Gerri Willis writes a daily column of five tips and today they feature things you can do in the event of bad service or a bad product, as it relates to travel. Some of these are common sense, you may already do these things, others are on that border of where you aren’t sure if it’s customary to ask or if the company will laugh at you. This covers airlines, cruises, hotels, tours, and online travel agencies (Expedia, Travelocity, etc).
Live in America and plan on traveling abroad? Live elsewhere and plan on traveling here? Chances are you know that you’ll need to get some sort of electric outlet converter (voltage converter) so that your hair dryer or alarm clock (or whatever) doesn’t get burned up in the voltage differences. Most non-US countries are on the 220-240V system whereas in America, we want to be different, we use the 110-120V. Without a converter, American appliances would probably work ridiculously well for a ridiculously short amount of time and then burn up. That’s why you need a converter like the Proctor-Silex 10082 Foreign Travel Voltage Converter and Adaptor Set (it’s only $12.99 anyway).
Welcome my neighbors to the North! I am honored to have been featured in Canada.com’s Virtually There blog on May 17th (though I’m a little late in realizing it) and I’d like to take a minute to say hello and give you a warm welcome to my site.
Also, to those of you who didn’t come here from Canada.com’s Virtually There blog, compiled by Cathy Boucek, I invite you to check it out. It’s not focused on Canada, it’s a “daily look at quirky travel news stories, off-beat articles and useful travel links.” So am I quirky, off-beat, or useful? 
In a CNNMoney article it was reported that half of Americans are surrendering eight or more days of vacation a year! This data was culled from records from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics by Universal Orlando Resort - so I doubt they’d be skewing the data in any way. Newark, NJ topped the list with the most surrendered days and Sacramento, CA with the least.
This is a tactic I’ve been using ever since I set foot in a hotel room - take the soaps, shampoos, and conditions from hotel rooms. Partially it’s my frugal nature, I’ve paid for it and it’s mine; partially I don’t want to waste it (especially when I’ve only stayed one night); and partially because I know that if I go on a trip where I’ll need travel sized toiletries it would be convenient to keep around. I don’t see the logic in going to a CVS or RiteAid and paying money for something that I would throw out any other day. So next time you stay in a hotel, just keep the toiletries and if you look in your closet and find a million bottles of shampoo… maybe it’s time you should take a vacation.
CNN ran a story in its travel section today giving readers some good tips on how to get into the most popular restaurants without getting a reservation four years in advance (well, really only two months). The article itself is a little basic and never talks about greasing any palms, which may be a relief for frugal people like myself.
What are CityPasses, Go Cards, and Connect cards? They’re all-in-one discount pass cards to local attractions within a certain city. In cities where attractions are closeby and easy to access, all-in-one passes are an incredible deal because they let you into places cheaper than if you paid for them individually. For many of them, they are valid for multiple days (some CityPasses are valid for up to a year after you first use them) and contain actual tickets so you can bypass the regular lines, which can get pretty big at popular destinations.
Everyone loves a blowout vacation - you drop a couple grand on a great vacation that’s a week or two (or three) to an exotic locale. You drink dozens of drinks with umbrellas in them and you sit on the beach… or you drink lots of electrolytes and climb mountains and hills. Whatever fancies you, a huge blowout vacation always de-stresses and lets you do what you’d love to do for the rest of your life. But those only come every few years (or more often if you’re lucky/rich), so what about the times in between? That’s when the mini-vacation comes in.
When I booked a cruise recently, Travelocity was offering a packet of dollar-off coupons as an incentive. These coupon codes come in the way of coupon promotion codes so I thought I’d share it with the loyal Ease of Travel readership. If you are interested in using them, all I ask is that you use an Ease of Travel link to Travelocity and throw a few bucks my way. Click on the full article below for the complete list of coupon codes. Cheers!
This site used to list deals and bargains… well, that’ s been moved to Bargaineering and in its place you’ll find a blog about travel. It’ll list some travel deals, it’ll list my travel plans, and it’ll just have a whole bunch of useful travel information you hopefully won’t find elsewhere. I also would like it to act as a chronicle of my own vacations and show you how you can take vacations every few months (even if they’re mini-vacations) and how that will help you keep your sanity.
If you’ve been working for quite a while and the last vacation you took was Spring Break your Freshmen Year… you probably need a vacation.