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A little about Playa Zipolite, The Beach of the Dead . . .

Playa Zipolite, Oaxaca, Southern Mexico, on the Pacific Ocean. A little bit about my favorite little get-away on this small world of ours.

Zipolite, a sweaty 30-minute walk west from Puerto Angel, brings you to Playa Zipolite and another world. The feeling here is 1970's - Led Zep, Marley, and scruffy gringos.

A long, long time ago, Zipolite beach was usually visited by the Zapotecans...who made it a magical place. They came to visit Zipolite to meditate, or just to rest.

Recently, this beach has begun to receive day-trippers from Puerto Angel and Puerto Escondido, giving it a more TOURISTY feel than before.

Most people come here for the novelty of the nude beach, yoga, turtles, seafood, surf, meditation, vegetarians, discos, party, to get burnt by the sun, or to see how long they can stretch their skinny budget.

I post WWW Oaxaca, Mexico, Zipolite and areas nearby information. Also general budget, backpacker, surfer, off the beaten path, Mexico and beyond, information.

REMEMBER: Everyone is welcome at Zipolite.

ivan

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Don't book another flight before reading this email...


Goats On The Road nick@goatsontheroad.com


I want to help you save money on airfare! I've booked countless flights in my 10 years of travel and I have to tell you that there's a few simple tricks that you can use to really save a lot of money.
Perhaps one of the most frustrating things about booking travels is seeing the cost of flights fluctuating up and down. Just when you think you've found a great deal, you realize that it's much cheaper on another booking engine, or just after you book your flight, the price goes down by 20% for no apparent reason.
Booking flights is a guessing game for many, and while there will always be an element of gambling involved, expert flight hackers can minimize the risk of paying too much for airfare.
In this email, I'm going to share with you 10 of my favourite hacks for finding the best price on airfare. Some of these you may already know, but I'm confident that there will be a few brand new hacks in here that will blow your mind!
Let's get started...

1. Use The Trip Price Function

This is a relatively new feature of Google Flights and it's a great one for finding the best possible flights based on your destination and duration of your proposed trip. If you're looking to book a return flight and you know the duration of your trip, this feature can save you huge money.
Let's say you know that you want to go on a 14 day holiday sometime in May or June. Head to Google Flights and enter your departing and arriving airport, then choose any 14 day period in the months you plan to travel and hit search.
The magic happens now when you go back up to the dates and hover over the calendar. Google Flights will now show you the cost for a 14 day trip on every day of the month. Each day will have a price attached to it and this will be the price if you leave on that day and return 14 days later.
Book your holidays for the cheapest flight dates and save upwards of 50% on your entire journey. In the example above, the cheapest fair in June is 36% cheaper than the most expensive. It pays to shop for the cheapest flight days!

2. Search One-Ways First

Often times, there are specific dates that are cheaper to fly on. Either certain (cheaper) airlines only fly out on those days, or the fares are just lower on certain days for some reason. Whatever it may be, it does pay to search one-way flights first, to see which days are cheaper in each direction.
Using the first hack in this email, you can find the best prices on a 15 day journey, but if you're flexible on how long your trip will be, then it pays to search one ways in each direction first.
find cheap flights
What you do is, head to Google Flights again and choose a one-way flight from your departure airport to your planned destination. Then click on the calendar to view the dates of the month and every day will have a price attached to it. Find the cheapest day and write it down.
Find Cheap Flights
Then switch your arrival and destination airports and check the prices on every day again for your return journey. Often you'll find that there is one day of the week / month that is much cheaper in each direction.
Now search a return journey using the cheapest day for departure and the cheapest day for return that you discovered in the previous steps. Oftentimes this return flight will be the cheapest possible fare you can find between those destinations within a given month.
In the example I've used in these screenshots, I found that departing Vancouver on the 6th and returning on the 21st were the cheapest one way price days and it turns out that the return journey is much cheaper than other days as well.
how to find cheap airfare

3. Utilize Meta Searches

Most flight search engines including Kayak, Expedia and Google Flights will give you a lot of options when it comes to meta searches. Meta are the check boxes and sliders that allow you to narrow your flight search based on criteria that you require.
When I'm searching for flights, I generally don't want to depart earlier than 10am. I don't want more than 1 stop and I want the flight to be a certain duration. These are the three meta searches that I focus on.
By changing the meta in the search, you will potentially be losing some of the cheaper flights from the results, but if you refuse to have 4 stops in your itinerary anyways, then it's worth ignoring those less comfortable flights.
To sort flights by duration, simply scan the page for "Duration" and there is usually a slider that allows you to choose the longest desired duration you're comfortable with for your proposed journey.
The same goes for departure times, arrival times and stops. On Google Flights, these meta search tools are usually at the top of the screen in the form of sliders and check boxes, but oftentimes with other search engines, they appear on the side of the screen.
How to find cheaper flights

4. Use Different Search Engines

I know I've listed Google Flights quite a few times in this email, and that is because I'm a big fan of their user interface and the options it gives me to narrow down my search results, but that doesn't mean that Google will necessarily always have the best prices.
Whenever I'm searching for flights, I'll use my favourite search tool to find the days that are typically cheaper, and then I'll go search those same flights on other websites like Kayak, Expedia and Cheapoair.
My favourite site search with is Google Flights, but I almost always book with Expedia because I trust them 100% and they offer 24 hour free cancellation on most flights. No matter how loyal you are to one company, it's important that you always shop around because you can sometimes find the flights for 20-30% cheaper just by searching on another website.
In my experience, there is no one website that ALWAYS has the cheapest flights, which brings me to my next flight booking hack...

5. Sign Up For a Deal Tracker

Because no one website can find you the cheapest flight deal, it's often worth it to sign up for a flight deal tracker like DollarFlightClub.com. Once you enter your email to their site, they'll send you the best deals available from all websites and airlines based on where you are departing from and where you want to go.
cheap flight hacks
It's really that simple. Once you join their program of 500,000+ frequent flyers, you'll get email alerts when cheap international flights to your dream destinations pop up. The average savings per ticket is over $500 USD, so if you end up buying a flight from your subscription, the service pays for itself 10X.

6. Clear Your Cache

This is an old hack and I've mentioned it many times before on this blog and on our social media accounts and to our email subscribers, but in case you haven't heard, you need to clear your cache before booking any flight.
Pretty much every airline, and all of the flight booking engines that I've listed in this email use cookies to trick customers into buying flights with urgency marketing. I know... cookies sound like a good thing, but in the case of browser cookies on flight engines, they are very bad.
When an airline or booking site sees you returning time and time again to check the price of flights, they know you're more likely to book said holiday if you see the prices going up, rather than down. So, the evil marketing geniuses place a cookie on your browser which means you, and only you, will see a higher price. It sounds like it should be illegal, but it's not.
If you have been booking flights without clearing your browser cache, then I can guarantee you that you've lost a lot of money on flights.
Don't worry, clearing your cache (aka deleting cookies) only takes about 5 seconds and it's easy to do. To learn how to do it on the most popular browsers, click them below:
To always ensure that you're searching without cookies, you can turn off browser cookies in your browser all together, or search in incognito by clicking Control+Shift+N when your browser is open. This will open a new "incognito" tab which is cookie-free. Search for your flight in this window and you'll likely see a cheaper price.
Don't believe me that you can save money by simply clicking one button in your browser? Just check out this screenshot below. That's the exact same flight, the bottom one is the price I was seeing at first, and the top one is the price after clearing my cookies. That's a savings of $125 and it only took me 5 seconds to do!
[caption id="attachment_23198" align="aligncenter" width="564"]planning a trip to Cuba Can you believe it?![/caption]

7. Check Price Trends

If you're not too picky about what time of year your trip is, or you don't care about exact dates within a given few month period, you may want to check historical price trends on flights. Many flight booking engines will give you price trend charts. These are typically estimates of prices for fares on given dates based on historical data.
how to find cheaper flights historical fare chart
Tools like FareDetective will give you historical data of flight prices. Oftentimes flights can vary by as much as 200% based on the time of year. By entering your departure and arrival airport, FareDetective will search their database to tell you what time of year will likely be the cheapest.
cheapest month to fly using Flight Detective
If flight prices dip every year in the middle of October for your proposed journey, you'll see that in the trends charts.
To see the price trends on Google Flights, enter in your dates and airports and hit search, then you'll see a small box below the calendar that says "Price Graph". Click that box and Google will open up a graph of the prices for any given dates. Use the left and right arrows to see when your flight will likely be the cheapest.
This very much uses the same data as the first hack in this list, but it will give you a much more visual representation of the cheapest days to fly.

8. Utilize Google Flight Insights

Before booking any trip, it's worth clicking on the Tips icon on Google Flights. Different flight search engines have different ways of displaying their recommendations, but I find Google's to be incredibly useful.
If you click on Flight Insights and then "Tips", not only will you likely find useful travel guides and information, Google will also search to see if there are cheaper flights available from different airports for you, and it will also sometimes show you discounts on First Class or Business Class flights.
Find Cheap Airfare Online

9. Hack Your Credit Card Rewards

We've covered credit card hacking extensively in this post, so I won't go too much into depth here. Basically what you should do (particularly if you're American where the best cards are available) is sign up for 3 new credit cards that have a good sign-up bonus.
Sometimes you can earn $500 in travel rewards just by signing up for a new card. Then you'll need to spend the required minimum amount each month on all 3 of the cards (usually for a year). Then you can either cancel or keep using the cards, up to you.
By obtaining the bonuses on three cards and by racking up points on all of your spending over a 1-year period, you could easily have enough to pay for a trip.
When booking with points, always check 1st class and business class as well. Oftentimes you can get insane deals on higher flight classes if you use points to book the ticket.

10. Watch Out For Checked Bags

If you can travel carry-on, great! You can save yourself anywhere between $25 and $50 per lag of your flight journey. If you're not a carry-on traveller, you need to be savvy about booking.
If you're booking two separate tickets to get you to a destination, you will likely have to pay for a checked bag on both flights, meaning that you could be adding $100 onto your one way flight cost.
Whenever you're searching for flights, do a quick Google search or call the airline to ask about checked baggage fees. If you find a flight that is $10 cheaper, but you end up having to pay $50 in checked baggage fees, that's not really worth it is it?!
Always do your research and find out what you'll be charged for your checked luggage before you enter in your credit card information and book the flight. If you do have to pay for your luggage, always pay online or while you're booking as it is typically more expensive if you pay at the airport.
I hope you enjoyed this email and I hope you'll save some serious money next time you go to search for flights.
Happy Travels!
- Nick


Inside The REAL Chernobyl Zone | Abandoned Graveyards and Haunted Houses

Monday, March 18, 2019

Is there a place to buy Baileys or other Irish cream by the bottle here in Zipolite? Irish cream and coffee is the best way to start your day


Baileys or other Irish cream

Baileys or other Irish cream
Mar 15, 2019, 12:54 AM
Is there a place to buy Baileys or other Irish cream by the bottle here in Zipolite? Irish cream and coffee is the best way to start your day

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Cozumel, Mexico
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1. Re: Baileys or other Irish cream
Mar 16, 2019, 7:23 PM
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It’ll probably be a bit of a challenge to find Baileys or anything specifically labeled Irish cream. But there are flavored mezcales that are quite creamy and might serve as a decent substitute. They come in many flavors, so you might have to search a bit to find one that works well with coffee.
And I’m not sure if you can find them in Zipolite, but there is a nice souvenir shop near the turtle center in Mazunte that will likely have some. And a few other shops near it that have a relatively decent alcohol selection. I’d hop on a pasajero (the trucks that serve as colectivos) to head there to check it out. That’s probably your best bet.
Enjoy your coffee! Sounds like a perfect start to a day on the beach in Zipolite!
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2. Re: Baileys or other Irish cream
Mar 16, 2019, 7:24 PM
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3. Re: Baileys or other Irish cream
Mar 16, 2019, 7:43 PM
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One of the stores may carry Rompope. A sort of Eggnog liqueur that we’ve purchased in Morelia.,,very nice in coffee

4. Re: Baileys or other Irish cream
Mar 17, 2019, 12:09 AM
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The Mexican version is called Glenbays, actually quite good, and I would be shocked if it cannot be sourced somewhere along one of the beach communities. certainly in the larger centers.
Alvin Starkman - Mezcal Educational Excursions of Oaxaca


Airline Industry Jargon: 17 Terms Every Flyer Should Know


Airline Industry Jargon: 17 Terms Every Flyer Should Know
 
 
 
17 Things You Need to Know Before Booking a Flight »

Airline Industry Jargon: 17 Terms Every Flyer Should Know
Ricky Radka
Sr. Content & Deal Strategist
When it comes to the airline industry, it seems like they’ve gone and created a language of their own. Filled with slang and acronyms, overhearing an airline employee will make you want to open up a translation app on your phone. And when they do decide on a word, the spelling may throw you for a loop. Is it, roundtrip, round trip, or round-trip? We’ve seen it every way possible. Also, for the record, it’s nonstop not non-stop or non stop, as non is a prefix.
Everyday Airline Lingo Explained
While the list of industry and insider jargon is extensive, I’ve taken some of the more popular and misunderstood terms into account to break down their meanings. While many you’ve heard before, you might find out that you’ve been misusing them all along. Here’s a rundown of some common phrases and idioms that every frequent flyer should be aware of.
Direct Flight
This is one of the most misunderstood words in the industry among flyers. A direct flight is not a nonstop flight. Commonly confused, a direct flight may contain a stop(s) along the way to the final destination to on or offload passengers. The key here is that a direct flight does not change its flight number despite touching down between two points. Therefore, it’s considered one continuous trip. Direct flights are less frequent nowadays with better fuel efficiency on most aircraft, however, a handful of airlines are still marketing flights as direct, especially Southwest.
Open-Jaw
An open-jaw itinerary or open-jaw flight is a roundtrip ticket in which the origin or destination airport is not the same in both directions. As an example, a roundtrip ticket on a fare from Atlanta (ATL) to Los Angeles (LAX) with the return portion from San Diego (SAN) to Atlanta (ATL). This itinerary would be considered an open-jaw as the ticket is arriving and departing from two different Californian airports. Open-jaws are generally booked so that a flyer can explore and travel between two destinations without having to backtrack to the arrival airport.
ETOPS
ETOPS is an acronym in the aviation industry for Extended Operations, or technically “extended-range twin-engine operational performance standards." So what does that actually mean? It is the range that airplanes may operate where there are no nearby airports or landing areas. ETOPS leveled certifications are administered to specific models of aircraft that allow them to service long-range routes with a buffer area and time frame to land safely in case of an engine failure. 
IFE
IFE is the acronym for In-Flight Entertainment. The term is mostly synonymous with the seat back video monitors on airplanes, but it also includes music channels, wi-fi, moving maps, and maybe even the Southwest flight attendant’s stand-up comedy routine you might be subjected to.
Red-Eye
Probably the most well-known phrase on the list, a red-eye is a flight that departs at nighttime and is scheduled to arrive the following morning. Generally, flights are red-eyes when they travel from West to East and the time zone changes don’t allow for a full night’s rest. This leaves some passengers semi-exhausted with the namesake pair of puffy red-eyes.
Record Locator/PNR
Nope, a record locator isn’t a hipster looking for some vinyl at the nearby Goodwill. It’s the alphanumeric codes that are six characters long, created when an airline reservation is made. Often used in conjunction with a PNR (Passenger Name Record), these two terms are what the airlines use to store travelers’ itineraries, names, and flight information into their reservation databases. The codes often look like this: XT4D32, and are displayed on confirmation emails and usually on your boarding pass.
Pitch
Pitch is the term used to define the legroom between two airline seats. Measured by the distance from the back of one airplane seat to the seat in front of it, seat pitch is generally measured in inches. On U.S. based airlines seat pitch can vary from a measly 28 to a generous 33 inches of pitch. To find out who offers the most real estate for your legs in economy, click here.
Fifth Freedom
Fifth Freedom refers to the airline right that allows a carrier to fly between two separate foreign countries, as long as the flight originates or terminates in the carrier’s home country. As an example, Emirates operates a flight from New York (JFK) to Dubai (DXB) that heads eastward with a brief stop in Milan (MXP). With fifth freedom rights, a passenger can fly only the New York to Milan segment of that service without the need to fly onward to Dubai. To find out a list of available fifth freedom flights and how they can benefit you look here.
IROP
The abbreviation for Irregular Operations, IROP is industry speak for when a flight schedule is disrupted. IROP includes flight delays and cancellations due to weather, "acts of God," aircraft service, equipment change, or for crew rest. Either way, if you overhear IROP at the airport, odds are you’re not getting to your destination on time.
Deadhead
Beyond being a Jerry Garcia fan, a deadhead in the aviation industry refers to an off-duty employee of an airline traveling in a passenger seat. Deadheading is commonly used for an airline to transport its crew to another city so they can be positioned for work assignment at another destination.
Non-Rev
Not to be confused with deadheading, a non-rev (non-revenue) passenger is an airline employee or their certified friends and family flying on a deeply discounted airline ticket. These flights are generally on a standby basis and for personal travel needs, non-work-related. Non-rev tickets generate no income for the airline and are subject to availability.
Legacy Carrier
By definition, a legacy carrier is an airline with an established route network before the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. But the term is more commonly used regarding a carrier that provides a higher quality of service than that of a low-cost carrier. However, the lines are blurring now as traditional legacy carriers mimic business models set out by rival low-cost companies. DeltaUnited, and American are often cited as the big three legacy carriers, but Alaska and Hawaiian are also categorized as legacy.
ULCC
ULCC is the acronym for Ultra-Low-Cost-Carrier. ULCCs like SpiritAllegiant, and Frontier Airlines rely on a business model that offer rock-bottom fare prices alongside a greater number of ancillaries and add-on fees. Often labeled no-frill airlines, ULCC's often reduce operating cost by flying the same model of aircraft, operate point-to-point routes, and are not members of any airline alliances. Ultra-low-cost-carriers generate non-flight revenue by imposing fees for seat selection, carry-on/checked baggage, and drinks/snacks onboard.
Codeshare
A codeshare agreement or codesharing refers to a flight in which two or more airlines market and are able to sell tickets a specific flight operated by one carrier. Codeshares allow airlines to sell tickets that extend beyond their route networks in conjunction with their codeshare partner airline. For example, if a flyer based in Chicago (ORD) wanted to fly to Melbourne, Australia (MEL), where there are no nonstop flight options, they could take advantage of the codeshare agreement between American and Qantas and purchase an itinerary from American Airlines. That prevents travelers from having to buy two separate tickets on each airline. Codeshares are most prevalent amongst the three major worldwide airline alliances which you can learn more about here.
Metal
Metal is industry slang for which carrier's aircraft is operating the flight. For example, a nonstop flight from Boston (BOS) to Paris (CDG) can be purchased on the Delta website, and through a codeshare agreement will actually be flown on an Air France airplane. Therefore the flight is ticketed by Delta but flown on Air France "metal."
Layover vs. Stopover
Don’t get these two terms confused. Despite sounding the same, they have different meanings and your time could be at stake.
A layover is a flight connection ranging from as short as a half an hour upwards to 23 hours and 59 minutes. Anything under the 24-hour mark classifies as a layover. Layovers can last overnight, and depending on the booking site, building in an extended layover shouldn’t change your final flight price if kept under the 24-hour parameter.
A stopover refers to a connection that is over the 24-hour mark and can last multiple days (domestically a stopover is considered a connection of over four hours). Stopovers are generally found on routes that don’t have daily frequency or if an airline's flight schedule allows for them. Stopovers can be an excellent tool for flyers to take some time to explore a city on the way to their final destination. Over the last few years, we have seen airlines relaxing their stopover policies and even promoting free stopovers to entice travelers to break up their journey using a multi-day stopover. To find out more about how to maximize a free stopover on your next trip click here.
Are there any other airline terms or phrases that confuse you? Leave your comments and suggestions below.
 Header image by Skycolors via shutterstock.com


🌊Playas de Oaxaca/bahía El Tejoncito