The summer travel slump

For many folks, the summer is their travel season. The kids are out of school, some businesses slow down during the summer, and it’s easier to get out on the road and in the air. Living near the House of Mouse (aka Disney) I see the tourists flood the theme parks every year.

As a contrarian traveller, summer is the worse time for me. Ticket prices to most places are at their highest all year outside of the holidays, destinations are packed and the weather is often hot and miserable.

So rather then deal with the mess of summer travel, I usually stay near home and save my cash and vacation time for the fall and spring when the weather and the deals are often much better. But that doesn’t mean I’m just sitting at home doing nothing.

I’ve been using some of the time to plan for future trips. One has been finding ways to accumulate miles and points through various offers and then figuring out how to redeem them. I just earned a large amount of American miles thanks to some Citibank offers, so I’m thinking of using those to head out to Hong Kong on Cathy Pacific (and probably stop in Toronto along the way). I’m also working on building a stash of United/Continental miles for a fun trip- possibly going to Asia via Europe. I’d really like to use those miles for an Australian or New Zealand trip, but award seats to those countries can be hard to find.

I’m also looking at opportunities to continue getting out and exploring my own backyard in Florida. One of the major interstates that runs across the state, I-4, has some interesting (and over the top cheesy) roadside attractions that I want to go check out. I’ve driven dozens of times by them but never pulled over to take a look. Next month will be the time to do that.

So while I might not be traipsing across the globe for a couple of months, I’m still getting out there and finding adventure wherever I can.

 

Table For One

Philadelphia's famous "Love" sign.

With Valentine’s Day happening earlier this week, I started thinking about all the times I’ve had the nerve to ask for a table of one. Most of my travelling is done with other people, but once in a while I enjoy taking a trip by myself. I don’t have a significant other, so if I go it alone it’s usually because no one else is available or because a particular place catches my fancy.

One of the things I try to do on these solo trips is enjoy a nice sit-down meal once during the trip. But the reactions I get whenever I stroll into a restaurant and ask for a table of one tends to range from confusion to consternation. The mere idea that someone like myself would want to eat alone seems to boggle the minds of many a maitre’d.

At a French restaurant near my beloved hometown, I had made a reservation and was waiting for my name to be called. I could see the maitre’d just inside, calling out “Johnson, table of four”. “Cooper, table of two”. “Smith, table of eight”. And then he got to me. “Williamson, table of-” And then he hesitated. He squinted at the list. He couldn’t believe what he was about to read. “Williamson, table of- one?” Fortunately, the maitre’d seated me rather then direct me to the nearest takeout place. The waitress seemed a bit puzzled too, but the service was flawless.
Another time I stopped into a busy New York City Italian restaurant for dinner. The maitre’d was unfazed at my request this time and seated me quickly. The waitress came over, brought some bread and took my drink order. So far, so good. The table next to me also got seated quickly and was being served by the same waitress. I flipped through the menu and then started reading the book I brought along while waiting. The waitress soon took the order of the table next to me. I figured she would come to me next after relaying their order to the kitchen. So I read another chapter. She didn’t return.

By the end of the third chapter, the table next to me got their food. At this point, I realized something had gone wrong. I caught the eye of the waitress and she came over.

“Would you like to order something while you’re waiting?”
“Waiting? I’m not waiting for anyone.”

At this point, a look of horror came over her face. The poor thing thought someone else was coming to join me.
I thought the maitre’d had told her I was a party of one. In all fairness, the table was set for two (but all the seats at all the tables had place settings) and I didn’t tell her I was the only one. She took my order and the food came quickly. She even sent along an after-dinner drink as an apoligy for the slow service. I didn’t mind. It was just another adventure in the solo dining world.

And the book I happened to be reading? The Art of Non-Conformity. Neither one of us conformed to each others expectations that night.

Not all my solo dining excursions end up awkwardly. One of my best experiences happened in Philadephia. The hostel I was staying at was right around the corner from all these fantastic sidewalk cafes.Being a complete sucker for a sidewalk cafe and needing a break from Philly cheesesteaks, I stopped by one for dinner. The staff were wonderfully accommodating and not at all fazed by my diminutive party size. I got a table to myself right on the sidewalk where I could people-watch or read my book. When a random solicitor walked up and started talking to me, the waiter swooped in and chased him off. Even with sitting outside, it was good to know that the waiter was keeping an eye on me then (and needless to say, he got a good tip that

night).

Overall, I see dining solo as not something to be afraid of, but just part of the adventure. If I wasn’t willing to go alone, I would have missed out on some wonderful dining establishments. It also makes appreciate all the more the people I do have dinner with and the joys of a good conversation over fine food.

 

More Americans have a passport- so why are we staying home?

CNN recently posted an article called “Why more Americans don’t travel abroad”. The article states that only 30% of Americans have a passport. In some ways, that’s good news as the percentage has gone up from the low 20s when I last looked at this issue. But most of the increase can be attributed to the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative that took effect two years ago, which required Americans to have passports to travel to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

So why aren’t more Americans getting out there and seeing the world? The article looks at a few points like cost, vacation time and fear of going overseas. Here’s my take on some of those points.

Cost- A passport for an adult is now $135. The passport is good for 10 years, so it’s less then $15 a year. But it’s still a chunk of change, especially when looking at all the other trip costs like flights, hotels, etc. And if it’s a family of four planning a trip, it’ll cost over $400 just to get passports for everyone. But having cheaper passports isn’t going to make the average American hit the road. Unlike other places like Europe where it’s easy to drive through several countries in a day, it’s only possible to get to Canada or Mexico by car easily. To get anywhere else requires getting on a plane or a ship which can quickly get pricey for many folks. If you have time and a little gusto, there’s some ways to get around some of those expenses by using various airline/hotel programs.

Vacation time- For me, this is definitely a limiting factor and it can be for a lot of other folks as well. I don’t know many who have more then 3-4 weeks of vacation unless they’re already in some kind of flexible arrangement or location-independent job. And I know of a few folks who don’t use up what little vacation they do get. The article does point out that many Americans prefer money over leisure time.

This is where I find myself taking a different road then many of my countrymen. I carry no debt and don’t feel a need to keep up with the Joneses or the latest gadgetry out there. If anything, I’m trying to downsize some parts of my lifestyle so I have the means to pursue travel and the other goals on my list. I’m not criticizing anyone who make a different choice then I do. It’s just a matter of different priorities.

Fear- Okay, yes, going into a country where you might not speak the language and or know the culture well can be unnerving. But thanks to travel guides and the Internet, it’s easy to do research and get a feel for the place before going. Besides, half the fun of travel for me is getting to experience new cultures and new perspectives on things. Yes, there are dangers out there in the world, but I also deal with many potential dangers at home. There are few places I would go to because they are “too dangerous”. After my experience in Kenya where I couldn’t drink the water and was in a malarial zone, I came back just fine. With the proper precautions, going almost anywhere in the world doesn’t have to be a dangerous or fearful proposition.

Some other reasons I’ve heard for people not travelling include having to raise children first or just not being interested at all. The children issue is a challenge, but there’s plenty of folks out there like Soul Travelers 3 or Man Vs. Debt who have taken small children aboard for long periods of time.

So, do you have a passport? Or if not, why not? I’m curious what other people’s view on the issue are.

 

Travel Thought #42-”But you don’t know where you are, so you should not explore.”

This is not a political blog, and it’s going to stay that way. But I did read a sentence from a blogger offering up a visitor’s guide to DC for the Glenn Beck rally. And in it, it said “Do not use the Green line or the Yellow line. These rules are even more important at night. There is of course nothing wrong with many other areas; but you don’t know where you are, so you should not explore them.”

What I found amusing by that statement is how the blogger painted whole areas as unsafe and implied that people shouldn’t stray off the beaten path because it could be dangerous. Now, I’m not saying that there’s no unsafe areas in the world. But with some common sense and education, exploring new areas doesn’t have to be a scary activity. Contrary to popular belief, bogeymen do not lurk around every corner ready to pounce on the hapless traveller who goes a subway stop too far.

Whenever I’m looking at a new place to travel to, I like to do some research online in several travel forums. My favorites are Flyertalk and Lonely Planet. Flyertalk is more focused on frequent flier programs, but has subforums devoted to various parts of the world that have some useful information. Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree forums are less organized but contain more threads, especially on more obscure topics. Another resource that I discovered recently is Wikitravel. It’s set up just like Wikipedia, except all the 20,000+ entries are for various destinations around the world. Most of the entries have information on everything from safety to transportation to what to do, eat and stay. It’s become my starting point when I’m doing travel research.

If I’m going out of the country, the US Dept. of State is my first stop for travel safety information. They have info sheets for every country in the world and offer a place to sign up for travel alert e-mails if conditions change. If you are a US citizen, you can register with the embassy in that country so they have your information in case of an emergency. Even if you’re not a US citizen, the information is still quite useful and through.

As for getting out and exploring, I usually rely on maps and signposts to get around a town. After all the research, I usually have a good idea what to look out for.

And sometimes I don’t bother with research at all. When I went to Boston for a long weekend a couple of years ago, I hopped a train to Providence, RI and just walked around for a while. No guide, no map beyond the one I snagged from the local convention center, no itinerary at all beyond what time I needed to be back on the train. I didn’t know where I was much of the time, but I didn’t let a silly fact like that keep me from exploring. I survived just fine and saw everything from Italian-Americans opening shops in the Italian district to learning more about Providence history through the riverwalk that runs through the city.

So just because you don’t know where you are doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore. You just might find something you never expected to find.

 

Travel Thought #42-"But you don't know where you are, so you should not explore."

This is not a political blog, and it’s going to stay that way. But I did read a sentence from a blogger offering up a visitor’s guide to DC for the Glenn Beck rally. And in it, it said “Do not use the Green line or the Yellow line. These rules are even more important at night. There is of course nothing wrong with many other areas; but you don’t know where you are, so you should not explore them.”

What I found amusing by that statement is how the blogger painted whole areas as unsafe and implied that people shouldn’t stray off the beaten path because it could be dangerous. Now, I’m not saying that there’s no unsafe areas in the world. But with some common sense and education, exploring new areas doesn’t have to be a scary activity. Contrary to popular belief, bogeymen do not lurk around every corner ready to pounce on the hapless traveller who goes a subway stop too far.

Whenever I’m looking at a new place to travel to, I like to do some research online in several travel forums. My favorites are Flyertalk and Lonely Planet. Flyertalk is more focused on frequent flier programs, but has subforums devoted to various parts of the world that have some useful information. Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree forums are less organized but contain more threads, especially on more obscure topics. Another resource that I discovered recently is Wikitravel. It’s set up just like Wikipedia, except all the 20,000+ entries are for various destinations around the world. Most of the entries have information on everything from safety to transportation to what to do, eat and stay. It’s become my starting point when I’m doing travel research.

If I’m going out of the country, the US Dept. of State is my first stop for travel safety information. They have info sheets for every country in the world and offer a place to sign up for travel alert e-mails if conditions change. If you are a US citizen, you can register with the embassy in that country so they have your information in case of an emergency. Even if you’re not a US citizen, the information is still quite useful and through.

As for getting out and exploring, I usually rely on maps and signposts to get around a town. After all the research, I usually have a good idea what to look out for.

And sometimes I don’t bother with research at all. When I went to Boston for a long weekend a couple of years ago, I hopped a train to Providence, RI and just walked around for a while. No guide, no map beyond the one I snagged from the local convention center, no itinerary at all beyond what time I needed to be back on the train. I didn’t know where I was much of the time, but I didn’t let a silly fact like that keep me from exploring. I survived just fine and saw everything from Italian-Americans opening shops in the Italian district to learning more about Providence history through the riverwalk that runs through the city.

So just because you don’t know where you are doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore. You just might find something you never expected to find.

 

Thursday's Travel Thought #41- Travelers' Night In

If you are a fan of Twitter and of travel, there’s now a fun event that happens every Thursday that makes it easy to meet other travelers around the world. It’s called Travelers’ Night In and it takes place on Twitter every Thursday from 3:30pm to 5pm EST. Each week a different host tweets out 10 questions on a topic related to travel. For example, today’s topic was about festivals. Then via the #TNI hashtag other twitterers reply with their answers. The resulting dialogue that occurs between Twitterers is fun to follow and I’ve gotten some travel ideas and information that’s helpful for planning future trips.

Participating is easy- just follow the #TNI tag. It’s also helpful to follow some users like @Gadling who tweet out the questions every week. The website Zip, Set, Go- who created the event- has more information about Travelers’ Night In and some useful tools like a TweetGrid that make it easier to follow the conversation.

If I’m able to be on Twitter during that time, I usually participate through my Twitter handle- @LizzyDragon84. Hope to see you there!

 

Thursday’s Travel Thought #41- Travelers’ Night In

If you are a fan of Twitter and of travel, there’s now a fun event that happens every Thursday that makes it easy to meet other travelers around the world. It’s called Travelers’ Night In and it takes place on Twitter every Thursday from 3:30pm to 5pm EST. Each week a different host tweets out 10 questions on a topic related to travel. For example, today’s topic was about festivals. Then via the #TNI hashtag other twitterers reply with their answers. The resulting dialogue that occurs between Twitterers is fun to follow and I’ve gotten some travel ideas and information that’s helpful for planning future trips.

Participating is easy- just follow the #TNI tag. It’s also helpful to follow some users like @Gadling who tweet out the questions every week. The website Zip, Set, Go- who created the event- has more information about Travelers’ Night In and some useful tools like a TweetGrid that make it easier to follow the conversation.

If I’m able to be on Twitter during that time, I usually participate through my Twitter handle- @LizzyDragon84. Hope to see you there!

 

Travel Thought #40- The Joy of Anticipation

Most of the time when I plan a trip, I rarely book out more then a month or so in advance. As a result, in the days leading up to a trip I’m mostly concerned with making sure I’ve packed the right things and figuring out what I’m going to do once I get somewhere. Of course I’m excited about heading out for the next adventure, but I don’t have much time to build up any anticipation for it.

My trip next week is not like any other that I’ve done so far. I’m going with a team to a remote village called Parkishon in northern Kenya. We’ll be renovating some rundown classrooms there and teaching classes on issues like HIV/AIDS, gender issues and sanitation.

I committed to this trip more then six months ago. And it’s been a trip that I’ve had on my mind for nearly two years. Having such a long lead time for this trip was needed so I could do things like fundraising and getting five shots at once for various tropical diseases.

The long lead time has given me a lot of time to get both excited and nervous about the trip. I’m looking forward to being immersed in a culture far different from what I’m used to and visiting a whole new continent. I’m excited about experincing things like “Africa Time” where people don’t follow a rigid schedule or the ticking of a clock but have a more relaxed and go with the flow attitude.

I’m also nervous. A lot of diseases are prevalent there, and I can’t say I’m thrilled about the prospect of dealing with no electricity or plumbing for a week. I’m also nervous about committing some cultural faux pas or not really connecting with the people there.

But that’s the fun in an adventure. If I can handle the challenges of this trip, then I would feel much more confident in handling other difficult situations. Besides, what’s the fun in travelling to places that are just like home?

The best part about the anticipation of this trip is that it’s not just my own. So many friends and family have been asking about my trip and how they can help with it. Others just have a lot of questions about the trip or want me to bring back something from there. And in the last week, many friends want to get together “one last time” before I go. I’ve never gotten that kind of reaction before with any other trip I’ve taken recently. It probably just has to do with the length of the trip or the fact that I won’t be able to call or tweet while I’m gone or maybe just the fact that if it’s me vs. an African lion, the lion’s going to win.

Or maybe it’s because I’ve finally had the time to talk with others and let them know what I’m doing before I go. Whatever the reason, it’s been fun to share the excitement of a trip with others. I’ve realized now that the enjoyment of a trip can start before I ever head to the airport. Whether it’s through studying Swahili, meeting with fellow team members or enjoying a meal at an African restaurant the night before we leave, I’m realizing that preparing for a trip can be more then just tossing some clothes into a suitcase. It can be an experience that’s shared with others.

 

Travel Thought Thursday #39- Procrastination Doesn’t Pay

If you’re thinking of getting/renewing/adding pages to a US passport, now’s the time to do it. Passport fees go up July 13th. To get a new passport book, the fee goes from $100 to $135. For renewals, it goes from $75 to $110. The passport card goes from $45 to $55 and it looks like the discount to get one in conjunction with the book is gone. And to add pages, it goes from $0 to a whopping $82!

The State Department says the increase is needed to “cover actual operating expenses for the 301 overseas consular posts, 23 domestic passport agencies and other centers that provide these consular services to U.S. and foreign citizens.”

That’s reasonable enough. The fee that seems a bit absurd is the $82 to add pages to a passport. Granted, only the most frequent international travellers have to deal with that problem, but a fee that’s more like $35 would have been more in line with the other increases. At least the option to get additional pages when ordering a new book won’t incur any additional costs. If you need new pages, you may be better off just renewing your passport instead since the fee difference is $32.

As for getting a passport card, it seems to only make sense for people who live near the Canadian or Mexican border and cross frequently by either land or sea. It can’t be used for air travel, which really limits its usefulness.

In the end I hope the new fees don’t discourage Americans from getting a passport and getting out in the world. In some ways, a passport is a great deal. Even at the new rates, a new passport costs $13.50 a year. A small fee indeed for freedom.

 

Travel Thought Thursday #39- Procrastination Doesn't Pay

If you’re thinking of getting/renewing/adding pages to a US passport, now’s the time to do it. Passport fees go up July 13th. To get a new passport book, the fee goes from $100 to $135. For renewals, it goes from $75 to $110. The passport card goes from $45 to $55 and it looks like the discount to get one in conjunction with the book is gone. And to add pages, it goes from $0 to a whopping $82!

The State Department says the increase is needed to “cover actual operating expenses for the 301 overseas consular posts, 23 domestic passport agencies and other centers that provide these consular services to U.S. and foreign citizens.”

That’s reasonable enough. The fee that seems a bit absurd is the $82 to add pages to a passport. Granted, only the most frequent international travellers have to deal with that problem, but a fee that’s more like $35 would have been more in line with the other increases. At least the option to get additional pages when ordering a new book won’t incur any additional costs. If you need new pages, you may be better off just renewing your passport instead since the fee difference is $32.

As for getting a passport card, it seems to only make sense for people who live near the Canadian or Mexican border and cross frequently by either land or sea. It can’t be used for air travel, which really limits its usefulness.

In the end I hope the new fees don’t discourage Americans from getting a passport and getting out in the world. In some ways, a passport is a great deal. Even at the new rates, a new passport costs $13.50 a year. A small fee indeed for freedom.