Obama heading to Hawaii for family vacation

President-elect Barack Obama, his wife, Michelle, and their two daughters will spend the holidays in the Hawaiian islands, trading frozen Lake Michigan for warmer waters. They are planning a beachside vacation with friends at one of Oahu’s most exclusive properties. Obama last visited Hawaii in October to see his ailing grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham. Dunham died at the age of 86 on Nov.... [Read more]

Alpine resorts nervous as recession reaching peaks

The past few Alpine ski seasons have melted away under the specter of global warming, as balmy conditions raised fears about the future of Europe’s fabled winter resorts. This year, the Alps have been blessed with abundant snow, bright skies, and perfect powder, but there’s little cheer as resorts feel the pinch from a new threat: the global financial crisis. Economic gloom and fluctuating... [Read more]

Cuban tourism surges as rest of Caribbean stalls

Cuba’s vacation industry has remained as hot as the tropical sun here, even as the world economic crisis sparks cancellations and layoffs elsewhere in the Caribbean. The communist country says it’s booked solid through December and expects a record 2.34 million visitors this year — largely because global financial woes have so far been softer on Canada, its top source of visitors. Luck... [Read more]

Books that make you feel better about staying home

Feeling bad that you can’t afford a vacation? Travel books with titles like “Don’t Go There!” and “I Should Have Stayed Home” may make you feel better. For $15 or so, you’ll get a laugh out of vacation horrors that you’ll be happy to miss. Other travel books out this year include coffee-table beauties — big books with luscious photos about places most... [Read more]

Thanks to the flat economy, travel deals abound.

Vacation, tours, cruises, Hawaii — they’re all within reach this fall and winter. The stock market is swooning. The economy is wobbling. An election is pending. The future is foggy. Sounds like a great time to take a vacation. What better way to relieve stress? In fact, tourists who scrape up the cash this fall and winter will find some of the best bargains since the Sept. 11 terrorist... [Read more]

Leisure Living: Prices holding up in ski areas

Ski season’s coming, and with it the traditional flurry of sales in second-home markets in mountain resort towns in the West. Locals are hoping this season reverses the downhill slide in sales caused by the national housing recession and tight credit markets, which mean even higher interest rates for buyers who don’t use a home year-round. Sales in several Rocky Mountain resort towns are... [Read more]

Need a break? Here’s how to get more vacation time

When family rights advocate John De Graff started doing some historical research, he came across a shocking discovery — that medieval European peasants had more vacation time than modern American office workers. De Graff, the national coordinator of Take Back Your Time Day, based his figures on the number of religious holidays peasants took off to eat, drink, and spend time with their families, and... [Read more]