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...
The Dalmatian Daytona: Croatia's Popularity with Young Travelers Surges
Posted on 10/04/2013, 11:00 AM
According to the national tourism board of Croatia, some 300,000 United Kingdom residents flocked to the sunny Mediterranean country between January and August, a 24% rise from the year before. And most of them weren't well-heeled playboys. They were young. What's happening in Croatia? In a word: festivals. There are now more than 20 of them that take over islands and coastal towns, attractin...
That Rumor About the Easy Availability of Free-of-Charge Travel Insurance, is Only Partially (And Very Partially) True
Posted on 10/03/2013, 4:30 PM
How it began, heaven knows. But a great many rumor-mongers are telling their neighbors that they can obtain free-of-charge travel insurance for their next trip by simply signing on for the right kind of credit card. I was a target for that kindly advice on our recent radio travel show. One listener after another phoned in to say that if you equipped yourself with a certain brand of ...
Looking to fly over the holidays? To get the best airfares book your flight soon—very, very soon
Posted on 10/02/2013, 4:15 PM
If history is any guide, that is. The website Quartz recently did a study of data from booking engine Kayak.com and determined that the cheapest holiday airfares, last year, were sold in early October. In fact, for both Christmas and New Year's, the lowest airfares, for travel within the USA, were purchased on October 11. So set an alert folks! Alas, the window for Thanksgiving airfares has...
Government Shutdown: What Travelers Can Still Do, and What's Closed
Posted on 10/02/2013, 4:15 PM
There are lots of long, explaining articles about what's causing the shutdown, but they don't make it easy to figure out what's closed for travelers and what's open. We'll make this short and sweet. Here's what's closed: * National Park units are closed. That means everything, even outdoor monuments. Overnight lodgers have until Thursday to vacate. (In what appears to be a form of p...
JetBlue Upgrades Its Standard Seats: Power Outlets, Bigger TVs, Triple the Channels
Posted on 09/30/2013, 6:00 PM
At a media event on the roof of its New York City headquarters today, set-price airline JetBlue, which since it inception has been a one-class airline, unveiled an overhaul of its seating. Ostensibly, the event was to promote Mint, a new top-tier seating category designed to poach business from rival carriers on the NYC-LAX route—and, so far, only on that route. Starting at $600 one-way cross...
Friday Finds: A Flotilla of Cruise Bargains, From River Cruise Savings to Two-For-One Deals on Deluxe Ocean-Going Vessels
Posted on 09/27/2013, 5:15 PM
I'm not sure what they're, er, put in the water, but we're seeing a number of unusually good cruise deals this week. Here's a sampling: *Danube Sailings: Virgin Vacations is always a source of good bargains, but they've outdone themselves this week with a $500 off deal on selected Danube River Cruises . The key to getting the savings is using the secret code, which is: VNB38RC500. The discoun...
Hilton Is Killing Room Service at Some Large Hotels, And Look at The Replacement
Posted on 09/27/2013, 11:30 AM
Last spring, Hilton cemented a new trend among major hotel brands when it killed all room service at its 2,000-room New York Hilton Midtown, Manhattan's largest hotel, joining its Hawaiian Village in Waikiki. The belt-tightening move cut 55 jobs in New York. Meet its replacement. It's called Herb n' Kitchen. As Hilton puts it, it gives guests "the choice of restaurant dining at their leisure....
A Guest Blog from David Paul Appell On What's New and Noteworthy in Miami This Fall and Winter
Posted on 09/27/2013, 10:30 AM
We're proud to present a guest post today by David Paul Appell of Tripatini.com. David is also the author of the upcoming Frommer's EasyGuide to Miami & Key West, which will be hitting bookstore shelves in November. A brilliant book (if I do say so myself), written by a longtime resident of Miami who clearly loves his city, it will introduce you to sides of Miami that you've likely never en...
