By Kirsten G What are the best reasons to live in Europe? Exposure to a new culture, meeting new people, and at the top of the list, travel! But one aspect of travel can often be a chore: planning. In the past, the only ways to plan a trip were (1) buy travel guidebooks and spend a lot of time on the phone, or (2) visit a travel agent. And while both of those methods still work, there is a new way to plan and book travel, all from the comfort of your own home: the Internet! But how do you go about it? Fellow AWC members are here to help, and we have some recommendations to make your task easier. So read on for suggestions on how to make the Internet work for you! Information and Package Deals: Often the best travel deals can be found from the tourist board of the individual city or country to which you are traveling. An easy way to find tourist board websites is to go to one of the main web portals and type the name of the place + "tourism" or "tourist". For example, my husband and I are traveling to Norway this summer, so I started my search by going to http://www.yahoo.com and typing "norway tourism". The first two site options to pop up were http://www.visitnorway.com, the Norwegian Tourist Board's site, and http://www.goscandinavia.com, the Scandinavia Tourism Board's site. Usually the tourist board websites contain everything from general information about the place to main attractions, tour suggestions, transportation, accommodation, and dining. Sometimes the sites also contain good all-inclusive package deals. If not, you can also look at websites that specialize in package deals and tours. And for more general information on destinations, you can also check out the websites of the well-known guidebook companies such as Fodor's and Frommer's. General Travel and Transportation: If you have not found a package deal elsewhere, you can also try general travel websites where you can book airfare, hotel accommodations, car rentals, and travel packages. For flight booking, another option is to go to the individual airline sites (and you must book with directly with the airline if using frequent flyer miles for your trip). If your travel is within Germany or surrounding countries, the Deutsche Bahn website at http://www.bahn.de is also very user-friendly and offers many sections in English (click on "International Guests" at the top). Lodging: Now that you know how you are going to get to your destination, where will you stay when you get there? First, you must decide if you want a hotel or a villa/apartment. The tourist board websites often offer bookings for both types of accommodation. If you want a hotel, you can also use one of the many discount hotel booking websites. The first four hotel sites listed below allow you to search upfront by date and only show hotels available for your dates, which can be helpful. For villas or apartments, Jenny S and Anne Louise T offered the suggestions below. Car Rental: If you need to rent a car at your destination, you can use one of the general travel websites, or if a site in German doesn't bother you, Shawn W-K suggests http://www.adac.de. You can also go to the individual car rental company websites. Specialty: If you're more of an all-inclusive kind of person, there are also sites that cater to you. Jenny S suggests http://www.markwarner.com, which is an English company with a number of club sites in Europe (like Club Med) that also offers a service to look after kids while the adults have their holiday time. If you enjoy cruising, check out http://www2.i-cruise.com, in addition to any of the general travel sites. And for skiing holidays, search at one of the web portals on the place in which you are interested; many ski resorts have their own websites with booking information and/or links to other sites. Overall, booking travel on the Internet can be educational, interesting, and money-saving. Travel websites may even offer you travel options that you have never even thought of. Though your travel planning will probably still take some time and effort, the rewards of researching and booking using the Internet can be great. Good luck, and happy traveling!
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