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No matter what anyone says you can’t travel without some kind of accessory. Whether it be suitcases, suit bags, brief cases or money pouches you will always carry some kind of travel accessory with you.
The travel accessories say a lot about the life and personality of the person carrying them. Depending on the style and color of their travel accessories, and indeed what particular accessories they are carrying, you can gain insight into what country they are from, whether they are happy, outgoing and energetic or rather old fashioned, whether they are well off financially or have little money to spare and a myriad of other details.
The buying team at Mori Luggage and Gifts recently returned from the Travel Goods Show in Washington, D.C. - the largest exhibition of travel accessories and leather goods in the world. For three days, buyers walked the aisles seeking the hot new trends in luggage, briefcases and travel accessories.
President of Mori Luggage and Gifts, John Mori, said the Travel Goods Show was an excellent opportunity to network with other businesses who also manufacture travel accessories.
“The Travel Goods Show allows us to meet with all of the leading manufacturers in our industry,” he said.
“With the improving economy and travel increasing, we were pleased to discover lots of new, innovative travel products for 2004. Our customers expect us to always have the newest items that make travelling easier.”
Mr Mori said manufacturers of travel accessories such as luggage, briefcases and leather goods were responding to consumer demand for bright colors - especially when it comes to women’s business cases. While black will always be popular, fashion-conscious businesswomen can now pick a different color briefcase for each season. The Lodis Audrey Capri Brief has been tipped as a hot seller for spring and summer. Available in salmon and periwinkle, this beautiful brief is constructed of fine-grade Italian leather and features a streamlined exterior, organizer pockets for cell phone and business cards, and a removable shoulder strap.
The Zuca MobileLockerTM is a super-durable, lightweight rolling case. It was designed by a mom who couldn’t stand to see her 4th grade daughter lugging 50 pounds of books each day and developing back pain so early in life. The main compartment holds books and important gear and can be used for school, picnics, or airline travel. The top is so strong you can use it as a seat and the magneto LED wheels actually light up as it rolls. It’s an excellent travel accessory that is suitable for a wide range of uses.
One of the most interesting developments in luggage and travel accessories is the 22” Transformable Upright from Briggs & Riley. Either use it as a one-piece rolling carry-on or transform it into two separate bags: a deluxe duffle with optional backpack straps and a wheeled carry-on upright. Once the duffle is zipped off, a face panel zips onto the wheeled upright creating a new carry-on. Each bag can hold 2-3 days worth of clothes.
So just what’s new in the travel accessories industry? Ever wondered if the airline pillow covers and blankets are as clean as you’d expect? After all, its one of the most commonly provided travel accessories you’ll come across! According to a new company called pb travel, recent studies have suggested that many are not changed or cleaned often enough. That’s why they have introduced the pb blanket and pb disposable pillow covers. The pb blanket is a warm polar fleece blanket that is machine washable and dries in just 10 minutes.
If you’ve ever flown overseas, you’ve probably heard of deep vein thrombosis and other circulatory problems that can occur during long flights. Compression Socks by Elastic Therapy use a graduated compression system to improve blood flow and relieve leg swelling and discomfort. They are definitely a must-have on your travel accessories list. They are also great for walking or anytime you plan to spend a lot of time on your feet.
Brushing your teeth while travelling or at work just got easier with the Travelon Toothbrush. Actually, it’s a toothbrush and toothpaste all in one making it another one of those fantastic and ingenious travel accessories. Simply twist the handle and refreshing mint toothpaste comes up through the high quality
Ever seen a sophisticated man who carries his stack of dollar bills in a rubber band? We found a way for him to do this in style with the Grand Band from Budd Leather. Each Grand Band features a durable, colorful band with two replacement bands and a stainless steel plate that can be engraved. This is a useful and essential travel accessory for the stylish and professional traveller.
Article by Phil and Kate Wiley of Travel-1st http://www.travel-1st.com
You may use this article on your website providing you include the above author bio and active link to Travel-1st.
About the author:
Phil and Kate Wiley run the populat Travel-1st web site http://www.travel-1st.com
You may use this article on your website providing you include the above author bio and active link to Travel-1st.
These China Travel Tips, Survival Techniques, will help you get around and make your trip to China easier, so you will be able to experience the real China with a little less stress. China is an odd beast that needs to be respected; the major cities,Beijing, Shanghai, and Xian, all have their own personalities.
Some complex situations that you think would be an organizational disaster turn out to be great and you wonder afterward what all the fuss and worry was about. Then the simplest of tasks can turn out to be a major calamity.
This is when you have what we call here a "China day".
These days come and go and are part of the experience of everyday travel in China. One needs to have an open mind when travelling China. It is a place with thousands of years of history and culture that is trying overnight to adapt to Western ways of living.
You need to have a very open mind when you Travel in China. I have listed below a few China Travel Tips that will make life that wee bit more bearable on your Travel China experience.
1. China Travel Tips - Be Toilet Wise
* Never expect a clean toilet 100% of the time.
* Be prepared; Carry some tissue.
* You may have to use a squat toilet, again if you know this before hand it is not a shock. If you don’t know how to use a squat toilet, try the following experiment at home.
While holding onto something for support with both hands, lower your body down into a low squat position, so that the cheeks of your bottom is almost touching your heels or the back of your calf. Now, let go with your hands. See if you stay in this position for at least 1 minute. If you fall backwards or you cannot get up, then a squat toilet could be a problem for you! Practice, you will be happy you did.
* If you see a clean toilet, Go… it may not come again for a while.
* There are many public toilets around the cities, usually the ones you pay for are OK, (RMB .5), the others best to stay away from if you can. You will soon notice them as you walk around the cities.
* Be warned that public areas like bus and train stations are usually what I class as “tough toilets”, however if gotta go you gotta go.
* Outside of the major cities, the toilet systems are old or have very narrow plumbing/pipes and get blocked easily. In these cases a small basket is usually beside the toilet, this is for your used toilet paper.
One of the best China Travel toilet Tips I can give you, is use hotel lobby toilets; these are everywhere and are always clean. Still they may not always have toilet paper. It depends on the class of hotel that you are using.
I do not wish to scare you. However, of all the China Travel Tips in all the other web sites I have read, this is a topic not often mentioned, but it is very important to us all.
So outside of the major cities conditions can be tough. But most of the time everything will be fine, especially if you book a tour; everything will have been checked out before hand. However even the best laid plans can go wrong, so be prepared, the toilets in the smaller cities, towns and villages can be scary.
2. China Travel Tips - The Food
* The food is great and the variety is overwhelming. Most of the time you get to choose what you eat, or you can recognize what you're eating, however sometimes you do not get a choice. Carry a chocolate bar or something; this will keep you going until some food that you can recognize turns up. Drink bottled or boiled water, as the tap water is NOT safe to drink, this is for the whole of China. Even boiled water, while sterilised can
contain a lot of minerals and iron deposits that you probably do not want in your system. The safest bet is to drink bottle water. Tap water in most big cities is OK for brushing teeth.
* Eating habits - Most Chinese people have a great habit of being very noisy when they eat and lunch and dinner times can be a wonderfully noisy celebration, food tends to go in all directions, its just part of being in China.
* People also smoke at the table while everyone is eating, so some restaurants get very loud and smoky.
* If you get stuck what to order as most of the menu's are in Chinese just look at the table next to you and point to the dish you fancy and ask how much it is, this system works really well and know seems to mind.
* I have a basic menu that will help you order safe food, (no Cats or Dog) this will enable you to visit a larger selection of restaurants, not just the tourist ones with high prices. You can carry it with you and use it in the local restaurants where most will be able to serve what is on it. This way you will know what you are eating.
These local places are very cheap and the food it great. Contact me if you would like me to send it to you.
3. China Travel Tips - Taxis
* Taxis are an experience that can have you griping the seat and gasping for breath; however you soon get used to it, after the first few rides, you're an old hand.
* The taxis in Shanghai are, overall, quite good. Try to get the Blue, Blue'ish Turquoise, Gold and White taxis, these are the best… these are the four major taxi companies and are generally recognised by their single colour paintwork. The others are OK, just older and a rougher ride (the others also may have faulty metres). No drivers will speak English.
* Carry your hotel or accommodation business card with you, written in Chinese, this helps if you get lost walking around town.
* In all the taxis around the country you will see the drivers name and taxi registration number in plain sight. If you have any problem, or if you think you have been over charged etc, just take this number down, make a big fuss about it, and the driver then should wake up and fix whatever problem you have. Even better is to take the receipt. This has all the trip details on it and you can ring the taxi company if you want to take things further or if you’ve left something in the taxi.
* The government takes rip-off drivers in all cities, Beijing and Xian especially, very seriously and if you complain they will lose their license. This is their livelihood. So far I have had not one driver in 3 years that has not backed down and we have then agreed a price for the trip or solved our problem.
* In Shanghai, it is common practice for taxi fare increases after 11pm. However, one can usually bargain for a 20% discount, which will get the fare back to the pre-11pm rate. Be strong with the taxi drivers, never-the-less, keep your cool, smile and negotiate.
4. China Travel Tips - Shopping
* China is a shopper’s paradise, Markets, Bargains; Top labels… anything and everything if you have the time. With clothes, the larger (Western) sizes can be quite hard to find, however in the major cities where you get a lot of tourist traffic, you can find them.
* Electrical gear, DVD’s, Cameras, stuff like this is not worth buying in China, Hong Kong is still the best place for this.
* Store hours in the major cities are from 10am to 10pm, 7 days a week.
* Visa card is still the best card to carry, with ATM’s in good supply all with PLUS access etc. There is usually a surcharge for use of VISA, MasterCard or other forms of credit card.
* Wait on purchasing if you can, look around to get a feel for the prices. The Chinese are VERY experienced at selling and know that we halve the opening price when bargaining. In the markets go for 25% of what they first ask; go so low that they let you walk away. This will give you an idea of the bottom price. The resulting end-price will probably be around 40% to 50% of where they started.
Whatever the market people say, they are used to pushing and haggling for best prices. Do not worry about being too hard, they are used to it and will not sell you an item unless they make a profit. Don't be concerned with the apparently hurt body language when you go low – it is all part of the game. As soon as they have wrapped up your first purchase, they will try to sell you something more. Remember to keep smiling and having fun
while bargaining.
5. China Travel Tips - Medical Treatment and Records
* Most hotels will have a doctor that you can see. In the major hotels English will be spoken.
* Always take a small first aid kit, cold remedy, headache tablets at the very least. WATSONS is a very large chain chemist. Most of the remedies, tablets etc, that you may require should be in these shops. These shops are all over China.
* There is a great network of pharmacy type shops; these are indicated by a Green Cross. There will always be a 24 hr Green Cross pharmacy in the city you are in. It is handy to carry a Phase book, as no one will speak English, however you will end up with something that will help.
* INPORTANT POINT – for most of the mass produced packet type medicines, the packaging will be written in Chinese on one side, English on the other. However in the shops you only see the Chinese side. Have a good look, turn the packs over, it gives you a lot more confidence knowing you can read the package.
* If you have a specific medical issue, take records, most of the Doctors will have OK written/reading English, even though their oral English will be poor.
6. China Travel Tips - Telephone
* Using the phone is as easy as at home. However the person picking it up will not speak English or have very broken English… the Major 4- or 5-Star Hotels will all be OK.
* What is worth doing is buying a Chinese Telecom SIM card, they are about RMB100 and with this you get RMB50 in calls, the other 50 is for the price of the SIM card; this SIM card will go into all major brand phones and work OK.
By doing this, people can reach you within and out of China if there is an emergency. If you have a couple of phones, you can short (txt) message each other (SMS). Also you are able to call your tourist guide, hotel etc if you have any major problems. It is a cheap way to keep in touch.
Note: Before you buy a Chinese SIM card, check that it will work in your Cell/Mobile phone. There are plenty of China Telecom shops that can help.
7. China Travel Tips on when NOT to move around China
* Spring Festival, this would be the Chinese New Year time, around the end of January/Early February
* Early May; Labour day Holidays
* Early October; National Day Holidays
Of all the China Travel Tips National Day is the biggest one. Millions of Chinese travel at these holiday times of the year. Most are travelling back to home towns or visiting family. Hotels, trains, planes, cars, buses, and roads are all crowded to the maximum. Major congestion, everywhere.
Also travel fares are at their full price. No discounts are offered! Stay in one place and enjoy where you are. It’s best and causes fewer hassles.
8. China Travel Tips - TV
* If you want to watch TV, most of the major hotels will have cable and if you are in the smaller places, the national channel, CCTV9 is in English. Over the last couple of years it has got a lot better, with some great China Travel Tips programs, news and views on people and places around China.
9. China Travel Tips - Airport Tax
* There is a “construction fee” at almost all airports.
Domestic flights RMB 50 International flights RMB 90 - which is to be paid in local currency. Just recently, tickets are being tissued with the Construction Tax included; however make sure you have the Tax money with you just to make sure. About the author John Mckenna John Mckenna is from New Zealand and have been traveling within China for more than 3 years. For more on China Travel information, pls visit http://www.chinatravel.com, the portal on China Travel and China Tour, and Really Long Link experienced based Travel and Tour information on the wonders of Travel in China.
Are holiday bargains for true or have catches hidden?
REMEMBER YOUR LAST CONVERSATION WITH THAT family relative who couldn’t talk enough of how much they saved on their last holiday package deal? Or that colleague bragging about his $59 round- trip flight to Las Vegas and his stay in a 5-star hotel at $89 a night? Have you found yourself staring wistfully (and suspiciously) at a $399 package deal for two for Hawaii?
Just because your email seems flooded at times with seemingly impossibly priced travel offers, and you find Internet search engines are flooded with 1000’s of sites selling internet travel besides big hotel brands and branded distribution sites don’t discount them all.
Who can you count on?
Just four or five years ago, when you looked for travel discounts you could choose between a travel agent, the airline offices and the hotels themselves, and maybe, if you were lucky, some travel guru down the street. Today, there’s a massive range of things you can do online, and a lot of them can save significant amounts of money.
The reality is:
• Nine out of 10 online travelers now have some history of shopping for travel online, and nearly 15% of all Americans purchased travel online last year - that’s five times the penetration rate of 1998. (PhoCusWright Consumer Travel Trends Survey)• Nearly one-third of online travel buyers say the Internet was responsible for their travel purchases last year.
• In 1998, six million consumers bought travel online in the U.S. Jump ahead to 2002 when 30 million Americans purchased travel online in the last year. Half of them only buy their travel online. (PhoCusWright Consumer Travel Trends Survey)
• Online travel bookings exceeded $23 billion in 2001, and are expected to reach $63 billion by 2005.
• Internet bookings in the first three quarters of 2002 accounted for over 23% of rooms sold in New York, and over 15% in Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco. Anecdotally, for some properties, hotel managers are reporting Internet bookings ranging from 30% to 50% of all room nights in 2002. (Smith Travel Research and TravelClick)
What does this mean?
This means that online distribution channel is extremely successful in reaching buyers and buyers are finding it more confirmable to shop online. They are seeing a broader range of travel options and variety of products and packages. And its more likely that consumer wants to control that transaction through access to more competitive pricing. Pricing is becoming key factor to determine the sale.
Key factors: Why travelers prefer to book online
• Competitive Price
• Ability to compare product and Prices
• Ability to plan last minute
• Availability of Range of options
Online travel shoppers are not very loyal on where they shop—65 percent of online travelers do not view themselves as brand-loyal. As much as they love to shop online and spend their time researching what suits their needs, they are not loyal to the companies from which they buy.
The above scenario indicated that the travel suppliers have no choice but to participate in this online distribution channel. The suppliers are realizing that the traditional channels like GDS (Global Distribution System)/travel agent and call center/reservation office is somewhat inefficient and expensive, especially when the economy is weak. Ignoring online distribution channel and concentrating only on traditional distribution channels will result in lower occupancy, and higher distribution and operational costs for travel suppliers. As online channels become more popular among suppliers their participation is increasing.
How Pricing and Distribution Become Key
9/11 caused a dramatic shift in how consumers booked their travel. The instability caused a large drop in demand for airlines, hotels and car rentals leading to ever-lower prices. This low demand factor forced travel suppliers to introduce unprecedented discounts. Travel suppliers struggled to sell seats, rooms, car rentals to a significantly shrunk leisure and business travel market. Every air seat, room and auto not booked cost their companies money. Better to sell dirt cheap than not to sell at all. But how to get the word out?
Smart, proactive suppliers adopted the Wal-Mart business model—sell low and distribute inexpensively and efficiently. But how?
The Internet allowed them to reach consumers, sell inventory outstrip their less progressive competition. Those suppliers who had no clear Internet strategy or understanding of how the Web and online distribution works suffered.
Discount hotel sites attract millions of buyers with their special rates leading to stratospheric sales through these channels. They thrive on hoteliers selling their distressed inventory at a fraction of their normal rates. Occupancy is the lowest its been in years, hoteliers continue to work with leading online retailers to move inventory at lower price.
The $6.3 billion in online hotel sales (2002) with are split roughly evenly between discount agency sites and hotel Web sites. PhoCusWright projects that around 75% of discount agency hotel site sales are via the merchant model, where the agency typically takes a 20-30% “margin” on the hotel net rate (instead of the usual 10% commission). This approach has helped profits at Expedia and Hotels.com, who have roughly 60% of online discount agency hotel sales. Travelocity and Orbitz are instituting the same successful approach. Other notable players thriving in this arena are Hotwire.com, Really Long Link , Lodging.com and Travelweb.com.
What is the Future?
Online travel growth will continue to grow in 2003-2005, but it will slow down year by year compared to the record gains see so far. However millions of travelers haven’t yet made their first purchase so the market is not near saturation. Technological improvements will soon make it possible to more easily dynamically package vacation deals including air, hotel and car leading to even lower prices but higher average sales. So growth is projected to come from customers buying more, higher-ticketed products online.
The growth of the online distribution channel will prove beneficial to the end user when the suppler finds it easier and more cost-effective to distribute their inventory there than over the traditional distribution channels. As technology becomes mature in the online distribution sector, it will become more effective and user friendly for the Buyers and thus will attract more Suppliers. Due to its low cost of distribution and emerging ability to package and cross sell inventory, prices will be attractive for years to come, until this channel eventually becomes a commodity.
Surveys are interesting. I took note of this one done recently by American Express because it backed up some data I learned at the (National Association of Female Executives) NAFE National Conference in May. According to the survey, 40% of the smallest business owners - those with less than $200,000 in annual revenues - are planning no vacation whatsoever this summer. But even business owners with higher revenues aren't doing much better - only 75% of them expect to get away from the business this summer.
As we were told at the NAFE Conference, even those business owners who do get away from the office, won't truly get away. Rather, one in three will link their vacation time to a business trip and 50% will still check in with the office at least once a day
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My two favorite rides at Disney theme parks are "It's a Small World After All" and "Big Thunder Mountain Railroad". Both are popular attractions at Disneyland, Disney World, and the Disney parks in Paris and Tokyo.
"It's a Small World After All" made its debut at the 1964 New York World's Fair in the UNICEF pavilion and was designed as a message of international harmony by Walt Disney's team. It was transported to Disneyland in 1966, and located inside Fantasyland; it instantly became a highlight of the park
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Hartmann luggage is our oldest premium brand of luggage. This brand has actually been around since 1877. Hartmann considers every detail using the finest leathers, innovative fabrics and unique design details such as hand stitching, self-healing YKK zippers, double-strength handles and protective treatment of all fabrics. Every component of a Hartmann product must pass their rigorous testing requirements before being made available to consumers. Every piece of luggage must undergo the equivalent of 25 round trips per year for 10 years in their Tumble Testing machine. This machine subjects luggage to the abuse produced during heavy airline travel by placing it in a rotating drum equipped with obstacles of different surfaces, including steel edges and rough 80 grit sandpaper. We recently spoke to a couple celebrating their 50th anniversary and they were giving each other a gift of luggage. What did they want? The same luggage they had received as a wedding gift 50 years before. What luggage was that? It was the Hartmann tweed collection of course. While they did view the new styles in the upright cases, they decided on the old-fashioned Pullman cases without wheels in the classic wood box construction. The cases were monogrammed for them and they were quite happy. The Tweed collection from Hartmann has endured because of its custom-woven, resilient and easy-care nylon tweed fabric. The cases are all trimmed in Hartmann’s famous soft, abrasion-resistant Belting leather.
Hartmann makes several different series and colors. The Intensity collection is made of ballistic nylon in coffee or black. This is the same ballistic nylon fabric that is used in bulletproof vests. These colors match the original Intensity collection. The styles are newer and the material is stronger, but it has the same classic look. This series is trimmed in full-grain leather with antique brass or matte black nickel finished hardware. Hartmann considers their wheels and frame system to be one of the most durable in the industry. The walnut tweed with natural belting leather trim is traditional elegance at it's best. Many of the pieces in this collection are made entirely of the natural belting leather. These leather cases epitomize timeless style and exceptionally elegant design. The rich luster of the leather becomes more handsome
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Rule 1: Plan everything in advance.There is nothing worse than a poorly planned trip. Start right from the beginning i.e. deciding your destination to booking your tickets to the reservation of your accommodation. One important thing here to mention is about your packing. Make sure you pack all your essentials and spare clothes to be used incase the need arises.
Rule 2: Be Spontaneous. Don’t follow your itinerary as if written in stone. Try different thing like lazing on the beach to having an odd coffee at some place or just wandering around. This will help you to know the place better which you are visiting and add a zing to your trip
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With world travel the very first thing you can do to reduce your stress levels is to have a travel agent you can trust. This is because you have no idea of all the rules and regulations that are going to come up during your world tours. Having an agent that you trust is a great source of stress reduction. This is because you do not have to worry about all the little details and the infinite amount of paperwork and changes that come up. A good travel agent can advise of things like your passports, visas, shots and immunizations, as well as providing tips on local customs and culture so that you can fit in more easily when you arrive.
There are a number of travel sites out there and the most popular ones deal with getting you the cheapest flights and hotels. This is great and wonderful for what they do and they are good at it. They however will not make sure that all the little details are taken care of or provide the personal touch that other sites and agencies can. I have found that world-travel-tour.com is one of those sites that does a good job of keeping their eye on all the small details.
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September 14th 2007 10:10
Travel Between States:
Although some form of identification should always be carried, travel documents are generally not required when traveling within the United States. Travel documents may be required when traveling between states by road or rail, provided the journey crosses international boundaries. All travelers, regardless of nationality, are required to present a photo identification or travel document when traveling by air or sea
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September 14th 2007 10:10
Travel Between States:
Although some form of identification should always be carried, travel documents are generally not required when traveling within the United States. Travel documents may be required when traveling between states by road or rail, provided the journey crosses international boundaries. All travelers, regardless of nationality, are required to present a photo identification or travel document when traveling by air or sea
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