Advice for a night, a flight or your life

SAN MIGUEL de Allende is a charming, colonial-era Mexican city much loved by American visitors. But would it be a good place for U.S. retirees to live?

The question is one of several I’ve received from readers recently that are of broad interest. I’ll discuss some of those topics.

San Miguel has its pluses; I loved it 20 years ago, but many other Americans did too. So many people settled there that prices for retirement living are among the highest in Mexico. It is far too late to consider San Miguel an exciting discovery -- not when a theater offers weekly concerts and English-language lectures of almost exclusive interest to Americans.

Instead of seeking bargains in a town overrun by U.S. transplants, a savvy retiree should investigate such places as Guanajuato, an hour away from San Miguel de Allende by car or bus. Guanajuato has compelling attractions, including an international airport in nearby Leon and prices among the lowest anywhere. It is a clean and well-managed city, the site of one of the largest universities in Mexico, and hasn’t been discovered yet by many Americans.

* Is it less expensive to book a hotel room at one of the big chains through its own website rather than through a hotel search engine?

Many of the major chain hotels are no longer displayed at a preferential rate on services such as www.hotels.com or www.quikbook.com. Several of these chains have announced that they will no longer permit national search engines to offer lower rates than appear on their own websites. If you’re looking for the giants -- a Marriott hotel at the best possible rate, or a Westin or a Hilton -- you’ll need to go directly to their websites.

* Should fliers worry about developing embolisms from staying seated for several hours in a cramped economy-class seat?

A recent study indicates just as many passengers in business class and first class -- about 1 in 100 -- develop the clots. It appears that the best way to avoid this malady is by a simple exercise: walking up and down the plane at least once an hour throughout the flight.

* The dollar has declined against the euro and the British pound. Can Americans still afford a trip to that most rewarding destination: England and its swinging capital?

I think we can. Here are some ways: Though the pound is at an almost-historic high against the dollar, airfares to London are at equally historic lows. Go to the website of a typical airfare discounter specializing in Britain, such as UK Consolidated, www.ukair.com, (800) 577-2900, and you’ll find you can fly to London in winter for as little as $478 round trip from Los Angeles. The falloff in transatlantic travel has cut the usual travel budget by as much as $200 per person at this time of year -- and that saving goes toward offsetting the higher cost of purchasing British pounds.

Also, London hotels, eager for U.S. business, are making special offers that cut the cost of accommodations by more than half. Check the website of the London Tourist Board, www.visitlondonoffers.com, and you’ll find surprising bargains: $50 to $70 per double room with breakfast for two at scores of decent London hotels; hotels of five-star quality charging under $150 for a double room that would usually cost $400. The London Hilton on Park Lane is asking $148 a night on the London Tourist Board site; elegant properties such as the St. James, the Athenaeum in Mayfair, the Westbury, are asking $156 to $168; a dozen or so first-class hotels -- Marriott Kensington, Copthorne Tara, Berners on Oxford Street, Holiday Inn Bloomsbury -- are renting doubles, at least for the next two months, for the equivalent of $100.