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Arthur Frommer Online

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Winter's Coming and a Record-Breaking Number of Residents in the North Are Looking to Spend Several Weeks in Warmer Places. What are the Options?

With memories still fresh of an unusually frigid December through March of 2013-14, a larger than normal number of Americans in the northeastern and Midwestern states…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

River Cruises are the Hottest Current Product in Travel, Selling Like Proverbial Hotcakes, But for an Experience that Scarcely Differs from One Cruiseline to the Other

Probably the most unusual recent event in travel was the announcement by the well-known Celebrity Cruises that it will soon add a river cruise to one of its familiar ocean…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

What to Expect When You're Expecting...And Expecting to Travel

The bachelor party and the “hen do” are thought of as the ultimate “last hurrahs” before the realities of adult life kick in. But I would argue that the newly popular “babymoon,”…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

A Fresh Look at Some 15 Frequently-Posed Travel Questions, And Our Sometimes Infuriating Responses to Them

While most of the questions posed to this blog are quite unique. an almost equal number fall into several recognized and familiar categories--and these tend, on occasion, to be…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Vancouver, Canada, Has Become a Popular Destination, A Multi-Ethnic City of Great Appeal, With Pleasures and Attractions That Well Deserve a Visit

Ever since passports were required of most U.S. citizens arriving in Canada by plane (that edict went into full effect in 2009), the experience of getting there has…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Rustling Up a Good Time Playing Cowboy In Fort Worth: Why You May Want to Choose This Texan City for Your Next Long Weekend Away

The Texas most tourists see isn’t the rootin’, tootin’ West. Dallas and Houston are sedate-feeling cities of gleaming, Shanghai-like skyscrapers; Austin’s beat is more alt music…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Is Airbnb Good for America? Or Does it Worsen the Housing Shortage? New York's Attorney General Takes the Negative View—And May Prevent You from Using Airbnb

In a thick and detailed report given considerable publicity last month, the Attorney-General of New York State has declared war on the popular website service that…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Sundays Replace Tuesday As the Day to Book Airfares, and More Savvy Advice From An Expert Source

You may have never heard of the Airline Reporting Corporation but you've likely purchased a ticket it has had its "virtual fringerprints" on it. That's because the ARC serves as…

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 / Arthur Frommer Online

Government Official Blames 'Cheaper Tourists' For Their Own Deaths in Terrible Avalanche: Is That Fair?

"Summit Day" on the Annapurna Circuit, NepalLast week in Nepal, avalanches hit Annapurna Circuit of the Himalayas. So far, more than 40 have been confirmed dead, with…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

These Three Newly Announced High-Design, Lower-Priced Hotel Brands Are the Future of Budget Travel

Prototype room of the new Hub by Premier InnAlmost as if they knew their core product is losing appeal with a significant sector of the hotel-going public, three major…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Though Domestic Tourism Remains Placid at Home, Several Foreign Locations—Morocco, Thailand, The Philippines, Hong Kong Among Them—Are Presenting Real Problems

This past week has been a rather slow time for travel within the U.S.  We've had no really major events, no new fees and charges from greedy airlines and hotels, no…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Rooms in New York City and Los Angeles Reduced to $100 to $200! Here's How and When to Book

A well-known travel industry public relations firm has once again announced the deals in its annual Hotel Week promotion, which drums up business for its clients during low…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Munching Your Way Through Melbourne History: The Queen Victoria Market

Sydney, The Reef and the Rock: those are the three “constellations” that shine most brightly in Australia’s tourism firmament. But there’s a good argument to be made that…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

A 5-Night Vacation Next Month for $159! Plus a Bunch of Other Cruise Deals for National Cruise Vacation Week

Coral Princess at night. Photo credit: Princess CruisesWe periodically ask our friends at AllThingsCruise.com to tell us about the best bargains in cruises at the moment.…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Marriott Urges Guests to Tip Housekeepers to Overcome the Shortfall of Inadequate Wages—Say What?

Marriott is placing pre-printed envelopes in 160,000 rooms to encourage guests to express "gratitude" to its workers in the form of cash. The initiative, called The Envelope Please,…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Doing the Famed Sydney Bridge Climb The Speedy Way

Some 16 years ago, a clever entrepreneur named Paul Cave came up with the idea of allowing tourists to scale the arch of Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge (largest single span steel…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The World of Travel is Erupting with Totally Unexpected Developments, Both Mechanical and Policy-Oriented

Who would have thought we would someday find robots doing the work of hotel bellmen?  Or wristwatches supplying us with travel directions?  At Starwood Hotels, a…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

We're Back on the Air This Sunday, October 5, 12:05 p.m. until 2 pm.

Attention, all you radio fans!  For the past several months, our Sunday "Travel Show" has been pre-empted in the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut area by New York Mets…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Though It May No Longer Be the "City of the Century," As Once It Was Called, London is a Reliable, Rewarding Destination for a Vacation Trip

In the late 1900s, various travel companies ran contests to name "the city of the century"—and London always won.  Today, other capitals have acquired many of the same cultural…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Frommer Authors and Frommer Broadcasting Have Received Two Coveted, First Prize, Gold Awards from the Society of American Travel Writers

You'll have to forgive us for "tooting our own horn", as that ancient  saying goes, but we wouldn't be quite human if we failed to pay notice to two remarkable awards and…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

A Sensational Recent Drop in the Value of its Currency Makes Argentina an Especially Attractive Place for American Vacationers This Winter

I recently drew attention to the decline in value of three major currencies--the Australian and Canadian dollars and the Japanese yen--making travel to Australia,…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Days 4 & 5 In The Australian Outback: Adventures in Alice Springs

(Wallabies gather in a parking lot in Alice Springs; yes, that is a baby wallaby peeking out of the pouch!)Had I visited the Northern…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Two More Airlines Start Charging for the First Checked Bag: Will Free Bags Go Extinct?

Sorry, Canada. Your Westjet just decided to start charging standard passengers for the first checked bag. One would think that would give rival Air Canada in an advantageous position…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Day 3 In the Australian Outback: Experiencing the Traditional Aboriginal Way of Life

Uluru and Kata Tjuta, the massive (and quite beautiful) rock formations that are at the heart of the famed National Park with their names, have been sacred sites for Australia's…