Thank you for the comments and feedback on last weeks’ post on how to prepare for a potential disaster when you are travelling (terror related or natural disaster). One of the things I encouraged you to do was to “Know the contact number(s) for the Embassy, High Commission or Consular office in the city you are visiting“. A few people indicated confusion over what an embassy is and what it can do. Like most people. I rarely encounter embassies, except for where I have friends working for one or I go to a Festival or…
Travel Tips (Monday)
Category Archives for Travel Tips (Monday).
What to do to prepare for a potential disaster while travelling
After the terrorist events across the world this past week, I think it is prudent to be prepared for a situation where you experience a natural or human emergency. (This is coming from someone who has lived in two war zones and travelled through multiple other war areas and disasters!) Check travel warnings for natural disaster warnings, violence, political unrest and wars before you travel. It amazes me that I talk to tourists who arrive in a country oblivious that only weeks before there was a coup or hurricane or earthquake! Check Your Perception: despite the…
Testing the Best Booking Engines for International Travel
Two weeks ago, Frommers announced the results of testing airfare booking sites. Frommer’s tested sites on last-minute flights which left within 72 hours) and APEX fares which are booked six weeks out. They used major routeings such as New York to Los Angeles and secondary ones such as Philadelphia to Rome. They also had some interesting routeings such as Denver to Delhi and London to Barcelona. Their weighted scoring system included negative points for finding the worst fares on each leg. The final ranking of ten sites roughly correlated with my experiences. Over the last six to twelve months,…
Be Careful with Your Hands – When your innocent Hand Gestures might be Rude (NB Rude Images)
We use our hands all the time to point, wave and express our feelings. It has been a source of amusement that what is okay in some cultures can be an offensive gesture in another. The first time I went to Disneyworld, one of my friends excitedly told me about the way Disney employees are trained to point. They are not allowed to point with one finger. One reason is that it is easier for kids to see when you pointing with two fingers and another is that in some cultures pointing with one finger…
Coping with Culture Shock
Following on yesterday’s post on least favourite cities, many people in the comments described symptoms of “culture shock”. There are many places that I will visit that I will love the whole time you I am there -possibly with some minor with occasional irritants or discomforts. There are other occasions where we can experience irritation and frustration on a regular pattern. People experiencing culture shock can appear angry, confused, frustrated or irritable. We cannot understand why people are enjoying the very things we are hating. These feelings will make us negative about our trip, the country…
Preventing Bed Bugs in your hotel bed in Paris, in New York or Your nearest Holiday city.
It has been three years since I last wrote on bed bugs. Last week Le Parisien reported that nearly every day a resident is forced to throw out their infested mattresses. Further RVIP a property management group told the publication that the bugs are coming from the United States. RIVP manager Oliver Perret said: “It’s been like this for two or three years,” RIVP group said that 20% of the 1,000 properties it oversees have dealt with bedbug infestations. The group told reporters that it had been deep-freezing infested furniture at -25C in order to get rid of…
Every Airport’s Wifi information is now available
Anil Polat has created a map with the wifi information for 231 airports across the globe including the passwords in Airline lounges within those airports. The map is regularly updated and is looking for accurate information on then latest developments. Click on an aeroplane symbol representing the airport you are visiting or search for it and up will pop all relevant wifi information. Very useful! Remember that you are operating on an unsecured network so guard your identity, privacy and data carefully! Anil is a blogger and a computer security engineer who is on a journey to visit every country…
Check your Booking carefully before pressing “confirm”
It happens more frequently than one realises. CBC reports that Milan Schipper of the Netherlands booked a ticket to YQY (Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada) and not SYD (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia). The ticket price was apparently $CAN300 cheaper than any other fare Mr Schipper had seen for tickets from Amsterdam to Sydney. And no wonder! It is about 10,000km (6,500 miles) closer. He boarded a plane in Amsterdam and flew to Toronto, Canada. From there he changed to a small plane for the flight “down under“. That is when he realised his mistake. This…
Mid East Airlines to offer laptops & tablets for loan & free wifi
As we continue to “live” with the “laptop ban” which disallows all equipment larger than a laptop (including noise cancelling headphones I understand) from cabins on selected routes to the USA and UK, airlines are offering the following options: Emirates- offers a free “handling service” for US flights. Customers hand laptops etc to security personnel at the gate who will box all laptops ready to be handed back to customers on arrival. Free Wi-Fi is also available to all customers. The airline notes only six percent of customers connect their laptops to wifi Etihad –…
US Electronics Ban -what to do if You are a Passenger
As I blogged about earlier today, The United States has announced today that any electronic item larger than a phone will be banned from cabins on all flights from ten airports in eight Middle Eastern countries. Check if you are flying from or through any of the ten affected airports to the USA. It is important to note it only applies at this stage to flights to the USA. So if you are flying New York to Dubai for example, the rules do not apply to you. If you feel uncomfortable or concerned with flying…
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