Travel Tip: Explore City Attraction Passes

I am always on the lookout for ways to save money when I travel. I’ve found that city tourist or attraction passes are usually an excellent value. Here’s how they work:

How City Passes Work

First, you purchase the pass online, from a travel agent, or through a tourist information office. The prices vary widely depending on what’s included. Most recently I bought a Go San Francisco Pass and it included over 50 attractions and a 7-day pass cost about $160US.

You will then be given either a ticket booklet or a chip card which you then take to the listed attractions and you get in for free (or a discount, depending on the card). For example, the Southern California City Pass includes admission to 4 major theme parks and they give you a booklet of tickets to present for entry in the park, whereas the Go San Francisco Card gives you a wallet sized chip card that you scan for admission to each attraction.

Getting the best value

Research the available passes for the city or region you are visiting before you go:

1. Make a list of which included attractions you want to or have the means to visit (some are outside of town and require a car to visit).
2. See how much it would cost to visit these attractions individually and compare that to the cost of the card.
3. Check the validity dates of the pass you want to get. You may have the option to choose how many days you want the pass to be valid for, or it may give you a timeframe for the number of days your pass will be valid (from first activation).
4. Make sure that you have time to fit in all the attractions you’re planning to visit within the validity of the card.

Some city or attractions passes may include free public transportation. If not, see if that city offers a daily, weekly, or special tourist transit passes. Even if their transit system seems complicated, after one or two rides you’ll get the hang of it (if not, I’ve found people are usually pretty helpful if you ask for directions).

City & Attraction Pass Websites

Here is a list of some city and attraction passes throughout the world. I’ve only listed a few, so feel free to add some of your favourite passes below and let us know what you thought of them! I’ve italicized the passes I’ve personally used.

• Smart Destinations (Blue Ridge, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Maui, Miami, New York City, Oahu, Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto).
• Smart Visit Solutions (Melbourne, Sydney, Tasmania, and Vancouver)
• City Pass (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Hollywood, Huston, New York, Philadelphia, San Fransciso, Seattle, Southern California, Toronto)
• The London Pass (London, England)
• Paris Museum Pass (Paris, France)
• The Dublin Pass (Dublin, Ireland)

Happy Travels!

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Mashup: Top 5 Useful Firefox Extensions

In the footsteps of my earlier post about the Gmail Labs that I recommend, here is a mashup of my favourite Firefox extensions. These have all made my internet browsing easier and more productive:

1. ColorZilla

Often I’ll see a colour on a webpage that I want to use in a project. With this extension, you click on a little eyedropper icon, then on the element you want the colour HEX or RGB colour code for. The extension puts a little eyedropper icon in the bottom left of your window and is very unobtrusive! Very helpful, especially for web designers.

2. FireFTP

Another one for web developers is FireFTP. This is a free FTP program built into your browser, simply click the FireFTP icon and a new window opens and you can login to your website. Works like any other FTP program. I do find it kicks me out once and a while, but a refresh usually does the trick. Very helpful, especially for web designers and programmers.

3. Read it Later

This one is awesome! Have you ever come across a webpage that you want to read, but don’t have the time. By clicking the “Read It later” icon, you can save it in a special folder to read it later. This saves you from clogging up your bookmarks toolbar with links that may only stay there for a day or two. I use it everyday. Very helpful and recommended for anyone who is busy!

4. Smart Bookmarks Bar

Ah yes! Do you use the FireFox BookMarks toolbar? I have many sites that I visit on a daily basis and I ran out of space in this tool bar. I downloaded the “Smart Bookmarks Tab” and instead of displaying the page icon and title, it only displays the icons (you rollover the icon to see the text). I now have room for lots of website links and folders. Highly recommended for anyone who needs quick access to many of their bookmarks.

5. Web Developer

As the name suggests, this is a great tool for web developers. You can use it to see a sites CSS, styles, validate, and even draw a ruler to measure objects. 100% recommended for anyone working on websites!

Of course all these extensions are free. I believe the best things in the world are free, and these are no exception.

I am always on the lookout for tools (preferably free), that make my busy life easier or more enjoyable. What are your must-have Firefox Extensions?

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Mash-up: Most Useful Gmail Labs

Gmail Labs are plug-ins that you can use in your Gmail account. Here is a mashup of my top 5 Gmail Labs:

1. Navbar Drag & Drop

This plugin allows you to reorganize the widgets in your Gmail sidebars. Just like the plugin name, you just “drag and drop.” It allowed me to put the widgets I most commonly use, near the top of my sidebars, making it faster to access what I need. Very easy to use!

2. Create a document

I haven’t used this one as much as I thought, but I can see how it can be useful. This plugin will create a Google document from an active email message with one click. Great if you want to save important information. Very easy to use!

3. Send & Archive

This plugin allows you automatically archive an email after you send it. You just press the “Send & Archive” button instead of the normal “Send” button. I’ve found this a great way to control the content in my Inbox. Very easy to use!

4. Undo Send

We’ve all regretted pressing the “Send” button at some time or another. This plugin gives you a few seconds to cancel the email if you changed your mind, found a mistake, or forgot to include something in the message (like an attachment). Very easy, extremely handy, to use!

5. Blank Canvas Gmail Signatures

Do you send mail from multiple email addresses? This is not actually a Gmail lab, but a FireFox plugin that works with Gmail. It allows you to have multiple signatures so each email address can have a unique signature. I’ve found this one a bit buggy (I often have to close then re-open my browser window for the signature to appear), but it works more often than not. Easy to use, but a bit buggy sometimes.

Those were my top 5 favourite Gmail Labs and add-ons. What Gmail Labs can you not live without?

Gmail Sidenote: Did you notice that you can now click on the “To” field to bring up your contacts in a “Compose Mail” view? It’s funny to think that this is a new thing because it seems pretty standard.

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