Pauline Spend Less See More

7/29/2019 Pauline Spend Less See More

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pauline frommers

TRAVEL TIPS

spend lesssee more

Smart Advicefrom a

Travel Expert


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Spend less, see more. Discover a freshtake on budget travel with PaulineFrommers Travel Guides. Written by travel

expert Pauline Frommer (who is also the

daughter of Arthur Frommer) and her team

of hand-picked writers, these guides show

how to truly experience a culture, meet

locals, and save money along the way.

Industry secrets on how to find the best hotel rooms Alternate accommodations like home stays, apartment

stays, and monastery stays

Great little neighborhood restaurants and ethnic places

Cool, offbeat finds that only the locals know about

Packed with personality and opinions

For more information on Pauline Frommers Travel Guides,

visit Frommers.com/pauline

pauline frommers

TRAVEL GUIDES

spend lesssee moreAre you readyto travel smart?

I out

o your dollar and your trip, Pauline

Frommers Travel Guides are or you.

I put a resh spin on budget travel,

showing you how to experience thebest or less and how to see it in a more

authentic waythe way the locals do.

From living it up in an antiques-lled

Fith Avenue mansion in New York

City or just $75 to having an elegant

high tea at Londons British Museum

or hal o what youd pay elsewhere,

each guide gives you great ways to get

closer to the culture o a destination.

Inside this booklet, youll nd some

terric tips to help you get the mostout o every trip. Read on!

Happy Travels,

Pauline Frommer

See inside or Smart

Travel Tips

Getting Great 2Airare Deals

Using Frequent 5Flyer Miles

Avoiding 7Getting Bumped

Renting a Car 9

Staying 11Healthy

Swapping 13Homes

Accessing 15Money

Traveling 17with Kids

Traveling Solo 20

Traveling Green 22


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Book when others arent ying.

Prices tend to be lower on those fights that no one wants to take,

by which I mean the ones that depart just as the sun is rising or long

ater its set (i.e., the rst and last fights o the day). Youll lose sleep,

but may save a lot o money. Some fight costs will vary by area. For

example, Las Vegas is a popular weekend destination. I you fy in onMonday and out on Thursday, you can usually save big bucks.

Include a Saturday night stay-over in your itinerary.

Since business travelers are the bread and butter o the airline industry and

they dont like to stay away rom their amilies on weekends, they usually

fy on itineraries that get them home beore Saturday night. The airlines

penalize them or this with higher prices, and lure vacation travelers

who can stay over Saturday by lowering the rates on those itineraries.

Be exible.

You can oten save a bundle by fying out a day or two earlier or

later, or picking a dierent airport than you originally chose. For

example, by picking Long Beach instead o Los Angeles, youll openyoursel up to fying JetBlue (which is oten cheaper); by fying into

Fort Lauderdale rather than Miami you have the option o fying

Southwest or Spirit Air (again, two consistently aordable carriers).

To be more fexible, search more fexibly. Many booking engines now

allow you to open yoursel up to searches several days around your

dates, and o a cluster o airports.

Getting Great Airare Deals ( Consider less well-known airlines.This works especially well internationally, but sometimes domestically as

well. Spirit Airline, Frontier, Alaska Air, and other smaller airlines oten

have great prices within the U.S. Internationally, you can sometimes

save a bundle by hopping a plane whose ultimate destination is arther

than you need to go, but makes stops along the way. For example,

oten the cheapest way to get to London is via Air India (which fies

NYCLondonDelhi); to Paris, Air Kuwait can be a cheap way to go;

to Frankurt, go via Icelandair, Royal Air Maroc, or Air Singapore.Search smartly.

Companies like FareCompare.com, FareCast.com, Sidestep.com, and

Kayak.com do or travel prices what Google does or inormation. They

cull data via very powerul search engines and they oten get quotes rom

both the middleman sources (Expedia.com, Travelocity, Orbitz, etc.),

which occasionally oer deals, and the travel providers sites (American

Airlines, JetBlue, Spirit Airlines, etc.), which in some cases give those

who come directly to their Web sites the best rates. These sites give

a more impartial search than the third party sites, dont charge a ee

or bookings (oten simply passing you rom their site to the one

youll purchase on), and dont add onerous change ees, as some travel

agency sites do. FareCast and FareCompare even compile data on

how much ares on certain routes have cost in the past and will advise

you whether to purchase now or to wait.

For international travel, go to the ethnic travel agencies.

In cities around the U.S., expat communities are served by their own

travel agencies and oten these olks know every trick in the book

and can help you, an outsider, nd the best airares to their home

country. You can nd these specialist agencies at the Web site www.

cheapfights.com, which lists agencies and their price ranges. Oten

these agencies are so small, this is their only Web presence.

Getting Great Airare Deals 3


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4 Getting Great Airare Deals

Insure your ticket through YAPTA.com

YAPTA.com is a ab new Web site. It stands or Your

Amazing Personal Travel Assistant and tracks prices on

specic fights on Alaska Airlines, America West, American,

Air Tran, ATA, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, Midwest, and

US Airways. I the price o your ticket goes down, it alerts

you and you can contact the airline and demand either cash

back or a voucher (towards uture travel) or the dierence

in price. How well this works will depend on the airline. I

you booked a ticket or, say, New York to Dallas or $400

round-trip on United, and the price dropped to $250, you

could get a voucher or the dierence good or travel in

the next 12 months. This is called a rollover. In testing

o the site, about one-third o the prices scanned dropped

in price an average o 16% (though some dropped more).

Now on some airlines, such as American Airlines, i the price

dropped less than $100, changing your ticket wouldnt make

sense, as American charges a $100 change ee, but others,

such as Southwest and Alaska Air, are much more generousand dont charge a change ee at all in these circumstances.

One last caveat: You have to buy the ticket direct rom the

airline to get the vouchers or money back. It wont work i

youve booked with Expedia or Orbitz.

Go with the more generous airlines.

I youre a requent traveler, say a business traveler, and earning miles is

important to you, you may want to patronize Continental and Aloha

Airlines, the only two o the bunch whose miles never expire. While not

quite as generous, American Airlines still gives its passengers a ull three

years beore miles expire.Avoid the miserly airlines i miles are more important toyou than price.

US Airways changed their policy so that miles would expire in 18

months, i there is no activity on the account, rather than in three

years. United Airways instituted the same policy, also halving its

expiration time rom 36 months to 18. Delta made a similar move,

though its plan is a hair more generous: You have two years with it

beore your miles go bye-bye. Southwest also gives its customers two

years. JetBlue and Air Tran have always had the strictest expiration

policies in the biz: Miles disappear just one year ater theyre earned

even i your account is active, making it nearly impossible or most

people to earn ree fights with these two (a shame as theyre oten the

price leaders).

Look into getting a miles credit card.

I you get a miles credit card and accrue new miles that way, it will

keep your account current. The downside is that these credit cards

are oten saddled with terrible ee structures and higher-than-normal

penalties or late payments. You can also use your miles to buy non-

airline ticket items with partner organizationsshops, hotels, car

rental companiesand this usage will keep your account active. It will

also, unortunately, deplete your account, so its a double-edged sword.

Using Frequent Flyer Miles (


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You can also fy a partner airline o the airline youre loyal to and accrue

miles that way, keeping your account active. Two generous things you

can do to keep your miles active: Give some to charity, or give them toanother mileage user.

Beyond the expirations, what can you do to use your miles?

Do your research. Theres a terric Web site called Webfyer.com that

tracks which months are best or redeeming miles with each airline

and posts calendars on their Web site.

Be persistent. Seats open up 330 days in advance o the fight, and i

you can, its good to try then. But i you dont get seats, try in another

month or two, and then try again. On some fights, the seats arent

released until they know how well a particular fight is selling.

Include a Saturday night stay-over in your itinerary. As with regular

fights, youre more likely to strike gold this way. Without a Saturday

night stay, you may be required to use double miles (50,000 instead

o the usual 25,000).

Use your miles when ying internationally.

Dont orget that you can use your miles on your airlines partners as

well as the airline directly. Sometimes its a good idea to call the airline

to get inormation on what seats are available this way. Dont book

though, as using your miles through a phone call oten includes a $15-

$20 ee. Use the call to gather ino only and then go online to make

your booking.

6 Using Frequent Flyer Miles

Avoiding Getting Bumped

Get to the airport on timeor early.

Call the airline the night beore to reconrm your fight and ask at

that time i the fight youre on is overbooked. I it is, give yoursel

at least another hal hour to get to the airport. The last to arrive is

the rst to be bumped. Checking in at home and pre-printing your

boarding pass (doable with some airlines on domestic fights only),will also get you towards the ront o the queue and can help. Butsometimes, they simply bump the people at the bottom o the ood

chain, economically speaking, and that will be the olks with the

award mileage seats or the really cheap seats.

Booking fights later in the day is also a way to avoid being bumped, as

the airlines tend to overbook more heavily earlier in the day, assuming

that theyll be able to get passengers on later fights.

Complain eectively.

I youre on one o the so-called Legacy Carriers (American, Delta,

United, Continental, Northwest, US Airways) and traveling domestically,

the Condition o Carriage (what used to be called Rule 240) generallystates that i youre delayed or a signicant amount o time in getting to

your nal destination, the airline must give you meal vouchers, perhaps

a hotel room, or even buy you a ticket on a competing airline. Most

ticket agents wont volunteer this inormation, so you should know it.

I you get bumped but the airline gets you on another fight that arrives

at your nal destination within one hour o your originally scheduled

time, you arent entitled to anything. I the airline arranges substitute

transportation that is scheduled to arrive at your destination between

one and two hours ater the original arrival time (or up to our hours

on international fights), the airline owes you an amount equal to the

(


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one-way are or the journey, up to a $200 maximum. You get double

the money (double your are, up to $400) i the alternate transportation

gets you there more than two hours later (our hours internationally) ori the airline doesnt make any arrangements or you.

In all the above instances, you still get to keep your original ticket and

use it on another fight. The airlines are simply reimbursing you or

your inconvenience. I you end up having to make your arrangements,

you can pursue your claim against the airline by requesting an

involuntary reund or the ticket or the fight you were bumpedrom. I being bumped ends up costing you more money than thecarrier was willing to pay you at the airport, you can take it up later

with the airlines customer service department.

Bumping rules never apply to charter fights, or to scheduled fights on

planes with 60 or ewer seats. Nor do they apply to international fights

heading to the United States, or oreign airlines fights outside the United

States, though some airlines may choose to honor them anyway.

To volunteer or not?

Volunteer only i you have a ew extra days to kill. People used to

volunteer to get ree travel, but now many ewer fyers are volunteering

to be bumped because unlike in the past, i you get bumped rom afight today, it could mean that youll have to wait days rather than

hours to get on another fight. Planes are going out ull and simply dont

have room or bumped passengers. And i you volunteer, make sure the

voucher youre given is in a cash amount and notor a ree trip. Cash

vouchers can be used or any fight whereas ree trip vouchers put you

into the same bucket as all the award mileage passengers and youll be

competing with them or seats.

Background on passenger bumping

Bumping is a deliberate strategy on the part o the airlines to maximizerevenue. They know that a certain percentage o travelers (usually

8 Avoiding Getting Bumped

about 8%) wont show up or their fights. Many o those who dont

show up are business travelers, traveling on reundable tickets. When

they dont show and get the value o their ticket back, the airlinewill lose hundreds o dollars on that seatunless it overbooks. The

problem today is that so many planes are leaving at or near capacity

the average fight is expected to go out 85% ullthat theres little

room or error i the plane is overbooked. The airlines are fying ewer

and smaller planes to keep their prots up and theres been an increase

in demand. These two actors are a recipe or disaster.

Keep checking rates.

Car rental rates fuctuate more wildly than airares, but the perk withcar rentals is you dont have to put any money down until you get to

the counter. So make your reservation and then check back a couple

o times to make sure prices havent dropped. I they have, make a

new reservation at the lower price.

Rent the smallest model o car available.

Its always much less expensive to upgrade at the car rental counter

than to do it in advance, and the economy cars usually go beore the

luxury ones do, so you may get a ree upgrade anyway (especially i

youre arriving late in the day).

Consider renting rom a local frm.

Such companies as Rent-a-Wreck and Fox dont renew their feets

yearly, so while you may be driving an older car, you could be saving a

Renting a Car 9

Renting a Car


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signicant amount. You can oten save as much as 30% by shopping

outside the major brands. This is particularly true i youre thinking o

renting a car in Europe. To nd local car companies, go to www.bnm.

com. The downside with these companies: lack o service. I you drive

the car outside o their immediate vicinity and something goes wrong

with the vehicle, you wont get the kind o quick help that you would

rom an Avis, Hertz, or Enterprise.

Check your own car insurance beore you get to the counter.

Rental car agents are trained to up-sell you, and you usually dontneed everything theyre oering. Most car insurance policies will

usually cover you or third-party liability and other things as well.

Consider an opaque booking engine. Try Priceline.com orHotwire.com. They only deal with the national companies (so you

wont be getting a lemon) and can save you a lot o money.

Rent o-airport when you can.

Taxes and additional ees or cars rented at the airport can add a signicant

amount on to the total cost. In Dallas or example, a $4-a-day ee is addedjust or the use o the airport rental acilities (this is on top o other taxes

or airport use). Car rental oces not located at the airport will usually

send a shuttle to pick you up; in act, there are times when this type o

service may end up being aster and more convenient.

Look into public transportation options.

In such cities as London, Paris, New York, and Washington, D.C. you

have a much easier vacation withouta rental car because the hassle o

parking and driving in these cities is tremendous.

Compare apples with apples.

Some Web sites dont include all o the costs in their estimates o price, so

be sure that youre getting all the gures beore you make a decision.

10 Renting a Car

Crunch the numbers.

Usually, even i you only planned on renting or ve or six days, the

weekly rate will be lower. So consider renting at that rate and then just

turning the car in early.

Check your insurance beore leaving home.

Find out what medical services your health insurance covers. To protect

yoursel, consider buying medical travel insurance. Very ew health

insurance plans pay or medical evacuation back to the U.S. (which can

cost $10,000 and up). Consider purchasing medical travel insurance i

youre going to a country where the medical acilities are poor. A number

o companies oer medical evacuation services anywhere in the world. I

youre ever hospitalized more than 150 miles rom home, MedjetAssist

(800-527-7478; www.medjetassistance.com) will pick you up and fy you

to the hospital o your choice. Annual memberships are $225 individual,$350 amily; you can also purchase short-term memberships.

Find a doctor.

Any oreign consulate can provide a list o area doctors who speak

English. Consider asking your hotel concierge to recommend a local

doctoreven his or her own. For travel abroad, you may have to

pay all medical costs up ront and be reimbursed later. Medicare and

Medicaid do not provide coverage or medical costs outside the U.S.

Pack prescription medications in your carry-on luggage.

Carry them in their original containers with pharmacy labelsor they wont

Staying Healthy 11

Staying Healthy


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12 Staying Healthy

get through airport security. Know the generic name o your prescription

medicines, in case a local pharmacist is unamiliar with the brand name.

Deal with jet lag.

Jet lag is a pitall o traveling across time zones. I youre fying north

south and you eel sluggish when you touch down, your symptoms

will be the result o dehydration and the general stress o air travel.

When you travel eastwest or vice versa, however, your body becomes

thoroughly conused about what time it is, and everything rom your

digestive system to your brain is knocked or a loop because mostpeoples bodies are more inclined to stay up late than all asleep early.

Here are some tips or combating jet lag:

Reset your watch to your destination time beore you board the plane.

Drink lots of waterbeore, during, and ater your fight. Avoid alcohol.

Exercise and sleep wellor a ew days beore your trip.

If you have trouble sleepingon planes, fy eastward on morning fights.

Daylight is the keyto resetting your body clock. At the Web site or

Outside In (www.bodyclock.com), you can get a customized plan o

when to seek and avoid light.

Avoiding Digestive Ailments

Travelers diarrhea is an all-too-common vacation spoiler.

According to the Centers or Disease Control between 20

and 50 percent o those who travel internationally, some

10 million people each year, suer rom it. To prevent

getting sick yoursel, avoid ood sold by street vendors

in exotic locales, as it may have been prepared underunsanitary conditions. In those countries where the water

isnt potable, remember to also avoid salads and unpeeled

ruits, as they will have likely been cleaned in the same

water (and brush your teeth with bottled water). I youre ina situation where hundreds o people are isolated together

in close conditionsas on a cruise shipwash your hands

oten and thoroughly, in warm soapy water. Carrying a small

bottle o hand sanitizer is another smart strategy.

The advantages o home exchanges.

A amily o our can save rom $3,000 to $4,000 or a two-week

vacation taking into consideration money that would have been spent

on a hotel room, rental car, and three meals a day in restaurants. Equally

important, visitors transorm the nature o the vacation experience, by

staying in places like a houseboat in Sausalito, an underground homein Taos, a beachside cottage in the Caribbean, a winery in Sonoma

County, an ancient armhouse on a Turkish island, an apartment on

the Let Bank in Paris . . . the possibilities are endless (and I ound all othese in current online directories o available swaps!).

Setting up a swap.

While it can be done inormally among riends or riends o riends,

most people join a home exchange club which lists (online or in a

directory) thousands o potential swappers around the world. You

simply contact the people whose home interests you and correspond

Swapping Homes 13

Swapping Homes

^


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back and orth until you come up with a plan. The costs or joining

these clubs are generally $100-a-year and up. Some o the bigger clubs

(and bigger is always better in the world o exchanging) are:

Intervac Home Exchange (www.intervacus.com)

The Home Exchange Network (www.homeexchange.com)

HomeLink International (www.swapnow.com)

The Invented City (www.invented-city.com)

Swappable items.While most people do simultaneous swaps (i.e., youre in their home

while theyre in yours), some people use their second or vacation

home in the swap. Most swappers also exchange the right to use one

anothers cars, and many swap pet care. Another bonus o swapping is

that amilies will oten swap baby gear and toys, so that they can pack

lightly when they travel.

Saety precautions.

Surprisingly there are very ew reported cases o thet or even damage

in the world o home exchanges. Most people spend so much time

corresponding back and orth with their potential swappees (the

average is about our months) that they know their partners prettywell by the time they exchange. I you are worried about this, there are

ways to protect yoursel in advance o and during a swap:

Ask a lot o questionsbeore you swap.Create a written contract (setting orth your expectations on how

your home will be treated, whether or not the car is involved, who

will pay or phone bills, i the computer can be used, etc.).

Lock awayany valuables.Ask riends to check in on your home and tenants during the swap.

This last suggestion leads to one o the hidden bonuses o swapping:

14 Swapping Homes

exchanging riends. This can be a great way or people to meet locals

worldwide.

Getting the best swap.

Be fexiblewith dates and destinations.Be proactivein pursuing the swaps that interest you.Have the luck o living in a great place. While people travel or

many reasons other than sightseeinge.g., weddings, graduations,

etc. its usually possible to set up a swap rom anywhere i youreone o those lucky people who has a home in New York City, Paris,

London, Orlando, etc.

ATMs

The easiest and best way to get cash away rom home is rom an

ATM. The CIRRUS and PLUS networks now span the globe; look atthe back o your bank card to see which network youre on, then call

or check online or ATM locations at your destination.

You may also consider getting a our-digit PIN number. In many oreign

destinations, longer PINs wont be accepted by local machines.

Note: Remember that many banks impose a ee every time you use a

card at another banks ATM, so i youre a member o a global bank

do some research to nd out where its machines are in the destination

youll be visiting. I thats not possible, know that the ees can be

higher or international transactions ($5 or more in some cases) than

or domestic ones (where theyre rarely more than $2). In addition,

Accessing Money 15

Accessing Money


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the bank rom which you withdraw cash may charge its own ee. To

compare banks ATM ees within the U.S., use www.bankrate.com.

Even with these ees, youll oten save money by using ATMs simply

because the exchange rate they give is generally excellent (and will

oten beat the rate o exchange being given to those who exchange

money at the bank counter). Changing money in this way also allows

travelers to take out small amounts at a time, which is always the

better part o wisdom. One o the reason tourists are oten targeted by

pickpockets is that they unwisely carry large amounts o cash on theirperson. Dont make that mistake.

Travelers checks

Travelers checks are something o an anachronism rom the days

beore the ATM made cash accessible at any time. Theyve become

so uncommon that many hotels and restaurants will no longer accept

them as a orm o payment. And certain exchange bureaus and banks

now charge an additional ee to convert them.

Still, theyre a good back-up as they can be replaced within 24 hours

should they be lost. Many travelers also get a sense o security rom

seeing the denominations they have let to spend, and knowing that

the checks cant be easily used i stolen.American Express, Thomas Cook, Visa and MasterCard oer oreign

currency travelers checks. Youll pay the rate o exchange at the time

o your purchase (so its a good idea to monitor the rate beore you

buy). Most companies charge a transaction ee per order.

Note:Youll get a better exchange rate i you use travelers checks at

banks, rather than currency exchanges, hotels or shops.

Credit cards

Credit cards are another sae way to carry money. They also provide

a convenient record o all your expenses, and generally oer good

16 Accessing Money

exchange rates. However, you should NEVER use a credit card at a

bank machine to get a cash advance. You will be charged an outrageous

ee i you do so, as the bank considers this type o usage as a loanrather than a withdrawal.

Mastercard, American Express, and Visa all charge a 2% ee or the use

o their cards abroad. On top o that, the issuing bank may oten add a

transaction ee (usually between 1% and 3%), whether youre using the

local currency or U.S. dollars. I you plan to be traveling a lot, thereore,

it might be wise to get a credit card rom Bank One or a credit unionin your community; neither o these sources adds on additional ees.It must be said that even with these additional ees youll oten spend

less with a credit card than you will by changing dollars into the local

currency at an exchange bureau. Thats because these agencies generally

oer lousy rates o exchange and add on ees, to boot.

Its a wise idea to notiy your credit card company about your

impending trip abroad, so that they dont become suspicious o oreign

transactions and block your charges. I you orget to do so, contact thecredit card company immediately i a charge is reused. You may have

to do an Internet search to nd the correct number to call, as U.S.-

based toll-ree emergency numbers generally dont work rom abroad.

Involve the entire amily in the planning.

While youll want to control the choice o destination, you should

enlist your childrens help in researching activities or your vacation.

With children over the age o eight, you may consider allowing them

Traveling with Kids 17

Traveling with Kids


11/15

to plan a ull days activities. Its remarkable how giving each member

o the amily his or her day cuts down on complaints. Your ten-year-old son will be better able to tolerate a visit to the Doll Museum

knowing that a baseball game is in his uture.

Immerse your children in the destination beore you startthe trip.

Bring home books o airy tales rom the country youll be visiting or

age-appropriate novels, set in the destination. Rent movies that eature

places that youll see. By preparing your children in this ashion, youllincrease their ability to enjoy the destination exponentially.

Consider renting an apartment or vacation home ratherthan staying in a hotel.

Usually the costs will be equivalent, but with a rental youll likely have

much more space. That means that instead o the entire amily having

to pile into one bedroom, the parents can take the bedroom while the

kids sleep on a old-out couch in the living room (or may get their

own second bedroom). As importantly, with a rental youll have a

kitchen in which to prepare baby bottles or cook meals or nicky

eaters. And being able to prepare at least some o your meals will help

your budget immeasurably.

Give each child a souvenir budget.

And dont give in i they spend it too soon. Its a terric way to teach

them about scal responsibility and keep your kids engaged in the trip.

Build in time to your schedule just or blowing o steam.

Sure its great to see and do new things but children, especially very

young children, need time to simply run around or loll in the grass.

So research where the local playgrounds and parks are when you get

to your destination and budget at least a th o each day just kicking

back and relaxing in them. A hidden perk to hanging out in the

18 Traveling with Kids

park: you get to meet local parents, who can tell you where the great

child-riendly restaurants are, or what lie is like in the locale youre

visiting. (Some o my ondest travel memories are o these impromptuconversations).

Prepare your child (and yoursel) adequately or the ight.

I youre traveling with toddlers or babies, make sure to have a bottle

or pacier handy or take-o and landing. Young ones scream during

these times o fight because they cant adjust the pressure in their ears.

Having something to suck helps with that. For older children, be sureto bring enough distractions to last the fight plus two hoursdelays

are endemic nowadays! For that very same reason, make sure you

bring meals and extra ood along with you. Many airlines now sell

onboard snacks, but theyre rarely the are children enjoy (the same

goes or the kids meals the airlines give away). And beore you get

on board the fight, dont sit in the terminalyoull be doing that

or hours on the plane. Instead, try and nd a terminal playground(many have them nowadays) or an out-o-the-way place where you

and your children can run around and play tag. The more tired they

are beore they board, the quieter the fight will be or you.

Check out kid-riendly events on whatsonwhen.com or atthe local library.

Look or un happenings like parades, circuses, estivals, puppet

shows and country airs. Youll also nd that local libraries in the

places youre visiting can be wonderul resources or diversions such

as story times or crat hours.

Teach your children some o the language, i it will bedierent.

Not only is it polite to know how to say such basics as Please and Thank

You, it will give your child a sense o control as theyre traveling.

Traveling with Kids 19


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Traveling Solo

Skip the air/hotel packages; be careul with cruises and tours.

With prices computed or couples, theyre rarely a good idea or single

travelers as the singles supplement (sometimes between 50% and

80% o the actual cost o the vacation and impossible to argue your

way out o) will oten wipe out any sort o savings. The same could be

said or standard tours and cruises, though many cruise lines and touroperators will hook you up with a roommate o the same gender, ree o

charge. I they cant nd you a roommate, you still get the vacation at

the doubles rate. However, i they do nd someone or you, be sure to

interview that person beore signing up. Theres nothing that can ruin a

vacation quicker than a crotchety stranger sharing your room who keepsdierent hours than you do, has vastly dierent standards o cleanliness,

or is expecting a traveling companion out o the experience, rather than

just someone to help cut the cost o the room. I youd rather keep

control o the roommate-nding process yoursel, go to a Web site on

solo travel, such as Connecting: Solo Travel Network (www.cstn.org) or

TravelChums (www.travelchums.com) and post an ad or a roommate

beoreyou put any money down on that cruise or tour.Book vacations where it doesnt matter that youre single.

Many solo travelers sign up or volunteer vacations or learning

vacations, where the emphasis is on group activities and not on romantic

dinners or two. Travel with organizations such as Global Volunteers,

Earthwatch, or to a learning center such as the Penland School, Oxord

University (which in summer has classes open to all), or the Omega

Institute, to name just a ew volunteer and learning vacations. For older

travelers, the tours o Elderhostel can be wonderul or singles and

attract a number o solo travelers. For younger travelers, the tours o

Contiki are party-heavy singles paradises, or a certain sort o under-35

traveler. Many people also create vacations around interests they mayhave, and then contact the international societies that specialize in these

interests (such as genealogy, archeology, and gardening) and may havespecial events going on in a place theyre planning to visit. The site

SpecialtyTravel.com has dozens o these sorts o vacations.

Consider joining a hospitality club.

Clubs such as the World or Free, The Evergreen Hospitality Club,

and Women Welcome Women specialize in hooking up travelers with

people around the world who enjoy meeting and oering hospitalityto these strangers. Each club has a directory which travelers then use

to contact people in the areas theyll be visiting. Sometimes that person

will oer to show you around their home town, or invite you to dinner,

or maybe even oer up their spare bedroom or couch or three nights

or so. Its a ascinating way to see the world, and joining most o these

clubs costs only between $30 and $50.

I you want to meet your signifcant other on vacation, gowith a dating service, or on a specialized romance trip.

Matchmaking services and Web sites JDate.com (or Jewish singles),

Catholic Singles (or Catholics), and Singles in Paradise and Singles

Travel International (or anyone) plan trips to exotic places across theglobe, with group activities and meals and a lot o ree time so that

participants can meet and then hopeully pair-up on their own on

dates. Trips are competitively priced and they will hook people up with

roommates. Ive seen trips to China, Maui, Costa Rica, and Israel on

oer, as well as shorter trips throughout the U.S. The singles cruises

o Windjammer Bareoot Cruises and singles weeks at Club Med are

among the two most popular (and I hear, successul) oerings o the

many singles weeks oered all over the world.

Traveling Solo 21


13/15

Ask a lot o questions.

Theres no international organization setting standards or what makes

a hotel, resort, cruise ship, or what have you, eco-riendly. Instead there

are 100-or-so smaller organizations, each with their own standards,

giving out certicates. Its a jumbled mess, and even in countries where

the government is the one certiying that a resort or hotel is green,

such as Costa Rica, oten the bureaucratic hassles or getting the

designation are such that worthy organizations go without.

So travelers have to do the legwork themselves. When you call up to

book, speak with a manager and ask how the hotel is husbanding its

resources and protecting the surrounding environment. Some sample

questions you might want to ask: What types o lightbulbs do you

use (energy saving bulbs is the answer youre looking or); or what

kind o water do you use to water the lawn (grey water, which is

recycled rom the laundry or kitchen, helps conserve water). And i

they tell you they get some o their energy rom solar panels or wind

mills: Ding, ding ding, youve hit the jackpot!

Pick an eco-riendly destination.

Costa Rica and Tanzania both have put aside 25% o their land as

area that will be ree rom development. Scotland, too, is making a

big eco-tourism push, as are many other areas around the globe. Seek

them out and use your spending power as a thank-you or doing the

right thing.

Travel with eco-riendly tour companies.

There are certain tour companies that adopt sustainable tourism

models or their businesses. Some o the most prominent include:

Traveling Green

Intrepid Travel: On its tours, the group takes public transportationtogether, stays in local guesthouses, and eats in small, local restaurants

(to help the local economy). It also donates a substantial amount

each year to environmental projects. Intrepid goes throughout Asia,

Arica, Latin American and Europe.

The Sierra Club: This group not only lobbies Congress to protectthe environment, but also runs trips to our National Parks to show

olks what theyre protecting. Some o these trips are called Service

Trips and are partially vacation and partially volunteer work.Consider renting a hybrid rather than a standard car.

In key markets across the U.S., Hertz, Avis and Enterprise have nowadded Toyota Priuses to their feets. Renting one o these energy-

ecient cars costs more than a standard rental, but with the high

price o gasoline, you may end up saving money in the end. And

youre certainly cutting down on your carbon emissions this way.

Look into public transportation.

Dont assume that you have to rent a car at all. In many parts o the U.S.

and Europe, its actually preerable to rely on public transportation.

This is certainly true in trac-clogged cities such as New York, Paris,

London, Rome, and San Francisco. Those traveling along the easterncorridor o the U.S. should look into the options Amtrak oers. In

Japan, Canada, and Europe, taking the train between major cities is

an ecient, aordable and quite comortable option. Taking public

transportation is also an excellent way to cut down on the greenhousegases youre putting into the atmosphere.

Book non-stop ights when you can.

The largest emissions occur during takeo and landings.

Traveling Green 23


14/15

Dont buy ecologically-suspect souvenirs.

Avoid purchases o items made with endangered species or hard

woods. I we all did so, the market would dry up and wed have a

better chance o regrowing our orests and repopulating threatened

species.

24 Traveling Green

Join us every week to hear something thought-provoking,

inspiring, or fun. Editorial directors Kelly Regan and David

Lytle speak with guest travel experts on a wide range of travel-

related topics, from saving money on airfare to insider tips for

visiting Disney with kids to adventure travel in South Africa.

To subscribe or to learn more, visit frommers.com/podcast

or iTunes.

Subscribe to the Frommers.com Travel Podcast

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Travel Podcast


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A cruise is no longer a cruise. It retains no semblanceof the travel experience. Arthur Frommer

Wiley and the Wiley logo are registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Frommers is a registered trademark of Arthur Frommer used under exclusive license

Find comments, opinion, and advice from the founder ofFrommers Travel Guides at http://frommers.com/blog/Each day, the guidebook pioneer blogs about his favorite travel

resources, travel scams to steer clear of, one-of-a-kind bargains,last-minute deals, and current events. In his famously forthright

style, he covers topics as diverse as medical tourism, cruises,

road trips, and the weakening dollar.

The man who brought us Europe on 5 Dollars a Dayis

already a travel god. Now hes a blogging travel god.You go, Mr. Frommer. CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT, Elliott.org

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