11 Websites for Travel Savings in 2012
February 7, 2012 by Karen Amin · 1 Comment
There are new sites cropping up everywhere for wired travelers looking for the best deals on getting to their destination, living comfortably while they’re there and enjoying everything their vacation spot has to offer.
The New York Times recently published 19 of the top travel sites. We’ve actually used several of these sites ourselves, and have some of our own favorites. Here are our top picks for the best sites for travel savings in 2012:
Flights
AirfareWatchdog.com: From e-mail promo codes to airlines that many web crawlers can’t display, this is the place for true comparison shoppers to find deals on travel.
Kayak.com: Give Kayak a price, and it’ll spit out a map dotted with travel destinations you can afford. There are plenty of customizations available, too, from climate and activities to flight length and travel region.
Bing Travel: Bing’s “price predictor” can tell you whether the fare to your destination is likely to go up or down in the next seven days, so you can save money on a trip you’re already planning.
Vayama.com: A site the promises cheap international flights, it scours the different airlines for best possible prices, letting you choose between different seat arrangements and favorite airlines.
Places to stay
Priceline.com: One word…Shatner. They may have killed off his character (they did it at the end of January), but his legacy lives on. Name your price and get a great deal…if you’re willing to risk not knowing the name and exact location of your hotel before you book.
Hotels.com: For the less daring, this is a great site to choose from more than 140,000 hotels, resorts and bed-and-breakfasts. If you travel often, you can join Hotels.com’s loyalty program to earn free hotel nights.
B & B Finder: Bed & breakfasts are nice little out of the way places found throughout the world. A great site to use if you’re looking for a quiet weekend out of the city, or want to skip the typical cookie cutter hotels.
LuxuryLink.com: High-end travelers who can still appreciate the thrill of a great deal will be right at home with Luxury Link, where you can bid on luxury travel packages.
Trip Advisor: Trip Advisor is a review site where travelers can rate their favorite hotels, restaurants, and even tourist destinations. Find the hidden gems in a new city and avoid the stinkers with Trip Advisor. They even have a smartphone app.
Other sites
Auto Slash: This car-rental helper scours the web for lower costs and better discounts, and updates the cost of your rental up until the day you travel.
Home Exchange: Have you seen “The Holiday”? For the truly courageous, swap homes with another traveler. Spoiler alert: It probably won’t be Cameron Diaz or Kate Winslet.
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Get Out of Town Painlessly for Spring Break
February 2, 2012 by Scott Applebee · Leave a Comment
Peter Shankman had a great blog post this past December about “how to get out of town painlessly” over the holidays. We 
were so inspired by it, we borrowed a few of our favorite ideas, and added a few of our own, on how you can get out of town painlessly over Spring Break. Remember, it’s the destination, not the journey, so you want to make this as easy as you can.
Take the first flight out. Early-morning flights have their ups and downs, of course. The benefits: Lines are shorter, you’ll have to wait less almost everywhere — except the coffee kiosk! — and if your flight is delayed for some reason, there’s a better chance you’ll get rebooked painlessly. The obvious downside: Getting up at the crack of dawn.
Don’t check a bag. It’s always a pain to check baggage, but during these times of heavy travel loads, when there are a lot of novice travelers checking a lot of baggage, now is the time to opt out completely. Consider the cost to check a big bag, possibly even an overweight one. Chances are, that’s far more than the cost of packing everything ahead of time then shipping it to your destination — all the way to your destination. If you FedEx your bag the week before you arrive, it’ll be waiting for you at the hotel after you waltz out of the airport, trying to suppress a smug giggle.
Prepare for TSA. We’ve talked about this before, because it’s one of the hardest parts of any trip: 1) Wear slip-on shoes. 2) Put everything from your pockets into your briefcase. 3) Get travel size toiletries and put them all in a 1 quart bag. 4) Use a checkpoint-friendly briefcase. 5) Pick the shortest looking line.
Consider driving instead. Bet you weren’t expecting that. Many frequent business travelers we know will drive if a trip is less than five hours away. Think of it: you have to drive to the airport, which is 30 – 40 minutes away. You have to get there at least 90 minutes early. Then a 60 minute flight, and another 30 minutes to deplane and get to your transportation. You just spent 3.5 hours getting to your destination, and that doesn’t include any delays. For an extra 90 minutes, you can be in your new destination with your own car, which also saves on car rental and cab fares. You missed the Spring Break crowds, and are riding in your own familiar surroundings.
Meeting New People When Living Abroad
January 31, 2012 by Scott Applebee · Leave a Comment
When you’re well established and have been living somewhere for a while, it’s easy to take your social life for granted. 
People develop habits: happy hours, dinner groups, bowling leagues.
But when you’re taken out of that established life and plunked down somewhere new, you realize just how much time and effort it took to build that social life, and how much you need it.
Luckily, meeting new people and making friends isn’t rocket science, even if it seems like it at first. There are plenty of ways to get to know people in a new place, even in a new country and culture.
If you’re working in an office abroad, never underestimate the power of coworkers — especially if they’re also from the United States. Navigating a new area together can be a great team building exercise, and there’s always strength in numbers. You may have a better chance of linking up with a group of locals if you’re out having fun together, and it’ll be easier to break the ice that way.
If some of your coworkers have been there longer than you, ask them to show you around. Chances are they’ve already done a bit of exploring since they arrived, and they’ve already found some favorite places. Something as simple as hitting a local watering hole after work or grabbing a bite over lunch at a local restaurant can be enough to build the foundation for a great friendship.
If you find yourself in more of a solo situation, here are a few other ideas:
Congregate around sports events. Even if you’re not a big soccer, rugby or cricket fan, these and other team sports can be a huge draw for fun-loving locals abroad. Grab a pint and enjoy the game and the camaraderie.
Use the web. Meetup.com offers a lot of international meetup groups for people with all sorts of interests. Visit international.meetup.com and do a search for the area you’ll be living in, or your activity of choice. Other sites, including Yelp, are beginning to build communities abroad, too. There are plenty of ways to meet like-minded locals online.
Hang out with other expatriates. Expats are other foreigners living abroad, either temporarily or permanently, either from your own country or other parts of the world. But be careful not to isolate yourself too much — though it’s easy to surround yourself with people and new friends who have this shared experience of being from another country, expats can be a pretty insular group. Don’t forget to expand your horizons and meet the locals.
Jump into some good, old-fashioned small talk. If you’re feeling lonely, don’t be afraid to strike up a little conversation with someone nearby, whether it’s a hotel staff member, a concierge clerk, people at a nearby table at a restaurant or even someone on your bus or train to work. You might be surprised how friendly people can be when you reach out to them first.
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- Day 30/ 366: How to Survive and Enjoy Being an Expat (maribethphotography.com)
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Airlines Urged to Lighten Up on Baggage Fees
January 17, 2012 by Scott Applebee · Leave a Comment
Who says there’s no good news in the papers anymore? In late November, the L.A. Times did a story on politicians goingto bat for passengers rights by tackling that hassle of the highest order: baggage fees.
Mary Landrieu, a Democratic senator from Louisiana, introduced proposed legislation just before Thanksgiving that would allow airline passengers — by law — to check one suitcase, gratis, per flight. That allowance is only one part of a larger proposal that would keep carry-on baggage free and guarantee travelers access to water and bathrooms throughout their flights.
If you do choose to check your bags, most airlines charge $25 (or more!) for your first bag and additional charges for second and third bags.
But what if you want to avoid those fees? Carrying bags on is a real source of stress for air travelers. Let’s start at the security line. Those used to checking bags — and therefore not accustomed to TSA restrictions on liquids and other items — can cause real hold-ups in line. (It’s stressful for everyone around, too.)
In the Times article, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said that carry-on bags increase screening costs nationwide by $260 million a year.
If you thought that TSA line was long and slow, wait until you actually start boarding. Passengers now have to be ready to fight tooth and nail for a coveted spot in an overhead bin for their Rollaboards or business briefcases. That jockeying for bin space — and the inevitable scramble to gate check a bag (for free, by the way) when the last passengers to board can’t find space — not only slows down the boarding and deplaning process, but it’s also fostering animosity among already-stressed travelers who have to share a very small space for the next few hours. This has also made flight attendants’ jobs understandably more challenging as they attempt to keep customer’s happy and ensure that the doors of the overflowing overhead bins are closed and secure.
Most airplanes are built with a huge area underneath for storing luggage and other items. As fewer people check bags to avoid checked-bag fees, that space is going largely unused. Meanwhile, people are fighting for on board bag space and hoping they’ll find a place for their feet afterward. The system as it stands now is counterproductive — and it should change.
Related articles
- Airlines hold fast on luggage fees (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Senate Targets Airline Baggage Fees (myfoxny.com)
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- Baggage Fees Are Doubling Your Boarding Time At The Gate (businessinsider.com)
Travel Tips for the First 40 Minutes In Country
December 29, 2011 by Karen Amin · 1 Comment
Our friend and travel-writing hero, Mark Eveleigh, has been doling out some pretty great travel advice on a number of different blogs, and his latest one — The First 40 Minutes on RoundTheWorldFlights.com — really caught our eye.
In it, Eveleigh details some of the different traps and pitfalls that international travelers, especially backpackers, can fall into if they’re not careful.
We found a few of our favorite tips, and think they’re especially important, whether you’re an adventure traveler on a backpacking trip around the Far East, or a business traveler landing in Mexico City, or even Chicago.
1) Don’t arrive late at night when security is lax, taxis are expensive, and you’re too sleepy to be fully alert. This is true whether you’re landing in London or touching down in Thailand. You need to be alert, even if it’s just to make sure you get the right airport shuttle, and don’t inadvertently leave something behind.
2) Know in advance what the exchange rate is, and if possible, try to arrive with enough local currency to get you through the first night. We’ve talked before about how credit cards are going to be your best bet to finding the best exchange rate. But also, the worst places to exchange money are right there in the airport — exchange rates are not in your favor in most places, but especially in the place where people are in a rush to change their money. Find a bank away from the airport to make exchanges the next day.
5) If there’s a domestic terminal in the same airport, head there and take a (often cheaper) taxi from the same stand where you see locals waiting. Some taxi services see international travelers as a way to make a little extra cash, especially if you show up wearing a suit, but that doesn’t mean you have to fall victim to it. Walk over to the domestic terminal, step outside there, and catch your cab on that end. The prices may be a little cheaper, and you are less likely to be taken advantage of. And, be sure to take only an official taxi, don’t get a ride with someone who says they’re “just as good.”
7) Don’t let yourself be rushed into anything — it can be a benefit in a particularly hassled airport simply to grab a seat at a cafe and ‘people-watch’ for half an hour. We know from personal experience that it’s easy to get caught up in the stampede of people all rushing to get off the plane, get out of the airport, and get to your destination. If you’re in a brand new country and a brand new culture, don’t get caught up in the rush and miss something important. Take a few minutes, sit down, relax, and soak up some of the atmosphere. Get an idea of what’s going on, plan out your next step (probably the hotel), and then move to the taxi stand or shuttle station at your own pace.
Going to a new country can be frightening for some people. But if you plan in advance, move at your own pace, and — this is especially important — look like you know what you’re doing, you can get to where you need to be without any hassle or problems.
Related articles
- 40 minutes (leggotunglei808.wordpress.com)
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Finding the Best Seats on the Airplane
December 22, 2011 by Scott Applebee · Leave a Comment
These days, as flights are more crowded and more in demand, it’s hard enough just to score yourself a seat at an affordable price, let alone a great seat. It’s especially worse if you’re on a tight budget. So how can you avoid the bummer experience of being trapped with no legroom next to the lavatory and get one of the better seats instead?
First off, plan ahead. The more time in advance you book your flight, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to nab one of the nicer seats on the airplane, simply because more seats are available earlier. And while booking, seek out the seat you want, if possible, and choose it from the get-go. This will save you a lot of hassle and discomfort later.
If you book online, you can use the airline’s seat selector. Or if you book on a third-party site like Orbitz or PriceLine, log into the airline website and use the same seat selection process.
SeatGuru.com is also a powerful tool to use during the flight-planning process. Check out this site to get details on everything from seat maps to in-flight amenities to detailed ratings of individual seats on planes. The site uses helpful color-coded diagrams and incredible depth of detail in its descriptions. You can even submit your own comments on particular seats or airplanes, if you’d like.
Pick a seat near the very front of the plane to get on and off your flights more quickly. This is great if you’ve got a tight connection to make, or you simply want to get home or to your hotel as quickly as possible.
Tall passengers may want to choose seats in the bulkhead or exit-row seats. These seats typically have much more generous legroom than those on other parts of the plane. Take advantage of this if possible.
If you do, however, find yourself without your desired seat on the day of the flight, you may get lucky and land a better seat if you just ask airline employees nicely. This won’t, however, work for flights that are packed to the brim. (Hint: If there are standby passengers, count yourself lucky that you have a seat at all.) And for flights that have plenty of empty seats, it never hurts to ask if you can change seats. If possible, the folks with your airline will often accommodate you.
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Why Do Airlines Pad Their Flight Times?
December 20, 2011 by Karen Amin · Leave a Comment
Have you ever wondered why it takes so long to get anywhere when flying these days? And have you been curious whether airlines are just trying to make themselves look better with more “on-time” flights by padding their schedules? It can be pretty easy to take a cynical stance on padded flight times and more time-consuming travel, especially with all the other hoops to jump through when traveling by air. But maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to assume airlines are padding their flight times without legitimate cause.
The general consensus among many experts seems to be that airlines actually pad flight times for no reason other than to plan for the worst-case scenario. So many variables come into play when it comes to air travel: congested airports, air-traffic control delays, unpredictable inclement weather, unfavorable headwinds, crucial last-minute maintenance tasks, and much more.
Today’s more heavily congested airports can up the wait time for flights. With the oft-crowded airports of today, it often takes travelers a long time to make it through security and to one gate from another. Consider, too, that travelers have different levels of experience navigating their way through airports, which can also add to necessary travel time.
Also think of how the huge number of planes arriving and departing influence travel time. It makes a lot of sense — the greater the number of planes heading into the air, the more time it will take for air-traffic control to organize the incoming and outgoing flights. On the runways, it’s the same principle as rush hour vs. off-peak times on your local roads: high-volume traffic can create bottlenecks and logjams that leave people waiting and waiting.
Bad weather and headwinds also contribute to padding of flight times. As soon as thunderstorms, fog, snow, or other bad weather situations enter the equation, flights times can become very uncertain. Unfavorable headwinds, too, can slow down planes significantly.
Flight times are also padded to allow for any necessary maintenance work.
Airlines tend to pad their flight times a bit to help compensate for any of these uncertainties, which can actually be a great thing for travelers. There’s a bit of a built-in buffer to help customers arrive in time to make connecting flights or to touch down on time at their final destination.
So that’s that: With the skies heavily saturated with air travel and abounding unknowns thrown into the mix, it simply takes longer now to get from Point A to Point B. And just think — without those padded flight times, it’d be far more common to find yourself at the airport in a crowd of disgruntled travelers who expected to arrive at their destination much, much sooner. So maybe they’re not such a bad thing after all.
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How To Ease Travel Sickness
November 15, 2011 by Karen Amin · 1 Comment
It’s easy to deplete your body’s natural defenses when traveling. Who among us hasn’t foregone sleep, skipped exercise or strayed from a balanced diet when on the road.
And the all-too-common result from these lapses? Our old friend, travel sickness.
But, fear not. The road doesn’t have to lead to the sick bay. With a few common sense precautions, you can avoid the inconvenience and unpleasantness of out-of-town illness.
Keep Your Hands Clean: Wash your hands often. And not only before eating, but after you’ve touched common items which are breeding grounds for germs and viruses.
Stay Hydrated: You not only expend more energy (which is dehydrating) when traveling, the airline’s pressurized cabins dry you out. Therefore, it’s critical that you drink enough water (bottled) to replace the fluids your body is losing. Also, go easy on both alcohol and caffeinated drinks.
Get Enough Rest: Don’t ignore you body’s need to replenish itself with sleep. This can be difficult early in your trip due to jet lag. Adapt to the local schedule immediately by eating meals and going to bed at the appropriate times.
Eat Properly: With the number of calories you burn while traveling, it’s important to get enough nutrients. But, be selective about what you consume, especially when traveling overseas. Though the food you eat abroad isn’t necessarily unsafe, your body isn’t accustomed to it. This gastric unfamiliarity combined with the use of natural fertilizers abroad can lead to digestive difficulties.
To minimize your risk of contracting any food-borne illnesses, be sure to:
- Drink only bottled water, and avoid ice, unpasteurized milk, cheese and yogurt.
- Don’t eat raw or unpeeled foods. The foreign traveler’s rule of thumb is “Cook it, wash it, peel it, or forget it.”
- Only eat condiments that come in sealed packages.
- Order entrees “well done”, and send them back if they’re not served hot.
- Use caution when ordering seafood, and steer clear of clams, mussels and oysters.
If you do become sick while traveling, there are ways to recover quickly:
- Don’t fast. Even if you don’t feel like eating, your body needs nutrients to fight off your illness.
- Eat bland food (such as unseasoned, boiled chicken), and avoid all fried or greasy food and sweet desserts. Soup is also a great way to get nutrition in your body.
- The “BRAT Diet” (banana, rice, apple sauce and toast) is a combination most people can keep down. These foods help absorb stomach acids which eases nausea and vomiting.
- Drink ginger ale, various teas, lemonade or flat Coca Cola (sipping them slowly).
- Rinse your mouth before and after eating.
- Eat in a relaxed, private environment.
- Stay away from your favorite foods to avoid associating them with feeling sick (causing you to not enjoy them again later).
Obviously, if your illness persists, be sure to see a doctor.
If you follow these basic steps, you can ease any travel sickness you pick up while you’re on the road, or even avoid it in the first place.
Related articles
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Travel tips for Hungary
November 10, 2011 by Scott Applebee · Leave a Comment
This guest post was written by our favorite French expatriate, Julie Duran-Gelleri. Julie has lived in several different countries around Western Europe, so we asked her for some travel tips in some of her previous homes.
Hungary has everything a traveller could wish for: breathtaking landscapes, a complex and fascinating history spanning back thousands of years, hospitable and kind people, and a lip-smackingly good, hearty cuisine. Not to forget hundreds of hot springs and thermal baths…
Image via Wikipedia
Eating in Hungary is a real treat if you’re a meat eater. Food is rather cheap, portion sizes are big, sauces are rich and spicy, and paprika is omnipresent. If you’re watching your weight, scour the menu for something that is not deep fried; most restaurants offer half-size portions on request. Menus will usually have a rather reliable English translation.
It is customary to tip in bars and restaurants, by adding 10% approx. and rounding it up to the nearest “round” number. If your bill comes in at 13550 forints, tell the waiter to round it up to 15000 forints, or 16000 if you’re feeling generous.
In more traditional hotels and guesthouses, don’t be surprised if your bed looks like a sofa with a sheet on it. This is because Hungarian homes can be quite small, so beds are often designed to double up as sofas. Bring an eye mask if you’re sensitive to light: in Hungary the sun rises very early and most rooms don’t have shutters, or curtains thick enough to block out the light.
In the bathroom, most of the time you will only find one towel per guest. If you would like another towel to use as hand towel you will have to ask for it. You might be surprised to see that the toilet has a platform, which makes a kind of shallow pool for things to collect in… If you’re squeamish, don’t look before you flush!
Taxis in Hungary are professional and reliable, and will always use the meter. Always choose taxis that have a phone number displayed on the taxi light and doors. Many taxi companies in Budapest have phone numbers like “44-4444″ or “66-6666″. Your best bet is not to hail a cab from the street but to call the cab company instead. They usually have English-speaking staff, and if they don’t, well, another company will.
And please, refrain from making the “Hungary/hungry” joke. They’ve heard it a million times already…. A better way to impress your hosts is to learn the word for “cheers!”: “Egészségedre”, “to your health”, is pronounced “Egg-esh-egg-ed-ray”.
Get a feel for the country before you leave:
The Book of Fathers, by Miklos Vamos, is the chronicle of twelve generations of fathers in the Csillag family, and a fascinating and lively crash-course in 400 years of Hungarian history.
A Guest in my own Country: A Hungarian Life, by Gyorgy (George) Konrad, is a first-hand account of the rather troubled history of Hungary in the 20th century. Gyorgy Konrad narrowly escaped being sent to Auschwitz as an eleven-year old, survived the last winter of the war among the ruins of Budapest, was active in the liberation struggle of 1956, and had to contend with censorship as a young writer in Socialist Hungary. What a life!
Related articles
- Hungry In Hungary – Budapest, Hungary (travelpod.com)
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Security Tips For European Travel
November 8, 2011 by Scott Applebee · Leave a Comment
The good news is that in many European destinations, violent crime is extremely rare. The bad news is that in most of those same destinations, criminals focus on scamming tourists.
And the tourist of choice for these enterprising scam artists? You guessed it … Americans.
Image by caribb via Flickr
It makes sense. As renowned travel writer Rick Steves points out in a recent MSNBC.com post — Common Scams To Watch For In Europe — American travelers are not only naive and overly trusting, but tend to carry “all the good stuff in their bags and wallets.”
One increasingly popular scam involves clerks who appear to be talking on their cell phones, but are actually photographing your credit card number as you pay for your goods. To avoid such identity theft attempts, Steves recommends paying for as many transactions as possible in cash.
Other common rip-offs include:
- Pick-pocketing schemes in which one person will bump into you or otherwise distract you while his cohort grabs your backpack, purse or wallet.
- Con men who’ll engage you in conversation, ask for directions, give you what turns out to be a fake leather jacket, then ask for gas money. Feeling obligated, you’ll give far more money than the cheap vinyl jacket is worth.
- Scammers who’ll ask you to help in a demonstration, in which a friendship bracelet is braided on your arm. You’re then asked to pay for the bracelet which proves difficult to quickly remove.
- The “fellow tourist” who asks you to take his picture at a popular landmark, then drops the camera as you hand it back, and demands that you pay for it.
Being vigilant, avoiding large crowds and using common sense are the best ways to avoid these scams. For example, leave expensive, easy-to-steal items such as jewelry at home when traveling.
If you must bring valuables, protect them and yourself with the following Austin House products:
- Waist Safe: A washable, lightweight, adjustable belt that holds passports, credit cards, traveler’s checks and other valuables.
- Waist Safe Deluxe: A premium belt which features an additional security flap.
- Personal Safety Alarm: A small alarm that emits a high pitch sound when string is pulled.
- Compact Door Alarm: A protection device for your hotel room which emits a high pitched sound when the clips placed between the door and door frame are separated.
As Rick Steves always advises , “Limit your vulnerabilities, not your travels”.
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