Group Travel Scoop - Groople.com

Fly your Group into Europe Stress-Free

At Denver International Airport I’m often annoyed by a half hour wait at the ticket counter and bothered by the 15 minute wait to go through security. I take my lumps here because I know it’s not as big of a hassle as say Chicago O’Hare or Hartsfield-Jackson in Hotlanta.

No experience, however, compares to my awful experiences inside of London Heathrow– Terminal 4. What a zoo. Everything has an impossibly long single-file line. I felt more hope of getting through the lines at Disneyland.

This is why I read with great interest an article by David Landsel published at aviation.com about "Stress-Free European Entry Points." An easy way to get into Europe is especially of interest to group travel, because there are no short cuts when flying with a group.

First off to solve the London-Heathrow problem go to London Stransted Airport, which is across the street from Heathrow. About the same size as New York’s Laguardia, Stransted. American Airlines has two daily flights to Stransted from JFK.

http://www.stanstedairport.com/

Want to avoid the craziness of Charles de Gaulle? Fly to Paris Orly. Orly is not know for its beauty, it’s just shy of a relic. Yet what’s more beautiful than avoiding stressful lines and getting to your destination quicker? Look for new fares to Orly out of New York.

www.aeroportsdeparis.fr

The tip for getting into Italy is to fly into Pisa. Pisa’s airport has only a few gates with no serious crowding problems. The Pisa airport is only a short 20 minute ride to Pisa’s central station. Pisa is a great starting point for trips into Tuscany or Florence. Delta flies there from JFK.

www.pisa-aiport.com

The stressless (is that a word?) major European hub is Amsterdam Schiphol. The great part about Amsterdam Schiphol is that no matter where you arrive in the airport you come out in the same main hall. Finding train-ticketing machines and signs to where to go is easy. What makes this airport ultimately refreshing is it contains it’s very own spa. Many airlines have many flights here daily.

www.schiphol.nl

I hope your next group trip to Europe is memorable for Europe, not it’s airports.

Green Corporate Group Travel

Earth Day is coming fast, so I thought it only right to make this portion of the group scoop a green one.

From global warming to clean air to public image there’s a lot of reasons to work towards making your company a greener one. We have some great suggestions to make your next company travel event a more environmentally friendly one.

5 ways to make your next company meeting greener:

Green Hotel- choose a hotel who finds clever ways to be environmentally conscious by searching member hotels of the Green Hotels Association

Rent a Hybrid- make a conscious effort to rent Hybrid cars. Groople’s exclusive partnership with Avis and Budget can get you group rates on Hybrids

Go Portland- host your next meeting in Portland and support the city who by many accounts tries hardest to be environmentally sustainable

Brainstorm- get your company together on Groopvine, the group travel planning site, to brainstorm ideas how your company can make it’s next trip greener

Carbon Funds- these funds allow your company to "pay it forward" and buy carbon offsets...the money you give to funds like carbonfund.org will be used to invest in clean energy or enviromental improvment projects

As they used to say in the sixties..."be the change."

Your Best Group Photo - 5 Ways to Take Better Group Pictures

"Are you a professional photographer?"

"How much did you pay for that camera?!"

Listen up Group Scoopers, we have some advice here to make your next group photo your best ever.

On thing that is almost mandatory on every type of group trip is a group photograph. But most of us aren’t group photography experts. Or really know much more about photography than which button to press on our digital camera.

I used to be such a novice, until for this story I searched the internet and found some advice that has really turned my digital photography skills around. The best article I found was at macdevcenter.com.

I’m going to limit the advice to digital cameras for simplicity's sake. So without further delay the Group Scoop’s:

5 Ways To Take A Better Group Picture

#5 Cloud Mode – when you’re taking outdoor shots and it’s sunny out change the white color balance to "cloud mode" this will increase the reds and the yellows resulting in warmer looking photos.

#4 Line of sight – if you don’t have a tripod and need help taking level pictures, pretend you’re driving. Focus on something in the distance and line up with that, chances are your pictures will level out. Also, photography experts suggest you use a gut feeling and don’t over think if the picture is level or not. Go with your gut.

#3 Use your Megapixels – the most important picture you’ll take on your trip is probably the group photo. Now is not the time to be stingy with memory. Use the full capability of your 10 Megapixel camera- HIREZ all the way.

#2 Tripod – they make inexpensive and very small and manageable tripods these days…forget the advice in #4 and pick up a small light weight tripod. You can pick one up for around $20.

#1 Hire a professional – There are many instances where a group photo will be the icing on the cake, the cherry on the top of a great memorable time. Thousands of dollars are spent on lodging, transportation, and food, why not a couple hundred to preserve the moment in the best way possible. There’s a reason professional camera’s are worth  $30,000 - they take better pictures!

Hope this helps! Please comment on any additional tips you think would help people take better group photos.