Author ∣ Advocate ∣ Journalist
On Travel is a weekly column about being a smarter traveler. It covers practical travel advice for the readers of USA Today and the USA Today Network. If you’re interested in publishing this feature, please contact Elliott directly at chris@elliott.org or (202) 370-7934.
If you think your international travel documents for your next trip abroad are ship-shape, you might want to talk to Chrysoula Chrysogelou.
Chrysogelou, a hotel manager from Greece, was flying from Athens to Chicago recently when a Lufthansa agent told her – wrongly, as it turned out – that her permit from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s visa waiver program (ESTA) was invalid.
Read more “Don’t let travel document problems ground your next vacation”
It hasn’t been an easy year for the privacy of travelers, at least so far. Data breaches, surveillance worries and those troublesome cameras in airplane seatbacks and hotel rooms are enough to make passengers paranoid.
Maybe they should be.
Read more “How to protect your privacy when you travel”
There are millions of apps available for your phone, but you can’t take all of them on your next trip. So which smartphone apps should you pack?
That may seem like an easy question to answer, but it isn’t. We forget so much when we travel. Of the 10 most-downloaded iPhone apps last year, only one – Google Maps – made the list (at No. 8). It’s currently at No. 10 on the iTunes chart.
So what are the “must have” travel apps – the ones you’ll turn to again and again on your trip?
Read more “Here are the best apps for your next trip”
If you’re a traveler, do you need travel clothes?
Maybe.
Travel clothes are specialty attire – belts, dresses, hats, pants and vests – designed for the jet set. With the busy summer travel season just around the corner, travelers may be tempted to buy this attire, which typically costs anywhere from 30% to 50% more than comparable department store clothes.
Read more “Are travel clothes worth the extra cost?”
If you’ve ever had to pay a hotel cancellation penalty, then Liam Goodman’s story will sound familiar.
When Goodman, a freelance photographer from Beacon, New York, tried to check into a hotel in Manhattan recently, it didn’t have any rooms available. He found another place to stay, but the first hotel charged him one night’s stay for being a “no show,” which made no sense.
Read more “How to avoid a hotel cancellation penalty”
