Three Dumb Things People Do To Mess Up Their Trips (Apologies, Dr. Laura)

You're stoked about your vacation. It's way overdue, and this time you're sure things should go without a hitch. But wait...Yes, many great travel experiences are full of serendipity. However, too many curve balls can mess up a trip royally. Here are three things to avoid before you even leave home:

1) The "Everything But the Kitchen Sink" Syndrome

Of course you love those lavender stilettos and new snorkeling fins, but will you really use them on your hiking trip to Austria or your cruise to Alaska? When in doubt, leave it out. Your luggage can be your vacation ball and chain, keeping you from enjoying free and easy travel. It's a pain to pull a muscle, miss a tight train connection, fork out luggage surcharges, or spend hours tracking down a checked bag lost en route, all because you allowed your heavy luggage to hold you hostage. Less is more. Trust us!

2) The "I Didn't Get Around to It" Trap

Time is indeed the most precious of commodities in today's fast-paced world. We need to take our vacations to restore balance, to feed our hearts and souls, and to escape from routine. Besides, vacations are good for health. Yet far too often, our time off becomes just a P.S. in our lives, relegated to the back burner of life's priorities until the very last minute. That's when the trouble starts. A little planning and a handful of research go a long way to ensuring a fairly smooth trip. Don't fall victim to "Before we left, I just didn't have time to...a) reconfirm our flights, make sure our seat assignments are still intact, and print our boarding passes b) make copies of the hotel and car rental confirmations c) check our passport expiration dates d) confirm whether or not we need a visa for the country we're visiting e) make sure that special museum is open the one day we hit the city f) verify rail schedules to see if the day trips are really doable from our base town g) read the weather forecast for our vacation spot h) ask the neighbor to collect our mail, water the plants, check our house in our absence, etc. Save yourself the stress. A trained travel agent can help you. Make a short list of what to do and what to know before you go. Start checking things off little by little. Then you'll be able to kick back and enjoy your getaway worry-free.

3) The "I'll Sleep Longer, Eat Better, Drink More H2O, Exercise More When I Get There" Myth

No you won't. Start now. It's probably not a smart idea to pull three back-to-back all-nighters before a long flight to New Zealand, or even a shorter one to L.A. for that matter. Rest up before you go. Break in those cool new shoes. Your feet will thank you for it. Run around the block and briskly go up a flight of stairs with your packed suitcase in tow. It's a quick fitness test. Get in reasonable shape several weeks before you head out. Start hydrating days before your flights. Sure you might have to get up from your airplane seat more often, but drinking plenty of water is great for your skin. It helps you beat jet lag and keeps you regular too. Yep. A rested, nourished, fitter person is usually a more content, easy-going traveler, and a heckuva lot more pleasant to be around in transit and on vacation. Now, let's see if WE too can just practice what we preach next time we leave home! :) Happy travels.

~Ann Lombardi & Wendy Swartzell

The Trip Chicks®

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Ten Tips on Nailing That Frequent Flyer Ticket

by Ann Lombardi & Wendy Swartzell
The Trip Chicks™

1. Start your hunt early.

Especially when you’re dreaming about a faraway and popular destination like Hawaii, Alaska, Europe, or the Orient, the earlier the better. Some airlines let you request award travel as early as 331+ days in advance! Phone just after midnight on the first day you are allowed to call for a ticket. Calculate the earliest date you can phone by going to www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadd.html

2. Don't limit your search to just nonstop flights.

It’s always a plus to get Delta nonstop from Atlanta, United nonstop from Washington Dulles, or American from Chicago, but be willing to change planes en route to your destination. Consider your airline’s partner carriers for award travel. (i.e. Air France, KLM, etc. instead of just Delta Airlines non-stop). Visit www.frequentflier.com for a summary of major airline award programs.

3. Call the frequent flyer partner desk of the airlines with which you have the most points.

Availability of "partner airline" award tickets sometimes can not be checked online so be sure to telephone. Partner desk frequent flyer agents not only can check possible flights with your main airline but often can find creative partner airline routes which other agents might not be willing to research for you.

4. Don't phone during the peak weekend times or on weekdays in the early evening.

The best, most experienced U.S.-based agents often work during the off hours or later at night. If you suspect you have reached an agent who’s rushed, inexperienced, or an outsourced newbie, politely say something's come up and you will call back.

5. Be more flexible with your travel dates and destination.

During high season to Europe for example, if your preferred city or dates are sold-out, ask the agent to check an alternate destination. Budget airlines like Snowflake, Germania, Central Wings, Easy Jet, BMI, and others connect many cities from hubs such as London and Amsterdam. Before calling about a frequent flyer ticket, know your options from other cities, in case your first choice destination is not open. Go to http://www.flybudget.com or http://www.whichbudget.com for details on low-cost connecting carriers worldwide.

6. Sincerely thank the agent for helping you with your hunt.

Remember that the airline agent is trying to reserve “non-revenue” flights, and that award tickets are a bit hard to come by. For a job especially well-done, ask to be transferred to the agent’s supervisor to leave a compliment for the agent who assisted you. Reward great customer service!

7. Be patient at all times.

Travelers hoping to redeem points for a ticket should be prepared to stay on hold a long time with the airlines. In some instances, you too may have had to stay on the phone almost two hours! Multi-task while waiting and don’t hang up if in the queue. Don’t ever lose your cool or be rude. It's common sense but bears repeating here: "the squeaky wheel rarely gets the grease." You certainly don’t want any airline agent to write something negative in your reservation.

8. Consider booking dates later than your first choice and ask the airlines about the official standby policy.

You can try to fly standby a few days earlier than the outbound date on your ticket. Phone the carrier 48 to 72 hours in advance and ask "how open the flights from ________to _________ are" for that day. Don’t attempt standby award travel on an overbooked flight. Ideally, a “wide open” flight is the best bet. Your success will depend on the mood of the gate agent, but we have been able to successfully board flights as standbys not only on the return portion of our ticket but first leg too for a flight a few days earlier than our reservation. Recommended only for open-minded travelers who don't mind the suspense, the wait, or the risk. In other words, if you are a nervous traveler, this strategy may not be for you.

9. Request that the airline put you on a priority waitlist for award travel flights which were showing not available when you made your frequent flyer ticket reservation.

Then call the airlines back every few days during off-peak hours to see if "anything has cleared" for your frequent flyer award ticket. Be sure to give your work/ home numbers and email address to the frequent flyer reservation agent. It's important that even if you have bought your award ticket for less than desirable dates, immediately after completing the purchase you ask the res agent to put you on a priority wait list for your preferred travel days. If you forget this important step, you will have to pay a big change fee if the flights open up after you have ticketed. And remember, after ticketing you can change dates but not departure or arrival cities.

10. Write down your record locator number and the ticketing deadline.

Airlines won't hold a frequent flyer reservation for more than a few days and you certainly don't want to miss a deadline or lose the space. Mark your calendar and call before midnight in the time zone of the airline's main hub. P.S. If your miles are about to expire, several airlines (i.e. Delta for one) allow you to purchase 2,000 points for about $50 so your account shows yearly activity, and your miles are safe twelve more months. Now go out there and nab an award ticket!

Happy hunting!

Ann & Wendy

The Trip Chicks™

Black Forest's Gengenbach: Jewel of A Hideaway

""All those cookie cutter Europe Christmas Market tours go to crowded big cities," grumbled our client. "Why don't The Trip Chicks come up with an 'under the North American tourist radar' place to stay?" And so we did. For eight enjoyable days this past December, the welcoming 13th century half-timbered village of Gengenbach was our Europe group's holiday "homebase."

Boasting the world's largest Advent calendar (the 24 windows of the classical town hall Rathaus facade), the ideally-situated Black Forest town offered us easy train access to a host of neat places. We visited Strasbourg (enchanting Alsatian French town with the best of French and Germanic cultures and a striking, giant gothic cathedral begun in the year 1015), Triberg (home of the standout Black Forest folk traditions museum and the stunning Wallfahrtskirche Maria in der Tannen pilgrimage church), friendly Black Forest capital university town Freiburg im Breisgau, "upper-crusty" Baden Baden, famous spa town, and other appealing destinations only a stone's throw away.

One of the best travel bargains of the Black Forest region is the Konus card, a complimentary transportation card which comes with a two-night minimum hotel or bed and breakfast stay in the area and entitles the card holder to free bus and second class train regional transportation (except for the fast ICE or Intercity trains.) As a matter of fact, the KONUS pass is good all the way down to Basel Bad, the German border town one stop before Switzerland's Basel SBB station. For a map of where the Konus card is valid, go to: http://www.konus-schwarzwald.info. Then click on "In welchem Gebiet ist KONUS gültig?" link. (German for "in which area is Konus valid?") For train travel on longer rail routes outside the Schwarzwald region (i.e. from Gengenbach to Heidelberg), we recommend consulting a travel agent who is a Europe rail expert to determine the rail pass that'll give you the best bang for your out-of-pocket buck.

Jawohl and bien sûr ! We could have easily spent two weeks in the colorful area and never run out of sights to see. If you go, don't miss sampling the delicious thin-crusted tarte flambées of Alsace (called Flammkuchen in the Black Forest region of Germany), addictive thinly-rolled rectangles of bread dough topped with cream, onions, bacon, and ham or veggies and cheese. The dessert version is a chocolate lover's delight with scrumptiously gooey bittersweet chips. More of our happy trip memories include getting the skinny on a 350-year-old Black Forest tradition during our Triberg cuckoo clock factory tour (bet you don't know what makes that cuckoo sound!), rolling in the white stuff to make our year's only snow angels in winter wonderland Titisee, sharing Baden Baden's steamy outdoor thermal spa pools with a mini UN of visitors, and enjoying the unique camaraderie of our small tour group, congenial travelers from 17 to 84. Our newly-created Christmas Market itinerary is definitely a keeper for The Trip Chicks, and we plan to repeat it in 2009. Happy travels und bis zum nächsten Mal!

Ann Lombardi

The Trip Chicks

Just Back from Europe

And boy, is the US dollar is buying more these days! Let's hope the Euro continues its trend well into the new year and the ole greenback makes a strong comeback. Travel across the big pond in the off-season and just as we did with our Christmas Markets of Germany and France tour group, make your homebase a centrally-located, lesser-known town with day trips by train. A room in a cozy family-run hotel along with daily breakfast and dinner often runs less than just a hotel room by itself would in the tourist-trodden higher profile cities.

Highlights of our holiday season small-group getaway included sampling delicious Flammkuchen (tartes flambées) in the heart of Alsace, visiting a centuries-old cuckoo clock factory, taking in snowy scenes in the Black Forest glacial lake and winter wonderland town of Titisee, and joining the hale and hardy in the open air thermal spa waters of Baden Baden. Then I said "auf wiedersehen" to my fellow "Trip Chick" Wendy and headed on my own to Switzerland and Torino/Turin Italy for a week stay. More on my travels there later this week.

Happy Holidays everyone, and best wishes for a great 2009!

Ciao,
Ann Lombardi
The Trip Chicks
Passport to Adventure, Inc.

Secret Travel Tip for Saving Big on Europe Hotels

Don't let a strong Euro keep you from planning the Europe trip of a lifetime. One of our best money-saving Europe hotel strategies is so simple, you can use it for your very next getaway across the pond. And the money you save will make your moneybelt smile!

Who can resist the allure of Europe? Many travelers have long dreamed of exploring classy Paris, vibrant Rome, charming Salzburg, and other eye-popping European cities. These wonderfully time-honored destinations, brimming with ancient history, colorful sights, bustling street life, and scrumptious cuisine, are so tempting that we hardly can wait to escape to the continent!

Armed with our newly-issued passports, we nail a rock-bottom airfare, arrange an affordable rail pass or car rental from our travel agent, and then begin the internet hunt for "reasonably-priced" accommodations in Europe's most popular places. Of course, we are probably familiar with the discounted bed and breakfast/pension stays, youth hostel options, camping, and others. But what if we still prefer the amenities of a European hotel?

City accommodations "sticker shock" hit us hard when we checked out rates for Ann's favorite hotel in Rome. In 2002 she snared a twin-bedded hotel room in Rome, Italy with buffet breakfast for a mere $85 per room per night. Now the same room costs almost 300% more...a whopping $285! We quickly do the math and realize our "bargain vacation" might be coming close to breaking the bank.

So, what can a Europe-bound traveler on a tight hotel budget do when the good ole dollar exchange rate is hurting? Enjoy a more authentic, relaxing, and less costly experience in Europe. Just venture 20-30 minutes outside the city and overnight in a smaller town right on the main rail line to the big city! Here's a Europe travel tip: begin your search by googling the European national rail sites. Search for something like German Rail Timetable or Austria Train Schedules. For a list of Europe train timetable links country by country, check out: http://europeforvisitors.com/europe/planner/blp_rail_countries.htm

Austria's, for example, is http://fahrplan.oebb.at/bin/query.exe/en . Maybe you want to stay in the Salzburg area. Look on a map of Austria and locate a town that seems relatively close to your target city. Let's use Zell Am See in this case. Then on the rail website, type that town in the "from" or "departure" space and stick in "Salzburg" as the "destination" on the "to" line. You then can then look up the "intermediate stops" between Zell Am See and Salzburg. Pick one of the towns only two or three stops away from Salzburg on that main train route. Notice that the towns of Hallein, Golling-Abtenau, and Werfen are each just outside of Salzburg on a main Austria rail line between Zell Am See and Salzburg itself.

The next stop is to google Hallein tourism or Golling-Abtenau tourism. Each town invariably will have a website listing affordable acommodations like the cozy, family-run hotels we love. Often for 40%-60% less than just the per night cost of a hotel stay in a big city, travelers using The Trip Chicks "on-the-outskirts" strategy can pin down a delightful hotel room at a super duper price. And guess what? Your low Europe hotel rate probably will include not only a buffet breakfast but a delicious dinner too. What a travel deal! Happy travels, y'all.

The Trip Chicks