Cheap Travel – Safe Travel

When traveling abroad you can take advantage of all the discounts and then lose everything you have if you get robbed. So one of the ways to prevent being a victim of robbery or assault while you are traveling is to not look like a tourist. How does one do this? Mobil Communications recently surveyed its phone subscribers and came up with these suggestions. Here they are:

Ditch the white athletic shoes: White athletic shoes scream “Look at me! I’m an American tourist!”

Ditch the fanny pack: A Mobal survey participant says “I’ve never seen a non-American wearing a fanny pack.”

Wear black: According to another survey participant “Folk in Paris, London and other European capitals tend to wear lots of black, and as a tourist you tend to blend in if you’re wearing it too. (Maybe you can’t buy Tide detergent there and black doesn’t show as much dirt?) If it is really hot where I am visiting I think I would wear light grey even though I don’t like that color.

Wear local accessories: Wearing a scarf in Europe, helps women blend in. In Muslim countries it is a must. Guys, I guess you’re out of luck – maybe no white socks with sandals?

Use hotel concierge services: Having a good idea where you are going prevents you from looking like a lost soul. A friend once did advise me that if I was going through a bad neighborhood to walk with an “attitude.” If you look confident and purposeful people are less likely to choose you as an assault target. I learned that in my Defense for Women class that the sheriff’s department sponsors.

Don’t forget the basics – Avoid wearing a lot jewelry – even good costume jewelry can be mistaken for something more valuable. Don’t wear shorts and t-shirts in cities. Don’t study the maps in public or wear your camera around your neck.

Learn a few words of the language – This won’t camoflauge your tourist identity, but it may be appreciated by the people you deal with and even get you better service in restaurants. Rick Steves, the noted Travels in Europe guy always recommends you do this and that guy gets around.

If they had surveyed me, I would have said smile without showing your teeth. Americans are famous for their straight white teeth.

Travel For Cheap

As a columnist in our local paper so aptly put “Needing a vacation is not the same as being able to afford one.” So how do you make it affordable. She always has really good tips so here are some of her suggestions with  many cheap travel sites included:

Cheap air travel -Check low-fare airfare sites on a regular basis – Try www.airfarewatchdog.com, www.insideflyer.com, www.seatguru.com.

Be flexible with travel dates if you want to travel cheap so you can take advantage of lower prices for leaving midweek and returning on a Monday or Tuesday.

For auto travel consult AAA’s fuelcostcalculater.com to get an estimated fuel cost for your trip based on the distance you are traveling and the make, model and year of your vehicle. Then you can locate cheap gas by ZIP code at GasBuddy.com

Go to the cheap places – You can actually get a pretty good idea of what you will spend on daily basis by going to www.gsa.gov and looking at per diem rates. If you are going overseas check with U.S. State Department’s Office of Allowances  at www.aoprals.state.gov. For instance, the rate for Washington D.C., between July 1 and Aug. 31 is $64.00 per day for meals and incidentals and $154.00 for hotel before taxes. While the rate for Buenos Aires, the so called Paris of South America has a per day for meals of $81.00 and a lodging rate of $182.00.

Search for discounts on hotel rates – Use www.orbitz.com, www.travelocity.com, www.expedia.com, www.hotwire.com and www.travelzoo.com as well as web sites of hotel chains.

Save on souveniers – Either promise yourself to only buy souveniers for the people on the trip OR buy souveniers and wait until the intended receipient has a birthday or it is a holiday. Someone did this for my daughter and she was thrilled to receive a gift from a foreign country.

Research events in the area you plan to visit – Newspapers in the areas you are planning to visit should maintain a web site listing events (both FREE and $). This will help you develop your entertainment budget.

Finally and I think this is best advice of the whole column, be flexible and spontaneous during your vacation. If everyone is too tired to do another walking tour – let them rest. There is nothing worse than coming back from vacation exhausted. That truly is a waste of money.

See our post Cheap Travel International

cheap air travel,travel cheap,cheap travel deals,travel for cheap,cheap travel sites

Technorati Tags: cheap air travel, travel cheap, cheap travel deals, travel for cheap, cheap travel sites

Hey Cheapskaters, summer is coming and if you are thinking about international travel here are  some tips to make your dollar go further. The dollar has been falling against most of the world’s currencies which means it is going to cost you more to travel in most other countries. I read in our paper even India is avoiding dealing in dollars. They are requiring tourists to pay entrance fees to monuments in the local currency instead of dollars. So here are some tips from our local travel section:

Eat like a local or eat ethnic - Whenever I watch Rick Steve’s program – Travel In Europe, he is always going to really cool places to eat that are not tourist traps. I would even go so far as to recommend you look at one of his guides. I have also used Fodor’s travel guides and found them very helpful.

Dine near an outdoor market – They tend to attract less expensive eateries that cater to workers and shoppers. Makes sense.

Watch for seasonal deals on airfares and hotel – This means traveling to places in the off season. We live in Texas and our schools let out earlier than the eastern schools. One year we went to Maine in May. It was still off season and we got some really cheap rates.

Pick you price – For bargains on name-brand hotel chains, Priceline.com lets you name your own price bids on four and five star hotels overseas and in Canada (see www.biddingfortravel.com for travelers’ tips) on how to bid.

Select the best destinations – Southest Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East are the bargain foreign destinations for American travelers, but if you really want Europe, consider less popular regions and countries i.e. Sicily instead of Tuscany.

Stay or eat in residential areas – usually cheaper because downtown  locations tend to cater to those with expense accounts.

Use public transportation instead of taxis and renting a car – An all day passs of the London Underground and Buses is 6.60 pounds or about $13.50 compared to $14.00 – $22.00 for one taxi ride of two miles.

Find out if it’s less expensive to fly between cities on one the new no-frills airlines: Check out www.whichbudget.com or www.attidtudetravel.com for a list of who flies where.

Minimize foreign currency exchange fees when using credit cards or withdrawing cash from automated teller machines in other countries, including Mexico and Canada: Use cards that carry a maximum 1 percent fee on each charge or withdrawal (available from small community banks, credit unions, etc., as  opposed to bigger national banks, which charge 3 percent or more). Capital One (www.capitalone.com) issues a no annual fee Visa of MasterCard with no foreign currency transaction fee.

Consider an apartment or condo rental instead of a hotel for longer stays: Deal directly with the aprtment or condo owner if possible. Avoid rental agencies that ask you to pay in full up front. And negotiate a reasonable deposit.

Read the fine print in group-tour and cruise contracts to find out if the price might change if the dollar’s value drops: Prices might be higher than advertised in the brochures.

international travel tips,foreign currency exchange,Rick Steve’s,capital one credit card,price line

Technorati Tags: international travel tips, foreign currency exchange, Rick Steve’s, capital one credit card, price line