Articles Tagged with: international

Gone were the days when flying to international destinations did affect the finances for many as it was awfully expensive. With time, airline technology witnessed its advancement and with cost of air travel lowered, the number of air travelers increased manifold. Today, it is a common affair for people to go vacationing to any corner of the world without worrying about the finances. There are a number of international airlines like Malaysia Airlines, Qantas Airways, Qatar Airways that cover most of the major destinations in the world, facilitating an affordable travel. All you need to do is either visit the respective official websites or visit a reputed travel portal. The online booking process is easy and hardly takes time.

If you visit the corporate site of Malaysia Airlines, you will come across a whole lot of offers that are bound to lure you. The flexi return scheme facilitating travelers arrive in one city and return home from another besides the special offers that you can avail for flying anywhere anytime are the special highlights. Malaysia Airlines has recently included Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as one of its destinations; those who are planning to go to Riyadh can well avail the affordable airfares. At Malaysia Airlines website, you can book your flights and access the airline’s services on the iPad, get instant discounts with MHcoupon, pick a holiday package, and lots more.

Qantas Airways flies to over 250 destinations worldwide; visit the Qantas Airways official website to know about more details, offers, discounts, status, schedule, etc. Even if you have booked your air tickets at a travel portal, you can view the Qantas Airways Status at its official website. In case of delay or cancellation or any change in the Qantas Airways status, the same is notified to the traveler.

No doubt, every journey with Qatar Airways is a rewarding experience. It has been rated a five star airline; so you can well imagine the quality of services provided. Visit the Qatar Airways official website for the A-Z of information about the airline.

So you have decided that it is time for you to hang your boots for a couple of weeks and take the plunge. I mean take a trip somewhere with your family. Rather, take a trip to some other exotic country and cool your heels off. What are the preparations you need to make such a travel or trip successful? Here are some quick tips:

1. Geo political basics of your destination:

Location and Demographics: The first thing you have to do for any international travel is to know more and more about the place you are scheduled to visit. Where is it located.? Which are the major states/provinces?
Political : What kind of a government does it have. Does it have a monarchy ( Brunei) or a democratic (India) or communist government (Cuba).Does it recognize human rights? Is the country part of UN? Is it a religious state especially an Islamic country (Saudi Arabia)? Does the country have political instability (Pakistan or Iran)?

Society : is it socially safe? Does it have ethnic/religious discord amongst its people like Iraq or Myanmar or Indonesia? Is it safe for tourists where Afghanistan is not? And if you are a westerner, check it twice.

2.

Climatic conditions:

Try to learn about the climatic conditions prevailing during the time of visit. Colder climates would mean packing your luggage with more woolen and warm clothing. Warmer or seaside climate means mostly Tees and light coloured clothing. In case you are travelling to the middle east , pack some sun screen lotion too. So it is imperative that you know the expected climate and temperatures for that location.

3. Culture and Society :

Some countries have very orthodox cultures and expects to impose the same to all citizens and residents or even travelers who come to their country.

The best example of this would be Saudi Arabia. They do not tolerate any deterrence from the rules and cultures they have and would like you to observe while on their soil. Women must be fully covered from top of their heads to toes. No movies or liquor anywhere in their country. Violation brings strict punishment even leading to public beheading. Some other countries which though they have orthodox cultures are not of an imposing nature. An example is Japan which has very conservative and strict way of life but they do not impose it upon foreigner or travelers. So before you embark on your trip it is very essential to know the cultures and the practices of the society of the country that you would be visiting.

4. Language :

Try to know the main language or languages that are spoken and the areas where they are spoken. In many countries it is usually one or two languages which are spoken and a little idea of one of them would sail you through. You would find that in almost all British colonies English would be fine, so would be French for French colonies. In most south American countries Latin or Spanish would do the trick. But in some countries, there are a lot of languages spoken and it changes with every sate province you travel A fine example is India which has about 17 popular languages along with Hindi which is their national language and about 53 dialects. So for most countries, you can keep a language /translation book handy and it is better to know the basic questions and the basic cordialities.

5. Food habits :

Learn the basic food habits of your destination country. In most countries sandwiches and juice/milk/cereals are available for your basic nourishment. Learn about the cooking techniques used. Countries in the far east would predominantly be light cooked food with steamed food being more popular. China has a history of serving snakes and scorpions as delicacies. The orientals are also heard of serving monkey brains too. India serves one of the regions most spicy food of the world, and so does Mexico. Middle east serves grilled and smoked food.Russia serves vodka during daytime. Italians serves wine for lunches. So it is always better to know the local food habits. Identify some local food which might be fine with you or you would like to taste while in your visit. Keep some basic digestive pills handy before you do so. And always drink safe bottled water when you are a foreigner.

6. Logistics:

Zooming on to the location of travel , it is always better to know the common modes of travel available in the region. Can you rent a car there? Is the driving licence you have recognized in that particular country? How far would you need to travel for sight seeing? Where is the closest airport terminal or the local rail station? Does it have public transport? Is it safe for tourists to avail them? What are the chances of getting mugged or pick pocketed in the streets? My advice is don’t take your chances when a foreign country and play it safe.

Thanks for reading this post. Comments are highly appreciated.
Will soon have an article on what to pack in your travelbags !!!

Whether it’s a business or a pleasure trip, packing for trips can be confusing. Stop cranking up your stress levels! Instead take a look at the simple steps below that will help solve your problems:

1. If you are traveling out of country, make sure that you carry all your important documents (passport, passport photographs and other important travel documents)
2. Do not forget to pack the first-aid box
3. Divide your bank credit cards, debit cards, cash and traveler’s check in different places in your bag. So in any case you get robbed, you will not be stranded for cash
4. Determine the luggage weight before you start packing, in order to avoid excess fee towards excess baggage
5. Determine how many days you are going on a vacation and accordingly, you can plan on having two different looks per day i.e. one for the daytime and one for the evening.

You can mix and match different combination of clothes to produce different looks. You can wear scarves, jacket, accessories etc in order to make it look different
6. Try to carry non-wrinkle clothes. Even if you spend the entire day in the same outfit, you need not worry. Also, you will get rid of the hassle of ironing and re-ironing your clothes all the time
7. Avoid carrying clothes in shades of white or any color that is light, as it will not help you hide the dirt/stain
8. Determine the weather condition of the particular destination you are traveling to and pack your clothes accordingly. For example, you would definitely not need a sweatshirt for a place where the weather is warm and sunny
9. Carry two or three pairs of footwear (depending on the luggage limit). Ensure that the footwear you carry will match all kinds of clothes. Also, if you want everything else in your bag to stay clean and odor free, pack them in a Ziploc plastic bag
10. Keep aside your toiletries in a leak proof bag
11. Identify what kind of activities you will be engaged in during the trip. Accordingly, you need to carry the right kind of clothes
12. Start planning your travel list by making a note of the list of things to do like places to visit, where you can go shopping etc
13. Set aside your clothes and plan the execution of your trip few days before the travel, in order to prevent last minute hassle

These days, there are many rules regarding the things that can or cannot be carried in the airplane, especially during international travel. If you are aware of the rules, you can have a better experience at the airport, and save some time in the security lines.

A Few Useful International Airport Travel Tips

Before going to the airport, do not bring or pack the prohibited items. If you are carrying any valuables-a laptop, cash, jewelry-keep them in your carry-on luggage. Tape a business card, or a postcard with your information on it, to the bottom of your laptop. Make your reservations early with a reliable dealer, that is one of the best international airport travel tips I can give you. Write down your confirmation number and the information about your taxi driver. If you plan to use the local transport, make sure that you are aware of the pick-up and drop points.

An important international airport travel tip is to keep the government-issues photo ID and boarding pass available till you exit the security checkpoint.

You may need to display these documents many times because of all of the different regulations.

A useful international airport travel tip is to place your mobile phone, keys, PDA, large belt buckles, money clips, jewelry and loose change in your carry-on baggage before entering the screening checkpoint.

An important international airport travel tip is to find out the airport rules in your destination country. If you look online you can find this information for many countries. Before you begin your journey, a useful international airport travel tip is to take care of any special needs such as wheelchair, people traveling with pets or kids traveling alone.

Find out how airport is going to meet these needs.Using an online check in tool before you leave for the airport can help you avoid long lines.

Another international airport travel tip is to call up the airlines, and find out if your flight is on time. There are many factors that can delay the flight such as weather, a terror threat and so on. Leave extra early for your flight, but not before you have called and confirmed your flight time. It is a good idea to prepare an emergency airport survival kit that may include eye shade, bottle water, ear plugs, books, magazines, disinfectant wipes, personal music device, snacks, pen, post-its, a small pillow, toilet and tissue paper, some common medicines, camera, and a power bar.

The problem is that unlike domestic airlines these international airline tickets will be more expensive. The solution that you can look into is that of cheap international airline tickets.

These types of tickets will have more scope for low priced tickets as there are could be many different airlines for one country. You can find these different varieties of cheap international airline tickets from your travel agent. When you are inquiring about these tickets you should also try and find out the price of hotels in your particular destination.

Sometimes these cheap international airline tickets are linked to holiday package deals. These deals can be all inclusive or you will have to pay for the cost of the airline ticket separately and your hotel package separately. These are some of the incentives that major international airlines can offer.

You should find out what documentation and visa forms you will need in order to enter the country of your holiday choice. As cheap international airline tickets may not offer you a refund if you are unable to enter the country at your specified date for lack of the right documents, you will have to check this information before you start reserving your cheap international airline tickets.

As some international airlines offer special times for their cheap international airline tickets you might want to take advantage of these offers to go on a much desired holiday. Since these airline tickets are cheap in price you will have some extra money left aside so that you can use this money for other purposes.

When you are looking for different types of cheap international airline tickets you should see the different times in the year that these tickets are available. This can be helpful if you need to travel in the peak season as tickets at this time are very expensive. Looking for cheap international tickets during the main holiday season will allow you to have the holiday that you have been planning for.

As the different international airlines travel to different places in the world you can always be assured of finding an airline where you will be able to buy cheap international airline tickets. With these tickets you have the option of traveling to many different countries as well since you have some left over money.