Explore the Allure of the Seas On Your Computer
Posted on 07/07/2014, 12:30 PM
The Ice Rink as seen by Street View, complete with creepy blurred faces Today's latest gimmick: Royal Caribbean has invited Google Street View onto its (current) biggest ship, Allure of the Seas, enabling you to get 360-degree views of the ship from your computer. As an idea, it's a great one, although its execution is not as revolutionary as you might suspect. Only a few major publ...
A Trip Report: The Riviera Nayarit
Posted on 06/28/2014, 6:15 PM
Kim Kardashian goes to the Riviera Nayarit yearly. Christina Aguilera got engaged there. And on the visit I finished last week, I shared the sands with the Presidents of Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, Columbia and Mexico. (OK, I never actually saw any of them in their speedos and bikinis, but they were gathering in the town of Punta de Mita for a high-stakes meeting of the Pacific Alliance). Ye...
Boston Gives Its Beloved Freedom Trail a Makeover
Posted on 06/26/2014, 12:30 PM
If you have ever tried to follow Boston's Freedom Trail, one of the great city walking tours in America, you might have had some trouble. At times, the faded paint line—which runs 2.5 miles past 16 historic sites in Charlestown, the North End, and downtown—can dwindle into faintness, just like our children's sense of American history it was designed to fortify. If you're trying to use it to ...
Will APC Machines Speed Your Airport Arrivals? Delta is Banking On It
Posted on 06/24/2014, 3:30 PM
If you're one of those travelers who love being greeted back into the US by Customs officials you may have to wait a lot longer, but your trip through customs could get a lot speedier. Delta Air Lines announced today that Automated Passport Control kiosks are opening in their terminals in Detroit and LAX. The two terminals join Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, JFK and Seattle as inte...
#CarryOnShame Campaign Exposes Bag Hogs on U.S. Airlines: Are You Next?
Posted on 06/12/2014, 9:45 PM
When Spud Hilton, Travel Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote about carry-on bag hogs on the paper’s travel blog, Bad Latitude, this week, he had no idea that the response would be a tidal wave that flooded his in box with affirmations that the “carry-on bag hog” is now considered one of the lowest forms of traveling humanity—right next to the kid kicking the back of your seat and the...
Legal Marijuana in Jamaica and Free Wi-Fi in Japan
Posted on 06/10/2014, 6:15 PM
Getting wifi in Japan and legal marijuana in Jamaica: most would assume these would be slam dunks for tourists. But despite reputations to the contrary, it's near impossible for tourists to get online in the "Land of the Rising Sun" (mostly because most locals use broadband). And ganja? That's illegal mon, no matter that everyone's smoking it. But both situations seem poised to change. T...
Would You Bet $25 That Your Flight Will Be Delayed?
Posted on 06/04/2014, 11:45 AM
If you’re like most travelers across the U.S., you are probably looking forward to a summer of hurricane and storm-related flight delays, cancellations and missed connections. A new travel insurance brand, AirCare, is banking on it. AirCare, a new product from the Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance group, says it’s the first low cost fixed-benefit flight protection available for flig...
Disney’s “Deep Dive": Four-Day Vacays and the Amazon
Posted on 05/30/2014, 9:30 AM
Adventures by Disney has unveiled new vacation options based on their research that shows families want more and more “deep dive” experiential travel—a growing trend that hotels and tour operators are leveraging to inspire travel sales. At a elaborately produced media event in New York, Adventures by Disney’s Senior Vice President and General Manger, Ken Potrock said that “bucket lists” ar...
Wheels Not Wings: Three Tools To Help You Plan Better Bus, Train and Car Trips
Posted on 05/27/2014, 5:30 PM
With the cost of airfare going up, up and away, many vacationers will be traveling closer to the ground this summer. If you’re one of them, here are three websites that could make your time on the road far more pleasant and cost effective. Wanderu.com. A website devoted to both planes and trains, it made a strategic partnership in late May with Greyhound, making it the only website—beside ...
Getting Cheap Tickets to Broadway Shows Just Got Easier
Posted on 05/15/2014, 10:15 AM
In a savvy move—one likely intended to lure back those theatergoers buying discounted tickets online—the Theater Development Fund has changed the way the line is being handled at the TKTS booths in New York City. In short: if you buy a ticket within seven days of buying your next ticket, you get to jump to the front of the line. All you have to do is show the ticket from the last show, which...
