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Miscellaneous

Article / Passportable

Merriam-Webster Creates a Fun Online Word Game for Travelers

Every time we speak, we travel. English is a polyglot language derived from many tongues and made of an ever-expanding lexicon of borrowed words picked up like souvenirs from all…

Article / Slideshows

Can You Recognize These World-Famous Landmarks from Above?

It’s hard to disguise a colossal green lady in New York Harbor. Or a 1,000-foot-tall pointy whatsit in the middle of Paris. Yet a newly released series of images adds a little mystery…

Article / Passportable

Free Entry to the U.S. National Parks For Students, Veterans—and Everyone Else

The U.S. National Parks had big plans for little people this year. But like so many things, they went awry. Long story short: 2020 was supposed to have been another year when all of…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Cruise Lines Need Guinea Pigs to Try Out Virus Safety Protocols on Voyages

The Centers for Disease Control, guided by watching European cruising restart and by reviewing recommendations from the major lines, has finally dropped its ban on cruises and released…

Article / Passportable

A Delightful New Book About Countries That Have "Fallen Off the Map"

In this time of not being able to travel almost anywhere, one of the most intriguing new travel books is a volume that takes readers to places that no longer exist. I’m talking about…

Article / Passportable

Iconic Neon Cowgirl "Vegas Vickie" Kicking It Again at New Casino

Circa Resort & Casino, which opened this week on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas, is the city's first casino built from the ground up in four decades. But not everything on…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Disney Will Never Be the Same: A Litany of Layoff Devastation

This week, there was an employment cataclysm at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. In one day, the company axed nearly every worker with a speaking role in its U.S. parks. As part of…

Article / Passportable

New Rules Transform New York City Into a Wonderful, Open-Air Bazaar

What's the top reason people visit New York City? If you guessed Broadway shows, museums, or even restaurants, you'd be wrong, wrong, and wrong. Year after year, shopping is cited as…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Pauline Frommer: A Worthy Vacation Rental Search Aggregator Has Arrived

Fewer travelers may be hitting the road right now, but among those still traveling, the top accommodation choices have shifted dramatically from a year ago. As I wrote last week, more…

Article / Passportable

WATCH: Kazakhstan Makes Nice—Very Nice!—with Borat By Taking His Catchphrase

The premise of the newly released Borat sequel, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, is that Sacha Baron Cohen's titular character, a clueless Kazakh journalist, must deliver an animal or,…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Get Ready: Travel Is Becoming More Expensive and More Exclusive

The warning signs are everywhere. You will soon be paying more to travel. The headlines are full of news about the airlines cutting capacity. In Europe, Ryanair will fly only 40% of…

Article / Passportable

Costa Rica Fully Reopens to Tourism—No Test, No Quarantine Required

Starting November 1, all international travelers, including those from anywhere in the United States, are welcome to visit Costa Rica—and neither a quarantine period nor a negative…

Article / Passportable

The Word Is Out: Language Museum Opens in D.C.

UPDATE, October 23, 2020: Originally scheduled to open in the spring of 2020, the Planet Word language museum in Washington, D.C., began welcoming visitors on Thursday, October 22,…

Article / Passportable

Dingle, Ireland's Beloved Dolphin, Fungie, Has Disappeared

Ireland may be the land of leprechauns, banshees, and merrows, but its most magical being was real, and it swam in the waters off County Kerry. In 1984, a lone, bottleneck dolphin was…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

In a Trial to Rescue Travel, Canada to Test International Arrivals at One Airport

The multibillion-dollar problem for the travel industry right now is how travel will get back to normal. For many, the solution could be summed up in three words: easily accessible…

Article / Passportable

WATCH: Rare Waterfalls Appear All Over Australia's Uluru

Visitors at Uluru in Australia's Northern Territory got a rare treat this week: the sight of waterfalls tumbling over the surface of the red sandstone monolith. That only happens when…

Article / Slideshows

The Frommer's Gift Guide for Road Trips

The ways we wander might have shifted in 2020, but our passion to see new places has not diminished. And if anything, our urge to share our travels with the people we love has only…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Southwest Airlines to Start Filling Every Seat Again, Despite Covid

Just in time for the holidays, Southwest Airlines announced it will no longer restrict ticket sales for flights, which will result in middle seats being occupied on full…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Pauline Frommer: Thanks to 2020, Airbnb Isn't Always the Cheapest Option Anymore

The conventional wisdom used to be you’d save money by renting an Airbnb rather than booking a hotel room. That now needs to be revised in yet another reversal brought by the…

Article / Passportable

Can You Find the Secret Location of Mississippi’s Tiniest Museum?

Here's all you'll get in the way of an address for a new museum in Hattiesburg, Mississippi: It's in an alley downtown. Billed as the state's tiniest showcase for collections "of all…

Article / Passportable

Bid for a Piece of Hotel History in the Waldorf Astoria Auction

Midtown Manhattan's famed Waldorf Astoria New York (301 Park Ave.) closed for renovations in 2017. When the 47-floor building's hotel rooms and residences finally reopen in 2022,…

Article / Slideshows

The Hotels Where Big TV Shows and Sports Quarantined for Their Pandemic Seasons

Producing entertainment during the Covid-19 pandemic has required Herculean ingenuity. But fortunately, at the same moment big hotels experienced downturns and shutdowns, major…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Is This The Strongest Proof Yet Flying Is Safe? See These New Military-Grade Tests

If you ran an airline in 2020, how would you prove to the public that flying in your planes is safe? It's a tricky proposition in an age of document dumps, disinformation, and fake…

Article / Passportable

The World’s Longest Suspension Bridge Has a See-Through Walkway

The world's longest pedestrian suspension bridge will soon be getting visitors' spines tingling, hearts pounding, and regrets overflowing above a gorge in Portugal. Held up by steel…

Article / Passportable

Tourist Returns "Cursed" Artifacts She Stole from Pompeii

The Brady Bunch tried to warn you. As the wholesome blended family learned in the sitcom's Hawaii episodes, you can't just grab any ancient artifact you find on vacation. The thing…