Before a trip abroad I’ll often check out expat websites to get an idea of what the day-to-day life is like in a particular country. Sites like ExpatExchange and AlloExpat come in handy not only if you want to live in a country indefinitely, but also for planning short trips. In addition to having job and apartment listings, they often feature a calendar of upcoming events and forums for members to ask and answer questions.
The forums are often a great source of practical information you won’t find in many guidebooks, like where to get a decent haircut, how to open a bank account, or where to find peanut butter. You know, the essentials.
On topics other than these, however, I find the forums to be mostly a repetition of the same standard formula:
Jack: Boy I really hate ________ here. Jill: If you don’t like it, leave.
While I’m sympathetic to the “Love it or leave it” sentiments, we should remember a few things before piling on the expat who complains about his adopted home country. First, adjusting to a new home can be a tough thing; once the initial excitement wears off, it can feel pretty lonely if you’re moved abroad by yourself. Second, remember this: you’re allowed to hate things about the place you live. As Chuck Thompson wrote in Smile When You’re Lying:
Like being a sports fan, one of the best things about being a traveler is complaining about the parts you don’t like– hating the Dallas Cowboys not only doesn’t make me any less a football fan, it probably makes me a more avid one.
So let’s cut the jaded, whiny expats a little slack– they’ll come in handy next time you’re craving a jar of Jif.
Boingo just released a new app for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad – their second application for the platform. In this newly released app, you can purchase Wi-Fi connectivity credits on the go – using your App store credits or stored payment method. Credits are good for a single hour of access.
Credits can be purchased in blocks of one, or ten (with a buy ten get one free promo). Best of all, the app comes with one free credit.
By linking the Wi-Fi credit purchase with your existing app store payment method, you won’t need to reach for a credit card or worry about having to enter a new payment method on the road. Credits are just treated as an in-app purchase, like many other add-ons for App store purchases.The application manages the purchases, and also acts as a hotspot finder.
The new Boingo Wi-Fi credits app can be found in the App store. If you plan to use Boingo more than a couple of hours a month, you’ll be better off with their smartphone plan – which offers unlimited worldwide access for just $7.95/month.
Nine months after their initial announcement, US Airways and Gogo Inflight Internet have started offering wireless Internet access on the first aircraft in the US Airways fleet.
The service is currently installed on five Airbus A321 planes – and by June 1st, it’ll be available on all 51 Airbus A321’s.
Passengers boarding a US Airways A321 can tell whether their plane is one of the lucky five by keeping an eye out for a W-Fi symbol by the boarding doors. In addition to this, information will be placed in the seat back pocket, and flight attendants will make announcements once the plane reaches 10,000 feet.
From today, through June 1st, first time Gogo users will get a free session when they create a profile and US Airways will be offering complimentary access to everyone on their Gogo equipped planes from June 1st through June 8th.
Access starts at just $4.95 for flights under 1 ½ hours. US Airways has a mini-site with information available at usairways.com/gogo which is where you’ll find a more comprehensive pricing chart.
Have you ever looked at a travel blog and thought to yourself, “Boy, I could do that!”? Well, now’s your chance to “do that”!
Introducing Gadling’s brand new, 100% reader-generated feature, “100 words or less.” In “100 words or less,” YOU — the expert traveler — get to share your expert travel tips with Gadling and all our readers. Know a sure-fire way to score a cheap hotel room? Confident you know a trick to get an airline upgrade? Share it with us!
To submit your own tips, sign up for a free account at Seed, filter the assignment list by the category “travel” and look for assignment requests with the words “100 words or less.” (And yes: if your tip is published, you will be paid!)
Anticipating questions, here’s a quick FAQs:Q1. What kinds of tips are you looking for?
A1. Right now, we’re looking for tips covering the broad topics of Hotels, Road Trips, Cruises, Dining Out While Traveling, Souvenirs, Airplanes/Airlines, Traveling With Kids, Packing, and International Travel. We may launch more tips soon, but for now, this is the extent of our tips offering. HINT: Use your imagination (and your brains) and leave some good tips. We don’t really need any more “leave for the airport early” tips. No offense, but, um, we’re not gonna publish those. Have a look at our hub and see what kinds of tips we’ve published so far.
Q2. What if you don’t use my tip?
A2. If we don’t use your tip, don’t feel bad. We may have rejected it because someone else already submitted a similar tip. (After all, we can’t keep publishing the same tips.) Alternatively, perhaps the tip wasn’t the right fit for Gadling. Don’t be distraught. Submit another tip!
Q3. I have some great tips on my blog. Can I submit those?
A3. Sorry, but we’re only looking for tips that have not been published elsewhere. If you can come up with some tips for your blog, we bet you can come up with at least one more for Gadling.
Q4. What’s the pay like?
A4. For these tips — all of which are under 100 words in length — we’ll pay $10 per tip, paid via PayPal. You may submit as many as you like, and we’ll pay for all we publish.
Q5. I don’t have any travel tips, but I would like to contribute in other ways to Gadling. Is this possible?
A5. C’mon, everyone has travel tips! However, if you don’t feel inspired to submit some tips, there are other assignments in the queue relating to travel. (In fact, there are lots of different assignments in the Seed queue for all kinds of topics!) Sign up for an account, and we bet you find something to which you can contribute. In fact, we just added some more assignments to the queue, so go wild!
Q6. I don’t live in the US, but I have some great tips. Can I still participate?
A6. At this time, the Seed platform is US-only (but that’s changing soon). So, for now, we can only accept tips from US-based writers. We’ll update you when we know more.
Got more questions? Leave them in the comments, and we’ll answer them there. Good luck!
The roaming Gnome has found a new way to book hotels: Travelocity announced it will offer unpublished – or ‘opaque’ – hotel deals as part of their hotel offerings.
The concept is familiar: Find deeply discounted hotel rates based on preferred location, star-rating and amenities, but you won’t know the name of the hotel until you book. Here’s the twist: there’s no bidding, and you can see both the available hotels by name and the opaque hotels in one window.
The Top Secret Hotels tab above the general hotel listings will show users unpublished rates at participating hotels, if available. As of now, these opaque hotels include major U.S. cities, and popular cities in Canada (Montreal, Toronto, Mississauga), Mexico (Cancun, Cozumel, Puerto Vallarta, Riveria Maya, San Jose Cabo), the Caribbean (Dominican Republic, Jamaica) and South America (Buenos Aires, San Jose, Sao Paolo).
Unlike Priceline and Hotwire, where users bid on a specific hotel, Travelocity’s opaque hotels are a set price but in some cases up to 45% off the regularly published hotel room rate. Choose the opaque option and you’ll be able to filter based on the hotel’s star rating and general location, and hotel amenities and user ratings, but you won’t know the name of the hotel until you book.
Of the big four OTA’s – Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and Priceline – Travelocity is the first to offer one search that pulls up general hotel results and opaque results in the same window. Why the change? It’s a new way to put the power of purchase in the consumers hands. I took the new site for a spin and here’s what I found:
My search included 3- to 5-star hotels in Boston for this weekend, March 27-28, between $50 and $200 night.
Travelocity returned six hotels – three in the downtown Boston area; three in neighboring suburbs. I choose the 4-star hotel located in Boston’s downtown/waterfront district, with a pool and free Internet access, a user rating of 4/5 and a lowest price per night of $105. My total came to $121.39 (nightly room rate plus taxes).On the next pages I can confirm the room, location and rate, and after putting in a credit card and securing the transaction, you’ll find out the name of the hotel.
As a comparison, I used the same specifications on Priceline and was returned one hotel that matched my needs for $189/night. Travelocity wouldn’t divulge the hotels they’re working with, but Lesley Harris, Vice President of Hotels at Travelocity, told me:
“Travelocity is responding to the needs of our customers, as well as our hotel partners. In today’s economy customers are searching for deals and hotels are looking for a way to drive bookings – Top Secret Hotels is able to accomplish both. We also know that a number of people who currently shop on our site end up going elsewhere simply to buy an opaque product, we now can save customers the hassle of going between sites by providing every type of shopper with what they need all in one place.”
The Travelocity star ratings are based on research from the Travelocity team which may include on-site inspections, post-trip customer feedback, and quality of amenities and staff, in accordance with industry standards. Travelocity sent me a copy of their rating system descriptions and it’s pretty standard:
5-star: Luxury properties that exhibit an exceptionally high degree of service and hospitality. 4-star: Superior properties with a high level of service and hospitality, as well as a wide variety of amenities and upscale facilities. 3-star: A high level of service with additional amenities, features, and facilities. 2-star: These properties meet a traveler’s basic needs for comfort and convenience while offering moderate aesthetic enhancements in the property grounds, room decor, and quality of furnishings. 1-star:These properties meet a budget-traveler’s basic needs for comfort and convenience. They tend to be located near major attractions or thoroughfares and provide clean guest rooms.
Overall, an interesting concept from Travelocity. As someone who books hotels frequently, it’s nice to have the option to choose from the exact hotel property, or just press your luck with the hotel price without having to bid. Just remember: Top Secret Hotel reservations are non-changeable, non-refundable and non-transferable. Your credit card will be charged in full at the time of booking. If you’re headed to a new city or destination, I highly recommend you book with a hotel you know, or a brand you’re comfortable with. For those frequent visitors to a repeat destination, it’s worth pressing your luck for a discounted rate.
