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Story Archives of 'Travel'
Budget Travel Challenge
By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, September 15, 2009.
Eager airlines have been trimming ticket prices for international flights to entice last-minute travelers. Budget Travel Magazine noticed the trend and decided to challenge writers Mike Kessler and Josh Dean to take advantage of these last-minute low fares.
Mike and Josh had 7 days notice to book an international trip anywhere in the world. The requirements, they had to fly 8 hours and stay 4 nights with a $1,200 budget to cover the flight, food and a place to stay. Mike and Josh tell us how they pulled it off.
Budget Travel: Last-Minute Long-Haul: Tokyo
Budget Travel: Last-Minute Long-Haul: Quito
Associated Press: Airlines Offer Lightest Fall Schedules Since 2001
(Photo by Amy Lopez via Flickr/Creative Commons)
A Voyeur's Vacation
By Virginia Prescott on Monday, August 24, 2009.
Many Americans fell back on tried and true ways to cut down the cost of summer vacations. Some of us stayed closer to home, others bunked with friends, camped in the woods, or splurged on the occasional hotel or motel.
A growing number of families skipped out on these traditional vacations and swapped homes with strangers instead.
Journalist Hanna Rosin handed over her house keys to a French family she found on one of many online home swapping sites. In exchange, Hanna’s family spent two weeks living like locals in Northern France. It’s an odd experiment, one that raises questions of identity and trust. Hanna Rosin joins us from Washington, DC where she’s the founding editor of Slate's women’s site DoubleX.
DoubleX: How to Survive a House Exchange
Boston Globe: Swap, travel, and save
(Photo by Hans Oischinger via Flickr/Creative Commons)
An Eco-Tour de France
By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, July 14, 2009.
Today we celebrate Bastille Day with some alternative perspectives on France.
Viewers the world over are following the Tour de France cycling race as riders make their way up the mountain ranges down the winding passes of France. Lance Armstrong's team Astana is showing some competitive cracks after "le weekend," a punishing ride through the Pyrenees. But today, they are near the city of Limoges in the relatively flat Limousin region.
We’re using our imaginations and guide Dorian Yates, to touch down in near Limoges. Dorian is author of The Green Earth Guide to France, and she’s with us for the Bastille Day version of our Next Green Thing series.
(Photo by digitalmama824 via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Can we bring back train travel?
By EarthTalk on Sunday, July 12, 2009.Staycation Reading
By Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, July 8, 2009.
The word "staycation" joined the lexicon when gas prices surged last summer. The economy has sunk further since then, signaling the year of the daycation, the naycation, and with the prevailing weather, the graycation. So, what to do on your staycation? Chase Binder suggests you take a trip with a book.
Chase is a travel writer and columnist for the Concord Monitor. She’ll be talking about staycation books at Gibson's Bookstore at 7 pm on Thursday, July 9th, and she gave us a preview.
Concord Monitor: You can travel, just don't go away
Plan your affordable getaway with the travel guide Where to Go When
(Photo by ruminatrix via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Taking the Pulse of New Hampshire Tourism
By Laura Knoy on Sunday, July 5, 2009.Tourism is our state’s second largest economic engine; it’s taken hits from the recession and the weather, but the sector has stayed resilient. We’ll look at the state of New Hampshire’s tourism sector and ask how much sunnier skies and a better economy would help it.
Guests
- Dennis Delay, economist and deputy director of the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies
- Alice DeSouza, director of the New Hampshire Office of Travel and Tourism
We'll also hear from
- Jayne O’Connor, president of the White Mountains Attractions Association
- Gregg Pitman, executive director of the New Hampshire Campground Owners Association
- Susan Leidy, Deputy Director of the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester
- TBA
A Road Trip Without Rest Stops
By Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, June 24, 2009.
The affordable automobile and the expansion of the interstate highway system put America on the move. In the 1950s, the road trip became the vacation of choice. Driving became a rite of passage for teenagers, and families packed up their cars to tour the black ribbons of highway in search of freedom and adventure.
For weary travelers, the rest area made all this possible. Many states customized welcome centers with small museums or kiosks to promote the local history and attractions. These stops gave many road warriors an entry point to a part of the country never before seen.
Regional roadside stops have now been kicked to the curb by supersized commerical highway plazas. Emily Badger wrote about how rest stops are losing ground for Good Magazine.
Good Magazine: Rest Stops, R.I.P.
(Photo by daedrius via Flickr/Creative Commons)
All I Got Is This Lousy T-Shirt
By Martha Poole on Monday, May 11, 2009.
Disney World employees are being laid off and bookings at Caribbean resorts are down. This may not be news to you, but some surprising tourist destinations are booming in these troubled times.
Pack Your Hood and Habit
By Jen Nathan on Friday, April 17, 2009.
If you've always wanted to be a monk, but can't commit to all that chastity and poverty, why not vacation at a monastery instead? Former Catholic monasteries in Europe and Latin America are being transformed into plush five-star hotels, complete with spacious cells and modern plumbing.
Kate Hanni and Flyer's Rights
By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, March 10, 2009.
Airline horror stories are so common, they barely even register. Been stuck in an airport for hours on end? Who hasn’t? Luggage got lost? Been there, lived through it. We all have our share of tales, met by groans and sighs of recognition.
But one activist argues that passengers have played the role of the victim for too long. In 2006 Kate Hanni was stranded on the tarmac for over nine hours after her flight to Dallas, Texas was diverted due to bad weather. She was unable to deboard and refused access to food, water, and even the bathroom. Infuriated, Kate formed the Coalition for an Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights, breathing life back into the quest for flyer’s rights legislation initially begun in 1999.
Kate’s aggressiveness has made her an unexpected adversary. Still, she faces a powerful industry that traditionally enjoys broad deregulation and multi-billion dollar government bailouts. Airlines and special interest groups spent a record breaking $30 million in 2008 towards lobbying. A significant cut of this money was meant to defeat a passengers’ bill of rights. But Kate is not fazed by the airline bullies. Last Thursday the bill went before the House of Representatives.
Kate Hanni joins us from Washington, DC to fill us in on where the bill stands and exactly what rights she believes passengers deserve.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Passenger rights part of air bill"
(Photo courtesy redjar via Flickr/Creative Commons)
