Hunting out the best airfare prices might seem a little daunting when you consider all of the options that are on offer to you.How to compare all of the different options, comparing “apples to apples” so to speak can be quite mind boggling.Some of the price determining factors you will be faced with when comparing the best air fare prices are:Factors that effect your ability to acquire the lowest airline ticket prices-Time of travel (season)-Date of travel (season and event considerations)-Day of the week you depart and return (choosing the day of the week can make hundreds of dollars of difference to your fare)-Length of stay (airlines don’t advertise what suits them as they want to pay full fares if possible)-Where you stay (hotels and airlines have reward systems for each other – again this isn’t common public knowledge)-Seat disbursement & oversell (another airline term that you won’t have heard of that determines whether you pay premium or discounted best airfare prices)These are just a few of the considerations you’ll be making when searching online or with your travel agent.No matter whether you are booking online or with an agency there are a few critical points that can save you hundreds – even a thousand dollars in some cases on airfares and hotel deals.Do’s and dont’s to save you hundreds on the best airfare prices:Do:-Travel over a weekend if you can, airlines like you to stay for weekends at a destination, especially a Saturday. When searching for online airfares, include a weekend in your dates, this can make a difference to airfare pricing.-Use wholesale websites, there are a bunch of websites unknown to the general public where you can pick up the wholesale flights travel agencies bid on (airline employees know what these are but can’t tell you)-Be prepared to stay an extra night in an uncommon destination – deferring even for one extra stop off in a non so common city sometimes helps the airlines to fill seating gaps during peak periods. There are even tricks that mean you can get free airline paid accommodation in these destinations if you know how and who to ask.-Book one way flights, sometimes this can save you a huge amount, if you think outside the box and try a different route made up of one way flights to your destination. It’s a common assumption that it’s cheaper to book one flight all that way to where you want to go but is can be cheaper to book different legs and include a Saturday (or other airline favored day) and save further on airfare prices.Don’t:-Assume travelling a direct route is the cheapest. Some of the most interesting destinations are “off the map” and you can take massive advantage of the many nuances & gaps in the way airlines fill flights to get the very best airfare prices.-Book any hotels until you know which airline you are booking with. Many times booking with a particular airline and stopping over means you can get free accommodation.-Buy tickets without checking wholesale website fares. You can avoid paying agent (middle man) booking fees with no extra effort.There are many ways you can bypass many of the consumer or retail on and offline methods airfare sellers use to promote what look like low prices. Many travel companies claim to be offering the best airfare prices, and this is true if you are comparing these with what every other retail paying traveller is paying.With the right knowledge you can ethically and legally buy direct from the wholesalers and take full advantage of the astoundingly cheap fares airlines offer to people who know when and where to fill in the airlines “gaps”. Airlines actually reward you for filling the seats they find hard to fill due to the way they fill seats.You can still travel at your convenience, at a time and on a route that suits you while saving hundreds to thousands of dollars every time you fly.
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Finding The Cheapest Flights
Finding cheap flights when traveling is always an adventure. I have found a couple techniques work well for me. I recently booked tickets from Calgary to Moscow and I will show you the comparison of prices using the techniques there.I personally use Expedia, Travelocity, EasyJet (Europe), the individual airline websites, and travel agents when trying to find the cheapest arrangements. You might know of other resources to try as well.Local Tour Agents
I usually get together a rough itinerary for a travel agent and then email a number of the tour shops around my city. They should get back to you with quotes. If they do not get back to you soon, they don’t want your business.Go Online
Next it is time for online research. This is where I almost always find the cheapest flights. Go to one of the sites I listed above or another one you have heard of.Type in Your Start and End Destination
This is the worst thing you can do, but it is the easiest and will show you the worst price you are looking at. For Calgary (YYC) to Moscow (SVO) on July 10 2007, the cheapest quote on Expedia was $1,837. It was for Air Canada and Aeroflot-Russian Airlines.Why is this so expensive? Expedia is going to book you all on one ticket. I am not certain, but I think this can only be done through associated airlines. There are a couple positives to this.
If there are cancellations or other problems, they will make sure you get to your end point regardless. They airline you are on and the airline you will be connecting on will know your flight status and can sometimes even make arrangements for you before you land.
You do not have to pick up your checked luggage and re-check it in.
If you even want a bigger scare, do a round trip or multiple destination trip with your “going there flight” and your “coming home flight”. My wife and I were going Calgary, Canada to Moscow, Russia and then Beijing, China to Calgary, Calgary. The tickets are over $3,200 now and were over $5,000 when we first looked a month ago.Note: I am showing one way trips because of the nature of my trip. Try round trips on the online sites if that suits your needs. Then try each way of your round trip separately. Why? If there is more than 8 hours between your stopover or you will already be retrieving your checked luggage, there is no advantage to being on the same ticket. So booking a return ticket with the same company makes absolutely no sense unless it is cheaper. Find the cheapest round trip and then find the cheapest one way in each direction.Break up the Flights Using Connection Cities
There are a million possibilities here, but you can start guessing based on your own knowledge of geography or by the stopovers you see in the previous list of “more expensive” flights.Pick cities to go to that are large and will have large airports with a lot of flights to choose from. I usually look at London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Houston, Toronto, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Seoul, Tokyo, and Copenhagen (just for my Russia trip).You will not have your flights on the same ticket so keep that in mind. This means you must retrieve your checked luggage and re-check it in. They will not compensate you for your missed connector necessarily (they will on flights all on the same ticket). I like to have at least 3 hours between international flights if possible.I already did this for myself so I am going to use the cheapest flights I found. I typed in Calgary (YYC) to London (LGW). I found a flight leaving the evening of July 10th, 2007 for $588 including taxes with Air Transat. It arrives the next morning and there is a flight 3 hours later going from London (LGW) to Amsterdam (AMS) with EasyJet for $59 including all taxes and fees. You arrive at 3:20PM, see a bit of Amsterdam, and stay the night in a hotel. The next day there is a flight from Amsterdam (AMS) to Moscow (SVO) for $259 including taxes.Result: Now it takes me longer and I have to stay in Amsterdam for a night. They total cost is $906 all taxes included. This is half the price of our original quote with Expedia. You are taking an extra day, but saving over $900 per person. I think that is worth the hassle really.Go Back to the Travel Agents
No doubt, the travel agent will have quoted higher than this. Go back to them with your number and get their opinion. They might think the stopover is to short or something else. They should match it and try to get it all on the same ticket for you. If they cannot, no biggie, just try and get them to match. Then you will have a travel agency that can help you if have any more problems.A good one to try in Canada is Flight Centre. These guys will price match and then give a $10 discount per person for you. For a family of 4 that will give you $40 back on your trip to use for something else. Another one I have used it Travel CutsConclusion
There is an order to which I have found the cheapest flights. I will list them from the most expensive to cheapest. I am using my recent flight purchase example. I needed to fly from Calgary to Moscow and from Beijing to Vancouver.
Book a complete round trip online using only your starting and end destinations. This would be a round trip or using the multi-destination feature. i.e. Multi-destination flight of Calgary to Moscow and then Beijing to Vancouver. Both flights on the same ticket.
Book each part of the one-way online using just the start and end destinations. i.e. One ticket with Calgary to Moscow. One ticket from Beijing to Vancouver. This is the most expensive of the “no hassles” option. There is no reason for me to have both sections of my flights on the same ticket because they are almost a month apart and I will be retrieving my checked luggage.
Book through a travel agent. They will be doing number 2 on their own, but have better resources to look.
Book individual one ways flights on separate tickets through connection cities to your final destination. i.e. Ticket from Calgary to London, ticket from London to Amsterdam, ticket from Amsterdam to Moscow, ticket from Beijing to Vancouver.
There are lot of other possibilities out there. If you know of other good techniques and good websites, post a comment and I will give you a link back.
Disciplined Fitness Regimen Coupled With Balanced Dietary Programme Is The Key To Athletes’ Success
Athletes are considered as the benchmark of optimum level of personal fitness. What makes their fitness so envious and desirable by non-athletes like me and you? It’s their strict daily routine that sets them apart from the rest: from waking up early in the morning to going to bed at night and again leaving the comfy beds next morning remain a part and parcel of athletes’ daily routine. However, maintaining a disciplined routine is not everybody’s cup of tea. That requires a high degree of commitment as well as passion to get the ultimate fitness levels through daily workouts. This drive comes from the dispensation toward accomplishing the goals that athletes set for themselves. And what is the most cherished and admired goal of the athletes? Irrespective of the nation or the sports athletes represent they always aim for achieving the ultimate glory at the Olympic Games and respective world championships. The biggest achievers of all time are the strictest followers of a disciplined workout regimen. Mark Spitz, Usain Bolt, Nadia Comaneci, Mohammad Ali, Michael Phelps, Michael Jordan, and other famous athletes become what they are known for due to a well-organized daily routine. Taking you to a journey of fitness and health imperatives for the athletes by peeping into the regimens of a few famous athletes, this article discusses the importance of daily routine that athletes follow to keep themselves fit in order to accomplish their sporting dreams.What could be an ideal daily routine for the athletes? To look for the answer to this question we must delve deeper into the subject and make an insightful inquiry. However, in the quest for finding the answer there is the risk of making sweeping generalizations. That’s for the reason that inquirers often commit the mistake of not distinguishing the different sporting goals and they often associate the success, most prominently, to the degree of fitness level. Nevertheless they are right to some extent but remain ignorant to the fact that competing at different sports demands a specialized training for acquiring the right skills and specific bodily strength. Natalie Rizzo, a blog writer on nutricisedr.com on health, nutrition and fitness subjects, writes in a January blog post referring to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, “What we don’t always think about is that athletes of the different sports in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics have different goals leading to very different training and eating regimens.” She further adds, “Some sports call for speed, while other sports focus on power and distance. Some athletes benefit from being lean, while others find it advantageous to bulk up and increase their power.”Clearly, the analysis by Rizzo shows that there exists no universal fitness regimen for all athletes. The nature of fitness regimens is determined by the goals athletes pursue in the national and international sporting events. A sprinter like Usain Bolt would follow a markedly different daily routine from a shot put athlete like Ulf Timmerman or David Storl. The skills that these players possess or aspire to obtain shape their daily regimen of exercise. Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest sprinter, would focus on training programmes leading to enhanced stamina, muscle strength especially in the lower limbs, controlled breathing, leaps, and so on. On the other hand, Shot Put players would aim to increase their shoulder and forearm strengths, momentum building prior to the throw, physical balance inside the throw circle and such similar skills.Daily Exercises and WorkoutsDespite the specialized training for different discipline of sports, one can find commonalities in the daily regimen for athletes of all genres. A few general workouts and exercises followed by athletes may include:
Fitness training basics
Strength training
Cycling
Jogging
Running & Walking
Push ups
Stretching exercises
Stamina building workouts
Breathing exercises.
Examples from Different Sporting FieldsThere are a number of global trainers and fitness experts who have suggested daily fitness regimen to be followed by athletes representing different sports. Among them is a professional coach George Payan who is trainer to sprinters. Payan maintains an online coaching source, http://www.coacheseducation.com, wherein he has elaborated on the daily workouts by different types of athletes. To give an example, he has outlined a comprehensive daily routine for the sprinters of 400 meters. Beginning from Monday, Payan has detailed the workouts for each day of the weak with periodical rest days.Michael Phelps the celebrated swimmer and record holder for the most Olympic Gold, eclipsing the erstwhile record holder Mark Spitz in 2008 Beijing Olympics, follows a strict daily routine. Though there are some special attributes unique to Phelps that separates him from the average male adults but he still labours hard six days a week. Outlining his natural features, Jonathan P. Wade writes in Motley Health:”Phelps is 6 feet 4 in tall and weighs around 185 pounds (84 kg). He has size 14 feet and a 6ft 7in arm reach, which is 3in longer than his height. He has relatively short legs for his height, which gives him an additional advantage in the pool. Also his knees are double-jointed and his feet can rotate 15 degrees more than average, allowing them to be straightened fully so that his mighty feet act like flippers. These genetic advantages help him to kick off the wall and propel himself dolphin like 10m before actually have to swim.”Despite these attributes Phelps’ daily routine includes six hours of swimming or 8 miles per day. He normally hit the pool by 6:30 every morning and swims six days a week including holidays. Besides his swimming regimen, he also follows a weight lifting regimen, spending around an hour 3 days a week along with one hour three days a week on stretching his muscles. Phelps has got the name, “the human dolphin” for his supreme swimming capability.Phelps’ DietMichael Phelps consumes 12,000 calories each day. His breakfast includes:
Three fried egg sandwiches topped with cheese
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Fried onions
Mayonnaise.
Usain Bolt, another quintessential athlete and the role model for aspiring young sportsperson in the profession, is also a hard trainer Like Phelps. Though Bolt is also a natural gifted athlete, he follows a strict regimen to maintain his agility and lightening speed. Bolt is the current world record holder of 100m and 200m Sprinting categories in Olympics.Bolts’ typical daily routine includes:
Weighted Lunges with heavy dumbbells
Weighted Squats
Cable Leg Drives
Explosive step ups with weighted barbell
Bunny Hops / Box Jumps
Frog Leaps
Ankle Rolls
High-knee Skips
Strides
Apart from the above-mentioned workouts, Usain Bolt’s daily regimen also includes flexibility and sprinting drills. Bolt trains intensively for 3 hours a day followed by rest, massage and relaxation to ensure full recovery prior to hitting the next session.Bolt’s DietA typical diet of Usain Bolt includes high-energy meals containing 60% protein, 30% carbs and 10% fats. He consumes around 196 grams of muscle-building protein every day.The above brief discussion shed some light on the daily routines of athletes including the dietary plans. But there is more to just maintaining a perfect physique for participation in national and international competitions. Besides the physical agility and strength, sound mental health is also an imperative requirement for sustaining a long career in athletics. According to Marv Zauderer, who is a licensed psychotherapist in San Francisco, USA working with amateur and professional athletes from all sports, highlights the importance of mental fitness for peak performance. According to Marv, lack of mental fitness creates psychological barriers for athletes in achieving their optimal performance.”Self-doubt, nerves, uncertainty, frustration, distractions, hesitation, fear, intimidation – all of these are obstacles to accessing your full physical potential. The body that you work so hard to train can be derailed, in a moment, by a limitation in mental fitness. But what does “mental fitness” mean, really? The effortless integration of body and mind, working in harmony to produce a feeling of flow, of being in the elusive zone? Well, yes, that’s a glorious experience when (if!) it happens, and working on your mental skills makes it much more likely that it will.”Another expert, Jesse Kropelnicki (to know more about Jesse Kropelnicki check his blog http://www.kropelnicki.com ) who is providing professional coaching to triathletes like Marv, keeps mental fitness at high pedestal.”Just as optimal physical fitness is highly personalized, mental fitness is equally so.”As the opinions of experts contend that mental fitness is as important as the physical fitness, the athletes should also include some mental training regimes in their daily routine to overcome psychological constrains while competing at the highest level. They can do yoga, acrobatic exercises, dance or meditation for maintaining sound mental health.ConclusionLike professionals in any other field, athletes are also required to follow a disciplined daily routine to accomplish their ambitions in their respective sports. A famous quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes says thus, Success is not the position where you are standing, but which direction you are going.” Evident from the quote by Wendell Holmes is the stagnancy factor that often people become a victim of after achieving a fair bit of success; you need to keep moving on to add milestone after milestones. It has been quite often observed that once people accomplish something they tend to become complacent, that in turn, hampers the secret of their success, which is a disciplined daily routine.Therefore, it’s imperative for the athletes to follow a strict daily routine. Unequivocally, they will be faced with distractions but they need to build a strong mental setup to remain on a strong footing. Another factor that sometimes imposes a psychological hurdle on the athletes’ will to observe a strict routine is the lack of motivation. At times, they would feel low within and lose the determination to work at their optimum best. In such a scenario, they could uplift their morals by reading biographies of successful sportsperson or watching movies of guts and glory. During these crises hours, their mental trainers have a crucial role to play to rejuvenate their inner desires to compete and succeed.The coaches can motivate them through anecdotes or their personal life experiences. A lively and humorous environment can also prove to be very handy in sorting out the problems. There could be a number of causes for the lack of motivation of athletes: family issues, fights with girl friend/boy friend, or any other stress related problems. These can be addressed through timely intervention by psychological experts. When faced with such issues it would be better for the athletes to sort them out before they snowball into bigger problems. Once the athletes regain the lost composure, they should start the workouts and training programmes, and gradually achieve the peak regimen as part of their normal daily routine. Therefore, an ideal daily routine also features mental strength building apart from the physical trainings and good diet plan.