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Travel Tip: Don’t Forget Your RFID Protected Sleeves

August, September, and October are busy months for travel to Europe. While America is slowly catching on, most of Europe is already using a chip card. In fact, you’re at a great disadvantage if you don’t have one in Europe. Many retail stores and restaurants will only accept a chip card. RFID, or Radio Frequency Identification, is the technology inside the chip that allow credit card holders to simply wave their card in front of a scanner instead of having to slide the magnetic stripe. Unfortunately, RFID signals can also be electronically pick-pocketed. That’s why we always advise clients to purchase an inexpensive ($3-$8) chip card protected sleeve. These holders block RFID signals so your card can’t be electronically pick-pocketed. A wide variety of RFID blocking credit card sleeves can be found on Amazon. Moseeg is the brand we recommend. Also remember to please only use credit cards that have no foreign transaction fees and to clean out your wallet before you leave. All you need is two good credit cards and a small amount of cash. To withdraw money, use a bank accredited ATM machine. Not only will you receive a better rate of exchange, but this lessens the chance of fraud. If your debit card password is in letters, like mine, be sure to convert on scrap paper to the corresponding numbers. Many foreign ATM machine only use numbers. 

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Henry the Eighth, I Am, I Am

A mere 37-minute train ride from Waterloo Station in London brings you to Hampton Court Palace, the best-loved abode of King Henry VIII. All of Henry’s six wives lived at the palace at one point, including his last wife, Kathryn Parr, who married Henry in the upstairs chapel. Take the audio tour of the Grand Hall, apartments, and cooking area, where they would roast large quantities of beef on a spit, washed down with kegs of beer and far too young wine. Then stroll the grounds and try your luck at the Maze, the oldest maze in England, originally built in 1702. With hedges towering close to 8-feet high, the narrow, winding paths are over a half-mile long. It’s a special treat for the kids after touring the palace. A special treat for music lovers is happening on August 30th, when two of my favorite groups, Brand New Heavies and Incognito play a live concert at the palace. Check it out!
 

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Rob Barbour Leads Trip to Ethiopia

In March 2015, I had the privilege of traveling with Rob Barbour around northern Tanzania, with stops in Arusha and Arusha National Park, the southern Amboseli plains, Mwiba Wildlife Reserve, Ngorongoro Crater, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Kusini Camp in the southern Serengeti, the Grumeti Wildlife Reserve, and the Lamai section of the northern Serengeti, where the legendary wildebeest migration takes place across the Mara River. Rob not only serves as director of African operations for the safari operator, Epic Private Journeys, but he’s a native Tanzanian who formerly owned his own lodges in Lamai and Ruaha National Park in southern Tanzania. It seems like every restaurant, hotel, and airport stop we made, he ran into an old friend. What was invaluable to me was the wealth of information he shared on taking a safari in Africa, knowledge accumulated over a lifetime. 

 
Now Rob is taking his expertise to Ethiopia, April 15-28, 2018. The 14-day adventure involves a range of accommodation styles and modes of transport, including trekking in the high plateaus of the Simien Mountains and the Bale Mountains. Ethiopia offers a diverse cultural experience from the Coptic Christians and medieval rock hewn churches in the north to the remote tribes of the Omo Valley. The country is also home to incredible wildlife including endangered Ethiopian wolves, Bale monkeys, Geladas and the Walia Ibex. Please contact ActiveTravels for pricing if interested. 
 
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Biking to Giverny

The past six weeks, I’ve been home less than six days, traveling on assignment to Newport, Cape Cod, Maine, New Brunswick, Paris, and London. Thankfully, I’ll be on my back deck most of August writing stories based on these trips. This week, I want to delve into some of the highlights of these recent excursions.

Those of you with a love of art history know Giverny as the home of Claude Monet. Less than an hour by train from Paris, you can make the pilgrimage to Monet’s home and his spectacular Japanese water garden inundated with day lilies, the inspiration for many of the works that hang on the walls of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and other impressive collections of Impressionism around the globe. Fat Tire Bike Tours escorts riders from Paris’ St. Lazare train station to the quaint village of Vernon. Once you arrive, you head to an outdoor market to stock up on picnic food–soft, creamy Reblochon cheese, slices of yummy Rosette de Lyon sausage, duck liver pate, warm baguettes from the neighborhood boulangerie, juicy strawberries and apricots, and a bottle of wine to wash it down. After passing out bikes, our guide Andrew led us to the banks of the Seine River where we watched a family of swans swim as we dug into our goodies. Then we were off on an easy 5km bike trail that connects Vernon with Giverny. We entered the picturesque hamlet and were soon walking over that Japanese bridge seen in many of Monet’s works. The whole trip took from Paris took about 8 hours and cost 65 Euros per biker, a perfect day trip for our family of four.
 

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Florida Keys On the Rebound

Stroll down Duval Street in Key West and you wouldn’t know that the Florida Keys lost over 1700 homes and businesses in the wake of Hurricane Irma. Once again, folks flock to see Ernest Hemingway’s home before stopping for a mojito at the Green Parrot. Nearby, the Hyatt Centric Key West Resort offers 120 guest rooms overlooking the water in Old Town. The Lower Keys are also open for business as we continue to send clients to favorite properties like the Playa Largo Resort in Key Largo. The Middle Keys and Upper Keys, like Big Pine Key, is where Irma left the most devastation. But they’re also on the mend. Tranquility Bay in Marathon is open for business and Islamorada’s The Moorings Village, with 18 oceanfront cottages, reopened last month. We just received word that two classic Florida Keys properties, Hawks Cay Resort and Cheeca Lodge, will both reopen in March. So there’s still time to escape the cold and spend your important tourism dollars in a place that needs your business right now. 

 
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Euro Drops to $1.07 Against the Dollar, Lowest in 12 Years

If you want to return to Europe, this is the year. Two excellent articles came out last week to help you find the cheapest airfares and the best lodging for your dollar. In Huffington Post, there’s a story on the best ways to use Google Flight. You’re going to love using the pricing map! Simply type in “Europe” as your destination and you’ll find the prices to every city on the continent for the dates you want to go. If you want to go direct, push the direct button. It’s a wonderful tool. The second story is this piece from The Washington Post on which cities have seen a major reduction in hotel pricing thanks to the currency exchange. Find a city in Europe, any city, and ActiveTravels will help find the best lodging based on location, and design a memorable route with must-see sights, restaurants, and scenic backcountry roads. We’re here to help! 

 
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Time to Enter Lowell Thomas Travel Awards Competition

Since its inception in 1984, the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation has handed out more than 2,100 awards and over $420,000 in recognition of outstanding travel journalism. Named the Lowell Thomas Travel Awards Competition after the renowned travel scribe, it has become the premier competition in North America in the field of travel journalism. Every year, the awards and prize money is handed out for outstanding print, online and multimedia works, travel photography, and audio and video broadcast. I’m proud to be on the board of the competition, now open until April 1st. Please send your best work and walk away with cash and the chance to call yourself an award-winning travel writer. 

 

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