Jun 13, 2008
In celebration of Father's Day, I have five father/daughter (or father/family) trips to recommend
Though it's too late to book a trip taking place on Father's Day itself, you still have the time to advise Dad he's going on one of five suggested trips in future months, of which four are fairly inexpensive and only the last-named a real splurge. Here they are:
1) A three-night cruise from Miami for $229 per person. It's another of those Norwegian Cruise Line. specials, this time on the nine-year-old Norwegian Sky, leaving Miami every Friday afternoon from mid-July through the autumn, returning three days later on Monday, and going to Nassau, a private island for a day; and back to Miami. The $229 per person price is available in September and October for inside cabins, and occasionally goes up to $249, while departures in August are about $40-to-$80-or-so higher. Either way, the value is there. Go to www.ncl.com.
2) A ranch vacation out west, for as little as $950 per person for the week. If you'll choose a working property like the Andrus Ranch in Idaho, you‘ll pay just $950 per adult for the week, $850 per child, for all meals, room, trail rides into the Caribou National Forest, cattle drives, sheep herding, lessons in riding and roping, trips to nearby hot springs, swimming, fishing, and children's activities. Go to www.andrusranch.com.
3) A four-night stay at Colonial Williamsburg (Virginia) for $600 per family, that famous living history museum (of America in the $1750s) populated by costumed actors who play such roles as those of Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson. A special $600 summer package, the total for four persons, brings you good hotel accommodations for four nights at an on-premises property, unlimited admission for all four people to all attractions and exhibits at Colonial Williamsburg, $200 worth of food; and many other extras. Go to www.colonialwilliamsburg.org.
4) The Boundary Waters of Minnesota for canoeing, $70 per adult per day. Here, a totally unspoiled one million acres of wilderness criss-crossed by rivers, streams and lakes, beckons fishermen and canoeists alike. Local outfitters will set up your group with all the gear and food you'll need (tents, fishing poles, canoes, sleeping bags, cookstoves, food) for about $70 per adult per day ($55 per child). A weekly camping permit is an additional $28 for adults, $8 for children. Try local outfitters: Wilderness Outfitters (www.wildernessoutfitters.com) or The Rockwood Lodge (www.rockwoodbwea.com).
5) Five days of baseball thrills for $1,600 per person, July 25 to July 30. (Our only splurge). You start in Albany, New York, from which you're taken to the Baseball Hall of Fame in nearby Cooperstown, New York, and there you attend an actual induction ceremony for baseball greats, this year including Rich (Goose) Gossage (famous relief pitcher), Dick Williams (famous manager), and Walter O'Malley (famous former owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers). After also thoroughly viewing the Hall of Fame Museum, you're taken to Fenway Park in Boston for a game, and then to Yankee Stadium in New York for a thorough tour of the stadium and the players' locker areas and then a game between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles. Throughout, on the five night trip, you stay in fine hotels, receive all transportation, guided tours, all admissions, a reception, and more, for that (ouch!) $1,600. But what the hell.
I'm indebted to my daughter, Pauline, for two of the above suggestions.
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1) A three-night cruise from Miami for $229 per person. It's another of those Norwegian Cruise Line. specials, this time on the nine-year-old Norwegian Sky, leaving Miami every Friday afternoon from mid-July through the autumn, returning three days later on Monday, and going to Nassau, a private island for a day; and back to Miami. The $229 per person price is available in September and October for inside cabins, and occasionally goes up to $249, while departures in August are about $40-to-$80-or-so higher. Either way, the value is there. Go to www.ncl.com.
2) A ranch vacation out west, for as little as $950 per person for the week. If you'll choose a working property like the Andrus Ranch in Idaho, you‘ll pay just $950 per adult for the week, $850 per child, for all meals, room, trail rides into the Caribou National Forest, cattle drives, sheep herding, lessons in riding and roping, trips to nearby hot springs, swimming, fishing, and children's activities. Go to www.andrusranch.com.
3) A four-night stay at Colonial Williamsburg (Virginia) for $600 per family, that famous living history museum (of America in the $1750s) populated by costumed actors who play such roles as those of Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson. A special $600 summer package, the total for four persons, brings you good hotel accommodations for four nights at an on-premises property, unlimited admission for all four people to all attractions and exhibits at Colonial Williamsburg, $200 worth of food; and many other extras. Go to www.colonialwilliamsburg.org.
4) The Boundary Waters of Minnesota for canoeing, $70 per adult per day. Here, a totally unspoiled one million acres of wilderness criss-crossed by rivers, streams and lakes, beckons fishermen and canoeists alike. Local outfitters will set up your group with all the gear and food you'll need (tents, fishing poles, canoes, sleeping bags, cookstoves, food) for about $70 per adult per day ($55 per child). A weekly camping permit is an additional $28 for adults, $8 for children. Try local outfitters: Wilderness Outfitters (www.wildernessoutfitters.com) or The Rockwood Lodge (www.rockwoodbwea.com).
5) Five days of baseball thrills for $1,600 per person, July 25 to July 30. (Our only splurge). You start in Albany, New York, from which you're taken to the Baseball Hall of Fame in nearby Cooperstown, New York, and there you attend an actual induction ceremony for baseball greats, this year including Rich (Goose) Gossage (famous relief pitcher), Dick Williams (famous manager), and Walter O'Malley (famous former owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers). After also thoroughly viewing the Hall of Fame Museum, you're taken to Fenway Park in Boston for a game, and then to Yankee Stadium in New York for a thorough tour of the stadium and the players' locker areas and then a game between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles. Throughout, on the five night trip, you stay in fine hotels, receive all transportation, guided tours, all admissions, a reception, and more, for that (ouch!) $1,600. But what the hell.
I'm indebted to my daughter, Pauline, for two of the above suggestions.
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Labels: family
Many of the arguments against Amtrak are based on wholly-fictitious statistics
In a response to my recent post pleading for increased support of Amtrak, as an alternative to increasingly expensive oil-based methods of transportation, a reader writes:
The same with respect to a response from another anti-Amtrak reader who implies that additional drilling for oil within the U.S. is a better response to the energy crisis:
In numerous other countries, people enjoy the benefits of mass transit. We don't. A start on remedying that condition was created when the House of Representatives voted a sum of nearly 3 billion dollars a year to Amtrak for the next five years. It passed by a vote large enough to overcome an expected veto from President Bush -- but will face opposition from those several die-hards in the Senate (including some up for reelection this year). Compare the small amount appropriated each year for Amtrak with the giant annual sums that go to highway and airport construction and maintenance.
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I find myself wanting not to take Amtrak. If I buy the cheapest $69 ticket from DC to NY, there are at least $500 in state and federal subsidies associated with my fare. That's just asking taxpayers to bear the cost for me to ride the least efficient transportation option in America.I hope our other readers are aware there is not an iota of factual evidence, not a scintilla of proof, to support that wholly-invented $500 statistic. Last year, Amtrak carried more than 25 million passengers (and is on track to carrying 28 million passengers in 2008). It did so at a total federal subsidy of slightly more than one billion dollars, about the amount we spend for a single long-range bomber. To give the impression that Amtrak is subsidized to the extent of $12,500,000,000 a year (25,000,000 passengers times $500) is an example of the lengths to which the opponents of Amtrak go.
The same with respect to a response from another anti-Amtrak reader who implies that additional drilling for oil within the U.S. is a better response to the energy crisis:
While you are whining about those smart Senators who do not continue the black hole of money called Amtrak and fight against subsidizing the East Coast of America at the expense of the rest of the Country, you might also correctly complain about those idiots who think NOT drilling in the USA makes gas cheaper.Most Americans are aware that all the extra drilling of which the country is capable, every conceivable additional well along the coast of Alaska and the Gulf coast, would have only the slightest impact on our energy shortage. The diminishing supply of oil and the increasing worldwide demand for it is something that can be countered only through the development of alternative sources of energy or considerable conservation and reduction of our current use of oil. The fact that we have starved Amtrak, our short-sighted failure to develop the single most efficient form of transportation, is utterly appalling; and we will now proceed to pay the price for it.
In numerous other countries, people enjoy the benefits of mass transit. We don't. A start on remedying that condition was created when the House of Representatives voted a sum of nearly 3 billion dollars a year to Amtrak for the next five years. It passed by a vote large enough to overcome an expected veto from President Bush -- but will face opposition from those several die-hards in the Senate (including some up for reelection this year). Compare the small amount appropriated each year for Amtrak with the giant annual sums that go to highway and airport construction and maintenance.
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Our tips for Dad's day trips, live on TV
My daughter and fellow guidebook author Pauline appeared alongside me on the Today show on Thursday morning to share ideas for trips you can take with your father. You can watch the clip below.
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Labels: holidays, pauline, tips, video
Jun 12, 2008
If you like celebrating July 4th in a big way, you might consider traveling to a city where people get excessive about the event
July 4th is approaching, and my daughter Pauline has collected the cities whose celebration of the event is something special. It starts with the place that engages in BBQ madness:
Naperville, Illinois: No fewer than seventeen vendors set up grills in downtown Naperville throughout the holiday time to sell and serve barbecue. There's also a massive carnival/family fun area with a petting zoo, rides, bungee-jumping, climbing walls, magic shows, circus acts, and the like. The fest continues from the 3rd to the 5th, while fireworks are displayed on the 4th itself.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Here, where it all began, the entire week of the 4th is celebrated with musical events of every sort (opera, salsa, gospel, jazz, folk, latin, reggae, rock, and pop), including Tito Puente, Branford Marsalis, and Chaka Khan. This year, there will be history-based pub-hopping tours, the largest summer rowing regatta in the U.S., and the "Freedom Blast" -- a fair with historical reenactments, 18th century games, crafts and food, and, of course, a reading of the Declaration of Independence.
Washington, D.C.: In addition to spectacular fireworks and a star-studded concert on the Mall (nationally televised), the Smithsonian stages a several-day "Folklife Festival," this year celebrating the NASA space program and the state of Texas, among other highlights.
Edmond, Oklahoma: Attracting tens of thousands of visitors from out-of-town, the city operates a dozen different "mini festivals," from beauty pageants to road rallies to kite flying to patriotic "music fests" to rodeos and car exhibits, including fireworks and parades. All in all, it's one of the nation's largest celebrations, all the more unusual because it's in such a small town.
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Naperville, Illinois: No fewer than seventeen vendors set up grills in downtown Naperville throughout the holiday time to sell and serve barbecue. There's also a massive carnival/family fun area with a petting zoo, rides, bungee-jumping, climbing walls, magic shows, circus acts, and the like. The fest continues from the 3rd to the 5th, while fireworks are displayed on the 4th itself.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Here, where it all began, the entire week of the 4th is celebrated with musical events of every sort (opera, salsa, gospel, jazz, folk, latin, reggae, rock, and pop), including Tito Puente, Branford Marsalis, and Chaka Khan. This year, there will be history-based pub-hopping tours, the largest summer rowing regatta in the U.S., and the "Freedom Blast" -- a fair with historical reenactments, 18th century games, crafts and food, and, of course, a reading of the Declaration of Independence.
Washington, D.C.: In addition to spectacular fireworks and a star-studded concert on the Mall (nationally televised), the Smithsonian stages a several-day "Folklife Festival," this year celebrating the NASA space program and the state of Texas, among other highlights.
Edmond, Oklahoma: Attracting tens of thousands of visitors from out-of-town, the city operates a dozen different "mini festivals," from beauty pageants to road rallies to kite flying to patriotic "music fests" to rodeos and car exhibits, including fireworks and parades. All in all, it's one of the nation's largest celebrations, all the more unusual because it's in such a small town.
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Labels: holidays
Confined to all-inclusive resorts, a new internet service called ResortCompete will now duplicate the method of CruiseCompete
I've written about CruiseCompete (www.cruisecompete.com), which invites the entire travel industry to bid for your business. You list a cruise you want to take, and then various discount cruise brokers and cruise travel agencies all submit different bids (prices) at which they will get you that cruise.
The founders of CruiseCompete have now created ResortCompete (www.resortcompete.com). You fill out a form specifying your ideal all-inclusive resort: the general area in which it is to found, the kind of sports and entertainment facilities it has to have, the price you're looking for. ResortCompete passes on your request to no fewer than 630 all-inclusive resorts around the world, as well as to numerous tour operators and travel agents. They, in turn, submit the price at which they're willing to supply your vacation and the specific resort at which they price will be honored. It's then up to you to decide whether they've made you an offer you can't turn down.
Requesting such bids does not require that you give up your privacy. If you turn down the bid, nothing happens. As the site states: "There is no obligation to buy, and Sellers will not have your contact information unless you give it to them"
I think it's all quite interesting. Among other things, the site's list of islands and the number of all-inclusive resorts on each one of them, suggest vacation destinations of which you might otherwise be unaware. (Many travelers are under the impression that only the Dominican Republic has all-inclusive resorts). And note how the new service will be particularly appealing to families or small groups, forcing the resorts to negotiate hard for their business by offering special rates.
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The founders of CruiseCompete have now created ResortCompete (www.resortcompete.com). You fill out a form specifying your ideal all-inclusive resort: the general area in which it is to found, the kind of sports and entertainment facilities it has to have, the price you're looking for. ResortCompete passes on your request to no fewer than 630 all-inclusive resorts around the world, as well as to numerous tour operators and travel agents. They, in turn, submit the price at which they're willing to supply your vacation and the specific resort at which they price will be honored. It's then up to you to decide whether they've made you an offer you can't turn down.
Requesting such bids does not require that you give up your privacy. If you turn down the bid, nothing happens. As the site states: "There is no obligation to buy, and Sellers will not have your contact information unless you give it to them"
I think it's all quite interesting. Among other things, the site's list of islands and the number of all-inclusive resorts on each one of them, suggest vacation destinations of which you might otherwise be unaware. (Many travelers are under the impression that only the Dominican Republic has all-inclusive resorts). And note how the new service will be particularly appealing to families or small groups, forcing the resorts to negotiate hard for their business by offering special rates.
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Labels: websites
A website called Seniors Home Exchange serves a different set of travel needs
When I first heard about Seniors Home Exchange (www.seniorshomeexchange.com), I was frankly puzzled. What could such a site accomplish that wasn't better done by larger and longer-established home exchange websites for persons of any age?
The language and organization of Seniors Home Exchange made the explanation obvious -- but one that doesn't normally occur to most of us. Since many (if not most) seniors over the age of 50 are retired, they are able to take longer vacations than younger persons tethered to a job and restricted to short, two-week vacations. They are able to get away for one month, six weeks, two months, even three months at a time. And the home exchanges featured in Seniors Home Exchange are therefore mainly those longer intervals so suited to the life of a person in retirement. The exchange is often for several weeks and considerably longer than usual. Moreover, many seniors over 50 go on several trips a year and need to make a more constant use of the service than a younger person would.
This explained the fairly stiff $79 charge for a three-year membership (currently reduced to $59 for such a three-year period, through a special sale). Apparently, so many people have been willing to pay that charge to keep the site going, that it has now been in existence since 2001 and currently lists over 30,000 home exchange opportunities. It not only offers home or apartment exchanges (you stay in theirs' while they stay in yours'), but also hospitality offers whereby you stay as a free-of-charge guest in the home of a member while they remain in residence.
I have now received multiple recommendations for Seniors Home Exchange from readers of this blog, and its bona fides seems more than established. If you're over 50, or know someone who is, you might want to take a look.
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The language and organization of Seniors Home Exchange made the explanation obvious -- but one that doesn't normally occur to most of us. Since many (if not most) seniors over the age of 50 are retired, they are able to take longer vacations than younger persons tethered to a job and restricted to short, two-week vacations. They are able to get away for one month, six weeks, two months, even three months at a time. And the home exchanges featured in Seniors Home Exchange are therefore mainly those longer intervals so suited to the life of a person in retirement. The exchange is often for several weeks and considerably longer than usual. Moreover, many seniors over 50 go on several trips a year and need to make a more constant use of the service than a younger person would.
This explained the fairly stiff $79 charge for a three-year membership (currently reduced to $59 for such a three-year period, through a special sale). Apparently, so many people have been willing to pay that charge to keep the site going, that it has now been in existence since 2001 and currently lists over 30,000 home exchange opportunities. It not only offers home or apartment exchanges (you stay in theirs' while they stay in yours'), but also hospitality offers whereby you stay as a free-of-charge guest in the home of a member while they remain in residence.
I have now received multiple recommendations for Seniors Home Exchange from readers of this blog, and its bona fides seems more than established. If you're over 50, or know someone who is, you might want to take a look.
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Labels: accommodations, retired, websites
Jun 11, 2008
Those astonishing, under-$500 air-and-land packages to Barbados are currently limited to the month of September -- when they're the cheapest vacations
Subsidized by the government of Barbados, which scarcely attempts to conceal its involvement in the promotion, "The Best of Barbados" brings you round-trip air to that elegant and faraway island, and seven nights of accommodations at beachfront hotels, with breakfast daily, for rates as low as $485 from New York and for as little as $399 (and less) from gateways like Charlotte, North Carolina. You have probably been among the many travel-savvy people who have blinked their eyes, and disbelieved what they were seeing, when they spotted the prices of this heavily-advertised program.
The rates are correct, but the dates aren't often revealed until you move into the process of booking the bonanza. If you'll go to such websites as that of CheapCaribbean.com (tel. 800/915-2322; www.cheapcaribbean.com), or Liberty Travel (tel. 877/823-7777; www.libertytravel.com), you'll discover that the remaining dates of availability are all in the month of September, and sometimes only in the latter half of September. I'm not criticizing that policy of limiting an offer which would otherwise bankrupt that island-nation if it were too generous, but I am pointing out a sensible caution. "The Best of Barbados" is perhaps the most spectacular bargain in travel today (it's offered at near-unbelievable prices from scores of U.S. cities), but it's limited in time. Hold your breath until you first realize it's only in September (and sometimes only for limited dates in September) when you can obtain air-and-land to Barbados for a cheaper price than to any other tropical island.
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The rates are correct, but the dates aren't often revealed until you move into the process of booking the bonanza. If you'll go to such websites as that of CheapCaribbean.com (tel. 800/915-2322; www.cheapcaribbean.com), or Liberty Travel (tel. 877/823-7777; www.libertytravel.com), you'll discover that the remaining dates of availability are all in the month of September, and sometimes only in the latter half of September. I'm not criticizing that policy of limiting an offer which would otherwise bankrupt that island-nation if it were too generous, but I am pointing out a sensible caution. "The Best of Barbados" is perhaps the most spectacular bargain in travel today (it's offered at near-unbelievable prices from scores of U.S. cities), but it's limited in time. Hold your breath until you first realize it's only in September (and sometimes only for limited dates in September) when you can obtain air-and-land to Barbados for a cheaper price than to any other tropical island.
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And still they come -- trans-Atlantic packages designed to overcome the current fear of European prices. Turkey is the latest bonanza
As trans-Atlantic travel slows, one tour operator after another is designing package offers to overcome the current worry about the cost of European travel. The latest entrant is Gate1Travel (tel. 800/682-3333; www.gate1travel.com), which has produced a dilly: round-trip airfare from New York to Istanbul, Turkey, including all fuel surcharges, and four nights' accommodation with breakfast daily at a four-star Istanbul hotel, for as little as $749. (You can extend the stay for only slightly more, and fly out of numerous other U.S. cities for reasonable add-on fares.)
Specifically, the $749 price is available for departures on September 11 and throughout the month of October. The rate goes up to $829 on September 18, $869 for September 25, and $959 for September 4. When you consider the distance flown, and that airfare alone to a less-distant city like Rome would be higher than $1,000 on those dates, you can see that pencils have been sharpened to create the rate. Taxes, fees, and security charges add only $120 more.
This may be the first in a series of attempts to make a short trip to Europe affordable, and it's a pretty impressive start, especially when you consider that some trans-Atlantic airlines are charging $260 for round-trip fuel surcharges alone. To one of Europe's cheaper destinations -- Turkey -- and in a high season period, you can still take a quick trip for only $749.
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Specifically, the $749 price is available for departures on September 11 and throughout the month of October. The rate goes up to $829 on September 18, $869 for September 25, and $959 for September 4. When you consider the distance flown, and that airfare alone to a less-distant city like Rome would be higher than $1,000 on those dates, you can see that pencils have been sharpened to create the rate. Taxes, fees, and security charges add only $120 more.
This may be the first in a series of attempts to make a short trip to Europe affordable, and it's a pretty impressive start, especially when you consider that some trans-Atlantic airlines are charging $260 for round-trip fuel surcharges alone. To one of Europe's cheaper destinations -- Turkey -- and in a high season period, you can still take a quick trip for only $749.
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Jun 10, 2008
You realize how slow things are (in travel) when you spot a price of only $999 per person for a balcony cabin on an upscale ship cruising Alaska
A startling travel surprise is the sale of outside, balcony-equipped cabins on two excellent Holland America ships -- the Oosterdam and the Westerdam -- for $999 per person. That rate is for high-season dates, on the Oosterdam sailing round-trip from Seattle on July 12, 19 and 26 and on August 2 and 9; and on the Westerdam sailing round-trip from Seattle on July 13, 20, and 29, and on August 3 and 10, with each ship going to Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, Victoria (Canada), and Glacier Bay (the Westerdam) or Hubbard Glacier (the Oosterdam). In a slow travel season when we've seen many sharp cruise discounts, these particular rates (on premium ships, a notch above the standard Carnival/Royal Caribbean/Norwegian level) are well out of the ordinary.
You can book the $999 price from Online Vacation Center by either phoning 800/329-9002, or by going to www.onlinevacationcenter.com. And you might consider falling back on this opportunity if you haven't yet made vacation plans for the summer. Cruising round-trip from Seattle is a budget-worthy way to solve your vacation needs.
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You can book the $999 price from Online Vacation Center by either phoning 800/329-9002, or by going to www.onlinevacationcenter.com. And you might consider falling back on this opportunity if you haven't yet made vacation plans for the summer. Cruising round-trip from Seattle is a budget-worthy way to solve your vacation needs.
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The ultra-cheap chain of brand-new Travelodge Hotels is found not simply in Britain but in Ireland and Spain
A bargain that can make all the difference on your next trip to Britain is the Travelodge chain (www.travelodge.co.uk) of 300 brand-new properties scattered about London and through the rest of the British Isles (including Ireland and Northern Ireland), and charging an average of £60 a night per room (with July/August sales cutting that price in half). £60 feels like $60 to the British, though the current poor exchange rate converts the amount to about $120 for the American visitor. Still, it's an awesomely low price to pay in England for a new room with private bath. Some fifty new Travelodge hotels per year are currently being built, and the recent acquisition of the chain by a rich Dubai investment firm will probably speed up and increase the number of new builds.
I neglected to mention in my recent discussion of Travelodge that the chain is also found in Spain, particularly around Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, where a typical high-season room price is €55 to €59, or about $86.35 to $92.63, an even better price for lodgings in these popular cities. Currently, you go to the same website as for the British properties, but simply insert the name of the Spanish city in which you're interested.
Because this is a highly efficient organization that can confirm bookings through the web, you'd be well advised to seek advance reservations at Travelodge on your next trip to Britain, Ireland or Spain. And though the chain hasn't yet gained too much of a presence elsewhere on the continent, there is the start of a Europe-wide expansion that is currently reflected in five or six Travelodges in the port cities along the English Channel in France. Travelodge is a big budget development, growing more significant with every month, and the name is one to which cost-conscious travelers will pay more and more attention in the years ahead.
(Britain's Travelodge has no connection or association with America's Travelodge chain).
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I neglected to mention in my recent discussion of Travelodge that the chain is also found in Spain, particularly around Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, where a typical high-season room price is €55 to €59, or about $86.35 to $92.63, an even better price for lodgings in these popular cities. Currently, you go to the same website as for the British properties, but simply insert the name of the Spanish city in which you're interested.
Because this is a highly efficient organization that can confirm bookings through the web, you'd be well advised to seek advance reservations at Travelodge on your next trip to Britain, Ireland or Spain. And though the chain hasn't yet gained too much of a presence elsewhere on the continent, there is the start of a Europe-wide expansion that is currently reflected in five or six Travelodges in the port cities along the English Channel in France. Travelodge is a big budget development, growing more significant with every month, and the name is one to which cost-conscious travelers will pay more and more attention in the years ahead.
(Britain's Travelodge has no connection or association with America's Travelodge chain).
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Labels: accommodations, england, great britain, spain
Jun 9, 2008
As air travel within the United States grows costlier and costlier, there remain seven or eight basic tactics for reducing your overall travel costs
Last week was one of the gloomiest periods in the recent history of U.S. travel. Everything went wrong. The dollar plummeted in value, the cost of oil skyrocketed to nearly $140 per barrel, and three major airlines -- American, United,and Continental -- all announced they will be reducing flights by 10% to 15% and thus causing airfares to climb -- by amounts that I predict will be shocking.
So what do you about it? Seven or eight solutions come to mind:
1) Alternative forms of transportation: On trips to nearby cities, you will seek to substitute less expensive buses or trains for air travel, especially the new "cheap" buses ($10 to $25 each way) that travel the eastern seaboard and criss-cross the mid-western states to and from Chicago: Boltbus (owned by Greyhound), megabus.com (in the Midwest and on the east coast), Fung Wah Bus (the pioneering, Chinese-American company operating between Chinatowns in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Richmond), and DC2NY.
To cities that aren't serviced by these remarkable cost-cutting godsends, you will take good old Greyhound. People who once turned up their noses at Greyhound will think again (that premiere bus line is engaged in upgrading the quality of its terminals and vehicles). And in those instances where Amtrak is cheaper than air, you ought now to consider taking Amtrak (as so many Americans are now doing).
2) You will advance purchase your airfares. Though airfares will obviously climb, they will be a little cheaper if purchased long in advance. They will not be cheaper at the last moment, since more and more flights will go out totally full -- and with big waiting lists, too.
3) You will give real thought to the use of cost-cutting, cheaper airlines. Because of its brilliant policy of hedging its airfare costs, Southwest Airlines will remain somewhat cheaper than the others throughout the year ahead. And though going to some of Southwest's chief hubs (Islip, Long Island; Providence, Rhode Island; Oakland, CA) may seem a less than elegant thing to do, you will swallow your pride and make the trip. You will also look long and hard at Spirit Airlines and AirTran.
4) You will offset the higher cost of air transportation by lowering the price of lodgings at the destination. You will consider staying at a Comfort Inn. You will even (gulp!) consider booking a Motel 6. You will scan the Motel 6 website for properties identified as having an interior corridor -- meaning that it is a relatively new build. I recently stayed at a brand-new, fresh and modern, $59-a-night Motel 6 near Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport, and it was just as good as higher-category motels charging twice the price.
5) You will cut your air costs by taking public transportation to the airport (there always is a public bus used by airport personnel and flight crews), and bringing sandwiches along to escape the need ever to buy one of those overpriced, tasteless snacks at an airport eatery or -- heaven forbid! -- on the flight itself.
6) You will cut your total travel costs by renting an apartment or vacation home at the destination instead of a standard hotel. You will turn to Vacation Rentals by Owner (www.vrbo.com), HomeAway (www.homeaway.com), or various local rental agencies listed in guidebooks; or you will go (cautiously) to Craigslist (www.craigslist.com) or Kijiji (www.kijiji.com) to find a low-cost rental apartment or vacation home.
7) You will consider joining a hospitality club (like U.S. Servas or Evergreen) or a hospitality service like Couch Surfing (www.couchsurfing.com) or GlobalFreeloaders.com (www.globalfreeloaders.com). Contrary to the common perception, those organizations are not limited to foreign destinations but have copious listings within the United States. You will consider using a vacation exchange club like HomeExchange.com (www.homeexchange.com), Intervac (www.intervac.com), or others, to obtain a free-of-charge lodging at the U.S. (or Canadian) destination, swapped for use by someone else of your own home or apartment.
8) In doing all this, you will first swallow your pride, and then you will get angry, becoming politically active by working for the defeat of those several U.S. Senators who have thwarted the development of an adequate and inexpensive U.S. system of rail transportation. You will retire those people so that we Americans can once again travel our beautiful country at affordable costs.
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So what do you about it? Seven or eight solutions come to mind:
1) Alternative forms of transportation: On trips to nearby cities, you will seek to substitute less expensive buses or trains for air travel, especially the new "cheap" buses ($10 to $25 each way) that travel the eastern seaboard and criss-cross the mid-western states to and from Chicago: Boltbus (owned by Greyhound), megabus.com (in the Midwest and on the east coast), Fung Wah Bus (the pioneering, Chinese-American company operating between Chinatowns in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Richmond), and DC2NY.
To cities that aren't serviced by these remarkable cost-cutting godsends, you will take good old Greyhound. People who once turned up their noses at Greyhound will think again (that premiere bus line is engaged in upgrading the quality of its terminals and vehicles). And in those instances where Amtrak is cheaper than air, you ought now to consider taking Amtrak (as so many Americans are now doing).
2) You will advance purchase your airfares. Though airfares will obviously climb, they will be a little cheaper if purchased long in advance. They will not be cheaper at the last moment, since more and more flights will go out totally full -- and with big waiting lists, too.
3) You will give real thought to the use of cost-cutting, cheaper airlines. Because of its brilliant policy of hedging its airfare costs, Southwest Airlines will remain somewhat cheaper than the others throughout the year ahead. And though going to some of Southwest's chief hubs (Islip, Long Island; Providence, Rhode Island; Oakland, CA) may seem a less than elegant thing to do, you will swallow your pride and make the trip. You will also look long and hard at Spirit Airlines and AirTran.
4) You will offset the higher cost of air transportation by lowering the price of lodgings at the destination. You will consider staying at a Comfort Inn. You will even (gulp!) consider booking a Motel 6. You will scan the Motel 6 website for properties identified as having an interior corridor -- meaning that it is a relatively new build. I recently stayed at a brand-new, fresh and modern, $59-a-night Motel 6 near Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport, and it was just as good as higher-category motels charging twice the price.
5) You will cut your air costs by taking public transportation to the airport (there always is a public bus used by airport personnel and flight crews), and bringing sandwiches along to escape the need ever to buy one of those overpriced, tasteless snacks at an airport eatery or -- heaven forbid! -- on the flight itself.
6) You will cut your total travel costs by renting an apartment or vacation home at the destination instead of a standard hotel. You will turn to Vacation Rentals by Owner (www.vrbo.com), HomeAway (www.homeaway.com), or various local rental agencies listed in guidebooks; or you will go (cautiously) to Craigslist (www.craigslist.com) or Kijiji (www.kijiji.com) to find a low-cost rental apartment or vacation home.
7) You will consider joining a hospitality club (like U.S. Servas or Evergreen) or a hospitality service like Couch Surfing (www.couchsurfing.com) or GlobalFreeloaders.com (www.globalfreeloaders.com). Contrary to the common perception, those organizations are not limited to foreign destinations but have copious listings within the United States. You will consider using a vacation exchange club like HomeExchange.com (www.homeexchange.com), Intervac (www.intervac.com), or others, to obtain a free-of-charge lodging at the U.S. (or Canadian) destination, swapped for use by someone else of your own home or apartment.
8) In doing all this, you will first swallow your pride, and then you will get angry, becoming politically active by working for the defeat of those several U.S. Senators who have thwarted the development of an adequate and inexpensive U.S. system of rail transportation. You will retire those people so that we Americans can once again travel our beautiful country at affordable costs.
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Labels: budget travel
As airlines continue to cut their domestic flights, we are now paying an even higher price for having starved Amtrak of adequate funds
And still they come: one cutback after another in the domestic schedules of our major airlines. American Airlines led the pack by announcing a reduction of 10% in their available seats system-wide, a 30% cut in their flights to the Caribbean starting September. They were quickly followed by United. And now Continental Airlines will cut its domestic departures by 16%, its overall capacity by 11%. Soon, there won't be enough planes flying to permit Americans to quickly pick and choose their trips by air. We will have to book flights many weeks in advance; we will need to travel on inconvenient itineraries, making several stops on the way to our destination. We will have to accept alternate dates, delay our departures by several days, travel at times inconvenient to ourselves.
And what will be our alternatives? We will have no viable rail system to fall back upon. We will have scanty service on Amtrak, on trains crawling on tracks that haven't been upgraded in years, taking second place to freight services, sitting motionless for hours on switchbacks, arriving many hours late at our destinations.
This will be the consequence of tolerating those smug politicians who have been denigrating Amtrak for years, to voting back into power the persons proposing an end to Amtrak subsidies, to leaving unchallenged those pompous ideologues with their debaters' points about the need to make a profit in rail transportation. This will be the situation caused by U.S. senators like John Sununu of New Hampshire, in thrall to the oil industry, creating one roadblock after another to proper Amtrak funding, using legislative maneuvers to prevent long-term funding of Amtrak.
Though the hour is late, we must all redouble our efforts to begin creating a viable system of high-speed rail in America.
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And what will be our alternatives? We will have no viable rail system to fall back upon. We will have scanty service on Amtrak, on trains crawling on tracks that haven't been upgraded in years, taking second place to freight services, sitting motionless for hours on switchbacks, arriving many hours late at our destinations.
This will be the consequence of tolerating those smug politicians who have been denigrating Amtrak for years, to voting back into power the persons proposing an end to Amtrak subsidies, to leaving unchallenged those pompous ideologues with their debaters' points about the need to make a profit in rail transportation. This will be the situation caused by U.S. senators like John Sununu of New Hampshire, in thrall to the oil industry, creating one roadblock after another to proper Amtrak funding, using legislative maneuvers to prevent long-term funding of Amtrak.
Though the hour is late, we must all redouble our efforts to begin creating a viable system of high-speed rail in America.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: amtrak, fat cats, red tape
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
