Travel secrets: Tip from a Vietnam local Last updated 12:00 02/07/2013 About two years ago, I went to Vietnam with my friend, Liv, and had an amazing time. Fortunately, Liv had a family friend in Cambodia who knew of a local tourist operator, The Sinh Tourist, that is popular in Vietnam. We checked out the website and decided to go with this tourist operator. And let's face it - we were impressed. For the price: $57pp for a three-day, two-night tour, covering about half the meals, activities and two nights accommodation, it was a very good deal. This tour was from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Phnom Penh Cambodia. We also used this tour operator to go on a day tour to see the Cu-Chi tunnels. Now compared to booking a tourist through a New Zealand travel agency, there are definitely some pros and cons. Pros: We saved some money. We got to meet more Vietnamese people. We got a direct recommendation. Cons: Peace of mind. View all contributions Comments
[Living] A list of useful mobile apps for living in Korea 1. Visit Korea 2.0 - English Visit Korea 2.0 provides users with expanded travel content and information on Korea's tourist attractions, restaurants, accommodations, shops, and more. 2. The Smart Tour Guide contains audio guides for major historical sited and national museums across Korea. 3. Your best mobile solution when planning for a trip to Korea. 4. Actually Korean Menu Guide is made for Korean people who have foreign friends. 5. Korean language app for building sentences based on library of over 1100 of the most common words and phrases in Korea. 6. This application contains information of tourist attractions, hands-on experience, themed tour packages, shopping places, festival, events, food and accommodations with detailed description of each attraction. 7. MediApp Korea is your guide to medical travel in Korea, where cutting-edge healthcare is available at reasonable rates. 8. BENIKEA, operated by the Korea Tourism Organization, is Korea's first-ever-mid-priced hotel chain.
Country Profiles Understanding other people's languages, cultures, etiquettes and taboos is of great value to the traveller or visiting business person. Scroll down the page for information on a selected number of countries. Topics include language, useful phrases, the society, culture, business and social etiquettes. You can access Useful Phrases here or through the corresponding country. Please feel free to share comments you may have about our guides as we are always looking to improve the quality and accuracy of information. This information is also available as an App for the iPhone. Etiquette, Customs and Protocol Guides Warning! It is important to bear in mind that these guides act as basic and general introductions only. Each society, country and culture will have numerous nuances that would make it irresponsible to suggest a uniform approach to understanding any country's social/business culture or etiquette.
Top 10 Costa Rica stops for first-timers by Lonely Planet · Dreaming of a trip to Costa Rica, but not sure where to start? With volcanoes to hike, legendary surf, miles of beaches, and endless wildlife spotting, Costa Rica rewards repeat visits. But if you're just starting your explorations of one of Central America's most beautiful countries, these 10 stops will steer you in the right direction: Pin this image Classic Costa Rica: the near-perfect cone of Arenal volcano is a sight to behold. 1. The neighboring towns of Monteverde and Santa Elena, which edge iconic cloud forests, are the birthplace of the country’s ecotourism movement. 2. Though regular eruptions ceased in 2010, Arenal remains an impressive landmark: its perfect conical shape sharply rises above the surrounding forests and serves as the majestic backdrop for nearby towns like La Fortuna and El Castillo. 3. One of the country’s most famous national parks, Manuel Antonio, is the Costa Rica you imagined in your dreams. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Budget Travel Advice: How to Pay for Your Vacation I'm short on cash. Should I put my vacation on a credit card? Nooooooooo! Unless the trip is someone's dying wish, charging travel expenses that you can't immediately pay back is not the way to go. Not surprisingly, readers on BudgetTravel.com offer some imaginative—and highly effective—ways to pay for the trips they crave. “For all our vacation spending/mad money we save any $5 bills—they all go into our vacation savings pot. “I begin planning about six months ahead and pay for as many things as possible in advance, such as theater tickets and some hotels, so that the cost will be spread over as many billing cycles as possible.” “I have a vacation savings account into which I put my credit card rewards checks, rebates, rolled change, and any found money as I get it. That goes for other kinds of borrowing as well. Does it make sense to set up a vacation savings account? The first thing to do is determine how much you can afford to stash away each month, and don't be stingy.
Tourist traps you don't want to miss (Photo: Courtesy davidspiel/myBudgetTravel) Yes, they are mentioned in every travel guide. Yes, they're teeming with tourists. The Great Wall Built between the 5th century B.C. and the 16th century A.D. to block outsiders, the 5,000-mile Great Wall has ironically become the very thing most visitors come to China to see. Why it's a must: It's an astonishing testament to human ambition, ingenuity, and xenophobia, not to mention the fact that its size is astounding—it drapes the mountains in sections for 1,500 miles, from the Yellow Sea to its curiously abrupt conclusion in the middle of the far-west Gobi Desert. Eiffel Tower (Photo: Courtesy lavenderdays/myBudgetTravel) Believe it or not, the Eiffel Tower wasn't appreciated when it was built as the entrance to the International Exposition of 1889. Pisa (Photo: Courtesy ibnelly/myBudgetTravel) The ornate bell tower's dramatic flaw made it an engineering calamity, then a curiosity, and ultimately, an icon. Acropolis in Athens Chichen Itza Barcelona
Secrets to getting the cheapest airfare The days are getting cooler and shorter, which means the winter holidays are right around the corner. It's time to start planning your holiday vacations! If fact, October is the best time to find the cheapest airfare for holiday travel. The travel website Kayak crunched last year's numbers and found that Thanksgiving airfares jumped 17 percent after October. So, what can you do to make sure you don't overpay for your holiday airfare this year? Let's start with Google's Flight Search. Google Flight Search is fast and easy to use, but maybe you want more search options. You can search for flights on a specific airline, for example. Timing is everything when shopping for cheap airfare. Speaking of timing, did you know that airfare prices go up and down depending on the day of the week? Airlines are constantly having big sales. Have you ever purchased a plane ticket, only to find out about a big price drop afterward? Most folks don't know that several major airlines offer airline refunds.
Your Ultimate Guide to Women's Travel Underwear We’re not shy over here at Her Packing List, so we’re going to discuss something you might not typically read about: women’s travel underwear! If you’re a reader of the Female Travel Underground newsletter (if not, sign up now!), you might have read about travel undies before. We even have a Cheeky Bits Pinterest board to show how much we love some travel undies! Your ultimate guide to women’s travel underwear. Why do I need travel undies? Travel underwear were created with convenience in mind. If you’re going on a round-the-world trip, you also don’t want to pack dozens of pairs since it will take up precious room in your bag. What can I expect from travel undies? While cotton are the best underwear for everyday life, they can be quite annoying while traveling because they take so long to dry. What type of travel undies do I need? There are a number of types of travel underwear on the market, each with their own benefits and styles. Underwear ExOfficio Pop N Go Bras Lululemon Ta Ta Tamer
10 out-of-this-world places The salt flats of Bolivia. (Photo: Laumerle / Dreamstime.com) Rivers that run red. Blinding white landscapes. Salt Flats, Bolivia The name says it all. Today, 10 billion tons remain spread across around 4,000 square miles, where it cracks in naturally occurring hexagonal designs. The Chocolate Hills, The Philippines (Photo: Olga Khoroshunova / Dreamstime.com) Local lore has it that the mounds on the Philippine island of Bohol were formed from the tears of a giant who fell in love with a local girl. Rio Tinto, Spain (Photo: Luis Estallo / Dreamstime.com) Rio Tinto literally translates to Red River, and it is not a misnomer. Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland (Photo: Dariophotography / Dreamstime.com) Hike down along the coast at the northern end of Northern Ireland and you'll come across a scene that will leave you scratching your head: Hexagonal stones that stacked along the water like the world's largest Qbert set. Spotted Lake, British Columbia (Photo: Lijuan Guo / Dreamstime.com)