Frommer’s Maine Coast: Our Latest Guide to Acadia, Portland, and Other Seaside Stunners
Posted on 06/26/2024, 10:00 AM
“Maine is a beautiful place that I paradoxically want to hoard to myself and share with everyone I meet," humorist John Hodgman writes in his 2017 book Vacationland. On a recent episode of the Frommer's podcast, guidebook author Brian Kevin said he can relate to Hodgman's remark—though Kevin keeps precious little of the good stuff to himself in his brand-new edition of Frommer's Maine Coast, spil...
Bags Stolen From Baggage Claim: The Airlines' Big Luggage Security Problem
Posted on 06/21/2024, 8:15 AM
Many travelers won't know or remember this, but there was a time when airline passengers had to to present a claim check in order to pick up their luggage after flights.Until the early 1980s, it was standard for passengers to be asked by a security representative in the baggage claim area to match the code number on their checked-bag receipt to prove their checked bags belonged to them. In those da...
Online Passport Renewal is Back in the U.S.! Here's How to Get In On It
Posted on 06/12/2024, 5:30 PM
All right, Americans. Ready? This is online passport renewal, take two. The U.S. State Department today announced that it is once again accepting applications for online passport renewal. The U.S. government already tried this a few years ago—we even tested it out and found it was incredibly speedy—but for reasons that were, understandably, not disclosed to the public, the first test run, which ...
This Airline Is Mining Your Personal Information to Sell Things to You In Flight. Stop That!
Posted on 06/12/2024, 7:30 AM
Welcome to the spammy skies. United Airlines has launched a new ad serving platform that will exploit the personal travel information of its customers gathered from bookings, and the use of its app to allow a wide array of companies to peddle their wares to flyers. The platform is called Kinective. In a chilling, up-is-down and black-is-white statement, a representative of the carrier told indust...
Find Vacation Rentals—But From Someone You Know: Meet Trustr, A New Rental Site
Posted on 06/05/2024, 6:00 AM
According to the National Association of Home Builders, there are 7.5 million second homes in the United States, which is 5.11% of the total number of homes. Yet even in this age of busy rental platforms like Airbnb, 65% of them are never listed on the major rental sites, mostly because their owners would rather not rent to strangers. But that could soon change for some of them thanks to a new web...
American Airlines Raises Bag Fees, Will Ban Some Booking Sites from Points Eligibility
Posted on 05/29/2024, 9:15 AM
This news post was updated with new information after its original publication.It's almost as if the corporations dominating our lives are determined to make back whatever they missed during the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic. The cost of living is spiraling upward in multiple areas of Americans' lives, but that didn't stop American Airlines from piling on the misery by springing another fee hike o...
The News Said Two Airlines Just Scrapped Change and Cancel Fees—but the Truth Is Messier
Posted on 05/23/2024, 7:30 AM
Something notable is happening at American airports. Something that only happens once in a blue moon.Airlines are changing their positions on fees. In recent days, two major U.S. airlines announced the same move. Airlines swear they don't collude, but once again two carriers came up with the same headline-grabbing policy change simultaneously. Except this time, instead of doing something annoying ...
Study Finds Gig Drivers Still Earn Less Than Minimum Wage. Is Using Uber and Lyft Ethical?
Posted on 05/21/2024, 10:15 AM
Corporations are squeezing Americans for more cash everywhere. We're all feeling it, especially at the grocery store and at the gas pump, even as the big companies in those industries rake in record or near-record profits. A new study compounds the growing accusations of corporate gouging with a finding that Lyft and Uber are paying many drivers less than the minimum wage where they live. The Ins...
Opening Dates for Orlando's Big Summer 2024 Attractions—and Should You Care?
Posted on 05/15/2024, 10:30 AM
This year, it's as if the USA's most popular tourist destination is holding its breath. Most summers, Orlando's theme parks construct a new blockbuster ride or two to attract families anew. But 2024 is different. A year from now, Orlando will open its first new theme park in 26 years, Universal Epic Universe. Construction crews are already testing rides at what is shaping up to be the most elabora...
Biden Creates His First National Park Unit: Amache in Colorado
Posted on 05/08/2024, 8:00 AM
Update: Amache officially became a Natonal Historic Site on February 15, 2024. Here is its official National Park unit page.Last Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden signed the paperwork that created his first contribution to the National Park Service: the former Camp Amache in southeastern Colorado, about a three-hour drive from Colorado Springs. It was another American president, Franklin Delano Roo...
