Travel Tips | Hole In The Donut Cultural Travel

Travel Tidbits Worth Passing On

Published November 18, 2010 | By Barbara Weibel

Just a short break from my wanderings around Asia to let you know about a little travel news worth passing on.

The Vacation Gals recently asked my opinion for the best tropical winter vacation destination and of course I couldn’t resist blathering on about Mexico, specifically Merida in the northeast corner of the Yucatan. Also making the list were Crete, Sicily, Hawaii, the Caribbean and Peru, suggested by some of the top travel experts in the world. If you’re dreaming of warm climates as winter approaches, it’s worth a few minutes to check out this article , which was deemed worthy enough to be picked up by USA Today.

HostelBookers - my preferred hostel booking site

HostelBookers.com, my preferred booking site for hostels all over the world, is currently running an Australian Road Trip competition where someone can win an Oz Experience bus pass. As the folks at HostelBookers say, Australia is a vast country and you would be forgiven for hopping on a plane to reach your destination. But if, like me, you love a road trip, Australia won’t disappoint! This vast and exciting country has a fantastic coastline that offers unrivaled surfing and geological wonders such as the Great Barrier Reef, the 12 Apostles and the Whitsunday Islands. And along the way you’ll find no lack of reasonably priced accommodations such as Syndey backpackers and Melbourne backpackers. For your chance to win, tell HostelBookers about your favorite road trip in the comments section at the bottom of this page. Entries must be under 100 words and the deadline is 5 p.m. on Monday, December 20, 2010. Three runners-up will win a copy of Rough Guides Ultimate Adventures and the winner can choose one of the following bus passes: 1) Matey Pass, Sydney to Melbourne, worth €397 (approximately $632 USD*), 2) Surf Pass, Sydney to Brisbane or Byron Bay, worth €325 (approximately $518 USD*), or 3) Victa Pass, Melbourne to Adelaide, worth €385 (approximately $613 USD*).

*All U.S. currency conversions based on rates as of 11/18/10.

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Tagged contestss, destinations, HostelBookers.com, TheVacationGals.com, tips, Travel, tropical, vacation, winter |

5 Comments

How to Protect Against Hotel Door Hacking

Published February 24, 2010 | By Barbara Weibel

Just in time for my trip comes this video:

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Travel Tidbits Worth Passing On

Posted in Travel tips |

Tagged break-ins, door locks, hacking, hotel, locks, safety, theft, Travel, videos |

22 Comments

Ultimate Twitter Travel List

Published February 18, 2010 | By Barbara Weibel

You'll want to bookmark/favorite this site. Image courtesy of BestTravelDeals.net

If you are always on the lookout for tips and bargains, love to travel, and love to tweet even more, you should definitely check out the Ultimate List of Twitter Travel Accounts just published at BestTravelDeals.net. This very comprehensive list shows the twitter user name for airlines, airports, trains, subways, rental cars, hotels, cruises, pet travel, booking sites, travel guides and reviews, travel tips, and travel blogs.

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Tagged airlines, airports, blogs, booking, cruises, guides, hotels, list, pets, rental cars, reviews, subways, tips, trains, Travel, tweeting, twitter |

7 Comments

Two Tips for Safe Driving in Bad Weather

Published January 28, 2010 | By Barbara Weibel

Since we’re all driving more and flying less, I want to pass along two very interesting safe driving tips that were emailed to me yesterday.

WEAR YOUR SUNGLASSES WHEN DRIVING IN A HEAVY RAIN:
During a heavy downpour, visibility is bad, even with the wipers on high. Wearing your sunglasses will vastly improve visibility, even at night. The drops on the windshield will still be visible, but not the sheet of falling rain. It also helps to eliminate the “blindness” from the spray of passing semi’s, and the “kick up” if you are following a semi or car in the rain.

NEVER USE THE CRUISE CONTROL WHEN THE PAVEMENT IS WET OR ICY:
Snow, ice, slush, or even rain can cause wheel-spin and hydroplaning. If the cruise control is on when the tires lose contact with the pavement, the car accelerates to a higher rate of speed and takes off like an airplane. Although cruise control can be disengaged by tapping the brake pedal, the extra reaction time Continue reading →

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Tagged automobiles, cars, cruise control, driving, rain, safety, sunglasses, tips, Travel |

26 Comments

Drive Cross Country in Someone Else’s Car for Free

Published January 27, 2010 | By Barbara Weibel

Don’t look now but the open road is calling. Faced with onerous security regulations, endless add-on fees, and uncomfortable planes that squeeze customers in like sardines, more and more travelers are opting for the highways rather than the skyways. Americans are rediscovering the joy of driving cross-country with the wind in their hair, the music cranked, and the freedom to check out quirky attractions that would forever have been overlooked from 30,000 feet in the air.

Hitting the road in someone else's car - for free

Traveling cross-country in someone eles's car - for free

This resurgent love affair is also revitalizing driveaway companies, services that match drivers with customers who want their cars delivered to distant destinations. Vehicles need to be moved for a variety of reasons, including corporate relocations, military transfers, and quite often in the case of snowbirds who want to have use of their own car at their winter home but don’t want to do the driving. Car owners pay Continue reading →

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Posted in Travel tips |

Tagged budget, car delivery, car rental, corporate relocations, cross country, driveaway, drivers, free, military transfers, snowbirds, Travel |

219 Comments

Using Your iPhone During International Travel Without Breaking the Bank

Published January 14, 2010 | By Barbara Weibel

When I traveled internationally for the first time after buying my iPhone, I was concerned about the potential for racking up huge phone bills. I’d heard horror stories about people who used their iPhones while traveling overseas, only to discover they had mounted up thousands of dollars in cell phone charges upon returning home. As an underpaid writer, I needed to make very sure this didn’t happen to me.

iPhone 3GS

I started by calling AT&T and was told that I needed to add an International Calling Plan for $24.99 per month. Initially that seemed like a reasonable solution, until I read the small print. The plan provides 20MB of usage within 65 countries, and the list of countries did not include my destination. Additionally, usage over 20MB would have been charged at $.005 per KB. If that all sounds like a lot of gibberish, let me put it in perspective: opening an email with a five megapixel picture in it or downloading a three-minute video on YouTube each require about 2MB of data, so it wouldn’t take long to eat up 20MB of data. Additionally, there are 1,000 KB in each MB, so if I was over my limit, opening a 2MB email would cost me $10! Obviously, this plan was not acceptable.

Since I intended to access my email and the Internet solely through the hotel’s WiFi network, I asked AT&T for instructions to block the cellular network completely. Although it was a struggle to get the rep to agree to send me the appropriate information, she finally offered to send an email with instructions. The instructions were somewhat incomplete, but with research I was able to fill Continue reading →