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Interview With Travel Consultant Thomas Nulty

Aired March 06, 2003 - 14:51   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Is it safe to travel during a war against Iraq? Well, that question may come from many Americans who have vacations or business trips planned, particularly trips overseas. So a travel consultant, Thomas Nulty, is joining us today in Los Angeles with some insight and tips on that topic. Hello to you. Thanks for being with us today.
C. THOMAS NULTY, TRAVEL CONSULTANT: Thanks for having me, Heidi.

COLLINS: Let's go ahead and begin with that very question. Is it safe to travel during a war?

NULTY: You know, it all depends where. I think that's the important thing. It's generally safe to travel to Western Europe. Certainly Canada, Australia, places of that nature. It's very safe. Going to an Islamic country is something I would probably avoid if I had an opportunity.

COLLINS: You do have some tips, though, if you do plan to go ahead and travel depending on where you are going, as you say. Let's go ahead and get to those.

NULTY: Sure.

COLLINS: You have something here that says tell people where you are. Give them an itinerary or something, right?

NULTY: Yes, that is very important. Your travel agent will more than likely give you multiple copies of your itinerary. It actually spells out your flights, your arrival times, your hotel, and what you are doing.

Leave those behind. Don't take them all with you. Leave one with the spouse, leave one at the office so people know exactly where you are going to be. The next thing you want to do is you want to know, Can I call home? Am I going to have some way to get a hold of people? Your travel agency will probably have an 800 number that you can use from that country to call them directly for some help and assistance, and if you are using a travel agent that doesn't have that, you probably should.

COLLINS: And obviously, get all of this ahead of time, too, right?

NULTY: Absolutely. The other thing you can get is one of these little AT&T direct telephone cards. Those things are awesome. You can use them at any phone booth. You can dial in directly. You don't have to have a prepaid card. You can just charge it to any credit card you have got. You can call home that way.

And probably one of the most important things is, give people a lot of information about specifically where you can be reached: office, telephone numbers, the hotel number, if you're meeting with other business associates, their phone numbers.

And you might want to get a cell phone. This is my favorite tip. Having a cell phone internationally is great. You can fix it so your existing cell phone will work, but you may not want to do that because what that could mean is you get a call from your cleaner telling them that your laundry is ready, spending $25 for a call.

You can rent them when you're in that country. That's really the very best way to do it, and give people that number so if they want to call you, they're calling you on their dime on that international call.

COLLINS: Can you tell me a little bit more about how that's done? I think I read that if you're staying at a hotel, you can have it delivered to the hotel. Now, is that something that the hotel provides or the actual cell phone company?

NULTY: You can usually e-mail the hotel, and the concierge at the hotel will make arrangements for you, and they'll even send that phone number to you before you actually take the trip, so you can leave a message on your own voice mail saying I'm traveling in Europe, and here is the number you can reach me at, or you can leave it on your e-mail as well so people can do that. And once again, people will only call you if it's important because they'll be making the international call.

COLLINS: Right. Now, quickly, we just have a little bit of time left, but I want to make sure we get to two more points. What about registering at the U.S. embassy should you go to a country overseas? Is that important to do?

NULTY: I think, once again, it depends on the country. If you're in a Western European country, it's probably not that necessary. Certainly if you are going to Eastern Europe, anywhere in the Middle East, any Islamic country, that's a must. You have to do that.

COLLINS: All right. And what about a paper ticket? We always get told it's a good idea to have one, right?

NULTY: This time I would probably suggest that people get paper tickets if they can. It's probably going to cost you a little bit more to do that. The airlines are actually charging more for them, but they certainly are more interchangeable than an electronic ticket. That's all going to change over time, but it still might be a little better to have one now.

COLLINS: All right. Some great information. We certainly appreciate your input on this. Travel consultant Thomas Nulty coming to us from Los Angeles today -- thank you.

NULTY: Great.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired March 6, 2003 - 14:51   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Is it safe to travel during a war against Iraq? Well, that question may come from many Americans who have vacations or business trips planned, particularly trips overseas. So a travel consultant, Thomas Nulty, is joining us today in Los Angeles with some insight and tips on that topic. Hello to you. Thanks for being with us today.
C. THOMAS NULTY, TRAVEL CONSULTANT: Thanks for having me, Heidi.

COLLINS: Let's go ahead and begin with that very question. Is it safe to travel during a war?

NULTY: You know, it all depends where. I think that's the important thing. It's generally safe to travel to Western Europe. Certainly Canada, Australia, places of that nature. It's very safe. Going to an Islamic country is something I would probably avoid if I had an opportunity.

COLLINS: You do have some tips, though, if you do plan to go ahead and travel depending on where you are going, as you say. Let's go ahead and get to those.

NULTY: Sure.

COLLINS: You have something here that says tell people where you are. Give them an itinerary or something, right?

NULTY: Yes, that is very important. Your travel agent will more than likely give you multiple copies of your itinerary. It actually spells out your flights, your arrival times, your hotel, and what you are doing.

Leave those behind. Don't take them all with you. Leave one with the spouse, leave one at the office so people know exactly where you are going to be. The next thing you want to do is you want to know, Can I call home? Am I going to have some way to get a hold of people? Your travel agency will probably have an 800 number that you can use from that country to call them directly for some help and assistance, and if you are using a travel agent that doesn't have that, you probably should.

COLLINS: And obviously, get all of this ahead of time, too, right?

NULTY: Absolutely. The other thing you can get is one of these little AT&T direct telephone cards. Those things are awesome. You can use them at any phone booth. You can dial in directly. You don't have to have a prepaid card. You can just charge it to any credit card you have got. You can call home that way.

And probably one of the most important things is, give people a lot of information about specifically where you can be reached: office, telephone numbers, the hotel number, if you're meeting with other business associates, their phone numbers.

And you might want to get a cell phone. This is my favorite tip. Having a cell phone internationally is great. You can fix it so your existing cell phone will work, but you may not want to do that because what that could mean is you get a call from your cleaner telling them that your laundry is ready, spending $25 for a call.

You can rent them when you're in that country. That's really the very best way to do it, and give people that number so if they want to call you, they're calling you on their dime on that international call.

COLLINS: Can you tell me a little bit more about how that's done? I think I read that if you're staying at a hotel, you can have it delivered to the hotel. Now, is that something that the hotel provides or the actual cell phone company?

NULTY: You can usually e-mail the hotel, and the concierge at the hotel will make arrangements for you, and they'll even send that phone number to you before you actually take the trip, so you can leave a message on your own voice mail saying I'm traveling in Europe, and here is the number you can reach me at, or you can leave it on your e-mail as well so people can do that. And once again, people will only call you if it's important because they'll be making the international call.

COLLINS: Right. Now, quickly, we just have a little bit of time left, but I want to make sure we get to two more points. What about registering at the U.S. embassy should you go to a country overseas? Is that important to do?

NULTY: I think, once again, it depends on the country. If you're in a Western European country, it's probably not that necessary. Certainly if you are going to Eastern Europe, anywhere in the Middle East, any Islamic country, that's a must. You have to do that.

COLLINS: All right. And what about a paper ticket? We always get told it's a good idea to have one, right?

NULTY: This time I would probably suggest that people get paper tickets if they can. It's probably going to cost you a little bit more to do that. The airlines are actually charging more for them, but they certainly are more interchangeable than an electronic ticket. That's all going to change over time, but it still might be a little better to have one now.

COLLINS: All right. Some great information. We certainly appreciate your input on this. Travel consultant Thomas Nulty coming to us from Los Angeles today -- thank you.

NULTY: Great.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com