So far, my blogs have been about important but not very “fun” things, and perhaps have even sounded cautionary and dissuading. That is NOT my intent. So, now I want to talk about how you can make your trip both something unique and different from anyone else’s trip, and perhaps make it sort of a once in a lifetime event for you. Your trip, especially your first trip, to any of the world’s major cities, which have so many highlights, can very easily become a process of checking things off a “list.” There is a reason why every guidebook in the world lists pretty much the same highlights on their “Top 10” list. The icons and hallmarks of every great city are what millions of people feel best represent that city and seeing them shows you the most "popular" & "famous" sites they have to offer. Don't let anyone talk you out of them and don't let anyone talk you into them either. I don't know how you "do" Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower & I would argue that London has a few of these "musts" as well. On the otherhand, if you really have NO interest in something that the majority feels essential, you should not waste time just so you can say you did it.
What I try to do, if I have any flexibility at all as to when I might visit, is to research lots of venues, especially in London itself, and potentially in any of the outskirt cities I might visit. I check what the travelling exhibits are at the major museums. I check what plays will be running in the theatres and who will be in them, assuming I'm not too researching too far in advance. I check what is already scheduled for concerts. What makes a trip really special is if you can find a way to personalize it with not just the same highlights that everyone else gets to experience but something that makes that trip at that time special. This really was brought to my attention on my second trip. I got to London and found out that the British Museum's special exhibit was all about Agatha Christie, her time and life in Egypt on the archelogical digs of her second husband, and the influence of that phase of her life on her books. As a HUGE fan of mysteries, of which Agatha Christie is a Grand Dame, this was an extemely fortuitous find for me. It was one of the two biggest highlights of that trip. The second was that I had choose between seeing Dame Judy Dench or Dame Diana Rigg in theatre productions. I really wanted to see them both but it couldn't be. I chose Judy Dench at the Haymarket in Royal Family. After that I was little more careful and tried to plan my visits better if I could. The next time, I saw Dame Maggie Smith and Dame Judy Dench in a two-woman play. I also had sort of a "stars aligned" experience when I actually saw Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles as their car was sped past my tour bus. Queen Elizabeth and I made momentary eye contact, and the rest of that trip had a bit of of a glow that hasn't since been duplicated. Those moments can't be planned, but with some pre-planning and just a little effort, you might still get to realize a dream for yourself.
On another visit I took a package tour to Oxford, and there was a Robert Hooke exhibit. He's a fascinating historical figure and I would have LOVED to have seen the exhibit but the tour didn't allow enough time. On my most recent trip, I didn't have any flexibility to my dates, and I missed the Chinese terracotta soldiers at the British Museum by about a week and seeing "Speed the Plow" with both Kevin Spacey and Jeff Goldbloom at the Old Vic by about 2 weeks. A co-worker took her family to London this spring (08) & was able to see a James Bond exhibit that was a highlight for their trip. If you are a music fan, make sure you check out who will be in concert while you will be or could be there. Some of the legends of rock who rarely come to the US play London once in a while. Wouldn't it be phenonmenal to not only visit this great city but to get to see Clapton or Bowie, or some other rock legend or just one of your faves while you are there?!
So, think about what your interests and hobbies are. London has such a broad selection of things to do and see and a rich and multi-layered history. There truely is something for everyone and with a little luck and some good planning, you should be able to coincide your trip with something a little special. Explore those interests and how something to see or do in London might tie into those interests. Check the temporary exhibits at the major museums for limited timeframe opportunities. Take a walking tour of which there are hundreds, some of which have very narrow but popular focuses. See if one of your favorite actors or actresses of the large screen is "treading the boards" in the theatres while you are there.
Taking advantage of one of these special and temporary opportunities while you are there can make one of these trips not just memorable but unrepeatable!
Here are some websites that will help you explore. Most of the major museums have their own sites and show the current and upcoming exhibits.
http://www.visitlondon.com/
http://www.artfund.org/whatson/
http://www.londononline.co.uk/
http://www.timeout.com/london/
Friday, September 12, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
A Word of Caution about Online Booking & Packages
Here are a couple notes of caution about booking online or taking advantage of packages. First, online booking. I love what the internet has to offer by way of making your trip planning decisions easier and offering a plethora of options. There are lots of web sites for booking hotel rooms and some offer all kinds of information and photos, as wells a maps, proximity to sites, etc. I don't call overseas and make my reservations. I book online. That said, there are some issues that could arise as a result.
My word of caution here is that you want to keep things simple. You want to be organized when you book your hotel and know specifically what your plans are. If you plan to arrive in London, check into a hotel, complete your stay and check back out, then no problem. Where things get tricky is if you want to use London as a home-base but spend nights out of the city. I DO recommend doing this, but I've learned the hard way that for online booking services this can be confusing UNLESS you treat each segment of your stay as a separate entity.
I'll give you an example. On my last trip, I found an EXCELLENT (very affordable) room rate, at a 4 star hotel in Bloomsbury, about 3 blocks from the British Museum. It was almost 3 months before our trip so we knew where we wanted to go but hadn't finalized exactly when we were going to take our overnight trips to Bath, England and Paris, France. I knew I needed to jump on the hotel offering because we needed multiple rooms and this rate was spectacular. The site even had a 800# to call to speak someone in the US. So, I called and told the customer service agent what date we would arrive from the US and what date we would fly back to US. I explained that we wanted to stay at this hotel for all the nights we would be in London but that for two nights, yet to be determined, we would not be staying in London. I asked whether I could book this hotel for all the nights so as to be assured of having a room on any of the nights, but could I call back in a couple of weeks and cancel out the two nights we would be gone. She was very friendly and strongly recommended that I do because I would then guarantee this great rate, and be assured they wouldn't fill up for any of the nights we wanted to be in London. This was exactly what I hoped for and wanted.
We figured out our plans, we booked our travel and hotel rooms in Bath and Paris, and therefore, we were covered in those locations. I then called back to cancel out the second night of our stay so we could go to Bath, and the 6th night when we would be in Paris. I was immediately told by a different customer service person that this was impossible. They could cancel some night(s) off the front or back end but they could not cancel out two nights mid-stay. The hotel had since filled up on some of the nights we wanted to stay, so rebooking either the first night or the last two after our return from Paris wasn't possible because the "system" now showed them fully booked (even though two of those rooms were being held for my party.) If I cancelled my original reservation, someone else might be able to rebook into them before my replacement reservations were made. It was a catch-22. Also, the "excellent" room rate would not apply to the new reservations.
In the end, it turned out that the site I had gone to backed into Hotels.com and my reservation was actually managed by Expedia.com. I finally was able to work with a Customer Service Supervisor from Expedia. She ultimately worked it ALL out and what I had originally been assured could be done, WAS done. We checked in and out of the hotel 3 times. We got the original rate. I can't say anything bad EXCEPT that it was a tremendous hassle to get it worked out & for awhile it looked like we might have to spend considerably more for some of our nights than we had planned and even change our London hotel on one of the occasions.
The same principle applies to packages. As I mentioned in my last post about English hotels, one of the more cost efficient options is a package. An organized tour is a package but not what I'm speaking of here. In this case, I merely mean a deal where you get several elements of the trip for one price, usually the flight and hotel, usually representing a significant savings. I mentioned flight/hotel packages from the major airlines and travel sites. I recommend these wholeheartedly, provided what you are wanting falls strictly within the package guidelines. If booking online that means that your hotel reservation will exactly coincide with your flight arrival and departure dates. If you want to try to fly in early or late and go somewhere else on either end, you might be able to make these arrangements by calling their customer service department. If they tell you that it can be done, I would tell them you'll think about it and call again to make sure you get the same assurance from more than one agent. If you still get that answer, then go for it. But as a rule, either take it the way they offer, or just don't buy a package. Definitely don't try to break your trip into segments and expect them to work out all the details. It's not that they maybe CAN'T, but if they screw it up, you could really pay a lot more and the value of the package would be lost.
Lastly, if you do deal with live customer service people, make sure you take notes on what number you called & the URL for the site where you located the deal, get the name of customer service agent, get and take all the documentation with you on the trip, and lastly, get an international phone number to call them back if there are any issues. Outside the US, 800 #'s don't work, so the number you called from home, is not viable.
My word of caution here is that you want to keep things simple. You want to be organized when you book your hotel and know specifically what your plans are. If you plan to arrive in London, check into a hotel, complete your stay and check back out, then no problem. Where things get tricky is if you want to use London as a home-base but spend nights out of the city. I DO recommend doing this, but I've learned the hard way that for online booking services this can be confusing UNLESS you treat each segment of your stay as a separate entity.
I'll give you an example. On my last trip, I found an EXCELLENT (very affordable) room rate, at a 4 star hotel in Bloomsbury, about 3 blocks from the British Museum. It was almost 3 months before our trip so we knew where we wanted to go but hadn't finalized exactly when we were going to take our overnight trips to Bath, England and Paris, France. I knew I needed to jump on the hotel offering because we needed multiple rooms and this rate was spectacular. The site even had a 800# to call to speak someone in the US. So, I called and told the customer service agent what date we would arrive from the US and what date we would fly back to US. I explained that we wanted to stay at this hotel for all the nights we would be in London but that for two nights, yet to be determined, we would not be staying in London. I asked whether I could book this hotel for all the nights so as to be assured of having a room on any of the nights, but could I call back in a couple of weeks and cancel out the two nights we would be gone. She was very friendly and strongly recommended that I do because I would then guarantee this great rate, and be assured they wouldn't fill up for any of the nights we wanted to be in London. This was exactly what I hoped for and wanted.
We figured out our plans, we booked our travel and hotel rooms in Bath and Paris, and therefore, we were covered in those locations. I then called back to cancel out the second night of our stay so we could go to Bath, and the 6th night when we would be in Paris. I was immediately told by a different customer service person that this was impossible. They could cancel some night(s) off the front or back end but they could not cancel out two nights mid-stay. The hotel had since filled up on some of the nights we wanted to stay, so rebooking either the first night or the last two after our return from Paris wasn't possible because the "system" now showed them fully booked (even though two of those rooms were being held for my party.) If I cancelled my original reservation, someone else might be able to rebook into them before my replacement reservations were made. It was a catch-22. Also, the "excellent" room rate would not apply to the new reservations.
In the end, it turned out that the site I had gone to backed into Hotels.com and my reservation was actually managed by Expedia.com. I finally was able to work with a Customer Service Supervisor from Expedia. She ultimately worked it ALL out and what I had originally been assured could be done, WAS done. We checked in and out of the hotel 3 times. We got the original rate. I can't say anything bad EXCEPT that it was a tremendous hassle to get it worked out & for awhile it looked like we might have to spend considerably more for some of our nights than we had planned and even change our London hotel on one of the occasions.
The same principle applies to packages. As I mentioned in my last post about English hotels, one of the more cost efficient options is a package. An organized tour is a package but not what I'm speaking of here. In this case, I merely mean a deal where you get several elements of the trip for one price, usually the flight and hotel, usually representing a significant savings. I mentioned flight/hotel packages from the major airlines and travel sites. I recommend these wholeheartedly, provided what you are wanting falls strictly within the package guidelines. If booking online that means that your hotel reservation will exactly coincide with your flight arrival and departure dates. If you want to try to fly in early or late and go somewhere else on either end, you might be able to make these arrangements by calling their customer service department. If they tell you that it can be done, I would tell them you'll think about it and call again to make sure you get the same assurance from more than one agent. If you still get that answer, then go for it. But as a rule, either take it the way they offer, or just don't buy a package. Definitely don't try to break your trip into segments and expect them to work out all the details. It's not that they maybe CAN'T, but if they screw it up, you could really pay a lot more and the value of the package would be lost.
Lastly, if you do deal with live customer service people, make sure you take notes on what number you called & the URL for the site where you located the deal, get the name of customer service agent, get and take all the documentation with you on the trip, and lastly, get an international phone number to call them back if there are any issues. Outside the US, 800 #'s don't work, so the number you called from home, is not viable.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)