Have you ever wondered why your pleas for a couch to sleep on aren't returned? Do you feel doomed to travel without the privilege of a free night's accommodation and the pleasure of great local company? Do me a favour. Log into your profile and give it a read over. If someone contacted you with a profile like yours, would you let him into your home? C'mon, be honest.
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Our series continues with a list of writing techniques and exercises to help further streamline your writing process and curb writer's block to keep the words flowing.
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Even in the shakiest economic times, savvy families can always find ways to shave pennies, dollars, and even hundreds of dollars off their travel spending. Here are 20 tried-and-true strategies to help you get more bang from your vacation buck
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Think Christmas, and often it's a Norman Rockwellish, New England-inspired image that comes to mind: fir trees, clapboard homes with smoke rising from chimneys, wreaths on doors, and, of course, a dusting of snow.
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CBS News reported last week on a trend that we're noticing all too often as we criss-cross the country: struggling local business. As often as possible, we hit up local restaurants. The food is usually tastier, the service more personalized, and we're always happy to give our money to a community business instead of a corporate chain.
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It's true, you can buy a bag of pasta just about anywhere. However, purchasing colorful pasta in Venice not only carries the stamp of Italian authenticity, but it offers a cheap and tasty solution to a potentially costly dilemma!
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Now here are this week's brain-busters: 1. What is the name of Brook Silva-Braga's 2007 documentary about round-the-world travel? 2. What lively street in central Bangkok, Thailand, is known as the world's most popular "backpacker ghetto"?
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Looking for a ski getaway with authentic local charm? The December issue of Travel + Leisure magazines recommends five ski towns that "hold true to their local roots. "
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I mentioned last week that I was getting ready for a trip to England -- and I was a bit panicky about the fact that I hadn't finished packing. The truth is, whenever I pack for an international trip, I pack with two "me"'s in mind: Me The Tourist (who, at all costs, needs adequate underwear and hair products) and Me The Photographer (whose head would explode if she forgot her camera charger or, God forbid, her camera).
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Review of Global Lost and Found, an item recovery service.
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Last week we featured an interview with Graham Kingaby, who is the Insurance Director at World Nomads Travel Insurance. We talked about travel insurance tips, what to look out for and about how World Nomads specifically caters to travellers' needs. This week we want to talk about our approach to travel insurance as well as look at how to find travel insurance and approach making a claim.
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Though she has run a bed and breakfast in Portland, Dorset, for more than a decade, Margaret Dunlop had never had an inquiry like it. The man at the end of the phone was calling from America, trying to book a fortnight's stay at the Queen Anne House B&B - in four years' time. Soon after, someone called from Greece, and before long the inquiries for 2012 were flooding in.
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Tips to surviving airport holiday travel.
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Venice can get a little claustrophobic after a few days, which is when you should head out, by vaporetto or taxi, to the wide-open sea and sky of the silvery lagoon.
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The air is already laced with diesel fumes as the conductor shouts, "All aboard! " The engineer sounds the whistle, and the locomotive lurches forward. Squeals of delight emanate from the passenger cars. This train ride is a first for many of the children. The adults share their excitement because they are setting off on a unique international adventure.
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Speaking a bit of the local language is a skill that will improve your travel experience immeasurably. The problem is that learning languages is really, really difficult, even when you have plenty of time. Here are my tips on taking a crash course in the basics of a language when your departure date looms very near. You just need ten or fifteen minutes a day to give yourself a bit of an advantage in the traveling stakes.
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The long and hard fought battle for landing slots rages on in New York and London, where airlines like Virgin Atlantic and British Airways squabble over who gets how many slots and when they're allowed to leave and depart from their airports.
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Whether you prefer to spend New Year's Eve partying to the max, turning over a new leaf for 2009, or simply getting as far away from the festivities as possible, Sarah Turner and Nicola Iseard have some hot ideas for post-Christmas breaks
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When the first OpenSkies jet took off in June from Paris for New York, the new airline was doing more than taking advantage of recently relaxed rules for flying across the Atlantic. Its owner, British Airways, was trying out a new business model applying the cost structure of a budget carrier to a more upscale operation.
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Each week we visit an emerging neighbourhood in a different city around the world. This week: Nakameguro in Tokyo
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Laura Porter over at About's UK Travel site has a great list of things to do in London for free.
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The Amateur Traveler talks to Beth Whitman, author of Wanderlust and Lipstick for Women Traveling to India, about the joys and challenges of traveling to India, especially solo travel as a woman. Learn what iconic image Beth has in her house, how she can go to the sub-continent with only the clothes on her back and how to fall in love with India.
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Why stop at booking flights and hotels online? These days, you can find travel companions too
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Philippe Starck chose the revitalised 20th arrondissement for his quirky new hotel. Can it change Amy Raphael's idea of the capital?
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I just moved out of my parents' house and into a one-bedroom apartment about fifteen minutes away by car. While this does not sound like a daunting "trip," there is more to living alone than meets the eye. In fact, as I type this with no other sound but the whir of my bedroom fan, I am reminded of the pangs of loneliness that I occasionally feel when traveling solo on the far reaches of this planet.
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It's understandable why Americans these days are thinking twice about venturing south of the border. A wave of gruesome violence, much of it related to drug trafficking, has swept Mexico in the last two years, leaving thousands dead.
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You are not alone Americans. In these stressful economic and financial times the French are sharing and feeling your pain. The only problem is that they are blaming you for it.
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2008 has been a tumultuous year in Iceland. An earthquake rocked the country in June and a few weeks ago the turmoil was financial. For a tourist, Iceland is now affordable - prices have plummeted, with beer down by over half to as low as £3 - but what about the Icelanders? 'They're resilient,' says Pete Leigh.
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Travel can open your eyes to some of the worlds most beautiful sights and buildings -- and to some of the ugliest. Web site VirtualTourist. com www. virtualtourist. com has come up with a list of The Worlds Top 10 Ugliest Buildings and Monuments according to their editors and readers. Reuters has not endorsed this list.
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It has been a great year for gadget loving travelers, and I have come across some really fantastic products that have helped make my own trips much more enjoyable. It was not easy keeping the list to just 25 products, and there should be something for everyone in this lineup. So, without any further delay, I present (in no particular order), the 25 best travel technology products of 2008.
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In two days, my husband, 4-year-old daughter and I are going to be leaving for a two-week trip to visit my in-laws in England. And I am panicking: not because I don't like my in-laws (I do) or because I don't like the cold (I don't, but I'll deal) . . . . . . I'm panicking because I haven't finished packing.
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With the staggering proliferation of blogs in the past few years, more folks than ever are getting into the writing game. One year ago today, we kicked off our A Guide to Better Travel Writing Series with 23 Essential Tips & Habits
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It is a familiar refrain heard from most American tourists when visiting Rome, or for that matter visiting any European capital: "Everything is so expensive in Europe these days: hotels, flights, souvenirs and food! "
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I was born and raised in Chicago. I'd visited other cities, flown to Buenos Aires (where my mother is from), and driven in forty of the forty-eight contiguous states. In 1998, while I was thirty, I received an offer to manage a restaurant in Beverly Hills. It was the impetus for the trip of my lifetime. After considering all the pros and cons, and unable to come to a resolution, I talked to my dad about it. He convinced me to go. I wasn't married, had no kids, wasn't bound by a mortgage...
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With an unenviable position of being stuck between wine superstars Bordeaux and Côtes du Rhône, France's Languedoc is a region whose wine just can't manage to shine. Through the years, frustrated vintners have ripped up their vines and headed for friendlier terroir and reputation.
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What a perfectly timed event this was, following a heavy day at World Travel Market 2008 that began with endless queues at Canning Town and ended with an annoyingly dead mobile phone. Blogcamp 08, superbly arranged by Darren of Travel Rants fame, was the day's highlight. With views across the Thames from the Blackfriars pub, coupled with chat over a pint and far more fascinating bloggers than I'd expected to find, being a British travel blogger suddenly became very enjoyable.
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Santa Barbara may be tiny - its 90,000 residents could be seated in the Los Angeles Coliseum - but it packs Oprah-like cachet. Indeed, the queen of daytime TV and other A-listers have made this former outpost of Spain's American dominions their second home. Posh hotels, seven-figure mansions and trendy boutiques have opened along the so-called American Riviera, catering to members of the Hollywood set who drive up every weekend to frolic among the languorous palms and suntanned celebrities.
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Cost-conscious travelers can enjoy bountiful pleasure at mealtime if they choose their itinerary carefully and order smartly. To help with the planning each month, USA TODAY's Jerry Shriver offers a menu of suggestions from a major destination.
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Visiting wine country usually brings to mind sun-dappled hillsides dotted with vineyards, winding country roads and stone chateaus. There are always small towns flush with boutiques and fine restaurants tucked down side roads. Galleries with well-known artists on their walls and symphonies with the latest hot musicians seem to call the area home.
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Leave a lighter travel footprint in celebration of America Recycles Day on Saturday. Margaret Kelly, editor of Fodor's Green Travel: The World's Best Eco-Lodges and Earth-Friendly Hotels, shares her list of environmentally thoughtful lodgings with Kathy Baruffi for USA TODAY.
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