Archive for the ‘Hacks’ Category

Never Travel Alone Again

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Travel Friends

Do you find it hard to find people who have the same eagerness to travel as you? Even if you do have a few friends interested in travel, it’s usually difficult to get them to commit to a trip with you in the first place. And when you are finally able to organize a trip, you’re left wondering if your friends will back out of it on you at the last minute. Most people either don’t share the same fervor for traveling, are not interested in going to the destinations you want, or just don’t have the resources. A lot of these people complain about not having money to take the vacation they want, but are then found spending frivolously on what you view to be unnecessary. They’ll spend $200 on a round of drinks or $2000 on new car rims, all while wishing they had enough money to take that dream vacation.  This becomes frustrating for those looking to share new adventures in foreign environments.

Thankfully, with the rapid growth of travel social networking sites, it is easier than ever to find people to travel and make friends with who share the same interests as you. The following sites will help you meet the type of people who are more in-line with wanting to have the same experiences as yourself:

1. WAYN.comWAYN (Where Are You Now?) is the world’s largest travel and lifestyle focused social networking community website.  The site is present in 251 countries and membership has grown from 45,000 users in March 2005 to over 15 million today.  WAYN helps you to keep track of all your contacts from around the world and make new friends based on where you are now, where you have been and where you are going.  If you have a lot of friends who travel the world, or if you want to make a lot of friends who travel world, WAYN has the type of community you need.

2. TravBuddy.com – Touts itself as “the fun way to share travel advice and meet other travelers”. If you’re looking for a travel partner or buddy, search the 1.5 million profiles on the site to find other travelers who are interested in going to the same places.  You can filter by age, gender and travel preferences to find those with the most similar interests to yourself. Create a free account and share your future travel plans to start finding other people to travel with. TravBuddy will automatically tell you if other people are planning to travel to the same places as you at the same times.

3. TripAdvisor Forums – Over 15 million travelers use these forums every week to plan their trips. The forums are predominantly used by people looking for only travel advice, but many people also use them to find like-minded people to travel with. Get involved in the forums and post a message in the forum of your choice destination to find those potentially interested in traveling with you.

4. CouchSurfingCouchSurfing helps travelers find hosts who will let them stay at their place for free. It is the largest hospitality exchange network with over 1 million members (35% of them are offering a place to stay for travelers) in 232 countries. This large and active community is one of the best portals to making new friends, experiencing local cultures, and traveling cheaply.

5. The Hospitality Club – Similar to CouchSurfing, The Hospitality Club (300,000+ members) is a volunteer-run organization mainly used to exchange accommodation by local hosts around the world. Some hosts may also offer tours and food. Guests and hosts do not pay each other.

Traveling to Cuba

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Cuba Travel

With many of the world’s best beaches, a capital city (Havana) with an exciting nightlife and beautiful architecture, and a laid back, welcoming culture help make Cuba one of the top tourist destinations for people from all over the world. That’s if you don’t live in the US.  Until Obama legalizes travel for all Americans, it is still illegal to take vacations to Cuba.  Technically, traveling there is not banned, it’s spending money that’s illegal.  But how can you get there if you don’t spend any money?   It is estimated over 100,000 Americans travel to Cuba every year – 80% of them illegally. The following information will provide you with a list of ways American can travel to Cuba, both legally and sub-legally:

Legal Travel
You must obtain a Specific license or write your own General license to legally travel to Cuba.  Before trying to get one of these licenses, make sure you fall into one of the following three categories:
1.  Official government travel by officials of the U.S. Government, foreign governments and international organizations of which the United States is a member.
2.  Journalism by journalists regularly employed in that capacity by a news reporting organization, including supporting broadcast or technical personnel.
3.  Full-time professional research conducted by professionals in their professional areas, or attendance at certain professional meetings or conferences.

The professional research category is the way that provides the most leeway. Look at the website www.legalcubatravel.com for more detailed information on traveling to Cuba using a General Research license.

Official Treasury Department policies and documents on travel to Cuba can be found here.

For guidelines on General and Specific licenses for legal Cuba travel, look here.

Sub-Legal Travel
1.  Avoid using credit cards to book your trip – You don’t want a paper trail or financial records showing you paid for travel to Cuba. Pay a third party travel agency with a money order or cashier’s check. A few travel agencies to book through include: SellOffVacations.com, Glenny Travel, or Cuba Travel USA (also contains an extensive FAQ on travel to Cuba).

2.  Get a connecting flight from a third country – Cancun, Nassau, Montego Bay, Dominican Republic, and Canada among others are options. Keep in mind that any airlines flying over the continental US are required to share passenger manifests (including your country of residence) with the US government. It is unclear whether or not this data is used to convict those traveling illegally to Cuba. To minimize your risk, get a connecting flight out of Cancun, as Mexico does not share passenger manifests. There are three daily flights from Cancun to Havana. These flights are on Cubana and Mexicana airlines and run about $300/ticket.

3.  No Passport Stamp – Cuban customs has been instructed not to stamp US passports. Instead, customs will issue you a tourist card and stamp that. To play it safe, ask them not to stamp your passport anyways.

4.  Money Exchange – Cuba does not accept US currency and imposes an extra 10% fee on US transactions. The best thing to do is exchange USD for Canadian and then exchange into CUC (the major legal currency for Cuba) in Cuba. The second legal currency in Cuba is the Cuban Peso (CUP) which is rarely used. Be careful to avoid scammers giving you change in CUP instead of CUC. Also, US bank affiliated credit cards will not work for you. Either bring cash or get a front loaded credit card from a bank that does not operate within the US. The following link contains additional details on money exchange in Cuba.

5.  Return to US – US citizens are required to declare all countries they have traveled to while outside of the country. The only way Customs and Imigration would know you were in Cuba is if you tell them. Most people get through without a problem by stating they only went to Cancun or Nassau. Use your own discretion for what you decide to do.

12 Must Have Travel Gadgets

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Travel Gadgets

What gizmos and gadgets do I need to take on my next trip? This question is usually answered while packing an extra bag full of electronics that never get turned on and collect nothing more than scratches from the other devices. Thankfully, the following list has been researched and compiled to help you determine the most useful gadgets to buy and bring with you on your next trip. No ShamWows or Flowbees included:

1. Trackstick II
Trackstick II

Trackstick II is a GPS Receiver the size of a memory stick used for tracking weeks of your every step. Take it on vacation to keep a satellite album of your travels, record your explorations, track where your vehicle has been, or carry it whenever you go out to get a better sense of your everyday life. Traveled locations can be shown via a red line that is traced on satellite photos and 3D terrain using the latest mapping technologies from Google Earth. The Trackstick II continuously records its exact route, stop times, speed, direction, and other valuable information, all of which can be quickly downloaded and viewed on your computer. No monthly fees are required and Trackstick Manager, an advanced tracking and geo-photo tagging piece of software, is provided free to download.

2. Canon PowerShot D10 12.1 MP Waterproof Digital Camera
Canon D10

If you need a durable camera for your adventures and trips, look no further. The PowerShot D10 is waterproof to 33 feet, cold resistant from 14-104 degrees (F), and shockproof up to four feet. Its 12.1-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality poster-size prints. Also, Canon’s powerful, state of the art imaging technologies (DIGIC 4 Image Processor; evolved Face Detection Technology plus Face Detection Self-timer) are built-in, making this camera the best choice for capturing memories during your travels.

3. Apple’s iPhone 3G
iPhone 3G
The iPhone 3G is really three devices in one – a revolutionary phone (Quad-band smartphone that will work in almost any country), a widescreen iPod, and an Internet device with email and a desktop-class web browser. With fast 3G wireless technology, GPS mapping, support for enterprise features like Microsoft Exchange, and over 35,000 apps available, the iPhone 3G puts more features at your fingertips than any phone out there. If you need to use Verizon Wireless and can’t handle the touch screen keyboard, check out RIM’s BlackBerry 8830 World Edition.
4. SteriPEN Traveler Handheld Water Purifier
SteriPEN

SteriPEN is perfect for people traveling to “at risk” water countries, and for peace of mind in water emergencies anywhere. The purifier employs ultraviolet light (UV) to destroy the DNA of microbe like bacteria, viruses and protozoa (like Giardia and Cryptosporidium), making them unable to reproduce and cause illness. It purifies a 16oz. Glass of water in just 48 seconds and has no aftertaste after being purified. It also has an easy one button operation – no pumping, chemicals, or test strips.

5. ASUS Eee PC 1000HE
Asus Eee PC

The compact form factor and rich feature set make this notebook the number one choice to take with you on trips. The ultra-bright 10″ screen is combined with built-in 802.11n, Bluetooth V2.0, 160GB HD, preloaded XP and an Intel Atom 280 Processor. It allows for a long battery lifespan of up to 9.5 hours and weighs just over 3.2 pounds.

6. Franklin 12-language Speaking Global Translator
Franklin Translator

Translates to and from 12 languages (Chinese, Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Turkish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish). It’s large screen is ideal for viewing both translations simultaneously and the European phonetic spell correction lets you enter words as they sound. The device allows you to hear over 115000 and 12000 phrases pronounced in recorded human speech, and includes over 450000 words and 12000 phrases in the languages provided.

7. Tripshell International All-in-One Travel Plug Adapter
All-in-One Travel Adapter

This universal travel adapter covers outlets in over 150 countries including US, Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and UK. The built-in surge protection protects your electrical appliances from frequent spikes/surges in foreign electricity supply. It eliminates the need to carry multiple adapters and allows you to charge your laptop, PDA, and cell phone internationally.

8. Denon In-Ear Hybrid Headphone
Denon AH-C452K

These headphones (AH-C452K) are drastically underrated and provide the best quality/price ratio of any set of headphones out there. The clear and crisp mids and highs, coupled with the clean and strong bass produce a better overall sound than the Shure, Bose, and Sennheiser counterparts. Make sure you use them for 24-36 hours to “break them in”.

9. Garmin nüvi 500
Garmin nuvi 500

This GPS (3.5″ display) serves up turn-by-turn navigation in a rugged, waterproof exterior. It fits easily in a purse, backpack, or jacket pocket, making it perfect for travel. It provides driving, walking, bicycling and boating modes, which customize your nüvi specifically for your method of travel. It supports Geocahing.com GPX files and comes preloaded with the highly detailed City Navigator North America NT maps for the lower 48 states, with maps for many countries worldwide available for purchase on the Garmin website.

10. Third Generation WiFi Detector
WiFi Detector

Great for quickly finding Wi-Fi without having to boot your laptop. Finds wireless networks up to 200 feet away, and provides specific information about each network when multiple networks are present. The back light LCD screen shows signal strength, network ID (SSID), encryption status, and channel.

11. Power Monkey eXplorer
Power Monkey Solar Charger

Charge this device anywhere there is sunshine. It stores up to 96 hours of reserve power for all of your favorite devices. USB connectors are included for iPods and accessories, MP3players, PDAs, smart mobile phones, digital cameras,games consoles, BlackBerrys, Bluetooth headsets and many more digital devices. If you need extra power to charge something like a laptop, look at the Powergorilla and Solargorilla.

12. Dicapac
Dicapac

Provides cases for the majority of mainstream devices (digital cameras, phones, mp3 players, etc.), which make them 100% waterproof (up to 18m deep), snow-proof, dirt-proof and the perfect investment for year-round protection. The UV, water repellent, and scratch resistant coating allows for quality pictures. A transparent and flexible case design supports easy camera control and zoom functions.