It's not in the best area of town and is as far east of the Fremont Street Experience (the giant electronic canopy over the main street of "Downtown," north of the Strip), as you'd normally care to go. But three "slummy-looking blocks from Fremont," as my daughter, Pauline, writes in her newly-published Pauline Frommer's Las Vegas, the 300-room El Cortez hotel (www.elcortezhotelcasino.com) has unusually low prices for decent accommodations, and therefore justifies the trek.

Stay in the recently-renovated North Tower, and your $33-a-night price tag -- a common rate here for much of the year -- will buy you a slightly larger than normal room, with clean carpeting, fine beds, ultra-suede green armchairs, and a small but spotless bathroom. If you're willing to accept one of the tiny rooms in the oldest section of the hotel -- built in 1941 -- you'll feel as if you're in an old-western (the white-painted board walls, tiny loo, old-timey flowered curtains, and bedspreads seem to whisper "yee haw"), but you could pay as little as $16 -- the lowest rate I know of in Vegas for a private room with bathroom."

Pauline goes on to point out that these are all smoking rooms, with the smallest closets she's ever seen, and you'll have to climb a stairway to get to them. "You'll [also] have to ask specifically for these very old rooms, as they only go to those who request them."

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Labels: accommodations, las vegas

The enemies of Amtrak are unrelenting. Just shortly before a vote by the Senate on a proposal to set aside nearly $12 billion for the national passenger railway system over the next six years (an improvement on recent funding, though still inadequate), Senator John E. Sununu of New Hampshire introduced an amendment to require that Amtrak discontinue all of its long-distance services in the west. He and another Senator later introduced other amendments to limit, hamper or discredit Amtrak. All such amendments were overwhelmingly defeated and the appropriation was then approved, 70 to 22, with Sununu among the 22 no votes. The same proposed appropriation will now be brought to the House of Representatives.

The $12 billion funding bill was sponsored by Senator Frank Lautenberg (Democrat) of New Jersey, and Senator Trent Lott (Republican) of Mississippi. Yet even in the face of such bi-partisan support, opponents of a strong national passenger railway system launched the last-ditch effort (led by Sununu) which I have described.

Senator Sununu is up for re-election to the Senate next year. Readers of this blog living in New Hampshire may want to consider his anti-Amtrak shenanigans when they go to vote.

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Labels: red tape, trains

Although I have earlier mentioned (briefly, in passing) the possibility of an early-booking discount on the Oxford Experience, the "experience" itself is so outstanding that the discount should be emphasized and discussed again at greater length.

To repeat an earlier blog post: there are two Oxford-operated summer schools: the fearsome Oxford University Summer School (advance reading, and a paper prepared for critical analysis by your "Don") and the just-for-fun Oxford Experience (you simply sit in lecture halls and listen, without having to participate or work). Both cost about $1,960 per person per week (classes are taught for a single week at a time) for all tuition, accommodations, three meals daily, and much else). This is perhaps the supreme learning experience of travel.

Last summer, I received a press release on another subject from Barbara Gillam, a longtime press agent in the world of travel, and needed to ask her a few questions. I called her office, left my number, and shortly afterwards received a call that she had placed from Oxford. She was herself attending the Oxford Experience.

Well, when a press agent herself experiences the subject about which she is writing press releases, the job is likely to be exceptionally well done. I can't improve on Barbara's recent follow-up press release about the discount on the Oxford Experience and set it forth here, verbatim:

The one-week summer course at England's oldest university -- called The Oxford Experience -- is offering an early booking discount of $100 (£50) per week on weeks 1 to 4 and $200 (£100) on week 5. This priority booking scheme enables prospective students to save money while making their course selection and reserving accommodation for the program, which runs from June 29 to August 2, 2008.

The Oxford Experience is a residential program that offers a choice of about a dozen courses each week over a period of five weeks. It is open to anyone who would enjoy "auditing" such courses as A History of the English Language, An Introduction to Opera, Enjoying the Cotswolds, The Roman Imperial Army, Romantic Jane Austen, Creative Writing, The Play's the Thing, Castles in Britain and The Garden in Art. There are no tests, no papers, just a lot of lively discussion. Classes, with a maximum of 12 students, are made up of Anglophiles from all over the world, with the youngest students in their thirties, the oldest in their nineties.

The program takes place at Christ Church -- the most prestigious and beautiful of all Oxford colleges -- which was founded by Cardinal Wolsey almost five centuries ago. This means students stay in buildings that date from the 18th to the 20th centuries (though rooms with private bath are available) and dine in the magnificent Hall made famous by the Harry Potter films. Three meals daily are included in the cost of the program. Once a week each student is invited to dine at the High Table and, on the final night, everyone gets dressed up for champagne in the Cathedral Garden and a celebratory farewell dinner in the Hall.

During the week there are tours of Christ Church, the city of Oxford and other colleges, as well as excursions to castles, stately homes, Roman villas, cities, towns, villages and museums. In the evening there might be a pub crawl, a special lecture, croquet and wine in the Masters Garden and Evensong in the college chapel, which is also the Oxford Cathedral. At other times participants can enjoy Oxford's concerts and theater, the college picture gallery, riverside walks in Christ Church Meadow and boating on the Isis (as the Thames is called in Oxford).

The price of a one-week course -- including tuition, accommodations and all meals (except those on excursions) is £980, or approximately $1,960. There are additional charges for excursions and rooms with private bath. Participants who stay over Saturday night between courses also pay a supplement. The registration deadline is April 1, 2008, but early application is recommended and even encouraged with the early-bird discount.

A brochure with complete information about all aspects of the program and an application form is available online or from The Oxford Experience, OUDCE, 1 Wellington Square, Oxford, OX1 2JA, U.K.

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Labels: education, england

As the dollar continues its plunge against the Euro and the British Pound, an occasional astute travel writer is advising winter trips to destinations where the currency is the U.S. Dollar itself -- or tied to the Dollar. David Swanson expounds on this strategy in a recent travel article in the Chicago Tribune about Caribbean and Atlantic getaways for this coming winter season.

That list of places where the U.S. Dollar remains in use includes, of course, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Panama, and a number of islands where the local currency is effectively tied to the greenback: the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Mexico, the Bahamas, Barbados, the Cayman Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Netherlands Antilles (Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire).

However, the entire Caribbean does not present such a rosy exchange rate. Remember that many islands have currencies tied to the Euro (currently trading at $1.44), which means sticker shock still applies on such islands as Martinique, Guadeloupe, St. Barts, and, in an odd case, the French-associated St. Martin half of that island (as a member of the Netherlands Antilles, the other St. Maarten half of this divided island uses a currency tied to the U.S. dollar).

The Tribune article goes into fair detail on taking advantage of this currency parity for travel to such attractive places as Tobago, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico's Playa del Carmen.

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Labels: caribbean, mexico, money

The full impact of the decline of the dollar against the Euro and the British Pound isn't felt when you're actually in Europe, but several weeks later, when you begin receiving your credit card statements for all the purchases you made. It is only then that you realize how puny our dollar has become. You discover that the Euro isn't calculated at around 1€=$1.40 (the mental figuring you did at the time) but is being charged on your credit card statement as 1€=$1.50. And the British pound wasn't £1=$2, but £1=$2.10. And the difference is startling.

In Spain a few weeks ago, I hosted a dinner for five persons at a fine restaurant in Seville. The total bill came to 200€, and I foolishly had a mental image of paying $200 (knowing it was actually more costly than that, but in the euphoria of the moment, you don't think straight). When my credit card bill arrived this week, the 200€ charge became $300.

The dollar has now sunk to a level of nearly $1.44 for one Euro. But when commissions and a credit card fee are added, the actual rate on your statement is converted at closer to $1.50 per Euro. You increase each Euro by 50%. The dollar has sunk to a level of $2.07 per pound. But when the credit card statement arrives, the actual calculation is at more than $2.12 per pound.

As I have earlier written, costs for U.S. travelers in Britain have become outlandish based on that exchange rate. Costs on the continent of Europe have remained more reasonable for us (they're about equal to what you'd pay in New York or San Francisco) when based on the current exchange rate, but they are still substantial. It is more important than ever that when you travel in Europe, your lower your expectations and requirements by at least one category: you no longer stay in first class hotels but in tourist class hotels; you eat modestly at restaurants where the locals eat, and you split courses with your travel companion. You use public transportation. Arriving at an airport, you pass up the taxis and board a bus. You shop for nothing -- because nothing is cheaper than what you'd pay at home. And by adopting those frugal attitudes, you continue to enjoy one of the greatest of all travel experiences: Europe.

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Labels: europe, money

Were you aware that you could hitch a ride on a sailboat or yacht at just about any port around the world without paying a dime? You merely have to be willing to use a little elbow grease during the cruise. It may be cooking meals, swabbing the decks, and/or helping with the sailing itself. You don't even have to have ever set foot on a boat in your life to find placement (though, obviously, some experience helps opens up more options).

Many boat owners habitually take on even unseasoned crew in port before setting sail, whether to fill out the boat's necessary complement of hands, provide for a more relaxing trip by having others do the heavy lifting (or cooking), or simply for companionship or a combination of all three. Of course, since you aren't the captain you'll have little say over the itinerary or destination, but for a free-spirited traveler who relishes making friends and learning new skills while sailing the world's most idyllic coastline, island chains, and seas, it can be a dream come true.

There are three main categories of crew. First are true hired hands -- either for sailing trips or yacht deliveries/repositionings -- who will be expected to put in a day's work cooking, cleaning, and hauling on sheets (if you didn't know that means pulling on the system of ropes attached to the sails, you probably should stick to cooking and cleaning at first). Sometimes these are paid positions -- especially if you have a particular skill (gourmet chef?) or previous sailing experience -- other times you simply work in exchange for free passage. The second category is to act as a kind of hired companion for someone who simply wants some company on the trip, though you would, of course, do your bit to help run the ship; these positions might involve a token stipend, but are usually on a basis of free passage, or with the request that you pay for your share of the food. Finally, there are offers to share the boat and the sailing with anyone willing to chip in for their share of the trip's cost (groceries, port fees, fuel, etc.). You become a true equal on board -- though, again, unless it's a fully crewed yacht to begin with, you'll do your fair share of the work.

You can just head down to any port and ask the harbormaster if he knows of any captains in search of crew, or you can use the online messaging boards of the following sites: www.floatplan.com, www.findacrew.net, www.crewfile.com, www.partnersandcrews.com, and www.crewsearcher.com.

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Labels: cruise

Responding to my comment that prices in the British Isles have become "offensive" (and much higher than the often-reasonable prices on the continent), reader Mary Miller has written as follows:

This past spring I took a trip to England with two of my 20-something children. All the advice says that England, particularly London, is out of reach of the average traveler. But we did it the budget way and looked on it as an adventure and challenge to make it affordable.

In London we stayed in LSE [London School of Economics] university housing that was available during the spring break. We paid about £34 per person per night, and this also included a full breakfast and access to laundry facilities. We were in Bloomsbury, close to three tube stops, and the bus stop was a block from the hotel. We ate semi-fast food for lunch, often Pret a Manger or something from a Tesco [Supermarket]. Sometimes we had a picnic in the park.

We had lovely dinners at little Italian restaurants or pubs. Before the trip I had done lots of research and found discounts available to those who used the trains or had a tube pass. We had several two-for-one entrance coupons to major tourist destinations, such as the Churchill War Rooms and the Globe Theatre tour. We bought theatre tickets at the Half-Price booth. The exchange rate was not pretty, but we managed to buy souvenirs and a suitcase full of books.

I wouldn't trade this trip for anything in the world. I was able to share my love of England with my two kids and we had a terrific time.

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Labels: london, tips from readers

If you've been following the cut-throat battles of the Chinatown bus companies, offering bargain fares ($35 round-trip) and rather basic service on trips to Boston or Washington, D.C. from New York City (and vice versa), then you'll want to know about the recently-established www.dc2nycom "luxury buses" charging five dollars more ($40 round-trip) but offering free wi-fi and bottled water (which is why it's called a "luxury" bus). It's operated by, of all people, a former executive of Marriott named Richard B. Greene, and it's the latest in a long line of courageous adversaries (www.vamoosebus.com, www.washingtondeluxe.com) to the pioneering Chinatown company that started it all, Fung Wah. If you'll go to the luxury company's website, DC2NY, and click on "About Us" and then "Press Room", you'll read write-ups by various free weekly newspapers quoting satisfied, luxury-loving bus riders. Websites listed above have all the pick-up spots in New York, Boston and D.C., phone numbers, and electronic reservations forms for getting the cheapest fare.

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Labels: bus

Suggesting that he consult a website called SleepingInAirports.com, I recently responded to a man whose trip to Vietnam was followed by a 13-hour overnight layover in the airport of Beijing, awaiting a flight home. Turns out, from several recent comments I've received, that the long-layover-problem is more frequent than I had thought. One reader and his wife had a similar 12-hour layover in Tokyo's Narita airport, both flying to and back from Bangkok on Northwest (turns out Narita is their Asian hub, and they slowly gather U.S. passengers off incoming flights from many Asian cities until they get a plane-full headed to America before taking off). They also had a 10-hour layover in London coming back from Hong Kong (yes, the long way around); luckily, that layover was during the daytime, so they just caught the Heathrow Express and had a lovely half-day in London.

Last summer another reader spent a terribly dull eight-hour layover in Brisbane, Australia, followed immediately by an even duller five-hour one in Cairns (by which point he was deliriously desperate for some sleep). So the long, inconveniently scheduled layover is, actually, a rather common problem -- and that funny website, SleepingInAirports.com, is looking more and more profound.


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Labels: accommodations, airports, websites

I'm indebted to my colleague, George Hobica, of AirfareWatchDog.com, for recently reminding us that scarcely any of the airfare search engines (like Travelocity, Expedia, and that ilk) ever list the fares or flights of the really cheap airlines like Southwest and Skybus. Most of them fail to list Virgin America or Allegiant, and only a handful list cost-cutting Spirit Airlines. Some of them list low-fare airlines but never show the sales fares offered by those carriers. It's all a reminder that there's really no short-cut for obtaining airfare bargains. After you consult the search engines and the results of the "aggregators" (Sidestep, Kayak, and the like), it's wise then to go directly to the websites of Southwest, JetBlue, Skybus, and Spirit, for even better fares. And, as I recently pointed out, it's important to consider some of the foreign airfare search engines, like Denmark's Momondo.com or the increasingly-popular Mobissimo.com, which often (and surprisingly) offer better fares even for domestic U.S. flights than you'd find on any online travel booking service operated by an American company.

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Labels: websites

After our troubles publishing the last two days, all the parts of our system seem to be working well this morning. Thanks again for your patience.

Labels: technical matters

Though few of us have paid any attention to the possibility, it's fairly easy to suspend many of your paid subscriptions while you travel. Depending on how long your trip is, you might save money that you would otherwise have thrown away on unused services.

For example, there' s no sense in paying a full month's fee to your gym if you're only going to be using it for half that period. Cable television, too -- or just the pay channels like HBO or Showtime -- can be halted with the flip of a switch. Some companies require payment of a small fee to activate such temporary stoppages, but ask what they are and do the math -- in many cases, even with the fee, you might save money by suspending services during your vacation.

Granted, now that DVRs and TiVos are popular, many people will prefer for their televisions to be operational and recording in their absences. But newspapers? They are of no use to someone who's away.

Go though your regular expenses and determine what you can save money
on during your vacation. Why throw the money away?

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Labels: tips

On a recent edition of my weekly radio call-in show, I received a call from a man who would be spending a 13-hour layover in Beijing en route from Vietnam back to the United States. Normally I would have said it would be worth the hassle and fee to obtain a visa to visit China's capital, even for just the one day. Unfortunately, most of his layover would be taking place during the overnight hours, and he was desperate for information on where he could get some sleep in between his flights.

Although airline schedules for the transatlantic market have largely evolved to the point where long layovers, let alone overnight ones, are uncommon, for other long-haul flights (and for many people attempting to link up a transatlantic flight with a connection to a no-frills or low cost carrier in Europe), layovers of 8-12 hours or longer are a surprisingly common occurrence. If a quick trip into town isn't a real possibility, as with this gentleman's Beijing flight, and you just want to catch some shut-eye, there now exists a website just for you.

SleepingInAirports.com is essentially a bulletin-board database detailing the best places to sleep in airports around the world. It is a clearinghouse where travelers share all the best tips for catching some Zs between flights. These can range from some quiet gate that is tucked out of the way, to which terminal has seats without armrests (allowing one to lie across them), to various nooks and crannies where you can cozy up to your carry-on-as-pillow and airport security will not bother you. Contributors are invited to rate their reviews about the sleeping arrangements in the airport into one of three quality categories: "Hell," "Tolerable," and "Excellent, considering it's an airport."

If my caller checks this resource he will discover that, in Beijing, the best places to nap are in the main terminal (comfy benches, with armrests only every three seats) and in the dimly-lit Irish Bar upstairs from the check-in counters. On the downside, he will apparently have to contend with security personnel waking him up every 15 minutes to check his ticket.

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Labels: accommodations, hotels, websites

Why does a U.S. adult passport cost $97? Why does a child's passport cost almost as much? Why isn't there a discounted charge for a family of four purchasing four passports? And doesn't the high charge -- especially, the near-$400 that said family must pay -- prevent or discourage a great many Americans from traveling?

The first of those questions was asked last week by U.S. Senators Dorgan (N.D.) and Schumer (N.Y.), who pointed out that by the State Department's own admission, it does not cost anywhere near $97 to issue a passport. Indeed, it's argued by some that the State Department makes a considerable profit from the issuance of passports.

And since additional passport requirements -- for cruise passengers and "land crossings" (to Canada and Mexico) -- will go into effect prior to June, 2008, these questions have taken on greater meaning. They are one element in a group of questions relating to the age-old practice of requiring multi-page booklets (the current form of passports) that need to be addressed. It would be helpful, for starters, if a highly-qualified administrator were put in charge of passport issuance at the State Department to eliminate the remarkable lag between application and issuance of a U.S. passport.

Recently, the State Department announced with considerable pride that the backlog in passport issuance had been reduced to three-to-six weeks. Why in the world should the process require so much time? Why isn't it possible to issue passports in a week or two? If sufficient resources were applied to the task, couldn't passports be processed on a daily basis, reviewing each application on the day it was received and delaying approval only with respect to those few applications that presented problems?

And why must a passport cost $97?

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Labels: passports

One British pound now costs more than two American dollars, so for Yanks on vacation in the U.K., even hotels that were once passably affordable are now excruciatingly expensive. Even family-run bed and breakfasts, which were once the most reliable low-cost standby for cheap travel to Great Britain, can cost upwards of $175 a night under the current exchange.

The solution? One of them is to base yourself, in Britain, at a Travelodge (which has no connection with our own Travelodge chain) -- they are now the cheapest standard accommodation in the U.K. The company's policy is to keep its room prices low as long as its properties aren't full. So if you book online far in advance, or if you make reservations at one of its business-oriented properties on a quiet weekend, you can find some of the lowest prices in town.

With a healthy advance purchase, room rates at Travelodge properties across the country cost as little as £26 a night. (Typical last-minute rates shoot up to around £80 in London, which is a market rate.) A friend was recently in a bind for Sunday night accommodation in London, and by turning to a Travelodge that is quiet on the weekends, he was able to secure a perfectly comfortable business-class motel-style room in the center of the City, by Liverpool Street train station, for just £50 ($100) a night. Meanwhile, rival hotels in the same district were charging three times that.

If you're planning a U.K. vacation anytime next year, book now at a Travelodge while the pickings are lush and the advance-purchase deals are available, and you're likely to pay prices as low as £26 -- or $52--a night. What you'll miss in style and coziness, you'll gain in savings. Just go to www.travelodge.co.uk.

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Labels: accommodations, england

I recently wrote about the impending demise of the Delta Queen, the last authentic steamboat still cruising the Mississippi River as it has for more than 80 years.

The fact that the boat has a wooden superstructure yet carries more than 50 overnight guests means that she has long been sailing in violation of maritime fire-prevention laws. However, those were intended largely to protect oceangoing vessels, not riverboats, and due to the Delta Queen's historic nature, Congress has seen fit to grant her a special exemption from the law six times in the past 40 years. The fact that they have heretofore failed to do so again meant that 2008 would mark the final season for this storied steamship, and signal the end to this last remnant of the Gilded Age of American travel.

Now comes word that on October 26, Rep. Steve Chabot of Ohio introduced a bill to the House that would once-again extend the exemption. There's much more on the campaign to save this historic ship and seminal travel experience at www.save-the-delta-queen.org, which is also where you can get further information on how to write your own representative and urge him or her to support the bill.

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Labels: cruise, mississippi river