Unknown to Most Americans, Florida Now Has a Speedy Railway, Writes Arthur Frommer
Posted on 04/17/2019, 9:00 AM
When the current governor of California recently announced that he was discontinuing work on a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco, multitudes of train enthusiasts all but wept. How, they cried, could a poor country like Spain operate high-speed trains between Madrid and Barcelona, while wealthy California could not find the same resources in America? The god of trai...
Now Car Renters Will Scan Your Face: Hertz Goes Biometric
Posted on 12/11/2018, 2:00 PM
Calculating your forehead-to-eye ratio to expedite a car rental? Sure! Anything to help trim a few minutes off the arduous process of approving paperwork. Hertz announced today its new partnership with CLEAR, the first in the car rental-industry to introduce biometric screening as part of the check-in process. Just how will it work? Similar to other systems seen recently in travel, such as ...
.jpg "Frommer's' Best Places to Go in 2019 List")
In Japan You Can Build Your Own Kit Kat Now
Posted on 11/13/2018, 12:00 AM
Like compact cars and the band Cheap Trick, Kit Kat candy bars weren't born in Japan, but they sure went big there. The chocolate-covered wafers (a U.K. creation currently owned worldwide by Nestlé) are among Japan's best-selling sweets and they have appeared in hundreds of flavors, including strawberry cheesecake, green tea, purple sweet potato, wasabi, and sake. The country's latest innovati...
Two New Non-Travel Books May Change The Way You See the USA
Posted on 09/09/2018, 8:30 PM
You drive into a new town. It is not a famous place and it certainly isn’t a tourist magnet. But it has a certain vibe, a personality. You start to explore, stopping by a local store, walking through a park, trying the coffee joint where townspeople are congregating. It’s an interesting exercise, but the takeaways are vague: seems like a nice place, you think. But you don’t think more than that, ...
Drive to Florida in a Rental Car for Only $7.99 a Day
Posted on 09/06/2018, 12:00 AM
Winter is coming, and in Florida, so are the tourists. Each year, the major car rental companies shift their inventory to where the business is, and now that summer is ending, Hertz needs to shift its cars to Florida for the winter season. That's where you come in. Hertz wants you to do the driving. The company will let you have a car for just $7.99 a day if you agree to drive it one-way from t...
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...
Epic New Zealand Rail Line to Reopen After Quake
Posted on 08/15/2018, 12:00 PM
New Zealand's gorgeous Coastal Pacific rail service, which runs between Picton and Christchurch on the South Island's east coast, announced it will return on December 1. KiwiRail's popular five-hour, 335-km (208-mile) trip was halted in November 2016 after a major earthquake devastated the Christchurch area. For much of the journey, the route hugs the coast, with the sea on one side and the ...
California's Scenic Highway 1 Soon to Reopen in Full
Posted on 07/06/2018, 12:45 AM
For the first time in more than a year, all of California's spectacular Highway 1 from San Francisco to Los Angeles will soon reopen to drivers. Parts of the 650-mile route, famous around the world for its coastal views (particularly in Big Sur), have been closed to travelers for months due to damage caused by heavy rains and a huge landslide in 2017. Caltrans, the state's transportation depart...
Route 66 and Puerto Rico Among USA's Most Endangered Historic Sites
Posted on 06/28/2018, 3:30 AM
Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Route 66 all appear on 2018's "Most Endangered Places" list, the National Trust for Historic Preservation's annual roundup of important architectural and cultural sites in peril. The purpose of the list, the group says, is to raise awareness and spur action to protect landmarks—and in some cases landmasses—"facing a range of challenges and threats, from d...
Tips on Getting the Most Out of Your 2018 Summer Vacation
Posted on 05/30/2018, 4:00 PM
Remember when summer really meant vacation? I’m talking, of course, of the time before you were able to vote, when summer meant freedom from school and adventures at camp, a fun summer job, or long lazy days doing very little. However you did it, summer was a break from the daily routine—and a welcome one. But for most of us, summer now means the same commute, the same job, the same responsibiliti...
New Ferry Links Spain with Ireland, Thanks to Brexit
Posted on 05/22/2018, 5:00 PM
Something brand-new happened this month: A new ferry service between Ireland and Spain was inaugurated. Why? Because as the United Kingdom proceeds with Brexit, its half-baked plan to secede from the European Union, the border between the UK and the Republic of Ireland, which remains in the EU, will become much harder to cross. The new ferry service allows Irish and Spanish people to pass easily b...
Hello Kitty Bullet Train to Make Japan Even More Adorable
Posted on 05/22/2018, 12:00 AM
We're just going to leave this right here. On June 30, 2018, a brand-new bullet shinkansen service will make its debut in Japan: a Hello Kitty train. The Hello Kitty Express, as we're calling it, will link Osaka and Fukuoka, two cities that are about 400km (250 miles) apart, but as of today, are at the center of our hearts. Everything will be pinker than a debutante, washed in the blush tones o...
Arthur Frommer: Recent Tax Cuts Will Force Reductions in Travel Services
Posted on 03/23/2018, 5:15 PM
Some commentators have rejoiced over the recent reduction in federal taxes enjoyed by American corporations and the wealthy. Fewer of those pundits have pointed out that those reductions have been achieved in part by reducing our government’s expenditures for programs that improve our quality of life. The U.S. travel world—and especially our trains and passenger aviation—has suffered in parti...
