This kind of trip is a growing trend for boomers, and luxury car manufacturers are capitalizing on the trend by offering incredible perks for travelers and car buyers taking these types of sojourns. In many cases, enjoying this kind of trip will cost you the same or even less money than you would pay for the vehicle at a dealership in the US because of the discounts, perks and incentives the manufacturers offer.

Let’s take a look at some of the manufacturers offering European Delivery Programs (or EDP for short) and see what they include.

BMW
Fly to Munich and pick-up your brand new BMW at the famed BMW Welt. By participating in the BMW European delivery program you get the experience of a lifetime and save up to 7% off the price of your new BMW.

The perks include free companion airfare on Lufthansa, a factory tour where you can see the specific performance, design, handling, and safety technology as well as all of the exterior and interior design details that have gone into your new BMW, BMW Museum tour, complimentary Delivery Center Cafe refreshments, and more.

BMW offers a selection of memorable driving experiences including Ultimate Luxury (Lakeside Luxury, Castles and Mozart, and Spa, Sport & Drive) for those with longer itineraries, and the Sampler Serenade (The Black Forest, The Castle Road, and Build Your Own) for those who only have three or four days to travel.

The BMW European delivery experience wraps up with transport of your new BMW back to the dealer of your choice in the US. There are 11 convenient drop-off points throughout Europe, and delivery to the US takes 6-8 weeks (East Coast) or 8-10 weeks (West Coast).

Mercedes
“Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz”. The Mercedes-Benz European delivery program allows you to pick up your new MB at the factory in Sindelfingen. There are several different travel packages to choose from including the Standard Package, Black Forest-Alps Rally Package, Alpen Route Package, Spa Package, and Stuttgart Walking Tour.

The details and perks of each package vary but in general include a 7% discount off MSRP of the vehicle, 1 or 2-night luxury hotel accommodations (depending on time of year and if they’re running a special incentive), some meals, factory tour, tickets to Mercedes-Benz Museum, fifteen days of European road insurance, all vehicle processing fees, transportation, and delivery to the dealer of your choice back in the US. They also offer you the ability to drop the vehicle off at one of 12 European drop-off points from which your vehicle will be taken to the port for shipment.

Porsche
The ability to put your new Porsche through its paces on the winding roads, autobahns, and countryside of Germany after picking it up from the factory in Zuffenhausen or Leipzig is a dream that can be a reality through the Porsche European delivery program. Much like the BMW and Mercedes-Benz programs, the Porsche EDP includes a factory tour and a tour of the Porsche Museum.

Once you take delivery the rest of the trip is for you to decide. When your journey is through, you may drop your Porsche off at one of 18 delivery points in Europe to begin its trip home to the US.

Audi, Saab and Volvo also offer European delivery programs.

Exotic and Ultra-Luxury Car EDP’s
Ferrari, Maserati, Bentley, and Rolls-Royce also offer European delivery programs, but you’ll find it hard to get information about these programs online. In most cases you’ll need to visit your local dealer and discuss this option. In most cases, these programs come at a fairly high price and do not offer the discounts that some of the automakers discussed above offer.

But if you’ve got the cash, and the patience, such a trip can be an experience you’ll one day tell the grandkids all about. As proof, check out this article about a Florida Attorney who went to pick up his Ferrari in Italy.

Most of the manufacturers offering European delivery programs caution you on picking up during Winter months. Germany and some other countries have passed strict laws requiring special equipment (snow tires, etc.) on all vehicles during certain types of weather, with steep fines for non-compliance. It’s not an insurmountable obstacle, just something you should be aware of when planning your trip.

Well, that’s not the case anymore since Congress let this law lapse.

So with today’s rash of airline failures and bankruptcies, you may not only have to research your airfare online, but also the health of each airline your considering flying with.

Everywhere Magazine is comprised completely of “user generated” articles, that is, articles are submitted by readers/freelance writers/travelers and editors select the best of the submissions to put in each issue.

A 1-year subscription (6-issues) is $24.99. If you think that is a bit much you can read the issues online for free.

Hat tip to Rohit Bhargava of Influential Marketing blog for this awesome find.

Read this post from Gadling.com about TSA’s push to get even more control of your private data.

It’s sure to tick you off…

Picture from nedrichards on flickr

For example, try searching “Las Vegas hotels” in Google. Now, some of what comes up for you may be relevant, but a lot of it is not. This is simply because this search engine result page (serp) is based on an algorithm, with little to no human attention paid to what is displayed.

Mahalo is a new human-powered search engine that uses…you guessed it…ACTUAL people to create their serps.

This is great for the baby boomer who just doesn’t have the time or patience to sift through spam search results mixed in with relevant content. If you search for “Las Vegas hotels” in Mahalo, you actually get listings of Las Vegas hotels as well as websites for further research (ie: Frommers, Fodor’s, etc.). What a concept!

Check out Mahalo’s Travel page today. And who knows, you might just get hooked and start using it for all your web searches. Plus, if you happen to search for a topic not in their results (remember, Mahalo’s results are being built by hand and not every possible destination or search term is covered yet) you will be shown results from various other search engines.

Despite gas being over $3 a gallon in most parts of the country, many boomers are shunning the once popular idea of choosing one great place to retire and making it their life to travel (in style mind you) to wherever they feel like.

The luxury RV travel market is on fire in recent years with luxury rv parks popping up all over Florida and other Sunbelt states.

The nomadic lifestyle that rv-ing affords used to be for the budget conscious. But not anymore. Fancy RV’s these days cost more than most houses. And getting a space at one of the premier luxury rv parks can be quite an expense as well.
(Image Credit: Aaron Jack on Flickr)

But then again, we’re not talking about a simple concrete pad with power and water hookups. We’re talking about championship golf courses, clubhouses, swimming pools, all the amenities you could want or need.

So where should you set out finding information about the luxury RV lifestyle? Here are a few links to start with:

• Go RVing
• Go Camping America
• Google Directory Listings by State

What a trip! Here are some pics and the low-down on what to do and where to stay if you ever decide to go.

Try to go on the weekends (Thursday through Sunday) because this is when most of the events are held like the Mass Ascension or launch of all participating balloons (held early in the morning), and the Balloon Glows and Fireworks (at night). The early and middle part of the week is more for competitions.

We stayed at the Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town. It was very close to the balloon fiesta and near everything we wanted to see and do. We paid $169 per night for a Junior suite which was very nice, and we thought the rate was reasonable considering all the people in town.

BUT, next time, we will stay at the Sandia Resort and Casino. We were very impressed by how modern and clean it was. Just as nice and spectacular as the finest casino/hotels in Vegas. It’s a little further away from all the Balloon action, but we think the few extra minutes of drive time will be worth it for us if we ever go back.

There is lots to see and do besides the Balloon Fiesta…here is a good guide from the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Plenty of authentic Mexican food to choose from in Albuquerque, so you won’t go without some great meals. Ask your hotel or locals you meet for recommendations as there are just so many to choose from. Whatever you order be sure to ask for “Christmas on the side“. We’d tell you what it is, but it’ll be more fun for you to see for yourself. Live a little!

The best part was the balloon ride we took with Rainbow Ryders (the official flyers for city) which cost $170 per person. One thing that surprised us was that there are 12 people in the balloon (11 passengers and 1 pilot). We went early in the morning, which is recommended because the winds tend to pick up later in the day. The balloon co. picked us up at the hotel and dropped us back off afterwards.

Floating is just too cool (and we are scared of heights!). You hardly feel like you’re off the ground and moving. The basket is extremely sturdy.

You pretty much land where you land. There is a chase truck that follows you wherever the wind takes you. We landed on a dirt road, but we saw one balloon that found its way onto a football field.

FareCompare.com is a site my wife has been playing with for a while. We read about it in this article in Fast Company and we’ve been hooked ever since.

FareCompare.com will help you find little known airfare option known as the “Y-up fare”. Besides the silly name, these fares can save you hundreds off of normal first class fares. While they won’t be as low fare as coach, we’ve found them to be a happy medium. Give it a try!