Friday, 3 May 2013

Cheap Travel to Europe Is A Luxury

Cheap travel to Europe or anywhere else is a luxury. The luxury, however, will not be found in plush pillow-top mattresses or five star hotels. The luxury derived from cheap travel is one of the basic elements that we have on the earth, whether we realize it or not. That commodity is time.

We say that "time is money." This is true in every sense of the word when buying travel. We will pay more for flights that work out during the time we are able to travel. If you don't believe this, try to buy a ticket during Thanksgiving or Christmas where you don't travel on the holiday itself but still maximize your time away and get back in the last hours before work. Buy a ticket leaving Wednesday late and arriving back "home" late Sunday night of Thanksgiving weekend. If you don't buy months ahead, you'll pay a premium to have the maximum amount of time away without adding days off work. Take days off and you are proving once again that time is money as you suffer deductions on pay or paid days off.

I must confess that over the last few months, my focus has been kept by busy day-to-day activities and my penchant for finding cheap travel has been squeezed out. Other than a couple ventures to find cheap travel in Europe for family members, I have not given it too much thought.

A major part of that is the lack of the luxury of time. My family wanted tickets for Easter weekend and didn't have much time on either side to give or take. They wanted to travel direct and only from one specific city. Almost all options were taken off the table. This is not a good scenario for cheap travel to Europe or in or around Europe (or anywhere in the world). It's bad, unless you are driving your own car, and last time I checked, the bridge between the New World and the old Continent is not done!

Maybe you're wondering about cheap travel to Europe this summer. If you haven't already booked, it's getting late. It's May, already. However, if you keep all your options on the table, you can still make a big difference in your bottom line.

You want a concrete example? So would I. With just six weeks advance notice and in the midst of the high season, you can still get some reasonable deals on travel to Europe. June 12-19 gives mid-week travel days which will save you a few dollars each way. Have your heart set on going to London from Chicago? You are going to pay a minimum of $1294 on the cheapest of cheap flights. You can save money if you have the LUXURY of changing your cities and going to Dublin instead of London (see the entry on Gateway Cities). Dublin will be just as good of a choice as London if you are traveling on to Europe. How much money will you save? How does $350 sound? That's right. $946 from Chicago to Dublin on Air Canada. Disclaimer: Air Canada isn't paying me for this. In fact, I'm not making any money yet on anything! Did we mention you also get to see the Ottawa and Toronto airports (luxury!) on the way?

What can you do with the $350? Probably nothing, because you probably didn't have it in the first place! But at least you got cheap travel to Europe! Send us a postcard from Dublin, or where-ever you go to from there on Ryan Air!

Tuesday, 5 March 2013

Forbes Billionaires. Microcosm of Global Values. A Multinational Interest

Global Issues
Stratospheric Finances Roosting in Most Every Nation
Standard for Fair Taxation: Weigh Wealth against Poverty Levels
Whether you are a traveler who sees the footprints of the hyper-wealthy in every country abroad; or just curious about which countries spawn the Forbes Magazine annual billionaire's list. Join this categorical romp through the top 50 or so of the  http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/.   

Bankers
Safra Brazil Banker
Fridman Russia Oiler- also Telecommunications- also Banker

Fossileers; Industry
Ambani India Fossils:  Petrochemical, oil, gas
Usmanov Russia Steel/ also Investor
Mittal India Steel
Repeat: Fridman Russia Oiler- also Telecommer- also Banker

Dangote Nigeria Cement, Flour (who doesn't need that?) Obesitor (sugar)
Akhmetov Ukraine Steel/ Coal (what chance of renewable energy sources there?)

Computing, Telecommunications, Internet, Feeders Off the Cloud
Gates United States - Computing (Microsoft) now probably diversified
Helu Mexico Telecommunications
Ellison United States Happy Marriage Hardware-Software (Oracle)
Thomson Canada Media -- tentacles in all you use to communicate, be communicated to
Repeat: Fridman Russia Oiler- also Telecommunicator- also Banker. Nice to have your own bank, like the NRA
 
Fashion, La Beaute – Trompe l’oeil, j’espere, j’espere. Non? Meh.
Ortega Spain Fast-Fashioniste (Zara)- retail therapy
Arnault France Brander (LVMH – Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy)
Persson Sweden H & M,  Hennes & Mauritz fast-fashionisti -- off the rack but good stuff
Betancourt France Beautification Facquerie (L’Oreal)  -- everyone can be a beauty.  Believe.
 
Multinational Conglomerates; “Diversified” Gurus (The Gang of Coy)
Buffett United States Multinational Conglomerateur (Berkshire Hathaway)
Koch I United States Coy  (“diversified”) Also undisclosed influence-peddler. Left view of right: Pro-corporate agenda of Koch, viewed from Left. Tweedle-dee.
Koch II United States Coy  (“diversified”) Also undisclosed influence-peddler. Tweedle-dum.
Li Ka-Shing Hong Kong Coy (“diversified”) read – ka-ching; various areas, including humanitarian, http://topics.bloomberg.com/li-ka--shing/
Blavatnik United States Coy (Diversifier), born in Russia, http://www.moneyedup.com/2010/11/billionaire-profile-len-blavatnik/
Cheng Yu-Tung China also Coy (Diversifier) http://www.therichest.org/nation/richest-persons-in-hong-kong/
 .
Hoi Polloi Targets (let us help you, little people)
Walton I United States (Walmart) Welcome to Walmart. Hey, is that smoke?
Walton II United States again Welcome to Walmart (our wages? Whatever we want)
Walton III United States who welcomes Walmart any more?
Walton IV  United States Good night, small folks, good night, Waltons. Good night, hopes.
Albrecht Germany Grocer (Aldi: Albrecht Discount) Beats Walmart.
Albrecht II Germany Grocer  (Aldi, Albrecht Discount) (see Schwarz and Lidl)
Schwarz Germany Retailer (Lidl, competor of Aldi, fight on, behemoths). More than grocer?
 .
Information
Bloomberg United States Global business and financial informationeer; now ads for his (people’s) causes
 .
Feeders of Addictions, Le gambleur, le sweets (some, like dark choc and good beer, good)
Adelson United States casino multiplicateur, also activity in Singapore, interested in Spain, see http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/casino-tycoon-sheldon-adelson-plans-35-billion-mini-las-vegas-706522.Dislikes investigations
Ferrero Italy Obesitor, but the dark choc is good
Lemann Beer Brazil (urp) (not an addiction but a necessity when real beer)
Mars I United States Obesitor.  Also Uncle Ben, pet stuff. http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/40/40297.html
Mars II United States Obesitrix
Mars III United States Obesitor
 .
Online marketing
Bezos United States Online Retail (Amazon)
Page United States Internet search and advertising technologies (Google)
Brin United States ditto Page (Google)
 .
Investors/ Leveraged Buy-outers
Icahn United States Buyout-leveragor (when management itself buys controlling shares in the company)
Soros United States Hedger – funds with limited partners using high-risk means
Alwal Bin Talal Alsaud Saudi Arabia investor
 .
Real estate
Kwok Hong Kong real estaters
 .
Miners – Dreadful sorry, Clementine
Gonzalez Mexico Miner
Fontbona Chile Miner
Rinehart Australia Miner
Velasco Mexico Miner
 .
To be added:  A work in progress
Mikhelson
Del Vecchio
Dell

Then:  What can little folk do to shift money to the common good, when there is so much money made from producing non-essentials, in all the fluff (but fun) that makes money -- fashion, beauty.  

Homework:  Pick a billionaire.  Look for balance. Search online for any humanitarian work it also touts for itself, and put how much is invested as compared to gross income from all sources derived. 

Then see what issues are important to you for a sustainable life, balanced in interest vs. exploitation. Ethical treatment of people and animals, labor, health:


  • Use of telecommunications for the common good:  Is there a chance that the telecommunications people would use their resources to disseminate facts, educate, take fact-based stands. Even Louis Vuitton mentions on its site its humanitarian investments.  Hype or real? 

Next step:  A Value-Subtracted-Tax, for each non-sustenance-related product sold, with proceeds to go for global sustenance, health care, education for all. Is it time to wake up?



Tuesday, 18 September 2012

Travel without rules. Like religion without a Benedict. Sant Pere Pescador. Did we all lose with Benedict

Where does Travel, Unscripted, Lead?  
To areas of thought not earlier examined.
Do we dare.  
.

 A Theology Match.

From travel and exposure to all those wars of religion in Europe, 
ask which is more "Christian."
History says: Benedict and his Rules, because Rome's version won.
What do Offbeat-Travelers say?

Meet a Catalan alternative.
Sant Pere Pescador, in Catalan, Saint Peter the Fisherman.
Not Peter as buried under icing at the Vatican.

This has come slowly, as a surprising and unintended personal conclusion to one who is not a Sunday Regular, an issue not considered at the outset. It is the issue of Rules in Religion, when it seeks institutional power rather than faithfulness to a Founder, and the role of Rules in shaping Western ferocity in putting down religious dissent. This echoes in politics, with parties wielding exclusionary Rules, in hopes of centralizing power and influence.  Must religion do the same.  It has. What on earth are we doing with all our rules. Who so ordained? On what authority? Is the origin of Western Violence rooted in early Mithraism, Roman, ideas of vengeance, hierarchy.
.
Is this so, after seeing years of travel where issues related to religious determinism have ruled by power, not merit in closeness to meanings of texts. Would we have been better off as Western Civilization, if Benedict, embodying Rome's Regimentation and need for Rules, and hierarchy, had not taken root in the evolving "Christianity." What if is a useful inquiry, in focusing on alternatives that might still be available.

  • What if the concepts of Pere Pescador, Peter the Fisherman, not Peter as hailed in glory at the Vatican (what??)  had prevailed, instead of Paul the Romanist, against all the political and military odds of the Time.  Would we all be more at Peace? Including with Islam? Are we so dyed in the wool that we cannot see how we got here.
  •  What if Paul, originally from Tarsus, a seat of Mithraism, that in itself influenced Rome, rejected Mithraic practices and stayed with those of Jesus. See Sociology of Masculinity in the Middle East, by Dr. Hossein Adiby, 2006 paper, at 4ff, Mithraic influences on major religions. "Mithra, a male god, was worshiped only by men at Mithraic shrines." Social structure of patriarchy, man owning his family, etc. Search for "Mithra" and "Mithraism."

Travel is like, would you believe, life.  The approach a person taken to either, I think, reveals how far that person will value autonomy, independent thought.  Or is authority absorbed as gospel. Follow the guide with the bouncing flag.

With all the opposition to autonomy through the centuries, is autonomy worth it. Institutions oppose autonomy. They all fight it like Crusades, whether corporate or evangelical or union or whoever.

And they win in direct confrontation, of course.  Here, the Papal complex at Avignon, where armies in the name of God were raised against dissenters, Cathars.

In response to that opposition, for those of us who cannot survive well without autonomy, must we nonetheless support someone's "institution." Even travel institutions. The opposition to our kind of travel is fear.  Must we fear other people, other cultures, others in control including religious, so that we have to travel in little gangs with flags leading the way to what we may, or may not, see..

WWF Theology Match.

After fourteen years of unscripted travel in Europe, the Car-Dan Tour Company, we raise our own flag again for human individual contact in cultures, no tours, rent a car and go. What will you find.

We began as an enrichment course for a Down Syndrome son, Dan Widing, who had met the age limits for education through the system.

We are an ersatz family event consisting of a supportive Dad, not a tour company at all, and the Dad stays home because he does prefer an agenda.  So Dan and Mom head out, an aging but spunky lady with an amazing Down Syndrome adult son with enormous human and intellectual capabilities that we barely scratch, Mom who likes not knowing and heading out. Dan has caught the bug.  Our theme song:  I wonder where the Car-Dan is sleeping tonight?  And much laughter. Which way next?  Cross arms and point in opposite directions, more laughs, and pick one, and go.

Ask, as to the option of road trips instead of tours.  Can a reasonably  intelligent person engage in travel without rules imposed by some outside "guide." Is it safe, what is gained, or lost. What is the on-balance result. Can there be religion without a Benedict's rules.  Yes.  Can there be travel without a company's rules. Sure.

Then, can a reasonably intelligent person engage in life without rules imposed by some outside "guide" even when someone else's interest is not at stake.

 Is it safe.  What in this kind of randomness is gained, or lost. What is the on-balance result. When to trust a "guide."  Who tells you something is as important, as more important to an individual, than what is said and whether it is believed.

San Pere Pescador.  I am of a Christian Protestant tradition, and find the idea of a simple fisherman embodying the essence of Western Christianity on point.  Not the riches and accumulations and force through Crusades, that Peter in Rome, at St. Peter's, the fake tribute to one whose ideas were fast abandoned in favor of Avignon's riches, embody.

Sant Pere Pescador.  That "resonates" in the terms of the introspector-groupies.  Pere Pescador.  Find us. We need you.

I am an unscripted, but heritage, Christian, so leave now if you like.  The theme here is a religious one:  spurred on because it is impossible to travel freely in Europe without finding at nearly every turn, the effects of forced rigidity in Western religion.  Largely, this took the form of Rome and Paul's spin against all other interpretations, forcing conversions, dogma. Hundred years' war. Thirty years' war. Rome and the regulatory monastic houses against meeker Irish theology This is now a firmer interest after 14 years of unscripted travel:  and at the root, after the Roman Empire, find the influence of Benedict,  Sixth Century, Roman Empire fallen, Europe decentralized, peoples migrating all over, lawlessness for lack of processes.  There was also faithfulness: the Celtic, individualized Christianity, the contemplative, the seekers, Christian forms in the Middle East.  Not for long, says the Rules Man -- who does bring protection of walls and more productive agricultural systems to the monastic territories.  He also fosters a malignancy and intolerance of others, that taints us yet.

Vestiges of lost alternatives do remain:  Compare to truths of The Losers --  as the figure of Sant Pere Pescador, Saint Peter the Fisherman in Catalan. Heart, seeker, contemporary.  He was there. 



Tuesday, 4 September 2012

Cheap Travel to Europe Falling Prices This Fall

It doesn't seem possible that the summer is already over! I hope that you had a great time this summer and were able to find good travel bargains. There were a few to be had from time to time and often they were in the most unusual places. I didn't expect to see any cheap prices on my recent trip to Istanbul, Turkey. I thought I might be better off taking a camel train and paying for the food and water for myself and my animal rather than paying for airline tickets. However, I was pleasantly surprised that Istanbul and Turkey in general is opening up more and more to the cheaper carriers. This has caused some of the traditional "old school" airlines to lower their prices to stay competitive.

The good news is that we are seeing more destinations popping up on our screens when we search for budget-rate fares and carriers. It seems to be a trend that has caught on and is expanding in Europe. Gone are the days of simply paying the national airline whatever price they ask if you want to land in a certain country. The free-skies agreement has opened up the competition and lowered the prices for all travelers. Are customers looking to travel on the cheap less desirable to hoteliers and restaurants? That is another conversation for another time. But I will say that hostels are starting to open up where there previously never would have been a market for them, because their location was a destination of the rich and famous.

Well, nostalgia aside, the observations made above relate mostly to cheap travel within Europe. For anyone from N. America, the challenge will remain getting across the Atlantic to start traveling within Europe itself. The time to do this is in the "off-season." Fall is setting in and the travelers will be slowing down, especially anyone who has to consider school dates. So families with school-age children, teachers, professors and students are no longer able to fly, especially mid-week. Fall is the time to see the airline prices... well, Fall (yes we did!). Since the Olympics are over in London, things might be cooling down enough to actually find some good fares to London.

If you didn't get to travel this summer and have been waiting for Cheap Travel to Europe, the time seems to be here and "the price is right." You might want to "come on down!" I'm sorry. I couldn't resist.

Starting a search from the East Coast, I was actually able to find some pretty good prices out of Newark. I tried the consolidator 1800flyeurope.com. With the new target of $800 to Europe, I would say that this Fall is a good candidate for Cheap Travel to Europe!

Outbound Flight
American Airlines Departure:
26 Sep 2012 11:05 PM
Newark Int Apt (EWR)
Arrival:
27 Sep 2012 11:05 AM
Heathrow Int Apt (LHR)
Nonstop
Inbound Flight
American Airlines Departure:
03 Oct 2012
6:05 PM
Heathrow Int Apt (LHR)
Arrival:
03 Oct 2012
9:15 PM
Newark Int Apt (EWR)
Nonstop
$761.85  (Total price per person including all taxes and fees)


Tuesday, 24 July 2012

Cheap Travel to Europe in Summer

Perhaps this title is an oxymoron. Cheap travel? In the summer? To Europe? You might be saying "No way!" Perhaps you are ready to avoid the long drawn out quasi-intellectual conversation about "what is cheap?" Perhaps you just HAVE TO GO. The Old Continent is calling you and you have the days off (the upside of a down economy?). You didn't get a ton of notice and had you known six to eight months ago, you wouldn't have had the money to put down on a ticket anyway.  So what are you going to do? If you have the money or a credit-card that isn't maxed out and you HAVE TO go to Europe THIS SUMMER, you just have to buy a ticket. Maybe your long lost friend, the exchange student is getting married and they found you on Facebook and you just HAVE TO be there. Maybe you just now found out you made the olympic synchronized swimming team. Whatever the reason, let's just say you are buying a ticket without a lot of advance notice.

If nothing else, this information will give you some kind of factual basis for all those future (let's face it, they're probably NOT) intellectual conversations about when is the best time to buy to get cheap travel to Europe.

Right now, if you had to go from Chicago to London and you could give yourself twenty-one days advance notice, and you wanted to spend two weeks in or around England, you would need to be ready to part with close to $1,000.

Exactly $972 per person if you fly Virgin Atlantic or United (both of which have non-stops to Heathrow, BTW). These are Wednesday flights from August 15-29th, 2012

Don't lose heart, though, Chicago O'Hare (ORD) to Dublin is almost $200 cheaper on US Air on a one-stop through Charlotte (not a bad airport at all). $786 to Dublin (same dates as the London flight) from the Midwest is not too bad at all, given the recent hikes, taxes and fuel add-ons (which have never been reversed, interestingly enough, despite oil being at a recent low of $86/barrel, but I digress). You can go from Boston for $737 (dollars--not Boeing--I kid. I kid!). I would still shoot for $600 from the East Coast for it to qualify as truly "cheap travel to Europe" but we have already established you are going.

From London or Dublin, you can get to almost anywhere in Europe for a pretty cheap flight, as I mention in my classic (OK, it's not a classic, I just wish it were) post: gateway cities. One of the main players out of these two markets is Ryan Air.

Using the "new cheap" bar of $700 for a round-trip to Europe and considering that these flights are out of Chicago, the next time people are saying you can't get any good deals during the summer, you might be able to say "Well, I know of at least one exception to that rule." To which they'll tell you that exceptions prove the rule. Like I mentioned, they aren't really intellectual conversations, after all. But a little bit of hard evidence never hurts.


Wednesday, 21 March 2012

Travel to Santorini one of the most beautiful islands of Greece!

Fira is the capital of Santorini and undoubtedly one of the most beautiful settlements of Greece, along with Ia. It is built on a naturally impressive site, on top of the cliffs and along the fringe of the caldera at an altitude of 260m. The haven of the town is Fira's bay, where someone can get the teleferique to go up to the town.




-Book here cheap air tickets and hotels to visit Santorini

Alternatively, you can choose going up to town with a donkey or by foot if you are even more adventurous! The view towards the sea captivates you so much that I suggest you be very careful if you pick the latter option (go up by foot) – the cliff is steep and not guarded.
Fira was founded at the end of the 18thC and has been built in the traditional Cycladic architectural style. The houses are brilliant white, small, with domes and arches and lots of little windows along their sides, overlooking the beach; together, they cheekily sneak out from the narrow streets and tease you. Along the fridge of the caldera, the terraces become balconies for the nearby houses.

However, despite the traditional neighborhoods, the bright white houses and the blue domed churches, a walk around the island’s busier streets - where shops and cafes have proudly claimed their space - will make you realize that you really are in one of the cosmopolitan Greek islands.






Santorini Volcano
Santorini owes its existence to it's volcano. Being the only geological phenomenon of the Aegean Sea, the volcano created a place of unique beauty in its heart.
Both Santorini and its volcano will undoubtedly fascinate you. It co-exists with the underwater one of Koloumbos, which is situated 8klm from Santorini, Nisiros, Milos and Methana, as well as the rest of the volcanoes in the Aegean Sea.

Santorini's volcano became active 2,5 million years ago and is still active to this day. Its latest volcanic surface in the Eastern Mediterranean was created just 50 years ago, on the island of Nea Kameni.




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Source

Friday, 16 March 2012

Travel Haiku. Europe Road Ways Review

.
Travelers'  Haiku:
Road trips look-back, when costs fit.
Travel still enchants.
.
Austria
Empires' crossroads.  Wien,
Mauthausen. Complicity's
Shades. Play on, Mozart.
.
.
.
Belgium
Old pride riven: Wars,
Culture divides. Still, stalwart.
Plus art. Great waffles.
.

Bosnia
Muslim. Orthodox.
Christian. Mostar's bridge rises.
Who the heretic?


Croatia
Spirit, Bishop, Nin.
Mass, Croatian. For that, banned.
Seek!  Autonomy!


.
Czech Republic
Pilsner, property
Confiscated. Ethnic-cleanse.
Now rising, claims Self.


Denmark
Was fierce! Vast in lands.
Ancient vitality firm,
Then sapped. Return. Sass.
.
.
England
Jolly old. Self-full.
Exploited colonial
Subjects roost roots here.

.
France 
Devastate. Repeat.
Marching armies, Popes, Kings.
Courage! dit Piaf.
.
Germany
Lockstep. Reconstruct.
Marshall Plan! Wealth back. Affront!
Bailed out, now must bail?
.

Hebrides
Standing stones, Vikings,
One-lane roads with lay-bys
Wind. Knights' churches. Breathe!


.
Hungary
Roma, Jews,  traces
Of the purged. Oft invaded,
Turns against its own?

.
Ireland
Spirit of early
Monks rubbed out by Rules, and faked
Invasion permits.
.

.
Italy
Vatican kingdom
Grows power, riches. Edicts.
We like Juliet.


Liechtenstein
No unemployment!
Banks at ev'ry turn.  Name names!
Nope. Won't.  Can't tax this.
.
.
Luxembourg
Mighty caverns, trade
Routes, military legends,
Patton. Hamm. Salute.

.
Montenegro
Mountains, guerrillas,
Invaders, fjords, Cetinje.
Ostrog survives all.


.
The Netherlands
Tallness, tulips, cheese,
War-crimes court, social coping.
Heritage. At brink?

.
Orkney
Scots now. Whither Picts?
All Norse place names.  Old wipe-out.
Wind-tunnel town streets.
.
Romania
Harsh needs, harsh crossroads.
Rome, Roma, cacophony.
Vlad, Lenin, try all.

.Roma, scavenging, Romania
.
Scotland
England's muscle-flex.
Uproot crofter! Kill the brave!
Old lives live, despite.
.

.
Sicily
Ancients, temples, sea.
Wars. Untamed Aetna. Smokin'!
Cultures, cliff towns. Eat!
.
.
Slovakia
Defenses, old, new.
Heaviness of history.
Offset: festivals.
.

.
Slovenia
Caught. Powers straddled.
Old, proud Carantania
Conveniently wiped.
.
Sweden
Rus-roots, Caucasus,
Sigge Fridulson. Culture
Highjacked? Uppsala.


.
Poland
Easy invade. Flat.
Divided. Abused. Admire!
Retained humor, arts.

.
Wales
Edward's great castles.
Stop on the way and listen.
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
.
Switzerland
Bet both ends v. mid.
Gnome secrets. Alp views distract.
Uncommitted thrive.
.
..........................................................

I. Child not for college?
Parents: Offer direct sense
In some way. Go there.

II. Where? You pick distance.
A family root. Crofter?
Mongol? The Black Plague.