Q&A

ARE THESE DEALS WE GET MAILED BY CRUISE LINES LEGIT?

Q – We seem to be getting more and more cruise offers at home which would indicate that the cruise lines are in trouble. Yet, for the most part, you have indicated they are not. Why this flurry of deals and special offers from the top cruise like the ones Churchill & Turen represents and…

ANY WAY YOU CAN EXPLAIN WHY I WAS NOT UPGRADED AT THE JW MARRIOTT?

Q – Really interesting site – just stumbled across you via some algorithm hidden in the bowels of Google’s basement. Two weeks ago, on business in DC, I was checking in at the JW Marriott. I had checked and I knew, for a fact, that the next category up, a junior suite was available. I…

ANY SENSE OF WHERE HOTEL RATES MIGHT BE THIS TIME (August) NEXT YEAR?

Q – Will the hotel rates we are seeing, many over $2000 per night at five-star properties, stay steady in 2024? A – No – nothing in this current environment will be steady. Hotels will be charging as much as they can given the losses still being felt during the pandemic. The new Aman Hotel…

LOVE THIS SITE! BIG PICTURE QUESTION RELATED TO “HOT AS HELLNESS”

Q – Discovered you about eight hours ago while looking for a travel site that had anything at all to do with the word “truth”. I work in financial planning here in Santa Monica and I am, fortunately, in a position where I can take off with my wife any month to go virtually anywhere….

WHAT IS AN FIT LOVER – IN TRAVEL TERMINOLOGY?

Q – My long-time travel agent in Alexandria, Va. is, unfortunately, retiring. In a recent conversation, she mentioned something about our being her “favorite FIT Lovers”. She seemed to think we knew what that meant – but we didn’t. Did not want to show our ignorance but as we have been traveling with her counsel…

DO WE WANT TO INSURE OUR TRIP THROUGH OUR CREDIT CARD COVERAGE?

Q – (8.4.23) –  As you are aware, my wife and I always purchase comprehensive travel insurance when we travel overseas. Last week, however, we had dinner with friends who are really well-traveled and who will soon be using your travel services. They mentioned that they depend on their Chase Sapphire Reserve card in lieu…

DO YOU ADVISE RIVERCRUISING IN OR OUT OF BUDAPEST GIVEN THEIR LEADERSHIP?

Q – We are thinking about a Danube River Cruise on Uniworld that will sail from Budapest this August. In sort of preparing for this journey I see that Hungary is ruled by Victor Orban, a rather right-wing, authoritarian ruler. We are in our late sixties and not all that much traveled. Not sure I…

IS MY FRIEND RIGHT ABOUT HIS CREDIT CARD AND TRAVEL PURCHASES?

Q – (8.4.23) –  As you are aware, my wife and I always purchase comprehensive travel insurance when we travel overseas. Last week, however, we had dinner with friends who are really well-traveled and who will soon be using your travel services. They mentioned that they depend on their Chase Sapphire Reserve card in lieu…

ARE YOU SERIOUSLY SUGGESTING THAT YOUR CLIENTS LATHER UP IN A WINDOW SEAT?

Q –  OK, we are now “fans” but one or two of your revelations about the travel industry seem to be so “first time I have ever heard that” off-the-charts. I just read a piece you had published suggesting that because I fly to Europe and Australia on business, I should be smearing my face…

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TRAVEL TO EAST AFRICA GIVEN DROUGHT

Q – As you know, we want to return to Africa. As we ponder other travel possibilities – East Africa specifically – we are wondering what your thoughts are about the current drought conditions.  Multiple news stories portray conditions that are dire in Kenya & Tanzania – people and animals dying from lack of food…

AS A SOUTHERNER I LOVE MY DELTA – BUT THE HOLD TIMES ARE TURNING ME GREY

Q – 11.19.22  – As a true Southerner, I do share the belief of most of my neighbors that when we pass we will have to go through a Delta security gate to enter the promised land. That said, the hold times lately have been driving me crazy, especially when I have last-minute questions, changes,…

IS THAT CORNER SUITE UNDER $20,000 A NIGHT? AMEN AMAN

Q – We have become addicted, if I can use that word, to Aman Resorts, We have thoroughly enjoyed their properties throughout Asia believing that there really is nothing better on this planet in terms of accommodations and service. Last Tuesday, we came home from a stay at the new Aman property in Manhattan. Our…

DO WE WANT TO CONNECT THROUGH TORONTO OR ZURICH?

Q -We are leaving on an Avalon River Cruise on the Rhine. Given what we are reading about the airline situation in Europe, we are confused about how to arrange our air. Our agent has come up with an hour connection through Toronto or an hour-and-a-half connecting time in Zurich. Do we go with the…

ARE THERE COLLEGE CLASSES I SHOULD TAKE TO BECOME A TRAVEL AGENT?

Q – I am thinking of joining the travel industry. Are there college classes I will need to take to get certified to offer travel counseling and handle people’s vacations? A- The short answer is that the only requirement is that you must have spent an hour in an International House of Pancakes at least…

WHEN DO WE BOOK SPAIN GIVEN THE CURRENT HIGH PRICES?

Q – This is one of those annoying questions about cost issues. We want to plan a trip to Spain and Portugal in the next few months but we are reading that hotel rates and airfares are going up significantly compared to where they were pre-Covid. Should we cancel the trip for a year or…

BE HONEST – SHOULD WE BRING OUR DAUGHTER ON THIS TAUCK TOUR?

Q – What do you think of the idea of bringing our 18-and-a-half-year-old extraordinary daughter on a Tauck Family Bridges Tour to Italy this coming August before she is off to Boston to start college? A – Strong opinion on this one – we would not book the family on a Tauck Bridges tour because…