What is a ‘sister city’ and how can you travel to one on a budget?
A number of cities all over the globe have adopted a sister city in another part of the world to promote greater understanding, among other things, between the two cities and their nations. The sister city ‘movement’ began at the end of World War II and was instigated by America.
Participating cities aim to develop friendships and foster relationships between their chosen sister cities (some cities have more than one sister) and to encourage peace and understanding between nations. This is done in a number of ways – encouraging business and economic relationships through trade and technology, stimulate cultural and creative networks, develop partnerships between cities and countries and to provide the opportunity for sister city citizens to experience other cultures through travel.
Traveling to your sister city may be something you wish to do and it can be done at relatively low cost if you are able to become part of an exchange program. Cultural exchanges between sister cities are generally paid for by your home town. Some cities select students to travel to their sister city for a period of time, (it could be weeks or months) and pay all expenses. If you are a student, investigate what opportunities are available for this type of travel.
Traveling to a sister city is not only for students. Other residents may participate in the program as well. You may be selected as an ambassador of your town to travel to the sister city and take part in projects fostered by the sister cities. You will then likely to be asked to host visitors from the sister city when they travel to your country. If you are able to get on one of these exchange programs you can expect accommodation and food to be taken care of (you will probably be living with a sister city family) but you may have to get involved in fundraising for your trip.
If you think this sounds like a fun (and cheap) way to travel, visit your town’s web site and find out about their sister city program. You’ll need to become a member and join in the volunteer program to help with fundraising. You could be asked to host visitors from your sister city and you may get the opportunity to travel. Becoming involved in the sister city program means becoming a part of creating community links and learning about other cultures – exactly what traveling is all about. You may even have ideas for your community’s sister city program and how it can further foster its global sisters’ relationships.
This article is brought to you by: Stuart S. Travel – Your Online Travel Guru
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My grandfather age 75 from India, wish to travel to America for vacation. Any tips pls.?About Author
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Sherry Hardesty has been a professional flight attendant for over 15 years. Her experience is extensive and she provides professional travel consulting and booking services at http://www.stuartstravel.com
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This looks great thanks for posting this it really helps
He needs a B-2 visas .. having relatives in the US will probably make it more difficult and will probably be refused
I'd like to mount a campaign to encourage people not to go anywhere. Travel has become so expensive and unpleasant that it's hard to understand why people don't stay home.
Why are we crowding our highways and airports to get someplace else? Newspapers and magazines are filled with ads trying to get us to travel. They want us to go somewhere – anywhere but home.
Mexico has special requirements for travelers under the age of 18. The following is copied directly from the US State Department website:
"Mexican law requires that any non-Mexican citizen under the age of 18 departing Mexico must carry notarized written permission from any parent or guardian not traveling with the child to or from Mexico. This permission must include the name of the parent, the name of the child, the name of anyone traveling with the child, and the notarized signature(s) of the absent parent(s). The State Department recommends that the permission should include travel dates, destinations, airlines and a brief summary of the circumstances surrounding the travel. The child must be carrying the original letter – not a facsimile or scanned copy – as well as proof of the parent/child relationship (usually a birth certificate or court document) – and an original custody decree, if applicable. Travelers should contact the Mexican Embassy or closest Mexican Consulate for current information."
New Orleans… you can do all of this except ride roller coasters. There's a couple of casinos just steps from the French Quarter, lots of clubs of all sorts, there's no last call, and it is a fun, fun, fun place! New Orleans is open for business post-Katrina and if you stick to the tourist areas you would hardly notice a hurricane had even been there. But the folks who work there could sure use your tip money, and will be very appreciative. I was there a few months ago, and I got stellar service everywhere I went. Had a blast!
American's Vacation Center was a breeze and we got upgraded rooms. Great experience!! We saved money and got perks.
Always depends on the thickness of your wallet or if you want to "rough it" a bit. Check hostelworld.com for various types of accomodations and rates. Also, cheapest form of travel is by Greyhound bus. Also couchsurfing is a good site to make "connections" and sometimes a free night of lodging. Good luck.
If you want warm and lots of clubs, then go to Miami.
If you want fun, amusement park-type of things, good for kids, then go to Orlando.
If you want cultural, city-type things, then go to New York City, or Washington, DC. You can actually do both of those cities easily by taking a train (it's only 3 hours, costs from $65-$120), or you can take a 4-hour bus for only $35 round trip.
San Francisco is a nice place to visit as well.
I wanted to fly from California to San Jose, Costa Rica. It would have cost $700.00 us. Instead I took a bus all the way …and it cost more.
Avoid El Salvador. I went through San Salvador just after their big earthquake. It wasn't a nice scene with everybody wearing breathing masks because of the dead under the rubble.
It's hard to find your way around. 'All' the streets have no street names. – Not even on the curbs. (Some cities and towns have their street names on the cement curbs)
The second biggest city …I think it's called Santa Anna. The people were really nice there.
You can get around it. Nicaragua to Honduras to Guatemala. – Saves all the paperwork. And money.
I bought one, too, from ebay through this person:
Luis Dardon
Abiluma LLC
DBA Bomdigity Travel
2613 Kismet St.
Marrero, La 70072
504-301-7957 cell
877-326-9476 toll free
e-mail: abiluma@hotmail.com
He claims to be selling for Travel Incentives of America.
It looks like a scam to me. I've been in contact with several other buyers, none have received a hotel reservation. At least one buyer's delivery date has come and gone with no reservation delivered. When you start to realize what happened, they stop answering their phone. Further, Luis has recently "hidden" his buyer's information, which is very suspicious. He obviously doesn't want his buyers to compare notes on him. (You can still find his buyers by looking at his feedback.)
This scam is well thought out. Their terms of service and delivery deadlines are designed to prevent you from disputing the transaction. By the time people realize they are being scammed the deadline to leave negative feedback with ebay has passed and the credit card company will not allow you to dispute a transaction that is over 2 months old.
Further, some of the hotels they sell discounted reservations for (such as Maui, Hawaii) assure me that they are always full and they NEVER sell discounted reservations to anyone ever.
If it has been less than 2 months since you purchased this you can still dispute the charge with your credit card company. Since the delivery dates you agreed to at purchase probably have not passed yet, you can not prove it is a fraud by non-delivery. However, if there are any discrepancies between what was advertised and what was delivered (ie, the "travel certificate), you can dispute the charge on the basis of "item received was significantly different from what was advertised." I hear that they are not going to produce any "travel certificates" in the future, no doubt because too many people use that as the basis for their chargeback.
These scammers are very good.