Making Vacation Plans Over the 'Net? 21
rice_burners_suck asks: "For some reason beyond my comprehension, a whole bunch of family members are coming in to visit over the next month. The busiest weekend will take place when I'll have six guests to entertain, and I don't know where I'll take them or stay with them. I'd like to have a good time without breaking the piggy bank. Where, on the Internet, can I find good vacation places and compute a budget? I'm thinking of a service similar to AAA, but online. If something like this doesn't exist, how could I go about implementing one myself?"
From the biggest name in travel guides (Score:1)
Careful, their server's not going to be able to handle all the coming users.
assignment? (Score:3, Interesting)
...and there it comes. So subtle, yet so obvious once you've seen it. I can hear the rest of you think "huh?", but let me just ask one question to the submitter: Do you need this service because you are having guests over? And if so, why would you implement your own such system... if it weren't in fact an assignment, either in college or given to you by your boss!
True! (Score:1)
"Make use of the unwashed GPL developers out there; they'll have an answer we can commercialise"
The
The net is a cool communication tool but some people can't let go of the idea that they might be able to trick all these communicating people into buying something.
I guess it's just another market place with hucksters vie-ing for out attention - I supposes it's like CMOT Dibbler and his sausage in a bun but at least he knew what he was selling (even if no-one else did!)
Sam
There's lots of them. (Score:2)
Finding them of course is the job of Google and the rest, but there certainly isn't a shortage.
But in all honesty, I've found that if you're looking for accomodation, a human recommendation is better than any website - call your local tourist information center and ask what there is in your price range near you... it'll be far quicker than scouring the internet for hours to find it, and far friendlier too. (see - the internet may be useful, but it's not the best answer to everything).
Is there a way to order stuff online? (Score:1, Troll)
p.s. Cliff is a lamer.
Whats your aim? (Score:2, Insightful)
If the latter, then it's not really what you do as long as you do something; you just need something to
a) fill the gaps between conversation
b) stimulate more conversation if neccessary
You could look at your local tourist office for things to do that "don't cost money" because they actually have to be fun; things that cost money are usually busy enough or expensive enough to justify themselves.
But I think the
Sam
Re:Whats your aim? (Score:1)
ummm - how about LOCAL (Score:2, Insightful)
That said - egads man. You have 6 people over for ONE weekend and you're worried about how to entertain them. Good lord - quit writing so much code and get out once in a while. I bet that there are several great places to take them within driving distance of your house.
Railroad museums, local historical places, local businesses that are semi-famous usually have tours that they give, parks and state forests, very good local restaurants, and on and on and on...
Why does everyone always have to GO AWAY when people come in for a visit. We always have a BIG BBQ/picnic and tons of stuff for the kids to do. And we always take them to at least one local attraction and they have a blast. I have seen several local "tourist" spots in my area quite a few times. But I still enjoy going to them and I can always add some neat bit of info about the place or local legend stuff etc...
Its fun and not too costly. And I sure that's a big factor with you Mr. Rice Burner Sucks... Just gotta pay for that Harley man....... Hehehe...
Have fun with the "guests",
Duke
aaa.com (Score:2)
AA (Score:1)
You know, 12 steps, recovery, etc.
Chamber of Commerce (Score:1)
So is the new game try to get the eds to post the most innane Ask
hotwire + mapquest (Score:1)
There's a better way and it's NOT online... (Score:2, Informative)
There are good reasons why... Many times when checking airfares from online services you aren't getting all prices, for instance since Southwest opts out of all online GDS systems like SABRE, Worldspan and so on. The only way to get the lowest price is to include them as well. This doesn't even get into negotiated rates which many travel agents have (mainly corporate agencies) with carriers where they receive X% off a certain carrier.
Travel agents have over the years built up a wealth of knowledge through their travels via FAM (familiarization) trips and ID25 tickets (tickets purchased at 25% of the coach fare, very common before airlines turned into the dickweeds they are today). There's a good chance they can budget that for you or speak with a client who has done this before and has a good grasp of the figures.
Other reason for using a travel agent include the fact that when airlines have schedule changes, or worse, change equipment (switch to smaller equipment because of a flight not meeting yield) your prized window/aisle seat is lost, airlines are notorious for not calling you. These kinds of changes show up in agency res queues and they can handle it for you.
I worked for American Airlines as a reservations agent and later as a SABRE developer and was a travel agency manager for a few years and without question I only use knowledgable travel agents.
Re:There's a better way and it's NOT online... (Score:1)
Travelocity (Score:3, Insightful)
Or you could - and I'm going to be radical here - leave your house (*gasp*) and go and actually talk to a real travel agent. They'd know more about the local attractions, as well as other nearby places you could take them too.
Seriously, the internet is not the answer to everything. Sometimes you have to go out into the big room with the green floor and the ceiling that's sometimes blue with a yellow heat lamp and sometimes black with little white status LEDs, and actually use more than twenty muscles for once.
--Dan
...some reason beyond my comprehension... (Score:1)