Saturday April 30, 2005
Easier way to travel
STORY AND PICTURES BY LIZ PRICE
My love of travelling was instilled in me from a very early age; in fact probably even before I was born.
My first overseas trip took place about three or four months before I was born, when I went up the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Needless to say I didn’t see any of the view, nor do I remember it.
When I was a child, we were lucky enough to have foreign holidays each year. Back in those days booking a holiday was a different procedure from today. There were no computers back then. When my parents first started going on overseas holidays some 50 years ago, it was a matter of planning, discussing, reading and waiting.
A bullock-cart in Madagascar.
It was a time of great excitement. The family would go down to the local travel agent and browse through all the brochures.
Having got an armful of literature, we would then talk to the girl in the travel agency. The next step was to go home and spend a couple of weeks or so browsing through all the holidays on offer. Although we all joined in, it was always dad who made the decisions. If it was left to us we’d probably still be deciding the following winter.
Once a decision was made, we would make a booking. It was only some days later that we would receive the tickets, documentation etc. Then the excitement would really build.
Much has changed over the decades. Today most people have computers, and there is the choice of the Internet or telephone bookings. The brochures can be seen online, and the booking forms are there as well. There are credit cards and electronic payment systems. I can’t remember when I last went to a travel agent.
Not only has the Internet made life so much easier for the traveller in the 21st century, it has increased options and lowered fares. There is such a huge selection of companies at the click of the mouse. Gone are the days of walking into one travel agency, and being restricted to what they sold.
Today, even the small tour companies advertise on the Internet. Some companies will even “tailor-make’ packages to suit clients. And, of course, the choice of flights is huge. Now the world is your oyster.
From the comfort of your home or office, you can pick the cheapest flight for a day and time that suits you, book it online, pay for it online, and collect the ticket at the airport immediately before departure. And with the advent of cheap, no-frills airlines, the consumer is in his element. This has brought on a price war, which of course is all to the advantage of the traveller.
You can also book a rental car and arrange to pick it up from the airport on arrival. Alternatively you can book train or bus tickets. You would probably have already made your hotel reservations too.
A bus in Vietnam.
Another thing that has changed over the years is money – getting hold of foreign currencies. In the good old days, we always used to buy traveller’s cheque and foreign cash, and this meant paying commission to the supplier. Often we had to pay another commission to the agent cashing the cheques when abroad. If any surplus money or cheques were sold back, this again meant commission. So the traveller lost out every time.
Today Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) have become the norm. They can be found in most countries.
And the beauty of the machines is that they invariably have instructions in English as well as the home language.
Many people are reluctant to use their cards in the “hole in the wall” overseas, fearing they will lose their card if the machine swallows it up. I’ve used my card on several continents, and, touch wood, I’ve never had a problem.
Admittedly I’ve had a couple of minor mishaps, when I’ve got into a muddle over the number of zeros, and mistakenly withdrew a ridiculously small amount of money. This happened once in Indonesia.
Another time was in Johannesburg, South Africa.
I was well aware that the crime rate there was really high, so I was a bit wary of using the ATM.
In my fumbling, I miscalculated a simple exchange rate of 10:1, and withdrew the princely sum of about RM40. The queue behind me grew even longer as I tried another transaction.
I know you pay a service fee to use the card, but the convenience is well worth it. It saves carrying around wads of cash, and saves having to work out in advance how much money to take with you. And if you want to make an unexpected purchase or take an unplanned tour, you can do it with your plastic money.
With all this advanced modern technology, travelling has become easier. And hopefully everybody benefits.
Prices have come down and options have increased. With the electronic booking systems, less human manpower is required, which saves on salaries, and so these reductions can, hopefully, be passed to the consumer.
Happy planning. Bon voyage!W
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