Jun 1, 2007
Bargain of the day: Costa Rica
Where: Costa RicaWhen: Departures throughout the year.
On my Sunday noon-to-two radio program, I've several times mentioned the attractive price of $995 per person plus airfare for a 10-day, fully-escorted trip to Costa Rica offered throughout the year by the distinguished Chicago tour operator called Caravan Tours. The price includes all accommodations, all meals, and all motorcoach sightseeing and transportation. Well, that $995 lure has apparently proved so popular that Caravan is now offering the very same $995 plus airfare for similar 8-day or 10-day tours of Mexico, Guatemala, Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone, Canada, the California Coast, and more. A company once known solely for its tours of Europe is now plunging into North America with highly affordable vacations.
Contact: tel. 800/227-2826; www.caravantours.com.
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Labels: costa rica, deals
Beating the system at Disney World
How can a family save on meal costs when they visit Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida? That's an increasing problem in a theme park where even the simplest sandwich with a soft drink now costs a minimum of $11. A trick that my daughter uses is to ask for a double cheeseburger and then to request an extra bun, the extra bun costing under $1. You then make two cheeseburgers out of the two patties of meat and thus split the total cost in half per person. An even better tactic is to buy one of those enormous one and one-half pound turkey legs at stands scattered around the parks, the legs being carved from 45-pound turkeys. One leg can easily feed two persons for less than a total of $6. I'm told that the Disney organization claims to sell one and a half million of such turkey legs each year -- probably to families desperate to save money on meals.
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Las Brisas for romance
I am constantly asked to recommend a very special resort hotel in the tropics for young couples on their honeymoon -- and I immediately cite Las Brisas (tel. 800/228-3000), on a mountainside overlooking the Bay of Acapulco in Mexico. Las Brisas is mainly made up of individual, one-room, beautifully furnished villas, each with floor-to-ceiling windows that open onto a small patio in front of which is a small private swimming pool -- a kidney-shaped small swimming pool with lotus blossoms floating atop the warm water in each pool. You awake in the morning and literally roll over into the pool. You also receive use of a pink jeep that can take you to a beach at the bottom of the mountain or to an exquisite restaurant on top that looks out onto the brilliant lights of Acapulco. The resort itself is only moderately expensive, and the best hotel I know for spectacular romance.Add a comment about this post.
Re-positioning is the way to cruise
Probably the biggest bargain in all of travel -- a chance to enjoy a glamorous vacation for as little as $70 a day including everything -- is the so-called re-positioning cruise. Nearly every ship makes a re-positioning cruise twice a year, to move from one ocean area where it is no longer needed to a new area where the season is just beginning. If you'll look at www.vacationstogo.com, and then click on its so-called "90-day ticker", and then on the word "re-positioning", you'll find the industry's most comprehensive list of these seagoing marvels that actually cost as little as $70 a day for 16- and 17-day cruises spent largely at sea. That's the kind of cruise that I'd prefer at any price, but at these prices they're irresistible.
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May 31, 2007
Tour the Capitol with a congressional aide
Although tourism to Washington, D.C., suffered greatly in the immediate months after September 11, it has now recovered with a vengeance, and when you show up at the Capitol building to take a tour, you will often find a line so long that it simply doesn't pay to wait. What many smart travelers do is to write a letter to their congressperson or senator, setting forth the dates of their visit and their desire to tour the Capitol building. And lo and behold, most members of Congress will assign a staff member to take you through on an even better tour that goes on to the senate or house floors when those bodies are not in session, or into conference and hearing rooms. Add a comment about this post.
Labels: smart tours, washington dc
4 more Great Truths of Travel
In earlier posts, I listed what I believe to be six great Truths of travel. To wind matters up, here are a final four:7) At tourist restaurants, the decision to split courses with your travel companion will lead to better meals and huge total savings. Order one appetizer for the two of you, and one main course for the two of you, and ask for an extra plate. You'll still send uneaten food back to the kitchen, and in the course of a trip, your total savings will be surprising big.
8) The use of low-cost lodgings that were never meant to be hotels -- guesthouses, B&Bs, hostels and the like -- will nearly always result in both an enjoyable and memorable trip. You will meet people in a way that doesn't happen in large, standard hotels; you will live in residential neighborhoods associated with the normal life of the city; and you will relax to a surprising extent.
9) Packing light is another key to travel pleasure. Restrict your luggage to one medium-sized suitcase per person, lightly packed. Resolve to be a carefree traveler and not a harried clothes horse. You will cease being a prisoner of porters and taxicabs, forced to stay at the first hotel you see, unable to "shop around." If you have taken too little, you can always remedy the deficiency at the destination. But meantime, you will know a kind of travel ease that only light packing can bring about.
10) Follow the "deals;" when you see a travel bargain, grab it! If you follow the travel media, both online and off, you will periodically spot superb bargains available for a short time at an unprecedented low price. A week in Prague for $599, including round-trip air! An all-inclusive week in the Dominican Republic for $499! A quick trip to Hawaii, and five nights' hotel, for $549! When you spot such an offer, rush to book it; you'll enjoy an unexpected travel bonanza, and you will rarely go wrong!
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Labels: tips
Nutrition for travelers -- it takes an effort
How can you eat better when flying by air? A group of doctors recently reported that the meat-stuffed, cheese-stuffed sandwiches on a big roll that most airlines are now serving, are the worst possible repast. One so-called airline snack, of ham, salami and provolone cheese on a huge and doughy slab, brings you a big 800 calories and 40 grams of fat. They suggest, instead, that you order in advance a vegetarian sandwich, the only problem being that many airlines are no longer responding to such requests. Therefore, they say, eat in the airport before you take off: veggie burgers are widely sold, the popular Sbarro's has pasta primavera, and amazingly enough some of the Starbucks at airports sell vegetable panini sandwiches to accompany your coffee.
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May 30, 2007
A canvas hut for your next holiday in the tropics
A recent Caribbean vacation -- I went there in January -- was spent at probably the most unusual resort in that area called Maho Bay Camps, on the little island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Its rooms are small, canvas-sided bungalows on wooden platforms perched along a steep hill sloping down to a ravishing white sand beach, and with a view that is the full equivalent of anything you'd find in the most luxurious locales. You pay a maximum winter price of $130 a night for two people ($80 in off-season), you have $17 dinners on an open air pavilion, and you hob-nob with the finest group of intellectually curious people in all the nation. If you're interested, go to www.maho.org or phone 800/392-9004.Add a comment about this post.
A massive new problem: delayed luggage on connecting flights
Because most airports are today understaffed, luggage doesn't always make it to a plane on time. Passengers taking connecting flights where only an hour-or-so separates the arrival of one flight and the takeoff of a connecting flight, have far less of a chance than before that luggage will be transferred in time from one plane to another.
I learned that lesson on a recent flight from New York to Minneapolis for the purpose of catching an onward flight to Billings, Montana. Though I had earlier ascertained that I would arrive in Minneapolis a full two hours before departure of the Billings flight, I learned on the day of departure that my flight to Minneapolis had been cancelled and replaced by a flight departing an hour later, resulting in only an hour for the connection. Arriving in Billings on the last flight of the day, I then learned that my luggage hadn't made the connection.
Next morning, in Billings, I had to cool my heels until 1pm until a flight arrived with my missing luggage. It was obvious that the airport in Minneapolis, as crowded and pressured as it has become, simply didn't have the necessary personnel to transfer luggage quickly from one flight to another. The painful lesson, based on similar reports I have had from others: in today's America, you take an inordinate risk when you check luggage on connecting flights when only an hour or less is available for the transfer of luggage.
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I learned that lesson on a recent flight from New York to Minneapolis for the purpose of catching an onward flight to Billings, Montana. Though I had earlier ascertained that I would arrive in Minneapolis a full two hours before departure of the Billings flight, I learned on the day of departure that my flight to Minneapolis had been cancelled and replaced by a flight departing an hour later, resulting in only an hour for the connection. Arriving in Billings on the last flight of the day, I then learned that my luggage hadn't made the connection.
Next morning, in Billings, I had to cool my heels until 1pm until a flight arrived with my missing luggage. It was obvious that the airport in Minneapolis, as crowded and pressured as it has become, simply didn't have the necessary personnel to transfer luggage quickly from one flight to another. The painful lesson, based on similar reports I have had from others: in today's America, you take an inordinate risk when you check luggage on connecting flights when only an hour or less is available for the transfer of luggage.
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Labels: airports
Bargain of the Day: Québec City
Where: Québec City
When: June
In June, airfare and three nights lodging starts at $839. The walled Québec City offers a taste of Europe in the New World. Though the price is a bit steep for a North American break, Québec suffers from limited inbound flights, making it a pain to get there -- and making this deal worth singling out. $839 is from Atlanta, Boston or New York; $879 from Chicago; $939 from Los Angeles.
Contact: tel. 800/567-6666; www.maxximvacations.com.
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When: June
In June, airfare and three nights lodging starts at $839. The walled Québec City offers a taste of Europe in the New World. Though the price is a bit steep for a North American break, Québec suffers from limited inbound flights, making it a pain to get there -- and making this deal worth singling out. $839 is from Atlanta, Boston or New York; $879 from Chicago; $939 from Los Angeles.
Contact: tel. 800/567-6666; www.maxximvacations.com.
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More Great Truths of Travel
In a previous post, I began expounding what I regard as the great, eternal Truths of travel (sound the trumpet) -- and I listed three of them. Here are three more:
4) Listening with an open mind to people at the destination is a key to greater understanding, an exceptional reward of travel. Smart tourists welcome the chance to encounter viewpoints or lifestyles totally different from theirs', and find that such encounters are among the great adventures of life. Above all, the smart American tourist avoids making speeches or delivering comparisons to our own life at home.
5) The smartest travel decision is to vacation in off-season periods. It is an exquisite experience to view the Mona Lisa when you alone are standing before her, to attend the Opera in Sydney when only residents are in the audience, to roam through countless other venues when the tourists have fled and life has returned to normal.
6) When undecided about your next vacation destination, choose from among those countries or cities whose currency remains weak against the U.S. dollar. It is always especially enjoyable to vacation in places - Bangkok, Bali, Bulgaria, Buenos Aires, are currently among them -- where everything is priced at less than we are normally accustomed to spend. It is always pleasant to banish the thought of expense from our travel thoughts, to enjoy the relaxation that's brought about by the knowledge that the bill you are about to receive is half as much as you would normally expect.
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4) Listening with an open mind to people at the destination is a key to greater understanding, an exceptional reward of travel. Smart tourists welcome the chance to encounter viewpoints or lifestyles totally different from theirs', and find that such encounters are among the great adventures of life. Above all, the smart American tourist avoids making speeches or delivering comparisons to our own life at home.
5) The smartest travel decision is to vacation in off-season periods. It is an exquisite experience to view the Mona Lisa when you alone are standing before her, to attend the Opera in Sydney when only residents are in the audience, to roam through countless other venues when the tourists have fled and life has returned to normal.
6) When undecided about your next vacation destination, choose from among those countries or cities whose currency remains weak against the U.S. dollar. It is always especially enjoyable to vacation in places - Bangkok, Bali, Bulgaria, Buenos Aires, are currently among them -- where everything is priced at less than we are normally accustomed to spend. It is always pleasant to banish the thought of expense from our travel thoughts, to enjoy the relaxation that's brought about by the knowledge that the bill you are about to receive is half as much as you would normally expect.
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Labels: tips
May 29, 2007
Bargain of the day: Peru
Where: PeruWhen: Departures year round; cheapest in December.
A completely comprehensive tour of Peru, for $2,290, including round-trip air from Miami. From a distinguished tour operator, you receive 17 days in Peru, guides, and nearly all meals, extending over three nights in Lima, 2 nights in the Sacred Valley, 1 night at Machu Picchu, 3 nights in Cusco, and on a 5-night cruise up the Amazon staying in rainforest lodges. Despite its name, the well-known Overseas Adventure Tours avoids the adrenaline-causing risks, but hits all the exotic high spots.
Contact: tel. 800/493-6824; www.oattravel.com. Once at the site, click on South America, and then combine the company's "Really Affordable Peru" program with its optional 5-night Amazon Rainforest option.
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Voluntary "carbon offsets" are an abysmal way to deal with the ecological damage done by air transportation
The release of carbon into the atmosphere by passenger-carrying airplanes is increasingly feared to be an important cause of global warming. Numerous commentators have recently claimed that cars and planes are the world's second-fastest-growing source of CO2 emissions.
So what should we, as responsible travelers, do? More and more, it's suggested that we purchase so-called "carbon offsets" when we buy an air ticket, like contributions to funds that plant trees swallowing up the CO2 created by our travels. Last month, Delta Airlines announced that starting this summer, passengers who book their seats on www.delta.com would have the option to contribute $5.50 per round-trip domestic flight and $11 per round-trip international flight to a conservation fund planting trees throughout the world.
How real are the results of such programs? It's obvious that when 10 or 20 passengers on a jumbo jet make a voluntary gesture to offset environmental damage, that 300 or so less-conscientious passengers are causing far greater emissions through their decision to fly. Unless the contribution is mandatory among all passengers, the environmental benefit is minor. And even then, there seems a limit to the number of trees that even a universal program of "off-sets" is capable of planting.
One airline -- the expensive Silverjet flying business-class-only seats from New York to London -- has in fact required a mandatory extra-charge environmental donation from all its passengers. It boasts it has therefore become the world's only "carbon neutral" airline. The notion that all the world's airlines might be willing to follow its lead seems fanciful.
A far better way to offset the carbon emissions of air travel is to replace as many of those flights as possible with train transportation. Already in Europe, more than 70% of the persons traveling between London and Paris make that trip by train, especially aboard the high-speed Eurostar; and numerous airlines are beginning to cancel their London/Paris flights. On the continent, air travel between Paris and Brussels has virtually ceased.
When will the United States awaken to the need for replacing our own jam-packed highways and short flights with reliable, comfortable, rail service -- trains that also eliminate the giant carbon emissions of the airplanes they replace?
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So what should we, as responsible travelers, do? More and more, it's suggested that we purchase so-called "carbon offsets" when we buy an air ticket, like contributions to funds that plant trees swallowing up the CO2 created by our travels. Last month, Delta Airlines announced that starting this summer, passengers who book their seats on www.delta.com would have the option to contribute $5.50 per round-trip domestic flight and $11 per round-trip international flight to a conservation fund planting trees throughout the world.
How real are the results of such programs? It's obvious that when 10 or 20 passengers on a jumbo jet make a voluntary gesture to offset environmental damage, that 300 or so less-conscientious passengers are causing far greater emissions through their decision to fly. Unless the contribution is mandatory among all passengers, the environmental benefit is minor. And even then, there seems a limit to the number of trees that even a universal program of "off-sets" is capable of planting.
One airline -- the expensive Silverjet flying business-class-only seats from New York to London -- has in fact required a mandatory extra-charge environmental donation from all its passengers. It boasts it has therefore become the world's only "carbon neutral" airline. The notion that all the world's airlines might be willing to follow its lead seems fanciful.
A far better way to offset the carbon emissions of air travel is to replace as many of those flights as possible with train transportation. Already in Europe, more than 70% of the persons traveling between London and Paris make that trip by train, especially aboard the high-speed Eurostar; and numerous airlines are beginning to cancel their London/Paris flights. On the continent, air travel between Paris and Brussels has virtually ceased.
When will the United States awaken to the need for replacing our own jam-packed highways and short flights with reliable, comfortable, rail service -- trains that also eliminate the giant carbon emissions of the airplanes they replace?
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Labels: airlines, environment
More valuable travel websites
Alternate Airports (www.alternateairports.com) discloses the identity of airports within driving distance of the airport you wanted to reach; the latter often offer more affordable flights, cheaper parking, and less expensive car rentals. It lists alternate airports for more than 100 U.S. cities (like the cheaper Oakland as an alternate for San Francisco).
Travel Health Online (www.tripprep.com) names health hazards and recommended inoculations for countries worldwide. After registering (free), click on "Destination Information" for advice on vaccines, malaria and other diseases, including those transmitted by insects, food and water. And click on "Travel Medicine Providers" for lists of physicians worldwide.
WebFlyer (www.webflyer.com) is an impressive source for news and advice about frequent flier programs. Founded by Randy Petersen of Inside Flyer magazine, the site reviews loyalty programs, suggests strategies for using mileage, lists bonuses, and provides tools such as a blackout calendar of excluded dates for mileage award tickets.
Which Budget (www.whichbudget.com) lists the cut-rate carriers that now fly between 568 airports in 60 countries worldwide (keep in mind that many of these are not listed on the well-known airfare booking engines). Lets you select both outbound and destination airports to learn which budget carriers fly between them.
SeatGuru (www.seatguru.com) displays seat maps for aircraft used by 25 domestic and international airlines, enabling you to find and then request the best seats. Hover your cursor over a seat for comments such as "restricted legroom" or "tray table in armrest". Seat Guru also shows exit locations, galleys, lavatories, and power ports for plugging in your laptop.
JiWire (www.jiwire.com) is a worldwide directory of 65,000 wireless "hot spots", with hundreds more being added monthly. Tells you, in effect, where you can get online without plugging in (some log-in spots are free, others require payment). And JiWire can also be used to search for hotspots at airports.
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Travel Health Online (www.tripprep.com) names health hazards and recommended inoculations for countries worldwide. After registering (free), click on "Destination Information" for advice on vaccines, malaria and other diseases, including those transmitted by insects, food and water. And click on "Travel Medicine Providers" for lists of physicians worldwide.
WebFlyer (www.webflyer.com) is an impressive source for news and advice about frequent flier programs. Founded by Randy Petersen of Inside Flyer magazine, the site reviews loyalty programs, suggests strategies for using mileage, lists bonuses, and provides tools such as a blackout calendar of excluded dates for mileage award tickets.
Which Budget (www.whichbudget.com) lists the cut-rate carriers that now fly between 568 airports in 60 countries worldwide (keep in mind that many of these are not listed on the well-known airfare booking engines). Lets you select both outbound and destination airports to learn which budget carriers fly between them.
SeatGuru (www.seatguru.com) displays seat maps for aircraft used by 25 domestic and international airlines, enabling you to find and then request the best seats. Hover your cursor over a seat for comments such as "restricted legroom" or "tray table in armrest". Seat Guru also shows exit locations, galleys, lavatories, and power ports for plugging in your laptop.
JiWire (www.jiwire.com) is a worldwide directory of 65,000 wireless "hot spots", with hundreds more being added monthly. Tells you, in effect, where you can get online without plugging in (some log-in spots are free, others require payment). And JiWire can also be used to search for hotspots at airports.
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Labels: websites
One hour of connection time just won't work any longer at today's airports
It's become painfully obvious, based on more dreadful experiences than I choose to recall, that the "legal connection time" of one hour is no longer sufficient in today's air transportation. The number of flights arriving a half an hour late, and the distances that one must often cover from one terminal to another to board a connecting flight, insure that you will often miss the connection when you have booked a connecting flight scheduled to depart only an hour after your arrival. And often, when you have missed that connecting flight, you are in deep trouble with all your other scheduled activities.
Sad to say, split-second timing and efficient scheduling are no longer realistically available to the airline passenger. If only we had a decent railroad system for our transportation needs!
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Sad to say, split-second timing and efficient scheduling are no longer realistically available to the airline passenger. If only we had a decent railroad system for our transportation needs!
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Labels: airports
May 27, 2007
The Great Truths of Travel
A few posts ago, I began devoting some of this blog to the Great Myths of Travel. There are also Great Truths of Travel -- and though they aren't equivalent to the major principles of ethics and science (the Ten Commandments are safe), they can be of big importance to your next trip. Here are the first three Great Truths of Travel (with more coming soon).
1) The less you spend, the more you enjoy. The less you spend, the more authentic is your travel experience, the more likely you are to meet typical people of the destination. You also meet a better type of traveler. In the modest B&Bs of a thousand cities, you encounter guests with a sense of adventure, an intellectual curiosity, an openness to new ideas and approaches. They are far more interesting than the pampered sorts with their stacks of luggage and arrogant demands, who flock to the first class hotels.
2) The greatest rewards of travel are had from learning vacations. The supreme activity of travel are the summer courses offered by many great universities to adults from around the world: Oxford University, University College Dublin, Cornell's Adult University, St. John's College in Santa Fe, many more that a quick look at Google will reveal. Pursuing learning for the love of learning, without grades or examinations, you use your vacation time to return to the liberal arts and improve your mind.
3) By planning in advance to meet residents of the destination, you enliven your trip. By making inquiries of your friends or associates, you can obtain the names and addresses of people at the destination who might accept an invitation to dinner or drinks. Those meetings are the highlight of any foreign trip, far more memorable than the standard sightseeing attractions.
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1) The less you spend, the more you enjoy. The less you spend, the more authentic is your travel experience, the more likely you are to meet typical people of the destination. You also meet a better type of traveler. In the modest B&Bs of a thousand cities, you encounter guests with a sense of adventure, an intellectual curiosity, an openness to new ideas and approaches. They are far more interesting than the pampered sorts with their stacks of luggage and arrogant demands, who flock to the first class hotels.
2) The greatest rewards of travel are had from learning vacations. The supreme activity of travel are the summer courses offered by many great universities to adults from around the world: Oxford University, University College Dublin, Cornell's Adult University, St. John's College in Santa Fe, many more that a quick look at Google will reveal. Pursuing learning for the love of learning, without grades or examinations, you use your vacation time to return to the liberal arts and improve your mind.
3) By planning in advance to meet residents of the destination, you enliven your trip. By making inquiries of your friends or associates, you can obtain the names and addresses of people at the destination who might accept an invitation to dinner or drinks. Those meetings are the highlight of any foreign trip, far more memorable than the standard sightseeing attractions.
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Labels: tips
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
