Travel -: 48 hours in London for bargain-hunters

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48 hours in London for bargain-hunters Jul 22nd 2011, 10:13 (Reuters Life!) - If you think London is the kind of luxury destination that will empty your wallet in seconds, then you'll be delighted to know that you don't have to be a billionaire to enjoy the best of the British capital. This city is also a jewel for the world class bargain-hunter looking for top food, culture and art on a staycation budget. Reuters correspondents with local knowledge show you how to get the most out of London on the cheap. SATURDAY 10 a.m. Contender for the best coffee in London, a brew from Monmouth Coffee Company is an ideal way to kick start the long day of exploration ahead. (www.monmouthcoffee.co.uk) Next nip across the road to London's larder, Borough Market, stocked full of organic fruit and veg, artisan cheeses, bread, meat and fish. Browse amongst the gourmet goodies and graze your way round the numerous free samples. (www.boroughmarket.org.uk) 12 p.m. Work off brunch with a stroll to Southwark's newly created Urban Physics Garden, an inner city oasis bursting with medicinal plants and herbs that heal. Be sure to try out the unconventional Serbian seesaws. (www.physicgarden.org.uk/) Opposite is the Jerwood Space, the gallery boasts an exciting program of visual art exhibitions, showcasing emerging new talent. (www.jerwoodspace.co.uk). 1:45 p.m. Wander down to the Thames to explore London's riverside cultural quarter, the South Bank. Theater enthusiasts should head to the thatch-roofed, oak-beamed Shakespeare's Globe, a faithful reconstruction of the open-air playhouse originally built in 1599. Between April and October visitors can experience a near authentic, original 'Shakespeare in performance'. Tickets for the pit, the open air free standing yard are a snip at 5 pounds ($8.15).Tours of the building and the Shakespeare exhibition are on all year-round. Strolling along the riverside path, it's hard to ignore the imposing Tate Modern, housed in a former Power Station, the center has succeeded in bringing challenging modern art to the masses. Inside, the vast turbine hall displays awe-inspiring site specific installations and the permanent collections feature work by the likes of Francis Bacon, Picasso and Mark Rothko. Checkhttp://www.tate.org.uk for the schedule of free guided tours. 4:30 p.m. Stride across the pedestrian Millennium Bridge admiring views of the Thames. Next destination is St Paul's Cathedral, Christopher Wren's 17th century domed masterpiece. Visiting is free for worship purposes and you can catch the cathedral choir giving an Evensong performance at 5 p.m. 7 p.m. Da Polpo in Covent Garden is a great dinner destination. With a no-reservations policy just head down to the New York Italian inspired restaurant for a spread of Italian delicacies (dapolpo.co.uk). Treat yourself to a glass of the house wine and soak up the atmosphere at Gordon's wine bar. Every nook and cranny of the vaulted candlelit cellar is filled with chatter and in summer the crowd spills out into the Embankment Gardens. (www.gordonswinebar.com) SUNDAY 10 a.m. Let the aroma of freshly baked goods lure you into Brick Lane Beigel, an East London institution and thriving relic of London's Jewish East end. Smoked salmon and cream cheese or salt beef and mustard fillings make a hearty budget breakfast. (159 Brick Lane, E1 6SB) 10:30 a.m. Fancy a spot of shopping? Shoreditch is a hotbed of cutting edge style and there are plenty of bargains to be had in its independent stores and vintage shops. Tucked away on Cheshire St is cavernous Beyond Retro, a one-stop shop for the fabulous clothes of yesteryear. (www.beyondretro.com). 12 p.m. For a quick post shop pep try Kiwi coffee connoisseurs Allpress Espresso who pride themselves on in-house roasting. (www.allpress.co.nz) 12:30 p.m. Head east to Columbia Road, a Victorian terraced street that springs to life on Sunday with the weekly flower market. Prepare to have your senses overwhelmed as you are met with vibrant foliage, exquisite blooms and the barrow boys bellowing out the deals of the day. (http://www.columbiaroad.info) 2 p.m. Peckish? Aim for Goldsmiths Row, home to a few economical eateries along with some more upmarket establishments. For a taste of traditional London fare visit F. Cooke's Pie and Mash Shop. Established in 1900, the menu remains the same, steaming by the window is a vat of eels, choose from hot or jellied for a mere 2.50 pounds washed down with a mug of piping hot builder's tea. 3 p.m. Choose to spend the remainder of the afternoon lounging on expansive, green London Fields or if the weather permits take a dip in the 50 meter-long heated lido. Home to many of the capitals creative industries there is also an array of neighboring galleries to explore. Famous for championing the Young British Artists is the White Cube in Hoxton (www.whitecube.com), or try the Victoria Miro Gallery, stretched over nearly 3,000 meters (yards) complete with a charming landscaped garden, it is a breeding ground for exciting young artists (www.victoria-miro.com). 6 p.m. Thought vinyl was dead? Bustling Kristina records on Stoke Newington High St begs to differ. Peruse their collection of quality underground new and second hand records or stumble upon an in store gig. (www.kristinarecords.com) For your evening meal follow the mouth-watering scent round the corner to Mangal Ocakbasi, the frontrunner in Turkish charcoal grilled lamb, chicken and vegetables. A popular spot, you may have a short wait to be seated but there is plenty of activity to hold your attention. A single chef adeptly manipulates row upon rows of kebabs as the ocakbasi grill plumes smoke into the huge extractor looming above. Grab a beer from the corner shop as the restaurant operates a BYOB policy (www.magal1.com). 8:30 p.m. The area has a handful of great traditional pubs to wind down with after dinner drinks. Prop yourself up at the Shakespeare's horse shoe bar to sample their range of ales or head to the Prince George (40 Parkholme Rd, E8 3AG) popular with the hip kids and long term Dalston residents alike. During the Summer months, it's worth checking Dalston roof park's events calendar, on top of the spectacular views, the green astro turf plays host to small productions by the nearby Arcola Theater, and there are outdoor film screenings and gigs (www.bootstrapcompany.co.uk). ($1 = 0.613 British Pounds) (Edited by Paul Casciato)

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Travel -: Missing out on Comic-Con? Need a comic trivia fix? A geek-friendly NYC tour is waiting for you

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Missing out on Comic-Con? Need a comic trivia fix? A geek-friendly NYC tour is waiting for you Jul 21st 2011, 10:27 NEW YORK (AP) â€" "I don't get the whole Harry Potter thing," a young boy says to our tour guide as we trudge down a midtown Manhattan street, the pavement glistening in the beastly mid-July sun. "I don't either," says our guide, empathetically. Potter, Shmotter. The boy wizard, pop culture hero though he may be, simply has no place on the Superhero Tour of New York. No, this two-hour walk is about traditional comic superheroes: Spider-Man, Batman, Captain America, the Green Lantern, Superman. Fans come to honor not only them, but the geeky guys who created them. Indeed, geeks are very welcome on this outing, run by the Celebrity Planet company and usually hosted by the very geek-friendly Paul Lepelletier, a former comic cartoonist himself, now an advertising art director. He's come dressed for our tour in a belly-hugging shirt splattered with cartoon Popeyes, shorts, and a Superman baseball cap from Metropolis, Ill. (the hometown of Superman, duh.) "Geek is my secret identity," Lepelletier quips. Our tour begins, fittingly, at Jim Hanley's Universe, a comic book store just across from the Empire State Building. I've brought along my 8-year-old and 10-year-old kids, but truth be told, the tour is not perfect for that age group. When kids of that age think superheroes, they want something truly visual. No, this is a tour for people who love nothing more than to stand by a nondescript building and learn that the Batman creator once worked there. Or to stand on the street corner where Peter Parker, in the "Spider-Man" movie, was dropped off by his Uncle Ben, who was about to get killed. Occasionally, fans do something a little crazy, like turn up in full costume â€" or get engaged. "We had two men, tourists from New Zealand, who got engaged in front of the famous globe in the Daily Planet building," Lepelletier recalls. Dino and Gina Plakas are here with their three kids, from Plainview, N.Y. Dino, in fact, is a freelance comic artist. All five are wearing some kind of comic book reference â€" a T-shirt, or, in Gina's case, a green shirt in honor of the Green Lantern. Early on the tour, we stop for a look from afar at the Flatiron Building. Where, Lepelletier asks, have we seen this? My son pipes up immediately: "It's the Daily Bugle in 'Spider-Man'!" ''Yup," the guide says approvingly. Soon, though, he loses the smaller kids with a long reference to William Randolph Hearst and his decision to put comics in the papers as a way of getting parents to buy them. The older ones, though, pay rapt attention. He takes us next to a Park Avenue building where Will Eisner, the comic entrepreneur and artist who created "The Spirit," once had his studios. "I had the honor of being Eisner's assistant," says Lepelletier, now in his 50s, proudly. There's more: Also in that building worked a certain Bob Kane, who comic fans will know created Batman (first, he tried a "bird man" â€" that didn't fly). We also hear how "Batman" the TV show, with its "Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel" cliffhanger, saved the then-faltering Batman franchise from oblivion. We learn how Kane felt about the nipples on George Clooney's Batman suit. You want better trivia? We hear about Kane's California gravestone, which our guide has seen and which not only has a bat symbol on it, but coincidentally lies near the grave of a real-life Bruce Wayne. Farther up Park Avenue we see the home of Kirk Alyn, known as the first actor to play Superman, in the 1948 film. It's just across from the home of Lenore Lemmon, one-time fiancee to the more famous Superman of the 1950s TV show, George Reeves. (A discussion ensues on the cause of Reeves' mysterious 1959 death.) We also hear about some luminaries who've been on the tour: Cyndi Lauper, Lepelletier says. Two guys from the show "Entourage." Someone from ABBA, he thinks. And someone from the rock band Twisted Sister. At 417 Fifth Ave., we spy a former home of Marvel Comics. We also get some history involving World War II and the use of imagery like Captain America. The kids are distracted until we approach the imposing marble structure that is the main branch of the New York Public Library. At which point my son, revived, yells out: "Hey, it's the Ghostbusters museum!!" Well, close, anyway. Lepelletier notes that, yes, the Ghostbusters were here. But not just them. Here on the corner of 40th and Fifth is where Peter Parker's uncle was felled. AND ... this has nothing to do with superheroes, mind you, but it's also the same corner where Sarah Jessica Parker's Carrie Bradshaw broke up with Mr. Big in the "Sex and the City" movie! There's more: The Chrysler Building (a Spidey perch). Grand Central Station. The News Building on East 42nd Street, where we walk through "the very same doors," Lepelletier says, "that Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder walked through in 'Superman.'" (There, of course, it was the Daily Planet, while in the real world, the building once housed the New York Daily News.) The tour usually ends at the Overlook Bar, where art by prominent cartoonists graces the walls. Alas, the bar is closed on this particular day. So we part by the famous globe in the Daily Planet lobby. The comic geeks are disappointed about the bar, but happy overall. Dino, the comic illustrator, seems almost misty as he tries to sum up what comics mean to him. "They're today's mythology," he says thoughtfully. "Batman? He's Zeus." As for our host, he marvels that he gets to do something he likes so much and call it a job. (He created the tour a year ago in April with Celebrity Planet co-founder James Bonney, and does it three days a week â€" in rain, snow or, as we experienced, severe heat.) "It's like my friend â€" the original Batgirl, Yvonne Craig â€" said to me," he muses. "They actually pay you to talk about comics for two hours?" ___ If You Go... SUPERHERO TOUR OF NEW YORK: http://www.thecelebrityplanet.com. Offered Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 2 p.m. Tickets $24.99 (children under 12 free). Bring water if it's hot, and expect to walk between 90 minutes and two hours. Note: Not every locale listed on the website is visited on every tour.

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Travel -: Crane lowers NYC fire truck into exhibition space at World Trade Center site

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Crane lowers NYC fire truck into exhibition space at World Trade Center site Jul 20th 2011, 21:23 NEW YORK (AP) â€" A fire truck that rushed to the aid of victims on 9/11 returned to the World Trade Center site Wednesday as it was lowered like a huge flag-draped coffin into exhibition space for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. The truck was from the city fire department's Ladder Company 3, which helped civilians escape from the trade center's north tower on Sept. 11, 2001. The vehicle had sped to the twin towers from its firehouse in Manhattan's East Village neighborhood with 11 firefighters aboard â€" all of whom died when the towers collapsed. A crane lowered the 60,000-pound truck, shrouded in a white protective covering and decorated with the flags of the Fire Department of New York and the United States, 70 feet into the site as family members of firefighters who died on 9/11 wept, dozens of firefighters saluted and bagpipers played the national anthem. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, FDNY Commissioner Salvatore J. Cassano and about 100 members of the FDNY, including all of the members of the current Ladder Company 3, stood solemnly during the ceremony. The company's current fire truck, parked nearby on the site, raised its ladder in salute as the crane moved the shrouded truck to an opening in the roof of the museum, which is in the bowels of the site. The under-construction One World Trade Center skyscraper towered over the ceremony, its mirror-like skin shimmering under the hot sun. All around were signs of rebirth and reconstruction: Cranes hovered over the site and construction workers in safety helmets milled around as dust choked the air. To some, the ceremony was like a second funeral for the Ladder Company 3 firefighters who died nearly 10 years ago. "It's almost like saying goodbye again," said Carolyn Brown, 47, of Westbury, N.Y., whose brother Patrick "Paddy" Brown led the firefighters of Ladder Company 3 on 9/11. "It's also more closure." She dabbed her teary eyes with a tissue during the ceremony, and afterward said she hoped that museum visitors who see the truck will be reminded of the sacrifice that her brother and his fellow first responders made. "They gave their lives for everybody else here," she said, adding that simply seeing the damage to the fire truck would likely elicit a physical reaction. "When they see that, it's going to mean more. They will see it and feel it." Maureen Dewan-Gilligan, whose 35-year-old brother, Gerard Dewan, was a firefighter with Ladder 3, also hoped visitors to the museum would react viscerally. "I would like them to remember that the fire engine was crushed in a heartbeat," she said. Michael Moran, a member of Ladder Company 3 who got relieved from duty on Sept. 10, 2001, and whose brother died on 9/11, said bringing the rig back to the trade center was part of the healing process. "I think it's a nice tribute to the guys of Ladder 3," he said. He also hoped people would see the rig as a symbol of the firefighters' sacrifices. "They gave up all their tomorrows on Sept. 11." Cassano said museum visitors will be able to learn the story of how members of the FDNY did their job on that day. "They didn't ask any questions. They went to those buildings, not knowing who they were going to rescue," he said. "They knew people were in trouble. Unselfishly they gave their lives." Joe Daniels, president of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, said the fire truck is emblematic of what first responders did on 9/11. "This will be the authentic vehicle that will tell that story," he said. The fire truck had been stored in a climate-controlled room at a hanger and was escorted to the site by the current Ladder 3 truck. The cab of the truck was destroyed in the towers' collapse and its main body and ladders were damaged and contaminated. The memorial plaza opens to the public on Sept. 12, a day after the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack. The museum will open next year. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks on the trade center, the deadliest single event for emergency responders in the U.S. The truck will join the remains of other emergency vehicles at the museum, including from the New York Police Department, the Port Authority Police Department and FDNY. ___ Online: http://www.911memorial.org/

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Travel -: Yosemite park officials plan no new warning signs in area where 3 hikers fell over a waterfall

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Yosemite park officials plan no new warning signs in area where 3 hikers fell over a waterfall Jul 21st 2011, 18:59 YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) â€" Yosemite National Park officials said Thursday they have no plans to add new warning signs or other protections to the area where three young people were swept over a 317-foot waterfall this week. Witnesses say the three hikers ignored warnings and climbed guard railing at the top of Vernal Fall on Tuesday to wade into the Merced River, several dozen feet from the water's drop. One woman slipped, and two men fell in while trying to save her. Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman says the site's railing and single sign are adequate and it's the visitor's responsibility to exercise judgment and caution when near any cliff. Authorities and park officials throughout the region have issued strong warnings about water dangers this summer as high temperatures melt the near-record Sierra Nevada snowpack. Meanwhile, friends described the three hikers as church role models who normally did not take risks. Members of St. George's Church in Ceres gathered for a prayer vigil Wednesday evening, grieving over the tragedy that occurred on a church group outing a day earlier. The church pastor, Genard Lazar, was a part of the group of about a dozen hikers who ascended the steep Mist Trail to the top of Vernal Falls to pose for photographs. Tanya Badal, the sister of victim Ramina Badal, saw her sister go over the falls. She declined to talk about what happened atop Vernal's precipice, but said that despite the passage of time she was still praying the three would be found alive. "I still have hope," she said outside of the church. Bishop Mar Awa Royel said he has been praying with the family for a quick recovery of the bodies, still missing after two days of searching. On Wednesday Badal's parents, Tony and Virginia, supported each other as they walked sobbing into the church. When Virginia's knees buckled, Tony caught her. "This will be a chance for us to re-educate our young people about how valuable life is," said Charmain Morad-Daniel, a member of the Assyrian National Council of Stanislaus County, as mourners packed the church Friends said the victims likely did not understand that the swift-moving Merced River could be so treacherous. Witnesses say the young tourists were trying to pose for a picture. Instead they burned a horrifying image into the memories of everyone who saw. Badal, Hormiz David, 22, of Modesto, and Ninos Yacoub, 27, of Turlock were swept to their deaths. A man believed to be David crossed a metal barricade with Badal above the falls to make their way over slick granite to a rock in the middle of the swift Merced River. Badal slipped and David reached in for her and fell in. Yacoub had been trying to take their photo, friends said, and he slipped in when he tried to save them. Other hikers, including several children in their group, could only watch as the rushing water swept all three students over the edge.

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Travel -: All-Asia pass: Good deal or not?

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All-Asia pass: Good deal or not? Jul 19th 2011, 07:00 Cathay Pacific announced this year's version of All-Asia Pass: Buy one ticket, fly to Hong Kong and visit up to four other regional Asian destinations for a fixed price. The travel press usually picks this up and features it as a good deal, but is it really? The answer is, "sometimes yes, sometimes no." Here's the base deal: Fly to Hong from any of Cathay Pacific's four U.S. gateways, then fly out and back to up to four cities in eastern and southeastern Asia. The Pass price to visit Hong Kong plus two other cities from Los Angeles, New York, or San Francisco is the same -- at $1,880 -- and, on a limited basis, $1,329 from Cathay's newest Gateway at Chicago. Add a third city and a fourth for an extra $351 each and complete travel within 21 days. The pass includes 40 "basic" cities from Sapporo in northern Japan to Beijing and Chengdu in China to Bangkok, Singapore, and Bali to the south. Flights are on Cathay or its affiliate, Dragonair. Base pass prices apply to midweek transpacific flights; add-ons are available from other U.S. cities and for weekend travel, extended stays, and flights to additional Asian destinations as far away as Dubai. Depart the U.S. between Aug. 16 and Nov. 29. Buy flights from Los Angeles, San Francisco, or New York until seat allocations are filled (no specific date); flights earn some frequent flyer mileage. The $1,329 Chicago price, however, is available for purchase only through July 31; it applies to just two additional cities, and does not earn frequent-flyer miles. The basic idea is attractive: As long as you're flying as far as Hong Kong, you'd hate to miss out on such exotic destinations as Bali, Bangkok, Beijing, Osaka, Penang and Seoul. The downside is that you'd spend a lot of time on planes, flying from Hong Kong to each additional city and back, then out again to the next one. But the real question is whether the All-Asia Pass is the best way to ticket a multi-city Asian trip. To check, I compared two possible pass itineraries with buying a base ticket to Hong Kong, then direct flights to the outlying cities. I based my test trips from Los Angeles; Cathay's fares to Hong Kong from the other gateways are a bit lower: -- Los Angeles-Hong Kong plus a side trip to Bangkok and Bali. The pass would cost $1,880, including two extra cities. Cathay's base round-trip fare from Los Angeles to Hong Kong is $1,044, separate one-way flights cost $110 from Hong Kong to Bangkok, $179 from Bangkok to Bali, and $300 from Bali back to Hong Kong. Total cost of separate tickets: $1,633. -- Los Angeles-Hong Kong, plus a side trip to Bangkok and Tokyo. The separate tickets there cost $1,725, again less than the pass but not much less. -- But even separate tickets to and from Hong Kong may not be your best bet. I checked still another way to get in the same three cities as my second alternative itinerary: an open-jaw ticket from the West Coast to Tokyo, returning from Bangkok, with separate Tokyo-Hong Kong and Hong-Kong Bangkok tickets. The all-up cost of that approach came to a bit under $1,500. That's less than the pass and involves fewer dreary Asian flights in cattle-car economy cabins. This is not to say that the All-Asia Pass is never a good deal. I'm sure you could construct itineraries that beat the alternative approaches I checked. And many Americans might feel more comfortable flying on Cathay or Dragonair than on some Asian low-fare line they don't know. But the point of this is that you shouldn't accept any airline's claim that its promotion is a good deal without checking the alternatives. And, specifically, always check the open-jaw option for multi-city trips. If you like the idea of All-Asia Pass, buy it online through www.cathaypacific.com's U.S. home page, or see a travel agent. (Send e-mail to Ed Perkins at eperkins@mind.net. Perkins' new book for small business and independent professionals, "Business Travel When It's Your Money," is now available through www.mybusinesstravel.com or www.amazon.com)

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Travel -: Should we avoid TSA screening -- Or embrace it?

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Should we avoid TSA screening -- Or embrace it? Jul 19th 2011, 07:00 Full-body scan or pat-down? It's a choice that hundreds of thousands of air travelers will make for the first time this summer. Not willingly, mind you. Some passengers are even going so far as to change the way they dress in an effort to avoid the whole thing. Susan Jones, an executive from Bellevue, Wash., wears clothes that won't set off the airport magnetometer, hoping to pass through the checkpoint quickly. "I have a favorite underwire garment that gets caught going through the machine," she says. "So I try to remember not to wear it when I'm traveling." The TSA policy of either frisking or scanning passengers selected for additional screening dates back to last fall. But the full effects are being felt just now. Airports are bustling with infrequent travelers who have never faced this decision. Many want to know: Is there any way out? Is it even possible to avoid the TSA this summer? The answers: yes and yes. If you decide to fly, you can steer clear of this modern-day Morton's Fork by doing exactly what Jones does, according to the TSA. Remove anything from your person that might set off the metal detector, and unless you're randomly chosen for the scanner, you can walk free. You can even improve your odds of avoiding a scanner by looking up your airport online to find out where the machines are and sidestepping them. A new site called TSA Status allows passengers to report which airports use the so-called "backscatter" machines more frequently and which checkpoints have the most aggressive screeners. For example, a recent report rated the Terminal D screening area at the Philadelphia airport "green" -- meaning that there were no machines visible -- adding, "It's still clear as of now." On the other hand, it warned that the scanners were being used on almost all passengers at Ontario International Airport in Southern California. Air travelers have used other tricks to elude the scan/pat-down dilemma. They include traveling with the kids -- TSA agents seem far less likely to split up a family or to pat down young children -- and bringing along pets. The evidence that either of these strategies works is strictly anecdotal, but if it makes any difference, one of the anecdotes is mine. Nigel Appleby, a reader who lives near Vancouver, used to cross the border to fly out of Seattle whenever he found a bargain. The TSA's sometimes heavy-handed screening practices have stopped that for the most part. "We're heading to Europe in September, and we'll fly out of Vancouver International Airport," he says. Some travelers would prefer not to play the game at all, and for them, the decision is made before they buy a ticket. Darryl Wolfe, who works for a consulting firm in Charlotte, chose a pat-down over a scan last year and regretted it. "I was shocked by the intensity and roughness of the pat-down," he told me. "In my mind at least, some of it was retribution for opting out. It was more like an assault." After that, he stopped flying altogether. There may be hope for him. A new airline venture called Plane Red plans to start operating between regional airports in smaller craft that would be exempt from TSA screening. Although the airline is still in the planning stages, it has received a fair amount of publicity because of its avoid-the-TSA pitch, according to founder Wade Eyerly. "It's remarkable that treating travelers like actual people, preserving their dignity and helping them be more productive requires avoiding the government," he says. But avoiding air travel doesn't necessarily mean that you won't have to deal with the TSA. The agency's Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response program, which goes by the unfortunate acronym VIPR, randomly checks passengers using other forms of transportation. Last year, VIPR teams were deployed 8,000 times, according to the agency. I asked the TSA how to avoid a VIPR team and was assured that the program is nothing more than a visual deterrent and limited for now to major transportation systems such as trains, subways and an occasional public event. TSA does not screen automobiles on public streets but looks for "suspicious activity" on roads and in parking lots at transportation hubs. Still, it seems that with only a few exceptions, such as a cruise or a car trip, it's increasingly difficult to take a TSA-free vacation. While that rubs many travelers the wrong way, others are far more understanding. Susan Jones says she'd rather be safe than sorry. "I was scheduled to be on one of the 9/11 planes and had my trip canceled at the last minute," she says. "And my husband was supposed to be at a breakfast meeting at the tower, which also was canceled last minute. So I take security seriously." I do, too. I was only a few hundred feet away from the 1993 World Trade Center bombing (the one that was meant to send the north tower into the south tower) so I'm not just writing from a theoretical perspective. Somehow, playing this cat-and-mouse game seems silly. Shouldn't we be welcoming the screening instead of running from it? (Christopher Elliott is the author of the upcoming book "Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals" (Wiley). He's also the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine and the co-founder of the Consumer Travel Alliance, a nonprofit organization that advocates for travelers. You can read more tips on his blog, elliott.org or e-mail him at chris@elliott.org. Christopher Elliott welcomes questions/comments from readers. Although he can't answer all of them individually, he'll answer those of general interest in his column.)

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Travel -: Buy a ticket; Price drops -- Can you recoup?

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Buy a ticket; Price drops -- Can you recoup? Jul 19th 2011, 07:00 "If I buy a ticket now, then later the fare drops, what can I do?" I wish I had a dollar for every time someone asked me that, and I know I could make many, many dollars if I had a really good answer. You've all seen airfares go up and down like a yo-yo, and you understandably want to buy in at the bottom rather than the top. But the fact of the matter is that you can't tell, at any given time, whether current fares are at the bottom, the top, or somewhere in the middle. And once you buy, on most airlines you face a big fat penalty to change your ticket -- a penalty that is likely to be more than the price reduction on a new ticket. Fortunately, a few online agencies offer at least partial "guarantees" against drops in fares. The latest comes from across the border. FlightNetwork, the big Canadian online travel agency (OTA), just announced "Price Drop Protection:" If you buy a ticket on that website, and the fare for that flight drops, you can notify FlightNetwork, which will then issue you a credit for the amount of the difference. Or at least some of the difference: -- The best deal is for flights entirely within Canada -- The guarantee applies to the entire amount of the price difference. -- On other flights, the guarantee is limited to $100 Canadian. This guarantee does not involve an actual ticket change -- you still fly on your original ticket, at the original fare. FlightNetwork, not an airline, is absorbing the difference. The guarantee does not cost anything extra. Although it's an attractive option, it's something less than a comprehensive guarantee. -- You have to monitor the fares yourself and notify the program; it isn't automatic. -- The guarantee applies only to the specific flight you booked, not to any other flights on the same route for the same day. -- The refund you get is a credit toward a future flight, not cash. The guarantee applies to any flight on any airline you book through FlightNetwork, an OTA with a fare search and booking system that looks very similar to what you find on Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, and others. Travelers living in the United States can use the system, too, although they will necessarily have to absorb whatever foreign exchange fees their credit card imposes for Canadian transactions, and the guarantee for flights from the U.S. is limited to $100. The three big U.S.-based OTAs all offer some sort of guarantee, but none is quite like this one: -- Orbitz comes closest: If you buy a ticket, and someone else buys the same exact itinerary for a lower price on Orbitz, Orbitz refunds the difference in cash. The cash refund is a big plus; the big minus is that you get the refund only if someone else buys the same exact ticket through Orbitz at a lower price. Orbitz's program applies to hotels as well as airfares. -- Expedia and Travelocity offer similar programs: If you find a better price for the same trip within 24 hours, they refund the difference and throw in a $50 voucher for future travel. Clearly, if you buy a ticket well in advance, the FlightNetwork and Orbitz programs are more useful than those that cover you for only 24 hours. You can buy early to lock in what looks like a good price, but if the price drops, you can at least partially recoup. Of course, you can always limit yourself to tickets on Southwest, which doesn't charge you to refund a ticket in exchange for future travel credit. And Frontier charges $50, which is less than any big line. Also, on a really expensive ticket, you can buy "cancel for any reason" trip insurance, but that surely isn't free. Will the guarantee programs expand or get better? That depends on how much market traction the guarantees develop. Keep your eyes open. (Send e-mail to Ed Perkins at eperkins@mind.net. Perkins' new book for small business and independent professionals, "Business Travel When It's Your Money," is now available through www.mybusinesstravel.com or www.amazon.com)

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