Skype iPhone App

I just downloaded the Skype iPhone App from the App Store. I was able to log-in to my account, but was unable to make a call. The app requires a Wifi connection, and is disabled when the phone is connected to 3G. This app will be great when I travel and have Wifi access. Unfortunately, this came a week too late for my last trip to South America.

Cheap international phone calls

The NY Times has an interstesting article about how to get cheap calls overseas using Fring or Skype.

Brazilian Consulate

I am hoping to visit Brazil on my trip next week, but I still need a visa to cross into the country. The consulate offers 20 visas a day at their offices, but I was a few people past that limit when they gave out the numbers. I plan to arrive much earlier tomorrow in an attempt to be further up in line. The place felt like a stuffy meat market, and there were a bunch of other people waiting, apparently not for visas.

Steve Ricks: Euro-nerd video

Rick Steves recently posted to his blog this amusing spoof video:

Website Review: Hotels.com

I booked my first night in Oakland at the La Quinta near the Oakland Airport. This is my first time to use the site eventhough I have been visually barraged at the airport by people w/ the name on their boarding pass envelope. I didn't have much trouble booking a room, and the price was the same as the price on the La Quinta website before taxes. I was happy with the experience and glad it didn't make me spend a lot of time creating a customer account. I could book it and be done.

Marin Headlands HI Hostel

The Marin Headlands HI hostel is located in the beautiful Marin Headlands, a part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The hostel is a converted hospital on a former military base built to fortify the San Francisco bay. The park contains plenty of paths for hiking and is a quiet respite from San Francisco. The following picture shows the beach a short walk from the hostel and visitor center.



The hostel has a huge sitting area, which was nicely furnished and surprisingly modern for such an old building. The hostel felt nearly empty, and offered an atmosphere of a slower pace to life than my stay in downtown San Francisco. Another couple staying in the hostel were enjoying their "staycation" the weekend after New Years. The hostel was also conveniently located near Sausalito and Muir Woods, both beautiful spots.

The staff were very friendly, and the hostel is in a great natural location, but you probably want a car to get there.

HI San Francisco: Downtown

I stayed at the San Francisco: Downtown hostel over new years, and had mixed feelings about the hostel. The foyer just inside the entrance has a cool changing map displayed on the wall, and the map zooms in and out on the San Francisco area. There are a few couches in the foyer, but it isn't a large area. The people at the front desk will check visitors for reservations, but I found it lax when there are a large number of people waiting to check-in. The hostel has an old elevator, left over from when the building was a hotel. The hostel still displays the "Hotel Virginia" sign, which is kind of odd. [See here]

My room was in the front of the building and contained two bunk beds and an attached bathroom. I rarely used the bathroom since the window didn't seem to close properly and it could get quite cold. Below you can see my room, a little dishevelled.


There were two bathrooms across the hall in the interior of the building which were perfectly usable, but one night I think someone slept in one of the bathrooms and locked the door. The room was kind of noisy due to it being right on the street, but it was nice to have so few people in my room. The hostel offered a very simple continental breakfast consisting mostly of toast, bagels, and coffee. I believe the hostel had wifi, but I don't really remember using it all that much.

Cheap Ride With Car Share

I recently bought a round-trip bus ticket from Boston to Montreal, and I was astounded how expensive it was. Greyhound charged $180 to Montreal and back. While perusing Craigslist "Ride Share" page I noticed a number of people offering the same ride for less than half that price. I will definitely check Craigslist before I charge a Greyhound ticket again.

Ryanair Transatlantic Flights for $13

13 might not be a lucky number, but Ryanair has turned that silly superstition on its head by leaking information about transatlantic flights for $13. Suggested US departure points include New York, Florida, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston. With cheap flights all over Europe available from Britain and Ireland, you might soon be able to reach anywhere in Europe for $50! More to come...

[from Boston.com]

Hit the Hay in Germany

I thought I was a pretty seasoned budget traveler, until I heard about German Haylofts. The idea was introduced to me in a podcast by Rick Steves when he interviewed a guy known for Vagabonding. The idea was pretty foreign to me (no pun intended), but certainly intriguing. Fortunately, the NYTimes recently had an article about these Heuhotels. It doesn't take much to provide overnight lodging to the extremely cost-conscious traveler, so a farm with an empty barn and some bales of hay can provide a few dozen accomodations. I don't particularly like the smell of hay or barnyard animals, so I think I would be hesitant to swap a hostel for these. However, if they they had a great location, I would check it out. They seem to usually run about 10-20 Euros for adults, and possibly less for children. Two Hayloft listing sites mentioned by the Times are www.heuhotels.de, www.heuhotelferien.de

Airport Transfer Deals and Directions

An important connection during any trip including an airline flight will be the transfer to and from the airport. Many airports naturally herd tourists to expensive cabs or shuttle buses, but often there are cheap alternatives that require a little work to recognize or discover. Arthur Frommer recently blogged that the reason most airports offer a budget option is that the workers at the airport need an inexpensive option to travel to and from the airport, everyday. I personally like to research this leg of the trip before I leave, so I am not stuck with a huge cab bill. A cab from the airport in Boston today costs me $60, compared to less than $2 on the subway/bus system. An important consideration when using public transportation can be opening and closing times, such that flights may leave or arrive when the trains/buses aren't running.

Hostels generally include directions to travel by public transportation to and from the hostel. The Barcelona Dream Hostel offers directions through a Photo Guide, a handy idiot-proof guide to reaching the hostel. (mentioned on the hostelmanagment.com forums) This photo-based guide is a remarkable improvement over the simple text directions found on many hostel sites. The future of travel directions may be short videos that can be uploaded to Youtube for easy dispersal. Another option for quickly traveling to a destination could include using mobile phones or other devices, but I haven't found these quite as effective yet for public transportation. I think preparing directions before you go is crucial, and you can augment this with a device when the original directions are not sufficient for arriving at your destination.

Book Review: Do Travel Writers Go To Hell?

I initially noticed this book in the travel section of the Harvard Co-op, and I'll admit the title intrigued me. I started reading the first chapter, and the idea of a playboy travel writer sounded like fun. I didn't finish the chapter, but I made a note of the book in my iPhone to get a copy. I purchased the book, and after receiving it, read it the next day, cover-to-cover. Through the first chapter, I really didn't care for the writer; the stories of public drunkenness, fist fights, and heavy drug use didn't seem all that glamorous. I really couldn't relate. Once the author ditched his job, his girlfriend, his mundane life for backpacking in South America, I was hooked. The stories of embracing life as an adventure, whatever may come, makes any working stiff's life seem like Bill Murray in Ground Hog day where he wakes up to the same nightmare over and over and over... I thought the writers observations about budget travelers and hostelling were right on the money, and it was clear he was trying hard to maintain his professionalism in the face of impossible demands. One of the biggest disappointments I came away with from this book was that Lonely Planet has to trade up to the mainstream hotel/resort travel market to be successful. The mainstream travel market is inundated with poseurs hawking resorts, cruises, and weekend getaways that aren't about discovering new people, cultures, and ideas, but are more about insulating people from new experiences. The moment you step outside of your comfort zone (your milieu), you learn something new about the world and yourself.

Hostels in the News: Chicago on the Cheap [Chicaco, Il]

CNN.com/travel today featured HI Chicago in their Chicago on the Cheap article. Compared to high price hotels they mentioned the HI Chicago hostel "operates an all-ages building in Chicago's Loop with 500 beds. Prices are between $28 and $34 a night." Additionally, they noted Chicago's availability of public transportation makes it affordable to get around. My roommate recently returned from Chicago, and raved about the Architectural boat tours that run up and down the Chicago river. The John Hancock tower also offers panoramic views of the city for the price of a few drinks at the bar. Hot dogs, a staple of any budget traveler, can be purchased for under $2 at "The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium", and don't forget to load up on condiments. (they're free!)

The article includes a number of other great deals in Chicago, so take advantage of some of them before "The Windy City", becomes "The Ridiculously Cold Artic Blast City" in a few months.

Travelzoo also has some last-minute weekend deals to Chicago for under $200, so forget about the stock market for a few days and spend that last $300 in your account on a weekend in Chicago.

Chicago Hostel Map: here

Website Review: Sleeping in Airports

Public transportation in many cities is unavailable during the morning hours, which can make it expensive to arrive early for a morning flight. To avoid taxi costs and the prospect of over-sleeping a flight, I have on occasion slept in the airport the night before. I don't recommend this, but there is an Internet resource available to prepare you if you plan to do so: http://www.sleepinginairports.net

With some of the best airports for sleeping over, offering comfortable chairs, showers, and Internet, skipping a night at a crummy hostel might be the best move you ever made. During the night, security will ask for proof that you have a flight the next day. So be sure to have a ticket or reservation available showing your departing flight or you will be kicked out. Also, keep in mind that many airports do shut-down, and sleeping over is not always an option.

The only US airport to make the top 10 worst list is Chicago O'Hare, long known for stranding airline passengers during the winter months. Check out the comments about O'Hare here.

If traveling by ground transportation, this site also includes some train and bus stations, so be sure to check these out, too.

Website Review: Travelzoo Top 20

If you are not on the Travelzoo Top 20 email list, you are missing out on some of the best travel deals on the Internet. You could scour Kayak, Expedia, Frommer's, airline websites, travel discounters, and the blogosphere for the cheapest flights, hotels, and cruises on the internet, or you could have them delivered weekly in your email in-box. Travelzoo has been the leader in cheap travel deals for ten years, and they continue to provide timely discounts that are unbelievable. I have booked over half a dozen flights to Europe from the US East Coast and none have cost me more than $350 roundtrip.

Travelzoo has an interesting history, whereby it offered 5,155,874 shares to "netsurfer stockholders" to initially promote their business. These shares went to those who signed up themselves and their friends as the business was starting. The stock (TZOO) spiked in 2004, taking these investors on a wild ride up and down.

Today 12 million users receive the Travelzoo Top 20 email list, well above the 5 million users who frequent the Travelzoo website each month. The Top 20 list has expanded outside of the US, and Travelzoo is bringing travel deals to all corners of the globe.

Here is a cool video about the making of the Top 20 list:



Interestingly, the NJ to Cologne deal mentioned in the video is one I jumped on last year.

The Beach a Block Away [Freeport, Grand Bahama Island]

Airtran started flights to Grand Bahama Island while I was living in DC, and I picked up some of their really cheap, introductory flights about 5 years ago. Airlines often offer discounted fares when they are starting a new route,and I also picked up a similar deal on my flight from NYC to Cologne, a new route from Continental. GBI doesn't have any real character, but they have some nice white sand beaches. The flight was probably about $110 round-trip, and with a $75 hotel stay, $200 for a trip to paradise is unbeatable.



My hotel, a block away from the beach, didn't have a view of the beach, a pool, or even working lights in my room, but it only charged me $25 a night. I found the hotel on a hostel booking site, and I suspect they were desparate to book any rooms. This was a steal compared to the resorts around the island. Before booking I checked google maps normal and satellite view to make sure I wouldn't be sleeping away from the tourist areas. I was on the first floor of the hotel shown below.



The hotel was across the street from a much nicer hotel, and the beach above was in front of that hotel. The hotel required a boat ferry ride to get to and from the town center, and I rode many of the local "buses" to different corners of the island. On the north side of the island they fished the meat from these conch shells.



A nice perk of traveling to the carribbean is the availability of Cuban cigars and Havana-Club rum, and I enjoyed these in the evening while waiting for the ferry back to my hotel.

Brother, can you spare a dollar?

BusinessWeek recently featured an article about discount bus operators, BoltBus, DC2NY, Vamoose, and Megabus.

The new competition in the inter-city bus travel industry is pushing prices as low as $1 for a trip to NYC. While I suspect you need sniping software to get this cheap fare, many seats are available much cheaper than you can find on Greyhound. I found some for $6 in November on MegaBus [NYC <-> BOS]. The buses even offer such amenities as power plugs and Wi-Fi for techno-travelers.

While NYC may not be at the top of your list of desired destinations, it can be a great launching point for cheap flights around the world. I have personally flown out of NYC after arriving on the bus from Boston and DC, and I saved hundreds of dollars on European flights. These bus companies are expanding, so hopefully they will start offering similar fares to international hubs like Houston, Miami, and Los Angeles.

Travel Tips: Souvenirs

Souvenirs are a great way to memorialize a location, event, or experience on your trip. I love to purchase posters of maps of the cities I visit, and also local liquers that I can drink at home while reminiscing about my travels. However hauling them around in my luggage can be ... well, simply a drag. On my last trip to Europe I decided I didn't want to carry my purchases around for 3 weeks, so I mailed them home when I came across a post office. This plan was a godsend, and left me free to roam new cities with out needing to immediately drop my stuff at the hostel or at the train station, which I would later have to return to to collect my things.

Website Review: HostelWorld.com

HostelWorld.com is the first place I go to book hostels online. The site has a large selection of available hostels with an easy to navigate result listing that includes availability, price, and a feedback score. I have booked hostels in the US and Europe on this site, and I have always found the hostel had my booking when I arrived. While not totally comprehensive, many smaller hostels are available for reservation. One of the nicest things about HostelWorld is the lack of bogus listings for hotels that clutter up the hostel results like on other sites. If I wanted to book a cheap hotel there are plenty of other sites that can provide that service.

If I find that a hostel on this site doesn't show available beds, I have in the past called the hostel directly and booked over the phone. Additionally, I have booked beds directly through a hostel's website or over email when a hostel is not available on HostelWorld. So, there are a number of options available for making reservations besides this site. While many people have in the past (including myself) just shown up at a hostel without a reservation, I wouldn't suggest it since I have been at many hostels where people are turned away. (usually at some ridiculous hour in the morning) The peace-of-mind of a reservation can be nice especially at the beginning of a trip to Europe when you are tired from the jetlag and just want to get some sleep.

One of the most annoying problems with hostel reservations is the inability to cancel at the last minute. Like any other frequent traveler, I have been burned by the canceled reservation charge. Usually amounting to one nights stay, this can be an annoying charge, but the opposite scenario of having to stay at a hotel when no beds are available can be even more expensive. The one time I did have to cancel a reservation the reception guy offered me a free beer as a consolation, which was a kind gesture even though I was out $25. On the other hand, when I arrived in Milan with out a reservation, I ended up having to take a night train to Rome packed on fold out seats with 4 other people. I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy.

Note that hostelworld usually charges a 10% deposit fee, so it is good to bring a copy of your receipt to the hostel so you are not charged the 10% again when you check in. I am sure I have been burned by this before, but couldn't prove it because I didn't have the booking receipt with me. Some hostels will charge a few extra dollars if you are not a member of HI/AYH, which is not usually represented in the HostelWorld bill. I have tried over the years to get a membership by collecting the membership stickers often available at European hostels, but usually end up going to several hostels that have run out or are unaffiliated before the stickers expire.

Note also that hostelworld charges a booking fee of $2 unless you are a gold member, which costs $10 for a year-long membership. I received a gold membership a few years ago, and have been booking hostels ever since.

HostelWorld.com now contains many more features including social networking, frequent travel points, etc., but I haven't used many of these. However, I did notice they have a blogger named Colm who travels around the world and writes about his experiences. That's a sweet gig.

Website Review: Hostel Bloggers

http://www.hostelbloggers.com/

Hostel Bloggers is a blog site (affiliated with hostelbookers.com) I came across while searching for other bloggers discussing cheap travel. I was keen to read their review of Leiden, a city in the Netherlands I visited last year. The review accurately reflects the city, but it didn't persuade me to see or not see the city.

The site reviews many cities, events, travel deals, and of course hostels, but it doesn't seem to have any real character. All of the posts are unattributed, thus suggesting it is an edited mix of marketing materials and travel guides. I hope my blog can represent something about myself that is unique from this site.

I plan to bring more interesting and elaborate stories from my travels to this blog over the coming months.