If airport rentals sky high, give bus or taxi a try

Airport car rental rates have soared into the clouds. In many of the major airports, they’ve more than doubled since 2008. The lame-sounding reason given by car rental agences is that prices needed to be raised because fewer cars are available. Huh? Guess that was some kind of convoluted law of supply and no demand.

It used to be that renting a car at the airport was economical and convenient for busy business fliers. Now, with the high costs and increasing traffic snarls within busy airport roads, for many it isn’t worth the increasing fees and hassle any more. Unless a rental car is absolutely necessary, consider departing the airport on public transportation, cab or get a pal to pick you up.

If you’d still prefer to rent a car, call various agencies before you leave home or office to catch your flight to that airport, and get some price quotes. Although some car rental companies don’t want you to believe it, they must compete for your business. If enough potential drivers stop using the high-priced ones, maybe car rental prices will come down to normal again.

Because table is loaded, should you load up, too?

Expecting a vacationer at a foody Vegas resort or a luxury cruise to cut back on the never-ending food is the equivalent of telling a sailor on his first shore leave after a year at sea to spend all of his time in the local library.

Realistically, the all-inclusives, particularly concerning food and drink, are intended to be too tempting. They're there for vacationers to enjoy, day and night with no limits. The first inclination is to say: “I'm paying for it all, so why not grab it all? Anyhow, when I get home, I promise myself to work off the extra pounds.” Yeah, sure.

As tempting as unlimited dining may be, you must apply the same moderation you practice at home. That doesn't mean just eating raw carrot sticks and drinking diet soda. It requires self control and choosing healthful foods, rather than the obvious ones that will add weight. Here are some suggestions:

1. As you normally do at home, eat moderate portions. If your usual breakfast is a bowl of cereal with a sliced banana, and several ounces of skim milk, order the same at the resort.

Well, he would've made a real strict airport security guy

Panic time! It was in all the headlines. Some computer geek put the entire TSA instruction manual for its employees in cyberspace for all to see. Does that mean every ragheaded terrorist in the world is now studying it to see how to peprare a bunch of suicide freaks to attack the next flight out of your home town?

Don’t get your feathers in an uproar, senior flyers! The high-and-mightly bosses of TSA (Transportation Security Administration) say, and we know they’re very reliable, the manual that was outed on the internet is out of date, and most of material has been revised.

However, we’ve had a peek at the stolen document, and will give you the actual instructions the TSA guys and gals at the airport must study and memorize. Here are five of the rules for doing their job exactly the way the instructions in the manual say:

On long airport waits, try to relax and take some cat naps

There are two basic kinds of layovers. The scheduled one features a booking that requires a connection in another airport along the way to your destination. Because of time differences and other factors, you expect to wait for the second flight for an hour or two. No problem if all goes as the schedule indicated. However, if that second flight is delayed, and your wait becomes four, five or more hours, the layover becomes a problem. That's cause for concern, frustration, and if delays go on endlessly, outright anger.