Getting Passports and Visas Online and Fast
 OfficialTravelDocuments.com went live in early September 2005. The site helps travelers receive passports, visas and birth certificates in time for your trip through a reliable and secure service. The site walks a traveler through each step of the process including an 800 number for help. With Caribbean, Bermuda, Central and South American travelers needing passports for their fast approaching winter vacations, OfficialTravelDocuments.com provides a direct-to-government service. The partnership between VitalChek, the leading birth certificate provider and Zierer Visa Services, the leading passport and visa expediter, will provide a best of breed site. The demand for passports is increasing rapidly with the WesternHemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) pending on the legislative desks of our nation’s leaders. Soon it is likely that travelers will be required to show a valid passport when traveling to commonly visited locations like the Caribbean, Canada, Bermuda and Central and South America. Visit www.OfficialTravelDocuments.com.
 TravelSmart's Florida’s 10 Best Museums
TravelSmart, the nation’s oldest consumer newsletter, has selected the ten best museums in the state of Florida. The recommendations appeared in the September 15th issue of the publication. The article showcased these often overlooked sites of artistic, historical and scientific value. TravelSmart also recommends a restaurant near each museum as well as the local library. (The newsletter recently partnered with the Americans For Libraries Council to promote libraries as resources for travelers as well as destinations in and of themselves.)
The museums that made TravelSmart’s Top Ten List are:
• Daytona Beach: Museum of Arts & Sciences
• Miami Beach: Bass Museum of Art
• Miami Beach: The Wolfsonian
• Naples: Naples Museum of Art
• Orlando: Mennello Museum of American Art
• St. Augustine: Lightner Museum
• St. Petersburg: Salvador Dali Museum
• Sarasota: Ringling Museum of Art
• West Palm Beach: Norton Museum of Art
• Winter Park: Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art TravelSmart, published monthly, is $39/year.
To subscribe, call 1-800-327-3633 or www.travelsmartnewsletter.com. |
Finding the Best Spas
Spafinder.com, the Internet’s largest spa consumer web site, has announced the 10 North American spa properties that its millions of web visitors requested to book most often in 2004. "Our Top-10 Spas represent the diversity of today’s spa travel experience, ranging from affordable to ultra-luxury spas, from resort properties to pure destintion spas," said Spa Finder, Inc.'s Pete Ellis.
Spafinder.com’s Top-10 Most Requested Spas (in order of popularity):
1 Canyon Ranch, Lenox, Massachusetts
2 Canyon Ranch, Tucson, Arizona
3 Miraval, Life in Balance, Tucson, Arizona
4 New Age Health Spa, Neversink, New York
5 The Spa at Norwich Inn, Norwich, Connecticut
6 Rancho La Puerta, Baja California, Mexico
7 Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain, Paradise Valley, Arizona
8 The Breakers at Palm Beach, Florida
9 The Oaks at Ojai, California
10 Mandarin Oriental, Miami, Florida
Spafinder.com visitors can research pricing and property information for thousands of spas worldwide and then submit an online booking request which is processed directly by the selected spa. Spa Finder publishes Luxury SpaFinder Magazine, the authority on luxury spas and associated lifestyles, and The Spa Enthusiast, the leading publication for active spa-goers.
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Defensive Flying Tips
Most airline trips are uneventful. However, you can take steps to reduce even further your chances of encountering problems. Here is some advice. Consider paying by credit card which provides certain protections under federal credit regulations. In all recent airline bankruptcies passengers who had charged their fare and were not provided service were able to have their credit card company credit their account for the fare.
Keep checking your fare after you buy your ticket. Fares change all the time and if that same fare goes down before you fly, the airline will often refund the difference. But you have to ask. Check your ticket immediately after checking in for each flight on your trip. Airline agents accidentally lift two coupons instead of one on occasion. |
If you’re "bumped" because your flight is overbooked, read the Overbooking Notice in your ticket, then ask for a copy of the rules mentioned in that notice. This information applies to oversales, where your flight operates and leaves you behind; it doesn’t apply to canceled or delayed flights.
Before agreeing to accept a travel voucher as compensation for being bumped, ask about restrictions.
Put a tag on the outside of your baggage with your name, home address, and home and work phone numbers. Most carriers also have "privacy tags" which conceal this information from passersby. Put the same information inside each bag, and add an address and phone number where you can be reached at your destination city. If your bag arrives open or unlocked, check immediately to see if any of the contents are missing or damaged. Report any baggage problems to your airline before leaving the airport. Insist that the airline fill out a form and give you a copy, even if they say the bag will be in on the next flight. |
