Layoffs, salary cutbacks, and worries about the economy are making a lot of people re-think those summer vacations.

But, that doesn’t mean you don’t really need – or deserve – a break.

And if you can convince a panel of judges that you’re the person in the United States or Canada who’s the most deserving of a week-long summer vacation, then you just might get that vacation for free.

How?  The folks at HomeAway (they do vacation rentals  around the world) are sponsoring a contest for a $10,000 vacation getaway.   Two runners up will each get a $5,000 trip.

Suddenly feeling very deserving of a vacation?  I sure am!

To enter: submit short text, video or photo entry to www.SaveOurSummerVacation.com explaining why you deserve to have your summer vacation saved.

The contest deadline is July 2, 2009. The general public gets to vote on the entries through July 16, 2009.  A panel of judges will then select the winners. And the winners will be announced on or around July 28, 2009.

Just in time for a summer vacation.

Good luck!

Tags: Free stuff, Fun stuff
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Here’s a promotion that I hope catches on elsewhere:

Through the rest of 2009, travelers passing through Rome, Milan or Brussels airports can now download audiobooks for free.

The promotion is courtesy of the Oneworld airline alliance (American Airlines, British Airways and others) and the Oneworld Travel Library.

The library has about 40 titles and includes fiction, business, culture and travel in English, Dutch, French, and Italian. Right now the choices include Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons, Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father, Deepak Chopra’s Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, and other current titles.

To access the library, you’ll need a laptop, smartphone, PDA or some other wireless-enabled device and access to the Wi- Fi network in one of the library-airports.  Once you download a book, you’ll have 14 days to read it.

For more information, and to reserve your books, visit the Oneworld library.

Tags: American Airlines, Free stuff, Rome's Leonardo Da Vinci -Fiumicino Airprot, airport shopping
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Heading to the airport this holiday weekend? Check to make sure you’re up on the latest changes.

Shoes out of the bin, buddy!

Like what? Well, the TSA has decided that you still need to take off your shoes and send them through the X-ray machine, but now those shoes need to ride on the belt on their own, outside of the plastic bin.  Got that?

There are other changes to make note of. Some are good, some are bad and, as I outlined in my Well Mannered Traveler column this week on MSNBC.com, some are just plain wacky.  Here’s what I mean:

No Kiss ‘n Drop tax; for now

In April, London’s Luton Airport announced that it would soon be charging a fee for the privilege of dropping passengers off outside the terminal. That “Kiss ‘n Fly” tax is now on hold.

(O’Hare Airport has a Kiss n’ Fly drop-off spot with a free shuttle)

Ryanair’s “let just say everyone’s fat” tax

Ryanair was going to institute a large-passenger charge, but instead decided to just go ahead and charge everyone a new fee.  Print out your boarding pass before you go to the airport and you’ll pay a fee of about $5.  Forget to print out your boarding pass before you get to the airport and pay a much fatter fee of close to $60.  Ouch.

Loads of reasons to lighten your load

You’ll soon pay an extra fee on United and US Airways if you don’t go on-line and pre-pay the charge to check your luggage.  And Air Jamaica will soon begin taking your money for checking a second bag, but in return only promise to deliver it within seven days.

Pillows, snacks, fee-waivers, refunds, and perhaps a marriage proposal

There’s  some good news. Experts predict that on-line travel booking agencies will continue to waive booking fees. Air Canada may bring free pillows back.  And JetBlue is extending the “Lose your job, get your money back” program through the end of the year.

There’s more.  To find out about matchmaking flights and on-board weddings, see my Well Mannered Traveler column this week on MSNBC.com.

Tags: Air Canada, Air Jamaica, Air travel, Airline amenities, Free stuff, JetBlue, JetBlue Airways, US Airways, United Airlines
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During May, the Air France in-flight entertainment system (my favorite channel: language lessons) is showing films chosen as past winners of the Cannes Film Festival.

Through August 15^th, 2009, the airline is also having a photography competition and is asking people to send in photographs on the theme “Air France livery: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow“.

I know the contest is open to everyone, but I can’t tell you much more than that because so far I’ve only found instructions written in French. I can tell you, though, that the top prize is a Breitling watch worth €3,800 (about US $5,100) and that other prizes include Air France flights and Airbus A380 simulator experiences.

Tags: Air France, Free stuff, Fun stuff, Uncategorized, in-flight entertainment
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Wish you could drive a cool car or fly to some cool places? Then stop playing solitaire on your computer and enter some of these contests:

Through June 29, 2009, American Airlines is running a “Capture the Flagship Experience” game.   Top winner gets two round-trip Business Class tickets to anywhere American flies in Europe, Asia or South America and a HD video camera.  21 first place prizes come from this list:  membership to the airline’s club, 50,000 AAdvantage miles or Bose headphones.

Southwest Airlines is giving away a family four-pack of airline tickets to any destination the airline serves.  To enter: let them know you’ve posted one of the airline’s “My Peanut and I Fly Southwest” buttons  on your blog, Facebook profile, and/or other social media sites. Contest ends May 31, 2009.

Each month through August, 2009, the folks at Airport Parking Reservations.com are giving away prizes (cameras, cashmere travel pillows and solar chargers) for the most creative parking lot photos. (And if you have a photo of the person who scratched my car at an airport parking lot in Seattle, let me know….)

And, for those who don’t have cool cars to take pictures of, the folks at Frankfurt Airport are giving away an Alfa Romero Spider. Go on a virtual shopping spree before May 31, 2009 to get a chance to enter.

Good luck! Let me know if you win!

Tags: Air travel, Airport parking, American Airlines, Frankfurt Airport, Free stuff, Southwest Airlines, airline contest, airport contest, airport food
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Back in 1908, Anna Jarvis probably didn’t have pie-throwing and roller-coaster rides in mind when she began her quest to make the second Sunday in May a day for honoring our mothers.

And she probably didn’t think going into debt for a rushed Mother’s Day brunch should end up being part of the deal.

So I bet she’d enjoy knowing about some of the cheap, offbeat and totally fun Mother’s Day offers and activities I found this week for my Well-Mannered Traveler Column on MSNBC.com.

For example, participating TCBY shops are offering moms a free cup or cone on Mother’s Day and T.G.I. Friday’s restaurants will give mom a free dessert if you buy her an entrée. Moms get free carnations at Jacksonsville International Airport  and a free round of miniature golf in Philadelphia. And everyone gets free admission at 17 museums in the San Francisco Bay area. Here are some other spots around the country offering free, fun stuff for mom.

Tags: Free stuff
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Several airports around the country will be marking Earth Day on Wednesday, April 22 with free gifts for travelers.

At Denver International Airport (DEN) they’ll be distributing these reusable grocery shopping bags to passengers in the (main) Jeppesen Terminal.

At Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), more than two dozen kids from the East Boston YMCA will join airport staff to greet arriving passengers with  free plant-able postcards embedded with wildflowers.

“We have lots more postcards than we have arriving passengers that day, so we’ll be handing these out for a few days,” says an airport spokesperson.

And at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, (SEA) they’ll be having a full-fledged Earth Day Fair complete with information booths about local sustainability projects, examples of green products, samples of organic food, and presentations about recycling everything from food scraps to building materials. The fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Sea-Tac Airport in the Gina Marie Lindsey Arrivals Hall.

Tags: Airport amenities, Boston Logan International Airport, Denver International Airport, Free stuff, Fun stuff, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
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At last night’s charter meeting of SCOOT (Seattle Consortium of Online Travel) Seattle folks were jumping with joy when an Alaska Airlines’ rep announced that the airline would be picking up the Wi-Fi tab at Sea-Tac airport for the next few months.

Seems she may have just been swept up in the excitement of the moment, because today Tech Flash is reporting that, no, there will not be free Wi-Fi at SEA  for the next few months.  Instead, Alaska will be sponsoring free Wi-Fi at Oakland International Airport from April 13th through July 5, 2009.

Tags: Airport amenities, Alaska Airlines, Free stuff, Oakland International Airport, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
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There are plenty of worthwhile things to spend money on in London, including theater tickets, fine meals, shopping and a ride on the London Eye or in an iconic black cab. But there are also loads of attractions, museums and special sights that are very inexpensive and many where admission doesn’t cost a penny.

Two, totally-free hidden gems I recently discovered: The Wellcome Collection and the Grant Museum of Zoology, pretty much around the corner from each other.

The Wellcome Collection has oodles of offbeat health and medicine-related objects on display, including shrunken heads, a brass corset, antique artificial limbs and Napoleon Bonaparte’s toothbrush.

The Grant Museum of Zoology is jam-packed with skeletons, fluid-preserved specimens ranging from tiny fish to giant reptiles, and all manner of taxidermied animals, including this cute elephant shrew.

For more cheap, cool places to spend your time in London, see my article posted today on MSNBC.com.

Tags: Free stuff, Museums- London
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On Tuesday, April 7th, Red Sox fans willing to sing a version of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at Boston Logan Airport will have a chance to win prizes, impress other travelers, or simply make fools of themselves.  You – and Wally the Green Monster – can help decide the winners.

The contest is part of the opening celebrations for Jerry Remy’s Sports Bar and Grill, located pre-security in Terminal C.  (Remy is Red Sox Nation President and Boston Red Sox Sportscaster).  The first place winner will receive a Red Sox road game package that includes airfare, hotel stay, and tickets to see the Red Sox vs. the Chicago White Sox in Chicago on Labor Day Weekend.

The second place winner will get to bring a guest and sit in the broadcast booth alongside Jerry Remy during a Red Sox home game. The third place winner will get a $50 gift certificate to Jerry Remy’s Sports Bar & Grill.

Don’t want to sing? Wally the Green Monster will be taking photographs with fans and Remy will be signing scorecards from the 2007 World Series. They’ll also be raffling off Red Sox memorabilia.

The “Take me out to the airport” singing contest takes place Tuesday April 7, 2009 between noon and 2 pm at Jerry Remy’s Sports Bar and Grill, located pre-security in Terminal C at Boston Logan Airport.

Tags: Airport amenities, Boston Logan International Airport, Free stuff, Uncategorized, airport food
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