South Florida Weather: Tropical Storm Fay

My Dad (age 88) lives in the West Palm Beach area. Fortunately, he lives pretty well inland so when a hurricane comes through, I don't have to worry about him being flooding out. But I do worry about him with the wind and the rain. Particularly if the electricity goes out.

I try and stay on top of things, weatherwise, by checking the National Weather Service National Hurricane Center website. Plus, I subscribe to their email list .

If you live in a hurricane zone or will be traveling to one, the National Weather Service National Hurricane Center is a great site to have bookmarked.

Ryan Lochte's Olympic Feat

All the news has been about Michael Phelps. Don't get me wrong. His accomplishments certainly should be applauded.

But all that has overshadowed what Ryan Lochte did which was win two Olympic medals with less than 30 minutes between races.

Lochte, the world record holder in the 200 backstroke, won Gold with a last surge in the final 30 meters, taking 1/2 second off his world record.

Then, less than 1/2 hour later (actually less than 27 minutes between race start times), Lochte got back into the pool to win Bronze in the 200 meter medley.

An incredible accomplishment. At most Olympics, this amazing feat would have been cause for worldwide acknowledgement. Unfortunately, not these Olympics.

Oh...why write about this in my travel blog....Ryan Lochte is a former resident of upstate New York and those of us here kind of consider him our 'home town Olympian'. And this was the best way I could congratulate him.

'little ways' tips continued

I've often read about rolling clothes before putting them in a suitcase so you can pack smaller and more efficiently. A new one on me is to put rubberbanks around the rolled clothes to keep them tight and small. I used this idea on a recent trip and it worked great.

On a road trip with the kids, hang a shoe organizer on the back of the seat in front of each child. Use the pockets for games, crayons, snacks, etc. all within easy reach of your child.

Speed up your time through airport security. Bring a large ziploc bag with you and put into it all the things you have to empty from your pockets like coins, cell phone, money clip, pens, etc. Send it through the x-ray machine with your luggage. Then just grab it at the other end, without worrying that you are leaving something behind.

Never have enough clothes hangers when you travel? Save the wire hangers from the dry cleaners and pack them in your checked luggage. When you are ready to return, simply leave them behind. The next occupant of your room will thank you.

Of course every travel kit should include a small sewing kit. But if sewing on lost buttons while you travel isn't your 'thing', here's something you can do to minimize the chore. Barely touch the tip of a tub of a glue like Krazy Glue to the threads on your buttons. The glue will seal the threads and they will be less likely to fray.

FAA Seeks to Fine American Airlines

Just the type of thing we want to read....a major U.S. airline being fined by the FAA for safety violations.

Apparently, American Airlines continued flying MD-80s, in restricted airspace, even after problems were reported on the autopilot system.

The FAA is also seeking fines for the violation by American Airlines of alcohol and drug testing procedures.

You can read the full story at USA Today.

Can You Trust tripadvisor?

My travel agent, Ellen from Sea4Sail, has warned me for years to take what I read at tripadvisor with a grain of salt.

She has always given me excellent travel advice so I kind-of/sort-of followed her advice regarding tripadvisor. I'd read the various reviews and sort of try to weed out the reviews that kind of looked like they might have been written by ringers.

Most of the time it is easy to do. Like when there is one glowing report among others that say negative things about a property. Other times it is not that easy.

I belong to a forum that, among other things, hires posters and writers. I just came across this thread: Trip Advisor Poster Needed. It is a request for posters to write positive property reviews. I shouldn't have been surprised but I admit I was.

Doing some more research and finding Can you trust trip advisor? I think I'll use other resources. The Internet is loaded with them. I know there ARE honest reviews out there. I'll find them.

Prepare Your Car For Its Trip

If you’ll be taking a long car trip, be sure to check your car out thoroughly before leaving home. And that includes the checking of your auto air conditioning.

The last thing you want is for something to go wrong with you’re A/C compressor when you are on the road. If you need any replacement parts, check out 1airconditioning.com for the part you need. All parts come with a warranty and are shipped free.

Airlines Add Fees and More Fees

So now US Airways charges $30 for booking a frequent flyer domestic ticket on line. Fees for an international ticket on line and booking on the phone are even higher.

Jet Blue is now charging for a pillow and blanket. The perk? You get to keep them. Big deal. Just what I need. Something else to carry.

Because I fly with only carry ons and have enough to carry. I mainly do this because I want my luggage to arrive at my destination airport the same time I do. Now, with the additional fees being charged for checked baggage, I have even more reason to use only carry ons.

It is getting more and more difficult to know what you will actually be paying for your flight. Just like many ticketing sites display fares without the taxes and fees, many of the new airline fees are popping up after you get to the airport or even on the airplane. I bet a lot of people were surprised to find out they had to pay for a pillow and blanket. I know we were when we recently flew a US Airways red eye from Denver.

USA Today made an attempt to chart the various fees. I'm sure it was current when they created it but be sure to check with your airline before ticketing and/or flying. I could almost guarantee there will be some changes.

How Do I Find Flight Status?

I recently learned that a lot of people do not know how to check out flight status on line.

Two of the main reasons for checking flight status are 1) you are picking someone up at the airport and want to confirm their flight is on time and 2) you are flying somewhere and want to check that your flight is leaving as scheduled.

For either purpose, you will need some basic information. You are able to find flight status with just departure and destination cities. Having the airline and flight number makes it even easier. And for your own personal reservation, having the reservation code makes it the easiest.

One of the nicest sites I just found is, appropriately named, Flight Stats. This is a great site for general flight status information.

If you want to check, specifically, on your own reservation though, you'll need to go directly to your airlines web site. There is usually a tab on the home page with something like My Trip, Check Flights, Flight Information or something similar. Just follow the instructions to get your flight information, usually needing to enter your reservation code and last name. With this information you can check on all of the legs of your itinerary and, if you want, select your seat assignments.