European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 08, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 12 the stars and stripes computers tuesday february 1994 booking your travel by Modem on line services not always easy or cheap however by . Shannon the new York times people with computers modems an memberships in one or More of the on line services can act As their own travel agents. It in t always easy and it in free but it can be rewarding. One can gather information on flight schedules hotels and automobile rentals examine a restaurant guide see if Testate department has issued an advisory about a foreign destination find visa requirements and Exchange messages with other members. The three major consume services Dis cussed Here Compuserve America on line and Prodigy give the traveler Access to easy Sabre for airline information and reservations. This is not As complexes Sabre also operated by american air lines and the system that Many travel agents use but it is nevertheless a mass of codes and abbreviations. Ordinarily travel agent still must Issue the tickets on Compuserve for example 13 travel categories Are offered seven Basic products that Are included in the membership fee and six extended product that Cost extra. One might also stray from the travel Section and look into Grolier s academic american encyclopedia for articles on the City state or country and go else where to determine the weather at the destination. When one enters the . Section of Compuserve six sub sections Are offered tourist adventures Parks and camping boating and fishing International travel Domestic tourism and trends and state travel hot lines. Selecting Domestic tourism and trend leads to 10 More choices rather like get Ting enmeshed in an automatic Telephone tree airline passenger safety air travel ers rights and complaints Amtrak Pas Senger services Amtrak customer relations Auto safety hot line charting course International information on get Ting the department of Commerce handbook charting a course for International tourism in the nineties consumer rights on airlines handicapped Visi tors multilingual receptionists and rail tickets or travel information. In the information . Section the Elanich Golf database is for travellers who can t Bear to miss a stroke. Its first Menuis eight items Long. One Golf notes contains such Handy advice on the Royal an ancient game As suggesting you Book your starting times with the pro shop Orthe front desk when you make your room passing to another part of the initial menu i indicated i wanted to play Golf in the Madison wis., area an unlikely win Ter wish and was presented with a list of 187 courses. The whole Golf data base contains 12,112 courses a no golfer i picked the old Hickory course listed in Deaver dam it turned out to tie Beaverdam because i liked the name and was Given its address phone number size an the name of the pro. A few Days before i had left a message in two of the travel forums that my wife and i were thinking of taking a Caribbean cruise in the fall. If i took a portable computer with me could i communicate with the office via Modem Jerry Schnei Derman. Replied Many modern shipshape satellite direct dial but the rate is about $18 per minute. When you re near is Susan Harris an Island with cellular facilities Man ships allow you to direct dial that Way. The Cost is about $6 per minute. Still interested America online groups its travel an shopping sections together and one finds a menu of 15 subcategories with such strange bedfellows As Bose express music and Usa today travel news. The travel forum itself for the trav Eler who enjoys the fun of planning his or her own trip and the adventure of inde pendent travel has 12 categories with articles on Money issues packing tips an electricity abroad. The travel cafe is our very own Chat room where people who Aren t offended by phrases like Chat room can talk on line. One spot the traveler s Corner . And International profiles a place to order travel reports information on exotic destinations plus a destination of the month. In january that destination was Brazil with a what to do Section in alphabetical order the Pant anal is one of the world s great wildlife reserves itinerary when to go transportation accommodations health advisories what Toby what to eat do s and Don to Potpourri and Geo stats. The travel boards where member communicate and socialize had 9,530 postings available on a recent the Caribbean travel Board Tom wok on line services allow handles or aliases was seeking information about St. Martin and "bkos55" offered a week at Pelican resort for rent or Exchange. Prodigy pays its Bills with income from advertisements. Virtually every scree has an and at the Bottom. If you Don t go directly to a favorit Section the service opens with 10 options. Select travel and the next screen is a menu offering City regional and Spe Fialty guides reservations travel sources experts travel by weather deals an discounts and services. I selected services and faced a new menu. Still concerned about the Caribbean cruise i selected cruise scan a Cen Tury of luxury travel and experience with four further options. I selected option no. 4, Send us a message and repeated my plea for information about computer to office communications. The next time i dropped in cruise scan had answered Royal Caribbean says a Lap top might work but you cannot plug in a computer. Renaissance has surge protector plug so that should work for you. Princess and carnival cannot accommodate your Back to the first travel screen. Other options offered included a ski guide restaurants and calendars. Calendars feed six further options from "1. Leall about calendars throughout history to "6. Get a free 1994 Prodigy Wall Calendar with $10-plus in option no. 4, see what the stars hold for you today or any Day Jeane Dixon the syndicated astrologer already had the Day and year of my birth from the Prodigy application. She foresaw that a positive attitude will show up in you Bank account and your employment file on the Day we communed a Good trick Ona sunday. Speaking of Bank accounts anyone who has bought a computer or peripheral or a software program subscribes to computer Magazine or even just lives in the United states will have been inundated with offers to join an on line serv ice. One would have to try very hard notto receive the necessary software and at least a month s time free of charge. Not All on line services Are available i Europe. Quake gives boost to telecommuting by Joe Fasbinder United press International the Jan. 17 earthquake in los Angeles caused Mas Sive damage to the City and environs but also gave a big boost to the concept of telecommuting works like this you do your regular Job at a regular computer but it s in your Home instead of an office. The advantages Are that you Don t have to sit on a freeway idling and that you can work in your Robe an slippers. Telecommuters Are also blessed in being Able to Takecare of children or Home bound relatives while they per form their jobs. Also if you decide to live in a Remote town telecommuting is the Way to do a big City Job without big Cit problems. And finally telecommuting is also a Good Way to get across collapsed freeways in Case of an earthquake. Pc week Magazine says that by the end of 1993, about 3.2 million workers in America telecommute full time with 17 percent of those in California. That percentage is Likely to Rise following the 6.6 magnitude quake that made the ordinarily nightmarish commutes in the City of Angels even More nightmarish. The temblor damaged freeways in 18 locations forcing millions of cars onto Side streets and into neighbor hoods where they sat at stoplights and will continue to sit at stoplights for about another year As Crews do reconstruction. Communications giants Pacific Bell and get Cali fornia quickly took the California transportation department up on a request urging workers to telecommute. Both announced telecommuting Relief packages within Days of the quake offering to waive installation fees for business Telephone lines in fact a Little More than a week after the quake mayor Richard Riordan joined Pac Bell get and Intel in encouraging angeleno to work from Home when possible. The los Angeles City government has Long had a aggressive telecommuting program for people who routinely work with computers an option instituted More than a year ago As a Way to combat smog and traffic that have plagued los Angeles for decades. The Concrete Highway is dead but the electronic Highway is still functioning Pacific Bell vice president Chuck Smith said in the quake s aftermath. But not everyone is speeding onto the information superhighway because telecommuting has some Road blocks of its own. Chief among them is the fact that you can t see your workers so it s not always easy to Tell if employees Are working. The upside to this is that if employees can t be seen they tend to keep an Eye on How much they pro Duce for fear of being accused of slacking. Still companies that make telecommuting products see the big earthquake As a big business Opportunity. Ocean Isle software is giving away yes giving away copies of its reach out product to computer users living within 75 Miles of los Angeles. The reason for the magnanimity is of people Are going to be telecommuting and this will help people out said Ocean Isle spokeswoman Liz Wax. Asked if it will also bring Ocean Isle some great press she added we Hope reach out Remote control allows one pc to control another pc using modems so a person with a Laptop or Home computer can stay at Home and still log on to a system in a Remote office or even networked computers far away. Reach out is available for ism pc and compatible computers and normally retails for $179. The free offer lasts until feb. 28, or while supplies last
