A Number of Recent Travel Developments Have a Direct Bearing on Your Own Next Vacation Trip
Posted on 02/05/2016, 12:30 PM
A vitally important travel event was the recent decision of the World Health Organization to elevate the Zika virus to the status of a global health emergency. Most outbreaks of the virus have occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean, and travel to those nations may be significantly reduced. Zika is widely feared even though its impact on most people is either minor or ...
Theme Parks Now Charge More for Busy Days in a "Demand Pricing" Game Changer
Posted on 02/02/2016, 8:45 PM
Universal Studios Hollywood's "EZ Rez" advance purchase calendar for February, 2016 On April 7, the original Universal Studios in Hollywood finally gets its own Wizarding World of Harry Potter. After two phases of the attraction have already opened in Orlando and transformed the fortunes of the Universal resort in Florida, the Los Angeles property is finally getting a taste of Pottermania....
River Cruises, An Improved Chicago, Memorials to Terrorism, Airbnb Besieged, and Passport Renewals: The Stuff and Substance of Travel
Posted on 01/29/2016, 2:30 PM
The commercials for Viking River Cruises, which appear on Downton Abbey and Homeland, are certainly the most beautiful and successful of all such advertising. But their scenes of tourists hobnobbing backstage with cooks and enjoying other singular opportunities are certainly non-representative of the kind of sightseeing experience that passengers will enjoy. I'm willing to bet that peop...
A Continuing Drop in the Value of Most Foreign Currencies, Creating a Stronger-than-Ever U.S. Dollar, Has Created New Cheap Destinations for the American Tourist
Posted on 01/29/2016, 1:15 PM
Among the major recent events in travel, illustrating a larger trend, has been the continued sharp decline in the value of the Russian Ruble. That currency enjoyed, two years ago, an exchange rate of 33 to the U.S. dollar, and then plunged last year to a level of 65 to the dollar, which most observers felt to be its bottom value. Lo and behold, the Ruble has now plunged again to abou...
Here's How to Use Air Canada to Stop in Toronto for Free on Your Way to Europe or Asia
Posted on 01/27/2016, 1:30 PM
The Canadian dollar has been dramatically sagging against the U.S. dollar—if you're carrying greenbacks, it can feel like the entire country is having a liquidation sale since everything is 40% off what it would cost you back home. So it's a perfect moment to fly to a major Canadian city for free. Wisely seizing the moment, Air Canada just extended its promotion that allows anyone flyi...
A Major Study Is Out And What It Says About Trends In Airfares Could Save You Big Bucks
Posted on 01/21/2016, 4:30 PM
For aviation geeks (like me), the day that the Airline Reporting Corporation releases its annual survey of airfares feels like a birthday—one on which you don’t get any older. And this year, I felt like I was getting miraculously younger because the ARC joined forces with the Expedia family of brands to put out one lollapalooza of a survey. Together, the computers of these two travel giants ...
What Travelers Need to Know About the Zika Virus
Posted on 01/19/2016, 5:15 PM
As frigid blasts of winter descend on much of North America, visions of blue sky, sandy beaches and swaying palm trees are being rudely interrupted by a buzzing sound. And it’s a very scary buzz, at that—the buzz of a mosquito that carries the Zika virus. Though the virus is not new, in the last year pregnant women who have been infected have given birth to children with microcephaly, a condi...
Arthur Frommer's Ten Commandments for Making a Trip by Air in Today's America
Posted on 01/19/2016, 1:00 PM
The airports are jammed and so are the planes. People are crammed into every seat. They’re irritable and anxious, and so are airline staff. You need to take precautions and follow safe procedures of a sort that you would never have considered in earlier days. Here are my ten commandments for air travel in today’s America: (1) Leave early for the airport, earlier than you have ever l...
Why Not Europe in the Winter? (It's Not as Cold as You'd Think)
Posted on 01/18/2016, 6:00 PM
Leiden Square, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (photo: Rex Roof/Flickr) I have just completed a two-week vacation in southwestern Florida, where the temperature was in the mid-60s on all but three or four days.(Even then, the thermometer only rarely hit the mid-70s). There were intermittent storms and tornado alerts on three days. Now I’m not saying there is nothing t...
Yosemite's Iconic Ahwahnee Hotel is Soon to Be No More—A Sad Case of Privatization Gone Haywire
Posted on 01/15/2016, 5:00 PM
Pillaged on our watch: The iconic Ahwahnee Hotel This has got to be among the more asinine results of government privatization in the travel universe. After nearly 90 years, Yosemite's iconic—and we don't use that word lightly—Ahwahnee Hotel must change its name because of a legal dispute between the government, which owns the land, and its fired concessionaire, Delaware North, which ran...
