The Weekend Reader’s Book of Lists
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1. Nine Travel Scams

Have you ever been ripped off or scammed on holiday? The London Times highlights the most popular ways.

* Fancy a free lunch? Typically, bogus holiday clubs invite potential customers to a posh hotel to endure several hours of sales presentations in return for a meal and a gift. It’s always a “buy now or never” deal, but as soon as you get home and try to book your first holiday, the bargains disappear and you have next to no chance of getting your money back.

* The phone rings and an electronic voice tells you to hit the number 9 to claim your prize, a holiday to the Sunshine State of Florida – at which point a salesperson comes on the line and explains that you have, in fact, won only most of a holiday. To seal the deal, you are typically told it will cost between £500 and £700 for a supposed £2,000 luxury trip, usually to Orlando and the Bahamas. If you try to get the money back, the delays begin, with calls going unanswered, packages not arriving, and staff often verbally abusing customers. And your credit-card company doesn’t have to refund you – because you read out those numbers.

* This internet scam, known as “card milling”, is on the increase. Greedy travelers are told that by spending up to £260 on a travel-agent ID card, they will become eligible for industry-insider rates, meaning huge discounts on flights, hotels and, most commonly, cruises. You cough up the credit-card details, your ID card arrives – and the first time you slap it down on a reception desk, you’re laughed out of the lobby.

* The most costly scam in the UK is the oldest one in the book – companies taking travelers’ cash, and then shutting down their businesses without delivering what they promised.

* Secreting away a traveler’s credit-card information is also quite popular. Common tricks include capturing all the details when you hand the card over for a meal or some petrol – but one ingenious new tactic, first reported in Shanghai, has been to call hotel rooms late at night, pretending to be from reception.

* There will always be occasions when you need to change cash but there’s no bank about, so more informal converters come into play. Most are perfectly legitimate, but signs that all is not well include: the teller shuffling and counting out bills in absurdly small denominations, which makes keeping score a chore; a disturbance or argument that conveniently flares up just as you’re trying to count your cash; and anything involving opaque envelopes, which will probably turn out to contain newspaper clippings.

* Many of us have been caught in the “nice” version of this scam – a friendly stranger takes you drinking in a foreign land, pays a fraction of what it’s costing you for the same round of drinks, then takes a backhander from the bar-owner at closing time for hauling your well-fleeced backsides into the establishment.

* You’re tired, there’s a queue at the taxi stand, so you accept the cheery offer of an unofficial taxi. From this point on, a good outcome is that you’ll be overcharged, or forced to stop off at the driver’s brother’s souvenir shop on the way to your hotel.

* You put your belongings on the conveyor belt at the airport, but a man bustles past you in a desperate hurry. He then gets himself held up at the detector, emptying his pockets of innumerable coins, keys and collectables. While you wait patiently, the guy who was in the queue in front of you – Mr. Metal’s accomplice – waits for your bag, then nicks it.

2. Seventeenth Century English Philosopher Sir Frances Bacon Offers Ten Travel Tips World Hum

* Make travel a part of your life’s education--Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience. He that travelleth into a country, before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to school, and not to travel.

* Keep a travel journal, at sea or on land--It is a strange thing, that in sea voyages, where there is nothing to be seen but sky and sea, men should make diaries; but in land travel, wherein so much is to be observed, for the most part they omit it; as if chance were fitter to be registered than observation: let diaries, therefore, be brought in use.

* Seek interesting sights, such as:

* The courts of princes (especially when they give audience to ambassadors) * The courts of justice (while they sit and hear causes) * The churches and monasteries (with the monuments which are therein extant) * The walls and fortifications of cities and towns * The havens and harbors, antiquities and ruins * Treasuries of jewels and robes, cabinets and rarities * Shipping and navies * Houses and gardens of state and pleasure, near great cities * Armories, arsenals, magazines, exchanges, burses, warehouses

* Seek interesting activities, such as:

* Exercises of horsemanship, fencing, training of soldiers, and the like * Comedies, such whereunto the better sort of persons do resort * Libraries, colleges, disputations, and lectures * Triumphs, masks, feasts, weddings, funerals, capital executions, and such shows

* Make use of guidebooks and local resources--Let him carry with him also some card, or book, describing the country where he travelleth, which will be a good key to his inquiry. Let him, upon his removes from one place to another, procure recommendation to some person of quality residing in the place whither he removeth, that he may use his favour in those things he desireth to see or know.

* Seek varieties of experience, even within a single location---Let him not stay long in one city or town, more or less as the place deserveth, but not long. When he stayeth in one city or town, let him change his lodging from one end and part of the town to another, which is a great adamant of acquaintance.

* Seek out travel companions that will challenge you--Let him sequester himself from the company of his countrymen, and diet in such places where there is good company of the nation where he travelleth. Thus he may abridge his travel with much profit. As for the acquaintance which is to be sought in travel, that which is most of all profitable is acquaintance with the secretaries and employed men of ambassadors; for so in travelling in one country he shall suck the experience of many: See and visit eminent persons in all kinds, which are of great name abroad, that he may be able to tell how the life agreeth with the fame.

* Avoid traveling with quarrelsome people--For quarrels, they are with care and discretion to be avoided; they are commonly for mistresses, healths, place, and words; and let a man beware how he keepeth company with choleric and quarrelsome persons; for they will engage him into their own quarrels.

* When coming home, keep your travels alive with intellectual exercise--When a traveller returneth home, let him not leave the countries where he hath travelled altogether behind him, but maintain a correspondence by letters with those of his acquaintance which are of most worth; and let his travel appear rather in his discourse than in his apparel or gesture.

* Don’t flaunt your travel experiences to the folk back home--In his discourse let him be rather advised in his answers, than forward to tell stories: and let it appear that he doth not change his country manners for those of foreign parts; but only prick in some flowers of that he hath learned abroad into the customs of his own country.

3. This and That List

Get Ready For More Pain With The Dollar Fading--The weak dollar makes overseas travel more expensive. Add to that the fees credit card companies charge for converting purchases made in foreign currencies into American dollars. The National Geographic Traveler reports in its latest issue that some Australian businesses have started passing along the service fees that credit card companies charge them for processing a transaction to the purchaser. NY Times

Introducing a new web-based application called Twine (http://www.twine.com/) which can scan any electronic document for name of people, places, businesses and more. Then it does something unusual: it automatically tags or marks all of these items in orange and transfers them to an index on the right side of the screen. This index grows with every document you view, as the program adds subjects that it can recognize or infer from their context. People planning a trip can use the application to send all of the Google maps, articles and travel guide Web pages they are collecting to Twine. As each document is added, Twine automatically tags items and adds them to the database for the trip, compiling an index with references. NY Times

Mobissimo http://www.mobissimo.com/ launched a new version of its site that enables users to customize their search experience with relevant destination information such as weather, photos, video, reviews, books, and local events. The content, aggregated from leading third party Web sites, dynamically updates and synchronizes with each individual search to make trip planning faster, easier and more pertinent than ever before.

European scientists have said a flight from Europe to Sydney in under five hours could be possible in 25 years. The A2 plane, designed by engineering company Reaction Engines based in Oxfordshire, southern England, could carry 300 passengers at a top speed of almost 4,000 mph (6,400 kmh), five times the speed of sound. The project is part of an EU initiative to expand the boundaries of air travel. The A2 is designed to leave Brussels international airport, fly quietly and subsonically out into the north Atlantic at mach 0.9 before reaching mach 5 across the North Pole and heading over the Pacific
to Australia.

The Tourism Industry Association of Iran has launched its new and enhanced website to promote the country as a top travel destination for 2008. http://www.irpedia.com/

The downside of medical tourism: India's much-vaunted foray into medical tourism has come under dark clouds following a question of medical ethics over reports of poor Indians illegally selling their kidneys, and the latest exposure of a transplant racket in Gurgaon. The police raided a clinic in New Delhi suburb last week uncovering a ring that involves a network of at least four doctors, several hospitals, two dozen nurses and paramedics, a mobile laboratory spanning five Indian states.

4. Questions You Should Ask A Tour Operator Promoting Poverty Tourism

* Does the tour organizer have ties to the community? Find out how long the operator has been running tours in the area and whether your guide is from there—these factors often determine the level of interaction you'll have with residents. Search blogs or post a question in a travel forum—bootsnall.com and travelblog.org are good choices.

* What should I expect to see? You may have an abstract idea of what extreme poverty entails, but when you're surrounded by it—not just the sights, but also the sounds and smells—it can be fairly overwhelming. Ask your guide what has tended to shock people before, so you can better prepare yourself. "

* Will I feel welcome? Responsible operators won't bring people to communities where they're not wanted.

* Will I be safe? The fact that crime is prevalent in many slums doesn't necessarily mean you'll be a victim. It certainly helps that you'll be in a group, and you should take the same kinds of precautions you would elsewhere, such as keeping your possessions close to you and not wearing expensive clothes or jewelry.

* Will I be able to interact with locals? The best way to avoid having the experience feel like you're at a zoo is to talk with people and try to form a personal connection. Many tours take you to community centers and schools, and some include visits to a church or a bar.

* Should I bring my kids? A poverty tour can be an educational experience for children—if they're prepared for what they'll encounter.

* May I take pictures? Many tours prohibit photography to minimize the intrusion into residents' lives. If you're with an outfit that does allow pictures, always ask people's permission first. And think about buying a disposable camera instead of bringing a flashy $1,000 camera with a six-inch lens.

* Are there things that I shouldn't do? Handouts are usually forbidden, whether they be money, trinkets, or sweets, because they create chaos and quickly establish the assumption that tourists equal gifts. You should also respect people's privacy, which means no peeking through windows or doors.

* How can I help the people I meet? Contributions of clothing, toys, books, and other household items are often accepted before the tour, so you don't have to worry about carrying or distributing them.

* Do I have to go with a tour group? Travelers who dislike organized tours might want to make an exception in this case. If you go on your own, not only will you be less safe, but you may find it hard to navigate in neighborhoods that aren't very well marked. ETN

5. Eight Volunteer Travel Hot Spots Forbes

Santa Ana, Ecuador, http://www.uvolunteer.org/
Dominican Republic, http://www.habitat.org/.
Moshi, Tanzania, http://www.i-to-i.com/
Xi’an, China, http://www.i-to-i.com/
Dharamsala, India, http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/
Bangkok, Thailand, http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/
Lilongwi, Malawi, http://www.habitat.org/
Santa Cruz, Bolivia, http://www.uvolunteer.org/

Rich’s Weekend Reader is published by AndTyler222 Communications. All rights reserved. Information from various sources and mostly rewritten. andtyler222@verizon.net http://www.itinarod.com/