U.S. National Park Fees Leap Higher Overnight
Posted on 06/01/2018, 1:00 PM
When Americans woke up this morning (June 1), they discovered it would cost them a lot more to enter their national parks. Nearly all the major parks hiked their entry rates by a hefty $5. Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands (pictured), Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, Mount Rainier, Olympic, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Zion—all of them, and many more, saw their prices jump $5, regardless of whether it's for a vehicl...
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...
Bad News for the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Posted on 05/28/2018, 8:45 AM
Pearl Harbor's world-famous memorial (pictured above) that straddles the submerged wreck of the USS Arizona has been closed indefinitely. The trouble began May 6, when cracks were discovered in its structure at a point where it meets the loading ramp from its boat dock. Repairs were carried out, but hours after the platform reopened on May 23, the fissures were seen again, which indicated a more s...
Is it Safe to Travel to Hawaii in the Coming Months? What Travelers Need to Know
Posted on 05/16/2018, 6:00 PM
Updated May 26 It has been a year of dramatic news stories, but few can top the volcanic eruptions that continue to devastate portions of Hawaii’s Big Island. In just the last few weeks, entire communities have been forced to evacuate due to fissures belching lava, a flow that has destroyed some 40 structures at last count. Needless to say, now is not the time to head to the affected areas in th...
Famous Hawaiian Mule Ride Closed Indefinitely
Posted on 04/30/2018, 9:45 PM
One of the most popular tourism experiences in Hawaii has shut down, possibly for good. Travel Weekly reports that the operators of the long-running mule rides down the cliffs of Molokai have been evicted from the location where they stable their animals and organize riders for the daylong descent to Kalaupapa National Historical Park some 2,000 feet below. That idyllic seaside spot was once a...
Arthur Frommer: An Enemy of Our U.S. National Parks is Now in Charge of Them
Posted on 03/26/2018, 1:15 PM
Of all the members of the Trump cabinet, the one with the most direct control of travel developments is the Secretary of the Interior, one Ryan Zinke. His agency is in direct charge of our U.S. national parks and can affect their development. Rather, however, than cherish and protect those parks, Zinke is obviously hell-bent on starving and diminishing them. He is a rather unusua...
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...
For Tourists, This Is the Last Straw!
Posted on 03/09/2018, 12:00 AM
Last call! More and more, you're going to have to go without drinking straws. Single-use plastic straws are distinctly unkind to wildlife. Fresh straws choke animals. Then each straw is said to take longer than 200 years to break down, and all the while, it disintegrates into ever-smaller and smaller bits that are eaten by small animals, fish, and even plankton. The plastic bits eventually make it...
Most Visited U.S. National Parks and Monuments in 2017
Posted on 03/05/2018, 10:45 PM
The National Park Service (NPS) has released its visitor numbers for 2017. A total of 330,882,751 people spent time at American national parks, monuments, and other sites deemed worthy of federal protection. As the NPS points out, that figure is only a smidge lower than the record-setting 330,971,689 visits the agency logged in 2016—the year of its highly touted 100th birthday. The Blue Ridge ...
How Not to Do Yosemite in Winter
Posted on 02/20/2018, 9:00 AM
I sometimes think my real job as a travel writer is to be an idiot. It's my job to make mistakes and then report on them so that my readers can have fun, safe, and error-free vacations. This week, I really succeeded: I almost died twice. I just left Yosemite National Park in California. I had thought this column would be about the wonders of Yosemite in winter. And while it is wondrous, the famo...
Arthur Frommer: My Choices for the 10 Most Memorable Destinations
Posted on 02/05/2018, 3:30 PM
As a professional travel writer, I was required to travel to far more destinations than the average American does. In my youthful years, I literally lived on an airplane, in constant motion, often traveling to several countries each week. And I loved every bit of that life—especially these 10 particular destinations. Here, based on that experience, are my choices of the world’s 10 most mem...
The Travel Services That Close in a U.S. Government Shutdown
Posted on 01/19/2018, 11:00 AM
As the wheels of Washington threaten to grind to a halt yet again, another United States federal government shutdown is a concern. Travel, by and large, is considered a "non-essential" function—and non-essential functions either dim or go dark. Generally speaking, here's what is not available during a federal government shutdown: Passport services (may be limited) Visa processing N...
Now Flying: A Zip Line Over the Grand Canyon
Posted on 01/18/2018, 9:00 AM
A brand-new zip line has opened on a spur of the Grand Canyon, sending harnessed thrill seekers flying 1,000 feet over the earth. The Zip Line at Grand Canyon West near Peach Springs, Arizona, actually comprises two zip lines—one that's 1,100 feet long, another that's 2,100 feet long—to churn up adrenaline as passengers hurtle up to 45 miles an hour past Quartermaster Canyon. It's the perfect add...
U.S. Civil Rights Trail Links Dozens of Historic Sites in 14 States
Posted on 01/16/2018, 11:00 PM
Fourteen states, covering a chunk of the U.S. from Delaware to Kansas, are joining together to promote tourism to more than 100 landmarks crucial to the struggle for civil rights. The U.S. Civil Rights Trail is a first-of-its-kind effort by tourism officials to expand smaller state programs, such as the Mississippi Freedom Trail, to cover a multi-state region predominantly in the South, the setti...
Days When You Can Visit U.S. National Parks for Free in 2018
Posted on 01/04/2018, 9:00 AM
Each year, the National Park system throws open its gates for a few days and spreads the good word by admitting everyone without charging entry fees. It's a great way for low-income families, students, and seniors to experience the parks, and hundreds of thousands of Americans take advantage of the invitation annually. The Department of the Interior has announced the free days for 2018—and they'v...
A Cherished National Monument Was Just Reduced by 85%—Is a National Park Next?
Posted on 01/02/2018, 12:00 AM
On a recent trip to Utah, on which he was accompanied by Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, President Donald Trump reduced the acreage of the Bears Ears National Monument by 85% and reduced the size of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument by half. For some idea of the scale of that reduction, the elimination of land from Bears Ears is equivalent to the size of the Grand Teton National Park. ...
Arthur Frommer's Travel Resolutions for the New Year
Posted on 12/28/2017, 12:00 AM
Because they often seek to regulate all of human activity, I find most New Year’s Resolutions to be rather unsatisfying. Here’s an attempt to limit these rules to the world of travel, which—to me—is badly in need of a little moralizing at this moment in our history. So here goes. In the year ahead: I shall fight, as a citizen and as a voter, to preserve the right of every American...
