Tips to fight your travel credit card dispute
October 27, 2009 ·
When Carla DeLuca canceled her room at the W Hotel Union Square in New York a week before her arrival, the hotel decided to ding her for a night’s stay anyway. Despite assurances from several W employees that the erroneous charge would be reversed, DeLuca, who owns a marketing company in San Francisco, was asked [...]
Tips for traveling safely during flu season
October 26, 2009 ·
Last spring thousands of travelers canceled trips to Mexico after a swine flu outbreak there emptied beaches and resorts. Staying home won’t protect you from swine flu now: Forty-six states have reported widespread flu activity. “The thought that the virus was just a Mexico problem is gone,” said Sondra Wilson, owner of several Travel Leaders [...]
Airlines still looking for business travelers
October 21, 2009 ·
Airlines value premium travelers above other customers, letting them board first, eat a meal, and order a cocktail without whipping out a credit card. Many of them are business travelers who fly frequently and often pay higher last-minute fares than the jeans-and-T-shirt crowd on the way to see grandma. Anyone who questions why airlines treat [...]
Thanksgiving travel options by the numbers
October 21, 2009 ·
Holiday surcharges. Bag fees. Fees for just about everything. Long airport security lines. Flying might not be your cheapest, quickest or most comfortable option to travel to grandma’s house this Thanksgiving. Consider taking the bus or Amtrak, driving or even renting a recreational vehicle for a family adventure. At an average $2.57 a gallon this [...]
Why 2010 will be the year of the travel deal
October 15, 2009 ·
If you thought the travel bargains were unbelievable this year, just wait until 2010. I’m fully aware that this prediction flies in the face of conventional wisdom. I mean, how many travel experts have you seen on TV lately, warning that the deals are going, going, gone? They’re everywhere. But they’re probably wrong. Consider: A [...]
Wine tourism, on safari or from the armchair
October 13, 2009 ·
“In Search of Bacchus: Wanderings in the Wonderful World of Wine Tourism” (Scribner, 287 pages, $30), by George M. Taber: Thirty-three years ago, George M. Taber set the world of wine on fire with a four-paragraph dispatch about a tasting in France that compared the work of French vintners with those of their counterparts in [...]
Attractions offer glimpses of life under communism
October 12, 2009 ·
If you’re interested in the history of Eastern Europe under communism, a number of places around the region offer glimpses of life before the Berlin Wall fell. Here are a few of them, ranging from somber museums to historic sites to themed attractions that are downright kitschy or bizarre. One must-see for tourists visiting Germany [...]
