I'm lucky enough to live in San Francisco, a city that's frequently named one of the world's top tourist destinations. So while I've got my own cozy home in the City by the Bay, there are hordes of tourists looking for a place to stay. And as you'd expect, hotel prices can be pretty expensive in such a popular place. But over the past few years, I've collected the names of reasonably priced accommodations to share with those interested in visiting my fair city. Mind you, I've never stayed in any of these establishments, but they all get good ratings from travelers at TripAdvisor, one of my favorite travel web sites. Here they are, listed alphabetically:
Andrews Hotel
Carlton Hotel
The Mosser
San Remo Hotel
If you're looking for a little more "cool" factor, the Joie de Vivre hotel group has some great properties. I especially like the Phoenix Hotel (but be warned, it's in a funky part of town).
Hope to see you soon in San Francisco (don't EVER call it Frisco).
I like to think I'm up on all the tricks for finding the cheapest airfare, but here's a new one from Michael Jones that I found on his Armageddon Project blog. Michael recommends to "check Expedia.com or Southwest Airlines’ site for tickets EXACTLY one week to the day before you want to fly. I found that Southwest and Expedia both offer CHEAP fares on a 7-day advance purchase."
I haven't had the chance to check it out myself, but I'm happy to have another "secret" travel tip at my disposal.
Thanks Mike!
For the past several years, a (growing) group of buddies and I take a major trip together. In 2004, we visited Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls in Argentina. This year, we spent nearly 2 weeks visiting the volcanos, rainforests and beaches of Costa Rica. Now it's time to start planning our next trip for early 2006: SOUTH AFRICA!
Like many people, I've dreamed for years about going on safari and seeing all those wild beasts normally confined to the local zoo. How exotic! Throw in a cosmopolitan city like Cape Town, and the trip even gets better. But for the bargain travel hunter, South Africa poses a bit of a problem. Airfares to South Africa START at $1000 and go up from there. And safaris are expensive...way expensive. But I've done some preliminary research, and I think I've found a couple outfits that can provide a fantastic time, at a more reasonable price. Plus, both offer all-inclusive packages with airfare, as well as "land only" options for those of us planning on using frequent flyer miles to get to South Africa.
My first choice, 2Afrika, offers lots of great options for South African trips. One 13-day offering includes Cape Town, Victoria Falls AND Chobe National Park! The company has been very responsive to my emails and really seems to know their stuff. Another company, Djoser African Safaris, does Africa a bit differently, specializing in "active, affordable trips for small groups that offer a blend of nature, culture and authentic local experiences". They've got a VERY interesting selection of South Africa trips.
Can't wait to start really planning with the rest of my travel group.
If you want proof that I'm a travel-planning freak, you need look no further than the collection of travel-related bookmarks in my web browser. At last count, I had nearly 1,100 web sites marked (and neatly organized, of course)! But my obsession is your gain. You can now access all 1,100 of my travel bookmarks directly from the Travel Coach blog. Even better, the bookmarks are searchable, so you can quickly find any of my bookmarks related to say, "Italy" in just a few seconds. And if you're REALLY a Travel Coach fan, you can download the entire collection to your own computer. You can find my bookmarks here, or click the "MyBookmarks" link in the right-hand column of my blog. Happy surfing.
A couple of weeks ago, a friend emailed me looking for an affordable, short-term apartment rental in Rome for an upcoming trip. Then just yesterday, another friend mentioned she was having trouble finding a house to swap in Manhattan for a particular week this summer. In both instances, I recommended a travel resource many people might not consider: Craigslist.
In case you don't know, Craigslist is a community-based website that was started in the Bay Area waaay back in the dot.com heyday. Think of it as a virtual coffeehouse bulletin board where you can find everything from job listings, real estate, used items for sale...even a quickie pickup. Posting on the site is free in most cases.
Craigslist in San Francisco became so popular that there are now local Craigslist sites in more than 120 cities around the world. And here's why that's exciting news for travelers everywhere: Craigslist has specific listings for both vacation rentals and housing swaps in each of the cities it serves.
In my first friend's case, I sent him to check the Craigslist Rome site for vacation rentals. My second friend searched the Craigslist NYC site for housing swaps, and also posted her own house to see if she could entice anyone in New York to make a swap. Remember, as with any online transaction, exercise caution when using Craigslist to find a short-term rental.
Say goodbye to sterile chain motels and overpriced hotels. With a little work and some luck, you could find yourself sitting pretty in your very own rental apartment or house on your next vacation.
Remember how the Internet was going to make travel-planning easier for everyone? How you were going to be able to find the cheapest airfare with just a few clicks of your computer mouse and tippety-taps on your keyboard? WRONG! If you're like most people, the web has made making travel reservations even MORE complicated. With a dizzying array of options from dozens of competing sites, it's nearly impossible to make sure you're getting the best deal out there. And with the accelerating demise of the traditional travel agent, you're often left to flounder on your own in a sea of confusion.
To add to the problem, many travel sites such as Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity claim to search all available airfare and hotel deals out there, but here's the hidden, ugly truth: these sites often make exclusive "deals" with travel providers, exclude many of the lower-cost airlines from searches, or favor one airline over another in their search results.
Say "hi" to Kayak.com.
As a travel aggregator, Kayak.com does not sell any travel products directly, but merely collects the offers from "over 100 online travel sites, providing prices and itineraries for more than 550 airlines and 85,000 hotels." Kayak.com then lets you easily filter duplicate fares, change your search parameters and instantly see the reorganized results. Plus when you search for hotels, you see ratings and reviews provided by readers and respected travel sites such as Frommer's and Fodors. Of course, Kayak doesn't search EVERY airline web site (including that of major low-cost carrier Southwest), but the site promises it's working diligently to add new partners. Until then, you'll need to check these "renegade" airline sites yourself.
Try out Kayak.com for yourself using the seach box in the right-hand column of the Travel Coach blog. And in case you were wondering....no, I'm not making any commission on flights you book through Kayak.com on my blog. At least not yet :)
I'm lucky enough to live in San Francisco, a city that's frequently named one of the world's top tourist destinations. So while I've got my own cozy home in the City by the Bay, there are hordes of tourists looking for a place to stay. And as you'd expect, hotel prices can be pretty expensive in such a popular place. But over the past few years, I've collected the names of reasonably priced accommodations to share with those interested in visiting my fair city. Mind you, I've never stayed in any of these establishments, but they all get good ratings from travelers at TripAdvisor, one of my favorite travel web sites. Here they are, listed alphabetically:
