In Late Autumn, Fly to Iceland for $99 Each Way
Posted on 08/17/2018, 8:00 AM
The following is in the nature of a “believe-it-or-not” category of travel. A scrappy budget airline of Iceland (the aptly named WOW Air) has just announced that for scattered flights to Reykjavik in August, September, and October, it will charge only $99 each way! Specifically, you’ll be able to fly to Iceland’s capital from 10 U.S. cities at that remarkable price. And these take-off locati...
Arthur Frommer: Climate Change Is Jeopardizing the Travel Experience
Posted on 08/17/2018, 2:00 AM
Is climate change for real? And is it having an impact on the recreational travels we undertake? If you would put that question to relatives of mine living in England, they would loudly respond, “Yes!” They live near an English province where temperatures recently reached 111 degrees Fahrenheit (44 Celsius). While such heat would only slightly affect residents of, say, Phoenix, Arizona, that f...
Arthur Frommer: I Love This Canadian Program of Literary Discussions and Tours
Posted on 08/16/2018, 10:00 AM
Every year, thousands of English-speaking adults gather at a number of famous universities to engage for a July week or two in discussion of the great books or great issues. Led by a faculty member of these schools, participants pursue a “learning vacation” at places like Oxford and Cambridge in England, Cornell in upstate New York, or St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. These one-weeker...
Arthur Frommer: The Ban on Muslim Travel to the US is Counterproductive
Posted on 07/04/2018, 11:00 PM
Undoubtedly, the most significant recent development in travel was the Supreme Court’s approval, by a slender 5-to-4 margin, of Donald Trump’s ban against Muslim travel to the United States. All Americans should examine the validity of that ruling from the standpoint of economics, constitutionality, and national security. From an economic standpoint: The world’s population of Muslims amounts to ...
Arthur Frommer: This Is Surely the Year's Greatest Travel Bargain!
Posted on 06/27/2018, 8:00 PM
About a dozen years ago, a tour operator called China Spree, headed by a Chinese-American expert, astonished the travel world by charging only $999 for a one-week stay in Beijing including air fare from America (or $100 more for one week in Beijing and Shanghai) and quality accommodations. Then, the founder of China Spree was able to accomplish those travel wonders by negotiating rock-bottom price...
Current Volcanic Eruptions Bring Memories of Vesuvius, Says Arthur Frommer
Posted on 06/26/2018, 8:00 PM
I have found it odd that in all the media coverage of the eruption of Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawaii, no journalist has drawn a comparison to the eruption of Vesuvius outside Naples in 79 A.D. That may be because Kilauea is a “baby” by comparison with Vesuvius, the latter (pictured above) having become one of the greatest tourist attractions in all of Italy. The cataclysmic eruption of Vesuv...
Arthur Frommer: Quintana Roo, Mexico, is Gaining as a Tourist Destination
Posted on 06/25/2018, 8:00 PM
While numerous destinations in Mexico are suffering from what some describe as an overly sensitive spate of tourist warnings from our U.S. State Department, one area is obviously resisting that trend. In 2017, some 22 million tourists visited the state of Quintana Roo, in sharp contrast to some declines in Mexican tourism elsewhere. Quintana Roo is the location for super-popular Cancun, Playa d...
Arthur Frommer: National Parks Devotees Can Utter a (Brief) Sigh of Relief
Posted on 06/24/2018, 8:00 PM
In the early months of the Trump administration, it was widely rumored that the new head of the Department of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, would propose a doubling of the entrance fees to some 100 national parks that charge admission. The reaction to that drastic proposal was so negative, and from both sides of the aisle in Congress, that it was since assumed that a far milder increase would be ena...
Arthur Frommer: Universal Orlando Cuts Hotel Rates to Lure Visitors
Posted on 06/22/2018, 7:30 PM
For at least twenty years, Universal Orlando Resort has been on a hotel building spree. One after another, giant lodging has been squeezed onto its grounds, supplying close-at-hand rooms to would-be visitors. In hotels supplying thousands of rooms, Universal is approaching (though it obviously hasn’t yet reached) the number of hotels on the grounds of Disney’s parks, 15 minutes away by car. It...
Arthur Frommer: Experiential Travel Has Been Eclipsed by "Transformative Travel”
Posted on 06/01/2018, 10:00 AM
For several years now, conversations between travel professionals have been full of references to "experiential travel," a new variety of travel requested by more and more travelers. Unlike the standard, sightseeing-based programs, experiential travel stresses a more authentic contact with the life in various foreign locations, and it also immerses the travel passenger into those authentic experien...
