Worst Hotels and Motels In The U.S.

I'm on the road a lot, and finding decent accommodations can be hit or miss if you don't pre-plan. But if you're on a road trip that's not always ideal. I don't want to have to rush to get someplace because I made a reservation at a specific hotel in a specific location. However, that sometimes leaves you stuck with a potential dump. Believe me, I've stayed at plenty of those over the years. The places that smell of mildew, riddled with bugs, moldy bathrooms, where you sleep in your clothes on top of the bed.  In some cases, you can't really tell what the interior will look like until you check the room out. I have, on occasion, opted not to stay, so the only alternative is to either drive to another motel or  the next town up.  Sometimes, though, just looking at the exterior is a major indication of what might be lying in wait for you.  Only once or twice have I ever driven around a motel property and promptly left- I value my life. But most of the time I would just wind up staying in a sub-par motel.


If you have a large budget that's no problem (not that the luxury hotels can't have bed bug problems), but if you want a mid-range hotel I find sticking with the La Quintas, Hampton Inns or Holiday Inns the best choice, although I've stayed in a few duds.  That's the problem with franchised ventures. But there are some you might want to stay away from, and the Fiscal Times has a list of those.


Based on surveys from Consumer Reports and J.D. Powers and Associates the 10 worst motels in the U.S. are, with photos:


Baymont Inn and Suites
Quality Inn
Clarion
Red Roof Inns
Super 8
Ramada
Days Inn
Motel 6
Econo Lodge
America's Best Value Inn

I've stayed at most of the above, and they most definitely deserve being in the top ten.  I would also add Knight's Inn and Travel Lodge.  I recall staying at a Travel Lodge in Montreal, Canada, the room was not inexpensive and I was treated to a room that had a bed that was more akin to an army cot with a layer of plastic covering the mattress pad, and the bathroom grout was moldy black.

If you don't care where you stay, by all means choose the above. But I know I stay away from those chains.

Virgin Atlantic's Hip Safety Music Video Wows #VXsafetydance

Wow. Virgin America has come up with a five minute slick and hip pre-flight  'safety' music video to replace those boring safety speeches we get  prior to take off.

Directed by Jon M Chu, choreographed by Jamal Sims and Christopher Scott, and composed and produced by Jean-yves "Jeeve" Ducornet it features a bunch of talented dancer/singers including Todrick Hall and Madd Chadd and some fantastic young ones.

What an innovative and fun way to capture people's attention on something we all have a tendency to ignore.

Makes me want to fly Virgin.

Underwater Hotel Room At conrad Maldives Rangali Island

For a mere $1,353 or more per night you too could sleep underwater at the exclusive Conrad Maldives Rangali Island Hotel.  It's normally a 12 seat dining area that can be turned into a bedroom suite for two for special occasions, like honeymoons. It's not listed on their website so you have to ask for it, and give at least a 14 day notice. However, it may no longer be available.

It's 16 feet below water, and you get to sleep with the fishies.

I think I'd feel way too naked sleeping in a glass enclosed bedroom, but obviously there are people who don't.

Here's a video of the resort with some photos of the underwater dining room. Looks gorgeous.

Seven Terrifying Scenic Roads- Smarter Travel

There's nothing like a good road trip, the more scenic the better. The Blue Ridge Parkway, for example, is glorious. At a nice leisurely 35 mph speed limit, and plenty of stops to take photographs, a 90 mile drive from Blowing Rock to Asheville, NC took me all day. No complaints, though.

So I was fascinated when I saw a list of seven of the most terrifying scenic roads posted on Smartertravel.com along with videos to enjoy vicariously. I know I won't be adding any of them to my bucket list, but enjoyed watching from the safety of my laptop.

1. Bolivia: They start off with North Yungas Road aka 'Death Road' near La Paz, Bolivia, which is a mountainous, winding gravel road with no guard rails, that apparently claims around 300 drivers every year. The road is now mostly used by crazy tourist mountain bikers.

2. Japan: Irohazaka Road is located near Nikko, Japan. Another winding, mountain road with 48 "hairpin turns" and one 120-degree bend. But this road is paved and has small guardrails. I could only watch a little of it, because I started feeling motion sick.

3. Germany:  Spreuerhofstrasse, in Reutlingen, Baden-Wurttemberg doesn't really qualify as a road, it's more of an oddity, a paper-thin street measuring 12.2 inches at its narrowest. You can only walk it sideways, that is, if you're not pregnant or overweight. It's considered the narrowest street in the world. It was built in the 18th century. Not sure why Smarter Travel  included it, but there it was.

4. China:  Guoliang Tunnel in Henan province, is a 3/4 mile tunnel that was carved through and alongside another winding mountain road. Very rustic.

5. China: The National Highway 110 from Beijing to Yinchuan is a perpetual traffic jam. Apparently in 2010 a jam lasted 12 days. Not sure why this one was included either under 'scenic'.

 Back in 2010, a two-mile-per-day pace on this highway was attributed to an influx of vehicles on a single road. Ironically enough, the main cause of the congestion was a large number of trucks transporting building materials to be used for highway expansion. Stranded drivers took to card playing and reading to keep entertained. For nearly two weeks.

6. USA: The lonely James Dalton Highway in Alaska is around 400 miles long, with only three tiny towns (population 60) scattered the length of it. Mostly used by truckers, the video on Smarter Travel shows a trucker driving in the dead of winter.

And last but not least:

7. Norway: In the north west coast of Norway, the 5.2 miles of Atlantic Ocean Road crosses the Norwegian sea over some pretty spectacular bridges (8 of them), and is the stuff of nightmares (at least mine) during or right after a storm.

The Atlantic Ocean Road runs across a partially inhabited archipelago and connects Averoy with the mainland at Eide.

The video below was taken the day after the storm  "Dagmar" caused damage in the general area.

The Rampant Theft By TSA Airport Security

This is a sobering look into how easy it is for TSA security officers to steal our belongings. This former agent, Pythius Brown, spent 3 years in jail for stealing around $800,000 worth of other people's property over a 4 year period at the Newark New Jersey Airport. In the span of 10 years, around 400 TSA agents have been fired for theft.  That's a heck of a lot of people. Brown worked behind the ticket counters, alone, screening baggage.

In spite of the fact that we are told not to put anything of value in our checked luggage, you would be surprised how many people still do.

Keep anything of value with you, and be hyper vigilant as you go through the security check point.  When I am being screened, I always have an eye on my carry-on baggage, and I remove any metal that I might have on my body prior to going through the check point.

Sad that TSA is so careless in its screening of potential employees, but as Brown explains, it was just so easy he fell into it without much trouble.

Of course it's not just TSA, you also have flight attendants, and baggage handlers that can steal your belongings.

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Flight Attendant Steals Man's i-Pad- Found Using "Find My -iPad" app

I always thought that you could trust your flight attendants, and that if anything was going to wind up stolen on a trip it would be before you boarded the plane. We've all heard the many horror stories about rampant theft by baggage handlers and TSA agents, so I was rather shocked when 43-year-old flight attendant Wendy Ronelle Dye was busted for stealing a Reno, Nevada man's iPad. She claims she intended to give it back, but that's not what police believe, since she had already put some personal info on the tablet.

I've never heard of Horizon Air (it belongs to Alaska Airlines), but Dye was a stewardess on a flight to Los Angeles when the victim left his iPad on the plane. According to Dye a passenger found it on a seat and handed it over to her. She told police that she had every intention of turning it in to Horizon Air officials, but forgot it in her personal bag. Yeah, right. We have one honest passenger and one thieving stewardess who denied, at first, that she even knew anything about a lost iPad.

You might wonder how they even discovered that Dye had the stolen property: the Apple App 'Find My iPad'. It comes with your iPad, and is easy to locate.

Go to Settings. Click on iCLoud, and switch on Find My iPad.

Then if it gets lost, all you have to do is log on to www.icloud.com and  you will find all your information. Click on Find My i-Pad and it will pull up a map with the exact location (I just tried this and there was a map of where I live). If you click on devices, you also have the option of playing a sound, locking it, or wiping it clean.

Luckily, the man had downloaded the app a few days before his flight, so he was able to track her down in Oregon where she was arrested. Tablet and man will soon be reunited.

Dye has been charged with theft and has been suspended while the case is being investigated, although it seems pretty cut and dry to me and she should be fired.

When traveling it's very important to keep tabs on all your possessions, at all times. And thanks to Apple, it makes it easy to recover lost or stolen property.

Source: Daily Mail

Using Frequent-Flyer Miles Almost Impossible Now

I'm planning a trip to Los Angeles to visit my sister for the 4th of July, and I have a bunch of frequent-flyer miles on Delta, Continental, American and British Airways that I can use.  At one point in time Frequent-Flyer programmes were definitely worth the effort- that was when you could still get an economy round trip for 25,000 miles.  Over the years it has gotten progressively harder and now, it's almost well-nigh impossible. I forfeited 35,000 miles on US Airways because I was never able to find available flights for the amount of miles I had, in spite of the fact that I am usually rather flexible on my travel dates.

This coming trip to L.A. I am also flexible, the only definite is the 4th, but even though I started searching well in advance, not much is available, and forget the 25,000 mile round trip tickets.  In fact, out of curiosity, I searched Continental's calendar from now until February 2013 and there was only one flight day available (in November) where you could use 12,500 miles, and that was  for ONE WAY.  Everything else would cost either 25,000 or 50,000 miles one way. And oddly enough, Business/First Class can be had for the same amount of miles as Coach. Now who is going to choose Coach?  Very frustrated, I decided to call Continental to ask whether they had done away with their 25,000 mile round  trips, and although she said no, that wasn't the case, she was unable to find anything for less than 50,000 miles round trip.  Since I only have a little over 26,000 miles, her only recommendation was to use those miles for one leg of the trip and purchase a one way for the 2nd leg.  Apparently, they have some good deals. 

I found some flights on Delta, but it will cost me over 35,000 miles.  I think American has some 25,000 available, but at ungodly hours.

I have the most miles with British Airways, which I accrued through their amazing credit card deal, but I want to save those for an out-of-the-country trip.  I did stop using the card, however, and am about to cancel it, since they actually charge you a fee to use it!

But is it worth being loyal to an airline since they have made it such a challenge to actually use your miles?  Frankly, I don't think it is.  There are so many great deals that come along, especially if you buy a package which includes hotel, flight, and a car if you need one.  And there will always be fare wars.  If you travel you might as well get the frequent-flyer miles, but don't necessarily plan on being able to use them.

And the best way to make sure that you don't lose those miles is to get an airline credit card, one you don't have to pay for, that is. And as long as you use it once in a while, you will keep your miles current, and add some, to boot. Maybe some day you'll be able to use them.

Time Magazine has an interesting article, written in 2010, about this problem. And it's only gotten worse.