Sep 28, 2007
Let's give a cheer for a hotel search engine that's mainly for leisure travelers
The problem with many online hotel booking engines is that they tend to list the same properties, heavily favoring cookie-cutter international chains and four-star hotels that, frankly, appeal more to business travelers than leisure tourists. Tourist-class (two- and three-star) hotels that offer far more value for your money are in short supply. Even more rare is the inclusion of the kind of small, family-run hotels that not only run cheaper than the big hotels but also give you the kind of friendly welcome and local charm that no chain can provide.
The Italy-based booking engine Venere.com (www.venere.com), however, does provide just those sorts of lodging options all across Europe. (It has listings for major U.S. cities as well, but these are far from complete and not nearly as useful.) Venere.com is a booking engine for those of us who prefer a mix of tourist-class chains, mom-and-pop hotels, and B&Bs, along with rental apartments, farm stays, short-stay residence hotels, and even villas. Rarely are so many different types of lodging options available in one place, and my guidebook-writing associates report that Venere.com is the only major booking site that manages to include many of the kind of small, family-run hotels they recommend on Frommers.com.
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The Italy-based booking engine Venere.com (www.venere.com), however, does provide just those sorts of lodging options all across Europe. (It has listings for major U.S. cities as well, but these are far from complete and not nearly as useful.) Venere.com is a booking engine for those of us who prefer a mix of tourist-class chains, mom-and-pop hotels, and B&Bs, along with rental apartments, farm stays, short-stay residence hotels, and even villas. Rarely are so many different types of lodging options available in one place, and my guidebook-writing associates report that Venere.com is the only major booking site that manages to include many of the kind of small, family-run hotels they recommend on Frommers.com.
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Labels: accommodations, websites
"Our chef's special is travel." Here's how to order a $775 trip to Bangkok along with your Thai take-out
Don't be surprised if, on your next visit to your local Thai restaurant, your tom yum soup and pad thai entrée come with a side order of brochures and promotional fliers for packaged vacations. That initiative, dreamed up by the official Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to boost visitor numbers, will have Thai restaurants throughout the Midwest and Eastern U.S. spend the coming months helping promote trips to Thailand.
It's called the Amazing Thailand Packages program, and according to the New York director of TAT, Bangornrat Shinaprayoon, its goal is "to help Americans take the step from simply enjoying Thai cuisine in a restaurant to experiencing firsthand the joys of Thai culture in Thailand." The thinking is that, once you've sampled a great panang moo tod (stir-fried marinated pork and vegetables in a super-spicy coconut curry), you'll want to try it at the source.
The tourist office has teamed with five top purveyors of Thai vacations, from luxury to budget, to devise a series of travel packages, the details of which you can download at www.seeyouinthailand.com/packages. Here's a sampler platter of the best deals, including roundtrip air on Singapore Airlines from L.A. or San Francisco (add $65 for New York) and all internal transfers. (Prices are valid roughly from now though November 30 and again January 5 to March 31.)
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It's called the Amazing Thailand Packages program, and according to the New York director of TAT, Bangornrat Shinaprayoon, its goal is "to help Americans take the step from simply enjoying Thai cuisine in a restaurant to experiencing firsthand the joys of Thai culture in Thailand." The thinking is that, once you've sampled a great panang moo tod (stir-fried marinated pork and vegetables in a super-spicy coconut curry), you'll want to try it at the source.
The tourist office has teamed with five top purveyors of Thai vacations, from luxury to budget, to devise a series of travel packages, the details of which you can download at www.seeyouinthailand.com/packages. Here's a sampler platter of the best deals, including roundtrip air on Singapore Airlines from L.A. or San Francisco (add $65 for New York) and all internal transfers. (Prices are valid roughly from now though November 30 and again January 5 to March 31.)
- From $775 per person for air and seven days/five nights in Bangkok, including a city bus tour.
- From $1,120 per person for air, three nights in Bangkok, including a city tour, and three nights at the beach on the island of Phuket.
- From $1,659 per person for air and a 12-day "Around Thailand" tour including five nights in Bangkok (city tour, boat ride on the khlong canals) and six days of visiting Thailand's top ancient cities (Ayutthaya, Sukhotahi), the hilltribes around Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, a river trip in a long-tail boat, an elephant camp, and the Golden Triangle.
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Labels: thailand
A strong case can be made for touring Costa Rica independently and not in a group
I recently wrote about the fierce competition between Caravan Tours, Gate 1 Travel, and GAP Adventures in the sale of group tours of Costa Rica for under $1,000 a person, not including airfare. But why travel Costa Rica in a motorcoach group? Some of the best reactions I've heard to that popular Central America nation have been from people who rented a car on arrival and then simply went on their own to Guanacaste (the beaches), Monteverde (cloud forest), Manuel Antonio (national park along the sea), Arenal (the active volcano), Tortuguero, Puerto Viejo (the Caribbean coast), and elsewhere.
If you'll go to www.gapadventures.com, and click on "Central America," "Costa Rica," and "Independent," you'll find a large assortment of self-drive tours that cost about $525 per person for a week, $765 for 11 days (all plus airfare), including a self-drive car for those periods and hotels with breakfast daily in all the locations along suggested itineraries. You fly into San Jose, pick up your car, and thereafter follow the indicated route, arriving at each hotel location on the prescribed day. Here's an appealing way to absorb all the sights and atmosphere of Central America without the burden of having forty other people to dog your every step.
And for persons who themselves don't want to drive, the tour company offers a similarly-priced alternative, a hotel shuttle bus that will pick you up at the end of your stay in one hotel and drive you and your luggage to the next hotel. It's called an "Adventure Bus" in GAP's literature, but it is more like a shuttle van and certainly not (in most instances) a large bus.
Although you'll find complete descriptions of these independent programs for touring Costa Rica in GAP Adventure's website, the people handling reservations are an independent unit of GAP reached by a separate phone number: 800/667-1221. (The normal GAP number is 800/708-7761).
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If you'll go to www.gapadventures.com, and click on "Central America," "Costa Rica," and "Independent," you'll find a large assortment of self-drive tours that cost about $525 per person for a week, $765 for 11 days (all plus airfare), including a self-drive car for those periods and hotels with breakfast daily in all the locations along suggested itineraries. You fly into San Jose, pick up your car, and thereafter follow the indicated route, arriving at each hotel location on the prescribed day. Here's an appealing way to absorb all the sights and atmosphere of Central America without the burden of having forty other people to dog your every step.
And for persons who themselves don't want to drive, the tour company offers a similarly-priced alternative, a hotel shuttle bus that will pick you up at the end of your stay in one hotel and drive you and your luggage to the next hotel. It's called an "Adventure Bus" in GAP's literature, but it is more like a shuttle van and certainly not (in most instances) a large bus.
Although you'll find complete descriptions of these independent programs for touring Costa Rica in GAP Adventure's website, the people handling reservations are an independent unit of GAP reached by a separate phone number: 800/667-1221. (The normal GAP number is 800/708-7761).
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Labels: costa rica
Uh-oh! That temporary reprieve for passport-lacking air travelers flying within the Western Hemisphere, comes to an end on October 1
In case you haven't heard, Americans flying back and forth to Bermuda, Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean will need to possess valid U.S. passports starting October 1. Several months ago, the rule was modified to allow such travelers to show that they had applied for a passport though they had not yet received one. That merciful exemption was created because of the notorious failure by the State Department to respond in a timely fashion to hundreds of thousands of passport applications.
So if you're planning to fly anywhere in the tropics (or to Canada) in a few weeks from now, you've been duly warned. Get that passport!
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So if you're planning to fly anywhere in the tropics (or to Canada) in a few weeks from now, you've been duly warned. Get that passport!
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Labels: passports
Sep 27, 2007
A reader has dramatically confirmed my advice that a private taxicab tour ($1.50 or so per ride) is the best way to sightsee in Chinese cities
Sharing my disdain for sightseeing in a big motorcoach with 40 other tourists, a reader who has twice been to China has described her own preference for moving about independently in big Chinese cities -- even to the extent of taking meals in restaurants frequented only by locals. She writes:
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Three years ago I travelled to Beijing and Shanghai through www.friendlyplanet.com. My friend and I took a guidebook that had Chinese characters for most of the major tourist attractions that we wanted to see (and a hotel card with the name of the hotel we wanted to return to). We would flag down a cab, show them the Chinese characters and wait for a nod before getting into the cab. We always got to our destination and the cost was cheap.Increasingly, tourism to China is resembling tourism to Europe. With preparation and ingenuity, it becomes easily possible to sightsee on your own.
In one area where we were walking, we got lost and wanted lunch. We walked into a place (Muslim Hot Pot) that was way off the tourist track. They had one menu translated into English. The staff probably hadn't seen many non-Chinese in their restaurant, but they were so patient and helpful. They pointed to suggestions and brought out samples of their suggestions. It was a memorable lunch -- for us and them -- the whole kitchen staff came out to check us out as we ate.
Friendly Planet offered a la carte tours that we passed on, choosing the cab method. We saw almost twice as much as the people who took the tours. Occasionally, we would hire a tour guide at the entrance gates. Even doing this, we saved huge amount of money over the organized tours and we could control the amount of time we spent in various places. We even saw a few places that the tours didn't get to.
A year and a half later, I took my husband to Beijing for Thanksgiving and we used the same method. One place we wanted to go, I used the Chinese name for the place we wanted to go. The cabbie took us to the south end when I had asked for the north end. I insisted on the north (bei) end. He dialed a number and handed me the phone. An English speaker asked where I wanted to go. I told him and he asked me to hand the phone back to the driver. The driver looked embarrassed. Apparently, I had pronounced everything correctly -- he just didn't think I knew Chinese. After that, we always pointed to the characters.
So, I would highly recommend using cabs to save money. Whether or not you know Chinese, you can get around with very few problems.
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Labels: china, tips from readers
You can now see photos of those self-drive, sleep-aboard boats that cruise the waterways of Europe -- and frequently rent for under $1,000 (per boat)
In mid-August, I wrote about an important new company for renting self-drive boats to Americans wanting to cruise the waterways of Europe. Operated by two British entrepreneurs with long experience in that business, European Boating Holidays will now be offering several hundred "self-skippered" boats for rental in Ireland, Italy, France, Germany and Spain -- an indication of how popular such low-cost do-it-yourself boating has become (these are not the far more expensive, heavily-staffed "hotel boats" that cruise the rivers of Europe and emphasize their gourmet cuisine almost as much as the trip). And I pointed out that a full-time reservations office for EBH was now operating in Lake Placid, New York (tel. 866/606-5278), although they had not yet launched their own website to provide further details and photographs.
The website has just gone up. It's reached at www.europeanboatingholidays.co.uk, and finally you'll be able to obtain a far more complete picture of what it means to "drive" your own boat down the canals and waterways of Europe (cruising speed is slow, and stops are frequently made at quaint villages found alongside the canals). Because self-drive boating is cost-effective and inexpensive, you may want to study the chart of prices for rental of the various boats -- and then decide whether a boating holiday is right for you.
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The website has just gone up. It's reached at www.europeanboatingholidays.co.uk, and finally you'll be able to obtain a far more complete picture of what it means to "drive" your own boat down the canals and waterways of Europe (cruising speed is slow, and stops are frequently made at quaint villages found alongside the canals). Because self-drive boating is cost-effective and inexpensive, you may want to study the chart of prices for rental of the various boats -- and then decide whether a boating holiday is right for you.
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Can you sometimes put together your own air-and-land vacation to the Caribbean, for just about what a tour operator would charge? This season, you can
It is sometimes assumed that a tour operator can create an unbeatable price for air-and-land packages to the Caribbean. In the current autumn off-season, that's no longer the case. With airfares plunging to historic depths, and all-inclusive resorts dealing directly with the public, you can be your own tour operator. And why is that important? Because you can then choose the specific resort at which you wish to stay, and not be required to accept the tour operator's selection.
Air fares first. Nearly all the cheeky, upstart, cut-rate carriers are now flying to various Caribbean locales at ultra-low rates. Spirit Airlines (tel. 800/772-7117; www.spiritair.com) flies to Punta Cana, Cancun, and Montego Bay (sometimes requiring a stop in Fort Lauderdale on the way); JetBlue (tel. 800/538-2583; www.jetblue.com) now has service to Cancun, Aruba, Nassau, two airports in the Dominican Republic and three in Puerto Rico; Frontier Airlines (tel. 800/432-1359; www.frontierairlines.com) flies from various U.S. airports to Cancun; and USA 3000 (tel. 877/872-3000, www.usa3000.com) offers flights directly to consumers from several Midwest and northeastern cities to warm destinations like Cancun, Montego Bay, Punta Cana, and Cozumel. Their bargain-level fares have forced the established airlines to cut rates as well, and the result is that you can fly Spirit Airlines from New York to Punta Cana in November for $389 round-trip (including all taxes and fees) and Continental Airlines from Newark to Puerto Plata for $349.
Now add on the almost-unbelievable off-season rates of several all-inclusive chains. The Allegro Playa Dorado in Puerto Plata, the Dominican Republic (six restaurants, four bars, free horseback riding and free clinics for scuba and windsurfing) is charging $245.50 per person for an all-inclusive (meals and everything else) four-night stay in November. That's just over $63 per person per night. (tel 800/858-2258; www.occidentalhotels.com). Riu, a hotel and resort company with upscale properties all over the world, is selling all-inclusive stays at the Hotel Riu Naiboa -- a sprawling, 362-room resort a two-minute walk to the Punta Cana beach -- for around $60 a night per person, marked down from a high season rate of $96.
Combine those airfares with these hotel rates and you have a six-night stay of all-inclusive arrangements as well as round-trip airfare from faraway New York, for $749 -- a price that's awfully close to what tour operators charge -- and for resorts of your own choosing.
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Air fares first. Nearly all the cheeky, upstart, cut-rate carriers are now flying to various Caribbean locales at ultra-low rates. Spirit Airlines (tel. 800/772-7117; www.spiritair.com) flies to Punta Cana, Cancun, and Montego Bay (sometimes requiring a stop in Fort Lauderdale on the way); JetBlue (tel. 800/538-2583; www.jetblue.com) now has service to Cancun, Aruba, Nassau, two airports in the Dominican Republic and three in Puerto Rico; Frontier Airlines (tel. 800/432-1359; www.frontierairlines.com) flies from various U.S. airports to Cancun; and USA 3000 (tel. 877/872-3000, www.usa3000.com) offers flights directly to consumers from several Midwest and northeastern cities to warm destinations like Cancun, Montego Bay, Punta Cana, and Cozumel. Their bargain-level fares have forced the established airlines to cut rates as well, and the result is that you can fly Spirit Airlines from New York to Punta Cana in November for $389 round-trip (including all taxes and fees) and Continental Airlines from Newark to Puerto Plata for $349.
Now add on the almost-unbelievable off-season rates of several all-inclusive chains. The Allegro Playa Dorado in Puerto Plata, the Dominican Republic (six restaurants, four bars, free horseback riding and free clinics for scuba and windsurfing) is charging $245.50 per person for an all-inclusive (meals and everything else) four-night stay in November. That's just over $63 per person per night. (tel 800/858-2258; www.occidentalhotels.com). Riu, a hotel and resort company with upscale properties all over the world, is selling all-inclusive stays at the Hotel Riu Naiboa -- a sprawling, 362-room resort a two-minute walk to the Punta Cana beach -- for around $60 a night per person, marked down from a high season rate of $96.
Combine those airfares with these hotel rates and you have a six-night stay of all-inclusive arrangements as well as round-trip airfare from faraway New York, for $749 -- a price that's awfully close to what tour operators charge -- and for resorts of your own choosing.
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In the current online edition of "The New York Times," travel becomes a matter for "Freakonomics," with me as the freakish economist
Stephen J. Dubner, the 44-year-old co-author of the massive best-seller Freakonomics, was recently asked to move his blog so that he could bring his unique perspective on life to the website of the New York Times -- and guess whom he invited to be the first to discuss travel? A week or so ago, I received a call from Dubner's office asking whether I would respond to about 30 questions on travel that they would solicit from their readers and pass on to me.
Thinking it would be a snap to answer 30 questions in the two leisure hours I had for the task, I readily agreed -- only to learn that readers of The New York Times pose questions more extraordinary than you would find anywhere else. "What are your thoughts," asked one reader, "on Xavier De Maistre's Voyage Autour de Ma Chambre that before we jet off to see the world, we should apply that same curiosity and attentiveness to our immediate surroundings." "How can foreign restaurants balance authenticity with the increase of tourists who come based on your guidebooks' recommendations?" "Can a woman safely vacation in Samarra, Iraq?"
I did my best. And to see the results, you go to freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/.
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Thinking it would be a snap to answer 30 questions in the two leisure hours I had for the task, I readily agreed -- only to learn that readers of The New York Times pose questions more extraordinary than you would find anywhere else. "What are your thoughts," asked one reader, "on Xavier De Maistre's Voyage Autour de Ma Chambre that before we jet off to see the world, we should apply that same curiosity and attentiveness to our immediate surroundings." "How can foreign restaurants balance authenticity with the increase of tourists who come based on your guidebooks' recommendations?" "Can a woman safely vacation in Samarra, Iraq?"
I did my best. And to see the results, you go to freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/.
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Labels: websites
Sep 26, 2007
Read it and weep: Europeans can now travel by train between London and Paris in just about two hours flat
Two weeks ago, in a test-run of the new high-speed train tracks installed into London's St. Pancras Station, the Eurostar made the trip between Paris and London in only three minutes more than two hours. When the train begins regular daily service between St. Pancras Station and Paris on November 14, it will be scheduled to make the trip in less than two hours and 15 minutes. It will go between London and Brussels in one hour and 51 minutes. For all practical purposes, it is no longer necessary -- ever -- to fly between London and Paris or between London and Brussels. In fact, it would be foolish to do so.
It should also be noted that persons vacationing in London can now make easy "day trips" to Paris, leaving early in the morning from London, returning evenings from Paris, and having the greater part of the day to spend in Paris. That's an important expansion of travel opportunities.
Naturally, the environmental benefits of using trains rather than planes to fly between these major capitals should also be noted. But equally important is the growing contrast between Europe's use of trains and ours. While one European train after another establishes new speed records, our government proposes to limit funding for Amtrak to subsistence levels, enabling our railroads to provide only the most minimal service. Please join with me in urging our representatives in Congress to improve and expand Amtrak.
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It should also be noted that persons vacationing in London can now make easy "day trips" to Paris, leaving early in the morning from London, returning evenings from Paris, and having the greater part of the day to spend in Paris. That's an important expansion of travel opportunities.
Naturally, the environmental benefits of using trains rather than planes to fly between these major capitals should also be noted. But equally important is the growing contrast between Europe's use of trains and ours. While one European train after another establishes new speed records, our government proposes to limit funding for Amtrak to subsistence levels, enabling our railroads to provide only the most minimal service. Please join with me in urging our representatives in Congress to improve and expand Amtrak.
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Just when it seemed that travel within Britain was hopelessly expensive, along comes Travelodge to save the day!
I'm talking about the British motel chain, not the identically-named U.S. one. If you'll go to www.travelodge.co.uk, you'll find such low-cost lodging bargains that you'll rub your eyes. At numerous British-owned Travelodges in London (outside the city's central area), or elsewhere in England, Scotland and Wales, an average payment of £40-60 a night ($80 to $120) will rent a room capable of housing up to four persons.
My daughter first discovered the Travelodge bonanza when she undertook a trip with her family (husband and two children) to Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland in the month of August. Fearful that she would not be able to find space in Edinburgh during the time of its famous festival, she nevertheless ventured a stab at the Travelodge website and snared a room for a two-night stay at the height of the hoopla. And though her Travelodge had doubled its rates for the Festival period (charging £125 instead of the usual £60), the price she paid was for all four of the persons in her party. On a roll, she then clicked on a "super special" for Travelodge in the city of Dumfries, Scotland, and got a family room for the grand total of £15 ($30) -- a special promotion that still appears on the Travelodge website. Though the Dumfries Travelodge was on the outskirts of the city, along a highway and behind a gas station next to a Little Chef restaurant, who was complaining?
So there you have it: a budget-priced sanctuary for us dollar-starved Yanks. Though some aren't exactly central, they are always of new construction and with Ikea-like furnishings (lots of blonde woods), and perfectly adequate for all but the most demanding of travelers. Viva Travelodge!
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My daughter first discovered the Travelodge bonanza when she undertook a trip with her family (husband and two children) to Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland in the month of August. Fearful that she would not be able to find space in Edinburgh during the time of its famous festival, she nevertheless ventured a stab at the Travelodge website and snared a room for a two-night stay at the height of the hoopla. And though her Travelodge had doubled its rates for the Festival period (charging £125 instead of the usual £60), the price she paid was for all four of the persons in her party. On a roll, she then clicked on a "super special" for Travelodge in the city of Dumfries, Scotland, and got a family room for the grand total of £15 ($30) -- a special promotion that still appears on the Travelodge website. Though the Dumfries Travelodge was on the outskirts of the city, along a highway and behind a gas station next to a Little Chef restaurant, who was complaining?
So there you have it: a budget-priced sanctuary for us dollar-starved Yanks. Though some aren't exactly central, they are always of new construction and with Ikea-like furnishings (lots of blonde woods), and perfectly adequate for all but the most demanding of travelers. Viva Travelodge!
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Labels: accommodations, deals, great britain
Can tourism to Fort Lauderdale survive the prejudice of its mayor?
From an office whose walls are lined with framed photographs of Karl Rove and Ann Coulter (there's a role model!), the current mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Jim Naugle, has been issuing statements that have frightened members of his own administration into believing that he is gravely damaging tourism to Fort Lauderdale. Recently, the Tourism Development Council of Broward County unanimously ousted Naugle as one of its commissioners in reaction, they claim, to anti-gay statements made by him. Since approximately 10% of all visitors to Fort Lauderdale are gay, the Council felt that they could not be seen as condoning Mayor Naugle's remarks, which have already caused several gay groups to cancel their visits to the city.
Among other statements issued by him, Naugle has said that the city should re-think its policy of marketing itself to gays because of the incidence of the HIV virus among gays. He has condemned the use of a city building for a gay library, said that homosexuals should not be called "gay" because they are "unhappy," claimed there was rampant gay sex in public restrooms, and made other remarks regarded as offensive by the gay community. Some gay leaders are asking for a tourism boycott of Fort Lauderdale, and according to the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, hundreds of e-mails have been received from both gays and non-gays threatening to cancel or canceling their visits to the city.
The issue here is whether all Americans are entitled to be treated with respect, free from discrimination, prejudice or slander. I, for one, applaud the Broward County tourism body for distancing itself from Naugle, and suggest that the mayor of a city heavily dependent on tourism should be more respectful of the visitors who go there. Would anyone have condoned similar attacks on Jews, Catholics, Mormons, Asians, Hispanics, or native Americans?
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Among other statements issued by him, Naugle has said that the city should re-think its policy of marketing itself to gays because of the incidence of the HIV virus among gays. He has condemned the use of a city building for a gay library, said that homosexuals should not be called "gay" because they are "unhappy," claimed there was rampant gay sex in public restrooms, and made other remarks regarded as offensive by the gay community. Some gay leaders are asking for a tourism boycott of Fort Lauderdale, and according to the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, hundreds of e-mails have been received from both gays and non-gays threatening to cancel or canceling their visits to the city.
The issue here is whether all Americans are entitled to be treated with respect, free from discrimination, prejudice or slander. I, for one, applaud the Broward County tourism body for distancing itself from Naugle, and suggest that the mayor of a city heavily dependent on tourism should be more respectful of the visitors who go there. Would anyone have condoned similar attacks on Jews, Catholics, Mormons, Asians, Hispanics, or native Americans?
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A top (if somewhat unusual) travel opportunity: a 14-day cruise of the Caribbean round-trip from Fort Lauderdale for only $1,098 (that's $78 a day)
Here's an odd vacation that's, arguably, cheaper than living at home. It's like one of those long re-positioning cruises except that: 1) you visit a port a day, and do not spend endless time simply at sea; and 2) you don't have to purchase an international airfare to take advantage of it. Here's the background: Because it's so difficult to fill up the tropical cruises that leave on December 14 (people want to be home doing Christmas shopping at that time), the staff promoting sailings of the giant MSC Lirica (a new and high quality cruiseship) are offering a seven-day Caribbean sailing on the Lirica round-trip from Fort Lauderdale, leaving on December 14 of this year, for as little as $299 per person (inside cabins, double occupancy). But that's only for people who are also willing to go on a second seven-day Caribbean cruise (different itinerary, this time) leaving round-trip from Fort Lauderdale on December 21 (and overlapping Christmas) for $799 per person. Put the two cruises together and you have a total price of $1,098 for 14 days at sea, which comes to an amazing $78 a day.
Added bonus: the December 14 cruise will feature the onboard presence of well-known former baseball stars: the New York Mets' Ed Kranepool, the New York Yankees' Stan Bahnsen and Tom Tresh, and former catcher/manager Jeff Torborg, who will conduct baseball discussions, a passenger pitching contest, and pitching, hitting, fielding and base-running clinics.
For more on MSC Cruises (a fast-growing European line of massive, Italian-flavored vessels with every modern amenity; I recently witnessed the launching of its giant MSC Orchestra), go to www.msccruisesusa.com.
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Sep 25, 2007
How will our security be enhanced by forcing foreign tourists to register their travel plans 48 hours in advance of arrival?
A requirement that foreign tourists e-mail our government to reveal their travel plans ("We're hoping to visit Aunt Sadie") is the latest brainchild of the Department of Homeland Security. Curiously enough, the proposal (which Congress has adopted) was not accompanied by a request for the many millions of dollars needed to hire the analysts that will now need to read those e-mails. And if a tourist writes "We're hoping to visit Aunt Sadie," what in the world will those analysts recommend? That FBI agents shadow the foreign tourists starting with their arrival?
This is the latest in a number of steps that have reduced foreign tourism to the United States by nearly 20 per cent since the year 2000. The result is a loss of tens of billions of dollars in revenue and hundreds of thousands of jobs. A recent letter to me from two New Zealanders sums up the feelings of many foreign citizens about trips to the U.S.A.:
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This is the latest in a number of steps that have reduced foreign tourism to the United States by nearly 20 per cent since the year 2000. The result is a loss of tens of billions of dollars in revenue and hundreds of thousands of jobs. A recent letter to me from two New Zealanders sums up the feelings of many foreign citizens about trips to the U.S.A.:
There is no doubt in my mind that your country is less of an attraction to me, my family and my fellow New Zealanders since 9/11. Not just because of the understandable extra security measures, but because of the over zealous attitude towards genuine travellers.--John & Anne, Auckland, NZ
Los Angeles airport is known by our friends as "Hell A." Even for transit passengers, procedures here make travel to and thru the USA very much less appealing than pre 9/11.
Our last vacations we have travelled to Europe via Hong Kong to avoid the nonsense that is taking place at your borders.
Air New Zealand's service to Europe via Hong Kong is so popular that they are scheduling extra flights. The general feeling here is that it is not worth the humiliation and hassle of travelling to the USA
We used to travel frequently to the USA for business and vacations and we love your country and the people but until we are made to feel "welcome" again by your government and its agencies we won't be returning.
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Further to our plea for a tourist boycott of Burma (Myanmar), here are U.S. and Canadian companies sending tourists there
As I pointed out yesterday, the democratically elected President of Burma (Myanmar), the Nobel-prize-winning Aung San Suu Kyi, has begged all sensitive people of the world not to travel as tourists to her country. She has pointed out over and again that foreign tourism to Burma (Myanmar) helps to tighten the Nazi-like grip on Burma by a thuggish military dictatorship. Now, when as many as 100,000 courageous Burmese take to the streets, as they did yesterday, to protest that military mis-rule, it's important that we make every effort to persuade U.S. and Canadian tour operators to cease operating trips to Burma.
The most prominent operators of tours to Myanmar appear to be Pacific Delight Tours (www.pacificdelighttours.com), Abercrombie Kent (www.abercrombiekent.com), Travcoa (www.travcoa.com), General Tours (www.generaltours.com), Sita (www.sitatours.com), Value World (www.vwtours.com), and Canada's GAP Adventures (www.gapadventures.com). I met last week in New York with the President of GAP Adventures and have now sent him an urgent e-mail, pleading with him to cease disregarding the pleas of the democratic opposition in Burma (Myanmar).
I would hope that readers will join me in sending similar communications to the companies named above.
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The most prominent operators of tours to Myanmar appear to be Pacific Delight Tours (www.pacificdelighttours.com), Abercrombie Kent (www.abercrombiekent.com), Travcoa (www.travcoa.com), General Tours (www.generaltours.com), Sita (www.sitatours.com), Value World (www.vwtours.com), and Canada's GAP Adventures (www.gapadventures.com). I met last week in New York with the President of GAP Adventures and have now sent him an urgent e-mail, pleading with him to cease disregarding the pleas of the democratic opposition in Burma (Myanmar).
I would hope that readers will join me in sending similar communications to the companies named above.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: rights, tour companies
The prices to Italy just keep getting better: $469 for airfare and four nights in Rome (perfect for Thanksgiving)
This latest Italian bargain -- $469 per person for roundtrip airfare to Rome, four nights in the Hotel Brasile, breakfast daily, and a coupon for 5€ off a city tour -- comes courtesy of TourCrafters (tel. 800-482-5995; www.tourcrafters.com), long a stalwart in the Italy packaged vacation game. They're calling it the "Rome Thanksgiving Special," but must not have looked closely at an American calendar to determine the dates of Thanksgiving, because the deal is valid through Dec. 13 and again Jan. 3 through Mar. 14.There are some conditions, of course. First off, thanks to the oddities of Alitalia, the bargain is only available when flying from New York, Boston, or Chicago. Even though you might very well be flying on a Delta plane codeshare, officially you cannot purchase add-on fares from another city. Of course, no one is going to stop you from finding your own airfare into one of those gateway cities, but it does make things a bit more complicated.
Other restrictions; you must buy tickets by Nov. 15 (I'd not wait that long, since bargains like this have a tendency to sell out); the base price of $469 does not include airport taxes of $100, fuel surcharges of $150, and a potential weekend surcharge of $25 (it's "potential" because it only applies to flights on Delta, not Alitalia).
No matter what, you should compare these rates to those offered by Go-Today(www.go-today.com), which on some (but certainly not all) November and December dates manages to beat the TourCrafters rates by about $20 (once you factor in the fuel surcharge).
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Sep 24, 2007
You can discover the "real Rio" in a low-cost B&B
Picture yourself chatting over breakfast with a Brazilian artist in the garden of her Art Deco villa, where for $45 you've rented a double room with views of the world's most awesome city flanking the beach below.
The lion's share of Rio vacationers end up staying in soulless hotel towers in the crowded oceanside neighborhoods of Copacabana. The solution? An escape into one of Rio's prettiest areas and a room rented -- for anywhere from R$90 to R$220 (US$45 to US$110) -- through Cama e Café B&B network (www.camaecafe.com.br). Many of the 50 B&Bs in the network are in the homes of artists, writers, and other bohemian types who live in Santa Teresa, a leafy hillside neighborhood of small houses built largely between the 1600s and the 1950s (the oldest in the B&B network dates to 1860).
Cama e Café doesn't just rent rooms; it attempts to match hosts to guests. You fill out a personal profile when you sign up, and the company matches qualities in your profile to the appropriate B&B owner, one with whom you share common interests and will, hopefully, have plenty to chat about. Here's a stay that's far removed from the standard travel routine.
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The lion's share of Rio vacationers end up staying in soulless hotel towers in the crowded oceanside neighborhoods of Copacabana. The solution? An escape into one of Rio's prettiest areas and a room rented -- for anywhere from R$90 to R$220 (US$45 to US$110) -- through Cama e Café B&B network (www.camaecafe.com.br). Many of the 50 B&Bs in the network are in the homes of artists, writers, and other bohemian types who live in Santa Teresa, a leafy hillside neighborhood of small houses built largely between the 1600s and the 1950s (the oldest in the B&B network dates to 1860).
Cama e Café doesn't just rent rooms; it attempts to match hosts to guests. You fill out a personal profile when you sign up, and the company matches qualities in your profile to the appropriate B&B owner, one with whom you share common interests and will, hopefully, have plenty to chat about. Here's a stay that's far removed from the standard travel routine.
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Labels: accommodations, rio
Uh-oh! Is there a slowdown in bookings at Virgin America? Catch its remarkable 4-day sale
Uh-oh! Is there a slowdown in bookings at Virgin America? Catch its remarkable 4-day sale
They, the people at the new Virgin America airline, don't make it easy to learn about their extraordinary last-minute price reductions. In order to spot them, you have to click further into the website and then read the small print. But those fares, once seen and understood -- they're valid only for the next four days -- are remarkable and offer amazing values to persons living in or near Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., and New York.
It's a four-day sale and, provided you buy your tickets on or before September 27, you can fly one-way on the new Virgin America for the following prices:
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They, the people at the new Virgin America airline, don't make it easy to learn about their extraordinary last-minute price reductions. In order to spot them, you have to click further into the website and then read the small print. But those fares, once seen and understood -- they're valid only for the next four days -- are remarkable and offer amazing values to persons living in or near Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., and New York.
It's a four-day sale and, provided you buy your tickets on or before September 27, you can fly one-way on the new Virgin America for the following prices:
- $39 between San Francisco and Los Angeles
- $44 between San Francisco and Las Vegas
- $119 between Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles
- $129 between San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
- $139 between San Francisco and New York
- $139 between New York and Los Angeles
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Now is the time to support a touristic boycott of Myanmar (the former Burma)
Shockingly enough, several major U.S. tour operators continue to operate trips to Myanmar, despite pleas not to do so by the country's democratically-elected leader, the Nobel-prize-winning Aung San Suu Kyi. On occasion after occasion, Mrs. Kyi has emphatically stated that such visits simply support the brutal, thuggish military junta that now rules Myanmar.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest in Rangoon for 12 of the last 18 years, and is currently allowed no access to visitors or even use of the telephone. Until a protest march of 10,000 Buddhist monks filed in front of her house last week, she had not been seen by the public for the last four years.
If you live in one of the many U.S. cities whose newspapers carry no mention of the events in Myanmar, then I urge you to obtain a copy of the Economist or the New York Times and read the extensive reporting on the situation in Myanmar that these responsible publications have recently carried. In a country whose citizens become more impoverished and oppressed with every year, things have apparently reached the breaking point, with Buddhist monks leading the public in massive demonstrations, the last one being yesterday's astonishing march by many thousands of monks. The involvement of that country's clergy is the first public protest that Myanmar's grotesque military government has been unable to repress.
To their dishonor and shame, U.S. tour operators have scheduled visits to impoverished Myanmar, whose low price structure is so tourist-friendly. There is never a totally consistent policy for boycotting tourism to certain nations. In some instances, continued tourism keeps a country more open, assists its dissidents, is promoted by all elements of that country.
In the case of Myanmar, the people of that country have made it crystal clear that tourism simply aids the junta and helps keep them in power. As noted above, Mrs. Suu Kyi has pleaded with the travel industry not to send visitors to Myanmar. We should heed that persistent request. Next time you see a brochure or website advertising a visit to Myanmar, you should contact the tour operator and express your disgust over such business-as-usual greed.
Write and read comments about this post.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest in Rangoon for 12 of the last 18 years, and is currently allowed no access to visitors or even use of the telephone. Until a protest march of 10,000 Buddhist monks filed in front of her house last week, she had not been seen by the public for the last four years.
If you live in one of the many U.S. cities whose newspapers carry no mention of the events in Myanmar, then I urge you to obtain a copy of the Economist or the New York Times and read the extensive reporting on the situation in Myanmar that these responsible publications have recently carried. In a country whose citizens become more impoverished and oppressed with every year, things have apparently reached the breaking point, with Buddhist monks leading the public in massive demonstrations, the last one being yesterday's astonishing march by many thousands of monks. The involvement of that country's clergy is the first public protest that Myanmar's grotesque military government has been unable to repress.
To their dishonor and shame, U.S. tour operators have scheduled visits to impoverished Myanmar, whose low price structure is so tourist-friendly. There is never a totally consistent policy for boycotting tourism to certain nations. In some instances, continued tourism keeps a country more open, assists its dissidents, is promoted by all elements of that country.
In the case of Myanmar, the people of that country have made it crystal clear that tourism simply aids the junta and helps keep them in power. As noted above, Mrs. Suu Kyi has pleaded with the travel industry not to send visitors to Myanmar. We should heed that persistent request. Next time you see a brochure or website advertising a visit to Myanmar, you should contact the tour operator and express your disgust over such business-as-usual greed.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: rights
If the Motel 6 has "interior corridors," it is probably a "new build" and therefore a stunning value for the price
It's a closely-guarded secret among savvy travelers: that there are two types of Motel 6, the original (and occasionally shabby) versions with outdoor corridors, and the "new builds" with interior corridors and modern, comfortable amenities. And while the older versions may not be to your liking, the newer kind (designed by the chain's innovative French owners, the Accor hotel corporation) are the full equivalent of motel chains charging considerably more. While most Motel 6s ask a uniform $35.99 or $41.39 per room, regardless of whether they are older motels or "new builds," the newer models are a tremendous, comfortable value at that price (even though they are probably the cheapest lodgings in their communities).
In advance of a road trip through the U.S.A., go to the company's website -- www.motel6.com -- and take a look at the description of each motel you're considering. If it's with "interior corridors," book it! There are now nearly four hundred of these newly-built, modern Motel6s. You'll stay in modern, clean, comfortable surroundings and enjoy all the traditional Motel 6 extras: free local phone calls, no surcharge on long-distance calls, free morning coffee, data ports, no charge for kids 17 and under occupying their parents' room, free HBO and ESPN.
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In advance of a road trip through the U.S.A., go to the company's website -- www.motel6.com -- and take a look at the description of each motel you're considering. If it's with "interior corridors," book it! There are now nearly four hundred of these newly-built, modern Motel6s. You'll stay in modern, clean, comfortable surroundings and enjoy all the traditional Motel 6 extras: free local phone calls, no surcharge on long-distance calls, free morning coffee, data ports, no charge for kids 17 and under occupying their parents' room, free HBO and ESPN.
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Labels: accommodations, budget
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
