Instead we scrimp and save and enter sweepstakes that award travel as prizes.

Here are two contests to keep those fantasies alive.

Source: The A.G. Spalding Baseball Collection, New York Public Library

Delta Air Lines, which sponsors 10 MLB teams, has launched the “Delta Travelist” contest, which invites fans to submit videos describing their ultimate baseball dream.

The airline will select “the most interesting, creative video” and award a prize that includes airfare, hotel, game day tickets and other perks for the winner and a guest.

Enter at http://www.facebook.com/delta. The deadline is May 11.

If baseball is not your thing, but jazz singer Michael Bublé is, then put your name in the hat for an American Airlines’ Five Star Smoothness contest offering a prize of a VIP trip to Los Angeles complete with a VIP meet-and-greet with Bublé and a $2,000 American Express® gift card that can be used for hotel accommodations, dining and shopping.

Deadline: June 11, 2012. Register at: www.aa.com/buble.

Prize: First Class tickets to Los Angeles (LAX); Five Star Service for two; an exclusive, VIP gathering with Michael Bublé; and a $2,000 American Express^® gift card to be applied toward hotel, dining, shopping and more.

To promote their flights to Switzerland from JFK and Newark Liberty Airport, Switzerland Tourism and Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) have transformed a subway shuttle train into a Swiss journey by putting Swiss imagery on the inside and the outside of an S shuttle car running between New York City’s Grand Central Station and Times Square.

That’s the shortest regular service in the New York subway system, by the way, traveling 0.8 miles in one minute.

You can pretend you’re flying to Switzerland while riding in this subway car or you can go there for real by winning an online contest.

Through May 12, the airline is offering weekly opportunities to win airline tickets and other prizes. Find out more  here.

Frontier Airlines, which has pictures of critters on more than 60 of its airplanes, is adding one more.

Eighteen animals – including Doris the Chicken, Melvin the Turtle and Doug the Dung Beetle – are in the running and the winner will the animal (or insect) that receives the most votes.

“Auditions” are on now through April 7 at FrontierAirlines.com. Voting on the three finalists will take place April 9-15.  The winner will be announced at the end of April.

Voting is fun, but also rewarding:

Anyone who votes for their favorite ‘spokesanimal’ will receive an email with a discount offer on future Frontier travel and be entered to win up to $2,500 in Frontier Fly Bucks. On its Facebook page, the airline is also giving away prizes that include the new iPad, Kindle Fire and (more) Frontier Fly Bucks.

The ballot includes:

Doris the Chicken
Vladimir the Bat
Tina the Grebe
Doug the Dung Beetle
Enrique the Tree Frog
Polly the Parrot
Paula the Pig
Ralph the Ram
Alivina the Owl
Samson the Sloth
Melvin the Turtle
Chloe the Chipmunk
Cammie the Cow
Joanne the Giraffe
Fred the Walrus
Duke the Arctic Dog
Will & Hill the Prairie Dogs
Mario the Lizard

The folks at Kansas City International Airport are pretty excited that Alaska Airlines has started service to Seattle. So excited that they’re having a contest to give away two round-trip tickets on Alaska Airlines between there and Seattle, Portland, Vancouver or Anchorage. Enter here. Deadline: March 21, 2012.

As long as you’re entering contests, enter this American Airlines contest for a trip to Napa Valley, New York or Paris. It looks like you need to buy a ticket to enter, but if you go to this page, you’ll find an alternate no-purchase-necessary option.

The email I received about the promotion promised a once-in-lifetime experience, but on Friday a planeload of passengers got an unwelcome, once in a lifetime experience when a flight attendant had a serious meltdown before the flight took off.

Here’s a TV news story about the event.

The flight attendant is getting medical attention and we hope she’ll be OK. But, interestingly enough, I received an email today from someone who said he was on another American Airlines flight a while back where a flight attendant was exhibiting the same sort of behavior.

“On my flight we were also told the plane could go down, people will and do die of heart attacks, and as we would be travelling over water we could drown when the plane goes down. It was not the most pleasant trip I have ever taken because there was some concern the flight attendant could do something really stupid in mid-air, such as open the cabin door. Suffice to stay I remained on alert the entire flight time.”

It’s impossible to tell yet if this is the same flight attendant, but pretty scary either way…

The app is free and offers the option of having a meal delivered to you right at the gate. You can also use the app to order something ahead of time and pick it up once you’re at the airport.

The service has already been rolled out at JFK and Minneapolis-St. Paul International airports and, just in time for the holiday travel season, is available at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport where, so far, the Tuscany Café and Chili’s Too! In Terminal 1, Blackhawks Restaurant & Bar in Terminal 2 and Wolfgang Puck Café and Chili’s Too!, in Terminal 3, are participating.

During the busy Thanksgiving travel days, Los Angeles International Airport(LAX) is hoping to create a N.I.C.E. experience and “neutralize irritations customers experience. ” Instead of handing out parking citations or warnings, the officers will hand out information with alternative parking options and coupons for a free cup of coffee.

And, at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), there’s a turkey-themed Twitter and Foursquare contest scheduled for November 21-23. @flySFO will tweet pictures of Pardon the turkey at different locations at the airport and all you have to do is guess where he is. Prizes include an iPad and other goodies. Find more details here.

It’s hard to read travel stories about exotic places like, say, Chicago, if you can’t quite swing the cash for airfare and a swanky hotel.

That’s why, even though I never win, I’m in favor of entering contests that award – someone – free travel.

Because I learned early on that you can’t win if you don’t play.

The upscale Radisson Blu Aqua, Chicago open its doors on November 1 and to celebrate the first Radisson Blu in the U.S., Club Carlson is having an Ultimate Getaway Giveaway.

Each week during the eight week sweepstakes, which runs December 16, Club Carlson members will have an opportunity to win a two-night stay at the new Radisson Blu Aqua, Chicago, airfare for two and $2,500 in spending cash. One grand prize winner will receive a five-night getaway at any Carlson hotel worldwide, airfare for two and $10,000 in spending cash.

You’ll need to be Club Carlson member to enter, but membership in that club is free.

In Victoria, B.C., home to one of my favorite museums – the Royal B.C. Museum –  the Hotel Grand Pacific has rolled out a “pay what you want” promotion.

From October 27 through November 11, the hotel is asking prospective guests to visit the contest site, answer some questions about what they’re looking for in a hotel and make an offer for a night’s stay.

Ten rooms for each night between October 28 and December 23 will be available at a “Pay What You Want” rate, on a first come, first served basis.

Good luck! And if you win, please send a souvenir.

Thursday evening LAN airlines kicked off a campaign to promote its South American destinations in a really fun way: it surprised about 200 people dining at Nuela restaurant in New York City  with vouchers for free roundtrip tickets to destinations in Ecuador, Peru, Chile, or Argentina.

Lucky them!

And, maybe, lucky you.

Through October 31, the airline will be giving away more tickets to South America via a Twitter contest.

Here’s how to enter

If you’re fan of the Angry Birds game, you have until September 12, 2011, to enter Finnair’s Angry Birds Asian Challenge. Eight fans will get to play the popular game on a special flight from Helsinki to Singapore on September 20, 2011on board the airline’s Angry Birds-branded Airbus A340.  Enter Finnair’s Angry Birds contest here.

And you have until September 16, 2011 to enter a contest offered by McCarran International Airport, Spirit Airlines and Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau.

In the Spirit of Hollywood Sweepstakes, contestants have a chance to win two different prize packages that include round trip air fare from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, hotel accommodations and entertainment.

Enter the Tinseltown Tag-Along Tour contest here and enter the Silver Screens, Screams for Four contest here.

Whether sightseeing or heading down the road to visit a new town, finding a clean place to “go” when you’re on the go can be a traveler’s most urgent challenge.

That’s why word gets around when a hotel, restaurant, museum, ballpark or other venue goes out of its way to provide bathrooms that are not just sanitary, but distinctive, inviting and somewhat eccentric.

There’s even an annual award for America’s Best Restroom. For this year’s choice, people can cast their vote online through Sept. 19.

The contest is hosted by bathroom supply company Cintas Corp., which gathers restroom recommendations through the year and then invites the public to help flush out the best loo in the land from a list of 10 finalists.

The 2010 winner was The Fountain on Locust, a vintage ice-cream parlor in St. Louis, Mo., where the bathrooms have hand-painted murals, luxury fixtures and designer mirrors.

This year’s nominees include the dragon- and gargoyle-themed restrooms at the Castello Di Amorosa Winery in Calistoga, Calif., and the loos at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel in Arlington, Va., where bird silhouettes on the mirrors light up when the faucets are turned on.

Restrooms on the ground floor of Chicago’s Field Museum have also been nominated. “They’re large and family friendly, with changing stations and sinks set low enough for kids to easily wash their hands,” said museum spokeswoman Nancy O’Shea. “Our housekeeping staff does a great job of keeping those restrooms clean, and we are just delighted to be in the running.”

Other nominees this year include the restrooms at the Main Street Casino in Las Vegas, where urinals hang on a graffiti-covered slab of the Berlin Wall, and Ninja New York, a restaurant where the décor is 15th-century Japan (complete with ninja-dressed wait staff), but the up-to-date restrooms sport built-in seat warmers, water sprayers, deodorizers and driers for the derriere.

There’s even a posh portable potty on the list. Created for President Obama’s 2009 inauguration-day festivities, Don’s Johns DJ5000LX Presidential Luxury Restroom Trailer has granite counters and shelves, heat and air conditioning, an audio system and, for those waiting their turn, a 37-inch exterior-mounted flat screen TV. It’s available for rent by any organization interested in an outstanding outhouse.

(This story first appeared on msnbc.com’s Overhead Bin)

I wasn’t eligible to enter but, I admit it, I felt a twinge of jealously when I learned that Jaeger Mah, who described himself in his entry video as “the Anderson Cooper of YVR,” had won the contest.

Mah moves into the airport on August 17th, 2011. He’ll have a nice room at the on-site Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel and, armed with a camera and editing equipment, he’ll spend 80 days finding stories and sharing them with the public on www.liveatyvr.ca, Facebook and on Twitter.

I plan to interview Mah before he starts his airport stint and check in with him during his adventure.

Here’s his winning video.