Jay Travels » Tips and Tricks

My Top 10 Travel Tips

Jay — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:14:24 +0000

Ever traveled to a foreign country and needed to figure out how to make calls back home to your friends and family? Did you get stuck with additional baggage fees at the airport? Want to know where to get a good bite to eat or how to stay safe when traveling?

Well this is the article for you! I have put together a collection of my Top Ten Travel tips and tricks collected over my years of travels. Whether traveling for Business or Vacation, these tips will help you get the most out of your travels.

10. Use Incentive Programs

Commonly called “Loyalty Programs”, these setups offer frequent users some level of additional benefits over casual users. Whether airline, hotel or rental car incentive programs – you’ll usually benefit in some measure from these incentive programs. Although they are sometimes called “Loyalty Programs” – they really don’t create loyalty – just motivation to use the service. Remove the motivation, lose the sale. So long as you don’t go out of your way to participate (like spend more money) – there are varying levels of benefits (free flights, upgraded rooms, etc.) to be had.

9. Electrical Standards

When traveling with laptops, music players, and cell phones; you’ll need some method of charging these items while you are out of town. In order to safely recharge your electronics, you’ll need the proper equipment. The first is an Adapter – which converts the US based two-three prong plug into the type of connection you’ll need locally. The second item you may need is a Transformer (converter) – which converts the local electrical current into the US version equivalent. Trying to connect your electronics without a converter could damage your equipment. A few companies provide all in one adapter/converters and can be found here.

8. Cheap International Calling

If you need to call back to the US while overseas, the best way to do so is to use your PC and Skype/Yahoo/AOL/Live for free video/audio calling. If a PC and/or broadband connection isn’t available, a phone card is a really inexpensive way to make calls (public phone booths still exist overseas). If you really need a phone, rent a local mobile phone or SIM card. Whatever you do – don’t use your US based phone to call back to the states. Even if it you can get it work – you’ll likely to get charged an outrageous rate for the call.

7. Say No to Travel Trip Insurance

Not to be confused with Travel (e.g. Medical) Insurance, if ever there was a scam – Trip Insurance is it. This has to be the most useless garbage I’ve seen in a while – from an industry known for pushing garbage. The reason this is garbage is a) you are somewhat already covered for buying services that aren’t actually rendered (just because that plane ticket is non-refundable, doesn’t mean you can use the amount you paid for a future trip); and b) the exclusions on this garbage are so long that you’ll likely never qualify anyway. One trip insurance policy states they won’t refund any money if you get sick, miss a connection, lose your job – but they will refund the money if you die. WTF – really??? Enough Said!

6. Luggage Tricks

Probably the biggest benefit to airline incentive programs is most don’t charge you the luggage fees if you are a member – which could be as much as $100 roundtrip. Even better, don’t check your bags – not only is it less expensive it doesn’t take as much time to get out of the airport. Another tip, instead of folding your clothes in your suitcase, ‘roll’ them – it reduces creases and need for ironing and allows you to pack more in your carry-on. If you absolutely have to check bags, first in usually means first off. If you are one of the first folks to check into your flight, your bags will go on the bottom of the luggage cart out to the plane. This means your bags will be last on the plane – therefore first off and on their way to baggage claim before everyone else’s.

5. Account for the Language Barrier

While it’s certainly not necessary to speak fluently in the local language of your destination, learning a few phrases will help you immensely. In my experience, cab drivers – no matter what country – are not bilingual and only speak their native language well – and that isn’t always the local language!! Be sure to write/print the address to your hotel or where you are going – preferably in the local language when dealing with cab drivers.

4. Eat Where the Locals Do

Traveling to a exotic location and want to eat an authentic dish? Eat where the local eat. To truly get the experience, eat wherever there’s a line of locals or the restaurant is at least crowded. The more ‘locals’ in a restaurant – the better (and authentic) the food usually is. How do you tell the difference between a local and a tourist? Generally speaking, locals speak the language, are dressed appropriately (not wearing shorts in the cold evening) and transportation looks ‘used’. Tourists are usually the opposite – plus – they often are carrying a map, camera/camcorder, souvenirs, etc. If you look up and someone’s taking pictures of their food – you are likely in a tourist trap.

3. Put together an Itinerary

“He who fails to plan, plans to fail” – is a fairly true cliché. Unless this is a business trip, putting together an itinerary ensures you get the most out of your vacation. Here are a few tips for putting together a bulletproof itinerary.

2. Getting Cash While Overseas

Wait until you get to where you are going and use your ATM card to get cash in local currency. There are several options for getting the best exchange rate, but no matter what – never use airport currency exchanges. There are several strategies for getting as close to the wholesale exchange rate – whether using cash or your credit/debit card.

1. Stay Safe

While scamming tourists is more prominent in some countries more so than others – you should always remain vigilant during your travels. Don’t carry large wads of cash or use a money clip to ward off pick-pockets; be wary of anyone offering help – particularly if you didn’t initiate the request. If it sounds too good to be true – it usually is. Always carry around a photocopy of your passport and leave the original in the hotel safe. Learn how to steer clear of Travel Scams.

Bonus Tip! Free Car Upgrade – I’ve performed this trick so many times it’s not even funny. No matter how good/bad the economy, the most popular car on the rental car lot is the “cheapest” car! This usually means these cars are the first to run out of stock. I always reserve the cheapest car – especially if I know I’m going to arrive at the rental counter in the evening. At least 70% of the time, when I get there – all of the cheap cars are gone – so they upgrade you to the higher class car – at no additional charge. Obviously the destination and time of day play into this – but it almost always works for business travelers (those who arrive at a destination in the evening).

They you have it – my Top 10 Travel Tips. When you are ready to go, these are some of the best resources to purchase your tickets.

Let me know if you have other tips you’d like to add.

Happy Travels

How to Deal with Travel Scams

Jay — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:12:18 +0000

The purpose of this article is to assist potential travelers with identifying and avoiding common travel related scams. Travel scams are those that specifically target foreigners of a country (tourists) in an effort to obtain as much money as possible – whether by purchase, donation, or by outright theft.

But before I get into some common travel scams, I think it makes sense to distinguish between a scam and someone simply aggressively trying to sell you something. In short, a scam is you giving money for something that you didn’t agree to – whether poor quality (fake gold), a ripoff (where’s the Nigerian Prince), or some other means. Armed robbery and/or pick pocketing are not scams in that scams generally require you to be a participant in your own loss.

“A fool and his money are soon parted” Thomas Tusser

While this absolutely true, travel scams are somewhat different than other types of cons. It’s not so much that the concept of the scam is different, but that for whatever reason tourists tend to either let their guards down and/or do things they would never do in their own hometowns. Think about it, how many of us would follow someone into a dimly lit room to buy jewelry at 50% off in the city in which we live? How many of us would jump into an American cab that didn’t have a working enter and ‘hope’ for the best once you got to where you were going? The answer is not many – but these happen far too often when we travel.

These scams attack travelers using three primary angles:

Decency – Scams that appeal to your civility, e.g., my car just broke down – can you help me?
Greed – Scams that take advantage of your greed, e.g., this Louis Vutton purse is 40% less here than in the US.
Ignorance – Those that take advantage of your lack of understanding of the language and/or culture, e.g., this is special/rare XXX only found in this country.

One of the best resources to identify, understand, avoid and/or remove yourself from these sticky situations is the Common Scams page on one of my favorite travel sites – WikiTravel.org – http://wikitravel.org/en/Common_scams

My Personal Experiences with Scams

The remainder of this article will focus on three of the scam types from the Wikitravel article – each of which I’ve had personal experience. The details of the situation, outcomes and lessons learned from each are on the next page.

Scam: Crap Jewelry – Cairo, Egypt
While on a private tour to the Pyramids, Sphinx and Memphis, our tour guide took us to not one – but two ‘special’ destinations. The first was an Egyptian oil/perfume company that produces the world’s best oils – that can only be found in Egypt (riiiight). A couple of hours later, we ended up in an Egyptian Hieroglyphics jewelry company. While I had no interest in the oils – I thought having my name encased in a gold pendent in a thousand year old language would be pretty cool. In fact it was pretty cool – until the gold plating started to tarnish. To make matters worse, I broke my own rule – I paid for a non-perishable item using cash (dummy). Of course, the pendent didn’t start to tarnish until I was on my way home – so no opportunity to take it back.

Outcome: Out of $60 US. I don’t care what anyone says – never buy jewelry overseas – the risks just aren’t worth it. In today’s global economy, it is extremely unlikely that you will find a significant discount on real, commodity based items – aka jewelry. If you are dead set on buying something – do so with your credit card. At least you’ll have some recourse if you didn’t actually get what you paid for.

Lesson Learned: Always pay with credit card, when taking tours – demand not to be taken anywhere that involves a sales pitch. Threaten not to give the guide a tip if they do.

Scam: The Kick Back (Commissions) – Cairo, Egypt
We are on our way to one of the outside shopping plazas in Old Cairo. As we jump out of the taxi, some dude starts to speak English to us. He starts to go on about how he doesn’t want to sell us anything – he just wants to practice his English. After a little small talk – wait for it…. “Hey, let me show you some really nice Egyptian artwork. It’s made by students so it’s really cheap, yada, yada, yada”. Whatever, he’s going in the direction I was already going and I know I’m not buying anything – plus, it’ll give me a chance to laugh at his sales pitch. Long story short, he’s weaving us through this side street and that one… old lady on the left just cut off a rooster’s head…nice…I look up… where the heck are we….how’d we get this far from the main street???

Outcome: Didn’t lose any money – as I wasn’t about to buy anything. However, I put myself in a dangerous position by following this guy through a bunch of twists and turns – away from the main street. Part of the reason I allowed this to occur is this feeling of invincibility – the “what are these clowns gonna do to me – I’m from [insert_tough_US_city_here] syndrome”? The thing is, I would never go to the south side of Chicago, Brooklyn or Liberty City (Miami) and follow some dude through an alley – so why the hell I did this in Egypt is beyond me. Anyway, I ditched this dude and the guy who was waiting for us and we continued with where we were originally going.

Lesson Learned: Don’t follow anyone anywhere – certainly not into any obscure area. Nobody randomly picks someone else out of a crowd to practice language skills – it’s the start of a scam.

Scam: Broken Taxi Meter – Kingston, Jamaica
Get in the cab and the driver pulls off before I tell him the destination. I start to tell him and I realize the meter is broken. “Hey – the meter looks broken”. “Yea mon – we take care of it when we arrive”

Outcome: The hell you will. I opened the door, which forced him to stop. We need to agree on the price before you take me anywhere or I’ll get out right now. Bartering ensures. $50 he says – $15 I reply…. $45…..$15…$40….$15…C’mon man – $35…..$15….okay Final offer $30…Sold – for $20.

Lesson Learned: None really – but concept applies to any country where meters are not the norm – always agree on a price before you close car door.

Wrapping It All Up

Anyone can fall victim to a travel scam no matter how seasoned they may be due to a variety of reasons. So long as you understand that all scams involve one common element – your money – you can better recognize and avoid parting ways with your money.

A few things to remember

There are plenty of scams and it isn’t personal. Recognize and avoid. Don’t let the possibility of someone approaching you dim your desire to travel. At worst, this should be a minor nuisance.
If it’s too good to be true – it is. I know that’s a cliché – but clichés are true.
I may be cynical, but no one approaches you to help you. As soon as I sense the help language (particularly if I’m not in distress), I’m immediately waiting for the pitch.
Always use a credit card for any non-perishable purchases over $40.

Happy Travels!

Getting Money Outside US – Currency Exchange

Jay — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:07:48 +0000

While English is spoken in a great many countries around the world, unfortunately (or fortunately – depending on your viewpoint) the US Dollar is not accepted beyond US territories. Although the world ‘trades’ in dollars, the physical currency itself isn’t widely accepted beyond US borders. That being the case, in order to buy things in other countries without using a credit or debit card – you’ll need to convert your US dollars into the currency of the country you are traveling. Even if you do use a debit/credit card – you’ll still need to understand what you will be charged in US dollars when your statement arrives.

This is where foreign exchange rates (or currency conversion) come into play. From Wikipedia – “The Exchange Rates between two currencies specifies how much one currency is worth in terms of the other. It is the value of a foreign nation’s currency in terms of the home nation’s currency. For example an exchange rate of 91 Japanese yen (JPY, ¥) to the United States dollar (USD, $) means that JPY 91 is worth the same as USD 1.”

Online Currency Converters

These tools allow you to quickly convert any amount of one currency into another, e.g., 100 US Dollars equal 73 Euros, or 7,500 South African Rand equals $120 US Dollars. What’s important to note here is that these are wholesale rates. Wholesale rates are the rates large banks and countries trade currencies on the open market. These rates fluctuate daily and are rarely offered to consumers. The rate consumers actually pay is a little higher – to account for the cost of the transaction and the institution’s profit margin. What the wholesale exchange rate can tell you is a ballpark figure or a starting point of what the final exchange rate will be.

As long as you understand the limitations of these tools, there are a few currency exchange sites on the web that make the process much easier than looking in the newspaper.

Online Currency Converter (most popular) – http://www.xe.com
Yahoo Finance Currency Converter – http://finance.yahoo.com/currency-converter/
Oanda Currency Site – http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic

Tip for Getting Close to Wholesale Rates

Once you have a ballpark idea of what the conversion rate will be for your transactions, your goal should now be to get as close to the wholesale rate as possible. Below are a few options to reaching this goal:

Order Before Leaving – BankofAmerica will deliver most all major currencies to your doorstep – and you don’t even have to be a customer. They will offer a conversion rate that’s pretty close to the wholesale exchange rate. If you order more than $1,000 US worth of cash, the service is free (BOA will mail to your house or send it to your nearest BOA branch – your choice). If you are not ordering more than $1,000 – they will charge you about $7.50 for the entire transaction (the fee is the same whether mailed to you or branch). The good news is you don’t have to order a $1,000 in a single currency to avoid the transaction fee. For example, you can order $500 worth of Euros, $300 worth of British Pounds, and $200 worth of Mexican Pesos and not be charged the $7.50 fee. To get started, go to http://www.bankofamerica.com/foreigncurrency/ to indicate how much money and which currency you’ll need. BOA will tell you the conversion rate, you determine how you want to pay (BOA account or outside Credit Card) and the money arrives in 1-3 business days.
Use Credit Card – If carrying around a large wad of cash isn’t your cup of tea (and it shouldn’t be), you can use your credit card to get a better exchange rate. Aside from all of the other reasons to use your credit card to make purchases; your bank is fronting the money for the transaction and has a better negotiating position and therefore commands a better exchange rate. The downside of using your credit card is interest may accrue on the transaction (if you don’t pay your balances every month) and some issuers charge a foreign transaction fee for using your card outside of the country – anywhere from 1-3 percent of the total transaction.
Cash from ATM – Perhaps the best of both worlds – use your ATM card to get money after you arrive in your destination. The goal here is to pull as much cash as you will need for the trip all at one time. The ATM owner and your Bank my charge you an ATM fee – but it will be less than what you would have been charged if you had used your credit card for multiple transactions. Again, because the bank is effectively issuing local currency on your behalf – you are getting the same exchange rate as if you have used your credit card. Most all airports have ATMs and most US based credit cards will work in these machines (with the unfortunate exception of Cuba).

What Not to Do

Never Use Airport Currency Exchange – This could possibly be the worst way to exchange money – only slightly less awful than getting counterfeit bills. These outfits not only give you an awful exchange rate (usually 5-10% worse than the wholesale rate) but they also charge a ‘fee’ for the transaction – either a flat amount or a percentage of the transaction. One place even tried to charge me $10 for getting ‘change’ in the same currency!!! Ridiculous.
Street Vendors – Someone offers you a lower exchange rate if you ‘follow them’. There’s a high probability that at best – you get a an incorrect dollar amount (like a 50 cent coin instead of the 5 dollar coin you were supposed to get) or at worst – you’ll get outright counterfeit bills at the end of this transaction. Do yourself a favor and use an ATM in the airport or bank location.
Cash Advances from Credit Card – Unless you are stranded in a desert without cash, lost your ATM card and the tow truck guy refuses to take your credit card – I can’t see any good reason to get a cash advance. Your credit card company usually doles out cash advances at around 23% interest – beware.

A few more tips

Try to do conversion on the fly. Say you are in Mexico and the exchange rate is $1 dollar = 7 pesos and the steak dinner you’ve been eying costs 150 pesos. Simply divide 150 by 7 to know the US equivalent is $21.42. For me, it’s easier just to divide the first number when doing this on the fly – so 15 divided by 7 equals 2 – so I immediately know it’s somewhere in the range of $20-$29 dollars.
If you have an iPhone, Android or Windows Mobile Phone, download a conversion app (or just use the calculator) to perform the exact calculation.
Round Down – if conversion rate is 7.7, round down to 7. This way, it’s easier to perform real-time math and ensures you don’t blow your budget due to bad math.

Hopefully this article will take some of the mystery out of this process and make it easier to manage your hard earned money when traveling abroad.

Happy Travels

Tipping Etiquette When Traveling

Jay — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:02:20 +0000

To be quite honest, I have been confused on a number of occasions about when and how much gratuity (tip) to a provide when traveling out of the country. I learned pretty quickly that tipping is not necessary in some countries and in others, it is seen as a form of insult. The purpose of this article is to help shed some light on the subject so that you can avoid awkward situations in your travels.

Note: This article is about tipping outside of the United States. Everyone in the US should know that tipping service professionals is customary. Service professionals in the US get paid a very small hourly wage (sometimes as little as $2 an hour) and make a majority of their income from tips. Tips should be in the range of 10% to 20% depending on the level of service. Again, this article isn’t about whether you should tip in the US or Canada – you should – Don’t be a Jerk!!! Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way…..

International Gratuity

It can be confusing knowing how much to tip, when and to whom when overseas. This is because the economic structures and customs for service professionals in other countries are different than in the Western World. As I mentioned above, US service professionals make a majority of their income from tips – while in many Asian countries – service professional are “Professionals”, e.g., their entire living wage is salaried and they generally do not accept tips. In many European countries, tipping is accepted – but only the change that’s left from the bill. Again, this is because either a surcharge (form of tip) has already been applied to the bill or the service professionals in these countries do not make a significant portion of their income from tips (many are salaried).

Where is Tipping Acceptable?

The information below was taken directly from this FlyerTalk forums article on the subject. Since I haven’t traveled to every corner of the earth, this is a more complete resource than my own experiences.

By Region

Asia/the Pacific: Special care must be taken to ensure that your well-meaning gesture is not taken as insulting. If you are unsure, it is best not to tip. If possible, observe the locals and follow their lead.
Europe: Many hotels and restaurants add a service charge to the bill. In most cases, an additional tip is unnecessary. If no service charge is added to your bill, 10% is the general rule for restaurant service, and $1 per bag for a hotel porter.
Middle East/Africa: While your tip will not be seen as insulting, it may be unnecessary. Once again, the best bet is to do as the locals do.
Central/South America: Many hotels and restaurants add a service charge to the bill, and an additional tip is unnecessary. If not, 10% is the general rule for restaurant service, and the equivalent of $1 per bag for a porter.

…Continued

Making Calls While Overseas

Jay — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:59:00 +0000

When traveling overseas, we generally take good care in packing whatever we need to make the experience as familiar as possible – whether its toothpaste, laptop, or our camera. One component that isn’t so easy to bring along is our mobile phone – both for technological and budgetary reasons.

It can be useful having a cell phone to stay in touch with friends/family back in the US or for use locally in making or confirming reservations, hours of operation, etc. In addition, if you are traveling with a group of people and want to go different directions during the trip; having a cell phone allows you to keep in contact and schedule rendezvous.

Using your US cell phone to make international calls back to the US can be prohibitively expensive. Although many US carriers offer ‘World Phones’, the fees charged to actually use them overseas are ridiculous (through a few carriers will unlock select phones if you meet certain criteria).

It’s important to note this article doesn’t necessarily apply to Business travel – as your company will likely provide you with an expense paid company phone when traveling overseas. With that in mind, here are a few options for making calls while out of the country.

Computer Calling – Instead of using a telephone to connect to your friends and family, use your computer to place free calls anywhere around the world. Software like Yahoo Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, and Windows Live all have video calling as part of their feature list (each party needs to use the same software). The most popular of the free video calling apps – Skype – also allows you to make calls to any mobile or landline phone in the US for a small fee. Perhaps a better option is Google Voice; not only does it do computer-to-computer calling – you can also call cell phones and landlines for free (only in North America). The downside to using computer to computer calling is it requires a computer, so it is not the best mobile option. It also requires a broadband Internet connection – which may not be free or stable in your hotel/cafe.
Calling Card – Just like in many US gas stations, prepaid International Calling cards allow you to make relatively cheap calls to any number back in the states. Simply purchase the number of minutes upfront and talk until you run out of money. Beware, some calling card outfits charge a connection fee every time you make a call – on top of the per minute fee. A quick check online shows 2 cents a minute from the UK back to the states. Of course, you’ll need to find a public phone to use these.
Rent phone or SIM – If you want to make calls wherever you are and not bother looking for a public phone, carrying a mobile phone is a convenient option. There are two ways to go about this:
- Rent Entire Phone – Rental units can be shipped to your US address before you leave or picked up at the airport of your destination. You pay a fee to rent the unit and a per minute fee for actual calls made. For example, a company called CellHire offers rented cell phones in Europe for $20 a week, free incoming calls, and .35/.45 cent a minute for domestic and international respectively.
- Rent SIM Only – If you have a phone that will work, you can simply rent a SIM card for your phone. The advantage here is you aren’t using someone else’s equipment – thus you are already familiar with the functionality. It’s also a little less expensive than renting the entire phone and way less expensive that using your US carrier’s international calling option. On the downside, your phone may not actually work in the country in which you’ll be traveling. US carrier networks/bands are different than most all international locales – so you’ll need a GSM Tri or Quad Band capable phone to take advantage of this.
Your Phone Service – This option allows you to use your existing phone service to make international calls. All calls you make are billed to your existing account – no need to use a credit card or prepay anything. There are essentially two ways to do this:
- International Calling Plan – With this option, you call ahead and ask your carrier to place you on a specific calling plan meant to provide reduced rates while overseas. While this is certainly convenient, US carriers aren’t even in the ballpark when it comes to price per minute comparisons with renting a phone or using a calling card. Also, these calling plans generally only cover voice calls – text messages and data fees are usually separate (Translation: Expensive).
- International Roaming – With this, you don’t call ahead and just use your phone and hope for the best. Not a good option. A buddy of mine got charged $5,000 for 3 days while in Canada by AT&T. AT&T isn’t unique in this matter – so only use this option unless you absolutely have no other options.
Satellite Phone – Though not the most popular option, it is the only option in some places in the world. If you are going on a Safari in Kenya – it is unlikely there will be traditional cell towers out in the brush. In these cases, a Satellite phone is your only option. Be careful, satellite phones tend to be huge in size and very expensive – both in activation and per minute fees.
Local Calling – Another option is to use whatever local calling option is available, e.g., hotel concierge, executive lounges, or room phones. In addition, public phone booths are actually fairly prevalent in most of Western Europe (your mileage may vary in other countries).

Finally, there is one other option – don’t make any calls. I have never needed to call back to the US while overseas. That’s not to say I haven’t communicated – I have. Email and/or instant messaging work fine for letting folks know I’ve arrived safely at my destination and it works well for reserving activities or tours. Remember, this is a ‘vacation’ – you won’t be taking full advantage of this trip if you are on the phone back to the states all day!

Happy Travels!!