When I was back in the corporate strategy world, all the talk was about the Baby Boomers. That generation had the bucks – and the inclination – to do whatever it wanted. And, it was ready to follow through … to the point where consumer product manufacturers and hospitality companies were ready to cater to this large generation’s every whim. Well, the latest research from travel industry-watcher PhoCusWright suggests that the recession beat the Boomers down in 2009.
Nobody thought 2009 would be a great year for the travel industry … according to PhoCusWright (and everyone else). Leisure travel feel 11 percent year over year, which wasn’t exactly shocking. What is interesting is that the Baby Boomers backed off a little earlier than other generations, due largely to the fact that they are on the brink of retirement. Every dollar, of course, needs to be considered against the “rest of life” standard.
The Boomers, described as age 55 to 64, stand in stark contrast to the prior decade, which spent more time on the road in 2009. Young people, on the other hand (age 18 to 24) posted a 15 percent decline in travel. Broke kids with disposable income, it seems, don’t have as much disposable income as they used to … or they can’t sponge off their parents as much when they’re in a bind.
Travel spending bounced higher March, even though the bar was set pretty low. Foreign visitors spent an estimated $10.8 billion on travel to and tourism-related activities in the United States that month. That’s an increase of nearly $1.1 billion – or 11 percent – over March 2010. So, travel exports grew for the second month in a row, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Foreign visitors to the United States generated $2.4 billion in passenger fare receipts (the cash paid to get to or from the United States) and $8.4 billion in travel receipts (everything else) in March. Travel receipts were up 13 percent, with passenger fare receipts gaining 6 percent year over year.
For the first quarter of 2010, international visitors dropped almost $31.8 billion on travel and tourism – up 4 percent. Americans spent $25.5 billion abroad during the same period.
California is one of America’s most beautiful and popular states for tourism. From wintry ski resorts to dry desert landscapes you can have it all – but all that choice also means California can get expensive quick. Between airfare, big cities like San Francisco and admission to theme parks, a California traveler can spoil a budget in no time. Here are some money-saving tips to keep your California vacation budget in check.
Buy a National Parks pass
California is home to some of the most beautiful National Parks in the country, but each of these parks have admission fees. If you pick up a National Park pass, you can travel to and from any of these parks as many times as you like in a year, all while saving a few bucks in the process. Check out the national parks page for California and schedule your vacation around one of the United States’ most beautiful outdoor areas. Once you’ve purchased your pass, the possibilities are endless. Everything from hiking, boating, exploring and picnics is within reach, all for cheap.
Check out areas around the state’s big cities
It can be very expensive to stay in some of the major cities in California. Consider San Francisco, where the average hotel can set you back $200 or more. Check out nearby cities where you’ll easily find accommodations while still using the city’s public transit. San Francisco has one of the countries best public transit systems, so chances are you won’t even need a car. Great cities not far from San Francisco include Berkeley, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto and San Jose. There are great things to do in these cities as well, and they offer a convenient and cheaper alternative to a money-gouging big city hotel.
Discover California’s less touristy beach locations
California is well-known for beautiful beaches and coastline, but don’t forget to look for the beaches and parts of the coast that don’t see as much tourist activity. Spots like Pismo Beach offer beautiful sand with perfect scenery without the high prices. Located between Los Angeles and San Francisco, this beach town offers fantastic, affordable accommodations, great restaurants and plenty activities for the family. It also is a beautiful honeymoon spot or romantic getaway. From Pismo Beach, if you have a car you can travel to some of the nearby cities for a day trip. San Luis Obispo is a short trip from Pismo Beach, as well as the famous Hearst Castle.
Head to the desert during “shoulder season”
The desert starts heating up in March and April, but is still completely comfortable, beautiful…and affordable. The prices are driven down after February as the “sun birds” begin to skip town. For some great desert travel on the cheap, check out beautiful, sunny Palm Springs. Palm Springs is a short 2-hour drive from Los Angeles and you’ll find great deals there in the spring months.
While in Palm Springs there’s plenty to do, including hiking, golfing, shopping, and plenty of great eating. If you are lucky enough to be in Palm Springs on a Thursday night, you can go to the famous Palm Springs Village Fest, which offers plenty of entertainment, shopping and eating. You can do self-tours for free in Palm Springs of all of the famous 50’s retro modern architecture as well as the famous celebrity houses, like Bob Hope’s house and Frank Sinatra’s house. Also, not far from Palm Springs is the unique and gorgeous Joshua Tree National Park. Take a day trip out to the park and check out the famous Joshua Trees, where the band U2 got their inspiration for the album “Joshua Tree”.
Go to a ski town in the off-season
If you are not big into snow and skiing, finding a ski town in the off-season is the perfect way to spend a vacation, and get some great deals at the same time. Big Bear Lake happens to be one of the most beautiful places in California. And in the off-season, you can spend a fraction of the price on beautiful lodging. There is plenty to do when the snow isn’t falling: hiking, boating, swimming are plentiful and perfect in the spring and summer months. For a relaxing and affordable vacation, Big Bear Lake is a great money-saving choice.
Visit San Diego
Home to some of the country’s most beautiful beaches, San Diego is your one-stop California vacation place for sun, ocean, theme parks, shopping, and nightlife for less. First stop are the beaches at La Jolla and Coronado Beach, both rated as top beaches in the United States. Not satisfied with just the beach? Check out Mission Beach, boasting two miles of boardwalk along the beautiful coast. Then head down to the famous Belmont Park where you can ride the oldest roller coaster in California, catch a ride on the wooden carousel and play glow in the dark mini-golf all while watching surfers for free at the famous Wave House. Head to downtown San Diego for a walk around Little Italy, a walk through the modern Gaslamp Quarter. And be sure to check out San Diego’s Old Towne. This park is completely free, and free to park featuring great shops, entertainment. Visit California’s top-notch farmers’ markets for inexpensive meals
California is already famous for its bountiful harvests of fruits and vegetables. Why not take advantage of all that deliciousness and save some money while you’re at it? All throughout California you’ll find some of the country’s best farmers’ markets. Chances are whatever city you decide to visit you can find a farmers market on almost any day of the week. These markets offer fresh fruits and vegetables, and most offer inexpensive food stands with delicious local treats.
Find a vacation rental
You can save a lot of money on a California vacation by renting a vacation home rather than staying in a hotel. Check out AOL’s travel page of vacation rental listings, or head to one of the many web-based rental sites like VRBO. Staying in a vacation rental is great for everyone from families to individuals and couples. You can save a lot by not eating out, and most are below what hotels charge, and offer every thing you need for your vacation.
Enjoy a free/cheap California festival
There are numerous festivals around California throughout the year. Most are free to get into, or have a very low admission. How about the Patterson, California’s famous Apricot Fiesta? Or maybe Big Hat Day in Old Towne Clovis, CA . There are festivals each month of the year, and offer a unique view of each city and daily life. There are tons of deals to be had, and a lot of free activities. For more information check out the California Fairs and Festivals page.
Theme parks
California is home to some of the best (and most expensive) theme parks in the country. Disneyland, Sea World, Legoland, Knots Berry Farms are some of the best, though a visit can add up quick. Save some money by staying outside the parks. Cities like Anaheim, CA have plenty of accommodations and will save you a few dollars over staying in the park itself.
Traveling to other countries can be an exhilarating and wonderful experience. When it is, treasure those moments and take lots of pictures. When it isn’t… it’s usually because you’ve suddenly realized you’re “not in Kansas anymore.” What felt exotic from your original home suddenly feels “weird,” “uncomfortable,” or “downright annoying” now that you’re in this new culture. Don’t let these down feelings get the best of you and ruin what could be an otherwise life-changing experience. Here are ten ways to deal with culture shock before and after it happens.
Get an “informant” (make friends with someone from the foreign-to-you culture).
This can be the most important thing for surviving another culture, especially if this person becomes a close and trusted friend. This informant becomes the go-to when something happens that you can’t make sense of, or if you have questions about what’s appropriate or not. It’s like having a “local culture dictionary” — and can be vital for your sanity’s survival.
Get a same culture buddy (make friends with someone from your own culture).
This helps in having someone who either is going through or has recently gone through a lot of the shocks you are currently enduring. You can vent with someone who knows what a public restroom should look like. Just be careful not to let it slide into a “hate everything about this country” session. Every day make yourself find something that you like about the culture
Celebrating the good of the new culture can help take some of the edge off the things you see as bad. Think of it as the things you’ll miss when you go back home; and as hard as it is to believe at times of heavy culture shock, there will be plenty of things that you miss one day. Bonus: when you can find a positive aspect to the “squatty potty,” then you know you’ve made progress.
Be a tourist
Plan time to do the cheesy touristy things that the locals wouldn’t be caught dead doing. It helps to be an outsider sometimes, because you can find wonder in things the locals don’t even notice anymore. Sad to say, but once you see it day in and day out, those majestic mountains become just common place. So, before it becomes mundane to you too, stand in wonder at the wonders of the world. Extra points if you take a local with you and make him/her be your “tour” guide.
Do something that takes courage every day
Eleanor Roosevelt is famous for saying this, and it’s good advice to take. Besides, it’s actually not that hard to do when you are somewhere foreign. Adventure surrounds you in another culture — big and little. Taking courage can simply mean going to the market by yourself, but if you see it as an adventure, rather than a chore that will take you three times as long as it does in your own culture, you may actually find yourself having fun.
Do something familiar
Figure out how to make your favorite food and do so often. Watch your favorite movies. Listen to music that makes you feel good in your own language. Have people over to celebrate your home culture’s holidays your way. Sometimes you just need to close your eyes and hear, smell, taste the things that are home to you. It’s amazing how good mac n’ cheese can taste when you no longer have easy access to it. Go for walks
Spend time exploring on foot. In your own culture, you take for granted how the trash is picked up, how the mail is delivered, the colors that the houses are painted, etc. Take time in this new culture to figure out how the minutia of life gets done and being on foot helps you to notice the little details, plus it gets you out of the house for a little exercise.
Journal
There’s no better place to get it all out then on the pages of a book that no one else will see. It will also help for you to look back on it and see how far you’ve come, the humor in situations that weren’t humorous at the time, and how you can help other newbies as they have the same problems. Consider taking this journal and sharing it in a blog form to help others as they transition, but be careful to gain some perspective before doing so. If you’re in the ugly depths of culture shock, you may really hurt the local people with your mad ravings. Wait until you’ve cooled off; you’ll be glad you did.
Ask for packages from home
Ask someone–anyone–from home to send you the taco mix, chips, chapstick, shampoo, and wool socks that you can’t find anywhere. It’s amazing how great it is just to get a little care package with a few of your favorite candies, spices, drink mixes, t-shirts, scarves, etc. If you don’t have anyone to ship them to you, then see if you can find a company that ships overseas. It may be a bit pricey, but it’s worth it to have a few pieces of home every once in awhile.
Do your research
Know what you’re getting into before you go, or if you didn’t before, then do it now. Research the web, buy some books, watch local movies, and learn the language. It will help you have some idea what you’re getting yourself into. Note on learning the language: it will be hard at times and you’ll feel like a two-year-old babbling incoherently, but not only will you gain a lot of insight into the culture by learning the language, you will also be able to function better. So, be prepared to look foolish and give it a try.
I should have known it was going to be a weird flight when the captain introduced himself as A-rod. Short, round and graying, he stood in the galley massaging the shoulders of a tense looking flight attendant. When the agent walked on board with paperwork, the flight attendant quickly slid out of A-rod’s reach and eagerly asked. “Ready to board?”
Boarding, for a flight attendant, is the most hectic and difficult phase of flight, and would you believe we’re not even getting paid until the aircraft door is closed and the airplane backs away from the gate! It’s true. What makes it stressful is the pressure to get full flights staffed with minimum crew out on time. No longer are there extra flight attendants floating around to help passengers the way there once was years ago. Either we’re setting up a galley or keeping an eye on our exit doors. And by the time a full load settles into their seats and flight attendants can finally move freely up and down the aisle, we’re usually just a few minutes away from taxiing out.
Enter the cat lady. I spotted her right away during the boarding process. Now I love cats. I even own a sixteen pound Maine Coon named Gatsby, so I’m a bit of a cat lady myself. What I don’t love are – not passengers who bring on board pets that don’t fit under the seat in front of them (it happens), but passengers who don’t tell us when their pets don’t fit under the seat until the last minute, like a woman did on a flight a few years ago! That cat wound up in the first class coat closet for take off. So when I spotted this newest cat lady with a large hard case carrier, I asked if it would fit under the seat in front of her.”It should,” she said matter of fact. “I went to the airline’s website to check the measurements under the seat.”
Sounded good to me.
Well not only did the carrier not fit under the seat, an aisle seat, nobody with a middle seat wanted to split from their traveling companion. Cat lady turned red. In the aisle she stood yelling at me because my airline had “lied” to her and now I needed to make things right! Honestly, I was trying, but she wasn’t making it easy screaming at me like that. To make matters worse, the agent started making a PA asking everyone – her – to take their seats. That’s when it seemed like just about everybody seated in a five row radius began claiming to have severe cat allergies.
Quickly I walked up the aisle to report what was going on to the captain and the frazzled agent, but along the way a passenger waved me down to ask if his dog had been boarded. He’d seen it sitting in its crate on the tarmac and was worried. I told him I’d be right back.
“If the guy with the dog is wearing a red baseball cap, I already told him his dog was on board,” said A-rod. “It’s a big brown dog, right?”
I had no idea what it looked like, and was just about to tell him so when the agent interrupted us and asked, “Are you going to take the delay Captain?”
A delay is bad news at an airline. And someone has to take the heat. This is why flight attendants and agents start making back to back PA’s asking passengers to step into the aisle when stowing their bags and to take their seats as quickly as possible for an on time departure. Otherwise fingers start pointing. Flight attendants, gate agents, mechanics, cabin cleaners, we’re all guilty of trying to place the blame on another department. Get docked with too many delays and one could very well lose their job. It’s that serious.
I didn’t wait to hear A-rod’s response, I quickly walked back to coach and asked the dog owner if his dog was big and brown. He just looked at me. Then he told me the breed, as if that meant something to me. I tried again. “Is that breed of dog normally big and brown?”
He smirked. “Yeah.”
“Your dog is on the plane.” One down, one more to go.
Only when I finally reached the cat lady, I couldn’t believe what I saw. Somehow, I don’t know how, the other flight attendants had moved passengers around in order to accomodate the cat under a middle seat. In doing so, the cat lady now had an entire row all to herself.
Just as I started to relax, a passenger tugged on my sleeve. “Excuse me, Miss, I want to know what that woman paid for her seat!”
I started to tell him I had no idea what she paid for her seat, or what anyone paid for that matter, when another passenger piped in with, “Did she buy one seat or three?”
Across the aisle a woman yelled, “I don’t think it’s fair that she gets her own row while the rest of us have to suffer!”
On the verge of a mutiny, I tried calming the passengers down. It wasn’t easy. Did I happen to mention we hadn’t even taken off yet? And that boarding sets the tone for the flight? Oh yeah. Welcome aboard. Now where the heck was A-rod when you really needed a massage?
Tips for traveling with pets on the plane:
1. Book flights early. Only a certain number of pets are allowed in the cabin at one time.
2. Check the airline’s website for pet policies and maximum dimensions for carriers. (21 inches long X 13 to 16 inches wide X 9 inches high seems to be the standard)
3. Purchase a flexible pet carrier or “bag” as these tend to fit better under seats than hard case carriers. (If checking a pet in cargo, only hard case carriers are accepted.)
4. Choose a middle or window seat, as the space under aisle seats tend to be narrower.
5. Pets are required to stay inside their carriers throughout the flight. Make sure it’s ventilated on both sides.
6. Line the carrier with an absorbent material like “puppy pads” in case of an accident.
7. Make sure your pet is wearing an identification tag.
8. Personalize your pet. Put a sign on the carrier that reads, “Hi, I’m a cat and my name is____ . This is my first flight.”