But That Fragrance Is So Boring!

As a woman I like to shower and then smell nice. I like lavender smells and vanilla bean smells and my ultimate favorite smell – lilac. So I buy shampoo that smells like lavender and body wash that smells like vanilla bean and skin lotion that smells like lilacs.

All these nice smelling products are great, except when traveling. When we travel these attractive smells are also attractive to all kinds of bugs. Bugs love certain fragrances and while traveling I certainly do not want to attract any bugs that like to bite. I’m already more prone to being bitten by bugs than anyone my husband has ever met. In fact he says I’m just the right person to travel with since he calls me ‘bait’.

The less smells and fragrances you have in any of the products you are wearing the better. They do make shampoos, deodorants and all the other toiletries in unscented varieties. Yes these products are boring because they don’t have any of the pretty smells but they will do what they are supposed to do; keep me clean but not attract any unwanted pests.

This is one of those simple and most often unaddressed issues for those who travel. Not being bitten and having to deal with hundreds of bug bites will also make your trip more pleasant.

Besides there has to be some perks for going back home other than being able to get a good cup of coffee. We have been back in the US a couple of weeks now and I have my favorite smells around me again, and I have brand new bottles of all my toiletries in unscented for our next trip, whenever or wherever that is.

Florence Lince

about.me/florencelince

 Just for fun link; http://www.mygarden.lt/2009/09/16/colours-and-fragrances-to-attract-insects/

It Sounds Familiar

I am Roman Catholic.  While traveling I would try to find a mass in one of the local church’s where we were staying.  Living in Mexico, Croatia, Spain, and a host of other countries there were always Roman Catholic Masses to be found but often times finding them in English was next to impossible.

Even if I did manage to find out when the mass was going to be held in English when I tried to attend that mass it would have been moved to another time or was stopped altogether due to lack of attendance.

Listening to mass being said in a foreign language is not easy.  Even though I feel I know the mass and what gets said when it often times sounded like I was saying the wrong prayers at the wrong time.  I therefore found a couple of sites to get a copy of the mass in the language of the country we were in.  It made it easier for me to keep up with what was going on even if I wasn’t saying the words in Spanish or Croatian or Italian.  In some church’s of the old world you can still find mass being said in Latin, in fact my Dad would take me to Latin mass once a month in a small church in Buffalo, NY until I was around 10 years old or so.

There are books you can borrow from the library to see translations of the missal in several languages.  Copy the pages of the language you are interested in and carry them with you.  They might come in handy.

This site has an excellent translation of mass in English / Spanish. 

This is the mass in English proper.  A very complete mass program. 

This link is for English / Latin (most commonly still used in Italy as far as I can tell).

If you have links for the mass in other languages I would appreciate them being referenced here for others to use.

Florence Lince

http://about.me/florencelince

Learning To Travel

Someone recently sent me a question about how could they learn to travel.  They told me that they could manage one weekend off a month and therefore could spend 5 days every month exploring a new place.  Of course that won’t allow them to travel incredibly far from home but it should be enough to get their travel juices started.

I suggested that they start small.  The first city someone should explore is their own.  This sort of surprised them and I asked them what attractions, museums, restaurants, parks are on every travel agencies list of the must sees in their own city?  Did they know?  Most people don’t. Have you ever researched your own city as if you were going to take a vacation in it?  Doing so might just produce a few interesting attractions you had never thought of before, or it might produce a list of places and things that you know should be on the list but aren’t.  This could lead to a new and exciting job as a tour guide in your own city which could lead to some interesting contacts with people from all over the world and in turn lead to having a great place to stay when you land in a new country.  Networking and travel go hand in hand so begin to build your travel network (travel lesson number two).

It wasn’t until I had moved away from Buffalo, NY and then headed back as a visitor that I drove around to see tourist attractions in my own ‘home town’.  I was surprised and impressed at the treasures I found and I enjoyed my time exploring what I had always just taken for granted.  I learned a valuable lesson as well.  Just as children need to take baby steps to learn to walk, so to do great travelers need to learn to travel. 

If you are just learning to travel start small.  Take that first weekend off and explore your own city as a tourist would.  For your next vacation experience expand your destination distance.  In no time you will be traveling far and wide.  It won’t take long before that simple weekend experience will turn into a two week vacation which might expand into a month long exploration of a new country and after that maybe you will be living for months at a time on the road.  *sigh*  Be careful of that travel bug, once bitten it is hard to recover, or to go back to living a life without travel. 

Not everything we need to learn in life will be found in a book.  Sometimes learning comes about through living life.  For me that involves traveling as much as possible, which means, I’m always learning.

Florence Lince

http://about.me/florencelince

Lost and Found

We recently had someone ask us if we ever got lost while traveling.  My husband carries maps in his head.  He is one of those people who can look at a map, review it once, gets his bearings and then has it firmly in his mind which way the streets run, which roads to take and even which direction to go in.

I need mapquest.  I haven’t mastered a GPS device but I know that if I didn’t have Mike, having a GPS would have been in my life much sooner.

Even after 30 years of travel the only city I was ever lost in was Venice, Italy.

I was traveling with family at the time and we went shopping in the labyrinth of streets that is Venice.  I stopped to buy a pair of earrings at one of the many jewelry stores that line the streets but my family didn’t hear me when I said I would be stopping to buy something and so they kept on walking.  I wasn’t particularly concerned that they didn’t enter the shop with me figuring I could just find my way and catch up with them.

When I came out of the store and no one was around I realized that Venice is made up of a series of streets where the walls are high and you can’t see the water front nor can you tell which direction you need to go.  All I saw was empty white-walled walkways.  I do not speak Italian so I had to figure out how to find my way back to San Marco square (our pre-arranged meeting point if anyone got lost).

I knew that I needed to start by calming myself; I then listened for the sound of the water and I watched the streets to see if any of them had traffic.  It took a few minutes but finally I began to see other people walking towards me so I went in that direction.  As I walked I could hear other tourists talking.  As I kept walking in that direction the sounds of many people talking got louder and louder until I found myself in San Marco square.  What a relief to be in that noisy square with the sun shining and the pigeons waiting to be fed.  My family was standing around chatting and couldn’t wait to see what I had bought.

They never knew of my little Venice adventure.

Today Mike and I both carry maps around with us when we travel.  We ask locals for assistance whenever we need too and we mostly pre-plan our walks and tours before we head out so that we have a general idea of where to go.

Getting lost is no fun, and when it happens in a foreign country it can also be scary.  Being found however usually comes with great stories to tell and lasting travel memories.

Florence Lince

http://www.about.me/florencelince

Doing Our Own Travel Arrangements

I recently had someone ask me for a recommendation for a Tour Operator for a client who was going on a honeymoon to Spain.  This person happily related to me that they had just started a travel agency and needed help in creating a list of TO’s they could use going forward for Spain.

I realized then that I had never answered this question here so now I will tell you why I do my own travel arranging.

In the recent past I was a travel agent (Lince’s Leisure Vacations) and a Tour Operator (Global Explorer Club), both companies which I have since closed.  I have been personally traveling for over 30 years and have been to 4 continents and over 32 countries so I feel qualified to talk about travel sellers and travel companies.  I have also been trained as an International Tour Manager.

The main reason I do my own travel arranging is that many of the so called Travel Agents selling travel have never left the US.  Most don’t even have a passport.

Many people with a travel agent shingle have no idea how to arrange a package for a client; which TO to use; how to look at a TO website and know if they are a direct tour operator or just a reseller or even how to find out if a TO is a good TO or not.  Many travel agents do not have first hand knowledge of the TO’s they are selling so they seek out help from other travelers or other agents and hope they get a great answer.

I read the travel agent question and answer boards and I cringe over how many agents get hired by a client and they turn around and get on the travel agent boards and cry for help because they don’t have a clue how to send the client to London, or to Paris, or to anywhere because they have never been to the place themselves.

My first advice to anyone is to interview the Travel Agent.  This is a job.  Do you want this person selling you travel if they have no passport; have never been to the country you are trying to get too; if they have not traveled how do they get their travel knowledge and who trained them; would they know how to help you if you have a problem while on your trip; do they know which is better for your trip, travel insurance or medical emergency insurance.

This being said I have also ‘fired’ clients.  People who wanted my help; have traveled a time or two but never to the country I have direct knowledge of; but people who were so difficult to work with because they really didn’t want me with my travel knowledge, they wanted a travel arranger.  So I fired them as clients.  I have no idea if they ever made it to their destinations.  Sometimes making 10% just wasn’t worth my sanity.

So many people today click on buttons to arrange their own travel and because they have done it successfully a time or two they think that a real travel agent isn’t worth the paltry 10% they make on your vacation.  The 10% you are paying anyway to any booking engine I might add.  The difference is a real travel agent; someone with experience and travel smarts is fighting to make a living and having to deal with clients who make their lives a living hell.  If you want a travel agent to help you, if you interview them and feel they are the right fit for you; then let them help you; do not waste their time; do not waste your time.

I once made the mistake of sending four people to Peru.  None of them had ever traveled outside of the US and this was their first trip.  None of them had a passport and none of them was listening to me when I told them that traveling directly to Cusco, Peru from the US was not a good idea and they being the clients didn’t want to spend any time in Lima getting acclimated to the climate so they insisted on me making their travel arrangements their way.  One of them almost ended up in the hospital; two of them were so sick they had to cancel the first tour they paid for which was not refundable and two of them no longer speak to one another.  In hind site at the first sign that they wanted me to book their way or no way I should have fired them and told them to have a nice day.  Going forward I did just that.

For us I haven’t met an agent who has traveled as much as I have.  Going on cruise ships and getting off at ports of call does not constitute travel knowledge or travel experience to me.  So many agents don’t have a clue about the people, the places and the cultures of the countries I have been.  I would also never sell travel to places I had never been and I would tell clients such.  I just wouldn’t do it.

I therefore see this issue from both aspects; from the agent side, and from the passenger side. If I ever need to buy travel through an agent I will be sure to interview them.  I just might find that rare person who does have knowledge and first hand experience about a place I haven’t been.

Florence Lince

http://www.about.me/florencelince

 

 

The VAT Refund Game

In all the years I have been traveling I have never tried to get a VAT tax refund.  I was spending so little anyway it wouldn’t have been worth the time commitment to make it pay, as far as I was concerned.

A VAT (value added tax) is used throughout Europe as a form of sales tax added to some merchandise and goods sold in the European Union.  It is a requirement that businesses collect this money and send it along to their governments.

If you are not a member of the EU you may be entitled to a refund of the monies collected.  There are procedures to follow; paperwork that needs to be filled out and stamped and then avenues for you to receive your money back.

Here is where the tricky part comes in.  The refund of monies can be different in every EU country.  Some countries will refund your money at the point of sale; some are going to use a third party refund company but most often you will get your refund at the airport on your way out of the EU.

First, you need to choose a shop that operates the VAT Retail Export program. Look for a Tax Free Shopping sign. It’s a voluntary scheme and not all shops operate it, so you need to check before you buy anything.  If you find a shop that does take VAT and refund it you will need to get VAT form 407 from them.

You need to fill in the form when you make your purchases, in front of the retailer. The retailer will ask to see evidence that you are eligible to get a refund and that you live in a country outside of the EU (like your passport).

You also need to agree with the retailer how your refund will be paid. Some retailers will pay you the refund directly, others will operate through a refund company, and some will have an arrangement with a refund booth at the point where you leave the UK or the EU completely.  If you are traveling from one EU country to another get all of your forms stamped in each country.  The rules state that you must leave the EU within a 3 month period in order to file for a VAT tax refund.

Not all retailers and businesses collect VAT so therefore you might not be entitled to a refund.  Businesses which make less than 81,000 Euros do not have to register for VAT.

You may not get all the VAT back anyway. The retailer or refund company may access you a fee to cover the cost of doing the paperwork for you. If they do, this will be deducted from your refund before you receive it.  The cost of this fee will be shown on your refund form.  It was always at this point that I realized standing in line for anything less than $20 just wasn’t worth my time.

There are some goods which you don’t pay any VAT on and most of them come under the heading of souvenirs, like:

• basic food items
• books, newspapers and magazines
• children’s clothes
• equipment for disabled people

Countries in the EU also have different rates that they charge for VAT, they are not all the same.  The sales price you will see listed in every location however will include the VAT tax.  You would have to ask how much the VAT tax was in order to claim it.  That is why you must do the paperwork with the retailer while you are in their store.

Other countries besides the EU charge a VAT tax.  In Australia the VAT in 2010 was at 10%.  In Canada there is a goods and services tax that was introduced in 1991 and is set at 5 percent. Products that are not subject to the tax include basic groceries and certain prescription medicines. They have had a VAT in Mexico since 1980 and the current rate is 16%.  Products that have no VAT tax added are books, medicine, and food.

When someone charges you VAT they multiply their selling price by the VAT rate to calculate the amount of VAT to charge. They then add the VAT amount to the net price.

What I have never understood is this; if I don’t have to pay VAT as an American and I can get a refund by just showing my passport why do I have to go through the hassle of getting a refund?  Just deduct the VAT amount when I make my purchase immediately at the point of sale.  I know what you are thinking; the governments of all these countries are making a fortune on people who don’t bother to stand in line to collect any refund under $100.  In 2009 for instance they collected over 783 billion in VAT taxes all over the EU.  Not all of those monies would be refundable of course.

I still won’t be trying to get a VAT Tax refund. We just haven’t spent enough to make it necessary to stand in line.  However if you are a high end traveler and you spend lots of money buying things and either flying them home or having them shipped; 1. We should be friends and 2. You should spend the time having an agent get you your refund.

Happy Shopping.

Florence Lince

http://www.about.me/florencelince

 

Stereotypes

The more we have traveled the more questions we get from those that follow our blogs or from those whom we meet.  Sometimes however what we get are stereotype questions or comments about us because we are American.  Mike and I spend quite a bit of time telling people we aren’t from Canada because they can’t believe we are American because American’s don’t travel and because those that do travel are not nice.

Some of the other misconceptions we combat, or even those we have seen first hand are;

I am Italian American and I don’t know anyone in the Mafia.  Not all Italians or those from the Island of Sicily are in the Mafia.  Stop referring to me and my family as Mafioso.

Not all Mexicans are lazy.  We lived in Mexico and the people were warm and friendly and from what I could see incredibly hard working.  So the stereotype lazy Mexican sitting under a sombrero and sleeping is nothing more than Hollywood baloney.

Not all Americans are gun toting radicals.  We don’t all own 3 guns and carry NRA cards nor do we believe that the President of the United States wants to take away our guns so we have to buy ammunition.  Most of us find the killings that are taking place in the US to be revolting and want them to stop.

Not all Americans are rich.  We are far from it.  Most of the people are struggling to make ends meet just like people in the rest of the world.

Not all Muslims hate Americans.  We traveled through Bosnia-Herzegovina last year and know from first hand encounters that the Muslim people want peace and treat others with cautious friendship.

All Jews are not rich.

All Japanese do not have cameras.

Everyone in Alaska is not an Eskimo.

What crazy stereotypes have you run across as you have traveled and that you know to be untrue?

Florence Lince

http://www.about.me/florencelince

 

 

Make It Stop Moving

I suffer from motion sickness.  I’ve had it since I was a child.  I love to travel however and the two sometimes do not mix.

As a child we did a lot of car travel.  I insisted that I needed to be by a window with the window down and the wind blowing in my face.  In a family with four younger brothers this was harder than it sounded.

It quickly became apparent to my parents that when I said I needed to sit thus I meant it.  On a very long trip from Buffalo, NY to Washington D.C. where the car housed my brothers and an Aunt and Uncle I was outvoted and told to sit in the middle of the seat.  I knew this was a mistake and pleaded to sit where I always did but it was easier for my aunt and uncle to sit by the doors so that they could get in and out of the car.  I made it pretty far in the ride before it got pretty warm in the vehicle and I asked that someone please open a window.  It didn’t help and I promptly heaved.  That changes things quickly and the upside was that I did sit by the window for the rest of the trip.

I used to get on an airplane and take Dramamine.  Ages ago they didn’t have the non-drowsy variety and on my first trip abroad (to Ireland) I arrived loopy and drugged because I had taken two pills as directed. I literally slept the entire trip which was a shame because the guy sitting next to me was incredibly good looking.

I cannot read, play video games or write on a computer when on a bus or in a car.  The act of bending my neck and trying to do any of these things while the bus or car is navigating curves or hills or even little road bumps makes me sick and queasy.  I have seen a shade of green reflecting from my face that not even crayola has in their coloring box.  It is best I do not attempt to do any of these activities while in motion.

Being on the water and in a boat is mostly a disaster.  I have been so sick on boats I don’t think being on water is worth the expense.  They always say to get in the water or to watch the horizon while the boat is lunging up and down, but that doesn’t work.  Well at least not for me.  If anything I think it makes it worse.  I have been on cruise ships that were pitching and moving around pretty good and I have always had to take a seasick pill and then sleep through it in order to help me make it to the next port of call.

Over the years and determined not to arrive at all of my destinations drugged and drowsy I learned to fly without taking anything for motion sickness.  In order to arrive in one piece I have learned to sleep in every apparatus that has motion.  I can sleep like a baby in a plane, on a bus, on a cruise ship, everywhere that motion is part of the adventure I have learned to control it or how to avoid the problems that come.  I also still need to have cold or cool air blowing on my face so the first thing I look for on any airplane is the air nozzle above my seat and it is on full blast for most of the trip.  I tend to wear a lot of sweaters on airplanes even in the summer.

If you suffer from motion sickness you have my sympathies.  I totally understand your plight.  I have however never let it stop me from exploring a new country or traveling to a new destination.  If anything I actually look forward to my travel naps now.  I know that once I’m comfortably settled into my seat I have several hours to catch up on my sleep and I look forward to it.

Some people say that motion sickness is mind over matter.  I think I’ll ponder that notion on my next trip, right before I fall asleep.

Florence Lince

http://www.about.me/florencelince

How Many Languages Does Your Resume Come In?

We were recently asked to answer this question by a follower of our blog; “What are some fields of work (jobs) that allow you lots of international travel and exposure?”

I don’t give career advice unless I’ve had a conversation with a person but just off the top of my head I came up with these lines of work for someone who desperately wants to travel but needs to make a living doing so.

News reporter is one such job; be it for news print newspapers or magazines and of course broadcast newscaster for any size TV or podcast channel. Podcasts are actually one of the fastest growing news media channels and anyone can set up their own podcasts.  Making money from this endeavor however might be a different story but I hear it can be done.  Of course I was told that about being a blogger!

There are Tour Guide and Tour Manager jobs where exposure comes on the videos that travelers take. One should take the appropriate training to be a Tour Guide or a Tour Manager however just in case one of these videos goes viral and Hollywood comes a calling.

Professional photographers gain from international travel and intense exposure.  There are also many photography contests that can be entered which gain you more exposure.

Lawyers who specialize in International law can also be considered for this answer since depending on the area of expertise they might end up representing a very high-profile client and therefore have camera and airtime exposure.

Runway models, winning horse jockeys, famous painters and artists, even being a politician sprang to mind all as jobs where someone could flourish and gain international exposure.

And lastly of course there is the movie star job which comes with some interesting perks from what I can see.

I haven’t looked for work in over 3 years but I know that today they call your resume a CV (curriculum vitae) in many countries and depending on what country you are planning to work in you might need to have your resume translated into that language as well as English.

The same rules apply however; don’t embellish yourself to a status you cannot live up too, but do strut your stuff and be prepared to ‘sell yourself’ because ultimately no one is going to be better able to sell your skill set then you.  Good luck.

Florence Lince

http://www.about.me/florencelince

Helpless and Far From Home

I had the recent unhappy experience of being very far from home when tragedy struck.  One of my brothers was involved in a horrific motorcycle accident back in the United States, and even now, five days after the accident no one knows exactly what happened because he is still in a medically induced coma.

I was notified of the accident four days after it happened and I was notified by email.  As is always the case the initial emails leave a lot to be desired in terms of giving accurate and complete information.  The emails didn’t tell me what happened, when it happened, how he was, and all the other important questions we want to scream at the computer if we could.

We had an emergency notification plan in place with certain people having our phone number here in Spain and even our email information but when the people who you want to connect with are a part of the event sometimes all your carefully laid out plans go right out the window; people are so caught up in the moment and trying to get to the hospital to see how someone is they forget about notifying you and they leave it to a third party to send you a note.

The issues you will be dealing with when outside of the US are the same ones they dealing with the situation will be dealing with; time zone differences, costs of making international phone calls on cell phones; people not answering phone calls from phone numbers they do not recognize so you go straight to voice mail.

We are using a VOIP (voice over IP) service to make phone calls to the US; which means we are using our computers to make phone calls.  It is just the cheaper way to go and when there are no emergencies it works well.  In an emergency however it leaves a lot to be desired because some people won’t pick up the phone when you call because they do not recognize the number from a VOIP service.  You then end up leaving phone messages and doing a round robin network of phone calling until someone picks up the phone.

The harder part however is in the time zone differences and knowing that sometimes you have to wait hours in order to call someone.  When I finally saw the email it was 10:00am to me; it was 1:00am their time in California.  While I desperately wanted to call I knew that if they were finally finding some time to sleep I couldn’t wake them at 1:00am.  I would have to wait.

If you are going to be traveling extensively outside of the US have an emergency information plan set up for family; then don’t expect it to work 100% mostly because when the adrenaline does begin to pump people and their carefully laid out plans go right out the window.  Do not expect to be notified immediately either if something tragic happens.  Contacting those of us living outside of the US will be as difficult for them as it is for us.

Five days after the accident and after getting through to my sister-in-law’s cell phone I know the current state of my brother’s health and while things are not 100% he is alive and not paralyzed, and while there might be some lose of function in his right eye things could have been a lot worse. I have already scheduled my next phone call with them for a couple of days from now to check in and get any new details.  And of course they have my email.

Traveling extensively and being away from home when tragedy strikes is hard no matter the outcome; you feel helpless and disjointed and frustrated.  In this day and age of instant gratification we want to know the details of any event immediately and that just sometimes is not possible when you are dealing with time zone differences and lousy internet connections and cell phones that people won’t pick up and the emotions of those dealing with the tragedy back home.  Expect to have to take several deep breaths and to learn from the old adage; patience really is a virtue.

Florence Lince

http://about.me/florencelince