(00:00:00) Minneapolis Star Tribune travel editor Katherine Watson is with us. Today. We're going to talk about travel summertime. No, not summertime but to Winter travel to warm places or winter travel to cold places which ever be your preference Catherines columns appear in the paper every Sunday. And you also come in here a couple times a year Catherine's nice to see you. Where have you been lately New York as of yesterday morning? Oh, yeah, I'm back yesterday. So you were there for all the snow they have more Stone leader. Yes, and they don't handle it very well. That's what I've it's what I've read makes minnesotans feel real smug when they're wearing the right boots in Manhattan. What's going on in New York right. Now the Highlight for me was the van Gogh show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art which runs through I think the third week in March that's a retrospective of the last month's in in Van Gogh's life. And in the paintings are wonderful. Now you don't do a great deal of traveling in the United States for the free radicals. Do you it varies depending on time of year in our budget situation. We're trying to get we're trying to split my time and our coverage between domestic. Regional and international will give us a preview. What are you going to write about New York? My favorite story is a how to stay cheaply and also get an insight into what New York Life is Like there are about five or six large and several more small bed and breakfast organizations that are not been a breakfast inns but are the sort of traditional a spare room in someone's house. They're listed in the Manhattan phone book and will shortly be in the star and tribunes Travel section. And in the basics book a couple of the first ones we listed the average price is about $50 for the room. It's about $50 a double and or single with a private bath and breakfast the next morning and lots of conversation $50 in New York. That is not too bad and good location. Yeah, because there aren't very many hotels that I would stay in it. You could get two for less than a hundred bucks. I don't think that's about right now. And can you stay in these places for what two three four days or they prefer that a lot of them have a two-night minimum. Oh some you. Can you can Tinker with that a little bit if they've got extra space and the how do you like to get around in New York? Do you like to go by cab or Subway? I like cabs all the Subways kind of a kick to II get kind of a thrill out of cab writing through rows of tall buildings. Hmm But the subway certainly quicker. You must have a sort of a secret desire for Thrills and chills and Spills writing the cabs in New York. Uh-huh. I think so they Barrel along at about three times the speed of other drivers and somehow managed to thread their way through the tiniest openings in traffic knit. None of them speaking English, of course. Yeah. It's the most International experience. I think there is yes. Well, if you have some questions about New York or about other places that you might like to go this winter or in the coming spring, you're certainly welcome to give us a call Catherine make a stab at answering your question two two seven six thousand in Minneapolis st. Paul. All two to seven six thousand in the Twin Cities and in other parts of Minnesota one 865 to 970018 hundred six, five two nine seven zero zero. How long were you in New York about a week? Is this a good time to go to New York? I wonder about that. It's I think so there they have our snow, but other than that, it was wonderful was it as crowded as it is in the in the spring and fall or I think it's always crowded always crowded every time I've ever been there regardless of season. Hmm. How did you find the the restaurants and all that expensive? Yeah. I think I think you get more quality if you money here and good restaurants. On the other hand, it's New York. I think you know going in it's going to cost you. Yeah, do you like to go into which airport lately? It's been Newark because I got such a good deal on the last few flights on people Express now Continental. Yeah say that brings up another topic and talk about the the airline's looks like there's going to be another fear war going on. Yes. And as long as the fair Wars continue, it's good for the traveler. I think what we have to worry about is when they all stopped competing with each other then the fares will go up. What about it? We've heard people speculating about the prospects of fairs going up sharply in the Minneapolis st. Paul area with the big merger leaving just Northwest as the big carrier. What are your feelings about that? I don't know. I really don't know the what the they travel industry predicted when deregulation started was that as the number of carriers became fewer and there was less competition for different Roots. We would see higher fares that that fares would stay low and it would be good as promised for the consumer but only to a certain point and within four or five years, which is what we've been seeing a sort of Shakedown would occur and then fares would go very high. Now we got no fear were underway. So who knows where it'll all end? We've got a lot of people on the line with questions. Let's get to some of them. Hello. You're on with Katherine Watson. (00:04:40) Well, you gave me a curveball on that New York thing having been stationed at Governors Island, which I think is the best way to experience the big city for a midwesterner at least no cars. No traffic get on South Ferry and there you were the crosstown you can do it much better walking and most anything last time. I was there. I stated a bed and breakfast on Central Park West and I was disconcerted slightly the first night when I heard all the scrambling and I saw how sadly it was infested with bedbugs, but (00:05:22) I've maybe we didn't stay in the same kind of bed and breakfast. Yeah, (00:05:25) I couldn't get any kind of satisfaction. So I left my luggage out in the cold and I hope that if I brought any Fellow Travelers among I didn't bring him into my house. I haven't seen them but I took the subway only once For Old Times Sake and my feelers were out for a long distance. I was insecure. I walked across Central Park and they had the Viking exhibit at the Met and one evening. I found that the buses were very pleasant and people got along and they interacted and they supported the bus driver and I saw this whole hubbub in the next morning. I picked up the paper and John Lennon had gotten shot. So, you know, how long ago that was people. Keep going to Negril in Jamaica. Is it cheap to go there if you're going to the Caribbean and is it safe? (00:06:19) I don't know if I can answer that one. I think that most of the Caribbean Resorts that have charter service to them are safe and one of the reasons they're safe is that they're popular those islands live by tourism and there haven't been any really Dreadful incidents involving tourists in years. I haven't read one in a long while so so far as I know it's safe. I wouldn't hesitate to go there. Let's move on to another questioner on travel today. Hello. Katherine Watson is listening. (00:06:50) Hi. I'm really glad you're on Catherine. Thank you and real quickly. I'm going to Germany next winter been invited by two friends of mine. I've never gone by myself, and I'm really excited about it already. What I'd like to know is how sooner when is the best time for me to buy my ticket? What's the least expensive way to get to Europe? And are there some travel agency or travel agencies that are better than others? And how do I tell thank (00:07:16) you. Okay, this is Germany next winter. Year from now currently, is that right? Yeah. Next December. Okay. I wouldn't buy your tickets now just because you can't predict what the what's going to happen. Nobody knows what the dollars going to do. Nobody knows what the f is going to do between now and then if you bought them now and lock that money in you'd be losing interest on it. I'd wait and saying late summer, you can kind of tell from from what sort of pattern has developed economically either in the travel industry Orion in the the currency situation wait till then and and then start looking very carefully at what's available to you at that point in terms of finding a good travel agent. Minnesota is blessed with a very clean travel agency industry. And what I do is is ask friends. First of all, if they have worked with the travel agent that they like to personally the agents sell the same product. So what you're really looking for is someone you get along with whom you trust and we feel would get service that you're buying you're looking for someone to give you a good service and makes you feel that you are getting what you want. So (00:08:19) You (00:08:19) can go to several talk to them. Tell them what your plans are and take the people who seem to respond to the best. Okay, and the least expensive way to get to Europe. What would you say? Oh hope for a good Charter the catch with that is that Charters tend to run in vary seasonally. So in the winter you get Charters to warm places and in the summer you get them to Europe not last summer because of various problems. But but this summer again the catch is that when you go to Europe in the winter you going off season you going against the flow of the traffic but also offseason is also when regular Airlines will discount fares. That's the lowest. That's the lowest period for airfares. I think the cheapest way is probably if you really want to do it cheap you can stand by on something like well people Express is gone, but Virgin Atlantic, for example Okay, let's move on to our next listener. Hello. You're on with Katherine Watson? Hello. Okay. Let's try the next line then. Are you there? Go ahead, (00:09:16) please. Yeah, I'm sorry. I missed the earlier reference to New York b&bs that be repeated again information. (00:09:29) Sure. I'm doing an article for my newspaper on bed-and-breakfast organizations. And these are these are Clearing Houses essentially that have anywhere from from 50 to 600 homes listed with them. You contact the Clearinghouse they contact a home and find a place for you to stay. So you're staying with real people in their homes. And as one of the other colleagues suggested that has some ups and downs because not everybody keeps out the same way but these are at the largest of these which are the ones we're talking about in print the the homes are all screened by the service. So they've been visited each one of them by the people who are making the reservations. Now, how does that work? Do you the traveler pay a fee to this clearing house or do the people that run the bed? To pay the fee and then somebody's got to make some money. Yeah, usually the people who are listed with it. Haven't both ways. The the people who are listed with the service will pay the service of fee for doing the screening because that protects them to they don't want just anybody walking into their houses and that's usually wrapped up in the price you pay the to I stayed in charged fifty fifty dollars a night and out of that. They paid a percentage to the agency that did the booking. Sometimes you pay the fee to the booking agency and then they give a percentage to the home. I see but you did not have to pay a specific amount to know get the information know from the from the travel from the Clearing House. Okay. Another caller is waiting and you're on now go ahead please (00:10:48) my wife and I are going to Hawaii for about a week in mid-march, and we need to know what kind of clothing Etc we should take and also what to watch out for are both positive and negative if you have any good ideas on (00:11:01) that. Okay. Well, I think Hawaii is a wonderful destination taketake summer clothes and you can buy anything you didn't pack there easily. March is is a little bit better than dead of winter. We think of Hawaii is a real Mid Winter getaway. And the weather is actually better if you get into spring and summer it's less likely to rain but it's wonderful all the time. And in terms of watching out for things Waikiki is a very crowded area very busy and has kind of sort of party atmosphere. I guessed. It just be out in the street is kind of an exciting thing. But anytime you have crowds and tourists crowds and people on vacation you have people who are not watching their belongings as carefully as they should so anywhere and it is this is not an anti Hawaii thing. I hope you won't hear that way. But anytime you're in large crowds on vacation and you're clearly a tourist, which is what happens when you put the Hawaii shirt on and stroll out on the beach watch your wallet. Just watch your wallet be a little aware of where you know, hang on. If you've got a shoulder purse hang on to the strap don't be silly. It's the same kind of thing you'd do if you were in the at the State fairgrounds in Minnesota just sort of watch belongings you Swimming and leave all your stuff on the beach without anybody to watch it. That's true all over the Caribbean and Mexico any any vacation destination. The only really nice idyllic spots in the Hawaiian islands that you would recommend. Mhm the big island and Kauai like they're all they all have their idyllic Corners Molokai is a kind of amazing one to it isn't very developed. Maui will used to be considered the gym, but I guess that's gotten more built up. And yeah, it's been really heavily built up in certain areas. If you get around to the Hannah Coast, it's still gorgeous and the road is still bad. So it keeps people unless they fly and it keeps people down. Hmm. Okay, we'll take another listener. Go ahead you're on with Katherine wants to know. (00:12:53) Hello. Hi. I'm going to New York next summer. So I was interested in the article that she was mentioning about New York. I'm curious. Is that a series of Articles and I'm out of town so I don't get the paper regularly and I'm curious if she can't else just when those will be coming (00:13:07) out. We don't have a precise date should be the next three weeks or so. We wanted to do it as a winter story just because the price is the closer you do the story to the time you've experienced a place or trip. The more accurate the pricing is but you can also end you could you could do this yourself next summer. If you can get a copy of the Manhattan phone book look up bed-and-breakfast. The bed-and-breakfast thing is come along to the point where most cities now have their own separate listing in the Yellow Pages and you can find them. I think they List It A dozen of which may be six are large. How much would you plan to Budget on a trip to New York per day say 50 bucks for the bed and breakfast and then how about your other meals and entertainment? I'd add another hundred if you waive. Its if you're going to really do it up right I tend to skip lunch on trips and breakfast is taking care of it the with the B&B but two people for dinner with wine at a nice restaurant. We're going to do an easy $100 and you can always get lunch at those a street car rentals of vendors. Although I like not quite as many of them as there used to be under snow and there weren't quite as many in the winter. Either that they were little harder to find but that got me through a few days Frankfurter on the run. All right your next hello. (00:14:16) I'm interested in possible travel to West Australia during our summer months for two adults in the child. I've got several questions with the doings done there this year. Is it worthwhile trying to plan for something this year and around Perth? And is it possible to get packages for West Australia only I looked in several places and it seems to cover all of us another question. Is it better to go through Air Canada for Qantas? And what might I expect for all the expenses staying down there for one month. (00:14:56) Let me take the last one first because that's the one I can't answer your I well I was in Australia two years ago and I can answer it in general about that. But in terms of what the act with the prices would be exactly your best bet is to check with the travel agent and find out what what helped hotel prices are running now in terms of getting to to Western Australia only that's a little bit difficult because Perth is about the most islands considered the most isolated city in the world. It's closer to Singapore. Then it is to Sydney and that gives it a different quality. You most of the most of the low fares are from the states are into the East Coast cities and they're quite Reasonable compared to say setting up yourself Qantas is very good. You can check Air. Canada can have a travel agent check and see what you're the best prices for you which would be about the easiest way to do that. The big doings over the America's Cup in Perth go on now and through I think the third week of next month. It's I think it doesn't go all the way through February. But after that things go back to normal, you'll you will hear especially if they Aziz win you will hear about the America's Cup every place you go. I kind of want him to win just because it's real important to him I think more so than it is to us. But but that will end and life will be pretty calm Again by the time you get there. Did you say that it is not possible to get to or packages just to the western part of the country. No, because all of the that I know of most of the all of the the package Roots in our from our co-star into the East Coast cities and then then within Australia, you can get special flight passes kind of a kind of almost like a eurail pass except and they have bus passes as well. And you can take in a number of cities on the same itinerary at quite a discount travel agent can give you details on that. So can the Australian tourism board in California Minneapolis Star Tribune travel editor Katherine Watson is with us today talking about travel to all parts of the United States and the world in this portion of the program. Our telephone number is two two seven six thousand if you have a question for her, we've got a busy signal a little while ago. We do have one or two lines available again 2276 thousand in the Twin Cities and one 865 to 9700 in other parts of the state of Minnesota and your next go ahead, please (00:17:13) thank you. Good morning. I have a trip planned for La in a couple of weeks. We're planning to rent a car in California and Down the Baja Peninsula, I have some questions about or I just like some information from you about renting a car and doing that. And also if you're familiar with the area any suggestions you you have for going down (00:17:34) there down in Utah. I'm a down into Mexico, right? Okay. The main suggestion is to be sure that you understand that American Insurance is not valid in Mexico car insurance. You will have to get get insurance at the border or possibly through the rental agency. Some rental agencies will not allow you to take a car out of the country. So make sure that when you're running the car that they understand that this is your plan also some depending on the roads. Sometimes you can't take a car in a certain roads because the roads aren't paved or you can take it like this is true in Hawaii on the Hannah Road in my oh youyou can't your insurance is not good if you take it on that road, so check those aspects of it shopping around or having a travel agent shop around for you sometimes agents have special relationships with certain companies and can get a better job. A better price, you can also look at or maybe should look at agencies car rental agencies that do not have offices in the main airport, but have them adjacent you it's a little harder to get to or takes a little longer. They bring the car around you or take you over to some remote place to sign up for it. But you save some money that way they tend to be a little bit cheaper one of the big city, you know, you see the ads for 99 dollars a week in various places and so on your go there and then you discover they want another 10 bucks a day or something like that for this extra insurance. Now, what do you think about that extra insurance? Do you needed or not? Officially, theoretically I guess you don't if you've already got insurance on your own car, although you should check with your own insurance agent and find out exactly what that covers. I tried that once though and check with mine and yes indeed. I was covered and no problem. And I said, well, what do you do when you're traveling and my insurance agent said I always take the extra insurance. Is there a one of the problems with it is is that many car agencies now have have up the deduct the damage? Deductible to something like 1500 in a couple cases $3,000 which is payable then if you have an accident that always scares the Daylights out of me. So I pay the extra money. It may not be bright. But I look at it. I'm sort of superstitious and it has a kind of good luck charm quality of I've paid the insurance. I'm not gonna have an accident. I'm just not necessarily the wisest way to go. But but if you have an accident and your own insurance covers it then wouldn't your own that it's not it's not necessary. Yeah, then your own deductible limits would apply presumably and I mean if it's a decent sized company, I would assume that they are branches all over the place. Well, anyway, that's an insurance question under travel question by want to get you. It's a real dilemma. Yeah, but if you've got it, you can get get something real clearly in writing from your own agent or a copy of your own policy. Then you'd be a lot more productive. Let's move on to another listener with a question at all. Katherine Watson is in the studio and she's (00:20:12) listening. Hi, I would like some information on planning a trip to the Orient. My husband and I are planning on going to China Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong we've A lot of time and I'd like to do a lot of reading. Do you have any can you direct me to some book (00:20:26) Source sure a couple of very good series of guide books that you want to look at. There's one called Insight guides and that's the publishing name and the they're usually very simple titles. It'll say Insight guide to China inside guy to Malaysia look at that series and see which of the places you're going there has has a guide and the other one is Lonely Planet, which is an Australian company and is done more for younger Travelers. It has a sort of budget tone to it. But that gives the copy though the text kind of a freshness as well. Both of those do a very good job of covering the culture and the history behind the place as well as a lot of good alternatives for places to stay places to eat and they're updated quite frequently is Lonely Planet, especially they remind me of that series is very much of the Old South American handbook, which is still in print as a kind of classic. So there's a couple of suggestions for you. I hope that those workout let's move on to your question next at (00:21:25) all. Yes. Could you tell me what type of an area Ixtapa Mexico is? (00:21:31) Yes. It's really two places. It's a stop is the new resort area and it's a rather gorgeous sweep of beach with a fairly small group of major hotels. It's one of the smaller resort resorts in Mexico. It's one that was planned by the Mexican Government like Cancun, but around unlike Cancun which has a town near it and unlike all the other Resorts which were towns to start with Ixtapa has this hotel area and then around a small peninsula outcropping of land is Zihuatanejo, which is an old fishing Village very small fishing Village that that grew and flourished as the hotels were built just around the corner. So you get two destinations one is the one is the resort area which is almost secluded. And the other is this quite Charming small town. It's a lot of the shops now are heavily touristy, you know you by the Mexican shirts in the Mexican crafts and so on which what sort of so it's not exactly a Town anymore but there's enough of the Old Village left that you can walk along the beach that at Twilight and watch the kids playing soccer in the The Saga called The Plaza is is right on the beach. It's a kind of charming blend of old and new and because it's smaller than the than say Cancun. It's a little more accessible. I think if people are looking for a good Mid Winter getaway bargained some warm place with a beach. Where would you recommend Mexico or the Caribbean or what? What I do is watch the local papers for last-minute sales and space MLT calls them dream sales ITA the other large Charter operator out of here also runs ads on the same thing. If you can find out if you can go at any time, you're not too particular about which warm destination and going to you can find some really good Bargains. If you are ready to go say a week later. It's it also since these things come out of this area. You don't have the hassle that you would with a discount travel Club of getting place that the discounted space leaves from all right, 25 minutes before twelve o'clock and we'll take your question. Hello. Katherine Watson is listening. (00:23:31) My question is not pertinent to the subject. But I'd like to ask if our daughter is a college student and she will be in Moscow in February with the students for 10 days and wondering if you have any suggestions that I can pass on to her. (00:23:47) Tell her to dress the way she would for here in a normal February. That's probably the main thing we are real good at Moscow in Winter. Otherwise not it's a very safe City there. Is that about domineering government's I guess and you can walk very safely in Moscow at just about any time of night. Okay, and your question is next. (00:24:08) Hello. Hello. I'm going to San Diego and taking a granddaughter for a gift and she works. This is in March. She works through the six, but she can get half of that Friday off and then the We can come back on the 15th and it's based on her work week and I wondered if there is there anything special do we have to stay? Well I have to pay full fare on what is advertised in the papers. Are there any other way of going (00:24:44) well take a look at a couple of things you might in this case really need to consult a travel agent. They can tell you the ins and outs of airfares much better than anybody else can and it's easier to do with deal with in the deal with many airlines on it. If your granddaughters schedule fits one of the charter flight patterns out of this area. That would be probably your best bet for Price the catch is that Charters tend to go on the same day every week. They come back a week later. If you can find a charter that is has a low price but allows you different days of departure in different days of return you can you can tailor it a little bit that way you might also look into to find I don't know how old you are but If your granddaughter is old enough to work, you may be old enough to qualify for one of the senior citizen discounts, which would save you some money on your own ticket and you can check with and travel agent or an airline on that but we do start looking into it early because most fair is now have have rather at least the discount fares have restrictions on how far in advance of the date you want to leave you have to purchase them are there still as many different classes and categories Affairs. There were a few years ago. I don't know II seems to me that there that there are more but it's more of an impression there they vary so some will die out and others will be born so that the language stays full of Q fairs and wife, Arizona ya que fairs wife heard yesterday, I think of and I couldn't come up with a terms for him. Well, let's move on to another listener with a question. Hi Katherine Watson is here. Go ahead. (00:26:14) Yes. I have an opportunity to go to the time of year. I would have chosen to go. There's something that I need especially maybe to avoid some certain attractions or something. That might be more appropriate to see in February than it would be say in October when it would be nicer to be there. (00:26:36) No, the only the only thing I would say about the British Isles and winter is based on a vacation. I took to England in mid-December. So we'd be about the same point in the Equinox or whatever it gets dark real early and it doesn't get light very early. So you have a much shorter day sightseeing day and that effects picture taking and and things you want to do I would I guess plan my days that I did if I were doing outside sightseeing I do as much as possible in those few hours of daylight and then plan to go to museums or do indoor activities. Well today start getting longer there like they do here. Yeah. Well, yeah, they would but but there's so much farther north the and I how did it work. I think it was fully dark in Southern England. I mean dark with stars out by 5:00 is that right? I was amazed I had that I hadn't banked on and to dr. Take pictures after about four now. What kind of weather could she expect adrenaline to rain and cold? Yeah, although again, it can be freaky. I was in England for about a week and I think it rained twice in mid-December was it was hazy but close enough to send account for the other days. Well, what the heck you want to go? We've only got three inches of snow on the ground in Minneapolis Anything could happen and you wouldn't expect that. Would you let's move on to our next caller. Hello. You're on the air went out with (00:27:55) Catherine. Yes Captain. I wanted to tell you that my wife and I have been devoted readers of your column for years. Thank you been cutting them out and saving them and last summer. We had a chance to go to Scandinavia and England and we took the Articles reduce them out of copy machine put them in a small three-ring binders and made our own. Travel guide and worked out real well great. And just one thing to tell you we were installed on the walls in the cotton fields in England and we were talking to one of the shopkeepers and he said oh, yes, we get quite a few people from Minnesota here. They all say they came here because they read an article in the newspaper. So I think many people are following your advice and having very good vacations because of it. (00:28:32) Well, thank you. I'm glad to hear that Stowe is where I was on vacation in December to that's a Charming town in the Cotswold and I'm glad they've they've noticed. What's the status of your book travel Basics? Is that still available still availabl? It's available through the paper. I'm not sure what I think it can be ordered if you get it if you want to get it through a bookstore, but the price is still 595 and we still have copies left. You have an intention of updating it at some point. I'd like to but I think I think that's it. The paper hasn't decided what they want. They want to do with it. Really? I think they want to sell a copies we have well that makes a certain. Yes make them awfully obsolete awfully fast wouldn't it if the new edition came out 20 minutes before twelve o'clock and you have a question for Katherine, go ahead, please. (00:29:12) I was just listening to you talk about the British Isles were planning a vacation around the new f as a Continentals offering we're going to London for six days. And we're on a really tight budget. What kind of a child's bed and breakfast places. Can you suggest on the lowest end possible and whether we should make one place a base and move around the city from there and come back each night, or should we move as and when we sightsee and moved to various ends of the city (00:29:39) within London itself. If you find a place you like stay there the city is well served by public transportation of All Sorts cabs in the subway is wonderful and and somebody will save you a lot of time you can spend I think having to move place to place every night is a real stress, especially if you're not moving very far, which you wouldn't be really in London. The best bet for Budget lodgings is to contact the British tourist British tourism Authority which has an office in Chicago. You can get the phone number just by calling Chicago information and ask them. For how it for what they've got on low-cost lodgings and bed and breakfast in London. You can also at Victoria Station and I believe a couple of other places go to be ta booking offices and they have them all over the all over all over England, but they can find you a bed and breakfast in London and and we'll make will tell you you tell them where you want to be and they'll tell you what they got available. Okay, we have another caller waiting and you're on the air now. Go ahead, (00:30:37) please. Oh, I'm going to be traveling in France for two weeks at the beginning of March. I was wondering what your advice would be about exchanging money when we the best time to do that, but the way the dollar is moving and also what's the general French attitude towards Americans these days and I've (00:31:01) you've heard the myth based on some truth. Let me take the currency thing first when the dollar is dropping your sometimes better off buying getting foreign. Before you leave home just to lock in a price. The catch is the price you're going to lock in at because you're buying at here is going to be as good as you get over there. What I usually do when the dollars fluctuating is get some money exchange. Somebody hears you buying some French cash. You can also get your traveler's checks in Frank's that locks you into the exchange rate on the day you buy them. However, but it also saves you some of the hassle of changing them later the you've got them in Frank's and you can then use them in French stories don't have to go to a bank just to cash them. Like I usually do some of each thing and then take some American dollar traveler's checks in case it all goes the other way and you can you can buy more Frank's you can always use them up. It's easier. I mean you can always use a dollar once up just just kind of watch it and if if it looks like the dollar is really taking a steep nosedive and continuing then lock then go ahead and buy traveler's checks and in Frank's and currency to lock it in and the are added to the French people toward the American traveler. I haven't And it to be a problem, although when I was first writing in France. I did and a couple of things are at work there American tourists tend to not speak French or not. Speak it very well and that really bugs the French it also is Complicated by the fact that most American tourists go to Paris and stay in areas where other tourists stay and the the service Personnel in really heavily visited parts of Paris are real weary of tourists. So you don't get a kind of warmth that I think we expect or want but people generalize from that to all of the fragments not really fair. If you stay in less busy less familiar places in Paris. If you stay in one of the the outer edges communities on the away from the center of town you tend to find normal people living normal lives and my French which is not great in which is considered bad in the center of Paris is considered real good. Once I'm out in notoya one of the the edges people are Charming there. So it's a matter of placing yourself. We're going to run into people who Or either tired of tourists or don't see very many and if you make that kind of choice and opted for the West visited places, you just usually have a pretty good time also out in the countryside. I don't think you'll have a problem. The only catch there is that the farther you are from a large city the less likely you'll find people to speak English, which means carry good guidebook a good day phrase book travel questions for Katherine Watson today as we continue with our broadcast and your question is next. Hello. (00:33:39) Yes. My husband. I will be going to Europe this summer on a very tight budget will be there approximately a month. I heard you mention something about standby flights go more into depth on that and the chances of getting a flight to the first day (00:33:54) depends on who else wants to go then and what what you're doing when you're flying standby is betting that the airline will have what they call no shows people have made a reservation but haven't paid for it and who may or may not show up at the airport to put the money down and actually get on the plane people Express. I think used to have something like a 25 percent or higher. No, sir. Right because it because they didn't require a deposit until you I think if I remember this, right you could simply walk up for European flight having made the reservation and pay the money to get on the plane. I get on the plane pay the money on board, but it busy times there might be lots of people wanting to fly standby because the savings are substantial. It's a method you use if you've got lots more time than money and you face the fact that you might end up sleeping in the airport, which is not real pleasant, but you could at the the last time I did a cut-rate trip there were people could waited for people Express for Europe in June two years ago had waited something like three days in the airport, which is grueling except that you're with lots of other Travelers. They're usually fairly young. There's usually a guitar a deck of cards or somebody going out for pizza and it has a kind of convivial quality. If you don't have much time, you don't want to do that because you will spend a lot of time waiting to get on the plane and I suppose if you don't want to wait in the in the airport itself, but want to go to a hotel it wouldn't be very Long before you eat up in hotel bills and difference in the airfare. Plus she wouldn't be there in case they do call they would call names in the order in which you had registered for. So you just have to stay there the whole stack. Yeah till your turn comes if you're going in an offseason time and there's lots of space getting on standby on the first days easy, but if there's demand it's not We have another listener with a question. Go ahead please you're on (00:35:36) now. Yeah, I'm interested in traveled to Greece. Could you what do you think the future is going to be as far as towards their? (00:35:45) I think probably it will be good Greece has always been one of the popular one of the bargain destinations in Europe kind of like Portugal and Spain the Mediterranean suffered. It is all of Europe did last year because of feared terrorism and retaliation to our retaliation about terrorism and that from everything I read Europe is supposed to be back good and strong as this spring and summer so there should be tours available. And in fact that you should be able to find out about them now and again a travel agency could tell you could tell you what they've got available. Let's move on to our next caller. Hello. You're on with Katherine Watson. (00:36:22) Yeah, (00:36:23) go ahead (00:36:25) because of my job. I can't travel on during the winter and take advantage of the charter tourism would like to go to Costa Rica or Puerto Rico in June and I'm wondering if there are any summer Charter tours available (00:36:43) know that they're there might be but normally there aren't from this area because though the Puerto Rico is regarded as a winter getaway destination Charters only really function. Well when there's a large demand and they can count on volume to make up the to make up for the lower cost per seat. Costa. Rica has not been at least from this area a charter destination. Although it's a Charming place and I think your best bet on either place again is talk to my agency talk to the tourism offices of both those countries obviously one is one is ours, but I don't think Costa Rica has an office in Chicago, but it would in New York. And ask what you can get what kind of rates there are some agencies in town specialize in one of the other you could you could call travel agencies and ask what will be available in June. We have a your question coming up next. Hello. You're on now. (00:37:37) Yes. We're going to Puerto Rico San Juan next week. But what you suggest is the best hotel bargain for a good quality Hotel in San Juan. (00:37:45) I don't know. I don't know there are too many hotels to do that with you should if you are I don't know how you're getting there, but quite often if you were flying on a charter there will be a hotel package available as well the flight plus a hotel and that will generally be a lower a lower total price than you could get. If you did did the airfare on your own in the and the hotel on your own what kinds of prices would you normally expect to spend on hotels in the San Juan area more or less than in the United States I'd say less less. Okay, and you use u.s. Dollars down there, right? Okay. Your question is next at all. Can we go to you, please? (00:38:27) Hello? Yes, you're on very interested in Venezuela going to Venezuelan a couple of weeks and anything. You can tell me about touring Venezuela other than Caracas more out to the (00:38:41) countryside. That's I've spent a lot of time in South America, but I haven't been in Venezuela. Let me make a suggestion and it's one that relates to something that came up very early in the time. We've been talking for any exotic country and I guess Venezuela would qualify one good thing that tourists don't do very often but could because our tax dollars pay for it is contact the State Department in Washington's Citizens emergency center. It is a it is set up to help Travelers get answers to questions about safety in any situation. Is it safe? Is it is this a good time to go the cover everything from whether there's a threat in terms of terrorism to whether the hotels are crowded because of convention and that that for any exotic destination is a good place to check first. You should also prevent The beginning be checking with the State Health Department or one of the major health clinics to see what shots you're going to need what kinds of immunizations and Venezuela also has a tourist office in New York. I'm not sure if they were Chicago Branch you can check with them for information. There's also a Venezuelan I believe in Venezuela handbook. The state department has a series of handbooks on the culture and political background of of the countries of the world. They're particularly useful if you're going to a third world country because I'll give you more information than most guidebooks will it is about nine minutes before 12 noon. We're talking with Katherine Watson travel editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and she's answering questions about travel to just about any place in the world that you might be interested in going. Hello. You're on the air with her now. Go ahead. (00:40:15) I've got another France question for you here my husband as part of his training will be in medicine will be working in a hospital in southern Paris and we'll be leaving in October. Do you have any advice for the two of us as we will be spending about six months there especially in regards to housing. I'll be unemployed while we're there. (00:40:30) Okay housing in Paris is expensive and that's always sort of a shock on the other hand living in Paris is one of the great experiences in the world and I think it balances out so don't expect to save any money, but I would when you get there you can you can check things like the international Herald Tribune which runs ads for apartments that are to let for short periods. You can also go around areas in Paris that you like and stay in a hotel for a while and find neighborhoods that make that just make you feel good. And then look for rental agencies there. There are there are real estate offices and and apartment rental organizations. Just the way they are here and you can you can rent they will post in their windows with what's available when and you can go in and asking ballpark idea what you might expect. Pay per month for a six-month. No because it depends so much on neighborhood expect to get much less in terms of space and convenience. Then we would get for the same amount of money. Is that it cost more? What would it be as bad as New York City where you could easily spend a thousand bucks a month. You can easily do that in Paris to friend of mine live there in 1979 and was spending about 600 a month. Although he had a two bedroom apartment with a separate kitchen and a fairly large bathroom area. The apartments are arranged differently, especially in older buildings than were used to so you can expect smaller rooms and little more crowding even at top prizes. We have some more people with questions. Let's see how many we get to in the time left. You're on with Katherine Watson. I'll go ahead. (00:41:54) Yes. I'm a single woman and I've never been out east and I'm considering going to Boston and I've heard about this Freedom Trail walk wondering if you'd ever taken it and only have a couple days if it's a good way to see the city. And then also if you could suggest some places to stay that might not be too high price. (00:42:13) I can't help you on the hotel situation check a guide a good guide book for Boston or check with the travel agency. There are again bed-and-breakfast organizations all over the country now and they are particularly busy in the East. There are in the Boston area a number of of organizations that will list spare rooms essentially in private homes, and that's an excellent way for for single women, especially to travel because you're staying in a private home with people as for the Freedom Trail the that's a wonderful thing. I haven't done it myself, but we've had a couple of stories that staff members did. It's very enjoyable, but you can get information on what to see and do in Boston from their their tourism office. And let's move on to your question, please (00:42:58) hello. The first question that I have Catherine may or may not want to answer but we just moved back to Minnesota having been gone for a long time. And I wonder if she was the cute little girl who wore braids that been (00:43:09) crossed. Yes. I was but I didn't think I was cute. I thought I was kind of well skinny and shy. Oh, thank you. (00:43:17) I'll call you at the start and I wonder I just caught the end of your show here. If you'd given ways to get the least expensive rates to Manchester or London. (00:43:31) If you for traveling within the country looking to Britt rail passes most of the European countries in addition to belonging to the year rail network have their own discount passes for rail travel and many of them also include discount bus travel, so and that's very easy to get but again for For any British question the British tourist Authority in Chicago can answer just about anything. It's one of the best organized off tourist offices there is Can we move along to the next caller please? Hello, you're on the air with Katherine (00:44:00) Watson? Thank you for your many columns on travel through the years. We appreciate them. We have some questions about Seville Spain where to retired couples and we'd like to go there for a month or two and do a study and visit and we have two agencies that are that do this, but we were wondering about the best time and also if they Smash and snatch crimes are Spain of the last year's our current in Seville, (00:44:32) yeah, tell me which of the agencies that you're thinking about. Are you working with Saga are great (00:44:36) circle know we have the actual agencies. There are going to put us up and range study courses for (00:44:45) okay, the the two that I mentioned are ones that also do that and work with with older Travelers finding lodging and setting up study programs as well as far as Safety goes Seville has been one of the places that's been named Every Time purse snatchings are discussed in Spain snatching from people's shoulders of shoulder bags motorcycles that go buy cars and somebody reaches into the car window cause it's hot in the windows down and grabs a purse off to the lap of the person sitting in the passenger side. So Seville is so filled does have some of that Madrid does to Roman has the main thing is don't carry very much with you in places that are easy to get at don't don't go strolling out in the street with everything, you know, all your traveler's checks your passport and so on in somebody's shoulder bag or camera bag leave stuff in your room or safety deposit box, if you're staying in a hotel and just take the days what you need for that particular days expenses with you. I wouldn't I wouldn't in most if I could avoid it in most places carry a camera bag or a purse put stuff in your pockets put him in the front pockets and button. Mm. Here's our next questioner. Go ahead, please you're on now with Katherine Watson. (00:45:55) Thank you. What's the most Area you ever visited in also, what area would you go to Costco or not an (00:46:01) object? Well, if costs were not an object, I'd go to Antarctica and Tibet. Those are my two favorites right now and I might try and do it. Anyway as for beautii. The list is way too long here, but Northwoods Minnesota isn't bad. I like Galena, Illinois and I like Hawaii just about anyplace with palm trees and beaches and Paris and then the list goes off into just out. There aren't too many places that are really awful. Just look back on all of the Articles you rittany probably find something beautiful about each one of them. I guess it's back. Yeah interesting. I think we can take one maybe two more questions if they're pretty quick. Hello, Kathryn Watson's listening. Go (00:46:40) ahead Catherine. Are you still looking for a little items about things that bug Travelers you had an (00:46:47) article? Oh, yeah. What's your pet peeve? (00:46:49) Well, alright. Okay. What about in late March? At that (00:46:56) time I was there after yeah, I used your time. Maybe five ten years ago, except for the Easter holiday when just about everything stopped cold. It was it was very pleasant. Not not as cold really yours. I guess blustery as much can be here. Okay, let's try one more with about a minute left. Hello. You're on the air. (00:47:17) Yes. I was wondering what time of year is best zero in on the English Gardens and Springtime in (00:47:25) England a little earlier than it would be here. And again the British tourist Authority could help you with that but I was there once in late April and all the daffodils were in in full bloom. So I think you'd want to go a little earlier than you would hear a few weeks earlier to catch the flowers. Well Catherine we are just about out of time period is gone very quickly. Thanks a lot for coming in. Thank you. Just got back from New York. Where is your next trip going to be Galena, Illinois later today, and I hope to bet in in April. Well, now that certainly will be a diverse range of experience. Yes. I'm what what's going on in Galena, Illinois? Nothing. It's just quiet and pretty and old I see well, I hope you have a nice time. It'll be gone for what money until Monday night. I see Katherine Watson is the travel editor for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Going to have some stuff in the paper in the next few weeks about her trip to New York explaining some of the bargains you found a bed and breakfast organizations. Their weekend is made possible by economics laboratory products and services for household institutional and Industrial Cleaning worldwide. Stay tuned music coming up on the Minnesota Public Radio FM Network and Sport folio on ksjn thirteen thirty AM your tune to Minnesota Public Radio a member supported service where the time now is exactly 12:00 noon.