The screenshot of my Expedia.ca deal, with all the exciting naughty bits censored out.

Two weekends ago I got to take advantage of a crazy deal where I got to book a quick one-night trip to New York City for a whopping 22 cents. It came courtesy of Expedia.ca (the Canadian site of Expedia) and they were offering $300 off coupon for flight+hotel packages to New York City, Las Vegas and Cancun. This meant that with the right combination of flights and hotels, a trip could be virtually free.

The terms and conditions specified that the coupon could only be used for “Canadian bookings”. However, the fine print didn’t specify what that meant. Did it mean trips had to start in Canada? That it could only be used by Canadians? That you needed to sing “O, Canada” and be eating poutine while clicking the buy button? In this case, the terms and conditions were so vague that anyone booking through the Canadian version of Expedia could use this coupon. Thanks to the relatively cheap airfare in the US compared to Canada, people were booking trips essentially for free. Expedia could have limited use of the coupon to flights out of Canada, which would have mean cheaper but not free trips, but for whatever reason they didn’t. Expedia eventually pulled the coupon, but not after hundreds of free trips were booked.

Another deal that happened earlier this week was when American offered flights to various cities in Europe from the US for as little as $97 one way. Getting $200-$400 roundtrip airfare to Europe is very good, especially as airfare often runs closer to $1000. The sale only lasted about 12 hours though, and it appears to have been unintentional as the fares didn’t include a fuel surcharge that normally raise the price by $100 or more.

Of course, such deals and mistake fares like this don’t happen every day. But they do happen, and they happen more often then you might think. But how do you find out about them? Here are some of the places I like to check frequently.

Flyertalk- This is the forum for all things travel-related. It’s also the place where most deals first surface before spreading to the rest of the internet. The main focus of the site is on airline frequent flyer programs and how to get status and lots of miles. But the site goes much deeper then that, providing mountains of information on airports, airlines, airplanes and destinations. Most importantly, Flyertalk has a vibrant community that is well-informed and often happy to answer questions if you do your homework first. When the Expedia deal was happening, I used Flyertalk to find out what other people were booking and engage in wild speculations like whether Expedia would really honor the coupons or not (they are). The downside to the site is that it can sometimes be hard to read if you don’t know what all the abbreviations or nicknames mean (it’s a good excuse to brush up on your knowledge of airport codes).

Slickdeals- This site is the newest addition to my deal-finding arsenal. The list-style forum layout and detailed headlines makes it easy to skim through the list and see if there’s anything interesting out there. The deals listed are not just limited to airline and hotel deals, but also often include sales on tourist attractions, luggage and other travel-related goodies. What I like most about the site is that it’s all about the deals- there’s little discussion of the best mileage strategy or which airline has the best program. If I need to know what’s hot right now and don’t have the time to plow through pages of forum posts, this is the place I’m go to. The one downside to the site is that it’s fairly US-oriented, so it may not be as helpful if your next trip doesn’t involve North America.

Blogs- I first found out about the Expedia deal through Gary Leff’s “View from the Wing” blog. Another blog that frequently post good deals or sales going on is Ben Schlapping’s “One Mile at a Time” blog. If you’re into credit card promotions, churning or other tactics involving using cards to get miles, Rick Ingersoll’s “Frugal Travel Guy” blog has all the details. The blogs don’t always post on every deal and promotion out there, but they’re great for getting a good understanding of more complex promotions and how to leverage a program to your best advantage.

If you do find a good deal, act quickly. A deal can die fast (that expedia.ca coupon code was pulled 36 hours after it was released), especially if it turned out to be an error made by the company. In other cases, there may be only a limited number of rooms or seats available so it might sell out quickly. Good luck and happy deal-hunting!

Before you go

1. Reduce the risk. Before leaving on a trip, I like to go through my purse and remove anything that I won’t need while traveling. I usually end up taking only a couple of credit/ATM cards, my health insurance card, a photo ID, some cash and my phone and camera. This also has the bonus of making my purse very light too.
2. Use luggage locks. Most luggage locks won’t stop a determined thief but it will prevent a casual pickpocket from taking a dip into your suitcase while walking around airports and train stations.
3. Have backups. I keep copies of important documents like my passport in my luggage so that if it gets stolen, it will be easier to deal with the embassy and other authorities. It’s also not a bad idea to keep a list of bank numbers to call to cancel credit/ATM cards if they are stolen.
4. Keep your purse/wallet secure. Many pickpockets like to target purses and wallets for the obvious reason that it’s where most people keep the good stuff. For wallets, it’s best to keep it in a pocket that zips shut and to keep it inside a coat pocket or other hard to reach area- not the back pockets of pants. Consider using a cord or chain to secure a wallet to clothing.
For purses, it’s better to get a purse with a strap long enough to go across the chest. Over the shoulder style bags are easier for a pickpocket to knock off and run away with. I happen to carry this style of Baggalini purse- the fact that it’s small and flat means I can wear it under a coat and keep the purse in my lap while sitting instead of hanging it off a chair where it can be easily grabbed.

On the road

1. Spread the cash around. After stopping at an ATM or currency exchange place, it’s a good idea to spread the cash around instead of keeping it all in your purse or wallet. Ways to do this can include wearing a money belt, distributing cash among several pockets and even putting some inside your shoe. I even had a girlfriend who sometimes hid her debit card in her bra. Depending on where I’m staying for the night, I like to keep extra cash in my luggage or room safe and carry only what I need for the day. Also, stop into a restroom or other private area after an ATM stop to get your cash situated rather then doing it out in the open.
2. Be aware of your surroundings- Especially if you’re in a tourist area. Keep your hands on your stuff and be careful when getting on or off buses and trains, since a pick pocket might try to grab something and then make a getaway on the train.
3. Try to blend in- Pickpockets like to target tourists, so if you’re dressed like a “tacky tourist” in shorts and sandels, have flag logos on your bag, or are constantly pulling out a map or guidebook, you’re more likely to become a target.
4. Don’t get distracted- Pickpockets will often use tactics like tripping, starting an argument, even tossing babies at people in order to distract a target. Pickpockets may also work in teams with one person doing the distracting and the other going in for the wallet. This means be wary of large crowds and strangers who bump into you, tap your shoulder and other such distracting activities.

One near-pickpocket experience

On a visit to Paris last week, my friends and I had been warned about possible pick pocketing. One night we were taking the metro back from dinner and we were talking in English. Speaking in English on the French metro is something that only tourists normally do. So a pickpocket positioned himself by the train door and waited for us to leave. As one of my friends was about to step off, the pickpocket reach a hand into his pocket. Fortunately, since my friend was aware of what was going on around him, he grabbed the hand of the pickpocket and gave him a rather nasty glare before getting off. Even if the pickpocket had been successful, he wasn’t going to get more then a bank card that would get cancelled quickly and a few euros since my friend didn’t keep everything in one pocket.

Pick pocketing is a hazard of travel, but it’s one that not going to ruin your trip if you’re aware of your stuff and your surroundings.

At the starting line at the 5k last year.

Later on after I got out of school, I wanted to get back into some form of exercise since it’s a healthy thing to do and would get me outside once in a while. So I got into running because it doesn’t require any fancy equipment beyond a good pair of shoes.

When I went to the 5k race, I stepped into an environment very different from what I experienced in gym class. From the starting line to the finish line, everyone kept cheering everyone else on. In fact, one of the first guys to finish the race turned around at the finish line and ran the course backwards so he could cheer on the slower runners. It was so different from other activities like dodge ball where people tried to take out the slowest people first.

I can’t wait to get back to that positive race day environment again this weekend. For my goal, I’m not trying to run a particular time- just run the whole distance. Which is another aspect of running that I like. I don’t have to compete with others- it’s more about self-improvement and setting my own pace.

Of course, I’ll put up a post after the race. Look for it early next week. Happy goal-chasing!

But there’s a certain charm that no e-mail can carry. A hand-written letter implies that the writer took the time and effort to write in the first place. And the very process of hand-writing forces a more careful thought process, since paper doesn’t come with a delete button. Finally, e-mail is such an ephemeral thing. It arrives in seconds, and is often deleted just as quickly. But letters last. Some letters have even survived from the days of the Egyptians.

It’s for all these reasons that I wanted to pursue the art of the hand-written letter again by getting a penpal. It would be fun to trade letters with someone else and learn more about their life (not to mention it gives me an excuse to use some of my pretty notebook paper I have around here.)

Meeting with Safiya's family

So about a year and a half ago, I found out about Food for the Hungry’s Child Sponsorship program. One aspect of the program is that you can exchange letters with the child you choose to support. Shortly after signing up for the program, I got my first letter from Safiya who lives in Kenya. She wrote mostly about her family and her life at school. I replied soon after, writing about my life and asking her some questions about her life. I also sent along some pictures of my family and I. About two months later, I got a reply where I found out more about her and her life, like what subjects she likes in school or the fact that she has to walk up to 25km (15.5 miles) to visit relatives. These letters have help me understand what life is like in a country very different from the US. It’s also fun to think of the distance the letters have to travel- over a ocean and across two or three continents.

After about a year of trading letters, I got to meet Safiya in person. On my first attempt to visit her, I went to the village where she lived. It was a bit depressing at first- half-naked kids were running around goat-dung piles and flies were everywhere. But even under these conditions, Safiya’s family was overjoyed to see me. Her mother recognized me from the pictures I had sent and in her words “happy to see that I was real”. I also met her father and several of her siblings and had a short conversation with the help of two translators- one to translate English into Swahili and the other to translate the translator into Samburu. The family enjoyed reading the letters and also appreciated how funds from the child sponsorship program was helping Safiya and several of her siblings to attend school.

Alas, Safiya wasn’t home- she was still in school. So the next day, I got a ride to her school. The school itself was a bit more cheerful and in much better condition then the village was. A few hundred kids were there getting ready for that day’s exams. I was both nervous and excited to meet Safiya. Would I recognize her? Would she recognize me? Did she know I was coming?

After spending a few minutes chatting with the school administrators in the office, Safiya came. And I did recognize her from her

Safiya and I meeting in person for the first time

radiant smile. She also recognized me, although being one of the two white people at the school made it pretty easy. We talked for a while about school and her family and a couple of other topics, and I gave her some gifts for her and her siblings. She couldn’t believe how far I had come to visit her, and I couldn’t believe how tall she was and how good her English was. But even the best moments have to come to an end, and she said farewell and went to take her exams.

We still continue to exchange letters to this day and she is doing well in school. Sure, I accomplished my goal of getting a penpal, but it’s been so much more then that. It amazes me that someone with so little can do so much. It’s amazing how a few pieces of paper flown across an ocean can help foster relationships and understanding between two very different cultures. I also appreciated being involved with a charity program that goes beyond just sending money to some far-off place. It was wonderful to see what the impact a large number of sponsors and letters had on a community. They felt loved and honored that strangers would want to help them. And that makes it all worth it.

If you’re interested in sponsoring a child, visit Food for the Hungry’s website.

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.

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!

Sunset over Parkishon, Kenya

Last month, my visit to Kenya achieved a number of goals. One was to haggle in a market. Another was doing volunteer work overseas with my church and Food for the Hungry. And since it was my first visit to Africa, I’m one continent closer to visiting all seven.

In June, my sister and I took on a ropes and zipline course in St. Maartan, thus achieving my goal of riding on a zipline.

In April, a friend invited me up to Chicago for a long weekend (a slightly-belated trip report will be coming soon). I got to see the Bean (goal #12) and added another state to my list. Unfortunately, NPR’s “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me” was taping out of town that week, so I have an excuse to visit the fantastic Windy City again soon.

So as of right now, I’ve done 18 items on my list. I’m still working on my fall plans where I hope to visit a couple of more states and do some of the other items on my list. I may also tweak the list a bit for this blog’s 2nd anniversary in October. The point of the list is so that I can push myself to try new things, go to new places and inspire others to do the same. Not all the items on the list achieve that, so I’d like to do some editing on it.

All in all, it’s been a fun adventure working through this list and I can’t wait to do more items on it.

On my last day in Nairobi, the team and I went to visit an arts and crafts market located in the heart of downtown. The market took

Downtown Nairobi

up an entire city block and had dozens of artisans selling everything from jewelry to clothes to wedding knots and doorstops. I’ve been to a lot of arts and craft markets but the one in Narobi had some of the most beautiful items I’ve seen anywhere.

Our guide warned us that since we were all of Caucasian or Hispanic descent our light skin might as well be covered in dollar signs. She also warned us about brokers who would be happy to haggle on our behalf but would charge excessively high prices in return.

As soon as we got out of the van outside of the gate to the market, brokers swarmed us and started asking questions like where we were from and what kinds of items we were looking for. Inside the market, artists had their goods spread out on blankets on the ground with narrow walkways between them. Between the narrow walkways, the brokers and all the shoppers it was a bit overwhelming at first.

The brokers kept asking me questions like what country I was from, what I was looking for, and how much I paid for the flower beaded necklace I was wearing. They seem disappointed when I told them it was a gift from the Samburu people.

Since this was my first attempt at haggling, I decided to start small. I spotted a couple of key chains in the shape of a beaded elephant. I knelt down by the blanket and got the seller’s attention.

“How much?”
“100 shillings.” (at the time, 80 shillings equaled 1 US dollar)
“I’ll give you 100 for 2.”
“No, 150.”
“125”
“140”
“130”
“Deal.”

And with that, my first foray into haggling was done. It wasn’t difficult to do, the seller was in no way offended by my offers and at the

Goodies from the Nairobi market

end we both got a deal we were happy with. So I kept shopping and haggling for about another hour. For the most part, the haggling went well.

But on two occasions, I ended up walking away from a deal. One was when I ended up talking to a broker but didn’t realize at first. I was interested in a small decorated bowl but suspected that the guy talking to me wasn’t the owner since he wasn’t near the stall at first. Even when I asked him if he was the stall owner, he said he was. But once he asked me to write my bid down on a piece of paper, I knew something was up. And when he quoted a price that was more then six times what I actually ended up paying, I was done with him.  Another time, a seller was trying to work through a broker to deal with me. I got so fed up with trying to deal with both of them that I walked off. But in both situations, there were no repercussions for breaking off a deal. In fact, it made other sellers more eager to deal with me.

At the risk of sounding biased, I found the women much easier to deal with then the men. It may be because that the women in general are less aggressive then the men are. In fact, all the time I walked out of a deal it was with men. Most women let me look at their goods without pressuring me too much to buy.

One interesting twist on haggling happened when some of the sellers took an interest in a Sharpie pen that one of my team members had. It was just an ordinary pen by US standards, but in Kenya that type of pen was either not sold there or hard to find. So my friend ended up trading his pen for a small carved elephant. Another member ended up doing a cash and items trade for a drum. If any team member happened to be carrying items from the US, many vendors wanted to trade for them. It added an interesting twist to the haggling process.

At the end of the market trip, I’m glad I haggled. I enjoyed dealing directly with the people who made the items. I never felt like I got a bad deal, and if I didn’t like the way things were going, I could just walk away. It’s a fun way to do business. Now I feel much more confident in handling any kind of haggling situation, whether it’s halfway around the world or right in my hometown.

Open wide!

see there.

9. The Weather- When I think of Africa, I tend to think of large stretches of desert or open savanna and I imagine that the weather is dry and hot. Kenya had a lot of savannas, but the temperatures ranged from a dry pleasant mid-70s in the daytime to cool 60-degree temps at night. This despite being almost right on the equator. I was there during the dry season and got to experience a dust/rainstorm as it blew in over the savanna. The dust cause people to head for cover, the cooking ladies to cover their pots and dust clouds to blot out the stars. It’s not like any storm I’ve seen in the states. It could be seen coming from miles away, but blew in quietly.

8. Big Animals- Well, okay, I knew Kenya had large animals like elephants wandering around. But I assumed I would need to go on safari to see them. But out in the country, some teammates and I encountered wild elephants crossing the road. Near the Nairobi airport, there’s giraffes that can be seen in an open field next to the airport. Plus the national park offers some animal-viewing opportunities without having to go on a full-blown safari.

7. The Roads- For starters, Kenyans drive on the left side of the road instead of the right. But it’s the condition of the roads that’s the

Samburu mothers singing in Parkishon

surprising part. In the rural areas, roads are unpaved and often have large rocks and ruts in them. Trying to traverse them in anything less rugged then a Land Rover is asking for trouble. Out in the country, it’s also common to have to slow down to get around herds of cattle. In the city, roundabouts rule. Not many stoplights or other traffic direction devices exist and it’s a bit of “every man for himself” at times. Driving is not for the faint of heart here.

6. The Walls- In Nairobi, nearly every building had walls surrounding it. Whether it was an apartment complex, a hotel, a mall, a hospital or almost anything else except a gas station, they all had walls. The walls were usually made of either concrete or metal and topped off with barbed wire or shards of glass designed to scratch up any daring intruder. I don’t know what the reason is for such security, but I’ve never seen so many high walls everywhere.

5. Security Guards- With so many walls come lots of security guards. Since all the walled complexes needed gates for people and cars

Elephants crossing the road between Parkishon and Karare

to get in and out of, nearly all of them had at least one guard at the gate. Some larger complexes have several guards, some who tote around AK-47s or other weaponry. Sure, other countries have guards too but they are usually a little more discreet.

4. The Gate-Raisers- In some places, a gate arm needs to be raised to let cars into a parking lot or road. In the US, gate arms are automated. But in Kenya, most gates have a guy standing there to pull the arm up. They usually don’t do anything else then that since a second person will collect parking fees, check cars, etc. All they do is raise and lower the gate. Apparently it’s cheaper to hire someone then to put the automation technology in. It’s certainly one way to keep the Kenyan employment rate up.

3. Clotheslines- In most apartment complexes and condos around the city long, colorful clotheslines with the day’s wash can be seen hanging off of balconies and windows. Washer/dryer units are not a common feature in most homes, so clotheslines are used instead. It’s an interesting way to see the different standards of living between Kenya and the US.

2. Singing- Out in the rural areas of Kenya it’s common to sing while doing tasks like cooking or cleaning. But what really surprised

Kids in Karare

me is how long people could sing. I went to church on Sunday in a small village called Parkishon. The children were already singing when I got there, and they kept singing non-stop for well over two hours. And they seemed to enjoy every chorus of every song they sang. It was so beautiful to listen to.

1. The Generous People- I met a lot of wonderful people while I was in Kenya. But what astonished me was how generous the Kenyans were to me and the rest of the team I was with. The women of the church that we visited gave everyone a beaded necklace. Which doesn’t sound like much until you realize that it takes nearly a week’s income to be able to buy the supplies to make just one. Then at the end of the week, the villagers slaughtered a goat in our honor. It’s the highest honor that a village can give to a guest, and it’s significant since it means a villager gave up a piece of his property for us. On our last night in Karare some girls walked through the area we were staying in. Some of the other women and I struck up a conversation with them and we had a nice chat for half an hour or so. They then said they would stop by in the morning before we left to say goodbye. Sure enough, they returned and brought us more necklaces. Incredible, considering that we did nothing for them except talk.

I like to think that I’m a generous and hospitable person, but I have a thing or two to learn from the Kenyans.