Expiring Passports Should Be Renewed Early
Posted on 03/21/2016, 1:15 PM
On the Frommer's Travel Show, our weekly radio broadcast, we recently interviewed Brenda Sprague, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Passport Services for the U.S. State Department, and she had a simple message: If your passport expires in the next year and a half, renew it right now. "We are coming up on the 10th anniversary of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, and that was when Congr...
Baby Boomers' Biggest Regret? Guess.
Posted on 03/14/2016, 12:30 PM
A new survey reveals that 1 in 5 Baby Boomers—those 65 and up—say they have the same regret in life. They didn't travel more. The survey was conducted by Censuswide for British Airways, a company that wants you to travel. It also wants you to pay $60 for a seat assignment. So take all that as you will. But the research is backed up by other experts. An excellent article by Catey Hill in ...
Rebuild Nepal on An Affordable Everest Trek
Posted on 03/04/2016, 1:45 PM
After the April 2015 earthquake and subsequent avalanche that killed nearly 10,000 people, injured tens of thousands, and left hundreds of thousands homeless, the country is finally rebuilding, and you could be a part of that process. Starting April 12, a 15-day trek to Nepal’s Everest Base Camp will mark the anniversary of the earthquake and raise money to renovate a school in the biggest...
Santorini to Limit Cruise Visitors
Posted on 03/02/2016, 10:00 PM
As any parent knows, kids hold grudges. And my kids still bring up the day I made them hike for 45 minutes up a steep cliff path, in 95 degree heat, from where the cruise ship tendered us in Santorini, up to the village of Thira. In my defense, our choices were limited: there was a 2 hour wait for the funiculur (which was having mechanical problems) and an hour long wait to ride a donkey up t...
Hilton To Charge More To Let You Cancel?
Posted on 03/01/2016, 1:15 PM
Remember last fall, when Hilton started testing a mandatory $50 fee for cancellations no matter how early they were made? Yeah, well, the hotel company finally picked up on what was blindingly obvious to the rest of us: That kind of thing angers customers. Hilton ended that test. In fact, you could say it went down in flames. Instead, the hotel is looking at copying the airlines (and countl...
$99 Deal From Los Angeles to Stockholm
Posted on 02/23/2016, 12:15 PM
Here's a blink-or-you'll-miss-it sale. Mighty SAS Airlines (which carries over 28 million passenger a year) is throwing a brief sale in celebration of its new LA to Stockhom route. The fare is just $99 each way, including all taxes and fees, and works for those traveling between March 14 and March 25. To get in on the deal, you must book by March 6 and seats are limited (though they were avai...
Aeroflot: It's Not Just for Crashes Anymore
Posted on 02/22/2016, 1:30 PM
Aeroflot, the flag carrier of the Russian Federation, has a dreadful reputation for being unsafe. And it deserves it: The Aircraft Crashes Record Office, a non-government organization based in Switzerland, says that as of May 2010, 8,231 passengers have died in Aeroflot crashes. That's a lot. Air France comes a distant second, with 1,783 fatalities, followed by the defunct Pan Am (1,645),...
KLM Offers Free Amsterdam Tour Guides
Posted on 02/19/2016, 2:00 PM
Right now, Icelandair will set up its customers with a buddy to show them around on their visits. Now KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the Dutch carrier, is jumping in on the "local guide" trend. If you're connecting through Schiphol Airport on KLM—and some 70% of its passengers do—then you qualify for a free local guide as long as your layover is for six hours or more. The airline will give you a f...
Climate Change to Make Flights Longer
Posted on 02/18/2016, 8:15 PM
Environmental Research Letters, a peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers the Earth's environment, recently came out with a study that predicts airlines are about to require more fuel on transatlantic journeys. It predicts that the increase in wind speeds brought about by changing temperatures—a climatological shift that's already in evidence—will require flights to take more time to bat...
Three New National Monuments Named
Posted on 02/12/2016, 2:45 PM
Meet your newest National Park units. President Obama has set aside some 1.8 million acres of delicate Southern California desertland as three of the United States' newest National Monuments. They're no longer "proposed"—as of today, they're confirmed. The new areas are called Mojave Trails, Castle Mountains (both are in the Mojave Desert), and Sand to Snow (in the Sonoran Desert). All o...
