ASK JOURNEYS: Credit-card tips for gas, eatery tips to avoid gas

The United States is the destination more Canadians travel to on an annual basis than any other. While some of these visits may be of short duration, others are for months at a time.

With our dollar at near-par levels, Manitobans are spending more and more weeks in the Deep South during the winter. And with these trips come questions.

QUESTION: One of the frustrating things about driving an automobile in the United States comes at service stations when you need to gas up.

Unless you put in your credit card ahead of time you need to go to the front counter to leave your card with them, or choose a figure you authorize ahead of time, which may or not fill the tank.

The problem is, you can't put your card in at the gas pumps as requested because a zip code is required. Our postal code is rejected if you try to input it.

I have heard there is a way to get around this challenge. Are you aware of what we can do to use the card right there?

ANSWER: It was a previous reader of this column who first brought this issue up, and at the same time offered a possible way of inputting numbers which would allow travelers to use their Canadian credit cards at those pumps. People feel more secure when they don't have to go through the hassle of leaving their credit cards in the hands of someone they don't know.

Apparently the Canadian Snowbird Association published this solution in one of their newsletters. What you need to enter in the zip code box is the 3 numbers of your Canadian postal code, and then put in two zeros after those numbers.

To illustrate, my office postal code is R3L 0L6. At the pump I would enter 30600.

Before you celebrate too much, according to the Snowbird Association this may not always work.

When I talked with them, they confirmed they did in fact publish this recommendation in one of their member communications. However, subsequent feedback has been that the results are inconsistent.

In some areas it works perfectly, while in other regions it does not. However,it is worth trying when you are next travelling in the United States to see if it works.

I would appreciate feedback from readers who try this on their next journey. I will publish the results in a future column so readers can know which states or cities work the best for this method at gasoline pumps.

QUESTION: We are going to be driving into the Southern States and would like to dine at good quality restaurants along the way to and in Florida, where we will be staying for the entire month of February.

Is there a way we can get recommendations that we can count on? We have had some excellent experiences on a hit-and-miss basis in the past, but we have also eaten at some of the worst places in the world. We have concluded one thing for sure. There is no way of judging the quality of the meal by the look of the exterior of the restaurant.

ANSWER: Whether it is Winnipeg, Toronto, or any major city in the United States a website that I have used is www.urbanspoon.com.

I was unaware of this site until my son brought it to my attention during our recent golf vacation in San Antonio. Given the large numbers of restaurant reviews on the site, I felt like I must have been the last person to know about it.

The reviews tend to be quite comprehensive and the average ratings gave a good sense of consistency of culinary performance.

On a couple of occasions we were questioning our decision to follow urban spoon's advice when we looked at the signage and entrance. But in each case we had to agree with the positive reviews that were given.

On one occasion we wanted genuine Mexican restaurant experience, not Tex-Mex but the real thing. But for the fact it was late, we would not have gone in from the exterior presentation. We were so glad we gave it a chance, because we ended up having one of the best meals of the trip.

Like all public access review sites it may not always be trustworthy. But if the restaurant has been reviewed by large numbers of people, chances are you will be able to count on the quality.

QUESTION: Is there any way of avoiding the punitive resort fees many large hotels in the U.S. are now imposing? We are going on a golf vacation and will not use any of the facilities for which they charge these fees for to steal a few extra dollars.

ANSWER: It seems every sector of the tourism industry has found a way to show attractive lead in prices, and then sting us with some form of ancillary fee.

If you are negotiating for a large group conference or convention, it is usually quite easy to get these fees waived.

As an individual you are stuck with the fact that you must find another property or pay the price. So many of the large family friendly hotels in the U.S. have started to impose these charges and it is getting harder and harder to find those that don't.

Forward your travel questions to askjourneys@journeystravel.com Ron Pradinuk is president of Journeys Travel & Leisure SuperCentre and can be heard Sundays at noon on CJOB. Previous columns and tips can be found on www.journeystravelgear.com or read Ron's travel blog at www.thattravelguy.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 21, 2012 D2