Most visitors to the Palenque Mayan Ruins in Chiapas, Mexico make the mistake of staying in the town of Palenque. Because the town and the archeological site share the same name, tourists assume that they are one in the same. Upon arrival, however, they discover that the ruins are a 15-20 minute ride from town. The short trip can be done by taxi for 50 pesos (about $4 USD) or colectivo (shared van) for 10 pesos (about 80 cents US), but there is an even better solution. Rather than staying in Palenque, choose accommodations in the tiny jungle village of El Panchan.

The town of Palenque, located a 15-minute drive from the ruins

El Panchan’s location right outside the entrance gate to Palenque is one reason to choose it but there are even more compelling reasons. First, the price of accommodations in El Panchan is much more affordable. Although there are numerous options, I chose Margarita and Ed’s, where I rented a cabana with twin beds and a private, ensuite bathroom for about $15 per night. The room was spotless and well-furnished, there was round-the-clock hot water, and though the owners told me the closest Internet connection was in Palenque, I actually got a signal (albeit weak) on my Mexican TelCel Aircard that allowed me to get email and upload blog posts. Read the rest of this entry »

Because I often stay at hostels I was interested to learn some interesting facts about the differences in booking prices between the two largest hostel booking services on the Internet. A recent study by Reed Business Insight revealed that HostelBookers is, on average, over 8% cheaper than HostelWorld, and HostelBookers is now backing that claim up with a guarantee. If you find the same deal cheaper anywhere else, they will refund double the difference! (Details about their price guarantee here).

Travelex Cash Passport pre-loaded with £1,000

To celebrate this price promise they have launched a competition which will run over the next three weeks. Nine winners will take away some fantastic prizes, with three winners being announced every week between May 26th and June 9th. For the top prize HostelBookers has partnered with Travelex.co.uk to offer three lucky travelers the chance to win a Cash Passport pre-loaded with £1,000 (that’s British PoundsPanasonic camera, which equates to approximately $1434 U.S. dollars at today’s exchange rate).

Three entrants will win the second prize of a Panasonic Lumix TZ8 Camera, and three more will take away the third prize, a 32gb iPod touch. (Full details of the HostelBookers contest can be viewed here). Read the rest of this entry »

I first learned about HotelPal from my friend Anil, who publishes the travel blog foXnoMad.com. This free application for the iPhone and iPod Touch allows users to search for accommodations at more than 100,000 hotels, inns, resorts, and B&B’s worldwide, making it’s among the most complete hotel databases available anywhere.

HotelPal app for the iPhone and iPod Touch

Immediately, I downloaded it and browsed around the interface. It seemed fairly easy to use: I simply needed to choose a hotel, type in my billing info, and tap “Book Now.” This week I finally had an opportunity to test it out during my tour of the Tampa Bay area. While my experience with the application was excellent, I found myself using it in a totally different manner than the developer intended.

Because I prefer not to be locked into structured itineraries, I rarely pre-book accommodations before leaving home, and this instance was no different. I left Sarasota at 4:30 p.m. in order to have plenty of time to find a hotel, check in, and still on time for my 8 p.m. Yo-Yo Ma concert this past Wednesday. Once I was in the neighborhood of the concert hall, I whipped out my iPhone, opened HotelPal, and clicked on “search.” The iPhone’s GPS automatically determined my geographic location and returned a list of nearby hotels and Read the rest of this entry »

This is no joke. TripAdvisor, one of the Internet’s most trusted sources for member reviews on attractions, accommodations, and restaurants, asked their members to reveal the cheapest, most comfortable lodgings around the world. The following is just a sampling:

Shiva Guest House in Kathmandu, Nepal

The Shiva Hotel in Kathmandu, Nepal. Average price per night: $9. Member comment:

“The guesthouse is right in the center of Bhaktapur, rooms with great view on Durbar Square. Breakfast at rooftop with excellent view on city and Himalaya’s. In times of festivals quite noisy in rooms at front side. The guys really make you feel at home.” Read the rest of this entry »

After dinner, I stopped in the lobby to arrange for a 7:30 a.m wake up call the following morning.

“We’ll be happy to do that, Ms. Weibel, and would you like a follow-up call 15 minutes later?” asked the woman behind the front desk.

My jaw dropped open. I have always wondered why hotels don’t offer this service. Turns out I was just staying at the wrong hotels; at the Ritz-Carlton in Palm Beach Florida, multiple wake-up calls are standard operating procedure.

Oceanfront pool at the Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach

I had been invited to stay at the Ritz in preparation for writing a review about the property. Because the resort has earned the prestigious AAA Five Diamond and Mobil Five Star awards, I knew I was in for a treat. But I was also apprehensive. When I abandoned my corporate life three years ago, I traded my stressed-out life of luxury for a happier, albeit poorer existence. My wardrobe these days consists mostly of khakis and, since a laptop is an absolute necessity, I carry a backpack rather than a purse. My only other stay at a Ritz-Carlton had occurred some 15 years earlier, at a property with an extremely formal atmosphere where dressing for dinner was a requirement. I worried about being under-dressed, unaccepted, and judged this time around. Read the rest of this entry »

Exquisite lobby of Chicago's Palmer House

The seeds of my love affair with Chicago’s Palmer House were sown back in 1969. An anxious and giddy teenager, I was thrilled that the famous hotel had been chosen for my senior prom. I vividly recall stepping into the opulent lobby, with its Tiffany 24-karat gold chandeliers, majestic “Winged Angels” (the largest bronze statues ever made by Tiffany), and its magnificent domed ceiling painted with Grecian frescoes. I was the ugly duckling, suddenly become a lovely swan. I was Cinderella. My handsome, tux-clad prince offered his arm as we promenaded through the glittering lobby and up the staircase to the ballroom, where we danced the night away.

Although I no longer live in Chicago, I recently attended a conference in the Loop and spent a few extra days in the city. Memories came flooding back one afternoon when I turned a corner and found myself in front of the Palmer House. I stood on the sidewalk, debating whether or not to go inside. Perhaps it would be best to remember it the way it was on that fairy-tale night. But the temptation to revisit my past was too strong; I stepped through the front entrance and mounted the stairs to the lobby. And just like that I was 17 again, rendered speechless by the exquisite surroundings.

Photo courtesy of BnBFinder.com

The next  time you catch  the travel bug and want to “wake up someplace special,” check out the offerings at BnBFinder.com. This top rated Bed and Breakfast search engine, which has been in business more than 10 years (almost an eternity in Internet terms), lists thousands of B&B’s in the U.S. and around the world, and its advanced search engine allows searching by more than 130 features such as Jacuzzis in your room, frequent business travelers specials, or inns that accept bed and breakfast travel gift certificates. Searches take customers to a clean interface page, where each property is shown in a horizontal box that includes links to customer reviews and direct links to the B&B’s individual web site. BnBFinder even offers customers the ability to save specific properties and compare them with other inns by creating a free account at their “My Inns” program.

Best of all, the site tracks specials promotions offered by the inns. Currently, a number of properties are participating in “Gas Savings One Tank Trips,” specials make summer travel desirable without breaking the bank. The following are just Read the rest of this entry »

Until I lived on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, I thought vacation accommodations were limited to hotels, motels, and bed & breakfasts. When I arrived in Nags Head back in 1996, I noticed that virtually all the houses on the ocean side of the main highway displayed “for rent” signs. I needed a place to live, so the bounty of rental signs was encouraging, but after just a few calls I realized all these homes were not year-round rentals – they were vacation rentals.

Private individuals who own these residences stay in them two weeks out of the year and place them in a rental program for the remainder of the year, providing vacationers with an option other than hotels or motels. In the U.S., this type of accommodation is prevalent in the country’s most popular vacation spots: Hawaii, Florida, and destinations on both coasts, although their popularity is growing in the interior as well. Vacation rentals are also available in tourism Read the rest of this entry »

Moon Fiji by David Stanley

Most people who travel a lot – especially budget travelers – have at one time or another invested in a guide book. Lonely Planet and Rough Guides are well known names in the genre; less well known are the Moon guide books. In fact, I had never before read a Moon guide until a copy of Moon Fiji came my way, courtesy of author David Stanley.

I have never actually read a travel guide. It usually gets stuck it in my backpack and pulled out for reference when I’m looking for an affordable place to stay, a decent meal, or to figure out which sights are must sees. Moon Fiji, however, is a different kind of guide book. That may be partly due to its author, who has crossed six continents overland and visited 193 of the planet’s 245 countries. For his first trip across the Pacific in 1978, Stanley bought the longest ticket ever issued in Canada by Pan American Airways. Though Stanley has traveled widely and become a specialist on many parts of the world, he keeps returning to his favorite area, the South Pacific.

I read this guide book from cover to cover and I highly recommend purchasing Moon Fiji if you are South Pacific bound. This compact guidebook does everything right. Take, for example, the following examples of what I found within: Read the rest of this entry »