It's Only by a Yen or Two, But the Trend Seems Clear: Japan's Currency and Costs are Getting Cheaper by the Day
Posted on 05/17/2013, 9:30 AM
No sooner did the Yen decline to a rate of 100 to the U.S. dollar, than within a short while it fell to 101. And yesterday it dropped to 102 plus a fraction. With a rate of 103 and 104 to the dollar appearing inevitable, the fall in value of the Japanese currency seems destined not only to aid Japan's export of electronics and cars, but to give a dramatic boost to its incoming touris...
Carry Less, Board First: American Airlines Revises Its Highly Debatable Boarding Policies Again
Posted on 05/16/2013, 10:15 PM
Again from Pauline Frommer: Boarding a plane nowadays is like being caught in a Saturday Night Live skit. You patiently wait, as the "platinum" and the "double platinum" and the "elite this and that" passengers board, listening to announcement after announcement, swearing inwardly that there can't be another class before yours...and then there is. Well, it's about to get even more absur...
Israel Unveils a Sweeping 18% Tourist Tax. Will the Additional Costs Deter Visitors?
Posted on 05/16/2013, 3:15 PM
Israel is already the 8th most expensive country on the planet to visit, according to the World Economic Forum. But a new 18% tax on car rentals, hotel rooms, private guide services and guided tours could well bump the country up the list a place or three. The tax will take effect on June 1. Government officials have said it will go toward's lowering the country's deficit. Some 3.5 million ...
Cheaper Vacation Rentals and New Tours Are Being Offered in Europe as the Ongoing Recession There Forces Locals To Get Creative to Earn a Living
Posted on 05/16/2013, 2:45 PM
Would you be interested in a guided tour that focussed on the excesses of Spain's construction bubble? Apparently the idea is not as nutty as it sounds. According to NBC News, the relatively new "Ruta del Despilfarro" or "route of wastefulness" tour in Valencia, offered by 5 out-of-work college professors and journalists in Valencia, has been a bona fide hit, with over 1000 visitors paying $1...
Advice from Pauline Frommer: Don't Get Taken for a Ride in Las Vegas (Let That Cabbie Know That You Know the Score)
Posted on 05/15/2013, 10:00 AM
15 to 20 minutes. That's about how long it should take a passenger to get from the Las Vegas Airport to their Strip hotel in Las Vegas, most times of the day. Heck, you can see the Strip right under you as you land in the plane (it's one of the great sights in aviation). The two are not far apart. And yet, according to industry news publication Travel Weekly, some 22.5% of passengers ar...
Addicted to "Downton Abbey"? Dreaming of "High Tea" There? Virgin Vacations Will Sell You a Luxury Package to the Real Thing
Posted on 05/14/2013, 2:00 PM
It only took until Season Four. Virgin Vacations has added to its fall lineup a visit to the United Kingdom that includes a trip to the real-life set of the upstairs scenes of PBS's Downton Abbey, Highclere Castle. The seven-day trip includes round-trip flights, airport transfers, three nights' hotel in London and two in Bracknell, near the house. That's an hour west of London in Be...
A Participant in Our Valuable "Forum" Has Unearthed a Round-trip Airfare to Paris, in June, for only $620
Posted on 05/14/2013, 2:00 PM
From Arthur Frommer: First, a word about our Forum. Some users of Frommers.com are unaware of its existence. Go to the heading "Community" at the top of our main menu page, click on it, and then click on "Forum", and you'll encounter a service that posts readers' questions and other readers' answers (including answers by editors of this website). It's an extremely valuable method of ha...
An Aviation Reporter for the Associated Press Has Condensed All of Travel Wisdom Into Six Basic Rules for Approaching a Summer Vacation
Posted on 05/12/2013, 6:30 PM
On the Travel Show this past Sunday (see wor710.com for a "podcast" of it, start of the second hour), Scott Mayerowitz of the Associated Press gifted us with six all-important rules for approaching a summer vacation. They are all so important that I'm repeating them here: (1) When should you buy your air tickets? Answer: Four to six weeks in advance of dep...
By Advertising That They Are "American Owned", A Number of U.S. Motels Are Engaging in Utterly Improper Racism
Posted on 05/11/2013, 12:15 PM
You don't have to drive long on U.S. highways until you see one: a motel sign loudly boasting the premises are "American-owned." And you don't have to stay in many motels to know that in the past 25 years, budget accommodations have become a major growth sector for immigrants from South Asia. A large proportion of America's budget hotels are now run by people born in and around India, who have ...
By Advertising That They Are "American Owned", A Number of U.S. Motels Are Engaging in Utterly Improper Racism
Posted on 05/11/2013, 12:15 PM
You don't have to drive long on U.S. highways until you see one: a motel sign loudly boasting the premises are "American-owned." And you don't have to stay in many motels to know that in the past 25 years, budget accommodations have become a major growth sector for immigrants from South Asia. A large proportion of America's budget hotels are now run by people born in and around India, who have ...
