bennison@tools.DEC (01/07/85)
--- >When contacting tourist bureaus ask for complete listings of lodgings with >prices and detailed maps. Usually the complete listings are free and some- >times the maps cost a small amount but are worth it. Good luck! I tried this with Canada and Great Britain. No such thing! A book listing all the bed and breakfasts in England would be the size of the London phone book. There is no government supplied road map of Great Britain that comes close to the commercially available maps, such as Michelin, for detail and ease of use, period! Maybe other countries are different, but I'll remain skeptical. >If you just ask for general information they will send you the junky tourist >literature that they hope will convince you to buy a tour. If you are travel- >ing on your own you have to tell them that and give dates and ask for specific >information. I have talked myself blue trying to tell them exactly what information I wanted about which places or regions. Very frustrating. >My experience has been that going through an American travel >agent for foreign accommodations and tours just about doubles the cost of >doing it yourself when you get there or going through their US representative >before you leave. There have been recent articles on the net concerning the difference between a good travel agent and a bad one. I've never used one myself. I always make my own arrangements with excellent results. >Regarding books and bookstores, >1) They are designed to make money for the author and publisher. So I go to the store before traveling and spend $25-$50 on books and maps. Big deal! Have you ever seen anything negative written about a place in a government brochure? I've never seen one with a rating system of any kind. Government tourist bureaus are designed to make money for the country, not for any altruistic reasons. I don't see much difference in motives, but at least the author and publisher are under no pressure to avoid embarrassing this region or that city, and are, therefore, more likely to give them a bum review when they deserve it. >2) They are designed to appeal to a specific audience (budget, luxury, etc) I am a specific audience. I want to be appealed to. I want to be able to say, "give me a guidebook that would be of interest to a moderately affluent but not rich person travelling with a wife and two kids by rental car who wants inexpensive but clean accomodations, interesting historic and scenic sights, and good regional food." >3) They contain material that is at least 1 year old and not guaranteed. One year old! One year old! My god what do you want? I'd take a ten year old Michelin guide to Paris over a brand new French government brochure on the same subject any day. If you think the foreign travel bureaus guarantee their information as accurate I think you're dreaming. >4) They can only comment on those places which they have time to visit. There are all kinds of guide books. If you want infinite detail, look at a Blue Guides. They don't miss anything. I prefer the less detailed more selective but still very complete guides, such as the Michelin. >5) They miss many if not all small but nice places. These are not covered in the government brochures. There are just too many of them. In Europe you can't go to the privy without stumbling over one or two of them on the way. Give me a break! >In some places like Northern Europe, I have never found a place that was not >clean. The only choice is price and convenience. I've found some gawd-awful dumps in Northern Europe, believe me. But once you get somewhere you can usually find very decent accomodations. The question is, once you get somewhere, are you SOMEWHERE in which you really have any interest in being. >P.S. That junky literature about tour routes is great in planning your own >route and gives you an idea as to what one should look for. I never said it couldn't be useful. I always order the stuff myself for planning purposes. But I've always found it necessary to supplement it heavily with commercial material. Vick Bennison ...decvax!decwrl!rhea!tools!bennison (603) 881-2156
2141smh@aluxe.UUCP (henning) (01/08/85)
**** **** From the keys of Steve Henning, AT&T Bell Labs, Reading, PA aluxe!2141smh > Good luck! I tried this with Canada and Great Britain. No such thing! In Canada you have to deal with the individual provinces. Believe it or not Labrador & Newfoundland has some of the most complete literature and some of the most interesting scenery and areas. For Great Britain you almost have to visit their Tourist Office in NYC which has 2 rooms chuck full of really good information. Most of the information costs about 40% more than if you wait until you get to GB. On our recent trip to Scotland, we did get a government listing of all B&B's which was invaluable since in northwestern Scotland there aren't very many and in southcentral they tend to fill up fast. By the way, we made a point to hit the NYC Tourist Office 2 hours before our flight out of JFK. The clerk had told me which books to look at and it worked out fine. > But I've always found it necessary to supplement it > heavily with commercial material. I agree that tour books are good, but some of the best ones are written in the country you intend to visit for their own people and are sold through Tourist Offices such as the ones for Great Britain and Scandinavia.
doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (01/09/85)
> A book listing all the bed and breakfasts in England would be the size of > the London phone book. Aw, c'mon, the London phone book ain't THAT big. Jeepers, it seems like every farmhouse in England has a "B&B" sign out front. Almost a blight on the countryside :-) Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{hao,ihnp4,decvax}!noao!terak!doug
daver@hp-pcd.UUCP (daver) (01/23/85)
Here in the Pacific Northwest the best roadmaps I've found are printed by the state government for free distribution. I picked up my maps of Oregon and Washington at the respective state capitol buildings, but I'm sure the state tourist offices would be happy to send you one (ask for the state highway map). They are much more usable than the AAA maps, and more up-to-date too. As for arranging lodging in advance, any area which appeals to tourists will have a large number of motels, most of which are not listed with any travel agency or in any brochure. For example, several years ago I attended Wescon at the Anaheim convention center across from Disneyland. I had made no reservations at all, but when I arrived there I found the whole place surrounded by motels advertising single rooms for $18 and doubles for $24 (plus tax), and got a room at that price with a full kitchenette right down the block from the convention hall. A couple of years later my company sent me down there for NCC and put me up at a motel almost a mile from the convention center. The room wasn't as nice as the one I had stayed in the last time and cost $65 per night. I checked and found that there were still vacancies at the $18/night motels, despite the largest NCC in history (the one with the infamous tents whose airconditioning failed). Last fall I visited Disney World and found it surrounded by motels advertising similar room rates. If you are willing to take a chance, or are traveling off season, it may be a good idea not to make room reservations. Good luck. Dave Rabinowitz hp-pcd!daver