Book Him Danno!
By Steve Ensley
President, AFO

Ok, so based on the above title some of you now know how old I am, but remember, if you know what that means, then I know how old you are too. So that seems fair!

Seriously, that title came from a television series that was very popular in the 1970's about a crime solving detective/cop on the beautiful Hawaiian Islands. What made me think of that was that I am writing this article as I am 33,000 feet in the air returning from a business trip that took me and three others from Memphis to Los Angeles and back in a 36-hour period. No time for site seeing on this trip.

What prompted the title is that I could have "booked" every aspect of this trip on the Internet if that had been my desire. The air travel, the hotel, the rental car, the restaurants and even the business organization we met with are all present on the Internet to offer their services.

It was a great trip, very productive and it reminded me again of how the Internet has invaded almost every facet of our life. Maybe invaded is to negative. Maybe it is better said that the Internet has touched every facet of our lives and travel is no exception.

Most of you know that you can book vacations, air travel, hotels, automobiles, cruises and just about anything you can think of for vacation through the Internet. I was even surprised the other day to see a service that will manage your entire itinerary from start to finish. I don't know why that surprised me, because most of you probably already knew that, but it was interesting for me.

It seems like the Internet has become a whole new way to market and promote recreational activities, at least for citizens in the United States. And that can be good! It is one of the ways that we Christians can use the Internet to serve our families.

Let's take a look at a couple of travel and vacation scenarios. Let's say you are the plan-ahead type. You like your vacation to be well planned out, every hour day-by-day and no surprises. You want to know were you are going to stay, how long it will take to get there, how much it will cost, etc. Enter the Internet!

With Internet services today, you can research and select hotels, local attractions, different forms of transportation such as air, train or car and you can even check out the eating places along your route. It is direct, it makes for minimal detours or surprises and for you goal oriented individuals it gets you there and on time.

And I'm not just talking about a name and a place. You can usually get menus from restaurants, hotel rates, telephone numbers, seasonal activities and even local attractions. If you are into history, you can pull up information about historic sites and government facilities all over this country. How about emergency services? No problem!! The Internet will spill out every form of critical data on hospitals, law enforcement or
mechanical services.

Wow! You can know the fees, hours of operation, driving directions and even get background information about the attraction or service. Very, very detailed information if you like that! And many do!

What about those of us who are more spontaneous (my wife calls us procrastinators)? I'm happy to report the Internet can serve those travelers as well. Now, you will need to know that you have to be a gadget freak for this to work (sorry honey, I plead guilty as charged)!

You get all the information I discussed above, but you get it on the spot with a laptop, a cellular telephone connection and a plug-in global positioning receiver (GPS). A "dream come true" for us who hate to plan every detail of our vacations. You can wait until the absolute last moment and still take the anxiety out of a decision. You can secure that element of surprise for your family and drive your children nuts by not telling them your plans (because you don't have any).

You can find your favorite type of restaurant, hotel or other attraction and even drive straight to the location with your handy dandy plug-in GPS receiver. Never be lost again, or least you won't have to admit you are lost! What a great ego booster for us males!

All of this exists today. This information is available through technology in your home or in your car. It kind of makes you wonder how we did it without the Internet. Of course, I am tempted to give you the names of many of these Internet sites that I am talking about, but it will be more fun for you if you find them yourself and It will avoid an apparent endorsement of a service on my part. Just know that the amount of information available on the Internet for recreation and travel is more than you could view in your entire lifetime.

Jesus and the apostles had many journeys during the three years that Jesus ministered here on earth. The Apostles where known for their journeys to the ends of the earth. Scripture is replete with references to journeys and travel. So use your imagination, decide on some descriptive and selective terminology and head for those search engines. And by the way, have fun in the planning process!

Have a great day and God bless you!

Steve Ensley - President
AFO