All posts tagged United States

Avoiding The Most Expensive Car Rental Cities

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Figuring out what a decent price for a rental car is versus a complete rip-off is not nearly as easy to determine as one might initially think. Rates vary depending on which company, which city, and which day it is. Strangely enough, it is not unheard of to get four different quotes on how much it would cost to rent a car on four consecutive days. One of the things that kills car renters wallets, is not doing the research to learn what the local fees and taxes on car rentals are.

In fact, local and state taxes make up an extremely high amount of the total car rental cost. In the 100 most heavily trafficked U.S. airports, the airport itself, and demanded rent was often a problem. Such add-ons averaged nearly 26 percent of the entire cost, compared with a 14 percent average for off-airport locations. In some cities the gap between on-airport and off-airport costs is nearly unbelievable. In Dallas, for example, 61.4 percent of the total cost of renting a car at the airport came from taxes, while taxes at nearby neighborhood locations only made up 17 percent of the total. Like most taxes, these just continue to grow.

The most expensive cities in the United States to rent a car (the taxes are so high that it actually is an absurd idea for most people to even think about renting a vehicle here) are Boston, New York, and Houston. In all three cities rates can easily almost double over what was advertised. At Houston’s Intercontinental Airport, if you rent a car for two days at $50 per day, you’d expect your bill to be about $100. Once taxes and fees are added in, watch out, because you will owe a minimum of $171. Aside from the big three, some of the other worst rental rates from airports include Austin, Cleveland, Dallas/Fort Worth and New Orleans. No matter what city you are in, it is often a good idea to rent from centers away from the airport. They will always be cheaper.

Taxes and fees (which are often much higher in cities that need funds for construction of convention centers or stadiums) can increase your final bill by up to 70 percent. Watch out for these cities, watch out for the taxes. While it may be uavoidable, really weigh your options. Is it really worth this much to rent a car instead of using public transportation? At the very least, find a rental center away from the airport. It might be a little inconvienent, but at least you save yourself something, which in high tax cities, migh end up being more than just a few pennies; it might be a small bundle.

Learning A New Language While Driving Your Car

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Spanish is one of the most diversely spoken languages in the world. It is estimated that up to 400 million people currently speak it as their first language with many more learning it. In countries like the United States, it is growing in popularity as a second language. One way to learn Spanish is using an audio course that comes on a CD or Mp3 format. After reading it you will know that how to learn Spanish through audio on CD or on Mp3. By listening to audio files, it is almost like that you are in that foreign country or talking to a fluent speaker face to face. Look atthe most popular and effective Spanish course. Read the review of Rocket Spanish course at click click here rocket spanish.
If you are looking for a course which will help you to study Spanish, then audio components is best for you which is the most important part of the course. The things that you associate to learn the language, is reading and writing, which are important for course, but they are not essential. Again, you have to learn to talk your native tongue long before you ever learned to read or write. So talking is the most important skill to have. It is also the hardest part of learning a language because you have to perfect a number of skills. You have to be able to pronounce words correctly. You have to be able to comprehend what is being said to you to hold a conversation. And you have to do both of these things quickly if the conversation is to flow naturally.
Spanish audio CDs or Mp3’s give you the opportunity to learn and practice these core skills without the pressure of talking to another person. You can use many of these courses wherever you want, in your home, in your office, in your car, or in your garden, where you want to learn. Many people choose to listen to them in the car when they are going to or coming from work each day. This makes sense to some extent because there is nothing more frustrating as being stuck in traffic for many hours each day. However, it is debatable whether you can give your full concentration to the course while driving at the same time.
The great thing about the audio based course is that you can listen to the exact pronunciations of every single word from a native Spanish speaker and you can take it with you pretty much wherever you go, you can listen to it in the car, on your MP3 player while jogging, walking the dog etc. If you think that you would like to learn to speak Spanish by listening to audiobooks you can learn the language visit synergy spanish reviewed.