March 8th, 2010
Aruba is a beautiful place to lie on the beach. Constant temperatures, blue seas and all the brochures tell you. Things you need to know on Aruba. Firstly there is always a strong wind, which is nice as it cools everything down. The bad side is it stops you feeling the sun so much so more likely to burn, and secondly your newspaper is very hard to read.
How about food? Since everything is imported apart from fish, prices are not the cheapest but the quality is uniformingly good. Even the Burger King looks a lot better than in the USA. Showing the clientele the island attracts the poor Burger King seemed to lack customers. There are many restaurants where you can easily spend $50 a head, but conversely there are plenty of great places where that can be halved. In the high rise hotel area, some of my favourites are Salt n Pepper, where the Tapas menu offers great taste and value, along with a jug of Sangria thrown in between 5 and 7. Cafe Rembrandt next to the Hard Rock Cafe also offers many great dishes at $15 a main course. Generally beware of anywhere that has touts outside trying to get you inside, a good restaurant does not need this ! Also beware the touts selling timeshares everywhere, not many things sold to you on the street are a good idea !
Highlights of the island include snorkelling trips. Many companies on the beach offer half day trips on a variety of boats, and there are many coral reef sites teeming with fish as well as a couple of old wrecks under the sea.
There is an efficient bus service that connects the hotels with the capital Oraanjestad, and the taxis operate on a fixed fee basis, which in quaint style is not actually listed. A trip from the airport to the furthest of the hotels will set you back $25. US dollars are accepted everywhere, but euros not so much. If you have dollars then there is no need to even know the local currency exists. But they do have some interestingly shaped coins !
Tags: Tourism
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January 29th, 2010
One of the problems with skiing is the cost. A day’s ski pass can easily cost $60-$70, but an offpeak season pass can often be bought for about 5 days’ skiing, one of life’s great bargains. Of course only a bargain if you can ski for more than 5 days at one resort in a season, and not including weekends !
An alternative is to buy discount tickets. Most big supermarket chains in the USA sell tickets or vouchers at a discount. For example in New York State Pricehopper sell a voucher good for 3 days skiing at many resorts for $139, as good as getting one day free. Safeway in the west of the USA do similar schemes. Sporting goods shops similarly do better prices than the resorts. Also, flyers found in tourist areas and hotels often contain cheaper tickets or buy one get one free offers. Before you go skiing, always google the resort and deals. Booking on this site with these tips can make skiing affordable!
Tags: skiing
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January 20th, 2010
Boston is an easily walkable city. The best place to stay is in the downtown area, centred around Copley Square. Here you are at the centre of the shopping and tourist zone. There are 2 large malls, all indoors, and the boutique lined Newbury Street, as well as the tourist attractions of the Library and Boston Common, a perfect place to take a sandwich lunch. At the top of the Boston Common is the start of the Freedom trail, a red lined walk which takes you past many of the historical attractions of Boston, though a lot of them are based around an American view of throwing out the British.
Other Boston attractions worth seeing are the Waterfront with the cool aquarium, and the university district of Cambridge with MIT and Harvard. Be warned that driving and parking in Boston is not fun, and is best to use the metro. Parking in Boston will run to $30 a day in a lot. Street meters are only free after 8pm and on Sundays.
Tags: USA
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January 8th, 2010
Just a quick post to let you know that hotels in Japan have now been added to hotelPriceBot, another in a long list of improvments planned for this year.
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January 6th, 2010
Some cities are not easy to park in, and some are verging on the impossible – particularly in Manhattan. But Manhattan is full of car parks, but the rates can sometimes make you want to drive the car into the river. Rack rates are often between $45 and $60 for 24 hours but with a little bit of planning one can find a car park near your destination and print off a coupon for a cheaper stay. I have been using Best Parking, where it is fairly simple to find a car park right next to the hotel for $30 for 24 hours, and sometimes for $25, not bad for downtown Manhattan. The site also lets you find evening parking for $10, which can make an evening much more pleasurable. I am sure that free on street parking can be found in some areas if you know your way around enough, and don’t mind moving the car early in the morning, but for visitors Manhattan parking is worth paying for.
Tags: NYC, rental cars
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