Sep 14, 2007
This autumn, it's Club Med for quick getaways to the tropics, provided you don't care where you're going
You won't always find these deals on the Club Med website, which is notoriously difficult to use. But if you phone tel. 888/932-2582 and tell the Club Med reservationist that you're looking for a bargain-priced three-night or four-night package anywhere in the Caribbean or nearby, you'll quickly be amazed at what you're told. Throughout the fall, the French resort company has an always-changing assortment of promotions, some including airfare, some without. Recently, last-minute, three-night all-inclusive getaways (but without airfare) to Punta Cana and Turks & Caicos were priced at $249 and $339 per person, respectively. Last-minute four-night all-inclusive packages to the deluxe Club Med resort on the Bahamas' Columbus Isle were priced at $799 per person, with airfare from Fort Lauderdale included. Just tell them you want to get away and don't care where.
As for your airfare there (if it's not included), look to the smaller carriers that aren't usually associated with the tropics. Spirit Airlines (tel. 800/772-7117; www.spiritair.com) flies to all-inclusive capitals like Punta Cana, Cancun, and Montego Bay, Jamaica; the always-growing JetBlue (tel. 800/538-2583; www.jetblue.com) now has service to Cancun, Aruba, Nassau, two airports in the Dominican Republic, and three airports in Puerto Rico; Frontier Airlines (tel. 800/432-1359; www.frontierairlines.com) flies from various U.S. airports to Mexican favorites like Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas; and USA 3000 (tel. 877/872-3000; www.usa3000.com), which used to be solely a charter carrier, now offers flights directly to consumers from several Midwest and northeastern cities to warm destinations like Cancun, Montego Bay, Punta Cana, Puerto Vallarta, Cozumel, and several Florida airports.
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Operating arduous volunteer vacations, an organization called Global Citizens Network makes no concession to dilettantes
Some -- not all, but some -- of the so-called "volunteer vacations" are obvious fakes conceived to satisfy the ego needs of the organizer, and conferring no real benefit upon the communities to which the volunteers go. Nor do the volunteers really participate in the life of the communities they visit.
The Global Citizens Network of St. Paul, Minnesota (tel. 800/644-9292 or 651/644-0960) is, by contrast, the real thing. It sends groups of Americans to indigenous communities of underdeveloped areas (including our own Navajo reservations), where they share the lives of the people they visit and labor at much-needed community projects . In its write-up of a trip to Kenya, the organization bluntly warns: "There may not be running water or electricity. Participants will likely use latrines and bathe using bucket baths." On a trip to remote Mexico, it writes: "Meals will be simple, traditional fare -- rice, beans, tortillas and vegetables." At the Navajo Nation in Arizona, "Team members stay in the Chapter House, sleeping on the floor in their community room. Many bring air mattresses if desired."
Trips vary considerably in length and price: as, for example, eight days to the Navajo reservation, for $800 per person (plus the cost of airfare to Arizona); 10 days to a remote Mexican village for $1,400 (plus airfare to Mexico); two-and-a-half weeks to Kenya, in the Maasai Mara, for $2,100 plus airfare. All prices are substantially reduced by GCN's insistence that these payments are tax-deductible because charitable in nature.
You'll have the full flavor of an unusual program suitable for only the most dedicated Americans, by going to www.globalcitizens.org.
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The Global Citizens Network of St. Paul, Minnesota (tel. 800/644-9292 or 651/644-0960) is, by contrast, the real thing. It sends groups of Americans to indigenous communities of underdeveloped areas (including our own Navajo reservations), where they share the lives of the people they visit and labor at much-needed community projects . In its write-up of a trip to Kenya, the organization bluntly warns: "There may not be running water or electricity. Participants will likely use latrines and bathe using bucket baths." On a trip to remote Mexico, it writes: "Meals will be simple, traditional fare -- rice, beans, tortillas and vegetables." At the Navajo Nation in Arizona, "Team members stay in the Chapter House, sleeping on the floor in their community room. Many bring air mattresses if desired."
Trips vary considerably in length and price: as, for example, eight days to the Navajo reservation, for $800 per person (plus the cost of airfare to Arizona); 10 days to a remote Mexican village for $1,400 (plus airfare to Mexico); two-and-a-half weeks to Kenya, in the Maasai Mara, for $2,100 plus airfare. All prices are substantially reduced by GCN's insistence that these payments are tax-deductible because charitable in nature.
You'll have the full flavor of an unusual program suitable for only the most dedicated Americans, by going to www.globalcitizens.org.
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Labels: volunteer
If you can make your decision and book your flight by midnight this coming Monday, you can enjoy Hawaii at a spectacularly low price
If you ever needed an excuse for an impulse trip to Hawaii, it's been provided by a) ATA Airline's new "Fly Away Sale" to Hawaii, and b) the current price war raging on inter-island flights within Hawaii.
The ATA fares need to be booked by midnight this coming Monday, and on the Internet only (www.ata.com); they cost $10 more if purchased by phone or at ticket counters. But once booked, they permit you to leave on the trip any time from now until December 14, for stunning one-way rates: Oakland to/from Honolulu $127; Ontario, CA to/from Honolulu $139; Las Vegas to/from Maui $159; Phoenix to/from Maui $164; and Sacramento to/from Honolulu $199.
I will bet that these rates will be quickly matched by a bevy of new airlines flying unusual routes to Hawaii. Aloha Airlines (tel. 800/367-5250; www.alohaairlines.com) now operates non-stops such as Sacramento-Maui, San Diego-Maui, and Orange County to Maui and Kona; Hawaiian Airlines (tel. 800/367-5320; www.hawaiiair.com) flies direct between Seattle and Maui, among other routes; and Hawaiian will have competition on that Seattle-Maui non-stop starting in late October, when Alaska Airlines (tel. 800/252-7522; www.alaskaair.com) also begins flying it regularly. All of them have no choice but to match the ATA sale.
The cut in airfares to Hawaii is made more exciting by the plummeting cost of airfares within Hawaii. Some background: Last year, Mesa Air Group, which operates regional flights for carriers such as Delta, United, and US Airways, launched go!, an upstart in Hawaii's inter-island market, which for years had been the domain of Aloha and Hawaiian airlines. The battle for passengers has been fierce, and there's no sign of it letting up. Since it began flying, go! has made a habit of selling $19 one-way tickets to and from Honolulu, and tickets for $39-$58 on flights between other islands. At one point in the fare wars, Aloha fought back by giving away 2,000 inter-island flights for no charge at all.
Availability on the cheapest fares, as one might expect, is limited. Generally, the tickets most likely to sell at rock-bottom rates are purchased either a) a few months in advance or b) at the very last minute. Because it's possible to get a $19 ticket within a day or two of departure, travelers can now jet off on a fun, cheap island adventure on the spur of the moment. Years ago, such a last-minute flight would have cost about as much as a typical flight from the mainland. Contact go! at tel. 888/435-9462 or www.iflygo.com.
But as with flights from the mainland, shop around. Everyone matches other people's prices, and there's no telling which carrier is going to have the best fare at a given moment.
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The ATA fares need to be booked by midnight this coming Monday, and on the Internet only (www.ata.com); they cost $10 more if purchased by phone or at ticket counters. But once booked, they permit you to leave on the trip any time from now until December 14, for stunning one-way rates: Oakland to/from Honolulu $127; Ontario, CA to/from Honolulu $139; Las Vegas to/from Maui $159; Phoenix to/from Maui $164; and Sacramento to/from Honolulu $199.
I will bet that these rates will be quickly matched by a bevy of new airlines flying unusual routes to Hawaii. Aloha Airlines (tel. 800/367-5250; www.alohaairlines.com) now operates non-stops such as Sacramento-Maui, San Diego-Maui, and Orange County to Maui and Kona; Hawaiian Airlines (tel. 800/367-5320; www.hawaiiair.com) flies direct between Seattle and Maui, among other routes; and Hawaiian will have competition on that Seattle-Maui non-stop starting in late October, when Alaska Airlines (tel. 800/252-7522; www.alaskaair.com) also begins flying it regularly. All of them have no choice but to match the ATA sale.
The cut in airfares to Hawaii is made more exciting by the plummeting cost of airfares within Hawaii. Some background: Last year, Mesa Air Group, which operates regional flights for carriers such as Delta, United, and US Airways, launched go!, an upstart in Hawaii's inter-island market, which for years had been the domain of Aloha and Hawaiian airlines. The battle for passengers has been fierce, and there's no sign of it letting up. Since it began flying, go! has made a habit of selling $19 one-way tickets to and from Honolulu, and tickets for $39-$58 on flights between other islands. At one point in the fare wars, Aloha fought back by giving away 2,000 inter-island flights for no charge at all.
Availability on the cheapest fares, as one might expect, is limited. Generally, the tickets most likely to sell at rock-bottom rates are purchased either a) a few months in advance or b) at the very last minute. Because it's possible to get a $19 ticket within a day or two of departure, travelers can now jet off on a fun, cheap island adventure on the spur of the moment. Years ago, such a last-minute flight would have cost about as much as a typical flight from the mainland. Contact go! at tel. 888/435-9462 or www.iflygo.com.
But as with flights from the mainland, shop around. Everyone matches other people's prices, and there's no telling which carrier is going to have the best fare at a given moment.
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Wednesday evening's television exchange between my daughter and Bill O'Reilly exposes the confusion of the anti-Amtrak position
Bill O'Reilly got more than he bargained for when he invited my daughter, Pauline, to appear on Wednesday evening's broadcast of his O'Reilly Factor on nationwide television (the Fox News network). Asked to explain the current congestion of our airways and proposed solutions for dealing with the problem, Pauline responded that one factor was our national decision to put all our transportation eggs "into one basket." We enthusiastically support funding for highways and airports, she pointed out, while starving our national railway system. Crowding of the skies will end only when America acquires high-speed rail routes and trains, just as it has ended in certain areas of Europe where high-speed rail has eliminated the need to fly between certain close-in cities (like Paris and London).
To which O'Reilly became incoherent -- the only word I know for describing his response. While briefly acknowledging he was aware of the "bullet trains" of Japan, he went on to say, without explanation, that the labor unions of America were too strong to permit a similar solution, and having introduced that puzzling assertion, he immediately changed the subject. The relationship between labor unions and the expansion of Amtrak was simply left hanging, and incomprehensible.
What is it about such celebrities that makes them unable to intelligently discuss the expansion and improvement of Amtrak? Why does the topic of oil-efficient rail transportation render them dazed? Why does a TV commentator become tongue-tied when someone makes the obvious point that expanding the use of rail transportation is an obvious way to reduce the number of passenger flights? Can someone -- hopefully, someone who saw and heard the exchange -- explain to me the reaction of a pundit like O'Reilly to our woeful lack of adequate train transport in America?
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To which O'Reilly became incoherent -- the only word I know for describing his response. While briefly acknowledging he was aware of the "bullet trains" of Japan, he went on to say, without explanation, that the labor unions of America were too strong to permit a similar solution, and having introduced that puzzling assertion, he immediately changed the subject. The relationship between labor unions and the expansion of Amtrak was simply left hanging, and incomprehensible.
What is it about such celebrities that makes them unable to intelligently discuss the expansion and improvement of Amtrak? Why does the topic of oil-efficient rail transportation render them dazed? Why does a TV commentator become tongue-tied when someone makes the obvious point that expanding the use of rail transportation is an obvious way to reduce the number of passenger flights? Can someone -- hopefully, someone who saw and heard the exchange -- explain to me the reaction of a pundit like O'Reilly to our woeful lack of adequate train transport in America?
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Labels: trains
Sep 13, 2007
GAP Adventures has opened its fifth "concept store," this time in Greenwich Village, New York
I'm unaware of any tour operator that still sells its products out of a retail, bricks-and-mortar store. But in an unusual move, GAP Adventures, of Toronto, now operates a total of five "concept stores" -- in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Melbourne, and now New York City (364 Avenue of the Americas, tel. 888/800-4100 or 212/228-6655, open seven days a week). The opening (on August 7) of the New York store is surely significant and unusual enough to merit attention. Although they very definitely are stores, with sales attendants, the GAP Concepts are also a bit like lounges at which, from chairs scattered around, you view websites accessed on free-of-charge computers, watch videos and slide shows, study brochures, attend special evening events, and generally relax while thinking about travel.
Because I've been impressed by Canada's GAP Adventures, which operates innovative programs to unusual destinations at a moderate price (and has attracted a heavy American clientele), I've agreed to be a totally-unpaid speaker at their New York store from 2-3pm on Saturday, September 15. My topic: adventure travel. And I'm looking forward to experiencing this new retail concept which, if successful, will undoubtedly be copied by other tour operators. The obvious purpose of the stores is to promote GAP's fairly novel approach to travel which, among other things, makes use of family lodgings and local transportation in order to heighten the authenticity of the travel experience. This is a new kind of commercial tour operator.
Please stop by if you're in the area, and I'll be happy to hear your reactions to GAP.
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Labels: tour companies
If you have $399, you can dance the night away (for two nights) in Reykjavik, Iceland, airfare included
Various swingers I know will argue that the world's hottest nighttime dance scene is in Reykjavik, Iceland. From all over the world they come to witness the frenzy, and the prospects for enticing more have led Icelandair to create a blockbuster air-and-land package for music-mad, dance-hungry travelers. For departures in November, Icelandair will fly you round-trip to Iceland from either New York, Baltimore or Boston, and throw in two nights in a double room at a hotel in Reykjavik for free (including a Scandinavian buffet breakfast daily except on the arrival day), as well as round-trip airport/hotel transfers, for the astonishing total sum of $399.
Once in Reykjavik, the people I've been describing show up at the clubs after dinner and dance late into the night. Most of the clubs are at their peak of activity on the weekends, of course, when some stay active till 5 a.m.
The fine print: That $399 tab is for Monday-through-Thursday departures only, and goes up by $25 more each way for flights Friday-through-Sunday. Departures are also available from Orlando or Minneapolis for $60 more. The price is valid for new purchases only and is exclusive of taxes and government fees of approximately $100-$180 per person. But, hey, how often does such a cheap opportunity crop up? Go to www.icelandair.com and click on the box headed "2 Nights Free," or phone tel. 800/779-2899.
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Once in Reykjavik, the people I've been describing show up at the clubs after dinner and dance late into the night. Most of the clubs are at their peak of activity on the weekends, of course, when some stay active till 5 a.m.
The fine print: That $399 tab is for Monday-through-Thursday departures only, and goes up by $25 more each way for flights Friday-through-Sunday. Departures are also available from Orlando or Minneapolis for $60 more. The price is valid for new purchases only and is exclusive of taxes and government fees of approximately $100-$180 per person. But, hey, how often does such a cheap opportunity crop up? Go to www.icelandair.com and click on the box headed "2 Nights Free," or phone tel. 800/779-2899.
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Sep 12, 2007
If you're 50 or older, there's only one U.S. hotel chain to use
I've been reminded by several aging readers that I should occasionally seek out the travel tactics that will assist the middle-aged or older American to travel. At a time when nearly all the airlines and even some hotels have dropped their senior-citizen discounts, there remains one travel company -- Choice Hotels -- that heavily promotes its price cuts for mature travelers and makes sure that those cuts are substantial. Choice Hotels is a travel giant with tens of thousands of properties operating as Comfort Inns, Quality Inns, Rodeway Inns, Econo Lodge, Clarion Inns, Sleep Inns, Comfort Suites, Cambria Suites and MainStay Suites, and every one of them provides a 10% discount to people 50 and older (the "Mature Travelers Rate"), and a 20% to 30% discount to people 60 and older (the "Sixty Plus Rate"). The latter requires an advance reservation made to tel. 800/4CHOICE. Choice also offers a 15% discount to members of AARP, who can be as young as 50.
Because all the above brands have good rates to begin with, an additional discount of 10% to 30% brings them into bargain territory. Readers seeking the cut should first have their reservations confirmed at the rate quoted to them, and then advise the telephone reservationist that they are eligible for either the Mature Travelers Rate or (better yet) the Sixty Plus Rate.
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Because all the above brands have good rates to begin with, an additional discount of 10% to 30% brings them into bargain territory. Readers seeking the cut should first have their reservations confirmed at the rate quoted to them, and then advise the telephone reservationist that they are eligible for either the Mature Travelers Rate or (better yet) the Sixty Plus Rate.
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Labels: accommodations, deals
If you've never been to the Grand Canyon, November's the time to go
It's one of the seven great natural wonders of the world, an indispensable and thrilling visit, and its South Rim is open to the public all year round. You obviously must see it at some point in your life, and the best time to do so is in late fall and winter, when the crowds have fled and the entire overwhelming sight is viewable in peace and quiet. That's also when the prices plunge. Starting November 25 and until March 6 (except for Christmas and President's Week exclusions), all the great lodges of the South Rim reduce their basic price to $78 per room (Maswik South and Yavapai West) or $94 per room (Maswik North and Yavapai East). Go to www.grandcanyonlodges.com and don't delay your decision too long.Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: grand canyon, parks
Year after year, Greyhound continues to offer the top transportation bargain of the U.S.A.
At some point in our lives, we see an ad for one of Greyhound's "Go Anywhere" fares, and then we forget all about them in planning our next trip. But "Go Anywhere" remains the year-around champ of all travel deals, especially now that high fuel costs are raising the rates of Southwest and other budget-friendly airlines.
As long as you purchase your ticket 7 days in advance and travel starting Monday-through-Thursday, "Go Anywhere" lets you travel one-way on Greyhound up to 300 miles for $29. It lets you go up to 500 miles for $39, up to 2,000 miles for $79, and over 2,800 miles -- anywhere in the United States--for $109. Buy the ticket 14 days in advance and that last price comes down to $99.
Let's all lift a glass to Greyhound -- it still leads the pack. Go to www.greyhound.com for all the details.
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As long as you purchase your ticket 7 days in advance and travel starting Monday-through-Thursday, "Go Anywhere" lets you travel one-way on Greyhound up to 300 miles for $29. It lets you go up to 500 miles for $39, up to 2,000 miles for $79, and over 2,800 miles -- anywhere in the United States--for $109. Buy the ticket 14 days in advance and that last price comes down to $99.
Let's all lift a glass to Greyhound -- it still leads the pack. Go to www.greyhound.com for all the details.
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Labels: bus
This coming November, a two-week tour of Turkey becomes available again at unprecedented low rates
When it comes to choosing the world's single best travel bargain, Turkey competes with China. The tour operators of Turkey all participate in operating a 17-day escorted motor coach tour through all of western Turkey, on which there are guaranteed weekly departures, all-inclusive arrangements (all three meals daily are included), no hidden costs whatsoever -- and round-trip fare from the United States is included. Starting in late November, the price for all this goes down to $1,665 per person, which comes to $98 a day including airfare across the Atlantic. I last described that tour in June of this year, but the fact that the lowest rates are being offered just two months from now warrants another description of this world-class opportunity. All the major tour operators to Turkey operate, essentially, the same tour (they undoubtedly sell into the same, jointly-managed arrangements); and one of the oldest among those companies is Pacha Tours (tel. 800/722-4288; www.pachatours.com), which bills its deal as "Super Value Western Turkey." November 16 and 23 are departure dates sold at the lowest rate ($1,665) in 2007, and that price will undoubtedly re-emerge in March of 2008, as it has in previous years. You'll be missing a big travel opportunity by failing to consider this broad-ranging tour, which goes to Istanbul, Gallipoli, Troy, Pergamum, Ephesus, Pamukkale, Antalya, Cappadocia, and Ankara, a spine-tingling assortment related to important eras of human history.
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Labels: turkey
Sep 11, 2007
For the traveler who has done everything, seen everything,gone everywhere: a five-day cooking vacation in the Colorado Rockies
Would it be worth a week of your time to learn how to prepare: soupe au pistou, spice-rubbed roasted chicken with a pan reduction sauce; bananas foster; a traditional Niçoise salad; bitter greens, toasted pecan, and bacon salad with honey buttermilk dressing; braised pork roast with dried fruit sauce; and Crème caramel with fresh ginger? You bet it would!
For 15 years, the Culinary School of the Rockies in Boulder, Colorado (tel. 877/249-0305; www.culinaryschoolrockies.com), has been offering weeklong vacation stays for travelers that consist of an intensive, five-day long, five-hour-a-day, hands-on course in Basic Cooking Techniques costing $645 per person -- and guaranteed to teach the dishes described above. Lodging in low-cost Boulder is your own responsibility, not included in the $645, but easy to find via recommendations offered by the school).
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For 15 years, the Culinary School of the Rockies in Boulder, Colorado (tel. 877/249-0305; www.culinaryschoolrockies.com), has been offering weeklong vacation stays for travelers that consist of an intensive, five-day long, five-hour-a-day, hands-on course in Basic Cooking Techniques costing $645 per person -- and guaranteed to teach the dishes described above. Lodging in low-cost Boulder is your own responsibility, not included in the $645, but easy to find via recommendations offered by the school).
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Labels: american west, food, learning
From $549 per person, including round-trip trans-Atlantic airfare: "Mini Weekends" in Eastern Europe!
We're approaching the time of the "Mini Weekends" (4 days, 3 nights) in Europe, those fall/winter dates when trans-Atlantic airlines and tour operators create new formulas for enticing people onto planes. This year's pattern: leave Wednesday evening, return Sunday. Or leave Thursday evening, return Monday. And though numerous promoters will eventually offer special rates for such abbreviated air-and-land packages (we'll announce them as they appear), the distinguished Paul Laifer of Paul Laifer Tours (tel. 800/346-6314 or 973/887-1188; www.laifertours.com), a specialist to central and eastern Europe, is the first to announce the exact rates and features for such tiny trips. Provided only that you're able to cope with an inevitable jet lag, you can enjoy such a holiday (airfare, hotel, buffet breakfast daily) for as little as $549 per person.
To Prague, from November 15 to December 10, and from January 2 to March 31, Laifer will fly you round-trip on Czech Airlines from New York (add-on fares from most other major cities are only slightly more), put you up for three nights at the Hotel Charles, and serve you a full buffet breakfast every morning, for only $549 per person (taxes, security fees, and fuel surcharge add another $225).
To Budapest, this time from November 1 to December 10, and from January 2 to March 31, 2008, he'll again fly you round-trip from New York on Czech Airlines and put you up at the Hotel Radisson Beke for three nights, with full buffet breakfast daily, for $599 per person (plus taxes, security fees, and fuel surcharge totalling $264).
Studies show that many Americans divide their meager, two-weeks-or-so of vacation (Grrrr!) into several long-weekends. If that's your lot, you might want to consider a trip and a stay as exotic (Prague, Budapest) as these shortened weekends provide.
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To Prague, from November 15 to December 10, and from January 2 to March 31, Laifer will fly you round-trip on Czech Airlines from New York (add-on fares from most other major cities are only slightly more), put you up for three nights at the Hotel Charles, and serve you a full buffet breakfast every morning, for only $549 per person (taxes, security fees, and fuel surcharge add another $225).
To Budapest, this time from November 1 to December 10, and from January 2 to March 31, 2008, he'll again fly you round-trip from New York on Czech Airlines and put you up at the Hotel Radisson Beke for three nights, with full buffet breakfast daily, for $599 per person (plus taxes, security fees, and fuel surcharge totalling $264).
Studies show that many Americans divide their meager, two-weeks-or-so of vacation (Grrrr!) into several long-weekends. If that's your lot, you might want to consider a trip and a stay as exotic (Prague, Budapest) as these shortened weekends provide.
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Labels: budapest, deals, prague
Massive re-organization and expansion of staff have reduced the passport waiting time to six to eight weeks
In a triumphant press release issued on Friday, the State Department has announced that things are back to normal in the issuance of U.S. passports. Are you ready for this? As a result of arduous efforts, the waiting period for a standard application has been reduced to six to eight weeks. And if you seek expedited treatment (paying a hefty additional sum for that preference), you can obtain your passport in three weeks.
"Throughout the summer, dedicated Department staff in Washington and at the nation's 18 passport agencies have worked tirelessly to eliminate the delays in processing that had developed earlier in the year," states the State Department's website (www.travel.state.gov).
Six to eight weeks. Three weeks if expedited.
I will desist from offering congratulations. Or from making further comment. But whether or not you currently have the slightest intention of traveling beyond our borders, you should start the application process now. Can you imagine discovering an irresistible foreign trip, and then realizing that you haven't the time to obtain a passport?
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"Throughout the summer, dedicated Department staff in Washington and at the nation's 18 passport agencies have worked tirelessly to eliminate the delays in processing that had developed earlier in the year," states the State Department's website (www.travel.state.gov).
Six to eight weeks. Three weeks if expedited.
I will desist from offering congratulations. Or from making further comment. But whether or not you currently have the slightest intention of traveling beyond our borders, you should start the application process now. Can you imagine discovering an irresistible foreign trip, and then realizing that you haven't the time to obtain a passport?
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Labels: passports
Are those generous credit cards playing around with the exchange rate? Do all of them, in effect, charge 3% for use of your card abroad?
Two friends travel to Italy in the month of May. One carries a Wells Fargo Visa card, the other a Bank of America Visa card. Both make use of their cards on May 7. The friend with the Wells Fargo card is charged no 3% transaction fee, but the Euros he spent that day are converted into dollars at a rate of 1€=$1.396. The friend with the Bank of America card is charged that infamous transaction fee but the Euros are changed into dollars at a rate of 1€=$1.36 -- a 2.65% saving.
One of them (Dean Smith of Porterville, California) sends me copies of both credit card statements. They raise disquieting questions. Are those credit card companies that don't charge a transaction fee making up for their "generosity" by using a worse exchange rate? In the final analysis, do they bilk you just as badly as the companies charging the fee? Is anyone playing straight with travelers?
I'd be grateful to hear from math-savvy readers who have recently traveled to Europe, used their credit cards, and kept the bills. Is anyone able to tell me whether the non-fee companies are also using a decent exchange rate?
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One of them (Dean Smith of Porterville, California) sends me copies of both credit card statements. They raise disquieting questions. Are those credit card companies that don't charge a transaction fee making up for their "generosity" by using a worse exchange rate? In the final analysis, do they bilk you just as badly as the companies charging the fee? Is anyone playing straight with travelers?
I'd be grateful to hear from math-savvy readers who have recently traveled to Europe, used their credit cards, and kept the bills. Is anyone able to tell me whether the non-fee companies are also using a decent exchange rate?
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Labels: money
Sep 10, 2007
For a somewhat different holiday (to put it mildly), consider a week to a month at the Kalani Oceanside Retreat Center on the Big Island of Hawaii
If you bring your own tent, you'll be given a campsite, three meals daily, two full-body massages, daily yoga classes, and the right to engage in all resort activities (hula, ecstatic dance, meditation, weaving, pool, hot tub and sauna), for a total of $780 per person per week, whether single or double. If you're one of two persons traveling together, you'll receive all the above for $930 per person per week in a room with shared bath, $1,020 with private bath. I'm talking about a dreamy, laid-back, unpretentious Hawaiian resort named Kalani (tel. 800/800-6886; www.kalani.com), on the Big Island of Hawaii, that's designed for the same people who patronize yoga centers and meditation camps on the mainland.
It's been around for 30 years, and is still following the gentle precepts of its founder: a mainly vegetarian cuisine (but lots of fresh fish), yoga and tai chi everywhere you look, supportive and non-aggressive fellow guests who follow their bliss, plain but adequate accommodations, and none of the conspicuous consumption or boisterous show-offs of the standard resort. A typical dinner ("prepared with aloha") starts with coconut squash soup, goes on to seared ahi with pineapple salsa, baked tempeh, quinoa with sunflower seeds, broccoli stir-fry, and cucumber salad, and ends with lemon ginger cake.
It's the kind of Hawaiian vacation where you'll never complain about the islands having changed their character or gotten over-crowded. It's like the Hawaii of a century ago. A final touch: volunteers willing to work 30 hours a week for a month, pay $1,000 for an all-inclusive one-month stay at Kalani, attending all classes and activities, receiving accommodations and all meals.
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It's been around for 30 years, and is still following the gentle precepts of its founder: a mainly vegetarian cuisine (but lots of fresh fish), yoga and tai chi everywhere you look, supportive and non-aggressive fellow guests who follow their bliss, plain but adequate accommodations, and none of the conspicuous consumption or boisterous show-offs of the standard resort. A typical dinner ("prepared with aloha") starts with coconut squash soup, goes on to seared ahi with pineapple salsa, baked tempeh, quinoa with sunflower seeds, broccoli stir-fry, and cucumber salad, and ends with lemon ginger cake.
It's the kind of Hawaiian vacation where you'll never complain about the islands having changed their character or gotten over-crowded. It's like the Hawaii of a century ago. A final touch: volunteers willing to work 30 hours a week for a month, pay $1,000 for an all-inclusive one-month stay at Kalani, attending all classes and activities, receiving accommodations and all meals.
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Charging only $799 from either Miami or New York, TAM Brazilian Airways gets you to Rio for a six-night stay, from now until December 9
There's a new player in the operation of air-and-land packages to Rio de Janeiro, charging $799 from either New York or Miami. On TAM Brazilian Airways, you'll receive a daytime flight to Brazil's scintillating resort capital, and six nights with breakfast daily at the Lancaster Hotel, as well as a half-day tour of the city. In November, on the eve of Brazil's summer, temperatures climb, and that might be the best time for taking advantage of this top travel opportunity. Note that TAM's $799 from New York or Miami is much better than Gate 1's $899 from Miami alone (we wrote about Gate1's Rio deal in our July 31 post), although Gate 1's offer is available for the high season months of January through March. Go now to www.tamvacations.com.
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That spectacular $399 round-trip airfare between New York and Rome, Italy, will now be sold until September 30
Relenting on the previous September 15 cut-off for obtaining their fall/winter round-trip airfare to Rome of only $399, Eurofly airlines will now continue selling that fare (for flights taking off from November 1 until December 16, and from January 6 to March 15) all the way until September 30. And in a communication from their marketing representative, I've been told that there remain a decent number of seats for sale at that unusual price. $399 is quite remarkable for a round-trip to Rome, and if you've ever had the yen to spend an un-crowded winter interlude in that evocative city (site of the first third of the best-selling "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert, my own recent bedtime reading), you'll want to jump to snare one of those low-cost bargains. Go to www.euroflyusa.com.
In addition to selling a $399 round-trip flight in winter (to be booked by September 30), Eurofly is also providing a $599 air-and-land package in winter to Rome -- and this time without a deadline for booking. At a price much lower than anyone else is charging (based, obviously, on the promotional needs of this new trans-Atlantic airline), Eurofly will not only fly you there (on its twice-weekly flights to Rome), but also put you up for four nights at a standard Rome hotel, at any time between October 28 and March 30 (excluding only the Christmas period). For the air-and-land package (as opposed to the airfare), you're asked to phone Club ABC, the tour operator handling these arrangements for Eurofly, at tel. 800/459-0619.
I recently flew on Eurofly from Palermo to New York, and it was a perfectly comfortable and uneventful flight.
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In addition to selling a $399 round-trip flight in winter (to be booked by September 30), Eurofly is also providing a $599 air-and-land package in winter to Rome -- and this time without a deadline for booking. At a price much lower than anyone else is charging (based, obviously, on the promotional needs of this new trans-Atlantic airline), Eurofly will not only fly you there (on its twice-weekly flights to Rome), but also put you up for four nights at a standard Rome hotel, at any time between October 28 and March 30 (excluding only the Christmas period). For the air-and-land package (as opposed to the airfare), you're asked to phone Club ABC, the tour operator handling these arrangements for Eurofly, at tel. 800/459-0619.
I recently flew on Eurofly from Palermo to New York, and it was a perfectly comfortable and uneventful flight.
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Mea culpa: In singing the praises of "SimplyWheelz.com," I fell too hard for Hertz' hype
It seemed too good to be true -- and it was. In announcing that it was forming a low-cost subsidiary SimplyWheelz.com (www.simplywheelz.com) to rent cars for as little as $15 a day, Hertz left me with the impression that they were bringing about a real revolution in car rentals. I immediately leaped to confirm the price in a telephone call to Hertz' public relations office, and even invited a representative of Hertz to appear on my Sunday radio program to discuss it further. On that program, she never once took issue with my astonishment, and even affirmatively indicated, on the program, that the one significant condition to the price was that you had to rent the car for a minimum of two days.
Then, yesterday, I read of a speech by Hertz' president in which he referred to a minimum rental of four days, and I knew something was awry. I immediately placed several test bookings and not only learned that there were shifting "minimum" requirements based on the number of days of your rental, but also discovered the more shocking fact that on numerous dates, the price offered by SimplyWheelz.com began at $30.99 a day and even $41.99 a day -- not $15. In a subsequent communication from Hertz, I got the strong impression that they are simply seeking to be competitive with other auto rental companies -- and not to cause a breakthrough in car rental pricing.
Based on a dozen test bookings, it appears that, yes, Hertz has chosen scattered dates on which, if you rent for a certain minimum number of days, you will pay even less than $15 a day. Scattered dates. But on the overwhelming number of dates in the four months ahead (starting with the launch of the program in Orlando on September 14), Hertz' SimplyWheelz' program is charging a totally unexciting $22.99 to $30.99 to $41.99 a day for their SimplyWheelz car rentals in Orlando. To anyone who has ever used Priceline or Hotwire for a rental car in Orlando in the off-season periods of October, November and early December, those Hertz rates are less than impressive.
So I made a classic error. I assumed that a reference to prices that began at $15 meant that these prices would be close to $15. I assumed that when, in publicity and marketing, reference is made to $15, the company making that reference is not anticipating prices of $41.99. I assumed that a giant corporation would not engage in the kind of hype that is usually expected of smaller car rental companies -- and I assumed wrong. Mea culpa.
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Then, yesterday, I read of a speech by Hertz' president in which he referred to a minimum rental of four days, and I knew something was awry. I immediately placed several test bookings and not only learned that there were shifting "minimum" requirements based on the number of days of your rental, but also discovered the more shocking fact that on numerous dates, the price offered by SimplyWheelz.com began at $30.99 a day and even $41.99 a day -- not $15. In a subsequent communication from Hertz, I got the strong impression that they are simply seeking to be competitive with other auto rental companies -- and not to cause a breakthrough in car rental pricing.
Based on a dozen test bookings, it appears that, yes, Hertz has chosen scattered dates on which, if you rent for a certain minimum number of days, you will pay even less than $15 a day. Scattered dates. But on the overwhelming number of dates in the four months ahead (starting with the launch of the program in Orlando on September 14), Hertz' SimplyWheelz' program is charging a totally unexciting $22.99 to $30.99 to $41.99 a day for their SimplyWheelz car rentals in Orlando. To anyone who has ever used Priceline or Hotwire for a rental car in Orlando in the off-season periods of October, November and early December, those Hertz rates are less than impressive.
So I made a classic error. I assumed that a reference to prices that began at $15 meant that these prices would be close to $15. I assumed that when, in publicity and marketing, reference is made to $15, the company making that reference is not anticipating prices of $41.99. I assumed that a giant corporation would not engage in the kind of hype that is usually expected of smaller car rental companies -- and I assumed wrong. Mea culpa.
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Labels: car rental
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
