Travel Website Review: Contiki.Com - Yahoo Voices - voices.yahoo.com

In a day when travel is becoming increasingly uncomfortable, companies like Contiki are providing an increasingly popular service. Contiki has been around for years! But they now have a very good website that helps them cater to the younger crowd of travellers, specifically the 18 to 35 demographic. But take note, this is not your normal travel website- this is a place for adventurers!

WHAT IS CONTIKI.COM?
Contiki.com is a vacation-focused adventure travel website. They primarily do cruises to exotic locales with loads of stopovers to help their customers get a real taste of the destinations. The website is also a forum for travellers to share experiences and tips about their own journeys.

WHAT IS IT LIKE?
The website is easy to navigate. At the top you will find a trip planner that asks for your destination, the month you want to travel, and how long you want to be out. I tried Greece in May for one week. It then asked me my budget. I said any, since this was just an experiment. Suddenly I had a choice between two trips that look like a total blast! Too bad I'm short on cash.

Not only does Contiki.com feature this trip planner, it displays hot deals on trips to different parts of the globe on its homepage. Trips to Europe and ranging south to Australia's beaches and reefs. The site also has links to contests and ways to save money on the trips you book that are not necessarily deals.

Finally there are some neat tools for the traveller. They have videos of fun-loving travellers narrating their adventures, in addition to a community forum for users to share information.

IS IT ANY GOOD?
Of course an opinion of 'good' or 'bad' is subjective, however, for the vacation minded young person, Contiki.com may very well be the place for you. It is full of great ideas for trips and the price of those trips won't always knock you flat. So give it a try.