MAKING AIR TRAVEL MORE COMFORTABLE (IF THAT'S AT ALL POSSIBLE)
Air travel continues to get worse. Every time some idiot Muslim sticks a bomb in his underwear, we’ll see new (but backward looking – we’re always reacting rather than being proactive) airport and airline security measures.
We thought this short piece, which outlines some ways to make air travel easier and more comfortable, might be useful and entertaining.

NAVIGATING THE "NEW & IMPROVED" SECURITY PROCESS
Frequent travelers often think they’ve got the security routine down pat. Nonetheless, anyone should be able learn something new from an excellent article on the Consumer Traveler website about “Packing Defensively.”

RENEW YOUR PASSPORT EARLY
With air security what it is in today’s world, don’t forget to make sure you renew your passport several months before you need a new one. Also remember the “6 Months” rule – many destinations require your passport to be valid for 6 months after your date of entry.

UK TRAFFIC REPORTS
We haven't tried it on-the-road yet, but from what we've seen on its website, Frixo seems like a potentially useful traffic, speed, and road-construction update site. It should be useful for both planning, as well as while in the car (if your passenger is using a mobile internet device).

MUCH BETTER THAN PHOTOCOPIES
The best “back-up” passport suggestion we’ve see is to scan your passport pages and email the images to yourself. You can pull copies up from any computer, and don’t have to worry about hiding photocopies in your socks.

CREDIT CARD FOREIGN-EXCHANGE FEES
UPDATED: 30 October 2009
Several credit cards have changed terms. Below are the best Europe-travel credit cards at this time, in approximate order of what we think are the "best."
From our most recent research, it looks like the credit cards offering less than the “usual” ripoff 3% foreign-exchange fee are:

• Schwab Visa – 0% (See our December 2008 Travel News for more info on this card.)
• Capital One – 0%
• JCB – 1%

FREQUENT FLYER CREDIT CARDS
In our continuing short series (see our blog posts about sign-up bonus miles for U.S. and international airlines’ frequent flyer credit cards), here is a current list of airlines that offer a no-annual-fee credit card. This is different from a card that promises no annual fees for the first year, but then (unless you cancel the card) institutes an annual fee thereafter. As we’ve said before, we don’t think that we’ll ever again chose to pay an annual fee for a credit card, but you should decide for yourself. Some of the cards listed below may even offer a sign-up mileage bonus (less than that offered for the annual-fee cards), and most will only earn miles at 1 mile per $2 spending (vs. 1-to-1 for the fee cards). Still, these cards may be useful depending on how often you fly an airline, or if you just want to occasionally charge something to the card to keep a mileage balance current. You might also consider acquiring the annual-fee card for the first year (if it’s offered free that first year), and then calling to switch to the no-fee card just before your first year is up – we’ve had success doing this with both United and USAir (as we wanted to keep a card for those airlines).
Also note that with the state of the airline industry, some of these card offerings (and some of the airlines themselves) may disappear. For example, we know that some time ago Continental offered a no-fee card, but we’re not able to find that offer anymore. And as we write this, Frontier is in bankruptcy but still flying. If they go under, you can kiss goodbye any miles acquired from any source – including from the credit card.
Airlines offering no-annual-fee credit cards:
American
United
USAir
Midwest
AirTran
Frontier
IcelandAir
China Air
Korean Air

STRESS-FREE TRAVEL TIPS
In these days of airline insanity, airport confusion, and crowded everything, we always try to travel as stress-free as possible. Our ideas for reducing travel stress include Plan Ahead; Travel Light; Be Flexible; and many other tips. We've posted our complete set of stress-free travel tips on our How To Travel blog.

POCKET TRAVEL TRANSLATOR
We’ve literally been searching for this for years, but we finally stumbled on the source. One of our favorite international travel tools is a flip-card that shows icons for transportation, medical conditions, food, lodging, and many other items. It was given to us by the physician’s office which advised us on vaccines for travel to exotic locations. Try as we might, we couldn’t find the source (and the drug company that produced the cards didn’t seem to offer them to the public), or how to get another copy – until now.
These waterproof, foldable cards are made by Kwikpoint. For only 15 bucks, there’re an invaluable resource for travel to any country where it’s likely you won’t know the language. Think villages in South America where they speak neither English nor Spanish. Africa. Pacific islands. Asia has so many different languages. We struggled to ask for ibuprofen in Slovenia (we tried English and Spanish; the pharmacist knew Slovene and Italian).
Kwikpoint makes several cards, but the most interesting two seem to be the International Translator and the Medical Visual Language Translator.

INTERNATIONAL CELL PHONES
David Rowell, "The Travel Insider," has a good comparison of Europe/International cell phones. His suggestions aren't exactly the same as ours, but they provide additional insight into using cell phones in Europe. UPDATE 2009: The EU is capping roaming rates within the 27 EU countries (see Maps), plus Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. Rates are already lower (see our News page), and by 2011 will be only €0.35/minute for outgoing calls, and €0.11 for incoming. Thus, our suggestion for the easiest (maybe not the absolute cheapest) is to get a local SIM chip for the primary country of your visit, and just roam throughout Europe with that phone.

TRAVEL LIGHT
With luggage getting lost and delayed ("mishandled" in airline-speak) more frequently, and overweight baggage fees increasing, it may make sense to try to travel to Europe with only a carry-on bag. See our Special Report for additional thoughts and comments.

EUROPE SUMMER SHUTDOWN
Almost everyone traveling to Europe knows that many city destinations pretty much shut down during August – when most Europeans themselves are on vacation. We saw a short article on Fodor’s website about restaurants in Paris which remain open in mid-summer. Better yet, we discovered a great blog by a Canadian living in Paris.

USING CREDIT CARDS
The fraud departments of credit-card companies are getting even more diligent. Be sure to call your credit-card issuer(s) a week before you travel and tell them you'll be travelling out of the country.

DRIVE ON THE LEFT
Several countries around the world still drive on the left. For a cool map, see this one from Wikipedia. Fortunately for Americans, in Europe only the Brits (all the British Isles – Ireland, Scotland, England) drive on the left. Driving on the “other” side of the road isn’t all that hard, as long as you pay attention. And as long as you don’t drive in London (or other big UK cities). Growing up driving the L.A. freeways, and driving mountain roads in winter around the American West since then, we thought we’d be just fine in the UK. Yet after seeing London traffic, we’d never intentionally drive in that city. Park the rental car at a train or tube station far from the city center, and take public transportation into London

CHEAP EUROPE AIRFARES
If you don’t mind the Southwest Airlines-style cattle-car seating, baggage limitations, and low fares, Europe’s discount carriers are the way to go. The website flylc.com is a great tool for finding out which low-fare carriers fly where. Click a departure, and the site shows a list of direct destinations, click your destination, and it shows which airlines fly there. The site claims “353 Airports - 4527 Flights - 52 Airlines.” Cool.

UK AIRPORT SHOPPING
If you’re going to Europe and traveling either to or through the UK (as many U.S.-to-Europe flights do), it’s worth signing up for the BAA WorldPoints program. Kind of like a frequent-shopper program for goods sold at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton, Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Edinburgh airports, the program also often offers bonus points for surveys and such. Since you’ll probably buy something (even if just water, a newspaper, and a snack) in a London (or other BAA) airport, you’ll accrue points. Without any exorbitant purchases, we’ve gained points for several half-price Heathrow Express tickets (currently discontinued, unfortunately) and £5 shopping vouchers. Other rewards are also available.

EUROPE'S DISCOUNT AIRLINES
Ifyou don't mind the Southwest Airlines style of no-frills but cheap travel, look into the many new discount air carriers across Europe. Ryanair and Easyjet (UK) are the two best known, but there's also Wizz (Poland), SkyEurope (Slovakia), Air Turquoise (France), and many others. Just be aware that they may not have assigned seating, and baggage (both carry-on and checked) may be limited. But the prices are fabulous.

HOTEL FREQUENT GUEST PROGRAMS
If you're a member of any U.S. hotel "frequent guest" programs, don't forget that many chains have properties in Europe. One of our partner sites, How To Travel America, recently featured an article about hotel frequent guest programs. See the article here.

DATE FORMATS
In most European countries, dates are indicated Day, Month, Year. Thus, May 10th is 10 May 2007 or 10/05/2007. Since Americans perceive 10/05/2007 as October 5, but Europeans think it's May 10, remember to always spell out the complete date when making reservations.

TRAVEL MAGAZINES
Several U.S. and UK travel magazines can be extremely worthwhile in your travel planning and research. Our personal favorites are Wanderlust (UK), Conde Nast Traveler, and National Geographic Traveler. We discussed the wide range of publications in our Special Reports section.


Europe Travel News

Europe Maps