What’s new in Great Britain and Ireland in 2010

A key to experiencing Great Britain and Ireland smartly in 2010 is to embrace them not as “ye olde” destinations but as modern ones. London is busily preparing for the 2012 Olympic Games, developing its Olympic Park site in the eastern part of the city. The con artists are getting warmed up for the big [...]

4 secrets for upgrading your next vacation travel

Think this is bad? It could get worse. Much worse. Travel is still at the beginning of its long descent into mediocrity. Airlines seem to invent new surcharges and passenger-hostile rules every week. Hotels aren’t far behind. Just the mention of the word “customer service” in the back office can be enough to evoke cackles [...]

Smart travel for road warriors

With the economy on the uptick, businesses are re-strategizing and that means more meetings. It’s likely that more business professionals will be packing their bags and hitting the road this year than last. In a recent U.S. Travel Association Study, researchers found that more than 75 percent of customers prefer in-person meetings, and an overwhelming [...]

10 great destinations that don’t deserve their bad reputations

Travel destinations are a lot like high school social cliques: Most of what outsiders know about them is hearsay. The only way to discover what they’re really like is to go see for yourself, says Chuck Thompson. Which is what the freelance travel writer set out to do in researching his new book, To Hellholes [...]

Affinity travel trips cater to traveler’s passions

What’s your passion? Whether it’s Zumba or food, wine tasting or volleyball, exotic locales or family reunions, there’s likely a vacation that caters to it. Travel industry experts say these so-called affinity tours are as fast growing as they are far flung. “It’s really a specialized week that we offer to customers,” said Kate Moeller [...]

Will airlines and passengers call a truce?

When weather forecasters predicted severe winter storms across the country in the last few weeks, airlines sent their customers a steady stream of e-mail and text messages, giving them a chance to change their itineraries ahead of the bad weather. Those who took advantage of the waivers had what has become a rare consolation in [...]

Trains, buses steal gold for Vancouver

Vancouver’s driverless trains have been steady winners at the Winter Olympics during which passengers have poured on to a transit system that has stretched way beyond expected capacity but not snapped. Vancouver’s Translink local transit system says usage has averaged 1.6 million people a day over the Games so far, more than twice the normal [...]