Articles

Jason Cochran

Article / Passportable

Pieces of Lost Space Shuttles Go On Display

The $100 million home of the space shuttle Atlantis, which opened last year, has put Florida's Kennedy Space Center back on the tourism maps. Without giving too much away, the way in…

Article / Passportable

Q-tips: The Weirdest Flat Stanley Ever

Among product promotions, this is one of the strangest.Q-tip—yes, that thing you're not supposed to stick deep in your ears, but you do—has launched a campaign featuring the…

Article / Passportable

Hurry! Everything in Canada is 25% Off!

On Tuesday, August 4, the Canadian dollar cratered, suffering its lowest value in 11 years. The loonie, which a few years ago had parity with the U.S. dollar, is now worth only 76¢.…

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Poof! Kimpton Loses 7 Hotels in San Francisco

Back in December, when the hotel conglomerate InterContinental Hotels Group purchased boutique hotelier Kimpton, the executives behind the change painted a smiley face on the…

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Acapulco Sets Up Special Tourism Safety Force

When gangs overtake your once-glamorous seaside city and force the military to move in and the U.S. to issue a travel warning, you've got a public relations problem.Acapulco is…

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The Airlines Are Trying to Shut OTAs Down

Ryanair, the infamous cheapie European carrier, is always making headlines for doing something outrageous, and this week, it's because its upcoming website redesign will do something…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Airbnb Now Recruiting Professional Vacation Home Companies—Is it Moving Away from the "Sharing Economy"?

Airbnb search results in Florida displaying two properties not by homeowners but by established companiesThis summer, Airbnb began slipping a new type of homes into its…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

War is Brewing Over the Queen Mary: Petition Alleging Mismanagement is Launched

The condition of the Third Class Dining Room, now used as chair storage, courtesy of RMS Queen Mary Facebook CommunityThe RMS Queen Mary is a rare artifact from the golden era…

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Can This 51-Year-Old Cycle Around the World?

On July 24, Scotland resident Peter Smith will set out on from Dumfries on a journey with two goals in mind: To circle the globe and wind up where he started and to smash the…

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Popular National Park Site To Be Reservation-Only

The grove of redwood trees at Muir Woods National Monument in Marin County, north of San Francisco, sees about 1 million visitors a year, and the roads around it can no longer handle…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The Alamo in San Antonio Wins UNESCO Status, And It Couldn't Come at a More Embarrassing Time

The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, has just been inscribed with one of the most prestigious designations in international tourism: It and the four other San Antonio Missions now…

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After an Incident, Disney Bans Selfie Sticks

Leave them at home.Disneyland and Walt Disney World—and Disney parks around the world—have banned selfie sticks. This means that the most popular theme parks on the planet have…

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Popular Orlando Water Park to Close Forever

A few weeks ago, when Universal Orlando announced it was building a lavish new water slide park, Volcano Bay, for a 2017 opening, it was all over for Wet 'N Wild.The seminal…

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Teachers Get 25% off B&Bs This Summer

BedandBreakfast.com, an established one-stop booking site for family-run B&Bs, has launched its annual discount program for teachers on summer break.The site has collected…

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Rome's Colosseum Gets Its Lion Elevator Back

Two thousand years ago, the famous Colosseum was the biggest gathering place in the seat of the Roman Empire. In fact, it was the world's biggest amphitheatre. Over time, much of the…

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South Africa's Handy Mandela Vacation App

It has been a year and half since Nelson Mandela died at the impressive age of 95, but there's no way his influence will be forgotten anytime soon. People traveling to South Africa…

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Forget Bringing Your Own Bottles on Carnival

In a move touted as a measure to control contraband alcohol, Carnival Cruise Lines is banning bottled beverages of all kinds at the pier.Bringing your own alcohol aboard a major…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The Airline Industry's Call for Smaller Carry-Ons Will Hit You in the Wallet

The International Air Transport Association, an industry group comprised of commercial airlines, has decided it's time to come up with a global standard for what size a carry-on…

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Free Stay in Tahiti If You Go to New Zealand

The thing that stops most people from going to French Polynesia is the cost. It can cost as much to fly midway across the South Pacific to Tahiti as it can to go all the way across…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Beware the Hotel Room Pizza Delivery Scam! They Could Steal Your Credit Card Info

You just arrived in town after a hellish 10-hour battle with the U.S. airlines. You're worn out, you're hungry, and all you want is an easy bite to eat before bed. Good fortune!…

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LGA Tries to Fix Lousy Transfers with App

Largely for political reasons, New York City has failed to link one of its three airports to the city by rail. The airport that processed some 111.6 million passengers in 2013 is…

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Unrest Makes Puerto Vallarta a No-Go

Royal Caribbean, Disney Cruise Line, and Celebrity have all cancelled port visits to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, following a wave of crime in the tourist city and the surrounding…

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New Free Trolley Rolling in Palm Springs

Palm Springs has launched a free trolley service, Palm Springs Buzz, enabling visitors to more easily visit without a car—or after more sangrias.Buzz runs Thursday through Sunday…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

This Haunting Record of Georgia's Forgotten Country Churches Could Inspire an Unforgettable Road Trip

Friendship Baptist, cir. 1831, Wilkes County, Georgia, from HRCGA.orgNow and then, we discover a homegrown website that celebrates a topic we'd never thought about much before,…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The Hotel Mini-Bar Is Dying Out. New Figures Reveal a Chill in Its Popularity

When was the last time you bought something from the hotel mini-bar?For most casual vacationers who aren't billing hotel charges to a business expense account, the answer…