Some Airline News

Jet Blue (www.jetblue.com,) the low-cost carrier based in the U.S., has announced that now airline miles earned in its True Blue program will never expire. By doing so, it becomes just the second U.S. based airline to offer this privilege.

Delta Airlines (www.delta.com) is the other airline with this feature on its Sky Miles program. Non-expiration of mileage is a big advantage, because it is so easy to forget and let your miles expire through inactivity on most other airline loyalty programs.

There were screeches from passengers several years ago when Air Canada (www.aircanada.com) introduced regulations that required activity on Aeroplan accounts every year to retain the miles. That doesn't necessarily mean you have to fly with the airline, since Air Canada and many offer lines have tie-in deals with partners which you can use to keep your miles active. Still, it is a bother.

Star Alliance, the airline group that includes Air Canada, Lufthansa (www.lufthansa.com) and many other airlines has a new member, Taiwan-based EVA Airlines (www.evaair.com.)

Lessons from a Frugal Traveler

One of the great resources for budget travel is the New York Times (www.nytimes.com) Frugal Travel column. It is well worth following this blog, now being written by Seth Kugel. However, I was interested in a post from his predecessor Matt Gross on lessons he learned during four years of writing the blog.

You can access the whole post by searching on the Times site for the May 25, 2010 post of this article. Gross concluded that he learned three main things--first, frugality is in the eye of the beholder; second, anywhere can be frugal; and third, friends are worth more than $. I agree with him on these points, though I would say the lessons I have learned from many years of budget travel and budget ttravel writing are somewhat different.

The most important point he makes, I believe, is about the need to prioritize. Even with lots of time and money, you would have to make choices. When money is limited, priorities are even more important. You will need to choose whether to splurge on decent accommodation, on sight seeing, on meals in restaurants or special events. If your budget is really tiny and you want to visit expensive places, you may have to economize on all these items or limit the length of your stay severely. If that is the case, remember that even one or two days in Rome, London or Moscow is light years better than no time, and with planning you can cover a lot in a short time.

If you want to go public with your travel priorities, you can list them on the Website www.bucketlist.org. It can be useful to have a written record of priorities in case you are tempted to go back to a favourite place once again, rather that venturing somewhere new.

Gross's point about reaching out to friends is important, though my take on it is a little different. Much of my travel was in the pre-internet, pre-high security era, when it seemed to be easier to meet interesting people at random while travelling. Today with even most public transit passengers buried in their smart phones, I suspect even people of Gross's generation can have trouble meeting people on the road.

It may be a question of personality, but I still enjoy the serendipity of venturing into unknown territory on my own from time to time. I think you learn a lot more when you have to rely just on your own devices, unassisted by friends or even friends of friends. It can get lonely at times, but loneliness is all part of the travel experience.

A Step Back in Time

If you have ever wondered what life was like 100 years ago, a stay at the Roycroft Inn (www.roycroftinn.com) in East Aurora, New York will give you a good idea. Although it has been updated with all the mod cons such as internet for guest use and large bathrooms, it still looks as if little has changed since the inn opened early in the 20th century.

This inn is a must if, like me, you are a fan of Art Nouveau and its cousin in the English-speaking world, Arts and Crafts. This was an artistic movement at the turn of the 20th century that reacted against industrialization and wanted to return to an idealized past of small communities close to nature where craftmanship was taken seriously. It is characterized by low ceilings, organic shapes and natural materials. In Britain, William Morris and Charles Rennie Macintosh were the principle proponents of the movement. In America, Frank Lloyd Wright was its main architect.

The Roycroft is a three storey structure of grey green set amid trees in the attractive town of East Aurora, a suburb of Buffalo. There are a number of substantial homes built in the Roycroft style nearby, and a museum about its founder, Elbert Hubbard. Still today, the artisan community Hubbard founded persists, and you can purchase authentic copies of the furniture, china and silverware you find at the inn (provided you have deep pockets.)

You will also need a fairly substantial bank account to stay at the inn, especially in summer and on weekends. During the week a  large double room goes for about $190 including tax at this time of year. If that is too expensive, just stop by for a meal. The food is American style and tasty, and lunches are an especially good option. Try to get a seat overlooking the beautiful courtyard, where a purple rhodendron  the size of a tree and Japanese magnolias flourish. My only complaint about the Roycroft is that the interior is fairly dark, and even the guest rooms are low on reading lights.  Lighting could be improved.

The Roycroft is small, so if you plan to visit on a weekend it pays to book in advance. Otherwise, you may not fiud a room.

Deals on Norwegian Star

I have found some amazing deals on the Norwegian Star, one of the ships of Norwegian Cruise Line (www.ncl.com.) To get the best prices you have to leave from Copenhagen this month, on June 21 or June 30, for a nine-day Baltic cruise that includes stops in Germany, St. Petersburg,  Helsinki, and Stockholm.

An inside cabin goes for as little as $399, provided you book it through www.affordabletours.com. If you prefer to wait until July, the price rises to $599 for an inside cabin, still quite amazing.  Even when you add on extra costs for shore excursions, tips etc. you can probably still get away for not much more than $100 per day per person.

In St. Petersburg you can take "approved" excursions without a visa for Russia, starting at about $100 per day. I remember reading a story by someone who had taken off on his own in Petersburg, but don't remember whether he had a visa or not. He did walk a long ways to the Metro, as I recall.

If time at sea appeals, you might consider the TransAtlantic crossing on Norwegian Star from Copenhagen to Miami on October 1, which stops at Ponta Delgado in the Azores. Rates for an inside cabin start at $536.

Eurailpass vs. Individual Tickets

Very little about calculating travel costs is simple today. Fares vary for virtually every type of transportation, and so do costs for hotel rooms based on time of year, demand, etc.

One of the advantages of a Eurailpass is that it offers unlimited travel for a set price and a set time period in a certain number of countries. However, even it does not cover all costs of rail travel in Europe--there are extra charges for seat reservations, required on many trains, and for overnight accommodations.

There is a good discussion of the cost of a pass compared with buying individual tickets on Nomadic Matt's blog today--the reference is www.nomadicmatt.us/17Cqcqf#travel#lp#europe. In it he compares a specific rail journey from Lisbon to Berlin using a railpass and buying individual tickets at the last minute.

The individual tickets win, but not by a huge amount. He took two overnight trains with sleeper accommodation, so that added significantly to the cost even with a pass. (Of course, he also saved on hotels for those nights.)

His conclusion is that a railpass may be worthwhile in certrain cases. It seems that it could be more valuable in Northern Europe than in Southern Europe, since fewer trains in the former require reservations even when you have a pass.

For my part, I miss the days when with a Eurailpass you could go anywhere within the system without reservations. You did risk having to stand in a corridor (and I did that more than once,) but I found that OK compared with the hassle of making reservations.

 I would recommend the Eurailpass mainly for those who really love train travel, and aren't too concerned about cost. European trains really can be wonderful, it's just too bad they screwed up a system that used to work well.

Floods Show Need for Insurance

The Danube River, one of the premier rivers in the world for cruise boats, has been experiencing record flood levels recently. Flooding has also affected the Elbe. I was curious about what is happening to all those cruise ships and the cities where they dock, and found some information on www.cruisecritic.com/news.

It appears that many cruises have been cancelled, and even after the flood waters subside damage to certain cities and structures may require changes to itineraries. Torrential rains in Florida may also impact some cruises, since Florida is a major hub for Caribbean cruises.

To me, all these weather events point to the need for insurance when you travel on a cruise, particularly if that cruise involves air travel (and most do.) While the lines are required to compensate passengers when cruises are cancelled, they may not cover the cost of air fare to the destination unless it was booked as part of a package.

Friends of mine from Ottawa greatly enjoyed their Danube cruise earlier this year. They are avid travellers, and had booked the cruise and another trip to Peru and Ecuador through a travel agent. In cases of difficulty, it can be very helpful to have a travel agent in your corner. While the internet is great for a lot of travel planning, if you are taking an expensive cruise or package it won't cost any more to book through an agent, and may save you a lot of grief if things go wrong.

The difficulty now may be finding a good travel agent. Many experienced agents left the business in recent years, so you may have to search for a while.

Olive Garden Good Value

I've seen a lot of ads on television for Olive Garden (www.olivegarden.com) restaurants, but only recently have I had a chance to try one. In general I'm not a fan of chain restaurants, but in this case I will make an exception.

A friend and I enjoyed dinner at the Olive Garden in Watertown, NY with a glass of wine each, and the bill came to $42 including tax but not tip. The food was good and filling, the service pleasant and the decor pretty. We both had the three course menu for $12.95, which includes unlimited soup of salad and breadsticks, a choice of several entrees (I had the pasta with shrimp,) and a small dessert or special coffee. We were especially fond of the mixed green salad, though we stopped at one generous portion.

Olive Garden has a Tuscan theme, and from my memories of Tuscany the food choices seemed pretty authentic. The decor was more homey than that found in most Italian restaurants, which at least the last time I was there tended to the modern and barren. It is strange, but many North Americans are disappointed with Italian restaurants when they visit Italy.

I don't think you will be disappointed by the Olive Garden, though. It offers very good value for money, in my view.