Here's the latest article from the Budget Travel site at BellaOnline.com.

Have you ever looked at the brochures and websites for fabulous package tours and dreamt of taking the trip? There are some great offers out there, but they don't always fit our exact taste and budgets.

In the article, Copycat Itineraries - Can You Beat the Pros?, I analyzed one of the educational tours from the non-profit organization Elderhostel. Elderhostel has been in business for a long time and their reputation is very good. In the article, I show you one way to compare a package offering against what you could put together yourself.

Remember, as a "retail" independent traveller, you don't have the buying power of a tour operator. Sometimes they can put together packages that the solo traveller can't possibly copy at the same price. In other cases, the package includes extras that you might pay for but don't really want.

I hope you'll enjoy seeing how my calculations worked out.

Copycat Itineraries - Can You Beat the Pros?
Some package tours give great value for money. Others might be better as suggestions for going it on your own.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art39811.asp

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Happy travels,

Jill

Jill Browne, Budget Travel Editor
http://budgettravel.bellaonline.com

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