Tag Archives: Independent Travel

WHAT NOT TO PACK…EVER

Leave a reply

Amsterdam skyline | © Greg Gross

You won’t find any of these items on the TSA’s banned list, but they should always be on yours.

Packing light is always important for the independent traveler, especially the way the airlines will reach into your pocket if you don’t. But there are more reasons for packing light than saving money on baggage fees. Here’s my own list of items that you should always leave at home:

PREJUDICES
You have them. I have them. We’ve all “heard” this and that about this country or “those people.” The French are like this. The Japanese are like that. These folks are racists. Those people smell. They all carry knives. You get the picture.

It’s burdensome lugging all that stuff with you. It weighs you down. Worse, it colors your views of places you haven’t been and people you haven’t met yet. Travel is for ridding yourself of stereotypes, not reinforcing them.

Bring instead: An open mind. It fits in the smallest suitcase — and it’s a lot lighter. Let a place, or a people, reveal themselves to your on their own terms.

DRAMA
In some ways, the act of traveling means volunteering to feal with all the things that potentially can go wrong. And that’s a long list, starting at the airport. On second thought, don’t even get me started about airports!

It’s how you choose to respond to the unforeseen calamity that will decide the fate of your trip. If you’re the type who goes from Zero to Attitude in 2.7 seconds, you might be better off staying home.


Bring instead: Patience, + a good sense of humor. Stuff happens. Be patient. Speak up for yourself when it’s needed, but without going ballistic. Nobody’s conspiring to give you a bad time. Show some understanding. Find a reason to smile and even laugh at the difficulty.

Your blood pressure will be lower, and your esteem among your fellow travelers will be higher.


FEAR
Whether they admit it or not, fear is a major reason why a lot of folks don’t travel. Simply put, they’re afraid of everything.

They’re afraid of paying too much. They’re afraid someone will pick their pocket or snatch their purse, or steal their luggage. Afraid they’ll miss a connecting flight or their cruise ship’s departure. Afraid they didn’t pack enough, or packed too much of the wrong thing. Afraid of terrorists. Afraid of bad weather. Afraid strangers will think they look funny, that they’ll be treated differently because they’re black, or hated on because they’re American.

The list of people’s fears when it comes to travel could fill a blog. They weigh down your consciousness. They distort every moment of your experience — and ultimately ruin it.

Bring instead: A little courage and a lot of optimism. The world is neither perfect nor perfectly safe, but neither is it a great blue booby trap floating in space, waiting to ensnare you in its clutches and swallow you whole.

Most of the human beings with whom you share this world are basically decent people. They have families. They like to laugh and smile and have a good time. Thery’re proud of their home,their community, their country, are too happy to help a visitor who shows respect for it, and for them.

I’ve had strangers in London walk up and offer me their transit passes; they were leaving the city and didn’t need them anymore. I’ve had tram operators in Amsterdam let us ride for free. I’ve had a bunch of kids in Tokyo take us by the arm and lead us to a jumpin’ jazz club in the Ginza that’s not found in anybody’s tour guide and that we never would’ve found on our own.

None of them knew me from Adam.

Give the world, and yourself, a chance. You just might be amazed.

See how much better your travels can be when you pack light?

AVIATION QUEEN: I “Heart” Orlando International Airport!

1 Reply

By BENÉT WILSON
I have always been an airport geek.  I love the wonder and possibilities that they offer.  You walk by gates and can dream about all the places you can go.  Back in 2006, I took over the airports/security beat, which meant I was yet again being paid to cover my hobby.

On Wednesday, I flew down to Orlando for the day to speak at a conference about the joys and pains of social media.  I was excited about the speech, but I was even more excited about going to Orlando International Airport. 

If that airport feels like Disney World, that’s the plan. 

Full disclosure — I’m a good friend and mentee of Carolyn Fennell. Her title is director of public affairs for the airport, but she’s the actual power behind the throne there.  You can read a great profile of her here.

Officials at Orlando Airport know that their facility is the first thing people see when they arrive to visit Disney, Universal Studios and other attractions in the city. So it was important to make the facility feel welcoming. 

If you squint and use your imagination, the monorail that gets you from the concourse to the main terminal feels just like the Disney monorail and is just as clean.  The airport is light, bright and airy, with a great mix of retail/food outlets.  And it’s one of those airports that offers free wi-fi.

I had about an hour and a half to kill, and in some airports, that can feel like a lifetime.  Not at Orlando.  There are comfy chairs and tables where you can relax or get in some work.  You can go shopping, and there are some great stores, including: Harley Davidson, Johnston & Murphy, Ron Jon’s Surf Shop and Swatch.  You can pick up last-minute souvenirs from the Disney Earport store (my daughter loves her Disney Fairy Tea Set, $19.95), Sea World and Universal Studios. 

And the airport has one of my all-time favorite brands — Lush, which sells freshly made cosmetics and bath/shower items. I discovered them during a trip to London and have been hooked on the red rooster soap and bath bombs ever since.  But I digress.

On the food side, they have the usual fast-food outlets, but there’s a Krispy Kreme – complete with the “Hot Donuts” sign — in the Food Court.  There’s a Hyatt Regency smack in the middle of the airport that’s actually owned and operated by the Greater Orlando Airport Authority.  And they have a spa — D_parture, which offers hair services, massages, spa treatments and nail services.  Most of the sundry/news stands even sell bags of Florida oranges!

So the next time you’re at the airport, take a look around and see the possibilities!

Text and photos by B. Wilson

QuestionsView Results

Attention, black folks: American Airlines likes you! No, really!

4 Replies

When a Fortune 500 corporation makes this blatant a pitch to African-American consumers, it’s a sure sign of one thing: They’re in deep financial trouble.

American Airlines flight landing at Lindbergh Field, San Diego

American Airlines flight landing at Lindbergh Field, San Diego

American Airlines is launching a social networking site specifically targeting African-Americans travelers. It’s to be called “Black Atlas.” It bills itself as “your passport to the black experience.”

Excuse me, but since when did being black require a passport? And why am I always the last one to get the memo?! Guess I’ll have to go apply for one.

Yo, does anybody have the address for the Black Experience embassy?!

If you were suspecting that the airlines are in deep financial doo-doo in this stubborn recession, you may now consider those suspicions confirmed, for only financial desperation of the most extreme sort would lead any airline to resort to something like this.

(And before I forget, a large, grateful shout out to my friend and former colleague Dorrine for pulling my coat to this.)

NON-SOPHISTICATES OUT
According to the airline — and its site host, filmmaker Nelson George — Black Atlas is a new website from American Airlines that will be the premiere destination for sophisticated African-American travelers. (emphasis mine)”

I guess all you unsophisticated Negroes will just have to fly with somebody else. Are United’s skies still friendly to us poor colored folks who can’t afford business class?

The aim of Black Atlas, set to debut Oct. 15, is “all about creating an online community that’s tapped into the black experience…worldwide,” according to George and the airline. They also say that they’re shaping the site for African-American travelers who are “visitors and members of our site will be business focused, family oriented, socially active and explorers at heart.

“Only contributors with a real passion for providing an online community with useful knowledge about the world around them need apply.” according to George.

All well and good, until you come to this: “Do you know where to find blues music in Moscow? How about a Jamaican restaurant in Milan?”

Then this: “I want your stories, reviews, travel tips, videos and photos on black culture—whether it’s a story right here in the U.S., or one about Ethiopian food in Norway.” (emphasis mine again)

“NON-URBAN DICTATE?”
Now, I admit there is a part of me that finds it appealing when a major corporation goes out of its way to acknowledge that we exist — especially when so many seem to do exactly the opposite.

Do you know what NUD stands for? Not being a regular listener of Tom Joyner, I myself found out only recently. It supposedly stands for Non-Urban Dictate. This is alleged to be a marketing term used by companies that make a point of avoiding advertising and product placement in “urban markets.”

“Urban” is this case would be spelled B-L-A-C-K.

Whether NUD actually exists is extremely doubtful. Seriously, what company in litigation-happy America would want to get caught doing this?

NEGLECT VS. CONDESCENSION
No, the sad and scary thing is that corporate America’s overall track record when it comes to race relations is such that a sizable number of black folks out there actually don’t find the existence of NUD all that hard to believe. And for AA and every other U.S. corporation out there, that’s a much larger long-term problem.

The corporate world really seems to have a hard time “getting it right” where we’re concerned. Either they subject us to years of benign — or malignant — neglect, or reach to us half-heartedly with condescending hands.

I strongly suspect that Black Atlas represents the latter.

At the risk of exposing myself as a less-than-sophisticated African-American traveler, why would I be hunting around Moscow for blue music, or jerk chicken in Milan or injera bread in Oslo? That makes about as much sense as Southern rednecks coming up to Harlem to look for tobacco-chewing contests, or German classical music fans looking for Beethoven concerts in Compton.

Are we really so insecure that we need to seek out reflections of ourselves wherever we go in the world? I’ve said it before on this blog and it bears repeating: If I’m that desperate for a taste of “home” when and wherever I travel, I’ll just stay home.

Furthermore, those of us who are “sophisticated” travelers are often just as sophisticated at finding our way around the Internet. Do we really need AA’s hand-holding to get our travel experiences out into cyberspace? Consider this blog to be at least a partial answer to that question.

There’s something vaguely insulting about all this. I could be wrong, but it strikes me as a one-way trip to Condescension.

If there’s anybody out there who wants to take a run at defending this venture, please feel free to do so.

Who knows? Maybe this will all work to the good. We’ll see after Oct. 15. For now, my reaction to Black Atlas is a giant shrug.

We be cruisin' 2

1 Reply

The cruise industry was counting on more people getting into cruising before the recession. Soon, they’ll be just about begging for it. Bargain-hunting vacationers, take note.

The Big Island of Hawaii as seen from NCL Pride of Aloha

The Big Island of Hawaii as seen from NCL Pride of Aloha

Bad timing on the part of the cruise industry could mean good news for cruise travelers. They’ve painted themselves into something of a financial corner, and that could create a real buyers’ market for the consumer.

Having ridden a boom in interest — and profits — since the 1980s, the cruise industry went on a shipbuilding binge in the last several years, with each line trying to to make its vessels bigger, more sleek, more modern or more glitzy than the competition. Some of these ships will carry as few as 450 passengers (in almost obscene luxury), others as many as 7,500.

As a point of comparison, it was less than a decade ago that a cruise ship carrying 2,000 or so was considered gigantic. Five years from now, it might just be a single seating at dinner!

In 2008, seven cruise lines took delivery on eight new ships with capacity for nearly 23,000 passengers. This year, nine lines are due to bring 10 new ships on line with cabins for another 29,409 passengers. And between 2010 and 2012, 14 lines are due to bring 26 new ships on line with capacity for nearly 75,000 passengers.

(If you’re curious how many of these 44 floating resorts are being built in U.S. shipyards, the answer is: None. Have we forgotten how to build anything other than warships?)

Then came the recession. Uh oh!

Now, it’s possible that some of these ships may be canceled due to the becalmed global economy. But so far, it looks as if the vast majority of them eventually will be showing up at a dock within your reach.

Add all that to existing cruise ship capacity of about 190,000 passengers, and the picture becomes pretty clear. The cruise lines have a lot of berths to fill. If they’re going to pay for all that new construction — not to mention the expense of running all those new ships — they need to fill them every chance they get.

It’s true that some older ships may be taken out of service, but there really aren’t that many truly aged cruise ships left out there, which means most of that existing berthing space will still be in play when the new ships hit the water.

What does all this mean for you? A golden opportunity, that’s what! You’ll be able to shop for bargains — and believe me, with the competition among the cruise lines as fierce as it is, there definitely will be bargains to be had. Some high-end luxury lines like Crystal and Seabourn will likely keep their prices sky-high no matter what, but look for the rest to dangle attractive deals in front of consumers, especially the big outfits like Carnival, NCL and Royal Caribbean, which specialize in affordable cruises.

Some of these cruise lines, like Royal Caribbean in particular, have gone so expansion-happy since the ’80s that their fleets are beginning to rival the size of some navies.

So bide your time, put a little money away here and there, and be prepared to strike!

We be cruisin'!

1 Reply

Cruise travel is one of the biggest travel categories going — and if the weekly dock traffic in places like Miami, New Orleans and San Diego are any indication, not even the Great Recession has managed to run it aground.

The cruise ship Dawn Princess awaits a fresh round of passengers in San Diego.

The cruise ship Dawn Princess awaits a fresh round of passengers in San Diego.

If your idea of a great vacation is to be out on the ocean, check out fun destinations, have access to food, drink and a party atmosphere that is virtually 24/7, all while saving a ton of money, you are a candidate for a cruise — and there are a whole bunch of cruise lines that are almost desperate to hear from you.

First off, don’t fear the whole seasickness thing. Modern cruise ships are so highly stabilized that you may find yourself looking have to look out your cabin window just to confirm that you’re moving. Your average airliner, with its periodic bouts of bumpy air, is a lot shakier than a typical cruise ship.

Then there’s the cost factor. Four-figure cruise prices for a week or more at sea can look pretty heft — until you realize what you’re getting for the money. Transport to multiple destinations. All your lodging. All your meals, and all your drinks except for alcohol –there are some high-end cruises that will even thrown in your booze. Bars, lounges, casinos, spas, swimming pools, and a small army of people whose only purpose in life is to wait on you hand and foot — often for less than $1,000 if you play your cards right.

Try arranging a land vacation with all that for that little cash. Go ahead, try. Cruise travel just might be the most cost-effective vacation there is.

It also may be one of the easiest ways to break into independent travel. Almost everything’s done for you, often without you asking, sometimes before you even think of it. And there are cruises for every price range.

Private beach, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Private beach, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Then, there’s the variety. What started out as a kind of generic one-size-fits-all cruise format generally confined to the Caribbean is now a mind-blowing array of specialty cruises that criss-cross the globe. Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas — you can find a cruise going to any part of the world that interests you.

Like music? There are jazz cruises, oldies cruises, classical music cruises, R & B and hip-hop cruises, even (shudder) country music cruises. Like learning? There are cruises to teach languages, geography, history, oceanography, photography, even cruises to places like the Antarctic. Into wine? Go beyond mere wine tastings and let the ship take you to one or more of the world’s great wine-producing regions.

There are cruises for 20somethings and cruises for seniors, cruises for families or singles, married couples and wannabe married couples, cruises for those afraid of commitment and those who probably should be committed. There are cruise ships with swimming pools, tennis courts, rock-climbing walls, putting greens, basketball courts — and at least one with a boxing ring (not the Love Boat, obviously!).

In early December, the cruise ship Carnival Elation will leave San Diego on what is being billed as the first-ever “cougar cruise” — and I ain’t talkin’ ’bout nobody’s kitty cat, ya heard me?!

You name it. If it’s legal, there’s probably a cruise for it, and a cruise line that caters to it.

And if you’re wondering whether there are any cruises out there that cater specifically to African-Americans, the answer is yes.

Carnival Elation in Ensenada, Mexico.

Carnival Elation in Ensenada, Mexico.

You’re free to meet, mix and mingle all over the ship, or stay in your cabin and do your own thing for your entire time at sea. Need to sustain yourself while you’re in there all that time? No problem — 24-hour room service, no charge.

This kind of vacation is not for everybody. To some, this isn’t form of travel isn’t really travel at all. It’s hedonism in the guise of travel. Others don’t like the idea of being confined to a ship’s itinerary, no matter how expansive or exotic it is. And if you have a problem with crowds, consider that the new cruise ships hold upwards of 5,000 people.

And to some, there’s something that’s just annoyingly artificial about the whole experience.

For that reason, it might be a good idea to dip your toe in slightly to cruise travel, with one of those three-day cruises into the Caribbean or the Mexican Pacific coast. There are even one-day cruises to the Bahamas out of Miami that will run you less than 50 bucks. They’re short, they’re cheap and if they turn out not to be your cup of latte, you won’t be out of that much money or time.

On the other hand, they just might leave you wanting more.

NCL's Pride of Aloha off Hawaii. Now sails in the Caribbean as the Norwegian Sky.

NCL's Pride of Aloha off Hawaii. Now sails in the Caribbean as the Norwegian Sky.

If 200,000-ton behemoths packed with 6,000 passengers aren’t your thing, there are cruise lines with small vessells that carry only a few hundred or even fewer. In addition to the absence of mobs in floral Hawaiian shirts, these smaller ships have th advantage of being able to visit ports, bays and inlets where the megaships don’t have a prayer of entering.

Not into the bacchanalian side of cruising? Several of the small lines offer adventurous cruises to the poles and remote islands that truly could be called expeditions.

There are almost as many active cruise lines available to travelers today as there are airlines. You’ll find a partial list of them on the Cool Travel Sites page of this blog.

As always, do your homework! Check out the lines that draw your interest. Check out their destinations, their ships. Does this line cater to the younger party crowd, to more mature travelers looking for elegance? Is it designed more for families, for singles, for couples? How formal are they? What kind of activities do they have on board?

Contact the lines and ask all your questions. If you’re not satisfied, call travel agents or hook up with Web sites that specialize in cruises.

And by all means, shop around, whether through the Web sites of the cruijse lines themselves, or through a discounter like Vacations to Go, which can save you HUGE sums of money on cruises.

Who’s your wingman?

2 Replies

Water show, Bellagio hotel-casino, Las Vegas | © G. Gross

You learn a lot about yourself when you travel. You also learn a lot about who you’re traveling with. Don’t let the lessons ruin your vacation.

Your best friend has just agreed to go with you on the dream trip you’ve been planning for months. You’re ecstatic, and why shouldn’t you be? I mean, the two of you have been “best buds” for the longest, right? So what could possibly go wrong?

Well, let’s see.

You have your ideas on how you want this trip to go. Your friend has theirs. But neither of you has a clear understanding of what the other has in mind because you put off discussing it in depth until after you’ve paid out four figures in cash and flown across nine time zones.

Only now do you realize that your respective vacation visions are way out of sync.

You’re up with the dawn. Your friend rolls out of bed just before lunch.

You’ve got a detailed itinerary in your head. Your friend just wants to go with the flow.

You want to see the sights. Your friend wants to check out the nightlife.

You’re bringing souvenirs back to your hotel. Your friend is bringing back strangers.

You budgeted for this trip down to the penny. Your friend is treating you like their personal ATM.

Somewhere in the middle of what is now officially a nightmare, you recall the famous line from Rudyard Kipling:

“He travels the fastest who travels alone.”

The truth is, until you’ve spent 24/7 with someone in an environment equally unfamiliar to you both, been with them in moments of stress and anxiety when things aren’t going to plan, you don’t know anyone as well as you think.

And the other side of the world is not the ideal place to find that out.

It doesn’t have to be this way. The only thing better than the joys and thrills of travel is having someone else with you to share those joys and thrills — and you can. But as with many other aspects of travel, you’ll need to do a little prep work first.

TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE
To win wars, the Chinese philosopher-general Sun Tzu said, know your enemy and know yourself. Traveling with others is not much different.

Know your travel partner and know yourself.

Start with yourself, and be brutally honest. Are you a precise planner or laid back and spontaneous? Want to see everything or are you narrowly focused? Do you need company every second or would you prefer a little alone time now and again? How do you deal with the unexpected, with adversity? How social are you when it comes to meeting and interacting with strangers when you travel?

By now, you’re probably thinking that these would be good things to know about your travel companion — and you’re right. You may have more questions of your own. But first, always, check yourself. Then make sure you have an equally clear understanding of your travel partner.

Don’t infer from this that the two of you need to be personality clones. In fact, having some differences between you can work to your advantage. If one is outgoing and assertive where the other is shy and withdrawn, or one is detail-oriented where the other is super casual, the combination of traits can make for a better trip for both of you.

COMMON GROUND
All your interests needn’t be mutual, either, but there should be at least one. This is where clubs and groups make finding good road buddies a little easier. You know going in that you have at least one common interest.

Have at least a general itinerary in mind. You don’t need to be anal-retentive about it, but neither do you want to end up re-enacting the opening scene from the film “Marty:”

YOU: “What do you wanna do?”

FRIEND: “I dunno, what do you wanna do?”

YOU: “I dunno…”

That can make you crazy.

MONEY MATTERS, A LOT
Early as as often as necessary, talk with your travel partner before you leave home about anything pertaining to money. If everyone is paying their own way, that’s ideal. If costs are to be shared, make sure everyone is clear on who will be paying how much for what.

I can’t emphasize this one enough. Few misunderstandings can blow up a relationship faster than misunderstandings over money, especially thousands of miles from home.

And make sure you have some kind of financial back-up in case your travel companion, for whatever reason, fails to hold up their end.

A short trip together before the main event might not be a bad idea, to get an idea of how well you click together on the road.

Keep a special eye out for the kind of neurotic, obsessive-compulsive behaviors that you can ignore at home, but will drive you buggy on the road. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to check your own behavior.

Bottom line: If you both communicate honestly, respect each others boundaries and cut each other some slack, there’s no reason you both can’t have the time of your lives, and give each other reason to look forward to more trips together.

The naked wallet

2 Replies

Planning a trip to a far-off country? Don’t have any of the local currency? Don’t sweat it!

Berlin's oldest bridge over the river Spree, near the Reichstag

Berlin's oldest bridge over the river Spree, near the Reichstag

After the fear of visiting a country where we don’t speak the language, perhaps the greatest fear of the non-frequent international traveler is hitting the ground in a foreign country without any currency from that place.

This issue resurfaced recently when a colleague and friend of mine from my newspaper days asked me about getting euros here in the United States. He was preparing for a trip to Italy and was loathe to arrive without some euros in his pocket.

I know that fear. I used to have it. It’s an issue that often comes up especially with those who are new to independent travel.

What if I need euros the moment I get off the plane — and don’t have any? The idea of landing in a strange land with a naked wallet can be truly unsettling. Your mind starts racing, wondering where you can get foreign currency in your home town.

The first thing you’re liable to find is that your bank may not have any such currency just lying around the branch. Getting the euros or yen or pounds or yuan you need may day a day or two, maybe longer. And when you see how much your bank wants to charge you for this service, it may give you second thoughts about making the trip at all.

You could wait to get to your departure airport, where a currency exchange booth might hook you up. But again, they will be charging you for their services, and the rates will be strictly to their advantage, not yours. Bear in mind that for the most part, these exchange booths in US airports are there to convert foreign currency back to dollars, not the other way around.

Oh, they’ll do it for you, all right, at rates bordering on usury. They can get away with that because they figure you’re scared and desperate and don’t know any better.

What they don’t know, of course, is that you read this blog.

So what do you do?

If you haven’t left home yet, the answer is simple: Do nothing. There’s no need.

You don’t need euros in New York’s JFK or LaGuardia airports, or yen at SFO or LAX, so don’t sweat it. Of all the things stressing you out as you make your way through the nightmare that is airport security, the absence of foreign currency in your pocket should be the last thing on your mind.

Once on the plane, odds are you’re not going to be buying anything, anyway — and if you do, the flight crew will be readily accepting dollars — in paper or plastic, so to speak — so foreign currency is still a non-issue.

So when is the very first moment you’re possibly going to need euros or pesos or whatever? When you arrive at your destination airport. And what does virtually every major airport in the world have?

ATM machines.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ve already checked with your bank or credit union to find out if your ATM card works in the country where you’re going, and you already know it does — or you’ve acquired one that does. You’re covered!

Maybe your trip includes prepaid ground transportation between your destination airport and your hotel. If so, you’ve got it made. But if not, you’ve got to pay your own way, most likely by taxi. Now is it time to panic, right?

Nope.

Again, if you’ve done your due diligence, you already have a rough idea of how much the taxi is likely to cost — and the airport ATM is only a few steps away. There’s your cab fare.

My advice: Get double or triple the estimated cab fare from the airport ATM, then head on out. Now you’ve got your cab money, with enough left over for a meal or two. If you have a large group — yourself, spouse, kids, others — make it 20 or 30 euros for each member of your party if you’re in Europe, four or fives times the cab fare if you’re anywhere else. At the very least, that should tide you over on arrival day.

Either way, you can settle calmly into your hotel, with no need to immediately set out on a fretful search for a bank.

And while it’s true that the airport ATM probably won’t have the best rates for withdrawing your cash, remember that you’re not taking out all the money you’ll need for your trip before you leave the airport, just enough to get you started. You’ll have plenty of time to find a bank or a post office where it will be cheaper to make the lion’s share of your withdrawals.

Flying solo

Leave a reply

“ALONE: In bad company.” — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary,” circa 1900

Italystation

Train station just north of Venice, Italy

“Why don’t you write something on your blog about traveling alone?” Renee said.

Single travel is the ultimate form of independent travel. It may not be an “issue” exclusively for women, but it does fall on women harder than men, especially since women began asserting their professional and personal independence over the last half-century.

Renee, a respected colleague and longtime friend from my newspaper days, is an online journalist and a single woman. I could tell you her age, but a gentleman doesn’t do such things. Besides, I prefer to go on living. (NOTE: Everything about Renee is real, except her name, which I’m withholding at her request.)

There are two kinds of people who travel alone — those who want to and those who would rather not. Count Renee firmly in the second group.

“Some people might enjoy it, but I don’t,” she says.

At times, it seems as if the entire travel industry picks on singles of both genders. Hotel rooms, cruise ship cabins, resorts all charge extra for singles. More than a few airline reservation Web sites have an annoying way of presuming you’re booking one flight for two people. A lot of discount rates are strictly reserved for couples or families only. Singles need not apply.

It’s as if the travel industry refuses to accept the fact that more than 40 percent of the U.S. adult population happens to be single.

Some hotels and cruise lines have figured this out and offer rooms and cabins at special rates to attract single travelers. Singles rates on tours may be harder to come by, but not necessarily impossible. A hotel, ship or tour organizer may be eager (read: desperate) enough to fill remaining space to cut a single traveler some slack, especially on a last-minute booking. It never hurts to ask!

But the toughest part of traveling alone may well be the “alone” part.

Some folks like the solitude, the chance to absorb a new experience without the chatter of a travel companion to distract, but they do seem be a minority. Most of us find the joys of travel lacking without someone to share them with.

Then there are those who have no problems traveling alone because their personalities ensure that they’re never alone for long.

I once knew a young Czech journalist named Petr Tuma who traveled much of the world at a young age. On trains or buses and in restaurants, he made a point of sitting down with strangers and striking up conversations.

Petr made the whole world into his traveling companion and I admired him for it, but let’s face it, we’re not all as outgoing. For women in particular, approaching strangers in strange lands, even for the most innocent of reasons, is something you just don’t do, for many good reasons.

Renee has done her share of solo traveling. In her eyes, it’s overrated.

“I traveled to Europe with a former sorority sister in the early 70s and the idea was she was meeting up with her boyfriend after England, and I was just going to wander around Amsterdam, Paris, London, Rome, Venice, Florence and Barcelona all by myself.”

Even for a confirmed travel addict like me, that’s a lot of time and miles on your own.

“I met some Americans along the way of course, and i even met some interesting French and Dutch folks. One woman let me stay in her loft,” she said. “But it was friggin’ LONELY. No one to share with. And also, since this was the early 70s, it wasn’t really appropriate for a single woman to be roaming around the likes of Rome or Venice by herself at night.”

The other danger of traveling alone, Renee pointed out, is that of being arbitrarily paired up with a travel partner who turns out to be totally incompatible:

“I…went on a bike ride through the Loire Valley by myself, with a tour group of families, and that felt like being all by myself too. Not really fun. I was paired with an Orthodox Jew who wouldn’t eat meat, wouldn’t drink wine. Who knows why the hell she was biking through the wine country.”

For the single black traveler, the single black woman in particular, the issue can be even more acute. For some, just leaving the comfort zone of home for a week or longer is difficult enough. Facing such a prospect alone might seems almost too daunting to contemplate.

But you had to know that in the age of social media and networking, somebody on the Internet was going to take this on, right?

There are travel clubs online designed to pair up single travelers or combine them in groups for vacation tours. Some admittedly have romance as an ultimate goal, but many simply seek to put together two compatible travelers to share and enjoy a trip. Some focus on offering safety alerts for certain destinations and other information designed to help keep the single traveler safe.

You can find links to a sampling of such groups on the Cool Travel Sites page. Believe me, there are lots more.

So don’t let your single status hold you back. Save your coins, do your research, back your bags and get out there!

ATM fees — the hidden travel menace

2 Replies

For travelers, ATMs have supplanted the old travelers check. But if you’re not careful, sneaky bank fees will put the bite on your finances!

Travelers checks? That’s so 20th century!

Before leaving home, you stand in line at your bank to trade your cash for a fistful of checks, each of which you must sign in front of the bored teller. On arrival, you go to a foreign bank and sign them again — in front of a different bored teller — to get your cash.

How quaint — and an utter waste of time.

These days, travelers just go to a handy ATM machine anywhere in the world. They’re now a staple for independent travel. But beware. Banks attach of a lot of fees to ATM usage.

FEES TO MEET YOU
That little card may have your name on it, but you don’t own it. The bank owns it. Their card, their rules — and their rules play Dracula on your money. Let us count the ways.

First, there are the foreign fees v. foreign transaction fees.

Use an ATM other than one belonging to your bank — whether you’re on the other side of the world or around the block from your house — and the bank says you’re using a “foreign” machine. When the machine asks if you’re willing to accept that $1.25 or $2 or $3 charge to complete your withdrawal, that’s the foreign fee.

When you hit an ATM outside the United States, the computer figures the difference between the U.S. dollar and the foreign currency, which takes nanoseconds and needs no human intervention. The banks, however, seem to think this justifies taking up to 3 percent of the amount you’re withdrawing. Many charge you a flat $5 for every transaction you make outside the United States.

And since you’re likely using a foreign ATM — the bank’s definition of “foreign,” remember? — they’ll charge for that, too.

The machine probably won’t show or even tell you about these charges, but you’d better believe your bank back home is doing the math — to your detriment.

Use a debit card instead of an ATM card? Same fees apply. Worse, some countries won’t even let you use your debit card in their ATM machines.

Use your credit card to get money from the ATM? The bank calls at a “cash advance” — in other words, a loan — for which they can charge you interest at rates approaching 30 percent.

Surprise!

Meanwhile, if your card has a PIN with anything other than four numbers, it probably won’t work overseas at all.

MATH HOMEWORK
What does all this mean to you as a traveler? It means that, once again, it pays to do a little homework before you go wheels-up. It also means you have to shop for your bank, the same way you did for the rest of your trip.

Talk to your bank. Tell them where you’re going and ask them to spell out exactly every ATM fee that would apply. Ask if they have agreements with other banks in the state or country you’ll be staying in that let you avoid those fees.

If you don’t like the answers you get, open an account at a more accommodating bank and keep your travel money in it.

There are banks that don’t charge these kinds of fees to their customers. Others have cooperative agreements with overseas banks, much as some U.S. airlines have code-sharing agreements with foreign airlines, enabling you to use the ATMs at certain foreign banks without being penalized. One such group is the Global ATM Alliance.

Web sites like Bankrate.com can help you shop around.

Still other banks, such as HSBC or Barclays Bank, have their own global network of branches and ATMs that you can find almost everywhere. Wherever you go in the world, as long as you can find one of their branches or ATMs, they’ve got your back.

If you know you’re going to be using a certain foreign ATM, find out how much their daily limits are for ATM transactions. If their limits are too low, you may have to go into their branch to make withdrawals. Always bring your passport.

Bring with you more than one ATM card from a different bank, one that you know will work where you’re going. It never hurts to have a backup.

Avoid privately owned ATMs, usually the free-standing variety, that often tack on their own surcharges beyond those of your bank. You’re better off using the ATM at a major bank — or in many countries, the post office.

Lastly, if your travels take you to some remote part of the world where credit itself is viewed with suspicion and ATMs may be few or even nonexistent, you may need to go old school…and bring some travelers checks.

Like I said, do your homework.

POSTSCRIPT
This applies to all ATMs anywhere. If you start to put your card in a machine and you feel some resistance, DON’T try to force it in. Pull your card out and LEAVE IMMEDIATELY. Some crooks jam things into the slot to catch your card. Once you’ve entered in your passcode, you won’t be able to get the card out….but they will, and your account information along with it.

All You Can…FLY?

1 Reply

Marketing gimmick or a genuine bargain? Maybe both!

The weekend after Labor Day is the start of one of the “shoulder seasons,” one of those periods between holidays when people don’t travel as much and things take a downturn for the travel industry, especially the airlines. JetBlue is trying an interesting approach to pump things up.

It’s a one-month pass for $599, from anywhere they fly to anywhere they fly, as many times as you want (or can stand!) between Sept. 8 and Oct. 8.

They call it the “All-You-Can-Jet Pass. You’ll find the particulars here.

What makes this attractive to my 6’3″ self is JetBlue’s reputation for having more legroom. If I’m going to be doing an intense amount of flying in a month, I’d rather not have to suffer in the doing.

A deal like this could be good for independent travel, when you’re setting your own itineraries. If the Labor Day weekend was your last holiday hurrah until Thanksgiving and Christmas, this may not work for you. If you can or need to travel during that month, though, this could be a sweet deal for you, especially if you need to go back and forth to the same location multiple times.

So if this for you, belly up to the JetBlue counter and get airborne!