The simple answer is yes.

Shades of green

The real answer is more complicated and is not black and white. Or in this case, green and off white. First, I try to avoid places where it is mandatory. If you look around, you can probably find some form of parking nearby. It may still cost you but it’ll probably be much less. If you are on a date, pay the valet and tip. If it is bad weather, pay the valet and tip.

Quick Tip: Valet workers probably know the area pretty well and won’t shine you on. If you have any questions, they may be able to answer them and you can save tipping the concierge later.

I don’t really like strangers in my car. I always have personal things laying around, various gadgets and outdoor survival equipment, or maybe some emergency cash tucked somewhere. If you don’t expect to have to give up your car, you are suddenly rushing to gather everything up or you just risk it disappearing to temptation. These days, you don’t know for sure if any service person at any level is about to lose their home or is on a drug habit down the yellow brick road to meth city. Valet services and the establishment usually deny any responsibility for lost or stolen items just like a self serve parking lot by a dark alley. As long as the weather is not terrible, I like to walk and will find some other place to park or another place to visit.

So much of the travel business has the mentality that the more you pay for something, you more you can be skimmed all the way back to the poor house. The more expensive the place, the more you’ll pay for side dishes, extras, newspapers, and attendants of all kinds. Even in the bathroom. I sometimes wish that if you are paying four times as much for something, you’d get some extras for free. If someone inherited the money, it’s probably no big deal and they are not reading this post anyway. If you worked from your bootstraps to a higher cost of living, you’ll probably be annoyed and not return to the place. If you are traveling on the company dime and just expense it, you are just taking the money away from your own future raise or benefits.

Quick Tip: If the hotel is in a city of any size, is located downtown or costs more than $150 a night, call and ask about parking. Don’t rely on my own website here or any other big box site for the information. I say it when I know of it, but most businesses try to avoid telling you ahead of time. I get misinformation even when I ask a direct question.

Never stiff service people who you think will ever serve you again.

This is just smart practice. Whether it’s your health at a restaurant or your car, it’s best to pay up early. You may not recognize them but a stiffed worker will remember you and you may not want them serving you soup two weeks later.

Working for the man

The valet workers are doing their jobs and trying to make a living so it is proper to tip them when you get the car back. At least you are putting the cash back into the local economy and not up a corporate ladder. I wouldn’t tip for them to park it unless you just want to try and get better service.

If you are in and out and will be using the service multiple times, I treat it like when I drink at a bar. I tip more on the first round. The staff then usually pays attention you a bit more. They will remember you and treat you better than someone who stiffs them right away. Then the tipping declines on subsequent times. That’s my way of being cheap.

How about with a rental car?

It depends on what your insurance is with it and if your are completely covered for scratches and dents. How much is the risk worth to you?

Avoiding the issue and making it simple

Park somewhere else and walk or use public transportation. How about you? What do you do or recommend to others? Any bad experiences or opinions?

By Adam Longfellow

A difficult night can be avoided by verifying what time the hotel you will be staying in closes for check-in.  Coordinating your flight to have a good cushion time in the event of a delay is vital if you are staying in a smaller hotel, especially in the smaller cities. Many of the smaller and boutique hotels do not offer check-in later at night, but with larger hotels this should not be a problem.  A good resource for minimizing flight delays is to check with http://www.bts.gov/xml/ontimesummarystatistics/src/index.xml, which is based on the US Department of Transportation statistics.

After you have settled in to your hotel and are looking for restaurants to satisfy your urges for consuming pasta, pizza and parmagiano until the smile of satisfaction on your face is permanent, check your watch.  While the restaurants that cater to tourists stay open all day, most of the best food will be served in restaurants that have traditional hours.  Lunch is normally served from noon until about 2:30, with most Italians beginning lunch between 1:00 and 1:30 so a 12:30 -12:45 arrival time gets you a good table, good food and good service.  Dinner is served much later than in the US with most restaurants not opening for service until about 7:00, with most Italians not arriving until about 9:00.  Bring cash, cash is king in Italy.

The afternoon shop closure concept is still alive and well in Italy and travelers may want to plan around this.  While the city centers in Milan, Rome, Florence and Naples will have shops open all day, when you walk three steps outside of the tourist zones in the early afternoon long aisles of shuttered shops will greet you.  The frustration that seeing the perfect unique item in a store window that will not reopen for another threes hours can only be soothed by the consumption of gelato.  This rule applies to Sundays as well.  It is actually forbidden for businesses to be open on Sundays without a special permit.  Do not question this, it “is the Italian way.”

For the dreaded Italian transportation strike.  For those that have traveled and experienced this or heard horror stories from those who have, you can avoid falling victim to “il sciopero.” YOU need not be the one stuck in an airport or train station crying on your luggage.  If you head to http://www.commissionegaranziasciopero.it/. And click on the calendar icon and then the “Elenco Scioperi” button below it, all upcoming strikes will be alphabetically listed by the occupation that is striking that week.  Yes, the site is in Italian, but you need only know “aeree” and “trasporti” to avoid any of the misery.  The upside if you do encounter one is that they normally only last between 4 and 12 hours, yes hours.
For many people traveling to Italy is one of the most memorable vacations of a lifetime.  You can make it that much better with just a few precautions that will take less than an hour of your time.  The times it takes to sit back and sip one glass of light sparkling Prosecco to celebrate your trip.

The easy answer is 15-20% or more. If you always tip the same, just figure out this number. I usually think of it this way to start at twenty percent. $10=$2, 20=4, 30=6, etc. Then from there I can adjust it up or down a bit depending on service, the change I have and so on.

Photo by flickr's jaroslavd

Remember that the money isn’t going to just the waiter. He or she usually splits the tips with the rest of the team. This includes the bus-boy, bread-server, person who pours the water, etc.

If I know I’m coming back to a restaurant, I may tip a little better than if I know that I never will. If I know I’m going to eat there again on my visit or business trip, I’ll tip higher in the hopes of better service the next time. If ordering drinks, tip higher on the very first one. I know, you probably are thinking of tipping on the whole bill at the end of the night. Here is why I like to tip something at the start of the evening. You’ll get better service the rest of the night. This could include better drinks, more generous drinks or even free drinks. I have often bought a soda for a dollar or two and tipped the same amount on top of it and then got free refills the rest of the night. And when I just pay for the soda, thinking it’s a just cheap drink, I wind up paying again (if I can get their attention) and again.

Even if service is less than great, I don’t want to stiff someone and come back the next morning and have them handle my food again.

This fee also applies for Room Service although the prices and service charges are usually so outrageous that I’m never happy tipping them.

Watch out for family and friends. This happens so often and you may not realize it. I have visitors in town so I take them to a place I like and go to regularly. They may offer to pay or leave the tip. Either way, follow up and look to see what they are leaving. So often, they are leaving next to nothing. Or they are distracted and don’t even leave anything at all. They don’t live here and aren’t coming back so why should they care? Or they are just cheaper than you are to your regular servers. Make sure they leave enough, add to it when they aren’t looking or run back in after they left the table area.

Photo by Irina Slutsky

Watch your money. With all that being said, I try to make sure the tip gets in the hand of the server and not left on the table when it’s more than a few dollars. One reason is that they know you left a decent tip and another reason is that a  five or ten dollar bill looks good sitting on a table to other people in today’s world. It’s never happened until recent times but I’ve noticed other people watching me lay cash on the table and obviously so. This makes me want to make sure it gets into the right hands even more so.

You can find my complete guide to tipping here.

How about you? What do you tip and how to you decide what amount? What is your worst service story? Feel free to name the place.

Jump into foreign travel

I love to travel to foreign countries. Seeing the different cultures and beautiful country sides is exciting. I have a problem, however. I am not a language person. I took several years of foreign language classes in high school, and can only remember a few words and phrases, with a couple curses thrown in for good measure. Short of a quick greeting and reacting to a stubbed toe, I am totally lost.

Luckily for me, and all of the other linguistically challenged people out there, a lot of people in foreign countries speak English. There are over forty countries in the world where English is the most commonly spoken language, and another forty where English is the second most common. The full list can be found at the University of Texas website.

I was surprised at how large this list is. There will be times, however, when a little basic foreign language knowledge is necessary. If you noticed, Spain, France, and many of the other major European countries were not on the list. These are great countries to visit; it would be a shame to miss out due to language barriers. Even though a lot of citizens of those countries may speak English, you should still learn a few phrases in the native language.

If you only have the time, or the inclination, to learn a handful of phrases, which ones should you learn? Basic greetings, asking for directions to a bathroom, and please and thank you are all essentials. Learn direction words, such as left, right, north, east, and so on. Yes, no, and “do you speak English?” are also good to learn. In very populated areas, this may be all you really need, as more people will speak English, and signs may be printed in both English and the country’s native language.

If you will need to know much more, you are better off learning pronunciation for the language instead of spending hours trying to memorize dozens of phrases. This will enable you to use a translation dictionary. These dictionaries are also great for translating signs that are not already translated for you. Be sure to get familiar with the dictionary before arriving at your destination to make it easier and faster to use. You should get a book about the culture of the country you are visiting, preferably one that lists phrases or gestures that are viewed as insults. For example, in Germany and Brazil, the “OK” gesture is insulting. That’s something that you need to know before you land.

In most cases, it is possible to get by in a foreign country without knowing much of the language. Even linguistically challenged travelers can enjoy foreign countries by learning a few basics. Which is lucky for me, because I am about as challenged when it comes to learning languages as it can get.

Ciao!