Articles

Jason Cochran

Article / Passportable

Anglophiles, Rejoice: Business Finds Loophole in Hershey's Chocolate Ban (Updated)

Frommer's readers recently learned, to their considerable horror, that candy maker Hershey's figured out a way to prevent businesses from importing competing British chocolate…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Consumer Choice Shrinks: Expedia, Having Just Gobbled up Travelocity, Is About Buy Orbitz, Too

As it is above, so it is below. Just as the airlines have been scooping each other up, swiftly reducing a field of 12 companies competing for American patronage to a field of only…

Article / Passportable

Free Wi-Fi at All Hyatts Now (With a Catch)

Another hotel brand, Hyatt, has decided it should change the way it approaches Wi-Fi access. Everyone staying at any Hyatt hotel after today can access the Web for free.But…

Article / Passportable

World's Best Museums Ban Selfie Sticks

Leave the selfie stick at home. Attractions across the world are banishing the selfie stick for being so awful.Britain's Telegraph reports that institutions everywhere are…

Article / Passportable

Marriott Gives Up Trying to Block Your Wi-Fi—Other Hotels Better Not Try, Either

Marriott tried very hard to get the government to allow it to block your Wi-Fi signal. The hotel brand attempted to justify the act as a "security" measure, but in practice, doing so…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

A Major Airline Drops the Hated Fuel Surcharge! So Why Won't the Rest of the Industry Follow?

One of the greatest lies foisted upon the American public—right up there with "this won't hurt a bit" and "New Coke will be better"—was crammed down travelers' throats a half…

Article / Passportable

Bad News, Anglophiles: Hershey's Bars British Cadbury

British Cadbury bars are officially something you can only buy on vacation.Those of us who got a taste for British chocolate on our trips to the U.K. have enjoyed the ability to…

Article / Passportable

Newscast Blows the Lid off Fake Online Reviews

Do you trust the reviews you find online? You shouldn't. Watch as PBS' NewsHour exposes user-generated review sites—that is, sites where you primarily find reviews written by past…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

By Converting the Norway Pavilion to a 'Frozen' Attraction, Epcot's World's Fair Concept Dies

On his deathbed, Walt Disney had a dream for his ultimate legacy. He wanted to create a living community in Central Florida where companies could use residents to try out new…

Article / Passportable

The World's First Drone Film Festival is Actually a Travel Film Festival

Everyone talks about drones—those small unmanned flying robot cameras—as if they're predominately a technology story. But when you look at the sort of footage that comes out of them,…

Article / Passportable

Cuba Opens to Travel (Eventually)!

Some wonderful news for travelers today: U.S. President Obama has announced that for the first time since 1961, relations with the Caribbean nation will move toward normalization. As…

Article / Passportable

Adorable Hotel Brand Kimpton Sells Out

Travel can fill you with wonder or it can break your heart. Yesterday we learned that Kimpton, one of our favorite boutique hotel brands, has sold out.It now melts into the…

Article / Passportable

Now You Can Stay the Night at Downton Abbey

A few years ago, the condition of the English mansion Highclere Castle grew so dire—after years of benign neglect from Earls who were more interested in horses or exploring—that…

Article / Passportable

This Incredible Piece of Luggage Earned $1.3 Million in a Month: Want One, Too?

Check this out: A newly invented piece of luggage just collected an astounding $1.36 million in a little over a month on crowdfunding site Indiegogo—and when you hear what it can do,…

Article / Passportable

The World's Most Obscene Hotel Wi-Fi Charge

What would you do if you signed on to the Wi-Fi in your hotel room and saw a bill for €300 (US $391) the next morning?According to the Telegraph, that's what guests of the…

Article / Road Trips

Gas, Food, Lodging, Payola: Why You Can't Trust Those Highway Signs

Signs along the Interstate tell you which restaurants and hotels are nearby—but how did those signs get there?

Article / Passportable

The Airlines Made HOW Much on Fees?

Remember when the airlines put extra fees in place and told us that it was because fuel costs had spiked?Yeah, they lied. Fuel costs went back into line, but the extra fees…

Article / Passportable

Sneak Peek of the New World Trade Center's Observation Deck

The final tourist amenity at the new World Trade Center site, which some visitors still call Ground Zero, has announced what it'll offer tourists when it opens in the spring.The…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Hailo Shuts Down: How Taxi Drivers Sabotaged a Golden Opportunity and Handed Uber and Lyft the Keys

Taxi, New York City, 2013The cab-summoning app Hailo is dead.Yesterday, it suspended operations in North America, opting to concentrate its business in Europe and…

Article / Money and Fees

Using Contactless Credit Cards When You Travel

The new twist in credit card purchases is contactless payment—how does it work, and can you use your credit card on vacation?

Article / Passportable

New Scanner Debuts: You May Fly with Fluids Soon

A new machine being tested in 65 of Europe's 550 airports could mean you can bring full bottles of liquid on flights again in Europe as soon as January 2016.The Cobalt Light…

Article / Passportable

Passenger Detained by FBI for Wearing a Speedo: Watch

Jerome Jarre is a celebrity of sorts. Some 7.5 million people follow his mini-videos on the app called Vine, where he has made a name by gallivanting around city streets doing wacky…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Iceland is Hot! New Flights, New Airlines, New Campaigns Make the Little Country Cheap to Visit

Hallgrimskirkja, ReykjavikIceland is having quite the moment.The small, mostly treeless volcanic island nation in the north Atlantic has always been breathtakingly…

Article / Passportable

Air New Zealand's Hobbit-Themed Safety Video is Another Viral Smash: Watch It

Kaboom! That's the sound of yet another volley in the ongoing Wacky Safety Video Wars.This time, it's Air New Zealand that has launched another salvo. Because the final film of…

Article / Passportable

U.S. Workers Hand Their Bosses $52.4 Billion a Year in Unused Vacation Time

Most employers have a "use it or lose it" policy for vacation days, and a new study using information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics has calculated just how much money…