Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
46
non-GSM r egions, such as J apan or
Korea.) While you can rent a phone fr om
any number of o verseas sites, including
kiosks at airpor ts and at car-r ental agen-
cies, I suggest r enting the phone befor e
you leav e home. That way y ou can giv e
loved ones and business associates y our
new number, make sure the phone works,
and take the phone wher ever y ou go—
especially helpful for overseas trips through
several countries, where local phone-rental
agencies often bill in local curr ency and
may not let you take the phone to another
country.
Phone rental isn't cheap. You'll usually
pay $40 to $50 per week, plus airtime fees
of at least a dollar a minute. I f you're trav-
eling to Europe, though, local rental com-
panies often offer fr ee incoming calls
within their home country, which can save
you big bucks. The bottom line: S
Two good wireless rental companies are
InTouch USA
(
&
800/872-7626;
www.
intouchglobal.com) and
RoadPost
(
&
888/
290-1606
or 905/272-5665; www .road
post.com). G ive them y our itinerar y and
they'll tell you what wireless products you
need. I nTouch will also, for fr ee, advise
you on whether y our existing phone will
work o verseas; simply call
&
703/222-
7161
between 9am and 4pm EST, or go to
http://intouchglobal.com/travel.htm. F or
trips of mor e than a fe w w eeks spent in
one countr y,
buying a phone
becomes
economically attractiv e, as many nations
have cheap , no-questions-asked pr epaid
phone systems. O nce y ou arriv e at y our
destination, stop by a local cellphone shop
and get the cheapest package; y ou'll prob-
ably pay less than $100 for a phone and a
starter calling car d. Local calls may be as
low as 10¢ per minute, and in many coun-
tries incoming calls are free.
hop
around.
11
PLANNING YOUR TRIP ONLINE
3
SURFING FOR AIRFARES
The “big thr ee” online trav el agencies,
Expedia, T ravelocity,
and
Orbitz,
sell
most of the air tickets bought on the
Internet. (Canadian trav elers should tr y
Expedia.ca and Travelocity.ca; U.K. r esi-
dents can go to Expedia.co.uk and Opodo.
co.uk.). Each has differ ent business deals
with the airlines and may offer differ ent
fares on the same flights, so it 's wise to
shop around. Expedia and Travelocity will
also send you
e-mail notification
when a
cheap fare becomes available to your favor-
ite destination. O f the smaller trav el
agency websites,
SideStep
(www.sidestep.
com) has gotten the best r eviews fr om
Frommer's authors. I t's a br owser add-on
that purports to “search 140 sites at once,”
but in reality only beats competitors' fares
as often as other sites do.
Also remember to check
airline websites.
Even with major airlines, y ou can often
shave a fe w bucks from a fare by booking
directly through the airline and avoiding a
travel agency 's transaction fee. B ut y ou'll
get these discounts only b y
booking
online:
M ost airlines no w offer online-
only far es that ev en their phone agents
know nothing about. F or the w ebsites of
airlines that fly to and fr om your destina-
tion, see “G etting There,” earlier in this
chapter.
Great
last-minute deals
ar e av ailable
through fr ee w eekly e-mail ser vices pr o-
vided dir ectly b y the airlines. M ost of
these ar e announced on Tuesday or
Wednesday and must be purchased online.
Most ar e only v alid for trav el that w eek-
end, but some can be booked w eeks or
months in adv ance. S ign up for w eekly
e-mail aler ts at airline w ebsites or check
metasearch sites that compile compr ehen-
sive lists of last-minute specials, such as
SmarterTravel.com.
For last-minute trips,
