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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¢.…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Such Widely Contrasting Destinations as Japan and Puerto Rico are Today Offering Attractive Vacation Opportunities to Adventuresome Tourists

With its currency currently selling at a breathtaking 125 to the U.S. dollar, Japan has become a moderately priced nation for American travelers. Instead of paying $450 for a…

Article / Passportable

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…

Article / Passportable

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…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Two New Travel Products—As Unusual As They Come—Are Exciting Interest from Americans About to Make An International Trip. Are You One of Them?

In travel, as in all else, wonders will never cease.  The single most widely-discussed topic in travel is currently a clothing product called the “Swiss Army Jacket”.…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Active Vacations Without the Sticker Shock: How To Save on Ski Trips, Bike Vacations, Weight Loss Spa Getaways and More

Sunlight, the breeze at your back and, perhaps, a bit of sweat on your brow? Those can be pricey commodities in the world of vacations. As anyone who’s ever tried to charter a boat,…

Article / Passportable

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

To Go or Not to Go—That is The Question (Confronting Americans Curious About Vacation Trips to Iran)

Tehran, IranAs recently as three weeks ago, only a small number of Americans were planning to make a trip to controversial Iran. Today, the phones of tour operators…

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

A New and Revamped Version of Condé Nast Traveler is Obviously Written for the Top One-Tenth of One Percent

In the waiting room of my favorite barber shop, a stack of magazines always includes the latest edition of Condé Nast Traveler. It is thus that I am able to read a periodical that…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

A La Carte Cruise Pricing To Become Even More A La Carte, At Least on Norwegian Cruise Lines

Start boning up on your math. You're going to need those calculating skills to determine which cruise vacation will now have the overall highest costs.I reported last week that…

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…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The New York Times Recommends a Honeymoon Hotel Without Once Mentioning It Charges $1,600 a Night Per Room

The travel sections of several leading American newspapers seem to engage in an alternating pattern of reality/non-reality. For months on end, they devote their pages to…

Article / Passportable

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…

Article / Passportable

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

Carnival Cruises Announces It Will Be the First Major Cruise Line to Head from the United States to Cuba

Though I'm not sure how pleased I am that Cubans first up-close view of contemporary American culture will be the sight of a gaudy Carnival Cruise Ship floating into their harbor,…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Are Cruises Becoming All-Inclusive? Kinda. Sorta. Maybe.

While those who head to sea are no longer afflicted by rickets (too many citrus fruits on the buffet for that), they do sometimes have to handle noroviruses, seasickness, and that…

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…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

We Can All Aid the Suffering People of Greece by Including a Trip There On Our Next European Vacation

Whatever is the eventual, long-term outcome of the long dispute between the nation of Greece and the European bankers who hold its debt, one thing is clear:  the Greek people are in…

Article / Passportable

Say "American Cheese": The White House Lifts Its Ban on Selfies

This past December, I had the priviledge of visiting the White House as part of a convocation of travel writers, brought together by the Obama Administration to get out the word that…

Article / Passportable

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…

Article / Passportable

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…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The Time Has Come to Consider Re-Regulation of the Airline Industry

In a modern democracy, "regulation" is no longer a dirty word. Unregulated medications can hurt or kill you, unregulated monopolists can destroy competition, and unregulated…