A fun, extensive online travel magazine-Real Travel Adventures International Magazine- Bonnie and Bill Neely invite you to subscribe free (and they have a wonderful review of my book, A Year of Sundays in their Books/Audio section).  http://www.realtraveladventures.com

An amazing collection of travel gear- Magellans has all the gear and gadgets you could want for your travels. We love our bathroom travel organizer and the mini air purifiers we use on the airplane. 

Our favorite geographical magazine- National Geographic- This link will take you to their online store for a variety of publications, video and gift items- Shop National Geographic!

The original budget travel king- Arthur Frommer- We often rely on Frommer's Travel Guides. (If you're old enough, you may remember Europe on $5 a Day.) We often take Frommer guides on our trips. (That's how we found that great suite in a castle in Seefeld Austria for $65 a night in A Year of Sundays.) Frommer guides are available from Amazon.com (click the link near the bottom). Frommer's also has a Budget Travel Magazine that's full of tips for travelers- www.afbtmediakit.com

Obtaining cash/making purchases abroad- The following advice still applies; however, be aware that it is becoming more difficult to use credit/debit cards abroad. This is due to increased fraud and the counter-measures that banks are using to combat it. It is more important than ever to take multiple cards and some cash/travelers checks stashed in your money belt just in case.

Even though banks and credit card issuers have implemented transaction surcharges, credit/debit cards continue to provide the best exchange rates available. The best way to obtain cash is still by using a debit card at an ATM. (To minimize transaction fees, try to use less cash- make credit card purchases when possible. Second, avoid making a number of small withdrawals from ATMs by taking out all the cash you think you'll need- and that you feel safe carrying- at one time.)  During our extended time in Europe with our kitty (our Year of Sundays), we carried more than one debit card, and that came in handy when we had to pay cash for the three-week rental on our great house by the sea in Brittany. For the average traveler, we still recommend bringing more than one debit card (and more than one credit card too) in case you have a problem with one. Being a bit compulsive, we also sometimes bring traveler's checks, but our goal is to return home without using them. We obtain the traveler's checks without fees at our credit union or the Auto Club and use them to buy groceries after we get back home. If we ever did need to cash traveler's checks, we'd do it at a bank, not at a hotel or store and definitely not at an exchange booth. (The above advice for credit cards is predicated on paying the full balance every month. If you're on an extended trip, arrange to make payments or to have someone do it for you.)

"Currency conversion fees" are becoming more and more prevalent. To check for the cards with the lowest fees, take a look at www.consumer-action.org Click Credit Cards and look for the most recent reports.  Another option is to check www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20050624b1.asp. Most cards charge 1 to 3 % (including the 1% from Visa or Master Card), but at the time of writing Bankrate.com indicated that Capital One's fee was 0%.

 An alarming development- On our recent trip to Ireland, some of our credit card purchases were automatically converted into dollars on the spot. Little did we know that as a result the merchant received a tidy bonus of 4-5% (on top of the 3% or so that Master Card took for currency transaction fees). To avoid this rip-off, as recommended by Arthur Frommer, I suggest that you insist on a receipt with charges expressed only in the local currency.

Checking and Paying Your Bills When you're away from home for an extended time, you'll need to arrange to pay your recurring bills and credit card charges that you're accumulating on the road. You may be able to arrange this with your bank or a relative/friend. (Marguerite's sister, Patricia, did a great job for us while we were off on our Year of Sundays.) Another option is a service called Paytrust. They'll provide a way for you to see your bills over the internet and pay them either automatically or by the click of a mouse. We haven't tried the service, but it sounds really helpful. www.paytrust.com

Travel Insurance- To compare various brands and types of trip insurance, check at www.insuremytrip.com

Travel medical advice- For the latest health bulletins and to look for an English-speaking doctor in your next destination, try www.iamat.org, the International Association of Medical Assistance.

And of course, free airfares- Marguerite and I have traveled to Europe and across the US many times using our frequent flyer miles, but very few of the miles were earned by paying flying. Most were earned by charging our groceries and everything else in our lives to our credit card affiliated with an airline (in our case American Airlines). We pay off the card every month in full, so we have never paid interest on the balance. If you have a favorite airline, absolutely join their frequent flyer program and obtain their affiliated credit card. If you haven't chosen one, take a look at www.cardweb.com. This site lists credit cards that give rewards in cash, travel, etc.

And to select your seat on the plane- www.seatguru.com

When you get there, and you need to call home- www.iscard.com This is a very reasonable landline-based phone card. We used it in Italy last year, and it saved us lots of money. The only problem was the special number they supplied for pay phones in Italy didn't work, so we had to call from hotels.

Or get something else free- With so many great airfares these days, the value of those mileage rewards has decreased. Consider the trade off of getting some other type of reward from your credit card (like good old fashioned cash) instead of airline miles. Again www.cardweb.com can give you a list of candidate cards. 

Our favorite guide to events in Paris- Pariscope- If you're hoping to experience Paris with all your senses, this little magazine is a must. It's inexpensive, and it lists all the events of the week. Many of them are free concerts, like the ones I wrote about in A Year of Sundays. Pariscope has a website, but it's only a listing of their editors, etc.

River cruises are a great way to meander through the countryside, but barge cruises, especially can be expensive. If you have an independent streak, rent a boat and pilot it yourself. Marguerite and I did this in 1990, and we had a great time. Marguerite's blindness did cause a few mishaps. When I told her to throw the line to the lockkeeper, she never knew how far away he was. Sometimes the rope fell short, but a couple of times, she really clobbered the poor fellow.

France- Les Canalous- www.boat-rental-river-france.com This is the company we used, although the name and perhaps the management have changed.

www.le-guide.com/boatrentalsfrance

Europe- www.holidayboat.net

www.canalboatholidays.com

UK- www.grand-union-canal.co.uk

Consider a Cruise on a Freighter- Travel Tips- It may not be for everyone, but it can be a reasonable way to see the world. Travel Tips can educate you about freighter cruises and/or arrange the trip. www.traveltips.com

Last minute and other conventional cruise deals- try these sites for cruise discounts: www.cruiseweb.com, www.vacationstogo.com, www.cruisecompete.com, www.cruisewizard.com, www.cruisesonly.com, www.mustcruise.com, www.cruise.com

For Disabled Travelers- Find resources, destinations, attractions, cruise ships and accomodations, etc. accessible to people with physical disabilities at www.access-able.com.  

Pet Travel Overseas- USDA, Animal Health Inspection Services- requirements for overseas travel with pets. We followed their guidelines with Felicia, before we took her on the trip, and it gave us peace of mind.- www.aphis.usda.gov/travel/pets.html

If you'd like to read about our "Year of Sundays," in which we demonstrate our on-the-ground money-saving savvy (as well as man's amazing fallibility), you might like to check out the book.

To learn more about Felicia the Queen of Traveling Cats, A YEAR OF SUNDAYS, Marguerite, Ed, Fun Cat Websites or Toledo- Ed’s upcoming historical novel- click the tabs above or the links below.

Note: A YEAR OF SUNDAYS, Taking the Plunge (and our Cat) to Explore Europe is available- usually by special order- from bookstores in the US, Canada and Britain and from many sites online.

Ed's Homepage- A Year of Sundays      Page 2- About A YEAR OF SUNDAYS

Page 3- Travel Without Sight         Page 4- Felicia, Queen of Traveling Cats

Page 5- Ed's Historical Fiction                          Page 6- Fun Cat Links