Travel

(AP) — Q: I’m heading to Europe this summer, and I want to bring my cell phone, but international roaming looks expensive. How do I keep costs down? A: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Switch out your SIM card — the little chip in the phone that carries your account information — for a prepaid local one, and pay local rates. Don’t be intimidated by the prospect. The SIM card, or Subscriber Identity Module, is almost always located in the phone’s battery compartment. You’ll probably have to remove the battery to get at it, but you don’t need any special tools. If you can’t figure it out, get a European to show you — they’re used to switching SIM cards when they switch carriers. You do need to do some homework first, but it’s worth it, unless you’re just staying in the foreign country for a few days. U.S. carriers generally charge about $1.29 per minute for international roaming, while local prepaid rates are around 20 U.S. cents per minute for outgoing calls, and incoming calls
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function printAnchor(urlPrefix) { document.write(”"); } mboxCreate(’st_bookmarks_horizontal’); Don’t let the euro take a bite out of your food budget on a European vacation. If you’re visiting when the weather is nice, get outside. Even in the biggest cities, parks abound and so do your options for enjoying affordable food al fresco. Find markets or grocery stores by consulting your guidebook, a local, or the Internet, and purchase picnic supplies for a fraction of the cost of a restaurant meal. If you plan to picnic, pack a Swiss Army knife and a small cutting board. At restaurants, check for prix-fixe menus, which offer multicourse dining for less. Ethnic restaurants can be affordable as well, though it’s vital to research the best cuisines of the city. Indian in London or North African couscous in Paris won’t disappoint, but Mexican food in Berlin might just break your heart, and won’t do your wallet any favors either. To further stretch dining-out dollars, beware the price
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Since my trip to SF was too short, I didnt have enough time to do so many things - the recommends came too late:(The following are the things I DIDNT do:1. go up to Yosemite National Park2. climb the stairs up to the Coit Tower3. visit Alcatraz (urghh!)4. eat seafood by the bay.5. checkout Japanese Tea GardenThese stuffs were recommended to me by fellow travelers. So, if you are going to SF, do stuffs that are on my list (especially no.3-Alcatraz)

Dear Kid, Lately, I've come to the conclusion that all this driving around parents do for their kids is a really bad thing. Not only does it wreak havoc on the family schedule, but parents are tired and poorer and too many fast-food meals are consumed en route.  The result is that not only have the cars gotten bigger, so has our girth. Now, I know you are of an age when you want both a car and a license.  And here is where I have to be frank. I don't owe you a car. You're not going to get a Porsche, truck, Scion, or SUV from me. You should have figured that out. Last Christmas a car failed to materialize, though you did get a new pair of skis. Not like you'd use those to get to to school, but at least they were a form of movement. As for the license, sometimes we forget that driving isn't a right. So I don't owe you a license, either. No, you'll earn it. Get good grades, be courteous to others, help around the house, show me you're
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As of May 23, 2008, Vietnam's second largest carrier, Pacific Airlines, will complete its transformation to become Vietnam's first low cost, value based airline and will be renamed Jetstar Pacific (Jetstar Pacific Airlines Joint Stock Aviation Company). The Qantas Group, which made an initial investment of 18 per cent in Pacific Airlines in July 2007, will increase its investment in the airline to 30 percent in 2010. The establishment of a Business Service Agreement (BSA) between Jetstar and Pacific Airlines will support new commercial and distribution arrangements for Jetstar Pacific, the development of a Vietnamese website at Jetstar.com as a core distribution and revenue channel in Vietnam, and the introduction of a fleet of up to 30 Airbus A320 aircraft by 2014, Qantas said. "The first A320 is proposed to enter Jetstar Pacific's operations in August 2008, initially within Vietnam before expanding later this year into markets such as Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia
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function redirect(urlPrefix) { window.location(urlPrefix + “http://www.smartertravel.com/blogs/up-front-with-tim-winship/delta-northwest-merger-raises-frequent-flyer-program-questions.html?id=2550137″); } function printAnchor(urlPrefix) { document.write(”"); } mboxCreate(’st_bookmarks_horizontal’); Last night, the on-again, off-again merger dance between Delta and Northwest took a definitive step forward with the formal announcement that terms of the tie-up had been agreed upon. The two airlines will now seek regulatory approval for the combination. For members of the two carriers’ frequent flyer programs, the overall prognosis is mostly neutral or marginally positive, with one negative and a handful of questions that won’t be answered any time soon. First, no miles will be lost or significantly devalued. Assuming the merger is ultimately approved, travelers with miles in both programs will have those miles combined into single accounts. The merging of Delta SkyMiles and
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(Tribune Media Services) — You’ll never meet a traveler who, after five trips, brags, "Every year I pack heavier." The measure of a good traveler is how light he or she travels. You can’t travel heavy, happy and cheap. Pick two. Too much luggage and camera gear marks you as a typical tourist. It throws up a wall between you and the grizzled Spanish fisherman mending his net. Serendipity suffers. Changing locations becomes a major operation. Con artists figure you’re helpless and move in. With one bag hanging on your back, you’re mobile and in control — and less likely to have your luggage get lost, broken or stolen. Limit yourself to 20 pounds in a carry-on-size bag. A 9-by-22-by-14-inch bag fits under most airplane seats. For many, this is a radical concept. "Just 9-by-22-by-14-inches? That’s my cosmetics kit!" But I’ve bullied many people into packing lighter than they thought reasonable. Checking in with them halfway through their trip I find they’re
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Scrambling to ensure their cockpit doors were bullet proof, airlines turned to Dyneema, a thermoplastic that is 15 times stronger than steel but light enough to float on water. Dutch chemical company DSM had at one time almost abandoned Dyneema as a commercial product. Now DSM is hoping it can replicate the success of Kevlar, an aramid fibre made by DuPont Co. As well as in cockpit doors, Dyneema is being used in some of the same applications as Kevlar, such as bulletproof vests and marine cables. DSM says Dyneema is stronger, lighter and more rigid than Kevlar. Among customers is the Chinese company producing the armoured vests and helmets to be used by police during the Beijing Olympics. "They are willing to pay for it because they earn back the costs easily," Jan van den Bossche, an analyst in Brussels at Petercam brokerage, said of Dyneema's attraction for customers. Van den Bossche estimates it already is one of DSM's most profitable products. DSM said in its
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function redirect(urlPrefix) { window.location(urlPrefix + “http://www.smartertravel.com/blogs/today-in-travel/what-to-do-if-your-flight-is-canceled.html?id=2549007″); } function printAnchor(urlPrefix) { document.write(”"); } mboxCreate(’st_bookmarks_horizontal’); If you’re flying in the next few weeks, you may want to start considering your Plan B now. Or maybe I should call it Plan C and D, for cancellations and delays. As the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) expands its inspections, it’s likely that the wave of cancellations we’ve seen from American—which canceled 1,000 flights yesterday and 900 more today—will wash over the industry as a whole. According to a New York Times article, a second wave of audits began on March 30 and will continue through the end of June. Today, expect cancellations from Alaska, American, and Midwest. In the coming weeks, other airlines very well could have more canceled flights. Right now, they seem to be limited to MD-80
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function redirect(urlPrefix) { window.location(urlPrefix + “http://www.smartertravel.com/blogs/up-front-with-tim-winship/delta-northwest-will-receive-antitrust-immunity-from-dot.html?id=2549077″); } function printAnchor(urlPrefix) { document.write(”"); } mboxCreate(’st_bookmarks_horizontal’); The Department of Transportation on Wednesday announced tentative plans to grant antitrust immunity to Delta and Northwest, together with their SkyTeam partners Air France, Alitalia, Czech Airlines, and KLM, allowing them to “coordinate their services and act as a single carrier for U.S.-Europe services.” That means that the affected airlines can jointly set fares and coordinate schedules on transatlantic routes. Without the DOT’s antitrust immunity, such cooperation among airlines that would normally compete against each other would be considered collusion, and would be prosecutable as such. So why is the DOT allowing Delta and Northwest to cooperate rather than compete? Doesn’t that fly
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