Book Hotels Cheaper

Things That Happen When Traveling

Most travelers know the drill already - traffic makes you late for a flight or you cut the timing too short and security is backed up and you miss your flight. Or you arrive at your hotel and there is no record of your reservation. Or, you get sick overseas or are robbed and need immediate attention. These are almost things you THINK you might encounter and you already have some idea of what to do in those events BEFORE they even happen.

But what about swimming in a beautiful fresh-water lake in Argentina and coming down with a life threatening bacteria? Or being quarantined simply for being NEAR someone with flu-like symptoms while traveling to China? Or playing with a friendly dog at a hotel in Anytown USA and developing rabies?

After reading a Fox News article (Deadly Travel Dangers You Didn't Think Of), you may not want to travel anywhere anymore. All of the above are examples of the oddball, little thought of things that can happen when traveling. Are the odds high of anything happening? No, no more so than the odds of you being hurt or stranded by your own hand. But they give pause for concern for anyone traveling to a strange new continent, country or land. For where you might feel safe in a mountain lake in the Sierra Nevadas and think ALL mountain lakes around the world are safe, it simply isn't true.

And it MAY take a blood test upon your return to tell!

Canceled Cruises Can Cost YOU

Within the reservation fine print for cruises are several clauses that can impact your trip. One I wrote about in a prior post (they can change the PORTS if they wish) but I learned from a recent Seattle article that they can also just cancel the whole cruise days before departure. And though they will offer a future credit or full refund, there may be a tremendous catch that costs you money - the airfares and hotel rooms that you CAN'T cancel in order to get to the cruise. This is the jist of the article and if you have been planning a cruise and never realized this could happen, I suggest you read it. It tells you how to avoid losing any money if your cruise operator were to cancel your cruise at the near last minute.

I agree wholeheartedly with what they suggest but would add one caveat. In this current discount climate for airfares, especially for future flights booked from one or two day 'special' sales by the airlines, it is not always expedient to wait to book until you are sure the cruise will depart. With all the recent cutbacks, flights are more full than ever and waiting until the last week or two may require you to fly on days OTHER than the day/night before the cruise. Simply because the date you want may be booked already. So having to arrive a day or two earlier may end up costing you a night or two extra in a hotel.

Not to mention that the air fare may be double or triple what it might be if you booked early or during a sale. But all in all, you could say you will be caught between the devil and the deep blue sea no matter what you do. I would advise NOT to buy non cancelable hotel rooms, as they will not allow for any changes or cancelations. As the article suggests, book a hotel with either a smae day 6pm cancel policy or 24 hour prior policy. Both should give you plenty of wiggle room in case of a cruise snafu. And as always, consider travel insurance for such an adventure. You can get protection from losing any money because of a canceled cruise, though the premium may be expensive since cruise cancelations are not an uncommon event.

Pet Airways; Where Cats and Dogs Run Things

Well, not exactly 'run' things. They don't own or fly the plane or even load it but they do fly it! It's the (almost) luxury way for pets to fly nowadays.

Per Airways began operations several months ago but I never commented on it because the routes were so minimal that I wanted to see whether it would fold soon after being introduced or was a concept whose time had finally come. So far, neither is perhaps true but in the interest of being fair and reporting about travel, I can't go much longer omitting my furry friends from their day in the sun.

You and I cannot ride on Pet Airways (unless you have 4 paws) because the cabins are made just for pets. They are attended to from the drop off counter area in the terminal until you pick them up. Attendants interact with them in flight approximately every 15 minutes and the biggest advantage is safety - no more unsafe travel in the dark cargo holds where pets are unattended and likely stressed out.

To be sure there are drawbacks: the service is only provided to 5 cities at present and the cost STARTS at $149 one way. The marketers report this is about the same you would pay for boarding a pet but of course then there is likely a return fare also, unless you are moving or transferring the pet from one area of the country to another. You can read one article I uncovered here about this new service but others have reported about Pet Airways earlier as well.

While Pet Airways plans on expanding, plus the fact that people will spend MORE on animals than they tend to on themselves, suggests this airline may survive and thrive. I myself am skeptical - the cost, limited coverage, problems occurring if you are also flying and get waylaid off to another city due to weather or are delayed 12 hours. What then? I would assume the charge goes exponentially higher if any of these events occur. So while the well heeled may easily pay such tariffs, will the average pooch owner?
I predict a fairly quick end to this airline but use it while you can!

New Competition for Expedia, Hotels.com

The world is a small one, at least at times.

The founders of Hotels.com sold their company many years ago and after staying for a few years, they then left the company and ventured into other areas. Eventually Expedia bought Hotels.com and now operates them separately.

The Hotels.com founders have resurfaced in guess what? The discount hotel rooms industry. Only they know that Expedia and Travelocity dominate the market, to the point that Orbitz is a poor distant cousin, bouncing around from one owner to another over the years. So to open just another Third Party internet discount site would be fruitless.

They also knew the other 'model' that currently dominates the marketplace is one employed (and dominated) by Priceline and Hotwire. This model is known as an opaque site - where you get a lower rate but have no idea where you are booking.

These founders decided to bridge the two - a discount site (where you supposedly get a better discount than from Hotels.com, Travelocity, et al) but you get to see where you want to go. The only catch is you have to call an 800 number to get the very best/lowest price. You cannot book it on-line (unless you want to pay the same rate as for Expedia).

They claim they have negotiated a price break below a hotels regular rate and also below any Third Party rate. On paper, that sounds like a great idea and a good method for people to employ to book their reservations. In that sense, I think it is an idea that will take hold and not just fall by the wayside.

But I have my reservations (ok, excuse the pun) about how good a deal you will get.

Travel Gadgets and the iPhone

 I do not have (or care to have) an iPhone but I recognize that many people today can't live without them. So for the many of you that travel and LOVE gadgets including the iPhone, I pass along this article from PC Magazine. It is written by a leading analyst/consultant to the technology industry, so I suspect the information passed along is good, verifiable and helpful.

I myself have no idea how these apps work but I am actually fascinated by the variety of them I have seen. Some included here cost up to $10 but some (like a global weather app) are free. A free one that MUST come in handy for overseas travelers is a instant up to date currency converter. Another is a language translator. Perhaps my favorite would be a 'world customs' app, where you get advice about the different customs and 'protocol' for foreign countries. I actually wrote a bit about that very thing in my Travel Tips book and were I to be visiting a new country would be deeply into it all the way there and probably while there too! 

Come to think of it, seeing these apps almost makes me want to BUY an iPhone. But even if you don't have one, the author writes about what computers he carries and other accessories so you may find something of interest in his article anyway. And for those 'frugal' travelers who like to carry travel gadgets, the N.Y. Times Gadgetwise section recently posted this article mentioning 10 travel gaadgets thatwon'ty break the burget. From medical kits to tools, there could well be something that interests you in this article.

Cheap Hotels in Paris and Venice

Two of the most expensive cities (for hotels) in Europe were targeted with a request to the N.Y. Times by someone wanting 'cheap' hotels in those cities. In a remarkable turn around from the $400-$500 per night rooms in mostly ordinary hotels, the Times answered with rooms costing around $100 and under (and located in town - not 25 miles from downtown) with some between $150-$200 in better locations. Their choices may not be exactly on the Champs-Elysees or near the Eiffel Tower but they represent fantastic savings for in- town hotels versus what tourists have paid in the last 4 years.

The article in the Times also suggests some websites for locating cheap hotels in Europe and I would add to the list the following: HRS (Hotel Reservations Service) and Venere.com. With tourism lagging all around the globe and airfares to Europe fairly cheap (see this article in the Times also) it is a great time to go to Europe. If you want to visit Venice but are not budget impaired, you might be interested in a Times companion article about 4 and 5 star hotels in Venice, found here.

Is a Cruise in Your Future?

Many people swear by cruises. Not only are you like a turtle (carrying your 'house' with you when you roam) but you get the option of seeing multiple new cities and even countries without having to hassle with hotel reservations in every stop. Or airline reservation flying from city to city. In the 'old' days, I even preferred to stay on land at different destinations but I have to admit that cruises have become a viable option as I get older. (And I still camp on the ground in a sleeping bag but the day is coming when that will end too!)

So the challenge now is booking the right cruise and getting the best price. Since I am NOT a cruise expert, I will leave the 'sales' to the experts and in that light, I offer an article/post I found recently. It gives you 5 great ideas for booking a cruise at the lowest cost you can. You can access it here.

I would offer some advice however. The authors number one tip is to book early and while I think that makes sense under normal conditions, it hasn't made sense for over a year. Last fall, 'experts' were claiming you had to book cruises a year in advance or the prices would go up. Guess what - in the economic downturn, cruises went begging and those who got in early paid DOUBLE what late comers paid. I know this to be true also because one of my co-workers is a cruise hound and cruises yearly. Several months ago, his travel agent called him and told him his next scheduled major cruise (Russia? China? Europe?) had slashed prices and he saved $2600 dollars! All because the agent was wise enough not to book it last fall but watched prices drop and waited until Spring to confirm his cruise.

Of course the recession will end sometime and waiting may then COST some people but I would NOT book a cruise right now departing next year UNLESS prices are current to today's prices, which are WAY down from historic prices.if a similar cruise this year is going for $1400 and next Spring they are 'asking' $2400, you know they are shooting for the moon and hoping prices firm up again. In that case, I would wait. The advice offered in the article otherwise is sound and worth noting.

Cultural Stereotypes: True for Travelers?

They used to call us 'the ugly Americans'. But we were not alone in having stereotypical monikers  assigned to our nationalities - think about Latin lovers, submissive Canadians (I wasn't aware of that one) and the arrogant French. No one gets off SCOT free (excuse the intended pun) in this world of needing to assign tags to our heritages. In the hospitality world, surveys are frequently done to assess which cultures are the best or worst tippers, guests, travelers, hosts, complainers, freeloaders, etc. I even mentioned one such report which was dedicated to finding the absolute most dreaded cultures to deal with for hotel and restaurant workers.

That survey (from at least a year ago) came up with the same conclusion as this recent survey done by Expedia, shared by a Reuters European writer. The latest survey was found on a Reuters blog called The Great Debate and is titled "The Ugly American and other Stereotypes". Because it is no doubt offensive to some, even Reuters placed a prominent disclaimer on the post which I share as well:"Opinions expressed are his own..."

I'll give just a hint of what is to come. The earlier survey said the French were the least liked by hotel workers and this survey found them the "World's WORST tourists". Not that Americans got off easily however, ranking first in being loudest, least tidy and biggest complainers. What is surprising (at least to me) is that Spaniards came in 2nd as the worst tourists. 

Because I am currently in eastern Oregon camping, flame away with your comments. I'm not there to receive them! I would add however that should you access this article, read the comments for it also. Very revealing.

Southwest to N.Y as Predicted!

Several months ago, I posted here about a little seen announcement from Southwest Air regarding their flying into La Guardia (New York) airport. (Read that post here.) I predicted that they would offer discount fares along the lines of their $49 fares to certain airports and possibly have $99 fares to the West Coast at some point.

Sure enough, this article from came out in late June from a travel blog that announced Southwest will be flying into Boston (in Aug.), Chicago and Washington soon and that fares should be lower than what others were offering. This article suggests that SW will indeed provide not only discount fares but more and better options for business travelers who want to fly in or out of La Guardia and not Newark.

I'll keep a look out for more news on the SouthWest to La Guardia angle and keep you informed. (Update: Before this even was posted, Southwest came out with a 2 day sale (now gone) where you could have flown to N.Y., for $90! Hopefully this will be repeated again.) As a side note, if you viewed the article above on the blog, you may want to chuckle at their post following this one. It pertains to RyanAir - another airline I have also written about. Their opinion of Ryan seems to match everyone elses, as they close the article by saying "Ryan Air - the first successful airline whose motto is Bring Your Own Plane!"

RyanAir - It's Always Something!

If it weren't for RyanAir, I might not be able to blog so often. I barely got a post out recently about Ryan Air and now comes another opportunity to mention them. Since I usually mention them in the sense of "What are They Thinking?", this latest delightful piece of drivel is right up their fuselage. That is if they have any still. As i mentioned in the recent post about a post I found on another blog about Ryan Air, they joked "Ryan Air - the ONLY airline where you bring your own plane".

Well, they weren't far off. In fact, on July 6th, RyanAir announced you can bring your own SEAT. Well, in a sense. They are now selling STANDING ROOM ONLY seats! Where you get a stool with a seatbelt and have to lean back onto it. (The article noted that seats and sitting aren't good for circulation anyway - better to stand than sit). With that logic, it would be better to WALK from Munich to Zurich than fly I guess.

If you think I am kidding, you are wrong. They are dead serious. It would free up (in their opinion) room for 30 percent more passengers and at reduced ticket prices, what's the bother?

At this point, RyanAir has to be applauded for being so crazy and unconventional (I guess). I wouldn't fly them myself (unless I was broke) if I had a choice but let the flyer beware!