What's the Airport Experience Without CNN? We'll Soon Know
Posted on 01/13/2021, 6:00 AM
As if the travel experience hadn't changed enough recently, the background drone of cable pundits pontificating will soon be gone from U.S. airports. On January 12, CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy tweeted the following statement from CNN president Jeff Zucker: "Today we are announcing that the CNN Airport Network will end on March 31. The steep decline in airport traffic because of COVID-19, coup...
Disney World Guts Guest Benefits at Its Hotels: Why Would You Stay Now?
Posted on 01/12/2021, 2:00 PM
From a value standpoint, it's already a highly debatable decision to stay within the borders of Walt Disney World at a Disney-owned hotel. Those properties easily cost at least twice as much as hotels of comparable quality just a few miles away. People who choose to submit to the inflated expense will tell you they have their reasons. One frequently heard justification is the importance of being c...
Stray Cats and Washing Machines: Memories of Inspired Kindness
Posted on 01/08/2021, 1:00 PM
One of the great blessings of travel is that it allows us to see how people across the globe lead their daily lives. That includes how they handle the problems that rarely make the news. Alas, we're in a no-travel time right now. But we can still scratch that travel itch by learning about contemporary cultures across the globe—and the way the Portuguese are dealing with stray cats offers welcome i...
The Longest Multi-Use Trail in the U.S.A. Opens in New York State
Posted on 01/07/2021, 1:00 PM
In December 2018, I made predictions for the trends that would impact travel in the coming year. Back then, the number of issued permits for walking the Pacific Crest Trail (featured in Cheryl Strayed's seminal travel memoir Wild) had tripled in just three years, and simultaneously, several new, very long-distance trails were being developed around the world. One of them was New York's Empire Stat...
Royal Caribbean to Rescue Travel Planners with No-Interest Loans: A Good Thing?
Posted on 12/21/2020, 11:00 PM
For centuries in England, when you chose to go to a pub, you were also often choosing the brewery that supplied it. Many pubs were associated with only one maker of ales. And when our grandparents went on a date at a movie palace, they knew that some cinema chains specialized in certain studios: Loew's showed MGM films, Fox projected 20th Century-Fox product, RKO controlled the old Orpheum theatre...
The Marshmallow Test for Holiday Travel (Or Why You Need to Stay Home Right Now)
Posted on 12/21/2020, 10:00 AM
Over six years, from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, psychologist Walter Mischel and his colleagues tempted small children. In one of the most famous psychological experiments of all time, they offered tots between the ages of 3 and 5 a big choice: They could either immediately eat a marshmallow that was placed in front of them, or, they were told, if they restrained themselves and didn't eat t...
A Comprehensive, Step-by-Step Guide to Traveling Again After the Pandemic
Posted on 12/18/2020, 5:00 AM
The year 2020 gave all of us a priceless gift. It kicked us all in the ass, too, no doubt about it. But the year's central lesson, the one that gnawed at our fearful inner cores no matter our walk of life, was a cosmic one. It can all be taken away in an instant. Health, freedom to travel, stability, comfort, trust—none are promised. So as truckloads of vaccine doses filter out to every communit...
If My Toddler Refuses to Wear a Mask on a Flight, What Can I Do?
Posted on 12/15/2020, 2:00 PM
A few days ago, a video—of desperate parents trying to wrangle an overtired two-year-old—went viral. That's a pretty common scenario for a viral video, but in this case, the tot was objecting to wearing a mask on a United flight, and the crew was objecting to the child flying without one. Because the child refused to comply with the airline's mask policy, the family was booted off the plane—and th...
Lie-Flat Sleeping Options Being Tested in Economy Class
Posted on 12/14/2020, 1:00 PM
There's a moment in the film Crazy Rich Asians when it becomes clear that the modern-day Cinderella heroine has actually met a Prince Charming. Rachel, at the airport about to fly to Singapore, is laden with food for the trip, when Nick, her boyfriend, leads her not into economy class but into a super-glam private cabin where, soon, you see them cuddled in bed. You could feel the audience swoon, no...
Will Vaccinations Be Required to Cruise?
Posted on 12/14/2020, 5:00 AM
At a December 9 meeting with the Travel Leaders group, a multinational network of travel agents, Norwegian Cruise Line CEO Frank Del Rio announced that the company is looking into a possible vaccine requirement for passengers. "It’s too early to tell whether we have the legal standing to mandate that you take a vaccine to come on board—lawyers are looking at it as we speak," said Del Rio, accordin...
