Lipi Sultana's Blog gift to Sonia Sultana

Travel

Travel can be fun-filled and Rejuvenating Experience Since the market generally caters to the needs of the consumers, the whopping number of travel companies and travel guides speaks volumes about the need for traveling. With 195 official countries in the world and each having its own unique culture, customs and traditions, traveling is a surely a way of increasing one's awareness of the lives of other people. The main benefit of globe trotting is knowledge and awareness. However, people may travel for different reasons and those bitten by wanderlust only need an excuse to travel. Besides business, people may like to travel for leisure during holidays. They may like to move away from the crowds and din of city life to a more calm and quite place such as hilly regions. They would like to travel just for fun and recreation or for exploring new places. The billion-dollar tourism industry is am ample proof of how much people like to travel. Travel has its own charms for the nature lovers. Many of us can boast of staying in the lap of luxury but there are very few who can boast of staying in the lap of nature. Traveling gives the nature lovers a chance be surrounded by mist and clouds, hear a nightingale sing or build a sand castle on a seashore. While discussing the reasons why people love to travel we cannot ignore the food lovers who like to sample the cuisine from different parts of the world. The growing threat of global warming has lead to the emergence of the new concept of ecotourism. Ecotourism can be described as a nature-based tourism that helps in safeguarding the interest of our fragile planet. The eco-traveler visits natural areas while taking care not to affect the integrity of the ecosystem. So generally speaking people travel for the following reasons:

• Business
• Leisure
• Exploring different places
• Sampling the cuisines
• Soothing their tired souls after hectic schedules.
• Being close to the nature

Besides these reasons there is another unusual reason and that is the curative effect of travel. An incident that proves the therapeutic effect of travel is about a man who had only one year left to live due to an incurable heart disease. Instead of spending his time in misery he decided to go backpacking with his wife. In the absence of the stress of his demanding job and the daily grind of life the man’s health improved to the extent that he became normal. Such incidences show how taking out some time to travel to some peaceful place can heal the body, mind and the soul. However, in order to make most of the healing effect of travel or to make the most of it, it is necessary to leave all the worries behind. Summary: Traveling seems to be a fun-filled activity for some people. However, beneath all the fun lie the serious benefits of traveling. Traveling happens to be rejuvenating and therapeutic too as is evident in many cases.

Frequent Flyer Miles

Savvy Travelers can Best Utilize the Frequent Flyer Miles The frequent air travelers can consider getting a frequent flyer card so that they can earn more miles for free travel. The frequent flyer program is a loyalty program offered by airlines to reward the customers for their continued loyalty. A traveler can earn free miles for the miles that they fly on a specific airline. The idea behind such frequent flyer programs is to attract the passengers so that they become lifetime customers. Usually the airline customers get enrolled in the program and gather frequent flyer miles, either in kilometers, segments or points that correspond to the distance that has been traveled on that airline or its partners. This idea was introduced in the year 1981 when American Airlines initiated a program known as AAdvantage. Their aim was to simply reward the customers for using their airlines and encourage customer loyalty in the future. American Airlines had started this program by making use of their customer database. They could track the number of flown miles by the members and build a reward system of one mile earned for one mile traveled. Though the frequent flyer miles were initially offered by American Airlines yet they have now spread across the globe. The foreign carriers did not approve of offering frequent flyer miles as they felt that it diminished the value of their service. However, due to their obstinacy they suffered a huge loss of the market share to the U.S. airlines, which flew worldwide. Ultimately they had to develop their own programs. Simply put, the frequent flyer miles is like a perk in the present frequent flying market by which the traveler can earn points that can be redeemed as miles for travel or non-travel transactions. The frequent flyer miles accumulate in the travelers account. Some activity is essential in one’s account every three years. In order to avail the reward of frequent flyer miles the following things should be kept in the mind:

• The airlines can change their mileage expiration policies. Hence, one should read their latest guidelines.
• One should try to keep a track of the miles. Assistance can be taken from the several online miles tracking programs that are available these days.
• The high-frequency travelers should try to attain the elite status whereas the leisure travelers should try to obtain a free trip.
• The free miles should be saved for flights that are expensive.
• The statements should be checked out carefully and travel receipts should be kept safely.
• One should also try to be well-informed about the promotions and new partners through the programs newsletters.
• Travel, airline partners and credit card programs provide ways to gather miles. The program's partners should be used to collect miles aggressively.
• Instead of letting the miles pile up in their account the travelers should consider utilizing them.

Lastly, selecting one frequent-flier program carefully and concentrating on maximizing the benefits within the purview of that program can make things simpler. Summary: More and more airline companies have started providing rewards to retain their customers in the form of frequent flyer miles. The joining process is quite simple and the cost is complimentary. With some amount of patience and perseverance the travelers can avail the benefits provided to them.

Car Rental is an Integrated Part of Travel for Many People

Car rental is a constituent part of the travel plans of many people. It is used worldwide for traveling. People usually need some conveyance during business trips or leisure trips with their families. At such times the car rental services can be of immense help. The car rental services have been constantly improving and there are outlets at every major airport of the world. Even the minor airports have a car hire desk. While the history of the car rental industry is a unique one and it has been closely associated with the growth of the automobile industry. The car rental companies have realized the importance of reinventing their modus operandi. Although each one of them has their own strategy of fueling growth but four key motivational factors are found to be common amongst most of the industry leaders. They are as follows:

• Profitability is the prime focus of the new publicly-held rent a car companies. They are focusing on containing costs and also on increasing revenues.
• The top brands generate the maximum revenue in the US car rental industry. So a well-defined brand is found to be quite valuable. Keeping this in mind, the enhancement of the existing brands and expanding brand portfolios have been the main focus of many new breed rent a car owners.
• Car rental companies are now trying to improve their customer service. Technology has helped car rental companies in delivering cutting-edge service to their valued customers by easy internet booking applications and better customer information management.
• The last decade has witnessed an increase in global travel. Global travelers look out for high quality, trustworthy and familiar travel services during their trips. Many leading car rental companies are trying to make hay while the sun shines by expanding their brands internationally. A well-integrated international car rental system can help these companies to manage their extensive operations.

The following tips can help in making the car rental experience a better one:

• Just as in the case of other purchases the best options for car rentals too are available online. Hence, some amount of net surfing is essential.
• It is advisable to reserve the car at least one week in advance.
• Paying in advance for the fuel is a bad idea unless the traveler is absolutely sure that the full tank will be used.
• Since the compact cars have a high demand, sometimes the car rentals offer free upgrades to bigger vehicles. However, it is prudent to decline the offer if there is no real requirement for the extra space. Since the larger vehicles use more gas, so the free upgrade can be costly.
• Weekend rentals are cheaper so if it is possible one should prefer weekend rental.
• Instead of picking up a rental car at the airport one should try looking at other close by locations because at airports taxes and fees are also added, thereby making it a costly matter.

There are lots of people who use rent a car services often. Such people can benefit from joining the club membership provided by some larger companies. Summary: The global car rental industry seems to be quite a promising one. With the facility of online booking, hiring a car has become much easier. With an upsurge in global trotters car rental companies from different countries have collaborated with each other.