Entries Tagged "travel blog"

Sunday, January 31, 2010

As you get ready to travel?

Here are some tips to give you peace of mind while you are away and make sure you do not make your house as a target of opportunity. These are some simple precautions from the experts.

• Be mindful of who is around when you are discussing your trip - there is no need to let too many people know or draw attention to the fact your house might be empty for a period.
• The best deterrent is to have someone housesit. If that is not possible, ask a trusted neighbor or friend to take in the newspaper, mail, and any other deliveries and keep an eye on the house. Give them your trip plans and an emergency phone number so they can reach you in case of an emergency. You can also arrange with the post office and newspaper to suspend delivery for the time you are away.
• Lock doors, windows and secure sliding doors (a metal rod or a broomstick in the sliding door track is an inexpensive lock), as well as the garage, the basement, and the attic. Some people even disconnect the power to motorized garage door openers.
• Move any valuables from plain sight.
• Check on your appliances, unplug anything that doesn't need to be on while you're away. Lower air conditioning/heating units to energy-saving levels.
• Set timers to turn on lights if you do not have someone staying at the house.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Please share some of your unique ideas!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

We just received this question from a client, and thought it was worth posting, as many travelers have similar concerns.

Q.  I'm confused about luggage, specifically carry on. Is my purse considered a carry on item? How about my husband's camera case? My husband wants to bring his computer, it is slightly over the 12x11x6 Is this a problem?

A.  #1.  A purse or camera case is not considered a carry on. You can still have a separate carry-on bag.

#2.  As far as your husband's computer, carry-on bags must be small enough to store in overhead bins or under the seat in front of you on motorcoaches and other transportation. If it is a very minimal difference, (1 inch,) then it should still fit in the overhead without a problem, but these measurements are given to ensure you will not have any issue while touring.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

An unexpected emergency or mishap can turn a dream of a lifetime vacation into a travel nightmare. Travel insurance is purchased to give you piece of mind. The purpose is to save you money, protect your vacation and make your trip memorable for you and your family.

Services offered include services of 24/7 agent for any last minutes changes, pre-trip travel advice such as what vaccines are required, embassy contacts, weather and currency information.  They also offer assistance for last minute changes, such as cancelled or delayed flights, making hotel reservations or ground transportation reservations. Benefits include coverage in the event of cruise line, airline or tour operator default (financial default non applicable to all suppliers) Coverage for sickness, injury or death of immediate family member. Terrorist incident that results in loss of life or major damage to property, by any person

With a good policy, you receive 24 hours assistance replacing lost or stolen documents such as visas, passports or tickets. Cash advance for travel or medical emergencies. They can also help you locate English speaking medical specialists, facilities and assistance with medical evacuations anywhere in the world.

They will provide you with baggage and personal effects loss coverage, baggage delay coverage and luggage tracing services. They have a bilingual staff for telephone interpretation for medical or legal emergencies.

If you purchase your travel insurance within 15 days of making your initial deposit your coverage will include pre-existing conditions which applies to the first $25,000 of trip cost.

Whether a child gets the flu, or a close family member has a medical emergency, travel protection has a plan that will protect you before or during your vacation. The right kind of insurance is essential. It will provide you with peace of mind, medical evacuation in case of an emergency, baggage coverage, flight delay and flight cancellation coverage.

In addition to these services some insurance policies also provide a concierge service which is available to assist you with restaurant reservations, event tickets, tee time reservations and floral services.

This is only a brief description of some of the benefits and travel services provided. All policies and coverage may vary, and may not be available in all states. There are also expanded coverage plans that offer business related covered reasons for trip cancellation and interruption, and other that let you cancel for any reason.

At times it is best to purchase the insurance with the tour operator or cruise line as part of your package, where on other occasions you can save money and get better coverage medical and evacuation coverage. An experience agent can explain your options to that you can purchase the best policy for your individual needs.

Good travel insurance isn't always expensive. We have negotiated excellent policies exclusive to Atlas, where rather than paying by age, which can add up for seniors, everyone is charged a flat amount base on the cost of the trip.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

For those that are new to travel, you may be wondering when reading through an itinerary what is a UNESCO World Heritage Site?

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that holds a list of outstanding cultural or natural universal value such as, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It could be a monument, building, mountain, forest, lake, desert, complex or city.

So how is a site selected?

Only countries that have signed the World Heritage Convention, pledging to protect their natural & cultural heritage can submit nominations for properties on their territory to be considered for inclusion in UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

A nominated property is independently evaluated by several Advisory Boards. Once a site has been nominated & evaluated, the intergovernmental World Heritage Committee makes the final decision. One per year, the Committee meets to decide which sites will be inscribed on the World Heritage list.

The program aims to catalogue & preserve sites of outstanding importance, either cultural or natural, to the common heritage of humankind.

There are currently 878 World Heritage Sites in 145 countries. These include 679 cultural, 174 natural and 25 mixed properties.

You may have visited a place in the U.S. already, not realizing it was a UNESCO site such as the Statue of Liberty, Grand Canyon, Yosemite Yellowstone or Olympic National Park.

Click here for a full list of site.

I have seen 20 sites in 9 countries, so only 858 to go, but I have to say that certain countries do not interest me AT ALL, so my goal would be to see at least half of the UNESCO sites while traveling the world.

How many UNESCO sites have you visited?