It seems like I’m always rummaging in my purse or pockets for change.  I have lots of it, but somehow I don’t always seem to have the right amount.  And who wants to worry about getting change for your change.  Whether it’s fare for a local bus, making a small purchase, or tossing a few coins in a fountain, it’s always good to keep a little change handy when you travel.  It will save you from pulling out bills for small purchases, and reduces the chance of losing money or having it stolen. All Things Marked came up with a clever way to make sure you always have the right amount of change.  Here then is the magic combination of coins: 3 quarters 1 dime 2 nickels 4 pennies This combination of 10 coins, for a total of 99 cents, […]

Everybody wants to save a little money these days.  A few dollars here, a few dollars there, and pretty soon it is real money! There are a variety of ways to save money when it comes to traveling.  The first thing you need to think about, though, is what you have to give up to save the money.  If you’re not giving up anything, it’s an easy to choice.  But realistically, to save a couple bucks or two, something’s going to have to give.  Maybe it’s just a little expenditure of time; maybe it’s some unneeded luxury; maybe it’s something you don’t want in the first place.  All those are easy trade-offs to save some money. Just be careful in a trade-off that involves something that you really want.  If you really want to stay at a hotel in a […]

I’ve been traveling in Canada the past couple of weeks, and have had to contend with converting to the metric system. In my zeal to warm up my chilly hotel room, I misjudged the Celsius scale, and turned the room into a (pick one): Sauna Inferno Circle of Hell My ignorance apparently knows no limit in this regard, and if you were listening really carefully, you would have heard me mutter:  “What’s wrong with Fahrenheit?  Why can’t they just do it the way we do?” Fortunately, common sense returned to my addled brain, and relying, once again, on the kindness of others, I finally was able to recall the little formula for converting Celsius to Fahrenheit: Multiply the Celsius temperature by two, and then add 30.  (It’s not exact, but it’s close enough for my purposes.) So, when my temperature […]

If you have extensive charges to your hotel bill, here is a suggestion to help you quickly review the items to make sure that there are no unauthorized charges: When signing for restaurant and room service charges, the most likely category of items to be mistakenly or fraudulently posted to your account, tip in an amount that will result in your bill adding up to a number consistently ending in the same digit. For example, leave a tip that will result in the total bill adding up to a number ending in six:  $30.16, $58.46, $71.96. When you find your hotel bill under your door, you can quickly scan the items for those that do not end in a six.  According to Travel Secrets, the odds of an accidental, but legitimate, item on your bill ending in six is 9:1 […]

I have been a Flight Attendant with a U.S. airline for more years than I care to admit.  It makes me feel too old to admit that this is the longest I’ve ever held one job. One of the things that happens when you’ve flown for awhile, is people starting asking you for information about traveling.  At first, it’s the passengers on your flight asking about where to stay, for restaurant suggestions, maybe a special shopping place, your favorite places to go, or which sights are really worth seeing. Then, your family and non-airline friends start calling.  In the beginning they ask about getting the lowest priced airline ticket, although they soon realize that because flight attendants fly for free, we rarely have a clue about what a ticket actually costs.  So then they just start asking what you did on your […]