Lisa’s Travels

Holiday-Truth.com is a site geared towards regions frequented by Britain tourists.  However, they still have a great selection of places you can check out before you book your room there.  There are a lot of areas that us US travelers go to also.  Searching in foreign contries is fairly easy.  However, searching the United States is another story.  Instead of being listed by location, its listed by hotel name.  They even have a forum you can join!  This is a must check out site before you go on vacation!  (US wise, I had better luck in the forums).

Have a complaint about a company?  The Squeaky Wheel is your spot to vent.  As the name implies, they are working with you to get a resolution. Each complaint triggers an email to the company, gets sent to 5 search engines, plus every time someone views the complaint, another email goes to the company.  It does cost $5 per complaint you want posted.  However, if you get a refund, this may be the best $5 spent. My only complaint is that you are unable to search this site.  I would love to see all the complaints for certain companies.  We all have horror airline and vacation stories, so I thought I would pass on a site that would allow us to hopefully get some resolution.

Back in March of this year, United started charging for baggage, and for the customer, it has been downhill since.  Below I have listed different airlines and their new fees:

AirTran

First Checked Bag:  Free
Second Checked Bag: $10 online, $20 airport
Third Checked Bag: $50

Overweight bags 51-70 lbs: $29
Overweight bags 71-100 lbs: $69

Oversized Bags 62-70 in: $29
Oversized Bags 71-80 in: $69

Carry-on limit: 55 inches

American

First Checked Bag: $15
Second Checked Bag: $25
3-5 Checked Bag: $100 each
Sixth: $200

Overweight bags 51-70 lbs: $50
Overweight bags 71-100 lbs: $100

Oversized Bags 63-115 in: $150

Carry-on limit: 45 inches and 40 lbs

Continental

First Checked Bag: Free
Second Checked Bag: $25
Third Checked Bag: $100

Overweight bags 51-70 lbs: $50

Oversized Bags 63-115 in: $100

Carry-on limit: 51 inches and 40 lbs

Delta

First Checked Bag: Free
Second Checked Bag: $50
Third Checked Bag: $125

International :
First and Second Checked Bags: Free
3-10 Checked Bags: $150 - $600 each

Overweight bags 51-70 lbs: $90
Overweight bags 71-100 lbs: $150

Oversized Bags 62-80 in: $175

Carry-on limit: 45 inches and 40 lbs

JetBlue

First Checked Bag: Free
Second Checked Bag: $10
Third Checked Bag: $75

Overweight bags 51-70 lbs: $50
Overweight bags 71-100 lbs: $100

Oversized Bags 63-80 in: $75

Carry-on limit: 50 inches for Embraer 190 planes, 56 inches for Airbus A320s

Northwest

First Checked Bag: $15
Second Checked Bag: $25
Third Checked Bag: $100

Overweight bags 51-70 lbs: $50

Oversized Bags 63-80 in: $100 (International varies)

Carry-on limit: 45 inches

Southwest

First Checked Bag: Free
Second Checked Bag: Free
Third Checked Bag: $25
4th and additional: $50 to $110 each.

Overweight bags 51-70 lbs: $25
Overweight bags 71-100 lbs: $50

Oversized Bags 63-80 in: $50
Oversized Bags 71-80 in: $69

Carry-on limit: 50 inches

United

First Checked Bag: $15
Second Checked Bag: $25
Third and additional Checked Bag: $125 - $250 each (International varies)

Overweight bags 51-100 lbs: $125

Oversized Bags 63-115 in: $125

Carry-on limit: 45 inches

US Airways

First Checked Bag: $15
Second Checked Bag: $25
Third and Additional Checked Bags: $100 each

Overweight bags 51-70 lbs: $50 - $150
Overweight bags 71-100 lbs: $100 - $200 (based on number of bags)

Oversized Bags 62-80 in: $100
Oversized Bags 71-80 in: $69

Carry-on limit: 51 inches

Now if your head isn’t spinning yet, I will definitely make it now. You can get multiple charges on the same piece of luggage if it is too large, too heavy, or one too many!  This list defenitely makes you rethink how you are going to pack for your next plane trip.

Did you know that if you are traveling abroad, Visa and MasterCard charge issuing banks a standard fee of 1% percent of the total price for items purchased outside the country. This “currency conversion charge” is then passed onto you the customers.  For ATM cards, there is the same currency conversion fee.  However, they also charge you a transaction fee of up to $5 per withdrawal.  Some countries have have low withdrawal limits, so you will be having that charge on multiple transactions to get the amount of money out that you want.  There are ways to minimize foreign transaction fees or eliminate them altogether. It all depends on where you bank, which ATM you use, and where you are when you use it.

Citibank customers traveling in 46 countries can use Citibank ATMs and pay a 2% conversion charge but no transaction fee.  At other places in the world, customers still pay the 2% conversion charge, but the transaction free is $1.50.

Bank of America belongs to the Global ATM Alliance. Their customers can withdraw local currency from ATMs in eight foreign countries and pay absolutely no transaction fees. The alliance includes Barclays Bank (United Kingdom), BNP Paribas (France), China Construction Bank (China), Deutsche Bank (Germany), Santander Serfin (Mexico), Scotiabank (Canada) and Westpac (Australia and New Zealand).  At banks not listed, their customers pay a $5 ATM withdrawal fee and 1% currency conversion charge.

Now, if you have a Capital One card, you are in luck.  They don’t charge you the currency conversion fee.  You still however have to pay $1.50 per transaction fee.

American Express is another alternative. Cardholders can walk into any of 2,200 American Express Travel Services locations worldwide. They can then write a personal check for as much as $1,000 per card. This service is free.

Before you travel abroad, make sure you contact your ATM and credit card company. You don’t want to be surprised on vacation after you have run out of cash.

Bill and I have been struggling this whole summer so far trying to decide where to take the kids on vacation this year.  With my kids only being 4 and 1, it is a hard call.  I do not want to be spending a ton of money on a trip they are not going to remember.  That being said and with gas prices being so high, we have decided to stay home and vacation.  We live right next to Chicago, and never have any time to enjoy it!  Being that Bill hates to drive downtown more than he has to, we are looking at staying maybe one night (maybe even two) with the kids downtown.  There is a ton of stuff to do in Chicago like Navy Pier, Children’s Museum, The Museum of Science and Industry, The Aquarium, and The Field Museum.  This is just a few things that are just a few blocks away from one another.  On top of there being a ton of things to do, there area also a ton of hotels to pick from.  I personally think we need one with a pool and continental breakfast if we have the kids with.  I love that Hotels Combined has the ability to search on the very parameters that I want.  It makes it so easy to find exactly what I want.  Our plan is to become a tourist in our very own town and visit all the places we never have time for!

Where are you going on vacation this summer?

When traveling abroad, make sure you know the customs in the area you are in.  Here are a few tips for you:

• Argentine humor can be insulting.  They poke fun at your appearance, weight, and/or attire.
• Don’t kiss the hand of an Austrian woman unless you are Austrian.
• Don’t make the “OK” sign in Brazil since it is considered a rude gesture.
• Don’t give a Chinese person a clock as gift, because it is viewed as a sinister action.  Clocks are associated with death.
• Don’t be too touchy-feely in Denmark.
• On the other hand, Italians like to hug.
• Don’t use your left hand to eat in Egypt.
• In Ghana, dont blow your nose at the dinner table.
• When in India, make sure you leave a small amount of food on your plate.  If you clean it off, they think you are still hungry.
• However, if you are in Kenya, you do need to finish everything off your plate, because it is polite.
• Don’t talk with your hands or put your hands in your pockets while talking in Thailand.

Happy traveling!

My best spring vacation ever has to be our trip last year to New York. (I would have said our recent Arizona trip, but that was done before the first day of spring. Miami was pretty fun too, but that trip was in January. I also didn’t have anytime to do anything like see the Miami Seaquarium). For those of you who don’t know, I won an all expenses paid trip to the Rachel Ray show last March. They called me on a Thursday and we flew out Monday, I think. It was also right after my birthday. We only had a limited time to do things while we were there, so I wish we would have known about Trusted Tours & Attractions. They could have directed us to what things to do in New York or even some sightseeing tours. We did end up doing pretty okay for ourselves though. We were able to visit Times Square and the World Trade Center Site. I wish we would have had time for the Statute of Liberty.

The really cool thing is that Trusted Tours & Attractions has an awesome contest going on. All you need to do is sign up for their newsletter and you could win a handheld GPS unit! This contest ends on Monday, April 30th, 2008, so what are you waiting for?

I think the craziest thing I did in Las Vegas was attend BlogWorld and PostieCon by myself. Crazy, because I am a stay at home mom who hates flying and hasn’t done anything alone in years. However, it was awesome. I got to meet a ton of my online friends and got to network with a ton of people. I also learned a lot. I even got to shake Mark Cuban’s hand. I know it doesn’t sound all that crazy, but for me, it is. That being said, I now find a list from Trusted Tours & Attractions of things to do in Las Vegas. They are not all wild and crazy, but they are definitely fun. Heck, if you are willing to travel, you can even set up an Alcatraz tour .

I wouldn’t say Vegas is too family friendly, so if you are looking for some family vacation ideas, you should definitely sign up for the Trusted Travels eNewsletter newsletter. If you do, they have a contest that you can win an IPOD Nano! I know we are trying to figure out where to take the kids next year. I don’t want too expensive, but I definitely want it to be fun!