Tips For Vacationing On A Budget This Summer By Marqui Mapp

Hi everyone!

I’m sure some of you must be wondering why I’m sharing this article given the fact that I run my own travel website. The whole point of me starting this travel website was to make some passive income. However, I honestly believe that travel should be made affordable to everyone. After all, we all deserve a holiday every now and then, don’t we? While I have yet to check out any of the tips shared in the article below, it is my hope that these tips will help you save some money on your future trips! I’ve also found http://www.hotels-scanner.com quite helpful as I tend to compare their hotel rates against those offered on my own travel website before I make any hotel bookings. Anyway, happy reading!

Compiled from CNBC

Getting away from it all is likely to cost you big time this summer.

According to a recent American Express study, the demand for travel is high, as three in four Americans are planning a summer getaway.

That's up from 59 percent just two years ago, and the travel industry is responding. Over the Fourth of July weekend, Travelocity found that the average domestic roundtrip airfare rose 3.6 percent to $402 while the average hotel rate jumped 8 percent to $171 a night compared to last year.

But Travel + Leisure Magazine's International Editor Mark Orwoll says it's not too late to score a last-minute vacation deal.

"You know that If you can be a little bit flexible, you can get better airfares," Orwoll explained. "There's a website called Adioso that uses what it calls human language. You don't just have to put in dates and destinations. You can say Europe sometime in the fall for 10 days, and it will give you all of the options often at rock bottom airfares."

What about hotels? Orwoll says there's an app for that called Hotel Tonight. "They will get you rates of half off, even 60% off, because the hotel owners are scared to death of having an empty room overnight. That's lost revenue they'll never recoup."

A few other tricks Orwoll suggests are using Priceline.com's Name Your Own Price feature when reserving rental cars and checking out CruiseCritic.com's price drop alerts when searching for affordable cruises.

The destination you choose is also important to securing great deals. With 70 percent of Americans planning to travel within the U.S., Orwoll advises to look at the major cities like New York, Los Angeles and Orlando for the best bargains. "Competition is the traveler's friend so you want to look for places where the airports have the most airlines and the most flights, and the cities that have the most hotel rooms."

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101829692

Weekly Hot Pick for Bali, Indonesia

 Kuta Central Park – 4 Star

 What’s nearby

·                                 Kuta Galeria Shopping Arcade 0.1 km / 0 mi

·                                 Swiss Consulate 0.1 km / 0 mi

·                                 Honorary Consulate of Spain 0.1 km / 0 mi

·                                 Honorary Consulate of the Netherlands 0.6 km / 0.4 mi

·                                 Kendra Gallery 0.8 km / 0.5 mi

·                                 Bali Blast Monument 0.9 km / 0.6 mi

·                                 Honorary Consulate of Brazil 0.9 km / 0.6 mi

·                                 Honorary Consulate of Malaysia 1.2 km / 0.7 mi

·                                 Beachwalk 1.3 km / 0.8 mi

·                                 Mall Bali Galeria 1.4 km / 0.9 mi

·                                 BIMC Hospital 1.4 km / 0.9 mi

·                                 Kuta Beach 1.6 km / 1 mi

·                                 Kuta Square 1.7 km / 1.1 mi

·                                 Supernova Shopping Center 1.8 km / 1.1 mi

·                                 Kuta Art Market 1.9 km / 1.2 mi

     The preferred airport for Kuta Central Park Hotel is Denpasar (DPS Ngurah Rai      Intl.) 4.1 km / 2.6 mi.

*Customers get to enjoy the ‘Book now, pay later’ promotion (for this hotel) depending on when you travel. At the moment, they are still offering this promotion for those who are travelling in mid November.

Please go to www.hotroomdeals.com for the latest updates.

Weekly Hot Pick for Chiang Mai, Thailand

   Imperial Mae Ping Hotel, Chiang Mai – 4 Star

 What’s nearby

·                                 Wiang Kum Kam 0.4 km / 0.2 mi

·                                 Tha Phae Gate 0.8 km / 0.5 mi

·                                 Warorot Market 0.8 km / 0.5 mi

·                                 Wat Gatekaram 1.1 km / 0.7 mi

·                                 Pratat Chedi Luang Temple 1.2 km / 0.7 mi

·                                 Wat Chedi Luang 1.3 km / 0.8 mi

·                                 Three Kings Monument 1.4 km / 0.8 mi

·                                 Chiang Mai City Arts & Cultural Center 1.4 km / 0.9 mi

·                                 Wat Chiang Man 1.5 km / 0.9 mi

·                                 Wat Si Supan 1.6 km / 1 mi

·                                 Wat Sri Suphan 1.6 km / 1 mi

·                                 Elephant Parade House 1.8 km / 1.1 mi

·                                 Wat Phra Singh 1.8 km / 1.1 mi

·                                 Chang Puak Market 1.9 km / 1.2 mi

·                                 Meng Memorial Bridge 2 km / 1.2 mi

    The preferred airport for The Imperial Mae Ping Hotel is Chiang Mai (CNX             Chiang Mai Intl.) 3.5 km / 2.2 mi.

Please go to www.hotroomdeals.com for the latest updates.

Weekly Hot Pick for Phuket, Thailand

   Deevana Patong Resort & Spa – 3 Star

   What’s nearby

·                                 Sphinx Theatre - 0.3 km / 0.2 mi

·                                 Patong Boxing Stadium - 0.5 km / 0.3 mi

·                                 Patong Beach - 0.9 km / 0.5 mi

·                                 Bangla Night Street - 1 km / 0.6 mi

·                                 Bangla Boxing Stadium - 1 km / 0.6 mi

·                                 Junceylon - 1 km / 0.7 mi

·                                 Jungceylon Shopping Center - 1.1 km / 0.7 mi

·                                 Bazaan Fresh Market - 1.1 km / 0.7 mi

·                                 Kalim Beach - 1.7 km / 1 mi

·                                 Simon Cabaret - 2.6 km / 1.6 mi

·                                 Patong Go-Kart Speedway - 3.1 km / 2 mi

·                                 Tri Trang Beach - 3.2 km / 2 mi

·                                 Phuket Cable Ski and Phuket Wake Boarding - 4.1 km / 2.6 mi

·                                 Kathu Waterfall - 4.4 km / 2.7 mi

·                                 Phuket Country Club - 4.7 km / 2.9 mi

   Please go to www.hotroomdeals.com for the latest updates.

Cambodia's Tonlé Sap: Best for Lake Life By Amy Karafin, Lonely Planet Traveller

Compiled from BBC

In the village of Me Chrey, the streets are made of water and the wooden houses float. The village’s 500 families are among the thousands who have settled on the surface of the freshwater Tonlé Sap, Cambodia’s ‘Great Lake’, where, not surprisingly, life revolves around the water. As dawn breaks, Me Chrey is already abuzz. Toddlers paddle small aluminium tubs down the main street, fruit and vegetable sellers in bright floral clothing and conical hats navigate boats between houses, and householders check for breaches in ‘fish banks’ – submerged reed baskets where fish are kept until market day. Shouted greetings and lively chatter are punctuated by the occasional snort of a pig from a floating pen. Further out on the water, a family retrieves traps and nets laid out in wide, intricate arrangements.

It’s an itinerant existence. The floating houses, which are tied to one another, are moved by the villagers four times a year to follow migrating fish stocks. The lake’s wildly fluctuating dimensions also a play a part – in the rainy season, Tonlé Sap swells to more than 6,000 square miles, raising the floating houses by around eight metres. Dry season sees the potential spots to anchor reduced significantly.

Sok Ang has lived in the village for more than 30 years. Four years ago she opened up a shop, connected to the family’s one-room home, which she runs while her husband and children do the fishing. Today, however, the kids sit behind with some neighbours, watching a soap opera on a TV connected to a car battery – the main source of power in the village. The shop sells all the necessities, from shampoo to cooking oil as well as lotus-seed snacks. ‘I sell whisky, too, but beer is more popular around here – especially Klang beer, which means strong,’ says Sok, laughing. The shop doesn’t have a name – at least not officially. ‘Everyone calls it Yeay [Grandma] Ang’s shop. I don’t have grandkids, but the village calls me that.’

Me Chrey is one of the less visited of Tonlé Sap’s villages and seeing it by kayak is the most atmospheric way to experience it. There is none of the noise or fuss of a regular tour boat, allowing the visitor to glide past a clump of water hyacinth and observe a gaggle of black-and-white mynah birds cavorting undisturbed. The sedate, unmotorised pace is also more in tune with village life. Following guide Chin on a meandering tour of the back streets, a wooden boat squeezes past in a narrow channel. It’s powered by a small girl, with equally diminutive oars. From the back, her baby sister waves excitedly. Children look up from swinging hammocks to note the kayaks’ silent passing.

Paddling a kayak is easy, but not effortless; the perfect refreshment comes in the form of a strong, sweet iced coffee served by a mother and daughter in a covered boat that is part coffee shop, part convenience store. Competition for Grandma Ang – but here, in this remote, placid, water world, it’s no surprise to learn that cooperation holds sway. ‘The whole village are friends,’ says Grandma Ang. ‘I know everyone. If a family has a celebration, we all go to help out. Same if someone is sick – if one family has a fast boat, they’ll bring them to the mainland. We all have each other.’

Cambodia's Phnom Penh : Best for Culture By Amy Karafin, Lonely Planet Traveller

Compiled from BBC

Marvel at the palaces, markets and bars of the capital, Phnom Penh, before heading north to Siem Reap for excursions to a floating village on Tonlé Sap Lake and the extravagant, inspirational temples of Angkor. From there, it is south to the untouched jungles of the Cardamom Mountains, finishing with a homestay on a rural family farm.

Phnom Penh: Best for culture
Phnom Penh is eerily quiet. A sole remork – the usually ubiquitous motorised rickshaw – rolls languorously past the Royal Palace to a deserted Tonlé Sap riverfront. Here, among the shuttered-up shops facing the palm-lined promenade, food stalls sell noodle soup and beef skewers to infrequent customers.

The peace doesn’t last. As the Khmer festival that emptied the city ends, Phnom Penhois who’d been drawn to rural family gatherings in their tens of thousands flood back to the capital and the beguiling chaos resumes. After a troubled history, which reached its nadir with the Khmer Rouge’s enforced eviction of the city in the ’70s, the ‘Pearl of Asia’ is thriving, with a flourishing café culture and a glut of world-class fusion restaurants.

Prosperity has added an extra sheen to its cultural institutions too, many of which were built during Cambodia’s French Protectorate era, beginning in 1863. Among these is the Art Deco Psar Thmei, a pastel-yellow covered market with four wings radiating from an enormous central dome.

A few hours after dawn and the Central Market, as it is also known, is already a blur of browsing and bartering. Business is brisk at textile stalls selling traditional checked krama scarves, while elsewhere chattering shoppers weave past fruit outlets piled with lychees and crimson dragon fruit, and stalls overflowing with lotus flowers and bunches of fragrant Rumdul, Cambodia’s national flower.

Just a few blocks from the market, the National Museum is close enough to the riverfront to receive some of its welcome breeze. A group of schoolchildren in matching white polo shirts and flip-flops plays in the shade of the terracotta building’s neatly tended garden while, inside, visitors reflect upon 1,000 years of Khmer sculpture.

The adjacent Royal Palace, with its glistening spires and dragon-tail details, still dominates the city’s low-rise skyline. In a corner of one of its courtyards, a team of artists is working to restore a 1901 mural of the Reamker – Cambodia’s version of the epic Hindu poem the Ramayana.

 ‘When I did classical painting at university, we studied the Ramayana,’ says lead artist Roeung Sreyna, gesturing to the mural behind her, where spirits and horse-drawn chariots float over a celestial palace in the sky.

 The project is slow and technical. Matching the colours takes time, as does cleaning stains and fixing damage from humidity. ‘We take one section at a time,’ she says, pointing at a three-foot-wide band. ‘Two months for each section, and we have to work slowly. If it were a normal painting, we could do it in a year, but this is our history, so we have to take care.’

What Hotels Won't Tell You By Husna Haq

Compiled from BBC

A hotel may serve as your home away from home while travelling – but even the most luxurious accommodations are rarely as hygienic, private or safe as your own digs. What’s clean, what’s not… and what should you avoid at all costs? We took to question-and-answer site Quora to find out, asking: “What are the things we don’t know about hotel rooms?”

A handful of brave hoteliers and hospitality industry experts gave us the enlightening – and sometimes scary – scoop on everything from “peeping toms” and bedbugs, and revealed the number-one most contaminated object in your hotel room. 

Peepholes can be used in reverse
“Check the peephole in your door. If it's damaged or it has been tampered with, ask for a different room,” said Michael Forrest Jones, CEO of Beechmont Hotels in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A peephole should offer a clear, unobstructed view. If it is unclear, cloudy or in any way compromised, it is unsafe. A tampered peephole may be an indication of a peephole camera: a reverse lens that allows an outside viewer to see inside a hotel room. To be safe, Jones recommended that hotel guests plug the peephole with a twisted piece of paper, removing it only if needed.

Hotel doors are not always as secure as you might think. (Liam Bailey/Getty)

Additionally, if someone knocks at your door but no one is visible from the peephole, don’t open the door. Call the front desk instead. 

Step away from the coffee maker
Can’t start your day without a cup of joe? Skip the in-room coffee pot and head to a local café, several Quora respondents warned.

“The thing that's most squeamish to me is the coffee maker,” said Ken Lim, a former hotel manager in Chicago, Illinois. “Yes, it looks clean, but who knows how the previous guests used it before you? Think vomit, cigarette butts, crayons.”

The water glasses by the bathroom sink are just as suspect, said travel enthusiast Cooper Woods. “Those lavatory glasses aren’t as clean as you think,” he said. “At the best [hotel staff] merely wiped [them] with a rag or rinsed them with plain water.” He suggested that guests wash the glasses with soap and water to make sure they are sanitised properly.

This might be one of the cleanest parts of your hotel room. Just don't touch the drinking glasses. (Vladimir Rys/Bongarts/Getty)

The bathroom – not the luggage rack – is the safest place for your bags
Thanks to bedbugs, the best place to open your luggage isn’t where you might think. Skip the wooden luggage rack, said Jones, who suggests a surprising spot to open your bags.

“After checking the bathroom floor to see that it appears clean, open your bag there,” he advised. “It's literally safer. Bedbugs love wood.”

Metal luggage racks are a good alternative, too, since bedbugs are less likely to survive on metal.

The room’s most contaminated object might surprise you
It’s something almost all hotel guests pick up and use – which means, of course, that it is also the most contaminated object in the room.

There is one item in this room that germaphobes should especially avoid touching – or at least sanitise first. (Bill Pugliano/Getty)

“The dirtiest thing in any good hotel room is likely to be the TV remote,” said Quora user William Payne, a retiree and frequent traveller in Houston, Texas. “It has been handled by countless people, and is almost never cleaned by staff.”

In fact, as Quora respondent John Leach pointed out, a 2012 study by the University of Houston found that remotes are typically as contaminated as the toilet. So is another room feature that most hotel guests use without thinking: the bedside lamp switch.

Before handling either one, you may want to do a quick cleaning with antibacterial wipes or sprays.

But try to rest easy, regardless
With peeping toms, bedbugs and germ-covered remotes, it’s no wonder hotel guests are wary. Luckily, an increase in public awareness has raised the hygiene and safety standards in many hotels.

For example, the US-based Best Western chain now uses ultraviolet wands that kill bacteria and germs when they are passed over objects. The chain also switched to waterproof television remotes to make cleaning them easier.

Don’t want to rely on your hotel? Come equipped with antibacterial wipes and sprays. Those who want extra assurance might want to purchase a hygiene monitor to check objects like blankets and phones for bacteria.

http://www.bbc.com/travel/feature/20140701-what-hotels-wont-tell-you

Weekly Hot Pick for Tokyo, Japan

     HOTEL GRAND ARC HANZOMON – 3.5 Star

      What’s nearby

·                                 Tokyo National Theatre - 0.1 km / 0.1 mi

·                                 Tokyo National Diet Library - 0.6 km / 0.3 mi

·                                 National Diet Building - 0.8 km / 0.5 mi

·                                 Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery - 0.9 km / 0.5 mi

·                                 Tokyo Imperial Palace - 1 km / 0.6 mi

·                                 Nijubashi Bridge - 1 km / 0.6 mi

·                                 Hie Shrine - 1 km / 0.6 mi

·                                 Akasaka Biz Tower - 1.2 km / 0.7 mi

·                                 Nippon Budokan - 1.2 km / 0.8 mi

·                                 Kitanomaru Park - 1.2 km / 0.8 mi

·                                 Yasukuni Shrine - 1.3 km / 0.8 mi

·                                 Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art - 1.3 km / 0.8 mi

·                                 Imperial Palace Garden - 1.3 km / 0.8 mi

·                                 Akasaka Palace - 1.3 km / 0.8 mi

·                                 East Garden - 1.3 km / 0.8 mi

·                                 The Nearest airports are:

·                                 Tokyo (HND-Haneda) - 15.3 km / 9.5 mi

·                                 Tokyo (NRT-Narita Intl.) - 59.1 km / 36.7 mi

 Please go to www.hotroomdeals.com for the latest updates.

Fabulous Foot Massages in Hong Kong By Hana R Alberts

One of Hong Kong's biggest perks – for travellers and locals – is the opportunity to get their sole-weary feet rubbed, kneaded and otherwise coddled for a pittance of what it costs in most large cities. Combine the historical Chinese belief in medicinal reflexology with the inexpensive cost of many beauty and wellness-related services and it results in a thriving massage trade (even excluding the non-PG places).

But with so many options, where should you go for a clean environment that won't break the bank?

The most buzzed-about new spot is Ten Feet Tall, opened in March 2012 by nightlife mogul Gilbert Yeung, who also owns one of the most popular clubs in town, Dragon-i. The two-storey day spa offers foot massages from basic reflexology to oil to lymphatic, as well as other treatments such as manicures, pedicures and nail art, all in a spotless environment decked with a Hamptons-meets-the-tropics décor. Extras like iPod docks in the treatment rooms and a juice bar complete the experience. Considering its location in the Central neighbourhood, 260 Hong Kongdollars for a 50-minute foot massage is extremely good value, and the weekday specials can make it even cheaper.

The purist traveller should head to long-established Hong Wai Foot and Body Reflexology Centre in the Tsim Sha Tsui district, where the best masseurs are nicknamed "masters" and take their pressure points extremely seriously. According to reflexology, digging into the tips of your toes will help clear your sinus, while the arch of the foot connects to the stomach and so applying some pressure there could aid digestion. A 45-minute foot massage at Hong Wai will run you about 160 Hong Kong dollars.

A similarly priced old-school joint is Big Bucket (G/F, Hoi Kung Court, 264-269 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay; 852- 2572-8120). Its name is accurate: your lower legs are first placed into an enormous wooden bucket of steaming water scented with your choice of simple soaps (such as rose or milk), before being massaged for the height of relaxation. 

Although high-end hotels like the Mandarin Oriental, the Ritz-Carlton, thePeninsula, the Grand Hyatt and the InterContinental all have stellar – and expensive – spas, many satisfying mid-range options abound for those without limitless resources. A safe choice is chains like Happy Foot andHalite; they're clean, affordable and convenient, with multiple locations in central neighbourhoods. For around 200 Hong Kong dollars, you can get a solid foot massage (or a full-body massage for a bit more) in comfortable, if not chic, surrounds. At these long-standing places, brave souls could also get a Shanghai-style pedicure (180 Hong Kong dollars), which involves the sloughing off of dead skin from the bottom of your foot, leaving them baby smooth, or something as obscure as ear candling (280 Hong Kong dollars), using a combination of heat and pressure that the Chinese believe is the best way to clean those gook-filled canals.

For more of a treat, head to one of the six Sense of Touch locations – the one in the scenic area of Repulse Bay is the biggest, and its main draw (outside of signature treatments inspired by its location on the water) is that it offers relaxing views of the South China Sea. There's also an outlet specially tailored to men, Gentlemen's Tonic, which offers services from an old-fashioned wet shave to packages named after famous historical gentlemen, like The Hemingway, which includes a massage, facial and a Bloody Mary.

Hana R Alberts is the Hong Kong Localite for BBC Travel

http://www.bbc.com/travel/blog/20121216-fabulous-foot-massages-in-hong-kong