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How to Tell if a Travel Review is Fake
Headline news today about the NY Attorney General going after companies that create fake reviews on Yelp, TripAdvisor and such. Who knew these companies were out there?
When you look at reviews, assess the following:
Do they all use the same vocabulary?
And the same themes?
Are they all generic on-line names?
Were all the reviews flooded in on the same days?
Do you see bad grammar or poor spelling, especially if either of these is repeated in more than one review?… -
Singles Tours Vs. Solo Tours for Women
Why do readers and travel agents refer to us as a ‘singles’ group? Some of us are married and some single but we are SOLO travelers. There is still an old fashioned idea that women who travel solo must be single. Travel agents who contact us always ask if this is a group for ‘single women! Could it be that married women who are looking for a trip do not actually use agents? …
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5 Tips for Travel Agents to sell Women's Tours
Remarkably few travel agents actually sell women’s tours. Why?
Most women’s tour groups do not even sell through agents, as they are small sole proprietorships.
Most women’s tours do not pay commission: SITA our partner does!
Most do not have the professional licensing required by agents.
Reaching clients who want women’s tours is different marketing than traditionally done by travel agents.
Room share guarantees for solo women on women’s tours are not an understood service. (The Women’s Travel Group offers this deal on India, Morocco and beginning in 2014 on most trips)
So here are tips for travel agents who wish to enter this untapped market:
Have an in office women’s evening.…
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Solo Travel: Tips to Make Safe New Friends
TEN TIPS FOR MAKING FRIENDS WHEN YOU TRAVEL
So let’s say you are now traveling for the first time as a solo. Maybe the last solo travel was in college and involved hostels? How do you present yourself and open this new door:
Here are tips for solo women travelers, to help you make safe new friends.
Know your destination. Study the area and check online for what is happening now. A good site is Time Out. You might find events that attract others who also do their research in English.…
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Yelp.com the new best travel friend
Yes, I did invest in Yelp as I was so impressed with the service. For a woman traveling solo, it was invaluable.
Here is why I like yelp.com: it is easy to use, nothing technical, nothing complicated. Here is how I have used it while traveling solo and did not have others to ask for advice:
For a hairdresser in Los Angeles within walking distance of where I stayed. Yelp listed several with consumer reviews of who was good at what kind of hair and how much it cost.…
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Tricks to Get a Frequent Flier Ticket For India Nov 7-21 2013
Want to save some big money, follow these steps:
Use your miles from the US to London or to another major European Capital (Amsterdam, Frankfurt) November is low season for Europe so you have a better chance on this portion of your trip.
Book your ongoing flight on a European Expedia type site. These sites will come up with European endings like .co.uk for London .fr for France, etc. ie Expedia in Britain reads www.expedia.co.uk
Now book from the European airport round trip to India.…
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Solo Travel and Award Winning Tour of India for Women
The benefits of being a solo traveler within a group are many. India especially calls for travel pals. Let’s remind all of you that SITA our partners have been called Best for India Tours.
## The costs are divided up amongst the group. Analyses of group travel prices prove that again and again. Check out the cost of a private guide for the Taj Mahal versus a guide for a small group of women?
## You have company when you want and can do your own thing when you want.… -
Unpacking from Argentina; Ready for India
What a let down to be home from our 12 day Argentina tour. A great group of women joined me starting in Parisian like Buenos Aires then the high Andes and Iguazu Falls. Wine Wine Wine…..and none of it Whine.
Efficient unpacking:
1- dump the laundry
2- put all paperwork, receipts, etc in a ziplock bag.
3-replace unused travel pills back in another zip lock with a code so you know which is which pill.
4-lock up your passport
5-check your online credit card accounts to ensure all is safe and sound.… -
Snooze: how to get through the long flight to Argentina!
The Women’s Travel Group goes to Argentina today.
Hour 1 Read heavy-duty stuff you have been avoiding then throw out the magazines. My heavy-duty is The New York Review of Books.
Hour 2 Bring junk literature you love but are ashamed to buy. Like the female version of drinking from a brown paper bag. Movie Star gossip is the best here.
Hour 3 Eat as slowly as possible, finishing with your airplane treat. If you plan to drink alcohol, add in lots of water also. … -
Free E-Guidebooks for E-Idiots
I think I finally ‘got’ the NY Public Library e-system. The system is hard to decipher; worse, when you think you have the book and download it, it goes into cyberspace whatever that means. In regular language, here is How to Download a Guidebook (or any book) from the New York Public Library to your IPad and iPhone.
a-Make sure you have an active Amazon account.
b-Download Kindle Cloud Reader Application onto your Ipad and iPhone directly from Amazon. Don’t worry about what an application is, just download it and your device will be able to accept e-books.…