===================================================================== GEORGE G. MORGAN: "ALONG THOSE LINES . . ." "Planning Your Genealogy Vacation on the Internet, Part Two" ===================================================================== In last week's "Along Those Lines . . ." column, I discussed how to start planning your genealogical vacation using the Internet as a primary resource. In particular, I provided a number of sites you can visit and a lot of examples of structured searches you can conduct using your browser and your favorite search engine. Let's continue the exploration this week of the optimum ways to plan the physical part of your trip: airline reservations, maps, hotel accommodations, car rentals, and other logistical arrangements. MAPPING YOUR TRIP Every genealogist knows the importance of maps. Having good maps for your genealogy vacation is imperative, regardless of where you travel. Certainly you should invest in a good, contemporary atlas for planning purposes. If you are a member of the American Automobile Association (AAA), your membership entitles you to free maps as well as their driving route instructions (TripTiks). Remember that AAA has more than just state maps. They offer maps of the entire world, and these often include detailed maps of counties, provinces, parishes, cantons, cities, towns, and villages. You can learn more about AAA at http://www.aaa.com/scripts/WebObjects.dll/ZipCode and current members can access AAA services online. You also can subscribe to Rand-McNally's online service for $34.95 if you want store-quality, downloadable maps. There are other valuable member benefits, including discounts on purchases, personalized trip plans, and hotel and car rental discounts. Their website at http://www.randmcnally.com contains details. ViaMichelin is another excellent resource, especially for European map information. Their site at http://www.viamichelin.com is a great starting point for trip planning overseas, as well as purchasing their high-quality maps. And what about the online mapping programs? There are any number of websites that can provide driving instructions. These include Yahoo! Maps (http://maps.yahoo.com ), MapQuest (http://www.mapquest.com ), Maps.com at http://www.maps.com, MapBlast at http://www.mapblast.com, and a few more. Even America Online and MSN offer such facilities. The problem with these maps is that they are not always great. They sometimes do not include newer addresses. The driving directions they provide may be indirect or even incorrect routes. If you use one of these, be sure to double-check the directions with another online program. You'll be surprised at the differences. If you're using a handheld computer, or Personal Data Assistant (PDA), there are programs you can buy to install on your desktop computer which produce driving directions and maps for your handheld. While Rand-McNally's printed maps and atlases are excellent, their software for the Palm OS PDA has many errors and omissions. You might want to move into the high-tech land of a Global Positioning System (GPS) device and associated software. These units use satellite signals to track your physical position on the earth. Using street address software, you can trace a route to a given location by following the directions. One major advantage of a GPS system is that you can use other online facilities such as the United States Geological Survey's Geographic Name Information Server (USGS GNIS) website at: http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnis/web_query.gnis_web_query_form to locate specific places, including their latitude and longitude, and plot this into your GPS system. You can then lead yourself to that location. Of special interest to you at the USGS site is the ability to search an area such as a state and county by feature type, such as cemetery. You can obtain a search results list, select the item you want to see, obtain the latitude and longitude of the site, and even view and print a topographical map for use on your trip. The latitude and longitude should be convertible to GPS coordinates, depending on the GPS unit and software you have. TRAVEL RESERVATIONS ONLINE Travel can be expensive, and you certainly want to use the power of the Internet to comparison shop your options. In last week's column, I talked about using a search engine to find a lot of places. You certainly can use a commercial travel agent to help you with bookings of all sort, or use your AAA membership to use their travel service. However, let's talk about a few options in locating travel rates that can be accomplished using a search engine. AIRLINES-If you don't know the Web address of your favorite airline, simply enter it into the search engine as follows: "united airlines" "southwest airlines" "delta air" Once at the website, you can explore the reservations options, rates, times, and equipment. Once you have that information in hand, then start searching some of the online travel groups. Notable among these are: --- Orbitz at http://www.orbitz.com --- Travelocity at http://www.travelocity.com --- Expedia at http://www.expedia.com America Online subscribers have access to AOL Travel at AOL keyword: travel, a service provided through Travelocity. If you want to take a chance on locating a deeply discounted plane fare, you can try Priceline.com (http://tickets.priceline.com ). Remember, though, that you may not always get what you want at the best price there, but it's sometimes worth a try. CAR RENTALS-Again, a search engine can help you locate Hertz, Budget, Avis, and other automobile rental companies. You also can get deals through Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia, Priceline.com, and others online. HOTELS AND MOTELS-You can certainly spend anything you want on hotel accommodations, and it is wise to check several different chains in an area for the best price in the location in which you wish to stay. Sometimes there are significant differences. For example, last week in Bonita Springs, Florida, I checked several hotel chains for prices on a king/non-smoking room. The rate at the Comfort Inn was $94; the Holiday Inn Express was $106; the Best Western was $102, and the Hilton was $269. I chose the Holiday Inn Express because it is a newer hotel, it was closer to where I planned to visit, and there were more restaurant choices in the area. Of course, you will make your reservations based on your own criteria. Another site for checking hotels is 1-800-USA Hotels (http://www.1800usahotels.com ), where you can compare rates and features in one location. Finally, let me share with you one of my favorite Internet information sites. It is The Internet 800 Directory (http://inter800.com/search.htm ). Here you can enter the item for which you want to search, and a list of companies with their toll- free 800 numbers will be displayed. You can even narrow your search to a specific state. OTHER LOGISTICAL ARRANGEMENTS As I discussed in last week's column, you can locate specific places, such as libraries, archives, churches, and other places you want to conduct research, using your browser and a favorite search engine. And don't forget people and business search facilities on the Internet. There are the white pages and yellow pages on the Internet that you can locate using a search engine, and I described search terms last week to accomplish this. I hope this week's and last week's columns prove helpful to you for planning your own genealogy vacation trip. The exercises in using a search engine can certainly help you become a more effective searcher on the Internet. They also will help you work more efficiently in your advance planning and get more out of your trip. Have a great time planning, and an even greater time on the trip! Happy planning! George __________________________________________________________________ Copyright 1998-2003, MyFamily.com Inc. and its subsidiaries. Reprinted by permission from "Ancestry Daily News" & George Morgan