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 TM
Top Tips to Take the Heat Out of Summer Travel
As the weather heats up, so do the pressures of the summer travel
season. With more people on the road especially with kids out of school there
are more hassles and more things that can go wrong. Expect crowded airports,
packed planes, delays, lost luggage, and sold-out flights, hotels, and resorts.
It's Murphy's Law squared.
"Of all of the irritations large and small that can mar
a trip, paying more than you need to for an airline ticket or a hotel room is
perhaps the biggest annoyance," says
L. William Chiles, president and CEO of Hickory Travel Systems. "Yet, this is one aspect of
travel over which you can exert control. Remember that someone on that flight
is paying much less than everyone else for an identical seat. That someone
might as well be you.
"Same thing with your hotel room," advises Chiles.
"Ask yourself if you are the person who is paying standard rack rates or
if you are the one who has secured a sizeable discount."
To help summer travel go more smoothly, Hickory offers these
practical guidelines:
-
Be your own catering service. If a bag of peanuts doesn't
cut it as an in-flight snack, prepare your own bag of goodies fruit, cereal,
pretzels, cookies, energy bars, juice, bottled water. Same thing at the hotel
to avoid exorbitant minibar prices.
- Label
logic. Because luggage tags can become dislodged, be sure also to affix
labels inside luggage.
- Torn and tattered. Forget those dire
warnings about wearing torn underwear or socks with holes. Take them on a
trip and discard them after wearing. You'll save on laundry and create
space for new stuff you buy.
- Hard-working
bandana. Pack along a bandana or two. It's a multiple-use item of clothing
that can serve as a head covering, sweatband, handkerchief, washcloth,
sling, tourniquet, or other needs.
- Seating
strategy. Knowing where to sit can contribute to in-flight comfort. For
more legroom, request bulkhead or exit-row seats. For a smoother ride,
choose the more stable positions over the wings and avoid rear seating.
- Bad-driver
penalty. Unexpected denial of a rental car can mar a trip. Major rental
companies now check driving records with departments of motor vehicles. If
your record has blemishes tickets for speeding, perhaps, or for an illegal
turn check eligibility ahead of time. If declined a rental car, try
smaller companies that don't run checks.
- Free
upgrade. Car rental companies inventory only a limited amount of
economy-class subcompacts. If you reserve this category, chances are good
of getting a free upgrade. (For free upgrades in all categories, ask your
Hickory agent about preferred deals with car- rental companies.)
- Ghostly
occupants. Discourage those who would break into your hotel room by using
the "do not disturb" sign while you're out. But never advertise
that a room is unoccupied by using the sign requesting the room to be made
up. Instead, phone housekeeping for maid service.
- Toddler
tricks. Prevent toddlers from locking themselves in hotel bathrooms by
draping a towel over the door to keep it ajar. Other hotel-room
childproofing strategies: Take along a nightlight, electrical outlet
covers, and bathtub drain cover. Use rubber bands and masking tape to
secure cabinets, minibars, and microwaves from tiny, inquisitive fingers.
Eliminate a potential suffocation hazard by removing plastic bags from
garbage containers.
- Build
memories. Encourage youngsters to select postcards of destinations you
visit on a trip and write their own favorite memories on the back. Punched
and secured by a ring, these make excellent keepsakes. Keeping journals
and scrapbooks also helps make a trip meaningful and memorable for
children.
- Avoid
pay-phone stalkers. Not everyone is using a cel phone. In fact, every
year, 27,000 crimes occur at pay phones. Avoid becoming a victim by facing
outward while calling (so as to watch for intruders), staying alert, and
hanging onto belongings while making a call. Avoid isolated phone booths
or those without lights.
- Luggage
lifters. Traveling families loaded down with luggage should be wary of
accepting help from "kindly" strangers who may smartly make off
with bags you entrust to them. Be careful, too about leaving bags
unattended to help someone who has stumbled or spilled the contents of a
purse. The person in "distress" may be the accomplice of a
thief.
For additional information contact:
Hickory Travel Systems
Park 80 Plaza East, Saddle Brook, NJ 07663
201/843-082 or 800/448-0351
Edited by Dave Shultz
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