Product Description

"Arthur Frommer is still dispensing practical advice to travelers." -USA Today "Written in Frommer's trademark light and conversational tone , [Ask Arthur Frommer] covers more than 800 topics, from packing quandaries to the best airport-food options, all arranged alphabetically for easy reference. Each entry is brief, informative, and entertaining. -American Way magazine

"Packed with practical advice for budget travel...Frommer's strong opinions and conversational writing style make the book a fun, easy read." -About.com

"Reading [Ask Arthur Frommer] is like having dinner and a glass of wine and then coffee and dessert -- with the world's best travel advisor." -Jeanne Leblanc, Courant.com

"Arthur has a unique perspective on the changes that have take place over the past 50 years. This book is packed with everything from airfares and lodging to vacations for nudist and vegans." -Tripso.com

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44756 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780470418499
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review

• Organized by travel topic
• More than 500 entries
• Each entry is a short, digestible take--no longer than a page.
• 250 b&w photos
• Arthur's style is personable and engaged--his personality shines through

Q: How has technology changed the travel landscape in the last 50 years?

A: It has given us the tools to be our own travel agents. By devoting a small effort to ferret out the best airfare and hotel search engines, we can snare bargains and discounts in travel that used to go unused. We can lower the cost of travel—and thus travel more frequently.

Q: What is your favorite travel destination and how many times have you been there?

A: Paris leads the list; I can’t get enough of it (have vacationed there dozens of times). I find it occupies the frontiers of art and culture, history and cuisine, political discourse and literary events. The Parisians have become excellent, courteous hosts (contrary to a popular misconception), and the city itself is, to me, a place of enchantment that never grows stale. A runner-up: the island of Bali.

Q: You seem to be unhappy with many aspects of the American travel industry. What bothers you most, and why?

A: The shortness of the vacation time enjoyed by average Americans; we urgently need legislation mandating a minimum of three weeks per year of paid leave; the failure of our newspapers, magazines and television outlets to provide Americans with useful facts about affordable travel, in place of their fascination with deluxe facilities that only the wealthy can enjoy; the mindless quality of so many vacation resorts and tours that treat their guests as ignoramuses. I’ve devoted much of my travel career to disclosing the reverse of what most of the commercial travel industry recommends.

Q: What are the top destinations for travel within the United States? Where do you recommend that we go for our vacations?

A: First and foremost, the U.S. National Parks, especially Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Great Smokey Mountains. Second, I recommend the non-tourist neighborhoods of New York, especially its world of provocative, mind-enlarging, off-Broadway theaters. Third, Boston, New Orleans and San Francisco, the Oregon coast, the southwest coast of Florida (especially Sanibel Island and its “Ding” Darling Nature Preserve). There are many more.

Q: How has the current economic climate changed the way we travel?

A: It has forced us to consider the use of “alternative” lodgings in place of standard (and far more expensive) hotels: guesthouses and B&Bs, hostels, student residences, convents and monasteries, vacation homes and apartments in resort areas, vacation “exchanges” (you live in their apartment or home while they live in yours), the extra rooms and beds offered by “hospitality clubs”. By using such facilities, you not only save money but enjoy a far more authentic travel experience among actual residents. And I am proud that the Frommer guides have always devoted more attention to these excellent alternative accommodations than any other travel book series.

From the Back Cover

MILLIONS OF TRAVELERS HAVE LEARNED TOASK ARTHUR FROMMER

Ask Arthur Frommer is a condensed encyclopedia of smart travel.It answers nearly every major question, discusses every majorissue, covers every step of travel, reduces every travel expenditure, and shows you:

• How to get there in the most efficient and economical way, whether your destination is at home or abroad

• Where to stay and where to eat in whatever city or other location you select

• How to maximize the enjoyment of your trip and reduce your expenses

• How to overcome scores of obstacles or problems

• How to make the best, most cost-effective use of travel literature and the Internet

The book also contains Arthur Frommer's outspoken (andentertaining) comments on travel issues and controversies. Like any encyclopedia, it is a standard reference work to beconsulted every time you contemplate a trip or are lookingfor vacation suggestions. Ask Arthur Frommer is an indispensablepart of anyone's travel library.

Customer Reviews

Thorough, opinionated, and a rare resource
Actually, contrary to another review I have read on this site, this book is one of the most plain-talking, no-holds-barred travel books I've ever laid my hands on. This guy isn't afraid to say stuff that could get him in trouble with the rest of the travel industry. Like this, on page 410: TripAdvisor.com is "virtually useless" and its rankings "have no value at all." On page 76, he says modern cruise ships look like they were "gigantic, metallic, orgone boxes of the sort envisioned in the 1920s by hallucinating psychologists." (That description is pretty hilarious. But then he goes on to tell you how to get a discount on one.) On p. 450, he calls for a wholesale change of guard at the Department of Homeland Security for the sake of the country's future! It's very fast-moving, with fact after fact coming right at you in between those opinions, and lots of websites worth bookmarking, so if you can't find something to use on one page, the next page is likely to help, and what's more, you get the feeling he really has tried all the things he's writing about. The book is chatty and dishy at times, and always opinionated, but no one can argue that this guy doesn't know his stuff. I don't know any other book that has all these details in one place. For example, Frommer's book mentions an airfare booking website called Yapta twice and it takes three pages to explain the ins and outs. I also have Peter Greenberg's recent book, and he gives Yapta just five lines. There's simply more meat here. There's also an index in this book, which makes finding what I need really easy.

This is his blog, reformatted into a book
Anyone who is considering buying this book should understand that it is basically a reformat of Arthur's blog, available at [...] The blog entries have been sorted into categories, lightly edited by his staff, formatted and printed. There is value to having them printed on paper and bound, but basically the same material has been available online. Arthur's blog is an exceptionally fine one, but because it is a blog, the material in it (and thus the book) is not comprehensive and can feel a bit disjointed. The book doesn't have the same clear sense of theme and purpose as Arthur's old book The New World of Travel. Also, the time window for some entries' relevance is limited, which becomes noticeable in a printed book with its longer shelf life. That said, there is much of value in this book and the writing is often excellent.

I am disappointed in some of the reviews on this page. It would be more honest if Mr. Cochran would mention that he works for Frommer and has written guidebooks under the Pauline Frommer line. Mr. Brosnahan could mention that he is the former author of Lonely Planet's Turkey guidebook. Mr. Kvidt is connected with Beat of Hawaii, a web site that Frommer has repeatedly plugged on his blog. There is nothing wrong with these people writing reviews, but notice that all of them have a promotional feel to them, like the back cover of a book, and don't really describe the book honestly. It is very ironic that both Beat of Hawaii and Frommer's blog have spoken out very strongly against insider reviews on Trip Advisor that don't disclose reviewers' actual interests, and that Mr. Kvidt has then gone ahead and posted just such a review on this site!

What I Found in This Book
I run my own travel blog which I'm not going to mention not to make this review sound like a self promotion. Though I must say Arthur pleasantly surprised me with his clean, straight to the point and at times controversial writing style and enormous amount of useful tips on how to travel, where and most importantly at what price. The depth of his knowledge is indisputable and I was amazed on how many possible different ways he knows that can save you heaps of money on your cruise, car hire, hotel reservation and more...

What I like about it is that it's not your "main steam" type of read. His advise is always full of new ideas, factual research and it makes me wonder why haven't I thought of the things that he's talking about, and which would ultimately be lots of fun - Trains, Safaris, Camping you name it. He's actually travelled the entire world and so he presents an objective view of various destinations some of which are now on my travel list.

Now, since I have my own travel blog, I thought that I know of most websites that can save you money, but I was wrong! The internet is ever-changing and now there are new amazing websites that can save you hundreds of dollars and he reveals them all. So, if you thought that Expedia or [...] or TripAdvisor are the ones to visit you will be surprised!

Below I'll give you just a few examples that I hope Arthur won't mind me disclosing.

[...] - gives you a huge selection of resorts in the tropics and beyond for a third of their cost, and it's reinforced by their best price guarantee.

[...] - Search all major travel sites simultaneously and find lowest hotel prices instantly on single page. I was travelling to Europe few months ago and found this site to have much better rates than [...], and TripAdvisor doesn't even come close..

[...] - This site tells you exactly that, how to travel to turkey, where to stay, what to do etc.. I wish I would have knows about it before. It's certainty the best site for turkey travel info and I would have never known about it if I wouldn't read this book.

Anyway, I'm really happy with my purchase and I felt compelled to write this review as indeed I think it's the best travel book that I've read in a while!