The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article entitled “How to Travel Smart This Summer”. Here I will summarize their thoughts as well as add a few of my own since travel has gotten even more complicated and expensive with the high cost of fuel.
Don’t change your mind
The fees of most airlines and many hotels have increased. In this tight market, these providers are less likely to be forgiving on a change and are going to take the opportunity to extract more money from your wallet now that you are probably in panic mode. WSJ says that American is now charging $150 on changes.
Have you ever wanted to send some of your things ahead for your trip? This can be especially helpful for beach or skiing vacations. For the beach, you may want your beach ball, tennis racket, etc. to be waiting for you. For skiing, you have all that heavy winter clothing that needs to arrive at your location but you don’t need it until then and definitely don’t want it on the plane.
The easiest way to do this is to contact your hotel that you are visiting. Most of the better ones will hold your package for a reasonable time. If they don’t perform this service, you may want to consider a different establishment for your business!