Internet Travel Q: I have been traveling for over 40 years - with the thumb in my early days, the boots of the Scouts, a Lambretta that followed and then my old pileup first followed by the new old bangers to the beaches the Costa Brava. My thumb, boots, bikes and bangers took me all over Europe and the UK before finding that a charter flight to Spain in an old 'Connie' I could get to the beaches and bars much faster and more time to enjoy Local travel opportunities to horse and cart and the occasional bus and train. 'Go West and Prosper "seemed like a good idea so instead of taking an 8 hour flight gave me eight days a transatlantic crossing from Tilbury to Montreal in the Stefan Batory Polish Ocean Lines jet lag to ensure that no bother my trip plans. Some years later crossed the pond in a boat again, but this time was 5 times bigger and I traveled in style in the Queen Elizabeth 2 and dined on rack of Queen a little away from my previous experience. I recommend ocean travel, but I do not see one of the modern cruise ships going from port to port with constant up and down lineups to buy shirts. However, I've done 10 Windjammers and Star Clipper cruise in the Caribbean that were memorable (hopefully Windjammer Barefoot Cruises recover from their problems.) But I digress. I had read that Canada is a spectacular country, from sea to sea, and my entry into the St. Lawrence River to Montreal and then to the west in an old Econoline van in the Great Lakes, through the grasslands of the Mountains Rockies before the end of whale watching off the Pacific coast of Vancouver Island was a wonderful trip to an uncle in London. Today the scenery is still spectacular and the best way forward is still road to rent or buy a car, trailer or motorcycle, take the bus or train tour, but remember the maps, a fly rod, good boots and take your time. My favorite part of Canada and the U.S. for adventure tourism has to be the Northern BC / Alaska, to hike the Chilkoot in the footsteps of the goldseekers 1898. Northwest Territories Canoe the Nahanni River and the Yukon driver's Dawson City to Chicken, Alaska. If you like the outdoors and can withstand a couple of bugs, cast a fly and scale of some hills or driving endless dirt roads sharing space with moose, caribou, moose, bears and eagles, these are the places to put on your list. The pleasures and experiences in driving to Inuvik on the Dempster Highway or from Prudhoe Bay on the Dalton Highway and the Canol Road can only be felt by them. I mentioned the Alaska Highway, but now it's an easy drive unlike the previous ones. Currently the cost of driving these distances can mean carpooling with others is necessary, but this mode of travel or simply Vanning and camping is a good way to see beyond the horizon. Some adventures on the road now needs to be booked in advance, whereas when I hiked Denali and the Chilkoot pass was just a case of uploading, register with the local ranger office and heading up. A little further planning is needed for today's traveler and cost considerations for long flights or drives somehow be countered by more careful planning. In the days of gas prices reasonable even considering the costs of driving or flying and led to Key West from the northwest coast, west coast of Baja and the west coast of New York. He once even flew my taildragger 1946 Pacific Fleet to the Atlantic and back with about 5 liters per hour of Avgas. Before the oil crisis and credit crunch that drove from Rio de Janeiro to Lima, to Tierra del Fuego and back to Rio de Janeiro, covering over 15,000 miles of spectacular scenery and without any regard for the cost of gas. South America should be on your itinerary too! Some other memorable records now may need a mortgage with gas companies include London to The Canyon North Cape, Norway, New Zealand sailors and solitude of the far north of Australia and Western Australia coast incredible to come to Monkey Mia and Wave Rock. We tend to forget that the real cost of travel today is often less than 40 years of my travels. In 1977 my airfare back and forth from Canada to Australia cost over $ 1700 in $ 1,977 so today is much cheaper to fly, even with the increase in airlines for the fuel, excess baggage service and pleasure no no. The method of "Big Mac" price comparison drawn by The Economist gives a good indicator for most of the costs today than yesterday but my cost of $ 1500 to get a private pilots license in the early of 1970 seems cheap compared to today, but obviously, when not used this principle Big Mac Other travel costs are also much cheaper today, but this should not mean that travelers should ignore the many methods cost savings that can be subjected to expand or improve travel experiences post-Internet Travel: In my 40 years of travel that have had to use travel agents to make even the simplest of reservations and ticketing, and even think to ask if they had "been there, done that?" It was just a case of absence of other options to purchase travel. We now have unlimited options and can find better travel agencies, better prices, better selections and information anywhere in the world for our trip - without ever leaving home. The Internet now gives travelers ideas and options of where to go, when to go, why go, what to do, who book and how to save money and reduce costs. We can look for and find experts for every travel option. If we are comfortable with the Internet and not have to go to a travel agency to make reservations and purchase tickets with the exception of a book with some of the largest travel companies that still produce glossy brochures and offer all inclusive packages or visits sold only through the agency system. The Internet also allows those of us who are smart enough to know when to look for a top travel agent with expertise and knowledge (skills KEE) of destinations and activities about where to find them. There is no need to use only our local agents when you can find elsewhere in the world. When it is not necessary "knowledge" and can do it ourselves, just surf the web so that we can book directly with tour operators and travel where we decided to go. Some travel agencies that operate their own tours, some are wholesale and retail, some limit consumer choice only the sale of its "preferred" suppliers and some professional consultants with years of experience invested in obtaining knowledge, experience, knowledge and worth their weight in gold for the traveler. Be careful, as some are also known as destination specialists and some of these names are merely require the agent to undergo a rudimentary test offered by the tourism offices, destination marketing groups, and even tour operators, and my opinion, can damage the reputation of the travel industry. A specialist is not necessarily an expert. The trip is probably the most widely used Internet marketing and sales agents if they want to take this medium to offer exciting, "the knowledge and skills" kee to a global audience, not just their local community must embrace the changes that are occurring. Travelers now have the ability to seek answers to the 5 W of travel and the importance of "How to" save money and offset costs to provide information at a click away. And then it occurred to me that even Internet travel prices often include an element of the commission, even when sold directly to consumers. If you book directly with operators should not have to pay full retail prices as we are doing for ourselves what is a retail agency normally do for us. A dilemma for the operator to show is that once a child and a choice of cost price could deter many agents selling the services that travelers could use an agent for free advice and book directly with the operator to obtain a "net of commission prices. Obviously, the pricing of two levels is often not available, but travelers who do not need or advice should also not be penalized for retail prices. A new way must be found and I think I've found! The need for fairer fare prices is why we developed the first Travel Voucher program in the Top Travel Club and even found a dot com for it. All travel selections on the site are "net of commission" for prices which are concerned that the travel arrangements directly with the operators linked to the club's website with our voucher program. I'm inviting tour operators around the world to join this program, B & B, hotels, motels, luxury Lodges, Eco Resorts, Beach Resorts and tour operators and adventure who want to promote their products and services travelers who are comfortable with direct bookings and reservations. I also invited travel agents with knowledge, experience and knowledge of destinations and activities to show their skills to a global audience of travelers and members of the travel club. I am suspicious of specialized agents and only want experts to showcase their services. This opportunity is available for the travel industry at no cost except that they can offer net prices, sale to or from club members and visitors to the site using superior travel vouchers. I think this program offers fair prices to travelers rates direct booking. The operator would normally have to pay the commission anyway, but now travelers get the savings, and to make their own arrangements. The Top Travel Club opened in mid-April 2008 bond offering thousands of top travel for travel in over 70 countries with about 150 trips aboard operators. Each week we add more tour operators with more options for members. Today you can get savings on accommodation, adventure tourism, boat tours, culinary tours, travel, hiking, biking and diving, car rental and RV fishing lodges and guides, safaris, vacation rentals, travel individual, only women and ranches. Members receive free tickets by paying an annual fee and non-members can purchase tickets online at top travel sites at greatly reduced prices to the face-value. The growth in the future will include restaurants, travel clothing, travel insurance and the opportunity to access airline tickets consolidators who want to deal directly with consumers. The way I've traveled and the way I travel is that consumers should have unlimited access to all travel opportunities with the ability to do their own due diligence or to find a professional who can offer advice and quality services fair prices, and find all this without endless hours of searching. To learn more about the new form of compensation for travel costs, please go to the top of the Travel Club and my apologies for some of the spelling (Traveller / Traveller), but that's what I was taught. While we all understand the meaning, Vive le difference!