Bolt Bus, a new low-cost bus line with service planned up and down the East Coast, has announced it will launch a Boston to New York route in April. The New York-DC route begins on March 27th.

Why would you want to ride the Bolt Bus? Well, for one, you get free wireless Internet access (though the company admits it can be spotty at times), power outlets in the seats and three more inches of legroom than found in standard coach buses. On top of that, fares start at $1. Yup, there are a limited number of $1 fares, but hey, at least they offer ‘em. The company suggests buying tickets several weeks in advance to score the lowest ticket prices.

A pesky little practice called the Frequent Flyer Tax Recovery Surcharge means car rental companies are actually charging travelers daily fees for the privilege of earning airline miles (and in some cases, hotel points) through partnership promotions. Here’s how it works: You rent a car, and the company tells you that you can earn miles for your chosen airline. You end up paying between $.06 and $.50 a day for the privilege of earning those miles - and usually you’re not even earning that many miles to begin with. The fee is the car companies’ way of recouping their cost - levied by the airlines - for participating in the partnership and offering miles to you, the end customer. Here’s an interesting little tidbit I spied yesterday on the Consumerist blog:

Budget’s Free Frequent Flyer Miles Promos Will Cost You

If you ask us, it’s pretty shady to quietly charge travelers for the privilege of earning miles through a promotion. So we checked into it, and Budget is hardly the only company whacking travelers with hidden - or to be fair, very quiet - charges.

Avis Frequent Flyer Tax Recovery/Surcharge

Thrifty Frequent Flyer Tax Recovery/Surcharge

As I am sure you’d imagine, there are so many ins and outs to these surcharges that it’ll make you feel like the car rental companies are doing you a favor by charging you so you don’t have to read all this crap. But interestingly, the surcharges vary quite a bit depending on the combination of frequent flier program and car rental company in question. For example, Thrifty only charges $.06 per day when you earn American Airlines miles, but $.50 if you choose to earn Alaska Airline miles.

And buried in Northwest Airlines’ Special Offers for Elite Members, I learned that World Perks members will pay $.24 per day when they earn miles for a Dollar Rent A Car rental.

If you really want to geek out on how all this works, the topic has been hashed out in detail by the intrepid travelers on the FlyerTalk Forums:

Frequent Flyer Tax Recovery/Surcharge on FlyerTalk

In the end, the charges are so small that most travelers will just continue renting and earning miles as usual. But it sure makes for good cocktail conversation.

If you’re going to be in New York this weekend and you love travel, consider checking out the New York Times Travel Show, a veritable smorgasbord of travel information from resorts, hotels, spas, cruise lines, tour operators, tourist agencies and adventure travel companies from around the world. Along with vendor booths and live entertainment performances representing a vast array of cultures, the show features a Taste of the World Pavilion filled with international cuisine and cooking demonstrations, a Spa Pavilion offering sample treatments and discounted packages at spa resorts, travel author appearances and special travel deals offered to folks brave enough to book their next vacation on the spot. And with travel experts Rick Steves, Arthur Frommer, Ian Wright and Stephanie Abrams - among many others - leading seminars, the show offers a rare chance for face-to-face learning from leading peeps in the industry. Cost: $15.

Avis is offering up to 10 free tracks from eMusic when you rent a car from one of its U.S. locations. I took advantage of a similar offer from Avis a while back - the songs came from iTunes - and while it doesn’t make much sense to rent a car from the company just to get this deal if you can find lower rates elsewhere, it is a nice perk of renting directly through the company if you’re already planning to do so.

To receive your free music, you have to register for an Avis Wizard number in advance, then use that number when you make a rental reservation. Rent a car for one to four days, and Avis will email you a code - good for 30 days only - to download five free eMusic songs. Rent a car for five to 10 days, and you’ll get 10 free songs.

eMusic tracks work on the iPod and Zune. Really the only catch is that eMusic exclusively carries independent labels - and that may be an added bonus for many of you. Just don’t go in thinking you’re going to get the latest JT track.

Rent on Avis and Get Free Music

At the risk of sounding like a traveling germ-phobic nutjob, I’ll admit I rarely get anywhere near an airport, bus or means of public transportation without fishing my trusty hand sanitizer out of my bag. And while I sometimes find myself wondering what happened to the free-spirited traveling self who would most certainly scoff at the more uptight version that exists today, I can say this: once you hit 30, getting sick starts to suck more. Way more.

While most hand sanitizers kill germs right when you apply them to your skin, SkinWear claims to continue killing pesky germs for hours and moisturize your skin at the same time (good for use during flights, when my skin starts to feel nigh on reptilian). The product is also non-toxic, biodegradable and vegetable-based. Once applied correctly, which requires rubbing the product into the skin for 60 seconds, SkinWear will do its thing through four rinses at the sink.

Not being scary germs ourselves, we can’t personally vouch for the product’s effectiveness. But not getting sick is good enough for me.

Watch out iPhone. Here comes the Garmin nuvifone. Let the games begin. On Wednesday, GPS maker Garmin announced its first mobile phone, and it looks to be a beaut. For the frequent traveler, this new tech toy offers something no other mobile phone can boast: the power of a Garmin GPS personal navigation device. Google local search capabilities allow users to find specific destinations or destination categories (coffeeshops, hospitals, gas stations) in relation to their current location on Google maps and tag photos taken with the built-in camera to certain locations. The touchscreen smartphone also features iPhone-esque web browsing, video camera, email, SMS, etc.

The device is slated for release in Q3 2008. No word on pricing or carrier yet, but Gizmodo suspects AT&T will be the likely choice for the latter.

Garmin® nüvifone™ Takes Personal Navigation and Communication to the Next Level

In its ongoing efforts to go green, Fairmont announced this week that its properties in California and Arizona will begin offering free parking to overnight hotel guests who drive hybrid vehicles. That includes:

Fairmont San Jose

Fairmont San Francisco

Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa Resort

Fairmont Miramar Santa Monica

Fairmont Newport Beach

Fairmont Scottsdale Princess

We assume this applies even if you’ve rented a hybrid during your trip (not a bad way to offset the additional cost that comes with renting a premium vehicle). For hybrid drivers, this deal can amount to quite a savings - in San Francisco, for example, downtown hotel parking rates often climb higher than $30/night.

New rules regarding U.S. border crossing take effect today. Under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative requirements, drivers are now required to show either a passport or proof of identification (i.e. driver’s license and birth certificate) when crossing from Canada or Mexico into the United States. Similar requirements for air and sea travelers will take effect during the summer of 2009.

People without proper identification are not necessarily denied entry into the United States. Instead, border crossing agents will take steps to confirm the person’s identity, question the person as needed and make a final decision about whether to allow him or her into the country.

While many had worried about the new rules causing significant delays at borders today, it seems humans are a little bit better at following directions than commonly thought. Thus far, the change has not resulted in delays at major points of entry.
Tighter U.S. Border ID Rules Begin

I recently became one of the gazillion travelers to fall in love with the iPhone. It. Just. Rocks.

Since acquiring my iPhone, I’ve been having some fun exploring all the applications and widgets that make this little device even cooler than it is on its own. To be sure, there are a slew of add-on applications, widgets and programs available for download out there. But which ones are the best for travelers? Here is my list of the Best iPhone Applications and Widgets for Travelers:

New York on Tap

Use this well-designed application to find bars in New York, as well as subway stops and directions.

Hotel Widgets

A simple, but easy-to-use search tool for finding flights, hotels, car rentals and cruises using your iPhone.

Earthcomber

With its iPhone-optimized interface, Earthcomber helps you find what you’re looking for (restaurants, wi-fi, banks, gas stations, ice cream – you name it) and locates it on Google Maps. You can also get driving directions, read reviews and see the location of friends who also use the app.

Sudoku for iPhone

For those addicted to this travel-friendly game, we like the simple interface of this iPhone-based Sudoku widget. There are several similar widgets out there, but this one has a cleaner appearance and also offers players a choice of simple, easy, intermediate and expert game levels. Too bad you can’t play on the plane (yet).

iEventful

This application lets you search for events by city. If you find yourself in a new town with an evening to kill, this simple search will return plenty of options in categories ranging from Food-Wine-Cuisine to Performing Arts.

SoonR

Need access to computer files, photos and programs like Skype from your iPhone? SoonR allows you to do just that. The downloadable program loads the SoonR Desktop Agent onto your home computer and allows you to search, find and share files with any mobile phone – even when your computer is turned off.

iPhone Miles

A simple tool that allows business travelers to track auto mileage with their iPhones. We especially like the way this application allows users to specify driver, purpose and distance and then exports the information to Excel for easy record-keeping.

IM+ for Skype

ddicted to Skype? You can use your account to call or instant message contacts via your iPhone with this application. The only bummer: it’ll cost you $25 to download the service.

Cool Gorilla Phrase Books

Much like traditional translators, this iPhone-friendly application offers phrases in five languages (French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish). But unlike many electronic handheld language gadgets, this application will actually pronounce the phrases for you using Quicktime.

Flight Stats

Search for flight status, departure and arrival times, airport and airline information, security wait times and current airport delays all from your iPhone.

JiWire Wi-Fi Finder

Find wi-fi hotspots in cities around the world. Allows you to browse by country, city, address, wireless provider and even connection type. An added bonus? You can search exclusively for free wi-fi hotspots.

iPhone Tipper

While many tipping applications exist for the iPhone, we like this one because it allows you to split the check among up to 10 people and offers an easy interface for viewing 15, 20 and 25 percent tip amounts alongside the bill total .

Travel writer Lorraine Sanders has been editing the TravelPost.com Insider blog since 2005. You can reach her at news (at) lorrainesanders (dot) com.

Caution: depending where you happen to be driving this holiday season, you could be in for fines for some totally surprising reasons. Learn where you might get a ticket for driving too slowly, leaving your animal in the car alone or neglecting to shut your car door in a timely fashion in the CNN story below:

Do You Know Why I Pulled You Over?