With the advent of online bus booking, we no longer need to go through the hassle of long queues. This has helped people in India to book tickets easily. Technology has helped us to book tickets at the click of a button without having to leave our desk.
One of the advantages of bus booking platforms is the choice of operators. Customers can now choose which operator to travel width for the given price range. The customer can choose from which point to book the bus and can also choose the dropping point.
Another advantage of booking online is the cashback offers given by many online sites. Earlier the price was fixed and there were virtually no cash backs. However, now the customers have an advantage.
Some of the major bus ticketing applications in the Indian market are as follows.
Train travel is easier too. Although travel agents are still a way of booking train tickets, many people prefer to book tickets online through train booking applications.
IRCTC Connect: This is an Indian Railways official app which allows multiple options including ticket bookings and flight booking options. One can directly download the application and need not go to IRCTC website.
iXIGO Train App
This railway booking application is undoubtedly the best and the most comprehensive application available for train booking. The user interface is decent and is a great way to book a train ticket.
NTES: This application is a great app to track train status. This application provides real-time information on the running status of trains.
Flight Booking Sites
Although the presence of travel agents cannot be ruled out, flight booking has become a lot easier with online booking sites.
Here are the 10 flight booking sites in India
MakeMyTrip
One of the early birds in the flight booking business, MakeMyTrip revolutionized the flight booking industry in India. The user is provided with a lot of choices to book a flight filtered by price, airlines, and hops.
One of the salient features of MakeMyTrip is its MMTBLACK Loyalty program where one can earn My Cash on reaching reward milestones. Another salient feature of MakeMyTrip is the DOUBLE BLACK program which allows for free cancellation on flights.
EaseMyTrip
EaseMyTrip offers easy air ticket bookings with many many offers for domestic and international travelers.
Skyscanner
Although many Indian travel sites can be used to make local travel bookings, international travel booking facilities are quite limited. Skyscanner gives you the ability to choose any international location at ease.
GoIbibo
GoIbibo is another great flight booking site where one can book flights.
Cleartrip
ClearTrip is another online flight aggregation operating in India. Sometimes you can get flight ticket at much lower prices than MakeMyTrip
If you are a person who travels a lot, it is important for you to be aware of the best packing techniques. Then you will be able to avoid a lot of frustration. On the other hand, the packing will become an enjoyable experience for you as well.
luggage packing
Here are the 10 rules of packing, which every person should keep in mind to stay away from hassle associated with moving from one place to another.
Take lesser clothes and more money
When you are packing, you are encouraged to pack half of the clothes that you are planning to take. Most of the people tend to take more clothes because they don’t want to come across any hassle during unexpected situations. But if you can pack half the clothes and take more money along with you, you will be able to handle such unexpected situations in a better way.
Mix and match
Learning how to mix and match can also be considered as one of the most effective methods available for you to minimize the number of clothes that you pack. Instead of taking 9 pairs of shirts and bottoms, you can simply take three bottoms and three shirts. Then you will be able to mix and match them on a daily basis. With that, you will be able to make sure that you end up with 9 different outfits. It can provide tremendous assistance to you with reducing the number of clothes that you take.
Look for free boxes
We believe that the process of packing is an expensive one. That’s because we have to spend our money on a variety of things. The amount that needs to be spent on boxes holds a prominent place out of them. However, there are some effective methods, which you can try in order to get boxes for free.
You just need to go through the newspaper. People who move use cardboard boxes, but after they move, they don’t get the need to use the boxes. Hence, they tend to give away the boxes for free. Due to this reason, you need to go ahead and look for free boxes. Apart from the newspaper, you can also look for free boxes in online marketplaces such as Craigslist and back page.
Donate the items that you don’t need any more
When you are packing the goods, you will come across items that you don’t need to use any longer. It would be a good idea to give away those items for free. This will not just assist you to minimize the frustration that you have to go through when you are packing goods. It can also provide excellent assistance to you when you are unpacking them in the new home. Moreover, you will get the opportunity to make your new home a clutter-free one.
Take only what you can carry
When you are packing, you need to pay special attention to the items that you put in your backpack as well. In fact, you are strongly encouraged to take only what you can carry. That’s because you will have to carry your backpack and travel throughout the journey. If you have any valuable items, you must put them in your backpack. But if the backpack is too heavy, it is better if you can leave those valuables back at home and travel.
Pack first things last
While packing, you need to be careful to pack the first things last. Then bedding, clothes, coffee makers and kitchen items would be the first things that you take out while you are at the new home. This can deliver excellent assistance to you during the unpacking stage. On the other hand, you should keep the space that you have inside the boxes as well. Space provided to you is limited. Hence, you need to look for effective methods to save space as much as possible from the moment you start packing.
Get appropriate packing materials
You will not be able to pack fragile items in a similar way to the traditional method of packing. Instead, you will have to go ahead and purchase the appropriate packing material. If you can get appropriate packing material, you will find it as an easy task to package the items you own. When you are packing, you will come across a large number of fragile items. They include collectibles, glassware, and fragile dishes. If you cannot find bubble wraps to pack them, you can go ahead and purchase appropriate towels or linen for packing.
Take a look at the weight of each and every box
It would be convenient for you to purchase big boxes in order to pack the belongings that you have. However, you should not pack big boxes with heavy items. If you do, you will have to end up with the frustration of lifting them.
Be careful when you pack fragile items
The large boxes are ideal for packing lightweight items such as linens, pillows, and bedspreads. However, all the heavy items you own needs to be placed in smaller boxes. You can also think about packing the boxes with fragile items in the middle of a large box that has pillows and linen. It can help you to deliver enhanced protection to the box. Most importantly, you need to label the fragile boxes with “Fragile”, so that all people who see it will be able to identify what is inside. Hence, the other people who handle those boxes will tend to handle them with care.
Never pack socks, shampoo, and soap
You will be able to find common personal care items, such as socks, shampoo, and soap in any destination that you visit. Hence, you shouldn’t focus too much on packing them. You just need to find them when you get to the destination so that you can make sure you are not carrying a heavy load.
Traveling on a solo has a lot of benefits; you will be free to do whatever you want at any time anywhere. You will have the advantage of meeting people you have never met before who have the potentials to change your life. But after a while things get bored as eating alone and talking to yourself becomes meaningless as there is none of your family members is around you to share your thoughts.
As things gradually get bored, your mindsets begin to change, and you will need to meet locals who are friendly and social. Whether you are the shy type or better still the generous type, our guide will explain to you 13 simple ways to meet people while traveling solo.
Talk to people:some people don’t find making friends easy merely because they are shy. Shy is not a bad thing, but wanting to meet people is the best opportunity for you to build courage by making friends. It may be scary as people you are trying to relate with may be feeling like they don’t know you too, but you have to take solace. For example, stop someone and ask a question like you don’t know where you are going, they will direct you, and you can get to meet them by asking for their names.
Always rent a hostel, not a hotel when you travel abroad alone:most especially as a lady, the best place you can meet people while going on a solo is to rent a hostel ( Read 10 Expert Tips For Picking A Good Hostel ). Don’t be surprised that the majority of those you will meet in the hostel are solo travelers like you and you can’t beat the social aspect of staying in a hostel. If you doubt our ideas ask any solo traveler close to you and they will say the same thing.
Visit a restaurant: another fun way to meet people is when you stop over a restaurant to have a meal. Sharing your food with a stranger is a guaranteed way to meet people aside from the hostel where you are lodging. Try to buy things for people at the restaurant, and they will not hesitate to say thank you most especially if it’s something they can’t afford for themselves.
Learn the lingo: learning lingo (learning local language) will go a long way in making you meet friends, let’s assume you are on foreign land and you need to communicate. Learning to speak the basics of their language will make them laugh at you while you try to talk and get you among people in minutes.
Download an app that lets you meet people to travel with:downloading a social media app that allows you meet people is quick and painless as you are looking for someone to join you on a trek or someone to travel with you for long. Such apps let you meet strangers like you who have come for one tourist purpose or the other, in this regard you guys can continue to be friends and share ideas about life.
Consider a group tour:as solo as your journey can be, joining a group can be a nice idea, you may consider joining a group tour for weeks as you stand to visit places and share thoughts with your group about what they feel concerning the places you are visiting. (Read How To Choose A Great Tour Company )
Make your plans flexible: one thing about traveling solo and making friends is that one way or the other you will still get to meet people even if it’s just for one evening before you go your separate ways. But in cases where you find someone that clicks with you, there is no reason why you can’t be flexible with your plan and go on a little adventure together.
Party with locals:if you are the type that loves to party and want to meet locals while traveling then you must have an app. The app will connect you with loving party locals in almost every corner you find yourself helping you boycott those overpriced tourist bars and clubs.
Join a free city walk tour: taking a free city walk tour is a gentle approach to meeting local people while on solo travel. As you continue to take a walk, I assure you that you will be meeting people of like minds and at the end of the trail you will have one, two or three people that shares same ideology with you.
Offer to take photos: there is no how you will be on a travel mission that you will not find something unusual that would call your attention to photography. Don’t be surprised that in the process of taking photographs, some other tourists like you are interested in what you are doing and would like to join you; it’s a nice way of meeting people.
Take a class: try to make an impact wherever you go, you can choose to enroll for a course that teaches the local language of the country you have visited, or you can take a cooking class that will show you their favorite local dish or learns their regional dance steps. You get to know people on a solo through such actions.
As a solo traveler, taking care of yourself is crucial, most especially if you find yourself in a strange environment. Take note that you are traveling on a solo does not necessarily require that you fly out of your country. You can travel within your country and still come across both strange and exciting things that you are not familiar with or never got someone to tell you about.
However, you will be taking a mature decision if only you have designated someone to take steps after a certain number of days of not hearing from you. We hope you find our 13 simple ways to meet people while traveling solo interesting as this guide has got you covered just in case you choose to embark on a long journey alone.
Seniors traveling alone or together as a couple, would need extra special care, to ensure that from the point of departure to the point of arrival you have no hassles. Traveling does take a toll on me especially being cooped up in a long distance commercial airliner for hours. Seniors would not be able to manage such a complex initiative hence they would need as much assistance as possible to ensure that their travel between the two points are as comfortable as possible. Here’s a list some of the salient and proactively thought senior travel tips which could make a bad day of traveling better.
1. Booking flights
Seniors and the elderly may find it difficult to endure very long flights. If you live very far apart arrange for a overnight stay and break journey. The idea of getting cooped up for 10 hours or more inside an airplane may not be conducive to the overall well being. It would be wise to consider this aspect before booking the flights. This would really make senior travel easy.
2. Get the airlines to help
Assistance from airlines are available and it would be prudent to inform them and seek help which most if not all international airlines would oblige. They would assist at departure and ensure baggage is handled and other formalities are cleared and the seniors are given priority in boarding.
3. Ensuring that medication is at hand
Ensuring that all medication is in hand will make the travel much more easy. Some of the medication you may take may not be available during the sojourn hence it would be prudent to carry all medication.
Inside NSCBI Airport
4. Ensuring to carry health cards
The medical history records need to be kept at all times and this would allow whoever would administer first aid or any other medical assistance to know what is wrong with them. The delay to diagnose the illness could cost dearly hence ensuring all relevant medical records are carried in the hand luggage and close at hand. This is a very important factor that should not be missed out as any medical emergency could happen at any time especially with seniors and the elderly who are vulnerable.
5. Ensuring that proper security and comfort are accorded.
There are many unscrupulous individuals around who are good at targeting seniors and the elderly. Hence ensuring that they are accorded adequate security and comfort is necessary. This could be arranged by the airline depending on the heath state of the senior or elderly citizen.
6. Ensuring that all documentations are in order
Ensure that all their documentation from passports, tickets etc are in order and they have no hassle anywhere throughout their journey. The slightest of issues could put them into panic mode and that could bring about other complications.
Coffee and Cake
7. Ordering special meals
Taking into consideration your present health ordering special food where necessary in the airline would be beneficial.
8. Packing light
Cumbersome baggage would be major issues. Therefore, ensuring that senior travel as light as possible is important.
9. Stretch Often
One of the riskiest thing for long flight travelers is DVT or deep vein thrombosis. When people become cramped in an airplane it is critical to stretch, stand and move about whenever you can. Even if the seatbelt sign is on, you are not supposed to stroll you can still stretch your toes up. This will help you to recover from DVT.
10. Select an aisle seat
When the flight is long you do want to stretch you can do it easily if you have booked the aisle seat. The freedom to move is less restricted in an aisle seat. Therefore, do choose an aisle seat instead of a window seat.
If you are a person who travels a lot, it is important for you to have a clear understanding of travel hacks. The travel hacks are in a position to keep you away from hassle throughout your journeys. On the other hand, these hacks can help you to save a lot of time, effort.
Below mentioned are 10 important hacks, which every traveler should keep in mind.
1. Get in touch with the Airbnb hosts
Most of the travelers tend to use Airbnb in order to reserve their accommodation. But before you go ahead and reserve, you are encouraged to get in touch with the hosts. Then you will be provided with the opportunity to receive exciting discounts.
On the other hand, there are few online portals, which offer discounts on the first Airbnb bookings. If you haven’t used Airbnb before, you can take a look at these coupon codes. Then you will be provided with the ability to save money on your booking. ( Read How to find the right apartment on sites like Airbnb ? )
2.Stick to UBER for traveling
For all your traveling needs, it is possible for you to use Uber. Uber is available for travelers who live in every corner of the world. Due to this reason, you will not have to worry about anything when you book a vehicle through Uber.
The local taxi services are never recommended for tourists. That’s mainly because they try to rip you off. But Uber will never do it and you will be able to use it for all your transportation needs.
You might think that it is possible for you to depend on Google Maps while you are traveling on a foreign country. But you will often come across difficulties while connecting to the internet when you travel. That’s why you must think about downloading offline maps in the region that you are planning to spend your time.
You can simply download Google offline maps to your device and store. It will only take a couple of seconds for you to do it. The best thing about offline maps is that even the directions will be saved. Hence, you will not have to go through any hassle when you are looking for your destination.
4. Clear out web cache when trying to book a flight
When you keep on the search for flight bookings, you will figure out that the fares are going up along with time. That’s because the websites tend to hold cookies and increase the price at every time you do a refresh.
To avoid the negative consequences associated with this, you must always clear your web cache and cookies when booking flights. Otherwise, you will be wasting your money unnecessarily on the flight fares. This simple hack will help you to save a lot of money.
5. If you travel frequently, book with Booking.com
If you are a person who travels frequently, you must stick to Booking.com for all your bookings. Then you will be provided with the opportunity to save lots of money in the long run. That’s mainly because Booking.com offers a “Genius” status for the travelers who use their platform to book frequently. After obtaining that status, you will be able to receive amazing discounts on your bookings.
You are provided with the ability to change the seat of your flight, before you on-board. Traveling in the back or in the middle of the flight will not provide you with the best experience. Hence, you must always think about changing your flight seat before you on board.
You are often provided with the ability to do this when you check in online. Or else, you can walk to the counter at the time of onboarding and request for a seat change. If you can find a complete row for yourself, you must go for it. Or else, you are encouraged to go for the emergency exit row.
Do let the people at check-in counter know about your preferred seat. If you like the window seat more than the middle seat you must let them know so that they can allocate a nice seat. You can also ask a co-passenger to exchange your seat with your seat.
Many passengers have no issues seating in the middle. Therefore, you can grab that seat. Another way is to ask the flight attendant to change your seat or ask for a premium seat upgrade. ( Read 6 Flight Upgrade Tips that work in 2018)
7. Obtain lounge access
Not only will the business travelers be able to access the airport lounges. You are provided with the ability to do it as well. Two different methods are available for you to obtain lounge access. There are credit cards, which offer complimentary access to the lounge for cardholders.
You can think about obtaining such a credit card. Or else, you can make a small payment and get lounge access. Usually, the payment you have to make will be around $50. The amount you pay on it is totally worth because you will be able to receive free meals, and booze along with Wi-Fi access. ( Read 5 Ways To Score Airport Lounge Access )
8. Use a credit card that offers rewards
There are credit cards, which offer exciting rewards to travelers. It is possible for you to use such a credit card as well. You will even be able to earn exciting rewards such as free travels when you use such credit cards
9. Refer a friend and earn rewards
Many different websites out there in the world provide rewards to individuals who offer rewards. Uber, Airbnb, and Booking.com are some perfect examples of such websites.
You just need to use these websites and recommend your friends to use the services. Then you will be provided with affiliate rewards. You will absolutely love what you are getting out of these rewards as well.
If you are a person who travels a lot, it is important for you to have a clear understanding of travel hacks. The travel hacks are in a position to keep you away from hassle throughout your journeys. On the other hand, these hacks can help you to save a lot of time, effort. 