Great American Road Trip: History lesson. Fort Abraham Lincoln, North Dakota

by Jamie Rhein on

Although we head to Montana every summer, each year holds something different. Even if we travel on the same highway, we’ll take in something new. This time, I found Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park in Mandan, North Dakota, a few miles from Bismarck.

This is a perfect place for brushing up on a history lesson and getting a sense of what life was like on the Great Plains back when the Mandan Indians and Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer lived here.

The Mandans lived between the deep ravine and the Missouri River from 1575-1781 prior to Lewis and Clark’s arrival on the scene. Custer and his gang were later than that, but now, each part of history converges in the state run park.

Even though the fort was abandoned back in 1882, and the settlers took down many of the buildings for lumber, Custer’s house, army barracks, a granary and the stable have been either refurbished or reconstructed. There are stone markers that show where the missing buildings used to be.

We were lucky enough to roll into the parking lot ten minutes before the 1:00 p.m. interpretive tour. The tour, conducted by a dashing fellow in period army uniform, centered mostly on the house, but included what life was like for everyone from the soldiers to Elizabeth “Libbie” Custer, Custer’s wife.

She was living here when he died at the Battle of Little Big Horn. In case you’re wondering, she moved back to Michigan where she was from and her family still lived. She never remarried, and died when she was 91.

In one of the reconstructed barracks, you can find out what they looked like way back when. The set up is exactly like it would have looked when it housed men who were from as far away as Ireland and Sweden.

One room includes footlocker style boxes similar to the ones actually used by members of the 7th Calvary. There is a sign on each one that states the name of the person, where he was from and where he died, if known. Several died with Custer. I saw one that died in the Battle of Wounded Knee. One guy was from Ulster County, New York which is where I lived from 8th grade through high school.

Along with the tour of the fort, admission includes a tour of On-A-Slant Indian village where the Mandans lived before most of them were wiped out by small pox. That’s what the guide told us. There are five reconstructed earth lodges, each set up to tell about a different aspect of Mandan life.

Before this tour, I didn’t know much about the Mandan Indians. The guide pointed out details about their farming practices, tools and beliefs. We didn’t have much time in the museum because of our need to get back on the highway for the Billings leg of this trip.

I could have easily spent more time, but felt satisfied because of the information gathered from the tours.

If you do head this way, there is a campground at the state park, a concession stand and a café. The book shop and gift shop are well done.

I highly recommend this stop if you’re traveling with kids. As I told my son, “When you read about this part of history in school, you’ll have actually been to these places where the history happened.” Not a bad idea for adults either.

For the four of us, admission and parking was $21. Our son was free because he is 6 years-old. Our daughter was the student rate, $4. My husband and I were $6 each and parking was $5. The $5 parking was actually the cost to get into the park. The tours cost extra. Spend the money.

You can’t get into the buildings or to the Mandan village without paying for the tour.

Fare Alert! Another secret sale to Buenos Aires

by Grant Martin on

United just posted a secret sale to Buenos Aires, Argentina last night that has lasted well into today, slurpee day (7/11), from several corners from the country.

From departure points such as Los Angeles, Washington DC (Dulles), and New York City you can get to Buenos Aires LATER THIS MONTH for only about 600$ total. For high tourist season in the United States, that’s a downright steal. So if you haven’t got plans for the kids’ summer vacation, now is the time to strike.

Check your local airport to see if there are similar deals or cheap connections to a target city.

And don’t forget — it’s winter down in Argentina right now, so you might want to consider a trip over to the Andes for some skiing or maybe some time down in Patagonia watching some glaciers fight. You also might want to pick up a couple kilos of some of that delicious Mendozan wine and that Argentine steak while you’re down there.

If you’re worried about visas, American’s don’t need any pre-departure paperwork for immigration.

To book the ticket, use a flex search on Kayak over the next few weeks to find availability. You shouldn’t have a problem finding seats for flights later this month.

Happy Trails!

Talking travel with frequent mileage expert John Lopinto

by Jerry Guo on

John Lopinto is one of those savvy frequent fliers who always manages to yoink that last upgrade from you (he racks over 100,000+ miles each year). But he also happens to be a top flier guru who helps travelers make the airlines work for them through his award-winning site, ExpertFlyer.com, the #1 destination for frequent fliers. He’s here to give some exclusive tips and insider info on getting the best deals on your next flight.

What Are the Most Effective Ways to Work the Upgrades Game?

The Holy Grail of air travel is flying in business or first class for the price of a cheap coach ticket. Short of “squatting” in a first class seat and hoping you won’t get caught (you will, so don’t try it), there are ways to use your frequent flier miles to score that seat in the front. If you are an “elite” status member in your favorite frequent flier program, you have a better chance than the average member, but if you are at the program’s very highest elite level, you have more options and better odds at getting that upgrade that sometimes can be free.

For the rest of us, however, using miles to upgrade is usually the easiest and can be booked at the time of ticket purchase. They also offer a better value for the miles used compared to using miles to “purchase” a coach award ticket. But upgrade inventory is always limited so it is best to book as far in advance as possible and for mid-week travel if possible. But if you can’t upgrade when purchasing your ticket, go on the wait-list. Most upgrades don’t clear until days or hours before departure.

What are Fare Buckets and How Can Flyers Take Advantage of them to Save Money?

Airlines don’t sell all their seats at the same price. In fact, on some flights there may be over a dozen different fares just for coach. In general, the further in advance you buy a ticket the more fare options there are. These are called fare buckets and the cheaper the fare the more restrictions and conditions there are attached to that bucket. If you are willing to agree to them the airline is willing to sell you a cheaper ticket. But there are only so many tickets in a given bucket that the airline is willing to sell at that price for a particular flight. That’s why just changing the time of departure, say from 7:00 am to 9:00am may find that a lower cost bucket still has seats for sale than the earlier flight. Sometimes just leaving a day earlier or later will help you find a cheaper fare bucket with seats.

What’s Your Stance on Fast-Track Security Programs Like Clear?

If you have elite frequent flyer status with the airline you are flying on, or traveling in business or first class, almost all airports have a special security line that has almost no wait to get to the TSA screening point. If this is the case for you, then programs such as Clear offer little or no advantage. However, if this is not the case and you are typically one who shows up at the airport at the last minute or have repeated security issues, then this may offer some value for you.

How Do You Find the Cheapest Flights

I actually use the airlines’ own website. I find their fares to be the lowest available and they may show many fare options, not just the lowest. Airline-independent sites like Kayak, Orbitz and others are good for surveying all the airline offerings at once, but one of the advantages of booking directly on the airlines’ site is that you have established the sale directly with the airline.

Although the fare may be the same, when flights are canceled or you need to be re-routed at the last minute it will be easier to negotiate an alternative with the airline agent if you had purchased your ticket directly with them. Also, some airlines now charge a fee if you want to simply change your seat assignment and didn’t purchase your ticket directly from the airline. You may also want to use an airline-independent web site that does not sell tickets that just lists all the fares and rules for all flights such as ExpertFlyer.com.

Is It Ever a Good Idea to Use a Travel Agent To Book Flights?

Yes, of course. Travel agents are professionals who have experience with the nuances of air travel. Unfortunately, today their commissions from the airlines are either very small or non-existent. So, they must extract a fee over and above the airline ticket price from the passenger in many cases. But if the itinerary is complex, especially for foreign travel, then a good travel agent may well be worth it. Also, they sometimes have access to special consolidator fares that are not offered directly by the airlines.

What About Consolidators?

First, make sure you book them through a reputable agent who normally deals in consolidator fares. Next, make sure you know all the conditions and restrictions associated with the ticket. What happens if you need to change the date of the flight? What are the cancellation penalties? What airline is being used? Is the fare eligible for frequent flyer miles or can it be upgraded? In short, they can offer a good value, but buyer beware.

Are There Any Secrets for Getting First or Business Class Tickets for Cheap?

If you fly Business class to Asia look into the CX Leverage program at cxleverage.com. This program offers up to a 20% discount on full-fare unrestricted business class tickets, and 5% off first class, between the US and Asia on Cathay Pacific, arguably one of the better airlines in the world. You only have to be a small business in the US and register your business on their site.

The airlines also offer discounted first and business class tickets with limited inventory on certain routes. The so-called I-fares are restricted business class tickets on certain routes that offer excellent value on some competitive routes. There are also consolidators that specialize in discounted business class fares. Also, consider using your miles to upgrade from a less expensive coach fare into business or first class.

Is There a Free Resource to Find the Perfect Seat on Any Plane?

There are two web sites to visit: seatguru.com and seatexpert.com. Both offer seat maps of most airlines and their individual aircrafts showing graphical layouts of the cabins and pros and cons for various seats on the plane as reported by passengers. For seat maps on specific flights that show which seats are occupied or not, try ExpertFlyer.com.

How to rent three cars and get a free plane ticket on Delta

by Grant Martin on

Got some free time over the next three weeks? Delta just launched a promo offering 9,999 miles for each rental with one of their auto partners Avis or Budget. Each qualifying rental gets you the miles, regardless of how long you keep the vehicle, as long as you book with Delta’s Car Search tool. You have until the end of the month to rent and you need to sign up to become a SkyMiles member first.

Sure, you may not be traveling three times in the next month, but do you need to? If you can get three car rentals cheap enough, the time and money invested in getting a car at the airport for 24 hours can easily be less than a domestic ticket that you could book with miles.

Rental car fees vary wildly across geographical boundaries, but almost every airport in the country has either an Avis or a Budget rental car location. And many of those rural locations have plenty of inventory (at damn good prices) available for the rest of July.

Here in Detroit, a car rental over a weekend night on Budget is about 55$. Times three is 165$ for 29,997 miles or an award ticket. In Kalamazoo, a more rural airport near where my parents live, it’s 24$. That’s 72$ for a flight.

Sure, you have to factor in what you’re going to DO with the car and what you’re going to do with YOUR car while you have the rental. You could always just take it home or to a parking lot and park it. Or park it on the lawn of the rental company.

But it’s not a bad way to rack up a few frequent flyer miles to use for future adventure on Delta Airlines.

What could you do with 25k miles or a domestic award ticket? You could fly from your freezing hometown in New Hampshire down to Phoenix next January to get some sun and play some golf while your coworkers freeze. You could fly to Colorado to get some kick ass skiing in next May. You could pay for your girlfriend to come visit you next time you’re in San Diego on business.

Sound like a good use for your 74$ invested this month?

Lonely Planet opens first brick & mortar store

by Grant Martin on

The ubiquitous Lonely Planet guides have finally outgrown the dusty shelves of your local book store and have evolved into their own brand.

Sydney International airport will be the new home of Lonely Planet’s first concept store, hosting a wealth of guidebooks, LP branded gear and other hobnobbery catering to a travelers whims. I suppose this location does make sense: Australia is home to the guidebooks and where else are you going to find more travelers than in an airport terminal?

Soon, you too will be craving those Lonely Planet fanny packs and visors as you check out the tour group of 70 elderley people herding past you at the Acropolis. Soon you can look down at your peers who only wear “Frommers” underwear because you know all of the chicks only dig LP boxer briefs.

You’re going to have to wait until sometime next year though — renovations are still underway in Sydney and its going to be another 12 months or so before the LP store is up and running. And after that? Who knows, there may be a store in your local mall within a year.

No word yet either on how much the autographed photos of Matthew Firestone and Willy Volk will cost nor whether the action figures will be anatomically correct. I hear they’re all sold out until 2014 anyway.