrals and palaces to wine tasting and architectural gems, these five pack in an awful lot for the day-tripper.
Château Thierry in Champagne
Versailles
Around 17km (10.6 miles) southwest of Paris, Versailles is to all intents and purposes a suburb of the French capital. It is also the most popular day trip destination from Paris, and that’s due to the famous château. What began as a simple hunting lodge under French king Louis XIII became the most important building in France under his son. Louis XIV had the lodge expanded into an opulent palace, and moved the entire French government there. It was his way of making sure he had absolute control of everything. Nowadays, it is still used for some state functions, but most of the visitors to the château are tourists. They come for a good old gawp at how the other half lived. The apartments of the king and queen are lavishly decorated as they would have been during Louis XIV’s heyday in the 17th century. The highlight for many is the Hall of Mirrors. As the name would suggest, it features 357 mirrors and has been the venue for many historic occasions. These include the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, which divided the spoils after World War I.
Although the palace interiors are what most visitors wish to see, it’s the gardens that often leave the biggest impression. They’re extensive, beautifully designed and take considerably more work than mowing your back garden does…
Château de Compiègne
Compiègne
A 50-minute train journey north of Paris, Compiègne also plays home to a royal château. Compiègne’s version is a little more understated than the one in Versailles. The rooms have been restored to how they were in various eras, making the tour around the building a somewhat eclectic experience. Napoleons I and III are heavily represented, and the best story is about one of the bedrooms. It belonged to Napoleon’s second wife, Marie-Louise, but due to cost factors she wasn’t allowed to decorate it as she’d like. So she got to sleep amongst a hideous blaze of pink, chosen personally by Napoleon’s first wife, Joséphine. That must have gone down a treat.The gardens are enormous, disappearing into the forest and accommodating an equestrian cross-country course.
Aside from the château, Compiègne’s highlights are historic in nature. First up comes the spot where French heroine Jean d’Arc was finally captured, but more interesting is a railway carriage in a forest clearing. Unfortunately, the carriage is a replica (the original was burned during World War II), but the site is hugely significant. This was where, in top secret, Germany surrendered to end World War I. In World War II, Hitler insisted on making France surrender in exactly the same carriage, in exactly the same spot. Now the clearing hosts a small-but-fascinating museum and one of France’s major war memorials.
The Champagne region
True bubbly fanatics are probably better off staying overnight in Reims or Epernay, but those just wanting to sample the fun of the fizz can enjoy a whistlestop charge through the Champagne region in a day from Paris. The distance from Paris to Reims is around 145km (90 miles), and a return trip can easily be conquered in a day by hire car or train. It’s a city of churches, public squares and Roman remains, but the obvious draw card is the World Heritage-listed Cathedral de Notre-Dame. It’s an enormous Gothic monster, and easily one of the most impressive in Europe.
However, the real highlights of the Champagne region lie in the vineyards. They’re not adequately served by train, and self-driving provides the slight problem of not being legally able to drink the good stuff. Thus the tour option becomes the best bet. Epernay is the hub of the region, but the major champagne houses are spread out. Amongst the big names that can be visited are Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, Dom Perignon and Mumm. It’s not just the sampling that makes such a trip worthwhile, however – the drive through vineyard scenery is usually enough to bring a contented smile to any face.
Metz Moselle River and Temple Neuf
Metz
A few years ago, it would be absurd to suggest Metz as a day trip from Paris. But with the recent installation of a high speed train line, it only takes 82 minutes to get to the eastern city from Paris’ Gare de l’Est. It’s a wonderfully good-looking city, and contains a real hodge-podge of architecture. Some of the more pompous, grandiose buildings in the south of the city date from a period of German rule, while there are Roman remains dotted throughout and a stunning if (slightly sinister-looking) Protestant church in the middle of an island in the Moselle river.
When darkness falls, Metz is brilliantly lit up – big sums have clearly been spent on showing the city’s buildings off in the best possible manner. Therefore, if going on a day trip from Paris, it’s a good idea to go in winter time when days are shorter. Show up in November or December, and you also get the benefit of the awesome Christmas markets. In terms of cultural attractions, the big two are the Musée de la Cour d’Or - which covers everything from fine art to full-sized peasant houses – and the recently-opened Centre Pompidou-Metz. The latter is the first regional branch of Paris’ Pompidou Centre, and it houses a seriously impressive collection.
Nancy Chamber of Commerce
Nancy
Nancy is another city that has reaped the extraordinary benefits of the high-speed rail link to Paris. The journey takes just 90 minutes (again from Gare de l’Est), and there’s ample time during a day to cover the city’s highlights. Nancy is mostly famous as an epicentre of Art Nouveau architecture. There are buildings throughout the city decorated with the movement’s trademark flowers and curves. The Chambre du Commerce et d’Industrie is a good example, with its ironwork and stained glass, but the Banque du Crédit Lyonnais on rue St George is the real jaw-dropper. Nip inside and look up – the stained glass ceiling is an enormous work of thoroughly impressive detail.
Real devotees should head to Musée de l’ École de Nancy. It’s a grand villa packed with works by Nancy’s Art Nouveau movers and shakers. It’s utter overkill on the floral and natural influences in many cases, but it’s undoubtedly worth a visit. If just a taste is enough, abandon the Art Nouveau trail and head to Place Stanislas. Ringed with café bars, this huge square is arguably one of the finest public squares in Europe. It’s huge, and acts as the central social hub in this instinctively likeable city.
-David Whitley
Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s Day trips from Paris, from trips to the Champagne Region to Giverny tours, or even tours to Mont St Michel or a Loire Valley Castles day trip.
Mate: Drink up the Culture – Buenos Aires, Argentina
Posted , comments closedMate: Drink up the Culture – Buenos Aires, Argentina
The entire city of Buenos Aires seems to drink mate. Families lounging on blankets pass it around in parks. Friends sitting on benches sip it while chatting. Beach-goers break out mate tote bags. Some devotees even juggle thermoses while biking or lug around special mate backpacks. My professors sipped it in class, and students gulped it while cramming at the university library. Argentines even use the verb matear, meaning “to share mate.”
The cosmopolitan capital heavy with European influences brings to mind wistful Tango, elegant cafes and plastic surgery, but the ritual consumption of an ancient indigenous brew is perhaps its defining characteristic.
Mate (mah-tay), the beloved national drink of Argentina, transcends all borders. Dreadlocked, hemp-wearing types in plazas and suit-wearing, briefcase-toting types in offices both slurp the infusion. Packs of flirting teens with mullets and piercings take turns downing it, as do circles of chuckling grandparents with furs and pipes.
Some studies have reportedly found that 90 percent of Argentine households consume the beverage, making it profoundly more pervasive than any coffee or tea predilections stateside. Many fuel stations and restaurants offer customers hot water specifically to prepare their mate. The city’s many heladerias even deliver mate-flavored ice cream on motorbikes.
At first I feared joining in to sip the hot mixture, which drinkers pass around and share from a communal straw. It looked like murky lawn water, and I have germaphobe tendencies. But after trying the earthy liquid I wanted to pick up a package of Cruz de Malta and buy my own equipment. I asked my Argentine friends to teach me how to make it — They all demonstrated differing variations of the procedure.
I soon became obsessed with the mate ritual, preparing it myself for study sessions and serving it to houseguests. I imagined the refreshing drink contained an army of antioxidants and left me glowing. Many enthusiasts claim mate gives them the boost of coffee without the jitters. I found an overload of the caffeinated beverage to be my only means of surviving the all-night Buenos Aires weekend scene.
Mate, popular in various regions of South America, is made from dry yerba leaves resembling powdery grass that are steeped in hot water. It tastes like bitter tea, especially the green variety. People often add sugar. Some mothers even serve it to their children with milk or juice. Countless variations and brands of mate yerba (pronounced zsheer-buh by Argentines) tower the shelves of grocery stores, touting the drink’s supposed health, energy and weight loss benefits.
A special gourd container, also called a mate, holds the beverage. Many stores sell ornate mates, often embellished with silver. Every Argentine I met owned a well-used mate that they never washed in order to protect the flavor. In Iguazu, I bought a leather-covered mate made from a wood that only grows in the surrounding rainforest (or so said the owner of the shop off the red-orange dirt road). I cured my mate before using it like all my Argentine friends insisted. That involved scraping it, soaking it in yerba water for 24 hours and leaving it out to dry.
Mate drinkers sip through a straw called a bombilla (bom-bee-zshuh), usually silver or the cheaper Alpaca. The small holes and sieve in the bulbous end of the bombilla filter the yerba from the water. First-time drinkers must resist the urge to stir the bombilla and instead let the mixture float to prevent particles from clogging the straw.
Mate is more than a social pastime – some Argentines consider mate preparation and service an art with all sorts of rules. Making mate involves a controversial process involving shaking, piling, and arranging the yerba before pouring in cold then hot water and packing and tapping. The water must never be boiling, or it will scald the yerba. The person serving the mate, the cebador, must drink the first cup, which is the most bitter. After washing it down, the cebador then refills the mate cup with fresh hot water and passes it to the next recipient, who also drains the cup until the straw makes a slurping sound (this isn’t rude). Everyone continues taking turns, handing the mate back with the straw facing the cebador for the next person’s refill until the mate is lavado, meaning it’s lost its flavor. All the sharing lends an intimate element to the proceedings.
I constantly served mate with my Peruvian roommates. We heated water in a kettle on our gas stove and sat it on a coaster in the floor of our unfurnished apartment in Barrio Norte. We’d sprawl out and pass around the mate while we shared travel photos, munched galletas, listened to cumbia or watched translated episodes of Sex and the City. When it came time for me to return to the U.S. after my seven months in Argentina, I ended up hailing a taxi to the airport in a manic rush, dragging my two overstuffed suitcases. I bemoaned to the characteristically friendly taxista that I’d been kicked out of my apartment early and hadn’t finished my souvenir shopping. We chatted about my trip to Iguazu Falls, and he pulled out a photo of his family. When we drove up to the departures gate, he helped me unload my bags from the trunk. “Wait,” he said, rifling through the glove compartment to dig out a worn mate. “Take it. Remember Buenos Aires. It’s my gift.”
Asia Vacations & South Pacific Vacations - Globus family of brands
Posted , comments closed) Travel to Asia and South Pacific regions of the world has increased with travelers’ growing interest in exotic travel. Whether they list China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tibet, Mongolia or Vietnam on their “must-see” lists for 2010, the Globus family of brands has unveiled a deep offering of vacations designed to enhance the lives of Americans venturing abroad.
“We are not only revealing new itineraries in Asia, our vacation styles to exotic locations worldwide have increased,” said Scott Nisbet, president and chief executive officer for the Globus family of brands. “We’re giving travelers a plethora of tours, river cruises and independent vacation packages to choose from.”
As part of its 2010 vacation offerings, Globus has unveiled several NEW vacations, including two tours: Essence of China and Exploring Australia vacations. And, Monograms the company’s independent travel arm has substantially increased offerings to Asia with NEW Tokyo & Kyoto, Beijing & Shanghai, Beijing & Hong Kong, China Escape and Bangkok & Phuket itineraries. On these vacations, travelers will traverse the Asia Pacific region of the world independently, with help from a Local Host.
“Our Monograms product has witnessed the most growth in these exotic destinations,” said Nisbet. “This expansion, in part, is because Monograms is the perfect choice for first-time travelers to a destination people who want the security and convenience of having an English-speaking Local Host on-hand to point them in the right direction and ensure they explore all of the ‘must-see’ sites.”
To celebrate its exotic vacations, the company is providing travelers $400 off per couple on the air-inclusive price on 2010 Asia & South Pacific vacations when booked before October 13, 2009.* Visit www.globusjourneys.com for more information.
2010 ASIA & CHINA VACATION HIGHLIGHTS:
NEW Essence of China (8 days), priced from $1,599 land- and intra-tour flights only.
Mystical Thailand (12 days), priced from $1,969 land- and intra-tour flights only.
Magical China & the Yangtze River (12 days), priced from $2,799 land/cruise- and intra-tour flights only.
Fascinating China & Mongolia with Yangtze River Cruise (17 days), priced from $5,389 land /cruise and intra-tour flights only.
NEW Bangkok & Phuket (9 days), priced from $989 land- only.
NEW Beijing & Shanghai (7 days), priced from $909 land- only.
2010 SOUTH PACIFIC VACATION HIGHLIGHTS:
NEW Exploring Australia (20 days), priced from $5,919 land- and intra-tour flights only.
South Pacific Sampler (13 days), priced from $3,139 land- and intra-tour flights only.
Naturally New Zealand (10 days), priced from $2,089 land- and intra-tour flights only.
Australia Escape (10 days), priced from $1,329 land- only.
Aussie & Kiwi Explorer (14 days), priced from $2,139 land- only.
*Book a 2010 Globus, Monograms or Avalon Asia or South Pacific air-inclusive vacation. Booking must be made, under deposit and discount applied between August 12 and October 13, 2009 for travel commencing through December 31, 2010. Offers not valid with any other offer except Journeys Club and applies to new 2010 bookings only. Offer reliant on space availability. Full cancellation penalties will apply. Additional restrictions may apply.
ABOUT THE GLOBUS FAMILY OF BRANDS
Littleton, Colorado-based Group Voyagers, Inc. is the privately held company that markets and sells the Globus family of brands within the United States. Globus, Cosmos, Monograms and Avalon Waterways offer travelers unparalleled tour, independent travel package, river and small ship cruise options. Considered the world’s largest tour operator, with more than 80 years of international travel experience, the Globus family of brands is dedicated to enriching the lives of travelers by turning foreign destinations into familiar harbors, where the expense of travel is forgotten and replaced by personal value.
Travel Search Engine Sprice.com launches hotel search application for iPhone
Posted , comments closed) Singapore, September 27, 2009: Leading travel and hotel search engine Sprice.com (www.sprice.com) has gone mobile. iPhone users worldwide will now be able to search over 120,000 hotels (http://www.sprice.com/hotels) globally on their iPhones using the power and convenience of the innovative ‘Sprice Hotels’ app. All it takes is a quick download of Sprice Hotels app, absolutely free, from the online Apple App store. Compatible with all iPhone generations including the latest 3G S version, the Sprice Hotels application allows users to quickly and easily search for hotels in an intelligent manner. Sprice Hotels generates important data with the search, including information about the hotel such as location map, photos, hotel guest reviews and amenities, as well as real-time offers and discounts on room rates. In addition, users can choose to filter the search results by the hotel’s room rates, user rating and even the distance from whichever landmarks they choose as the start point.
“The launch of our mobile application Sprice Hotels is a natural progression for our travel search engine, as the pool of mobile users around the world continues to expand exponentially. Since Sprice.com was launched in 2007, we have received positive feedback from consumers all over the world and in Asia Pacific. Demand for our online hotel search product has consistently been on the rise with visitorship reaching a record of three million globally,” said Vikas Gulati, Vice President of Sprice.com, Asia Pacific.
“The Sprice Hotels iPhone App empowers travellers to make last-minute booking decisions, even as they are en route to their destinations. Like Sprice.com, the mobile application is also very user-friendly. We are pleased to be working with Apple to extend such a powerful travel search tool to millions of iPhone users worldwide.”
Sprice Hotels serves as a dynamic marketing platform for travel providers. Earlier this year, Apple announced that its global iPhone sales peaked and grew by 245% in 2008, and it expects this growth to continue. Over 200 of Sprice.com’s travel partners around the world, including online travel agents and hoteliers, can reach out to tech-savvy consumers on the move directly and more effectively through Sprice Hotels.
About Sprice.com
Sprice.com (www.sprice.com), the leading real-time travel search engine in the world, allows travelers to search for cheap flights, find and compare over 120,000 hotels with hotel reviews (http://www.sprice.com/hotel-reviews), and get the best travel deals (http://www.sprice.com/travel-deals). Sprice.com is a product of Sprice Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-registered company. Sprice operates in Europe through its office in France, while the head office in Singapore serves the markets in the Asia-Pacific. Sprice.com offers detailed information on over 120,000 hotels around the world, hotel reviews and cheap flights (http://www.sprice.com/flights).
For more information, please contact:
Julia Lai
Tel: +65 6534 7250
Email: spricesg@lewispr.com