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thanks. also, how early should i arrive to the airport for my departing flight out of newark? an hour before? three hours? international travel is new to me so sorry for the, what i'm guessing are, basic questions.
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May 17, 2015 23:08
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Abel Wingnut posted:thanks. Depends on how you're getting there, when you're leaving, and where you're going. Two hours is generally safe; if you have pre-check you can do less, but bag drop cut off is an hour prior to departure if you plan to check.
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May 18, 2015 00:46
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sellouts posted:Cruises are pretty simple in the grand scheme of things and are made largely for people who don't want to worry about much. My wife really loves visiting Europe and I like Greco-Roman architecture so we're thinking about doing a cruise that stops at different ports on the Mediterranean Sea for our honeymoon in September. I've never booked a cruise before so we're still in the Googling around stage without any great ideas on where to start. Are there good sites to book cruises? Has anyone taken a Mediterranean or coastal cruise before and had good or bad experiences? Are there any cruises that spend more than a day in any given city? A single day doesn't seem like nearly long enough to see a city. LLSix fucked around with this message at 03:54 on Jul 10, 2015 |
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Jul 10, 2015 02:49
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LLSix posted:My wife really loves visiting Europe and I like Greco-Roman architecture so we're thinking about doing a cruise that stops at different ports on the Mediterranean Sea for our honeymoon in September. I've never booked a cruise before so we're still in the Googling around stage without any great ideas on where to start. Are there good sites to book cruises? Has anyone taken a Mediterranean or coastal cruise before and had good or bad experiences? Are there any cruises that spend more than a day in any given city? A single day doesn't seem like nearly long enough to see a city. I know a few celebrity cruises do like, Overnight in Istanbul. But that's kind of the good and the bad thing about a cruise. Lots of small stops, easy, but they are small.
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Jul 11, 2015 13:46
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LLSix posted:My wife really loves visiting Europe and I like Greco-Roman architecture so we're thinking about doing a cruise that stops at different ports on the Mediterranean Sea for our honeymoon in September. I've never booked a cruise before so we're still in the Googling around stage without any great ideas on where to start. Are there good sites to book cruises? Has anyone taken a Mediterranean or coastal cruise before and had good or bad experiences? Are there any cruises that spend more than a day in any given city? A single day doesn't seem like nearly long enough to see a city. Very few stay overnights. If you're doing mediterranean I'd look at Windstar or Star Clipper -- things that are much more "sailing" rather than massive cruise liners with smaller amounts of people/crew. They also can be great if you don't need/want excursions booked by the ship. It seems pretty romantic for a honeymoon. I had a friend who really enjoyed their Windstar cruise. But the appeal of cruises as a whole are to maximize a day in a city and moving while you're sleeping. I've only been on a cruise for work via Celebrity and the ship was very nice but it's not my thing mostly for those reasons. Night life is a huge part of a city - stressing about being back by 5pm before you can even have a local dinner is not appealing to me.
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Jul 11, 2015 20:39
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We've been looking at cruises every night the last week and decided they're not really for us. We prefer to spend several days or even weeks when we can afford it really getting to know a city. Planning to visit a few cities in Spain instead. My wife managed to piece together flights from the USA to Spain and back for ~6k (first class for the cross-atlantic flights). Would a travel agency be able to do cheaper flights? Has anyone used a travel agency with good/bad experiences?
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Jul 16, 2015 02:53
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Likely no. My travel agent saved me literally thousands in the Maldives, everywhere else they didn't. Doesn't hurt to ask for a quote.
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Jul 16, 2015 08:59
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Dunno if I'm even allowed to hock my wares here but we recently expanded out booking capabilities outside of Vegas. We now offer discounted rates in Miami, New York, San Diego, and Dallas. http://www.jayfarberlv.com/
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Sep 28, 2015 19:25
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I've got a late December flight on United with one connection. I can choose my seat on the connecting flight but not the origin flight. All the seats in Economy are greyed out and my seat on my reservation just says "---". I'm assuming I'm on a wait list, but it doesn't actually tell me - it just won't tell me my seat. Economy Plus is almost completely empty though, and First class only has 2 seats booked. Provided these seats remain empty, does anyone know whether or not United will bump people (either in Economy or on the wait list) into E+/1st if a flight is overbooked? I don't care if I get a better seat, I just want to know that I'll have *A* seat if the ones in higher classes aren't filled.
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Dec 3, 2015 03:55
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Bonk posted:I've got a late December flight on United with one connection. I can choose my seat on the connecting flight but not the origin flight. All the seats in Economy are greyed out and my seat on my reservation just says "---". I'm assuming I'm on a wait list, but it doesn't actually tell me - it just won't tell me my seat. If all of the regular economy seats are booked, you'll be assigned a seat at OLCI (online check-in). It could be an Economy Plus seat or something else in regular economy depending on what's available at that time. Watch the seat map closely over the next couple of weeks; chances are high something will open up and you can select it prior to OLCI. Operational upgrades to first class do happen for people without elite status, but they are exceedingly rare. It's much more likely that someone else with elite status or a higher fare bucket on the flight will get upgraded, opening their economy/economy plus seat for others like you. Regardless of what happens, you have a confirmed seat on the flight. If the flight is overbooked, they'll ask for volunteers. If they don't get any (which is also rare), they'll involuntarily deny boarding and compensate someone, usually the last person on the plane. To avoid that, don't be the last person on the plane. 
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Dec 4, 2015 13:16
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Or, if you don't need to be where you're going on that exact day, volunteer yourself if it's overbooked, and get free money.
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Dec 4, 2015 17:15
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Hey, I could use some practical tips that I don't think require starting a brand new thread. My spouse and I are taking a road trip starting from around Seattle and then going south to LA then east eventually hitting the Greater Cincinnati area. We're good on money but we've only done direct routes with planned stops. This time, we hope to be a little more lax and explore more on our trip because we have a full month before we have to be somewhere and will not have obligations. My current plan is to just look for hostels in cities and cheap hotels in Podunk towns on our route to stay in. We're hoping things are warm enough down south that we camp at some KOA places or something. We're also going to be carrying the entirety of our material possessions (which is not much) in our little two-door car as well.
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Jan 7, 2016 05:30
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Mackieman posted:If all of the regular economy seats are booked, you'll be assigned a seat at OLCI (online check-in). It could be an Economy Plus seat or something else in regular economy depending on what's available at that time. Watch the seat map closely over the next couple of weeks; chances are high something will open up and you can select it prior to OLCI. Heh, update on this... I got to the check-in desk and they told me I'd be assigned a seat at the gate. I had to go through security, and when I got to the gate they said the computer couldn't assign me a seat for some reason, and in the meantime the flight filled up so they couldn't seat me due to their overbooking. I had to leave the next day instead, but I got a $100 voucher out of it. United kinda blows.
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Jan 15, 2016 05:18
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I had the same conflict once with Asiana and they just bumped me to Business Class. Pretty good for a 12 hour flight.
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Jan 15, 2016 16:33
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Bonk posted:Heh, update on this... I got to the check-in desk and they told me I'd be assigned a seat at the gate. I had to go through security, and when I got to the gate they said the computer couldn't assign me a seat for some reason, and in the meantime the flight filled up so they couldn't seat me due to their overbooking. I had to leave the next day instead, but I got a $100 voucher out of it. United kinda blows. Um, that's involuntary denied boarding, or IDB, and you're owed a shitload more than $100. You should get a full refund of your ticket price, a substantially larger voucher, and the rebooking. I'd write UA's customer service on that one as the GA screwed you. If they don't respond, file a DOT complaint.
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Jan 16, 2016 00:08
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Hopefully this is the right thread to ask.. I'm UK based so most of the sites I use are British and don't always have US partners. My fiancé wants to go somewhere for her 30th, flying out of Miami for around the 11th March for probably 5-7 days. We usually use an Expedia VIP account to get bonuses, but I find most of these sites headache inducing if you don't already have a plan of some sort. She's mentioned a handful of places (Nicaragua, Guatemala, Peurto Rico, Panama, Jamaica etc) which all sound fine, but it's not based on anything other than her browsing sky scanner. Ideally I'm looking for a site that'll say "hey, here's a bunch of full holiday deals to places that go from Miami in this time period that you might like to look at", rather than demanding I put a specific location in as a destination, so I can see everything at once and make a more informed decision from there. In the UK I'd use something like LastMinute.com as a starting point, where it just gives me a list of (allegedly) good deals to places, and I'd start my research there. They don't seem to have an American site though. e: A lot of this is due to my lack of geographical knowledge as to what's easily accessible within a few hours max flight from SE USA, I'll admit that up front! I'm having to Google each place and find out if it's near, and if It's a warzone. EL BROMANCE fucked around with this message at 16:23 on Jan 22, 2016 |
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Jan 22, 2016 16:21
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EL BROMANCE posted:Hopefully this is the right thread to ask.. I'm UK based so most of the sites I use are British and don't always have US partners. My fiancé wants to go somewhere for her 30th, flying out of Miami for around the 11th March for probably 5-7 days. We usually use an Expedia VIP account to get bonuses, but I find most of these sites headache inducing if you don't already have a plan of some sort. She's mentioned a handful of places (Nicaragua, Guatemala, Peurto Rico, Panama, Jamaica etc) which all sound fine, but it's not based on anything other than her browsing sky scanner. Ideally I'm looking for a site that'll say "hey, here's a bunch of full holiday deals to places that go from Miami in this time period that you might like to look at", rather than demanding I put a specific location in as a destination, so I can see everything at once and make a more informed decision from there. https://www.google.com/flights/explore/ is your friend. You can search MIA to Caribbean and provide the range of time and it will return lowest fares around the region.
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Jan 22, 2016 16:29
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Ah neat, I'm used to using the older version of that site for finding flight fares, if it can scour the whole carribean for packages for me too that's ideal. Thanks!
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Jan 22, 2016 16:47
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I'm heading to India hopefully this summer for about a month's time. I am in the process of applying for my Visa. The issue I am having is that I haven't booked accommodation and won't be doing so until much closer to my departure date - I'll be traveling with a Tibetan monk who won't firm his itinerary up until he's about ready to go. He used to live there, but we're both US citizens now who will be leaving from the US. For the visa application process, it requires me to provide an address where I'll be staying and so on. I don't have that yet, but need that information for the application. I have asked him if he has someone, or his home monastery, but he's in Europe right now and may not get back to me for a while. I'm doing an online application thing, maybe it is better if I just go to the embassy, but that is in DC and if it's possible to avoid DC in life generally I think that is better.
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Feb 1, 2016 00:10
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It's better to avoid dealing with Indian visas in general. Anyway, you might as well book a hotel somewhere for the full duration which offers a full refund. Then just cancel it when you get your visa.
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Feb 1, 2016 11:33
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Jeoh posted:It's better to avoid dealing with Indian visas in general. Anyway, you might as well book a hotel somewhere for the full duration which offers a full refund. Then just cancel it when you get your visa. This is the correct choice.
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Feb 2, 2016 02:45
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Couldn't you just look up a hotel online and claim to be staying there, even though you haven't booked anything? Certainly they don't actually call the hotel and ask about you? No?
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Feb 3, 2016 03:36
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I LIKE COOKIE posted:Couldn't you just look up a hotel online and claim to be staying there, even though you haven't booked anything? Certainly they don't actually call the hotel and ask about you? You can take that chance and, depending on the country, have a decent shot of either never being asked or any other issue. But some countries are anal about those things (I'm looking at you, Canada) and you can have issues if you don't have verifiable documentation.
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Feb 4, 2016 02:12
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I'm in southeast Asia and many countries/airlines require proof of onward travel and want to know what hotel you'll be staying at. I typically just use a fake airline itinerary generator for proof of a flight out and Google a hotel address and use that. I've never had any issues. Admittedly though I've never been to India and know nothing about how strict they actually are, so YMMV
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Feb 4, 2016 03:19
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How far in advance should I book plane tickets for an out-of-country flight? I'm looking at taking a trip to Australia at the end of November/beginning of December. A friend of mine waited to book tickets for his last flight until around two weeks before, is that normal?
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Feb 9, 2016 17:54
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Johnny Truant posted:How far in advance should I book plane tickets for an out-of-country flight? I'm looking at taking a trip to Australia at the end of November/beginning of December. A friend of mine waited to book tickets for his last flight until around two weeks before, is that normal? There really is no, "normal." If you find a fare that is at a price you're willing to pay, book it.
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Feb 9, 2016 23:43
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Don't know if this is the right thread to ask this in, but here goes. I've got a question about travelers health insurance. I currently live in the US, but will be leaving the country permanently in July 1st this year to move to Europe (dual US/UK citizenship with passports for both). For the rest of this year (or however long the money I've put aside lasts) I will be backpacking Europe and Southeast Asia. I have health insurance through my work now, but that will end when I quit at the end of this month. I was hoping to be able to jump on the UK NHS insurance, but it looks like you need to provide proof of residency, and I'll only be in the UK for two weeks before I head out backpacking, and I don't know if it would cover me when I go to SEA anyways. All of the travel insurance website I'm looking at make you designate a date when you are returning from your trip, but I don't exactly know how long I'll be out traveling. Could I just buy insurance that covers me from July 1st to December 31st, and if I'm still out traveling after that, buy another policy to cover me further? Also, while I'm asking questions, has anyone ever traveled out of country before while holding dual passports? I have a US and UK passport, and my flight is Boise->Seattle->Calgary->London, and I'm wondering which passport I show when? I know I'm going to use my British passport to enter the UK to not have any issues with visas, but will I run into any trouble using my US passport leaving the United States without a return ticket? Will I have to show a passport when I arrive in Calgary? Thanks
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Apr 12, 2016 21:21
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Show your US passport when you leave or enter the US, show your UK passport when you leave or enter the UK. Do whatever else anywhere else. Although it would make sense to show your EU passport when entering or leaving the EU—possibly this is even mandatory, but I don't think so. Yes you can just get your travel insurance to go longer, until whenever. The 'end date' is important for you to not overpay; they won't care. At worst you pay some extra, but traveller's insurance is pretty drat cheap anyway. I got Allianz's most deluxe plan and it was only like $300/yr, so whatever if I paid 3-4 months extra. Traveller's insurance will usually (never?) not cover you in your country of residence or your country of citizenship, and I think the UK means "all of EU" although I'm not positive about that, as I'm neither an EU resident or passport holder. Definitely double-check me on that.
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Apr 12, 2016 21:50
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I don't think anyone's mentioned this before, and I just found out about it: http://www.secretflying.com/ That's going to change how I do vacations. If I can get, say, a round-trip ticket from Europe to Australia for like €600, then that sounds a lot more feasible for a 2-week vacation...
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Apr 13, 2016 11:56
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Saladman posted:Show your US passport when you leave or enter the US, show your UK passport when you leave or enter the UK. Do whatever else anywhere else. Although it would make sense to show your EU passport when entering or leaving the EU—possibly this is even mandatory, but I don't think so. I'm looking into getting a UK passport myself in the future (also dual US/UK) and have always wondered if this actually works because I've been asked on more than one occasion where my entry stamp was for the country I visited... If you were going to travel between both countries, wouldn't they wonder how you got into the other country?
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May 8, 2016 04:39
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sellouts posted:When I did the Maldives using a travel agent for hotel only saved us a non-negligible amount of money vs booking on the web. This was compounded by the sea plane required to get there which is a pretty unique thing to the Maldives so this advice isn't always applicable.
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Sep 2, 2016 15:44
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Traveling to Spain and Portugal in November (I live in the U.S.), and I'm looking for electrical outlet adapters. It looks to me like both countries I'm visiting have the same outlet, type f, which looks like this: Does anyone have any favorite outlet adapters so that I can plug my stuff in? I've had cheap poo poo in the past that fit so badly they'd just fall out of the socket, so I don't mind spending a few dollars more for something that just works.
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Sep 8, 2016 17:45
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jackpot posted:Traveling to Spain and Portugal in November (I live in the U.S.), and I'm looking for electrical outlet adapters. It looks to me like both countries I'm visiting have the same outlet, type f, which looks like this: Buy any European travel adapter (ideally with a real Schuko plug and not Europlug, if you're concerned about it falling out).
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Sep 8, 2016 18:44
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Awesome, thanks. This seems to be a good one: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/travel-guide/#adapter
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Sep 9, 2016 15:27
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Virtually any of the offerings on Amazon will take care of that.
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Sep 10, 2016 14:50
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So my wife and I got a birthday gift of a large check from my mother, and she told us to spend it on something fun. We'd been talking about a vacation anyway so that works out. Problem is I have no idea what to do. Only looking to spend a few thousand dollars so international travel is probably out. I think (but I'm not sure, have to double check my wife's schedule) that we only really have until the first two weeks of January to travel. We've been toying with the idea of a vacation where we don't really do anything, just attempt to get away and not have to think about things. Problem with that is we're not really warm weather people so lounging on a beach somewhere doesn't interest us much. Last year we spent a few days in Chicago which was nice. We got a nice room with a nice big tub and we just kinda wandered around downtown shopping and whatnot. Are there any resources for people like me that just have no idea, or does anyone have any suggestions?
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Dec 3, 2016 07:50
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FISHMANPET posted:So my wife and I got a birthday gift of a large check from my mother, and she told us to spend it on something fun. We'd been talking about a vacation anyway so that works out. Eastern Europe is your friend. You can get over there relatively cheap right now and it's cheap to eat, drink, and hang out once you're there. Poland, Lithuania, Croatia, etc. All nifty places.
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Dec 3, 2016 22:08
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Spending my entire approximate budget to fly to Eastern Europe then be in a series of countries where neither of us speak the languages does not sound "easy" to me. That's certainly something we want to do, just not now.
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Dec 4, 2016 01:07
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FISHMANPET posted:Spending my entire approximate budget to fly to Eastern Europe then be in a series of countries where neither of us speak the languages does not sound "easy" to me. If you want to go international, you could probably go to Spain for that price. Madrid and Barcelona might be prohibitively expensive on that budget, but if you don't mind going to a smaller city I think it's a workable off-season budget (depending on what "a few thousand" means, and where you're flying from). I did Spain for a month on a budget of a few thousand, spending a lot of time in Madrid and paying very little attention to being frugal, so I wouldn't write international travel off entirely. And it's very easy, because they're used to putting up with British travellers, who I assure you are far dumber, more ignorant, and more unpleasant to deal with than anything you can possibly muster, so you'll have a wonderful time.
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Dec 4, 2016 04:07
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FISHMANPET posted:Spending my entire approximate budget to fly to Eastern Europe then be in a series of countries where neither of us speak the languages does not sound "easy" to me. IME people are more likely to speak English in Poland and Slovenia than they are in Italy or Spain. Muse flights.google.com to find some cheap tickets and see whatever city is cheapest to fly into for your dates. Also keep in mind that Scandinavia is crazy cheap to fly into, but then everything is super expensive once you're there. Outside of July and August you should be able to find a flight from wherever you are in the US to 10 places in Europe for $500 (east coast), $600 central. Not sure about typical west coast cheap prices but it shouldn't be much more.
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Dec 5, 2016 10:10
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