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U.S. Cell Phones for International Visitors
The best information we’ve ever seen about U.S. cell phone (mobile) pre-paid plans and phones for international visitors comes from this article on TravelTechTalk. The U.S. is way behind the times with cell (and, separately, broadband internet) coverage and plans. If you’re visiting, one option may be to see what your international roaming rates are from your carrier. For example, we found that UK T-Mobile roaming (with a UK prepaid SIM) runs 55p per minute. Yes, that’s high, but good enough for quick calls for restaurant reservations or such. You should also then purchase a U.S. phone card (calling card) that may allow you to call (from a U.S. landline) back to the UK for as little as 7 cents per minute (with the IS Card, one of several options we’ve had success with) for your longer calls home.
[The best source for worldwide cell phone information is at PrePaidGSM.]
New Flight Search Tool
We’re always looking for better flight-planning tools, and we’ve been searching for the best “Who Flies Where” website. Although we frequently use ITA Software, its matrix results are sometimes too detailed, especially when we haven’t even begun price shopping.
The UK site jetnav.co.uk seems to offer a good Who Flies Where tool. In our rather limited tests, it shows more airlines than ITA does (ITA doesn’t show Southwest or easyJet, for example). Another thing we like about jetnav is that although you have to plug in dates, the results show what days a flight operates.
Since jetnav doesn’t list prices, the results are displayed by flight times (great for planning), and the endless combinations in ITA are simplified or eliminated.
jetnav does seem slow for some of its searches from little airport to little airport, and for flights of more than one stop.
Airlines Offering No-Annual-Fee Credit Cards
For a more complete discussion of the pros and cons of airline frequent-flyer-miles credit cards, see our How To Travel blog. If you’re interested in no-annual-fee cards, here are the airlines currently offering them. These cards are different from cards that promise no annual fees for the first year, but then (unless you cancel) institute annual fees thereafter. Some of the cards listed below may offer a reduced sign-up mileage bonus, and most will only earn miles at 1 mile per $2 spending. (You might consider acquiring the annual-fee card for the first year, if it’s offered free that first year, and then calling to switch to the no-fee card just before your first year is up.) Also note that with the state of the airline industry, some of these card offerings (and some of the airlines themselves) may disappear. For example, as we write this, Frontier is in bankruptcy but still flying. If they go under, you can kiss goodbye any miles acquired from any source – including from the credit card. Airlines offering no-annual-fee credit cards:
- American
- United
- USAir
- Midwest
- AirTran
- Frontier
- IcelandAir
- China Air
- Korean Air
Stress-Free Travel
In these days of airline insanity, airport confusion, and crowded everything, we always try to travel as stress-free as possible. Our ideas for reducing travel stress include Plan Ahead; Travel Light; Be Flexible; and many other tips. We've posted our complete set of stress-free travel tips on our How To Travel blog.
Airline Bankruptcies
In just the past few months, Aloha, ATA, Skybus Eos, and MAXjet airlines all folded. Frontier has declared bankruptcy, but is still flying. In our opinion, we think this will definitely lead to higher airfares (especially for domestic U.S. travel). We also caution travelers to always pay for air tickets with a credit card, and if you’re going to rely on smaller/discount airlines, be ready for the unexpected.
Cool, Fun, Generally Mindless (and Maybe Useful) Travel Websites
Skis To Your Door
Ski season in the U.S. is already more than halfway over, but at many resorts there’s still snow into April. If you’re traveling to ski and 1) don’t want to drag your gear through airports, hotels, and shuttle busses, or 2) you’re fed up with cheap, poorly-tuned rental gear, consider a ski-delivery service. These companies bring high-end demo gear right to your door. Two companies serving a variety of western resorts are Black Tie Ski Rentals and Ski Butlers. Several smaller companies operate at individual resorts.
Travelling Light & Shopping
Anyone who’s flown in the last couple of years knows the increasing hassles of weight and size limits for both carry-ons and checked luggage. Not to mention dragging all your stuff through multiple airports; nor the chance that your luggage will be “mishandled” (lost, delayed, damaged, or in Nairobi).
So we have a radical suggestion for certain types of trips: Buy your clothing, cosmetics, personal items and the like at your destination.
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Do Not Use TracFone
In our original research for the How To Travel America book and website, we recommended TracFone as a solution for short-term U.S. cell phone service. After still another terrible customer-service experience with TracFone, we do not recommend TracFone. We will continue to research possible options, and post updated information about cell phone options as soon as we can confidently recommend a quality provider.
Telephone Area Codes
We found a great interactive map showing all U.S. area codes. There are so many different area codes in America, sometimes it's difficult to know where you're calling. There is also an area code map for Canada here.
Credit Cards
The fraud departments of credit-card companies are getting even more diligent. Be sure to call your credit-card issuer(s) a week before you travel and tell them you'll be travelling out of the country.
Daylight Saving Time
Daylight Saving Time has always seemed an oddity to us. Nevertheless, the time changes (“Summer Time” in Europe) in spring and fall have seldom exactly coincided between continents and countries. Beginning March 11, 2007, the U.S. will be on a different schedule again. U.S. Daylight Saving Time will now begin on the second Sunday in March, and end on the first Sunday in November. Arizona (except for the Navajo Indian reservation) and Hawaii do not observe Daylight Saving Time. Canada has decided to change their Daylight Saving Times to coordinate with the new U.S. standards. European Summer Time generally begins on the last Sunday in March and ends on the last Sunday in October. Many other places around the world observe some form of Daylight Saving Time. Keep these changes and differences in mind when doing your travel planning.
Half-Price Theatre Tickets
Many Europeans, and America travelers to London, are familiar with the Leicester Square half-price ticket booth. TKTS in New York has a similar program, offering great discounts on same-day Broadway theatre tickets. TKTS has two booths in New York, and a newly re-designed website (www.tdf.org) that can make your theatre planning easier. The website also links to similar ticket programs in some two dozen cities in the U.S. and around the world.
World Time Zones
Tired of calculating and guessing whether the UK is 7 or 8 hours ahead or behind Central U.S. time, etc.? Worry no more. The website timezonecheck.com has become one of our new favorites. You can instantly see the time anywhere in the world, and compare it to your local time.
Hotel Frequent Guest Programs
Many hotel chains also offer “frequent guest” or “frequent stay” programs, and even for international visitors, it may be worthwhile to sign up for some of these programs. If you’re traveling around the U.S. and expect or want to stay in the same chain’s properties in several places, you can build points for free rooms and other discounts quite quickly.
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More Small Items to Travel With
We generally suggest you travel with as little “stuff” as possible, yet there are always a few small things we really like to have, which can make your travels much easier. We’ve mentioned some here in other Travel Tips. Here are a few more items to consider:
- Strapping Tape – The kind we prefer is fiber tape about an inch wide. It’s untearable, and can be used for everything from strapping up damaged luggage, to packing a box for shipment home, to being used as a clothesline.
- Corkscrew – If you enjoy wine on your travels, pack a small “waiter’s” corkscrew (in your checked luggage). Sometimes we just can’t find one and don’t want to only drink screw-top wines. As a bonus, many corkscrews include a handy small knife (good for cutting that strapping tape).
- Ziploc Bags – The quart size is now required for your liquids and cosmetics and such when going through airport security. But an extra half dozen or so take up no room in your luggage and have dozens of uses for organizing, collecting, leftover lunches, and containing leaky shampoo bottles.
- Small Bills and Change – Whenever you travel, in the U.S. or internationally, save your small bills and some coins for your next trip (unless you’re sure you’ll never go back to that country). Sure, ATMs give you cash in the airport, but that’s usually in larger bills. Small bills are great for tipping shuttle drivers, and change can speed up your travels through highway toll stations.
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Flying vs. Driving
For our U.S. readers, is it worth driving instead of flying on vacation? Here’s what we think.
Several recent surveys seem to indicate that many vacationers are forgoing flying – choosing to drive instead, even considering gas prices. So we thought we’d do a quick back-of-the-napkin comparison.
Say you’re planning a week or longer leisure trip along the west coast, and weighing the costs of flying versus driving. Let’s pretend it’s 800 miles one way – far enough that it’s a two-day drive, compared to a one-stop flight (which, of course, will take all of a day each way, with diving to the airport, security, plane change, and car rental time). If you can afford the extra day each way, here’s our very simple breakdown:
AIR
Cheap flight $300 each, x 2 for a couple = $600
Cheap car rental = $540
Airport parking $10/day x 7 days = $70
Total for transportation legs = $1,210
CAR
Gas at $4.50/gallon = $450
Lodging at $150/night x 2 nights = $300
Breakfast & dinner on the road x 2 = $120
Total for transportation legs = $870
So, for $340 less, but two extra days, you get to take your golf clubs, lots of luggage, and bring home cases of wine or gourmet foods.
If you’re a family, those extra airfares for the rest of the family send this comparison out the (car) window. As will extra-baggage fees if you want to travel with the luxuries you can stuff in your car for free. And if you want to upgrade to a decent car.
You don’t have to take your shoes off to go through security to get to your car. You can snack as you want (better and cheaper, too). You can still feel your butt even after a day of driving because you can stop to stretch and move around. If you have pets and can find pet-friendly lodging, you can take the critters and save on kennel costs.
You (probably) won’t be made to feel like a criminal by the U.S. government (TSA). You’ll see some incredible scenery along the way.
Finally, the cheap $300 airfare example we’ve used may soon be a thing of the past. Is it surprising that the U.S. airline industry is in deep trouble?
Language Translator
We’ve literally been searching for this for years, but we finally stumbled on the source. One of our favorite international travel tools is a flip-card that shows icons for transportation, medical conditions, food, lodging, and many other items. It was given to us by the physician’s office which advised us on vaccines for travel to exotic locations. Try as we might, we couldn’t find the source (and the drug company that produced the cards didn’t seem to offer them to the public), or how to get another copy – until now.
These waterproof, foldable cards are made by Kwikpoint. For only 15 bucks, there’re an invaluable resource for travel to any country where it’s likely you won’t know the language. Think villages in South America where they speak neither English nor Spanish. Africa. Pacific islands. Asia has so many different languages. We struggled to ask for ibuprofen in Slovenia (we tried English and Spanish; the pharmacist knew Slovene and Italian).
Kwikpoint makes several cards, but the most interesting two seem to be the International Translator and the Medical Visual Language Translator.While designed for U.S. travelers going to foreign countries, this could also be useful for international visitors coming to the U.S. who don’t speak English. Pictures are the same all over the world.
Quiet Times to Travel
Many of us prefer the quieter seasons for travelling. We all know how busy and crazy summer (July-August) can be at popular attractions. Seasoned travelers also know to avoid the U.S. spring break/Easter holiday periods. In our opinion, some of the best times to travel in the U.S. are:
- The first week after the New Year. Ski areas are quiet, and even in warmer destinations the crowds are gone as people stay home and settle in for the new year.
- Fall in general (September-October), and especially the first week after the Labor Day holiday. Many Americans have used the last of their vacation time over the holiday weekend, and are back at work and staying home.
- The two weeks after the Thanksgiving weekend. Americans do their holiday traveling at Thanksgiving and again starting the week before Christmas (and through New Years).
- The two to three weeks after spring break and Easter. School breaks vary, and Easter changes yearly, but the early spring period right after Easter is usually a slow time.
Shortwave Radios
If you have a portable shortwave radio, you might consider packing it in your checked luggage. (With today’s airline carry-on restrictions, we’re not sure how these electronics may be perceived by security screeners.) Shortwave radios can receive broadcasts from around the globe. With a fairly inexpensive and small shortwave radio, you can receive programming and news from sources such as the BBC London, Radio Australia, Swiss Radio International, Deutsche Welle (Germany), Radio Netherlands, Radio Japan, and many others. Some programming is in English, while some is in the native language of the broadcaster. And, for U.S. residents, these stations can be a fascinating way to hear news and perspectives from other parts of the world.
Lodging Map Service
The (UK) Times Online is touting a new Google hotel map service, which includes information, maps, directions, and reviews. Just type in “Kansas city hotels” or the name of a specific lodging such as “Seasons Resort Warren Vermont” and you can find lodging options. In limited testing, we found the mapping service even finds smaller B&Bs. According to The Times Online, the service currently only works with U.S. properties.
Travel Magazines
Realizing that many Americans, as well as international travelers, visit this website, we wanted to mention two travel magazines which U.S. readers may be unaware of. In our opinion, two of the best English-language travel magazines are both produced in the UK – Wanderlust and the Sunday Times Travel magazine. Sunday Times Travel focuses more heavily on "city breaks" to destinations around the world (not just Europe). And despite seeming a bit too interested in the antics of people such as soccer star David Beckham and his wife Victoria (Posh Spice), it is a fun and informative publication. Wanderlust is one of the best "adventure travel" magazines we've seen, covering destinations on every continent. Both publications should be available at large magazine stands and some large bookstores.
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Finding your Hotel
If you're traveling in a large American city – and especially if you're taking public transportation such as subways and taxis – carry a brochure or card from your hotel. Especially if your English is weak, a card with a printed name and address will be all a taxi driver needs to get you back to your lodging.
Airport Check in & Security
Negotiating the airport always takes more time than you think. And if it doesn't, be happy that you've planned for it. Sometimes, the airline's check-in lines are much longer than the security lines. Do everything to reduce your time in line – check luggage curbside with a skycap (if possible); check in on-line (if you have access to a computer and printer, and don't have checked luggage); see if an airport hotel offers airline check in for guests. It's not about the time at the airport – you'll arrive early anyway – it's about the reduced frustration of standing too long in line.
Checked Baggage
Pack lighter. Several airlines have recently reduced their allowable weight per checked bag from the previous limit of 70 pounds down to 50 (22.6 kg). To be safe, keep all bags below the 50-pound weight limit, even if that means checking two bags instead of one.
Travel Luggage
A great tip from the Changes In Latitude travel store: Include one or two collapsible bags when you pack for a trip, so that you’ll have plenty of room on the return trip for souvenirs or other purchases you acquire.
Quality Hotel Restaurants
The hotels of Las Vegas have become known for their high-quality restaurants and their celebrity chefs. Elsewhere across the U.S., hotel restaurant food has generally been considered just about average. According to The Wall St. Journal, that’s changing this fall, with the opening of high-end hotel restaurants in several U.S. cities. The Journal cites (along with several other restaurants) Buddakan, The Pier at Caesars, Atlantic City; Craft, W Dallas Victory; Simon LA, Sofitel Los Angeles; L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Four Seasons Hotel, New York; and Osteria de Tramonto, Westin Chicago North Shore Hotel. To us, this is a welcome trend in fine dining in major U.S. cities.
Pack a Compass
Who hasn’t stepped out of a train station or subway and been overwhelmed by skyscrapers and look-alike streets radiating in every direction. All you want to do is find the museum mentioned in the guidebook, but can’t begin to figure out which direction to start. We always travel with a tiny, inexpensive compass, and can quickly orient a map or guide to the street layout. Just knowing that you need to walk north but are actually facing west can ease your journey considerably.
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