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Each component of vacation has a different ideal place to book it. Depending on what experience you are looking for, some items (such as hotels, cruises, etc) are better booked in certain places. Other items are best booked directly. Here are our top suggestions for the best places to book your vacation components.
HOW TO FIND UNIQUE EXCURSIONS AND WHERE TO BOOK THEM https://youtu.be/2d_nYbFrAkk
How to find awesome things to do on your vacation - https://youtu.be/KlDEW_aoTRI
Chapters:
0:00 Each travel method has an ideal place to book
0:38 Where to book cruises
2:27 Where to find a good Travel Agent
3:45 Where to book hotels - budget to mid-range
6:01 Where to book hotels - mid to luxury
7:20 Where to book airfare
11:42 Where to book vacation packages
13:22 Where to book Honeymoons and Weddings
14:44 Where to book car rentals
18:30 Where to book excursions and activities
Recommendations:
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0:00
Hey everybody, welcome back to my channel. Today I want to talk about where to book what when it
0:06
comes to booking your travel. So depending on if you are doing an entire package, say it's airfare
0:12
hotel and everything, whether you're doing a cruise or you just need a hotel or just airfare
0:16
or just a car, each of those different things has a different ideal place to book it. It has a
0:23
different place that is the best place to book it based on what it is that you need. And so today I
0:29
want to tell you for all the different types of travel, where the best place to book it is
0:34
R is. I think you know what I mean. So let's go ahead and jump in. All right. The first one I want
0:39
to talk about is cruises. Now cruises, you can always just go to the cruise line and book it
0:45
online. But I want to tell you a little secret about booking cruises. If you go through a travel
0:52
agent and that includes if you go through amex travel or costco travel or triple a travel that
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includes those and particularly if your travel agent if you find one that belongs to a large
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consortium or a large travel agency what happens is those big travel agencies or even if they're
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an independent uh they just work from home but independent but they're related to one of those
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large agencies a lot of times for cruises they have extras that they can offer for you
1:23
so it could be extra room credit that you can use towards short excursions or food or spa it could
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be things such as a bottle of champagne in your room when you arrive it could be upgrades there's
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a lot of different extras that the larger agencies can offer to you for instance we're going on a
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a Mediterranean cruise this summer, in fact, in a few weeks. And I booked it through American
1:48
Express, their travel agency, A, so I could use some points, but B, because they were offering an
1:54
extra almost $500 in route credit, plus an additional bottle of wine or champagne in your
2:01
room. And I think at the time it was also some upgrades. So that's why I specifically went through
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them. And what you'll find is a lot of those big travel agencies offer those types of extras often
2:12
And so if you are booking a cruise this year, be sure to check if just at least check to see
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if any of those big agencies are offering some extras that might make it worth it to go through
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them versus booking it yourself directly through the cruise line. And a quick caveat on that
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if you're not sure where to find a travel agency, if you don't have Amex, Costco, or AAA
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then I would look at a big consortium. If you simply Google the travel consortium
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such as Virtuoso, Travel Leaders Network, Signature, Travel Network, NEST. These are large
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consortiums that have travel agencies that all join it and by all joining it together they have
2:53
better negotiation power, better buying power. So oftentimes those big any agency that belongs to
3:00
that consortium has the ability to get more perks from the cruise lines also for hotels and such as
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minute, but they have the ability to get extras, extra little features, amenities, different things
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by, by being a part of that larger purchasing power, that larger negotiating power. So you can
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Google, like I said, virtuoso, signature, nest, travel leaders, and they oftentimes have a link
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where you can find travel agents near you, and they also have reviews. So if you're looking for
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an individual travel agent, you don't want to go through Amex and AAA and all those people
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Google those and you should be able to find a travel agent near you that has good ratings and
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then go through them to see what they might be able to offer. All right, next I want to talk
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about hotels. So if you're going and you only need a hotel, then you always have the ability to book
3:52
those yourself. Now, if it's something pretty quick and easy and simple, if you're looking for a
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budget to mid-range hotel, oftentimes you can find everything you need by going through Google
4:04
hotels. And I did make a video about that, which I will link either above or below that talks about
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how to use Google hotels. But the reason I choose that is because they take, they don't actually
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sell the hotel rooms for you or to you. They actually go and find all of the rates for a
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specific hotel and bring it all to you. So if you're looking, say at the Marriott in
4:27
in Sacramento, I don't know, it will say for the Marriott in Sacramento, this is all of
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the prices available and it will include things like booking.com and Expedia and all of the
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different places, including the hotel itself. So on one easy page, you'll be able to see exactly
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what your rate options are and then simply go to that particular website and book it
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One little tip about that, be sure to book it with a reputable company you've heard of
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Usually the smaller, lesser known companies, while they could be real, they have more risk
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for being a scam or simply not being there if you need them
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If you need to cancel if you need to get a refund sometimes those smaller companies tend to disappear when you need them And so you definitely want to try to book with one of the more reputable companies that you know will be there in case you need to do anything like I said
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like cancel changes, things like that. And always when you're booking a hotel in that regard
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always check with the hotel directly. There are many hotels nowadays that offer their best rate guarantees
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when you book through their website. Reason being, they don't want to pay commissions to the booking.coms
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and Expedias and people like that. And so they try to entice people to book directly through
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their website and give you sometimes a little bit of a deal. But Google Hotels will have a list of
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all of the different prices so that you can compare and contrast and go to the place that
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will work best for you. And I'll link Google Hotels below, or you just simply Google Google
6:01
Hotels. Now, if you are booking something mid to a little bit more luxury, or if it's a hotel
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you're going on a big vacation, a lifetime, you know, bucket list type of vacation
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a honeymoon, something like that. And you want to see if that hotel that you want to go to
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has maybe some kind of extra amenities or extra offers that they have available
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That is where going to one of the big travel agencies, like I said before, AMX, AAA, Costco
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or a travel agency that is affiliated with one of those big consortiums might pay off because
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oftentimes those a little bit nicer hotels kind of mid to luxury will offer extra perks, upgrades
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extra room credits, extra amenities in your room if you go through those large travel agencies and
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those large consortiums because again they have better negotiating power, better buying power
7:00
And so hotels often give them extra perks in order to book with their hotel
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So if you are going to something big, something that you do want to see, if you can maybe get a little more out of it
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be sure to check with one of the big travel agencies or find a travel agent that you love, that it belongs to one of those consortiums
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but then just use them for that. All right, the next one I want to cover is airfare
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Now, airfare used to be something that travel agents could help you with
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And although they still can, they don't get any perks really for travel
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The only time a travel agent can really make a difference potentially is if you are booking international travel or if you're booking a package
7:43
Sometimes they can find better rates that you wouldn't be able to find on your own by just searching on your own
7:49
So if you are doing one of those things, it may behoove you to check with a travel agent
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And absolutely you can. it wouldn't hurt to just price check with them and just see what they're finding and compare it
8:00
to what you're finding. That would be for international or if it's like I said a package
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something like that. The most of the time if you're booking something domestic it's usually just best
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to go to Google Flights which again is like Google Hotels in that it'll give you all of the price
8:15
options. So if you're flying from LA to New York it'll tell you exactly which airlines are going
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and what your price options are. And then it will let you go to that place to book
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whether that is the airline directly or it's Expedia or it's, you know
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any of those other places. It will tell you what the prices are
8:34
and give you the link so you can go book it at that location or at that website
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Again, with flights, make sure it's a reputable company because the last thing you wanna do
8:43
is need a cancellation, a refund, something, and it's a little rinky-dink company
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and they disappear on you and don't help you at all. When possible, if the price is similar
8:56
to the other prices you're finding or better or not too much more expensive
9:00
I always recommend booking directly through the airline simply because when something happens
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you're going straight to the horse's mouth. You're not having to wait on, say, an Expedia
9:12
to then negotiate with American Airlines in order to get your refund
9:17
or whatever airline you're using. You can go straight to the airline
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and get your refund, your change, whatever you need. And it is just a much quicker
9:27
and a much more secure process of having things taken care of for you
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Expedia could do it and some of those other booking engines can do it
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But a lot of times by being the middleman, it adds extra delays
9:39
Sometimes they don't respond. Sometimes they can't do what you're wanting to do
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Whereas the airline directly will allow you to do what you want to do. So just keep that in mind when you're booking flights
9:51
One more note about flights. If you are taking a cruise and needing to get a flight to your cruise
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where it departs, another place to check is through your cruise line directly. A lot of cruise lines
10:04
have an air department where they offer airfare in addition to your cruise. And a lot of times
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not a lot of times, sometimes they can be the pricing that you're finding by either going
10:17
through a travel agent or going through yourself, looking on Google flights, for instance
10:22
And as an example I mentioned I going on a Mediterranean cruise and I was looking for flights myself uh all over the place and we leaving out of Rome So I needed to go internationally I was finding basic economy flights for around
10:39
This was six months ago. There are even more now, I think. And I just was not finding the right combination of what I wanted
10:47
So on a way, I'm like, you know what, I'll just check with the cruise department, their airline department and see if they're having any better solutions for me
10:56
And lo and behold, they actually were offering economy flights for $9.99
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Now I know that sounds expensive, but in relation to what I was finding it for, that was actually
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on the cheap side. It was $200, $300 cheaper than what I was finding everywhere else
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They also had really great prices on business airfare. And I was able to actually upgrade some of us, there's six of us going, some of us were
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able to afford to upgrade to business class, which is going to make flying to Europe a
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whole lot more comfortable. But that airline department gave me much better pricing than what I was finding on my own by
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looking at Google Flights and all of those places in the airlines directly. So it's always worth
11:37
taking a look because you never know when they might be able to beat what it is you're finding
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elsewhere. All right, next I want to talk about packages. Now a package would be anything that's
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you're combining. So you're getting a hotel and the flight or a hotel flight and a rental car or
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something along those lines. Those type of things you can book say on Expedia, Travelocity, places
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like that. But again, they're just going to give you the basic access to those things. And sometimes
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that's well and good and it might be perfect for your needs and it might be the price that is good
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for you. However, if you are booking a package, I would recommend at least checking with a travel
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agent just to be sure that they can't either a do better or make better recommendations on how
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to combine those things in order to have a better experience not only do they have the expertise as
12:30
far as the place you're going your destination to be able to know this hotel's good this hotel's
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terrible and even though on Expedia you can read the review sometimes you don't really know if you
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haven't been there and a lot of times the travel agencies have been there and experienced them and
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can guide you based on the experience that you want to have. But in addition to that, the travel
12:49
agents sometimes, again, have those extra perks that they can offer to you. By being a part of a
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large agency or consortium, sometimes those package companies will give them extra things that they
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can pass on to you. Amenities, upgrades, credit towards room credits, and things of that nature
13:08
So always, if you're doing a package, be sure to double check with a travel agent, even if you
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ultimately decide not to go with them, just see what they can offer and what they can bring to
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the table. It might be far better than what you're finding by looking yourself individually. All
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right, next is honeymoons and weddings. Now, because of the complexity of those and all of
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the different little pieces that all have to go together, I highly recommend using a travel agent
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for those. And not just any travel agent, I recommend using somebody who is specialized
13:39
in weddings and honeymoons for your travel needs. And that is because they are experts at all of those little pieces
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You have to have so many little pieces come together to make it perfect
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It's better to use a professional in those situations to make sure you're going to have the experience that you want to have
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And by using an expert who's done many weddings and honeymoons in the past
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they can help guide you, use your expertise to help you experience
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which you want to experience. They have access to the travel partners that can give you extra perks
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extra amenities. It is just better when you're talking about something that's such a big
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important travel experience in your life or a big experience in your life is just far better
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to go with an expert in that regard to make sure everything goes smoothly. So I highly recommend
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using a travel agent, especially one that has the expertise, but also belongs to one of those
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bigger consortiums or bigger groups so they can have access to those extra perks to make your
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special day even more special. All right, next I want to talk about car rentals. Now you may or
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may not know there are new car rental options. You always have your Hertz and Enterprise and
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people like that that you can rent from. And if you're flying into an airport, they're usually
15:01
right there near or close to the airport or part of the airport. So it makes it easy to rent them
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But lately, a lot of those places are overpriced because of inflation, because of travel demand
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They're overpriced right now, but also they run out of cars and just some different things can
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happen, but it's still an option. And to decide where to book that, you simply could go to the
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Hertz, the Enterprise, the whomever you happen to have a relationship with or whoever you prefer
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budget and so forth and just book it directly on their website. That is one option. There's a new
15:39
option that you may not have heard of it called Turo T and it is like an Airbnb but for cars So personal owners of cars put their car available up on Turo and then you can rent that car from them
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And the way it works is you can go through and pick. There's all different types of cars
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Usually I find some crazy luxury cars, electric cars, cheaper cars, budget cars
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There's all different kinds, even some classic cars. and they're available in all different locations, but a lot of them will have a delivery
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So say there's a car available that you really want to get and it's not near the airport
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Maybe it's on the other side. If you're going to Hawaii, say it's on the other side of the island
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Usually you can see in the Turo listing that they will deliver it to the airport for you
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and it might be an extra surcharge. So this is another alternative to booking cars
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to get either a specialized kind of cool car, to be able to find something more availability
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maybe something closer, or maybe something in a certain location, or you want it delivered to you
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maybe at your hotel or someplace else. And just more options. It's the same thing as going to an
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Airbnb versus a hotel. It's just a different type of rental, a different type of options that are
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available. But like Airbnb, they have extra service fees and stuff. So even though it says
17:07
it's maybe $50 a day for this car, be sure to take it all the way through to the end where you
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actually would pay for it. So you can see what extra fees and stuff are included, including they
17:18
offer extra insurance. If you choose to take it, they sometimes will offer gas so you don't have
17:24
to fill it up before you return it, things like that. So be sure to carry it all the way out to
17:28
the full conclusion so you know what the real price is because it's very rarely the actual price
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that is listed on the main screen in the main listings. So those are two options for rental
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cars, but I want to take it one step further and consider can you do without a car altogether
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Because usually an extra car means parking fees at your hotel. If you're staying in a big city
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it means parking fees or finding parking in the big city, which could be a nightmare
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If you're internationally, it's dealing with international driver's license. It's dealing with different driving laws that you're not familiar with
18:02
And so I want to encourage you, if you can go and not get a car, that might be a better option for some people
18:10
Sometimes you just need a car and that is totally fine. But consider your options for public transportation, Ubers, taxis, walking, if you can stay close enough where you can walk
18:20
and maybe forego getting a car and having that extra expense and the headache of where you're
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going to park it and just go for the public option, walking option or those types of things
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All right, the next one is excursions and activities. Now this one is far more free
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flowing because there could be a million different places you could book your excursions and
18:40
activities depending on where you're going. So for instance, we're going to Rome. If I wanted to
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book a Coliseum ticket, for instance, I could go to the Coliseum website and pay for tickets there
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I could go to a third party excursion website, such as Viator and book it there. I could go to
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Airbnb experiences and lo and behold, somebody is going to be offering a tour of the Coliseum
19:03
on Airbnb experiences. So you have far more choices. This one's a little harder to help
19:09
guide you. But I did make a video about that, which I'll link above or below, that tells you
19:16
how to A, decide what you should do on your vacation, because it can be really overwhelming
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knowing what to do and trying to narrow it down and pick it, but also where to go to book them
19:27
And some of my favorite places to book them are Airbnb experiences. That one's always great
19:32
because they're small groups and they have all different kinds of experiences. And they're
19:36
Usually a much more personal experience. And it's a lot of fun and it's usually pretty cost effective
19:42
Also eat with, which is similar, but it's all based around eating and food
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So it could be the owner of a restaurant offering a special tasting at the restaurant
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Or you go to someone's home and have a meal with them at their home. This one's a great option, especially if you're going internationally
19:58
So you can experience the culture, the language, and the real authentic food
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The other one is Viator. Now this is an excursion or an activity booking website that is through TripAdvisor
20:11
And so you have the ratings from TripAdvisor and you have all different kinds of excursions all over the world
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Not only that, but there's also good transportation options. So if you need a shuttle from the airport to your hotel or vice versa or to a cruise the port
20:29
they also have transportation options as well. Private tours, public tours, all different kinds of things
20:34
So those are just a few of the ones that are my favorites and my go-tos when I'm planning a vacation
20:39
But again, take a look at that video and I have a few more if you'd like to look at those
20:43
and decide if any of those work for you as well. And if you are planning a vacation this year, this video will help you to know exactly what to do and how to do it
20:53
so that you get the best prices and have the best experience you possibly can
20:57
And other than that, I want to thank you so much for stopping by and have a great vacation this year
21:02
Take care. Bye-bye
#Cruises & Charters
#Hotels & Accommodations
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