Hanoi Removing Cafes from Narrow “Train Street” Due to Safety Concerns
Posted on 10/10/2019, 2:00 PM
What magical tourist attraction is Instagram ruining this week? The photogenic "train street" in Hanoi, where a single-track railway squeezes between makeshift cafes and other buildings in the Old Quarter of the Vietnamese capital. Local authorities have ordered those cafes lining the tracks to close by Saturday, according to VnExpress, following a close call last weekend. The train's ope...
Thomas Cook Shuts Down: What to Do and How to Protect Yourself Now
Posted on 09/23/2019, 11:00 AM
In 1841, Thomas Cook founded the travel business that has carried his name to charter a train for travel to a temperance rally. Since then, the company has arranged the travel of millions of people through its travel agents and its airline. But today’s customers may well want to pour themselves a stiff drink: After 178 years in business, Thomas Cook suddenly ceased operations last week, disruptin...
You Can Now Rent Hertz Cars in Europe with a Debit Card—but Should You?
Posted on 08/08/2019, 11:45 AM
Rental car company Hertz and the two brands under its corporate umbrella—Dollar and Thrifty—have begun accepting debit cards as a payment option for car rentals in Europe. Previously, a credit card was required, but that is no longer the case at Hertz, Dollar, and Thrifty locations in Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovakia, mainland Spain, and ...
Amtrak Introducing New Nonstop Rail Service Between NYC and DC
Posted on 07/26/2019, 12:00 AM
Starting on September 23, Amtrak is offering direct rail service between New York City and Washington, D.C., aboard its sleek and speedy Acela trains. That trip currently takes about 3 hours and requires five intermediate stops in Newark, New Jersey; Philadelphia; Wilmington, Delaware; and Baltimore. The nonstop journey, on the other hand, will shuttle you between Amtrak's two busiest hubs—New ...
Florida Finally Gives Tourists a Way to Avoid Rental Car Rip-Offs on Cashless Roads
After years of paying extortionate fees from rental car companies to use cashless toll booths, tourists finally have a solution—if they know about it.
Unknown to Most Americans, Florida Now Has a Speedy Railway, Writes Arthur Frommer
Posted on 04/17/2019, 9:00 AM
When the current governor of California recently announced that he was discontinuing work on a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco, multitudes of train enthusiasts all but wept. How, they cried, could a poor country like Spain operate high-speed trains between Madrid and Barcelona, while wealthy California could not find the same resources in America? The god of trai...
Now Car Renters Will Scan Your Face: Hertz Goes Biometric
Posted on 12/11/2018, 2:00 PM
Calculating your forehead-to-eye ratio to expedite a car rental? Sure! Anything to help trim a few minutes off the arduous process of approving paperwork. Hertz announced today its new partnership with CLEAR, the first in the car rental-industry to introduce biometric screening as part of the check-in process. Just how will it work? Similar to other systems seen recently in travel, such as ...
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In Japan You Can Build Your Own Kit Kat Now
Posted on 11/13/2018, 12:00 AM
Like compact cars and the band Cheap Trick, Kit Kat candy bars weren't born in Japan, but they sure went big there. The chocolate-covered wafers (a U.K. creation currently owned worldwide by Nestlé) are among Japan's best-selling sweets and they have appeared in hundreds of flavors, including strawberry cheesecake, green tea, purple sweet potato, wasabi, and sake. The country's latest innovati...
Two New Non-Travel Books May Change The Way You See the USA
Posted on 09/09/2018, 8:30 PM
You drive into a new town. It is not a famous place and it certainly isn’t a tourist magnet. But it has a certain vibe, a personality. You start to explore, stopping by a local store, walking through a park, trying the coffee joint where townspeople are congregating. It’s an interesting exercise, but the takeaways are vague: seems like a nice place, you think. But you don’t think more than that, ...
Drive to Florida in a Rental Car for Only $7.99 a Day
Posted on 09/06/2018, 12:00 AM
Winter is coming, and in Florida, so are the tourists. Each year, the major car rental companies shift their inventory to where the business is, and now that summer is ending, Hertz needs to shift its cars to Florida for the winter season. That's where you come in. Hertz wants you to do the driving. The company will let you have a car for just $7.99 a day if you agree to drive it one-way from t...
This Fall, See Rome, Venice, and Florence by Rail for Less Than $25
Posted on 08/24/2018, 12:00 AM
Traveling by train among Italy's three most popular tourist destinations can be extremely affordable this fall, provided you buy your tickets right now. European travel booking site GoEuro has joined forces with Italo Treno, an Italian rail service operator, to offer a fare from Rome to Venice to Florence or vice versa for just €19.80 (US$23) one way. That's an incredible bargain for seeing Ro...
Epic New Zealand Rail Line to Reopen After Quake
Posted on 08/15/2018, 12:00 PM
New Zealand's gorgeous Coastal Pacific rail service, which runs between Picton and Christchurch on the South Island's east coast, announced it will return on December 1. KiwiRail's popular five-hour, 335-km (208-mile) trip was halted in November 2016 after a major earthquake devastated the Christchurch area. For much of the journey, the route hugs the coast, with the sea on one side and the ...
California's Scenic Highway 1 Soon to Reopen in Full
Posted on 07/06/2018, 12:45 AM
For the first time in more than a year, all of California's spectacular Highway 1 from San Francisco to Los Angeles will soon reopen to drivers. Parts of the 650-mile route, famous around the world for its coastal views (particularly in Big Sur), have been closed to travelers for months due to damage caused by heavy rains and a huge landslide in 2017. Caltrans, the state's transportation depart...
