Articles

Jason Cochran

Article / Hotels

How to Figure Out the Name of That Anonymous Hotwire Hotel

No need to agonize over clues like Sherlock Holmes. To deduce the name of a mystery hotel in Hotwire's Hot Rates, you only need some elementary information.

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Florida Gov. DeSantis Voided a Vote in Key West, but Cruises Are Respecting It Anyway

On Election Day in November 2020, the people of Key West, Florida, a remote but heavily touristed island in the Gulf of Mexico that's barely 7 square miles in size, went to the polls…

Article / Theme Park

How to Get to Walt Disney World from the Airport Now That Magical Express Is Gone

Disney pulled the plug on Magical Express, the free bus service to its resort. Now you have to pay extra to get from Orlando's airport to Walt Disney World. Here are your options.

Article / Passportable

Arches National Park Adopts Timed Ticketing: Rules & Loopholes

One of the many changes the pandemic brought to society was the widespread introduction of reservations for admission at nearly every kind of tourism spot, from museums to national…

Article / Passportable

WATCH: Orlando Opens Two Insanely Tall, Record-Breaking Thrill Rides

Update: In March 2021, a 14-year-old boy fell from the FreeFall and died. Investigators later accused the ride operator of manually altering the restraint system to accommodate larger…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Across the United States This Week, Lost Luggage Is Piling Up at Airports

First, the major carriers had trouble coughing up refunds for cancellations. Then dimwitted and unruly passengers began giving commercial flights a rougher reputation than MMA…

Article / Passportable

Hawaii Simplifies Entry Requirements for Omicron

As of this week, visitors to Hawaii no longer have to fill out a pre-arrival questionnaire. Border officials will still ask asking visiting U.S. citizens for a recent negative NAAT or…

Article / Air Travel

Stop Stopovers: How to Find Out if Nonstop Flights Exist Between Airport Pairs

As airlines splinter their networks into increasingly frustrating fragments, finding nonstop, direct flights is more difficult than ever. Here's where to look.

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Cruise Ships Aren't Covid Jails Anymore—But They Are Being Refused By Some Ports

When Covid-19 was first going global, its early appearance on cruise ships caught scientists and epidemiologists flat-footed. In the spring of 2020, we still weren't precisely sure how…

Article / Passportable

Fully Revised for 2022, Our Guide to Disney World, Universal, and Orlando Is Now on Shelves

In July 2020, months before Covid-19 vaccination was available, grateful crowds tearfully swarmed back into the theme parks of Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando. Nothing, it…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Disney's New Star Wars Hotel Slammed As "a Galactic Failure"

For years, Americans have watched the price of a Disney vacation climb upward, and yet the parks remained packed. When it came to Disney charging luxury rates, it seemed the sky was…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The Glitchy Genie+/ Lightning Lane System Arrives at Disneyland

In October, Florida's Walt Disney World rolled out its paid version of the formerly free FastPass system, now called Lightning Lane. The Disney company had delayed expanding the new…

Article / Theme Park

Can a Computer-Literate Great-Grandmother Figure Out Disney World's Genie+?

I took a 70-something who has been going to Disney World for 50 years back to the Magic Kingdom to see if she could figure out Disney's new booking and itinerary system.

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

On Cruises, the Hated Muster Drill Is Dying Out. We Love What's Replacing It

The most hated fixture of cruising—the mandatory in-person safety presentation before departure—is becoming a nuisance of the past. Everyone who has cruised in the United States knows…

Article / Passportable

New Scam Alert: When You File Covid-Related Border Entry Forms, Watch Out

There are precious few outfits dedicated to the protection of the consumer—and goodness knows the United States has a long way to go in customer protection with actual legal bite. So…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Cirque du Soleil's New "Drawn to Life" Is the Best Show at Walt Disney World

At the end of 2017, French-Canadian entertainment juggernaut Cirque du Soleil closed La Nouba, the family-friendly acrobatics spectacular that played on Walt Disney World resort…

Article / Slideshows

Look Inside Walt Disney World's Swan Reserve Hotel

In early 1990, when Florida's Walt Disney World cut the ribbons on the 1,509-room Dolphin and the 756-room Swan hotels, the resort made architecture history. The two towering…

Article / Air Travel

Accidentally Traveling with Cannabis: Does Anyone Care Anymore?

If you forget you left a marijuana product in your luggage, what will happen if it's found at the airport? The answer is changing—and changing fast.

Article / Air Travel

List of Airlines Requiring All Passengers to Be Vaccinated for Covid-19

These airlines have made Covid-19 vaccination mandatory to fly on some or all routes—sometimes independent of the policies in destinations. 

Article / Passportable

After 50 Years, England Reopens Train to Dartmoor, Delighting Campers

There's a reason most tourists to England stick to the country's cities and don't visit some of its most spectacular scenery: It's not easy to get to rural places anymore. Until the…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Get Yourself to Europe Quick: River Cruises Are Up to 50% Off

Starting on November 8, Americans are going to see a whole lot of something they haven't seen much of in ages: Europeans. That's because November 8 is the day the restrictions on…

Article / Passportable

Thailand Returns for Full Tourism with New, Easy-to-Follow Rules

Update: As of December 21, 2021, Thailand has temporarily brought back mandatory quarantine for tourists again.For the first time since near the start of the global pandemic, Thailand…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Is It Safe to Choose Southwest Airlines This Holiday Season?

On the weekend starting October 8, Southwest Airlines went into an operational meltdown, resulting in a shortage of pilots and flight attendants that, the airline says, necessitated…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

If You Need a Covid Test to Fly, Be Careful—Timing Is Everything

Update: As of December 6, 2021, the United States now requires the test to be taken no longer than one calendar day before travel to the United States begins. In many cases, that will…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Warning! Hertz Still Slapping Erroneous Fees on Innocent Customers, Paper Says

Hertz may have emerged from bankruptcy protection earlier this year, but for customers of the rental car company, warning lights are still flashing. The troubled brand that Vanity Fair…