Tuesday November 27, 2012
Volume CXXXV Issue 12
As this semester draws to a close, we at the Avion wish you all the best for your finals and the last minute study sessions. We’ve had a great semester here at the Avion and we hope to bring you more services and new initiatives for the next semester. For this last issue, we have a bunch of aviation stories and travel articles to help you prepare for the holidays! Merry Christmas and safe travels!
How to become a seasoned traveler Peter Tan
Editor-in-Chief
A typical passenger we can all identify with is stuck in line at the airport, waiting for his turn to check-in and suddenly a gentleman passes swiftly, one Navin Kumar, who breezes by toward the automated teller. He scans his pre-printed out boarding pass and checks in his luggage, spending a fraction of the time an average traveler spends in line. Kumar spends his time sipping a coffee while everyone else clears the line and together, he and the typical passenger head towards the security checkpoint. Again, he breezes through the checkpoint faster than our average traveler having placed himself in the “Expert Traveler” lane. Does this sound like a familiar scenario? Tired of always being held up in airport lines and security? The ways of travelling like a seasoned veteran, including how to pack light, airplane and airport essentials, having adequate protection, and where to get the best deals on flights and hotels, are not difficult to learn. Once at his destination, Kumar suffers the misfortunate of getting hit by an errant cyclist and suffers some minor injuries. Medical problems can be a huge nightmare even at home, and in a foreign country, it becomes even more stressful. However, Kumar does not have to worry much as he had previously purchased travel health insurance before even packing his bags. Easily the most overlooked part of any trip is travel insurance. During the planning stages of a trip, it is often forgotten, especially for short commuting flights. There are two main types of insurance, one being travel insurance, which mainly covers baggage and flights, and the other being travel health insurance, which covers any medical fees in the event of an emergency. “I had a colleague who went to climb a mountain. She did not purchase the correct insurance coverage,” says Fanny Lim, an insurance agent, as she shares a story on the importance of travel insurance. “They hiked 3000m above sea level, which was not covered and she died from high altitude sickness. As such, the insurance company did pay out any death benefits to her family.” While that is an extreme case, travel insurance is fairly cheap when compared to the overall cost of a holiday and the extra expense is worth it in the event of lost baggage or delayed flights, especially for a trip that involves multiple connections. Any travel health insurance plan should at least cover the fundamentals like ambulance and hospital charges,
and any health professional fees. One Clearing immigration and customs thing to take note is whether they cover i s a straight forward process, but sports related injuries, so on can become a problem more adventurous if the traveler is trips, make sure not fully aware they cover the of the laws of activities! the destination Places country. like insureCertain mytrip.com countries offer coverissue a ticket age for as that must low as $35 on be paid for a $1000 trip. before leavNow that ing the you are safe country, as a and protected, PHOTO COURTESY TOEUROPEWITHKIDS.COM form of tax, the next step is while others to pack the bags. While most collect the tax right before departure, people don’t think too much about it, which can blindside people who like planning how and what to pack can to spend all their foreign currency save a lot of time and frustration at the upon leaving. Other rules are even airport. more unconventional, such as requirWhile most people know about ing blank pages in your passport (Bali, putting heavy things at the bottom, Indonesia.) packing sets of clothes into individual Every developed country’s governZiploc bags is not commonly done. ment maintains a website that contains Not only does it gather a full set of such information, and will normally clothes into one place, it allows all have a dedicated webpage for each the air to be squeezed out, cutting on country it has an embassy with. This bulk and making it easy to pack and is useful for finding out everything organize. there is to know about various destinaThe Ziploc technique works great for tions as it informs about any required short trips and allows everything to fit visas, fees, and potential problems in into one carry-on bag, thereby bypass- that country. For the United States, ing the luggage check-in, saving some this website is travel.state.gov and time. Unfortunately, it is not always frequently includes travel advisories possible to stuff everything into one about safety and not getting cheated. bag, and occasionally, something will Within the United States, programs have to checked-in. like Global Entry and Smart Traveler In that event, the smart move would Enrollment Program (STEP) aim to be to check-in online before the flight as make clearing customs and immigramost airlines open up Internet check-in tion quicker and easier for frequent about 24 hours before the flight, allow- travelers. Although targeted as such, ing their passengers to select a seat and there is no minimum number of trips even print out boarding passes. This required to qualify for the program. is exactly what Kumar did earlier in More information about these prothe article, by preparing adequately; it grams can be found at globalentry. becomes a simple bag drop operation gov and step.state.gov/step and could at the airport. potentially save you hours at the lines. Hand carry items should also be Getting into and out of countries pre-planned while at home, ensuring is only one part of the equation and that no prohibited items are brought while the flight normally makes up the onboard. Unless the trip is a long majority of the holiday expenses, lodgone, most toiletries should be repacked ing is often the next largest expense. to smaller containers and placed into Finding a cheap place to stay can be a Ziploc bags in case of a leak. nightmare in big cities and most often, This saves weight, puts all the essen- you are paying for the bare minimum tials in one place, and even has dam- of a bed and a bathroom. Why not try age control should something break looking at websites like airbnb.com en route. Bottles of the right size for where you can get a decent room for liquids can be easily purchased from easily half the price of the cheaper places like Walgreens and CVS. A full hotels? list of prohibited items can be found at Websites like that compile hotels, tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/ hostels, bed & breakfasts and also indipermitted-prohibited-items.shtm. vidual renters. “I personally like using The TSA declined to provide more hostelworld.com to look for cheap information about common delays in places to stay while traveling,” says the airports but did recommend visit- Kumar. “Although some people rent ing their “Traveler’s Guide” page on out their houses like on airbnb.com, their website to learn how to process I prefer meeting new people in the smoothly. hostels. Regardless of the website, it
is important to read the reviews left by others carefully.” For those fortunate enough to have a flexible travel schedule, they stand able to benefit from last-minute travel deals. As the dates draw near, most hotels, airlines, resorts, and even rental car companies offer discounts on their inventory. The first step for bargain hunting is to contact these providers directly and if the timing is right, you can save a whopping amount on your trip. For something even more ingenious, you want to stop by what are known as “consolidators.” Websites like priceline.com and hotwire.com work by having all these companies sell excess inventory to them at dirt cheap prices, consolidating inventory, which they then take to market. While they each work slightly differently, the overall concept is the same as you go onto their websites after having done some research and say that you want “to stay in a 4-star Hotel in the Las Vegas Strip for $100/night.” If your offer is accepted, they will let you know which hotel it is, or come back with a counter-offer. There is some element of randomness to this process, but the savings can easily justify it. With all these tips, anybody can start breezing through the skies and the airports onwards to their cheap holiday faster than everybody else.
List of Bargain Hunter websites to check out! Research: tripadvisor.com travelandleisure.com farecast.com Lodging: airbnb.com hostelworld.com hostelbookers.com Flights: expedia.com kayak.com studentuniverse.com cheaptickets.com Consolidators: priceline.com orbitz.com hotwire.com Unique Pages: homeexchange.com couchsurfing.com lastminute.com