Travel Tips Blog and Statistics
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Back from Ethiopia with WTGroup
Each year we offer one super adventurous trip for both our women and a few men. This year it was Ethi opia. Attached are some of the photos of the tribal South near the Sudanese border. The trip was totally safe, Ethiopia is a Christian and Tribal country with an excellent airline, clean simple lodging, lots of spaghetti. Wildlife, tribes, mountains, early churches, Jewish history. Its a wow. 
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Phyllis on Women and Travel with Stephanie Abrams
This is the link to hear Phyllis on the radio with travel expert, Stephanie Abrams, on the topic of women and travel.
Here is the full link, just in case the above does not work: http://www.sabrams.com/onAir/chanels/twsa/audioArchive/2013/02/2013_02_17a_twsa_32k.mp3
Just back from Ethiopia with a group, and lots to share later.…
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Airline Taxes and More
Today Joe Sharkey of The Times discusses the rise in airline taxes. He mentions the cost of jet fuel, almost 50% up since January 2010. Another contributor is the lower dollar: as the dollar drops, taxes in foreign currencies rise. For instance, lets assume that your ticket to London includes a British airport security or construction tax in Pounds. If the dollar falls, and the Pound rises, your taxes will rise and so will the cost of your all in ticket.…
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5 Best Clothing Items for Layering: our Argentina trip will take in 2 climates.
Since many trips take in more than one climate, here are a few tips for layering when the need arises.
1. Good tights, not cotton but get a mix of rayon and lycra.
2. Long sleeved silk or nylon body-hugging shirt.
3. North Face or other puffy jacket with pockets inside and out. I prefer black.
4. Cheap scarf: $5 on a Manhattan street corner!
5. One pair of pants a size too large so you can fit the tights underneath them.… -
Carnival Cruise Apology
When your trip goes awry like it did with Carnival’s cruise, you lose more than money. You lose your allotted vacation time for this year. Admittedly I have no marine experience, but here are the things I would have been wondering had I been a passenger:
The map shows they were nearer Cozumel than Mobile. And the drift was away from Mobile and towards Cozumel. Could Carnival have dug deeply into financial pockets and leased 15 planes at 200+ passengers each, flown them out of Cozumel and cut 2 days off this miserable experience?…
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Travel Tip: Airplane Pillows
Hate those pillows but need some support. Bring your own pillow case, and stuff it with your coat or sweater or something in your carry on. Or buy yourself a very light and squishable pillow: LL Bean sells one with plaid upside and grey downside. But buy a bright color so you do not leave it on the seat on departure.
This is even more important now that passengers want clean and sanitzed airplane items. For a full list of what we suggest you pack, contact us here:…
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Wake Up at Midnight and Forgot to Buy Insurance
You can buy our insurance 24/7 with the link we provided. If you do need to call the company for more info, you need to wait for office hours at Travel Guard. But for those sleepless nights: here it is again.
Just click here and off you go.A few more facts: you can buy insurance in installments, say you decide to upgrade your flight, just call Travel Guard, quote our reference: 33585786 (ECPS Consulting, our formal name). and increase your coverage.…
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Travel Tips for Women for a Snowy Vacation
Whether or not you have bought Travel Insurance from us, here are five reminders before you travel during snowy weather.
1. Shower cap to wear under your knitted hat.
2. Clip Chip to hang wet socks up, hopefully above the hotel heater.
3. Plastic bags to hold wet shoes and sturdy shoes are a must.
4. Big (not wool) scarf to lend a second cover over your shoulders and coat. Wool dries slowly and smells too sheepy.
5. An alarm clock set extra early so you do not rush.… -
Airport Security Line Annoyances
For those of you who paid $99 per year to whisk through security at 22 airports with Global Entry…. guess what: your whisking is not guaranteed. The press has been covering travelers who were denied quick GE lines despite their status. And the same goes for you FF Fliers. I flew to Los Angeles last week as a Gold AA member. Special treatment? No way, there was no line at all for upgraded passengers, even First Class (I was not) queued with us serfs.…
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Snow Delay Travel Tips
Weather is responsible for 40% of all plane cancellations. Although airlines prepare ahead of a storm, they do not cancel flights until same day. An annoying practice for us. One trick is to look at flight tracker sites to see which flights are arriving and which arrivals are cancelled. Airlines will begin to cancel arrivals before departures which gives you a vague heads up.
Travel insurance will cover costs associated with weather messes.…
