7 Days, 7 Amazing Insider Travel Stories

1. Bumpy Road For Orbitz

The online travel portal, Orbitz (NYSE: OWW), went public at $15 a share, priced below its original IPO range of between $16 and $18 per share. Experts say that investors weren't willing to fly too high to get a piece of the company, which includes the namesake site as well as other popular travel sites like CheapTickets.com and Europe's eBookers.com. Orbitz has been passed around more than a hot potato at a suburban toddler's birthday party.

The company went public in 2003, but was acquired by Cendant a year later. Then a private equity consortium led by Blackstone (NYSE: BX) acquired Cendant's Travelport business, including most of the Orbitz pieces that went public last week. At issue: while other portals, like Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE) and Priceline (Nasdaq: PCLN), have been consistently profitable lately, Orbitz has never turned an annual profit.
Also, the travel landscape is changing. Even though online sites are eating into conventional bookings, (Orbitz saw its gross travel bookings soar 38% higher last year) too many travel providers, such as Southwest Airlines, are establishing direct relationships with their users. Motley Fool

2. At the Concierge Station

Ask the concierge for information at Rome's Cavalieri Hilton this summer and, along with sage advice, inside tips and a street map, you'll also be offered an MP3 player. The hotel has loaded up two walking tours, lasting six hours and spanning between four and five miles through the city's main sights. Forward thinking, innovative, original? Well, up to a point. The idea, acknowledges the hotel, is simply to meet guests' "evolving needs and interests". The ripping up of the travel rulebook is an unstoppable force. Sales of package holidays are declining, as the growth of independent travel continues unabated. Travel to Europe and the US is at a standstill while long-haul travel is up 30 per cent year on year.

Of note, the Association of Independent Tour Operators (Aito) offers 30 podcasts covering several countries, www.aito.co.uk.
Another audio tour site: www.touridio.co.uk. London Times Online

3. Student Travel

Students ready for a travel break should visit the web site for the nonprofit International Student Travel Confederation. The site, http://www.istc.org/sisp/index.htm, features a worldwide calendar of events. It also sells an International Student Identity Card ($22) through affiliated travel agencies such as STA, www.statravel.com. The card can be used to obtain discounts on airfares, hostel stays, museum admissions and more. Hartford Courant

4.Why Use a Travel Agent

For the most part, a travel agent can't get you any better deals than you can find for yourself through diligent online searching. But a travel agent can save you time, provide valuable counsel and help you out when something goes wrong. The No. 1 reason most consumers use travel agents is to take advantage of their specialized knowledge on: Destinations. Local deals. Good deals and special promotions. They also can save you time.

That's the main reason so many business travelers rely on agents to make their travel arrangements. When something goes wrong -- either before you leave or when you're already on your trip -- a travel agent is your best source of help. When people ask how to find a good agent, the answer is, "The same way you find a good accountant, stockbroker or auto mechanic -- word of mouth." A travel agent is a professional, just as those others are professionals, and the best way to find one is through other satisfied clients. Chicago Tribune

5. A 30,000-foot View From PC World

The online air sites this teckkie magazine likes most.

Farecast charts where airfares for a particular itinerary have been in recent months and predicts what they're likely to be in the near future. PC World named Farecast one of the 20 most innovative products of 2006. Unlike Farecast, Kayak, one of PC World's 100 Best Products of 2007, also lets you search for hotels, rental cars, and cruises. And Kayak's Buzz section reveals the best prices other Kayakers have found for top destinations in the past 48 hours. ITA Software is another good option for finding the lowest airfares. Founded by MIT scientists, ITA Software is a search engine that's known for not favoring particular airlines (unlike some travel planning sites). And it provides a convenient way to find itineraries that combine the lowest fares with the most convenient routing.

Ever worried that the airfare for an itinerary will drop after you've booked a nonrefundable ticket? That's where the recently launched www.Yapta.com comes in. While some sites, such as Travelocity's Fare Alert, notify you of fare decreases between two cities, they don't alert you when a rate for a specified itinerary changes. Yapta does. Once you've settled on or booked your trip, register with Yapta to receive e-mail alerts whenever the fare for that specific itinerary drops. Yapta works in two ways. You can download and install the free Tagger applet, which lets you automatically tell Yapta to start tracking an itinerary you've planned on a variety of travel sites. Or you can manually enter itineraries directly on the Yapta site.

A Few More Glamor Sites

www.FlightStats.com lets you view on-time performance records of major airlines.

www.SeatGuru.com provides seating diagrams for many domestic and international aircraft. Always check out your seats here before you book.

www.MileageManager.com charges $15 yearly to track all your airline, hotel, and rental car membership points, and sends you updated e-mail summaries. Unfortunately it doesn't tell you when your points expire, however.

www.WebFlyer.com is a useful tool for comparing one frequent flier program to another, checking blackout dates, converting miles from one program to another, and a lot more.

6. Green Travel

Green travel is broad, diverse and hard to define, but the steps and sites below can help preserve the planet.

Before you leave: Turn down the thermostat and water heaters at your home; most have a vacation setting.

Do your homework: Select hotels, tour companies and other travel providers that make a genuine commitment to environmental preservation. How can you tell? Ask them to e-mail a copy of their ecology policy. See whether their catalog is printed on recycled paper. For tours, ask if accommodations are at chain hotels or locally owned lodgings. Lonely Planet's book Code Green lists almost 100 eco-friendly trips. For advice from Lonely Planet, go to www.lonelyplanet.com/responsibletravel/travel_tips.cfm.

Use the same towels and sheets: Many hotels now change towels and sheets only when you request it. Towels on the floor are replaced; those on the rack are left to dry. Even if your hotel doesn't have a card urging you to do this, you can leave a note for housekeeping saying that you don't need the towels or sheets changed. You can also request that the hotel refrain from using chemical air fresheners and cleaning products in your room.

Beware of green-washing: Many travel companies "cloak themselves in an eco-blanket" but aren't really green, says Geographic Expeditions' Jim Sano. He encourages travelers to ask outfitters how they select tour operators overseas, if they support local people and what they do to minimize impact on the lands they visit.

Choose eco-friendly activities: When visiting a city, you can travel by tour bus or walk. Walking is not only greener, but it also opens you to serendipitous encounters. Bike touring, white-water rafting and kayaking can be green, depending on the decisions of the tour operator.

Pack it out: When traveling to remote areas, including mountains and rivers, take as little potential trash as possible and pack out whatever waste you create.
Consider the consequences: You might like a cold beer and hot shower after a day of trekking in the Himalayas, but tourist demands can lead to increased deforestation (to heat water) or to the disruption of traditional ways.

Get online: For a list of green hotels, go to www.greenhotels.com, but note that these hotels are self-selecting so some may not be very green. For a list of top eco-travel destinations, go to www.ethicaltraveler.org/destinations.php.

For a compendium of eco-friendly adventures listed by country and activity, see www.responsibletravel.com. Also go to the forums at www.greentraveller.co.uk and www.groups.yahoo.com/group/green-travel. Dallas Morning News

7. Going Solo

Bucking the trend toward networking travel sites, www.JourneyWoman.com is one of a few that encourage women to go solo. and urge women to share their travel experiences, both good and bad. Another site, www.womentraveltips.com, offers safety advice, like: “Be sure to know when the sun rises and sets. A bustling market can quickly empty out and be transformed into dark deserted streets.” It also has a directory of female-friendly travel companies, and offers tips like “Do talk to strangers,” saying, “Some of the most meaningful travel experiences come from spontaneous invitations to join a person” or group for some activity. NY Times


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