TRAVEL-SPEAK: A glossary of travel terms
So you know and you don’t get lost

General Terms
Accommodations and Tours
Air Travel
Sources

General Terms

Photo: Nards Coll ©

All-inclusive: A fixed-price package that includes all elements of the vacation. All-inclusive vacations usually include transportation, accommodations, meals, and sometimes sightseeing.

Backpacking – Travel to experience different cultures, local color, shoestring budget, rugged terrain, adventure travel – usually with a companion or alone, with a backpack; McGyver-ish

Budget Travel - prioritizing and making the most of your trip for the least amount of money;

Booking: the act of reserving vacation components; another name for reservation.

ETA - The abbreviated form of Estimated Time of Arrival, used in computer
reservations systems, airports, and by the travel industry.

Excursion: A side trip, usually short, made with the intention of returning to the starting location

Island hopping: Visiting a number of islands in quick succession, as on a cruise.
Itinerary: A chronological itemized list of all components for a vacation. The itinerary includes air flights, hotels, car rentals, tours, attractions, ground transportation, and taxes.

Published Fare - A fare that is available for purchase to anyone. Any fare listed
specifically in the airline carrier's schedule of prices. The airline controls the prices.

Quote: To state a price.

Road Trip - the only defining factor of a road trip is the road. Vehicle, route, tempo and purpose are all up to each traveler, which means the real adventure begins in the mind. (Mark Sedenquist, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13971694/)

Tariff: A schedule of fares or prices.

Trip - In the travel industry, any journey of more than 100 miles from a person's home, regardless of whether an overnight stay is involved.

Tourist: - are persons who are "travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited" (official UNWTO definition). The distance between these two places is of no significance.

Tourism: - In 1976 Tourism Society of England defined it as, "Toursim is the temporary, short-term movement of people to destination outside the places where they normally live and work and their activities during the stay at each destination. It includes movements for all purposes."
Travel: To go from one place to another, as on a trip; journey; The movement through space (whether by land, sea or air) as a metaphor for change (D. Boorstein)

Traveler/ Traveller – One who changes locations; said to be similar to a tourist with a deeper purpose for the journey

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Accommodations and Tours

Photo: Jason Tengco ©

Accommodation: Anything sold to travelers for convenience or to satisfy a need such as lodging, traveling space, food, or services.
Adjoining rooms: Rooms that share a wall but are not connected.

Cabin

1. The passenger compartment of an airplane;
2. A standard bedroom on a ship
3. A small isolated building for rent to travelers

Connecting Rooms: Rooms that share a wall and are connected by a private door

Homestay: A lodging option that involves staying in a private home, usually as the paying guests of the owners. This option is frequently offered when the purpose of travel is to learn a foreign language

Hostel: An inexpensive, usually supervised lodging primarily for young people.

Hotel classifications:

• Deluxe or luxury: A top-grade hotel; all rooms with private bath, and highest standards maintained throughout.
• Moderate class: Some rooms with private bath and most standard public rooms and services.
• Second class: A budget operation; very possibly no private bath and very probably limited services and amenities; also called economy or tourist class.

Hotel package: A bundle offered by a hotel, sometimes consisting only of room and breakfast, and sometimes, especially at a resort hotel, of room, meals, transportation, use of sports facilities, and other services.

Incidental expenses: Fees and tips given to porters, baggage carriers, bellhops, hotel maids, stewards or stewardesses, and others for personal services performed.

Ground Operator: A company that provides local travel services, including transportation or guide services.

Escorted Tour: A pre-arranged travel program, usually for a group, with host service. Fully escorted tours also may use local guide services.

Package Tour: Saleable travel products offering an inclusive price with elements that would otherwise be purchased separately. Usually has a pre-determined price, length of time and features but can also offer options for separate purchase.
Resort: Generally, an area or city offering recreation or leisure opportunities along with accommodations.

Single (SI): A hotel room suitable for one person.

Suite: Hotel unit of at least two rooms; may include kitchen facilities.

Superior room: In a hotel, a more expensive room providing a better view, exposure, or other amenities.

Tour: A travel product in which several elements are bundled together and sold as a unit. Tours typically involve the use of a guide, host, or escort by groups.

Tour operator: A travel company that assembles packages and offers consumers all vacation accommodations, transportation, and features.

Triple: A hotel room suitable for three people.

Twin: A hotel room containing two single beds.

Twin-Double: A hotel room containing two double beds. Sometimes called a "double-double”

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Air Travel

Photo: Jason Tengco ©

Air rage - When passengers become violent towards crew members or passengers.

Base Fare - The price of a ticket before any taxes have been added.

Bulkhead - The physical walls on an aircraft that separates the plane into
different sections (such as business class and economy class).

Bulkhead Section - The seats on an airplane that are immediately behind the
Bulkhead. These seats usually have limited
storage, and may have either more leg room or sometimes less leg room.

Bumping - Passengers that are denied a seat on the flight they originally
booked on due to a flight being oversold. They will then be `bumped' to
another flight.

Carry-on - Luggage that is permitted to be brought on to the aircraft by the
passenger.

Direct Flight - A flight that stops at another airport, but passengers do not
change planes.

Discount Fare - A lower priced fare, usually offered for a limited time.

Double Booking - Booking two or more reservations when only one will be used. Doing this can lead to all reservations involved being canceled.

E-ticket - Also known as Electronic Tickets or Ticketless Travel.

Excess Baggage - Luggage that exceeds the airline's allowable limit for weight
or number of pieces. Passengers are usually charged extra for excess baggage,
if excess baggage is permitted at all.

Force majeure: an Act of God (bad weather, etc.) that absolves an airline from compensating passengers after a delay or cancellation.

Jetlag - The tired, often disorienting way a passenger feels after traveling
through many time zones in a short amount of time.

Layover - Usually an overnight stop during the flight portion of a trip, involving
a change of airplanes or another form of transportation.

Leg - One single flight portion of an itinerary.

Open Ticket - A ticket with no date specified and the passenger books a flight
when ready to travel. These are usually full fare tickets, as opposed to a
discounted, restricted fare.

record Locator - A combination of letters, numbers, or both forming a unique
code which identifies a passenger's booking.

Unrestricted Fare - A more expensive fare that offers greater flexibility
(allowing changes, refunds, etc.).

Sources:

Vax Vacation Access
About.Com
Answers.Com
Consumer Report
Massachusetts Cultural Council