Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Frommers.com: The Complete Travel Resource
Planning a trip or just returned? Head to
Frommers.com
, voted Best Travel
Site by
PC Magazine.
We think you'll find our site indispensable before, dur-
ing, and after your travels—with expert advice and tips; independent
reviews of hotels, restaurants, attractions, and preferred shopping and
nightlife venues; vacation giveaways; and an online booking tool. We pub-
lish the complete contents of over 135 travel guides in our
Destinations
sec-
tion, covering over 4,000 places worldwide. Each weekday, we publish
original articles that report on
Deals and News
via our free
Frommers.com
Newsletters.
What's more,
Arthur Frommer
himself blogs 5 days a week,
with cutting opinions about the state of travel in the modern world. We're
betting you'll find our
Events
listings an invaluable resource; it's an up-to-
the-minute roster of what's happening in cities everywhere—including con-
certs, festivals, lectures, and more. We've also added weekly
podcasts,
interactive maps,
and hundreds of new images across the site. Finally, don't
forget to visit our
Message Boards,
where you can join in conversations
with thousands of fellow Frommer's travelers and post your trip report once
you return.
While much of the focus of ecotourism
is about reducing impact on the natural
environment, ethical tourism concen-
trates on ways to preserve and enhance
local economies and communities,
regardless of location. You can embrace
ethical tourism by staying at a locally
owned hotel or shopping at a store that
employs local workers and sells locally
produced goods.
Responsible Travel
(www.responsible
travel.com) is a great source of sustainable
travel ideas; the site is run by a spokesper-
son for ethical tourism in the travel indus-
try.
Sustainable Travel International
(www.sustainabletravelinternational.org)
promotes ethical tourism practices, and
manages an extensive directory of sustain-
able properties and tour operators around
the world.
In the U.K.,
Tourism Concern
(www.
tourismconcern.org.uk) works to reduce
social and environmental problems con-
nected to tourism. The
Association of
Independent Tour Operators
(
AITO;
www.aito.co.uk) is a group of specialist
operators leading the field in making holi-
days sustainable.
10 Packages for the Independent Traveler
Good sources of package deals that let
you set your own itinerary are the airlines
themselves. Major carriers that offer air-
land packages to Boston include
Ameri-
can Airlines Vacations
(
&
800/321-2121;
www.aavacations.com),
Midwest Air-
lines Vacations
(
&
888/235-9693; www.
midwestairlinesvacations.com),
United
Vacations
(
&
888/854-3899; www.united
vacations.com),
US Airways Vacations
(
&
800/455-0123; www.usairways
vacations.com), and
Virgin Holidays
(
&
0871/222-5825; www.virginholidays.
co.uk). Flights with
Southwest Airlines
Vacations
(
&
800/243-8372; www.
southwestvacations.com) serve Manches-
ter, New Hampshire, and Providence,
Rhode Island (see box, “Let's Make a
