Showing posts with label Travel Tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel Tips. Show all posts
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Air Travel With Infants - Travel Tips
Arlene at About.com has some nice ideas for travelling on the airplane with infants. Now that my own kids are older I notice how easy flying has become compared to when they were small and had to be carried everywhere with all the gear and in the hopes nobody would "melt down" and start screaming on the airplane. There is less sympathy from other passengers than there should be for crying babies although I admit it's tough sitting anywhere near a kid who is having a tantrum or very upset. Earplugs are a good thing to have in your on-board travel kit.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Sleeping in the Airport? Check out this guide
The clever "Budget Travelers Guide to Sleeping in Airports"
offers some good advice and interesting travel tips for those stuck in Airports, though the site is actually suggesting this as a viable alternative to regular lodging, and they don't mean a fancy hotel that happens to be inside an Airport. From the Budget Travelers site:
For travellers who are REALLY on a budget and are looking for a way to skim a few bucks off their travel expenses, why not consider sleeping in an airport? Many airports are actually better than local lodging.
I can't imagine picking an Airport over any local lodging in the USA but this is a globally focused site and I'm sure there are some places where the Airport really is the best lodging choice.
For most travelers the tips are helpful in dealing with situations where you *must* sleep in the airport. I think this will become increasingly common as carriers are moving to minimize the number of flights and maximize the number of passengers.
Sweet Airport Dreams to you!
offers some good advice and interesting travel tips for those stuck in Airports, though the site is actually suggesting this as a viable alternative to regular lodging, and they don't mean a fancy hotel that happens to be inside an Airport. From the Budget Travelers site:
For travellers who are REALLY on a budget and are looking for a way to skim a few bucks off their travel expenses, why not consider sleeping in an airport? Many airports are actually better than local lodging.
I can't imagine picking an Airport over any local lodging in the USA but this is a globally focused site and I'm sure there are some places where the Airport really is the best lodging choice.
For most travelers the tips are helpful in dealing with situations where you *must* sleep in the airport. I think this will become increasingly common as carriers are moving to minimize the number of flights and maximize the number of passengers.
Sweet Airport Dreams to you!
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Travel Tip - find specialized airlines
Flexibility is a key part of the discount travel experience. If you can match your plans to the "low vacancy" seasons for hotels or the "slow days" of airlines you'll find it keeps your costs down. Often this aspect alone can reduce the cost of a trip by *half*. Here are a few approches to keep in mind where you sacrifice virtually nothing in terms of quality to obtain much lower rates:
Cheap Airline Tickets: For airline tickets find specialized carriers that travel to your location. These may *not* be reflected at consolidators like Orbitz or Kayak.com and may not match your exact dates, so you'll need to do a bit of online searching for "flights to cityname" and "cityname airlines", etc. The object here is just to get the name of the specialty airline. An example here in rural Oregon is Allegiant. They fly to Las Vegas from several western cities, have fantastic rates in combination with hotel specials, but to keep costs down they only fly 2 days per week so you need to make plans accordingly.
For international travel this specialty airlines rule is even more important. There are thousands of airlines around the world - and even within the USA - that are not represented on Orbitz or other consolidators, and many offer special rates but have enough restrictions that you'll need to plan somewhat around *their needs*. This is not a big inconvenience if you are clever. For example on a big trip you'll generally have some departure flexibility. Before you plan your time off check and see if the days of the week matter to your departure flight.
Cheap Hotel Rates: For hotels as I've noted before the general rule is to book nights Sunday-Thursday and avoid Friday and Saturday where many cities will be booked at higher rates. Las Vegas can be remarkable in this way - on strip hotel specials can drop under $50 per night where the Bellagio on a weekend will run you $250+. A few years ago my Las Vegas Hilton room was $55 for Mon-Thursday but the *same room* would have been about $150 if I'd stayed Friday night. This effect in Las Vegas seems to be more pronounced in some hotels than others so keep that in mind.
Cheap Airline Tickets: For airline tickets find specialized carriers that travel to your location. These may *not* be reflected at consolidators like Orbitz or Kayak.com and may not match your exact dates, so you'll need to do a bit of online searching for "flights to cityname" and "cityname airlines", etc. The object here is just to get the name of the specialty airline. An example here in rural Oregon is Allegiant. They fly to Las Vegas from several western cities, have fantastic rates in combination with hotel specials, but to keep costs down they only fly 2 days per week so you need to make plans accordingly.
For international travel this specialty airlines rule is even more important. There are thousands of airlines around the world - and even within the USA - that are not represented on Orbitz or other consolidators, and many offer special rates but have enough restrictions that you'll need to plan somewhat around *their needs*. This is not a big inconvenience if you are clever. For example on a big trip you'll generally have some departure flexibility. Before you plan your time off check and see if the days of the week matter to your departure flight.
Cheap Hotel Rates: For hotels as I've noted before the general rule is to book nights Sunday-Thursday and avoid Friday and Saturday where many cities will be booked at higher rates. Las Vegas can be remarkable in this way - on strip hotel specials can drop under $50 per night where the Bellagio on a weekend will run you $250+. A few years ago my Las Vegas Hilton room was $55 for Mon-Thursday but the *same room* would have been about $150 if I'd stayed Friday night. This effect in Las Vegas seems to be more pronounced in some hotels than others so keep that in mind.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Vancouver Airport Relaxation Tips
Vancouver, B.C. is a gateway city to some of the most spectacular coast and mountain scenery in the world. Arlene over at About.com has some great tips about relaxing at the Vancouver Airport, including spas and a film screeening room.
Vancouver B.C. Tourism
British Columbia Travel
Vancouver B.C. Tourism
British Columbia Travel
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Airline Ticketing Tips from TheStreet.com
TheStreet has some good tips for saving on your airline tickets.
My simple ones are these:
Use comparison sites, especially Kayak.com. Kayak features Orbitz.com
but you may also want to use the Orbitz matrix feature which allows you to specify flexible dates. Having date flexibility can be a good key to lower fares.
Spend some time at it. Devote at least a few hours over the several months before your trip to find the best fares. Obviously this matters more for a family buying 3+ tickets than a single flyer so you can adjust that time committment accordingly.
Waiting until last minute is usually a bad idea, esp if only weeks are left, because you'll have to take whatever fare comes up. However you can also book too early. Summer discount specials often don't come up until spring and I've often found good rates into June for July and August travel though I don't like to wait that long.
Get on email alert lists for Orbitz and others. This will help remind you to keep looking and will alert you to fare decreases.
Don't forget your car - this can be more than the cost of the plane ticket, and car prices vary a lot. If you see one of those "129 per week" specials book it immediately. This year appears to be bad for car discounts. And...get a *small* car. Rates approach the absurd for SUVs and big rental cars. If you have money to burn get a small car, save hundreds per week, and make a donation to mosquito nets to save some lives.
Check out some of the new prediction tools for ticket prices like Yahoo's FareCast
My simple ones are these:
Use comparison sites, especially Kayak.com. Kayak features Orbitz.com
but you may also want to use the Orbitz matrix feature which allows you to specify flexible dates. Having date flexibility can be a good key to lower fares.
Spend some time at it. Devote at least a few hours over the several months before your trip to find the best fares. Obviously this matters more for a family buying 3+ tickets than a single flyer so you can adjust that time committment accordingly.
Waiting until last minute is usually a bad idea, esp if only weeks are left, because you'll have to take whatever fare comes up. However you can also book too early. Summer discount specials often don't come up until spring and I've often found good rates into June for July and August travel though I don't like to wait that long.
Get on email alert lists for Orbitz and others. This will help remind you to keep looking and will alert you to fare decreases.
Don't forget your car - this can be more than the cost of the plane ticket, and car prices vary a lot. If you see one of those "129 per week" specials book it immediately. This year appears to be bad for car discounts. And...get a *small* car. Rates approach the absurd for SUVs and big rental cars. If you have money to burn get a small car, save hundreds per week, and make a donation to mosquito nets to save some lives.
Check out some of the new prediction tools for ticket prices like Yahoo's FareCast
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
UK and Ireland Travel Tips
Cheapflights UK has a nice series of travel tips for the UK and Ireland. Their list of travel tips is here.
One idea is to consider regional airports. Here's their list for UK and Ireland Regionals with information at the links:
US Regional Airports can also be a good way to get closer to your destination. You'll want to factor in several things when considering flying from/ to a regional airport rather than major ones:
* Generally, flying in and out of regionals is more expensive. There are exceptions however, and especially with pricing specials you won't add much to the trip.
* Regional travel may subtract a car leg or add a flight leg. My personal preference is driving for a few hours rather than flying for one hour plus check in times, etc. I've seen people plan trips where they wind up flying very short distances and probably would have been happier and more comfortable driving a bit extra. On the other hand if flying to the regional airport costs the same and avoids a rental car or extra time you may save time and money. Some folks hate big city driving and Regional Airports can be a great way to avoid that when your destination is not a big city.
One idea is to consider regional airports. Here's their list for UK and Ireland Regionals with information at the links:
* Generally, flying in and out of regionals is more expensive. There are exceptions however, and especially with pricing specials you won't add much to the trip.
* Regional travel may subtract a car leg or add a flight leg. My personal preference is driving for a few hours rather than flying for one hour plus check in times, etc. I've seen people plan trips where they wind up flying very short distances and probably would have been happier and more comfortable driving a bit extra. On the other hand if flying to the regional airport costs the same and avoids a rental car or extra time you may save time and money. Some folks hate big city driving and Regional Airports can be a great way to avoid that when your destination is not a big city.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Free cell phone parking lot (arrival waiting) coming to JFK
This article is about an innovative JFK Airport plan to provide free parking to those waiting to pick up arriving passengers. Rather than circling the crowded arrival areas you'll be able to park nearby at no charge and take the cell call from the arriving passenger when they have their bags and pick them up quickly and effectively.
This is a great innovation for any crowded airport, and as a travel tip don't forget to use your cell phone to streamline the process of arriving at new destinations. By calling your friend/relative at home and keeping them posted about your airline reservations changes and scheduling you can often create a smooth pickup time even with a hectic schedule
This is a great innovation for any crowded airport, and as a travel tip don't forget to use your cell phone to streamline the process of arriving at new destinations. By calling your friend/relative at home and keeping them posted about your airline reservations changes and scheduling you can often create a smooth pickup time even with a hectic schedule
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Travel Tips from Paul Kedrosky
Paul Kedrosky has an insightful blog, usually about biz, but Paul offered up some great travel tips last year. Here are are few from his blog post (Paul stuff in italics).
When going through airport security avoid lines containing vehicles (i.e., infants in strollers, or oldsters in wheelchairs). Both tend to be highly unpredictable.
(Whoops - actually I don't agree with this one - better to count people in the line since chairs take up more space and get through faster in general due to priorities for the TSA folks)
Print your boarding pass at home/office before the flight. Automated terminals at airport tendly, preventing you from getting on a flight that you could have otherwise made.
EXCELLENT TIP - learn how to PRINT YOUR PASSES !
Look to the front of Customs lines to find ones sharing officers. Entry in Vancouver, Canada, is the best example, where the far left station shares offices were with two and sometimes three other people. You can have huge lines, and still get through faster there.
Get a seat early via the phone, and then ask for another seat at airport.
There are often power outlets at hidden seats behind the check-in counter.
You can often get free WiFi by sitting on your suitcase outside airlines' premium lounges.
Provide short, monosyllabic, and polite answers to Customs Officers' questions. Be sure to smile that wan, just-landed-after-a-12-hour-flight smile the whole time.
Always ask when renting cars if the outlet is at the airport. Not all airlines companies maintain airport offices at all airports, and discovering that during a last-minute, unexpected bus ride is a giant pain-in-the-ass.
NOTE that you may need to allow up to an hour to return your car and make it back to Airport when the return building is far away, as with BWI.
I'd add that airport stays do not have to be stressful and painful. Have some fun. If you travel regularly to a particular Airport get to know it better, find a few nice restaurants or lounges that you like. If your flights don't line up perfectly (as is usual) just take some "down time" for a nice meal, catching up on email, or idle web surfing. You can have a good time even when the surroundings are stressful if you focus on things you do regularly and enjoyably.
When going through airport security avoid lines containing vehicles (i.e., infants in strollers, or oldsters in wheelchairs). Both tend to be highly unpredictable.
(Whoops - actually I don't agree with this one - better to count people in the line since chairs take up more space and get through faster in general due to priorities for the TSA folks)
Print your boarding pass at home/office before the flight. Automated terminals at airport tendly, preventing you from getting on a flight that you could have otherwise made.
EXCELLENT TIP - learn how to PRINT YOUR PASSES !
Look to the front of Customs lines to find ones sharing officers. Entry in Vancouver, Canada, is the best example, where the far left station shares offices were with two and sometimes three other people. You can have huge lines, and still get through faster there.
Get a seat early via the phone, and then ask for another seat at airport.
There are often power outlets at hidden seats behind the check-in counter.
You can often get free WiFi by sitting on your suitcase outside airlines' premium lounges.
Provide short, monosyllabic, and polite answers to Customs Officers' questions. Be sure to smile that wan, just-landed-after-a-12-hour-flight smile the whole time.
Always ask when renting cars if the outlet is at the airport. Not all airlines companies maintain airport offices at all airports, and discovering that during a last-minute, unexpected bus ride is a giant pain-in-the-ass.
NOTE that you may need to allow up to an hour to return your car and make it back to Airport when the return building is far away, as with BWI.
I'd add that airport stays do not have to be stressful and painful. Have some fun. If you travel regularly to a particular Airport get to know it better, find a few nice restaurants or lounges that you like. If your flights don't line up perfectly (as is usual) just take some "down time" for a nice meal, catching up on email, or idle web surfing. You can have a good time even when the surroundings are stressful if you focus on things you do regularly and enjoyably.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Security Tips from TSA
Buried in the bloated TSA Website is this key rule for carry-ons at Airports.
Note that the rules for liquids follow, but even simpler is this:
Carry-on ONLY tiny liquid bottles in a SINGLE, clear, quart zip top bag.
This is the TSA's instruction set for liquids on planes:
Note that the rules for liquids follow, but even simpler is this:
Carry-on ONLY tiny liquid bottles in a SINGLE, clear, quart zip top bag.
This is the TSA's instruction set for liquids on planes:
3-1-1 for carry-ons = 3 ounce bottle or less; 1 quart-sized, clear, plastic, zip-top bag; 1 bag per passenger placed in screening bin. One-quart bag per person limits the total liquid volume each traveler can bring. 3 oz. container size is a security measure.
Consolidate bottles into one bag and X-ray separately to speed screening.
Be prepared. Each time TSA searches a carry-on it slows down the line. Practicing 3-1-1 will ensure a faster and easier checkpoint experience.
3-1-1 is for short trips. If in doubt, put your liquids in checked luggage.
Declare larger liquids. Prescription medications, baby formula and milk (when traveling with an infant or toddler) are allowed in reasonable quantities exceeding three ounces and are not required to be in the zip-top bag. Declare these items for inspection at the checkpoint.
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