Vacation Planning: A WebQuest

1. Vacation Planning: A WebQuest

2. Introduction • Job Title – Travel Agent • Does being a travel agent sound like a fun job? Would you like to plan vacations everyday for others to enjoy? Who uses a travel agent, only the wealthy? No. Many people use a travel agent to help them plan a vacation within a certain budget. With access on the Internet today to so many travel discount sites, many people are planning their own vacations, thus becoming their own travel agent. Today, you are going to be your own travel agent and plan a vacation for yourself and one parent or guardian. You will have to stay within a given budget and plan a trip that will be both fun and educational making sure that you think of all expenses.

3. Task • You will be given a choice of southern states to visit for a four- night vacation for yourself and one adult. The budget for the entire vacation is $1200.00. • You must map out the trip, figure the mileage, gas costs, lodging costs, meal costs, and attraction costs per day. 3) You will create a budget and an itinerary of your trip. • You will give a presentation to your class using a poster you design that showcases your trip and all the different elements of your trip.

4. Process(Destination) • Decide where you want to go on vacation by clicking on the tourism links of the states given on the next slide. You need to decide what city or cities you want to visit keeping in mind that your total travel budget is $1200.00 for 4 nights. You must come close to spending that amount, but you cannot go over that amount.

5. Process(Tourism Websites) • http://www.exploregeorgia.org/ • http://www.visitflorida.com • http://www.visitnc.com • http://www.discoversouthcarolina.com • http://www.tnvacation.com

6. Process(Mapping) • Once you have chosen your travel destination, go to www.mapquest.com and click on directions. Enter Dahlonega, GA as your starting location and whatever city you choose as your destination city for ending location. If you choose to visit more than one city, you must do this for the other city or cities as well. For example, if you choose to go to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina then onto Charleston, SC, you would need to make Dahlonega, GA the starting location and Myrtle Beach, SC your ending location on your first search. Then, you would need to make Myrtle Beach, SC your starting location and Charleston, SC your ending location. Your third search would be from Charleston, SC back to Dahlonega, GA. Next, click on get directions, and step by step driving directions will come up as well as a map with the route marked for you. Print all of this out.

7. Process(Mapping Continued) • Use the map first to figure the miles you will have to drive. To do this, use a ruler to measure the scale of the map. Then, use the ruler to measure the distance from Dahlonega, GA to your destination. Be as accurate as you can be considering that most routes are not straight lines. Use the map scale to convert inches into miles using equivalent ratios. Compare this mileage to the mileage figured by mapquest. How close did you get to the actual mileage? • Go to the gas prices link at the top of the page. Click on it and put in the city or cities of destination to make sure you are using a price per gallon that will cover the highest price.

8. Process(Hotel and Attractions) 5. Now go to both www.travelocity.com and www.orbitz.com. Use the two sites to compare hotel prices for the city or cities you want to visit. You can stay in one hotel the entire trip or you can move around if you plan to visit more than one city. Make sure you pick a hotel that fits into your budget. Once you pick a hotel, check both sites to make sure you are getting the best deal. Note: There is a 12% hotel tax per night, so make sure you figure this into your budget. Price comparisons need to be recorded. • Go back to the tourism site for the state you chose and find some attractions that you would like to visit. Two of the attractions have to be educational, such as an historic site, but you can also choose some free attractions like the beach. See next slide for websites.

9. Process(Tourism Websites) • http://www.exploregeorgia.org/ • http://www.visitflorida.com • http://www.visitnc.com • http://www.discoversouthcarolina.com • http://www.tnvacation.com

10. Process(Food) • Decide on a food budget for the trip. Some hotels offer free breakfast. That might be a good way to stay within your budget. What type of food will you be eating at lunch and dinner? Figure the price range. Choose some restaurants and print a menu to back up your food budget. If you will be eating fast food at times, you do not need to print a menu. You can estimate that cost well, I’m sure. Also, don’t forget to figure in snacks and drinks into your food budget. You might get thirsty during the day!!

11. Process(Budget and Itinerary) • Now that you have all budget items figured, use an excel spreadsheet to itemize the vacation budget and get a total cost. This will be part of the final project, so give it a title and make it very understandable. • Create an itinerary from the start of the trip to the end of the trip. List all travel time, attractions, restaurants, and of course, hotels. The itinerary needs to be in order from the first of the trip to the end of the trip. Organize the itineraries by days.

12. Process(Poster and Presentation) • Make a poster to present to the class that includes the budget, the itinerary, pictures of hotels, attractions, restaurants, etc. Pretend that you have to convince your audience that they want to take this trip. You will present your poster while talking about your trip, so make sure you know all about the different parts of the trip. Go back to the tourism site for the state you chose and get some pictures for your poster. Presentation needs to be between 2 and 3 minutes.

13. Rubric

14. Conclusion • This WebQuest has given you the opportunity to do the job of a travel agent and plan a vacation on a specific budget. Through this experience, you learned about a southern travel destination, planned all parts of a vacation, and investigated the prices of different travel necessities, such as transportation, lodging, food, and attractions. Do you think that there are enough resources on the web today to help people plan any type of vacation? Do you think these resources have decreased the need for travel agents?