Chicago has been named the best big city in the U.S. for the eighth year in a row, and Victoria has been awarded best small city in the world for the second year running. Conde Nast Travel today (Oct. 1), issued a variety of lists of top cities, best hotels, top islands and more with its 2024 Readers’ Choice Awards. My home state of California came out looking strong, with San Diego being named the number two big city in the States and San Francisco finishing sixth. For International Large Cities, Montreal came in ninth and Vancouver fourth, so kudos Read more
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Be careful how you search for flights; it could be costing you tons of money. It might surprise frequent travelers, but experts caution that excessive flight searches could cost you more. The intricate algorithms of online booking sites and the privacy concerns around cookies can lead to price hikes based on your search activity. “When you look for flights multiple times, you might be inadvertently increasing your ticket price,” ProxyScrape CEO Thibeau Maerevoet suggests. The Connection Between Search History and Airfare Prices Numerous studies and real-world scenarios reveal a significant relationship between your search behavior and flight fares, Maerevoet says. Read more
Early fall is a marvelous time to get out and travel in the eastern U.S. The weather is still comfortable, and the kids are back in school. So it’s much quieter, especially on weekdays. And you can probably find better deals. Here are a few of my fave spots in the eastern half of the U.S., and here are some of the top things to do on the East Coast, including the best things to see and do in Detroit, Michigan, Palm Beach, Florida, New York City and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. DETROIT, MICHIGAN I spent a few days here this past Read more
Today marks World Tourism Day around the globe. With that in mind, here are a few of my fave trips from the over the years. Here’s to more travel in the coming years! EASTER ISLAND I was attending a travel conference in Chile maybe 10 years ago, and was given the chance for a pre-trip to Easter Island, the incredibly isolated dot of rock also known as Rapa Nui and Isla de Pascua. I first saw those famous Easter Island moai statues in a magazine when I was a kid and have been fascinated by tales of Polynesian sea voyages Read more
My Dad’s house is high on a hill in the small city of San Leandro, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Every morning when I visit, I pick up the morning paper, the East Bay Times, and check out the sports section to read about the local teams. I often put the paper down to glance out the window. A few miles distant, down in the flat lands of Oakland near San Francisco Bay, I can see Oakland Arena and the Oakland Coliseum. I was born in Oakland. My parents were raised there. We moved to the suburbs when I Read more
