Aware!; Travel

Hi, everyone, and welcome to this edition of AWARE. Some of the time, it's right around the corner, and people everywhere are beginning to think of vacations and weekend getaways. Well, boy, do we have a fun show planned for you this evening? Hi, everyone, I'm D.D. Sharpe. And on tonight's program, we're going to look at how to get there from here traveling on a shoestring budget. That's right folks, we're going to explore drive away, fly away, and cruise away vacations. We're also going to examine some unusual destination spots that may be right in your own back yard, all the way to exotic and extraordinary locations off the beaten path. From front of the sun packages to family or funky themed vacations, we've got it all right here for you on AWARE. That's right, my guest this evening represent a variety of traveling services that have years of experience in the travel industry.

They are customer-oriented and can put together a vacation dream of a lifetime. You just wait and see whether you have big dollars to spend or on a shoestring budget. My guest this evening are as follows. Barbara Freeman, Division Manager of the Pensacola, Triple A Travel Agency. Rob Corwin, Violet Green Travel Service. And last but certainly not least, Pat Lovegson, Manager of Cruise Away. Hi everyone and welcome to this edition of AWARE. Hey, do you think so? Thanks for having us. Okay, and now that I've put all of these responsibilities on you guys, I know that you can get us there on a shoestring budget and we're going to tell our viewers all about it. They're going to be able to interact with you here on AWARE. By simply giving us a call, we'll give you that number in just a moment. So sit back for now and enjoy our show and we'll really set number to you. You can call us and have questions for our panelists or you may want to share some more information with us. If you've got some ideas, we welcome that. Without further ado, we'll get started with our show and we want each of you to give

us a little bit tidbit of what your agencies are all about. We'll start with you, Barbara. Triple A, right here in the Pensacola area. Well, everybody thinks about Triple A. They think about the Emergency Road Service. I think what they don't realize is that we do offer the road service, the attraction tickets, the traveler's checks that you need for protection when you're traveling. You also have the opportunity to use our travel agency or our insurance department. A lot of the services that we provide are for Triple A members only, specifically the tourbooks and maps, but the travel agency and the insurance agency can be used by the general public. We've been around since 1902, so we're going to be around for many more years to come. All right. Rob, you're a traveling agency. Tell us all about it. Well, we're a little bit more than a traveling agency. We basically wear American Express representative as well. So American Express, Travelers checks and gift checks, as well as do some basic card

member transactions. We also basically do most corporate travel for a lot of the downtown community. We are down on Palafax Street overlooking the Plaza Ferdinand, and it's a very beautiful location. The agency has been around since 1919, one of the oldest agencies in town, originally put into the old San Carlos Hotel, and it's driving very well. Very, very good. And of course, we have Pat, Pat, you can tell us all about your cruise away agency. Well, thanks, Deity. cruise away, unlike Barbara and Rob do, we specialize in cruise vacations and like to keep our focus just towards that. We represent every cruise line in the industry, and of course, offer the guarantee lowest rates. We also pride ourselves on customer service and really matching the client with the proper cruise. Cruise lines just like people do have personalities, and we want to make sure that we have our clients on the right one for them. Great, because that's just where we want to take our viewers.

The right cruise, the right roadway, and the right fly away offer them here on aware. And I know, I'm just going to target this one right for you, Rob, because I know you have your hands cut up anytime you're dealing with our producer, Dr. Gail Frazier, who uses you quite frequently, and off air, she told me about how much she bugs you sometimes about trying to change things and make sure we get in the right fare and that sort of thing for different things that are going on right here at the junior college, and you tell us, I mean, I know you get calls like that all the time. It's not just her. That's part of the fun of it. It is. It's every day routine, and you've got to be ready for it. You told me that it was much like a Russian roulette and tell us how do you mess with Russian roulette. I've wanted to go on a vacation, but no. No, basically. Sometimes I bet people want to go right through the roof when they hear some of the rates whenever they're not getting those, the ones that they pay. Which is very funny. People do tend to say, oh, well, I'm not going to pay that. I paid differently last time or something to that effect, but they have to realize that

the airlines have got a mind of their own, and the airlines are not really there to cater for them, although they will. The airlines will play games with the public. They will definitely go for their looking for money, basically, is what it amounts to. Absolutely. This turns in, like, sort of an air war. It does. Yeah. And it makes you want to play Russian roulette with some of the travel. Exactly. Well, now, that's the biggest thing here, I think, is for a lot of people, is just getting the best rates a lot of time, and I know that for our viewers, that's a very big concern. And sometimes it keeps us from traveling at all, not knowing how to get those rates. Exactly. What I've often said is that buying an airline ticket is sort of like playing roulette. You'll spend that wheel this week and get an airfare. Next week, you'll do the same thing. But what happened with deregulation before the government gave control of airfares to, basically, the airlines individually, the government basically handed each airline individually a roulette wheel.

They spend them at random, all they want, and they create wars. They compete. You know, back and forth, back and forth. They set rules that a lot of the traveling public aren't used to prior to deregulation. And what it amounts to is what used to cost X amount of dollars to go, let's say, $99 from New York to Kennedy, New York's Kennedy to Los Angeles, one week will be $198. Next week, we'll be back down to $98 because of competitive marketing. Same thing with cruising. Well, actually cruising is a little bit different. We're a little bit more fortunate in our industry. I don't like the airline industry, as Rob was saying earlier, if the rate does come down, they will generally credit you in future credit for another ticket. In the cruise line industry, you have the advantage of always booking as early as possible as we all recommend. And by doing that, you secure yourself not only knowing when your vacation is going to be, but also having the accommodations that you want.

It is true. The rate can fluctuate, however, if it does come down with agencies such as ours and with the cruise line structuring the rates that they do now, we can protect you against the lowest fare that's going to be out there. So we can still manage to save you money as we get closer in if the rates do drop. Okay. We'll come back to this line of questioning in just a moment, but for now, we have a collar on the line. We'll get straight to that high collar and welcome to a wear. Hello there. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. I have the impression that at least in the early days, maybe 50, 60, 70, 80 years ago, Violet Green was a big operator, so I guess this is directed to the Violet Green representative. Violet Green was very active in shipping. I wonder whether in view of what's been happening in Pensacola over the last 10 or 15 years with

all this discussion about the Porto Pensacola, whether he has, maybe this is an air question because you're directed towards tourists. But what he thinks about all this discussion about the future of the Porto Pensacola, that's my first question. My second question really doesn't have anything to do with your program, but I wonder what happened to fire Reminds. I will listen to the answer in the air, but don't try it until I hang up my phone because I have to adjust my television set. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Now, Rob, before you answer, you don't have to. Do you have a response for our question? As we feel that Green is still very big in the shipping industry, there are, I'm not sure if it's five or six different offices located throughout the Gulf Coast, where we receive

inbound ships. Our company is now owned by Jamera Shipping Line out of New York City, and we repatriate crew members back to their homelands as they come off of the ship, so that's part of our duties at the office, so it's very interesting that some of the situations that we find as a ship will come into port, and the crew members have to get back home. As to the Port of Pensacola, I'm terribly afraid that as a travel agent, I don't know a lot about the legalities and what's going on with the Port of Pensacola, and respect to, I know that Flette Green used to have an agency office here in that respect, but we have closed that particular office as a shipping port. We're going to get you back in the mixed border here with the triple A. As you mentioned, most folks think of you all as a roadside service, but you just have so many different services, and I know that you could probably tap them right into a number of what we're talking about here this evening, but we want you to specifically stay with us and focus on

the roadside thing, because there's so many people, things that people need to know, whenever they're getting ready to just put gas in the car and maybe just check the oil and the tires and then hit the road going wherever, you know, their destination happens to be, but there are some other things that they might need to know and some tips that you have for our travelers taking to the road. Right. The maintenance on the vehicle is very important, if you're going to leave on your trip. If you are knowledgeable enough to take care of the maintenance yourself, that's fine, but we always advise that you do have a mechanic or an expert. Look at the belts, check the fluid, check the air in the tires, check the battery, and when you are ready to leave, just take some simple tools with you, like a screwdriver, a pair of pliers, a pair of gloves, some duct tape. If you have to get out there and make some mechanical repairs, if you're stranded out on the interstate, that duct tape might be the piece of equipment you need to get you to

the next exit for safety. Basically, these are just common sense issues that we deal with every day whenever we're traveling. It's not a bad idea to put a gallon of water in the trunk of the car, say a hose breaks and you need to add water to your radiator to get you to safety. If it's a very hot day, you might need it yourself before somebody comes to you. But just take first aid equipment, just like you said, the common sense things that you need. So if you are stranded, the cell your phone, we highly recommend that you have a cell your phone. If you're going to be traveling just in case, safety and security. If you're stranded 99 chances out of 100, you're going to be nowhere near a phone. So that cell your phone might be your lifesaver. One of the biggest things that we address in the opening of our show was how we could get travelers where they want it to go on a shoestring budget.

Now of course, the most important thing is calling in advance and finding out what the specials are and that sort of thing. But let's say maybe we didn't do that. How can we still get the most out of a trip that we want to go to on a shoestring budget? What are some of the little things that we might be able to keep in mind? We'll start with you. Barbara, we'll just kind of work our way with the air and the crews away as well. Barbara, roadway. If you know where you're going, try to plan ahead and make sure there's a hotel there for you. It can be, you know, from a budget hotel, $29 a night right on up. And there are plenty of those out there that are in our tour books, they're rated with diamonds, one to five. Just because an establishment is a one diamond doesn't mean it's not a nice place to stay. It just means that it doesn't have the amenities that a five diamond does. It's clean, we've inspected these, we inspect them every year. But if you do run into a situation where you do have a complaint about a hotel or something

like that, we need to know about it. It all depends on which direction you're going if you're traveling with children, but you need to make advance planning, advance booking if you can. Most important thing. Of course, you all also offer, I think, some discounts and that's what a thing for members of your agency. If you do not have time to call us and make the arrangements, there's a program throughout the United States called Show Your Card and Save. So no matter whether you're doing a hotel, whether you're going to an attraction, whether it be like Belingrath Gardens, or maybe even dining out, always show your card and ask them if they're offering a AAA discount. So you'd be surprised at the people that participate in that program. What kinds of discounts? So we're looking at 10% sometimes up to 10%, sometimes more. It varies depending on what the attraction is or what you're doing. So being a card carrying member of Triple A can really pay off those, that's right.

It'll save you money. And we're going to tell them how they can become a member of Triple A as we go on throughout the show, just kind of keeping you holding on there for additional information here on aware, and we'll get to the rest of you on how you can also take advantage of some shoe string savings as well whenever you're traveling, but we have a call on the line and they've been holding some. We'll get straight to the caller. Call her high and welcome to aware. Hello. Hello. How are you? I'm good to see you and hang you again. Love you. Thank you. Missy, could any of them tell us, would they ever be a port entrance or something? We're stuck on that issue. Thank you for calling. Well, we can get on the boat here and hop on to Latin America and come on back on the first on the boat. Thank you very much. I will listen to the answer. Thank you very much, caller. And we're going to leave that for cruise way. We get quite a few people calling in.

I'm sure everyone does ask, and Hayes are shipped at least from Pensacola. Unfortunately, there isn't, and the reasons why are really threefold. Again, as much as we all love Pensacola, the infrastructure really couldn't handle the traffic that a full-time cruise line here would bring. Number two, the airport. Our airfares in and out are not that great. We don't have enough frequency as far as departures go. And last but not least is that next to New Orleans, which is an easy drive from us, we're not that big of an area that is well known enough to draw enough of a crowd in a drive market to fill the ship. So Pensacola's got to do a little bit more growing. Sure does. Sure does. Okay, we've got another caller on the line. Hi, caller, and welcome to AWARE. Hi, I have a question about how I have an American passport, is about to expire. How do I go to get there to renew a passport? That's a very good question. Thank you, caller, and Barbara. I can take that one. You can pick up a renewal application at the post office.

You would mail in your old passport with the renewal application. You also have to have two current pictures. We can take those at the office, are several of the camera shops around town. We'll take the passport pictures for you. Allow yourself four to six weeks, turn around time. If you need it sooner than that, you can drive over to New Orleans and have it processed there. But if you've got time, mail it in, and like I said, four to six weeks, turn around time. Very good. So you can get with Barbara, and she can give you some additional information as well, but that's pretty much how you can do that. And of course, we'll have those phone numbers, and how our viewers can get in touch with each of you at the end of our show. Getting back to our line of questioning, because we've teased it, and I want to make sure we get to it, shoestring budgets here. What can we do whenever we're traveling? We know about the rates, and that sort of thing. How can we get our travelers going by the airs to do it in the way that it's cheap for them?

Basically, when it comes to getting an inexpensive airfare, the traveler, basically, if they've traveled before, they have this concept of what they've paid in the past. If they've not traveled before, they're going to shop. They're going to call agency behind agency one after the next. And they're more or less going to get the same answer from any agency when they put off not buying their ticket right away. They are taking the chance of number one, they're not becoming a sale, or number two, there might become a sale, but the dates that they want to travel on and they had planned are not going to be available. So what I try to tell the consumer when they call is basically to, let's go ahead and think real hard about locking in on these dates. This is you know what you want to do. You know these are the destinations that you're looking for, and this is today's price. And I usually can judge just whether it's good or bad, average, fair, what? Okay. Tell them then.

Two more issues with the economics that are involved with flying. I think maybe people don't understand the frequent flying situation. We hear about it, but so many times we don't really go into it. We figure, well, I don't really fly enough to really accumulate frequent flyer discounts or that sort of thing, can you kind of explain that to our viewers just a little? I think the frequent flyer concept was built more or less for the executive travelers, corporate business travelers who travel more or less in excess of 30, 40,000 miles a year. Okay. However, you just kind of retell. I think it's worth everybody's advantage to join the program as free from all airlines. And one more question for you while we're on the economics too, is there's a lot of concern about budget airline, the low-fair carriers, the aircraft carriers, I mean, we're all concerned with that sort of thing. Are our viewers tapping into these resources or are they staying away and why or why should they? It's a very mixed emotion in that respect. I think a lot of the public relies that you get what you pay for, but the, you know, budget airlines seem to be, you know, getting people to their destinations in a satisfactory manner.

So unfortunately, the major airlines, I say unfortunately, and don't mean it that way, have to compete and provide low-fair carriers as well. And that's good for the public, but, you know, that's what's happening. We're going to get to the cruise away, shoestring budget, just a second, but we have another caller on the lines waiting for us. Hi, caller, and welcome to aware. Thank you. Could you tell me what is the most reasonable route to take to get from? West Palm Beach Airport in Pensacola, we always seem to have a great problem getting in Pensacola from down south. Thank you, caller. We're going to get all kinds of questions tonight. And I told you all this before we hit the air. And Barbara, I don't know if that's more for you or for one or the other. Coming from West Palm Beach, we would bring people up the Florida Turnpike and then hit Interstate 75 over to 10 and come in that way. I'm not sure that's what's happening. I'm talking about air flying. Okay, great.

Hello. Okay. We'll take you to the air now with Rob. Basically, out of West Palm Beach Airport, we have U.S. air express and Delta's Commie or Connection Service, they call it. It's both commuter service, eating anywhere from 30 to 35 passengers. People who adhere to jet service have no choice but to fly through Atlanta on Delta. Okay. Good. Thank you, caller. And I'll put that answer into your question by road and airways here on aware. Try a boat. How about the boat? We are going to the boat with the next line of questioning because we want to get back to the shoestring budget here as far as cruises are concerned. I mean, most folks, when you think of cruises, you think, oh my goodness, I'm going to be out of anywhere from 15 on up, you know, $100 or so. But can you tell us about some? Well, actually, it's not as expensive as a lot of people used to think it is. And just like within the other form of travel, there are certain times of the year that you can pick up better deals. We always encourage everyone to book as far in advance as possible. Remain flexible.

You're calling in instead of scheduling your vacation time ahead, you may want to call in check and see when the best deals are generally available for setting your vacation time in concrete and then not having the choice but to pay whatever the market is going to bear for the cruise. Generally speaking, right after Labor Day in the fall, the rates tend to drop. It's during the winter months, depending on how harsh the winter is up in the north and northeast. The rates are going to possibly remain high. If it's a warmer winter, they're not going to have as much traffic coming from up north and they'll be a little bit softer market, more of a virus market than a seller's market. But I really believe that the key is a stay flexible. Let your agent check a variety of dates. If you can go one week later and save a few hundred dollars, you're still going to the same place, you might as well take advantage of it. The other thing to the economics of traveling by boat, you would think maybe in group form or is there a little myth there that individuals can make you much make out well too? Actually, most agencies like Cruze Away, we can guarantee group rates to individual bookings.

The advantage you have to have a traveling with a group is that you're taking a lot of people that you normally have a good time with anyways along with you to share an injurment of Cruze in. Sure. Now, we want to talk about some getaways. Now, we've talked about a lot of the rates, which is really what viewers tend to be concerned about. Some of the areas that they can go are right in their backyards. Some of them are little secrets that people don't know about and maybe perhaps if you'll just kind of clue what's in on some of what those are, Barbara. You're going to see a lot of traveling going into Savannah this year because of the book that just recently came out and Savannah is a very lovely city to visit. Absolutely. He is very close. A lot of history. From there, you can go on over to Charleston. You see a variety of plantations. With a slip away package to Savannah, you'll get a carriage ride through the city, tour the city, hear about the book.

They have been stories about signing author-signing books there. There's going to be all kind of promotions coming up this year. That's going to be a hot spot in the very near future. There are other slip away packages, New Orleans, different times of the year. And down to Captiva Island. There is a place down there that is, you can't get to it by car. You have to take a ferry out to it and once you get there, it's just total R&R, rest and relaxation if that's what you're looking for. Rob? Flying. Some great good ways, basically, something very new today is, I say new, it came out last year actually, but it's a very short-lived, basically from May through August, is the Jamaica Shuttle. It's nonstop out of New Orleans to Jamaica to Montego Bay. They provide packages and lots of very great deals, including your airfare, transportation to and from airport to hotel and your accommodations for a selected night of stay.

Secondly, as a secret, a lot of people don't realize an avid skier that likes snow skiing and they figure, well, we're going to go to Denver or go to the Colorado because that's going to be about the best we can afford. Don't realize they can ski Europe, basically, for the same amount of money. If not, possibly less, you just never can tell. But during the winter months, when airfares are down to Europe, the European hoteliers can combine with the airlines to present packages that are just unbelievably low and are just really very great. To think that you could truly go to Europe for the same price you could go to Denver for, I think, is something people just don't realize. That is something. We know that pretty much whenever you're traveling by roadway, the cost is pretty much up to you because the gas is going to be one thing, but then whatever you choose for a hotel and whatever you choose to eat and those sort of things are pretty much left up to you. But what you just mentioned about the Montego Bay and the skiing trips, can you give us some

ideas of what kind of money we're talking about here? Well, you can basically take anything from the not included vacation, which means no meals, no entertainment, to the all-inclusive, which means you can't possibly do it all at one time at the same time or within your length of stay. Any destination, the meals are going to vary. You can eat as inexpensively or as expensively as you want to. So that's really up to the individual. The all-inclusive programs, you don't have to worry about what it's going to cost. You've paid for it, your meals, your cocktails. If you drink anything, your excursions, your entertainment, all of it's right there. How much are we talking about? Let's just get down to that. I'd say the average all-inclusive vacation, a week, let's say it sandals in Montego Bay, can start as low as, well, including your airfare, probably in the range of 1500 per person. We're talking about all expenses paid for a year. All you need to do is go have fun.

Oh, why? That's it. 1500 dollars. That's great. I think that's just great. Cruising. Well, actually, unfortunately, we don't have a ship out of Pensacola, but it's short of way as New Orleans is. We do have a seven-night cruise, actually, two cruise lines out of there, presently. Okay. Carnival cruise lines and Commodore. Okay. For those who are looking for something a little bit different than the Western Caribbean, like Plidel, Carmen, and Cosimo, and Grand Cayman and Montego Bay and Jamaica. Next May, May of 98, we'll have a 12-night Panama Canal cruise, leaving for Mobile, with Regal cruise lines. And that'll afford everyone in this area, not only an inexpensive trip as far as Panama canals go, but the nice venue to leave from, Mobile Bay, very easy for everyone to drive to, and very unique, doesn't happen very often. Unfortunately, anything shorter than that, you're looking at driving to Port Canaveral, which is due east of Orlando, which we still do quite a bit of business out of. People who want to combine their cruise with a land vacation, and Disney World, all with the Bush Gardens, or maybe even stay over at Cocoa Beach, around the Kennedy Space Center.

You can do a three or four-night cruise to Bahamas, fairly inexpensive there. Round numbers bottom line. Okay. Basically, just leaving out a New Orleans during the off-season, you can pick up a seven-night cruise for as cheap as about $468 a person, plus Port Canaveral. $468 cruising, with cruise away, that's absolutely wonderful. It is. Now, that includes 24-hour room service, all your meals, all entertainment, all activities. Only additional cost you have is anything you order from the bar and gratuities and optional short excursions. Mm-hmm. Great. And, Pat, also, I believe you all have, like, theme vacations. Absolutely. The theme cruising has become very big, in fact, we were just talking about skiing. October 11th on the Enchanted Isle of New Orleans is the ski cruise. On board, they're going to have quite a few famous Olympic skiers, some of the latest lines in apparel and equipment, and it's very inexpensive. Country Western cruises, jazz cruises, big band cruises, 50s and 60s, to even sports

of float cruises, with some of your favorite sports stars on board. But a few cruise lines cater to this type of cruising, and I have to just give us a call and we'll research everything for you. Absolutely. Wonderful. I think we were talking earlier before we came on camera that, if the traveler sat down and figured out how much a hotel room would cost, how much their meals would cost, and entertainment, and compare it to what the cost of a cruise, you're going to wonder why you haven't cruised before. Mm-hmm. That's the way of looking at it. It's very affordable, and people just don't realize how far they're many will go, or how far their dollar will go, and they'll have, once you cruise, you're going to be hooked. It's very exciting. It's very exciting. It's very exciting. I would recommend, and I think these gentlemen might agree that if you've never cruised before, you might want to take a four day, three night, just to see how you like it. It might be claustrophobic, or motion sickness, or just the worst thing in the world would

be to be on a ship for seven days and be miserable, but that's not going to have to rest. Smaller cruises. Absolutely. Start off with a short cruise, and then work your way into one of the larger ones. Very good. I'm going to give you a chance now, because we're talking about motion sickness, and possibly when you get up in the air, your ears popping, and even if you're traveling, I know I was traveling by bus one time, and I got sick up in the mountains going up and down, and you get car sick. So, there are all kinds of problems that you run into. In addition to those kinds of problems, the health, the things that can come up sometimes, which are unpredictable, what kinds of other unpredictable problems do people find themselves up into? And I don't want to come back and slam you guys, because you've been giving us some great information here on how we can get our viewers interested in going by all these different ways, and getting their summer vacations going here. But some of the problem areas, the first thing we think about the airlines, possibly us,

losing our air baggage, some of the other things that we can run into, that maybe perhaps we can tell our viewers about ahead of time, so that they, unfortunately, and then like some of the other people who have already fallen into the cracks of problems, can avoid. Right. I want to suggest that you take everything on board with you. It's impossible to do that, and everybody tries to. But what I would suggest is, in your carry-on, the airlines have tightened down on the restraints of the size of the carry-on that you can take on board with you. Do take essential items, things that might be a change of clothing, toothbrush, necessities that you will need, at least to get you through the evening and maybe into the next morning. The airlines do have responsibilities to provide for you at least basic essentials as well. So take advantage of those and be aware to ask for those things they will not offer. They may not offer them, not saying they won't. But if your baggage is lost, don't wait, don't down, they just go straight to the ticket counter and be ready to identify your luggage, have visible identification on your luggage

inside and out at all times. Don't pack valuables such as car keys, documents, identification, do not put that in your luggage. People have made mistakes and done that. Those are the kinds of things that insurance just want to dress folks. You have to prove you're yourself first. That could be tough for some people to do. We'll get to insurance in just a second, too. But some of the other problems, perhaps when we're cruising that you find passengers going into. Well, we do have passengers, mainly the first-time passengers who are concerned with motion sickness, which will affect some people, not a very large percentage, and there are always things that you can do to prepare and take precautions against, whether it be transdremal patches, which are a little difficult to get hold of now. We just call them the patch people, and we're banging behind your walking around the ship. But of course, there's drannamine, and I believe they have a new product out now that is a non-drousy formula. Some of our clients say, well, I'd rather be awake and miserable and see the cruise instead

of sleeping in my birth than I realize it would happen. But with a non-drousy formula, for people who aren't quite sure on how they're going to react on board a ship, we always recommend that they take it prior to boarding. Just until you make sure you have your sea legs, and other than that, you know, the cruise lines are pretty good about making sure that everyone is very well taken care of. Because when you're out there, it's not like you can go, oh, we've got a problem, let's go back. Same thing with the boy. Okay, problem areas, and I know that you see, and we've already addressed some of them by roadway to try to prevent some, but what do you see people went into? The biggest thing that we see is not making a reservation in advance, and there might be a sporting event, there might be a concert, there could be anything going on in the town that you're planning on stopping at 200 miles up the road, and then you've got to go another 200 miles. So the advanced booking, or at least call ahead to find out if there's rooms available. And if you're traveling with a pet, there are some hotels, some states that don't even

allow pets to stay in the room. So we have run into upset people that cannot leave home without their pet, and then they get into a certain area, and the hotel won't allow them. So yeah, that can be quite a few pet lovers out there, so that's some very valuable information for them. And you can give us a call here on aware, we are interactive, and that means you can call us up, and of course our panel can answer your questions, or if you have some comments that you'd like to make about traveling, we certainly welcome that as well here on aware. Our topic, just in case you're just joining us, is of course telling you how you can get there from here on a shoestring budget. We're talking about traveling in the summertime, and how inexpensive it can be. We've also got an opportunity to talk about some of the areas right in your own backyard that you can visit, and you're just tuning in, we'll give us a call. So we might just go back over some of those for you. Other than that, insurance, you know, sometimes we don't take insurance too serious, I think, because we're kind of like, well, if it happens, then maybe that's not quite of a big deal,

you know, maybe I could save this however many dollars it is, and not really worry about take a chance. But sometimes, that comes back to harness. It really does, and I'll tell you, I've worked on cruise ships for a living, and it's always seemed to me that the one time that people are most unprepared for an accident or illness is when they're on vacation. And whether you take the travel insurance or not, we always recommend that you take a look at your own personal health insurance. Are you covered outside the continental United States? These little things like this, we don't like to think about when we travel, because we're thinking about having a good time, and we're kind of invincible, everything's going to be great, but you have to take the everyday precautions, even when you do travel. Travel insurance, of course, we all highly recommend. It's a very, very small percentage of what you're actually investing in your vacation. If you don't have your own personal health insurance that will cover you outside the continental United States, a lot of policies will. Accidental death, you know, baggage, delay, baggage insurance, and all the little things that you need to make sure that you're going to be taking care of and spoiled your loved ones.

We had a client that was traveling alone, and he's talking about things that happen on a trip. She, we teased with her about getting ran over by a rickshaw when she was in the orient, but the reality is she had a heart attack while she was over there. She had, we had recommended, and she did take out the trip assist coverage. That program flew her daughter to Miami to have a passport, a process, then flew her to her mother, then flew them both back home. So, for the small amount of money that she put into that policy, it paid for itself ten times over. And you just never know, you know, something like this is going to happen. Especially with the younger travelers, we have people that say, well, you know, hey, I'm young. I'm in good shape. Oh, definitely. But we've had clients from the Northeast, there were three of them, two girls in one gentleman, twenty-one years old, and spring break, and on the cruise went to Paradise Island

and fell in the pool and drowned in front of 300 people. Goodness. You just never know. You never know. Flying insurance. The baggage insurance is very limited with the airlines. And whatever you feel, what do you feel is valuable, you take insurance on it, basically. When your baggage does not show up and does not show up, and does not show up, it's inevitably lost. I had clients, once upon a time, who inadvertently checked, $39,000 worth of jewelry coming off of a cruise ship from Marco Polco. Oh, my goodness. They checked it at Marco Polco Airport. Got to Pensacola. It didn't show up. Well, need us to say, the next day, my client was on the phone with the insurance broker saying, all right, file, file. The bag was found at New York's LaGuardia Airport, sitting in a corner. Unlocked. With $39,000 worth of beautiful jewelry, the woman used to be a Broadway star. And they found the bag called the client, said, we have found your bag. We found your bag.

We'll need us to say, the insurance proceedings had started and everything was rolling on with that. We're shipping it straight down to you. It got lost again. Okay. It finally showed up, completely unscathed, completely intact, however, you know, that's a horror to think about. Oh, sure. And it was inadvertently checked, but who would ever carry that kind of jewelry along? Oh, my goodness. It does happen. And you just don't know what's going to happen. You know, it's something. We've got two colors holding on. We'll get to you. We're going to have to do it. One at a time, of course. Hi, caller, and welcome to the air. Here on an air. Caller? Hello. Hello, you're on the air. Thank you. My question is traveling around the state of Florida as a single lady. A year or so ago, it was constant on the news about people being mugged and very things going on. I wonder if that improved, because I think we have a lot to see here in Florida. And I'll hang up for the answer. Thank you very much, caller. And that is a very big concern.

And I'm glad she called in with it, female traveling, it's females traveling alone. We're not seeing or hearing as much as we used to. There is still a concern about car jacking, and they recommend that don't put yourself into a situation where your box stand. And if you are bumped from behind, don't get out of the car there to find out what's happened. Pull the car into a lighted, safe place, and then get out where there's other people around. If you are going to a hotel park in a lighted area before you get out of your car, when you get a hotel room, if the clerk behind the desk mentions the room number, and there's other people in the lobby, we recommend that you ask for another room. So if you are being watched by somebody, and they know that you're traveling alone, then they know you're going to be in that room by yourself. Try to get a room on the second floor if you're not required to be on the first floor

for a physical condition. But we're not hearing the problems. Yes, there is a concern. I would be concerned if I was traveling alone. You just need to be very careful. Be alert. And if you can, I tell you, sometimes I'm just grabbed, you know, borrow somebody's cell phone or something, I don't know, just to be safe, and you can just try to get help from there. More colors on the line. Thank you for calling with that question. And we welcome you as well, caller, to the ear. Hello. Hello. My question is, I've got a new car that has a roadside service built into the sale of it. What is Triple A going to offer me in the way of travel assistance that I wouldn't get from the manufacturer? Thank you, Barbara. There are a lot of different things that you can get. There are a lot of good programs with the new cars on the emergency road service, but

you need to think about if you're traveling with a friend and somebody else's car, the Triple A coverage would protect you if you're in a friend's car, a neighbor's car, or something like that. Now, I'm not sure about all the warranties. Some of them provide just the towing, we'll do the locksmith for them if they lock their keys in the car. I think he was talking a little bit ago about a very bad experience he had when he lost his keys and we had to go out and make keys for him. And if you run out of gas, we're going to bring gas to you, two gallons of gas, or tell you to repair plates. And we can sit down and compare the coverages you would get from the dealership with what you would get from the Triple A coverage. And I think overall you'll find out that you would get a lot more. And I'm not saying that these warranties are not good, they're very good. And a lot of the new car buyers are, our new car dealers are offering that.

But this, the coverage with Triple A, like you mentioned earlier, you get a savings on hotels, you get a savings on attraction tickets, you get a discount on luggage. And a lot of our viewers don't realize it, but you can even get discount tickets for the movie theaters here in Pensacola, the Cordoba Mall and the University Mall. These are just some of the little things. Absolutely. And I held them off long enough, Barbara, we're going to go ahead and, since the caller call with that, with that question, membership, talked to us a little bit about membership with Triple A. I would love to. Now, there are several different ways that you can become a member of Triple A. And it covers the, the first person that joins in the family is considered the master member. And then any additional members in the household, either the spouse or dependent children, can be associate members on the membership. Age is not a factor, so you can put a child on the membership as soon as they're born.

And one of the benefits from that is, if your children are in a carpool and the driver of the van or car that's in the carpool breaks down, then he or she can call and get service. How can you do it? You can do it by phone, you can do it by coming into the office. You see our flyers all over town, that you can adore hangar, that you can pick up and mail in, and we'll call you and respond to whatever your needs are as far as a membership. $55 for the master, for the first year, $45 at renewal. And then the plus coverage can give you up to 100 miles of free towing, so that's quite a bit. That is quite a bit. We're going to get back to some cruising here with quite a bit more information for our user viewers as well. Pat, can you pretty much tell us, I mean, you told me off camera that you were sold for the summer, and that's because a lot of people are finding it more affordable to cruise.

Absolutely. And there is still some space left for the summer. It's just not the most affordable at this point. Okay. Kind of like with airlines. That's being honest. I mean, you say that. We want you to call. Sure. Sure. But, you know, with airline tickets, some of your best prices and best deals have already been exhausted. And the cruise lines are really now in a position where they're holding all the cards and they know what's going on. They know that they're at 90% capacity and people who have waited to the last minute are going to have to pay if they want to travel. I'm glad we were saying that and I'm going to get you to finish that thought, but just something crossed my mind because we don't want viewers to call you and be quoted these outrageous prices. Right. And they turned off from cruising just because they didn't do this in advance. They can still get good deals. Okay. Cruising still a great value. It's not the best deal if you had called in advance. Right. All right. And years ago, and a lot of people were still on this train of thought that if I wait to about 60 days before the ship leaves, they're always going to sell for pennies on the dollar.

Yeah. Well, years ago, it was true. The cruise lines, it took them long enough, but they are on the frame of mind now that they're going to offer their best deals to advance booking and as they get closer, they're fewer bursts available. The fewer bursts are available, the less the discounts are going to be. And that is truly, it's not a sales pitch. We're trying to say everyone money here. That's really how they work it. So once again, we can talking about in advance, you know, how much in advance notice do we need to give a cruise line? If you're looking to travel at spring break for 1998, you'd be looking right now. I can answer that as a matter of fact, that a client called me in January around January 15th to go on a New Year's cruise already sold out. For next year. New years has already sold out and here we are in April. It's right. New years, people who travel on those two dates as soon as they get off the ship, they rebooked for the following year. And it all depends on the cruise line and the destinations like Alaska is a very popular destination and it will sell out rapidly. You wouldn't think that. We're here on the coast where it's warm and we love warm weather in the beaches, but it's an exotic destination.

We're only there about 16 weeks out of the year, the rest of the time it's a frozen tundra. I have a phone that would like to sail on a ship on February the 28th next year. It's 20, I think it's 23 days Cape Town to Rome sold out. Absolutely. Sold out. The farther in advance you can call and make those arrangements the better you're going to be. The better opportunity to get the space, the cabin, whether you want inside or outside and I'll let them deal with it inside and outside cabins because that's a big difference in how you enjoy your cruise. That's the technical side of it. Do you want to address that? Outside and the outside for those who haven't cruised or the inside cabins are actually located towards the center of the decks and the outside have windows or port holes that yield to you. And they cost a little bit more but once again my barber said depending on the type of cruise like with Alaska, even a good deal in Alaska is still going to be a fairly expensive cruise and it's worth a little bit of extra money with the extra day life they have there to see the scenery. I think anytime you get near the window, if you're not driving, you're going to pay a little

bit more for the scenery there. We just count on that. When the seats are no more inexpensive than the aisle seats are on the airlines. I'll tell you another thing, you're always seeing the commercials and that sort of thing and you always see all this wonderful food and I've seen a couple of pictures of friends of mine who have been privileged to go on some cruises in the food. My favorite subject, even though I haven't had an opportunity to cruise in all honesty, we think about the food and how beautiful all the arrangements are and that sort of thing food. It's fantastic, actually a lot of our clients believe that the more you eat, the less you paid for the trip. That was unique. But, Cersei, you can eat it on stop, I mean, you're about eight meals a day if you include room service and if you're able, literally it's a full-time job getting to all the meals. Really? If you get about losing money because you missed a meal, you see. And it's international cuisine especially for the dinners, it's five-course meal and the menu will change nightly.

We have a French theme one evening to an Italian theme, to a Caribbean theme, to an American standard dish theme. So even though you're eating in the same dining room, you're actually traveling around the world. Mm-hmm. And of course we see the dancing and all these other things that you've got the things I guess and they all coordinate, do they? What this issue do, but most of the entertainment on board, and of course there are some exceptions with different cruise lines. They focus more of an off-broadway type production, but for the most part it's Las Vegas style review. And there are cruise lines out there that do specialize in family entertainment and family atmospheres as far as the cruise vacation experience goes. Well, when I see people getting ready for cruises and that sort of thing, I think my in-laws are now. I see them preparing, they're getting their formal attire and they're, you know, not so formal, they're after five and they're casual and that sort of thing altogether to make sure that they've got something fitting for each one of those. And it seems like it's really exciting. I'm going to do it one day. It really is, but once again, you know, your travel consultant can inform you to how many formal nights are expected on a particular cruise or, you know, longer the cruise some more

formal nights. But as a whole, the cruise is not as formal as it used to be. It's very relaxed, laid back, of course on a cruise ship, you can do anything you want so you can get in a thick of it and participate in all the activities or sit back by the pool, read a book and have a cool drink, you know. It's something for everyone and yet you're in the same location traveling to exotic ports of call. A lot of people don't realize that an old seafaring tradition is after six formal at C and it has been that way forever and it's a tradition that's tried to be held up. And it's part of the fun of it to be glamorous for a daintainer. I know. And when Pat said, well, you're kind of moving away from that, I was going, oh, don't do it before I get a chance. Because you want to get a chance of a, of course, mobile has the multi-grop tradition where you can dress up and that sort of thing. But certainly whenever you go on a cruise, it's seven nights or whatever it is, you kind of want to dress up and feel, you know, you're going to a lot of place where you can go a little bit more casual and still not feel out of place as well.

Okay. We've got some collars on the line. Thanks for the information caller. Welcome to Aware. Hello. Hello. Yes. I have a question about singles cruises or cruises pertaining to certain ages, maybe seniors, maybe whatever. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Certain cruise lines do tend to attract more of a younger crowd or more of a different type, you know, like singles versus couples and families. And you know, of course, you can call whenever someone can give you the information on which ones tend to specialize towards that. As far as seniors, during certain times of the year, you do see or tend to see seniors traveling more frequently. Quite a few of the cruise lines now have installed senior citizen specials where you can take advantage of being footloose and fancy for it, and save even more money and afford it, you know, yourself to be able to cruise more often, instead of one time a year, maybe you can be able to go twice a year now. Great. We have a program at AAA called Mary Widow's. And these ladies, some of them have, it's not necessarily just cruises, it can be tours,

it can be bus trips or motor coach trips. But these ladies travel all over the place. And on the cruises, we have escorts that attend the dances, so they have somebody to dance with also. Okay. They have a great time. Oh, great. We've got another caller holding on, and we thank you for holding and welcome to aware now. You're on the air. Hello. Hello there. Hi. Hi. I would just like to give a testimony over the cruises. Okay. I'm 21 years retired Navy Chief, and my wife finally convinced me when we were in Puerto Rico to take a cruise, a seven-day cruise down the Caribbean. And we were pampered, say, I wouldn't pass it up. I mean, it was the best time of my life. And for you guys in Florida, you can look at airlines and go to Puerto Rico and you can get cruises real cheap out of Puerto Rico.

So it's something that might want to think about. Thank you very much. And I'm glad that he called with just a comment for us because we welcome that too here on aware. And you can call us on comment too. Just got a few minutes as we were winding down aware, the number, of course, 4-8-4-12-23. And just to get back to what the caller said. Well, actually, I really enjoyed that because it's being in a military town, mainly with Navy people here, and a lot of the ladies like to be pampered and go on the sky of the cruising can. They're used to that. But dragging your husband along, it's funny, oh, I spent six months on a ship as it is now. Everything after their first cruise, not on a great ship. They come back and they're the first ones who want to re-book. It's amazing. Getting them on, there's a little bit tough at first, but after they've been on their first one, it's like no other experience that they've had. And the good thing about that caller's testimony is we're almost certain that that wasn't your father. Yeah. That was the honest, the goodness, that was the honest, the goodness comment there. I want to talk about, we were just talking about getting people to take cruises for the

first time. Sometimes, while I know for the first time being in the air can be quite an experience and an adventure and sometimes a scare. Very much so. Tell us about it. You hear so much today, and basically the airlines have, they've got extreme measures of security and safety that they really have to adhere to. I feel that the public is, they have to be cautious at the same time, and therefore you tend to lean away from the budgeted airlines. You want to think about where do their fundings for mechanics and things come from. But this is something that you really have to consider, and it's important to study some of the facts that are published about maintenance security facts and statistics that the airlines do put out, they put out on a very normal basis that you can get that information and be aware of what airline is up, and yeah. You know, I haven't cruised yet, of course, if you're going by car, you don't have to worry

about attitudes, except for maybe with your spouse or your kids or whoever is traveling with you. But by air, I've traveled many, many times, and I can say this, you can go to restaurants and there are several other places that you can go and sometimes you can just run into a person with an attitude, but you know, I've never run into a stewardess or anyone with, you know, traveling by airways who's had an attitude. I mean, they're very, very friendly and you can tell that they're well trained, and I won't get into that because we're winding on time, but I just want to make sure I punch that too. I want to give each of you a chance very quickly to give us some information on how our viewers can get in touch with you for additional information starting with you, ladies first Barbara. Some call us at our office at 4-7-7-6-8-6-0, or you can fax this information at 4-7-9-7-4-6-9. And we haven't touched on this, but just briefly, if you see these airfare wars, if they can't get through to us, they can't get through to Rob, they can't get through to them, everybody is just hammered when these airfare wars come around.

So be patient with us when you hear these things going on. Sure. Rob? Well, like I say, our office is located at 313 South Palafox Street, overlooking the Plaza Ferdinand downtown. Our phone number is 4-3-425-4-3, or you can fax to us at 4-3-3-9-9-4-1. Okay. And of course, cruise in, away with that. And we're located at 6011, hence Montgomery Avenue, and it's right off of Michigan, and if you have any questions on cruising, please give us a call. We have a full staff. It's what's ready to help them plan their vacation in a lifetime, and it can reach us at 9-4-4-7-700. Thank you very much. You've heard the testimonial as well, so you know that's a great way to go. Thank each of you for joining us here on aware. Thank you. And of course, we thank you also for joining us here this evening. And of course, as always, we'd like to remind you of some things that are going on here very quickly. Now in Chapel AME, church will sponsor a minority job fair coming up Saturday, May 3rd, from 10 until 2 p.m. for more information, you can contact Marion English at 4-3-3-2-4-0-4-4-8-4-7-3-7-8.

Once again, thank you for joining us here on aware. We certainly hope you've learned something about traveling, and you're by roadway, airway, or cruising away here on aware tonight on a shoestring budget you can get there from here. That's right. Thank you for joining us, and as always, make sure you stay tuned and stay away. Have a good night.