Country Counting

I’m Terry and I love to travel.

To Cairo and back for under $400

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I needed a cheap ticket to Cairo. Kelly found a great deal on Delta from Atlanta to Cairo and has never been to Egypt, so decided now was the time. Her fight left at 4:30 am and I told her I was too much of a princess to get up at that hour.

If I could find a cheap ticket, I would go with her. So my search began. Before long, I found business class flights on United for 250,000 miles. OK, I had the mileage, so I booked the flight.

In the middle of the night, I realized I could re-book the flight and have a layover in Istanbul and another in Dublin and spend an extra week on my way home from Egypt.

I had come down with kidney stones a year ago when Kelly and I were in Istanbul and missed my day of shopping at the Grand Bazaar. This was my chance to get back to the Bazaar and find those earrings for my friend, Lora.

I’d never been to Northern Ireland, so why not hop up there from Dublin and get that country. And while I was so close, I could check off Isle of Man and fly down to London to spend some time with my college friend, Diane, who lives there.

How to do all this on the cheap? After studying the United flight schedule, I realized I could fly home from Dublin direct to Orlando on Aer Lingus, a United partner. The flight showed availability in business class. All I needed to do was get from Cairo to Istanbul and from Istanbul to Dublin or Belfast.

With a few internet searches, I found the flights I needed and decided the most economical way to make the trip was to pay for Cairo to Istanbul and Istanbul to Belfast. Both flights were under four hours and both could be had fairly cheaply in economy class. That would give me a business class flight for the long haul from Dublin to Orlando.

I got on the phone with United. You can make a change in a booking within 24 hours, but you can’t do it online. You must speak with an agent.

After two very long conversations with an agent and then a supervisor, I was ready to pin down the details. Then we were disconnected. Errr. I had to call back, do the detestable wait on hold and explain everything again to another agent, who couldn’t figure out how to do what I wanted and another supervisor – only to be disconnected for the second time. Ok, calm down, don’t let United get the best of me. On the third call, I asked for a supervisor immediately and explained how I had been disconnected twice. She took my phone number, I explained what I wanted and she promised to call me back after figuring out how to do what I wanted.

In the end, I re-booked the first flight, got business class from Orlando to Cairo and Dublin to Orlando for only 100,000 miles. I paid less than $387 for two flights – Cairo to Istanbul and Istanbul to Belfast.

Granted, it took a bit of time. But I love using my airline miles to get a bargain and I felt pretty good about this one. I get to spend a week with Kelly in Egypt (and Beirut – we’re doing a one-day dash to Lebanon), pick up my missed time in Istanbul and get two new countries! I’d call that a successful day of booking!

 

 

 

 

What’s it like to fly on a super cheap airline

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My niece, Kelly, called a few months ago and told me she found a super cheap flight to Cartagena, Columbia.

Since I’d never been to Columbia, I said yes, let’s go.

She found a flight for $300 out of Atlanta through Ft. Lauderdale on Spirit (compared to $600+ on other airlines). I’ve flown on Southwest and Ryanair, but never Spirit – an airline that bills itself as the “ultra-low cost airline.”

So how was the flight? Some pros and cons.

For the pros:

  • Cost was half the cost of more traditional airlines.
  • We flew out of Ft. Lauderdale, which was a pleasant change from the crowds of Miami International Airport.
  • The seats don’t recline

    The seats are pretty basic--what I call four hour seats, no more.
    The seats are pretty basic–what I call four hour seats, no more.

The cons included:

  • Lots of waiting in line, because of fewer staff at check-in desks
  • You’ll pay for checking a bag and getting food on the plane – much like most airlines these days. But you’ll also pay for selecting a seat.
  • The seats are so thin that you really can’t get too comfortable.
  • You can’t find Spirit on big travel websites like Expedia or Orbitz so it is a little more challenging to compare prices and schedules.
  • The airplane’s interior is plastered with advertising posters and you’ll be subjected to pitches to sign up for Spirit’s credit card
  • Customer service is non-existent. If you research Spirit online, you’ll find a horrifying list of complaints, delays and poor service.
  • The seats don’t recline

Some tips:

  • If you have a relatively short flight – say less than four hours – you’ll be fine in the seats.
  • Don’t spring for extra cost for the “big front seats.” They are wider, but don’t give you any extra service or amenities.
  • Check-in online before your flight. If you have to print a boarding pass at the airport, you will be charged extra.

Bottom line: if you don’t care about service, delays or comfort – you’ll be hunky-dorey. But if you are on a tight schedule and enjoy a comfortable seat and courteous service, pay a little extra and go for another airline.

Will I fly on Spirit again? If Kelly finds another bargain to a place I haven’t visited – most likely!

What’s it like to go fishing in Alaska?

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I don’t have a good record in the fishing department. I’ve never liked it. Hate the heat of fishing in Florida and have had several near-divorce moments on fishing boats with my husband. I even spent the day horizontal on a fishing charter that the president of the company I worked for decided would be a great place for a board meeting. It wasn’t.

But all that has changed. I love fishing in Alaska.

It’s taken a while. My husband first went to Alaska fishing with a buddy after they bought a fishing trip at a charity auction. They caught lots of fish, but when I heard about the accommodations, I wasn’t signing up for the next trip. Dormitory rooms with shared bathrooms and food that was, at best, marginal. A couple more trips followed and the reports back were no better.

I finally decided I would like to see Alaska – but on my terms. So my darling husband, Ken, began the search for lodges that would be – shall we say – a step up.

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Niece Kelly and Husband Ken pose in front of Rainbow River Lodge in Alaska.

Lucky for both of us, he found Rainbow River Lodge, a small fish camp, impeccably run by a former fishing guide and located just outside of Iliamna, Alaska (about an hour’s plane ride east of Anchorage).

Here, fishing takes on a whole new life. The lodge holds at most 12 people at a time. Everyone has a private cabin with a private bathroom. Each cabin has a refrigerator, instant hot water (that’s a necessity when you come back from a cold day of fishing) and plenty of space to hang the abundant gear and clothing you need for fishing in Alaska.

Food is prepared by an experienced chef and includes a variety of hot dishes for breakfast, sandwiches and homemade cookies or brownies for lunch and a four-course gourmet dinner, complete with appetizers, soup or salad, entrée and homemade dessert.

But, what about the fishing? Oh, yes, the fishing.

Well, that’s top-notch as well. As I’ve told many a friend. What’s not to like? You have a bevy of gorgeous young experienced fishing guides who gently teach you the ways of the rod. They bait your hook, throw your line and net the fish you catch. They bring you lunch, refill your drinks, offer you a chair and even build a fire if you might be temporarily grounded from your fly out due to bad weather.

Every evening, Chad, the owner of the camp, discusses the next day’s activities with you. He finds out what kind of fishing you like, suggests an itinerary and your guide checks in to see if you have any special requests for lunch. The next day you fly out via float plane to your selected location.

Rainbow River cabins are private and comfortable.
Rainbow River cabins are private and comfortable.
Floating down the Copper River is a great way to spend the day -- complete with fly fishing if you like.
Floating down the Copper River is a great way to spend the day — complete with fly fishing if you like.
You'll fly out to remote rivers and lakes for fishing from Rainbow River Lodge.
You’ll fly out to remote rivers and lakes for fishing from Rainbow River Lodge.
What fun to catch a huge king salmon!
What fun to catch a huge king salmon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can fly fish in a nearby stream or river, do a float trip down a river complete with gorgeous waterfalls or fly to a nearby lake or river to fish for Salmon – again, depending upon the time of year you are there and what fish are “running.” Fly fisher-people can catch rainbow trout, arctic char, Sockeye salmon, Coho Salmon or grayling.

The weather is generally cool to cold, although we had two warm sunny days of 70-degree weather on our most recent trip.

When you’re tired of fishing, there’s plenty more to do

Fly to Katmai National Park to see the bears as they feed on salmon in a gorgeous waterfall – if you happen to be there at the right time in the summer.

Visit agate beach, a short boat-ride from Rainbow River Lodge, where you can collect handfuls of beautiful agate stones.

Dick's cabin is a a fascinating relic, complete with a copy of the daily diary he kept.
Dick’s cabin is a a fascinating relic, complete with a copy of the daily diary he kept.

Fly to Dick Proenneke’s cabin on Twin Lake. Dick is the famous Alaska pioneer who built a wilderness cabin here in the late 1960s. He lived in this remote location and photographed and wrote about his time living here for 20+ years.

Getting there /logistics

We generally fly to Alaska via Seattle to avoid the direct red-eye flights. Alaska Air is a great airline and you can fly out of Tampa or Orlando to Seattle and then onward to Anchorage. We usually stay several nights in Seattle on the way out and a night coming home so we can get the early morning flight, putting us into Tampa or Orlando early evening.

The view is spectacular as you fly through the mountains from Anchorage to Iliamna.
The view is spectacular as you fly through the mountains from Anchorage to Iliamna.

From Anchorage we fly on Clark Air, a small charter service that flies into Iliamna. There, we are picked up by the Rainbow River crew, drive 10 minutes to a lake and load onto float planes for the 15 to 20-minute flight to Rainbow River Lodge, only accessible by float plane.

We like to stay two nights in Anchorage, since we return to Anchorage at 7-8 pm Friday night from the camp. Saturday morning — if we’ve been lucky enough to catch fish – we arrange for UPS or FedEx to ship our fish home to us. Be sure your hotel has a freezer to store your fish overnight.

I cracked the code to get into Cuba legally and on your own

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Havana is full of crumbling, but beautiful buildings.
Havana is full of crumbling, but beautiful buildings.

With President Obama poised to make his historic trip to Cuba, it’s time to share my secret on how to get to Cuba legally and inexpensively.

I’ve wanted to go to Cuba since I was a child growing up in Miami.

Despite the politics that always swirled around Cuba, I’ve remained enchanted. It was the forbidden fruit of travel and I had to have it.

Over the years I watched as family members were allowed to go and US tour groups went to Cuba. Some individuals flew through Mexico, Canada, Jamaica, the Bahamas and other countries to get in illegally.

There are any number of group trips available, but most are for a week or longer and often at prices I deemed too high ($3500-5000).

I yearned to go on my own and not deal with a busload of companions on a prescribed trip of someone else’s making. I wanted to see Havana and its art, architecture and culture and I wanted to be independent.

So I was thrilled when two important pieces of information came my way. First I got the email address and phone number of the woman who coordinates Airline Brokers’ charter flights to Cuba out of Miami. At about that same time, a friend who is a pastor at a local church, told me his church had sponsored a visit to Cuba a year or so ago. Why not go through his church?

The planets seem to have finally aligned. I asked my niece, Kelly, who is as big a travel junkie as I am (at age 32, she has visited 99 countries) if she wanted to come with me to Cuba.

We picked a date and I began the process of getting all the paperwork together.

Here’s the process to visit Cuba legally.

Alexis Lombana (arl@airlinebrokers.net) at Airline Brokers told me her team could handle our travel arrangements, book hotels, guides, shows and take care of necessary visas and the American license for travel.

Alexis sent us all the appropriate forms. A visa is required to enter Cuba and several forms must be completed to apply for it, along with reservation forms. Medical insurance is required by Cuba, as well. Alexis and her team sent us the forms, we filled them out and then Airline Brokers took care of processing. The cost of the airfare, medical insurance, visa and all processing was $555.31 per ticket round trip from Miami to Havana. Yeah, it seems like a lot to fly 90 miles, but I figured I would save by not being in a group and going for just a long weekend.

All U.S. travelers must obtain a U.S. government approved Cuba travel license. Licensing categories include an educational institutional license, a professional research license, or a religious activities license.

Check out http://LegalCubaTravel.com If you read this carefully, you will see that it is not difficult to meet one of these requirements for a license. To meet the religious license, all we needed was a letter on church letterhead from our pastor friend stating what we intended to do in Cuba. Since my niece is a musician, we said we were planning to research the effect of music on spirituality. We embellished the wording a bit, but no one ever asked to see the letter – other than the folks at Airline Brokers. Even coming back into the US, we walked right through customs with no problems. We were asked where we had been. Cuba. Why were you there? Church mission. Welcome back to the US, ladies!

The professional research category can work well, too. A friend, who is a physician (now retired), went and wrote a paper about his trip. Legal and perfectly acceptable.

Be ready for challenges in the arrangements

I had done research online and knew I wanted to stay at the Saratoga Hotel. I wanted a historical building with as much luxury as possible. I had heard that hotels in Cuba were not up to US standards and I’m not much of a roughing it kind of gal, so I wanted a hotel that was as nice as possible. (Beyoncé and JayZ stayed there on their recent visit!)

In our case, we thought we had everything arranged and were ready to go, when we found out the woman at Airline Brokers who had made our arrangements, was no longer with the company. When we finally got a tentative invoice for our hotel and guides, the price was more than I had expected ($3770). I asked for an itemized bill so we could deduct some items to get the bill lower and Airline Brokers was not able to supply it.

Two weeks before our scheduled trip Alexis connected us with Cuba Explorer Tours out of Vancouver, BC. In a matter of days, Leonardo Hechavarria put together our trip at a reasonable price ($2600) – complete with guide, a car and driver and a detailed itinerary of all the places we wanted to see.

The only hitch in the program was that we were unable to get into the Saratoga Hotel. Everything was booked and over-booked and we were scheduled into a junior suite at a 3-star hotel, Las Failes. (The Cuban government owns at least 51 percent of all the hotels and they can pretty much do whatever they like.)

When we arrived at Las Failes, we were told there was no junior suite, so we had to take a standard double room. It was clean and we were in a great location. Other than that, the air conditioner worked on and off and no one seemed to know how to make it run continuously. There were no windows in the room and the beds and pillows were OK, nothing more. We each got one towel and there was one hand towel between us. We stayed in the standard room for two nights and on our third night were able to switch to an available junior suite – which blessedly had huge windows and a balcony.

On the way in from the airport, our guide had told us that hotel reservations are “iffy” in Havana. So we weren’t too surprised and were able to be flexible – a quality that is highly necessary for a visit to Cuba.

Things to do and see in Havana

The Tropicana show is as glamorous and fabulous as you imagined.
The Tropicana show is as glamorous and fabulous as you imagined.

Cabaret Tropicana’s show – continually running since 1939! A two-hour show of dancing and singing with the most spectacular costumes and headdresses you’ve ever seen. Sure, it’s touristy there, but we loved it.

Buena Vista Social Club. These guys are still rocking and they give regular shows (when they are in Havana) at the Café Taberna, located in Old Havana. You can buy tickets to have dinner and see a show or just see the show. Our show started at 9:30 and we had 1.5 hours of solid Cuban music. Lots of fun and a real treat to see these famous and talented guys.

Old Havana is structured around squares. They are beautiful to see and the center of life for many Cubans. Don’t miss Revolution Square, San Francisco Square, Plaza Vieja.

Hemingway's house is a "must-see" while in Havana.
Hemingway’s house is a “must-see” while in Havana.

Finca La Vigia, the house and farm of Ernest Hemingway, now a museum. A popular spot, but well worth the visit.

Museum of Fine Arts, Cuban Collection. We had our own private guide who explained each decade of art from the early 1900s to present. Kelly and I are both art geeks, so we loved it. Be sure to get a guide, as the history of the island is so wrapped around all the art. And have US currency with you in small bills for tips to locals and guides. We tipped our museum guide $10 and knew it meant a lot to her.

Capitolio Nacional, the capital was being renovated, but it is an impressive edifice.

National Hotel, famous for hosting some of the world’s greatest celebrities, and once owned by the Mafia.

Jazz clubs are located all over town. Ask your guide for suggestions or wander around the streets until you see crowds and hear the music.

Museum of the Revolution. Sure it’s a one-sided presentation of Cuba’s revolutionary past, but a great way to learn about the island’s tumultuous history.

Kelly is surrounded by mosaic sculptures, walls and fountains.
Kelly is surrounded by mosaic sculptures, walls and fountains.

Fuster’s Gallery. A friend who visits Cuba often to see his family, told us about this artist and his home. It was one of the highlights of our trip. Fuster’s house looks like tile mosaic gone mad. Everywhere you look are walls, statues, fountains and structures – all covered with colored tiles. A real feast for the eyes. Fuster also sells art here.

Note: The good thing about a dictatorship is that the city is safe. You can walk anywhere and be totally safe. Men do comment about women from time to time, but we ignored the comments or had a few good laughs about them.

Restaurants

In old Havana, there are lots of small cafes and restaurants (called Paladars). Many are privately owned. If you walk around the city, just look for places with lots of people. Many of the spots have outdoor cafes, so you can see what people are eating and pick a spot that looks good. Our experience with hotel food was mediocre. Our worst meal was at our hotel and we ate at several of the larger restaurants that cater to tour groups and they were above average, but nothing fantastic.