Articles

Jason Cochran

Article / Passportable

Congrats, Philly, the US's First World Heritage City

Congratulations to Philadelphia, which has just become the first American city to earn the distinction of World Heritage City.Like World Heritage Sites, which are named by UNESCO,…

Article / Money and Fees

How to Beat the High Prices of Best Buy's Airport Kiosks

When you learn how easy it is to slash the high prices of Best Buy's electronics vending machines at airports, you may not be afraid to use them anymore.

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

French Polynesia's Fun New "Passenger Freighter" Tours the Spectacular South Pacific Islands

There was a time when it was relatively easy to take an around-the-world trip using nothing but freighter ships. Accommodations were never plush, but at least they took…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Airfares to Hawaii are Dropping Fast Thanks to New Competition in the Skies

Black Rock, Ka'anapali Beach, MauiIt used to be that getting to Hawaii from the United States' West Coat required a major cash outlay. Even earlier this year, round-trip fares…

Article / Passportable

What Motel 6's Fancy New Rooms Look Like

You're about to hear a lot more about Motel 6 in the coming weeks. By the end of this year, it hopes to have renovated 75% of its 1,200-plus properties.The motel chain knows it…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

American Airlines to Sell An Even More Basic Ticket Than it Does Now

Call it the Spirit Effect: American Airlines will be the latest major carrier to offer a no-frills, stripped-down, bare-bones version of its ticket.Starting next year,…

Article / Passportable

Innovative New In-flight Safety Video Animated with 1,000 Delft Tiles

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is the latest entrant in the battle to come up with the least boring in-flight safety video. The novel concept: Create an animated version of the pre-flight…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

In an Unusual Move, Princess Cruises Develops New Musicals with the Writer of "Wicked" and "Godspell"

There's a Broadway arms race raging in cruise ship entertainment. It started nearly a decade ago when Norwegian mounted a chopped-down version of the lesser-known musical Smokey…

Article / Passportable

New App Deletes Photobombers From Snapshots

Software giant Adobe recently unveiled a new smartphone application that should appeal to amateur photographers on vacation. Called Monument Mode, it eliminates photobombers and…

Article / Passportable

Everglades Airboats To Be Eliminated

For most of the twentieth century, airboats have been a staple of touring the Florida Everglades. New rules, though, are about the silence them once and for all.When the National…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Hotel Bait and Switch: Throttled Internet is Unethical, So Why Aren't People Angrier?

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Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The One-Percenting of Disney: Who Loses, Who Wins

Every few months, American news outlets erupt with a new round of rueful Disney coverage. Every spring, admission ticket prices shoot skyward, and this week, it hiked its annual…

Article / Passportable

Foreign SIM Cards Come with Censorship

Bringing an unlocked, out-of-contract smartphone on vacation and buying a temporary local phone number remains far and away the cheapest way to use a mobile phone in Europe. Just be…

Article / Passportable

Kids Stay and Eat Free in San Diego

Once again, as it has done annually for a while, the city of San Diego, California, has worked with some of its biggest hotels, restaurants, and attractions to offer a slew of deals…

Article / Passportable

A Camera that Won't Work at Tourist Sights

Instagram is bigger than you thought. This morning, Facebook (which owns it) announced there are now 400 million active users—that's up 100 million since the start of 2015. Soon,…

Article / Passportable

Miss a Connecting Flight? This Airport Will Pay

Would you pay $42 if it meant you didn't have to worry about missing a connecting flight?Gatwick, London's second-busiest airport (out of the city's six), has launched a new…

Article / Passportable

TSA's Luggage Lock Skeleton Keys Leaked

Consumerist and Wired report the design of the master skeleton keys used by the TSA to open and inspect your luggage has been leaked on the Web. Now anyone can use a 3-D printer to…

Article / Family & Kids

How to Research Your Ancestry on a Trip to Scotland

Scotland's government makes researching your ancestry easier than in most places. Here's where to go in Scotland to find your roots—and what to know before you make the trip.

Article / Passportable

#1 in #2: Japan Opens First Toilet Museum

I don't know if you've ever sat on one of those futuristic Japanese toilets, but they will change your life. In North America and Europe, toilets plug into the plumbing, but in…

Article / Passportable

Hilton Yanks Adult Movies

Not like you ever rented one, but porn movies are being eliminated from all Hilton hotels' in-demand movie selection.Said Hilton in a statement, as if it was something you might…

Article / Passportable

Airline Complaints Soar! Whose Fault Is It?

It's not your imagination: Airfares may be down (as we reported last week), but complaints about U.S. airlines soared more than 20 percent during the first half of this…

Article / Passportable

Entrancing Video Follows Luggage After It's Checked

Amsterdam's Schiphol airport wants to show you that it has put a lot of cash into building the ultimate baggage delivery system. So it produced this astonishing video by attaching a…

Article / Theme Park

America's Only Thomas the Tank Engine Theme Park Land Opens: Images

The new land, targeted to very small children and based on the wildly popular English characters, opens in Massachusetts.

Article / Passportable

All National Parks are Free (On These Days)

The National Park System is extending another gift to the American people in the form of fee-free days.And lucky us—there are two in a month, right when the weather is…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Massive Changes at Disney Parks: Two 14-Acre Star Wars Lands and Toy Story Land Coming, and More

Two of the biggest tourist attractions in the world are about to see extreme changes. Disney Parks has announced that it is planning two epic Star Wars-themed expansions for…