The Fare for That Itinerary is No longer Available – Travel Hacks
If the above looks familiar, you’ve fallen victim to one of the most annoying little-known idiosyncrasies of online flight booking. After weeks of searching, watching the trend lines, monitoring the fare alerts, and comparing airlines and itineraries, you’re finally ready to buy, so you click “select” on your choice-of-flight, you click through to the […]
Airfare Hacks 2 – The Real Way to Score Cheap Airfare
There’s a lot of so-called science about booking cheap airfares, some of it (like the assertion that airfares are cheapest at the beginning of the week) mostly-true, some of it (that 3-months-in-advance is a “sweet spot”, or that certain weekdays are always cheaper to fly) dubious. Luckily, we don’t need folklore. We have Kayak. […]
Eight Mistakes You’re Probably Making When You Travel – Travel Hacks
Photo by Jaysin Trevino If you’ve traveled at all in the last decade, you’ve probably encountered travel stress. It’s counter-intuitive: we take vacations, honeymoons, and family trips in order to escape the rigors of everyday life, not to compound them. Yet, if we’re being completely honest, even our best vacations probably included some moments […]
Travel Hacks – Uber
Photo by Diego Torres Silvestre If you’ve ever tried to hail a cab in the rain, negotiated one price with a driver and ended up paying a different one when you arrived, or schlepped your luggage up or down the subway stairs because you thought it would be impossible to get a cab, get […]
Travel Hacks – Car Rental
I was all set to publish a review lauding the virtues of the mainline agencies like Hertz, Avis, and Entreprise, and lamenting that their primary competition, Zipcar, hasn’t yet delivered on its promise to a sufficient degree to be taken seriously – then reality intervened. SEATAC, this week, Hertz counter – Agent: The car […]
Cape Cod Vacay Rentals 1 – Avoid Our Mistakes
In fearless search of the smartest ways to visit the cape in style on a budget, we set out to “hack” the vacation rental racket so you our readers don’t have to. It ended up being a useful endeavor, because we expected it to be easy and it was anything but. Below, our hard-won […]
Airfare Hacks 1 – Flexible Travel Dates/Low Risk
True to the spirit of this site, prior to writing this post, I read a few articles, reviewed some tips from my favorite travel books, pulled up a couple of suggestions from friends who are seasoned travelers, and dusted off my memory of my international-hostel-hopping days in college. Not that I’m not an experienced […]
Hotel Tomo, Hotel Kabuki, and Japan Town – San Francisco
Japan Town is a charming corner of SF that obviously dates from the ’60s. Hotel Kabuki, one of the more highly-searched hotels in SF, is of the same era. Chih-Yu and I stayed at the Kabuki’s sister hotel, the Tomo, and had plenty of time to explore both, since they’re around the corner and […]
The NU Hotel – New York – Smart Getaways for Couples
Chih-Yu and I have an entire blog dedicated to the premise that Manhattan’s charms are wearing thin for many smart travelers. Far from being more adventurous, Brooklyn is actually a sightly-less-frenetic cousin of Manhattan. One where the pace is a little slower, the people a little hipper, the bars and restaurants a little less […]
New York Hotels – Smart Getaways for Couples
What’s the most underserved information query for New York City? Something interesting or sexy like subterranean tours, Cumbia bars in Brooklyn, the best tattoo parlors, or the Mole People? Fraid not – it’s hotels. Specific hotels, and by quite a long shot. As New Yorkers Chih-Yu and I don’t make a practice of staying […]
