Jun 29, 2007
A week at the cheapest spa on earth: Tennessee's Fitness Center, near Waynesboro
I returned some time ago from a healthy week at the world's cheapest spa (as little as $750 to $865 a person per week for room, meals, exercises and all else), the increasingly-popular Tennessee Fitness Center near Waynesboro (tel. 800/235-8365 or 931/722-5589; www.tfspa.com). Picked up by a spa van at the Nashville Airport on Sunday afternoon, as everyone is, I was driven for two hours into the scenic, sparsely-populated, rolling hills of central Tennessee, passing emaciated mules and decrepit barns along the way. We arrived at a complex of woodsy, rustic, Alpine-style lodges overlooking a pool and jacuzzi, a large and well-equipped gym, and deserted country dirt roads used for hiking three-to-six miles each daybreak before breakfast. The meals? How good or bad can 1200 calories a day be? (A tub of apples, always nearby, staves off hunger pangs). For a third to a quarter of the price at America's posher health centers, I enjoyed the very same aerobics, stretching, yoga and circuit weight machines -- and I lost four pounds. Why pay a penny more for an experience whose success depends on your own discipline and efforts, and not of the elegance of accommodations or gyms?Write and read comments about this post.
Some more useful travel websites to which I often turn
Yesterday I described some travel websites that can be useful (and in fact quite valuable) for special planning needs. Here are four more:
TheMouseForLess.com (www.themouseforless.com), MouseSavers.com (www.mousesavers.com), and AllEarsNet (www.allearsnet.com): All of these are sites privately owned by Disney enthusiasts who constantly search out the discounts at resort hotels in and around the theme parks, and similar reductions at restaurants and from tour operators in Orlando and Anaheim. If anyone is discounting in the big theme park cities, their offers quickly appear on these sites.
BootsnAll Travel (www.bootsnall.com): Connects would-be travelers with resident experts on destinations all over the world, and particularly on the subject of their accommodations. Need advice on Bali, London, Kathmandu, San Francisco? They claim to get you answers free of charge from a volunteer corps of generous advisors.
Gorp (gorp.away.com): The unchallenged expert on all varieties of adventure travel -- mountain climbing, white-water rafting, trekking the Himalayas, going on safari, and the like. Comprehensive information for would-be Indiana Joneses, including the lodgings that house them.
International Home Exchange Network (www.ihen.com): One of several organizations dealing with vacation exchanges around the world -- you stay in someone else's home while they stay in yours; no one pays a penny for their lodgings -- that's been in business for many years.
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TheMouseForLess.com (www.themouseforless.com), MouseSavers.com (www.mousesavers.com), and AllEarsNet (www.allearsnet.com): All of these are sites privately owned by Disney enthusiasts who constantly search out the discounts at resort hotels in and around the theme parks, and similar reductions at restaurants and from tour operators in Orlando and Anaheim. If anyone is discounting in the big theme park cities, their offers quickly appear on these sites.
BootsnAll Travel (www.bootsnall.com): Connects would-be travelers with resident experts on destinations all over the world, and particularly on the subject of their accommodations. Need advice on Bali, London, Kathmandu, San Francisco? They claim to get you answers free of charge from a volunteer corps of generous advisors.
Gorp (gorp.away.com): The unchallenged expert on all varieties of adventure travel -- mountain climbing, white-water rafting, trekking the Himalayas, going on safari, and the like. Comprehensive information for would-be Indiana Joneses, including the lodgings that house them.
International Home Exchange Network (www.ihen.com): One of several organizations dealing with vacation exchanges around the world -- you stay in someone else's home while they stay in yours; no one pays a penny for their lodgings -- that's been in business for many years.
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Labels: websites
On a cruise, it's those "extras" that add up
It's an obvious point, but it bears repeating, that you must develop a conditioned reflex against engaging in extra-charge activities while aboard a cruiseship. The cruiselines are able to charge remarkably low prices for a seven night cruise -- as little as $599, $699 -- by pushing a host of expensive purchases on unsuspecting passengers.
Alcoholic drinks, that once used to cost $1.50 in the glory days of cruising, are now uniformly $4.50 and up. Shore excursions -- a two-hour ride in a 45-passenger bus -- are as much as $40 and $50. And have you noted how seldom you win at the slots aboard a cruiseship? The solution for you, the smart cruiser? Debark on your own, and either tour independently or hire a taxi driver to show you the sights. Avoid on-board casinos (an important "profit center" under new cruise policies) like the plague. Keep your wits about you, and don't ever open those bottles of mineral water already placed on the coffee table when you first enter your cabin. They're not gifts, they're an attempt by the line to earn another $5 per bottle in the opening moments of your cruise. Sadly, the cruise experience has been marred by these small but infuriating ploys.
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Alcoholic drinks, that once used to cost $1.50 in the glory days of cruising, are now uniformly $4.50 and up. Shore excursions -- a two-hour ride in a 45-passenger bus -- are as much as $40 and $50. And have you noted how seldom you win at the slots aboard a cruiseship? The solution for you, the smart cruiser? Debark on your own, and either tour independently or hire a taxi driver to show you the sights. Avoid on-board casinos (an important "profit center" under new cruise policies) like the plague. Keep your wits about you, and don't ever open those bottles of mineral water already placed on the coffee table when you first enter your cabin. They're not gifts, they're an attempt by the line to earn another $5 per bottle in the opening moments of your cruise. Sadly, the cruise experience has been marred by these small but infuriating ploys.
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Meet the "pure travel consultant," a new source of travel assistance
Although most travel agents refer to themselves as "travel consultants," a tiny band of 40-or-so enthusiasts from all over the country are offering to provide just that -- travel counseling -- and nothing more. Specialists in a particular area or country, they suggest itineraries, recommend unusual lodgings, map out hourly schedules, but often leave the reservations and the ticketing to a standard travel agent. Their compensation is an hourly fee, not a commission. I recently steered a friend to the services of one such "independent travel consultant" -- Marjorie Shaw's "Insider's Italy" (tel. 914/470-1612; www.insidersitaly.com; info@insidersitaly.com) -- and was highly impressed by the brilliantly-conceived, well-priced trip that resulted, involving the use of convent hotels and aristocratic mansions, authentic restaurants off-the-beaten-track, precise hourly schedules for driving from one Tuscan town to another.
Other examples of this new breed of travel advisor: Holly Chase Travel Designs for Turkey primarily, but also Greece, Syria, Jordan (tel. 860/536-2559 or 941/330-8738; hollychase.igc.org; hollychase@verizon.net); Off the Beaten Path for the Rockies, the Southwest, Alaska (tel. 800/445-2995; www.offthebeatenpath.com); Our Personal Guest for India (tel. 212/319-1354; www.ourpersonalguest.com); Pacific Northwest Journeys for Oregon, Washington, southern British Columbia, (tel. 800/935-9730; www.pnwjourneys.com). While their advice doesn't always come cheap -- expect to pay from $300 to $600 for all the planning -- most clients regard that cost as offset by hotel savings and rewarding travel experiences.
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Other examples of this new breed of travel advisor: Holly Chase Travel Designs for Turkey primarily, but also Greece, Syria, Jordan (tel. 860/536-2559 or 941/330-8738; hollychase.igc.org; hollychase@verizon.net); Off the Beaten Path for the Rockies, the Southwest, Alaska (tel. 800/445-2995; www.offthebeatenpath.com); Our Personal Guest for India (tel. 212/319-1354; www.ourpersonalguest.com); Pacific Northwest Journeys for Oregon, Washington, southern British Columbia, (tel. 800/935-9730; www.pnwjourneys.com). While their advice doesn't always come cheap -- expect to pay from $300 to $600 for all the planning -- most clients regard that cost as offset by hotel savings and rewarding travel experiences.
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Labels: travel agent
Jun 28, 2007
An inside look at living cheap in Las Vegas, available for only $5
I don't usually recommend other peoples' travel literature. But a newsletter called "Las Vegas Advisor," published by Anthony Curtis, is so very delightful and helpful in the specialty area, that you really ought to request a copy to learn whether you'd like, or benefit from, a subscription. The "Las Vegas Advisor" is not for the casual visitor to Las Vegas, but for those hooked on that awful city, the gambling-oriented people who go there frequently each year and want to know where the odds are best in your favor, where to get the best coupon (discount) booklet for all your needs, how you can be comp'ed for a free stay, where to get other discounts, where to attend a show for less, how you can occasionally beat the odds. Its text is racy and fun, its knowledge is based on many years as a resident, and it sometimes makes for good reading even if you haven't plans for an early trip there. A one-year subscription is $50; but a better approach is first to request a sample issue for $5. You do this by going to www.lasvegasadvisor.com, or by contacting Las Vegas Advisor, c/o Huntington Press, 3665 Procyon Street, Las Vegas, NV 89103.
And for a guidebook to the accommodations of Las Vegas, the most affordable full-scale meals, the top attractions, the excursions outside the city, the definitive work is Pauline Frommer's Las Vegas now in bookstores, reflecting a several month stay there in which she personally sampled (one night at each) no fewer than 40 hotels.
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How can anyone possibly consider a trip to Burma?
Most weeks, the more serious newspapers of the world carry stories of the latest brutal repressions of freedom in the Asian state now known as Myanmar, the former Burma.
Political opponents jailed. Others under house arrest. Police breaking up opposition rallies with clubs and assault rifles. Political parties banned. Until world public opinion forced them to let her speak with outsiders, the crude military dictators of Myanmar kept the nation's most revered political leader -- Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi -- confined to her home without visitors for years. The award of the Nobel Peace Prize finally forced them to let her speak and occasionally meet with her colleagues (though she remains under "house arrest").
As if none of this were happening, a number of heedless cruise companies and tour operators continue advertising programs to Myanmar. It is apparently "colorful." "Quaint." And cheap, as one would expect in a country whose working population earn a bare subsistence wage. Some travel journalists return from their carefully-chaperoned visits, prating about the cleanliness of the streets, the many crafts and goods on sale, the rollicking nightspots.
None of us should be visiting Myanmar. Here's a situation where our refusal to visit it can cause grave economic damage, bring measurable results in changing the policies of the military thugs who profit from their power. Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi has herself has asked tourists to stay away. Unlike the case with certain larger repressed nations, where debatable arguments can be made that the presence of large number of tourists can help the cause of the dissidents and keep the country somewhat more open, that clearly is not the situation of Myanmar.
Next time you read an ad for travel to Myanmar, or hear a commercial to the same effect, write to the sponsor announcing your intention never to use their travel product. When enough of us threaten their pocketbooks, they'll cease giving aid to the enemies of human rights.
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Political opponents jailed. Others under house arrest. Police breaking up opposition rallies with clubs and assault rifles. Political parties banned. Until world public opinion forced them to let her speak with outsiders, the crude military dictators of Myanmar kept the nation's most revered political leader -- Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi -- confined to her home without visitors for years. The award of the Nobel Peace Prize finally forced them to let her speak and occasionally meet with her colleagues (though she remains under "house arrest").
As if none of this were happening, a number of heedless cruise companies and tour operators continue advertising programs to Myanmar. It is apparently "colorful." "Quaint." And cheap, as one would expect in a country whose working population earn a bare subsistence wage. Some travel journalists return from their carefully-chaperoned visits, prating about the cleanliness of the streets, the many crafts and goods on sale, the rollicking nightspots.
None of us should be visiting Myanmar. Here's a situation where our refusal to visit it can cause grave economic damage, bring measurable results in changing the policies of the military thugs who profit from their power. Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi has herself has asked tourists to stay away. Unlike the case with certain larger repressed nations, where debatable arguments can be made that the presence of large number of tourists can help the cause of the dissidents and keep the country somewhat more open, that clearly is not the situation of Myanmar.
Next time you read an ad for travel to Myanmar, or hear a commercial to the same effect, write to the sponsor announcing your intention never to use their travel product. When enough of us threaten their pocketbooks, they'll cease giving aid to the enemies of human rights.
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Labels: bad states
Every avid traveler should equip themselves with a one-ounce hostel map of the United States
Rather than equip you with another bulky guidebook, Hostelling International USA has published a four-color, fold-out, map identifying and locating (with addresses and phone numbers) the 150 major youth hostels of the United States. It's a remarkably handy publication that every avid traveler should have, as each of these hostels is now available to travelers of all ages and to families. The most expensive of them -- the New York City Hostel -- charges as little as $29 per person per night, while most others start at $15.Hostels are inexpensive dormitory-style accommodations for travelers of all ages. They provide separate facilities for males and females, fully equipped self-service kitchens, dining areas and common rooms for relaxing and socializing. And many hostels also have private family/couples rooms which can be reserved in advance.
In addition, most hostels offer a variety of special programs and activities, providing hostel guests with more than just a "cheap sleep."
Within the United States, there are presently hostels in New York City, in Boston and Nantucket, in Washington, D.C., in seven different locations in Florida, in Los Angeles/Santa Monica, in San Francisco (one near Fisherman's Wharf, the other downtown on Union Square), on a former dude ranch -- the H1-H-Bar-G Ranch -- in Estes Park, Colorado, near Rocky Mountain National Park, in Taos, New Mexico, and in dozens of other key locations. They are a precious national resource, and you ought to know more about them.
You can obtain a free copy of HI-USA's "Hostelling Map of the USA" by simply going to the shopping section of the HI website (www.hiayh.org) and adding the hostel map to your shopping cart. The cost: $0.00.
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Labels: accommodations, tips
More useful travel websites
Here are three websites of a specialty nature that are occasionally useful in travel planning. Though they may not blow you away, you might nevertheless jot them down somewhere for possible use on your next trip -- they're more valuable than might first appear.
LateRooms (www.laterooms.com): A British service for obtaining last-minute discounts on hotels located primarily in the U.K. and Europe (its section on London hotels is especially comprehensive). But it also offers some deals in Australia, New Zealand, and a handful of other countries. Its major competitor is an Australian site called Wotif.com that also primarily lists discounted hotel rates for England, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Both sites can bring about remarkable savings on your next overseas trip.
Travelaxe (www.travelaxe.com): A U.S. service that claims to compare the specially-discounted hotel rates found on nearly 20 other internet booking engines covering more than 30 countries (including the U.S.). Its one-stop shopping saves you the trouble of scanning multiple websites to find the best-priced room for your next trip.
TravelWorm (www.travelworm.com): King of the search engines for casino resorts, it primarily surveys the rates of hotels in Las Vegas, Reno, Biloxi, Atlantic City, Laughlin, and other gaming locations. Recently, it got me a sharply-discounted price for a popular hotel in Las Vegas.
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LateRooms (www.laterooms.com): A British service for obtaining last-minute discounts on hotels located primarily in the U.K. and Europe (its section on London hotels is especially comprehensive). But it also offers some deals in Australia, New Zealand, and a handful of other countries. Its major competitor is an Australian site called Wotif.com that also primarily lists discounted hotel rates for England, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Both sites can bring about remarkable savings on your next overseas trip.
Travelaxe (www.travelaxe.com): A U.S. service that claims to compare the specially-discounted hotel rates found on nearly 20 other internet booking engines covering more than 30 countries (including the U.S.). Its one-stop shopping saves you the trouble of scanning multiple websites to find the best-priced room for your next trip.
TravelWorm (www.travelworm.com): King of the search engines for casino resorts, it primarily surveys the rates of hotels in Las Vegas, Reno, Biloxi, Atlantic City, Laughlin, and other gaming locations. Recently, it got me a sharply-discounted price for a popular hotel in Las Vegas.
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Labels: websites
Jun 27, 2007
Floating through Europe
Most discussion of European canal cruises deal with so-called "hotel barges" staffed by cooks, waiters and chambermaids supplying the most exquisite luxury. But you can cruise the very same canals for infinitely less in a boat you "drive yourself," stopping wherever you wish, dropping in on charming little country inns for lunch or dinner, letting even your children or grandchildren steer the vessel. The nine-year-old grandson of the initial owner of LeBoat, Inc., a leader in canal cruising, actually took the helm of one of that company's many barges, and nobody worried -- -because you can't go wrong on the calm and narrow waterways of Burgundy, or in any of the other areas Le Boat serves.For the smallest and oldest craft and carrying up to three persons, you'll pay as little as $970 for seven nights, off season (late March or late October). The same boat in higher seasons will run from a still-affordable $1,735 for seven nights -- and that's per boat, not per person. Or, you can rent a popular six-person boat running about $1,800 in low season, $3,000 in high season. Rates include boat, license and tax, gas for cooking, canal tolls and instruction, and technical support. You pay extra for the fuel you use (about $120 per week), food and drink, personal and trip cancellation insurance and getting to the boatyard. You can rent bicycles and park your car, too. You can even have someone drive your rental car to the other end, where it will be waiting for you. Phone Le Boat at tel. 888-355-9491 or log on to www.crownblueline.com (affiliated with LeBoat) for online bookings.
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Labels: cruise
Two free-of-charge magazines/catalogs contain highly useful travel information
TravelSmith is an impressive, mail order catalog of travel clothing and products: trousers that zip in half to become shorts, light-weight ladies suits with hidden pockets for valuables, long pants with vents in the side for cool use in the torrid tropics, special clogs for swimming off rocky beaches, women's "microfiber" raincoats that fold into no space at all. It's available free on request from www.travelsmith.com.
And Destination Spa Vacations Magazine is an attractive, glossy, four-color, and clearly-written, publication describing the many "destination spas" of the United States. (A "destination spa" is where you check in as a guest, and stay for three and more nights, unlike a "day spa" which you simply visit for a massage and hairdo). Unlike some such publications issued by tour operators, it sets forth the actual name, address and phone number of each such spa, and the precise prices they charge in all seasons. It has enabled me to learn of a great many low-cost spas of which I hitherto had been unaware (under $1,000 for an all-inclusive, seven-night stay), but it also deals with the medium-level variety, and even with the deluxe locations charging far more than most of us can afford. You can obtain a copy free of charge by simply phoning the Destination Spa Group at tel. 888/772-4363.
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And Destination Spa Vacations Magazine is an attractive, glossy, four-color, and clearly-written, publication describing the many "destination spas" of the United States. (A "destination spa" is where you check in as a guest, and stay for three and more nights, unlike a "day spa" which you simply visit for a massage and hairdo). Unlike some such publications issued by tour operators, it sets forth the actual name, address and phone number of each such spa, and the precise prices they charge in all seasons. It has enabled me to learn of a great many low-cost spas of which I hitherto had been unaware (under $1,000 for an all-inclusive, seven-night stay), but it also deals with the medium-level variety, and even with the deluxe locations charging far more than most of us can afford. You can obtain a copy free of charge by simply phoning the Destination Spa Group at tel. 888/772-4363.
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Labels: tips
Care to buy a Volvo? Buy one for delivery in Europe, and save up to $4,000!
Several car manufacturers will deliver a car to you in Europe that comes equipped with all U.S. specifications. And they will then ship it free to your own home city, after you have used the car for your touring needs in Europe. Since the car then comes in as an already-used, "second hand" vehicle, it's taxed at lower-than-usual rates. You save up to $4,000, considering also that you have had the "free" use of the car for your touring.You'll also receive, thrown into the deal free: 2 roundtrip tickets to Europe with Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), a night at the Radisson Hotel in Gothenburg, Sweden, Vehicle presentation and delivery at the factory delivery center in Gothenburg (which also includes airport pick-up, lunch, and either a factory or Volvo Museum tour, 15 days of European car insurance to drive and explore Europe; and, of course, shipment of the car home from your choice of 15 different European cities.
Information about Volvo's overseas delivery program, including trip add-ons and pricing for all available models, is available on its website: www.volvocars.us/salesandservices/overseasdelivery.
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Labels: tips
My own mini-guide to an under-visited Mexican city
Perfectly preserved, its rooftops uniform in style and color, it has the visual impact of a Florence, a Siena, and it is infinitely easier to reach. Yet Guanajuato -- less than three hours by car from Mexico City -- is rarely visited by the bulk of American tourists, who flock instead to its trendy neighbor and 18th-century counterpart, San Miguel de Allende. Is it because we have no taste for the truly authentic?
Here, a surprisingly-large student population -- 50,000 of them -- is Mexicans steeped in their own culture, and enrolled in an historic university that occupies the most dramatic of neo-Moorish buildings, in the very center of town. Though scattered entrepreneurs have erected makeshift classrooms for the teaching of Spanish to American teenagers, their number is small and doesn't dominate the scene, as sometimes it does in Mexico's better-known colonial towns.
Here, too, are no clusters of tourist restaurants displaying multi-lingual menus. Though there are tourists, they are mainly Mexicans. The dining experience is thoroughly Latin, in quiet patio settings of silence and space, where patrons come to relax and unwind as much as to dine, lingering for at least two hours.
The city's cultural observances are also designed for the Spanish-speaking world. Each weekend through at least half of the year, it presents evenings of entremeses (fast-moving historical vignettes of 15th-century life performed by students and faculty of the university) under the stars (they're enjoyable even to a non-Spanish-speaking visitor). And there are two resplendent opera houses of the nineteenth century, both active, and other well-maintained stages confirming the city's love of concerts, recitals and musical drama.
The city itself is a daytime drama of Spanish colonial life, its residential streets so narrow that you can sometimes touch both sides of the buildings alongside with your outstretched arms. Scattered about the central area are seven tree-shaded and beflowered plazas where people read and converse.
Some isolated attractions of Guanajuato -- apart from the city itself, its churches, theatres and plazas -- include its Museum of Diego Rivera, the artist's birthplace home containing, among other things, his initial sketches for a mural commissioned for Rockefeller Center and removed by the Rockefellers the moment they saw its political content; an imposing central marketplace erected by the dictator Porfirio Diaz, and looking like a giant airplane hangar covering acres of colorful, fresh vegetables priced remarkably cheap; the ghoulish Museum of Mummies, displaying disinterred bodies of ancient people, at which Guanajuantans gaze with utter calm.
Shouldn't you visit Guanajuato? We travelers constantly tell ourselves to pick an "undiscovered destination" for our next vacation. Yet when the time comes, we "blank out" or lose our nerve or, under the pressure of decision, take the easiest route and book the next departure to Cancún. That is the only explanation to date for the relative lack of American tourists in Guanajuato. Get there fast.
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Here, a surprisingly-large student population -- 50,000 of them -- is Mexicans steeped in their own culture, and enrolled in an historic university that occupies the most dramatic of neo-Moorish buildings, in the very center of town. Though scattered entrepreneurs have erected makeshift classrooms for the teaching of Spanish to American teenagers, their number is small and doesn't dominate the scene, as sometimes it does in Mexico's better-known colonial towns.
Here, too, are no clusters of tourist restaurants displaying multi-lingual menus. Though there are tourists, they are mainly Mexicans. The dining experience is thoroughly Latin, in quiet patio settings of silence and space, where patrons come to relax and unwind as much as to dine, lingering for at least two hours.
The city's cultural observances are also designed for the Spanish-speaking world. Each weekend through at least half of the year, it presents evenings of entremeses (fast-moving historical vignettes of 15th-century life performed by students and faculty of the university) under the stars (they're enjoyable even to a non-Spanish-speaking visitor). And there are two resplendent opera houses of the nineteenth century, both active, and other well-maintained stages confirming the city's love of concerts, recitals and musical drama.
The city itself is a daytime drama of Spanish colonial life, its residential streets so narrow that you can sometimes touch both sides of the buildings alongside with your outstretched arms. Scattered about the central area are seven tree-shaded and beflowered plazas where people read and converse.
Some isolated attractions of Guanajuato -- apart from the city itself, its churches, theatres and plazas -- include its Museum of Diego Rivera, the artist's birthplace home containing, among other things, his initial sketches for a mural commissioned for Rockefeller Center and removed by the Rockefellers the moment they saw its political content; an imposing central marketplace erected by the dictator Porfirio Diaz, and looking like a giant airplane hangar covering acres of colorful, fresh vegetables priced remarkably cheap; the ghoulish Museum of Mummies, displaying disinterred bodies of ancient people, at which Guanajuantans gaze with utter calm.
Shouldn't you visit Guanajuato? We travelers constantly tell ourselves to pick an "undiscovered destination" for our next vacation. Yet when the time comes, we "blank out" or lose our nerve or, under the pressure of decision, take the easiest route and book the next departure to Cancún. That is the only explanation to date for the relative lack of American tourists in Guanajuato. Get there fast.
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Labels: mexico
Jun 26, 2007
Be alerted to airfare "deals" leaving from your home city
Most airfare websites are a mess in alerting you to information that's relevant to your own particular needs. Even when they send you periodic e-mails containing the latest "deals," the offers are often so varied and geographically scattered that it's difficult to find anything of real value from your own home airport.Half the time, when you open up a "deals e-mail" from the likes of American Airlines, there won't be a single airfare you can use. You'll have wasted your time.
But that confusing situation is improving, and some websites are doing better than others. The current champ is www.kayak.com.
Of all the travel websites, Kayak is, in my experience, the best at tailoring its flight information to your home airport. While Kayak's deals may not be exactly last-minute (many of them are for travel a month or two in the future), most of them are certainly late-breaking, with a need for travelers to book sooner than later if they want to lock in the savings. Once users set their home city, Kayak produces its list of the "top 25" (the criteria is uncertain) deals. And once the Kayak website knows your home city, it comes up with helpful links to deals specific to your location, such as "late-breaking fares." Kayak also gives the option of e-mailing you "Fare Alerts," which notify you about deals to the destination of your choice.
Kayaks' RSS feed (called 'Recent Kayak Deals') is less helpful; it's an unsorted mix of deals to and from everywhere, and thumbing through it will waste your time.
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Labels: websites
A quick note about vacation scheduling
The last two weeks of August are increasingly recognized as a "slump" period in travel, when bookings fall off sharply for flights, cruises and resort stays. The main reason: the increasing tendency of schools to begin classes at that time or to require that students make initial preparations for the start of school; many parents start gearing up for the academic year at that time, and do not travel. The lesson: if you're looking for an available cabin on a cruise, a trans-Atlantic flight, a Caribbean resort stay, August 15 to August 31 is an easy "high season" period to find one.
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Labels: tips
The single traveler does best on a vacation devoted to a special interest or cause
Questions keep arriving about the best sort of vacation for a single person traveling alone. The answer is an obvious one: volunteer vacations, study vacations, themed vacations -- activities where no one cares whether you are part of a couple or are single, where everyone is absorbed in a vital cause or special interest outside of themselves, and where the cost of housing is the same for everyone.
If you must sign up for an escorted motorcoach tour (and have an unquenchable yen to roam across large swaths of the world), at least sign up for those programs that are specifically designed for adventuresome, unpretentious people. On the small group tours operated by Gap Adventures of Toronto (www.gapadventures.com), in which cultural sensitivity is cherished and accommodations are often in local guesthouses and private homes, no one cares whether you are single or a couple, and a great many singles are usually found. On the daring overland safaris or trekking expeditions operated by the many companies represented by Adventure Center of Emeryville, California (www.adventurecenter.com), singles of every age are a heavy component of every departure. The same applies to the scientific trips sponsored by the great Earthwatch organization (www.earthwatch.org) that sends you to aid university researchers and often accommodates you -- singles and couples alike -- in improvised bedding in a local house rented for the occasion.
Each of these opportunities is available to singles of all ages. And if any of them seem overly daunting, then repeat to yourself the famous admonition of Mark Twain: "Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines! Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
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If you must sign up for an escorted motorcoach tour (and have an unquenchable yen to roam across large swaths of the world), at least sign up for those programs that are specifically designed for adventuresome, unpretentious people. On the small group tours operated by Gap Adventures of Toronto (www.gapadventures.com), in which cultural sensitivity is cherished and accommodations are often in local guesthouses and private homes, no one cares whether you are single or a couple, and a great many singles are usually found. On the daring overland safaris or trekking expeditions operated by the many companies represented by Adventure Center of Emeryville, California (www.adventurecenter.com), singles of every age are a heavy component of every departure. The same applies to the scientific trips sponsored by the great Earthwatch organization (www.earthwatch.org) that sends you to aid university researchers and often accommodates you -- singles and couples alike -- in improvised bedding in a local house rented for the occasion.
Each of these opportunities is available to singles of all ages. And if any of them seem overly daunting, then repeat to yourself the famous admonition of Mark Twain: "Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines! Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
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Labels: singles
A horse and you
The dude ranch season in Colorado is now in high gear (most ranches open in May), and close to 30 of these cowboy-staffed resorts offer reasonable all-inclusive rates (except for airfare to Denver or Grand Junction) for six nights in a rustic lodge, all three meals (including campfire cookouts) daily, and your own steed for the entire time. If you've never been to a Colorado ranch, you're missing an exhilarating experience (riding instruction, trail riding, outdoor barbecues, songfests). For a list of the properties that go down to as low as $1,295-$1,595 per person in summer for adults, $995 for children 5 to 12 (see the properties listed as "$$" -- they number nine out of the 30 members of the dude ranch association), log on to www.coloradoranch.com or contact the Colorado Dude Ranch Association, P.O.Box D, Shawnee, CO 80475, phone 970/641-4701.
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Labels: american west, outdoor
Looking for a cheap vacation this summer? Try the Caribbean
Would you ever have believed that the Caribbean would become the cheap area in which to vacation and Europe the costlier place?To the four-star-plus Sun Village Resort & Spa in the Puerto Plata beach area of the Dominican Republic, www.cheapcaribbean.com is currently charging $569 per person in summer and fall, for round-trip air from New York (and about the same from most other cities), five nights of accommodations, all three meals daily, unlimited drinks, sports and entertainment. The same figure goes up to $899 at the peak of the winter season, and an extra two nights (with meals and all else) adds only about $140. To the five-star Ocean Blue Resort in the Dominican Republic's Punta Cana area, it charges the same.
To the Caribbean coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, Cheap Caribbean will fly you round-trip in early summer from the same U.S. cities and put you up at the Spanish-owned Barcelo Maya Caribe for five nights of all-inclusive (airfare, meals and drinks) arrangements, for as little as $649 per person (and for slightly more in mid-summer). The resort is four stars in quality, and has excellent family programs. And to the Ocho Rios area of Jamaica, the bargain specialist will offer you the same all-inclusive, air-inclusive, five-night package to the Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort, for $699 to $799 (depending on date) per person in summer and fall, $899 in winter.
When you consider that these prices of $699 and $899 cover literally every feature of your vacation stay, you discover that the Dominican Republic, the Mexican Caribbean Coast, and Jamaica, are picking up the fallen budget standard of the currently-expensive Europe. If all you're seeking is a total rest without pocketbook concerns, but also without cultural distractions or mental exercise, these three budget-priced areas of the Caribbean will do the job.
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Jun 25, 2007
If you will forego the security of advance reservations, you can fairly easily obtain a cheap "private homestay" on arrival in European cities
Two readers of this blog have pointed out that private homestays are usually available on arrival in a European city, from lists maintained by city tourist offices. You can assume with fair certainty that every local tourist office -- and every European city, large and small, has a local tourist office -- maintains lists of private families with inexpensive rooms to rent. You simply show up and ask. Or else you look for those ubiquitous signs reading zimmer (in German-speaking countries), camere (Italian-speaking), or chambres (French), affixed to the walls of homes offering such lodgings.
Unfortunately, very few of the city tourist offices will respond to an e-mail request for an advance reservation at a private homestay. The more casual tourist, willing to travel about without advance reservations, is the person who benefits from the lists maintained by each such office.
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Unfortunately, very few of the city tourist offices will respond to an e-mail request for an advance reservation at a private homestay. The more casual tourist, willing to travel about without advance reservations, is the person who benefits from the lists maintained by each such office.
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Labels: accommodations
Pardon the boast, but the rules of smart travel worked again last month in Sicily
If you've been following this blog, you've learned that I traveled with my wife to Sicily last month. And though the lessons from that trip will seem obvious to any user of the Frommer's travel guides, I can't resist the temptation to repeat them again.
The first vital step is to learn in advance the key words and phrases of the local language. By spending just a few minutes prior to departure, remembering the Italian for all the simple questions and for counting from one to twenty, all sorts of good things were brought about. Arriving at the central railroad station of Palermo (we took the train from the airport into town), I asked a passer-by whether our hotel was far from the station (E' lontano l'albergo da qui?). He responded that it was only due centi metri (200 hundred meters away). Hearing that, we simply rolled our suitcases there, avoiding what would surely have been a meandering and expensive taxi ride.
And in advance of leaving for Sicily, we read histories and art appreciations of the five basic destinations we had chosen for the trip: Palermo, Erice, Agrigento, Syracuse and Taormina. Arriving in each city, we had no need to be herded as part of a group from place to place, nor to stuff ourselves in a motorcoach that would wall us off from the exoticism of this unique area. We knew what we wanted to see, and we walked from place to place, mixing with locals, often conversing with them, asking questions, dropping into their cafes and shops, scanning their newspapers and political posters, free from the constant jostling presence of other tourists.
We had once again applied the key rule of enjoyable travel: that advance reading in the history and culture of the destination is infinitely preferable to relying on the simplistic commentary of a tour guide.
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The first vital step is to learn in advance the key words and phrases of the local language. By spending just a few minutes prior to departure, remembering the Italian for all the simple questions and for counting from one to twenty, all sorts of good things were brought about. Arriving at the central railroad station of Palermo (we took the train from the airport into town), I asked a passer-by whether our hotel was far from the station (E' lontano l'albergo da qui?). He responded that it was only due centi metri (200 hundred meters away). Hearing that, we simply rolled our suitcases there, avoiding what would surely have been a meandering and expensive taxi ride.
And in advance of leaving for Sicily, we read histories and art appreciations of the five basic destinations we had chosen for the trip: Palermo, Erice, Agrigento, Syracuse and Taormina. Arriving in each city, we had no need to be herded as part of a group from place to place, nor to stuff ourselves in a motorcoach that would wall us off from the exoticism of this unique area. We knew what we wanted to see, and we walked from place to place, mixing with locals, often conversing with them, asking questions, dropping into their cafes and shops, scanning their newspapers and political posters, free from the constant jostling presence of other tourists.
We had once again applied the key rule of enjoyable travel: that advance reading in the history and culture of the destination is infinitely preferable to relying on the simplistic commentary of a tour guide.
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Labels: sicily
Though it’s a year and more away, a brand-new intellectual cruise line will be fully-booked real fast; act now
It's coming -- a moderately-priced cruiseship catering to the most intellectually-serious of all English-speaking people. And although the inaugural sailing won't take place for a year, it's important that you place a tentative booking now, because the initial departures will be sold out within hours after the first detailed announcement expected some months from now.
The ship is from the operator of brainy land tours and the subject of a post from several weeks ago. He's Martin Randall, of London, England, whose Martin Randall Travel Ltd. operates moderately priced cultural tours all over the world that feature outstanding guest lecturers. In a feisty press release, Randall has announced that starting in fall of 2008, he will operate his own intellectual cruises of the Mediterranean in a 250-passenger vessel that he is in the process of acquiring
The cruises will be "unashamedly high brow," Randall boasts, "aimed at educated, cultivated and intellectually curious travelers." As with his current Martin Randall land tours, these seagoing cruises will be a "dumbing-down-free zone
In a bold attack on the present cruise industry, Randall promises that his new cruises will be "defined by negatives: no casino, no disco, no piped music, a minimum of announcements, and little regimentation."
If all that seems like cruise heaven, you might place your name on an immediate waiting list. Although specific dates and itineraries haven't yet been announced, almost any Martin Randall cruise is bound to be a unique -- and heavily booked --opportunity. Go to www.martinrandall.com, or write to Martin Randall Travel Ltd. at Voysey House, Barley Mow Passage, London, United Kingdom W4 4GF, or even phone 011-44-20-8742-3355. Given Randall's increasingly successful record in tour operating, these brainy cruises will be sold out in a week.
To repeat: there's hope for the survival of moderately priced cruises of profound intellectual character. There's a possibility that culture-seeking Americans will not be relegated to those thousand-dollar-a-day yachts that U.S. alumni organizations and museums staff with professor-lecturers and offer to the plutocrats among us.
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The ship is from the operator of brainy land tours and the subject of a post from several weeks ago. He's Martin Randall, of London, England, whose Martin Randall Travel Ltd. operates moderately priced cultural tours all over the world that feature outstanding guest lecturers. In a feisty press release, Randall has announced that starting in fall of 2008, he will operate his own intellectual cruises of the Mediterranean in a 250-passenger vessel that he is in the process of acquiring
The cruises will be "unashamedly high brow," Randall boasts, "aimed at educated, cultivated and intellectually curious travelers." As with his current Martin Randall land tours, these seagoing cruises will be a "dumbing-down-free zone
In a bold attack on the present cruise industry, Randall promises that his new cruises will be "defined by negatives: no casino, no disco, no piped music, a minimum of announcements, and little regimentation."
If all that seems like cruise heaven, you might place your name on an immediate waiting list. Although specific dates and itineraries haven't yet been announced, almost any Martin Randall cruise is bound to be a unique -- and heavily booked --opportunity. Go to www.martinrandall.com, or write to Martin Randall Travel Ltd. at Voysey House, Barley Mow Passage, London, United Kingdom W4 4GF, or even phone 011-44-20-8742-3355. Given Randall's increasingly successful record in tour operating, these brainy cruises will be sold out in a week.
To repeat: there's hope for the survival of moderately priced cruises of profound intellectual character. There's a possibility that culture-seeking Americans will not be relegated to those thousand-dollar-a-day yachts that U.S. alumni organizations and museums staff with professor-lecturers and offer to the plutocrats among us.
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Labels: cruise
Why hasn't travel to the United States soared?
I recently spent a day fielding phone calls from persons who have just returned from the World Travel and Tourism Conference in Lisbon. The subject of their news: the calamitous drop in the amount of incoming travel to the United States.Since 2000, tourism to the United States from abroad has declined by 10%. Though all nations lost tourism in the immediate wake of September 11, virtually all other nations have made up the deficit and forged ahead. Since 2000, tourism to Britain has increased by 13%. Tourism to Australia has increased by 21%. Tourism to France has increased by 20%.
If tourism to the United States had increased over the past six years, the nation would have benefited enormously. For every one percentage point of additional foreign travel to the United States, our country would have enjoyed 12.3 billion dollars in additional income, 150,000 new jobs, 3.3 billion dollars in extra payroll, $2.1 billion dollars in additional tax revenues.
Why have we lost incoming tourism? In these days of a weak dollar, the U.S. has become a remarkably cheap country for most foreign tourists; by all rights, our incoming tourism should have soared. The overwhelming consensus of the World Travel and Tourism Conference was that we have made it extraordinarily difficult for most foreign tourists to obtain visas for travel into the United States. In some countries, it requires several weeks simply to make an appointment to apply for such a visa at a U.S. consulate. Let me repeat that: not only is the application process a long-term procedure, but it requires several weeks simply to make an appointment to make an application!
As in so many other areas, the situation results from the sheer incompetence of the current administration. With so much at stake, with so much income, including tax income, to be enjoyed through added tourism, with so favorable a time for incoming tourism because of the weak U.S. dollar, the failure to create smooth and reasonably quick procedures for the issuance of visas is a catastrophic oversight, matched by so many similar oversights by the executive branch of government. Remember the response to Hurricane Katrina?
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Labels: trends
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the