The rest of Q&A

Q – I called your office last evening and they said to contact you by e-mail and you would post a response the same day, June 29th. My 76-year-old husband and I are scheduled to leave on an eight-night escorted tour of France in four days. My husband does not do well with heat and I am extremely worried about the stress of dealing with the 100+ degree temperatures they are having in France. We are, of course, paid in full. There is an online travel agency involved but they are telling us that hot weather is not a reason for cancellation. But my husband has to stay away from heat as a result of a weak heart and some past issues with breathing. Stepping into an active tour that will be moving around really scares me and I can now see that he is getting frightened as well as he listens to the news of this horrible heat wave. They say it is the worst in the history of France. I did take out a tour policy but it doesn’t seem that I can get a refund this close in. Please help with any advice you can offer. I am really concerned about doing this trip, and to top it off, my husband is not feeling well today.

A –  So sorry to hear of your situation. We think your concerns are valid. You should not do this trip. Here are some specific things we think you should do immediately:

01 – Take your husband to your doctor’s office (on an emergency basis) or to the emergency room of your closest hospital. You may be able to get a physician to sign off on a letter stating that traveling overseas into central Europe’s worst-ever heat wave is an ill-advised health risk for your husband at this time. Have the letter certified and make several copies. Keep a timeline and careful records of all conversations related to this situation.

02 – Contact the on-duty Manager at the online agency. Explain that this is regarding a “medical emergency”. Describe the situation and carefully explain that you do not want a refund – you are, instead, requesting a change of date during another time of year at the recommendation of your physician. Be firm and explain that for the commission they have earned on your booking you expect personal “advocacy”. Get response and ask for it in writing. Do not hang up until you get a satisfactory response.  Your “agent” should be doing all the work – you don’t need this stress.

03 – After you have returned from the doctor’s office, or hospital, hopefully with a strong letter in your purse, contact the “Claims Supervisor” at your insurance company. Explain the situation and ask for relief as this has now become a real unanticipated medical emergency with medical intervention and a paper trail. 

04 – If you can, have an attorney draft a quick letter to your tour operator stating that, under the circumstances, you would expect that any medical needs your husband may require as a result of being “forced” to do this trip be covered. Your attorney will know what to say.

05 – If you want to enjoy holiday trip even if there is climate change conditions which should be suitable for health then tours of Scotland is the best decision.

 You did book a summer trip and there have been heat waves in Europe that have killed many people in the months of July and August for the past three years. We have started advising our more mature clients or those not in the best of shape to avoid European travel during the summer months. If you were not aware of this issue your “travel agent” should have been. But it is also true that you alone were aware of your husband’s “prior condition” and mid-summer travel and the likelihood of climate-change related events should have given you pause as to the timing of this trip. In the end, it is only money. The forecast is for continued heat. In large portions of France, air-conditioning has never been needed and that is one reason the death toll is so high. 

Also think about this: The monster heat wave in much of Europe at the moment is filling up local hospitals and putting pressure on physicians to see those who need help. If your husband did the trip and came down ill, he might not be able to receive medical attention in a timely fashion. 

 

Q – We discovered an interesting web site that has a lot of information about earning miles and using the best credit cards for travel and earning miles. We are wondering if you would recommend “View from the Wing” as a reliable source?

A – Yes, the site’s editor, Gary Leff, is highly respected and one of the nation’s top points experts. Gary is quite open about accepting stipends from some of the credit cards he recommends but we don’t have a problem with that as his rationale is usually quite sound. View also aggregates reports of interest to air consumers. 

There are many mileage oriented sites that we think are excellent. “The Points Guy” is another good source for ways to maximize your points.

These sites are sometimes quite geeky and overly detailed.  But the fact is that the major US airlines are starting to restrict the number of mileage awards they are giving out so a bit of education on this subject is a good thing. 

Q – We are planning on spending a fair amount of money, staying at The Savoy, in Florence this coming summer. We’ll be there for six days and are looking forward to walking around on one big self-designed foodie tour. We love street food. click here you will get too many types of food.

But now I am hearing that you can’t eat food in Florence in the summer in public unless you are at an outdoor cafe. Is this actually true? Would they bite the hand that feeds them? Sounds crazy. 

A – There are new laws in place during the summer months in several Italian cities including Florence, Rome, and Venice. These new laws are designed at visitors who exhibit poor behavior, munching on food while they walk, or dribbling gelato while the sun beats down. There are specific laws geared toward “bad fountain behavior”. 

Florence, specifically, had over 10 Million visitors last summer. There are now heavy fines for tourists who eat food in the street. The laws are being strictly enforced on four primary streets, Via de’ Neri, Piazzale-degli Uffizi, Piazza del Grano and Via della Ninna. Do not dine on a panini while walking these streets. Try to enjoy your gelato among the other hundred or so tourists standing in the sidewalk line outside Vivoli. The fines range in the $550 USD range. The restrictions are in force during primary dining times (lunch and dinner) – of course, in Italy that could be anytime.

Q – I think I am married to a “saint”. So do my friends. I’ve been working in the Publishing field for the past fourteen years and I have found myself working more and more on health-related publications. I did have a bout with Cancer a few years back and my husband has made up his mind to follow my health-related whims in terms of my appointments with the professionals of Boise ENT, exercise and what we eat. Now, for a bunch of reasons I won’t go into here, we are ready to start traveling internationally. . We have only been to London previously so there is lots of the world to see while we can still do it comfortably. So here is where it gets a bit odd – I have this thing in my head that as long as we can create our own bucket list, why not set a goal of visiting the ten “healthiest” countries on the planet in terms of life expectancy, smoking, obesity, and heart disease, and access to clean water. Also – a healthy diet, of course. Is there any way you might come up with a Bucket List for us of, what you might consider, the “healthiest places in the world”? Or, to stay really healthy, should we just stay in the United States. Thanks so much for this awesome site. 

A – There actually is some hard research on this subject using empirical evidence. The Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index is one of the most credible. To start you off for a few years, let’s look at the Five healthiest places to visit.

# 1 – Spain (Highest Overall Life Expectancy)

# 2 – Italy (Starting to see the value of Olive Oil?)

# 3 – Iceland

# 4 – Japan

# 5 – Switzerland

The United States ranks 35th, behind, among others, Cuba, Malta, Chile, and Slovenia.

There are many ways to construct your own personal bucket list. We think that choosing destinations based on the overall good health of their citizens, is a rather smart way to design your travels. 

Q – My wife and I have just retired from government service with two very comfortable pensions. We want to be well educated when we travel overseas and we understand how helpful the internet will be. But we are wondering if there are any publications that you think are particularly important if one is to travel as a prepared and educated American?

A – Dear Mr. President, thank you for your question ……….. Oh wait, you’re not the President. Our mistake. Yours is, seriously, one of our favorite recent questions because it seems based on the assumption that you want to be as educated on contemporary affairs and local conditions as possible when you travel. Before you head on out, make sure you have an itinerary so you know what activities you’ll be doing, if you still aren’t sure what you are going to do, then you should definitely make some room for a Global Basecamps tour.It is obvious that you would go for stay outside in camp for more fun and there for making food you will need wood briquettes for making food or getting warmer.So you can’t take risk to avoid dkbrænde.dk. Now, here are some notes we hope will help you in your preparation:

• The most widely read travel publication is National Geographic Travel with over 28 million monthly readers.
• The Week is an extraordinary publication that has no political view and publishes briefing reports on developments of every aspect of life from science, to movies, to health discoveries. The Week publishes the best columns from Europe and all over the world and provides a personal briefing report of the kind you would want if you were President. We think any traveler should be a subscriber.
• Travel Weekly (admission – we write for them) is the trusted voice of the travel industry. It is easy to read insider information via subscription that will be extremely useful in your travels. It will make you feel like you are a travel pro and no one will know you are a civilian.
• The New York Times. Our most respected journalistic voice features local and regional reporting that is the best in the business and a travel section that is one of the very few that does not accept complimentary travel for its writers.

Q – I am coming to traveltruth because I would love to get the bottom line on insurance. I’m a reader, and I organize every aspect of my trip. I’ve been traveling since my wife and I retired eight years ago and it seems that all my plans fall into place until it comes to the travel insurance. The online advice I see tells me I should price compare on sites like squaremouth.com and insuremytrip.com. I’ve tried that but they seem to be sites that rate insurance companies based largely on pricing. Any direction you might provide on this subject would be appreciated. I want good insurance although I hope I never need it. 

A – OK – here is the bottom line:

#1 – Never, ever purchase insurance online. You always want a human advocate for something as personal as insurance coverage. 

# 2 = Never purchase the cheapest policy. This is one product you should never buy on the basis of price. 

# 3 – Ask your travel consultant why they are recommending a particular insurance company or plan that includes medical  and Life Insurance

Which type of life insurance you have is going to have one of the biggest impacts on how much you pay in premiums. They each offer different types of coverage, and, as you could probably guess, more coverage equals more money. But life insurance is slightly more nuanced since there are so many different ways of purchasing it, although the general rule of thumb is that term is cheaper than whole.

Here you can find a short description of each of the different life insurance policies available. Average prices will be discussed later as they depend heavily on other factors.

Term Life Insurance

The most popular type of life insurance is term life insurance. This is life insurance that will provide a lump sum (known as the death benefit) to your named beneficiary in the event you die. However, with term insurance, your policy is not unlimited. It runs for a pre-determined “term,” and it expires when that term is over. For detailed information about child life insurance visit azmoney.co.uk.

Term life insurance policies can be bought for as little as five years and as many as thirty. They are designed for people who want to be covered in the event something happens to them before their dependents (in most cases their children) can take care of themselves.

For example, a couple in their early 30s with two young children might buy a 20-year term policy to make sure their kids will be taken care of in the event one or both parents die before the kids become adults.

Again, it’s a bit morbid to think about, but term life insurance makes a ton of sense for people who have dependents. However, after your term is over, you will no longer need to pay premiums, but you will also no longer have a death benefit.

Renewable Term Insurance

Some term life insurance policies are renewable, meaning you can opt to purchase them again after the term has expired. But this does not mean you are guaranteed the same rate.

In fact, most insurance companies will probably require you to undergo a new medical exam, and this, plus the fact you are anywhere from 10 to 30 years older than you were when you bought the policy, means you can expect higher premiums when you renew your policy.

Level and Decreasing Term Insurance

Something else that can affect the price of your term life insurance premiums is whether or not you have a level or decreasing policy. In level policies, your death benefit remains the same throughout the entire life of the policy. This means if you buy a $1 million, 20-year term policy and die on year 19, the payout will still be $1 million.

With decreasing term policies, your death benefit decreases over time, usually in one-year increments. The benefit of this is that you will likely pay lower premiums, but you are assuming more risk on your own by reducing the value of your policy each year of the term.

Q – We have read your warnings about travel to southern European countries like Italy and Spain during the summer months. You have pointed out the issues with heat and over-crowding. But what of Northern Europe. We are considering a museum-oriented trip to Amsterdam in August and we were wondering what months to avoid in this portion of Europe? Are the recommendations different? Also, we are thinking about booking our art-focused tours in Amsterdam, and perhaps Paris, through an online company called Context Tours. We were wondering if you recommend them and if they use high-quality guides? Really appreciate this site – we’ve learned so much we had not read elsewhere.

A – Let’s treat this as the two-parter it is. The short answer to part one – Amsterdam has many of the same summer over-crowding issues as its neighbors to the south. You definitely want to avoid July and August. Many of the locals will leave the city during those months because the population grows from just under a million permanent residents to more than 20 million visitors. Like many other cities enduring July/August crowding, Amsterdam is trying to do something about its crowding problems. They are heavily promoting areas outside the city, they have placed restrictions on the number of Airbnb rentals, and they have started limiting the number of shops that serve tourists in the city center. The reality is that Amsterdam is an amazing walking city with more canals than Venice. It is lovely when the tourist mobs have left to return to their studies and the financial support of their parents. You always want to go to Europe when colleges are actually holding classes.

Context Travel is an interesting and quite reliable company. They do walking tours for individuals and small groups led by local scholars and well-educated locals. Their pricing is generally less than one would pay for a certified city guide and driver and they are happy to work with families. They have an office on Walnut Street in Philadelphia. Their idea of employing true “scholars and experts” on a subject rather than historically based generalists – which is what most tour guides are – is an approach that we very much endorse. 

Q – There has been lots in the news about the crashes of the 737 Max version. I think we’re about to be scheduled to fly it by our tour company in August (2019). Can you offer a quick summary of where things stand, what the issues are, how we would know if our pilot knows what he/she is doing, and whether or not there is anything we need to do at this point to change planes? It seems that the problem is only with American Airlines. Is that correct?

A – It is true that American and Southwest have a large number of this new version of the 737 in service or on order. But many airlines all over the world have the aircraft or have it on order. It is a workhorse with high levels of fuel efficiency for short-haul routes. Here are just a few observations we hope will be helpful:

• No oversight organization is going to rescind the grounding of these aircraft until the software issue is fixed and all pilots are aware of proper procedures. 
• In fact, it does not appear that pilot error was an issue in the crashes. The issue had to do with the fact that the safety fix software was not installed and the manufacturer did not adequately instruct airlines considering purchase of the aircraft why the safety “extra” was a critical component in an in-flight emergency.
• The reason it was not installed is that Boeing had made the safety equipment at the center of this issue non-mandatory. It was sold as an add-on and airlines purchasing the aircraft were not informed of potential problems if it was not installed. Just think about that for a moment. Safety-based software that would have prevented sudden dives was offered at an extra-charge – sort of like adding a shot of espresso at Starbucks. That needs to change. But the public seems to have turned away from this issue.
• American has announced that they are now (April 14, 2019) expecting the planes to be back in service by the third week in August. Meanwhile, American is canceling more than 100 flights per day to try to manage a meaningful schedule. 
• We recommend waiting until 30-Days prior to your scheduled flight to see what kind of aircraft is scheduled for your flight. We would not have the slightest trepidation flying the 737 Max once it is, again, cleared for take-off. Meanwhile, several of the nation’s largest airlines will not have enough aircraft authorized to fly that can possibly meet the needs of summer travel schedules and weather-related issues that cause flight cancellations in July and August. 

Q – We’ve been reading this blog and one particular section has really made me angry. We have been booking our own travel for almost twenty years. Yes, there have been glitches, but most of the time things worked out and we’ve had some marvelous times. But we always felt we were getting a deal by bypassing travel agents. Now that we understand how the system works, it seems that we were charged thousands of dollars for services we never received. Since two companies, tour operators, received most of our business, we are thinking we should demand some money back for all the times we traveled and were charged a price that included the travel agent’s fees for stuff we never received. We never, for instance, got any advice about insurance and we got badly burned twice. Again, we never used a travel agent. Is this a complete waste of time and how should we approach it? 

A – It could be a waste of time but it might be worth the effort. You would need to carefully document the money you spent over the years with each company. You would then show that the travel agency commission was built into all of the payments you received. You would next show the types of services an agent would have performed for their built-in fee – and point out you never received those services. You might assume an average built-in commission of 12-15% and demand a refund using specific percentages of what you paid. You can assume that everything you paid always included the commission. 

You have, in our view, been ripped off over the course of many, loyal years. We seriously doubt that any tour company or cruise line will give you back the funds you are due, but they very well may offer a response that, in some way, recognizes their appreciation for your past support. 

Q – Friends told us that you can fly home out of Ireland back to the United States without clearing customs as though you are on a domestic flight. True?

A -Not exactly. US Customs staff are in Dublin’s airport and US citizens clear US customs before ever boarding the plane home. This also allows for baggage that can be checked through to final destination.

Why isn’t this being offered in other European countries? The U.S. has offered to expand this service –  so far no takers.