Information Security & US & Life & Love & Fashion & Hacking & Passion

In Depth: How To Avoid Hidden Holiday Travel Costs

Chances are, you're headed to the airport sometime this holiday season, but not to visit a quiet, sandy beach (even if you deserve it).

Unlike travel seasons past, the upcoming one has more to do with visiting loved ones. In a Nov. 4 survey conducted by research firm Harris Interactive in conjunction with the Washington, D.C.-based Travel Industry Association, 71% of Americans said that spending extra money on travel during the holiday season is worthwhile--so long as it affords them time with family and friends.

But just because traveling may be the right thing to do this year, that doesn't mean it has to be the expensive thing to do. Traveling involves myriad hidden costs that, once you're aware of them, are easy to spot--and even easier to eliminate.

In Depth: Tips To Avoid Hidden Holiday Travel Costs

To start your trip on a frugal foot, consider transportation fees first. For example, if you're driving, fill up the gas tank before hopping on the highway, where it's much costlier, says Clarky Davis, a personal finance expert. According to NewJerseyGasPrices.com, a Web site that tracks prices across the state, on Friday at the Citgo Station at 86 Klockner Road in Trenton, N.J., a gallon of regular gas cost $1.61. At the Exxon on U.S. 130 South in East Windsor, N.J., a gallon of regular gas costs $2.59.

And make sure your car is in good condition by checking your heating vents, keeping up with routine maintenance and ensuring your tires are properly inflated, all of which help the car achieve optimum fuel economy. Furthermore, not only does a towed car cause inconvenience; it also means extra costs.

Small Costs Add Up
For those opting to fly, there are several ways to avoid extra fees. First, if you're driving to the airport, park in the long-term lot , which is usually just a shuttle ride away from the main terminal. While the short-term lot is usually closer to the terminal, it often costs up to $10 or more, extra, per day.

"Parking in the daily lot is tempting," says Davis, "but it's not worth it, even for a three-day weekend."

Pakistani officials, responding to charges by Indian leaders that the attack was carried out by an organization with ties to Pakistan, said Friday that a senior intelligence officer would travel to India, in an apparent attempt to ease tensions between the two nuclear-armed states.

Indian officials said they believe that at least some of the gunmen reached Mumbai by sea. After an interrogation of one of the attackers, Indian intelligence officials said they suspected that a Pakistani Islamist group, Lashkar-i-Taiba, was responsible. An Indian intelligence document from 2006 obtained by The Washington Post said members of the group had been trained in maritime assault.

Authorities said that the death toll had risen to 195 as more bodies were discovered and that 295 people were wounded, in attacks on the hotels, the Jewish center and several other sites in Mumbai. Among the dead were two Americans from Virginia; the American rabbi who ran the city's Chabad-Lubavitch center and his Israeli wife; and three of their visitors, including an American man, an Israeli woman and a man with U.S. and Israeli citizenship. In all, at least 16 non-Indians have been reported killed.

Security forces killed the last gunmen holed up in the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel here early Saturday and clean-up operations around the sites that had been attacked continued through the day. 

The government used 350 security forces and 400 police officers to capture or kill the gunmen, officials announced at a news conference Saturday. On the basis of preliminary inquiry, we know that there were a total of 10 terrorists. Nine have been eliminated, one is caught," said Vilasrao Deshmukh, the chief minister of the state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital. "They split into teams of two for action, and there were four at the Taj."

In Washington, the White House announced that President Bush would speak about the Mumbai attacks at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time.

President-elect Barack Obama spoke Friday evening by phone with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to offer his condolences for those killed, Obama's office announced Saturday.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke by telephone Friday with Obama for the third time since the attacks began to update him on information coming from India.

"These terrorists who targeted innocent civilians will not defeat India's great democracy, nor shake the will of a global coalition to defeat them," Obama said in a statement. "The United States must stand with India and all nations and people who are committed to destroying terrorist networks, and defeating their hate-filled ideology."

Deshmukh denied that there was any final statement to make about the nationality of the slain gunmen. But he said that the government was only certain that the one in their custody had confessed to being from Pakistan. He said Indian officials had no specific intelligence about an impending attack.

"The information that we get is always general, not specific. Mumbai is always on the target, it is a commercial city, it is an international city," he said. "It is a sensitive place, there is no denying that. But this kind of attack, not just on Mumbai but also on the nation, is something we did not anticipate."