Unplugged! Royal Caribbean Bans a Popular Item That Many Cruisers Pack
Posted on 09/23/2024, 2:00 PM
Royal Caribbean has revised its list of forbidden items to ban a useful travel tool that many cruisers pack as an essential item. Even though the change "was not communicated to passengers, and the cruise line has not clarified the matter through the media," reports TheStreet.com, the cruise line's newly republished list of prohibited items was recently revised to include "Extension Cords and Mult...
What Hotel Workers Wish You Knew About Being a Good Guest in These Times
Posted on 09/19/2024, 4:00 PM
Everyone who has stayed at a hotel since Covid-19 knows that something is off. You're not losing your mind. Room rates have gone way up. Business is way up, yet housekeeping services have been scaled back—sometimes you won't receive much hospitality at all. Amenities are being cut. Guests aren't getting fresh towels, trash isn't being emptied, breakfasts are being cut back, and front desk staffi...
Fall Foliage Map for 2024 Predicts Midwest Will Outdo New England
Posted on 09/05/2024, 3:00 AM
The Midwest will have the most vibrant fall foliage in the United States this year, according to a new forecast released by the weather watchers at AccuWeather. In a wedge of the country stretching from the interior Northeast and Great Lakes region down through the Mississippi River Valley, conditions this year are ideal, the forecast predicts, for the sort of bright red, orange, and yellow leaves...
TikTok's Viral 'Temple Run' Trend Imperils Cambodia's Angkor Wat (and Is Stupid)
Posted on 08/28/2024, 7:00 AM
On TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and wherever else stupid videos proliferate on the internet, a popular trend that has recently emerged involves clips of tourists running and jumping their way through Cambodia's Angkor Wat temple complex near Siem Reap. They're attempting to re-create in live action the Temple Run video game, which was first released in 2011 and centers on an explorer dashing throug...
What’s Up with These Hourslong Check-in Lines at Las Vegas Hotels?
Posted on 08/22/2024, 4:45 PM
"Hotel check in wait times are out of control in Las Vegas," social media influencer VegasStarfish argues in a recent posting. The video evidence accompanying the claim certainly makes a convincing case, showing nightmarish check-in lines, with hundreds of guests clogging hotel lobbies at properties owned by Caesars Entertainment. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Je...
Florida Is Trying to Ram Development of State Parks, "Skirting the Legal Process"
Posted on 08/21/2024, 6:00 PM
Floridians are sounding a red alert after the state unexpectedly revealed its intent to allow rapid development at nine of Florida's nature reserves, sidestepping the usual process that allows for public participation."This appears to be something that has been planned in secret, and it doesn’t appear to have involved the hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are volunteers in the parks, the ci...
Mpox Is Now a Global Health Emergency. Should Travelers Worry?
Posted on 08/14/2024, 4:45 PM
On Aug. 14, the World Health Organization (WHO) formally declared mpox, previously known as monkeypox, a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). PHEIC declarations are often used to formally open global government channels to coordinate efforts to combat the spread of a disease. Currently, only three diseases merit the dire PHEIC-level warning: Covid-19, cholera, and now mpox. Ea...
Disney Is About to Gut Magic Kingdom, Fans Are Furious, and You Don't Have Much Time
Posted on 08/12/2024, 5:15 PM
We've had plenty of warning signs that the current management of the Disney brand doesn't understand or appreciate their roles as stewards of priceless Americana. For the last few years, the current decision makers at Disney have been carrying on as if they're running a shopping mall and not a national treasure. Obsessed with floating other divisions of the Walt Disney Company instead of tending...
U.S. Forbids Airlines from Charging Families to Sit Together
Posted on 08/01/2024, 2:15 PM
There's been another big win for consumers at the U.S. airports. On Thursday, the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that it has proposed a rule that forbids commercial airlines from charging families extra to be seated together. As American families know all too well, the biggest airlines have shamelessly converted the protection of your children into a profit center, slapping parents...
These Are the Safest Caribbean Countries Right Now, According to the U.S. Government
Posted on 07/30/2024, 4:00 PM
This post, originally published Feb. 2, 2024, has been updated with new information. Earlier this year, the U.S. State Department issued alarming travel warnings for Jamaica and the Bahamas, citing rising crime levels in both countries as reasons for tourists to beware. On the State Department's 4-level travel advisory scale, Jamaica was bumped up to level 3, which stands for "Reconsider Trave...