To Save the Expense of a Ground-Floor, Central City Office, More and More Travel Agents Are Simply Working From Their Homes
Posted on 11/01/2013, 4:45 PM
What happened to all those travel agencies that used to operate from behind plate glass windows in ground-floor locations on street corners in your community? It may come as a surprise to learn that they haven’t disappeared. Many of them are still operating--and arranging trips for many of your neighbors--but they’re performing from the dining room--or the den--or...
Though Harry Potter Has Garnered All the Raves, The True Hit Attraction of Orlando's Theme Parks is Disney's Soarin'
Posted on 11/01/2013, 12:00 PM
In the bitter competition between theme parks in Orlando, Florida, the Harry Potter exhibit at Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure has recently scored a public relations victory. Journalist after journalist has weighed in with the conclusion that Universal's Harry Potter is currently the outstanding attraction in America's theme park capital. I went to the Harry Potter exhibit ...
In America, It's the Low-Cost, Bargain-Priced Vacations That Continue to Account for the Overwhelming Number of Leisure-Time Trips
Posted on 10/23/2013, 2:00 PM
Every day in my mail or computer monitor, I receive invitations to purchase luxury-priced travel. This cruise for $6,000. That African safari for $8,000. This or that tour of the mountain villages of Bulgaria for only $5,500 per person (based on double occupancy). Though all of us have only the highest regard for the long-established travel companies that operate and offe...
I Have Just Returned From a Visit to a Unique Peninsula-Island of America, Of Which I Had Never Heard: The "Eastern Shore" of Virginia
Posted on 10/18/2013, 2:30 PM
Because a young acquaintance of ours was getting married there, my wife and I recently ventured to a place of which I had never heard: the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Technically a peninsula, but looking more like a barrier island, this is a thin strip of land nearly sixty miles long out in the Atlantic Ocean along the coast of Virginia, forming Chesapeake Bay on its western side. It...
Was I Right or Wrong to Recommend That You Leave Your Passport in the Hotel Safe While Traveling Abroad?
Posted on 10/17/2013, 6:30 PM
No recent bit of travel advice has generated more controversy than my recent suggestion to leave your passport in the hotel safe when you leave to go sightseeing on a European trip. Will you need that document in your daily round of touristic activities? Only if you wish to change currency at a teller's window in a foreign bank, I responded to a reader's question. Otherwise, don't r...
Eureka! You Can Enjoy a Round-Trip Price of $566 between New York and Paris from November 4 until December 15 on That Reluctant Airline, "XL"
Posted on 10/16/2013, 2:45 PM
When you call to make a booking (to 877/496-9889), you often speak to a telephone reservationist whose command of French is better than her grasp of English. And because of that, they sometimes seem surprised to receive your English-language call. But if you persist in a booking requests made to XL Airways, you may be pleasantly surprised to learn that this French upstart airline is char...
A Lawsuit By the Attorney General of New York is Threatening to Put an End to the Short-Term Rental of Apartments to Cost-Conscious Tourists
Posted on 10/08/2013, 11:30 AM
In its impact on the ability of Americans to travel, no legislation could be more misguided or harmful than the ban against the short-term rental of apartments enacted into law some time ago by the New York State Legislature. The well-meaning lawmakers were seeking to prevent greedy property owners from turning their apartment buildings into illegal hotels. The legislature sought ...
Would You Believe a Roller Skating Rink at Sea? Bumper Cars, A Circus School, A Basketball Court? Controlled Sky-Diving? Read On and Weep
Posted on 10/07/2013, 10:15 PM
If I hadn't actually seen the press release, I wouldn't have believed it. On a new ship of Royal Caribbean Cruises debuting a year from now (the "Quantum of the Seas"), that cruiseline will offer an indoor sports and entertainment complex containing a roller-skating rink, bumper cars, a basketball court, and a circus school with trapeze instruction. For other passengers, there will be "c...
Our Most Recent Radio Travel Show (Sundays at Noon, Eastern Time) Received a Number of Challenging Questions from Listeners, of Which Ten are Representative
Posted on 10/07/2013, 12:45 PM
If you didn't listen to our most recent, Sunday Travel Show on radio (it is streamed live every Sunday, starting at noon Eastern Time on www.WOR710.com—the podcast can be downloaded at www.frommers.com/podcast/), you missed a lively interchange of travel questions between our listeners and ourselves. In the thought that some of this discussion may be helpful to travel planning, we're showing s...
Whether or Not to Book an African Safari Starting in Kenya is an Increasingly Difficult Decision to Make
Posted on 10/04/2013, 12:00 PM
Kenya, in East Africa, is regarded by many travellers, including myself, as Africa's best location for safari adventures at an affordable price. Botswana's lodges may be more elegant, and South Africa combines open-air safaris with urban attractions (CapeTown is a tourist favorite), but Kenya virtually guarantees an abundance of wildlife for your excursions into the bush, and offers wonde...
