Virgin Holidays & Cricket World Cup 2007

by Adrienne Wilson on

Hopeful fans of Trinidad & Tobago’s Soca Warriors raced over to Germany for the 2006 FIFA World Cup games and returned without a cup, but with more determination than ever for the next installment in 2010. In the meantime they get to lounge lazily on their sister islands whiling and liming away the day until the next big thing, which for Trinidad is never too long of a wait.

Sports fans can continue to cheer and root for their favorite country team during the 2007 Cricket World Cup games being held for the first time ever all over the Caribbean. Trinidad & Tobago is only one set of islands playing host and Virgin Holidays is offering packages to get you there. The matches are being held in March and April of 2007 and packages are going fast. See Virgin Holidays for more details on getting you to unspoiled West Indian beaches, then visit their partner Cavendish Hospitality to find match tickets. Other islands hosting the games include Jamaica, Barbados, Antigua, Grenada, St. Lucia, and St. Kitts. St. Vincent and Guyana will also host games, but it doesn’t look as if Virgin Holidays will be offering packages to vaca in these two tropical countries.

Let the games begin, again!

Plane Ticket Price Forecasting

by Neil Woodburn on

It’s about time.

Finally someone out there has created an algorithm which helps predict when to buy an airline ticket, and when to wait it out for a better deal. Or, so the theory goes…

A brand new site, Farecast.com, promises to do exactly that. Originally named Hamlet (To buy or not to buy) the site implements “data-mining algorithms to search for patterns, in the accumulated airfare data, which are associated with significant price changes.” The theory is that this “predictive technology” can then be applied to current ticket considerations to determine when, exactly, is the cheapest time to buy.

The site claims a 75% success rate which is 100% better than my haphazard guesses.

Unfortunately, Farecast.com is up and running for only two cities right now: Boston and Seattle. I’ll be keeping an eye on it, however, and look forward to its arrival on my home town.

Excess Luggage Fees & Fines

by Adrienne Wilson on

LAX was an absolute mad house this morning. I’m going to full on go out there and just say it was probably the worst I’ve ever seen it in all my travels. To make matters worse I discovered my bag was over the Delta airlines weight limit and I was going to be hit with a $25 fee. “Is that going to be in cash or credit ma’am?”

Grrr…

So here’s my beef with this scenario. For starters my baggage has never been over the weight limit and secondly what is the purpose of charging innocent travelers? Isn’t the weight limit rule supposed to ensure the plane isn’t going to be too heavy? What if everyone’s bag was over the weight limit? How important would that $25 bucks be then? Ugh.

Anyways make sure you pack lightly unless you like coming out of pocket for your goods. The Travel Insider has some good info online on airline checked luggage allowances and a nice table with most airlines fees and weight limits. This should help you from going over and paying extra.

Surviving Long Flights

by Erik Olsen on

So, I did some rather loud complaining about how poorly I felt we were treated this weekend by Continental Airlines, and while I still feel their customer service was abysmal, at least we’re home now and can take a deep breath to reflect on the trip as a whole. Of course, that breath will have to be quick because it’s time to get to work. No rest for the weary…or however that goes.

But before I get into the details of the trip, let me just ruminate a teensy bit longer on the travails of plane travel. Or better yet, let me merely offer you a fine link to a site that other travelers who endure long, painful flights might find quite useful. This was sent in by a gadling reader, Ron Larsen who delivers here some excellent tips on how to survive long flights. From packing ideas to tips on what you should eat where you should sit and more, the site is rather chock full of insightful info. Kinda wish I’d read this before I started my return this weekend.

Newfoundland Airport Pain Over

by Erik Olsen on

Well, it is now 9 pm Eastern time and thankfully, my long Newfoundland nightmare is over. Despite all the miseries (albeit petty miseries, given the stories I’m reading in a week of backed-up newspapers), we are back in New York City and quite (OK, relatively) happy about it. I’ll not dwell on the details. I covered them in a couple of previous posts and now this time to do some posts on what travel in Newfoundland was like (one word: excellent). But after all the hassle, we finally did get back and immediately took a walk down to the waterfront to chill out. Man, what a ridiculous travel experience. It was like being in the third world, except that this was Canada and an American carrier. Anyway, on soon to pictures and dispatches about Newfoundland.