How To Tell A Good Travel Site From A Commercial One

Most rain here falls between November and March, much of it in heavy downpours with hail and thunder. Rainfall during the rest of the year is mostly very light and sporadic. On the plateau temperatures fall to moderate levels during the dry season and the nights may be chilly, but frost only occurs on the highest mountains.

For climatic reasons tourists prefer the inter-season (April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December)

FOR YOUR INFO

last year during Nov there were 28,511 international tourists in Madagascar compared to 16,089 in Feb,
During October 32,364
October seems to be the favorite.

But Nov is in the very first part of "winter" season.

ENJOY

The best way is use kayak to search for flights and hotels and then book directly with the airline or hotel.
Most online travel sites cannot be trusted since once they charge your credit card you are on your own.
Check the links below for scary information

San Diego is one of the nicest cities in the country. It's a major tourist destination and they know how to treat visitors right. Due to the economic downturn, hotels are offering great deals right now.

Some must see attractions are the world famous Zoo, Sea World, and Balboa Park. Balboa Park is the largest urban cultural park in the country. You can get a park passport which allows you entry to a dozen museums as well as the zoo.
http://www.balboapark.org/info/passport.php
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/zoo/index.php

La Jolla offers great views, great food, and shopping.
Check out the surfers at historic Winansea Beach. At low tide you can walk out onto the tide pools. Walk along the Cove and check out the caves. Visit the Museum of Contemporary Art. Take a stroll on Prospect St and check out the shops, galleries, and have some authentic Mexican food and Alfonso's. Then head to the Birch Aquarium at The Scripps Institution of Oceanography. It has a spectacular view of the bluffs over the Pacific Ocean.
http://www.dreamlajolla.com/
http://www.mcasd.org/
http://www.alfonsosoflajolla.com/
http://aquarium.ucsd.edu/

Mission and Pacific Beach are your best bet for fun in the sun. Belmont Park has a vintage wooden roller coaster as well as other rides.
http://www.missionbeachonline.com/
http://www.belmontpark.com/

The Old Point Loma Lighthouse at the Cabrillo National Monument offers great views of the dowtown skyline, San Diego Harbor and the Pacific Ocean. On a clear day you can see all the way to Mexico.
http://www.nps.gov/cabr/

North County San Diego is home to the Zoo's Wild Animal Park. There are multi acre enclosures where herds of wild animals roam plus lots of hiking trails.
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wap/index.html

The Quail Botanical Gardens are in Encinitas
http://www.qbgardens.org/

For nightlife, the Gaslamp Quarter offers dining, drinking and dancing. It's also the home of Petco Park and the San Diego Padres major league baseball team.
http://www.gaslamp.org/

Check out this site for discount coupons and other info
http://www.sandiego.org/nav/Visitors

Lonely Planet is good and generally pretty up to date.
I couldn't even guess how much money you would need, my advice to you is, once you work out an amount, double it. Then you should be right.
I'd say allow $50 a night for accommodation and food minimum, extra for bus and train fares, entry fees, etc.
Airfares fluctuate wildly, the 3 main carriers are Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Blue, check their sites because you may get good deals online, or else sites like http://www.flightcentre.com.au list all fares for all airlines.
Touristy places should be avoided at all costs, but my must-sees are Sydney, Cairns, Melbourne, Alice Springs and everywhere in between.
You are best off researching all this and like I said at the start, the Lonely Planet website is good, as is http://www.australia.com

There are several ways to get into the travel business and a variety of jobs from doing airline reservations to booking cruises and tours to being a tour guide. So you need to decide first what track you want to be on, i.e. making reservations vs leading a tour group.

The path to being a travel agent goes through a college program OR programs designed by companies in the travel business. I completed a company designed program sponsored by Carlson Travel, a nationwide travel company. The instruction entailed learning how to use the automated reservation system (you can learn Sabre or Worldspan) that the airlines, hotels and car reservation places use; learn how to prepare tour vouchers; and learn about the structure and procedures in the travel industry.

After completing your training you need to connect with a travel agency, like American Express or AAA, or go work for an airline or cruise line. If you want to eventually become an independent agent and , for example, work from home by PC, then you need to work for an agency long enough to get credentials and certified as a member of the professional travel agent's organization, ASTA (see web site below) That is your ticket to being paid.

When you complete a travel school they will provide placement assistance and information. Now the downside of the travel business is the pay is not very good. Years ago the airlines used to pay 4% and more commission on airline ticket sales. That has now been reduced to zero and the Internet has resulted in many more people just making air reservations online. So most commission will be on hotels and cruises and tours.

Check out these web sites:

http://thetravelacademy.com/careers/travel_agent.php?gclid=CJmTz4yY6Y8CFQltZQod4X9JCw

http://www.collegeanduniversity.net/colleges-programs-states/Business-Programs/travel-schools.htm

http://www.asta.org/Education/travelschool.cfm?navItemNumber=615

http://www.trade-schools.net/directory/travel-tourism-hospitality-schools-directory.asp

http://www.directoryofschools.com/Travel-and-Tourism-School.htm

The only cross-border overnight (sleeper) services are those operated by First ScotRail between London and Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fort William or Inverness.

Hey Kelly. Your plan sounds great and it's good you're starting young! As far as travel pics go, I would say concentrate on nature and landscape as well as people. Taking pictures of bird life is very popular (and also fun!) and you could make some money selling pics of rare birds. The island of Menorca in Spain is a wonderful place for nature walks. I have stayed at a resort called Son Bou and apart from the great food and beaches, one of my favourite things was to go walking along the cliffs and see all the amazing bird life. I wish i had had a camera with me! I guess i'll just have to wait for your pics! Good luck!

winter in the Swiss flat areas (e.g., Zurich, Luzern) tend to be somewhat dreary; they get this weird fog/cloud hanging right above the cities, cold temperatures, and sun may not come out until the afternoon. as for rain/snow, that's something you'll see anywhere (depends on luck). in the Alps (and above the clouds), there is usually lots of sun and quite nice. for me, i prefer winter weather, and snow makes Switzerland even more enchanting than in the summer time (which can get hot), so i guess it comes down to personal preference.

contiki or statravel - They are geared towards 20-somethings.