Go Green Travel Green

You are browsing the archives of 2009 April.

We know that many of our readers are affiliated with the green travel industry in some way — running an eco-lodge, green hotel, volunteer tour group, etc. We’re thinking of starting two new initiatives and would like to know your thoughts: 1) A Free Guide: Greening Your Travel Business — A Consumer’s Perspective 2) A Free E-Newsletter for people working in green tourism initiatives. It would be from a consumer’s perspectives with roundups of what other travelers are saying online, resources, etc. Both of these initiatives would be a way for people in the tourism industry to hear directly from green travelers about what’s working and what’s not.

I love trying new restaurants, but this can get expensive, especially in the U.S. Luckily there are ways to save a huge amount of money, while supporting local businesses…. If you’re going to be visiting a new city (or even want to try a new restaurant in your own town), it’s worth choosing a few restaurants before you go and purchasing the gift cards through Restaurants.com.

We are extremely excited to announce that we were named one of the Times Online Top 100 Travel Sites for 2009!… Some others who were featured in the top 100 websites include: Gridskipper , Travel Rants,    Green Traveller, and Cranky Flier .

I do have one more cheap travel tip that I’ll be sharing with you tomorrow to conclude our series of Cheap Travel Tips. (It’s about how to save 80% while dining out in the U.S.) And then next week we’ll be back to our green travel coverage.

Today I’m excited to announce the release of How to Find Cheap Airline Tickets: Mastering Airfare Search Engines to Get the Cheapest Ticket…. What You’ll Learn How to Find Cheap Airline Tickets will Teach You: The 2 Biggest Myths about Finding Cheap Airfare 8 (+ 3) Money Saving Tips Cheating the System with Buy and Hold The Cardinal Rule for Finding Cheap Airline Tickets How to Determine if You’ve Found a “Good” Deal

I’m incredibly excited to have transformed it from an idea I had two years ago to a system I created just for me, then to an awesome guide that will enable everyone* to travel more affordably…. If You Have Hundreds of Thousands of Frequent Flyer Miles - If you are a frequent business traveler and buy all of your airline tickets with miles, you aren’t going to benefit from this ebook.

When searching for plane tickets, you can save a ton of money by searching with flexible travel dates. Again, very few travel search engines allow you great flexibility when searching for flights. Usually the “flexible search” option is 1-3 days around your given date, but these search engines allow you the maximum flexibility — 330 days from today. The three best are FareCompare, Kayak, and Travelocity.

I’m Committed to Green Travel While flying isn’t the greenest way to get around, we advocate simple steps you can take to travel greener (learn more about our mission ) — even when you’re flying…. Too often I have lost money and time because I have spent hours searching for cheap tickets; I would search one day, then decide not to buy, then I search the next day, and maybe a week later, and then would miss a good deal because I waited too long or didn’t stay organized.

Rather than being the one day a year when everyone does something to reduce their impact, then forgets about it until next year, Earth Day should be a time for resolutions and new beginnings…. I’ve been focusing my energies on seeking green ways to furnish and repair our new (to us - it was built in 1925) house and helping nonprofits navigate the world of social media and online marketing by launching a new division of a direct mail company.

Today I have an exciting update to share: the price is going down. I heard from several readers who really want to buy the How to Find Cheap Airline Tickets , but $50 is a little out of the reach for them given the economy…. If you’re not happy with the ebook, just let me know within 100 days of the purchase, and I’ll refund your money.

I think green travel has reached a tipping point. In preparation for Earth Day, I decided to poke around online to see who’s talking about eco travel this year. It turns out the answer is: everyone, and print newspapers are leading the pack.

Earth Movie Winner is Vicki whose favorite animal is the Koala Bear.

How to Find Cheap Airline Tickets will teach you to do two things: 1) Create an personalized, automated system for searching for plane tickets We know you’re busy and don’t have time to waste scouring countless search engines trying to keep track of the cheapest airline ticket that meets your time table…. How to Find Cheap AirlineTickets is a way for us to provide an awesome resource for people who want to signficantly reduce their time and dollars spent in searching for cheap airline tickets — and to do so in a way that helps us out financially.

The trick here is that you can “game” the Priceline Bidding system by adding zones that don’t have hotels in your class (e.g., if you bid on a 4 star hotel, add a city nearby that doesn’t have any 4 star hotels in it) details at   How to Beat Priceline Check Priceline’s Airline Statistics for the most popular routes to see savings (from Airfare Watchdog, Priceline Now Posting Bid Statistics ) Be patient…. (from About.com Priceline Bidding Strategies ) Priceline Bidding works best for 3 and 4 star hotels, not 2 star hotels and lower (from BidonTravel ) d

There is one thing that hotels don’t want you to remember when you book a room with them: You can (almost) always cancel your hotel 24-48 hours before you are scheduled to stay there. This means that if the hotel room price drops or you find a cheaper room at a different hotel, you can cancel and rebook for the cheaper price.

Look for an Airport Shuttle Choosing a hotel with a free airport shuttle can easily save $10-$50, and you’ll avoid the hassle of a cab or rental car. Find Hotels with Fitness Search for a hotel with a free fitness center to avoid shelling out extra cash to use the treadmill…. Check Parking (if you’re renting a car) If you’re renting a car or driving, you’ll save up to $40/day (depending on the city) by finding a hotel with free or reasonably priced parking.

The ebook won’t be for everyone; if you have plenty of free time on your hands or extra money to throw at the airlines, it won’t be for you…. Navigating the hundreds of airfare search engines isn’t fun and it’s incredibly time-consuming, so How to Find Cheap Airline Tickets will tell you exactly what you need to know and when you need it.

Disneynature is offering a giveaway to our readers: a prize pack valued at $60 which includes a canvas tote, a reusable grocery bag, a biodegradable tumbler, a tree seedling, and a fleece blanket…. Did I mention that for every person who sees the movie the first week it’s in theaters Disney will plant a tree.

In a whirlwind of competition between online travel agencies, Orbitz, Expedia, and Travelocity have all dropped their booking fees.. No Booking Fees at Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity, Hotwire, Cheap Tickets and Priceline. Through May 31, 2009, that is. The big three online travel agencies have decided to “temporarily” drop their booking fees. Some exceptions apply, including Orbitz which will still have fees for multi-carrier itineraries (e.g. a Northwest flight connecting to American Airlines flight)