I've learned a lot from concerned feedback from Croatians and from Cameron Hewitt, the co-author of our Croatia & Slovenia and Eastern Europe guidebooks (and a driving force behind us getting that part of Europe up to speed with our coverage of the West). I'm fascinated by the Cold War and their struggles for freedom, and with the wars of the mid-1990s in the former Yugoslavia, but this is becoming old news. Here is an example of feedback to a recent article I wrote, and the response by Cameron.
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Andy Daniel thought he had found a terrific airfare from San Francisco to Miami for Christmas. Instead, he found a terrific disappointment. When Daniel tried to book a $400 ticket advertised on Expedia, the price suddenly more than doubled.
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Hehe, that might be a bit of false advertising on my part. So technically Sex and the City isn't coming to Beijing, though the movie version came out this May will undoubtedly show up in the Beijing pirated-DVD stalls. No, what I'm talking about now are the "Sexy Beijing" videos that have been absolute hits with the expats.
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An Air Canada co-pilot having a mental breakdown had to be forcibly removed from the cockpit, restrained and sedated, and a stewardess with an out-of-date license for reading airplane instruments helped the pilot safely make an emergency landing, an Irish investigation concluded Wednesday.
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United Airlines Tuesday won a major court battle against its pilots union that could ensure a smoother holiday travel season for its passengers. United (UAUA) has been plagued by flight delays and cancellations for months. But in a strongly worded order made public Tuesday, a federal judge held United's Air Line Pilots Association responsible for some of them. The decision came in a lawsuit United filed against the union in July.
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This Thanksgiving season - and all year - why not show your thanks by putting the emphasis on giving? Sheryl Kayne, author of Immersion Travel USA: The Best & Most Meaningful Volunteering, Living & Learning Excursions, shares her favorite volunteering vacations with Tim Smight for USA TODAY.
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San Diego has what's often called the nation's best weather. So it's impossible not want to get outside and use your own two feet. But where to go? We've done the legwork for you. Take the walks listed below and you'll enjoy backdrops of sun-drenched beaches, rugged coastal terrain, and lively urban scenery. Tip: Wear sunscreen and comfortable shoes, bring plenty of water, and pack a camera.
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The morning after they enjoyed a seven-course meal with wine pairings in a top restaurant, Chicagoans Howard and Jackie Brennan are mentally savoring the repast. There were scallops and roast lamb, ocean perch and Icelandic cheeses. "I don't even remember dessert," Jackie says a bit wearily as she sips coffee in a downtown cafe. Even better: The gustatory blowout cost less than $100 each, a tab Howard proclaims "quite reasonable. "
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When I first started traveling a lot, there were so many things I didn't know about the world and how it was put together: what the heck a Gothic church was (I just knew goths wore black), how you should eat sashimi or, since I grew up in Australia, much at all about US presidents. Eventually, traveling taught me a lot about these things (and many more), but I know I could have got a lot more out of my trips if I'd given myself a few crash courses first.
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U. S. cities enjoyed a tourism boom in recent years, thanks to the plunging value of the dollar. But as U. S. currency regains its strength and economies around the world falter, will U. S. cities remain a bargain destination?
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Avoid following hordes of camera-clickers around the same old sights and discover the capital's best-kept secrets
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You've planned your dream trip, saved up working three jobs (taking every hour of overtime you can), cut back on luxuries and stayed home almost every night, in order to enjoy yourself on holiday. You've finally bought the ticket and booked the hotel when all of a sudden... The economy turns upside down, the currency exchange-rate is a joke, and your travelling companion decides to cancel and go camping instead.
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President Bush just announced measures that will improve holiday air travel, requiring airlines to provide greater compensation for lost bags and imposing "tougher penalties" when airlines fail to notify travelers of hidden fees. So what 's wrong with that?
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"Are you carrying a weapon on you? " the young Israeli soldier asked as we approached the middle of the Jewish settlement in Hebron. "No," my friends and I quickly replied, assuming that he was asking a routine security question. "Well you don't want to go any further up that road unarmed. "
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President Bush on Tuesday unveiled several new measures designed to ease holiday travel and protect travelers from lost bags and lengthy tarmac delays. The president said the military will open three new flight routes to airlines in Colorado, Arizona and Southern California during the busy Thanksgiving travel rush in addition to the routes off the East Coast that were made available last year.
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The chief executive of Penthouse says the company is looking to buy a casino on the Las Vegas Strip and generate business by tying it to the adult magazine and website empire. Penthouse CEO Marc Bell told the Las Vegas Review-Journal for a report published Sunday the best time to buy is in a down economy.
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Home exchange has been a popular topic for articles in UK newspapers for many years as well as regularly featured on radio programmes and on TV. I am delighted to help journalists as (after personal recommendation) well researched, unbiased publicity is the very best way to reach a wider audience of potential home swappers.
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Leo Hickman discovers where to eat like a king in the gastronomic centre of Europe.
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Years ago I was walking down a road in Los Angeles when I spotted billboard that, to me, encapsulated one of the more enjoyable aspects of travelling. It was advertising a car, but that's not as important as the message printed above it in three metre letters: Go Away. Come Home. Gloat.
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Murphy's First Law of Travel: No matter how many rooms there are in the motel, the fellow who starts up his car at five o'clock in the morning is always parked under your window. Can I just say for the record that Mr. Murphy must have not traveled extensively if this is all he could come up with? As anyone who has ever traveled long (or short) haul knows, that does not even begin to describe it.
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Millions of Americans are changing their Thanksgiving travel plans because of tough economic conditions, but most are still planning to make those trips to grandma's, according to the AAA auto club. "In the tug of war between purse strings and heart strings, heart strings win out," said Robert Darbelnet, AAA president and chief executive. "Grandma matters. "
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Interesting feature on Mexico, with an interactive map that helps you find beach towns in Mexico that you can reach by nonstop flight from U.S. airports.
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What are some of the challenges of travelling with a kid? It is really best to travel slow with a kid or as a family, so some would call that a challenge, although we find it a benefit. Kids need time to play and self direct in between touring, scheduled events and museums. Actually, I think everyone benefits from having the luxury of time, but kids will force that issue by getting cranky if pushed to go too fast or on too rigid a schedule.
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After listening to 32 "innovators" at the PhocusWright Travel Innovation Summit in Hollywood yesterday, the verdict is in: Travelers just want more planning tools. I'm not convinced that we need all the trip planning tools that seem to be coming travelers' way. There are only so many virtual folders that I can stuff trip information into and have any hope of eventually finding it.
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Have you ever wondered why your pleas for a couch to sleep on aren't returned? Do you feel doomed to travel without the privilege of a free night's accommodation and the pleasure of great local company? Do me a favour. Log into your profile and give it a read over. If someone contacted you with a profile like yours, would you let him into your home? C'mon, be honest.
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Our series continues with a list of writing techniques and exercises to help further streamline your writing process and curb writer's block to keep the words flowing.
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Even in the shakiest economic times, savvy families can always find ways to shave pennies, dollars, and even hundreds of dollars off their travel spending. Here are 20 tried-and-true strategies to help you get more bang from your vacation buck
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Think Christmas, and often it's a Norman Rockwellish, New England-inspired image that comes to mind: fir trees, clapboard homes with smoke rising from chimneys, wreaths on doors, and, of course, a dusting of snow.
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CBS News reported last week on a trend that we're noticing all too often as we criss-cross the country: struggling local business. As often as possible, we hit up local restaurants. The food is usually tastier, the service more personalized, and we're always happy to give our money to a community business instead of a corporate chain.
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It's true, you can buy a bag of pasta just about anywhere. However, purchasing colorful pasta in Venice not only carries the stamp of Italian authenticity, but it offers a cheap and tasty solution to a potentially costly dilemma!
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Now here are this week's brain-busters: 1. What is the name of Brook Silva-Braga's 2007 documentary about round-the-world travel? 2. What lively street in central Bangkok, Thailand, is known as the world's most popular "backpacker ghetto"?
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Looking for a ski getaway with authentic local charm? The December issue of Travel + Leisure magazines recommends five ski towns that "hold true to their local roots. "
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I mentioned last week that I was getting ready for a trip to England -- and I was a bit panicky about the fact that I hadn't finished packing. The truth is, whenever I pack for an international trip, I pack with two "me"'s in mind: Me The Tourist (who, at all costs, needs adequate underwear and hair products) and Me The Photographer (whose head would explode if she forgot her camera charger or, God forbid, her camera).
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Review of Global Lost and Found, an item recovery service.
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Last week we featured an interview with Graham Kingaby, who is the Insurance Director at World Nomads Travel Insurance. We talked about travel insurance tips, what to look out for and about how World Nomads specifically caters to travellers' needs. This week we want to talk about our approach to travel insurance as well as look at how to find travel insurance and approach making a claim.
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Though she has run a bed and breakfast in Portland, Dorset, for more than a decade, Margaret Dunlop had never had an inquiry like it. The man at the end of the phone was calling from America, trying to book a fortnight's stay at the Queen Anne House B&B - in four years' time. Soon after, someone called from Greece, and before long the inquiries for 2012 were flooding in.
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Tips to surviving airport holiday travel.
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Venice can get a little claustrophobic after a few days, which is when you should head out, by vaporetto or taxi, to the wide-open sea and sky of the silvery lagoon.
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The air is already laced with diesel fumes as the conductor shouts, "All aboard! " The engineer sounds the whistle, and the locomotive lurches forward. Squeals of delight emanate from the passenger cars. This train ride is a first for many of the children. The adults share their excitement because they are setting off on a unique international adventure.
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Speaking a bit of the local language is a skill that will improve your travel experience immeasurably. The problem is that learning languages is really, really difficult, even when you have plenty of time. Here are my tips on taking a crash course in the basics of a language when your departure date looms very near. You just need ten or fifteen minutes a day to give yourself a bit of an advantage in the traveling stakes.
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