Travel Discounters Blog

On our way to Connecticut and it’s a pleasant drive through upstate New York and to the town of Danbury where we can drop off the rental car. Emily’s sister picks us up and we travel to her place in the beautiful little town of Brookfield. Looking through a local travel guide we discover that just a short drive away, in Hartford, is the house where Mark Twain lived most of his adult life. Having just read The Autobiography of Mark Twain where this house is mentioned prominently by the author and being a Mark Twain fan all my life it is a real treat to tour his former home. Seeing the places that he mentions in the book in person is a thrill for me, although the alarm system that he had many a battle with is gone, I would have liked to have seen this nemesis of his. On our way back to Brookfield we Californians get a taste of New England weather when a rain storm renders visibility to almost zero but we make it back safely. Some time with family and then we will meet up with others in New York city for more adventures.

Safe Journeys’
Jim & Emily

What is the Aurora Borealis? Simply put, it is a natural phenomenon caused by the collision of charged particles from the sun with the atoms in the upper atmosphere. It can be seen (obviously) in the northern hemisphere including Fairbanks, Alaska; Churchill, Canada; Tromso, Norway & Reykjavik, Iceland. It is at their most dazzling from December to March when nights are longest and the sky darkest.

Before you book your flight or vacation package from www.traveldiscounters.com, it might be a good idea to first forecast the Northern Lights to find out when the sun is active and more importantly when it will interact with earth (resulting in aurora). Here are 2 useful sites:

• www.spaceweather.com This has images and information on the sun’s activity & current auroral oval (a map of the world that shows location and strength of aurora activity).

• www.gedds.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast This site has an excellent advance forecasting feature allowing you to nail down your exact travel.

Safe Journeys!
Emily & Jim

As we travel down Main St looking for a place to eat dinner we find that there are a lot of choices. With a recommendation from our hosts at the Main St B&B we decided on Italian food at Nicolettas Italian Café. Even though it’s the off season for tourists it is still full but we get seated right away. I like the menu for its varied selection and variety. I love sausage so I have the chicken sausage and Emily the clams and linguini. We enjoyed the food and I would definitely recommend the restaurant for that alone but dinner out wouldn’t be complete for us without a good wine and they had a very good, if not extensive wine list to choose from.
After a good night sleep and the before mentioned delicious breakfast we decided to take one more look around town before we left. There was a small farmers market going on and we wondered through there and did a little more shopping. I picked up a great picture of Willie Mays making one of his patented catches as a gift. Time to leave, so we head out for Connecticut and some new surprises.

Safe Journeys,
Jim & Emily

AMERICAN AIRLINES FILES FOR BANCRUPTCY – now what????

American Airlines files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. What this means …….

If you have a flight already booked with American, there should be no flight disruptions for the immediate future. There may be some minor changes like different airline or modified route, or restructured mileage program. It should be business as usual until they emerge from Chapter 11.

In the event they go into Chapter 7 (liquidation), how do you get a refund?

If you used a credit card, call your cc company. According to the terms of the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA), you should get your money back. Otherwise, you will have to wait a long, long time after the court liquidates their assets and you may not even get anything back.

Worried about losing your frequent flyer miles? I wouldn’t worry too much.

What will happen is that they will probably be forced to re-organize, but if their problems persist and become insurmountable, they will have to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, at which point the AAdvantage program will more than likely be sold to another airline.

Safe Journeys!
Emily & Jim

As we traveled by foot through Cooperstown to the Baseball Hall of Fame we enjoyed all the little shops along the way. You can find all types of baseball memorabilia; you can even have a custom baseball bat made to order. We stopped at the Doubleday Café for lunch and would definitely recommend it for lunch or breakfast if you enjoy an American style meal or one of the other items on the extensive menu. If you are a baseball fan then this will make you feel like a “kid in a candy shop”, as Emily said I looked. The exhibits are too extensive to go into in detail but there is something for every baseball fan here. My favorite, as a Giants fan, were the ones that showed my childhood heroes, such as Willie Mays and Willie McCovey, but there are extensive attractions for everyone’s team. I particularly enjoyed the one dedicated to baseball in the movies. As a baseball and movie buff it covered all the bases. After a long time at the Hall of Fame we strolled along Main St. to dinner. I will tell more in my next post.

Safe Journeys,
Jim & Emily

After we left Philadelphia, we traveled back to New Jersey where we were staying with family. The next day we found a good deal on a rental car, the only way to get there is by car, and started our travel to Cooperstown, N.Y. to our next destination, the Baseball Hall of Fame. It seems like a long way to travel by car but if you enjoy free attractions such as small town America and New England scenery it is well worth the journey. Cooperstown is set on beautiful Otsego Lake in a small valley that is worth the trip in itself. There are a lot of options for a place to stay including first class hotels right on the lake but we found the best deal was a bed & breakfast. We chose the Main Street Bed & Breakfast conveniently located just a few blocks from downtown and the Hall of Fame. It is a lovely Victorian with a casual air that makes you feel like just sitting on the front porch and observing the peaceful little town. Our hosts, Ron & Susan were always available but never intrusive and breakfast was a real meal (French toast and all the trimmings) that was delicious. We travel over to the hall of fame next.

Safe Journeys,
Jim & Emily

As we walked from Independence Hall to see the Liberty Bell we stopped to take the tour of Congress Hall where the early Continental Congress met and it was worth the time. It is beautifully restored and we sat in the seats that the first congressmen used to decide the fate of our new country. Our next stop was the Liberty Bell where there is a detailed display explaining the history and origins of the bell. To be perfectly honest it was smaller than I had expected but still worth seeing for its’ historical significance. It was past lunch time so we headed down Walnut Street to the City Tavern where servers in period dress serve dishes based on meals of the Colonial period. The food was very good and I enjoyed one of the several beers available. Made locally in the Colonial style and also very good. After lunch we headed down to Market Street to Franklin Court where Benjamin Franklin lived and worked. To be continued….

Safe Travels
Jim & Emily

How do you deal with children misbehaving in flight, especially when the parents do nothing about it? What’s the protocol? What works? What doesn’t work? Here’s a list of a few do’s and don’ts:

DON’T give the parents ‘the look’
DO offer a sympathetic smile and offer to help
DO talk to the parents nicely to please tell the child to stop kicking your seatback
DO ask for the flight crew assistance before the situation gets out of hand
DO use noise cancelling earplugs/earphones
DO return to www.traveldiscounters.com to search for the best deals for first class/business class seats. And, while you’re at it, book those seats for the Holidays NOW while discounts, best deals, vacation package and low fares are still available.

Safe Journeys,
Emily & Jim

As we travel west into Philadelphia and the Independence National Historical Park we cross the Ben Franklin Bridge with the skyline in front of us. We have set the GPS for the Visitor Center and discover that as we travel west on 6th street it will send us right past the entrance to the underground parking structure on the left. After backing up quickly we park and make our way out to the park. The visitor center is a good place to start and get your bearings and there are interesting exhibits and a gift shop so you can buy that t-shirt or mug to prove you have been there. We pick up our reserved tickets and head for independence hall for our scheduled tour. After a short wait in line they guide us into the building for and orientation talk and then begin the tour. To see these great rooms restored to reflect how they looked when our founding fathers gathered her to start this country, I find inspirational. We see where the declaration of independence and constitution began along with the rooms where the business of the early U.S. was first conducted. We leave there and head for the Liberty Bell exhibit and find a other sites along the way…. To be continued.

Safe Journeys,
Jim & Emily

For our most recent trip we traveled back east to the New York-New Jersey area to visit Emilys’ family and do a little site seeing. Our airline tickets took us to JFK airport and we went from there to New Jersey to stay with family. We decided to travel into Philadelphia to see the Independence National Historical Park. Here among these preserved streets and buildings of the colonial period you find Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and many historical sites from that era. If you go be sure to make advanced reservations for the Independence Hall tour. The other attractions, such as the Liberty Bell, are on a first come first serve basis. We obtained our reservations on the government web site, recreation.gov. You can also obtain them by phone at 888-448-1474. If you enjoy visiting historical and archeological sites as much as I do, you will find it well worth the trip. There are a number of other great things to do and see that I will go into more of in my next blog.
Safe Journeys
Jim & Emily