GREEK FAMILY SPECTACULAR

Q – We have a rather large, tightly-knit Greek family (so what else is new) and we’re planning to go to the islands in 2016 for a two-week spectacular trip. We thought it best to start now. Of course we’ll have all age groups and some will want to do their own thing. We have some…

CAN WE DO A CUSTOM BEEMER TOUR?

Q – We have three BMW’s in the garage. For our next trip to Europe, we’d love to have a custom trip arranged where we might drive a Beemer on some of Germany’s best roads, with frequent stops for beer and Brotzeit. We know what we want – we just don’t know how to begin….

A PHOTOGRAPHER’S DREAM TRIP

Q – Please don’t use my name but you can say that I am a fairly well-known amateur photographer whose work has appeared in several major publications including AFAR and National Geographic. But I have a day job that finances our photographic journeys. My dream is to take some great photos of Japan’s Mt. Fuji…

CAN WE TURN JAMAICA INTO A MEMORABLE VACATION?

Q – We’re really into traveltruth but we feel you seriously shortchange the Caribbean. There isn’t much objective information about the islands online – they all use the term “paradise” interchangeably.  In three months, we’re off to Jamaica on a corporate reward trip including accommodations at Rose Hall. But we keep hearing negatives about the…

MAY IS THE NEW SEPTEMBER IN EUROPE

There has been a shift in responses to the question “What is the best time to visit Europe?” The response in years past was the summer months. But June through mid-September has seen serious heat inversions in portions of Italy, France, and Spain, along with crowds of students and school’s out backpackers, using the best…

SHOULD I LET MY DAUGHTER GO ON A CRUISE?

Q – Thank you for the information you give about some of the things you need to be careful about on some of these cruise ships. My 17 year-old daughter has asked me to let her go with a friend on a three-night Royal Caribbean Bahamas cruise. Her friends mother will be going, but she…

BIG MOVES TO EUROPE

Q – We have always had a desire to sail the world’s largest ship for a week or so. I’ve heard Royal Caribbean and Carnival ships are huge but we literally want to sail the biggest next summer. Can you tell us which ship that would be? A – The Royal Caribbean Allure of the…

WE’VE JUST WITNESSED THE LARGEST HUMAN MASS EXODUS IN HISTORY

The Chinese have just set a world record – more than 100 million Chinese citizens traveled per day during the busiest period of the week long “Chunyun” or Spring Festival. The festival was celebrated on January 31st this year. Trains alone carried 6.8 million passengers per day as the Chinese left the major urban areas…

THE TOP THREE AIRPORTS IN EUROPE FOR CONNECTIONS

In order to make your next trip to Europe as pleasant as possible when using connecting flights, we are pleased to present the awards for Europe’s Top Three Airports for Connecting Flights. The rankings are: # 1 – Amsterdam’s Schiphol (Home of KLM) # 2 – Zurich’s Flughafen Zurich (Home of Swiss Air) # 3…

SWEDEN PROUD OF THE FACT THAT A BIG MAC IS ONLY $9.08

While the world sits by idly, concentrating on frivolities such as which Soshi snowboarder is 3 seconds faster than his challengers, a new war has broken out along the Norwegian and Swedish border. Known as “The Big Mac Attack” , McDonald’s has put up a large billboard on the border reminding Norwegians that at $9.08,…

WILL WE BE ABLE TO GET AWAY ON AMERICAN CHRISTMAS 2017?

Q – With all the problems we’ve been reading about involving American Airline’s bankruptcy and this pending deal with US Airways, we are wondering if keeping miles in our Advantage account for a planned major Christmas trip in 2017 is a good idea? A – The merger with US Air went through last year and American…

WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO GET UPDATED GATE INFORMATION ON MY iPHONE?

Q – I know the airlines can notify you of an assigned gate or change, but is there any single source I can use all of the time to get information without having to trust my airline to update me? A – There are two apps that are quite good and both have a basic version…

LOOK – UP IN THE SKY – IT’S NORWEGIAN AIRLINES!

There is a new low-cost airline that has everyone in the industry talking. Norwegian Air is now the second largest airline in Scandinavia and the third largest low-cost carrier in Europe, carrying over 20 million passengers last year. But what has everyone talking is the fact that both Airline Ratings and the respected Sky Trax…

SHOULD WE CANCEL OUR ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISE?

Q – We’ve been listening to the horrific news reports about the virus that got everyone sick on the Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas. We have never cruised and are scheduled to take our first stab at cruising this October with two other couples from our church. As luck would have it, we’re booked…

GETTING INTO TURKEY JUST GOT HARDER

Travelers landing in Istanbul to begin a cruise or tour, should be advised that, effective on April 10th, Turkish visas will no longer be available for purchase at the airport. E-Visas will be accepted if obtained from authorized Visa services or the Turkish Embassy. Previous visitors to Turkey were permitted to stand in line to…

A ‘PUT YOU ON THE SPOT” QUESTION

Q – Over the past two years, you have kind of spoiled us with the candor of your responses in the Q&A section of your site. So let me pose a question that may put you on the spot. I have to fly rather frequently to Europe where my company has several factories and storage…

WHERE, EXACTLY, DO AMERICANS GO ON VACATION?

Last year, we logged 1.6 billion individual domestic vacation trips in the United States. But where do we go? According to the US Travel Association, these are the top five vacation options we chose: # 1 – Visiting Relatives # 2 – Extended Shopping trips # 3 – Visiting Friends # 4 – Seeking fine dining…

HOW FLYING WILL CHANGE IN THE NEXT DECADE

A panel of airline industry experts has outlined the way we will be flying in the coming decade. The Future Travel Experience Think Tank Panel sees the following vision in store for travelers: Passengers will already be check-in when they arrive at the airport Their bags  will be pre-tagged at home and passengers will go through…

VACATION.COM VERSUS VIRTUOSO, VERSUS SIGNATURE

Q – We worked with an agent who was in the Virtuoso Consortium for many years. We now have a new agent who is in something called Signature. Meanwhile, our best friends use someone connected to Vacations.com who just got them a wonderful upgrade at the Hyatt in New York.  Each of these groups seems to…

DO WE REALLY NEED AN INDIAN VISA?

Q – We are on a Crystal cruise to Malaysia and Singapore that stops for the day at Port Blair, in the Andaman Islands, which technically belong to India. We just learned it will cost is $334 and a whole lot of paperwork, plus sending our passports to the Indian embassy, in order to get…

THE OCEANIA MARINA SAYS IT HAS GREAT FOOD. DOES IT?

Q – We are mid-town Manhattan Foodies, quite used to choosing from America’s best restaurants, many with world-famous chefs. We are considering our first experience at sea and friends tell us they’ve read that Oceania has the best food.  We shop at Zabar’s and we dine at Le Bernadin at least once a month, if…

JOIN ANGELA AND RICHARD IN ROME, SICILY, NAPLES, AND THE AMALFI COAST

CHURCHILL AND TUREN LTD. TAKES PRIDE IN ANNOUNCING Our Newest 2014 Signature Culinary Tour “IN SEARCH OF SOUTHERN ITALY’S BEST PIZZA AND REGIONAL DISHES:  A CULINARY LIFESTYLE TOUR OF ROME, SICILY, NAPLES, AND THE AMALFI COAST”  BEGINNING IN ROME MONDAY,  SEPTEMBER 22ND – ENDING IN ROME MID-DAY, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4TH 2014 OUR CONCEPT This will be…

WHICH LINE SHOULD WE LOOK AT FOR WINE CRUISES IN FRANCE?

Q – My girlfriend and I are about to pull the trigger on a wine cruise by river boat. During our online search we discovered this site and were wondering if there is one line you might recommend. We’re in our early fifties, live in northern California, and we enjoy going out to Napa whenever…

ARE YOU GETTING MONEY FROM TAUCK?

Q – We really are enjoying your web site but wonder why there is obvious favoritism shown to Tauck. We’ve been extremely happy with AMA, sailing on the AmaCello and the AmaCerto. Now, we are seriously thinking about their program in South Africa. We’ve also done a cruise on Uniworld on the Beatrice that was…

WILL OUR RIVER CRUISE TURN INTO A BUS TOUR?

Q – Three years ago, we did a bus tour through Germany and we vowed we would never do another one. The hotels were awful, there was one large, extended family that dominated the tour, and our guide was a real snob who couldn’t relate to the people in the group. So we were really…

IS TAUCK REALLY THE BEST RIVER CRUISE LINE?

Q  – I suppose you could say we are travel junkies. We’ve been on thirteen cruises and three river cruises, on Vantage and Avalon. Found lots to like about each but we sensed we were not experiencing the “top of the line”. The “junkie” part is that we subscribe to about seven travel magazines and…

RHINE RIVER CRUISING: IS IT BEST FOR US?

Q – We usually do the travel planning for our group of six friends (We all worked together at Caterpiller). Next year, the group wants to do a river cruise and we were thinking about the Rhine versus the Danube. We love walking around towns together, stopping to shop, having a drink or two, and…