Tips on traveling with technology from students and teachers

By Sean O'Neill
October 3, 2012

We recently asked Patrick Evans, marketing communications coordinator at STA Travel (the leading travel agency for youth travel) for tips on traveling with technology. He says he tries to resist the urge to stay too "wired" when traveling, as he feels it takes away from the experience. But sometimes he needs to bring his laptop.

When hotel Wi-Fi doesn't function as promised, Evans recommends the Belkin Mini Surge Protector: "You cut down on carrying adapters because it acts as a surge protector and an outlet strip." An added perk: The built-in USB chargers let you power up a couple of gizmos at the same time as you charge your laptop. (Recently $15 at Amazon.)

Patrick adds: "Some STA customers bring their cases for laptops and other electronics with them, but a lot of them will scrap cases and wrap their stuff in clothes. DSLR cables in T-shirts, for example—it keeps things protected, and it's a lot lighter."

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How STA Travel folks use technology on the road

SALE!

At 1 p.m. ET, STA Travel is launching its "best ever Europe sale," with flights up to 40 percent off. Plus, additional discounts if you buy more than four nights of accommodation (hotel or hostel), any Eurail pass, or a tour, which are being discounted by 20 percent for this sale. Sale lasts until Monday, September 28. Details at STA Travel.

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How to behave in a Paris restaurant

Restaurants in France go by their own set of rules. You'll have a better experience—and reduce your chances of provoking the "rude" waiter—once you know what's appropriate. Asking for Substitutions Non (no): Tip-seeking waiters in American restaurants rarely say no to our requests to add, subtract, and mix and match menu ingredients. The American motto may be "have it your way." Not so in France, where you shouldn't ask the chef to put the sauce from the salmon dish on the halibut instead. Oui (yes): If there's a single ingredient that you'd like to leave off (for example: "no spinach on my pizza"), the restaurant will probably honor your request. The French word for "without" is "sans," so put on your best smile and order "sans epinards (or whatever the detested ingredient), s'il vous plat." The exceptions: I've seen confident and semi-fluent travelers (mostly women) get away with swapping salad for fries "est-ce que je pourrait avoir une salade verte (green salad) à la place des frites (french fries), s'il vous plaît?" In addition, I've seen restaurants go to great lengths to cater to complicated dietary requests if they are contacted in advance, in French, and with respect. Not Ordering the Full Meal Non (no): Sit down in a Paris restaurant and you'll be expected to order a meal. For locals, that's often three courses—an entrée (starter), amain dish (plat), and a dessert. Although you don't need to order all three, you can rarely get away with just ordering an entrée (starter). The same goes for dessert. Oui (yes): Don't have the hunger or funds for three courses? You can order a main dish (plat) without the starter or dessert. It's less common, so the waiter will probably ask "c'est tout?" (that's all?). Just smile and say "oui, merci" (yes, thanks). The exceptions: In the past, I've ordered two starters for my main course by asking "est-ce que je pourrait avoir deux entrées pour mon plat, s'il vous plaît?" I wouldn't dare to do this at an upscale place, but neighborhood joints can be very accommodating if you ask nicely. In addition, informal places that specialize in quick service (think croque monsieur or falafel sandwich) will have fewer rules than a "real" restaurant. Have a question about restaurant behavior? Ask it in the comments. EARLIER Paris's top affordable restaurants: Gourmet's European correspondent, Alec Lobrano, offers his picks (50+ comments) Slimming down the lunch bill at Paris restaurants

Ask Trip Coach: Responses to questions about all-inclusives

Thanks to everybody who submitted questions, and special thanks to folks who chimed in with resort reviews and insights about their all-inclusive experiences. We'll be publishing a full story on the topic in an upcoming issue, but for now, here are some quick thoughts on questions that were submitted: Ways to Avoid Single Supplement? Many resorts discount or completely waive normal single supplement charges during the "off" season for all-inclusive resorts. That generally means late spring, summer, and fall. Bear in mind that much of this period is hurricane season, and that even if you're not paying a single supplement, you're probably not getting quite as big a discount as if you were sharing a room in typical double occupancy fashion. Club Med is good about publishing its special rates for solo travelers. Check out its 2009 singles offers. Best Times for Deals? Other than hurricane season, that is? Two brief periods are good bets for storm-free weather, no crowds, and low prices. Try the few weeks in early December, just after Thanksgiving but before students leave school for winter break, and also the couple of weeks just after New Year's, starting on January 5 or so. These are lulls for resorts, and there are often great discounts. All-Inclusive Versus Cruise? Both experiences are similar in that, in hassle-free fashion, they provide all your meals and lodging, along with lots of activities. Cruises tend to be much more social: You typically sit with other passengers during meals, and the folks who go on cruises tend to be a chatty, gregarious bunch. You'll find outgoing personalities at all-inclusives too, but at such resorts it's much more common to see someone lounging on a beach for hours happily all alone, or to spot couples chilling out in their own little worlds. Another difference is that all-inclusives generally include more in the room rate. Alcohol, for one, is almost always included at land resorts, but costs extra on cruise ships.

Predictions of Twitter's future in 140 characters or less

The first Travel Insights 100 survey results are about to be released. Uptake.com and Tips from the T-List have put together a panel of 100 respected travel bloggers and asked them a variety of questions. One of the most interesting questions was: Please predict Twitter's future in 140 characters or less. I've pasted the results here: 1 More noise and chatter, but more business getting done, too. 2 Twitter will continue to expand user base & face need to resolve bug issues and increasing spam. 3 The "it" thing…until the next big thing comes along. 4 Will continue to be the popular girl in class. 5 Eventually, it will be privatized into subgroups to allow people to talk to only people they really want to hear from. 6 At some point they're going to want money from someone. 7 Something more multi-media-friendly will eclipse Twitter within the next two years. 8 Companies will use Twitter more and more as a marketing tool, creating awareness for their brands and engaging their community of current and potential customers. 9 Rocky road ahead for Twitter: If *everyone* is on Twitter, will users still be able to separate out what's interesting to them form what's not? 10 Marketers take over, everyone unfollows and/or migrates to the next big thing. Or, better, NO CHANGE! 11 It will be acquired by a large corp. that will monetize it, either with ads or by charging to use 12 Twitter will grow in popularity to fulfill it's real-time travel info potential. 13 Twitter will continue to grow and spawn new ways of sharing information online. 14 Tweeting will survive Twitter. Twitter the company will go the way of Friendster/MySpace when Google/Facebook get their act together. 15 ever since Twitter went down, people found it wasn't as vital as we thought. future? it becomes a corporate and PR tool. 16 Twitter will become the go-to source for travel updates and news for the general public - not just for techies. Then it will morph into something unexpected. 17 Twitter will be integrated into something else and won't exist as a standalone product. 18 This post by Cody Brown made a lot of sense to me: http://bit.ly/l15Er 19 I predict Twitter will solve its scaling issues and will grow into a search oriented site for very current information 20 limited interest 21 no monetization - fizzles out 22 It will continue to grow, but mature with users being older - just like Facebook 23 It will continue to be used, but how it is used will change. 24 Ongoing success in real time chat and networking, hindered by increasing spam, MLM and security scares. 25 Twitter will grow to be a more useful part of our everyday lives, like email, cell phones and other communications technology 26 I expect Google wave to take over 27 Twitter or it's predecessor is here to stay in these exponential times! Here comes everybody! :) 28 It will continue to be the great free PR tool that it is now. 29 In five years, Twitter will either be larger than ever, or will be the next Myspace. 30 It will become spam-filled and far less useful 31 Twitter may disappear, but sharing details of one's life will continue to increase in importance and popularity. 32 Microblogging here to stay in some form, maybe not Twitter. Twitter wil have to work hard to maintain popularity eg fix bugs, reduce down time. 33 Twitter will become a main search tool for instant search and answers 34 If my mother ever gets a Twitter account, THEN I'll consider it mainstream... 35 A la Friendste, someone else will improve upon the concept within 2 years. 36 An increasingly dizzying, productivity-robbing feed of genuine news (2%), interest/information/entertainment (20%) & useless minutiae (78%) 37 I think Twitter will remain very popular among the cult, but will never grow much beyond that after the novelty wears off. 38 My prediction? Twitter will be acquired by Microsoft or Google. 39 Will replace RSS as the dedicated blog reader's filter/news aggregator. But only after Twitter does a better job helping users find Twitter-ers who are interested in similar things to them. 40 Will be bought by the likes of Google or Microsoft, primarily for it's search functionality. 41 The future is mobile mass chat that incl. multimedia. 42 I think it is a great tool for folks with ADD, but like everything on the web, something new will come along. 43 Twitter, or a service like it, will continue on a fast growth track. It is part of human nature to communicate and be social and this is how to contribute to the conversation 44 Twitter is not long away from reaching its peak; it will be a valuable tool for marketers for several years to come, but likely to be replaced by similar/better service. 45 Some form of short interaction will survive, but Twitter will morph or be absorbed by a newer brand. 46 Twitter will settle into the norm & cont 2 grow but will rely heavily on 3rd parties 2 enhance the service. 47 Boom, Spam, Filter, Bust, Useful. 48 More companies will be using Twitter to promote their businesses. 49 Lasting but not as necessary as new similar programs move in. 50 Great potential for connecting companies with clients and suppliers. 51 Overrun by marketers 52 Twitter will have broad impact in the market until it gets swallowed up by something better. 53 Twitter will continue to be a popular networking tool, but will be surpassed by a less centralized alternative. 54 Rosy fufute but like all internet things, has to stay "current" to survive. Struggles with the traffic at times. 55 I predict Twitter will be the inspiration for a bigger and better platform. 56 Great idea. I foresee some additional refocusing and restructuring. Can be quite overwhelming with hundreds of tweets pouring in. 57 I think micro-blogging will continue to be a useful personal and news resource. 58 Popularity will continue, but will level off. Monetizing it will be difficult. 59 Twitter and their users will start to make money from Tweeting. 60 Twitter will become as essential a communication tool as the mobile phone: I see it as text-messaging the world EARLIER 8 travel tips we learned on Twitter this week Budget Travel's Twitter feed: twitter.com/budtravel