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Finding the best fare between point A and point B — how complicated can it be?

          The wonderful thing about technology is that it insulates us from reality a lot of the time. It makes complicated things appear simple. It takes the drudgery out of completing certain repetitive tasks. Unfortunately, it also causes us to underestimate such complexity and not fully appreciate what we're up against. Take travel for example, or more specifically, finding a fare — the optimum fare — between two points. Did you

Why is it always about the price with travel arrangements?

Now in case you think that this is a stupid question, please bear with me for a moment. Price is of course extremely important — particularly for those who are on a budget — but I get the sense that people are increasingly focussing in on the price alone when comparing travel arrangements, products and services to the exclusion of all other metrics and that's not a good thing, particularly for the purchaser. Reason? It's

How travel decisions can sometimes be based on incomplete information

Trip Advisor is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. The global review site started out life above a Pizza shop called Kosta's in Needham, Massachusetts in February, 2000. It is a great site without question and I must admit that I have started contributing to it in recent times as I realised, belatedly, that I had a lot to contribute given the amount of travelling I do (and have done). What prompted me to write

Now that’s what I call value!

On a recent trip to China, I have to say that I was hugely impressed by the subway system in Beijing. Not only was it clean, safe and efficient but it was also exceptionally good value for money. The subway is the oldest metro system in mainland China — the first line having opened as recently as 1969, and it has grown to 18 lines, 319 stations and 527 km of track in operation, making it the second longest

A rising tide raises all boats …

We all know that tides are the result of the daily tug of war that goes on between the earth and the moon and occur twice every day across most of the world. In some places — most notably the Mediterranean — the fluctuation between low and high tides is minimal, whereas in others, the difference can be huge. I had always been lead to believe that the greatest tidal differences in the world were

This place is a Zoo!

Last Saturday, I brought my grandson Callum to Dublin Zoo. My wife is a keen gardener and she wanted to spend the day at Bloom which was in full swing in the Phoenix Park so I thought that I’d kill two birds with the one stone and treat my grandson and myself to some zoological pursuits. It had been at least 30, if not 40 years since I had last stepped foot inside the facility

And now for something completely different!

It is an aspect of the human condition that, for the most part, people like to remain within their comfort zone. This usually means that many of us travel back to the same holiday destination year after year, especially if it ticks a lot of the boxes in terms of friendliness of the natives, things to see and do, good weather, nice food, history, culture and so on. As the saying goes: 'if it's not

Why you need a travel agent!

Now that we are in the thick of the annual holiday booking season, perhaps it is a good time to remind intending travelers of the huge benefits to using a licensed and bonded travel agent. Aside from the obvious expertise that travel agents possess, it is the financial peace of mind that they offer that actually represents the best reason for using a travel professional. Because airlines are defined as 'principals', they are not required

In praise of the lowly travel agent …

When your mind turns to the question of where you're going to go on your next holiday, what are your options? In the good old days (that I'm old enough to still remember) the answer was simple. You just visited your local travel agent as he (or more usually she) had access to the information that you did not. Nowadays, it's gotten a lot more complicated as there are any number of sources and resources

Food, glorious food!

I've recently returned from a whistle stop tour of southern India. I spent 7 tiring days criss-crossing Kerala but all that travelling was more than compensated for by the wonderful food that I experienced along the way. Contrary to what many people say, I didn't experience any episodes of 'Delhi Belly' and believe me I ate practically everything that was on the menu so perhaps it ultimately comes down to where you actually consume your

Does constant travel desensitise us to each new experience?

I don't know if this is a phenomenon that any of you out there has experienced but I recently had the good fortune to see the Grand Canyon when I flew over to Boulder City from Las Vegas. I had first experienced the Grand Canyon over twenty years ago when i was visiting a relative in Phoenix, Arizona and decided — almost on the spur of the moment — to hire a car and drive

Legroom — worth every penny!

If like me, you are over six feet tall, then long haul flights are a right pain — in the legs! In their efforts to squeeze ever more revenue out of flights, airlines have been literally squeezing ever more rows of seats onto their aircraft with the result that the seat pitch (the distance in inches from one seat to the one in front of it) has been shortening in recent years. The usual solution

The art of getting a quote that is both competitive in price and relevant to your needs starts with gathering all the right information about what you want to do (or think you want to do!).

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