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After the Travel Disaster: What To Do

I often comment about how to avoid travel disasters and offer extensive advice along that vein both in my books and posts. Here, I came across an article that tells one what to do IF the worst happens. Well, maybe not the WORST, but any event that takes away from your highly coveted enjoyment while on holiday may seem like the worst thing that could happen.

Found on ABC News, the article gives pointed instructions on how to handle losing documents (something I have written about maybe a dozen times), lost  or damaged luggage, TSA banned items in your carry-ons and more. It is titled "6 Travel Mini-Disasters and How To Fix Them" and I believe you may want to heed some of the offered advice.

Time to Plan Your Summer Travel but Avoid Travel Fraud

That means the scammers will also be out in full force. Every year, I write several posts about how to recognize, avoid or inquire about refunds when you think you may have been scammed.

To that end, a Chicago TV station posted  a great alert on how to avoid travel fraud and the five short but to the point pointers sounded good enough that I forward them to you. You can also click on my 'scams' category to re-visit old posts I have written if the thought of being defrauded is a real and present danger in your mind.

More Flights Doesn't Always Mean Cheaper Fares

In a recent post, I noted that there were soon to be increased flights to Hawaii, especially from the West Coast. Usually, LOTS of increase in capacity involves lower fares (at least initially) but I guess when the destination is Hawaii, that doesn't apply.

In an ensuing article I found, it appears fares to Hawaii are NOT going down this summer - at least as anticipated. Of course, they ARE still cheaper than 2-3 years ago but that is small consolation to the parents of 2 kids who thought a vacation to Maui after school let out might be just the ticket to saving some money on a vacation this year. Prices shown in the article indicate that flying from certain cities (San Jose) are cheaper than from the big dog (S.F.) but are still in the $600 range while Oakland and SFO come in over $700.

This particular article indicates bookings should be done PRIOR to when you read this but do not be alarmed - you can find seats anyway and I suspect that since the 'discounts' are fairly dismal, you will find flights you can afford anyway.

Keep in mind the fine print - some 'sale' fares require check in at the Hawaii airport you are leaving from at near midnight with arrival in Oakland at 5am. This is the trade off for 'large' discounts so if you are like me and don't want to leave San Jose at 7 am (requiring a 3 am wake up and drive to airport in the dark) or arrive home exhausted after an all night flight just in time to watch the sun rise, paying more means getting more. And more means better flight times.

Current Trends in Travel to Europe

Given that Arthur Frommer is about the most premier voice in travel today, I could not help but pass along his thoughts about travel to Europe this summer.

Not only does he comment on fares and currency fluctuations but he offers some great advice about the usage of debit or credit cards.

You can find this recent entry here. If you are heading over the Pond this summer, his advice is very welcome indeed.

Haunted Castles of Ireland

When I saw this story I was intrigued not by the supernatural aspect but because I had written about renting castles in Europe in my honeymoon book. Naturally, I did not include haunted castles, since it is less than likely a new bride (or groom for that matter) would want to set out on their honeymoon with a ghost sighting. So I mentioned some castles in England and Ireland and Scotland that one could rent for a lovely adventure and was done with that topic.

But now, the category of 'haunted' castles can be explored and I offer this article only for those who have that sense of adventure about them and have already been to plenty of places and done plenty of things. While staying in a castle is not cheap, neither is staying in downtown Paris, so all things being semi-equal, it might not cost as much as you think to spend the night in a haunted castle. And at the least, you can tour them as well and not stay overnight.

You can find the article here. What you won't find here is the wherewithall to go through with it. Just like the dollars you will have to spend to go there, you'll have to summon up your own courage as well.

Fun and Games: Travel Quizzes To Boost Your Travel Knowledge

Here's a topic I have never written about - travel quizzes. If you are like me, travel quizzes used to be guessing the capitals of states or keeping a tally of out of state license plates. (Obviously we did not have in-car movies, iPods or cellphones when I was a kid. Even more obvious: we were easily amused.)

Well, lets say you were about to embark upon a once in a lifetime trip to the Middle East or Orient. One quick way to bone up on local trivia is to take a travel IQ quiz. If you can ignore the final score and not be interested in how 'smart' you are, you can simply examine the answers and gain valuable local knowledge.

I came across a listing of travel quizzes you can take either before or during a trip. I caution you will have to cut and paste the URL's as this source did not imbed them in the blog post, titled "Online Games and Quizzes to Test Your Travel IQ". I have not checked them all out so I cannot give you any insider pointers of which quiz is better than another quiz but I suspect you can figure it out yourself without much trouble.