Tag: America

Is it ever OK for a restaurant to charge over the odds?

We all know that any product is worth whatever somebody is prepared to pay for it. But sometimes, especially as a traveller in a strange place, the customer doesn’t have a choice.

Social media and the web are full of stories about people who believe they have been ripped off  when it comes to paying for food and beverages..

Recent examples include a man who was charged €43 (US$50 or nearly A$70) for two coffees and two bottles of water at a cafe in St Mark’s Square, Venice.

Continue reading Is it ever OK for a restaurant to charge over the odds?

How TripCase went all trippy on me

When I travel, I often use an app called TripCase. It usually works like a dream. I just forward my flight and hotel booking confirmation emails to TripCase, and my journey shows up on all my devices. Flight delays and other information is updated in real time.

I’m not looking for New England ..,

On my most recent trip, however, something went awry.

When I sent it my booking confirmations for Cathay Pacific flights CX713, Bangkok to Singapore, and CX712, Singapore to Bangkok, TripCase decided that I was going to New England in the United States.

I have actually been to Augusta, Maine — for Thanksgiving, no less — and I had a wonderful time. But I’m not sure how I could go there twice on successive days starting from different Southeast Asian airports.

Is the ‘Trump slump’ real?

Like much of the news coming out of America these days, it’s a matter of claim and counter claim.

But respected travel writer Arthur Frommer has joined those who say the “Trump slump” — a large decline in the number of foreign tourists coming to America — is real, and it’s putting the jobs of those in the tourist industry at risk.

Continue reading Is the ‘Trump slump’ real?