March 17, 2010
I’ve loved the saying of “Success Leaves Clues” for a long time. Here’s a new saying along that same line: “Luggage Leaves Clues.” What exactly am I talking about?
As I’m settling down to write this, I’ve just gotten into my comfy clothes…sweatpants and a t-shirt. Not just any old t-shirt, but a genuine SkyTeam t-shirt. I donned my slippers with the fancy ‘F’ on them – my comfy Fairmont slippers. I put my book to the side (I’m reading Tim Ferriss’s updated version of The 4-Hour Workweek), marking my page with my Continental boarding pass.
This got me thinking about all of the travel-related items that I carry. Someone who went wandering through my bags could tell a lot about me just by these items.
In this week’s bag I have: Read more of this article »
Posted by Carol Margolis under Random Thoughts, Travel |
March 15, 2010
Each Monday through Friday, a Travel Gem of the Day will be posted at SmartWomenTravelers.com. These Travel Gems are tips that will help a traveler travel smarter, safer, handle home issues, be prepared and enjoy their journeys.
Here are last week’s Travel Gems:
Monday Mar. 8th- When looking for the best deal at a hotel, ask for the concierge floor or bed and breakfast rate. While it may be $50 more a night or so, it will include breakfast, perhaps a light dinner and complimentary water and soft drinks. When traveling with a spouse or children, this can save a lot in meals and beverages. Read more of this article »
Posted by Carol Margolis under Travel |
March 9, 2010
Each Monday through Friday, a Travel Gem of the Day will be posted at SmartWomenTravelers.com. These Travel Gems are tips that will help a traveler travel smarter, safer, handle home issues, be prepared and enjoy their journeys.
Here are last week’s Travel Gems:
Monday Mar. 1st - Avoid missed flights and getting stuck in a middle seat. Always confirm your flight info the night before your trip – better yet, a few days before. When booking your flight weeks in advance, the departure time may change from what you originally booked. You do not want to arrive at the airport only to find your flight left earlier than you thought.
The plane configuration may also change, resulting in a middle seat that you did not expect! (Tip: many frequent fliers get upgraded into first class in the few days before a flight, so you may have a chance to move out of a middle seat as their coach seats become available.)
Validating your flight a day or more ahead of time gives you a chance to contact the airline online or via telephone to address any seating, timing or other ticket issues. Read more of this article »
Posted by Carol Margolis under Travel |
March 2, 2010
I loved the movie Up in the Air. George Clooney made business travel look so easy – maybe even glamorous – whisking through airports; arriving at his hotel with no check-in lines as the scene simply cuts to him relaxing in a hotel room.
Great movie but it was far from reality. Don’t get me wrong, I love traveling, but it is hardly easy. What are the downsides to traveling every week? Let me count the ways … Read more of this article »
Posted by Carol Margolis under Hotel Living, Relationships, Television & Movies, Travel |
March 1, 2010
Each Monday through Friday, a Travel Gem of the Day will be posted at SmartWomenTravelers.com. These Travel Gems are tips that will help a traveler travel smarter, safer, handle home issues, be prepared and enjoy their journeys.
Here are last week’s Travel Gems:
Monday Feb. 22nd – Start each trip with small bills for tipping and incidentals. Fellow travelers recommend starting each trip with $10 to $20 in one-dollar bills. This saves time, hassle and money! Without having a sufficient amount of small bills, the small tips typically end up being $5 tips vs. a dollar or two. Read more of this article »
Posted by Carol Margolis under Travel |
February 22, 2010
Each Monday through Friday, a Travel Gem of the Day will be posted at SmartWomenTravelers.com. These Travel Gems are tips that will help a traveler travel smarter, safer, handle home issues, be prepared and enjoy their journeys.
Here are last week’s Travel Gems:
Monday Feb. 15 – Still using a generic travel checklist (or not using a travel checklist at all)? It’s too easy to forget needed items even if you do have a standard travel checklist. Instead, create a travel checklist for each season, and for each type of trip. See our Travel Gem from 01/04/2010 for a free download of a sample travel checklist. Create several based on your types of travel.
For example:
- Winter trip
- Summer trip
- Business meetings
- Business conference (may need more layering of clothes, recording device, extra business cards, for example)
You can also create different travel checklists for:
- Long flights
- Shorter flights
- Car trips
Create one standard travel checklist of items that you always bring on each trip, and then copy it for each unique type of trip. This will save you tons of time when it comes to packing, and lots of money to buy items you intended to bring but forgot.
Tuesday Feb. 16th – Feel like you’re shedding your skin due to too much air travel? Flying can really dry out your skin. What can you do when your hands, arms and legs look all scaly and your loofa is back at home?
A simple and free remedy is to mix in a packet or two of raw sugar to the body lotion provided by your hotel. Rub this on your body just before showering to create a nice body scrub that helps remove flaky skin. Good-bye alligator skin!
Wednesday Feb. 17th – Got an international trip coming up? Remember these key credit card to-do’s:
- Select two of your credit cards (at least one with cash advance privileges) for your trip.
- Call your credit card’s customer service department prior to traveling internationally.
- Ask them:
Can I use this card in my destination country?
What is my spending limit?
What insurance benefits are provided by my credit card (rental car accidents, lost or damaged items, etc.)?
How do I contact you if I lose the card? (Note: not all toll-free numbers work internationally, so ask for a local number as well.)
- Provide the dates of your travel and a telephone number where they can reach you at.
- For any necessary cash advance on your credit card, be sure you know your PIN number for your card. If you do not have this PIN number, contact your bank and request a new PIN at least two weeks prior to your travel.
Thursday Feb. 18th – This handy travel data can help you plan your flights. Go to this Department of Transportation site for lots of great data on airport and airline delays, baggage claims, the number of passengers bumped by airline and more.
For example: the number of passengers denied boarding for Jan-Sep, 2009 was highest at United and US Air. If you’re looking to get bumped and score a voucher for the next flight, your luck will be better on these airlines.
Also note the percent of on-time arrivals at major U.S. airports. The percentage is almost always higher in the mornings, so plan your travels early in the day.
Friday Feb. 19th – Help your kids build a postcard collection of your travels by picking up a few postcards at the airport upon arrival (bring postcard stamps from home). Each day, write a few words about where you’re visiting, what you love about your family, and any other journal-type of writing. Mail one every couple of days, or at least once per trip.
Have your kids save these postcards in a binder with clear plastic sleeves, so that they can see the picture on the postcard as well as your writings.
This is a great way for your kids to be excited about your journeys as they build this postcard anthology, and you will have fond memories as you look back on your trips over the years.
If you would like a favorite travel tip of yours to be included in the Travel Gem of the Day, email your tip, name and website to travelgem@smartwomentravelers.com.
Posted by Carol Margolis under Travel |
February 15, 2010
Each Monday through Friday, a Travel Gem of the Day will be posted at SmartWomenTravelers.com. These Travel Gems are tips that will help a traveler travel smarter, safer, handle home issues, be prepared and enjoy their journeys.
Here are last week’s Travel Gems:
Monday Feb. 8 - New travel apps for (most) everyone! Blackberry users get Trip-It; iPhone users get Siri.
The popular Trip-It app became available to Blackberry users on January 20th. The Siri Personal Assistant for iPhone users was released on February 5th. Both are of great value to folks on the go.
Learn more about TripIt’s free mobile apps for BlackBerry, Android and iPhone atwww.tripit.com/uhp/mobile.
Siri is getting excellent reviews right out of the gate. Rather than me talk about it, here’s what appeared in USA Today.
Tuesday Feb. 9 - Good-bye to excuses as to why you can’t exercise in your hotel. These light-weight travel friendly resistance bands
make the perfect exercise equipment right in the comfort of your hotel room. After you select your bands, search through the resistance band videos that are available.
P.S. I have found that asking for a room with a king bed (vs. two double beds) gives me more moving-around room in order to exercise.
Wednesday Feb. 10 – When flying internationally and a domestic connecting flight is involved, either book the first flight out in the morning or allow a 3-hour time between flights. International flights almost always leave on-time, so any delays on your first flight could cause you to miss your flight or have your bags miss your flight. I learned this one personally and did not have my bags for an extra day because I only allowed 90 minutes between a domestic and international flight and my domestic flight was 70 minutes late.
Thursday Feb. 11 - Good/Better/Best for Hotel Safety and Dining Out:
Good: If you are venturing out of the hotel on your own, let the front desk know your agenda or itinerary and when to expect you back.
Better: If you are returning in the dark, call ahead to the hotel and ask that someone escort you from the parking lot into the hotel.
Best: Ask the hotel if their hotel shuttle will drive you to and from a restaurant.
Friday Feb. 12 - Want to create a photo journal of your trips, but no time?
Online Photo Books and Photo Gifts are a great way to easily record the special memories from your travels in much less time than a traditional photo album. With your digital photos on your computer, it’s as easy as drag-and-drop into your desired photo pages, complete with designs that you select. Some services even let you upload photos from your phone directly to your account on their sites.
There are many online companies for photo journals. Here are a few to get you started:
I wish this had existed when I was creating photo albums for my print photos (wait … I’m STILL creating my print photo albums!
Posted by Carol Margolis under Travel |
February 9, 2010
That was quite the weekend of the Mid-Atlantic states getting dumped on with many feet of snow, and more snow is coming. Just because I live in Orlando doesn’t mean I can’t relate. I lived through years and years of tons of snow. I was born and raised in Chicago so I know what cold and snow and wind is! I had years of software projects all over Winnipeg, Ontario, Alberta, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana . . . so I KNOW winter! I’ve seen more ice houses on frozen lakes in Ontario than I’ve ever wanted to see (how can they drive their trucks on the ice??)
I suffered through my share of rental cars that never had snow brushes (my credit card got used for scraping ice off of windows), getting extension cords with my car so I could plug-in at my motel, and hundreds of hours smelling the de-icing material used on the wings of my planes. Read more of this article »
Posted by Carol Margolis under Current Affairs, Random Thoughts, Travel |
February 8, 2010
Each Monday through Friday, a Travel Gem of the Day will be posted at SmartWomenTravelers.com. These Travel Gems are tips that will help a traveler travel smarter, safer, handle home issues, be prepared and enjoy their journeys.
Here are last week’s Travel Gems:
Monday Feb. 1 - Don’t be caught without a phone number or address while you’re driving! You can’t find the restaurant where you’re supposed to be meeting your best friend or biggest client, nor do you have their telephone number. Don’t panic. Read more of this article »
Posted by Carol Margolis under Travel |
February 1, 2010
Each Monday through Friday, a Travel Gem of the Day will be posted at SmartWomenTravelers.com. These Travel Gems are tips that will help a traveler travel smarter, safer, handle home issues, be prepared and enjoy their journeys.
Here are last week’s Travel Gems:
Monday Jan. 25 - MyFax is on online service that lets you send and receive faxes over email. Best news – they have a free version! It lets you send two faxes a day, up to 10 pages each, without entering a credit card number of setting up an account. Go to myfax.com/free and enter your contact information, and the name and fax number of the person you want to contact. Then upload and send your file. Read more of this article »
Posted by Carol Margolis under Travel |
January 25, 2010
Each Monday through Friday, a Travel Gem of the Day will be posted at SmartWomenTravelers.com. These Travel Gems are tips that will help a traveler travel smarter, safer, handle home issues, be prepared and enjoy their journeys.
Here are last week’s Travel Gems:
Monday Jan. 18 - Free Passport Reminder Service: ItsEasy.com offers a free passport renewal reminder, which can help travelers avoid showing up at the airport or border with an expired or soon to expire passport. Register on their website and receive a renewal reminder via email nine months prior to your passport expiration date. This service is especially useful for families with children, since kids’ passports expire every five years (as opposed to 10 years for adults).They also provide expedited passport processing. Read more of this article »
Posted by Carol Margolis under Travel |
