The rest of Q&A

Q – With all the terrorism over there, I am wondering where the Europeans themselves are now going on vacation. I know a lot of them used to go to Egypt but I imagine that has dried up. Are they now avoiding travel and staying home on vacation. 

A –  The Europeans tend to be adults in these matters and they understand the relative risk of terrorism versus, say, driving an automobile. There has been a reduction in European visitors to Egypt – but there is little evidence they are staying away from Europe in general. Since they actually read (England’s readership rate in terms of print media is double ours) they are generally better-informed than Americans are about reward/risk stats.

In fact, Europeans have been putting off vacations in some of the more dodgey areas of the world in favor of vacations on the continent. CNN reports that Spain and Portugal have seen tourism increases of 30% this summer versus 2015.

Q –  In June we got caught up in the middle of the Air France pilot strike making it impossible for us to get home on time. It was an absolute mess but I won’t bore your readers with details, except to say that we had to triple connect from Paris to get back to Oklahoma City. As I travel with my family abroad at least twice a year, I would love any suggestions to avoid these strike and serious delay hassles, particularly in Europe; Make sure you Travel Insurance company can handle Jet2 Flight Delay Claims.  

A – Well first, of course, you need to move from Oklahoma City. Try New York or Chicago – far better air connection gateways. Short of that we would suggest the following to protect yourself against likely strike actions that are normally scheduled during heavy travel periods in the summer:

01 – Do not do your own air. Have your tickets issued by an actual human you can contact who will be your advocate. The convicts who man the phones at warehouse call centers may not have your best interests at heart.

o2 – Road warriors know a trick you need to know: When airlines can’t operate their flight, it is in their interest to put you on a partner carrier. When choosing airlines you might want to think about whether or not their partners could get you where you need to go in an emergency. If, for instance, you are stranded in Singapore, Delta will be little use to you.

03 – Strikes are most likely to occur in France, Italy, Greece, and Spain. In one or two of these countries striking is a sport and they get as much practice in as possible. Try to watch the news carefully, particularly the European press, in the days just prior to your flight.

04 – The most important single thing you can do is use a flight monitoring service that will handle re-booking details on your behalf and watch all strike actions carefully. There is normally an extra charge for this service but it is almost always less than $100. Your travel agent will set this up for you.

05 – If you insist on booking your airline tickets online, always do it on the airline’s own site. If you don;t, they have all sorts of outs to deny you service.

Q –  Your travel advice is spot on with one rather glaring exception. We don’t subscribe to your theory that the earth is getting hotter and that travel to places like Europe should be reconsidered in the summer months. We just returned from a ten-day package in Germany and we found the July temperatures to be quite comfortable. This site is getting popular but it will get even bigger if you refrain from citing all of the faulty democrat climate change BS. 

A –  Gotcha. Now we understand why we are not popular. And we so desperately want to be popular. Actually, Scientific American, a well-known right-wing rag, has just released new NASA  figures showing that last March was the hottest on record and it was the 11th month in a row to break the  global high temperature record. It is likely that April through September will, rather easily sustain that record making fifteen consecutive months of the highest-ever temperatures worldwide. The magazine quotes leading climatologists as saying that this new data is “shocking” and that it signals a “climate emergency.”

But we know you will agree that this entire fabrication started when Hillary was explaining why she does not spend much time out in the sun.

Q –  Most of my  friends use and depend on TripAdvisor to develop their travel “expertise”. They mostly use it to justify the hotel they selected based on price. But I have learned, partly from this informative site, that these online reviews are often fake. So I wonder if you might share some ways that will help me know if what I am reading in a travel review is actually written by a traveler who stayed at the hotel? 

A – There is some good news on the fake review front. Researchers at the famed Cornell School of Hotel Management have created a website called Review Skeptic.com that will tell you, with 90% accuracy if a posted review is real or not. The staff at Cornell has created a series of  algorithm’s that analyze opinion spam using psychological and linguistic components.

All you need to do is copy the review and paste it on the ReviewSkeptic site. Then click on  the “Test It” button and the results will be revealed. The test even shows you why it has concluded that a review is fake or real.

Of course what is wrong with this technology is that we must now have several groups set up to defeat the algorithms. They will try to develop linguistic patterns that can beat the system. But, for now, this is the best tool we have to detect the high percentage of fake reviews flooding the major travel and restaurant sites. And as this science progresses, it is well to note that the folks at Cornell will be getting better at spotting the fakes.

Always remember that you do not have to have been a guest at a hotel to post a review of the property on TripAdvisor. Sort of like writing a restaurant review without actually dining at the restaurant. But this is all in keeping with the business ethics practiced by many of our travel web site designers.

Q – We’ve booked a hotel in London  for five nights and are currently in penalty. There is no agent involved and I did not take out insurance for this trip. We’re due to leave in 11 days. Is there any way to sell the room in London or to re-sell it in the States so I can recover some of what I paid (I booked a top suite at well over $1,000 USD per night) Not looking for anything illegal – just a secret strategy to get some of my money back. 

A – There are now two web sites that resell booked hotel space. Try RoomerTravel.com and Cancelon.com Your listings will immediately appear on sites such as Kayak and Trivago. The average fee to these sites is 10-15% and you should expect to recoup about 50% of what you paid for the room. Do be careful when transferring confirmation numbers. And don’t change your mind and just show up as the bed may feel crowded – unless you are from Marin County.

Q –  You probably get this question quite often but we’re rather new to the idea of international travel as my husband is about to take a comfortable retirement next month. Although we live outside of Charleston and could just enjoy the city we love so much, the world seems to be calling. At your suggestion to previous writers, we’ve established a relationship with a travel agent we think will take good care of us. But we keep hearing about hotel upgrades and we would appreciate it so much if you would just list a few steps we might take to be in the best position for these hotel upgrades when we travel. We certainly will be staying at the very finest hotels. Thanks so much for all your kind advice.

A – Well thank you. A case of your best sweet tea from time to time is all we ask in return.

Here is our quick list to secure the best upgrades:

01 – Become a Rewards Club Member with all the top chains and particularly Starwood through Marriott and the Ritz Carlton.

02 – Make certain that your travel consultant is a member of Travel Leaders, Signature, Virtuoso, Ensemble, or American Express to receive complimentary upgrades not available to those who book directly with the hotel or online. This is your single best strategy.

03 – Guests who arrive later in the day and who are only staying for one or two nights are often upgraded. Let the hotel know you are in their loyalty club.

04 – When you are upgraded always send a thank you note to the General Manager and, possibly, the reservations room manager. Very few guests do this and it means a lot.

05 – Never loudly complain about any issue or try to make the problem seem more than it is to get an upgrade (I know your southern temperament would never allow that) Hotels can easily mark your profile. Most guests do not realize that hotels write behavioral comments about their guests and that information can be viewed the next time you check in.

Q – I lived in San Francisco for may years where I was a modest collector of watercolors I would buy at street fairs. I was particularly struck by these incredible mountain scenes, always covered by fog in the paintings and seeming quite mystical. Now, my wife and I are in a financial position where we can go in search of these mountains. I realize the tourist board will help me but thought I would check to see if this might ring a bell in terms of the destination I need to visit?

A – We can’t be sure but we are betting that the scenes you remember were of the Tianzi Mountain Nature Reserve in Wulingyuan, China. See if this photo brings back the right kind of memories.

Q – I am a frequent flyer in the front of the plane who loves your site(s). The problem is I read traveltruth whenever I fly and sometimes the conversation about cleanliness makes me itchy. I know I’m a germaphobe and I don’t have any problem coming out of the closet. So I would ask one favor – if I’m going to be cleaning anyway, and I am, what are the five things I should clean first and foremost?

A –  Sorry for the delay. We had to take a shower after reading your question. OK – here is the list based on the latest research we’ve seen:

The Filthiest Piece of Aircraft Equipment Award goes to the tray table. The fact that it is so darn close to your body must not be comforting. Clean it immediately after being seated.

The Second Filthiest Piece of Aircraft Equipment Award  goes to the water fountain – although they are being phased out. Only flyers with a death wish should avoid touching one of these. Even terrorists in the midst of a hijacking avoid using the on-board water fountain.

The Most Surprising Germ-Infested Piece of Equipment with an amazingly high “colong forming units of bacteria” rating is the overhead air vent. They are never cleaned and have a higher bactyeria count than the bathroom flush button which is the Fourth Filthiest item on your plane.

Finally, the really filthy 5th place winner is your seat belt buckle. The pros clean this first after boarding.

Hope this helps. Happy Flying!

Q –  I’ve been keeping track – in the last three months, I’ve found four low airfares, tried to sell it to my husband, and each time when I got back the price was gone. Do these fares really change like that every  fifteen or twenty minutes?

A – We are thinking that you have been victimized by a little known but frequent online practice involving internet air searches. As you are searching specific flight combinations, these web sites can quickly raise the price once you return to the screen to make your purchase. This is highly unethical but it is not yet, illegal. You can fight the practice by going in and deleting your search history, and your cookies (we hope you know what cookies are or you will think we’re insane). You can then go on the site with a fresh search and the original fares will reappear. Airlines do not change their fares every fifteen minutes although the software will automatically raise the fare once a pre-determined number of seats  are sold at the lower price. That is why families booking online are often shocked to discover that the entire family is not traveling at the same price despite booking the same seats at the same time.

Q – We have been once – 25 years ago – to the Caribbean (friends house on Antigua) and fell totally in love with the island’s quietness, the vibrant and friendly people, the sound of the sea, and especially the steel drum music.

We are now approaching retirement age (58 and 53) and we want to re-discover the Caribbean and perhaps even scout out a place we might consider moving to when we are done working. But we sense that the “old Caribbean” that we visited many years ago, may have given way to crowds and cruise ships. We want to get away from the getaways …….would you have any suggestions? We have read wonderful things about Bequia (Grenadines) but have not yet visited. Is the Zika fear creating any notable bargains for travel and real estate? Many thanks. We have really enjoyed reading this site and listening to you on the Financial Sense show.

A –  Generally speaking, purchasing before you retire is a good idea as you can build up equity while you are still working. We would suggest that you skip entirely any Caribbean island with a strong budget cruise ship presence.

You should be subscribing to International Living – a newsletter for future ex-pats. Be careful about books on the subject – they are notoriously out-of-date.

Look over the CIA Country Report for any island you are considering. It will give you a breakdown of the population as well as crime and cost of living statistics. Also read the British government foreign office reports on each island.

Some of the better retirement islands are St. John, Anguilla, The Turks & Caicos, and out islands in the Bahamas. We would suggest that you go for a month and spend a week on four islands with the best real estate agent on each island. Have a visitation schedule sent to you in advance with photos and pricing so you can rule out clunkers.

Buying commercial real estate can get very tricky, if you are not well versed in the real estate business. Do no t attempt to do it by yourself – seek the help of professionals who can help you through the process of finding the perfect property, taking care of the paperwork and closing the deal.

A professional commercial real estate brokers are specially trained to handle commercial real estate transactions that are very different from regular real estate deals. A professional commercial real estate broker can also inform you of prime commercial real estate that are for sale. Institutional and private investors often ‘secretly’ sell off parts of their commercial property portfolios, and a commercial property broker can let you in on this insider information. Click here if you want to get more about the commercial space for rent.

Because real estate prices have dropped quite a bit, the potential commissions that real estate agents and brokers could earn have also dropped. But the drop in commissions can be more than offset by the amount of properties that can be sold.

And getting quality real estate leads is one of the keys to making this a reality for real estate professionals. This is because there are so many more properties on the market now than there were before the bubble burst.

Thе rise іn thе number оf homeowners whо аrе underwater оn thеіr mortgages hаѕ increased ѕо muсh thаt a vеrу large number оf thеm hаvе decided thаt thеу саnnоt afford tо stay іn thеіr homes. Thе lender оf a mortgage wіll receive monthly іntеrеѕt payments аnd wіll kеер a lien оn thе property аѕ security thаt thе loan wіll bе repaid. Well this site will provide you better guidance for mortgage. Thе borrower wіll receive thе mortgage loan аnd uѕе thе money tо purchase thе property аnd receive ownership rights tо thе property. Whеn thе mortgage іѕ paid іn full, thе lien іѕ removed. If thе borrower fails tо repay thе mortgage thе lender mау tаkе possession оf thе property. we have a great selection of lending options for your home loan.

They would rather sell their home and buy a comparable home for a much lower price, and take the loss so that they can improve their cash flow situation by having a lower mortgage payment each month. And since there is no shortage of properties to buy, these people had no problem finding a suitable home for a good price.

And another result of the rise in available properties is that more and more people are becoming first-time homeowners. Since prices on homes are falling, more and more people are able to afford a home for the same amount they are currently paying in rent. So the logical choice for these people is to buy a house rather than continuing to rent.

Skip the guidebooks and get in on ex-pat chat rooms. Do detective work and keep a binder of the issues/problems on each island under consideration. Don’t be naive. On many of the islands there is resentment toward Americans who drive up real estate prices. Many Americans commit only to discover they have made a terrible mistake.

Generally speaking, you will get far more for your money in Central America than you will in the Caribbean. Try looking at both Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Oh, and one more thing. If you have to worry about finding a cheap airfare to the Caribbean, you may  not have the income to retire there.

Finally, do choose your island carefully. The Caribbean is home to some of the highest overall crime rates in the world.