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Hotel Ghost Stories

What better time to trot out the nonsense stories than at Halloween. Yes, maybe a couple times a year I will write about something not likely to make the front page of the N.Y Times but at least this post relates to hotels. And that is stories from known spirit sightings at hotels around the world. In addition, my own hotel has an eerie event happen sporadically, which I will mention later.

STOP ME Before I Fly Again - USA edition

A few weeks ago I posted information about traveling and having your 'provider' go bankrupt after you paid for your trip. That Stop Me article was centered around circumstances in the UK and what you could do to help yourself and how to avoid catastrophic consequences.

I just found a sensible article out of Arizona that gives good information on how to avoid such events when traveling in the U.S., so I am adding this post to the original article.

Travel Scam Redux

In an earlier post, I wrote about a company traveling around the country duping mostly retired people into extravagant vacation packages offered at discount prices if immediate deposits or pre-payment of reservation fees are made. I warned that the company was headed into other states not listed.

Well, either they recently surfaced in Tennessee as predicted or another scam operator has reared up. Instead of Elite Adventures, Florida based Royal Palm Vacation used the same con - a hotel room where pitch men solicited deposits for one of a kind vacation opportunities. Alert officials looked into Royal Palm and found they also operated under other names, as you can read here.

Park, Relax, then Fly

 A few months ago I wrote a post regarding staying at an airport hotel and leaving your car while you travel. You can access that post here. I thought it might be time to add a few precautions for you to take, since we are coming up on the holiday season soon and ParknJets or ParkFly's (as they are known) tend to fill up in October and November.

   

Another Great Idea Goes Out of Business

We all know that the advent of jet planes was a death knell for train travel in the U.S. but pockets of sanity occasionally arose and brought back the nostalgic life of traveling by rail car. Trains are still popular in Canada, the Wine Train in Napa County still runs (though I suspect it loses money) and a few years ago, someone brought back luxury trains in Colorado, called the Grand Luxe Railways.

Traveling on 4-12 day journeys to the West, South and Mexico (in 2009), Grand Luxe brought back what was to some (like my grandfather) a way of life long gone. (I still remember my Grandpa coming in from Utah on a train and one of my very first trips was a train trip to LA on the Starlight Coast.) But now, kiss it goodbye, as Grand Luxe announced a few weeks ago that it was ceasing operations.

Discount on Golf Club Rentals

Remember that golf post a few weeks back? The one mentioning the new company with the fantastic new concept - high quality golf clubs delivered to your hotel or course? Well I've got great news - I contacted the company and they have agreed to grant MY READERS a discount on their first order!

Olympics 2010

With the China Olympics barely behind us, I suppose it is NOT time to think about the next Winter Olympics. Except that it represents a great opportunity for those in the U.S. and particularly those on the West Coast. And that is they are in Vancouver B.C. in 2010. Tickets just went on sale on Oct 3rd (at least the first 'phase' did) so I am blogging about Vancouver 2010 as a public service message.

If you are thinking of going, Americans apparently have to purchase tickets from a particular site and Canadians use a different site. I admit I only discovered this by following Peter Greenberg, award winning travel writer and author. His blog post says it much better than me, so I'll let his post get the credit.

It's Never Too Early to Admit You're Right

Waaay back in late August, I wrote a post called Footballs are Flying, Are You? regarding Labor Day travel and the outlook for the rest of 2008. I made two predictions: One, that 'experts' who forecast a travel drop of 4% overall would be wrong and Two, that gasoline would be under $3.50 by the end of Sept. Could I have gone Oh for two already?

Here's Your Hat, What's Your Hurry?

          

It's happened to all of us - we shoot with the lip and aim with the - well, actually we don't aim at all. The result is an ill-placed remark that needs to be back-hoed and buried. But once out there, it tends to live on and on and on. That's what happened in Japan just the other day and it will take a while to live down what everyone probably already assumed. Except no one in high places ever said it - until now.

STOP ME Before I Fly Again!

You may have not noticed but 2 major U.K. tour operators recently went belly-up  and a 3rd went under some months ago. Many passengers who were in mid-trip were stranded, others lost ALL their pre-paid money. (Perhaps excepting those who paid by credit card) I've learned lots about this event and some of it is downright disturbing. If you are traveling abroad in the future AND thinking about using foreign tour operators once you arrive, you will want to read this.