If you have to leave your car in an airport or cruise terminal parking lot while you’re away for a week or longer, it can be a not only a pain, but potentially a whopping expense. This week, SmarterTravel’s Ed Perkins shows you how to ease the pain…of the expense.
I’ve had to do this several times and I’ll tell you straight up: The best way by far to do this is…by not doing it. Sometimes, it’s just better — and even more cost-effective — to bite the bullet, get a taxi and leave your own ride at home. But if there’s no way around it, you do have some options, which Perkins walks you through.
If you need to travel a day or more to get to your airport — or can’t handle the idea of driving for hours to get home immediately after spending 11 hours or more in an airline Coach seat, there are hotels which will let you park your car in their lots for free — for up to 14 days — if you spend one night with them before you leave or upon your return.
Perkins will tell you more about that, too.
Virtually every large public airport provides long-term parking, but it’s nearly always expensive and provides little beyond an exposed parking space. For what you’ll be paying, you should get more than that — and with some careful shopping of private long-term lots, you just might.
Private lots will be off the airport property or cruise ship docks. The farther from the terminal, the cheaper they’ll probably be — often with a bus shuttle to and from the terminal.
The minimum you should get for your long-term parking money is security cameras and/or guards on the premises 24/7. Also, a covered lot is always better than one that exposes your car to the elements. Many will allow you to reserve a parking space in advance, something that could come in handy during peak holiday travel seasons like Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The more expensive of the private lots offer some pricey but intriguing options.
Once, when researching long-term lots near Los Angeles International Airport, I found some that would not only wash and “detail” your car while you’re gone, but lay protective mats over your doors and fenders to guard against dents and dings, and give you free jump starts if your battery dies while you’re away.
Some of these lots even have free wi-fi — why, I can’t imagine. It’s not as if you’re going to be hanging around that long, coming or going.
I found some that would even offer you free coffee or bottled water, do oil changes, smog checks, engine cleanings and hand-wash your car — before the valet delivers it to you in front of the airport and helps load your bags in the trunk.
At this rate, by the time you get your car back, you might not recognize it!
And now’s here’s this week’s Digest:
AFRICA
from the New York Times
The NYT’s Alexis Okeowo walks with the animals in Kenya’s Lake Naivasha.
from The Standard (Nairobi, Kenya)
Zanzibar. Even the name sounds romantically exotic.
AMERICAS
from the Washington Post
Captivated by the HBO mini-series Treme? Consider your own visit to the neighborhood that gave New Orleans is beat, and gave the world jazz.
ASIA/PACIFIC
from Frommer’s BUDGET TRAVEL
After decades of murderous civil war and a disastrous tsunami, tropical Sri Lanka is emerging as a hot tourist destination. Tourist visits to this Indian Ocean island nation are up nearly 50 percent for the first half of this year. This entry on the Frommer’s travel site will shed some light on the reasons why.
from the New York Times
With Thailand’s tourism industry left face-down and motionless in the wake of political turmoil, is the Philippines poised to take advantage? The NYT’s Lionel Beehner shows you one gorgeous possible candidate, the island of Boracay. One of my Filipino neighbors wants to retire here; now I know why.
EUROPE
from the New York Times
Spending a week or two in a vacation apartment in Paris is the dream of many an independent traveler. If the mayor of Paris has his way, that dream may soon be harder — and probably more expensive — to come by.
from SmartPlanet
Would you forgo a seat on an airplane and stand for an hour, subway strap-hanger style, in exchange for a $10 airfare? Ryanair, the Yugo of European low-fare airlines, thinks you might. Have these guys ever heard of turbulence? (Props to IBIT reader Deidre Campbell for pulling my coat to this lunacy).
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