Shopping at Natural Nirvana

Travel Sites

General Travel Sites
Most of the general travel sites listed below search multiple airlines sites, hotels sites, and car rental sites simultaneously to find the best deals. A good strategy when dealing with discount sites is to check one of the sites that list the price of direct flights. If you then want to get a further discount you can try to bid on PriceLine or Hotwire, and then you know what price you have beat. The disadvantage of PriceLine and Hotwire is that you often have to make one or two connections.

If you book your flight through a discount travel site you may not get frequent-flyer miles, or you may have to make one or two stopovers, which you find out about after you make your booking. You also may have to take a circuitous routing which can double the mileage that you have to travel.

AirSaver (www.airsaver.com) has discount business-class tickets and other discount flights.
Cheap Tickets (www.cheaptickets.com) has airline rates, cruises, hotels, and discount car rental. You can save profile information including contact information and meal preference.
Expedia.com - Books flights, cars, cruises, travel packages and hotels. It has a fare calculator so one can find the lowest airfares. They can send you emails with information about certain destinations. They also sell travel accessories. They are one of the best travel sand often get prices much lower than what you would get directly from the airlines, rent-a-car places and hotels. You type in your flight schedule then you are offered an assortment of departures times on various airlines and you pick whatever airline, time and price you want.ites and are recommended. They have a Fare Compare which let you know about latest deals. They have a MileageMiner to manage frequent flier mileage and Seat Pinpointer to choose a seat in advance. Has facilities for booking hotels, sometime at large discounts. Service seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Can book special vacations such as adventure, beach and golf, and business travel. User friendly. Video tours, slide shows and articles. Wireless network gives flight status that can be accesses by a computer or cell phone. I regularly (as also many other people I know do) use Expedia.
1st-Air Net (www.1stair.net) has good Business-class discounts. It is an easy, friendly site. It offers discount tickets to Europe, South America, Asia and India.
Hotwire.com (www.hotwire.com) arranges airline flights, hotels and car rentals. You type in your departure and arrival city, departure and return date, and the maximum number of stops, whether you will take a prop plane and whether you will take a late night flight. You are given a set of options to choose from with the price of each option in several minutes. You then have 30 minutes to make your choose of the options given. You then choose the one you want and then Hotwire lets you know your airlines, times and the route you will be taking. If you want to get a real discount on a trip you can expect to make at least one stop, if not two. You can get great travel deals on this site, up to more than a 50% discount.
OneTravel.com (www.onetravel.com) offers discount flights and discounts on over 50,000 hotels around the world. Offers car rental discounts. The prices for the car rentals are definitely good. Let you choose between published fares, consolidator rates and its own White Label fares (which can be discounted up to 80%). The exact airlines, flight and departure time are not known until the ticket is purchased. You don't bid, but the White Label service shows the approximate departure times, the price, and the amount of connections, and you accept the option that you want. Their flight prices were not so impressive for flights between the US and India. The hotel prices seem to be fairly correct. When I typed in New Delhi I got 21 responses. It has Ask the Expert feature where you can ask special travel questions. Offers cruises and special tours. Has information on bed-and-breakfasts, spas and apartments. An excellent bargain site.
InfoHub (www.infohub.com) arranges specialty tours. They have a choice of 14 different tours for India including a spiritual tour, palace tour, North India and Nepal tour, and Walking with the Buddha tour. Has great facilities for business travelers. The Express Trip Planners can let a person know what the best airlines, hotel and car rental combination can give the most frequent flyer combination. Gives automatic updates on prices. An excellent business site. If there is a problem, Biztravel will often compensate its customers, even though it isn't their fault. If you fly American Airlines, US Airways, Air France, British Airways, Continental, or Japan Airlines you can get compensation if your flight arrives late (not for mechanical problem), but you have to file a claim within 24 hours.
Lowestfare.com (www.lowestfare.com) has low fares for flights, car rentals, and hotels. It also has weather information, a currency converter, and news information. It mainly deals with the United States and Europe.
Orbitz - One of the best places on the Internet to book airlines and hotels.
Priceline.com (http://www.priceline.com) has discount prices for flights, hotels and car rental. You place a bid for a flight and the day you want to travel and if an airline accepts it you get the flight, and your credit card is automatically charged. The only problem with this site is you can only pick the day, but not the time, so you have to accept whatever time they give you. I reserved a ticket from New York to Florida on Thursday and got a flight the next day for $200 roundtrip. I reserved a roundtrip flight from New York to Gainesville, Florida and back one day before the flight and got a ticket on Delta for $275 roundtrip, and was told that I received an $850 saving on the flight. Highly recommended.
TravelHero (www.travelhero.com) has flight, hotel, car rental, cruise and tour information and bookings. You can ask questions about your trip.
TravelHub (www.travelhub.com) uses over 500 travel agents. Has flight, car rental, hotel, cruises and package tour information. It has decent prices for flights to India.
TraveloCity (www.travelocity.com) does booking for flights, car rental and hotels. It also has information on different destinations. This is one of the best travel sites and is recommended.
Travelpage.com (www.travelpage.com) has good travel information. Has links to Web sites for major airlines and hotels.
Travelweb (www.travelweb.com) books flights, hotels and car rentals. It is good for Europe. You can search for hotels by price, city and facilities.
Trip.com (www.trip.com) has flights, hotels and car rental information. The FlightTracker can locate present flights and when they will land, and the aircraft used for a flight. It also has good information in its newsletter. Gets good recommendations. Has city and country information, but it can often be out of date. Has an Airport Guide that has terminal and regional maps.
Yahoo Travel (http://travel.yahoo.com) has facilities for flights, hotels, car rentals and cruises. Has destinations, adventure tours and specials tours.

Airlines
Aer Lingus (www.aerlingus.ie) 800-474-7424, 538 Broadhollow Road, Melville, NY 11747.
Air Canada (www.aircanada.ca), 888-247-2262, PO Box 9000, Coastal Station Airport, Dorval, Quebec H4Y1C2.
Air France (www.airfrance.com) 800-237-2747, PO Box 459002, Sunrise, Florida 33345.
Air India (www.airindia.com)
Air New Zealand (www.airnz.com), 800-262-1234,1960 E. Grand Ave., Suite 900, El Segundo, CA 90245.
Alaska Airlines (www.alaska-air.com), 800-252-7522, PO Box 68900, Seattle, WA 98168.
Alitalia (www.alitalia.com), 800-223-5730, 666 Fifth Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10103.
Aloha Airlines (www.alohaair.com), 800-367-5250, PO Box 30028, Honolulu, HI 96820.
American Airlines (www.aa.com), 800-433-7300, PO Box 619612, MD2400, DFW Airport, Texas 75261 has flight information, general information about the airlines, and AAdvantage club members’ information. Members can make reservations online.
British Airways (www.british-airways.com), 800-247-9297 Reservations, Bulova Corporate Center, 75-20 Astoria Blvd, Jackson Heights, NY 11370.
Cathay Pacific (www.cathay-usa.com) (www.cathay.ca), 800-233-2742 (Canada 1-800-268-6868), 300 Continental Blvd, Suite 500, El Segundo, CA 90245.
Continental Airlines (www.flycontinental.com) (www.continental.com), 800-525-0280, PO Box 4607, Houston, TX 77210, site has flight information, frequent flyer information, special deals and tracking information on cargo shipment. It is user friendly.
Delta Airlines (www.delta-air.com), 800-221-1212, PO Box 20980, Atlanta, GA 30320, has flight information, special deals and information on SkyMiles.
El Al Israel (www.elal.co.il), 800-223-6700,120 W 45th St, New York, NY 10031.
Finnair (www.us.finnair.com), 800-950-5000, 228 E 45th St, New York, NY 10017.
Hawaiian Airlines (www.hawaiianair.com), 800-367-5320, PO Box 30008, Honolulu, HI 96820.
Iberia Airlines (www.iberia.com), 800-772-4642, 6100 Blue Lagoon Drive, Suite 200, Miami, FL 33126.
Indian Airlines (http://indian-airlines.nic.in), The web site has flight schedules and special deals.
Japan Airlines (JAL) (www.japanair.com), 800-525-3663, 300 Continental Blvd, Suite 401, El Segundo, CA 90245.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (www.klm.com) (connected with Northwest Airlines), 800-374-7747, Department C ‚ 6590, PO Box 11875, St. Paul, MN 55111.
Korean Air (www.koreanair.com), 800-438-5000, 602-532-9732.
Luftansa (www.lufthansa.com), 800-645-3880, 1640 Hempstead Turnpike, East Meadow, NY 11554, has flight information. They often offer two trips for the price of one to Europe. They also offer car rental discounts and special flight deals.
Malaysia (www.malaysiaairlines.com), 800-552-9264, 100 N Sepulveda Blvd, Suite 400, El Segundo, CA 90245.
Mexicana (www.mexicana.com), 800-531-7921, 6151 W. Century Blvd, Suite 1124, Los Angeles, CA 90045.
National Airlines (www.nationalairlines.com), 888-757-5387, 6020 Spencer St, Las Vegas, NV 89119.
Northwest Airlines (www.nwa.com), 800-225-2525, Department C-6590, PO Box 11875, St. Paul, MN 55111. Includes flight information on both Northwest and KLM airlines. It has a Fast Trip Finder that has flight and gate information. It has WorldPerks mileage information. It also has news and a travel planner.
Philippine Airlines (www.philippineair.com), 800-435-9725, 447 Sutter St, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Qantas Airways (www.qantas.com), 800-227-4500, 841 Apollo St., Suite 400, El Segundo, CA 90245-4741.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines (www.scandinavian.net), 800-221-2350, PO Box 689, Lyndhurst, NJ 07071.
Singapore (www.singaporeair.com), 800-742-3333, 5670 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 1900, Los Angeles, CA 90036.
South African Airways (www.saa-usa.com), 800-722-9675, 515 E.Las Olas Blvd, Sixteenth Floor, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301.
Southwest Airlines (www.iflyswa.com) has flight information and books full vacations including hotel and car rental. You can have them send you emails about special deals and promotions. It has timetables and prices.
Swiss Air (www.swissair.com), 800-221-4750, 41 Pine Lawn Road, Melville, NY 11747.
United Airlines (www.ual.com), 800-241-6522, PO Box 66100, Chicago, IL 60666, has flight information plus airport information, and Mileage Plus points.
US Airways (www.usairways.com), 800-428-4322, 2345 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA 22227, has flight information. It has a weekly newsletter with special domestic flight offers. There is also information on weather, car rentals and hotels.
Virgin Atlantic (www.virgin-atlantic.com), 800-862-8621, 747 Belden Ave, Norwalk, CT 06850.

Major Airline Alliances
One World Alliance (www.oneworldalliance.com) American, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Aer Lingus, Finnair, Iberia and LanChile.
Northwest and KLM (www.nwa.com/alliance)
Sky Team (www.skyteam.com) Delta, Air France, AeroMexico and Korean Air.
Star Alliance (www.star-alliance.com) All Nipon Airways, Air Canada, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, SAS, United, Thai, Varig, Austrian Airlines, British Midland, Mexicana Airlines, Lauda Air and Ansett Australia.

Hotel Guides
All-hotels (www.allhotels.com) has 60,000 hotels that can be booked on this site. It mainly only lists high-end hotels. It has some hotels in India listed.
Bed and Breakfast (www.bedandbreakfast.com) has a list of over 25,000 Bed and Breakfast places from around the world.
The Bed and Breakfast Guide on About.com (www.about.com) has a good selection of Bed and Breakfasts. It is organized by theme and destinations. It has a good selection of links. There are pages that list Bed and Breakfasts that welcome children, allow pets, have skiing and golf in the area and other special interests.
Cheap Online Hotels (http://www.cheaponlinehotels.com) - Books hotels rooms around the world with an emphasis on UK hotels. Lists over 2,500 hotels.
Hostels.com (www.hostels.com) - Has a list of hostels throughout the world and general information about hostels. Hotels rates are relatively cheap in India and Nepal, so this site will be more helpful to someone visiting Europe. Has weather in different countries and a currency converter. Sells European rail passes and flight tickets.
Hostelz.com (http://www.hostelz.com) - Detailed hostel and budget hotel guide with information on amount of beds, prices and for some of the places ability to book a room. Has photos, honest reviews and guest comments. Their goal is to include every hostel in the world. Real good site with plenty of detail. Definitely worth checking out
Hotelguide.com (www.hotelguide.com) has a list of over 49,000 hotels throughout the world. When I typed in Delhi, India, 49 hotels came up; many of them have very good discounts on the walk-in price. You can reserve and pay for the rooms right on the Internet with a credit card. Has a currency converter. Special discounts for rooms are often offered for government, corporate and senior rates. Prices listed are often not correct. The site has a facility to check for availability and get the actual price for the date requested. You should note that when you reserve a room in India there are often substantial discounts from April 15 to September 15, during the extremely hot times of the year. When I checked the Park Hotel in Delhi the rate listed on the general page was Rs 2500 (US$60) for a double and the price that was actually quoted was US$275 per night in February. When I did a search for the same hotel for June the rate quoted was still US$275 per night. The rate quoted by the Hyatt Regency Delhi was $200 for a room and the reservation price was also $200. You can use this site to search for up-to-date prices of rooms and to check availability on certain dates.
HotelDiscounts.net (www.hoteldiscount.com) has a list of discount hotels. You pick the city, date, the amount of nights you want to stay, and the amount of people and you are returned a list of hotels to choose from.
Hotelnetdiscount (http://www.hotelnetdiscount.com) does hotel reservations sometimes with as much as a 65% discount, but it is doubtful you will see this for India. It also arranges flights, travel packages and car rental, often at good discounts. It has fairly good prices.
HotelFinder.com (www.hotelfinder.com)
Hotel Reservations Network (HRN) (www.hoteldiscount.com) is an easy-to-use site with a large selection of hotels at low prices. It is not very strong on details and photos.
Marriott Hotel Web (www.marriott.com). You can book a room online and get directions to the hotel. It also has some information on different cities. It includes hotels managed by Marriott including Fairfield Inn, Courtyard Inn, ExecuStay and Residence Inn.
1 800 USA Hotels.com (www.1800usahotels.com) has a large selection of hotels. It is not so easy to use.
Quikbook (www.quikbook.com) has a good selection of hotels, but is not so easy to use.
Resorts and Lodge (www.resortsandlodges.com) has a list of 9,000 Resorts and Spas to choose from.
Sheraton Hotels and Resorts (www.sheraton.com) has a list of Sheraton Hotels that you can book online. It has full vacation plans where you can book flights, hotels, car rental and tours.
Spa Finder (www.spafinder.com) has a list of Spas to choose from.
Hotels Worldwide - An excellent site to get great prices on hotels around the world.
W Hotels (www.whotels.com)

Car Rental Sites
Alamo (www.alamo.com)
Avis (www.avis.com)
Budget (www.budget.com)
Dollar Rent A Car (www.dollar.com)
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Hertz (www.hertz.com)
National Car Rental (www.nationalcar.com)

TRAVEL ACCESSORIES

Luggage Online - Has a wide selection of luggage at discount prices. Huge savings on clearance and close-out luggage and briefcases.
Magellans.com is America's leading source of travel supplies such as clothing, luggage, adaptor pug set, a European surge protector, binoculars, language translators, maps, books, videos and other worth-while travel items. This is a great site to hit for travel gear. Magellans.com is an online store that sells a good selection of travel related goods. Sells excellent products such as a natural homeopathic jet lag product, first-class money belts, anti-bacterials, high-quality travel bags, combination locks, a cable lock, adapter plugs for India, an excellent water purification system that kills viruses, Permethrim (to put on clothes to protect against mosquitoes), insect repellent and sun blocks. They offer high quality products, which are necessary for India and Southeast Asia. Offers 100% satisfaction guarantee.
TravelProducts.Com (www.travelproducts.com) is an online store that sells a good selection of travel related goods. Worth checking out.
Walkabout Travel Gear (www.walkabouttravelgear.com) has a good selection of travel gear.

Currency and Currency Exchangers
Oanda (www.oanda.com) is a good site to see present currency exchange rate of over 150 countries.
Travellers’ Check List (http://www02.tiglion.net/scripts/travdb/currency/exe/index.asp) has information on the current rules on importing and exporting money. In many countries it is a good idea to keep the exchange receipts when changing money, as you may need these to change the excess money back into your own currency.
XE.Com (www.xe.net/ucc/) has a good currency converter.

Credit Cards and Money
You can have money wired to you from your home country via Western Union (www.westernunion.com). It cost $39 to wire from $300 to $3000 from the US and 25 pounds to wire up to 2000 pounds from the UK. The usual agent located in various cities in India for Western Union is Sita Travels, but they also use other agents.
Visa.com (http://www.visa.com/pd/atm/main.html) has a locator for Visa ATM machines.
Master.com (http://www.mastercard.com/atm/) has the location of MasterCard, Maestro, and Cirrus ATM sites.
American Express (http://www.americanexpress.com/shared/cgi-bin/tsoserve.cgi?travel/index) has a list of American Express agents throughout the world.

Practical Travel Information
About.com: Travel (www.about.com/travel) has information about many of the places in the world. They have a separate home page for India. It also has information for many of the places in the world. Besides travel they have information sections on over 700 subjects. Guides send an up-to-date email newsletter on various subjects. You can also email your questions to various guides to get a personal answer. You usually receive a personal response within 24 hours. There are articles about various places in the world, chat, a bulletin board and links to related sites. The site can be a bit difficult to use.
Babylon Travel (www.babylontravel.net) is a good source of travel articles from around the world.
Didnotpla (www.didnotpla.net) has such things as vote for the World’s Worst Airlines, backpacking information, and shopping information. A shopping site for backpackers.
Festival Finder (www.festivalfinder.com) lists festivals in the US.
Miles4Sale.com - They sell frequent flyer miles are various US airlines. Get the additional frequent flyer miles you need for a free airline ticket with a click of the mouse! Miles4Sale.com
Time and Date.com (www.timeanddate.com) lists time zone changes for over 130 cities around the world.
Webflyer (www.webflyer.com) is a detailed guide to frequent-flier programs. It has a section that tells about promotions by airlines and hotels.
Weather (www.webflyer.com) has worldwide weather.
Weather and Traffic Delays (www.fly.faa.gov) has a general list of delays in the USA. To get specific flight information you have to check the airlines sites.
World Heritage: The World Heritage List (www.unesco.org/whc/sites) has a list of World Heritage sites from around the world.
World Surface.com (www.worldsurface.com) has good travel stories and information about travel for around the world.

Travel Book Sites
Arthur Frommer's Travel Online (www.frommers.com) has travel information.
Fodors (www.fodors.com) has information on over 110 places around the world. It also has books on Bed & Breakfasts, adventure tours, North American parks and sports. Has discussions groups and links to online travel agents. Doesn't have good links. The information is not always up-to-day. Their books are not usually anywhere nearly as good as other travel book publishers. Their book on India has some information, but is no where near as good as other publisher.
Let's Go (www.letsgo.com) has information on over 50 places around the world. It is geared for budget travelers, and has no practical hotel information for high-end travelers. The best thing about this site is the excellent links that they have to travel sites including links to various countries, airlines, and tour agencies. It gives information from the various books published by Let's Go. Their India book is fairly good, but I sure wouldn't purchase it.
Lonely Planet (www.lonelyplanet.com) has information on over 100 places around the world. It is geared for travelers at all levels. It gives information from the various books published by Lonely Planet. Their books are excellent and for most places are the best books on the subject. Personally I usually purchase their book first on any place that I go to. Their information on tourist places may not always be the best, but their practical information on hotels and restaurants, and their maps are usually the best you can get. Their India book is excellent. The site has discussion groups on many places around the world. The discussion group on India can be quite lively and if you ask an intelligent question you can often get a worth-while answer. But for the most part the answers to questions are useless, and you can learn more on your first day in India than looking at their forum.
Moon (www.moon.com) has information on many places around the world. It is geared for travelers at all levels. It gives information from the various books published by Moon Publishing. Their books are good and for some places are the best books on the subject. They do not have a book on India, but they have a book on Nepal. I am definitely impressed that they got the web address www.moon.com, which I am sure many other people would love to have.
Rough Guide (www.roughguides.com) has information on over 4,000 places around the world. It is geared for budget travels, but is useful to travelers on all levels. It gives information from the various books published by Rough Guide. Rough Guidebooks are very detailed and very informative, and I can definitely recommend them. The information on the site can be quite limited and if you really want to get any detail you have to purchase one of their books. It is a good way to advertise their excellent books. They have an excellent India book.

STUDENT CARDS
International Student Exchange Cards, Inc - This is a discount cards available to students of any age and persons under 26. This card allows you to obtain discounts ranging from 10% to 50% on entrance fees to various sites and events in Europe, USA, Singapore, Australia and Egypt. Also discounts can be gotten from participating hotels, restaurants and shops. This card covers medical benefits up to $2,000. The card is $25 for a year and is definitely worth getting, if only for the medical benefits. I would definitely travel with it, if I was young enough. Save worldwide with the ISE Card. Discounts on museums, hotels, airfare, and more!

Practical Information
AirSafe.com (www.airsafe.com) has the safety records of the airlines. Some airlines that has the worst safety records are China Airlines, Cubana, Aero Peru and Air Zimbabwe.
Fielding's Dangerfind (fieldingtravel.com/df) gives information about traveling off the beaten track, adventurous places and to potentially dangerous places. It gives practical information on what to pack. Has long distant access codes for many countries. It gives extremely important practical information such as what to do during a rhino or crocodile attack.
CIA's World Factbook (www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html) gives a list of religion, language and population and much more of every country in the world.
Embassies (www.embassy.org/embassies) has a lists of all the embassies in Washington DC.
Festivals (www.festivals.com) has over 33,000 events worldwide listed.
Paymybills.com (www.paymybills.com) is a site that helps a person pay their bills online. They send you email about your bills, and you can decide which one you want to pay.
The Rosetta Stone Language Library (www.travlang.com) has 24 languages that can be learned online. It has dictionaries where you can convert words and phase in 16 different languages. It has a Hindi lesson. It gets very high recommendation and has over 4 million students.
Smarter Living (www.smarterliving.com) is a consumer travel Web site. They give information on the best airlines for travel and the best travel sites.
Tourism Offices Worldwide (www.towd.com) has a list of tourist offices and links from around the world.
Travisa.com (www.travisa.com) is a site to get a passport fast. Has information for US travelers to get a visa for most of the countries in the world. Has a first class health section that describes the various diseases that are prevalent in various countries around the world, and how to deal with them. It has links to government travel advisory sites.
Travel Warning/Consular (www.travel.state.gov) gives travel warning and has a list of US embassies overseas.
US State Department Travel Warning (http://travel.state.gov/)gives travel warning for all over the world such as terrorist activities, political problems, epidemics and national disasters. This is the official US State Department site. It has a list of travelers' safety tips. They have an email mailing list from which you can get up-to-date warnings by email. Many times the warnings can be over-emphasized, so you may want to check a few other sources. Also sometimes it is not totally up-to-date, especially when concerning national disasters.

Adventure Tours
AirTreks.com (www.airtreks.com or www.highadv.com) offers adventure tours including a trip to Everest Base Camp.
Gorp: Great Outdoor (www.gorp.com) offers wildlife tours to India and white water rafting and trekking tours in Nepal. They offer a good selection of reasonably priced tours. They also offer hundreds of adventure tours from around the world. They offer bike tours, hiking tours, bird watching, safaris, white-water rafting, trekking, snorkeling, skiing and much more. It has consultants that can help you plan your adventure tour anywhere in the world.

On-line Travel Stores

Health
Medicine & Vaccination Centre (TM+VC) (http://www.tmvc.com.au/info10.html) has recommendation of vaccination for various countries. It has a lot of information about staying healthy while traveling.
National Center for Infectious Diseases Traveler’s Health (www.cdc.gov/travel/destinat.htm) is an excellent site, which tells about health precautions and situations throughout the world. It has recommended vaccines (according to age), the latest disease outbreaks in different countries, instructions on how not to get sick, and what to bring with you.
Shoreland Travel Health Online (www.tripprep.com) is a health guide to more than 200 countries worldwide. It has a good section on the health situation in India and Nepal.
The WHO (World Health Organization) (http://www.who.int/ith/english/country.htm) has a list of different vaccination requirement for countries around the world and what to take for malaria. They recommended chloroquine plus proguanil as a malaria prophylaxis (preventative) for India.

Travel Book Sellers
The Travel Bug (www.swifty.com/tbug/) carries books and other items in reference to travel. It is located in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Prices listed in their catalogs are in Canadian Dollars $1 = .66US. Carries around 7,000 travels books. Carries all the major series including Lonely Planet, Moon, Rough Guides, Insight Guides, Let’s Go, etc.
The Travel Bug
2667 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6K 2G2
Phone: 604 737-1122
Email: travlbug@uniserve.com
Hit the Road (www.roadtripstore.com) is a US travel site. Carries travel books. Email: hittheroad@roadtripstore.com.
Wide World Books & Maps has 14,000 maps and books in stock (www.travelbooksandmaps.com). Has a great selection of travel books and maps. The site is well organized and loads fast and has a good selection.

Powells Book Store (www.powells.com) is a full service books store.
Adventurous Travelers Bookstore (http://www.gorp.com/atbook.htm).
Travel Books and Maps
4411A Wallingford Ave.
N. Seattle 98103
206 634-3453; fax 206 634-0558
888 534-3453 toll free
Email: travel@speakeasy.org

Travel Insurance
A.M. Best (www.ambest.com) is a company that gives out ratings on insurance company's financial health.
Access America (www.accessamerica.com) (800 284-8300) gets a high rating for travel insurance.
CSA Travel Insurance (www.travelsecure.com) is a recommended company for travel insurance. Can get a quote online. Has some good travel links and a list of USA toll free travel numbers.
Expat Financial (www.expatfinancial.com) has a range of international life, health and disability insurance for expatriates living abroad.
HSH Associates: State Insurance Regulators (www.hsh.com/pamphlets/state_ins_depts.html) has links to tell if various insurance companies have a license in various states.
InsureMyTrip.com (www.insuremytrip.com) has a facility on the left side of the home page to compare policy and prices between five companies all at the same time. You choose the length of the trip, how many people and their ages, the date of the trip, the type of coverage (medical, baggage claims, etc.), and then you will have returned to you several quotes.
Medibroker International (www.medibroker.com) offers insurance for persons traveling abroad. Has free Internet quotes. Contact information is Medibroker International, 17 Seatonville Rd, Whitley Bay, Tyne & Wear NE25 9DA, UK Phone 0191 297 2411; Email: medibroker@aol.com.
Money Extra (www.moneyextra.com) (http://www.moneyextra.com/faqs/travfaq1.htm) has some interesting and worthwhile questions and answers about travel insurance.
TravelASSIST MAGAZINE (www.worldwideassistance.com) has some advice about travel insurance and recommends possible companies for travel insurance.
Travel Guard International (www.travelguard.com) gets good ratings as a reliable company. Has general travel information. Has travel and weather links (800 826-1300).
Travel Insured International (www.travelinsured.com)
Worldwide Assistance Service offers a full travel protection policy for US citizens or residents traveling more than 100 miles from home.

Amex Assurance Co. (800) 234-0375 Berkley Group (800) 645-6615
HealthCare Abroad (800) 237-6615
CSA Travel Protection (800) 248-9505
International SOS Assistance (800) 523-8930
International Travelers (800) 732-5309
Mutual of Omaha/Tele-trip (800) 228-9792

Cyber Cafes
Cybercafes.com (www.netcafes.com or www.cybercafes.com) has over 3,000 cybercafes listed from around the world in 148 countries. Has over 400 cybercafes listed for India.
Mad Nomad (http://www.madnomad.com/etc.cfm (www.madnomad.com) has some cyber cafes listed.
Netcafeguide (www.netcafeguide.com/frames.html) has 185 cybercafes listed for India by cities. Has a book that lists cybercafes with 2,000 cybercafes listed in over 100 countries. It has a clickable map so you can find cafes by area of the world. It is user-friendly.

Computer Information
Everythingemail.net (http://everythingemail.net/email_help_tips.html) gives some good practical advice about sending emails.
Roadwarrior (http://www.roadwarrior.com) (www.roadwarrior.com/) has laptop accessories so one can hook their computer in anywhere in the world. They sell AC ground power adapters, plugs, and travel accessories.
Travelog (www.travelog.net) gives advice about traveling with a laptop and digital camera.
World Wide Phone Guide (http://kropla.com/phones.htm) gives you information on what you need to know to hook up your modem just about anywhere.

Tourist Information
Tourism Offices Worldwide Directory (www.towd.com) has a list of tourist offices worldwide. Has a list of the government tourist offices for India from around the world, but not within India.

Embassies and Visas
Check Visa Requirements (http://www3.travel.com.au/everest/index.cgi?E=bevisreq) has a list of visa requirements for persons from various countries when visiting other countries. It is very detailed and very useful. Quite impressive. Derived from Timatic database.
EmbassyWeb (www.embpage.org) has a list of diplomatic offices and international sites. I found it a bit hard to use, but it may have been just me.
Embassy.org (www.embassy.org) is a resource of and for the Washington D.C. foreign embassy community. Has a listing of foreign embassies in Washington DC.

Map Sites
Mapsofindia (www.mapsofindia.com) has online maps of the Indian states. It also has travel information including flight and train information. It has a section where you can see the distance between cities. It has maps that mark the religious places in India and Wildlife Sanctuaries.
MapBlast! (www.mapblast.com) is an easy to use map search site. It has a Go.Its Live Traffic Report that lets you know present traffic condition, closed roads, construction, accidents and possible delays. It has a list of shopping malls and local radio stations in a particular area. Tells where speed traps are located. It can be downloaded to PalmPilot and Windows CE devices.
MapQuest (www.mapquest.com) has a good set of maps and can gives directions to places in the USA.
Trip.com (www.trip.com) has maps of airports. Hit Tools for Travel and then find your airport.

Airline Complains
OneTravel (www.onetravel.com) has a page called Rules Of The Air. It has a list of the rules that many of the airlines have if there is a problem.
PlanetFeedback (www.planetfeedback.com) can be used to find the email address, address or phone number of some of the airlines in order to complain about a problem.
WebFlyer (www.webflyer.com) has a page called FlyerTalk, where you can access many message boards where travelers gives reports on airlines and trips that they have taken.

Travel Search Site
Travigator II (www.travigator.com) is a travel search site. It has a travel magazine. Has list of London and other countries’ hotels.

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