Book Hotels Cheaper

Travel Tip: New Travel Rules Means New Documents

On June 1, 2009 new regulations regarding travel documents will become law. In a nutshell, travel ANYWHERE outside the U.S. will require a passport and no longer will a driver's license suffice to go into or get out of Canada. Most people are already aware of this. But did you know you may be able to get by without getting a passport?

According to an article in Newsday, there are more ways to travel out of the U.S. without a passport than I was aware of. For instance, there is a Passport light, called a passport card. Costing less than half what a passport costs, this card can be used to gain entrance into Bermuda, the Caribbean, Mexico and Canada and lasts just as long as a passport - 10 years. The drawback is it is only for land or sea entry - not flying. (How do you 'drive' to St Thomas?)

Certain border states (like New York) can issue an 'enhanced' drivers license also. Which allows for driving entry into Canada and Mexico but of course not air travel. Also not valid in all Caribbean nations so you would need to check specific countries for applicability.

There is also something called a Nexus card for pre-screened customers. Drawbacks include extensive paperwork, interviews and fingerprinting and is valid for only 5 years. One advantage is that there are now some entry lanes into Canada that are 'Nexus' priority lanes. However, every person in the car needs to have a Nexus card, not just the driver.

You can read the details plus gain more information by reading the Newsday article and its subsequent links. Being informed is half the battle. The other half is being prepared.

How to Handle Air Travel

An excellent article from the Wall St. Journal was recently written titled: The 10 Rules of the Road for Air Travel. While most of their observations are the exact same that I wrote in two of my books, you probably prefer to save the money and read them on the internet for free. So in the spirit of promoting travel and as one ALWAYS wanting people to travel smarter and therefore have a more enjoyable trip, I offer this as public service. In fact, the article itself is only an excerpt from someone else's book so you can't ever say I am only here to promote my products. (Not that you think that now but....)

The only thing I would add to the article is to again suggest people consider travel insurance. I obviously have a link in the margins to a variety of travel insurance companies but whether you choose to throw me a couple bucks or not, look into trip insurance anywhere you choose and seriously consider it. As I recently posted, now we have cancelations due to a number of reasons; Swine Flu, unreast in Thailand a month ago, killings on the border between the U.S. and Mexico before that, the economy.

The very reason for the WSJ's book and article is that it appears something happens to allow for travel disruptions so often now that it is making travel harder and harder. And that means remedies should be offered, which I suggest is insurance if applicable to your needs. If you want a concise assessment of the need for insurance, re-read my post here from last year, where I suggest simple guidelines for whether insurance is cost effective for your circumstances and even offer OTHER insurance providors that are not part of my links. Check it out in conjunction with the above article and I am sure it may save you oodles of money on a future trip.

Good on You DELTA !

I am admittedly one of those who despises overseas call centers. Not only is language (and overall service) often questionable, I question the savings companies get from opening call centers, particularly in India.

Well, finally some sense of sanity seems to have returned and Delta announced last month that it was CLOSING its' call centers in India and bringing those service and reservation calls back to the U.S. While the announcement says that Delta realized a 25 millions dollar savings using cheap overseas labor, I'm going to guess that there were oodles of problems because of the inevitable language issues that had to be resolved, which probably involved managers in the U.S., refunds, displeased and therefore lost forever customers, etc. Delta admits in its announcement that it had a horde of complaints and I suspect some of that 25 million went back into time and labor resolving language issues. Which means they didn't really save 25 million.

I oppose overseas call centers not just on principle but because the logic of even opening a call center overseas is like eating your young. The people who do not have jobs here in the U.S. are not going to be able to fly anywhere. So by saving 25 mil, I suspect it could cost Delta 20 mil in lost revenue from people not able to find work and not able to take trips. How many of the call center agents in India are going to be flying on Delta? I would guess not many. So they get the income, we get the less than stellar service (in my experience at least) and Delta gets the black eye.

I, for one, support anyone keeping jobs here in the U.S. and will attempt to fly or recommend Delta where ever possible just because of their new policy. As they say down under, Good on ya Delta!

Do You Check Megan's List When Booking Hotels?

After seeing this news video from San Francisco, you may just start!

Seems that some hotels and motels in California (and maybe other states?) house released sex offenders by contract with California. Only they certainly don't tell you. If I was staying at a hotel where my kids might likely be walking around or visiting the pool, I would certainly be interested in knowing there was a registered sex offender in room 107. In the case of the hotel in this news clip, there were 8 offenders living there!

As a traveling business person, I may not care. But if I was visiting with my family, it would make ALL the difference as to whether I stayed there or not. One thing that might be a warning flag for you is if the motel is one of the cheaper ones around, or allows for long term guests. (Our hotel will not allow anyone to stay past 30 days) Because the stipend from the state is so small, these released offenders living off general assistance will ALWAYS gravitate toward the cheap hotels.

As one who has commented often about the pitfalls of staying where you find ridiculously low rates, this is just one more reason to be aware of what you might be getting into. The hotel in this news clip has rooms listed on the web for as low as $39 per night - pretty cheap for such an expensive area as San Francisco.

The Ultimate Honeymoon on Any Budget

It was more than 9 months in the making, but our new Honeymoon/Travel book is now available! Spanning over 160 pages, it is filled with hundreds of links to valuable resources concerning the Art of the Honeymoon plus destination ideas for ANY budget. Whether it be $1,000.00 or $50,000.00, we included something for everyone. For instance, for those who wish to avoid the hustle and bustle of Waikiki, did you know you can rent a "yurt" on Maui for only $35 per day? For those "in-the-money", you can rent a yacht for $32,000.00 per week.

We also are including several give-aways for free, which brings our already low price down even more. For instance, I am giving away my Hotel Reviews e-book or MP3 (currently selling for $12.95), a Newlyweds Guidebook, 101 Romantic Ideas e-book by acclaimed author Michael Webb, a "lovers" packing check list and a free honeymoon consultation with me (normally $24.95) for those planning to come to San Francisco.

Highlights of the e-book are the 4 spreadsheets co-author Tim Spooner prepared so you can budget your honeymoon, honeymoon pre-planning exercises, honeymoon timeline and checklist, travel tips and travel ideas for the most sought after honeymoon locales in the world. To name a few: Hawaii, the Caribbean, Canadian Rockies, New York, Africa, Japan, San Francisco, Tahiti, Yosemite, the Bahamas, Jamaica and plenty of suggestions for a European honeymoon of a lifetime. From ideas on how to get married on a glacier in Alaska, to river cruises in Europe, we covered it all.

You can read the first chapter with no obligation - not even your name or email. Just go to http://www.honeymoonsforyourbudget.com/ and click on "View the Chapter". We think even if you are married and need a suggestion for a 2nd (or 3rd) honeymoon, you will be pleasantly surprised at the depth of our research and the ideas we offer. And remember, it makes a great wedding gift as well, since it is something they will re-use over the years and the ability to learn how to book flights and hotels cheaply will be a lesson they can use for a lifetime. It may be the best honeymoon gift they receive!

Overseas Travel Cell and iPhone Alert

Since we will soon be in the 'overseas' vacation time frame (summer), it is our civic duty to remind you how to prevent running up tremendous cell and iPhone bills. I was actually reminded of this from reading another well known travel blog WeJustGotBack. Their posting of several articles about iPhone usage in Europe and fairly cheap alternatives is well worth my re-posting them, even though I posted a warning about this myself last year.

What is so important is that in our rush to visit Europe (or Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Mexico) for the first time is we pack everything and forget the obvious, like usage of a cell phone internationally. One person apparently rang up a bill of $1229.91 because he didn't turn off the international data roaming. You can read about that here.

The other article suggests ATT has a special plan for only $24.99 a month that you can use with your iPhone when traveling internationally. Be sure to check out the ATT tip sheet found here too. There are other alternatives as well, as I mentioned last year, such as renting a cell phone in Europe or getting a special simm card. A reader of my blog added this comment to my post. "Be very careful when you rent a cell phone in Europe especially if you are going to multiple countries you can really get hit by international phone charges which are huge. First figure out where you will be calling, will you be calling home or will you be calling ahead to your next hotel. Then I personally have bought an unlocked phone for use when I am Europe and will buy a prepaid simm card when I go to different countries.
//AmateurTraveler.com"

No one wants to budget a trip overseas and the return to a cell phone bill that equals half the trip budget so plan ahead when traveling overseas and you won't be unpleasantly surprised after you return.

Where the Airlines Cut Back Capacity

You probably don't remember my post about 8 months ago where I noted the good news and bad news of air travel in 2009. The good news was that fares were dropping like pine cones from a dying pine tree and the bad news was the airlines were canceling routes and consolidating flights at a pace never before seen. The prediction was that prices would eventually stabilize because the carriers were offering fewer money losing seats by contracting their schedules and laying off employees as they mothballed jets.

It was going to take some time to determine how and where those cuts were to take effect - the early word was the Caribbean would be hard hit, the Pacific Rim has seen a few runs cut but mainly the analysts predicted the smaller 'regional' airports would take the hit mostly.

An article just came out a few weeks ago in USA Today detailing where the cuts to the regional airports have fallen. This is an alert to those of you using those airports, as the conventional wisdom is you will have lees choice from now on and that means higher prices OR your being required to shuttle to a major hub to get a discount fare.

According to USA Today, the hardest hit regional airports will be San Antonio Int'l, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Int'l, Indianapolis and Bradley Int'l in Hartford Connecticutt. You can read the article here.

What may be more ominous for most people however is the ending sentence. Soon to see capacity cutbacks this summer will be (roll the dice now!) Ft. Lauderdale ( a prime spot for catching cruises) and LAS VEGAS. That does not bode well for the Sin City itself which has seen a huge drop in patrons already. So huge, apparently the airlines are pulling out just a year after boosting flights INTO Las Vegas. So the low fares we've seen into Vegas recently may be going the way of the dinosaur (at least for the time being).

Oh Boy - Southwest Air to N.Y?

You read it right. Southwest Air made a little seen cursory announcement last December that it would  expand into the New York market this year. No details were given until now and it's true: starting June 28, SW announced it will fly from Baltimore/Washington to NY for their usual no frills price of $49.

I'm guessing many West Coasters assumed SW already flew into N.Y. but just like their entry into SF a couple years ago, the pricing apparently wasn't right to buy gates until now. And what this means goes far beyond just a new entrant into the New York market; it is a veritable LION roaring into town. Why?

As the article points out, the current lowest fare for BWI to La Guardia is $75. All airlines hate discounters intruding into their best markets so if the legacy carriers couldn't make money at $75, how will they like having to match $49? Much less the added competition (meaning seats - capacity) that will now fly into N.Y.

And if you know SW, it won't be long before there is an S.F. or L.A. to N.Y. flight at $99 or less. The article indicates also that SW will fly to N.Y. through their Chicago Midway hub, so another dagger through the hearts of United, Continental and American will soon be flying. It's bad enough that many carriers have been reducing capacity (not to Chicago or NY however) in order to scale back losses but now they will have to contend with SW taking even more of the shrinking pie out of their mouths, as I assume SW will eventually fly into La Guardia from the more remote outposts like Charlotte, Philadelphia. Kansas City, et al.

Swine Flu and Travel To Mexico

I haven't posted anything about the latest pandemic/crisis in the travel business because the Swine Flu has gotten so much press coverage I assumed people didn't need another article about it. But in casing there are some who still look for blogs like mine to comment about EVERYTHING that has to do with travel, I thought I'd reprint this article from the LA Times.

In our hotel, we have seen some people cancel trips to Mexico while most continued with their plans, flu be damned! Because there is no set criteria for refunds of airfares or hotels, perhaps I am missing doing a service by NOT posting anything. So here goes - while you can find TONS of information about Swine Flu and travel just on Google, this articles sums it up pretty neatly and quickly.

The one wildcard is whether trip insurance would pay for any money lost due to late cancelations. Most of what I have read does not help - suffice to say it depends on the type of policy you purchased. I think the moral here however is that purchasing trip insurance is almost a no-brainer these days. Something seems to happen every few months - from Travel Agencies going out of business to diseases to political unrest in country after country. I would not spend upward of $1,000 for tickets and reservations and then risk losing much of it over an additional $45 for trip insurance, but that is just me. Remember, I see people weekly who lose at least $100 for their guaranteed room because they either can't or don't want to travel and it is too late to cancel. So I am most certainly prejudiced in this area but mostly because something seems to happen that becomes a major issue preventing travel (not forgetting the overall economy) and it doesn't seem to ever end. Better safe than sorry in my book.

Our Honeymoon Budget Book Will Soon Be Available!

Though I only mentioned it a couple times in passing, I Have been working on a new book with a partner for the past 9 months. It is titled The Ultimate Honeymoon On Any Budget and it is near ready for distribution.This impressive book spans over 160 pages and offers wedding and honeymoon budgeting tools and advice, destination ideas and pricing advice, and loads of wedding and honeymoon information. As an incentive for you or anyone you might know who is planning on getting married this year, we are offering a Newlyweds Guide free of charge. This guide has tons of links and relevant and helpful information for newlyweds and there is no obligation to ever purchase anything if you choose to download the guide. All we are gathering at this stage is a waiting list so you can be notified when our book is available. When you sign up for the waiting list, you will be first to be notified when it becomes available. We'll also be giving away other freebies as well so check it out when it is available and you may be the very first to give someone their wedding present. We think you (and they) will be very happy with the quality of the research we've done and the tips we offer.

Available for direct signups on May 5th, 2009 or opt-in using the box on the right and I will send the link automatically.