Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Top 10 Expensive Cities You Think You Can't Afford

Guide Picks

From Mark Kahler,
Your Guide to Budget Travel.
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Are you one of those budget-conscious travelers who skips the world's most expensive cities? If so, remember many of those places also offer the greatest travel treasures. Finfacts Ireland and its latest Cost of Living Survey from Mercer Human Resource Consulting ranks the following 10 cities among the 100 most expensive in the world. Read on, and discover how you can afford to visit any one of them.

1) London: World Ranking #3

London's notorious hotel costs are offset somewhat by the huge selection of airfares. There are no less than six major airports serving London, and many travelers are able to piece together a strategy that allows them to take advantage of special offers and budget airlines that abound here. Read more about saving money on five pages packed with tips, hints and recommendations.

2) Paris: World Ranking #12

Paris has a somewhat deserved reputation for expensive food. But that food is often of such high quality that the relative costs are not really that outrageous. Enjoy the experience as you save money on transportation, because Paris has one of the world's greatest mass transit systems. You can cover a lot of ground in a short time and at a reasonable cost. Among our other money-saving tips is this: The best view of Paris is available to you free of charge.

3) New York: World Ranking #13

As with London, it's possible to save a lot of money getting here due to the volume of air traffic. After arrival, consider that some of the best New York experiences are free: window shopping on Fifth Avenue, a ride on the Staten Island ferry, or a visit to the set of your favorite television show. Read five pages of money-saving tips that will take a bite out of Big Apple expenses.

4) Rome: World Ranking #17

Rome tends to be expensive because it offers so much to see and do. Longer stays are necessary to accomplish your travel goals. Offset those costs by staying in a clean, convenient convent and eating in neighborhood trattorias that offer hospitality and huge portions at reasonable prices. Another tip for you: Take time to relax and enjoy the atmosphere.

5) Beijing: World Ranking #19

Okay, Beijing might not be on the itineraries of most people reading About Budget Travel. But in this age of air travel, you might find yourself with a layover in China's capital and a wonderful opportunity. It is possible (but not ideal) to visit the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square in one day.

6) Berlin: World Ranking #38

Berlin offers so much: Enough museums to visit a different one each day for six months, enough recent history to stagger the mind and enough culture to please the most demanding patron. It's the gateway to Eastern Europe, and yet it is not a major air hub. That will change in time, but it makes getting here more expensive. Cut your costs by taking advantage of an outstanding transportation system, a host of low-cost lodgings and quite a few free attractions.

7) Los Angeles: World Ranking #44

Airport shoppers can choose a number of money-saving options here, and some of America's best free attractions are found in Southern California. Want examples? Drive the Coastal Highway, peruse the Hollywood Walk of Fame and visit the spectacular Getty Museum without spending a dime.

8) Chicago: World Ranking #52

Business travelers visit Chicago quite a bit, but so do people in search of a nice weekend escape . It's possible to sample the city's famous deep-dish pizza, take in a game at Wrigley Field and see one of the world's greatest museum districts without breaking the bank. Consider some ways to save on transportation, accommodation and food during your stay in the Windy City.

9) Washington, DC: World Ranking #78

Fly a budget airline into Reagan National, hop aboard a Metro train, and walk from the stop to your hotel in the middle of the city. Now you're ready to enjoy a budget adventure in a city where the top attractions do not charge admission.

10) Toronto: World Ranking #82

From High Tea at the Fairmont Royal York to discount theatre tickets, Toronto offers many of the same attractions as London and other world class cities. But for many North Americans, a short trip to Toronto is more affordable and easier to schedule. In fact, a trip to cosmopolitan Toronto is like visiting many of the world's great cities at one time. Its collection of ethnic restaurants and neighborhoods is impressive.

Group suggests 12 'distinctive destinations'

Prescott, Arizona.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- People looking for a new vacation spot might try one of 12 unusual places reachable without a passport, such as Lewes, Delaware, called "the first town in the first state," a town whose history goes back 375 years.

The suggestion comes from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which, each year starting in 2000, has named a "Dozen Distinctive Destinations" appealing to tourists' taste for historic places.

Swedish and Finnish settlers came to Delaware in 1638, a few years after the Dutch, who had established a settlement at what is now Lewes. Seventeen years later the Swedes seized a Dutch fort and the Dutch drove them out. A few years later the British drove out the Dutch and named the town after the county seat of East Sussex.

Delaware was the first of the 13 colonies to ratify the Constitution, becoming the first U.S. state.

Except for Waimea on Hawaii's Kaua'i island, where historic sites are half a millennium older, the destinations don't call for expensive trans-ocean travel. Kaua'i, the first Hawaiian Island sighted by Capt. James Cook, boasts a canyon almost as deep as the Grand Canyon, a Russian fort and a huge irrigation ditch the Polynesians dug in the 1200s.

Every year since 2000 the National Trust for Historic Preservation names a "Dozen Distinctive Destinations" appealing to tourists' taste for historic places.

The National Trust's 2006 list starts with Arrow Rock, Missouri. It's on a bluff high above the Missouri River, with grand views of the great stream and well preserved houses from the early 1800s, when the Lewis and Clark expedition traveled west on the river to explore the far reaches of the newly purchased Louisiana territory.

Other suggestions:

Bartlesville, Oklahoma, enriched by an early oil strike, boasting the only skyscraper designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Bowling Green, Kentucky, with notable Civil War sites and an old cavern where outlaws and soldiers hid.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the U.S. beer-making capital, home of a famous art museum and zoo and a deep German tradition.

Monterey, California, once the Spanish and Mexican capital of the region, site of a huge aquarium and the setting for John Steinbeck's "Cannery Row"

Palm Springs, California, an oasis known for its famous residents, its climate and jet-set life style.

Philipsburg, Montana, a mining tradition in a beautiful landscape, the state's oldest operating school, jail and opera house.

Prescott, Arizona, born overnight when gold was discovered, celebrating the wild West and Native Americans in its museums.

Saranac Lake, New York, a health resort since the early 1800s, amid lakes, mountains and evergreen forests.

West Chester, Pennsylvania, an old Quaker village with brick sidewalks and period architecture.

This year's destinations were chosen from 93 nominated in 39 states. If additional ideas are needed, the Trust has 72 others it has named in earlier lists.

Rick Steves built travel biz through the back door

Tuesday, March 7, 2006; Posted: 11:44 a.m. EST (16:44 GMT)

EDMONDS, Washington (AP) -- Sprinting his way through Europe each summer, as he has for the last 32 years, Rick Steves often steals lunch from breakfast, stuffing a couple of pieces of bread and some meat into his backpack.

It's not that he can't afford to buy a ham and cheese baguette -- the 50-year-old public television star and best-selling author runs a $31 million dollar travel business -- he just likes to save time and money.

It's part of a travel aesthetic he's refined and marketed to an audience of baby boomers eager to experience Europe the Rick Steves way: through the back door. Familiar with his TV shows -- in heavy rotation on PBS -- they are drawn in by Steves' efforts to find new, unspoiled places, his friendly and approachable persona and his commonsense, affordable approach to travel.

"I've got an efficiency and a guerrilla approach ... plus a unique synergy where everything I do helps everything else because it's overlapping," Steves said.

The operations of his company, Europe Through The Back Door, are built to work together: Tour guides update travel books; book research leads to TV scripts; TV shows and a new radio show bring in new customers.

Steves takes no money for the shows he produces for public TV and radio. But he bristles at the notion that he's using public broadcasting as a marketing platform.

"I'm just a travel writer trying to get more horse power, more amplification," Steves said.

But the affluent, educated and often liberal viewers and listeners of public broadcasting closely match his target customers.

"It is advertising," said Gary Erickson, a marketing professor at the University of Washington. "He's selling his books. He's a good spokesperson for his products."

Early passion for exploring Europe

Steves said he measures success in the number of trips he positively impacts, not in dollars. He said he wants to help the 12 million Americans who travel to Europe each year do so efficiently, affordably and with more meaning. He doesn't belong to major travel industry associations and turns down underwriters if they don't align with his values.

He passed on a deal with Visa because they wanted him to only recommend restaurants that exclusively accepted their credit cards, Steves said. Another deal fell through, he said, because the sponsor was afraid of Steves' liberal politics.

"I have a responsibility to be a good citizen and to be outspoken," he said. "And not to worry about someone who doesn't want to use my guidebooks."

He's criticized the Bush administration's foreign policy and promotes the legalization of marijuana.

Steves found his passion for Europe as a young man, touring with a backpack and a few bucks.

In his 20s, he started teaching a class about traveling to Europe on a budget at the University of Washington. By the early 80s, Steves was leading minibus tours, a half-dozen people at a time.

Just last year, his Edmonds-based company, Europe Through the Back Door, took about 8,000 visitors to Europe.

His guide books evolved out of the class and tour handout materials. Packed with itineraries and chapters on where to stay, what to see and where to eat, the mimeographed handouts started disappearing.

"Decent people were being driven to theft to get that information," he said.

Now, Steves has more than 30 titles and Amazon.com lists his titles at the top of almost any travel book list.

Unlike other travel-book authors who update their books by calling, faxing or e-mailing hotels and restaurants, Steves said he and his staff visit each location to taste the food, check the mattresses and look to see if the bathrooms are still clean.

TV, radio shows

From the guide book research, Steves realized he had rich material to produce a series of television shows.

Today, Steves, with his signature glasses, backpack and moppish head of blond hair, has become a fixture on the PBS stations where the show has aired for 15 years. It is seen on 312 stations reaching 95 percent of U.S . markets.

He's extending his public broadcasting reach with a new, hour-long radio show, aired in 17 markets. The show -- what Steves hopes will be the travel equivalent to Car Talk, the popular call-in automative program -- set a new record for the amount of Saturday afternoon listeners at KUOW, the public radio station in Seattle where the show debuted.

"On the face of it, this is a project that could be really valuable to local public radio stations and really appealing to public radio listeners," said Israel Smith, a public radio consultant.

Steves reaches fans like music teacher Carla Rutschman, 59, of Bellingham, a self-proclaimed "Ricknik" who travels to Europe about twice a year.

She owns all of his TV shows and recently donated $150 to her local PBS station to get an advanced copy of Steves' "European Christmas" special. She's not alone.

Steves' has become a mainstay of public television fundraising and regularly travels the country to appear on pledge drives.

"I want to be a cash cow for public broadcasting," he said.

Tom Doggett, vice president of TV programming for Oregon Public Broadcasting, said Steves ranks among the top three fundraisers.

Steves is looking for even more ways to amplify his vision. Along with the radio show, he's just produced a series of podcasts, free, downloadable audio files, featuring tours of the Louvre and other Parisian destinations.

If anything, Steves' legions of fans may have followed him too closely.

Visitors to the tiny Italian coast towns in Cinque Terre may not find Italians eating in the charming restaurants Steves talks about. Instead, they may find a room filled with American tourists, their Rick Steves guidebooks tucked under their arms.

But Steves already is planning his next trip to Europe this summer. He'll likely be stealing lunch from breakfast before setting out to look around corners, test mattresses and find the latest undiscovered town.

"It's a wonderful way to spend your days," he said.

BookingBuddy.com Syndicates Travel Deals

TRAVEL VERTICAL SEARCH ENGINE BOOKINGBUDDY.COM is expected to announce today the creation of several RSS feeds that will collect hundreds of bargains on plane tickets, rental cars, cruises, and vacations, allowing its users to subscribe and receive regular updates on new deals. In January, competing travel vertical Orbitz.com launched a similar feature, allowing users to design customized, daily RSS feeds to find deals on air travel, hotels, and rental cars.

Web Site Lures Customers To New Cruise Ship Before Launch

When Royal Caribbean was faced with the problem of trying to market a product that didn't exist yet, it turned to the Internet. The company was in the process of building a new ship, Freedom of the Seas, and wanted to generate interest in it among travel agents and potential vacationers before it was completed this summer. To achieve that goal, it created a sophisticated Web site with interactive features designed to sell an experience that was still under construction. "Booking a vacation is a big investment, and people want to feel like they know everything they can know about it and the experience beforehand," says Barbara Shrut, vice president-brand operations, finance and administration at Royal Caribbean International. Shrut says she knew consumers appreciated interactive components (such as virtual tours) based on the response to those on the company's main Web site. And the growing number of Americans with broadband capability means that a rich media Web site like freedomoftheseas.com has broader appeal.

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