Vacation rentals: are they safe?

I have never really thought of vacation rentals as a popular form of lodging while traveling. I don't know, something about it seems a bit "sketchy" or even risky.

As of recent, word from lawmakers and housing officials appear to agree with this. They've been hinting that vacation rentals may violate local ordinances about locals renting out their properties--leaving foreign renters "guilty by association."

Nonetheless, others are saying that vacation rentals are perfectly safe and legal. Restrictions are typically very vague and have little to no consequences for the actual renter.

I am still a bit unsure how I feel about renting abroad; it seems more fun to stay at a cool hotel and not have to worry about the daily duties of cleaning up and cooking that we usually try to avoid while traveling in the first place.

If you are interested in learning how to make vacation rentals work for you, check out these six tips from Budget Travel Magazine. The article reminds travelers to rent with somebody you trust, always pay with a credit card, get everything in writing and ask specifically about the owner's right to rent (among others).

Travel in the 21st century

In light of my recent post about medial tourism, I thought I'd share another growing form of travel.

Volunteer vacationing. Have you heard of it? It's basically exactly what it sounds like: combining volunteerism with travel abroad.

After international catastrophes like the earthquake in Haiti, many are gaining interest in this new form of travel. But you don't need to travel to a disaster-ridden country in order to volunteer. People in cities, town and tiny villages just about everywhere need help, from helping build a hospital in a remote community to helping a local farm with its daily chores.

Last summer, I traveled to Ghana with Appalachian through a service-learning program. Service-learning, in my opinion, is essentially the university version of volunteer vacationing. My group and I spent three weeks helping to build a school in a remote village and taught AIDS education. So not only did we get to experiencing the culture and see the sights:

West Africa's highest waterfall

...But we also got to help out an impoverished school in a great community:

Mixing cement for cement block molds for school library construction

My volunteer travel in Ghana was the perfect marriage of helping others while getting to take time away in a new place with a very different way of life.

I would encourage travelers to look into volunteer vacationing not because of what it can do for you, but for what you can do for someone else--for a child, a family or a community.

Volunteer vacationing exemplifies what traveling in the 21st century means. It encourages enthusiasts to truly step outside of their comfort zone and bring more to the travel experience than all-you-can-eat buffets and over-priced tourist traps.

Blind bidding

Last month, I traveled to Atlanta for a concert and friend's birthday celebration. We stayed at a five-star Marriot hotel in the heart of downtown for...drum roll...$70 a night. Yes, it was amazing. How did we swing a $300+/night hotel for 70 bucks?

My friend is a Priceline-guru and did her research on hotel bargaining websites to find the best time to place a bid on Priceline. I've never really been familiar with this process--I usually do a general Expedia search for a hotel and that's about it.

A New York Times article published about a week ago explains this hotel bargaining web process and compares different sites such as Priceline, Hotwire, Skyauction (had never heard of it) and LuxuryLink. 

Basically, these sites allow travelers to "blindly" bid on hotels with information about their pricepoint, preferred star-rating and arrival/departure dates. After checking with websites like BetterBidding.com, users are offered multiple hotel options, however the name and amenity details of the hotels are not shown until after travelers commit and pay. 

This can be nerve-racking for many travelers, myself included. There's something about knowing the hotel I'm about to shell out cash for, even if it is at a discounted rate. On the other hand, perhaps it is worth to risk to save hundreds of dollars on luxurious hotel deals. 

Would you take the risk for a deal?

"What? $8 for a pillow and blanket?"

I know I've been writing quite a few posts related to airlines and flying recently. It's a tough subject to avoid while perusing timely travel news since flying is such an important (and often controversial price-wise) element of travel.

Recently, I've shared news about Wi-Fi on a flight, tracking a plane from the ground, and now the fundamental topic of flying: prices.

According to this USA TODAY article, flight fees are up 50% compared to last year. The story, based off an USA TODAY analysis, compares 13 major airlines. The analysis looked at price changes for many items such as checked bags, preferred seating, in-flight snacks and Wi-Fi use. (See JetBlue Wi-Fi article below. Major kudos to them for free Wi-Fi.)

What does this mean to the regular air traveler? We could see a decrease in flight sales in the future. Still, airlines are still raking in the cash--U.S. Airlines brought in $2.1 billion in revenue in this year's second quarter, according to the story. (You can check out the full analysis comparison here.)

I don't think we'll see a major decrease in flying anywhere in the near future. In my opinion, it's too convenient--and even with new fees popping up, air travelers just aren't willing to give it up.

Look, a plane!

So this isn't exactly travel news, but might be the coolest thing I've heard in a while. Besides, it has to do with airplines--and that's travel-related, right?

The big question: have you ever looked up at an airplane in the sky and wondered where it was going?

Well, wonder no more, thanks to a recent smart phone app called Plane Finder AR featured in a recent CNN.com article.

The app can tell you where the plane started, where it's headed, how fast it's going and other aircraft technicalities like the flight number.

This is one of those things I've been waiting around
forever for someone to invent. It seems a little Jetsons-esque to just hold your smart phone up to the sky and have the details of a flight above presented to you on your phone. What a cool world we live in.

Some users have not found much success with the app since it doesn't work as well in the U.S. yet. More sensors must be installed in the U.S. in order to expand the app's success across the country.

So travel lovers, now when we look up at a plane, we don't just have to guess about the cool place it is headed to. Instead, we can be just plain jealous as we watch the Hawaii-bound plane pass right over us.

Photo above courtesy of CNN.

Gives me a sinking feeling

Any cruisers out there? If so, this post might just be for you...although it's a little eerie.

In memory of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the infamous Titanic, two cruise lines are shipping off to commemorate the occasion, including excursions to the sinking site, memorials and diving expeditions. (Kind of creepy?)

A CNN article (check it out here) shares how the Titanic Memorial Cruise and Voyages! Titanic 2012 cruises will be sailing in memory of the Titanic, which sunk on April 15, 2012.

The Titanic Memorial Cruise will hold a memorial service at 2:20 a.m. on April 15, according to the article, to mark the exact time the Titanic sunk. It will also include the exact same number of passengers as the Titanic--1,309 to be precise. Check out the Titanic Memorial Cruise itinerary:

Is anyone a bit taken aback by this? Pardon my insensitivity, but we don't have camp to remember the Holocaust, so why is it acceptable to have cruise excursions to remember the Titanic? There are better ways we can remember this tragic event than to replicate it.

JetBlue goes wireless

I love flying JetBlue for two reasons: it's cheap and it has live TV.

I flew with JetBlue to New York City this past July and was bursting with excitement because I didn't have to miss any of my favorite Thursday night TV shows while on the flight. Getting to watch "The Real Housewives" and Food Network, all while en route to the Big Apple? What else could I ask for?

Oh wait, there is something. How about Wi-Fi Internet?

USA TODAY posted this article announcing that JetBlue is the latest flight carrier to plan in-flight Wi-Fi. Now happy fliers can watch Food Network and check their email simultaneously.

According to the article, other commercial airlines like Virgin America and AirTran already offer Wi-Fi, but big names like Delta and Southwest are lagging behind.

Installing a Wi-Fi broadband in all JetBlue air crafts will "create the industry's best in-flight broadband for commercial aviation," said JetBlue in a press release. Installation, however, will not begin until the end of 2012.

Guess we'll have to wait a couple years to get the true in-flight TV-Internet experience, but it will definitely be worth the wait.

Medical tourism promotes surgical procedures abroad...wait, what?

Medical tourism is a fairly new term--and no, it doesn't refer to medical aid trips to third world countries.

Medical tourism refers to having a medical procedure performed abroad at prestigious health centers with luxurious accomodations, all while staying well-below the cost of a U.S.-based procedural experience (a difference of 50-80%, according to some sites).

Companies specializing in medical tourism are popping up around the globe and are becoming viable enemies to traditional travel companies.

Medretreat.com offers the full medical tourism experience, from amazing hotels to pre- or post-surgery excursions in the country of one's choice. Medretreat promises customers pre-arranged hotel check-in, private transportation for their entire stay, hospital interpretation assistance, local dining/shopping/excursion information and emotional support--among others.

Popular medical tourism destinations as of current include India, Malaysia and Thailand.

This concept is innovative and exciting and provides cost-effective medical alternatives that are crucial in this economy.

Still, medical tourism makes me a bit apprehensive. Although I place a high value on international travel and experiences abroad, I don't know if medical purposes are an appropriate reason to finally take that "dream trip" to India.

Turning over a new leaf

I'm so lucky to live in such a beautiful place that I thought it only appropriate to bring a posting close to home.

While the first day of fall isn't until Wednesday, "Boonies" (residents of Boone, N.C.) have already been talking about the leaves changing. I was sitting at lunch the other day and my friend even pointed out that the leaves were already changing on a tree right in front of us.

When the leaves change, so does Boone tourism. While tourists flock the High Country during the summer for a variety of festivals and water fun at nearby falls and creeks, the number of out-of-towners only increases as the leaves change from green to yellow or red. (Although tourists sure do know how to evacuate quick once the tempatures really get low and the leaves fall off.)

According to multiple N.C. news sites, including WRAL.com based out of Raleigh, a state website will be giving weekly reports on fall colors. Hopeful vacationers can visit this website for weekly updates and have already taken over the comment box with questions about weekends they're planning to visit and what local areas to explore.

I have to admit, the idea of a website devoted to fall color reporting is pretty neat. Better yet, one "leaf reporter" (now that's a title) is from Appalachian State University.

While some Boonies may be preparing to honk their horns and sit in more traffic, I'm all for vacationers coming to town to check out the vast palette of colors soon to take over the High Country.

San Antonio sans plans

This New York Times article grabbed my attention with its unusual title "The Worst Way to See San Antonio." It didn't catch my attention because I've been to San Antonio, and I'd like to go again--but rather, how many travel articles do you see about the WORST ways to travel? Obviously, I was hooked.

And entertained. Seth Kugel, the author, shares his mistake of desperately pre-planning his escapades to the beloved Texas city and then watching as every planned step of his trip goes wrong.

This is a great thing to point out to any traveler: expect the unexpected. Or even better, don't have any expectations at all. I've made the mistake of planning a trip out to the last minute, and then finding myself horribly disappointed when I realize that my map of Naples only included the town center (not all of the city), "Nightclub Hostel" isn't as fun as it sounds, and it's a lot more difficult to find a hotel in Salzburg at 1:30 a.m. than one might think.

I would argue this might just be the best news and advice for travelers. I mean, think about it. The whole reason we travel (I'll assume) is for eye-opening experiences--to take in new cultures and ways of life, right?

Can we really expect to plan that? Sure, it's a challenge to let go of the wheel and not give in to a 'planned experience.' But it's just plain unrealistic, because times, expectations, transportation, etc. are different everywhere you go, so you might as well loosen up and see where the wind...or train...takes you.