Latest News and Information on Travel

SPRING BREAK: Euro Vacation, Need Some Input...

Wednesday 10th of March 2010 12:55:54 AM
Posted by admin / Under Travel

Here's the deal: Daughter in Spain studying her Spanish language major since Jan, will be there until end of May. Her spring break starts 3/26 for two weeks. I am going over, alone, and arrive 3/26 and will stay in her town of San Sebastian for two days. We intend to take the train to Paris and then to Normandy to see the D-Day sites and perhaps stay overnight there before returning to Paris. ANY input into a decent hotel near the DDay sites?? (Checking TripAdvisor later...) Then train to Berlin for several days and finish up with several days...

New charge on dinner tab is in bad taste

Wednesday 10th of March 2010 12:55:54 AM
Posted by admin / Under Travel

Nothing succeeds in the travel industry like a bad idea. The latest hidden mandatory add-on is a "health" charge added to restaurant bills. As far as I know, this scam cropped up first in San Francisco, but you can count on it to spread. The rationale for this one is to cover the employers' mandatory contribution to the City's "Healthy San Francisco" health-coverage system. The charge actually is levied on employers, but at least some restaurants are adding a few dollars or percentage points to each customer's bill to cover this charge. The restaurants' excuse for assessing this charge separately...

Visiting Los Angeles/Westlake Village

Wednesday 10th of March 2010 12:55:54 AM
Posted by admin / Under Travel

Hi people, I have to visit Los Angeles with my 20month old son in April. My first time in Los Angeles - wondering if anyone has suggestions what to do that can both entertain me an dmy wife and my 20 month old son. Think Disneyland and the theme parks are not suitable as he is too young. Ideas? -where to stay - which is safe neighborhood?

Amtrak hopes for more riders

Wednesday 10th of March 2010 12:55:54 AM
Posted by admin / Under Travel

When Peter Bishop travels to Maine with his wife, Sarabeth Guptill, and their two kids, the Bay State family typically rides the train from Boston to Wells. Here to visit relatives, the Framingham, Mass., couple, and children Miles, 6, and Maya, 5, usually take the Downeaster — an Amtrak rail service that hopes to see more out-of-staters like Bishop after it completes an expected $35 million expansion to Freeport and Brunswick. About 84 percent of people who currently take the Downeaster are passengers heading to Boston, according to transportation officials. "We take the train quite often," Bishop said while waiting...

Condoleezza Rice to Headline Black Sea Cruise

Wednesday 10th of March 2010 12:55:54 AM
Posted by admin / Under Travel

There aren’t many cruises I’m dying to get aboard, but here is one such cruise. Not only does it visit ports I have always desired to visit, but the speakers aboard this cruise are simply amazing, especially for anyone interested in International Relations. Condi and Gorbachev are two of the featured speakers.

The Body Scanner Scam

Wednesday 10th of March 2010 12:55:54 AM
Posted by admin / Under Travel

To screen passengers as persons would reduce costs and inconvenience very greatly, because entire categories of passengers could be waived through with a rapid examination of travel documents and a few random checks now and then. These include a variety of easily recognizable groups that not even the most ingenious terrorists could simulate: touring senior citizens traveling together (a category that contains a good portion of all American, European and East Asian tourist traffic), airline flying personnel who come to the security gate as a crew, families complete with children, and more. In each case, the critical procedure would be...

TSA: Unruly Northwest Flight Passengers Questioned

Wednesday 10th of March 2010 12:55:54 AM
Posted by admin / Under Travel

ROMULUS, Mich. -- The Transportation Security Administration says unruly passengers on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit were interviewed by Customs and Border Protection officials after the plane landed.

Amtrak "Train From Hell" Delayed Almost 24 Hours

Wednesday 10th of March 2010 12:55:54 AM
Posted by admin / Under Travel

Link only, I'm unsure of their excerpt policy...

5 Tips for Better Air Travel (including how to Upgrade to First Class for as Little as $50)

Wednesday 10th of March 2010 12:55:54 AM
Posted by admin / Under Travel

Everyone wants to save money when they travel, especially with the economy these days. The travel experts at CanuckAbroad.com have come up with 5 tips to get the best seats for the lowest fare – simply by using a few tips that many travellers have known for years. While these tips aren’t advertised to the public, anyone can certainly take advantage of these tricks to getting the best seat and cheapest flights.

Bumbling Feds Fight Al-Qaeda Threat With Interrogations Of Travel Bloggers

Wednesday 10th of March 2010 12:55:54 AM
Posted by admin / Under Travel

The United States government might not have been able to connect the dots and identify Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as a security threat to international air travel in time to keep him from bringing a bomb on a Christmas Day Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, but in the wake of Abdulmutallab’s near-miss terrorist attack they’re moving with lightning speed to get to the bottom of another threat. From travel bloggers, that is.

Federal Airline Passenger “Bill Of Rights” Will Fail Miserably

Wednesday 10th of March 2010 12:55:54 AM
Posted by admin / Under Travel

From the very same folks who wonder why is there anything done for those who are not happy why nothing is done. From the “why don’t they do something” file, we have the federal government stepping in to ensure airlines don’t leave passengers inside of aluminum tubes sitting on airport taxiways more than three hours.More feel good legislation that will ripple through the industry and make travel worse than it already is. Last week the President Obama’s United States Department of Transportation decreed … there will be an airline passenger bill of rights, and passengers will no longer be inconvenienced...

Storm continues to disrupt travel in Plains, East

Wednesday 10th of March 2010 12:55:54 AM
Posted by admin / Under Travel

OMAHA, Neb. – Drifting snow and cold rain that have plagued much of the country for days stranded drivers and airline passengers Saturday trying to get home after Christmas. Storms from Texas to the Upper Midwest that dumped 23.9 inches of snow in Grand Forks, N.D., and 18 inches near Norfolk, Neb., began subsiding, but blowing and drifting snow hampered visibility in many areas. Warmer temperatures and rains in the East began melting and washing away last week's record-setting snowfalls, threatening the region with flooding. A woman and her teenage daughter in Middletown, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia, were rescued...

Traveling to Germany Dec. 26. Request Suggestions

Wednesday 10th of March 2010 12:55:54 AM
Posted by admin / Under Travel

My wife and I, and our two teenagers are off on a well-earned vacation to Mittersfeld (Black Forest/Bavaria) and Salsberg on Christmas Day thru New Years. I'd appreciate any feedback from my second family as to what to see (or don't bother to see), as well as some out of the way places to visit.

AMERICAN AIRLINES STATEMENT REGARDING FLIGHT 331 Release #2

Wednesday 10th of March 2010 12:55:54 AM
Posted by admin / Under Travel

FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- On Tuesday, December 22, 2009, American Airlines Flight 331, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, overran the runway on landing at Kingston, Jamaica's Norman Manley International Airport. The flight originated out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, operated into Miami International Airport, and then operated into Kingston's Norman Manley International Airport. Preliminary reports indicate there are no critical injuries. The aircraft was carrying 148 passengers and a crew of six. "The care of our passengers and crew members is our highest priority and we will offer all the assistance necessary," said Gerard Arpey, American's Chairman...

Vanity ~~ Prayers for safe journeys for those traveling for Christmas. Thank You!

Wednesday 10th of March 2010 12:55:54 AM
Posted by admin / Under Travel

We pray for safe travel for those of us who will be departing for Christmas destinations. With those pesky possible dry runs, sometimes spotty security practices, and the always possible severe weather, there can never too many prayers. Thank you! God bless you all, and Merry Christmas! Prayer to St. Christopher ~ Patron of Motorists Prayer for Motorists Grant me O Lord a steady hand and watchful eye. That no one shall be hurt as I pass by. Thou gavest life, I pray no act of mine may take away or mar that gift of Thine. Shelter those, dear Lord,...

U.S. travel industry gearing up for return to Cuba

Wednesday 10th of March 2010 12:55:54 AM
Posted by admin / Under Travel

It's too soon for Americans to plan a Cuban vacation of beach, mambo and mojitos, but the U.S. travel industry is gearing up for a return to its largest Caribbean destination before Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution. Tour operators held a video conference with Cuban tourism officials in Havana on Wednesday and asked them if they are ready for the "rush" of Americans if the U.S. travel ban is lifted as proposed by legislation now under consideration in the U.S. Congress. "Americans really want to see Cuba," said Robert Whitely, president of the U.S. Tour Operators, which together with the National...

Will Climate Change Concerns Affect Your Vacation Plans? (POLL)

Wednesday 10th of March 2010 12:55:54 AM
Posted by admin / Under Travel

If the U.S. fulfills its pledge to shrink greenhouse gas emission, the carbon dioxide reductions are sure to force big cuts and higher prices and taxes in the travel and tourism industry. Are concerns about climate change making you rethink or change your 2010 vacation and travel plans?

U.S. Cancels Travel Alert to Honduras

Wednesday 10th of March 2010 12:55:54 AM
Posted by admin / Under Travel

Representatives for Honduras tourism announced this morning that the U.S. canceled all pending travel alerts to Honduras yesterday. The Department of State issued a travel alert in July, stating “The Department of State alerts U.S. citizens to the current unstable political and security situation in Honduras, and recommends that American citizens defer all non-essential travel to Honduras until further notice.” The alert was issued shortly after Honduran military ousted President Manuel Zelaya and sent him out of the country. However, on November 29, the Honduran people peacefully elected their new president – Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo, who will take office on...