Travel Log - Advice Archives

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London, Milan, Paris, Tokyo and Bombay Top New York for Biz Travel Expense

Forbes has a great feature, the Business Travel Pain Index, which compares a number of popular business travel destinations for bottom-line impact to the expense account. Benchmarking against New York City, no cheap locale (I can attest, as a resident), the U.S. business capital actually ranks in the bottom half of nine cities the article examines.

Calculating the cost, in dollars at current exchange rates, of a taxi, dinner with wine, an average hotel room and a martini, here's how the destinations stacked up:

1. Tokyo: $521
   
2. Milan: $362
   
3. Paris: $346
   
4. London: $314
   
5. Bomba: $252 (hotel being the biggest factor)
   
6. New York: $248
   
7. Zurich: $238
   
8. Berlin: $203
   
9. Shanghai: $125

Rick Bruner | February 7, 2004 | Advice | Permanent link | Comments (1)

Don't Be a Travel Jerk

Travel guru Christopher Elliott notes that most of his columns are complaining about obnoxious practices of airlines, hotels and other travel firms. This time, he holds up a mirror to the travelers themselves and lists the Top 10 Ways Travelers Can Be Jerks.

Rick Bruner | February 3, 2004 | Advice | Permanent link | Comments (0)

Boston to New York Travel Options

The New York Times explores four methods of travel between Boston and New York, one of the busiest travel routes in the country. Two trips were broken into for legs, each with a different mode of travel. First was recently launched LimoLiner, a luxury bus with big seats, on-board Internet access and free food and drink. Second was Amtrak's Acela service. Third was Greyhound bus and fourth was the US Airways shuttle. The winner? It's a matter of taste and budget but my vote goes to the LimoLiner closely followed by the Acela.

Steve Hall | January 20, 2004 | Advice | Permanent link | Comments (3)

Read the Fine Print on Airline Deals

Travel commentator and National Geographic ombudsman Christopher Elliott tells NPR listeners that if a travel deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. He explains some of the kinds of conditions and restrictions common for airline deals that you should keep an eye out for.

Rick Bruner | January 20, 2004 | Advice | Permanent link | Comments (0)

Planning Your Long Weekends This Year

Looking forward to some weekend getaways this year, but already have your allotted vacation time committed? Luckily, a web site called WorkingForTheMan.com has put together a 2004 Sick Day Calendar, noting on what days various holidays fall this year so you can schedule in advance which Mondays and/or Fridays you might be advised to get a case of the sniffles best recovered from on a nearby beach somewhere.

Rick Bruner | January 7, 2004 | Advice | Permanent link | Comments (0)

Tips on Traveling With Your Pet

Travelling with a pet can be more traumatic for the person than it is for the pet. While it is certainly not a comfortable ride for the pet, the stress to pet owner can be great as well. This About.com article may help put you at ease by offering some pet travel tips. Domestic travel is usually not a problem. International travel, however, can be sticky depending upon your destination.

Steve Hall | January 5, 2004 | Advice | Permanent link | Comments (0)

A Guide to Bereavement Fares

Not to start the year off on a maudlin note, but here goes. This About.com article provides an overview of the things one should consider when using an airline's bereavement fare. While the airlines do try to accomodate travelers during the not so pleasant stage of life, these fares are not always the lowest. Read on for more tips to prepare yourself in the unlikely event you will need to avasil yourself of these fares.

Steve Hall | January 5, 2004 | Advice | Permanent link | Comments (6)

Happy New Year!

From all of us at BizNetTravel, we wish you a happy, health and prosperous 2004!

Andras Revesz | December 31, 2003 | Advice | Permanent link | Comments (0)

International Tech Travelers: Plan Ahead

I'm traveling for New Year's in beautiful Budapest, Hungary. Weather's beatiful, the city's beautiful, the girls are beautiful, nothing to complain about.

Except...that I forgot to bring a power adapter. My computer wasn't the problem, as like most modern computers the power supply suits both Europe's 220 volts as well as the U.S.'s 110. But my various other electrical devices, notably my Palm Pilot and digital camera chargers, are a different story. I have friends who live here, expatriates, so somehow I assumed they would all have power adaptors I could borrow. Turns out they've lived here so long they've gone native and don't need power converters anymore. Moreover, there appears to be nowhere in town besides the far-flung airport that stocks converters. In the end, I had the presence of mind to call the Budapest Hilton (figuring their out-of-town guests must encounter such frustrations), and they graciously lent me a converter for a few days for a modest deposit.

Lesson learned, however: sort out international power conversion issues before traveling.

The converter pictured above is available on Amazon for $20. TravelSmith also has a nice-looking kit for $15, but their URLs are too long and retarded for me to bother with here. Search "power converter" on their site and you'll find it.

Rick Bruner | December 31, 2003 | Advice | Permanent link | Comments (0)

Tipping Etiquette

With the holidays upon us, a friend was seeking advice on how much to tip her buiding's doorman. Snooping around, I found a few good pages with advice on tipping in general, including international travel tipping:

• Extensive tipping guide (U.S.-centric)
  
• BBC's international travel tipping guide

Rick Bruner | December 11, 2003 | Advice | Permanent link | Comments (0)