A private viewing of Peter III's small summer palace at the royal residence of Oranienbaum, near St. Petersburg, Russia, is a snap for Exeter International guides.
Photo by Dan Weisberg for Exeter International

'Tis the season for booking summer travel to Russia, apparently, because two readers have written in asking how to hire great guides and otherwise make smart arrangements in St. Petersburg and Moscow:

"Besides your article Eight Perfect Days in Russia: Moscow and St. Petersburg, have you written anything else pertaining to these two cities? I am looking for a guide/tour/hotel in both cities in June. Is there anyone you would recommend?" -- Marilyn Schiamberg

"I am planning a trip to St. Petersburg and read your article. I understand that a guide is almost a necessity to see St. Petersburg if you want to get into a lot of the sights and beat the long line-ups. You made reference to a guide by the name of Yelena Kirpitchnicova. Do you know which company she works for? I am trying to make the arrangements for this trip as soon as possible--a couple of hotels have excellent specials on now if you book a certain period in advance--but I want to make sure I get a good and trustworthy guide before doing that." -- John Carter

Admit it. You wish you knew the answers to all those burning mileage-award questions that didn't get answered by Randy Petersen in our FlyerTalk Challenge.  So do I.  But there were more than 100 of them. Who could possibly have the time, the patience, the sheer mileage obsession, to step up and volunteer to answer them?

The Global Traveller, that's who. If you're a FlyerTalker, you know him by his FT handle, Kiwi Flyer, and by his FT blog, The Gate. If you're a loyal Perrin Post reader, you know him because of his frequent insightful comments here. He's been one of my favorite air warriors ever since he flew halfway around the world to meet me for lunch 2 1/2 years ago (see "I Was a Stop on His Mileage Run").  And, as if writing three blogs -- in addition to The Gate, he writes Musings of the Global Traveller and Real Cheap Air Fares -- didn't eat up enough of his time, he is now digging into your remaining miles-and-points quandaries!  Incredibly nice guy or masochist?  I don't know. All I know is Conde Nast Traveler readers are lucky to have him as their friend.

The first batch of questions he's answered involve elite frequent-flier status: how to work it, how never to lose it, when it's worth killing yourself to attain it and when it's not....

"If you want access to the very best hotel deals out there, you'll need to harness the power of a new set of digital tools."

Mucho apologies to all you air warriors whom I've left hanging for an embarrassing--yikes!--six weeks. As you may recall, I was in the middle of publishing frequent-flier guru and FlyerTalk founder Randy Petersen's answers to the top ten winning questions in our FlyerTalk Challenge contest. These included:

• "Top Ten Tricks for Getting the Miles You Want with the Flights You Have"
• "How to Turn Your Hodge-Podge of Miles in Different Accounts into a Free Ticket"
• "Should You Stay Loyal to Your Loyalty Program or Call It Quits?"
• "Five Ways to Snag the Mileage Award Seats You Need" and
• "Are Your USAirways Miles Safe?"

Chile's famed Easter Island is safe for travel, with excursions being held normally.
Photo: vtveen / CC BY 2.0

Those of you who were planning trips to Chile before last week's earthquake hit may be wondering where it's safe to go right now and where it's not. Where will you run into logistical headaches, and where will you be unaffected?

This morning I got answers to these questions from Chile travel specialist Vanessa Guibert Heitner, who is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and arranges trips to Chile for the many Condé Nast Traveler readers who book their South American journeys through her. (Vanessa is one of the Chile specialists on my list of top travel agents.)  I figure I ought to share the  information here, so that everyone with Chile travel plans can benefit. Here's a region-by-region report from Vanessa this morning:

My seven-year-old had his first surfing lesson last week on Waikiki Beach at the Royal Hawaiian, the iconic pink palace where we stayed in Honolulu. The tower next door? The Sheraton Waikiki. 

Listen up, fellow parents and/or Starwood loyalists: I feel I should share a hotel discovery I made in Hawaii last week, as well as a few tips for making the most of your Starwood Preferred Guest points on your next vacation.

Starwood has four Honolulu properties located within about a seven-minute walk of one another. Prior to my trip I had deliberated over which would best suit the needs of me, my husband, and our six- and seven-year-old sons: the Sheraton Waikiki, a behemoth on the beach with the biggest, most kid-friendly pool; the Moana Surfrider, a Westin with old-world elegance and nightly hula dancing in the fun Banyan Courtyard; the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, the cheapest option at only $119 per night but a couple of blocks from the beach; or the Royal Hawaiian, an historic property that is the plushest of the four? I was choosing among Starwood properties because, like many Conde Nast Traveler readers, I've got a Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Card that earns me a ton of Starpoints, which I cash in for family-vacation hotel stays when I'm not redeeming them for airline tickets.

At first glance it was the Sheraton Waikiki that would have seemed to suit my family's needs best, thanks to its water slides, kids' club, and numerous affordable meal and snack options. But it was sold out for our travel dates, so we booked the Royal Hawaiian next door instead. In the end, my husband and I were thrilled we ended up at the Royal Hawaiian, as it turned out to be the best property for our needs after all. Here's why:

Not only did we get a more spacious and user-friendly room than we would have gotten elsewhere--a room that included an enormous walk-in closet where we could store all our bags and gear, as well as old-fashioned windows that actually open so our bathing suits could dry overnight--but we also got access to the facilities at the other Starwood properties. We never used the Royal Hawaiian's tiny pool, for instance; instead, we went to the huge one two minutes away at the Sheraton, where the kids could slide to their heart's content. Instead of eating pricey breakfasts at the Royal Hawaiian, we strolled five minutes down the beach to the Moana Surfider, where the enormous breakfast buffet on The Veranda was free for kids and a great value because breakfast was so filling that we didn't need lunch. Furthermore, because the Royal Hawaiian is right next to a huge shopping plaza with a terrific food court, we had easy access to fast and cheap lunches and dinners, not to mention inexpensive convenience stores so that we didn't have to rely on expensive hotel gift shops for sundries. As for surfing lessons, after comparison shopping among several vendors along the beach, we determined that the best value for our dollar was in our own backyard. At the Royal Hawaiian's beach activities desk, surf lessons were $100 per hour (the right length when you're not sure whether your child is going to like it or not) and included a whole disk of photos of you on your surfboard, snapped by a photographer who follows your every move out at sea.

Not only do I recommend the Royal Hawaiian to parents hoping for that rare combination of sophisticated adult ambiance and child-friendliness, but I also want to share three important tips that every smart Starwood Preferred Guest member or wanna-be should know:

A Hawaiian Airlines customer experience agent spoiling my customer experience at Kona International Airport two days ago.

Have you ever wrongly been charged a fee at an airport check-in counter? And you had to just shut up and pay, or you'd miss your flight?

It happened to me on Monday in Kona, Hawaii. My family and I were flying back to Oahu (where we are now) after a week on the Big Island. The Hawaiian Airlines check-in agent insisted we owed $40 in luggage fees: $10 per bag times four checked bags. I insisted we did not, showing her my credit card that waives luggage fees: I had booked my familys airline itinerary--from Newark to Honolulu to Kona to Honolulu to Newark--on Continental, and I carry a Continental Airlines Presidential Plus MasterCard that waives fees for checked luggage on flights booked through Continental.

The Kona check-in agent would not budge, even after I told her that a week earlier the Honolulu check-in agent had waived the fee after I'd shown her my credit card. The Kona agent said the Honolulu agent had been flat-out wrong. I had no choice but to pay the $40 or miss my flight, so I charged it to the MasterCard in question.

Yesterday I called the number on the back of the credit card to report what had happened and, sure enough, they said that I should not have been charged the luggage fees and that the $40 charge will be removed from my bill.

There are two morals to this story:

A few days ago I was in Mumbai (a.k.a. Bombay), India, where we stumbled upon a boat christening.

Before I head west toward Hawaii tomorrow, I figure I should share at least a snippet from my adventures to the east last weekend. I loved watching these Mumbaikars bless their boat by slapping splotches of saffron on it.

The christening ceremony involved slathering wet saffron all over the boat's prow.

The best part was when they decided to come over and bless me too. To see what yours truly looks like with saffron slathered on her face, click to page two.

Those are my kids at Ephesus, the ancient Greco-Roman city in Turkey, during a Mediterranean cruise in December 2008. Through Sea Song Tours we hired a car and driver to pick us up at the pier in Izmir and help us beat the crowds to Ephesus so we could explore it independently.

If you've read my January column in Condé Nast Traveler about "How to Have a Perfect Time in Port," you know that if your primary goal on a cruise is to sightsee in the ports of call, it's crucial to research and plan your shore time in advance. Typically the ship is in port for only seven or eight hours, so you need to use your time efficiently and wisely. It's sometimes smartest to avoid the cruise line's pre-fab group shore tours and hire a private driver and/or English-speaking local guide to pick you up at the pier, take you to the sights you want to see (helping you bypass all lines), and then return you to the ship shortly before it sails. The right driver/guide can both expedite and enhance your sightseeing, providing a flavorful and custom-tailored shoreside experience that's more rewarding -- and, depending on the country and the number of people in your party, sometimes a lot cheaper -- than the cruise line's tours. Which is probably why Louise Nunnink has written in with this question:

"Four people will be cruising out of Barcelona in February. Could you please give me the contacts for port excursions in Rome, Athens, and Izmir, Turkey?"

Louise, if you booked your cruise through the right cruise travel agent, that person should have tight relationships with precisely the contacts you need and should be arranging all of this on your behalf. I can only assume that you did not use a travel agent--or did not use the right one--and therefore now must organize your shoreside itineraries on your own.  If what you want in these ports is a customized day of sightseeing and cool insider experiences, along with efficient and reliable car transportation, my suggestion is to contact the following: