Linda's Travel Tips and Tricks

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Linda’s Tips & Tricks for Travelers



1. Major airlines upload their new fare structures to ticketing servers, each week on Tuesday night at midnight, USA Eastern time zone. These fares are applicable for all routes for the next 300+ days (as far out as you can actually book a ticket), and not just the current week. Do not hesitate when you see a great fare – the lowest ones are gone within a few minutes. Remember you must have done all your research first before you load up your purchase request on the applicable airline website!

2. When conducting computer searches for a specific itinerary, keep in mind that airline/hotel/car rental companies track you via your IP address. This is their online “marketing” tool and when identical itineraries are run multiple times, prices begin to increase. This is simply their way of generating revenue, as they know exactly when you want to travel. To prevent this and obtain the lowest possible price, delete your computer cookies or cache after you have conducted two or three searches…..that way, it appears it is your initial search for a low-cost deal.

3. For hotels, I highly recommend www.trivago.com. This site will run your specific itinerary against every hotel site and returns all prices currently available. I have seen as much as $200 difference between websites for the same hotel room, on the same date! This way, you can be assured you are booking your hotel stay, at the lowest cost.

4. www.cruisecritic.com is my choice when it comes to any cruise itinerary on any cruise line, worldwide. Not only will you have the opportunity to “meet” your fellow passengers online prior to taking your cruise (via the Roll Call feature), but their recommendations for private shore excursions are substantially lower than those offered by the ship. For example, on a recent cruise to South America, I saved almost $700 total on 6 land tours. Should you see posts from “Vegas Vixen” – that happens to be me!

5. Want a free cabin upgrade on your next cruise? Do what I do when booking…..don’t select a specific cabin. Instead, opt for “guaranteed cabin category” status instead. This way, the cruise line will assign your cabin up to 7 or 8 days prior to sailing date, based on their remaining inventory. As the cheapest (and worst) cabins have generally already been selected by passengers trying to get the best price, the better ones are then available. As an example of this, on my last two cruises I originally booked an Ocean View category cabin. I was upgraded 4 levels within the same category on the first cruise, and 5 levels on my last trip to South America. I went from the cheapest obstructed-view cabin, to a fantastic large ocean view cabin, AT NO ADDITIONAL COST.

6. Best days to fly? Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. Business people purchase tickets for the others, for obvious reasons. And for a really good deal, fly on an actual holiday if at all possible (i.e. Christmas Day, New Year’s Day etc.) ……I always do. A great way to ensure you're actually getting the lowest fares currently available, is to also check Google Flights website. It's free, it's easy to use and you can check your upcoming trips as many times as necessary.

7. Always leaving items in your hotel room/cabin simply because you forgot? Always carry a small pad of those yellow Post-it Notes and write down everything you will be storing for your stay, i.e. passport/valuables in the safe, phone charger, bathroom items and so on. Stick this list on the back on the hotel room/cabin door so when you check out, it will be the last thing you see, to remind you to check for all your items. Nowadays, most use smartphones and alerts to keep this list current.

8. Luggage gone missing on domestic and/or international flights? Install your airline’s app on your smartphone before you fly. Then before boarding each leg of your itinerary tap that app, look up the “track my bag” section and see exactly where your case is. Most airlines have this as part of their service and of course every time your bag enters or leaves a plane, it is read by a bar-code reader to record its journey thru the airport. Should you notice your bag didn’t make it on your flight, notify one of the cabin crew so they can assist with this, hopefully finding your bag before takeoff. If not, you will at least have begun the search process long before you reach your destination.

9. How to manage laundry without paying exorbitant hotel rates? For smaller items such as underwear, socks, blouses, shirts etc., simply wash them by hand in the bathroom sink and then select one of the available towels, longer than your items. Lie each item length-wise on the towel and wrap tightly. Holding one end of this towel in one hand, grip the other end and start twisting as tight as possible. This presses out every last drop of water from your items and leaves them “damp dry”. Then hang up anywhere and let air dry for a couple of hours…. presto, fresh and clean clothing! For larger items such as jeans, jackets etc., lie them in the bottom of the bathtub and take a shower while stamping on the clothes. This is guaranteed to get them clean from the pressure of your weight, and once your shower is over, simply rinse out, wrap in towels as described above and leave overnight to air dry.

10. Worried the personal information stored in the strip on the back of your credit cards is at risk for being stolen? Simple fix: wrap a strip of tin foil around the top of each card, wide enough to cover that vital strip on the back. This blocks any electronic theft. A foil wrapper from a stick of gum works just as well! When you need to use your card, simply remove the tin foil and then replace.

11. You decide on a trip, you book your flight and now you want to select the best seat possible, right? Before going to the airline's website to view their seating map, first log onto seatguru.com, enter the airline name and flight number to have this program display your exact flight. It will give you all applicable information regarding the seats available: green for best seats, yellow for standard and of course, red for the worst ones on the plane! Further information gives you details such as whether or not a specific seat doesn't recline all the way; is close to the bathrooms, etc. Now you know which seat you want, return to the seating map on your airline's website and select it.....no more miserable seats for you!



12. VPN or Virtual Private Network is an absolute must! This invaluable software application has three significant benefits: (1) you become “invisible” while on the ‘net and cannot be hacked (if you can’t be seen, obviously you’re totally protected), (2) by selecting a local server in the country you plan to visit, you are able to purchase tickets to events such as theater tickets, train tickets or a festival etc., at the local and NOT tourist price, and (3) you change servers to keep producing a new IP Address when conducting multiple searches on travel websites. I use Keepsolid.com and have done for the past 12 years. Another good one is NORD.com. Visit their websites for pricing and server information.



13. When considering travel insurance, think about purchasing an annual policy thru either TravelEx or Allianz. Both have comprehensive coverage and different price levels depending on need. Very cost effective. I swear by Allianz - if it's good enough for Delta Airlines, it's good enough for me.



14. Next time you have to renew your American passport, consider obtaining the 54-page large edition instead of the standard 28 page. It has the exact same cost as the small edition and is very helpful when you visit countries which require multiple blank visa pages, i.e. South Africa. On the passport application form, there is a small box which you tick to obtain this larger passport.



15. Websites worth looking at:



1. Vacations to Go: sub links to African Safaris, single prices, river cruises



2. World Holdings



3. Solo Trekker for U



4. Contiki



5. Fare Deal Alert



16. Don’t forget to either call your credit card company (or go to their website) and inform them of upcoming foreign trips and the time periods involved. This way, you won’t have them “freeze” your account suspecting fraudulent use. Then you’re stuck overseas with no usable card!



17. Hotels run their occupancy rate program every day around 3pm, to give the night shift the details regarding availability for the coming evening. If you want a room for that night, or maybe a couple of nights, negotiate with the desk clerk for the price you want to pay, not what their rack rate is. I always use the line “my cap for a room is $..... can you accommodate this”? I have only been turned down twice by doing this. First check the hotel’s website for their regular rate and make your request between 50%!t(MISSING)o 60%!l(MISSING)ower. If the desk clerk can’t or won’t deal, ask to speak to the night manager or supervisor in the back office. They will have the power to negotiate with you. It also helps to have that hotel’s brand loyalty number with you at the time.



18. When being asked to give up your airline seat in return for a stated sum, remember the person at the gate has the power to go as high as necessary to obtain the needed seats after overbooking a flight. Not only can you negotiate a fixed dollar amount, but consider asking for hotel, meal, transfer vouchers and additional miles for your account as reimbursement.



19. Brand Loyalty is essential in today’s world. Even if you never think you will ever fly a certain airline, stay at a certain hotel chain, use a specific rental car agency, or ride the rails of a foreign train company, sign up for all of their brand loyalty programs and keep those numbers handy. Remember when a problem arises, these companies always take care of their members first and everyone else goes to the bottom of the list! Plus with some airlines, such as Bangkok Airways, having a frequent flyer number gives you an additional 5kg of weight luggage over the standard amount.

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Comments

[Camille Zeno]

Great Info!!
Great information for anyone traveling. Many of these things I would not have even considered!