The facility to travel vast distances is available to more people today than ever before. Economies of scale achieved by mass transportation operators like low-cost airlines have put travelling within the reach of more people.
People travel for business or leisure. Business travellers travel to conduct business in remote locations. These can be dealings with partners or visits to subsidiaries, branches or satellite offices. Large, multinational companies often list business travel as their third or fourth largest expense; such are executives’ penchant for globetrotting.
Leisure travellers usually travel to vacation destinations by car, coach, train, aircraft or a combination of these. The Internet generation will research and book airline tickets via the airlines’ websites, where it is easy to compare prices and seat availability.
However, when the itinerary is long and the destination a remote overseas location, travel agencies can often offer a better package deal. They specialise in travel packages to popular destinations. Their packages may include the entire vacation, including flights, accommodation and meals, with only spending money excluded.
When flying locally, always visit the airlines’ websites, not forgetting those of the low-cost, “no-frills” airlines. On these flights, food usually cost extra and the aircraft may not be as new or quiet as some of the traditional carriers’. However, one can often save a lot of money this way, and the food available on board are not nearly as expensive as booking with a traditional, food-included, traditional carrier in any case.
South Africa’s public transport system is inadequate in many ways, with local taxi, train and bus transport sometimes being as infrequent as they are hazardous. Intercity coach services are very effective, however, and widely used. Car rental services are also freely available in most cities and towns, so it is still relatively easy to travel, if not always cheap.
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