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By
Ray Barrington
Dot Com Magazine
I'll admit it; for someone who uses the Internet a lot,
there's one thing I don't do much of - purchase things online.
Part of it is that I try to keep my credit card bills down.
A second is that I do like to shop locally, or at least,
see the merchandise I'm buying. A third is that I still
have a slight lack of faith in putting a credit card number
into the ether where who knows where it's going.
(Yes, I know a secure server is probably safer than giving
your credit card to some minimum-wage worker at a restaurant
or store. It's just that lack of face-to-face trust, I guess.)
But there's one area where I have found the Internet invaluable.
Travel. And not just for plane tickets, although that ridiculous
system needs to be beaten by a computer.
(I will never understand why airlines don't just charge
everybody the same amount per mile and be done with it.
It seems to me any losses would be overcome by the money
saved on those expensive computer systems and people to
constantly re-do airfares.)
Where the Internet has shown me the way is in buying tickets.
Going to Nashville? Check and see if you can visit the Grand
Ole Opry. Georgia? Find out the hours at the Martin Luther
King center (or the World of Coca-Cola, if that's what interests
you).
Visiting a big city in the summer? Check mlb.com for baseball
schedules and buy tickets. Add hotels, exchange rate information,
and the occasional coupon for a site you want to visit,
and it's worth spending time online to see where you're
going.
Driving? Get point-to-point directions, from your driveway
to the door of your hotel (or your family's spare bedroom).
I still take the atlas along on road trips, well-highlighted.
But I also include directions printed just hours before.
Ray Barrington is the editor of Dot Com Magazine. Contact
him with comments, story ideas or other correspondence (he
loves correspondence) at [email protected]
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