Aug 10, 2007
A number of airline and hotel credit cards are really quite valuable; we start today with cards issued by Chase (first of a two-part series).
If you're like me, you are constantly receiving offers to own an airline-related or hotel-related credit card. Don't just toss them in the garbage. Signing up for such a card from banks like Chase and Citibank is often an easy way to score a free flight or hotel stay, so long as you understand the rules.
And if you've never received such an offer, don't despair. Anyone can sign up for such cards, earn points for each dollar spent, and more importantly, get free bonuses that can be traded in for travel right away. Under "Travel Rewards" at the website for Chase (www.chase.com), Visa cards are listed with affiliations to companies like Continental Airlines, Marriott, United Airlines, and Southwest Airlines.
The simplest rewards are available through Chase's hotel credit cards. After receiving approval for a Marriott Rewards Visa Signature Card, customers get one free e-night certificate, which can be traded in for a stay at one of the company's mid-level brands such as Fairfield Inn, Courtyard, or SpringHill Suites. After making a first purchase with the card, the customer receives 15,000 bonus points, which will grant another free night at similar properties. What's more, the card has no annual fee for the first year, though afterwards they tack on approximately $30 annually.
Rewards from Chase's airline-affiliated cards are more complicated, mostly because the airline reward programs themselves are more complicated. The Continental card, for example, gives 15,000 miles after the first purchase. For most domestic flights, however, Continental requires at least 20,000 miles. The United card comes with a 17,500-mile bonus, a bit short of the 25,000 miles required for a typical domestic reward ticket.
But here's a caution: all airline and hotel-affiliated credit cards carry unusually high interest rates. They work only if you immediately pay your monthly charges when due, and never go into debt. Got it?
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And if you've never received such an offer, don't despair. Anyone can sign up for such cards, earn points for each dollar spent, and more importantly, get free bonuses that can be traded in for travel right away. Under "Travel Rewards" at the website for Chase (www.chase.com), Visa cards are listed with affiliations to companies like Continental Airlines, Marriott, United Airlines, and Southwest Airlines.
The simplest rewards are available through Chase's hotel credit cards. After receiving approval for a Marriott Rewards Visa Signature Card, customers get one free e-night certificate, which can be traded in for a stay at one of the company's mid-level brands such as Fairfield Inn, Courtyard, or SpringHill Suites. After making a first purchase with the card, the customer receives 15,000 bonus points, which will grant another free night at similar properties. What's more, the card has no annual fee for the first year, though afterwards they tack on approximately $30 annually.
Rewards from Chase's airline-affiliated cards are more complicated, mostly because the airline reward programs themselves are more complicated. The Continental card, for example, gives 15,000 miles after the first purchase. For most domestic flights, however, Continental requires at least 20,000 miles. The United card comes with a 17,500-mile bonus, a bit short of the 25,000 miles required for a typical domestic reward ticket.
But here's a caution: all airline and hotel-affiliated credit cards carry unusually high interest rates. They work only if you immediately pay your monthly charges when due, and never go into debt. Got it?
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Labels: money
Introducing: a rock-bottom priced "re-positioning cruise" that never leaves America, Mexico and the Caribbean. And throws in the Panama Canal, too
An 18-day cruise for $1,499 ($83 a day), including port charges, is a remarkable bargain. And yet here's one of those lengthy sailings that doesn't require an international airfare (it starts in San Diego, ends in Miami) and touches down in ports on eleven of its 18 days. It's aboard the modern (built in 2001), 2,400-passenger Norwegian Sun that leaves San Diego on October 9, sails down the Pacific Coast (Manzanillo, Acapulco) to the Panama Canal, traverses that canal to Colombia (the awesome, safe city of Cartagena), Honduras (Roatan), Belize, the Mayan Riviera, goes then to Nassau (the Bahamas) and ends in Miami.The ship in question features educational mini-courses (they claim), an Internet cafe with twenty computers, an outdoor basketball court, jogging track, batting cages, golf simulators, and a fitness center that never closes, among other facilities. And that price of $1,499 for these more-than-two-weeks is from Vacations To Go (tel. 800/419-5104; www.vacationstogo.com). Eliminating the need to buy a one-way international airfare, this becomes one of the top travel opportunities of the autumn.
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On its trans-continental flights (NY-Los Angeles and NY-San Francisco), Virgin America will be stressing comfort as much as low price
The new Virgin America is now flying across the U.S.A. (New York to California, and vice versa) for $139 each way when purchased over the internet (www.virginamerica.com). That introductory price, while a favorable one, is not earth-shaking; it's only a few dollars less than you'd pay for a one-stop flight on ATA or Spirit Airlines and only $10 or so less each way than you'd normally pay on most dates for a non-stop trans-continental flight on JetBlue or American Airlines. In fact, on some flights during the introductory period (some but not all), American Airlines and JetBlue have already leaped to match Virgin America's $139 price.
From press releases and statements of its president, it's clear that Virgin America will be stressing the comfort of its flights as much as their low price. The nation's largest in-flight video monitors are installed on the back of each seat, bringing you an extraordinary range of films, videos, live television, electronic games, and even Google-produced maps of the earth, showing exactly where you are at each stage of the flight. Seats, if we read the hype correctly, will also have built-in vibrators giving you a massage. And they will be covered in butter-soft black leather, in addition to providing ample leg room.
Since $139 (between the east coast and west coast) is the introductory fare, which probably will go up a bit after the introductory period is over in early November, it's clear that Virgin Atlantic will be no Southwest Airlines. Its rates won't blow you away. The model, instead, will be JetBlue, where the entertainment options are as important as its generally low prices. We'll see whether this sophisticated approach will work as well for Virgin America as it has for JetBlue -- or whether rock-bottom-priced, stripped-of-frills, Southwest will continue to lead the way.
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From press releases and statements of its president, it's clear that Virgin America will be stressing the comfort of its flights as much as their low price. The nation's largest in-flight video monitors are installed on the back of each seat, bringing you an extraordinary range of films, videos, live television, electronic games, and even Google-produced maps of the earth, showing exactly where you are at each stage of the flight. Seats, if we read the hype correctly, will also have built-in vibrators giving you a massage. And they will be covered in butter-soft black leather, in addition to providing ample leg room.
Since $139 (between the east coast and west coast) is the introductory fare, which probably will go up a bit after the introductory period is over in early November, it's clear that Virgin Atlantic will be no Southwest Airlines. Its rates won't blow you away. The model, instead, will be JetBlue, where the entertainment options are as important as its generally low prices. We'll see whether this sophisticated approach will work as well for Virgin America as it has for JetBlue -- or whether rock-bottom-priced, stripped-of-frills, Southwest will continue to lead the way.
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Several special interest magazines carry advertisements and listings of tours that are especially suitable for single persons traveling alone
In a recent post, I described the "Specialty Travel Index," once a magazine and now a free website that carries listings of some 500 special interest tour operators whose trips are especially suitable for single persons traveling alone.
Wholly apart from that publication, other special-interest magazines provide a way to find tours in which participants are focused on an interest outside of themselves, and therefore travel pleasurably regardless of whether they have a travel companion. Virtually all such special interest magazines carry classified listings of tours in their own special interest.
Interested in natural history (archaeology, the wilderness, the world's wildlife and inland waterways)? Go to a newsstand or a public library, pick up a copy of Natural History published by the American Museum of Natural History, and turn to the "Explorer Guide" section of small colorful ads at the back. There you'll see a broad assortment of trips to the Amazon and Galapagos Islands, to the Himalayas and Papua New Guinea, to fossil beds in Nebraska and Crow Canyon in southwestern Colorado, all attracting people with interests like yours. From the same library racks, pick up a copy of Sierra magazine for lower-priced volunteer vacations to wilderness areas of the United States. On such journeys, you'll never feel alone.
Interested in yoga and holistic healing, in physical development using Eastern therapies? Buy a copy of Yoga Journal at any college bookstore or other intellectual newsstand, and you'll find a large array of residential yoga retreats and schools inviting your presence. Interested in traveling with progressive people? Buy a copy of Utne (formerly known as Utne Reader), turn to "Classifieds" and then to "Travel/Adventure" and you'll find options ranging from Quaker-led visits to New York to homestays offered by political "Greens" to "Goddess Tours of Greece" led by a "feminist theologian." Interested in cooking and cuisine, or arts and crafts, folkdancing and folkmusic, fine art and sculpture? Pick up the relevant special interest magazine and in a small, back-of-the-book ad section will be notices for special interest tours for that discipline.
One of the most powerful travel tools for the single person traveling alone is a special interest tour.
Write and read comments about this post.
Wholly apart from that publication, other special-interest magazines provide a way to find tours in which participants are focused on an interest outside of themselves, and therefore travel pleasurably regardless of whether they have a travel companion. Virtually all such special interest magazines carry classified listings of tours in their own special interest.
Interested in natural history (archaeology, the wilderness, the world's wildlife and inland waterways)? Go to a newsstand or a public library, pick up a copy of Natural History published by the American Museum of Natural History, and turn to the "Explorer Guide" section of small colorful ads at the back. There you'll see a broad assortment of trips to the Amazon and Galapagos Islands, to the Himalayas and Papua New Guinea, to fossil beds in Nebraska and Crow Canyon in southwestern Colorado, all attracting people with interests like yours. From the same library racks, pick up a copy of Sierra magazine for lower-priced volunteer vacations to wilderness areas of the United States. On such journeys, you'll never feel alone.
Interested in yoga and holistic healing, in physical development using Eastern therapies? Buy a copy of Yoga Journal at any college bookstore or other intellectual newsstand, and you'll find a large array of residential yoga retreats and schools inviting your presence. Interested in traveling with progressive people? Buy a copy of Utne (formerly known as Utne Reader), turn to "Classifieds" and then to "Travel/Adventure" and you'll find options ranging from Quaker-led visits to New York to homestays offered by political "Greens" to "Goddess Tours of Greece" led by a "feminist theologian." Interested in cooking and cuisine, or arts and crafts, folkdancing and folkmusic, fine art and sculpture? Pick up the relevant special interest magazine and in a small, back-of-the-book ad section will be notices for special interest tours for that discipline.
One of the most powerful travel tools for the single person traveling alone is a special interest tour.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: singles
Are TV Dinners from Tesco a way to beat the high cost of visiting London?
So help me, I'm receiving a number of messages from readers who have cut their London meal costs by purchasing microwavable dinners at Tesco, and then borrowed use of a microwave at their guest house to heat them up. It's a sign of growing desperation as visitors rebel against the high cost of British suppers.
And what is Tesco? It's the largest supermarket chain in the U.K., always featuring a department with frozen dinners costing around $4 (a tenth of what you'd spend for a restaurant meal). Its various London branches are usually only a few minutes from your hotel, as are branches of its competitor, Sainsbury's. Even Marks & Spencer now operates London supermarkets, and all of them sell frozen dinners.
What else you need is a sympathetic guest house proprietor or hotel front desk clerk willing to find you a microwave. And incidentally, what works in London should also do the same in other European cities.
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And what is Tesco? It's the largest supermarket chain in the U.K., always featuring a department with frozen dinners costing around $4 (a tenth of what you'd spend for a restaurant meal). Its various London branches are usually only a few minutes from your hotel, as are branches of its competitor, Sainsbury's. Even Marks & Spencer now operates London supermarkets, and all of them sell frozen dinners.
What else you need is a sympathetic guest house proprietor or hotel front desk clerk willing to find you a microwave. And incidentally, what works in London should also do the same in other European cities.
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Aug 9, 2007
Here's how to use this blog to travel inexpensively to and within Europe
As I write today's first post, the U.S. dollar keeps plummeting in value. You now pay $2.05 for one British Pound and $1.38 for one Euro -- and that's before the commissions of the money-changers kick in. Whether or not you make a sensible use of banks or ATM machines to obtain your foreign currency, you end up effectively paying about $2.15 for a Pound, and $1.45 for a Euro.
So how do you continue traveling to Europe? Basically, you lower the level of your accommodations and meals. If you would ordinarily stay in first class hotels, you resolve to book tourist class hotels. If you would normally choose a tourist class hotel, you opt for a guesthouse, a private homestay, or a hostel. And you take one meal a day "picnic style," using fresh ingredients from a grocery or European equivalent of a deli.
And finally, you make use of the Europe-related discussions in this blog over the last three months. Turn to the opening page of "Arthur Frommer Online," go to the upper-right-hand column, and insert the words "private homestays" in the space under "Search This Blog." You'll immediately access several discussions of the wonderfully inexpensive but comfortable digs you can obtain in the private homes of Europeans, at a fraction of the price that hotels or even guesthouses would charge. Then, successively, insert the words "discounts on hotels," "hostels," "apartments not hotels," "eating in Europe," "packages to Europe," "go-today.com," "trans Atlantic airfares." For each of those key words or phrases, you'll pull up several discussions of sources and tactics for economical tourism to Europe, in addition to Google-inserted ads by organizations avid for your cost-conscious business.
Though I never dreamed how bad things would get, I have been painfully aware of the increasing cost of European travel and tried hard to suggest some practical remedies.
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So how do you continue traveling to Europe? Basically, you lower the level of your accommodations and meals. If you would ordinarily stay in first class hotels, you resolve to book tourist class hotels. If you would normally choose a tourist class hotel, you opt for a guesthouse, a private homestay, or a hostel. And you take one meal a day "picnic style," using fresh ingredients from a grocery or European equivalent of a deli.
And finally, you make use of the Europe-related discussions in this blog over the last three months. Turn to the opening page of "Arthur Frommer Online," go to the upper-right-hand column, and insert the words "private homestays" in the space under "Search This Blog." You'll immediately access several discussions of the wonderfully inexpensive but comfortable digs you can obtain in the private homes of Europeans, at a fraction of the price that hotels or even guesthouses would charge. Then, successively, insert the words "discounts on hotels," "hostels," "apartments not hotels," "eating in Europe," "packages to Europe," "go-today.com," "trans Atlantic airfares." For each of those key words or phrases, you'll pull up several discussions of sources and tactics for economical tourism to Europe, in addition to Google-inserted ads by organizations avid for your cost-conscious business.
Though I never dreamed how bad things would get, I have been painfully aware of the increasing cost of European travel and tried hard to suggest some practical remedies.
Write and read comments about this post.
Hawaii goes on sale -- book air, five nights in a hotel, and a week-long car rental, for all of $576
Autumn is when the top travel bargains re-appear. Except to areas of the fall foliage, travel to almost everywhere slumps from late September to early November, and heads lower still from November 8 to mid-December. As witness:$576 for just short of a week on the island of Maui (the Kahului area). From September 20 and until November 8, Hawaii goes on sale -- as proven by a remarkable air-and-land package from Pleasant Holidays (tel. 800/742-9244; www.pleasantholidays.com). It consists of round-trip airfare from Los Angeles to popular Maui, five nights at the Aston Maui Lu hotel directly across from a fine beach, and a rental car with unlimited mileage for the duration of your stay, all during the above period, and for as little as $576 per person.
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Aug 8, 2007
If you haven't been to Mohonk Mountain House in upstate New York, you're missing a national treasure
Mohonk Mountain House (tel. 845/255-1000; www.mohonk.com) in New Paltz, New York, 90 miles north of New York City in the Hudson Valley, is handed down to us directly from the Victorian era, a vast, sprawling, castle-like structure of 261 rooms and the oldest, continuously-operated, large resort in America, dating back to 1869. It sits amidst thousands of acres of totally unspoiled scenery, atop a high ridge of the Shawangunk mountains, directly alongside the half-mile long Lake Mohonk, a mountain lake thousands of feet up. From a porch at the front of the building, you feed fish in that lake; from a boat-side dock, you take out rowboats and canoes for traversing the vast, high-altitude lake; on numerous trails you hike or go horseback riding. Cuisine: classic American, extremely well done. Rates are based on the Full American Plan (i.e., they include all three meals daily) and range year-around from $275 to $345 per single, and from $223 per person double, in standard rooms. Again, those are with all meals included for up to two persons.Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: new york
By popular demand: a cheaper scuba-diving week on Roatan Island, Honduras
Aghast that I could recommend paying $1,699 for a week-long air-and-dive-package to Roatan, one of the "Bay Islands" of Honduras, a number of users of this blog have asked whether Capricorn Leisure (the chief specialist to Honduras) has a cheaper alternative. I defend myself by pointing out that Capricorn's $1,699 package includes not simply airfare, seven nights at Anthony's Key Resort, airport-to-hotel transfers, three meals daily, and numerous extras, but also a complete week-long "dive package" (tanks, belt weights, boats twice daily, and all else), and is therefore cheap at the price. But Capricorn, when contacted by me, made the point that it does charge a cheaper $1,309 per person for all of the above features, but with accommodations at the beach-side Fantasy Island Resort in Roatan. Again, you receive all three meals and every element of equipment, transport, and dive accessories for a week spent under the sea (in twice-daily dives). Unlike Anthony's Key Resort, which consists of many individual bungalows much prized by scuba divers, Fantasy Island Resort is a one-building hotel, but one that apparently has a good reputation and many satisfied clients. Again, contact the 30-year-old Capricorn Leisure at tel. 800/426-6544, or www.capricorn.net.
Does anyone dispute that $1,309 for a complete, weeklong dive package, as well as accommodations, transfers, three meals daily and round-trip air from the States, is a deal-and-a-half for such a prized location?
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Does anyone dispute that $1,309 for a complete, weeklong dive package, as well as accommodations, transfers, three meals daily and round-trip air from the States, is a deal-and-a-half for such a prized location?
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"Power Bars" join peanut butter as essential, "don't leave home without them" items to be stuffed into your checked-on luggage
I'm staring, as I write, at a chocolate-covered "Power Bar" which I just bought for $1.50 at a corner drugstore. I made that purchase out of curiosity provoked by advice from a number of Frommer's readers. They all claim that you should buy several "Power Bars" on the eve of an international trip, and scatter them through your suitcase, just as you should also carry a plastic jar of peanut butter (and hard crackers) to ease you through those travel moments when you're hungry and can't find anything suitable to eat.
Does anyone have actual experience in the consumption of "Power Bars" on a trip? Do they really stave off hunger? Do they fill you to a state of contentment? Do they endow you with energy?
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Does anyone have actual experience in the consumption of "Power Bars" on a trip? Do they really stave off hunger? Do they fill you to a state of contentment? Do they endow you with energy?
Write and read comments about this post.
"Search This Blog" -- An exciting new feature of Arthur Frommer Online
Since starting this daily blog in early May of this year, we've posted more than 250 separate items dealing with a dizzying array of travel topics. And four to five new posts go up each weekday. If you'd like to find a blog dealing with topics that interest you -- "Packages to Costa Rica," "Broadway theater tickets," "Prague," "Angkor Wat," whatever -- you now have a search engine for finding them, a lightning-fast machine created by our friends at Google.
Look at the upper-right-hand corner of the opening page of our daily blog, where you'll find the words "Search This Blog." Type in the topic you're seeking, then click on the word "Search," and voilà! up will come the posts dealing with that topic. In just a few short weeks, Arthur Frommer Online will reach a total of 500 and more posts, making "Search This Blog" an ever-more-important tool for pulling up subject matter that relates to your next trip.
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Look at the upper-right-hand corner of the opening page of our daily blog, where you'll find the words "Search This Blog." Type in the topic you're seeking, then click on the word "Search," and voilà! up will come the posts dealing with that topic. In just a few short weeks, Arthur Frommer Online will reach a total of 500 and more posts, making "Search This Blog" an ever-more-important tool for pulling up subject matter that relates to your next trip.
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Labels: blog
Aug 7, 2007
Against a generally bleak picture for tourists using the U.S. dollar, some countries provide a ray of sunshine
When it comes to exchange rates, the news is awfully bad. The British pound costs $2.05, the Euro $1.38, and both may have strengthened further by the time you read this. Nonetheless, there are exceptions to the bleak current picture of the U.S. dollar.
An acquaintance of mine recently returned with her husband and children from a 12-night vacation in Brazil. For a family room in a delightful oceanside resort in the historic Brazilian city of Paraty, a three-hour drive from Rio, including a full buffet breakfast for all four in their party, they spent $30 a night. In Rio itself, two short blocks from awesome Copacabana Beach, they spent $60 a night for room and four breakfasts.
To make additional vacation choices from countries whose currencies are weak against the U.S. dollar, go to a much-used website for currency equivalents found at www.xe.com. Then click on "currency table," which enables you to compare the current value of the dollar with the value it had two-or-so years ago. You'll find that the Mexican peso remains weak against the dollar (11 pesos for one U.S. dollar), as does the Argentinian peso. And though the Chinese yuan has recently strengthened by 9%, it still remains a remarkable bargain at its present exchange rate of approximately 7.50 to the dollar. In Eastern Europe, Romania and Bulgaria have weak currencies; in the South Pacific, the island of Bali is a steal; and the Bhat of Thailand is another currency whose weak current level permits a very low cost visit.
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An acquaintance of mine recently returned with her husband and children from a 12-night vacation in Brazil. For a family room in a delightful oceanside resort in the historic Brazilian city of Paraty, a three-hour drive from Rio, including a full buffet breakfast for all four in their party, they spent $30 a night. In Rio itself, two short blocks from awesome Copacabana Beach, they spent $60 a night for room and four breakfasts.
To make additional vacation choices from countries whose currencies are weak against the U.S. dollar, go to a much-used website for currency equivalents found at www.xe.com. Then click on "currency table," which enables you to compare the current value of the dollar with the value it had two-or-so years ago. You'll find that the Mexican peso remains weak against the dollar (11 pesos for one U.S. dollar), as does the Argentinian peso. And though the Chinese yuan has recently strengthened by 9%, it still remains a remarkable bargain at its present exchange rate of approximately 7.50 to the dollar. In Eastern Europe, Romania and Bulgaria have weak currencies; in the South Pacific, the island of Bali is a steal; and the Bhat of Thailand is another currency whose weak current level permits a very low cost visit.
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Labels: bali, brazil, budget, bulgaria, romania
Starting in early October, round-trip trans-Atlantic airfares will be offered for as little as $303
It's still too early to discuss all the rock-bottom trans-Atlantic fares that nearly every big airline will be offering as of early October. But already, the Scottish airline FlyGlobeSpan (tel. 718-473-0699 in New York, 617-379-0888 in Boston, 407-965-5499 in Orlando; www.flyglobespan.com) has announced spectacular off-season rates to an ever-growing list of Irish and British cities. Starting late September, FlyGlobeSpan's roundtrip flights from Boston to Glasgow, Scotland, will start at $318, or you can fly round-trip from Boston to Ireland West Airport Knock, gateway to the glories of Western Ireland, from $303. Round-trip fares from New York's JFK to Liverpool, England begin (at that time) at $348, to Ireland at $361. Taxes on most of these routes run just $149.
These are opening salvos in what undoubtedly will be a violent trans-Atlantic fare war this coming autumn and winter. As other airlines announce their bargain rates, FlyGlobeSpan and other carriers (like the new, Canadian-owned Zoom Airways flying for $199 each way from JFK New York to Gatwick, London) will undoubtedly respond with even lower rates. If you can postpone your trip to the autumn months, you'll save a great deal.
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These are opening salvos in what undoubtedly will be a violent trans-Atlantic fare war this coming autumn and winter. As other airlines announce their bargain rates, FlyGlobeSpan and other carriers (like the new, Canadian-owned Zoom Airways flying for $199 each way from JFK New York to Gatwick, London) will undoubtedly respond with even lower rates. If you can postpone your trip to the autumn months, you'll save a great deal.
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Labels: airlines, england, scotland
It isn't too late to schedule an August/September vacation to all sorts of highly desirable places
In particular, it isn't too late to book yourself onto a one- or two-week cruise of the Caribbean or the Pacific aboard any number of ships departing from all sorts of ports all over America in the months of August and September. If you'll go to Vacations to Go (www.vacationstogo.com), clicking on the button for departures within 90 days, you'll find a heavy assortment of discount offers for every sort of ship on the routes that go into the tropical islands of the western hemisphere or along the Pacific coast of Mexico; the Caribbean is particularly "soft" at this time of year, and remarkable prices are currently offered to entice you onto the many giant ships that sail there.
It isn't too late to book a late August or early September stay in one of the great national parks or to Orlando. To the surprise of many observers, domestic travel slumps a bit in the latter half of August, probably as a result of the early reopening of many schools ahead of Labor Day. Go to eLeisurelink.com (www.eleisurelink.com) for a great many enticing air-and-land packages to America's theme park capital, and go to reservations.nps.gov for accommodations at all the major parks other than Yellowstone (for which www.nationalparkreservations.com is best).
Despite all the rosy predictions about a record-breaking summer travel season, I predict that high gas prices, and concerns about the weakness of the U.S. dollar, may reduce the summer figures well below what many expected. The drop-off will be especially apparent in the months of August and September, and that factor will create a great many vacation opportunities for the procrastinating traveler.
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It isn't too late to book a late August or early September stay in one of the great national parks or to Orlando. To the surprise of many observers, domestic travel slumps a bit in the latter half of August, probably as a result of the early reopening of many schools ahead of Labor Day. Go to eLeisurelink.com (www.eleisurelink.com) for a great many enticing air-and-land packages to America's theme park capital, and go to reservations.nps.gov for accommodations at all the major parks other than Yellowstone (for which www.nationalparkreservations.com is best).
Despite all the rosy predictions about a record-breaking summer travel season, I predict that high gas prices, and concerns about the weakness of the U.S. dollar, may reduce the summer figures well below what many expected. The drop-off will be especially apparent in the months of August and September, and that factor will create a great many vacation opportunities for the procrastinating traveler.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: deals
With its new low-cost subsidiary "Simply Wheelz" renting cars for $15 a day, Hertz has shaken up the pricing structure of the auto rental industry
It's a stunning development, the birth of a brand-new, ultra-cheap auto rental company owned by -- are you ready for this? -- Hertz Rent-a-Car. SimplyWheelz, whose website is www.simplywheelz.com, will currently provide cars in only one U.S. city -- Orlando (at the airport) -- but other locations are in Hertz' short-term plans, and the prices offered by this unlikely subsidiary of Hertz -- as little as $15 a day or $94 a week -- are bound to set off a fierce price war. It's almost as if American Airlines had announced a new cut-rate carrier cheaper than Southwest or Ryanair! And it's an occasion for rejoicing by all cost-conscious travelers that comes about just when it seemed that all other auto rental rates were going through the roof.
It is apparently necessary that bookings for Simply Wheelz be made over the internet, and that cars be picked up using an automated, self-service rental machine at Orlando International Airport (the machine reads a bar code on the confirmation you print off from a computer). Reservations can be made right away, but the program won't actually start until September 1. Moreover, the $15 a day rental charge occasionally goes up to $17 and the $94 weekly rate became $99 for a test booking I made for a late September 17 pickup. There seem to be no other conditions to these bargain rates, but it's important to stress again that Simply Wheelz is presently available only in Orlando and only starting September 1. As hard as it is for me to utter the following words, I've gotta say: Hooray for Hertz!
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It is apparently necessary that bookings for Simply Wheelz be made over the internet, and that cars be picked up using an automated, self-service rental machine at Orlando International Airport (the machine reads a bar code on the confirmation you print off from a computer). Reservations can be made right away, but the program won't actually start until September 1. Moreover, the $15 a day rental charge occasionally goes up to $17 and the $94 weekly rate became $99 for a test booking I made for a late September 17 pickup. There seem to be no other conditions to these bargain rates, but it's important to stress again that Simply Wheelz is presently available only in Orlando and only starting September 1. As hard as it is for me to utter the following words, I've gotta say: Hooray for Hertz!
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Labels: car rental
Aug 6, 2007
Frequently, the "Specialty Travel Index" will list tours unusually suitable for single persons traveling alone
The best-matched married couple I know (other than my wife and myself) are a university professor (he teaches political science) and a psychological therapist (she maintains an active practice). In their late 40s, and both recently divorced, they met at an Appalachian music camp where they had each gone on vacation to pursue an interest in regional folksongs.I am not suggesting travel as a means for meeting your spouse. But for those many single persons in search of a vital vacation trip, I frequently suggest that they book aboard a tour that focuses on a special interest, a theme, a cause. On that sort of trip, it hardly matters whether you are married or single; everyone maintains a high level of involvement, and they mix and mingle with enthusiasm. The single person is rarely alone.
But where do you discover such travel opportunities? For starters, there's the long-established Specialty Travel Index, which began as a magazine and is now also a free website (www.specialtytravel.com) listing the special interest tours offered by some 500 specialty tour operators. For every conceivable interest -- from African heritage to zoology, from agriculture to astronomy, church tours, fashion, horse breeding, jazz, music and dance, psychiatry and social transformation -- there's a company operating tours that cater to persons with that preoccupation. Whether you're interested in doctors' and nurses' tours, jazz or kosher tours, tours for people over 50, tours for collectors of antiques or horse breeders, and so on, you can join a group of like-minded people, in which the fact that you are single and traveling alone has no importance whatsoever. And the experience is bound to be fascinating.
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Labels: tour companies
Disney does it again! For the third time in two years, it hikes admission prices
On a quiet August Sunday (the 5th) when most news outlets were shut down, the Walt Disney organization announced a new hike in one-day admission prices to its complex of theme parks in Orlando, Florida. What once cost $67 is now $71. And the reason? It hardly bothered to explain. "An annual planning cycle," the organization told the Associated Press.
Admission price to each Disney theme park was $59.75 as recently as January, 2006, when it was raised to $63. The price went to $67 in August of 2006, and now to $71. A family of two adults and two children 10 years of age, pays a total of $284 to enter The Magic Kingdom for a day.
Five days prior to the price hike, the Walt Disney Company issued its earnings report for the third quarter of its fiscal year, showing a 14% increase in its profits, caused -- among other things -- by "double-digit growth" in the results of its theme parks.
Readers of this blog would now do well to visit the website of the competing Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, which continues to charge $85.99 for seven days of consecutive admission to both Universal Studios Florida and Universal's Islands of Adventure, both of them worthy substitutes for Disney (especially for children 10 and older). That weeklong admission is available to visitors who book the offer on the internet (www.universalorlando.com) in advance of arrival. The seven-day price for the combined two parks goes up to $95.99 for tickets purchased over the internet on the day of use.
Your response to Disney's startling conduct might be a determination to bring your family to Universal on your next visit to Orlando.
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Admission price to each Disney theme park was $59.75 as recently as January, 2006, when it was raised to $63. The price went to $67 in August of 2006, and now to $71. A family of two adults and two children 10 years of age, pays a total of $284 to enter The Magic Kingdom for a day.
Five days prior to the price hike, the Walt Disney Company issued its earnings report for the third quarter of its fiscal year, showing a 14% increase in its profits, caused -- among other things -- by "double-digit growth" in the results of its theme parks.
Readers of this blog would now do well to visit the website of the competing Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, which continues to charge $85.99 for seven days of consecutive admission to both Universal Studios Florida and Universal's Islands of Adventure, both of them worthy substitutes for Disney (especially for children 10 and older). That weeklong admission is available to visitors who book the offer on the internet (www.universalorlando.com) in advance of arrival. The seven-day price for the combined two parks goes up to $95.99 for tickets purchased over the internet on the day of use.
Your response to Disney's startling conduct might be a determination to bring your family to Universal on your next visit to Orlando.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: disney, orlando, universal
I continue to wonder why anyone would choose to get married in Las Vegas
Although I've touched on the subject before in these posts, and had some explanations supplied by readers, I continue to pose the question in my weekly Sunday radio broadcast: why would any normal person choose to be married in Las Vegas? Some listeners have responded that the answer lies in the cost; the average U.S. wedding is now said to exceed $27,000; in Las Vegas, the price of license and ceremony can be as little as $75. There's also the ease of carrying out the decision; you can have a license within a half-hour of landing, and rush to chapels open round the clock. Most of them are supplied with wedding gowns and tuxedos for rent, instant bouquets, and accessory personnel: a maid of honor nearby, a minister on duty full-time.
But though the number of impulse weddings is considerable, there is evidence that at least three quarters of the Las Vegas ceremonies are planned well in advance by bridal couples who will be accompanied to the event by their neighbors and friends. "Weren't you criticized by your relatives for placing your daughter's wedding in Las Vegas?" I recently asked of a mother who had phoned in a Las Vegas-related question to my show. She seemed puzzled by the question. "They're all thrilled to be going to Las Vegas," she responded. "They talk about nothing else."
So who's crazy? Them or me?
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But though the number of impulse weddings is considerable, there is evidence that at least three quarters of the Las Vegas ceremonies are planned well in advance by bridal couples who will be accompanied to the event by their neighbors and friends. "Weren't you criticized by your relatives for placing your daughter's wedding in Las Vegas?" I recently asked of a mother who had phoned in a Las Vegas-related question to my show. She seemed puzzled by the question. "They're all thrilled to be going to Las Vegas," she responded. "They talk about nothing else."
So who's crazy? Them or me?
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Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
