A great trip is here. Embraced the immensity. Belarusians have made a detailed catalog of travel services. Dargavs - city of the dead

Last summer, after seeing a sale Ryanair airlines, Minsk resident Tatyana Minchenok decided not to miss the lucrative offer and bought tickets to Italy. "Because I really love Christmas in European cities for its magical atmosphere, we decided to go in December 2016,” Tatyana explains her choice. As a result, the 5-day trip, taking into account basic expenses, cost a little more than 100 euros per person.

Tatiana in Florence. Photo from the heroine’s personal archive

“A round-trip ticket costs a “ridiculous” 20 euros”

Tickets from Warsaw to Italy cost Tatyana a “ridiculous” 20 euros in both directions. In Italy, Tatyana and her friends visited three cities: Rome, Florence and Milan.

— We went with a group of four people. It is profitable and convenient to get to Warsaw with this train by car. The trip cost 25 euros per person, taking into account the cost of gasoline and a green card. The car was left near the Modlin airport in a parking lot with interesting name Parkuj i Leć. The cost for five days is 2 euros per person.

Low-cost companies usually fly to distant airports - often the transfer costs more than a plane ticket. However, in the case of Italy this is not the case: a bus from the airport to Rome cost 1.2 euros, and a transfer from Milan to the airport cost 5 euros.

For overnight stays, the company rented apartments through the Airbnb service. Rent for four nights in different Italian cities cost 22 euros per person.

— Thanks to the constant promotion Airbnb service We had four coupons for 50 euros in stock. In total, the four of us saved about 200 euros on booking accommodation.

Secret free entrance to the museum

In Rome the company moved by public transport, so the best option turned out to be to buy an unlimited day pass for 7 euros. IN Italian capital Tatiana especially remembered the Trastevere district, with narrow winding streets.

— In Trastevere there are many cafes where you can try delicious Italian pizzas and various types of pastas. average price per dish - 5-10 euros.

- Near Capitol Square turn towards Piazzale Caffarelli and look for the additional entrance to the museum. Then you won't have to pay for entry. The cafe is located on the top floor. You can grab something to eat and go out onto the terrace - this is the observation deck.

The company traveled throughout Italy on Trenitalia regional trains. Two tickets (Rome-Florence and Florence-Milan) cost 20 euros per person.

“It turned out to be more expensive in other cities than in the capital”

— The popular navigator Maps.me refused to work in the old town of Florence, so we saw some sights, in particular the immense Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, many times. Made an impression unique bridge Ponte Vecchio, on which there are houses with shopping shops, Tatyana shares her impressions.

In Florence and Milan, as the traveler says, it turned out to be more expensive than in Rome, so the company cooked on its own.

— The capital turned out to be much cheaper than other cities. And in everything: from magnets to trips to cafes and prices in stores. In Florence and Milan, it was convenient and inexpensive to cook food in apartments - a savings of approximately 50% compared to prices in cafes and restaurants. Since our apartments in Florence and Milan were located close to the city center, we mostly traveled on foot.

In Milan, Tatiana advises going up to the roof of the Duomo Cathedral - from there you can enjoy an incredible view of the city. True, this entertainment is not cheap: visiting the terrace with an elevator costs 12 euros, using the stairs - 7 euros per person.

— The flight from Milan to Warsaw was late, so we spent the night at the IBIS Warszawa Reduta hotel, where Double Room It cost 10 euros, since we rented it for a promotion. Memories of beautiful Italy remained in my memory, and Rome left an indelible mark on my soul and made me promise to return. “I will fulfill this promise with great pleasure,” Tatyana says about her vacation.

Do you also have a story about inexpensive travel? Then send it to the address [email protected] marked "My budget holiday" We accept letters until July 20. The full terms and conditions of the competition can be read.

Contacting a travel agency is the most boring way to plan a trip. But many people are not ready to monitor services with tickets and hotels for days in order to find the best offer. In addition, it is not always clear where the most cheap option. Now the situation has changed. Team experienced travelers assures that she has solved all the problems with finding hotels and profitable flights.

Depending on the specific point of travel, the most profitable option can be found on Trivago, and on HotelsCombined, and on HRS, and on any other site, of which there are more than a hundred around the world. Moreover, tourists simply have not heard of many, which is why they overpay.

Leonid: A person is going to Spain and does not want to overpay for the same conditions. Often the lowest hotel prices will be on internal services that the general public does not know about. I myself booked Mallorca and the Canaries on a Spanish website, there wasn’t even an English version. Then we checked at well-known sites - the same numbers cost exactly twice as much. Even such very small booking sites are represented on Malpatravel. To make searching on these services easier, we specially create video instructions in Russian.









Speaking of languages. Resource for this moment is aimed at a Russian-speaking audience. There is no English, but it will appear in the future. The authors of the service say that they wanted to help primarily travelers from the CIS. In addition, the creators are well acquainted with the peculiarities of their native market. They explain that income from Malpatravel is not the primary goal. Profit is talked about as a consequence of creating a truly independent and useful resource.

Alyona: Not a single portal can be considered independent in the presentation of information - it is paid a certain amount for posting offers. Travel agencies, hotels, airlines appear on the services if they buy their presence there. This is not the case with Malpatravel; all resources are presented. We wanted to do what was convenient for ourselves, our colleagues and travelers. Monetization involves partnerships with services, but only 40% of them involve affiliate programs.

Leonid: We have already launched some affiliate programs. Regarding finances: we really liked what Zuckerberg did with the development of Facebook. He was waiting for the network to develop so that both investors and advertisers would come to him. We don't yet know how big Malpatravel will become, so we're in no rush to flood the site with advertising. There have already been offers: wedding photographers and so on. But how will a photographer’s advertisement look on a travel website?

The creators of Malpatravel say that each service is good in its own niche, but there is no universal aggregator. As an argument against, we call OneTwoTrip - there is both air and Railway, and car rental, and hotels. It seems like the treasured “all in one”. What else does a traveler need?

The total number of services presented reaches several hundred. There are about 120 hotel booking sites alone. Some specialize in Europe, others mainly affect Asia, and others are North American. The developers say that they have been looking for resources for several months and the base is still expanding.

Arthur: For the first six months we really worked around the clock. We are grateful to the software developer and our partner - Yuri Yakubovich. He was able to take our idea and turn it into a finished product. To compile the pros and cons of each company or service, we looked through hundreds of topics on foreign forums, made samples, analyzed the data, and then ourselves studied the same resources - to what extent the reviews were confirmed. They are, of course, still subjective. But, for example, the lack of round-the-clock support is a minus in any case.

In order not to click on all the links in a row, you can set criteria. We are flying to Austria - select the country in the search, enable the necessary parameters: show only local aggregators, availability of 24-hour technical support, bonus program and other things. As a result, you will be able to narrow the list of services to 7-9 pieces (for some countries even less). Then you will have to manually open each site and look for profitable hotels or tickets. Malpatravel can sort services according to work on the route you need, but it does not show the most favorable price among those available on the resources - this would, of course, be excellent, but technically impossible.

Victor: Several problems arise here. Firstly, it is unrealistic to communicate with all services. Anyone who can do this will probably become a billionaire in one day. Secondly, not all resources will agree to provide their APIs - after all, travelers will choose the best deals and other services will suffer huge losses.

Booking a hotel and a plane, bus or train ticket is just the beginning of the journey. Here you can also find companies that will provide you with insurance, rent a car, plus offers sea ​​cruises and tours from agencies. In addition, Malpatravel has a small editorial team that compiles country guides: interesting places, convenient routes, travel tips (section “Hacks”), flight schedules and stuff like that. All materials are original, without copy-paste, which is sometimes the fault of even large services: the authors of the project have enough experience to share their personal impressions and recommendations. They also say that the service has made the work of tour operators easier.

Ruslan: What does a competent travel agency manager do when a client comes to him? He suggests either package tour, or individual travel. All agencies sell tours from operators - these are actually stores. Anyone can create their own tour if they know the directions of the operators. In the “Tours from Operators” tab, you can select the country of departure and the destination - and you will immediately see a list of companies that provide trips in the desired direction. Please note that it is not the intermediaries that are shown.

The relevance of Malpatravel is clear, but how many tourists will spend their nights looking for discounts in order to save fifty rubles on a trip that costs two thousand rubles?

Arthur: The savings will be much greater. Of course, there is a category of travelers who simply open a site they are familiar with - for example, Booking.com - and choose a hotel in five minutes. Although, having spent a little more time, they could have ordered the same number for 30% cheaper. But many still want to get a good price, so they are ready to look for cheap offers. Tourists are going online: on both Russian-speaking and foreign travel forums you can see many questions like “where is it cheaper?” The topic is in demand. However, we have a section for “lazy” tourists - with Aviasales and Hotellook forms for quick booking. In our experience, these services generally provide the most comprehensive offers around the world.

If you do not take into account low-cost airlines, then, as a rule, the cheapest transport will often be a bus. When low price more important than time on the road and comfort, and you’re also afraid to fly, then bus routes will be the best option. Understanding this, Malpatravel has compiled flights around Europe with descriptions. For example, you can get from Minsk to London in two days and about 130 euros one way. The section “I want to go where...” is also interesting. We choose the month and season - summer or winter. A list of countries appears according to the specified sorting. For example, in July there will be winter in Greenland, and in December you will fly to Cuba, the Maldives and other resorts for summer. In the future, the section is planned to be more detailed.

Alyona: We expect 3-5 thousand people per day. Now new sections are being developed, existing ones are being filled out, and the base of services is expanding. Malpatravel will help you not only get to know the country you are traveling to better, but also save on travel and accommodation.

Wake up at 5 a.m., drive several kilometers along a grassy dirt road past abandoned compact oil rigs to get to the ranch where real Texas cowboys select cows to sell at the weekly fair. This was our team's plan on the way from Texas to New Mexico during Great trip TUT.BY is a joint project with Korona Techno.

Ray Rogers is a multi-generational cowboy. “My ancestors have always lived on the earth. I grew up in the city, but my whole life I dreamed of buying a ranch. When money appeared, I was able to afford it.”


The cowboy got rich by manufacturing exclusive furniture to order - this is still his main form of income. And breeding cows and bulls (he has more than 30 of them) is an expensive hobby that generates virtually no income.


There is a house at the entrance to the ranch. Here cowboys rest after driving cattle or hunting. Trophies obtained by Rogers hang on the walls, and on the ceiling is an indispensable attribute of American homes - a fan.


Every week on neighboring city fairs are held, sometimes Rogers sells his cows and bulls there. Now he needs to select two calves. The work is complicated by the fact that they are in two different herds.


Ray is helped by another cowboy - Dave. They are business partners and lifelong friends.


Modern cowboys often use ATVs for this type of work, but Rogers sticks to tradition - he keeps horses and specially trained dogs. In the photo below is Rasky.


Don't look at the fact that dogs are small. Cows and even big bulls are afraid of them. Dogs are no worse than riders at driving cows in the right direction, as if reading the thoughts of cowboys.


Rogers' horses are looked after by a groom. The animals are kept elsewhere and transported to the ranch if necessary in a special semi-trailer.


Ray invites you to try out the work of a cowboy in reality - there is another horse. I politely refuse, without admitting that I don’t know how to ride a horse at all.


Before we head into the field, Rogers warns to watch out for rattlesnakes. They are everywhere here. They are given out by a sound - something between hissing and crackling. Fortunately, we did not encounter any creeping reptiles.


Here are the cowboys leading the first herd into the corral. After rounding up the animals, they will select a suitable calf and then release the rest.



The procedure is repeated with the second herd. This time the work is delayed - last time Dave forgot to close one of the gates of the pen, and the animals escape through them in the other direction.



You have to repeat the operation again.



There is a bull in the herd. It is noticeably larger than cows and constantly moos loudly. Out of habit, this frightens us, frozen behind the wooden fence, but does not bother Ray and Dave and their dogs at all.



The selected calves now need to be loaded onto the van. This turns out to be a difficult task - the second cow does not want to go into the cramped metal chamber on wheels.


The animals are loaded. Now the cowboys unsaddle the horses and lead them back into the semi-trailer.



Ray and Dave have a few minutes to sit on the front porch and drink water before heading to the fair.


Working on the land has always been difficult, but it hasn’t gotten any easier now. After several years of farming, it still remains a hobby for me, not a business. But I didn’t set such a goal. Being a cowboy for me is a tribute to my ancestors, an opportunity to touch history, or something,” Ray says in parting.


We're moving on. The next stop was Santa Fe, where we planned to meet the Indians. Read about this in the next report, and all materials on the TUT.BY Great Travel can be found on the special project page.

 

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