Check it out: Singapore Airlines has added 4 more flight routes (for a total of 7) with wi-fi service. For $26.95, you can surf for 24 hours and on different legs of your flight. Not bad for unlimited access to the internets. The service is now available on the following routes:

San Francisco-Hong Kong-Singapore
Singapore-Hong Kong-San Francisco
Los Angeles-Tokyo-Singapore
Singapore-Tokyo-Los Angeles
New York-Frankfurt-Singapore
Singapore-London
Singapore-Sydney

Singapore Airlines Broadens Reach of Inflight Connectivity

Summer travelers abroad take note: Many countries in Europe, as well as those on other continents (e.g. Canada and South Africa), offer VAT (value added tax) refunds to travelers who purchase goods within that country. In a nutshell, VAT is included in the cost of goods. When you buy something, you automatically pay VAT. But tourists are often eligible to receive anywhere from 15 to 25 percent back on the purchases they’ve made. The amount you receive depends a) on the amount of VAT levied on goods in that country and b) how much you spend.

A few quick tips for getting easy VAT Refunds:

- Always ask for a VAT Refund receipt or application when you purchase goods (clothing, jewelry, books, wine, etc.). Sometimes, the establishment will stamp your receipt instead of giving you a form, duplicate receipt or application.

- Before you head to the airport for your return flight, collect all your receipts and your purchases. Pack any items you bought in any easy-to-access part of your luggage. Better yet, pack all your puchases in a separate carry-on. You will often have to show customs officials the purchases along with matching receipts to receive refunds at the airport.

- Do not check bags with purchases in them unless you’ve cleared your VAT refund forms with a customs agent.

- If you choose to carry your purchases with you through security, you will be able to find a VAT refund agent inside the airport terminal. Take your receipts and purchases to the agent for a refund.

- If you can’t or don’t want to deal with VAT Refunds at the airport or before your flight, check with a VAT refund agent to obtain the forms you need to handle the process from home. This will often require mailing receipts and waiting several weeks for refunds and credits to your credit card accounts.

- Remember that all countries have different VAT refund policies and not all vendors participate in VAT refund programs.

- In most cases, you cannot reclaim VAT on goods or services you consumed within another country. For example, if you buy two bottles of wine, drink one and bring the other one home, you can probably only reclaim VAT on the latter. Likewise, don’t count on reclaiming VAT on meals, hotel accommodations or tourist activities. That said, some places do offer tourists refunds on services. Canada, for example, does offer 7-15 percent back on hotel accommodations, depending on the province you visit.

If you return home without anything but your receipts, consider using an online service to handle your VAT refunds. Global Refund handles VAT refunds for 36 countries around the world. Business travelers can use services like Tax Back International to claim refunds on everything from advertising costs to general business expenses.

Canada Tax Refunds

I don’t usually post about content from the New York Times because I figure many people are already reading it on their own, but this past weekend’s Affordable Europe feature is just too good to ignore. It’s a must-read for anyone headed to Europe this summer - a time when prices are up and the cities are packed with everyone from college backpackers to retirees on group tours. The features are broken down by city, and include tips and advice on lodging, dining, recreation and entertainment in cities from Barcelona to Prague, Paris to Venice.

A few nuggets of wisdom I drew from these stories:

- You’ll usually have to ask for your check at restaurants in Italy, France and Spain. It may seem like the staff is ignoring you, but it’s just normal.

- Museum nuts should either buy multi-venue passes for different cities or research the free admission days/hours at city museums before going.

- In Paris, skip the expensive city tour and hop on the No. 69 public bus for 1.40 euro. The bookends of the bus route are the Eiffel Tower and the Pere Lachaise Cemetary. As you ride, you’ll pass the Louvre, the Marais and Place de la Bastille, among other places.

- In Copenhagen, get around with one of the 2,000 free bikes the city provides from April to November. You put a coin in to release the bikes and get the coin back when you return. I shudder to think what would happen if we had this sort of thing going in a major U.S. city.

NYT’s Affordable Europe

Can’t wait ’til Oktoberfest? The Berg, Germany’s second largest beer festival held from June 1 to June 12 in Erlangen, should tide you over. Although it attracts 1 million+ visitors, far fewer foreigners attend this festival than Munich’s more famous one. That could be good news for travelers seeking a more authentic Bavarian booze fest. And if you get tired of guzzling beer, the Franconia wine region surrounds Erlangen.

Beer Fest Lives up to its Bavarian Roots

Pretty good story from last weekend’s Washington Post about tipping in the U.S. and abroad called Tipping and Travel: It’s No Easy Equation. Sadly, the chart the paper mentions in the story is not available online, but the point of the story is one that will hit home with frequent international travelers: tipping customs vary widely from place to place, and knowing them makes you a kinder traveler when in foreign lands.

The WaPo chart isn’t available online, but the BBC has a good rundown of international tipping customs called International Tipping Ettiquette.

Now that’s what I call innovative marketing. The owner of three-star Hotel Ostfriesland in Norden, Germany has begun charging guests by their weight. When they check-in, guests have the option of stepping on a scale to determine the room rate. The heavier the guest, the higher the rate. Why would a hotel proprietor do something like this? Here, in his own words:

“I had many guests who were really huge and I told them to slim down,” said Juergen Heckrodt, owner of the three-star establishment. “When they came back the year after and had lost a lot of weight they asked me what are you gonna do for me now?”

Heckrodt said he hoped his initiative would inspire Germans to become leaner and healthier.

“Healthy guests live longer and can come back more often.”

German Hotel Charges Guests By the Pound on Reuters

Berlin’s famous Love Parade, a raucus celebration of techno music that last took place in 2003 (pictured), will return to the streets this summer. Here’s some background info on the event from CNN story Berlin to Revive Love Parade:

The Parade began as a street party of some 200 people in a divided Germany in 1989, but expanded rapidly after the Berlin Wall collapsed.

It became a symbol for Berlin’s hip image during the 1990s, with the number of attendees reaching as high as 1.5 million. But it waned in recent years before descending into virtual financial collapse two years ago.

The parade will take place in Berlin on July 15, 2006.

Love Parade official site

If you’re traveling to Berlin between now and February 19th, be aware of the 56th Berlin Film Festival, which began there today. Reuters reports:

A record number of 18,000 film buyers, sellers, producers, directors, actors and journalists will crowd the screenings of the 400 films in the main competition and various sideshows.

Berlin Film Festival official site

Got a few minutes to take a spin around the world? Check out recent blog entries from TravelPosters who are buzzing to through places like:

Milan, Italy

Fatehpur, India

Menifee, CA

So many places, so little time.

It’s not surprising, and I’ve posted about it before, but it hurts to hear from UK site Lifestyle Extra that soccer fans can expect to pay five times the regular rates for hotel accommodations in Germany this summer if they want to see World Cup 2006 games. And that’s just the cost of the room. Add on flights, meals and event tickets…. sheesh.

Anyone out there have any bright ideas of flight and accommodation strategy for World Cup 2006? Get in touch. Let’s converse. I’ll post your advice. You’ll be famous. Woo-hoo!