Jim’s Travel Tips

Several comments and questions have been posted about the search for airport names and three letter designations or identifications. (See other airport designations post.) This can be confusing. Airports change names but not their three letter designations. Airport names aren’t necessarily a reflection of the city or region that they serve. My home airport is a great example of this. Gerald R Ford International Airport was formerly known as Kent County International airport and serves the Grand Rapids, Michigan area with the three letter code, GRR. TIP: Go to this site to help sort all these nuances out. www.airportlist.com.

Traveling within Europe by rail can be relaxing, efficient, cost effective, and fun. The web site provided here is a great way to check out schedules to see if your plans will allow the time and to check out pricing. Many of the large gateway cities in Europe (direct destinations from the US) have railway stations integrated into the airport. TIP: Check out this site for planning - www.raileurope.com/us/rail/fares_schedules/index.htm

Today it is getting more competitive to fly business class to Europe. I was fortunate enough to work for a company that always allowed business class fares over the ocean to Europe or Asia. The business class fares have become rather pricey, especially to Europe. There are several new airlines that claim to provide business class service to Europe for the fares less than the standard business class rate of major carriers. TIP: Check out these airlines for cost effective business travel to Europe - www.maxjet.com/homeAction.do and www.eosairlines.com/flyeos/overview/home.jsf

When looking at foreign travel, it’s usually good to take some extra steps of planning and security. The State Department has made it easier than ever to register your overseas itinerary with them, thanks to the internet. It may seem unnecessary, but it doesn’t take long and is free to do. The ten minutes it takes you to fill out the report is well worth it should you ever need help in a foreign country. Here is what the State Department’s website has to say about it:

“Millions of Americans travel abroad every year and encounter no difficulties. However, U.S. embassies and consulates assist nearly 200,000 Americans each year who are victims of crime, accident, or illness, or whose family and friends need to contact them in an emergency. When an emergency happens, or if natural disaster, terrorism, or civil unrest strikes during your foreign travel, the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate can be your source of assistance and information. By registering your trip, you help the embassy or consulate locate you when you might need them the most. Registration is voluntary and costs nothing, but it should be a big part of your travel planning and security.”

TIP: Go to https://travelregistration.state.gov/ibrs/ to register your trip.

Traveling internationally requires thinking in terms of different monetary values or currency exchange rates. The tip that I am providing here can provide you with the easiest exchange reference that I have come across. It makes it a lot easier to determine if you are getting a good deal or not abroad. TIP: Go to www.oanda.com/convert/cheatsheet. This site lets you pick the country to country exchange you desire, which you can print. With the click of a button you can print the reverse exchange. These can be cut out and taped back to back creating a credit card sized exchange reference. Just be sure to run the rates relatively close to your trip date as exchange rates will vary somewhat from day to day.

The State Department has a good site for international travel planning. This is an excellent site to check before you travel to any international destination. The Consular Information Sheets provide you with information on the countries you may be traveling to including entry requirements, medical services, crime, etc… The sheet also includes the US Embassy information in that country. They also list any travel warnings that may exist for a country, which are especially important to note, as some life insurance policies are nullified by traveling to a country with a warning. TIP: Check out this web site out before you travel internationally: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1765.html

The major US airlines have marketing and ticketing agreements with many global airlines. TIP: This allows for “one-stop” shopping for a multinational trip. United is in the Star Alliance, www.staralliance.com ; American Airlines is in One World, www.oneworld.com ; and Northwest, Delta, and Continental are all in the Sky Team Alliance, www.skyteam.com . Happy trip planning!

When using various travel web sites it is sometimes quicker to use the actual three letter airport designations that the airlines use. TIP: Use this web site as a resource to know what the three letter designations are for your travels: www.airport-technology.com/codes

The result of planning is usually a lot of reservations, confirmation numbers, and itineraries. With travel planning these days this all involves electronic copies via e-mails. That’s a great tool for documentation, but hard to produce in a moments notice at check in. TIP: I print off all the electronic copies and put them in a pocketed folder for easy and quick access if needed. If changes have been made prior to the actual trip I also keep the original as well as the changes in case of issues during the trip.

Returning the car to the car rental lot before a flight can take more time than you had planned. When an early flight is involved it can also be a real unwelcome task. TIP: If at all possible return the car the night before and stay at a hotel near the airport that provides shuttle service to the airport. This saves you not only the time and hassle of refueling but it could save on the overall car rental fee.