Entries Tagged 'Travel' ↓

When it comes to flying, I skip all the headaches involved with frequent flyer miles and fly with an airline that doesn’t hassle me with any of that - Southwest Airlines. They, like Airtran and several other airlines, do a points system where you get a point for a one-way ticket. During some promotional offers, they will give double points to get more passengers in on an expanding hub. Fortunately for me, Baltimore, MD’s Baltimore Washington International Airport is one of these hubs and several years ago they were offering double points (four round trips, regardless of the miles, meant a free ticket!).

Why do I stick with Southwest? Hassle-free. Some people complain about their open seating policy (they’ve since adjusted it) but I didn’t have a problem, the faster you get on, the faster we get going. They don’t ding you with fees left and right like paying for drinks or a pillow or even to check luggage. And, as it turns out, frequent fliers on other airlines now have to pay new fees to use their miles!

What happens when I have to fly other airlines? I get their cards and I accrue the miles, usually turning them into magazine subscriptions or something other meaningless little prize. Perhaps it’s not the most efficient but, to be honest, I don’t enjoy dealing with the new business model of airlines - nickel and dime-ing you to profitability.

Ever wonder what the most expensive card to insure are? According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, based on 2004-2006 models, the ten most expensive cars to insure are:

1. Cadillac Escalade EXT 4WD
2. Subaru Impreza WRX 4WD
3. Hyundai Tiburon
4. Mitsubishi Lancer
5. Scion tC
6. Acura RSX
7. Nissan Sentra SE-R
8. Suzuki Forenza
9. Nissan Sentra/Mitsubishi Eclipse
10. Chevrolet Cobalt two-door

The ten least:

1. Ford Five Hundred 4WD (now the Ford Taurus)
2. Buick Rendezvous 4WD
3. Buick Lucerne/Buick Rainier 4WD/Honda Odyssey
4. Ford Freestyle 4WD/Subaru Outback 4WD
5. Buick Rendezvous/Honda Pilot
6. Chrysler Town & Country LWB
7. Honda Pilot 4WD
8. Buick LaCrosse/Chevrolet Uplander/Ford Escape/Volvo V70
9. Dodge Grand Caravan/Ford Freestyle 4WD
10. Ford Explorer 4WD/GMC Sierra 1500 4WD/Toyota Highlander/Toyota Sienna

Except for the heavy emphasis on sports cars in the more expensive category, there doesn’t seem to be too much trending otherwise. There’s a solid mix of SUVs and sedans in both groups.

10 Most and Least Expensive Cars to Insure [Yahoo! Finance]

What is Hypermiling? Hypermiling refers to all the tactics you can use to get as many miles as possible out of a gallon of gasoline. It’s coasting when you see a red light, it’s following the posted speed limit, it’s avoiding the brake whenever possible, and it’s even giving your car a push before you start it. It’s all hypermiling. If you think you’re up to the task, here are a few good resources to get you started.

• Wired’s HOW TO Hypermiling Guide - Wired’s guide to hypermiling has five basics tips and five advanced tips. I personally think you can skip the advanced tips and stick with the basic ones and you’ll do fine.
• Blueprint for Financial Prosperity’s Realistic Hypermiling - You have the fanatics and you have the average joes, here are some realistic hypermiling tips.
• Epistolary: Here’s some solid hypermiling advice from my friend Rob.
• Hypermiling.com - Of course, here’s the original hypermiling.com homepage.

Good luck!

The next time you go on vacation, consider trying a Bed & Breakfast rather than a resort or a hotel. At any popular destination, there will be plenty of bed & breakfasts and you can often find them for cheaper than the resort hotels. I recently used this technique for a trip to Hawaii where the hotels are pricey. A night in a major hotel can easily run around three hundred dollars but if you are diligent, you can find a nice little bed & breakfast for $100 or $200, depending on how nice the B&B is.

Drawbacks on B&Bs:
The primary drawback is that you don’t really know much about them, they’re operated by a family or a couple, and you won’t get the “professionalism” you might expect from a major brand hotel. They may or may not include toiletries, they may or may not change the sheets every night, and they sometimes lack the “polish” of major hotels.

Advantages of B&Bs:
Sometimes the price is better but ultimately what you are getting is the “home” feeling while you’re on the road. B&Bs are designed to be like that, to feel like you’re living the home life while on the road, and so not having the sheets changed and not having some of the other amenities may not be out of place (I don’t have little shampoo bottles at home either!). Ultimately you have to like that sort of home feeling in order to truly appreciate B&Bs.

Another benefit is that you deal with the owners directly and not a member of their staff, so if you have a concern they can address it immediately. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, they might upgrade you if the next tier is empty simply because they’re the owner and they can do whatever they want!

So, next time you go on a trip, research some B&Bs while you’re at it, you might be pleasantly surprised!