Posted By Wayne on May 17, 2010

I have been seeing many ads for summer specials in the hotel industry. Seems like travelers will have many choices where to rest their heads at super special rates based on what I have seen in the last couple of weeks.

In today’s Sunday Phoenix paper, a whole section was devoted to special promotions being offered by the resorts and hotels in the Phoenix and Scottsdale areas.

The Arizona Biltmore from $119 per night? Or the Four Seasons from $149? These rates will definitely encourage people to brave the summer heat in Phoenix.

This summer will be a great time to travel west. It will be a great time to travel period. You will most likely find your dollar will go farther, there will be fewer people vying for hotel rooms, views at special viewpoints, seats in restaurants and the wait times at attractions will be shorter.

You might consider visiting some of the out of the way places on your bucket list. Perhaps one of the lesser visited National Parks, a scenic byway you have been reading about, that out of the way lake or stream you have only visited through pictures. You might try your luck at learning a new skill, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, fly fishing or spelunking.

Combining your vacation with volunteering this summer to give back while enjoying the outdoors might be a new twist for you. With the economy slow, all of the public agencies’ budgets have been reduced and they will be looking for volunteers. You might check out these options as you travel. Having done this over the years, I have found a whole new side of travel. The National Park Service has a whole web site devoted to finding just the right volunteering event for you.

If you google “volunteer” and the name of a state or an agency you will find many more volunteering opportunities.  So pick the one that fits in with your interests and time and you are onto a whole new adventure.  A side benefit of this is you will meet some great people with similar interests to you.

One of my favorite places to volunteer is at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.  The have a complete volunteer program as well as great cabins to rent while you are volunteering.

I can highly recommend this wonderful place to spend a day or two.  The setting is beautiful - nestled in a red rock canyon a few miles north of Kanab, Utah and only an hour and a half from Lake Powell and an hour from Zion National Park.  You can easily combine a stop at Best Friends while you are touring Bryce, Zion and North Rim of the Grand Canyon National Parks.  You might find some of the National Parks or National Forests in this area have volunteering programs as well.  What a great feeling to give back while you are vacationing.  I always come home completely refreshed and with a spring in my step.

Whatever your vacation plans this summer, give your home area a look for the second time.  What have you been overlooking during your past vacations.  Are there places in your local area that you have been saying you want to visit but never have?  Now might just be the time to investigate that back road, that hidden lake or waterfall.  You might be surprised and find a true gem right next to where you live.

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Posted By Wayne on April 8, 2010

Having been in the travel industry for 25 years and traveled for pleasure for the last 40 years, I am an avid observer of travel.  Any kind of travel.  From travel by car, plane, ship, horse, or foot I have seen some amazing changes taking place.  As my friend, Allison says, the universe is speeding up.  As I say, travel is speeding up right along with the Universe.

Not too many years ago a trip was an event that took a lot of planning and preparation before embarking on the actual event.  Today people are trekking off to distant lands with much less planning and preparation.  What does this mean?  Are trips becoming more common place to travelers?  Is travel becoming a more spur of the moment thing?

I am not sure that any of these questions can be answered 100% in the affirmative.  I think travel is becoming more common place. Years ago a trip across the ocean in and ocean going vessel took weeks if not months of planning.  The trip took longer and the trip itself was an event, unlike a 6 hour air flight across the ocean today.

Visitors to the Western U.S. today are mostly last minute planners.  They find a special fare to a place they want to visit, they check the internet to see what is available to do and off they go.  Some even fly into a distant city with no pre planning as to where they are going, where they are staying and what they are doing.  They have a vague idea of what they want to do, however, nothing is cast in stone.  I see this free-form method of travel is becoming more the norm.

For people in the hospitality industry - hoteliers, rental car agencies, attractions, tour operators and restaurants - this type of traveler is welcomed, however, planning becomes more of a challenge.  How much staff do we need, how many rental cars does the agency need, how much food does the restaurant order, how many tour guides are needed?

Another new area of travel to come to my attention is the need of today’s traveler to have more of a stake in their activities.  Today’s traveler is more likely to want a hands-on experience.  Sitting on the sidelines is no longer part of travel.

Voluntourism is also becoming an important option for travelers.  They want to get involved.  They want to help.  They want to make a difference.

Experiences rather than just the sights, is fast becoming the watchword of the traveler.  Let me experience things I do not experience at home.  Soaring over a canyon on a zip line, riding the bucking raft down a raging river, going into a vineyard and picking grapes with the vintner, leading a llama down a trail to an ancient ruin, learning to play a native American flute, driving a jeep on a slickrock trail, learning to weave a Native American rug, or just taking a fly fishing trip with a world class fishing guide.

These are all the areas I see as the awakening of travel.  You might call it the renaissance of travel.  Whatever you call this new form of travel, it is exciting.  Our travelers today are more involved with every part of the trip.  Returning home they will feel they really experienced every aspect of their destination.  It will be an in depth part of their life.  So let the experiences begin, soar with the eagles, dive with the sharks, zip across a forest canopy with the monkeys and sleep the restful sleep of a contented traveler.

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