An App That (Almost) Guarantees the Lowest Hotel Rates
Posted on 05/31/2019, 7:00 AM
It’s said there are no guarantees in life. But does that apply to travel? For hotels, a relatively new app may offer the closest thing to a guaranteed low price that I’ve seen. It’s called Pruvo, and it promises that if you tell it your hotel price, you won’t be undercut. Here’s how it works. The consumer goes hotel shopping, using any online travel agency they like—Booking.com, Expedi...
Famous Thai Beach to Remain Closed Two More Years—at Least
Posted on 05/13/2019, 4:00 PM
Thailand's Maya Bay, which played the titular locale in the 2000 Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach, is currently closed to tourists and will remain that way until at least 2021. Officials first banned visitors from the scenic scoop of sand on the island of Koh Phi Phi Leh during the summer of 2018. The idea was to give the natural environment, particularly fragile underwater corals, a chance to ...
When Should You Book Airfare and Hotels? A Huge Study Reveals the Current Answers
Posted on 04/03/2019, 1:00 PM
The Airlines Reporting Corporation’s annual Travel Pricing Outlook study (conducted in partnership with Expedia) arrived with very little fanfare this year. Which is odd—and not so odd. Odd because it is, by a factor of a gazillion, the largest study of the year, for the size of the numbers being crunched. And not so odd because this 2019 study, the fifth annual one, doesn’t really break much n...
Will Americans Soon Need a Visa for Europe? What We Know So Far
Posted on 03/08/2019, 12:15 PM
The European Union has considered requiring a visa for tourists from the United States for some time. After all, the U.S. has required special authorization from visitors from European countries (and many other places) since 2010. Starting on January 1, 2021, Europe is returning the favor. All U.S. citizens will need an ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorization System) visa to visit...
Better Visit D.C.'s Newseum Soon: It Closes in 2020
Posted on 02/07/2019, 2:00 PM
Just a little more than 10 years after unveiling a splashy new steel-and-glass building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., the journalism-focused Newseum has announced it will close to the public in January 2020. The site opened in 2008 with much fanfare and much high-flown talk of preserving the Fourth Estate as print news organizations struggled to adjust to the digital age. The New...
How to Check TSA Wait Times Online
Several apps promise to tell you airport security times—but are they reliable? Results vary.
Arthur Frommer: 12 Famous Destinations That Are Almost Too Crowded to Visit
Posted on 11/29/2018, 12:00 AM
It doesn’t often happen that one travel writer advises his or her readers to study the works of another travel writer. But exceptions should occasionally be made, and that’s the case with a recent and quite thorough analysis of the hideously overcrowded places that smart tourists should avoid visiting—at least in high season. Prepared by the travel department of CNN and entitled “12 Destinati...
Summer River Cruises in Europe May Now Present Problems, Says Arthur Frommer
Posted on 11/15/2018, 12:00 AM
Should you book a European river cruise that takes place in summer? Maybe not. Next summer’s cruise passengers are expected to encounter problems because of an unusually hot season in Europe. The result of that torrid weather has been low water levels in isolated parts of European rivers, requiring that cruise companies alter or even cancel itineraries. They cannot operate their ships wher...
The Pittsburgh Steelers Are Getting a Roller Coaster
Posted on 10/23/2018, 6:00 PM
One of America's oldest amusement parks is teaming up with one of the NFL's most storied franchises. Kennywood, which originated as a "trolley park" around the turn of the 20th century and still operates classic rides from the 1920s, is constructing a new themed area dedicated entirely to the Pittsburgh Steelers, whose Heinz Field is about 12 miles west of Kennywood (just go up the snaking Monon...
Holiday Flights: Tips for Saving Money—and Actually Getting to Your Destination
Posted on 09/06/2018, 4:45 PM
There are few bigger problems, budget-wise, than having to buy a ticket to fly over the Thanksgiving or the Christmas/New Year's holidays. Prices are always at their peak, and discounts are nil. But tell that to your grandmother. Or to the other eager family members who insist you fly home for the holidays. So even though the fares are a killer then and the crowds at the airport will demolish w...
This Fall, See Rome, Venice, and Florence by Rail for Less Than $25
Posted on 08/24/2018, 12:00 AM
Traveling by train among Italy's three most popular tourist destinations can be extremely affordable this fall, provided you buy your tickets right now. European travel booking site GoEuro has joined forces with Italo Treno, an Italian rail service operator, to offer a fare from Rome to Venice to Florence or vice versa for just €19.80 (US$23) one way. That's an incredible bargain for seeing Ro...
Turkey Is Insanely Cheap for Travelers Right Now
Posted on 08/20/2018, 12:00 AM
Turkey's ongoing currency crisis, during which the Turkish lira has lost more than 40% of its value, is making a vacation in that country extremely affordable at the moment for travelers from places with stronger economies. As of this writing, one U.S. dollar equals 6.04 lira. According to USA Today, $1 got you 3.54 lira just one year ago. That means that American travelers can get a lot of bang...
Singapore Airlines Bringing Back the World's Longest Flight
Posted on 05/30/2018, 9:45 PM
Singapore Airlines has announced plans to resume nonstop service between the Asian city-state's Changi Airport (pictured above) and Newark Liberty International Airport just outside New York City—a flight that will cover more than 10,000 miles and last just under 19 hours, making it the world's longest. The carrier previously offered this route up until 2013, when it was decided that planes would...
How Bad Will Hurricane Season Be This Year?
Posted on 05/30/2018, 12:00 AM
Hurricane season officially starts Friday, June 1, but the first named storm of the year has already arrived. Subtropical depression Alberto made landfall in the Florida Panhandle on Memorial Day and continues to bring the threat of heavy rains, wind gusts, and flash flooding as it moves through the Southeast. The Weather Channel predicts the storm could last through late Wednesday, as what rema...
Free Admission at Wisconsin State Parks on the First Weekend of June
Posted on 05/12/2018, 12:00 AM
Wisconsin is giving locals and visitors alike a good reason to experience the state's considerable outdoor charms on June 2-3. That weekend, admission will be free at all Wisconsin state parks, encompassing forests, hiking trails, lakes, bluffs, and beaches. You can hit the trails to see picturesque cascades at Copper Falls (pictured above) in the northern part of the state, survey the mighty M...
Longest-Ever Around-the-World Cruise to Set Sail in Summer 2019
Posted on 05/08/2018, 9:15 PM
If you've seen a map of the world, you've seen the itinerary for the latest offering from Viking Ocean Cruises: a truly epic, ridiculously expensive, globe-girdling voyage that will leave Greenwich, London on August 31, 2019, and return to the city from the other direction eight months later. That's 245 days in total, making this the longest continuous cruise ever undertaken. By the time the t...
Coming in May: UFO Fests in Oregon and New York State
Posted on 04/17/2018, 12:00 AM
The search for signs of intelligent life in the universe hasn't turned up much so far. Even here on earth intelligent life can seem awfully hard to come by. But judging from the many UFO festivals held across the country each year, there are evidently still plenty of those who believe the truth is out there. Among this spring's crop of events dedicated to alien abductions, government cover-ups...
D.C.’s African American Museum Tests a Change to Its Admissions Policy
Posted on 04/04/2018, 4:00 AM
The National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. is trying out a new admissions practice this month. Each Wednesday in April, visitors can simply walk up to to the building on Constitution Avenue, get in line, and gain entry to the museum on a first-come, first-served basis, starting at 10am, when it opens. That might sound like standard museum-going procedure, bu...
Hotel on Skis Debuts in Finland for Northern Lights Viewing
Posted on 03/21/2018, 9:15 PM
A novel way of experiencing the Northern Lights has come to Finland. The new Aurora Wilderness Camp, located near the village of Kilpisjärvi, is comprised of three mobile cabins that have been mounted on skis so that they can be dragged into the remote reaches of the country's Lapland region. And because each unit has a glass roof, guests have a good chance of spotting the Northern Lights from t...
New Looks for Two of London's Most Important Art Museums
Posted on 02/22/2018, 11:15 PM
Fans of art and architecture already have a lot to keep them busy during stays in London—and with free admission at most of the top cultural institutions, the city's treasures are easy to access, too. But museum- and gallery-goers will have even longer to-do lists in the coming months, thanks to the reopening of two high-profile spaces—one a 250-year-old mainstay, the other an oft-reviled Brutali...
