by David McGuffin | May 12, 2008 | Essential Travel Resources
Updated: November 28, 2015
These days it is nearly impossible to travel without a credit and debit card. They make life easy…there’s no need for traveler’s checks, currency conversion, or even calculating exchange rates. You simply present your credit card to a merchant, they “run it” and print the receipt, you sign it, and you’re on your way. How much simpler can it get?
However, many a traveler has been foiled because they failed to follow the credit card provider’s rules.
I’ve just spent my entire layover in Atlanta calling credit card companies. You see, our credit cards are really not “ours” at all, they belong to the credit card companies. An important benefit of our credit card is the guarantee provided by the credit card company that we’ll not be ripped-off by con-artists and thieves should our “information” be compromised. In other words if our credit card is lost or stolen, or someone obtains the number, we are not responsible. That’s a good thing!
But there is one drawback. If you leave your area of residence, you must notify the credit card company and provide information about where you will be and where you’re likely to be making charges on your (their) card. If you don’t, you’ll get the dreaded statement from the merchant, “you card was declined.” That does not sound too nice in French!
So, if you travel outside your normal area, CALL THE CREDIT CARD COMPANY and tell them when and where you’ll be making charges.
I’m off to catch my flight to Provence. I’ll talk to you later.
-David
by David McGuffin | May 12, 2008 | Uncategorized
Well I’m on my way to Europe! I began my journey this morning by leaving my home at 8:00 a.m. It’s an hour drive from home to the the airport, but luckily I had Charlotte with me and she dropped me at the terminal. Having to park, pay, and ride a shuttle takes so much more time.
HERE IS SOME NEWS for those of you flying in the next few weeks. It appears that most of the major airlines are imposing a $25 fee for checking more than one bag! Think about it before you pack that extra piece of luggage! There was a family of four in front of me who had a flatbed cart loaded with luggage. They had a least ten bags and made me think they were going on a round-the-world trip! But no, just to California for a week. Anyway the mom freaked out when she was hit with a $150 bill for the excess baggage.
After they got out of my way, I checked-in and told the agent I was checking no bags. He smiled with relief and then took ten minutes to try to read the fine print on my passport because his “scanner” was not working! Finally he handed me my boarding passes but no ticket jacket. I didn’t care, but he felt compelled to tell me it was a new cost cutting measure just implemented this week.
Finally…to the security line and luckily no problems!
The new Terminal 1 has just opened at Jacksonville Airport (JAX). It’s fresh, open, clean, and modern. You gotta check out the sinks in the new restrooms. Amazing!
by David McGuffin | May 10, 2008 | Destinations
I always get excited when it comes to getting ready to travel. Yes, there is that hectic period when I think I’ll never get everything done in time to catch my flight. Invariably, once my passport’s been shown, I get my boarding pass, and clear security, I always breath a sigh of relief knowing there is nothing more I can do but get on the plane and go.
I feel like that today… too much to do and not enough time to do it! I’m heading to Nice and the Cote D’ Azur to do a little exploring on my own and then pick up a tour group. I’ve recently been re-reading Peter Mayle’s “A Year in Provence” so I’ve decided to take a spin up into the Luberon for a couple of days. I’ll keep you posted and let you know how it all works out.
-David
by David McGuffin | May 7, 2008 | David's Journal
June 10, 1997
After all the travel yesterday it was nice to sleep in a bit before breakfast. Our hotel is located on the highway just outside Colmar so we really did not have an opportunity to experience the town last night. By 9:00 a.m. we had finished breakfast and were leaving the hotel for the short drive to Colmar.
As it turned out, Colmar is a nice little town- more German than French. All the houses are half-timbered with white stucco/stone walls. Lisa, our tour guide, took us on a walking tour of the town center. I got the feeling that she had never visited Colmar and was trying to show us the “guide book” descriptions of town. This was well and good for about thirty minutes, but after that the kids became restless and were ready to venture off on their own.
Finally, we split up and decided meet back at the bus after lunch. Charlotte and I wandered the cobbled streets, visited several fabric stores and dress shops, and decided on a spot for lunch. We chose an outside table and ordered a crepe filled with beef, onion, cheese, and potatoes…yummy! Then to top it off, we had a crepe filled with sorbet, raspberries, strawberries, an assortment of other fruits, and loaded with whipped cream. This was amazing!
We got back on the bus and everyone was on time! Guess my chat did some good. While planning this tour I had insisted on traveling the “wine route” that traverses small towns and vineyards just southwest of Colmar. This too was uncharted territory for both the driver and our guide. But we made the most of it! The countryside was dotted with little wine producing farms each with its own domain and producer. We kept seeing these great bird’s nests all over the place. Soon we discovered that storks were known to nest in this region. This got everyone on the bus on the lookout for nests in the crooks and crannies of steeples, silos, and towers.
by David McGuffin | May 7, 2008 | David's Journal
David’s note – If you are just tuning in, let me get you up to speed here. Back in December, I decided to write about the first big group tour to Europe that I had a part in planning. The year is 1997 and we’re in Colmar, France.
June 9, 1997
Finally, we arrived in Colmar by 9:00 p.m. It was a long day with the trucker’s strike, the stop in Chartres, and then the long drive across the plains of central France. The staff was waiting dinner on us when we got to the hotel. The tables were set with water and the starter, all that was left for us to do was sit down and be served. The menu consisted of an onion tart, egg noodles and baked chicken, and an unsweetened and utterly bitter yogurt for desert. All was good except for the desert! We tried some Alsacian wine (a Riesling and a Gerwurtztraminer) and it was quite dry. I really did not care for it even though I had 50 ml of each.
Lots of little things had been going on over the last few days; you know how it can be traveling with a group of kids. Being in a foreign environment just seemed to complicate matters. Budding romantics, who would normally have nothing to do with each other, had suddenly decided to answer the mating call. Then, there were the girls who were mad at each other because they were hanging out with others than their little click. Also, there was the normal stuff that pops up on any tour like not following instructions, being late for a rendezvous, poor table manners, not paying attention to the tour guide, and other such stuff.
I had had enough, so I called for a group pow-wow in the back parking lot at 10:00 p.m. Our rooms were on the first floor so when the appointed time for the “big chat” came, I noticed everyone climbing out their hotel room windows. Ughhh…another thing to add to my list of don’t do’s! I had the chat, we all agreed to improve, and now it was time for bed. It was about that time we discovered there had been a bum sleeping in his make-sift home of cardboard near the dumpster. This freaked most of the girls out, especially when they realized their windows had been wide open for anyone, including the bum, to crawl in and steal their stuff. As it turned out nothing was missing, but the bum had been holed-up in one of the vacant hotel rooms until we arrived and started making such a stir.
Reflections: That ” unsweet and utterly bitter yogurt” I now know to be a French speciality. Little did we know at the time you were supposed to add sugar and berries to make a delightful dessert!
Updated: November 28, 2015