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Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Thinking of Renting an EV? You'll Need to Make These Adjustments to Your Plans

The major car rental agencies now offer electric vehicles (EVs) as part of their standard inventory, but knowing what it takes to operate an EV may not yet be a part of your own…

Article / Passportable

Venice, Italy, Officially Approves New Entrance Fee for 2024: Here Are the Rules

On September 12, the city council of Venice, Italy, finalized the city's long-postponed plan to battle overcrowding by charging visitors an experimental entry fee in 2024. The final…

Article / Passportable

Utah Stargazing: This Lake Powell Glamping Site Was Named the First DarkSky Resort

In 2023, the light-pollution foes at DarkSky International added a category for "DarkSky Approved Lodging" to their register of places where the nighttime environment is exceptionally…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

What Are the Best Days to Fly This Holiday Season? CheapAir Predicts the Cheapest Flights

Airport traffic and airfares have been in constant flux for years now. Knowing the best days to book flights for the cheapest airfare has become something of a guessing game. But if…

Article / Passportable

This Fall Foliage Prediction Map for 2023 Shows When Leaves Hit Peak Color

With fall foliage season fast approaching, travelers concerned with getting the timing right for autumn road trips and weekend getaways have a freshly updated online tool at their…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The First Orlando Theme Parks Have Gone Cashless

The cashless revolution has reached Orlando. Five popular theme parks in Central Florida stopped accepting cash this week. Although the banishment of paper currency and coins has been…

Article / Passportable

This Country Just Cut Its Sky-High Tourist Tax in Half

Turns out imposing a ludicrously expensive daily fee on tourists isn't great for tourism. Who knew. The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has announced that it is cutting in half the $200…

Article / Passportable

Airline Introduces Child-Free Zone So Grown-Ups Can Enjoy "Quiet" Flights

A European airline will cordon off the first 12 rows of its A350 aircraft to create an adults-only area where no one under the age of 17 may sit. “This zone in the aircraft is intended…

Article / Passportable

London's Hunterian Museum: Bits of People in Jars That Changed the World

If you lived in 18th-century London and something went wrong with your body, after you died a famous scientist named John Hunter might show up to rummage through your corpse, snip out…

Article / Passportable

Chip and Joanna Gaines' Hotel Opens This Fall, Cementing Their Waco Takeover

Waco, Texas, takes another step toward becoming Chip-and-Joanna-Gainesville this fall. The married stars of the home-renovation series Fixer Upper have developed and designed their own…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

America's Downtown Hotels Are Cheaper Right Now, but How Is the Neighborhood?

Across the United States, downtown business districts are hurting. Many former office workers continue to do a substantial share of their jobs from home, leaving entire blocks without…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Fall Foliage in New England: What to Expect in 2023

It has been a rainy summer in New England, characterized by flash flooding in Vermont and the second-wettest July on record in Boston. What does that mean for the region's famous fall…

Article / Passportable

Hurricane Season 2023 Could Be Worse Than First Thought, Forecasters Say

UPDATE, August 11: In a new hurricane season forecast released this week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. government's offical weather watchers…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Minion Land Now Making Mischief at Universal Orlando Resort: Check Out the Videos

Minions, the animated yellow capsule creatures (think sentient Percocet pills, but adorable) from the Despicable Me cinematic universe, now have their own theme park area at Universal…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Maui Wildfires: How You Can Help Affected Communities in Hawaii

As anyone who has ever visited Hawaii knows, the word aloha means far more than just "hello" and "goodbye." In the Hawaiian language, alo means "to share" and ha stands for the concept…

Article / Passportable

Hot Pilot in a Cat Video Demonstrates Best Place to Sit on Airplanes

Fasten your seat belts. Today, we have something rare. Somehow, multiple aspects of our pop culture's all-consuming and relentless social media banality have collided to provide…

Article / Passportable

Acropolis Tickets: Athens Landmark Joins List of Attractions You Must Prebook

The Acropolis of Athens is dominated by the Parthenon, one of the world's most identifiable buildings—what's left of it, anyway (thanks a lot, Venetian army of 1687). For that reason…

Article / Passportable

Flying Through LAX? Now You'll Need to Pack One of These

The Transportation Security Administration clamped down on liquids and gels in carry-ons way back in 2006. An entire generation is reaching adulthood without ever having known the…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

No, Cruise Ships Are Not Banned from Amsterdam

Another week, another inaccurate travel headline that seems designed for clicks.In recent days, you might have read that Amsterdam's city council has outlawed cruise ships. BBC News:…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Don't Scan a Fake QR Code! Scammers Can Steal Your Personal Info

An earlier version of this post has been updated with new information.We know QR codes are convenient, allowing quick access to the website or payment portal of a restaurant, parking…

Article / Passportable

Africatown Heritage House: New Museum About Last Known Slave Ship to U.S.

A new museum dedicated to the lives and legacies of people aboard the last known ship to transport enslaved Africans to the United States has opened in Alabama. Mobile's Africatown…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Do You Need Tickets for the Pantheon? Navigating Rome’s Confusing New Fee Rollout

After centuries—nay, millennia—of flinging open its mighty bronze doors free of charge, the Pantheon, one of the most-visited attractions in Rome, is now charging admission. Effective…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Disney World Attendance Is Way Down, but Don't Blame Politics

On the Fourth of July at Walt Disney World in Central Florida—a day when crowds are usually shoulder to shoulder—the pathways were shockingly clear. Wait times for most rides were 30…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

1 in 3 Flights Could Be Canceled This Summer, Europeans Warn

Today's Times of London published a headline that will dismay anyone who has a European vacation in the works for this year: Air traffic control strike will hit up to 1 in 3 summer…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

SCOOP: No, Dubrovnik Is Not Fining Tourists €265 for Using Wheeled Luggage

The story isn't true.This happens more often than any of us should accept: Scandalous "news" is published and because it's clicky, it gets spread far and wide—but nobody is actually…