Travel tips

Where to fly in 2018

Travel tips,

My year-end story for CNBC was a look forward at places to go in 2018. Here’s a slightly different version of that story.

A great year-end tradition is sitting down with a map and a glass of wine and reviewing the places you have been in the past year and setting out a wish list for where to go when the calendar resets.

The possibilities of where to go next can seem endless – and expensive – but travel experts have loads of suggested destinations and plenty of tips to get you started on next year’s journeys.

  Winning historic US Main Streets

 Eleven cities and towns around the United States are sharing more than $1.5 million in preservation grant funds recently awarded by American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation to preserve unique features of downtown districts large and small.

Head to Casa Grande, AZ to see how the vintage neon sign park is coming along; how renovation is progressing on the historic Formosa Cafe (once a haunt of Hollywood celebrities and organized crime figures) along Route 66 in West Hollywood, CA; and if the recently reopened 1913 Woodward Theater in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood has reconstructed the building’s historic marquee. See the full list of Main Street winners here.

Party in Paris

 During 2018, Paris will host the 10th edition of the Gay Games in August and the iconic Ryder Cup gold tournament in September. March brings the opening of Lafayette Anticipations, a public gathering place in the heart of the Marais that will present a wide variety of events and works of contemporary art, design and fashion. And L’Atelier des Lumières, an immersive digital museum of fine art located in a former iron foundry, is set to open in April with work by major artists projected on the facility’s 26-foot-high walls.

(Takashi Murakami, Kelin’s Pot A, courtesy The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth)

Frolic in Fort Worth

Visitors to Fort Worth get an authentic taste of the Old West twice daily, when Texas cowhands drive a herd of Texas longhorns down Exchange Avenue in in the Stockyards National Historic District. For a taste of Texas-made whiskey and bourbon, visitors can now head to southeast Fort Worth, which is home to Firestone & Robertson Distilling Co.’s new Whiskey Ranch complex. The 112-acre “whiskey wonderland,” thought to be the largest whiskey distillery west of the Mississippi, also has a tavern and a historic 18-hole golf course on site.

In the city’s cultural district, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth will host a Takashi Murakami retrospective titled “The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg,” from June 10 through September 16. The exhibition will feature 50 works by Murakami, who is known for his collaborations with pop icon Kanye West and fashion house Louis Vuitton.

Celebrate the Erie Canal

In New York State, a multi-year celebration marking the bicentennial of the construction of the Erie Canal is underway in cities, towns and villages throughout the Canal corridor, which includes major cities such as Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany.

To celebrate the bicentennial of the completion of the Erie Canal, as well as the 150th anniversary of glassmaking coming to the city of Corning, in May 2018 the Corning Museum of Glass will launch GlassBarge, a canal barge outfitted with glassmaking equipment. The floating glass studio will make a four-month journey from Brooklyn to Buffalo, traveling north on the Hudson River and then westward on the Erie Canal from Albany to Buffalo, making stops in towns and cities along the way to offer free glassblowing demonstrations.

New York’s Finger Lakes region, which reaches from Rochester to Syracuse, has also expanded its Craft Your Adventure Beverage Trail  to include 29 different stops for craft beer, hard ciders and spirits throughout the region.

Be wowed in World Record spots

World’s Tallest Outdoor Rock Climbing Wall_ courtesy Whitney Peak Hotel

 A 19 percent year-over-year increase in domestic bookings suggests to American Express Travel that in 2018 many Americans will be seeking adventures and unique experiences close to home.

That includes visits to World Record hot spots in the U.S. such as the World’s Tallest Outdoor Rock-Climbing Wall in Reno, NV; Bowling Green, KY’s Mammoth Cave National Park, which is home to the world’s longest known cave system; the World’s Largest Living Tree – a giant sequoia named General Sherman – in California’s Sequoia National Park; and the volcanic-formed Crater Lake, OR which, at 1,943 feet, is America’s deepest lake.

Lots more options – and lots more lists

Overview of Paine River and snow-capped Paine Massif in Chile. Photo by Matt Munro.

The editors at a variety of travel sites and publications share extensive lists of hot destinations and editors’ top picks each year. National Geographic offers lots of “Why Go Now” reasons to visit far-flung cities ranging from Harar, Ethiopia and Tbilisi, Georgia to Oaxaca, Mexico and Sydney, Australia in 2018.

And for their Best in Travel 2018 suggestions, the editors at Lonely Planet have put together multiple lists, including the Top 10 Countries, with Chile, South Korea and Portugal at the top the list, and their Top 10 Cities, topped by Seville, Spain and Detroit, Michigan, which is bouncing back after years of decline.

 

Updated list: Travel Deals for Black Friday/Cyber Monday

Deals, Travel tips, , ,

Updated Monday at 9:11 a.m. West Coast Time

Looking for Black Friday/Cyber Monday travel deals? Of course you are!

Check here for what I’ve found so far for airlines deals and here for deals on hotels, rail, travel books and other travel-related options.

I’ll keep updating through Monday – so send me notes about anything that looks really great to you.

 

Thanksgiving travel forecast: challenging for fliers

Holidays, Travel tips, ,

[My story about Thanksgiving travel first appeared on Today.com]

Whether your family will make its way over rivers and through woods or race across town to catch a plane, traveling during the Thanksgiving holiday can be hectic and stressful.

That will certainly be the case this year, as a record 28.5 million holiday travelers are expected to fly on U.S. airlines, an increase of 3 percent over Thanksgiving 2016, according to airline trade group Airlines for America.

A4A pegs the increase to a strong economy and low airfares. But while airlines are adding seats to accommodate the spike in demand, crowded airports, full airplanes and bad weather can easily turn the holiday weekend into a travel turkey.

The data teams at Google Flights and Reward Expert confirm that the busiest days to fly over this holiday will be (no surprise) Friday, November 17 and Wednesday, November 22 – before the official holiday – and Sunday, November 26, when everyone tries to make their way home.

Google Flights expects airports in 10 cities – New York City, Boston, Chicago, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Honolulu – to be the busiest this holiday, while Reward Expert crunched Department of Transportation data from the past five years to predict which airports might give Thanksgiving travelers the most problems this  year.

While the Honolulu, Atlanta, Charlotte Douglas, Southwest Florida and Salt Lake City airports had the best on-time performance during Thanksgiving over the past five years, if you’re traveling through Sacramento, Houston Hobby, Oakland, Newark Liberty or San Francisco airports this year, the statistics says you’re likely to encounter delays.

Here are some tips that might make traveling during this holiday a bit smoother.

  1. Breeze through airport security

Some airport websites now have tools that report wait times at their security checkpoints, but assume lines will be longer than usual. Your best defense: get a good night’s rest and head for the airport extra early.

And keep in mind: If you haven’t yet signed up for TSA PreCheck you may still have access to some form of expedited lanes screening if you are 75 or older, 12 years or younger, in the military or a disability or medical condition.

  1. Pack for success

Thanksgiving is more about family (and eating) than showing off the latest fashions, so lighten up what you bring along and try traveling with just a carry-on.

Flying with food? Turkey (cooked or frozen) is permitted in carry-on and checked bags but check with your airline if brining a live turkey. Cakes, pies, bread, fruits and vegetables are also permitted in carry-ons, but gravy (a liquid) is not. TSA’s “Can I bring..?” tool can offer advice on other items you may want to bring along.

  1. Bring an emergency kit

Flares aren’t necessary (or allowed) in your carry-on bag, but a kit with some emergency supplies in case of a delay are advised.

Bring snacks (good options include fresh or dried fruit, nuts, energy bars and sandwiches), a refillable water bottle, charged gadgets and rechargers, books and magazines, toys for your kids and a print-out of the reservation information and phone numbers for your airline, car rental company, hotel and the friends or family members who have volunteered to pick you up.

Stash some “mad money.” If a delay gets especially infuriating you can use that cash to buy you and your traveling companions a massage, a fancy cocktail, chocolate or some other frivolous, stress-busting treat.

  1. Delights in the delays

Most people would rather get to their holiday destinations as soon as possible. But those who end up spending extra time waiting for their flights will find many airports offering holiday entertainment and many airport restaurants serving special Thanksgiving-themed dishes and full meals. And in dozens of airports there will be teams of therapy dogs and their trainers on duty to help calm jittery nerves.

Trump slump in travel? Maybe, maybe not

Legislation, Politics, Travel tips,

 

(This is a slightly updated version of my story about the Trump Slump in Travel that appeared on NBC)

 

Is an unwelcoming political climate really creating a “Trump Slump” in the annual $250 billion international inbound business and leisure travel industry in the United States?

“Yes,” “No,” and “Maybe So,” say travel industry experts and number crunchers who point to a variety of hard and soft data points to measure the travel impact of initiatives such as President Donald Trump’s efforts to impose a travel ban barring inbound travelers from some predominantly Muslim countries and the recent ban on electronic devices in the airline cabins of U.S.-bound airplanes from certain countries.

On the up side, international visitors spent more than $20.8 billion on travel to, and on tourism-related activities within, the United States in January 2017, according to a recent report from the National Travel and Tourism Office.

That represents a one percent ($220 million) increase compared to 2016.

Looking back a bit longer, in the 60 days before Trump’s first travel ban was announced (November 29 to January 27, 2017) ForwardKeys, a company that analyzes air travel bookings, found international bookings for visits into the U.S. increased 2.2 percent in comparison to the same period last year.

But right after Trump issued the first travel ban, search engines such as Hopper saw a serious slip in flight searches into the U.S. and in the eight days following January 27 (the day the travel ban was first imposed) ForwardKeys saw international bookings to the U.S. fall by 6.5 percent.

Since then, there’s been a continued slow-down in U.S.-bound air travel bookings.

From January 28 to March 25, bookings were essentially flat, up just. 0.1 percent over the same period last year, according to ForwardKeys.

“When one bears in mind that as a general rule air travel grows consistently ahead of inflation, this is not a particularly encouraging statistic for the USA,” ForwardKeys CEO Oliver Jager told NBC.

The World Travel & Tourism Council agrees. Its data predicts that visitor exports, which is money spent by foreign visitors in the country, will decrease by 0.6 percent in 2017.

Though also attributable to the strength of the U.S. dollar, the dip is predominantly due to “the negative sentiments of the U.S. as a destination created by some of the new policies of President Trump’s Administration,” said Helen Marano, WTTC’s Senior Vice President Government Affairs. “Already, there have been clear signs and data that international visitors are rethinking booking their holidays to the U.S.”

But in a Travel Trends Index report released Tuesday, the U.S. Travel Association said that international travel to the U.S. “defied growth expectations” and actually grew faster than domestic travel during February.

But the group warns of a drop-off in international travel going forward.

The February TTI data — which factors in trips that involve a hotel stay and/or air travel — captures the first full month after President Trump’s first travel ban order was issued, but the U.S. Travel Association economists say that data fully doesn’t fully reflect the impact of the currently-on-hold ban’s impact on demand for international travel to the U.S.

“It’s important to remember that there’s a significant lag time between searches for international trips and when they’re actually taken — typically a matter of months,” said David Huether, the U.S. Travel Association’s senior vice president for research.

“There’s a lot of data out there purporting to show a drop in international travel to the U.S. because of President Trump’s executive order,” said Huether, but “the reality is we do not have a definitive data picture of the order’s impact yet.”

While we wait to get more data and find out whether or not the Trump administration’s travel ban go into effect, “the United States has already sent a message to the global community,” said Ian Jeffries, Vice President, Group Director at public relations and marketing firm Edelman, “We are counseling clients that there is an opportunity for the travel industry to lead and roll out the welcome mat. Tourism business leaders have the responsibility to let the world know that their cities, their hotels, their attractions are still open for business – – and that all travelers are welcome.”

 

Where to go in 2017? Somewhere with an airport

Holidays, Travel tips,

If one of your New Year’s resolution is to see the world in 2017 – or at least to visit more cool parts of it – there are plenty of places to consider and lots of advice from travel experts.

Consider Canada

There will be partying up north as Montreal celebrates the 375th anniversary of its founding and Canada celebrates the 150th anniversary of Confederation across the country. The festivities kick off New Year’s Eve with major celebrations in 19 cities  and continues throughout the year with free admission to all Parks Canada locations and a wide variety of local, regional and national celebrations.

The U.S. dollar is still quite strong against the Canadian dollar, so a trip to Canada also offers a good travel value.

Catch America’s Eclipse

The path of the first solar total eclipse to be visible from the continental United States since 1979 will take place August 21, with viewing opportunities for the less than three-minute minute event stretching from Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina (weather permitting).

The “point of greatest eclipse” has been identified as Hopkinsville, KY and “Eclipseville” has planned a long of pre and post-eclipse events, including the Summer Salute Festival (August 18 – 20).

More 2017 Hot Spots

AFAR put together a somewhat overwhelming list of 100 places to consider visiting next year, including 16 cities in the USA, but created a 25-question quiz to help you narrow down which locations might be a good match for you.

Travel + Leisure polled its travel specialists to come up with its list of the 50 Best Places to Travel to in 2017, giving the nod this year to Bermuda; Belfast, Northern Ireland; Belgrade, Serbia; and Angra dos Reis, Brazil as well as Columbus, Ohio; Honolulu, Hawaii and Indianapolis, Indiana.

And Lonely Planet editors shared a list of the top 10 places in the United States they urge travelers to visit this year.

At the top of the list is Asheville, North Carolina.

 “It’s one of America’s most vibrant and eclectic small cities, with a welcoming, creative spirit, a thriving artistic community and music scene, and now world-class dining,” said Lonely Planet magazine managing editor Rebecca Warren.

Western Washington takes the #2 slot on Lonely Planet’s list.

“We were excited that iconic locations like Snoqualmie Falls and North Bend will once again get the spotlight in the Twin Peaks comeback in 2017,” said Lonely Planet’s Western US destination editor, Alex Howard, noting that “Seattle is a perennial favorite and a great springboard for exploring the area’s national parks. The San Juan Islands are also emerging, with new openings and farm-to-table restaurants next year.”

Other cities on the list include Lincoln, Nebraska (#3), which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year; Palm Springs and the southern desert area of California (#4), and Montana’s Flathead Valley (#5), which encompasses one of the largest wilderness areas in the contiguous states.

Atlanta, Georgia, home to The BeltLine and new state-of-the-art sports stadiums, sits at #6 on the Lonely Planet list, while New York’s Adirondack Mountains, which have 42 peaks over 4000 feet, claims the #7 spot.

“The Adirondacks are one of New York’s hidden gems,” said Ron Ofner, executive director of the Adirondack Regional Tourism Council. “We are known as a year-round destination for adventure seekers, and I think new visitors will be surprised by the incredible variety of unique breweries, distilleries, and wine trails, as well as how close we are to major metro centers.”

Rounding out the Lonely Planet list this year is the not-often-talked about Texas Hill Country wine region (#8), which is home to a long list of tasting rooms along Wine Road 290, the 10th Dripping with Taste Wine & Food Festival, and this year is celebrating the 46th annual Kerrville Folk Festival; and the Mile-High City of Denver, Colorado (#9), which has oodles of microbreweries, plenty of music and (legal) marijuana, and a new Ski Train that takes skiers and boarders from the city to the slopes.

And, at #10, is Florida’s Emerald Coast, with its 100-mile stretch of sugar-fine sand and laid-back beachfront towns.

(A slightly different version of my story about where to go in 2017 appeared on CNBC)