Travel in a group
A great way to save on hotels is to travel in a group of two or three and share a room, as long as everyone gets along well. In Canada and the United States, there is little difference between what a hotel room costs for one person and for that same room with two or three people sharing it. For example, a typical Motel 6 room for one person in Holbrook, Arizona, costs $29.99 plus tax during the 2006 summer peak season. On the other hand, its rooms for two people cost just $5 more. In other words, with one person in the room cost was $29.99 for that person, but with two people the per person cost declines to just $17.50 per person. These per person savings are even greater in more expensive hotels and motels. An extra charge of $4 to $8 for another adult person is typical of budget motels in Canada and the U.S.

Beware your group doesn’t isolate you
However, International visitors traveling in groups of more than two have to be careful that their group does not insulate them from local contacts.
As mentioned in Making Friends, you may travel through a country but never know it, as your focus is your group. An American or Canadian may engage one or two people travelling together in conversation, but may be shy about approaching a larger group of offshore visitors.
If in a larger group, you need to be more aggressive about seeking out opportunities to meet the locals, even if this means breaking up your group at times.

Showing up without a booking
Showing up without a reservation in the most popular areas, such as at the Banff and Grand Canyon national parks, during peak season can be very risky.
However, for off-season travel or for travel to less popular places, remember this mantra:
"That's more than I wish to pay. Have you anything less expensive?" (Look as if you are about to walk away.)
This works especially well at owner operated independent motels, where the person at the front desk actually cares whether you check in or not. You're cash flow to them.
And, you don't have to accept the first special rate.
"I am sorry, but that's still too high for me."



Booking accommodation
Whenever possible, guarantee your arrival with a credit card number. Your booking will be taken more seriously, and you won't have to worry as much if you're delayed.
You can also send a deposit, but these are harder to prove if they are misplaced.
Be sure to find out the deadline for canceling without penalty. This is often 4:00 p.m. or 6:00 p.m. on the day of arrival, but hotels and resorts in popular areas may require cancellation days in advance. If you don’t cancel, you normally lose the cost of the first night’s accommodation.
In addition, always take along a printout of your online booking, or a record of your reservation made over the phone.

Write down the confirmation number, the name of the person you talked to, the date and time you called, and the particulars of your reservation, such as the price, and take this with you.
If there’s time, ask that a copy of phone reservation be sent to you.
The same rules apply to canceling a reservation—you want to be able to prove it was cancelled.
If you travel a lot, you'll almost certainly have to prove you booked or cancelled at some point, as has Dr. Voyageur a number of times.
Showing a booking confirmation was the only way Dr. Voyageur got into several hotels when told there was no reservation for him during peak periods.
Also, avoid the hassle of hotel overbooking by showing up before late evening.

Plan around school holidays
Your university summer break may start on 9 May, but do you realize that grade 1 - 12 students in California typically do not get off until mid June?
That means peak season motel and hotel rates in California usually don't begin until mid June.
Even university spring breaks occur at wildly different times throughout Canada and the U.S.
You can work around these school holidays and save.

Varying accommodation
Try to vary your accommodation.
If you’re rolling into a motor inn at 9:30 in the evening and leaving early the next morning, you don’t need 100 television channels and an Olympic-sized pool.
Driving between Los Angeles and Vancouver along the coast?
Throw a tent into your vehicle to use a couple of nights. You’d be hard pressed to find a hotel experience as uplifting as sleeping under the magnificent trees in Humboldt Redwoods State Park in northern California, and you’ll save money in the process.
On the other hand, if you’re always sleeping in the cheapest place available, perhaps you should work a bit longer saving for a trip than to always travel in some discomfort.
Any budget should permit a change of venue at times.
Happy travelling!

Medical kit for your holiday

Maintain good eyesight on your travels

Avoiding sunburn on your travels

Top 10 tips to help you minimise the effects of jet lag

Humankind’s success in conquering flight has not come without cost, that of the dreaded jet lag. Anyone who is able to be in one location the other side of the world and then pass through several times zones to the other side will inevitably experience some difficulty in getting their body back to their normal routine. So, how do you avoid jet lag?

Almost everyone who travels by air, from passengers to pilots, is affected by jet lag. Jet lag disrupts our natural rhythms, confusing the ‘body clock’, which regulates the usual waking and sleeping hours.
Jet lag may affect physical and mental performance and the symptoms include fatigue, insomnia, disorientation, headaches, light-headedness and more. Medical evidence also shows that jet lag makes travellers more susceptible to illness such as colds, flu, and stomach upsets.
Jet lag can be especially bad if you fly from west to east, because it is more difficult for your body to adjust to ‘losing time’ when you journey east than to ‘gaining time’ when you fly from east to west.
Whatever steps are taken by the flyer, none will entirely eliminate jet lag. Jet lag is an individual thing which affects different people in different ways.
The following are top 10 tips to help you minimize the effects of jet lag:

• Start changing your sleeping pattern a few days before you leave so that it more closely resembles time zone at your destination. Adjusting your bedtime by an hour a day will lessen the effects of jet lag.

• Get enough rest in the days prior to your trip. Too many people start off tired before they have even begun, which just exaggerates the effect of any jet lag.
• Reset your watch at the beginning of your flight so that you start to think in terms of your new time zone.
• Drink plenty of fluid during and after the flight. Planes are notoriously dry and cause dehydration, and the common wisdom is that dehydration is a leading cause of jet lag. This advice also includes avoiding alcohol.
• If it is night-time at your destination, then sleep on the plane. Conversely, try to stay awake during the flight if it is daytime at your destination.

• Exercise as much as you can on the flight while you’re awake.Stretch your arms and legs and walk up and down the aisles to stimulate good circulation, which will help lessen the impact of jet lag later.

• Learn from past experience on how your body has coped with a particular trip. Find the system that best works for you.
• Avoid taking sleeping pills as they can in fact just make the jet lag worse.
• Upon arrival, resist the temptation to flake out and have a nap.Napping reinforces the old body clock time, not the new one.
• In some instances, jet lag may not bother people when they are away, but only when they return. In that case, all the same advice above should be applied in the same way as when the trip first began.