Wednesday 24 July 2013

iSofra Recipes

Tuesday 20 November 2012

America's most stressful airports

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By: CivJet
Long check-in lines and distances between gates were the top factors that make airports stressful, according to a new study.

A study released last week by KRC Research on behalf of Concur, a provider of travel and expense management solutions, ranked the 16 most stressful U.S. airports based on interviews with 1,500 business travelers. The survey also revealed that availability of electrical outlets and Wi-Fi are important factors among road warriors.

Here's the list of the most stressful U.S. airports according to business travelers:

Chicago O'Hare International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
New York's LaGuardia Airport
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport
George Bush Houston Intercontinental Airport
San Francisco International Airport
Miami International Airport
Washington Dulles International Airport
Charlotte/Douglas International Airport
Philadelphia International Airport
Orlando International Airport
Boston Logan International Airport
Las Vegas McCarran International Airport

Not surprisingly the most stressful locations — including Chicago O'Hare and Los Angeles International Airport — will be among the busiest this week during the peak Thanksgiving holiday travel period.

Stress-Inducing Factors

The majority of respondents (56 percent) found the vast distance between gates and terminals to be the biggest challenge at Chicago O’Hare, while nearly half (49 percent) agreed John F. Kennedy International Airport presents some of the longest lines.

Other factors that contribute to airport stress included:

Confusing airport signs (28 percent)
Poor service from airport staff (28 percent)
Not enough or crowded bathrooms (19 percent)
Poor Wi-Fi coverage (19 percent)
Insufficient amount of electrical outlets (18 percent)

On the positive side, business travelers named Dallas-Fort Worth as the most hassle-free airport thanks to clear signage (42 percent), good Wi-Fi coverage (41 percent) and a variety of quality food options (41 percent).

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Caribbean Travel: The beauty of St. Thomas

By: CivJet

ST. THOMAS, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS—A hot autumn day has slipped into night and I’ve finished a nice meal at a Spanish café that sits on one of the many quiet, narrow laneways that dot the tropical town of Charlotte Amalie.

I retreat to the bar at the Hotel 1829, a fun and low-key spot that fronts onto an open-air, covered patio on a hillside overlooking the city centre. There are maybe six people at the bar and it doesn’t look promising. But within minutes Patrick, a local guy with straggly hair, is persuaded to bring out a guitar.

Patrick takes rapid-fire requests and does takes on Bob Seger and Willie Nelson in what, looking back, feels like a musical version of That ’70s Show. I do my best to imitate Paul McCartney’s western drawl for the opening of The Beatles’ Rocky Raccoon. Someone else shouts for Jim Croce, and Patrick launches into lyrics about tugging on Superman’s cape.

I’d been thinking it might have been a mistake to stay at a small hotel in town rather than checking out one of the resorts on the island, reasoning that most Canadian tourists likely would come to this island for beaches and rum drinks. But as I trudged up the three flights of stairs to reach my room I remember thinking it was a perfect ending to the evening and the sort of impromptu activity that wouldn’t have happened at a Hyatt.

A lot of folks who visit St. Thomas step off hulking cruise ships and head straight to the duty-free shops on the main drag, or stroll into bone-chillingly air-conditioned stores to shop for six-dollar bottles of booze, or stop for a drink at one of the 1,314 Senor Frog’s bars that dot the Caribbean. There’s nothing wrong with that. But they’re missing a lot.

Just off Main St., also known as Dronningens Gade from the islands’ days as a Danish colony, you’ll find colourful, cool laneways dotted with shops like Laksa, with locally made jewelry. Just around the corner is the wonderful Gladys Café, where they have local artwork on exposed stone walls of a 300-year-old pump house and you can sip on freshly made passion fruit juice or dig into curried goat, rice and peas, sweet plantains, or jerked mahi-mahi topped with one of the fiery, homemade pepper sauces they sell.

St. Thomas has been attracting folks from around the globe for centuries and is rich in history. The remarkably knowledgeable Felipe Ayala, a local institution, gives informative tours of the Blackbeard’s Castle complex; a collection of historic homes and sites that rise up a steep hill just a few steps from downtown.

Villa Notman dates from 1861 and was built by a Scottish engineer with white wrought iron brought in from New Orleans. Haagensen House dates to the early 19th century and was built by a Danish banker and has Greek revival elements; a true Virgin Islands mutt.

There are deep orange walls inside and a lovely patio that opens to a fabulous view of Charlotte Amalie’s cavernous harbour. The period furniture is lovely, much of it made from local mahogany trees said to be some of the most prized on the planet. Haagensen House also is home to a few prints of impressionist master Camille Pisarro, who was born and raised in the town.

At the top of the hill is a tall, rounded stone building called the SkyTower, or Skytsborgtarn in Danish. It’s also known as Blackbeard’s Castle and dates to 1679.

“It’s unlikely Blackbeard actually used it, as the Danes were pretty good about keeping pirates away,” Ayala tells me.

Pirates, of course, are big bucks all over the Caribbean. In addition to Blackbeard’s Castle, there’s a pretty fine local beer called Blackbeard Ale. Bluebeard’s Castle is a hillside hotel that features a terrific restaurant, Room With a View, with outstanding vistas stretching down to the harbour and beyond.

Charlotte Amalie is built on a remarkably steep hillside clad in deep green. If you choose to wind your way up to the Mountain Top (elevation roughly 460 metres) you’ll go through a series of hairpin turns and switchbacks as you climb past local bars and homes built to take in the view of the deep blue harbour and the lush hillsides of nearby Hassel Island and Water Island.

At Mountain Top, you can pose outside with the pirate statues or wander into what’s billed as the Caribbean’s largest gift shop and try “the world’s best banana daiquiri.” Or you can bypass the kitsch and go straight to the deck and stare down in wonder at the perfect strand of sand at Magens Bay and take in St. John and the British Virgin Islands of Jost Van Dyke and Tortola to the east. With so many protected bays and small inlets, it’s a boating paradise.

A few minutes down the road you’ll get more beautiful vistas at Drakes Seat, allegedly where Sir Francis himself used to stand as he tried to figure out the best ways to navigate through the maze of channels that make up the U.S. and British islands. When I was there, a small group of tourists were posing to have their photos taken with a sad-looking donkey wearing a hat of brilliant pink bougainvillea and answering to the name “Lady Gaga.”

It’s only a 10-minute drive from the harbour in Charlotte Amalie to Magens Bay, which often appears in those dreamy lists of the world’s best beaches.

And with good reason. It’s a long, luscious strand of soft-golden sand; nearly a mile long and hemmed in on both sides by tall, green hills that are thick with jungle vines and trees and the occasional home.

You look northwest out past the flanking hills to a small, cone-shaped island that someone with a higher authority placed there just for a perfect framing.

The water is gentle and warm and clear and clean, with nothing but smooth sand, so you won’t ruin your day by stubbing your toe on sharp rocks or coral. I wander down and try out a very decent rum punch for $5 and admire the sign that says “Don’t Feed the Iguanas.”

The sun begins to dip below the verdant hills to the west, and I reluctantly clamber back into the jitney for the ride to town.

Europe Travel: The fabulous flavours of Italy

By: CivJet

FLORENCE, ITALY — Cameras flash. Mouths drop open, and silence falls over a small group of tourists standing in awe before one of Italy's oldest works of art — a wall of cured meats.

A beastly aroma fills the air. Legs of prosciutto and strings of salami form a canopy inside the old Norcineria, a meat and salami shop in the heart of Florence. An impassioned guide serves up delicious tidbits of gastro-history along with a selection of dried ham, a food dating back to the Romans. And from the first savory bite of finocchiona, a fennel-and-pork salami, the shop is transformed into a food museum, where tourists thrill at eating the art.

Tuscan food: It ranks up there with Michelangelo's David as a reason for travelers to flock to Florence. But getting a taste of a culinary masterpiece requires more than just stumbling out of a gallery and into the nearest trattoria. Tourists expecting to randomly discover a gourmet cafe often learn the hard way that bad food happens, even in Italy.

Real Tuscan cuisine is "better than the best sex you've ever had," according to Antoinette "Toni" Mazzaglia, founder of Taste Florence, a gastronomic excursion that she created in 2008 to introduce tourists to authentic Tuscan cuisine. During the four-hour food crawl, Mazzaglia peppers guests with tidbits of culinary history and woos them with tasty treats at wine shops, bakeries, chocolate makers, gelaterias and market stalls. Her vast knowledge of wine-making and food culture, combined with her exuberant personality, make Taste Florence less of a gourmet crash course than an act of performance art.

-—-

A friend and I meet up with the American expatriate at the city's outdoor San Lorenzo market at around 10 a.m., with my taste buds raring to go. We follow her through a maze of leather goods to the nearby, nearly hidden indoor Central Market. Seizing the morning, Mazzaglia, 35, pierces the emporium's calm with a cascade of animated Italian and laughter.

"Ciao, Toni!" a cacophony of voices welcomes her as she seats me and my friend on a pair of stools in front of Nerbone, a rectangular, green kitchen. The comfort-food institution has served Florentines since 1872, and to beat the long lines of locals that form there every day, Mazzaglia claims real estate early.

"Smell that?" she asks, inhaling deeply. "That's the boiled beef sandwiches."

Spinning around, she flies to the counter to collect our first conquest, bollito di manzo. Minutes later, she presents us with freshly baked rolls piled with thin folds of pink brisket, complemented with a layer of salsa verde and a dash of salsa picante. The flavors and textures meld in a complicated love story — herby, tender, fiery and strong.

After this hearty start, we stop by a pasta stall to watch workers cut fresh strands of golden linguine and pappardelle. Then we slowly wind through the market past troughs of sundried tomatoes, garlic and peppers, to a fruit stand where we cleanse our palates with figs in preparation for a deep dive into cheese and balsamic vinegar.

Perini Gastronomia, a gourmet market shop stocked wall-to-wall with wine, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, provides the backdrop for our next gastronomic invasion. Mazzaglia serves us a glass of Chianti while the shopkeeper prepares a cutting board with three rows of crostini toscani, Italian bread topped with truffle butter, tomato chutney and chicken liver paté. My friend and I moan between bites and do what Mazzaglia dubs the "yummy food boogie," an eyes-closed, raise-the-roof jig.

The two of us are still swooning over the crostini when another board arrives, bearing slices of aged pecorino, or sheep's cheese, bathed in truffle-infused honey, as well as chunks of parmigiano-reggiano drizzled with balsamic vinegar. The pecorino bite unites earthy with sweet, while the parmigiano number pits fruity against tangy, finishing with a subtle kick at the back of the throat.

"That's the neck-gasm," Mazzaglia laughs.

She explains that traditional balsamic vinegar, not to be confused with what we Americans put on our salads, contains no wine vinegar; it's a complicated syrup aged for at least 12 years in small barrels and verified by a European consortium. A small bottle of the luxury dressing costs between about $85 and $200 — or more — depending on how long it has been aged, and Florentines pour it over everything from steak to gelato. In addition to tasting the expensive traditional variety, we sip a plethora of more affordable hybrid balsamics and ponder their subtle undertones. Raisins? Dates? Oh yeah, it's made from grapes.

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11 Tricks to Cutting Travel Costs in 2013

By CivJet

CivJet Offers

1. SHOP “PRIVATE SALES” A growing number of Web sites, CivJet.com, have flash sales of 20 to 60 percent off hotel packages to travelers on an invitation-only basis, for example, recently offered a Friday night in January at the Angler’s, a boutique hotel in Miami, for $255 a night, down from the $359 offered at the hotel’s site. Another site, works like Groupon for travel, meaning that the more people who book a deal, the lower the rate. For example, a four-night, all-inclusive stay at the Hilton Papagayo Costa Rica Resort & Spa was initially offered to members for $1,496, or 15 percent off, last month. After 55 bookings, the price dropped to $1,220., which offers last-minute getaways, all you have to do is create an account to access the deals. A Google search for “Snique Away invite” turned up a registration form for that got me in.

2. BUY ON TUESDAY Most airlines begin sales on Monday evenings, and by the following day other airlines have usually matched the lowered fares on the same routes, said Anne McDermott, editor at , which tracks price trends. Last month, for example, Virgin America had a sale on Dec. 13, with one-way fares as low as $79 on some routes, according to Farecompare. The next day, there were sales from AirTran, Southwest and American, with one-way fares from $59. Because sales are hard to predict, travelers looking for the best deal should start their searches three to four months in advance, when airlines begin to look closely at which routes may need a sale to fill seats.

3. SEARCH FOR COUPON CODES Practically every travel site includes a box at checkout for a promotional discount code. organize such codes into categories so that you can search specifically for airline, car rental or hotel deals. A recent search turned up codes for deals like $94 flights between New York and New Orleans, 15 percent discounts on Avis weekly car rentals and $75 off of three-night Westin Hotels packages.

4. ASK FOR A REFUND Many airlines will refund the difference in price if the fare drops after you purchase a ticket (minus a change fee). helps get you that refund by tracking the price of your ticket and sending you an e-mail or Tweet when the price drops so that you can call the airline to claim the credit. A new site, offers a similar service for car rentals.

5. AVOID ROAMING CHARGES Skype and Truphone offer free apps for making cheap international calls using Wi-Fi, with rates that start at pennies per minute. You can pay as you go or sign up for monthly plans to make unlimited calls in certain countries for a flat fee: $13.99 a month for Skype calls to land lines and mobile phones in more than 40 countries, or $12.95 a month for Tru calls in 38 countries with TruUnlimited. Another option: the Vonage Mobile app for Facebook allows travelers to make free international calls over Wi-Fi to Facebook friends who also download the app.

6. CHANGE YOUR CREDIT CARD Most American banks charge currency conversion fees, typically up to 3 percent when you use your credit or debit card outside the United States. But there are some exceptions. Capital One does not charge foreign transaction fees, and Chase recently began waiving the fees on its British Airways Visa Signature Card, its Hyatt Card and the Priority Club Select Visa.

7. SAVE ON PARKING YOUR CAR steers drivers toward the cheapest parking at off-airport lots near 79 North American airports. Rates are updated frequently, and sold-out lots are highlighted. A recent search for parking near Newark Liberty International Airport offered a snapshot of rates and locations on a map. The Renaissance Hotel lot was among the cheapest at $12 for 24 hours. There is also a free app for iPhone, Android or BlackBerry users.

8. WAIT A WEEK Avoid the crowds and save by traveling the week after a major holiday. A five-night ski vacation in Breckenridge, Colo., during the last week of December was priced at $1,988 a person, including airfare from Chicago, For the following week, the same trip was listed at $1,037 a person. Similarly, a vacation including airfare from New York and five nights at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort dropped from $821 to $580.

9. NEGOTIATE Though many hotels say that they offer their best rates online, it pays to ask the front desk for a lower rate. My colleague Seth Kugel regularly uses this tactic, as he pointed out in a column last summer: “I arrive with a solid reservation but then check out five or six other hotels and go back and forth between them in an attempt to set off a price war.” The strategy saved him $20 a night in León, Nicaragua. I have had similar successover the phone with reservation agents at New York hotels like the Ritz-Carlton New York and 60 Thompson.

10. TRAVEL LIKE A STUDENT Student travel agencies like STA Travel, StudentCity and StudentUniverse have begun to extend their low prices to nonstudents and older travelers. While some of the deepest discounts are offered only to travelers enrolled in an academic program, recent college graduates can often save 10 to 25 percent with “youth fares.” For example, a recent search for flights in March on , which limits certain deals to nonstudents under the age of 26, turned up seats for $926 round trip on V Australia Airlines. The best rates for the same dates on were $1,187. Though it is not common for older travelers to use student travel agencies, it is possible to do so. There were no age restrictions for a discounted four-day Inca Trail trek with STA Travel for $674 a person, down from $899.

11. DON’T PAY TO CHECK A BAG Checking bags can quickly add up, with airlines charging between $15 and $35 a bag. Delta’s SkyMiles-branded American Express card allows you and up to eight others on the same reservation to each check a bag at no cost. And American Express introduced a travel-rewards card — the Blue Sky Preferred Credit Card — that offers travelers an annual $100 allowance to cover checked baggage, in-flight meals, entertainment or Wi-Fi purchases, and other fees, on any airline

Experiencing the Utah Desert

Exploring the famous and not so famous desert lands of Utah

By CivJet

Heading to the desert is a craving for me, as the sun begins to return but the days are still filled with snow I start to crave the feel of sandstone under my fingers and the smell of new sage. This want for land that is both scrubbed clean and busy with life has been with me always, but until I met the desert I did not know what it was.

A misplaced feeling for someone growing up along the eastern seaboard I always associated my unrest with the bare trees of February and March. I translated this as anger at their starkness, how could I know I was craving something that I had never known.

Then after my first long winter in the southwest mountains of Colorado, a friend invited me to go for a hike in a near-by canyon in March. We were less than an hour from the five feet of snow that stood around our houses but in Sand Canyon I had soon tied my jacket around my waist and was letting the sun warm my forearms.

On that day in that canyon I understood what I had been longing for. And then, as if I had always known it I constantly craved the desert. Every day off I would search out new spots where I could taste and touch the desert.

The desert of the Southwest is not a sandy one; this is not the Sahara or Gobi. Our desert is a dry place but not without life. It is filled with yucca and sage, mice and coyotes and much more. It is a busy place filled with life. But it is still a place of extremes. While it may be close to ninety in the mid-day sun it can drop to below freezing in the dark.

The animals, plants and people who make it their home have spent thousands of years learning to adapt and live together. Unlike the leveling of New England the Southwest could not be tamed, instead those who chose to live there had to learn to live with what the land gave them.

I will always be a guest in the desert, my need for it is seasonal. As the Vernal Equinox approaches I can feel it grow in my bones but once the ground thaws my focus shifts and the desert only seems a nice memory, a place I was as a tourist visiting but not seeing.

Then deep in the summer months when the desert is too hot for me I remember it again, if I did not visit that year, my longing returns in my dreams. But I dream of the desert of March not August and so I put the need aside letting it grow until the following winter when it will blossom in me earlier as if to give me time to plan better, to get my body out into the desert 'or else'.

If you want to taste the desert I suggest going to Utah, to Moab and the surrounding area. Arches National Park is a good starting point, it is a little sterile with paved roads and guard rails in some places but the views of the naturally formed arches are beautiful. Try to catch Delicate Arch at sunset or by a full moon and walk one of the primitive trails.

For a longer, less populated trip I would suggest the slot canyons of the Eastern edge of the San Rafael Swell. Here you can camp on BLM near the entrance to one of a few different canyons. You can spend the day, usually alone, in the canyons among the sandstone walls and looking out on the layers of color that make up the reefs above. These canyons vary in sort, some are winding sandy paths that reach all the way through the Swell while others have sections so narrow that you can touch both walls and drops that have you scrambling over cliffs five or six feet high. Each one has its own beauty unlike another’s.

Remember the desert is a harsh place, you will need to bring water in with you and since it is hot and dry you should be drinking a lot of it. At the same time, flooding is a threat in the canyons. Make sure you know what the weather is going to be before you enter the canyon, flash floods do occur and when they do there is no place for you to go. Don't be scared off but be cautious in canyon country.

See New York, Make Art

A Visit to Etsy Open Lab Night

By CivJet

It is a Monday evening in New York and I find myself on the subway heading to Brooklyn. The car is filled with young people with laptops and messenger bags heading home from work. They don’t look like they work in offices but the occasional building pass gives them away. At DeKalb Avenue I get off the train and walk over to Gold Street to the Clock Tower Building.

I’ve spent the last few days in galleries and Museums looking at art. I am literally itching to create some myself, except that I didn’t happen to bring any supplies in my small suitcase. Lucky for me there is the Etsy Lab’s open house. Every Monday night 4-8 and the first Sunday of the month 2-6 you can use their equipment and make stuff and meet people.

The Etsy Lab is an offshoot of the Etsy an “online shopping bazaar Etsy, a very much for-profit entity that bills itself as 'your place to buy & sell all things handmade'” (Rob Walker New York Times Magazine 12-17-07). Located at their headquarters in the Clock Tower Building (325 Gold Street) the open lab takes place in and around all of their offices. Etsy has taken over most of the sixth floor and filled it with various offices and studio space.

I am buzzed into a very industrial looking building and take the elevator to the sixth floor. Inside the office there is an Etsy local sellers meeting. Beyond that there are people working on various projects talking and occasionally running across the room to find some supplies.

They are in the middle of dismantling a half pipe to make room for more desks. They explain to me that they aren’t too upset that it’s being dismantled since they just got a shuffle board table. At two and a half years Etsy has grown from three guys at a dining room table to a staff of 55. It is a busy place, not only does everyone talk to you but there is the feeling that you might be hanging out with friends in someone’s apartment (or in my case the art room after school in high school).

I am here to make something, so after getting the grand tour I get started. I’m going simple, a little wall hanging made of fabric scraps, and there are lots of leftovers from people’s screen printing projects, so I mix and match until I’m happy with my nine little squares.

There is a table full of sewing machines to use as well as other tables for other projects. For the more ambitious, or local person, they could bring their own silk screen and use their very cool silk screening set up. Or if you have the urge to do a little jewelry making there is a fully loaded jeweler’s bench; just bring your own piece of silver or what ever you are going to work with.

As I sew I talk with two women who met while doing a bird count in some years before. A staff member stops by to see what people are working on and we talk a while about Etsy and how she got involved. In general it is a low key relaxed evening, a good way to take a break in the middle of a New York Citytrip without going home.

How to Make a Hotel Reservation on CivJet.Com - wikiHow

How to Search for Flights Using CivJet.com - wikiHow

Monday 19 November 2012

Search on CivJet First & Compare Rates Among Airlines

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CivJet

1
Check out airlines known for offering cheap flight deals. They will often outdo their competitors but be careful to read the fine print. Many cheap flights mean no cargo baggage and lots of conditions on missing the flight (usually meaning you lose the flight if you miss it, and you have to pay again). Sometimes really cheap flights aren't worth the hassles incorporated into them, so be very careful.
2
Call the airlines directly as soon as you know your travel frame to find their cheapest rate.
- Most airlines only offer a limited number of seats on each flight at their lowest rates and those seats usually sell out quickly.
- Time frames and rate terms vary for each airline, but many advance booking discounts and offers are good until a week or two before the flight.
3
Look to travel at the lowest class possible. This means no first class, business class, or economy premium class travel. You bargain-hunter, are stuck at the back in economy "fifth class". But hey, if you still get there in one piece, a bargain is a bargain!
4
Stay flexible on your departure days and times to take advantage of the cheapest flights. If your trip is less than a week, you may need to travel mid-week to mid-week. Many ticket deals require a Saturday stay.
5
Book your flight well in advance of your travel time, after getting quotes from multiple airlines, if you find a cheap flight through a lowest-rate offer.
6
Find a better price before booking your flight if the initial quotes are too high. Consider flying out of or into a different airport, as ticket rates may vary widely depending on where you depart and arrive. When comparing savings, be sure to factor in costs you will incur if you change airports.
- Sometimes taking a bus or train for part of the trip and then taking a flight for the remainder of the journey is the cheapest way to travel.
- If your plans include a car rental, rates at the alternate airport could provide a savings or an expense increase. You can usually find rental rates online online by going to the airport's website and following its links to local rental companies.
7
In the United States, call the airline’s 800 number and ask for their lowest fare—without giving specific travel dates. Service representatives often don’t tell you about lower fares that are just a day or two before or after your target date.

When calling airlines, always be polite and friendly. Studies show service people will go the extra mile for you if you’re nice to them.

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How to Get the Cheapest Price on Airfare

CivJet

How to Get the Cheapest Price on Airfare

by CivJet

Published August 30, 2012

Airfare tends to be the most cost-prohibitive part of planning a vacation or trip. And with delayed flights, over-crowded cabins, excess fees and no free food, it’s surprising that airlines are able to charge such high tickets prices.

During the course of a day, prices fluctuate depending on availability. “Airfare is the most volatile part of traveling compared to the price of hotels or cruises,” says Gabe Saglie, senior editor at

Despite the abundance of metasearch engines, like CivJet.com, finding the lowest-priced airfare is still a tedious process. “There’s not one place or website where you can find the absolute lowest price,” says John DiScala, editor in chief of “It changes every minute and it takes time to find the cheapest price.”

To simplify your search,

Shop in the ‘magic window.’

“Generally speaking, buying airfare more than three months out doesn’t make a lot of sense,” says Saglie. “At three months is when people should start scoping out pricing.” Saglie suggests knowing all the airport options at your destination to help increase your chances of finding the best deal.

“Up until 28 days prior to your trip, ticket prices are pretty much the same,” says Sarah Keeling, director of public relations at Expedia. Prices are at their lowest between 18 to 28 days prior to your trip, she says, and is your magic window to book.

Domestic fares are lowest 21 days before departure, says Casano-Antonellis. These fares were about 8% lower than average fares available six months before departure, according to Kayak. The average fare increases 5% two weeks before departure, with fares increasing 30% from their lows the week before departure. International fares don’t fluctuate as much; 34 days before departure, fares are about 4% lower than the average at six months before departure.

Book your hotel when you book airfare.

“As a general rule of thumb, the more you can tack on to your vacation package upfront—even including things like meals and tours—the better the savings over do-it-yourself pricing,” says Saglie.

By booking a package deal with an OTA, people can save an average of $525 on their vacation, with an average of $1,000 saved for weeklong vacations to very popular destinations, claims Keeling. OTAs are better able to package these deals than airlines.

When booking a package deal, Saglie suggests making sure it includes the activities that you want and pricing the hotel and airfare separately to see if you’re really getting a deal.

Airlines announce their sales on Tuesdays.

This is when airlines compete with each other and release their latest fares for the next few months, says Saglie. “Mid-day Tuesday to late-day Tuesday or early Wednesday is a good 24-hour sweet spot where you can find the latest sales.”

Airlines release their last-minute weekend deals on Tuesdays, tips Saglie. “Flexibility is your best friend for booking airfare and the willingness to go where the bargains are.”

Departure time and day matters.

“Wednesday is the best day to depart, followed by Tuesday and Saturday,” says Keeling. Experts cite savings of up to 10% when traveling midweek to midweek.

For a weekend trips, you’ll find that airfare is cheapest when you depart on Saturday and return on Monday, says Casano-Antonellis.

Flying during certain times can also reduce your airfare bill. “The very early morning flights, particularly if you’re going on a leisure vacation, they tend to be less expensive,” says Saglie. These flights usually have the lowest risk for delay or cancelation since the plane and crew are already at the airport. Overnight flights can be good bargains, as well as late afternoon or dinner flights.

Initially, when you’re doing your search, don’t specify departure times, says DiScala. This way, you’ll be able to see the time of day that really is the cheapest to fly.

Flights from smaller airports can be cheaper.

Experts suggest looking at fares for airports within a reasonable radius of your destination. “Large airports are sometimes monopolized by larger players,” says Saglie. Savings for flying into a smaller airport may justify more time in the car spent driving to your destination.

Consider one-stop flights.

“A one-stop [flight] in a city that’s a hub for the airline can generate some dramatic savings and lower fares,” says Saglie. When traveling with small children, time during a layover may be a welcome break from the plane.

One-way tickets can be a bargain.

Buying two one-way tickets from different airlines may be cheaper than a round-trip ticket, says Saglie. Many metasearch engines will do this for you, such as Kayak’s “Hacker Fares”.

Continue to check fares after you book.

If fares drop the day after you bought your ticket, you can cancel tickets within 24 hours of purchase without paying a fee or penalty, according to Department of Transportation regulations. The flights must depart more than a week in advance. If fares drop outside this 24-hour window, most airlines have a credit or refund policy but they may charge a fee, says Saglie.

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Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa

Tulips create the perfect backdrop to experience this wonderful capital city

By CivJet

St. Valentine’s Day is noted for roses, but the holiday always reminds me that my wife’s favorite flower is actually the tulip,

something that can be hard to come by in a snowy February in Vermont. Planted before the first frost of autumn, they’re quickly forgotten about until they emerge unexpectedly in the sunny warmth of spring. The red, yellow, purple, pink and white heads on single smooth green stalks begin to frame gardens and walkways around the country, reflecting our fascination with this simple and elegant flower from Holland. As a belated gift last spring, I took my wife to one of my favorite Canadian cities, Ottawa, which just happens to host an annual Tulip festival that showcases both the city and this wonderful flower.

This quaint capital city reflects both the English speaking majority and the French speaking Québécois minority, divided by the Ottawa River separating the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Punctuated by beautiful parks, stunning architecture, scenic river overlooks, and lively outdoor markets and cafes, Ottawa is relatively small and often overlooked, lying midway between the larger cities of Toronto and Montreal. While winter might be a challenge here, since it’s considered one the coldest capital cities in the world (with an average temperature of 41.9 degrees Fahrenheit), the spring and summer months are fantastic, perhaps made more so by the contrast.

The Canadian Tulip Festival began in 1953, several years after Princess Juliana of the Netherlands gave Ottawa 100,000 tulip bulbs to show appreciation for the city’s harboring of Holland’s exiled royal family during World War II. The eighteen day extravaganza each May has become the largest Tulip festival in the world, hosting hundreds of thousands of tourists viewing millions of tulips spread throughout the city. Many of the events are free, or can be accessed with an inexpensive pass including transportation between the venues on the “Tulip shuttle”. The event has grown in scope, and features

musical concerts, competitions, and a formal Tulip ball including beautiful dresses made from flowers. Visiting in the beginning of the festival can be risky since the weather determines when the tulips bloom en masse, but the crowds increase as the weather gets warmer, so going early can often be a risk worth taking. Make sure to take in the lower key display at Commissioner’s Park, set in a beautiful suburb surrounding Dow’s Lake.

Unless you’re a horticulturist however, the amazing variety of colors and styles of tulips mostly provide a stunning backdrop to experience the rest of the things this city has to offer. The downtown area is about four square blocks and centered on the ByWard Market, featuring lots of indoor and outdoor vendors selling their wares, from crepes to cheese to hot sauces and pretty much else anything you can imagine. It’s surrounded by specialty shops, boutiques, cafés and restaurants, and cute little cobblestone alleys where you can sit and watch the world go by.

For people watching and an interesting menu, I especially recommend the Fox And Feather Pub, tucked down a picturesque pedestrian street. On a hot day, they had a

refreshing melon bisque special, Leffe beer on tap, and they even welcomed our overheated canine companion providing ice water and lots of attention. There are plenty of other bars and clubs around which create a relatively subdued but fun nightlife. For those fans of Douglas Adams, one that sticks out is a club called Zaphod Beeblebrox that is known for live music and festive young crowds.

Despite the small area, downtown Ottawa (called Centretown) also reflects the melting pot of cultures with a variety of restaurants from high end cuisine to hip vegetarian joints, and choosing one may be a challenge. One of our favorite places we always go back to the Calendario Azteca restaurant, a very authentic journey through the cuisine of Mexico, including the rare Huitlacoche, a mushroom that grows on the corn cob, spiced and served in a crepe. There is also a Little Italy (and it’s really little), and we had a wonderful meal at Trattoria Café Italia which offers a large menu of traditional items including a number of vegetarian options. You can also snack your way through the market, and if you’re not from the area, don’t miss the bagels made Montreal style at Continental Bagel.

Besides being the provincial capital of Ontario, Ottawa serves as the national capital, and it has the official and parliamentary buildings to prove it. Most of them border Major’s Hill Park along the western bank of the Ottawa River, and they’re joined by cultural landmarks like the National Arts Centre, National Gallery, the Mint, and a War Memorial. Take a scenic walk across the Alexandra Bridge into Quebec and visit the Canadian Museum of Civilization in the Hull area, which includes an IMAX theatre. While this side of the city doesn’t have a lot of restaurants, there are a number of nice patisseries and coffee shops. The best place to stay if you can swing it is the Fairmont Chateau Laurier, which looks like a castle, and sits right on the river along with the other buildings on Parliament Hill, making it the perfect location to walk anywhere.

In all, Ottawa provides a compact, scenic and multicultural experience easily explored in a long weekend. Make it extra special by visiting in spring during the annual Tulip Festival, sure to impress the one you love.

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