Popular National Park Site To Be Reservation-Only
Posted on 07/13/2015, 2:45 PM
The grove of redwood trees at Muir Woods National Monument in Marin County, north of San Francisco, sees about 1 million visitors a year, and the roads around it can no longer handle the crush. As many as 1,000 cars can jam the small parking lot and overflowing vehicles line the road shoulder. Getting in to see one of America's most serene wonders can be worse than finding a spot at the mall on...
Say "American Cheese": The White House Lifts Its Ban on Selfies
Posted on 07/02/2015, 1:45 PM
This past December, I had the priviledge of visiting the White House as part of a convocation of travel writers, brought together by the Obama Administration to get out the word that a new State Department office had been created to encourage students to study abroad. Our morning started with a tour of the White House and though we were given strict instructions not to take photos, being journa...
After an Incident, Disney Bans Selfie Sticks
Posted on 06/30/2015, 2:45 PM
Leave them at home. Disneyland and Walt Disney World—and Disney parks around the world—have banned selfie sticks. This means that the most popular theme parks on the planet have joined the many institutions that have declared them annoying and dangerous. The world's greatest museums got rid of them months ago (click here for that story). Last week, a foolish tourist at Disney California A...
Popular Orlando Water Park to Close Forever
Posted on 06/29/2015, 1:00 PM
A few weeks ago, when Universal Orlando announced it was building a lavish new water slide park, Volcano Bay, for a 2017 opening, it was all over for Wet 'N Wild. The seminal water slide park opened in 1977 and was the first of its kind in the world, essentially inventing the water park genre that now has far surpassed its tiny acreage and simple ethic. There's no lavish theme, just lots of ...
Teachers Get 25% off B&Bs This Summer
Posted on 06/24/2015, 4:15 PM
BedandBreakfast.com, an established one-stop booking site for family-run B&Bs, has launched its annual discount program for teachers on summer break. The site has collected some 300 bed and breakfasts in 44 U.S. states and 23 other countries, all of which have promised to grant discounts of 25% or more to teachers. Conveniently, the deals are posted on a single page, which can be found ...
South Africa's Handy Mandela Vacation App
Posted on 06/20/2015, 6:30 PM
It has been a year and half since Nelson Mandela died at the impressive age of 95, but there's no way his influence will be forgotten anytime soon. People traveling to South Africa still want to walk in his footsteps, and they want to do so for generations to come. South African Tourism, the official government body promoting visitorship to the county, has intelligently thought to cater to this...
Rome's Colosseum Gets Its Lion Elevator Back
Posted on 06/20/2015, 6:15 PM
Two thousand years ago, the famous Colosseum was the biggest gathering place in the seat of the Roman Empire. In fact, it was the world's biggest amphitheatre. Over time, much of the structure has been dismantled by age, neglect, and the systematic pilfering of its stones. But someone is still adding to it. The Colosseum just got one of its original features back: a lion elevator. Originall...
Forget Bringing Your Own Bottles on Carnival
Posted on 06/12/2015, 12:15 PM
In a move touted as a measure to control contraband alcohol, Carnival Cruise Lines is banning bottled beverages of all kinds at the pier. Bringing your own alcohol aboard a major cruise ship hasn't been kosher for years, partly to avert binge drinking and bad behavior, and partly to force passengers to buy their cocktails from the cruise line—it's a principal revenue stream. But Carnival is...
Free Stay in Tahiti If You Go to New Zealand
Posted on 06/03/2015, 10:30 AM
The thing that stops most people from going to French Polynesia is the cost. It can cost as much to fly midway across the South Pacific to Tahiti as it can to go all the way across the ocean to New Zealand or Australia. Air Tahiti Nui has announced a great deal that makes it easier: a free three-night stopover, hotel included, for passengers who book round-trip tickets from Los Angeles to Auckl...
LGA Tries to Fix Lousy Transfers with App
Posted on 05/20/2015, 7:15 PM
Largely for political reasons, New York City has failed to link one of its three airports to the city by rail. The airport that processed some 111.6 million passengers in 2013 is widely considered such an embarrassment that even Vice President Joe Biden has slammed it for being "like some third world country"—an opinion that a well-traveled person is hard-pressed to emphatically refute. Rathe...
