Articles

Jason Cochran

Article / Slideshows

The Disney Wish Cruise Ship: Our Photos and an Honest Review

The Disney Wish is the fifth custom-built ship to join the Disney Cruise Line fleet, joining the smaller Disney Magic (1998), Disney Wonder (1999), Disney Dream (2011), and Disney…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Can't Get Global Entry? Skip Airport Lines with Mobile Passport Control—It's Free

With airports busy again, travelers are seeking ways to dodge cumbersome lines. Some of the worst queues stack up at the Border Protection desks at entry points to the United…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

European Vacations Went Cashless Fast. Are You Prepared?

I spent all of May in the United Kingdom. And as incredible as it sounds, I didn't go to an ATM once. When I entered the country, I had £40 in my wallet, plus a little loose change. I…

Article / Passportable

Canada Gets New Airline Refund Rules (They're Better Than America's)

The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) announced this week that as of September 8, 2022, its regulations governing passenger protections will be expanded.Until now, flyers on…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Airlines Messed Up 2022. All Your Travel Plans Should Be Cancellable Now

However you slice it, the airlines messed up this summer. They overpromised and can't deliver, and we're the ones paying the price.More than 14,000 U.S. flights were canceled or…

Article / Slideshows

Seeing ABBA Voyage in London: Getting There, Best Seats, Saving Money

When I first heard about the concept of ABBA Voyage , I was deeply dubious. I think a lot of us were. The show, which opened in the spring of 2022, is a dynamic, buoyant,…

Article / Passportable

Yellowstone Is Partly Closed: Here's How Getting in Works Now

Update, July 1: Yellowstone National Park will reopen significant sections of the North Loop Road on July 2. Check the park's official site (linked below) for the latest changes in…

Article / Passportable

T-Mobile Boosts Free Perks for Travelers: Roaming, Flight Wi-Fi, Gas Discounts

If you want to feel old, tell the children in your life that not so long ago it was too expensive to use your smartphone on vacation. Back then, if you forgot to put your phone on…

Article / Slideshows

Does Universal Orlando's Private VIP Experience Tour Deliver What It Promises?

How much would you pay to have a theme park all to yourself? Pretty much no one has the kind of cash it takes to buy out a theme park—no one you'd probably want to hang out with for…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

New Travel Warning: Hefty No-Show Fees for Missed Reservations

If there's one thing the modern travel industry is good at, it's penalizing customers for its own dysfunctional systems. Squeezing so many bodies on planes there's no longer enough…

Article / Passportable

USA Borders Will End Covid Testing Requirement as of June 12

Just in time for the peak summer travel season, the United States will scrap a cumbersome requirement for all incoming air passengers to furnish negative results from a fresh Covid-19…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Cruise Lines Are Now So Understaffed They're Turning Customers Away and Cutting Services

In early 2020, the problem with cruises was people were forbidden to get off them. But now that Covid is more manageable, cruises have a new problem: People can't get on them.Travel…

Article / Slideshows

London's Gorgeous New Elizabeth Line Is Open! How to Use It for the Airport and More

London opened the first section of its Underground public transit system in 1863, six months before the Battle of Gettysburg in the United States. The Tube's original design got a lot…

Article / Slideshows

TCM's Alicia Malone on Great Movies that Used Their Locations Brilliantly

Turner Classic Movies host Alicia Malone is a student of the world, and her main method of study is film. "I've always watched films to travel," Malone says. "And being from…

Article / Passportable

U.S. Extends Mask Mandate for Travel, But Only By Two Weeks

Update, April 18: The TSA announced that as of April 18, it will no longer enforce the mask mandate during its last few remaining days. Some airlines and travel facilities have…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Airlines Might Lose Your Seat Fees When You Change Flights—How to Get Refunds

Covid brought the world a lot of conflict and consternation, but it also brought one change that made travel much easier: the end of airline change fees. But don't be fooled. The…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Car Renters Force Customers to Bring Fuel Receipts—but It's Not Always in the Contract

American rental car companies have been doing it for more than a decade now. When customers rent vehicles, clerks frequently say that if the car is returned with a full tank of gas,…

Article / Slideshows

See Inside LAX's New Delta "Sky Way" Before a Single Passenger Has Used It

Everyone loves that new car smell. But have you ever inhaled that much rarer scent of dignified travel, the new-airport-terminal smell? On April 20, 2022, Delta Air Lines opens the…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Are Avis and Hertz Fixing Rental Car Rates? Congress Is Demanding Answers

As excoriating letters from members of Congress go, these made little effort to soften accusations. "Hertz appears to have used its market position to raise prices substantially even…

Article / Passportable

France's "Health Pass" System for Tourism Is Officially Over

France's so-called "Health Pass" system that was introduced last August has been eliminated as of today, March 14. The system's QR code—which was required to enter the country's bars,…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Fuel Surcharges Are Coming, So Get Your Summer Tickets Soon

Consider this your official warning from your friends at Frommer's: Buy your airline tickets for summer travel soon. Gas prices are going skyward around the world, and soon you'll have…

Article / Passportable

Throw Away the Test Kit! Hawaii Drops All Covid Entry Rules

Hawaii is ending all Covid entry restrictions for domestic visitors. On the state's official Safe Travels website, a new alert appeared this week. Framed in an orange box that usually…

Article / Slideshows

PHOTOS: Peppa Pig's New Florida Theme Park Might Be the Most Adorable Ever

Orlando just got a new competitor for the family theme park dollar, and she's one sassy pig. The new Peppa Pig Theme Park opens this week in Winter Haven, Florida, about 40 miles south…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Disney Raises Prices Again! Even Die-Hard Fans Now Turning Against Poor Quality

Disney quietly raises theme park prices nearly every year—but this year, it hits differently. The price of tickets for multiday Walt Disney World parks admission, which used to start…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Concorde 2.0: NASA Prepares "Quiet" Supersonic Jet That Could Transform Travel

If you grew up before the 1990s, you'll remember the quasi-magical, futuristic promise that was evoked by a single word: Concorde. A supersonic jet that could virtually teleport…