Timeshare Information

Writing for the Associated Press, and posting her article on ABC News online, Samantha Bomkamp has offered this intriguing idea - "Waiting to Book Summer Travel May Pay Off." If you are making your summer timeshare rental plans for your family vacation and you've heard "Book your summer travel early - don't wait," slow down, take a minute and hear what Bombkamp has to say.

"This is shaping up to be the most expensive summer ever for air travel," says Bomkamp. "But the airlines are growing nervous that higher fares will drive away passenger."

According to online travel site Travelocity, reports Bomkamp, the so-called sweet spot for booking is generally six to seven weeks ahead of a major holiday weekend. By this model, airfares for July Fourth, for example, should fall starting around May 19 and go back up around May 25.

"Those who wait should do better than those who book early for travel to many popular destinations," says Travelocity senior editor Genevieve Shaw Brown. "Travelocity crunched airfare data from the last four years and found that booking more than seven weeks ahead of the Fourth of July cost travelers an average of $348 round trip. Those who waited until six weeks out paid an average of $326."

Airlines successfully raised fares several times since December as oil prices rose to $113 a barrel, writes Bomkamp, yet three recent attempts to raise fares failed, and discount airlines started to undercut larger competitors by putting a limited number of seats on sale.

"They cried uncle," says George Hobica of airfarewatchdog.com. "Obviously they want to create a sense of fear — book now, book now, book now. But if fares are too high, people don't fly."

Bomkamp says that you can predict a sale by looking at the seat map of your potential flight. Most booking websites offer a glimpse of available seats. If you see a lot of empty seats, expect a sale. But book as soon as possible if you see only a few empties.

Travelers who haven't yet booked summer travel still need to do some research, Bomkamp warns. Fare cuts aren't likely to come in the form of flashy sales, and lower prices will often go unnoticed by those who haven't been tracking fares.

Still deciding where to go? Bomkamp says that Bing Travel reports the cheapest summer destinations to be Orlando, Boston, Denver and Las Vegas. Some fares to these locations have actually fallen since last year. All four are great destinations for family timeshare rental vacations: Orlando has the theme parks, Boston has American history and the Freedom Trail, Denver is the gateway to amazing summer fun high in the Rockies, and Las Vegas has lots of activities for kids and many are free.

Read Samantha Bomkamp's article in its entirety.
(Photo credit mint.com)

Many of you will be flying to your timeshare rental on your summer family vacation this year. If you're like most people, flying is an easy, convenient, and comfortable means of getting to your destination. And, if you're like most people, the thoughts of airline safety, especially as relates to terrorism, are not far from your mind as you step aboard that plane. Rest assured that governments world-wide continue to work toward anti-terrorism safety.

On June 28, 2010, the EU (European Union) announced that it will begin trials of anti-terrorism technology aimed at detecting suspicious behavior on board aircraft. The system has already been tested by the EU on a British Aerospace plane and a mock Airbus. Trials of similar systems have been conducted at airports around the world, but the new trials would be a first for on-board commercial aircraft.

The system uses a combination of CCTV, microphones, and explosive detectors all linked through a software package that analyzes the data. Microphones pick up on anything which could suggest terrorist behavior. Inside the lavatories explosives "sniffers" detect if a bomb is being assembled. All this information is analyzed by computer and if it identifies something suspicious the flight deck is alerted instantly.

“What we are doing is extending technology already used at airports and railway stations and placing it on an aircraft,” said James Ferryman, who is leading the research project.

According to researchers this technology could have prevented the Nigerian Al Qaeda terrorist, who tried to detonate an explosive device on a Christmas Day flight to Detroit, from getting as far as he did. “It is known that the terrorist was acting nervously in the airport prior to boarding – this could have been picked up with the same automated CCTV technology – and that he spent time in the toilet assembling the components of the explosive,” Ferryman said.

Meanwhile, in the United States, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced that 100% of passengers traveling within the United States and its territories are now being checked against terrorist watch lists through the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Secure Flight program. "This is a major step in fulfilling a key 9/11 Commission recommendation," (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano stated.

The goals of Secure Flight as explained by the TSA are to: Identify known and suspected terrorists, prevent individuals on the No Fly List from boarding an aircraft, provide enhanced screening of select individuals, facilitate passenger air travel, and individuals' privacy. The TSA began implementing Secure Flight in late 2009 and expects all international carriers with direct flights to the U.S. to begin using Secure Flight by the end of 2010.

Who would have thought that in the ultra-modern, ultra-tech-oriented, twenty-first century, people would have been brought to their knees by an ancient volcano? And here you are, looking forward to your European timeshare vacation. What’s a traveler to do?

Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano (pronounced “AYA-fyatla-jo-kutl”, according to NASA) began erupting in April, 2010. Although relatively small for volcanic eruptions, the 2010 event has caused enormous disruption of air travel across western and northern Europe.

Normally the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull would have been a medium-sized, somewhat non-descript eruption that would have interested only scientists and local residents. However, a unique combination of factors, according to scientists, led to ash being carried by the jet stream directly over some of the busiest airspace in the world, thus impacting people on a world-wide scale.

So why does this effect air travel? It turns out that volcanic ash contains silicates, or glass fibers, which can melt inside jet engines, causing them to flame out and stall. The ash can sandblast the windscreen, "blinding" the pilot and requiring instrument landings. The sandblasting also damages the fuselage, and can damage the landing lights preventing them from projecting forward.

For anyone planning air travel to Europe the bad news just keeps coming. The "Icelandic Review" reports that there is nothing to indicate that the eruption is about to subside. The last eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, which occurred almost 200 years ago in 1821, lasted almost two years.

And according to Icelandic President Olafur Grimsson, all previous eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull have been followed by eruption of its larger neighbor, Katla. "The time for Katla to erupt is coming close," Grimsson stated. "We in Iceland have prepared ... it is high time for European governments and airline authorities all over the world to start planning for the eventual Katla eruption."

The Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) was created by the U.N. in the 1990s to improve forecasts of the locations of ash clouds from volcanic eruptions following incidents where commercial aircraft had flown through volcanic ash resulting in the loss of engine power. You can rest assured that the VAAC will be monitoring Eyjafjallajökull, Katla, and all of the other active volcanoes around the world.

Meanwhile, as you await the VACC's "All Clear" you can still plan a wonderful summer timeshare vacation. The rest of the world is open, including the entire U.S., and a timeshare rental is probably available anywhere (outside of poor beleaguered Europe) that you might want to go. So go ahead and have a great summer vacation!

(Photo from Wikipedia.com)