Bag-Baggage Blog

Abraham Lincoln commuted 45 minutes most summer days by horseback or carriage to a cottage 3 miles from the White House. Now, after a seven-year , $15 million restoration, the 34 room Gothic Revival house is open to the public for the first time ( www.lincolncottage.org )

   Source:  Smithsonian Magazine

1.  Pantheon, Rome, Italy

2.  National Gallery, London, England

3.  Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, England

4.  Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, France

5.  St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral, Brussels, Belgium

6.  Duomo - Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, Italy

7.  Retiro Park, Madrid, Spain

8.  Westminster Abbey, London, England

9.  St. Mark’s Basilica, Venice, Italy

10.  Giant’s Causeway, Bushmills, Northern Ireland

 Source:  Tripadvisor

Pack light: Airlines to start enforcing size restrictions

By CHRIS KAHN
Associated Press

PHOENIX — Admit it. That chunky carry-on bag of yours would never fit into the sample box displayed outside the airport gate.

Don’t expect that bag to get a free ride for long.

Checked bags are now a moneymaker for US Airways, American Airlines and United Airlines, and officials say they’re going to keep a closer watch on how much you take on board as they begin their new baggage fees.

“We’re planning on having extra staff where possible, especially at peak times at busy airports,” US Airways spokesman Morgan Durrant said.

The airlines point out that the carry-on policy came from the Federal Aviation Administration, not the industry, and they have an obligation to keep people from sneaking bulky bags onto planes to avoid fees. Not only is it unfair to the honest, fee-paying traveler, they say, but it would also overload the overhead bins and force gate crews to delay takeoffs while they checked excess bags.

But the added scrutiny means something else as well. Every passenger — even those not used to checking bags — is going to have to start following the rules. Read the rest of this entry »

 By  MICHELLE HIGGINS

LAST summer, Lisa Clark, a management consultant from Los Angeles, spent about three weeks in Europe, touring Scotland by car, spending a weekend in Paris and biking in Tuscany. Though it wasn’t cheap (France and Italy cost roughly $4,300 alone) Ms. Clark made it work by using frequent flier miles to get there and by buying packaged tours to keep her expenses contained.

But after using up her miles, watching airfares climb, and taking stock of her savings, Ms. Clark, like so many other Americans, is scaling back her vacation ambitions this summer.

“I did the blow-out trips last year,” said Ms. Clark, “I said, ‘This year I’m not going to do it.’”

Instead, this summer, she plans to do some wine tasting in her home state of California and save some money by visiting and staying with friends in Boulder, Colo., and on the East Coast. That way, she said, “I don’t have to pay for a hotel. I might pay for taking them out to a nice dinner.”

This summer, the best travel deals may be right at home. The weak dollar is making many Americans cross Europe off their list this year. Rising airfares are making it hard to justify a trip to many far-flung places. And even Canada isn’t the bargain it used to be.

But stateside, things are different. Recognizing rising fuel costs, tightening travelers’ wallets and the overall economy, many cities are flooding the Internet with discounts and promotions. Destination DC, a marketing organization for the nation’s capital, is offering three-night weekend stays for 30 percent off at www.washington.org. Philadelphia is promoting two-night packages at www.gophila.com/summerfun through Sept. 7 that come with a $50 American Express gift card. Even ritzy Aspen, Colo., is offering visitors who book two or more nights at a participating hotel a $50 gas voucher and two free bike rentals. See www.aspenchamber.org for information.  Read the rest of this entry »

 Reporting for this article was done by Stuart Emmrich, Denny Lee, Suzanne MacNeille and Laura Marmor

THERE used to be a time — oh, let’s call it 2007 — when summer was considered a time of almost limitless possibilities, a time of languorous vacations, of trips filled with the promise of discovery.

But the summer of 2008 is starting out like a cruel joke, with air travel increasingly a nightmare and with wildly escalating gas prices threatening to make the road trip all but obsolete. It’s almost enough to make you sit at home and catch up on episodes of “Gossip Girl.”

The summer vacation is still an inalienable right, however. And there is no reason to forgo it this year. It will just take a bit of creativity — and perhaps the willingness to stay a little closer to home this time around — to pull it off in 2008.

Thus, here are 31 options — from river rafting in eastern Oregon to biking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire— for a great summer vacation. Not one involves the terrifying conversion of dollars into euros, many can be enjoyed without ever getting on a plane, and the road trips are ones that actually justify filling up your tank, even if the price of gas hits $5 a gallon this summer.

1. TEXAS HILL COUNTRY

Who needs Europe? The Texas Hill Country, west of Austin and north of San Antonio, might be the next best thing to crossing the Atlantic. The region is lush, colorful and, unlike much of the pancake-flat state, dotted with beautiful green hills that are evocative of Tuscany or the south of France. Moreover, the region is speckled with 22 wineries (www.texaswinetrail.com) that buzz with food and music festivals year round. And towns like Fredericksburg offer a taste of the Old World, with German-style biergartens and schnitzelhäuser.

2. NEW HAMPSHIRE

With 800,000 acres of rugged terrain and biking trails, the White Mountains of New Hampshire are sometimes called the Moab of the East. And while you won’t get red-rock formations or Road Runner vistas, the White Mountains do offer their own purple majesty. The Cherry Mountain Loop near Twin Mountain, not far from Bretton Woods, features remote waterfalls and thick forests. The trails around North Conway, a small, outdoorsy town near the Maine border where volunteer riders maintain more than 100 miles of downhill paths, are popular. For trail information, see the New Hampshire Trails Bureau (www.nhtrails.org) and New England Mountain Bicycling Association (www.nemba.org).

3. LAS VEGAS

The much-hyped efforts of Las Vegas to turn itself into a family destination a few years ago pretty much fizzled — there’s still plenty of sin in Sin City — but anyone looking for a pool vacation for the kids this summer might want to consider this desert spot. The pool scenes at any number of hotels (including recent expansions at Mandalay Bay and the Excalibur) are fairly over-the-top, but few can rival the 15-acre “tropical oasis” at the Flamingo Las Vegas (888-902-9929; www.flamingolv.com), with four pools, a water slide, several waterfalls and a subterranean grotto that can be explored either on foot or by water. And for the adults, there’s even a swim-up blackjack table. Weekend rates for a room with two queen-size beds (suitable for a family of four) start about $140 this June and July. Read the rest of this entry »

 By Joe Sharkey

NO need to go into much detail here about how bad things are looking. Airfares are up; seating capacity is down; demand so far has not dropped; and now, with rumored airline mergers, even more constriction may lie ahead.

So repeat after me the next time you arrive at the entrance of an airport: Abandon all hope ye who enter here.

There is no fix in sight. All frequent fliers can do is look for ways to impose more order and predictability on the ordeal.

“I now figure that of every five trips I take, two are going to get messed up,” said Michael Steiner, the executive vice president of Ovation Corporate Travel, a travel management company whose clients include major corporations as well as smaller companies like law firms.

Like a lot of us, Mr. Steiner has good Internet skills. In years past, that usually sufficed to manage individual travel. But, of course, disruptions were not as frequent back then, and a few minutes online — or a call to an airline customer service center or a hotel — could usually patch things up. Read the rest of this entry »

By  Michelle Higgins

ON her US Airways flight from New Orleans to Washington this month, Corinne Marasco, a science writer from Kingstowne, Va., was forced to check her small wheelie bag at the gate because there was no room left in the overhead bins. It didn’t matter that the gate agents kept reminding passengers that they were limited to one item of carry-on luggage, plus one personal item; the overhead bins were stuffed with shopping bags, knapsacks and pieces of luggage that clearly didn’t pass the size test.

“I saw a woman with a roll-on suitcase, a medium-size tote bag and a pocketbook board the plane, and no one asked her to check the suitcase,” Ms. Marasco said. The experience, she added, was so infuriating, “I was sorely tempted to start emptying out the bin over my seat so I could fit my suitcase in.” Read the rest of this entry »

     by Jim Mckenzie

        We just brought in a new series from Eagle Creek and we are amazed at the weight. It’s the lightest luggage we’ve ever carried in our store. The largest wheeled piece which measures 17.5″ x 28″ x 12” weighs only 10 lbs. The 22″ wheeled carry-on which measures 14″ x 22″ x 10″ weighs only 7 lbs. 6 oz.

       The quality is excellent, they have a factory lifetime warranty. They did not sacrifice quality for weight. We just wanted to point this luggage line out to you because weight has become such an important issue. You can look at it or buy it on our website.  

     Check It Out Here 

Follow these 10 steps to ensure smooth sailing.

By Dawn Reiss

There are more than 160 ships in the fleets of the 24 major cruise lines—and more than 7,500 itineraries, from Alaska to Zanzibar. So how do you decide which one most suits your style? Evaluate your options using these simple guidelines:

1. Where to go Decide on the destination first, the ship second. Alaskan and Caribbean cruises have long been mainstays, but cruise lines are adding itineraries to unexpected places: Asia, the Indian Ocean, South America. “South America is a big player this year,” says Anne Morgan Scully, of McCabe World Travel in McLean, Virginia. “But Dubai is off the charts.”
   Next, look at the specifics—with Alaskan cruises, for example, ships tend to follow two routes. Inside Passage itineraries run round-trip from Seattle or Vancouver and call in southern Alaskan ports like Juneau and Skagway; Gulf of Alaska itineraries, which sail farther north, are typically one-way trips from Vancouver to Whittier or Seward, or the reverse.
2. When to go Shoulder seasons can offer bargains, and may be even more appealing than high season: a mild fall day can be more enjoyable than baking under the August sun in the Mediterranean. Alaska’s popularity with families means that going in May and September (when children are in school) often translates into fewer visitors—and better deals. Fewer people can also mean more chances to see black bears and humpback whales up close.
3. Which line to book Select the cruise line, and the fellow passengers, that best match your personality. “This is crucial for the first time,” advises Anne Halsey-Smith of Gayle Gillies Travel in Rancho Santa Fe, California. “It will make or break your experience. If you aren’t matched to the line, you probably won’t cruise again.” Some have dress codes and assigned seating times for meals. Some, like Princess Cruises, are more kid-friendly. Norwegian Cruise Line is more casual than other lines and doesn’t have assigned dining times. Holland America’s offerings are more traditionally geared toward baby boomers. Finally, lines like Crystal and Regent are more upscale and, in turn, more expensive. A travel agent can help you make sense of the different options, and on the message boards of Cruisecritic.com you can hear directly from passengers.

Read the rest of this entry »

          Passengers will no longer be able to pack loose lithium batteries in checked luggage beginning January 1, 2008, once new federal safety rules take effect.  The new regulation, designed to reduce the risk of lithium battery fires, will continue to allow lithium batteries in checked baggage if they are installed in electronic devices, or in carry-on baggage if properly protected from short circuiting in their original packaging or by placing them in individual plastic bags or a protective travel case.   

Common consumer electronics such as digital cameras, cell phones, and most notebook computers are still allowed in carry-on and checked luggage.  Moreover, any number of spare batteries for these devices will be allowed in carry-on baggage if they are properly protected from short circuiting and do not exceed 8 grams (~100 watt hours) of equivalent lithium content.  Most lithium-ion cell phone and standard notebook computer batteries are below 8 grams (~100 watt hours) of equivalent lithium content.  Batteries not installed in electronic devices are not permitted in checked baggage. Read the rest of this entry »