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 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 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 |
January 20, 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.
Topics include:
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.
Here are last week’s Travel Gems:
Monday Jan. 11 – Organize your closet by type of clothes (pants, jackets, tops), then by color. This makes for very easy selection of clothes for packing.
I can pack for a 4-5 day business trip in a matter of a few minutes because of this organization and color-coordination. Another minute or so to pick out jewelry or scarves, throw in my work-out clothes and I’m packed!
Tuesday Jan. 12 – Avoid wearing mascara while traveling. Even snoozing on short flights, I always seem to find mascara under my eyes. Instead, put it one once you arrive at your destination. The same goes for eye shadows. I love bareVitamins Prime Time Eyelid Primer available at Sephoa. This primer holds eye shadow in place all day with no creases. When I do not have the primer with me, I skip the eye shadow until after my flight.
Wednesday Jan. 13 – When wearing bracelets/bangles through security, walk through the sensor with hands clasped in front of you, not at your side near the sensors. Less time in removing the bangles, and less chance that they’d walk away in someone else’s bag.
Thursday Jan. 14 - Use twist-ties or a round keychain to secure your luggage zippers. The TSA-approved locks work also, but they are expensive and often go astray when baggage personnel do not put the lock back on.
I have used the TSA-approved locks on my luggage and have always had them come up missing after checking my bag in my home airport of Orlando. Now I use simple twist-ties (and carry a few extras with me) to secure the zippers from opening up while in transit. And just where do these missing locks go to the same place as missing socks?
Friday Jan. 15 – Use a small video camera to capture snippets of something fun in the city you’re visiting or say hello to your kids from a historic or interesting place…maybe even from your hotel room as you tell them you love them. Email the video to the at-home spouse or your caregiver to show the kids, or post them on a family website.
Posted by Carol Margolis under Travel |
