Freezing Temperatures Drive International Travel

It’s that time of year again.  It finally feels like winter here in New York City, as temperatures have crept down to the low 20’s, and city dwellers have yet again begun to wonder why they put up with winter after winter.  Though we think we have it bad here, we still have a lot less to complain about than many places in the UK.  This is UK’s coldest December so far since 1981.  Some Britons have already been putting up with sub zero temperatures for weeks, and many have had enough and decided to head to warmth.

Many travel sites such as Lowcostholidays, Travelmatch, and TravelSupermarket have reported spikes in holiday travel reservations out of the UK this year.  These websites say that holiday travel from the UK to warm-weather destinations such as Egypt, Turkey, Spain, Dubai, Thailand, and the Canary Islands have grown significantly since last season, most likely due to the extreme cold.  Perhaps the most popular destination has proven to be Miami, Florida, which Hotels.com has reported having a 700 percent increase. 

The British aren’t the only people trading in their boots for sandals this winter season.  Canadian travel to popular sunny destinations like Florida, California, Jamaica and Mexico has also significantly risen this season, as about 55 percent of Canadians said that they plan to take a vacation in the next three months, as opposed to only 6 percent who are planning a “staycation” close to home. 

Luckily for all of you British and Canadian folks who plan to get out of your freezing countries around the holidays, Stanacard has a great rate for almost any sunny destination you want to soak it up in.  Check out our rates below for the countries that are popular this season in the UK and Canada. 

UK to…………………………………………...Egypt: 11.88-14.28 cents per minute

          …………………………………………..Turkey: 3.0-8.9

          …………………………………………..Spain: 2.32-21.38

          …………………………………………..Dubai: 13.99

          …………………………………………..Thailand: 2.28

          …………………………………………..Canary Islands: 2.39

          …………………………………………..Miami, FL: 3.12

Canada to………………………………………California/Florida: 3.12 cents per minute

                ………………………………………Jamaica: 9.99-19.99

                ………………………………………Mexico: 2.70-10.99

Traveling to or from somewhere else this winter?  Check out all of our super-low rates here.

By @StanaMark

The EU Suits Up to Eradicate Roaming Charges

Europe has recently stood up to put a stop on insane roaming costs for mobile phones.  Shouldn’t the US companies follow suit?

More and more people are getting smart phones, and more and more people are realizing that calling over Wi-Fi with different applications is way cheaper, and even in some cases: free.  In order to even compete with these rates, mobile companies need to step up and either eradicate international roaming fees or at least lower them. 

StanaCard has actually come up with a brilliant way of call forwarding to avoid these roaming charges, so you don’t have to have a smart phone in order to reap the benefits!  Check it out here.

This eventually will catch on, right?  Roaming is so 1998.  Remember when state-to-state roaming fees were abolished?  It’s hard to recall, but if you close your eyes and think back… there was that time or two when you took your cell phone on vacation across the country and the dreaded ROAMING message popped up on the top of your screen.  Perhaps your mom would yell at you to turn your phone off.  Or maybe you thought, “How do they really know?” and tried to defy it by keeping it on?

But then you got home.  And there was an extra $25 charge on your bill.  Today, that would inflate to probably $200.  In fact, it does.  Check out the blog posted yesterday about it!

According to the UK Daily Mail article: The EU Commissioner for Europe’s digital agenda, Neelie Kroes, said the price gap between domestic mobile charges and roaming rates remains unjustifiably high. Consequently, she said her ultimate aim is to reduce the gap to nothing by 2015.

So far, the rule only is applicable to EU residents traveling within the EU – no rates will change for those leaving the continent.  Hopefully the rest of the world – namely the USA – will follow suit soon.

What do you think?  Will it happen anytime soon?  Do you have any horror stories about going away and coming home to a steep charge on your bill?

-@StanaCardSara