The weak dollar is hurting us all. All of us except importers from the US, that is. So, on your next trip to the states - buy that nice box of lego or the Jansport back to school bags. They are priced in Israel according to:

$1 = 10 NIS or shekel = dime. Approximately.

I looked at a basic $35 Duplo starter set (319 NIS) and a basic $25 Lego box (269 NIS).  At Toy R Us.

And, the neighboring bookstore would be glad to sell me a $29 Jansport pack for 250 NIS.

I hate to promote shopping in New York, Orlando or Los Angeles over Shfayim, but Hey Mr. Import Man, play the dollar for me.

• Shopping in Jacksonville, Destin, Daytona Beach, Pensacola, St. Augustine, Northeast Florida
• Shopping in Seattle, Tacoma, Olympic Peninsula, Washington and The Cascades
• Shopping in Honolulu, Waikiki and Oahu, Hawaii

Passport Renewal Fun in Tel Aviv - NOT!

If you can avoid a trip to the US Embassy in Tel Aviv to renew your passport - avoid it! Most adults can renew by mail. The problem is the under 21 crowd. You can get all the relevant details on the US Embassy Website, except for this one:

Nothing is allowed into the embassy. Cellphone, food, reading material - absolutely nothing. Just the passport and related documents. It has become their business model - food is sold at 3x prices and checking cellphone, etc. costs money.

SO, leave everything in the car and have a good meal before. Bring your spouse, not only because you must, but because with no book to read - you may find the quality time valuable.

If you can postpone the trip until after Jan 20, 2009 you will not have to look at George Bush’s picture.

• Spas in Boston, Cape Cod, Newport, Connecticut, Coastal Massachusetts and Rhode Island
• Spas in Vail, Aspen, Telluride, Steamboat Springs and the Colorado Rockies
• Spas in Burlington, Stowe, Rutland and the New Hampshire and Vermont Mountains

Inspired by a leading VC’s blog post about the insane cost of Gas in Israel ($120 to fill up his car) I decided to do a “back of the napkin” calculation on the price of filling up ElAl’s flight to New York. Boeing 777-200 Flight uses up about 40,000 gal to NY. Fuel costs about $6/gal (probably higher in Israel). Round trip costs A HALF A MILLION DOLLARS!

So, that should make our readers a little sympathetic to ElAl’s annoucement that they are raising fares by 5% (more). Our more pro-active readers will pay for their tickets fast. Tickets purchased before July 14th get the old price.

• Getting to Palm Springs, Death Valley and the California Desert
• Getting to Washington D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland
• Getting to Woodstock, Cooperstown, New Paltz, Catskills and Hudson Valley
• Getting to San Francisco Bay Area, Carmel, Napa Valley, Central California Coast

US Air has tossed the movies from the plane in an effort to save their company. It turns out that the in-flight entertainment system weighs 500 pounds (or about the same as 4,000 ipod Nano MP4 players). So, to save fuel - no movies on US Air domestic flights. More suggestions:

- make the food out of LDPE (low density polyethylene). That would be plastic instead of rubber and stone. Or just serve popcorn only.

- Take the medals and military-style ranks off pilots uniforms

- Stop selling duty free

- Pay people to do what all travelers know - pack light and go to the bathroom before the trip

• Fall Foliage in Vail, Aspen, Telluride, Steamboat Springs and the Colorado Rockies
• Fall Foliage in Denver, Colorado Springs, Boulder, Cheyenne Wyoming and the Eastern Rockies
• Fall Foliage in Philadelphia, Lancaster, the Poconos, Eastern Pennsylvania
• Fall Foliage in Durango and Four Corners of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado

A little beyond our scope, but because we do have some people from Boca that we like - ElAl has announced that its non-stop (3 times a week) to Miami will stop for good in September. Reason given is high cost of fuel. (We all know gas is cheaper in Jersey - at the tunnel). They have promised to provide service to Miami via AA, their code share partner. This may be a very good first step in the partnership which will provide ElAl code share flights to just about anywhere in the states.

Details have not been announced, but we think it will look like this.

TLV->MIA

The 1a flight that currently gets into Miami at 815a (14 hour flight) will be replaced by the 1am flight to JFK connecting to the 750a flight to Miami arriving at 1055a (17 hours total).

MIA->TLV

The 2p flight that currently gets into Israel at 935a (12.5 hour flight) will be replaced by the 230p flight to JFK connecting to the 755p flight to Israel arriving at 120p (16 hours total).

Of course, with 5 JFK-MIA flights daily on AA - there are other options as well.

ElAl hints that a European connection may be set up as well - but that does not make much sense.

Bear in mind that AA is also cutting back, so this may all change. And the price of fuel may go up so high that ElAl decides to ground all planes and focus on their lucrative duty free business unit.

And for the people with free tickets to MIA in the Matmid program - you are screwed. You can refund your ticket (at no charge) and get the points credited or if you don’t do that - your flight will be automatically be moved to New York. Same logic for an upgrade. Upgrade will be valid to New York only.

• Family Vacation Ideas for Key West, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami Beach, Boca Raton and Southern Florida
• Getting to Key West, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami Beach, Boca Raton and Southern Florida
• Shopping in Key West, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami Beach and Boca Raton

I know it is not really in the scope of this blog - but if your passport expires less than 6 months before your trip - you may even be allowed on the plane. Take this seriously - a friend of mine is having a big wedding in Panama and a few people can’t go because their valid passports expire in less than 6 months. There may be different rules for US or for Israeli passport holders. And individual countries have their own variations. Some count six months from when you are arrive and some count six months from when you are scheduled to leave.

US travelers can check the state department website . Its probably a good idea to check with the airline or the individual countries’ websites or embassies. My grandfather used to fill up the tank when it reached the half mark. He probably would renew his passport when it still had 9 months to go.

• White Water Rafting in Philadelphia, Lehigh River, Delaware River, the Poconos, Eastern Pennsylvania
• Wineries in Philadelphia, Lancaster, the Poconos, Eastern Pennsylvania
• Scuba Diving in Jacksonville, Destin, Daytona Beach, Pensacola, St. Augustine, Northeast Florida

Executive summary - if your plans involve waiting time at the airport, access to the airport lounges is relatively inexpensive. Plan ahead - there is some research involved.

There are six ways to get access to the airport lounge:

1. Fly business class
2. Have the right kind of credit card (e.g. Amex Platinum, Citi Chairman)
3. Have super elite status on some Frequent flyer programs (like ElAl) or Gold on Star Alliance/OneWorld and have a boarding pass for the same day from the right (or partner) airline.
4. Buy an annual pass ($250 - $400 and be ready to be very loyal to one carrier)
5. Be 82 years old and tell them you are flying for the first time in 20 years for your Grandson’s Bar Mitzvah
6. Read the rest of this post

What you get in a lounge - Food, Drinks, Coffee, Wifi, quiet place to sit, more food, more drinks and in a select few - showers. In Dubai, you get a swimming pool. FYI.

What you avoid:

Convinced?

Its actually pretty simple and inexpensive. Buy a day pass. There are a few ways to do that (follow the links to turn this into a full fledged research project):

1. Buy a day pass from one of the airlines - AA ($50), UA ($50) or DL ($30). All have lounges at LAX, SFO, JFK, EWR. Continental does not offer a day pass.
2. Buy a day pass from loungepass.com for 20 GBP. But no lounge at JFK!
3. Join Priority Pass. There is a $99 annual fee and $27 per visit. Access to lounges of multiple carriers.

Now it gets complicated - there are lots of differences. Here goes:

• Kids under 18 are free at some lounges and under 21 are not allowed at others
• Some allow a single entry, others allow entry at all lounges while in transit (a very good idea if you are flying to Hawaii)
• Some lounges in Europe are after passport control - so you will not be able to use them if you are an arriving passenger
• Only AA has a lounge at SJC

And in general:

• Best to research and buy online
• Make sure lounge is in or near terminal you want to be in. You don’t have to fly their airline to use a day pass but you may end up spending your time hiking around the airport (not to mention multiple security checks)
• Airlines are closing down lounges as part of the “Very bad time to be in the airline industry” program.

And now the bad news - the situation at Ben Gurion is bleak. The King David (ElAl) lounge does not offer day passes and does not work with any of the above partners. The Dan Lounges offer day passes (100 NIS) - but are very crowded (as in - standing room only - whats the point?). Members can bring friends and one should not miss the spectacle of the masses congregating outside the doors “making friends”. Hang out at McDonalds, instead.

Treat yourself to a splurge and let me know what you discovered and where I steered you wrong. I will be in the Carmel Forest Spa at the King David Lounge.

• Luxury Vacations for Manhattan and New York City
• Luxury Vacations for Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos, Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado
• Luxury Vacations for San Diego, Laguna Beach, Los Angeles, Malibu, Beverly Hills, Southern California
• Luxury Vacations for Key West, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami Beach, Boca Raton, Sanibel and Southern Florida

Recently tried Zipcar as an alternative to traditional car rental. It is worth it in cities that have good public transportation, expensive car rental and hard to find (expensive) parking. New York, Boston and Washington DC, definitely qualify. LA , San Jose and Dallas do not.

The idea is that most of your meetings and your hotel is close to public transportation - so you don’t really need (or want) a car. But getting to Rockville or Englewood or Newton requires a car (if you actually want to get there on time). So, you grab a zipcar right near the tunnel - go to you meeting and bring it back. Or take the Metro to avoid city traffic and then zip out to Silver Spring.

Besides being more convenient and greener - it can also be cheaper. Figure $8-$10/hour or $60-$80/day. And gas is on them. There is a $50 annual fee and a $25 one time fee to start. They have a very good website which explains how it all works. I would be interested in hearing from others who have done this.

• Beaches in Rockaway, Coney Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and New York City
• Fun facts about Manhattan and New York City
• Golf Courses in Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and New York City

Continental is leaving its alliance with Delta and is joining the StarAlliance, which is United + 18 others (list below). The buzz on the forums is that this is a good thing.

What it means to us is:

1. Continental miles will be good for use on UA and vice versa

2. Continental members with Elite status will be treated as Elite on UA

3. Continental members have the same access to UA lounges as they do to their

It may take over a year for this to be fully implemented, so its hard to guess what the impact will be on TLV travelers.

Anyone who wants more information is invited to look at the FlyerTalk forum, where 330 posts have been made on this topic in the past 3 days.

Star Alliance is:

Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, bmi, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways

• Spas near Richmond, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, North Carolina’s Outer Banks
• Spas near Philadelphia, Hershey, the Poconos, Eastern Pennsylvania
• Spas in Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head, Charleston, South Carolina, Atlanta, Savannah, Georgia

Actually, your wife, or husband or kid, or ME.

What seems to be a good deal from ElAl has just been announced. Buy one business class ticket and get the second at a very reduced price. $499 to NY/ $699 to LA (plus give up 200 - 400 worthless points). Valid from now till the end of August. If you answer YES!to ALL of the below questions - this deal is for you:

1. Are you or someone else paying for a business class ticket (full W fare) to the US in the summer?

2. Do you have a person (ElAl romantically calls it a “spouse”) that is willing to drag around the states with you on your business trip?

3. Are you willing?

4. Are you an ElAl frequent flyer member?

5. Are you willing to risk losing all the money in case of cancellation?

6. Are you ready to call right away (ElAl offers sometimes evaporate before the time the ink on the email dries)?

If so - go to this ElAl link, read the 29 points of small print (I suspect that I know their lawyer) and book fast. Comment back on this blog with your success stories. 10 TLV2JFK blogger points for the first person to tell me what #29 means.

Note: Deal applies to Europe, as well - but thats beyond the scope of the blog.

If he were still alive, Henny Youngman would be ElAl’s best pitchman. “I take my wife everywhere I go. She always finds her way back.“

• Romantic Vacation Getaways in Palm Springs and the California Desert
• Romantic Vacation Getaways in Washington D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland
• Romantic Vacation Getaways in Woodstock, Cooperstown, New Paltz, Catskills and Hudson Valley