March 9, 2006
Leaving on a Jet Plane
You know you're a tomato if you remember brick and mortar travel agents. Well, they're not quite a thing of the past, but like 70%
of you who took our poll last week, The Three Tomatoes make nearly all of our travel
arrangements online. And after years of business and personal travel, we'd thought we'd share a few web travel and resource sites that we've
found really useful. Hopefully you will too. But to put you in a fun travel mood first, we thought we'd share this week's dream
trip.
Private River Barge Charters in Europe
Yes, we know. When you first hear about "river barge" cruises it definitely conjures up images of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry
Finn. But as many of you no doubt know, these exclusive charter barges in Europe are anything but. This is something we've
been talking about doing for eons, and we were so excited this week when one of our tomato pals emailed us about joining them on one. She
and her husband are veterans of two previous cruises on this "
Ritz Carlton" barge, one on the Mosel River in Germany and an Alsace Lorraine cruise.
Here's her description:
"We love these vacations because the accommodations are superb. You unpack once and get to see lots of the countryside. The food
and drink (yes, including alcohol!!) are all included. European chef. Great wines from around the world. Breakfast at 8:30, Bloody
Mary's at noon, lunch at 12:30, cocktails at 6:00, dinner at 7:30. No two meals the same. Awesome. They pick you up on a Sunday
around noon, and drop you off the following Saturday late morning and you don't have to think for an entire week. The barge also has its own
tour guide and a van so you can opt to leisurely cruise during the day, or go on a guided excursion. Oh, and the best thing ... in case you
have canine withdrawal is a little Jack Russell terrier named Captain!!"
Now you know why she's a tomato and a pal of The Three Tomatoes!
Check here for more info about the barge cruises.
If you have a dream trip you'd like to
share with us, email us
tomato@thethreetomatoes.com.
Want to make sure you're getting the absolute best airfare?
Rather than going to one dedicated travel site like Travelocity, Orbit or Expedia, try out
Kayak which is one of the recent breeds of super travel search sites that basically scourer all the airline
sites and the travel web sites. If you see a fare you want, you click into whichever site is offering that fare. The good news is
you'll get hundreds of results within a minute. The bad news is you'll get hundreds of results within a minute, which can definitely be a
bit daunting. But if you're a bargain hunter, this is the site to check out.
Not a coach class tomato?
You're our kind of gal. Check out
Firstclassflyer.com - "The insiders guide to first class travel and elite status traveling". This
is a subscription newsletter (about $100 a year), but if you like traveling business and first class without paying the equivalent of feeding a
small nation, it's worth it. You'll get tips on how to get elite status on several major airlines for flying less than 4,000
miles. Tips like it's cheaper to buy miles from America Express to upgrade to business or first than the cost of the ticket and more.
No one to travel with?
Check out
poshnosh.com, based right here in
NYC. They offer great tours for woman over 50 who are widowed, divorced, or other otherwise single, or have a spouse who'd rather sit
home in his underwear watching sports. They offer a wide range of tours like "the Pulse of Paris" and cooking/art tours in
Italy. They also offer special Grandmother/Grandaughter tours to places like Paris and Venice. Wish we'd had Grandma's like
that!
Ever been stuck in a coach seat cross country that doesn't recline? Or one that's practically in the bathroom? Then go to
Seat Guru.com before you make your next seat selection. This site
provides detailed information (material, amount of legroom, location of video monitors and exit rows, whether there's a power port for your laptop
nearby, etc.) by airline and type of aircraft.
Well that's it for this week. Safe travels.
The Three
Tomatoes
