Travel Related News

[fauxklore]

It is not all that surprising why travel is taxed so heavily. It's easy to tax people who don't live in your jurisdiction and, hence, can't vote you out of office. So it may not be surprising that Wisconsin is talking about adding an additional $18 tax to car rentals in the state (on top of the existing tax, which is somewhere around 2 bucks) to fund mass transit. Not that I have any plans to go to Wisconsin in the near future, but this seems rather excessive to me. It is fairly common for taxes and fees on car rentals to exceed the price of the rental itself and this is another egregious example.

I also hate the 15-30% tax rates on hotel rooms. Wasn't "no taxation without representation" one of our founding principles?

In more personal travel news, I had a moment of inspiration when arranging my domestic flights for my trip to Kiribati. See, San Diego has a new ballpark. And, as it happens, the flight schedule into SAN was more convenient than the flight schedule into LAX. For less than a hundred bucks more, I'll fly into San Diego, go to a ball game, stay there overnight, and take Amtrak up to Los Angeles. (From Union Station, the Flyaway bus from Union Station to LAX is only $6).

Finally, in the "why I prefer to arrange flights myself vs. having a travel agent do it," I got the itinerary for the international legs of the trip and it looks like I'm assigned a center seat for an 11 hour flight. Remind me again of why I do this to myself?

Comments

[cahwyguy.livejournal.com]

(From Union Station, the Flyaway bus from Union Station to LAX is only $6).

Depends when you're going. See the last item in this post (http://cahwyguy.livejournal.com/892368.html) of mine.

[fauxklore]

I'll avoid the fare increase. But, frankly, even at 7 bucks, it's a good deal. The Washington Flyer bus from West Falls Church to IAD is 10 bucks one way, 18 round trip. (Though there is the 5A metrobus from Rosslyn for just $3 if you use a smart trip card and an extra dime if you don't.)