Jun 20, 2008
If you'll chart the daily exchange rates appearing on XE.com, you'll witness the steady upward rise of the Chinese Yuan. To China -- get there quick
The most popular website for currency exchange rates -- XE (www.xe.com) -- carries a daily value for the Chinese Yuan (CNY). I've been following it, with a sinking heart, for many months now.
When I first traveled to China several years ago, a traveler received about 8.30 Yuan for one U.S. Dollar, a joyous, exhilarating rate. Then strong international pressure was exerted on the Chinese to re-value its obviously-undervalued currency. Though the Chinese denied they were giving in to these demands (and thus saved face in the matter), they proceeded to do just that. Every single week or so, the value of the Chinese Yuan went up a tiny bit. By the beginning of this year, you received only 7 Yuan for one dollar. Yesterday, you received only 6.88 Yuan for one dollar. By the autumn, the rate will undoubtedly be down to around 6.70 to the dollar, and to 6 to the dollar by the end of the year.
All of this is by way of suggesting that if you harbor any interest in visiting China, you should get there quick. Though China remains an inexpensive destination, it will get costlier and costlier with every passing month.
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When I first traveled to China several years ago, a traveler received about 8.30 Yuan for one U.S. Dollar, a joyous, exhilarating rate. Then strong international pressure was exerted on the Chinese to re-value its obviously-undervalued currency. Though the Chinese denied they were giving in to these demands (and thus saved face in the matter), they proceeded to do just that. Every single week or so, the value of the Chinese Yuan went up a tiny bit. By the beginning of this year, you received only 7 Yuan for one dollar. Yesterday, you received only 6.88 Yuan for one dollar. By the autumn, the rate will undoubtedly be down to around 6.70 to the dollar, and to 6 to the dollar by the end of the year.
All of this is by way of suggesting that if you harbor any interest in visiting China, you should get there quick. Though China remains an inexpensive destination, it will get costlier and costlier with every passing month.
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Labels: china
Amtrak opponents say it's bad for the government to subsidize Amtrak, but they're silent about bigger subsidies to air and highway transportation
You may have noticed an exchange of arguments, in the responses to this blog, between an Amtrak-opponent named Bdtjbenson and Amtrak-supporters like myself and my daughter, Pauline. Bdtjbenson is furious about the expenditure of public funds for Amtrak (outrageous subsidies!), but doesn't ever express the same ire about public appropriations for highway construction and maintenance, airports and commuter airlines, air traffic controls, and other oil-based methods of transportation (outrageous subsidies!). His stand reminds me of an interesting episode described in Wikipedia's write-up of Amtrak, and which goes as follows:
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Amtrak's leader at the time [2002], David L. Gunn, was polite but direct in response to congressional criticism. In a departure from his predecessors' promises to make Amtrak self-sufficient in the short term, Gunn argued that no form of passenger transportation in the United States is self-sufficient as the economy is currently structured. Highways, airports, and air traffic control all require large government expenditures to build and operate....Before a congressional hearing, Gunn answered a demand by leading Amtrak critic Arizona Senator John McCain to eliminate all operating subsidies by asking the Senator if he would also demand the same of the commuter airlines, upon whom the citizens of Arizona are dependent. McCain, usually not at a loss for words when debating Amtrak funding, did not reply.
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Labels: amtrak
Jun 19, 2008
A sale offering an astonishing round-trip airfare to India for only $549 is currently being offered for purchase during the next two-and-a-half days
It sounds too good to be true (and may well be!), but at a time of year when round-trip fares to India are nearly $2,000, there's a way to go there at one-quarter the price -- if you act immediately (within somewhat less than 72 hours). Specifically, if you book autumn trips through a travel agent before Friday night of this week, you can buy a round-trip seat on Air India to Mumbai and other Indian cities for as little as $549 (leaving mid-August to mid-September) and $599 (mid-September to the end of October). While those dates are partially during the monsoon season, numerous old-hands at travel in India will confirm that the rains (a couple of hours a day) don't really interfere with your enjoyment of that exotic sub-continent.
Now what I've just reported is what the consumer press is announcing. They tell you to book the fare by going to www.airindia.com. Once there, you will find not a single word on the subject! It is only when you phone one of Air-India's toll-free numbers (tel. 800/223-7776, 888/359-2412, or 800/625-6424) that a reservationist located in India will advise you that the sale is called One Price India and that it can be purchased only through a travel agent.
I'm dubious about prices as incredible as these. But I would be remiss not to pass on the word. If you have ever hankered to visit India (one of the world's most fascinating countries to tour), and can make a firm decision in the next three days, you really should give One Price India a try.
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Now what I've just reported is what the consumer press is announcing. They tell you to book the fare by going to www.airindia.com. Once there, you will find not a single word on the subject! It is only when you phone one of Air-India's toll-free numbers (tel. 800/223-7776, 888/359-2412, or 800/625-6424) that a reservationist located in India will advise you that the sale is called One Price India and that it can be purchased only through a travel agent.
I'm dubious about prices as incredible as these. But I would be remiss not to pass on the word. If you have ever hankered to visit India (one of the world's most fascinating countries to tour), and can make a firm decision in the next three days, you really should give One Price India a try.
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The sharp rise of airfares within the Hawaiian islands has apparently saved the Superferry; here's a stout defense of that unique, inter-island boat
Having earlier made some snide remarks about the Hawaii Superferry (www.hawaiisuperferry.com), which often takes you from Oahu to Maui for about $49 each way, it's only fair that I run an e-mailed defense of that boat service from the public relations firm which represents the Ferry. Now that the days of cheap airfares between the various islands seem over, it's probably wise to consider using the SuperFerry:
Aloha Arthur --Write and read comments about this post.
We appreciate your including Hawaii Superferry in your recent "Buy tickets for autumn air travel now" blog about rising airfares to Hawaii and between the islands.
As you rightly predicted, the number of passengers and vehicles using the Alakai has been steadily increasing. We're new and people are starting to find out about us from the positive feedback of others taking this unique opportunity.
I'm not sure whether you've had a chance to voyage on the ferry Alakai recently, but, particularly now, during the calmer summer ocean conditions, it is not a seasick-making Superferry. I think our increase in ridership is a testament to the great experience of a voyage on the Alakai.
We will keep you posted on the latest news related to Hawaii Superferry.
Mahalo,
Lori Abe
Labels: hawaii
Jun 18, 2008
Though it's not for a classic African safari of the sort you enjoy in Kenya, there's a $2K deal for a near-safari in South Africa
The one-week African safari for less than $2,000, including round-trip air between New York and Kenya, which used to be offered by Canada's Lion World Tours (www.lionworldtravel.com), is now likely gone forever. The Lion World website lists minimum prices of $2,499, $2,599, and $2,699 per person, depending on date, September through mid-December, including airfare, for an adventure of that sort (see "Best of Kenya").
But in the last two weeks of September, and the first two weeks of December, something similar -- a hybrid city stay and safari experience, all in South Africa -- is available for a remarkable $1,999 per person from Lion World. "South Africa in Style," as the package is called, is an atypically cheap African experience to a country where the normal round-trip airfare, without anything more, is at least $1,566 plus about $600 more for taxes and fees.
"South Africa in Style" flies you first from New York or Washington, D.C., to Cape Town, South Africa, via Johannesburg, and places you for four nights at a five-star hotel in that glittering seaside city, one of the most beautiful on earth. And there you enjoy an introductory sightseeing tour to the famed Winelands area (with its vineyards and tasting rooms) outside the city, but are otherwise left alone to explore the delights of a resort capital famed for its beaches and attractions.
Then you're flown to a games preserve right outside the famous Kruger National Park, where you're taken on successive drives in an open-air van into "the bush" to spot the wildlife associated with Africa. You spend three days and two nights in the luxurious Jackalberry Safari Lodge, receiving three meals a day throughout your stay. And after a last drive through this private game preserve, you are flown to Johannesburg airport for a connecting inter-continental flight back to New York or Washington, D.C. from Johannesburg. Your $1,999 price has included round-trip air on South African Airways, all domestic flights within South Africa, lodgings as described, 6 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 2 dinners.
For more information, see the Lion World website phone 888/722-4872 or visit South African Airways Vacations' page at www.flysaavacations.com/itin/1.30/1.30.htm.
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But in the last two weeks of September, and the first two weeks of December, something similar -- a hybrid city stay and safari experience, all in South Africa -- is available for a remarkable $1,999 per person from Lion World. "South Africa in Style," as the package is called, is an atypically cheap African experience to a country where the normal round-trip airfare, without anything more, is at least $1,566 plus about $600 more for taxes and fees.
"South Africa in Style" flies you first from New York or Washington, D.C., to Cape Town, South Africa, via Johannesburg, and places you for four nights at a five-star hotel in that glittering seaside city, one of the most beautiful on earth. And there you enjoy an introductory sightseeing tour to the famed Winelands area (with its vineyards and tasting rooms) outside the city, but are otherwise left alone to explore the delights of a resort capital famed for its beaches and attractions.
Then you're flown to a games preserve right outside the famous Kruger National Park, where you're taken on successive drives in an open-air van into "the bush" to spot the wildlife associated with Africa. You spend three days and two nights in the luxurious Jackalberry Safari Lodge, receiving three meals a day throughout your stay. And after a last drive through this private game preserve, you are flown to Johannesburg airport for a connecting inter-continental flight back to New York or Washington, D.C. from Johannesburg. Your $1,999 price has included round-trip air on South African Airways, all domestic flights within South Africa, lodgings as described, 6 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 2 dinners.
For more information, see the Lion World website phone 888/722-4872 or visit South African Airways Vacations' page at www.flysaavacations.com/itin/1.30/1.30.htm.
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Labels: safari, south africa
There's now an aggregator for finding inexpensive hotel rooms anywhere in the world, and its results seem phenomenal
The Australians have done it. They've created a website called Hotels Combined (www.hotelscombined.com) that searches every other hotel search engine and every other hotel chain, in popular cities throughout the U.S. and abroad, and then impartially sorts the results by price and reveals them to you. And although it also tells you whether the hotel in question has vacancies for the dates in which you're interested, it does not then proceed to book the room for you. Instead -- and I like this feature -- it advises you to go directly to the hotel they name and request a reservation. You also pay the hotel directly and do not incur a penny's expense for using Hotels Combined.
I have recently found some of the best hotel deals imaginable through the use of Hotels Combined. Example: I recently requested a room in New York for a two-night stay starting June 26. Would you believe that Hotels Combined proceeded to name New York hotels where I could get a room (in properties ranging from cheap hostels to decent tourist class establishments) for $29, $30, $31, $32, $34, $70, $87, $92, $97, $99, $102, $118, and so on -- in what has to be one of the most expensive hotel cities on earth? The Australian service not only surveys hotels directly -- including numerous properties that aren't handled by any of the established hotel search engines -- but also surveys such hotel-finding websites as www.venere.com, www.hotelbook.com, www.laterooms.com, www.hotelclub.com, www.lastminute.com, www.orbitz.com, www.expedia.com, www.travelocity.com, www.booking.com, www.asiarooms.com, and others. (I assume, but haven't yet found, that it also surveys www.hotels.com and www.quikbook.com).
For the life of me, I can't find any catch to this service, any overlooked condition, any reason not to use it exclusively for hotel searches (since it surveys every other hotel-finding website, in the same way that an airfare aggregator surveys every other source of airfares, there's no need to go anywhere else).
Have I overlooked anything? If any of the readers of this blog have also used Hotels Combined, could they report on their experiences?
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I have recently found some of the best hotel deals imaginable through the use of Hotels Combined. Example: I recently requested a room in New York for a two-night stay starting June 26. Would you believe that Hotels Combined proceeded to name New York hotels where I could get a room (in properties ranging from cheap hostels to decent tourist class establishments) for $29, $30, $31, $32, $34, $70, $87, $92, $97, $99, $102, $118, and so on -- in what has to be one of the most expensive hotel cities on earth? The Australian service not only surveys hotels directly -- including numerous properties that aren't handled by any of the established hotel search engines -- but also surveys such hotel-finding websites as www.venere.com, www.hotelbook.com, www.laterooms.com, www.hotelclub.com, www.lastminute.com, www.orbitz.com, www.expedia.com, www.travelocity.com, www.booking.com, www.asiarooms.com, and others. (I assume, but haven't yet found, that it also surveys www.hotels.com and www.quikbook.com).
For the life of me, I can't find any catch to this service, any overlooked condition, any reason not to use it exclusively for hotel searches (since it surveys every other hotel-finding website, in the same way that an airfare aggregator surveys every other source of airfares, there's no need to go anywhere else).
Have I overlooked anything? If any of the readers of this blog have also used Hotels Combined, could they report on their experiences?
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Labels: accommodations, websites
Jun 17, 2008
The moment may have arrived: We may at last be on the brink of empowering Amtrak to offer a sensible method of alternative travel in the U.S.
Last week the House of Representatives passed a measure that for the first time in history will establish long-term funding for Amtrak. The bill will authorize the appropriation of nearly 3 billion dollars a year for five years for the national railroad system. It's obvious that the crushing cost of $4-a-gallon gasoline, and the impact of that price on automobile driving and airline operation, have brought legislators to their senses. Who could possibly deny that we now desperately need a system of energy-efficient rail transportation to give us an alternative method of traveling about within the United States?The House bill now goes to a conference committee to eliminate differences in a somewhat-similar bill passed by the Senate. And what's significant is that the margin by which the House bill was passed, 311 to 104, is more than sufficient to overcome a threatened veto by President Bush.
Thus, the moment may have come. We may at last be ready to defeat the long-maintained opposition to Amtrak by the oil industry and install a sensible system of alternative transportation in America. All of us should make our views known to members of Congress.
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Labels: amtrak
Internet "deal" newsletters don't always have the best deals
Our friends at Beat of Hawaii (www.beatofhawaii.com) have done a devastating job on those e-mailed newsletters that consist solely of so-called special bargains on the airlines and from tour operators. Many of these newsletters are paid by the supplier (the airline or the tour operator) to convey news of special deals, and that they are not objective, unpaid listings of top bargains of the sort that this blog and one or two other journalistic services provide. In fact, Beat of Hawaii points out that by the time the e-newsletter has posted its deals, the airlines have themselves undercut them.
By way of proof, Beat of Hawaii cites a special one-way airfare appearing on Travelzoo on June 11 of $447 between Los Angeles and Maui, and says:
By way of proof, Beat of Hawaii cites a special one-way airfare appearing on Travelzoo on June 11 of $447 between Los Angeles and Maui, and says:
No Deal: I priced airfares on four of the cities listed in the Travelzoo Newsletter and found significantly better deals for the same dates of travel.Write and read comments about this post.
- Boston: Travelzoo deal: $996. Northwest offered $725.
- Charlotte: Travelzoo deal: $908. American priced this at $556.
- Chicago: Travelzoo deal: $1,020. Check out Alaska at $860.
- Indianapolis: Travelzoo deal: $952. Northwest comes in low at $665.
Jun 16, 2008
The eruption of low-cost, private hostels all over the world is among the biggest developments in budget travel
Their founders are among the most active entrepreneurs in travel today. They find a building -- any building -- where they're able to install dorm-like rooms with bunk beds, from four to eight beds per room. Their facilities include multiple bathrooms for communal use, a bar or lounge, an office. And with such small, improvised lodging establishments, they're able to charge from $20 to $35 per person per night -- and thus defeat the high cost of travel.
The eruption of hostels -- hostels by the scores -- all over the world, is probably the single biggest news in the world of low-cost travel. They accommodate travelers of all ages, and have greatly expanded the capacity of what used to be an "official" international hostel movement.
Most of them belong to chains (for marketing purposes). Hostel Management (www.hostelmanagement.com), a new website dealing with the phenomenon, tracks the current state of expansion, hosts a message board for hostel operators, and provides listings for hostels by city, country, and name. The most heavily-used websites for finding hostels are Hostelworld (www.hostelworld.com), Hostels.com (www.hostels.com), HostelBookers (www.hostelbookers.com), hostelmania (www.hostelmania.com), Hostels247.com (www.hostels247.com), HostelsClub.com (www.hostelsclub.com), GOMIO.COM (www.gomio.com), and VIP Backpackers (www.vipbackpackers.com).
You can also go to Google, inserting such terms as "New York hostels" or "Sydney hostels." Next time you take a trip to anywhere in America or abroad, consider the use of a hostel.
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The eruption of hostels -- hostels by the scores -- all over the world, is probably the single biggest news in the world of low-cost travel. They accommodate travelers of all ages, and have greatly expanded the capacity of what used to be an "official" international hostel movement.
Most of them belong to chains (for marketing purposes). Hostel Management (www.hostelmanagement.com), a new website dealing with the phenomenon, tracks the current state of expansion, hosts a message board for hostel operators, and provides listings for hostels by city, country, and name. The most heavily-used websites for finding hostels are Hostelworld (www.hostelworld.com), Hostels.com (www.hostels.com), HostelBookers (www.hostelbookers.com), hostelmania (www.hostelmania.com), Hostels247.com (www.hostels247.com), HostelsClub.com (www.hostelsclub.com), GOMIO.COM (www.gomio.com), and VIP Backpackers (www.vipbackpackers.com).
You can also go to Google, inserting such terms as "New York hostels" or "Sydney hostels." Next time you take a trip to anywhere in America or abroad, consider the use of a hostel.
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Labels: accommodations, hostels
Is $399 per person the world's lowest price for a seven-night sailing of a large ship? Seems so.
Eager to draw attention to every record-breaking travel bargain, I can't fail to mention the December 6, 13 and 20 sailings from Charleston, S.C., of the Norwegian Majesty of Norwegian Cruise Line, on which inside cabins are currently being sold for $399 per person, double occupancy, by a cruise discounter called America's Vacation Center (tel. 888/420-1035; www.americasvacationcenter.com). These are seven-night sailings on a standard cruise ship, going from that South Carolina port to Freeport, Nassau, and a private island in The Bahamas; and Port Canaveral; and spending two days simply at sea en route, before returning to South Carolina. If price is your sole criterion, and you're looking for the single most relaxing week of your life, this could be the way to do it.
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Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
