Vayama Travel Blog

Chaos Management Tips for Travelers  in the Brave New World.

By Florin R. Ferrs (Frequent Flyer and Chaos Manager)

We have to accept the reality that international air travel today is beset by volcanoes, red shirts, revolutions, earthquakes, bomb scares,  pilots strikes,  pig flu, chicken flu, angry pensioners, electoral messes, regime changes, terrorism, more volcanic ash, snowstorms, hurricanes, acts of God, delays, airport security, and much more and none of it is covered by travel insurance.

What can a modern day traveler do?

Suffer the indignities of travel chaos? Not me.  I prefer to be like the boy scouts and be “always ready”. If a sudden volcanic eruption or a red shirt or two spoil my travel plans to Europe or Bangkok, I can rest assured that I will always be able to find a great alternative to my original destinations that will keep most of the original elements that made my original destination interesting in the first place.

Fortunately in this new chaotic travel world, I have found a shining beacon of light: Vayama.com’s booking engine. Vayama’s database doesn’t only focus on the best selling tourist destinations of Asia and Europe, they  also offers discounted airfares to long haul destinations in every corner of the world, so I know that a cool alternative to my  original vacation is always at hand.

Here are my top five “Alternative Travel” destinations.

Instead of London: Sydney

Why?: Sydney’s  “come and say g’day” accent is a direct descendant from London’s east end cockney,  and London’s east end working class friendliness and pub culture is ever present in Sydney’s bars, and Sydney’s cosmopolitan cultural scene offers plenty of West End level musical theatre.  Waves of new immigrants have turned Sydney into one of the world’s greatest Pan Asian cuisine capital and the weather is 100% guaranteed to be nicer than London, even during the southern winter.  Grab V Australia’s nonstop Los Angeles to Sydney flights on vayama.com. I see no reason to miss the antipodes this year.

Instead of Thailand: Vietnam

Do you really care if the white sands, balmy beaches, spicy curries and soft hands massaging you right on the beach are Thai or Vietnamese?  Case closed.  Discover the wonders that Vietnam has to offer with vayama’s cheap flights to Ho Chi Minh City.

Instead of Paris: Buenos Aires

You will be hard pressed to tell Buenos Aires’s Recoleta district from some leafy Parisian Boulevard. The Recoleta cemetery is Buenos Aires’s answer to Pari’s Père Lachaise cemetery , complete with illustrious cultural guests,  and the posh Boutiques that line Buenos Aires’s Avenida Alvear, rival anything you can find on the Champs Elysees, only that Buenos Aires is a lot cheaper that Paris.  Find great Buenos Aires airfares on vayama.com

Recoleta: The Paris of Buenos Aires

Instead of Madrid: Mexico City

Mexico City’s wide boulevards, cobblestoned downtown, large museums and parks are all reminiscent of Madrid.  Mexico’s Chapultepec Palace is as luxurious as anything you can find in Europe, as it housed the only Hapsburg Emperor in the Americas. The Emperor was shot, but all the Hapsburg relics are still there for all to see. Mexico also offers amazing Aztec ruins and unique craft markets and cuisine, adding color to the Spanish Colonial architecture. vayama.com has discounted airfares to Mexico city.

Habsburg Mexico: Chapultepec Castle

Instead of La Cote Azur, France: Punta del Este, Uruguay

The country of Uruguay is just a commuter river boat away from the metropolis of Buenos Aires, but it is  worlds away from the bustle of the Argentine capital. Uruguay greets you with the town of Colonia, a Spanish colonial jewel of cobblestoned streets, quaint “quintas” and quiet plazas. Further down the coast you will reach the capital city of Montevideo, offering an interesting mix of European immigrants and a unique Afro-Uruguayan culture that is fond of loud, drum based, impromptu block parties.  The Jewel in the Uruguayan crown is the Beach Resort of Punta del Este, where all the beautiful people of Buenos Aires come to boost their tan during the southern summer (Oct to Feb) with fellow good looking tourists from as far away as Brazil, Italy, France and Spain.  Fly cheap into Buenos Aires with vayama.com’s discounted airfares and take the boat over to Uruguay.

Model Behavior: Punta del Este

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 20th, 2010 at 10:08 pm and is filed under Travel Tips & Airfare Secrets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.