TSA Confirms Real ID Will Be Mandatory to Fly Starting May 7, 2025
Posted on 06/03/2024, 2:00 PM
This post was originally published in December 2022 and contains updated information.The deadline for all Americans to be using Real I.D., the strengthened identification format that was announced in 2005 during the George W. Bush administration after the security disasters of September 11, 2001, has been affirmed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Americans must not really need safer id...
Book Passage 2024: Learn How to Be a Travel Writer or Photographer
Posted on 05/29/2024, 2:15 PM
Whenever people ask me what my favorite destinations are, I have to fudge the answer. The truth is I'd rather go somewhere new than revisit a place, and every destination is as unique as a fingerprint, with its own pleasures and disappointments. But even though I go to many travel conferences in the course of a year, there's only one I look forward to all year: the Book Passage Travel Writers and ...
Deal Alert: Hawaii Hotels Are Up to 30% Cheaper Than Normal Right Now
Posted on 05/28/2024, 12:30 PM
If you've ever wanted a vacation on Maui's famed Ka‘anapali Beach, this is the year to go. Occupancy and prices are down some 20–30% in the popular West Maui resort area, but those rates are expected to rebound by the end of 2024. They're lower than normal because of the lingering misperception that this sunny region, which is located just north of the fire-struck town of Lahaina, either doesn't w...
Hurricane Season Forecast: 2024 Could Get Most Storms Ever
Posted on 05/24/2024, 3:30 PM
This post, originally published April 22, has been updated with new information. The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season is going to be a rough one, according to weather forecasters. For the period from June 1 to Nov. 30, the U.S. government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts "above-normal hurricane activity" in the Atlantic basin, which includes the North Atlantic O...
Bike Tennessee with This Free Online Collection of Scenic Cycling Routes
Posted on 05/24/2024, 7:00 AM
Tennessee is making it easier to experience some of the state's best scenery and historic sites by bike. A partnership between the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development and the Ride with GPS cycling app has resulted in a new program called Bike Tennessee. It's a collection of 52 new biking routes designed to show off Tennessee's quiet back roads, natural wonders, small towns, and noteworthy...
USA's Most Endangered Historic Places Now Include L.A.'s Little Tokyo and Concord, Mass., Revolutionary Sites
Posted on 05/07/2024, 7:30 AM
The site of the American Revolution's "shot heard round the world," the hometown of author Zora Neale Hurston, a lighthouse in the middle of the Hudson River, a long-standing Japanese American neighborhood, and a church where Black coal miners worshipped are among the USA's most endangered historic places, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Since 1988, the Washington, D.C....
New Bryce Canyon Stargazing Resort Lodges Guests in Futuristic Glass Domes
Posted on 04/30/2024, 7:30 AM
There's already something eerie about the landscape in and around southern Utah's Bryce Canyon National Park, thanks to all the Martian red rocks and stone spires known as hoodoos. So a peppering of 62 giant disco balls may not look as out of place as you'd think. Actually, the glass domes are part of a new property from Clear Sky Resorts that'll open to overnight guests on Thursday, August 1. ...
A Weak Yen Is Making Japan Vacations Cheaper Than They’ve Been in 30 Years
Posted on 04/26/2024, 5:30 PM
The U.S. dollar soared this week to its highest rate against Japan's yen since 1990. As of Friday, 1 dollar equates to around 157 yen, according to Reuters—the dollar's strongest performance against the Japanese currency in 34 years. By way of comparison, The Motley Fool points out that a dollar was worth about 119 yen in April 2019, a difference of more than 35%. That means U.S. travelers can ...
Missed by No One, Brazil’s Visa for U.S. Citizens Is Returning
Posted on 04/22/2024, 3:15 PM
This post has been updated with new information. Just a few years after visiting Brazil got easier for Americans, traveling to the South American nation will get harder again. On April 10, 2025, Brazil's government will return to requiring visas for tourists from the United States, according to the U.S. Embassy. Citizens of Canada and Australia will need the visa as well. The visa will cost ...
Alabama’s New Freedom Monument Sculpture Park Explores Legacy of Slavery
Posted on 04/16/2024, 7:30 AM
A new sculpture park in the Alabama capital is designed to explore the institution of slavery as well as the lives and legacies of enslaved people. Set on 17 wooded acres next to the Alabama River, the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park opened in Montgomery near the end of last month. (Freedom Monument Sculpture Park in Montgomery, Alabama | Credit: Equal Justice Initiative / Human Pictures) The p...