A Round Up of the Most Popular and Best Travel Sites

Posted on by Chris

When you’re planning a vacation what are your ‘go to’ travel sites?  Tripadvisor is probably one of them, along with Expedia, Travelocity, or maybe Priceline?  These are included in ebizMBA’s list of the Top 15 Most Popular Travel Websites.  Rounding out the top 10, besides the four mentioned, are Yahoo Travel, Orbitz, Kayak, Hotels.com, Travelzoo and Hotwire.  A site that is missing from the list, but is better than them all, is one called Hipmunk, according to Forbes writer Bruce Upbin.  He believes it is the best travel site on the web because it does the best job in presenting hotel and flight information and provides the best user experience.  You can read his review of the site here.  Budget Travel also recommends Hipmunk.  The travel site is on its list of 8 Cool New Tools for Finding the Perfect Hotel.  Also on the list, along with a description and tips on how to utilize each site, are:

BackBid (backbid.com); DealBase (dealbase.com); HotelSweep (hotelsweep.com); Momondo (momondo.com); Room 77 (room77.com); Room Key (roomkey.com); YourRoomKey (yourroomkey.com).

And finally, consumer advocate (and former travel agency owner) Clark Howard has his list of favorite travel websites.  Many of the ones listed above are included here, but there’s also some additional ones such as SideStep.com, Mobissimo, and FareCompare.

What travel site do you recommend?

Hipmunk’s mascot (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Another 20 Places to Add to Your U.S Travel Bucket List

Posted on by Chris

Mom-oriented website, SheKnows, has created a list of a must-see sites located across the U.S. that would make great vacation spots for families.  The list is rather bland with the obvious choices such as Yellowstone National Park and the Smithsonian.  However, it’s still worth taking a peek to see if any are missing from your own travel bucket list or if you need some ideas for the next family vacation.

 

Rockland, Maine’s Lobster Festival – one of the Fun in the USA spots

Remotely Interesting Museums

Posted on by Chris

Have you ever been to the World Mammoth and Permafrost Museum in Siberia?  How about the Skógar Folk Museum in Iceland?  Chances are, unless you are an extremely well-seasoned traveler, you haven’t.  These are included in cultural blog Flavorwire’s fun list of 10 of the World’s Most Remote Museums.  If the obscure is appealing, these might whet your appetite for a new adventure!

Ordos Museum, Inner Mongolia, China

Germany’s Volcano

Posted on by Chris

A volcano in Germany?  Yes! Germany’s volcano  was built by a German prince in the 1700s who was so impressed by Italy’s Mt. Vesuvius that he wanted to recreate it at home.  The result was the Stone Island of Woerlitz, located about an hour’s drive south of Berlin.  Today it is part of the Garden Realm of Woerlitz, a UNESCO World Heritage site.  It is the world’s only artificial volcano and has been restored, complete with annual eruptions.  Read more about it and see a video of the erupting volcano at Smithsonian. 

Germany’s Volcano (Rebecca F. Miller, Smithsonian)

 

A Few Very Unusual U.S. Hotels

Posted on by Chris

Instead of sleeping in a typical hotel or bed & breakfast next vacation, why not bunk in a lighthouse, a train car, or even a jail?  Tripadvisor has a list of 10 Quirky Hotels located around the country that will definitely give you a more memorable stay.

 Have you ever wanted to spend your vacation in a shack?

Photos of Shack Up Inn, Clarksdale
This photo of Shack Up Inn is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Hotels Seeking to Increase Revenues with Extra Fees

Posted on by Chris

By now we are used to getting nickel and dimed by the airlines and have adopted some strategies to avoid a few of their extra fees (not checking luggage and taking our own meals on board, for example).  Now, Budget Travel reports that some hotels, in an attempt to increase revenue, are taking the same approach as the airlines by charging for services and items that were previously included in the room rate.  Consumer advocate, Clark Howard reports he’s recently seen unusual charges such as newspaper fees, automatic safe fees, and mini- bar fees (whether used or not).  The best bet is to ask upon check-in about any extra “fees” that may be imposed, reject them, and then carefully review your bill before checking out.  Have you been presented with any unusual hotel charges?

Review your bill carefully before checking out of a hotel.

High-End Fashion Hotels

Posted on by Chris

SmartMoney reports on a new trend in the hotel industry – pairing designer brand-names with upscale hotels.  Haute couture designers such as Versace and Armani, along with jewelry designer Bulgari, have gotten into the hotel business, which allows them to showcase their products and sell them in the on-site shops.  These hotels in locales such as Dubai and Australia (with some slated to open in the U.S.) are more for the fashion-conscious luxury travelers who are not concerned about rewards programs.

Guest room in Palazzo Versace, Dubai

Traveling Off the Beaten Path

Posted on by Chris

If you’re the kind of traveler that likes to visit out-of-the-way, less known spots, then you’ll enjoy this article by Budget Travel, 12 Best Places You’ve Never Heard Of.  Locations include a village in the Caucasus Mountains; Namje, Nepal which is only accessible by a footpath; an Australian island; and even a few places in the U.S.  Is there anything on the list that makes you want to pack up and go?

 

Sucre, Bolivia, on the list of “Best Places You’ve Never Heard Of.”

                                                                 Photo: Jerome Lorieau & Budget Travel

Family Vacation Ideas

Posted on by Chris

Need some ideas on where to take the family for vacation?  iVillage has compiled a list of 40 Must-See Places to Take Your Kids Before They’re Grown. And to give you an idea of the best age to take your children to the suggested spots, they provide an age guide, divided from toddlers/preschoolers, grade schoolers, tweens, to teens.  Included are the obvious places like our national parks (a must for any age!) and theme parks.  But there are some ideas you might not have considered, such as taking your teen to the Galapagos Islands or your grade schoolers to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. Take a look at the list and start planning, but hurry; the kids will be grown before you know it!

Grand Canyon National Park – one of the places to take your kids before they’ve grown