Travel Tips

Travel agency told me my hotel is overbooked, what are my rights?

11/2/2019 10:15:03 PM Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do, and this type of situation happens often with disreputable travel sites, as well as some better known ones at times. They get “great deals” because they help in filling up the hotel rooms, but sometimes their systems are not accurate, and it causes huge problems. […]

Travelling to areas affected by wildfires

8/1/2018 12:54:20 AM If you have your tickets and other travel booked already, you should go on the trip – it’s rather hard to know weeks ahead for any given day what conditions will be. The chances of terrible smoke every day during your trip are relatively low, given wind direction and general conditions right […]

Expenditure in Poland – Forex Card doesn't have Złoty

11/25/2019 11:48:54 AM POST SUCCESSFUL TRIP UPDATE: I had carried an HDFC Regalia Forex Plus card. You can load money in US Dollars to it and swipe it anywhere, in any currency. The conversion charges will only be applied when loading money, not while using it. ATM withdrawal costs $4 per transaction. My previous card […]

Why do Eurostar trains have heightened security requirements compared to every other train in Europe?

11/4/2019 7:04:42 AM When the Channel tunnel was build to logical thing would have been to use it to properly link the Continental and British networks. However there were issues with that. One was that trains were out of fashion in the UK at that time. So Eurostar tried to look as unlike a train […]

How to get a Hong Kong visa from Pakistan?

7/27/2018 5:07:18 PM According to China Highlights, you need to visit China’s embassy or consulate for a Hong Kong visa. Can an EU citizen under 25 years old enter Musee d'Orsay through entrance C? 7/27/2018 4:30:40 AM According to the Embassy of China in Pakistan, you can apply for a visa through them or by […]

Can a non-EU citizen travel freely within the Schengen area without passport?

5/29/2019 9:54:10 AM Can you do it? Yes, probably. You will probably just get through, and nobody even notices or cares. I’ve not been controlled in the street in almost 5 decades, and I’ve not been controlled on an EU border (including non-Schengen, very much to my surprise!) in… don’t know how many years. 15 […]

Germany rejected my entry to Schengen countries

5/19/2019 10:18:22 AM I’m sorry you find yourself in this situation, but you were banned from the Schengen zone by a member country and didn’t know how long it was for? That’s not on your lawyer, but on you. However, this may help. While you are asking the question about Germany, I’m not good enough […]

Can an EU citizen under 25 years old enter Musee d'Orsay through entrance C?

7/30/2018 6:55:57 AM Finally the answer is yes, everyone who is eligible to enter without reservation according to their rules can go directly through entrance C. It’s sufficient to just show a valid ID to prove your age. This also applies to other museums in Paris which use this policy (e.g. Musée de l’Orangerie). However […]

As a dual citizen, my US passport will expire one day after traveling to the US. Will this work?

4/22/2019 6:27:04 AM No US citizen should ever get ESTA. That is for people who do not have any US citizenship. Citizens should enter their own country with their own country’s passport. Therefore you should enter the US with a US passport and enter the EU with an EU country’s passport. Airlines are concerned with […]

Are travel agents required to pass on any phone calls they receive from the airline?

7/20/2018 4:47:50 PM Travel agents are normally required to inform you of changes to material circumstances. Those would be things like: change of flight time, change of seats, change of airports, change of layovers, change of booking class, etc. Reminding you to check in would be merely a courtesy, as they’ve already warned you about […]

Airline lies about reasons for technical problems to avoid compensation

7/31/2022 3:44:41 PM Yes, they can lie. Same thing happened to me. They refused to pay. Said it’s unforesable circumstances. I asked what it is. They said that they do not have the right to make this information public. I turned to an organisation who deals with compensation claims on daily basis and knows the […]

Tourists to UK from India only speak Hindi, will that be a problem with immigration?

3/29/2019 6:27:18 AM This is no problem at all. Yes they can take help from their group members for interpretation. Even if they are alone and require help, the border officials will have interpreters available for commonly spoken languages. Hindi is definitely one of them. The U.K. does not require standard visitors to be fluent […]

Visiting the UK as unmarried couple

3/25/2019 9:51:59 AM IMHO the important point here is whether your girlfriend meets the eligibility criteria for a visa in her own right or not. If she does, there’s really little need to prove your relationship. Just state that you’re travelling together in your respective applications and cross-reference the GWF number of your application in […]

Where to stay in York, UK (general guidelines, NOT specific hotels!)?

7/16/2018 6:53:42 PM I’m suggesting this as an outside possibility for potential consideration, because of proximity to rail & trunk roads. Rather than stay in a small village near York itself from where you’d have to commute the ever-popular York Ring Road to get to a Park & Ride, or even try driving into the […]

How do I parse the syntax of the route instruction on a German railway ticket?

2/25/2019 11:09:07 PM The solidus designates a bounded area (“Raumbegrenzung”). Any route that passes through the designated stations or between them is covered by the ticket. The asterisk means that the route must pass through the named station. I suspect, but have found no online confirmation of this, that the asterisk has priority over the […]

How to buy Slovakia discounted international rail tickets outside Slovakia?

8/16/2018 5:53:58 PM I live and work in Bratislava, and have bought (or tried to buy) international train tickets on numerous occasions while I’ve been here, including for this route. You’re right to say, as a starting point, that tickets from Slovakia to other countries generally cannot be bought online via the Slovak Rail website. […]

Public transport in Stockholm

7/14/2018 6:05:37 PM You can find an SL center at the T-Centralen of Stockholm, where you can buy tickets (cards with chip) and also discuss what options there are. Tickets are also sold at certain convenience stores, (Pressbyran). The public transportation is good, but sometimes there might be issues (yesterday, two major stations closed down […]

When obtaining gender reassignment/plastic surgery overseas, is an emergency travel document required to return home?

2/26/2019 5:33:49 AM Let’s see this: Do I need a new photo if my appearance has changed in the passport photo section of the travel.state.gov site. The answer is as follows: Only if your appearance has significantly changed from what is in your current passport. Growing a beard or coloring your hair would not constitute […]

Does an American citizen holding a Belgian passport need an ESTA to visit the US?

7/3/2018 7:32:38 AM As a U.S. citizen, you have to travel using your U.S. passport. That does not mean that you should not be taking your Belgian passport as well since otherwise you might get in trouble for the return flight since the airline is not going to like the prospect of letting you into […]

Why don't hotels offer (at least) 1 kitchen bookable by any guest?

2/19/2019 2:26:20 PM You won’t be able to “grill it yourself for $5”. That kitchen will take up space, you can maybe fit 2 kitchens in the space of a small room. It’ll also need to be cleaned in between guests. And you can only fit in 2-3 reservations per night (with 2-3 cleaning sessions […]

Prev posts
Next posts

Search Posts

Latest posts

Popular posts