So, now that we have an economical means to travel this country far and wide, let’s move on to what’s perhaps my favourite part of any trip, the planning of where we’ll go. As my logo indicates ‘‘the World is my Oyster’’ and so is this country. Haul up that Google Map again. Now we’re going to use it to help us fine-tune our trip. Using the same route we took in the first section of ‘‘Trains’’ we’ll discover which cities/towns we want to ‘‘stop’’ in. Do we want to stop in San Antonio or do we want to spend some time exploring the Rocky Mountain town of Glenwood Springs, Colorado? Here’s where Google Maps can be of valuable assistance. Type San Antonio into the search bar of Google Maps. Once that comes up, look at ‘‘things to do’’ to decide if there is something here that strikes your fancy. If Spanish Missions are on your ‘‘bucket list’’ this is the right city for you. Now you have several tasks to perform before booking your accommodations. The price you’ll want to pay for your lodgings is only one facet in choosing where you’ll be laying your head after a busy day exploring this historically significant city. Other things you’ll want to consider besides the price are: 1: the neighbourhood, location, location, location. This one factor—choosing your hotel’s location — is probably right up there with price. Is it safe? Is it central? Is it on convenient transit routes? In Google Maps, first enter the site you most want to visit here. So, for example, we type ‘‘Alamo’’ in the search bar. This will zoom in on the neighbourhood around The Alamo. You will now see the many hotels/motels, etc. that surround this area of San Antonio. Either look for icons that look like pink beds, or go to the bars at the top of the page and tap' hotels.' It will now show all available accommodations and their prices. There will also be a scroll-down box on the left-hand side of the page. This shows each hotel and its price. You can also use an Online Travel Agency such as https://www.booking.com/. There are many such sites but this one is my personal favourite for several reasons: Its simplicity makes it user-friendly for old farts like myself. They provide a wealth of information on the hotel, including reviews from past patrons. When browsing accommodations, it allows you to save the ones you’re interested in so that it’s easy to go back and compare. You can also use their map to gauge the distance from the site to places of interest or from your arrival station. But what i really like about using sites such as this is the ability to pre-book your room with free cancellation, usually up to within 3-4 days of arrival. To begin, tap a hotel you’re interested in. After that page opens look for ‘‘info and prices’’ along the top. Go to this page and all of the available rooms are shown with the information on each. Across the top of the page you will see different columns, go to ‘‘your choices’’, this column will indicate if free-cancellation is available and the date up to when you can cancell for free. This feature has revolutionized my travel. I can book a complete trip without ever being committed to sticking to that agenda, so I can plan several different trips and routes and make up my mind at some point in the future as long as it’s before the free-cancellation date expires.
