September 11, 2024 • 18 mins
Is artificial intelligence ruining travel writing? Join me, Bob Bales, on The Traveling Fool Podcast as I confront the relentless invasion of AI in the travel industry. AI-generated content is drowning out authentic voices, overshadowing the unique perspectives of independent travel bloggers and personal websites. Drawing from my own journey as a ghostwriter, I highlight how AI's presence has weakened the richness of personalized biographies.
Stay with me until the end for a practical tip that'll help you save big on your airfares. Imagine scoring a round trip from Houston to Cancun for just $32 by dedicating a few minutes each day to hunt for flight deals. Learn how setting flexible search parameters can open up a world of affordable travel possibilities. Make sure to catch this episode for more tips on how to make your travel dreams a reality without breaking the bank. Safe travels and happy savings!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, my name is Bob Bales and this is the Traveling
Fool Podcast, and today we'regoing to talk about a subject
that has just been reallybugging me.
I want you to stay tuned to thevery end of the podcast because
I'm going to give you a reallygood tip on how to save big on
airfares Absolutely free, notgoing to cost you a penny.
So let's get started.
(00:22):
Alright, let's get into thisArtificial intelligence,
(00:48):
especially as it relates totravel writing, but let's just
talk about it in general andwe'll talk about some specific
travel writing problems with it.
I absolutely despise artificialintelligence and AI.
Yes, it has its places If youwant to do massive computing
problems and solve mathematicalequations that would take 500
(01:08):
years in a split second, yeah,okay, fine, and there are some
other valid uses for it, but Ithink it's being overused way
too much.
And artificial intelligence orthey've used artificial
intelligence to pretty muchdecimate travel blogs and
independent sites on theinternet.
(01:30):
And let me tell you how.
With all the new Google updatescoming out, you type in a
search on Google and they giveyou answers to your queries
based on AI, which meansartificial intelligence, curated
info mostly from just a few ofthe big sites.
(01:50):
That's all you're seeing.
Google AI is also rolling outan AI trip planning tool, which
will hurt all kinds ofindustries and companies Now,
where, in the past, content waswritten using keywords based on
what people were searching forand writers were writing content
(02:12):
based on first-hand experience.
All of that is gone.
You will likely never see thosetype articles, since they will
be buried on page 20 of Google,if at all.
So let's think about this.
Ai generates an article fromarticles and info that are
already circulating on theInternet, so if the articles and
(02:36):
info on the Internet are beingwritten by AI, then that is
where you get all kinds ofinaccurate and just plain wrong
information.
It's just feeding upon itself.
I used to do some work as aghostwriter for a company that
writes people's biographies.
It was fun.
It entailed interviewing peopleabout their lives, either in
(02:58):
person or by Zoom calls, andthen writing their story using
their words, while trying tocapture their storytelling tone.
It would take severalinterviews and then editing and
possibly rewriting portionsuntil the client was happy
before.
The company would then turn itinto a printed book that they
(03:19):
could pass down to theirchildren, grandchildren, or, in
some cases, they even sold them.
That company now uses AI, wherethe person answers questions on
a printed form and then theirmagic AI turns it into a
biography.
The result is nowhere near thequality it used to be and many,
(03:42):
including myself, have opted tojust no longer be associated
with that company.
Ai may be able to summarize andput together sentences, but it
cannot impart the passion of thewriter or the first-hand
knowledge of what the writerexperienced.
What you get is a sanitized,uninspiring, bland and generic
article that doesn't give thereader any insight as to what
(04:04):
the writer is trying to getacross.
Just imagine for a second ifany of the books and articles
you read in the past years werewritten by AI.
How could AI capture thepersonal experiences of
Hemingway or the legal thrillersof John Grisham or the
unsettling horror of StephenKing King?
When it comes to travel writing, we would have never had On the
(04:26):
Road by Jack Chirac or theGreat Railway Bazaar by Paul
Thoreau, the written word byHemingway and others, to include
the many National Geographicarticles.
Instilled in me as a young mana dream about traveling to
faraway places so I could seeand experience those things that
I read about.
It was the vivid picturespainted by the writer that
(04:49):
allowed me to see what they sawand I could almost smell the
surrounding area.
I laughed at their funnystories and I was enthralled by
their ability to take me ontheir journey.
I couldn't wait to get older soI could experience all the
things they did.
(05:09):
Now there are a lot of goodwriters and bloggers out there
that unfortunately just neverget much exposure and with all
these latest Google updates, alot of their articles that they
put on their personal websitesand blogs they just never get
seen.
The travel blogging industry isfull of really good travel
bloggers and writers that delveinto destinations.
They tell a good story, theycover places from well-known
(05:31):
destinations to the lesstraveled, they give tips on
places to visit the surroundingarea and much, much more.
Unfortunately, you willprobably never read their blogs.
The main reason is thatarticles just may not show up on
Google's front page for theterm you're searching for the
(05:52):
larger sites.
Well, they pay a lot of moneyso you can see their articles
when you type in places to visitnear Memphis or best things to
do in Houston on the weekend orday trips out of Nashville.
It's called SEO Search EngineOptimization and it changes
(06:12):
monthly the rules of what Googleis looking for and how to do
keyword research and all thisstuff.
It's constantly changing and alot of these large companies.
They employ a lot of people andpay a lot of money to play
around with search engines sothat they can get their stuff
(06:32):
seen.
So no matter what you type inthere, you get the same results
main articles showing up fromthe same main publishers all the
time.
And now, with AI, it's beingused by people to write articles
to rank high in Google.
Most are just generic, plainarticles with very little value
(06:57):
in anything new.
Plus, none of them are writtenby a person who actually went
there.
Nobody experienced thatlocation.
They can't tell you what theysaw or experienced.
Ai pulls from a myriad of infothat's already just circulating
around on the internet and thenjust regurgitates.
(07:19):
It compiles a new article basedon what it finds.
When you get a chance to dosomething like this type in
cheapest Caribbean destinations,and you do that in two or three
AI generators and you will getbasically the same info, just
rewritten.
But it's all the same stuff.
(07:40):
But it's all the same stuff,whether it's best restaurants,
best hotels, free things to doin a blank place, places to
visit in wherever.
All generic, all the same info,all AI generated.
Now you will see some of thesetitles actually written by
(08:03):
someone that visited thelocations listed.
The reason the title is writtenthat way?
Well simple you want to pleasethe Google gods, so hopefully
someone will read your articleand visit your website.
Having said that, with theadvent of AI, more and more
articles online and even print,are being written using AI.
It's really a fairly simplething to do Using various
websites and software.
(08:24):
You just do a search for topkeywords that get a lot of
search volume.
For a subject say steakhousesin Houston, texas, that has a
pretty large monthly searchvolume and relatively low
competition, there's not a lotof people trying to write
articles about that.
So then you just go to an AIgenerator, have it write an
(08:48):
article about the beststeakhouses in Houston Texas,
tell the AI generator how manywords you want to use and, when
it's done, go back and stuff itwith related keywords and voila,
you're an expert.
The article gets peoplesearching Google for that term
to click on.
Give you an example I did justthat.
(09:09):
It took me about 30 seconds.
I got 800 word article thatstarts out with the headline
Savoring Excellence the beststeakhouses in Houston, texas.
That sounds pretty enticing,doesn't it?
So let's see what they say.
I'll just read you the firstparagraph.
(09:33):
When it comes to indulging inthe perfectly cooked steak,
houston, texas stands out as acarnivorous paradise.
The city is home to a myriad ofsteakhouses, each offering a
unique blend of flavors,ambiance and culinary expertise,
whether you're a seasoned steakenthusiast or a first-time
visitor, here are some of thebest steakhouses in Houston that
(09:54):
promise a delectable journeyinto the world of prime cuts and
fine dining and their littleaegidoria went on the list.
Eight or ten of the popularsteakhouses in Houston that
everybody else lists the sameeight or ten with the same basic
info.
So there's really no need toactually travel anywhere.
You can just write about itusing AI.
(10:16):
There's no need to visit arestaurant.
Tell people what yourexperience was.
Just use AI and be the expert.
You can write an expert opinionarticle on just about anything.
Want to sound like an authorityon parenting, cooking, travel,
be a security expert or anyother subject?
Just use AI and pawn it off asyour own.
(10:39):
Unfortunately, there are a lotof sites, and some really,
really big and popular ones,that are doing just that, and
people reading those articlesthink it's being written by an
actual person that has some kindof experience with the subject
matter.
There are individual bloggersand writers out there that are
using AI in an attempt to solvewriter's block or to try and
(11:02):
compete in the search enginegame.
Sometimes it works and peopleare making money by pushing out
AI-generated content, but noneof it is really that helpful to
anyone, just more generic infofor AI to use and keep
regurgitating.
Here's another thing Withcurrent technology, you can
(11:22):
clone yourself into a lifelikeavatar.
There are programs out there.
Doesn't cost much money.
You can set this entire systemup for less than $500.
And probably a lot less thanthat but you can create a
lifelike avatar of yourself andyou can input the topic that you
(11:49):
want to write about and AI willproduce a video of you speaking
.
So YouTube or Facebook videoscan be produced with you the
authority talking, selling aproduct or course or anything at
all all made completely by AI.
(12:09):
Inspiring, isn't it?
Maybe I should go on to be anexpert about interstellar travel
.
That'd be interesting, wouldn'tit?
With AI invading everything,we're raising a generation of
idiots.
There's no more school reportson the causes of World War I or
(12:30):
the history and culture of thePlains Indians.
Instead, just ask AI to writean 800-word essay and turn it in
.
Why the need to ever read abook or write anything original
when AI can just churn outnonsense?
Why the need to ever read abook or write anything original
when AI can just churn outnonsense?
As you can tell by now, I havevery little use for AI when it
comes to writing articles, andI'm glad it wasn't around when I
(12:51):
was young and reading booksthat took me to faraway places.
Or that monthly NationalGeographic that told me about
the Blues Trail in Mississippi,or the tribes of the Amazon.
Or afoot in roadless Nepal,where a writer undertakes a
survey for the UN at a time whenforeigners rarely visited Nepal
(13:12):
and very few ever left thecapital.
And later on I had theopportunity to visit Nepal twice
and see some of those things Iread about.
But unfortunately the genie'sout of the bottle.
I predict it'll only get worse.
I just choose not toparticipate in it or waste my
(13:33):
time consuming the genericdrivel being produced.
Believe it or not, there arestill good writers out there
that tell a good story.
It just takes some effort tofind them.
When you do, let them know youread their articles, support
them by following them, sharingtheir articles, so they can keep
telling the stories that willinspire future generations to
(13:56):
travel and visit those placesthey read about.
So that's it for my rant, fortoday.
Now, but before I go, here's thetip I promised you.
One of the biggest expenses intraveling is what the air travel
involved, unless you do roadtrips, which I love doing road
(14:17):
trips, but it's kind of hard todo a road trip if you're going
to a Caribbean island.
So here's a good tip whenlooking for flights, go to the
website kayakcom, forward, slash, explore.
Kayakcom is a big search enginefor travel and hotels and all
(14:41):
kinds of stuff, and they havethat explore button.
When you do that, you'll see asearch bar at the top where you
can put in your departure cityor airport.
In the next block you put inthe destination I'm having a
hard time talking.
Here Must be all that rum Idrank.
I'm having a hard time talking.
Here Must be all that rum Idrank.
(15:04):
In the next block, you put inthe destination, but put it and
set it to where it says anywhere.
And in the travel date block,set it for any time, slash any
duration.
Now what that's going to do isit's going to search you leaving
a certain airport, goinganywhere anytime for the next
six months.
On the left-hand side there areoptions for how many stops you
(15:27):
want to make.
I want a nonstop flight.
One stop, two stops.
It doesn't matter how manystops.
Whatever.
Set your budget.
You can type in the maximumbudget you want to spend.
You'd also put in there yourflight duration and the type of
destination.
So, as I was planning this out,I did a little research and it
(15:49):
only takes a couple of minutesto do this.
So I searched for departing outof Houston Texas, any stops,
any budget, any duration andbeach destinations, because I do
love being a good beach.
Now the search appears on aworld map and you can move it
around and zoom in.
And if you zoom in, like someof the smaller islands, you'll
(16:10):
get airfares, whereas if it'szoomed all the way out, you
won't see any airfares listed.
So when you get to smallerlocations, just zoom in a little
bit and you'll see a bunch ofairfares listed.
So when you get to like smallerlocations, just zoom in a
little bit and you'll see abunch of airfares pop up.
Now, when I did that I gotresults, and all of these are
for round-trip flights onvarious airlines.
I got round-trip flightsHouston to Fort Lauderdale,
(16:34):
florida, for $85 round-trip.
I could go to Aruba for $298.
Valencia, spain, for $521.
Phuket, thailand, for $895.
I've been there, it's beautiful.
Honolulu for $362.
And all of these are roundtrips.
(16:54):
And there was a whole lot more,and these are just beach
destinations.
You can leave that section blanktoo and just say I want to go
anywhere anytime for no morethan $400.
And just see what pops up.
It only takes two or threeminutes to do it.
I search daily just so I cansee what's out there and,
(17:20):
believe it or not, I have foundflights from Houston to Cancun
for $32 round trip.
Lord have mercy.
It cost me $32 to drivedowntown Houston and park for
the day, almost.
So that's one little tip thatyou can use to save money for
airfares.
It only takes a couple ofminutes.
Do some exploration.
You might just discover areally cool destination you want
(17:43):
to go visit.
So I'll give you another tip onthe next episode that'll help
you save some more airfare.
Until then, this has been BobBales, the Traveling Fool, and
safe travels to you.
Take care, thank you, you.
Hi, my name is Bob Bales and this is the Traveling
Fool Podcast, and today we'regoing to talk about a subject
that has just been reallybugging me.
I want you to stay tuned to thevery end of the podcast because
I'm going to give you a reallygood tip on how to save big on
airfares Absolutely free, notgoing to cost you a penny.
So let's get started.
(00:22):
Alright, let's get into thisArtificial intelligence,
(00:48):
especially as it relates totravel writing, but let's just
talk about it in general andwe'll talk about some specific
travel writing problems with it.
I absolutely despise artificialintelligence and AI.
Yes, it has its places If youwant to do massive computing
problems and solve mathematicalequations that would take 500
(01:08):
years in a split second, yeah,okay, fine, and there are some
other valid uses for it, but Ithink it's being overused way
too much.
And artificial intelligence orthey've used artificial
intelligence to pretty muchdecimate travel blogs and
independent sites on theinternet.
(01:30):
And let me tell you how.
With all the new Google updatescoming out, you type in a
search on Google and they giveyou answers to your queries
based on AI, which meansartificial intelligence, curated
info mostly from just a few ofthe big sites.
(01:50):
That's all you're seeing.
Google AI is also rolling outan AI trip planning tool, which
will hurt all kinds ofindustries and companies Now,
where, in the past, content waswritten using keywords based on
what people were searching forand writers were writing content
(02:12):
based on first-hand experience.
All of that is gone.
You will likely never see thosetype articles, since they will
be buried on page 20 of Google,if at all.
So let's think about this.
Ai generates an article fromarticles and info that are
already circulating on theInternet, so if the articles and
(02:36):
info on the Internet are beingwritten by AI, then that is
where you get all kinds ofinaccurate and just plain wrong
information.
It's just feeding upon itself.
I used to do some work as aghostwriter for a company that
writes people's biographies.
It was fun.
It entailed interviewing peopleabout their lives, either in
(02:58):
person or by Zoom calls, andthen writing their story using
their words, while trying tocapture their storytelling tone.
It would take severalinterviews and then editing and
possibly rewriting portionsuntil the client was happy
before.
The company would then turn itinto a printed book that they
(03:19):
could pass down to theirchildren, grandchildren, or, in
some cases, they even sold them.
That company now uses AI, wherethe person answers questions on
a printed form and then theirmagic AI turns it into a
biography.
The result is nowhere near thequality it used to be and many,
(03:42):
including myself, have opted tojust no longer be associated
with that company.
Ai may be able to summarize andput together sentences, but it
cannot impart the passion of thewriter or the first-hand
knowledge of what the writerexperienced.
What you get is a sanitized,uninspiring, bland and generic
article that doesn't give thereader any insight as to what
(04:04):
the writer is trying to getacross.
Just imagine for a second ifany of the books and articles
you read in the past years werewritten by AI.
How could AI capture thepersonal experiences of
Hemingway or the legal thrillersof John Grisham or the
unsettling horror of StephenKing King?
When it comes to travel writing, we would have never had On the
(04:26):
Road by Jack Chirac or theGreat Railway Bazaar by Paul
Thoreau, the written word byHemingway and others, to include
the many National Geographicarticles.
Instilled in me as a young mana dream about traveling to
faraway places so I could seeand experience those things that
I read about.
It was the vivid picturespainted by the writer that
(04:49):
allowed me to see what they sawand I could almost smell the
surrounding area.
I laughed at their funnystories and I was enthralled by
their ability to take me ontheir journey.
I couldn't wait to get older soI could experience all the
things they did.
(05:09):
Now there are a lot of goodwriters and bloggers out there
that unfortunately just neverget much exposure and with all
these latest Google updates, alot of their articles that they
put on their personal websitesand blogs they just never get
seen.
The travel blogging industry isfull of really good travel
bloggers and writers that delveinto destinations.
They tell a good story, theycover places from well-known
(05:31):
destinations to the lesstraveled, they give tips on
places to visit the surroundingarea and much, much more.
Unfortunately, you willprobably never read their blogs.
The main reason is thatarticles just may not show up on
Google's front page for theterm you're searching for the
(05:52):
larger sites.
Well, they pay a lot of moneyso you can see their articles
when you type in places to visitnear Memphis or best things to
do in Houston on the weekend orday trips out of Nashville.
It's called SEO Search EngineOptimization and it changes
(06:12):
monthly the rules of what Googleis looking for and how to do
keyword research and all thisstuff.
It's constantly changing and alot of these large companies.
They employ a lot of people andpay a lot of money to play
around with search engines sothat they can get their stuff
(06:32):
seen.
So no matter what you type inthere, you get the same results
main articles showing up fromthe same main publishers all the
time.
And now, with AI, it's beingused by people to write articles
to rank high in Google.
Most are just generic, plainarticles with very little value
(06:57):
in anything new.
Plus, none of them are writtenby a person who actually went
there.
Nobody experienced thatlocation.
They can't tell you what theysaw or experienced.
Ai pulls from a myriad of infothat's already just circulating
around on the internet and thenjust regurgitates.
(07:19):
It compiles a new article basedon what it finds.
When you get a chance to dosomething like this type in
cheapest Caribbean destinations,and you do that in two or three
AI generators and you will getbasically the same info, just
rewritten.
But it's all the same stuff.
(07:40):
But it's all the same stuff,whether it's best restaurants,
best hotels, free things to doin a blank place, places to
visit in wherever.
All generic, all the same info,all AI generated.
Now you will see some of thesetitles actually written by
(08:03):
someone that visited thelocations listed.
The reason the title is writtenthat way?
Well simple you want to pleasethe Google gods, so hopefully
someone will read your articleand visit your website.
Having said that, with theadvent of AI, more and more
articles online and even print,are being written using AI.
It's really a fairly simplething to do Using various
websites and software.
(08:24):
You just do a search for topkeywords that get a lot of
search volume.
For a subject say steakhousesin Houston, texas, that has a
pretty large monthly searchvolume and relatively low
competition, there's not a lotof people trying to write
articles about that.
So then you just go to an AIgenerator, have it write an
(08:48):
article about the beststeakhouses in Houston Texas,
tell the AI generator how manywords you want to use and, when
it's done, go back and stuff itwith related keywords and voila,
you're an expert.
The article gets peoplesearching Google for that term
to click on.
Give you an example I did justthat.
(09:09):
It took me about 30 seconds.
I got 800 word article thatstarts out with the headline
Savoring Excellence the beststeakhouses in Houston, texas.
That sounds pretty enticing,doesn't it?
So let's see what they say.
I'll just read you the firstparagraph.
(09:33):
When it comes to indulging inthe perfectly cooked steak,
houston, texas stands out as acarnivorous paradise.
The city is home to a myriad ofsteakhouses, each offering a
unique blend of flavors,ambiance and culinary expertise,
whether you're a seasoned steakenthusiast or a first-time
visitor, here are some of thebest steakhouses in Houston that
(09:54):
promise a delectable journeyinto the world of prime cuts and
fine dining and their littleaegidoria went on the list.
Eight or ten of the popularsteakhouses in Houston that
everybody else lists the sameeight or ten with the same basic
info.
So there's really no need toactually travel anywhere.
You can just write about itusing AI.
(10:16):
There's no need to visit arestaurant.
Tell people what yourexperience was.
Just use AI and be the expert.
You can write an expert opinionarticle on just about anything.
Want to sound like an authorityon parenting, cooking, travel,
be a security expert or anyother subject?
Just use AI and pawn it off asyour own.
(10:39):
Unfortunately, there are a lotof sites, and some really,
really big and popular ones,that are doing just that, and
people reading those articlesthink it's being written by an
actual person that has some kindof experience with the subject
matter.
There are individual bloggersand writers out there that are
using AI in an attempt to solvewriter's block or to try and
(11:02):
compete in the search enginegame.
Sometimes it works and peopleare making money by pushing out
AI-generated content, but noneof it is really that helpful to
anyone, just more generic infofor AI to use and keep
regurgitating.
Here's another thing Withcurrent technology, you can
(11:22):
clone yourself into a lifelikeavatar.
There are programs out there.
Doesn't cost much money.
You can set this entire systemup for less than $500.
And probably a lot less thanthat but you can create a
lifelike avatar of yourself andyou can input the topic that you
(11:49):
want to write about and AI willproduce a video of you speaking
.
So YouTube or Facebook videoscan be produced with you the
authority talking, selling aproduct or course or anything at
all all made completely by AI.
(12:09):
Inspiring, isn't it?
Maybe I should go on to be anexpert about interstellar travel
.
That'd be interesting, wouldn'tit?
With AI invading everything,we're raising a generation of
idiots.
There's no more school reportson the causes of World War I or
(12:30):
the history and culture of thePlains Indians.
Instead, just ask AI to writean 800-word essay and turn it in
.
Why the need to ever read abook or write anything original
when AI can just churn outnonsense?
Why the need to ever read abook or write anything original
when AI can just churn outnonsense?
As you can tell by now, I havevery little use for AI when it
comes to writing articles, andI'm glad it wasn't around when I
(12:51):
was young and reading booksthat took me to faraway places.
Or that monthly NationalGeographic that told me about
the Blues Trail in Mississippi,or the tribes of the Amazon.
Or afoot in roadless Nepal,where a writer undertakes a
survey for the UN at a time whenforeigners rarely visited Nepal
(13:12):
and very few ever left thecapital.
And later on I had theopportunity to visit Nepal twice
and see some of those things Iread about.
But unfortunately the genie'sout of the bottle.
I predict it'll only get worse.
I just choose not toparticipate in it or waste my
(13:33):
time consuming the genericdrivel being produced.
Believe it or not, there arestill good writers out there
that tell a good story.
It just takes some effort tofind them.
When you do, let them know youread their articles, support
them by following them, sharingtheir articles, so they can keep
telling the stories that willinspire future generations to
(13:56):
travel and visit those placesthey read about.
So that's it for my rant, fortoday.
Now, but before I go, here's thetip I promised you.
One of the biggest expenses intraveling is what the air travel
involved, unless you do roadtrips, which I love doing road
(14:17):
trips, but it's kind of hard todo a road trip if you're going
to a Caribbean island.
So here's a good tip whenlooking for flights, go to the
website kayakcom, forward, slash, explore.
Kayakcom is a big search enginefor travel and hotels and all
(14:41):
kinds of stuff, and they havethat explore button.
When you do that, you'll see asearch bar at the top where you
can put in your departure cityor airport.
In the next block you put inthe destination I'm having a
hard time talking.
Here Must be all that rum Idrank.
I'm having a hard time talking.
Here Must be all that rum Idrank.
(15:04):
In the next block, you put inthe destination, but put it and
set it to where it says anywhere.
And in the travel date block,set it for any time, slash any
duration.
Now what that's going to do isit's going to search you leaving
a certain airport, goinganywhere anytime for the next
six months.
On the left-hand side there areoptions for how many stops you
(15:27):
want to make.
I want a nonstop flight.
One stop, two stops.
It doesn't matter how manystops.
Whatever.
Set your budget.
You can type in the maximumbudget you want to spend.
You'd also put in there yourflight duration and the type of
destination.
So, as I was planning this out,I did a little research and it
(15:49):
only takes a couple of minutesto do this.
So I searched for departing outof Houston Texas, any stops,
any budget, any duration andbeach destinations, because I do
love being a good beach.
Now the search appears on aworld map and you can move it
around and zoom in.
And if you zoom in, like someof the smaller islands, you'll
(16:10):
get airfares, whereas if it'szoomed all the way out, you
won't see any airfares listed.
So when you get to smallerlocations, just zoom in a little
bit and you'll see a bunch ofairfares listed.
So when you get to like smallerlocations, just zoom in a
little bit and you'll see abunch of airfares pop up.
Now, when I did that I gotresults, and all of these are
for round-trip flights onvarious airlines.
I got round-trip flightsHouston to Fort Lauderdale,
(16:34):
florida, for $85 round-trip.
I could go to Aruba for $298.
Valencia, spain, for $521.
Phuket, thailand, for $895.
I've been there, it's beautiful.
Honolulu for $362.
And all of these are roundtrips.
(16:54):
And there was a whole lot more,and these are just beach
destinations.
You can leave that section blanktoo and just say I want to go
anywhere anytime for no morethan $400.
And just see what pops up.
It only takes two or threeminutes to do it.
I search daily just so I cansee what's out there and,
(17:20):
believe it or not, I have foundflights from Houston to Cancun
for $32 round trip.
Lord have mercy.
It cost me $32 to drivedowntown Houston and park for
the day, almost.
So that's one little tip thatyou can use to save money for
airfares.
It only takes a couple ofminutes.
Do some exploration.
You might just discover areally cool destination you want
(17:43):
to go visit.
So I'll give you another tip onthe next episode that'll help
you save some more airfare.
Until then, this has been BobBales, the Traveling Fool, and
safe travels to you.
Take care, thank you, you.
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