IT'S NOT SUCH A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL
A Review of Key Action Traveler
by Susan Davis
Most of us have dreamed at one time or another of traveling the world, exploring new and exciting places. Key Action Traveler, unlike many programs designed as armchair peeks at the exciting places to see around the world, is designed to be used by people who are actually wanting to plan such a trip.
Action Traveler is essentially a multimedia database of over 1000
destinations where you can enjoy an interesting vacation pursuing some
specific active hobby or interest. From bicycling to heliskiing,
sailing to hiking, or geologic expeditions to cultural traveling, you
can probably find a vacation organized to do just about anything you
might want to do. There's even a section for spiritual or healing
journeys! Not to mention a category for older adults, and another one
for women-only adventures.
The program is organized around a search engine that you use to narrow
the 1000+ adventures down to the information you want to look at. You
can search by main and subcategories, or you can search by country,
state or province, or a custom search by any of the detailed areas of
information in the topic. The custom search adds the sponsor,
difficulty level, suitability for children, months of year available,
and specific activity as potential search parameters. The search
engine is well-designed, with an intuitive interface that is simple to
use if you are at all familiar with Windows and its drop-down list
boxes. Key Action Traveler is nothing if not simple to operate.
But that's not to say that the content is simplistic. For the most
part, these vacations are exotic, interesting-sounding, and expensive,
at least for the average pocketbook. The per person, double occupancy
charges can range as high as $12,000 or more on some trips. There are
only 11 listings in the budget tours section, out of over 1000
listings.
Some of the other adventures are undoubtedly low in price,
but it would be difficult to find them, since price is not a search
parameter. I certainly didn't find very many. Key Action Traveler is
much better suited to using as a starting point planner for that Trip
of a Lifetime that everyone has always wanted to take. You can start
dreaming and planning now, with the help of this handy program.
Each adventure provides pictures, a brief written description of the
adventure, information about price and contacting the adventure's
sponsor, the level of difficulty, whether or not it is suitable for
children and at what age level, and, in some cases, actual video clips
of your potential adventure. You also have the option of clipping some
information to the clipboard if you want to store it for future
reference.
While Key Action Traveler is not particularly exciting or thrilling to
use, the fabulous adventures are fun to view and dream about. You
might even discover a new hobby or interest based on the information
contained inside. I've almost got my family convinced we should take
an expeditionary voyage to Antarctica. The pictures are magnificent.
But, alas, it's a little spendy for my budget, at least until I hit
the lottery!
As long as you use Key Action Traveler for what it was designed for --
dreaming about and planning that Great Vacation Adventure -- you'll
enjoy scanning the wide range of possibilities. But each adventure has
only limited amounts of information, so remember that this is designed
as a starting point only. It's not an encyclopedia, a guidebook, or a
full-color travel brochure; but, there is a little something for
everyone. So, if you're game to discover the perfect adventure for
your next Super Vacation, let Key Action Traveler open your eyes to
just how large the world really is!
Multimedia Cafe Scorecard
| Product: |
Key Action Traveler |
| Company: |
Softkey Software Products of Florida, Inc.
|
| Cost: |
$39.95 |
System Requirements:
PC-Compatible, 12MHz 80386SX or higher, 2MB of RAM,
DOS version 3.1 or higher with Microsoft Windows 3.1 or higher,
30MB Hard Disk Drive, MPC-Compliant CD-ROM drive,
256 Color VGA, Windows-compatible sound card
(e.g. SoundBlaster), Mouse
and Microsoft CD-ROM Extensions 2.2. or higher.
Breakdown:
Entertainment Value 2
Educational Value 2
Concept 4
Depth 4
Interface 5
Overall Score:
Copyright © 1997 InfoMedia, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.