News for January 29th 2010

Getting Geocaching Up and Seeking

Geocaching is known by many names. It has been called everything from high-tech hide-and-seek, global stash hunting to a more modern version of the Easter egg hunt. Geocaching is a very fun adventure game for GPS users. To enjoy your geocaching adventure, we have listed a few geocaching gear and supplies for you to consider. GPS Unit. A GPS receiver is the most essential gear you need for geocaching. You need to input the geocache coordinates into your GPS in order to find it. Garmin is number one when considering GPS for geocaching with their host of products to make sure you find that big cache. With a Garmin GPS in your hand and an appetite for adventure, you will definitely find all the geocache around the world. Geocache Containers. A geocache is a small container hidden by geocachers. Some are hidden in forests or deserts while some are buried in urban areas. If you decide to hide your very own cache, you must use the right type of container. Ammo cans are the best container for geocaching. They are very cheap, designed for the outdoors and waterproof. The tupperware box is the most common and cheapest geocache container around. It is quite waterproof, strong and comes in a variety of sizes. It can easily be wedged in any nooks and crannies and it looks innocent unlike ammo cans. Film canisters, bison tubes and small magnetic tubes are used for micro and nano caches. GeoCoins. GeoCoins are numbered geocaching coins that were made to give geocachers a collectable, tradable and trackable cache prize. You can leave them in your geocache for other geocachers to find or trade them. Travel Bugs. Travel Bugs are items that, once registered, can be tracked online. The travel bug is carried from cache to cache (or person to person) in the real world and you can follow its progress online. GeoSwags. GeoSwags can be left as prizes for other geocachers or traded for other items in the geocache. Some common geoswags are casino chips, hot wheels and patches. Geocaching Clothing and Accessories. With geocaching, you would usually head into urban areas or the woods. Proper clothing is therefore very important to keep you safe and warm. Logbook. A logbook is where visitors of your hidden geocache will write down details about their visit. You can write down jokes or tips about the place. There are many other supplies that may help you enjoy geocaching more such as Walkie Talkies, camouflage tapes, walking sticks and geocaching books.

I plan on geocaching on Treasure Island Bed and Breakfast as we are located on an Island on the Coose river. Stay tuned for detail. Have fun.

Edited: January 29th, 2010

A Pearl in Every Oyster…well, almost

Wintzell’s Oyster House, 500 Sanderson St., came to Huntsville in December 2009. This Gulf Coast Seafood goldmine is tucked in behind the Hampton Inn off University Drive (where Green Hills Grill used to be).

Wintzell’s has filled a void in fresh seafood in Huntsville. Dating back to 1938, there are 10 locations of Wintzell’s scattered throughout Alabama & Mississippi. The closest one to Huntsville is the one in Guntersville on US Highway 431. Owner of the restaurant in Guntersville, Dana Price, decided to open a location in Huntsville and has been surprised at the brisk business and welcoming of the Huntsville community. Since I’m a picky eater, Wintzell’s was the very last place I thought I’d find myself going to for lunch. Here’s the photos and a brief description of what my friend Nancy and I discovered while dining at this restaurant.

Edited: January 29th, 2010

Alabama Department of Touriam releases 2010 Vacation Guide

More than 200 Great Alabama Homecoming Celebrations are featured in tourism’s 2010 Vacation Guide. Participating cities and towns will hold festivals, tours, and other events including the unveiling of historic markers as part of The Year of Alabama Small Towns and Downtowns.

A few of the homecoming celebrations that will be held at various dates throughout the year include the 50th anniversary of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird in Monroeville; the 100th anniversary of Rickwood Field in Birmingham; Jubilee CityFest in Montgomery; the 50th anniversary of Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, and Foley’s 10th Anniversary of Heritage Harbor Days. A list of 215 Great Alabama Homecoming Celebrations can be found on pages 10-13. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute was named the Attraction of the Year and is featured on page 16.

“We are proud to celebrate 2010 as the Year of Small Towns and Downtowns. We invite residents and visitors to join the Great Alabama Homecoming events and experience southern hospitality at its finest,” said Governor Bob Riley. “The vacation guide is a valuable tool designed to help travelers experience the best of Alabama,” added Riley.

The 157-page guide provides travelers with information on hotels, restaurants, campgrounds, tourism associations, state parks, golf courses, attractions, trails and museums.

The guide spotlights attractions and events in the four regions of the state that include the Mountain, Metropolitan, River Heritage and Gulf Coast regions. The Mountain Region that includes North Alabama begins on page 22 with photos of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Point Mallard waterpark in Decatur, Unclaimed Baggage in Scottsboro and the Stevenson Railroad Depot. The Metropolitan Region surrounding Birmingham, begins on page 48 and highlights the new Wellborn Muscle Car Museum in Alexander City and the Talladega Superspeedway. The River Heritage Region begins on page 78. A few of the attractions highlighted include the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery and Black Belt Treasures in Camden. The Gulf Coast Region begins on page 104. Photos include the Gulf State Park Pier, the Dauphin Island Estuarium and Mardi Gras.

The publication also highlights Alabama’s restaurants, attraction of the year and the new Spa Trail along the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. A section on chefs, restaurants and other dining can be found on pages 14-15. Readers will find details about some of the nation’s top rated spas on page 18.

New for 2010 are fun facts about Alabama and its attractions with “Did You Know?” sections appearing throughout the guide. The sections feature caricatures of famous Alabamians. A new section on exploring Alabama’s outdoors is on page 130.

Two covers were produced for the publication, one features the Marriott Grand Hotel in Point Clear with a smaller photo of the Monroeville County Courthouse. The other cover features a group of students touring Desoto Caverns in Childersburg.

The 2010 Alabama Vacation Guide is available at all eight state welcome centers across the state. Copies of the publication can also be obtained by calling 1.800.ALABAMA or visiting www.alabama.travel. Compass Marketing of Gulf Shores publishes the vacation guide.

CONTACT:
Edith Parten
334.242.4537

Edited: January 29th, 2010

Travel Tips for 2010

This could be a tough year for Europe travel, especially if airlines don’t move quickly to restore transatlantic capacity.

This year, planning your travels isn’t just about finding the best price, though that’s certainly on everyone’s mind. There are also new practicalities to consider that could have just as big an impact on your travels as how much you pay for your ticket. But in a year that will be marked by economic uncertainty, there’s a lot to consider before you take out your credit card and book that trip.
Here are some of the situations that will affect your travels in 2010, and the strategies you’ll need to handle them.

How do I get a good deal this year?

Situation: No one, not even the airlines, knows if travel will pick up this year, or if it will continue to struggle. Consequently, no one knows where fares are headed in 2010.

Fewer people are flying than two years ago, and the airlines reduced capacity to match the drop in demand. This, along with low fares, allowed carriers to keep their planes relatively full in 2009. But it’s those same low fares that cast doubt on 2010: The main reason people were flying is because tickets were cheap. If fares go up, will people still travel?

In this environment, airlines will be extra vigilant in looking for ways to increase revenue while offering competitive fares. So-called holiday surcharges are already in place for several dates this spring, and it’s fair to assume airlines will continue the practice as the year goes on. These surcharges allow carriers to pinpoint specific, high-demand dates with $10 to $20 surcharges while keeping base fares low.

Strategy: For one thing, keep track of those surcharges, and see if you can avoid flying on popular holiday travel dates. The airlines are banking on these high-demand days, and flexible travelers will benefit from adjusting their schedules accordingly.

Most importantly, compare, compare, compare. It’s a time-worn adage, but it’s also as relevant as ever this year. Airlines are in tough competition for a reduced number of travelers, and it’s fair to assume we’ll see lots of fare wars and competing sales as the summer travel season approaches. Start benchmarking fares to your destination as much as two or three months ahead of time, and monitor them for a few weeks to see what happens. When you find a price you like, you’ll know just how good a deal you’re getting.

Further, this is a year where discounted last-minute flights may play a larger role in the airline business. Carriers will no doubt try to push up fares in advance of flights, with the hope that public uncertainty about pricing trends will lead people to book early rather than risk watching their fare go up. If you have a strong enough stomach, you may be rewarded with a deal if wait until a week or two before your trip to book your flight. (Caveat: This won’t necessarily apply to the most popular destinations, such as Europe.)

Dealing with fees

Situation: We will certainly see fees go up this year—in fact, we already have. The only questions are which fees will rise, and by how much? Baggage fees, in particular, stand to rise incrementally throughout the year. Each time it seems the airlines have maxed out their first- and second-bag fees, they tack on another few bucks. If there’s a limit to how much the airlines will charge, they clearly haven’t hit it yet.

There is also a growing consensus that more airlines may adopt the Ryanair model of checking in online—and charging a fee to travelers who don’t. This makes sense from a business perspective, but empties the wallets of travelers who can’t access a computer. But it could be a way for especially desperate carriers to bring in some extra revenue, so long as they can tolerate some consumer outrage.

Strategy: Keep factoring ancillary fees into your fare comparisons, and consider airlines that charge fewer fees than the competition. Most importantly, keep up with all the new fees so that you know exactly what you’ll be paying, and try to travel with only a carry-on if you can.

United has an annual bag fee program that may work for frequent travelers. For $249 a year, you can check an unlimited number of bags on all United flights. If you know you’ll be traveling a lot, and United’s service and fares work for you, this could be a good money-saving option. So far, no other carriers have come out with a similar program.

Choosing an affordable destination

Situation: It’s been a rough few years for several prominent vacation destinations. Las Vegas, in particular, has struggled amid the recession, but hotel rates have dropped across the country in cities like San Diego, Chicago, New York City, and Hawaii.

Unlike airlines, which can be more flexible with how much capacity they offer, hotels are stuck with a set number of rooms. Sure, hotels can close floors or simply sell fewer rooms, but this fixed inventory forces hotels to lower rates in order to keep their rooms full.

Strategy: In 2010, the real bargains will likely be on the ground, and savvy shoppers would be wise to start any search by looking for great hotel deals and worrying about airfare later. Most travelers take the opposite approach—airfare first, hotel almost as an afterthought—but unstable fare pricing in 2010 suggests this may not be the way to go. In fact, this is a good year to base your destination choices on price, since some destinations may offer deals too good to pass up.

Within hotels, high-end properties have generally seen larger price drops than other properties. This has resulted in price compression, where the difference between rates at high-end hotels and those at middle-of-the-pack accommodations has shrunk, making upscale rooms more accessible to budget-conscious travelers.

Lastly, take a long look at vacation packages this year. For the same reasons above, online travel agents like Expedia and Travelocity will look to sell bundled packages as a way of clearing unsold hotel inventory. This desperation could lead to some pretty good deals on vacation packages, especially in some of the harder hit U.S. cities.

But what about Europe?

Situation: Transatlantic travel is one of the areas hit hardest by industrywide capacity cuts over the past 18 months. As demand for travel dropped off, so too did the number of passengers flying across the Pond, leaving airlines with half-empty planes flying long, costly routes. But now, people thinking of a vacation in Europe face a market with decidedly fewer flights, and the potential for a very expensive summer travel season.

Further complicating the matter is high demand for flights to the U.S. from Europe. George Hobica, at our sister site Airfarewatchdog, has noticed very high Europe fares lately, and attributes this to a weak U.S. dollar attracting budget-conscious European travelers. This spike in demand, of course, also affects fares for U.S. travelers looking to head to Europe.

Strategy: This could be a tough year for Europe travel, especially if airlines don’t move quickly to restore some of the transatlantic capacity. Carriers will likely be hesitant to do this for two reasons: 1) A reluctance to trust early signs of recovery, and 2) the fact that they can charge more on popular routes with limited seats.

For U.S. travelers, the best way to grab a deal may be to price the ideal route for your travels, such as Chicago to Rome, and then price a flight to one of Europe’s main hubs such as London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, or even Reykjavik on Icelandair, with a connecting flight to your destination on a low-cost carrier. This latter option may be less convenient, but it could save you some serious money. Bear in mind that many European low-cost carriers charge exorbitant fees, so make sure you factor these costs into your comparison (and pack light if you can).

Airport security issues

Situation: This year, it’s just as important to pay attention to the practicalities of air travel as well as the price. Last year ended with a close call on Christmas Day, and 2010 began under a cloud of security issues and questions about airline safety.

Things have quieted for the moment, and travelers flying domestic routes shouldn’t experience much out of the ordinary. Passengers entering the U.S. from other countries, however, can expect to encounter long waits and, in some cases, additional screening at the airport. For U.S. citizens, prolonged security lines should be the worst of it, but there is a chance that you’ll be selected for random screening.

Strategy: You simply need to give yourself extra time. You may not need it here in the States, but consider it an investment in peace of mind. Abroad, give yourself an extra two hours or more beyond what you would normally budget. Again, you may not need it, but you may also be glad you arrived early.

Beyond time, be prepared for some new experiences. The Department of Homeland Security is expected to add roughly 300 whole-body imaging scanners to U.S. airports this year. These scanners can see beneath your clothing and detect some non-metallic items such as bomb-making materials and composite knives. They also create a greyscale image of your body, which many people feel is a violation of privacy. For the average traveler, this will be a very new and potentially unsettling aspect of airport security, but it appears these scanners will nevertheless become a part of the flying experience.

Lastly, keep an eye on the news, as the security situation is constantly evolving. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and foreign security officials may make policy changes, for better or worse, and you don’t want to be surprised at the airport. Make sure you pack in accordance with current restrictions so your security wait time is minimized. Use common sense and check anything that might invite time-consuming additional scrutiny.

Edited: January 29th, 2010

New slant on Alabama Growing Food Gardens

There’s Michael Dean of Michael Dean Farms growing superb, high-quality vegetables in his Leeds backyard and selling them to the best restaurants in Birmingham.

There are production non-profit urban farms tilling up vacant land in the west-side of Birmingham, downtown Tuscaloosa and Montgomery.

Jones Valley Urban Farm booth at a farmers market.
There’s a composting company called J3 Organics turning Birmingham’s organic waste into black gold for growing food.

There’s Grow Alabama, which is providing a marketing network for farmers from all over the state.

There are urban gardens growing food specifically to feed the hungry in Huntsville, Sylacauga and Mountain Brook.

And there are networking organizations, such as Greater Birmingham Community Food Partners, working to create public policies that will encourage more of all this great stuff.

Even with all this cool, new farming happening around the state, there is the opportunity to do a lot more. There’s a school garden in almost every public elementary school in California. There are less than a dozen in Alabama. The Alabama School of Fine Arts has a great model garden that’s fully integrated into the school’s science curriculum. We should be pressuring our school boards to support these developments. There are opportunities to turn the toxic “brownfields” scattered all over Birmingham into sunflower fields that supply oil for bio-diesel—something that is already happening in Pittsburgh, Pa. There could be a farmer’s market in every community every day of the week. It could even be legal to have chickens in your backyard.

With so many exciting ways to re-localize our food system, and so many benefits to our community, to our health, and to our kids, it’s time we all put our fingers back where they belong, in the dirt.

To read more about these exciting ideas, I suggest that you check out the following web sites:

For information about urban farming, visit our Jones Valley Urban Farm web site at www.jvuf.org.

To learn about local markets for local produce, visit www.localharvest.org.

To find the locations and other information for farmers markets across the state, go to the web site for the State of Alabama Farmers Market Authority at www.fma.alabama.gov.

Learn more about food systems at the web site for Greater Birmingham Community Food Partners at www.gbcfp.org.

The web site for the Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network has a wealth of information about local sustainable agriculture. Visit www.asanonline.org.

For information about those exciting efforts to turn abandoned industrial brownfields into sunflowers fields, go to www.gtechstrategies.org. GTECH Strategies is a Pittsburgh-based non-profit dedicated to building community, reducing blight and growing the green economy.

Edited: January 29th, 2010

Better ask questions before you book

A listener to a call-in radio show noted that all the travel mavens and pundits had recently chimed in about what’s likely to happen with airfares, hotel rates, and such, but they haven’t focused on one important subject:
“What deceptions and scams are we likely to encounter in 2010?”

The short answer is, “Generally, it will be ’round up the usual suspects,’ and more of the same seems more likely than something entirely new.” Here’s what it means.

Mandatory add-ons

The mandatory add-on—a charge that isn’t included in the featured price—is the deception most likely to flourish in 2010. The most obvious current offenders are hidden “housekeeping,” “resort,” and other such fees that hotels and resorts add on to featured base rates. Clearly, those fees should be included in the base rate, but they often aren’t. They’re particularly prevalent in Las Vegas and in prime winter-sun destinations, and they’re more prevalent at upscale rather than budget accommodations, but you can run into them almost anywhere.

The big question is not just how many more hotels will resort to hidden add-ons this year—it’s also about how many different sorts of travel suppliers will do the same. I expect lots more of both. The primary incentive for suppliers to resort to this deception is the ascendancy of the Internet as a prime travel buying channel. More and more travelers rely on Internet-based—often automated—price comparisons, and posting a price that’s $10 to $30 less than the true price makes a hotel or other supplier look better in those comparisons. I suspect that it’s the difference between a sale and a pass in many cases.

What I find especially curious is the fact that the big online travel agencies, such as Expedia, Priceline, and Travelocity, don’t provide true all-up price displays for hotel accommodations that include those phony add-on charges. After all, they’ve been quite successful at posting all-up costs for rental cars, so I can’t understand why they can’t do the same for hotels and other suppliers. Maybe they will, someday, but I see no signs so far. Beware.

Airlines would do the same with add-on fuel surcharges, if they could. Fortunately, however, the U.S., Canadian, and most European governments prohibit separating fuel surcharges from the displayed total fares, so you needn’t worry. Unfortunately, nobody apparently has the same authority to oversee deceptions by hotels and resorts.

Free? Feh!

Another top deception will probably continue: fake “free” promotions, as in “free air on a cruise,” or “free fifth night” on a hotel promotion, or “free companion ticket.” As I’ve noted before, hardly anything is ever really “free.” Specifically:

• Nothing is “free” if you have to pay for something else to get it, and

• Nothing is “free” if it’s bundled into a package and you can buy the rest of the package, minus the “free” part, for less than the full package price.

At best, those “free” promotions are a deceptive way to make a price or a package look better than it really is; at worst, they’re outright lies. I see no relief in sight for 2010: Expect plenty of “free” promotions this year.

Half the real price

Two widespread pricing deceptions feature prices at half their actual cost:

• “Each way based on round-trip purchase for airfares” has been around for a long time. The deception, of course, is that you can’t buy any ticket at that price; the harm is that a few lines actually do sell their cheapest tickets one-way and they may lose business to lines that use deceptive practice. According to industry sources, the Department of Transportation has upheld its ridiculous approval of this deception mainly because of the personal bias of one top official, and I see no reason to expect any change this or any other year.

• “Per person double occupancy” has been around even longer, mainly for package tours and cruises. Although it’s equally deceptive, it’s so ingrained in the travel industry that nobody seriously expects it to change—and, fortunately, almost all of us have learned to live with it. There’s one case, however, where it can be pernicious: When a hotel prices individual rooms that way. Hotel rates are one case where almost all of us expect a per-room price quotation, and a per-person rate can distort a price search significantly.

The outright scams

Outright scams—where the perpetrator has no intention of delivering on what’s promised—have plagued the travel industry for decades. And some of them have been around for years, despite various sporadic enforcement actions:

• You can blame the lousy economy for what is currently the most active of the old-timers: “We guarantee to sell your unwanted timeshare interval if you pay $400 (or whatever) for a listing” promises that take your money and then do nothing. Regular timeshare maintenance and tax assessments are squeezing lots of travelers who have seen their income and assets dwindle, and many of those folks are desperate to get out from under those ongoing bills. Unfortunately, buyers know that many timeshares are on sale for as little as $1, and if they understand and want to buy a timeshare, they know they can pick one up on the cheap.

• I haven’t seen much of two other hardy perennials recently: Travel certificates that promise really cheap vacation packages but don’t really deliver and “card mills” that promise “huge travel agent discounts” if you buy their travel-agent ID that no supplier actually honors any more. I’m sure they’re still around, but fortunately they’re easy to spot and to avoid.

Beyond the obviously absurd emails from Nigeria (or somewhere), some of which involve buying air tickets, I haven’t seen any new widespread scams emerging. Maybe the crooks have found that outright crime, especially identity theft, is more profitable than running a complex scam.

“You can’t fix stupid”

Sadly, we’ll probably continue to see instances where stupidity results in a de facto deception or other difficulty. Government certainly isn’t exempt, either—how about that eight-year old boy on the terrorist watch list? But you’ll continue to see complaints ignored, booking errors, incorrect items on your charge card, and the rest. In those cases, a combination of patience and firmness can usually resolve the issue.

Caveat emptor

As usual, alert consumers are generally immune to most scams and deceptions. Stay alert—and remember, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”

Edited: January 29th, 2010