A recent post by Ken McGuire wondered whether airport parking online was a bit too easy. He discussed his experience of travelling through Dublin airport and avoiding the old hassles of having to pay for your space before getting on the bus to get you back to the car. He commented favorably on the rate offered for a weekend’s airport parking. For our money, this is the way it should always be. What’s the point of looking airport parking online if it doesn’t save you hassle?
Choosing Off Airport Parking
When I travel I always arrange airport parking in advance. It’s usually offsite and I usually get an excellent deal. There’s no big secret to this — it just involves looking around to see who has an off airport parking lot close to the airport I will be flying from. That usually narrows it down to just a couple of options. My next step is to see how else I can save. For example, if I’m collecting air miles or have loyalty cards from hotels or car rental firms, then I see if they have a deal with the off airport parking lot I plan to use. Depending on the length of my stay, this can save me quite a bit. Read more »
It’s been a busy month for us here on Park Ride Fly USA. We’ve been getting more active on sites like Facebook and Friendfeed and we’ve begun stumbling our favourite sites on StumbleUpon. That means that we for even more great posts for this edition of our occasional Traveling The Blogosphere blog carnival (last edition here). Read on and enjoy!
Volunteering and Seeing the World on the Sharing Travel Experiences blog. Lillie talks about an extended trip around the world featuring learning, laughter, liberty and love. She says:
Travel is about love of humanity, love of one’s inner self, and (for a solo gal like me) an underlying quest for what future long-term love could and should look like.
The rest of the interview is well worth reading.
It’s OK To Hate Some Places on the Fox Nomad blog explodes the myth that you have to love everywhere you travel to. As Anil points out:
You’ll end up finding that the things you don’t like say more about you than anything else. Whether its the cleanliness, people, or food you can’t stand it’s all about you.
This post really struck a chord with many people as there are around 30 comments. Read more »
I’ve never been mugged on vacation. That doesn’t mean that everywhere I’ve travelled to has been a walk in the park. Caracas is no picnic but I managed to spend a month in the city without getting into serious difficulty (unless you count the scary night I’ve already told you about). Staying out of trouble is often a matter of common sense. Here are some travel safety tips that will make your vacation more enjoyable.
Safety At Home
First of all, give yourself less to think about taking care of safety and security at home. Get someone you trust to look after your house keys and emergency information and to swing by your home every so often to make sure that everything is okay. Put delivery of mail and publications on hold and use timers to program your lights, TV and radio to give the illusion that your home is occupied. Let your neighbors know that you will be gone so that if they see someone in your home who shouldn’t be there they will alert the police. Read more »
If you’re taking a trip abroad, whether for business or leisure, then there are certain things you need to be able to say. Years ago, I was visiting Germany and faced a language barrier. My German was rudimentary and although most Germans I met speak excellent English, I happened upon someone who could only say ‘hello’. That was a good start but it didn’t really help me with what I needed to know. Since, then I’ve always tried to be better prepared.
Key Phrases
When I’m traveling to a new country, there are a few key phrases that I try always to learn. By far the most important is being able to say “I don’t speak (insert name of language). Do you speak English?” By the way, I am not a linguaphobe. I speak French and Spanish and now a bit of German but there are some countries where even those languages won’t get me very far. Read more »