Smart Travel to a Dream Vacation with SkyScanner

International destinations were restricted to Singapore, Malaysia & Dubai . Other destinations could only be visualized in a map .The tickets had to be bought nearly 4-5 months in advance and the only way of buying an airline ticket was through standing in a huge queue in the airline office or checking with the local ticketing agent and shell out even extra. The fares were always marked up high and even a one way ticket to Singapore would range upto to Rs. 15,000  . Your only default option on International travel was Air India and a private alternative was rarely available( and 2x more expensive). The passengers were hence literally forced to pick up any available ticket at the aforementioned price and that was just the airline travel

The stay would most often turn to be a nightmare as you had only two options : Go to the country and literally hunt every street to find a decent , budget hotel with availability or choose a hotel “suggested” by the travel agents and you had a fair idea it could most probably turn out to be a deserted hotel located several miles away from the central area

But gone are the days of such horrendous yet super expensive vacations.. Travelers has now changed the whole dynamism of the travel industry to being a buyers market. The passengers has so many options at his hand right from vacation spots , choice of travel (be it a train or ship or flight) , get the entire list of flight schedules with their prices and hence able to have a comparative idea of which are the cheapest flights to take on key destinations and also know what days of the month is it more economical to travel compared to others.. All this information are summarized , sorted in terms of the lowest price in a split second thanks to innovative websites like Sky Scanner  – http://www.skyscanner.co.in/ which traverses through thousands of airline, hotel ,agent websites throughout the world to get the most economical fares possible and also list out all the possible alternatives for the passenger to choose from  .It eliminates the haggle to traverse through multiple airline websites , select the travel dates and trying hard to choose which works out cheaper  and makes the overall booking process a helluva lot easier

Given the world map at my disposal it gives a plethora of options to choose from . One smart and recommended way to choose the destination is to log in to http://www.skyscanner.co.in/

Select the From location and in “To” field , click on the Map.
This throws out a million possibilities for an awesome vacation from US , Europe, Singapore , Goa, China , Thailand to  Australia . Each spot is marked by a yellow dot . Drag the marker from the base location to the spot and skyscanner seems to calculate instantly the fares for selected travel dates on different flights and even gives you an exhaustive list of hotels to stay

Based on hours of browsing through all locations , I zeroed on Bangkok & Pattaya in Thailand
The most visited and preferred country for almost all travelers from India  , Thailand seems to offer a attractive package to almost all kinds of people . A return flight fare can be sought for as low as 12K and the hotel rates comes to just 1-2K a day and overall a 5 day vacation could come only to just 25000 a person and international travel can never be cheaper than this

Why Thailand ?
A warm and a beautiful serenic place , Bangkok , Pattaya & Phuket are scenic beach islands that can transport you to a level of luxury with its offerings . Thailand , known for its major shopping hubs , the pristine beaches, the famous Thai deep tissue massages , ferrying on the islands, scuba diving on Islands , famous Thai curries and other continental dishes , the beautiful architectures and ancient temples , its got everything one can expect from a vacation .

The cost factor especially would be a huge attractive option , given the currency is almost in lines with the Indian rupee exchange rate

Smart Travel

• Flight & Hotel Bookings with a Smart Sky Scanner  : Log on to Sky scanner (http://www.skyscanner.co.in/) and get the best deals in obtaining the lowest air fares and quality budget hotels at discounted prices and grab those tickets before they are sold out 

• Web check in : Post booking , I’d do a web-checkin from my smartphone itself and save the arduous task of waiting in long queues for check-in in the airport

• Uber Taxis  : Use my smartphone and get a car pickup through my Uber App in my Android SmartPhone . The fares are very competitive and you could get a BMW pickup at the price of a Indica compared to other travels 

•   Check in & Luggage Allowance : I’d always love to pack light on my vacations than carry your burden of heavy luggages everywhere you go. Also read the airline’s baggage allowance to ensure i dont exceed the free luggage limit per traveller

• In & Around : Using the Google Places, Google Navigation & Foursquare App I’d scout all popular spots in and around Bangkok/Pattaya and also find the best ways to travel within the city and hop on to the tour buses to travel on almost a shoestring budget. If there are no tour buses available , I’d once again login to Skyscanner and click on the car hire to get the best car hire deals to take me to the different tourist locations within the city  

• Bangkok Night life : With a night life that extends to the wee hours of the morning , you cannot come back without hitting the night clubs in and around the city and even try to connect and socialize with the locals

• Snap Awesome pics and using the Geo-tagging facility would upload on Facebook with location details immediately  

• Despite the several options available to choose from our smartphone, I’d say my idea of the best smart travel in an unknown country , is to befriend a local ( who looks genuine) and get his suggestions and ideas to do around the city for the rest of your vacation

My smart travel with SkyScanner begins soon . Have you planned yours yet ?