More Travel Tips

A friend of mine recently came back from an 8 month trek through Western Europe & Scandinavia and here’s a travel tip he offered up for our newsletter. “I rinse out the plastic hotel trash can, put my clothes in it along with some shampoo, and tread on them with one foot while I take a shower. If I need to in the morning, I iron my underwear to dry them.” Short but useful! Thanks, Chris!

Have you ever been researching something on Google or Yahoo or another search engine only to have the sites you’re linking to be in a foreign language? Nowadays a lot of websites will have convenient language flags so that you can get to a foreign language section of the site, but what do you do if you’re looking at a personal website, blog or a website owned by a smaller company? Luckily, you can turn to AltaVista’s handy Babelfish translation page. Babelfish, named after a small fish in the popular science fiction series, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” that, when placed in a person’s ear, would translate any language instantly, translates web pages to and from English, Chinese, Greek, Japanese, Dutch, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian and Russian. You can also translate single words or phrases on their site. Now, I’m not recommending you use this site to do your French 102 homework for you as the syntax can be sorely lacking, but it’s a good start for any basic translation needs. Visit http://babelfish.altavista.com .

Featuring Rome, Italy
Rome ranks among the world's most historically interesting cities and is a bustling, lively place with something for everyone. While it may not be one of Italy's most tranquil cities, it can definitely be described as the most impressive, with its mix of ancient ruins, priceless works of art, and imposing structures. Within the confines of Rome you will also find The Vatican (considered a separate State) where Pope Benedict XVI currently resides. For those who appreciate the arts and ancient history, Rome is definitely a great place to visit. For more information on what to see and do in Rome, visit our travel planner section at http://www.isecard.com/travelplanner/rome.html .

Auto Europe
For over 50 years, Auto Europe has been a leader in worldwide car rental services. In recent years, they have expanded their services to include over 4,000 car rental locations worldwide; scheduled air from the USA to Europe; over 2,000 three, four and five star European hotels; chauffeur and transfer services; prestige and sports car rentals; cellular phone rentals; escorted motor coach tours; and motor home rentals. Their philosophy is, "If you think that there is something more important than a client...then you need to think again."
Auto Europe strives to provide their customers with competitive rates and the best service available anywhere. At Auto Europe they do not believe that customers should expect less because they pay less. Their rates are always competitive, but they never forget that they are in the service business. If you have never used their services before, give them a try.
ISE Cardholders receive a 10% discount on travel services. For more information, visit http://www.isecard.com/featured/autoeurope/index.html .

National Express
National Express travels to over 1200 destinations in the UK and over 30 in Europe and they also travel directly to Reading, Leeds and Glastonbury Festivals.
To take advantage of this special coach card offer visit www.nationalexpress.com , register and enter the promotional code ISEEIGHTEEN in the box where prompted when purchasing your card.
ISE Cardholders receive an 18 month National Express NX2 Card for the price of 12 months - only £10.

TRAVEL TIP OF THE WEEK

If you're traveling to a place where train travel is prevalent (like Europe), I highly suggest that you research train schedules and journey durations ahead of time. It's very easy to assume that train travel is the most affordable, if not always the quickest, way to go, and it often is, but with the advent of cheap airlines like Ryanair and Easyjet, sometimes you can pick up a cheap, fast flight. Many websites that sell rail passes also link to rail timetables. From the ISE Card website, http://www.isecard.com/ , click on "Free HostelResCard" and then click on "Train Schedules" under Rail Information. You can also find the country specific railway information for every European country here http://www.eurail.com/1_railway_information or you can purchase a Thomas Cook timetable here http://www.thomascookpublishing.com/series.htm?series=Timetables . It's important to remember that rail schedules don't vary much from year to year, but they can be dramatically different from season to season or midweek to weekend.