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...
National Veterans Memorial and Museum Opens in Columbus, Ohio
Posted on 10/29/2018, 3:00 PM
More than 40 million people have served in the U.S. armed forces. They've been honored with monuments, memorials, and museums in Washington, D.C., across the country, and even around the world (as at the D-Day Beaches in Normandy, France). But those sites focus on individual conflicts or branches of the military. The new National Veterans Memorial and Museum (NVMM), which opened in downtown Colum...
Exult in the Pleasures of Solo Travel with This Distinguished Book
Posted on 08/29/2018, 6:00 AM
It isn’t often that a newspaper reporter publishes a truly distinguished book about the sensations of solitary travel, the rewarding emotions you feel when abroad by yourself in a strange city. Yet that is the achievement of Stephanie Rosenbloom of The New York Times in her recently published Alone Time. Rosenbloom, a staff columnist for the Times, is known for her extremely lucid and help...
$999 for a Week in Vietnam, Including Air! Outstanding, Writes Arthur Frommer
Posted on 08/24/2018, 9:00 AM
To enjoy a travel miracle—a memorable tour to an exotic nation, for less than the cost of airfare alone—is to lend excitement to life. Several months ago, we described an awesome Chinese-American named Wilson Wu who operates two-week tours of Vietnam for as little as $1,599 per person, including round-trip air from the U.S. West Coast. Now, the same Mr. Wu, through his company called World Sp...
Arthur Frommer: I Love This Canadian Program of Literary Discussions and Tours
Posted on 08/16/2018, 2:00 PM
Every year, thousands of English-speaking adults gather at a number of famous universities to engage for a July week or two in discussion of the great books or great issues. Led by a faculty member of these schools, participants pursue a “learning vacation” at places like Oxford and Cambridge in England, Cornell in upstate New York, or St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. These one-w...
Arthur Frommer: This Is Surely the Year's Greatest Travel Bargain!
Posted on 06/28/2018, 12:00 AM
About a dozen years ago, a tour operator called China Spree, headed by a Chinese-American expert, astonished the travel world by charging only $999 for a one-week stay in Beijing including air fare from America (or $100 more for one week in Beijing and Shanghai) and quality accommodations. Then, the founder of China Spree was able to accomplish those travel wonders by negotiating rock-bottom pr...
As the Average Age of Europe River Cruise Guests Declines, Boats Adapt to Youth
Posted on 05/30/2018, 4:45 PM
In the early days of European river cruises, the average age of passengers caused your grandparents to seem young. Without exaggeration, most cruisers were in their seventies, and they gloried in escorted group motorcoach tours and in multi-seat dining tables where they could socialize with a number of other elderly cruisers. That’s no longer the case. With European river cruises appealing ...
Thanks (and No Thanks) for the Memories, Bob Hope
Posted on 05/21/2018, 12:00 AM
The National World War II Museum in New Orleans—truly one of the best, most thorough, and well-funded historic museums in the United States, and deeply underrated—is adding a special new exhibition through the end of 2018 and into early 2019. It's all about Bob Hope, the comic megastar whose association with the USO was a defining feature of both that war and his career. The exhibition, So Ready f...
Arthur Frommer: Some Little-Known Institutions Bring You a Better London
Posted on 04/18/2018, 9:00 PM
Why is it that we turn off our minds when we visit London as tourists? A city of profound intellectual pursuits, the British capital offers exciting mental rewards if we simply take the time to find them. Far removed from Changing the Guard and Piccadilly Circus are at least the following: Free public lectures: Next time you visit any major London museum, ask the attendants fo...
"Millennial" River Cruise Brand No Longer Restricted to Millennials
Posted on 03/12/2018, 5:45 PM
U by Uniworld, a new river cruise brand originally restricted to passengers aged 18 to 40—then 21 to 45—has now dropped upper age limits altogether. When the brand's pair of sleek, all-black ships, dubbed simply the A and the B, launch in April, adults of any age can be on board, even if they have memories of watching Nixon's resignation or the last episode of M*A*S*H. In announcing the change,...
The World’s Most Rewarding Source of Free Homestays Is, and Remains, Servas
Posted on 03/02/2018, 8:45 PM
Organizations come and go that arrange for you to stay free-of-charge in someone else’s home or apartment in the course of your travels. The latest leaders in this effort are Couchsurfing.com and Globalfreeloaders.com, which are sometimes criticized as having grown too large to be effective. But another such organization—USServas.org—is older by far and careful to hand-pick both hosts and ...
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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...
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...
Want a Cannabis Vacation? Now There's a Whole Town for That
Posted on 01/03/2018, 12:00 AM
One day after California, America's most populous state, made recreational cannabis consumption legal, the Los Angeles Times reported on an entire town where getting stoned is the whole point of the joint. It's called Nipton—as in Nipton in the bud. The village was purchased last September by American Green, a publicly traded, Arizona-based cannabis company. Nipton is a speck of a century-old mi...
One Key to a Successful European Vacation Is Planning Several Months Ahead
Posted on 10/10/2017, 12:15 AM
When is it best to begin planning your trip to Europe? Though some of the experts disagree, the majority of them say just after the start of the new year, when airline tickets tend to be priced at their lowest level. The optimum advance period is 120 days (four months), which means that a smart traveler purchases those tickets in January or February for a vacation in May or June. What about a t...
