The Thrifty Travelers

I n today's economy, the dollar is actually doing well. Your buying power goes a long in some countries like India, Nicaragua, South Africa, etc....as long as you are using cash. Now, most people do not want to carry along gobs of cash for fear of being mugged. I am the same way. The better solution is credit cards, but most charge a foreign transaction fee along with giving you a bad exchange rate. The only credit card out there which does not charge a fee..........is Capitol One. Take a look at the list: Capital One: 0% transaction fee. (Capital One not only doesn't impose its own fee, but it also eats the 1% fee that Visa or MasterCard impose.) Discover: 2% transaction fee Iberia Bank: 2% American Express: 2.7% Bank of America: 3% Barclays Bank Delaware: 3% Chase: 3% Citibank: 3% GE Money 3% HSBC: 3% U.S. Bancorp (U.S. Bank): 3% Wells Fargo: 3% Also, typically the best exchange rates are going to be found at ATMs and local changers....not the airport. Good luck and make the

The last time I went to Nicaragua, I called my cell phone company and asked them about rates....well, they gave me the runaround, but quoting me some decent rates. I should have never believed them. When I returned from a 4 day trip, I had an additional $300 in charges. Wow!!! I couldn't believe it. I tried to argue with them and received a reduction in my bill, but vowed that I would never do that again. So let me tell you my plans for our next trip. After considerable research, I have found a site called http://www.telestial.com which provides good international SIM cards along with outstanding rates. You can also rent a satellite phone to prevent any issues, but expect to pay more. The only issue is that you may have to unlock your phone. Now some companies in the past, T-Mobile included, will give you the unlocking code if you just ask...and find the right customer agent. If you can't get it done that way, I would recommend http://www.unlocking.com and pay $20 for an unloc

On our trip to Europe 2 years back, we had the decision to make whether to take the rail or fly around. Once we did the numbers, it was clear that flying was our best choice. Europe has an abundance of low cost carriers. Most everyone knows of Ryanair, but there are plenty which are better. The only problem are the fees. They can add up fast, especially for baggage, but if you do careful reading, you can get around cheap. I typically start at www.bravofly.com and then work to the individual airlines, but you can find some good deals there. Check it out and let me know of other links to good flights.

It's amazing the price gouging that happens during special events. Where you could rent a hotel for $95 a night is now close to $250 per night with what would be considered a 2-3 star hotel. I had mentioned advanced planning and we were lucky enough to be staying at Waybury House in the Sandton area. If you want to check it out, here is the link: http://www.wayburyhouse.co.za/index.html Originally, I wanted to stay near Sun City and visit Pilanesburg National Park, but it turns out FIFA booked out 97% of the rooms in that area and used companies to repackage them for increased pricing....smart for them, bad for us. So what if you are single or traveling hostel style? An interesting idea popped up by some locals and they come up with a hostel concept in the heart of Johannesburg. Check it out.....poor website, but still has cheap, dorm style availability. http://hostivalonline.com/

For now, we will be using the World Cup as our example, but I think this holds true for any major trip. Plan in advance!! We began looking at flights, hotels, cars, etc. around 12-18 months in advance. This allowed us to do several things: 1. Save us a bunch of money. 2. Allowed us to get the hotel we wanted. 3. Let us stay in better locations. 4. Did I mention we saved a ton of money. For example: The flight from Dallas to Johannesburg so far is costing around $2900 per person if you do a search on Kayak. That is $5800.00 for a couple just to fly coach!! My wife and I started saving points through an airline credit card (we chose a Star Alliance airline) around 18 months in advance. We put everything on our card and paid it off. Towards the end, we had enough points for 2 coach tickets. We decided to splurge and bought extra points and spent an additional $1400.00 and now are flying business class! That savings of $4400.00 will be used towards the rest of our trip, which I

I have read many horror stories of flight delays, baggage loss, illness, etc. on trips of long duration and how they were will prepared to deal with them. After speaking to many travel agents, reading blogs, etc. I decided the sensible thing to do was to get travel insurance for our World Cup trip. If you have seen our itinerary through the TripIt link, you can see that there are many stops and chances for delay, baggage issues grow with every one of them. Having travel insurance can really be a lifesaver. But who do you choose? Some good websites that can get you the information you need: www.travelinsurancereview.com www.squaremouth.com www.insuremytrip.com Our total cost for my wife and I was $325.00. A small price to pay for comprehensive coverage in case of loss, delays, theft, or illness. Let me know your thoughts on travel insurance and your experiences.

So, I mentioned TripIt in the past. It is an easy to use website that allows you to forward your confirmations and they will put it together for an itinerary. You can also use it to sent to family/friends so they know the details. The Cup is nearly here and I wanted you to see our link. Let me know what you think: http://www.tripit.com/trip/public/id/99958021C323

Wow. What can I tell you. Recently, we had some good friends plan a trip to the Bahamas for a wedding. They had taken time off work, spent lots of money, but lo and behold....the time comes to board the flight and they find out that their kids do not have passports. I have seen a trend among travel agents and websites who don't make it explicit to their customers that even small children require passports. The days of birth certificates are long gone. Always have a passport for anyone traveling outside the US. When in doubt, even if it is Mexico or Canada, the passport can be the best identification. Thankfully, they were able to use a service and have them overnighted, or else....they could have been back home with lots of money wasted.