| Archives: | |
| Wed.11.4.2009 | A Mediterranean Cruise In The Chilly Fall And Dead Of Winter Is Among The Great Travel Bargains |
| Sun.11.1.2009 | Throwing Down A Direct Challenge To Us, Europe Is Speeding Up The Development Of Its High-Speed Rail Network |
| Wed.10.28.2009 | It's Irrational To Avoid Traveling To Places Many Hundreds Of Miles Away From Where Danger Exists |
| Sun.10.25.2009 | China Has Now Become The Least Expensive Of All International Destinations |
| Wed.10.21.2009 | There's Now An Inexpensive Way To Speak Over The Phone To A Local Expert Residing In Your Destination, Long Before Your Trip |
| Sun.10.18.2009 | Thought Those Extra-Charge Airline Fees Couldn't Get Any Worse? Here Are Five More. |
| Wed.10.14.2009 | Of All The Comprehensive, Escorted Tours Of Europe Offered In Winter, Those To Turkey Are Undoubtedly The Top Values |
| Sun.10.11.2009 | 'Elderhostel' Is Now 'Exploritas' — And That Giant Program Of Learning Vacations For Mature Americans Is Now Greatly Changed |
There's Now An Inexpensive Way To Speak Over The Phone To A Local Expert Residing In Your Destination, Long Before Your Trip In the course of some 35 years, obtaining short-term apartment stays in Europe for tens of thousands of Americans, the company known as Untours (888-868-6871; www.untours.com) has amassed a list of trusted, English-speaking, European associates who serve as troubleshooters for Untours' clients. You travel to an Alpine town, or to a major city, and Untours puts you in touch with its local representative, who has the job of rescuing you from all sorts of troublesome situations. It recently occurred to Untours that these same individuals could be helpful to Americans in advance of their trips to Europe. So it has now created a program known as "Call the Local Expert" that enables you, on the eve of your trip, to place a phone call to the appropriate European and put all manners of questions to them about aspects of your forthcoming trip. For their time over the phone, you pay: —$20 for 15 minutes —$35 for half an hour —$60 for one hour of conversation The full details are set forth in a Web site accessed at www.untours.com, which answers every question you may have about the service, and which also claims that Untours pays for the toll charges of the call you make. Although I initially expressed surprise at that announcement, I have since spoken with Marilee Taussig of Untours, who has confirmed that, yes, Untours pays for it. The call actually is made from Europe (or three U.S. cities) to you. Through an exchange of e-mails you arrange the time when the "Local European Expert" will place a call to you. At that time, the local expert uses a low-cost telephone program (either Skype, Vonage or another) to place the call, at no cost to you, and at a cost of only about 2 cents a minute to Untours. It makes sense, of course, that the expert should be phoning you. Otherwise, that expert could be made the prisoner of a need to handle dozens of calls throughout the day to all the clients of Untours wanting to speak with them. By arranging for the expert to place the calls, the work of doing so can be concentrated in a short period. Untours' program of speaking with a local expert has been explained at further length in an interview that my daughter, Pauline, conducted on the radio broadcast on travel that she and I present every Sunday. (You can hear that interview by visiting www.wor710.com, clicking on "weekend programming," then on "Arthur Frommer," and then on the second hour of the broadcast of Oct. 4, which began with that interview.) Hearing this further explanation of the "Local Expert" program, you'll find it — in my view — increasingly impressive. For more information about the "Local Expert" program designed for travel, either visit www.untours.com, or phone 888-868-6871. © 2009 by Arthur Frommer Distributed by King Features Syndicate |