Jogging While on Vacation Just Got Easier Thanks To Two Helpful Websites
Posted on 03/23/2014, 12:00 PM
The spring before last, I headed to France and to a series of hotels that didn't have usable gyms. So though I have a love hate relationship with running---sometimes I love it, more often it gives me hives, quite literally, on my darn legs (Why IS that?)--I hit the pavement. All went fine in Nice, a city I know well, but on my second outing in Aix en Provence, I came back to one of the round...
Our Lack of Adequate Rail Transportation in America is Condemning Us Not Simply to Discomfort and Inconvenient Travel, But to Slow Economic Growth
Posted on 03/22/2014, 11:15 AM
This is how they do it in Europe. In America, passenger trains are one step above freight. We are facing a grave transportation crisis in America. All across the nation, one small town after another has lost its air service, abandoned by carriers that find no profit in their traffic. On huge swaths of the country, people are confined to the automobile as their sole means of rea...
Some Miscellany of Travel: From Student Discounts to Mountain Resorts to Mexican Towns Attracting American Retirees
Posted on 03/21/2014, 1:00 PM
Although the change hasn't yet been officially announced, we have definite word that the well-known STA (Student Travel Association) will be raising the age limit for their services from 26 to 30. Starting immediately, young people who are no longer students, but are less than 30 years of age, will be permitted to take advantage of STA's "student discounts" on airfares, tours, hotel stays, pac...
Service Vacations Can Be an Educational and Character-Building Experience for Teens and Tweens
Posted on 03/17/2014, 9:15 AM
Add “community service” to reading, writing and arithmetic. It’s one of the requirements that many high schoolers must fulfill in order to get their diploma. But even those young people who don’t have to prove they’ve done good to graduate are finding that they want to have more meaningful vacations. And this has led to an explosion in the number of “service vacations” that are being offered to...
To La Dolce Vita! Airfares from the US to Italy Just $438 in April and May
Posted on 03/11/2014, 7:15 AM
Thanks to the Points Guy for spotting this excellent bargain. It seems that, on a number of dates this spring, airfares from New York's JFK to Milan are being prices at as little as $438 round-trip. There are some catches: You'll have to fly Emirates or Alitalia. And you'll have to bring your significant other along, as this is a deal for doubles not solo travelers. For complete details ...
You Only Live Once, But You Get to Serve Twice: The Low Down on Tennis Vacations from An Expert
Posted on 03/10/2014, 7:45 PM
Billie Jean King once said “Tennis is a perfect combination of violent action taking place in an atmosphere of total tranquility.” And for many it’s that dichotomy, grace vs. sweaty exertion, that makes tennis the ideal vacation activity. With spring and summer just around the corner, I thought it was the right time to grill an expert on tennis vacations. Roger Cox is a long-time sports ...
Though It Sometimes Seems that Europe is Inundated with Tourists, That Isn't the Case with Six Locations that I Enthusiastically Recommend
Posted on 03/08/2014, 12:15 PM
In Europe, where do you go where the tourists aren't? Mind you, I'm not looking for places with no tourism at all, but those whose tourist numbers are moderate and harmless. And why is the search for low-scale tourism so important? It's because the great cities of western Europe have grown so popular that some are often difficult to visit. Pick the wrong time of year for your stay...
Here are Profiles of Three Iconoclasts in Travel, Each of Whom has Followed Their Heart to Produce Unusual Travel Discussions
Posted on 03/07/2014, 2:15 PM
Travel-writing attracts strong-willed people. To cut yourself off from familiar surroundings, to spend months on end in foreign settings, to encounter lifestyles, ideologies, and theologies that constantly challenge your most cherished beliefs, is not the kind of life that most people choose. Recently, I've met (or interviewed over the phone) travel writers and bloggers who inhabit a wor...
A Primer on Travel Insurance: When You Need It (And When You Don't), Misconceptions About Coverage, and New Trends
Posted on 03/06/2014, 2:30 PM
If there’s one lesson travelers have learned this winter it’s that even the best-laid plans can go badly wrong. Thanks to a season of unrelenting storms some 1 million flights were cancelled in United States this year. Not surprisingly, the number of people buying travel insurance also went up this year, dramatically. Allianz Travel Insurance, one of the major players in the field, is repo...
Six Upcoming Cruises That Are On Sale for Less than $100 a Day Before Taxes
Posted on 03/05/2014, 11:45 AM
Periodically, we ask our friends at AllThingsCruise.com to fill us in on the best bargains in cruises at the moment. Here's what they suggested, where to book them, and what, in the opinion of the sellers, makes each one a steal. Unless specified, all prices are the lowest possible for an inside cabin, and they are based on double occupancy. These specials may include other extras such as on...
