Travel Tonic

Bringing you what’s new in travel for January 20th 2010 through January 21st 2010:

• Small Cruises Offer a Unique Vacation Experience – Smarter Travel has posted some info about cruise ships: With fewer passengers and the ability to take travelers to places large ships can’t get near, smaller cruise ships offer a more intimate experience. So what’s the downside?Head over to www.smartertravel.com to read the whole article.
• TSA ‘humor’: Where’d you get this baggie of white powder, miss? – Brad Tuttle recently posted this on This Just In… Newsweek’s Travel Blog:Everybody knows that at TSA checkpoints, you’re not supposed to joke about drugs, bombs, or pretty much anything, right? Well, everybody except for one schmuck TSA agent, that is.
• New York: Secrets and savings in Central Park – Danielle Lipp recently posted this on This Just In… Newsweek’s Travel Blog:
  

  (Courtesy lumina59/myBudgetTravel)
• London: A new center at the Natural History Museum – Alex Robinson recently posted this on This Just In… Newsweek’s Travel Blog:The city’s spanking new, chrysalis-like, bug-shaped museum is offering canapés and concerts amongst the Madagascan hissing cockroaches.
• Whose Hotel Reviews Do You Trust? – Smarter Travel has posted some info about ed perkins: With so many hotel reviews out there, it’s hard to figure out what reviews you can trust. Ed Perkins explains the difference between professional and ordinary traveler reviews.Head over to www.smartertravel.com to read the whole article.
• San Francisco: Google maps famous, favorite places – Justine Sharrock recently posted this on This Just In… Newsweek’s Travel Blog:Quick quiz: What is the favorite place of slow-food diva Alice Waters? It���s Zuni Cafe, her “home away from home.” At least, that���s what Google Map���s Favorite Places told us.
• Airline Fees Chart Highlights Charges for Checked Bags, Meals, and Other Airline Amenities – Lifehacker’s Adam Pash just posted this article:
  

  Even if you secure an inexpensive plane ticket these days, you’ve still got plenty of pricey checked-bag and other a la carte fees to worry about. Travel site Orbitz offers a comprehensive chart rounding up these fees for 25+ airlines. …

  Read the rest at Lifehacker

• From Twitter – RT @FlightSource Transport Canada Announces New Carry-on Baggage Limits http://tinyurl.com/yhftyal
• Pack a gun to protect your valuables? – Sean O’Neill recently posted this on This Just In… Newsweek’s Travel Blog:Many travelers fear that someone will rifle through their checked luggage and steal their valuable items. When we’ve blogged about this topic before, we’ve received hundreds of worried comments.
• Rome: A new exhibit celebrates Caravaggio – Katie Parla recently posted this on This Just In… Newsweek’s Travel Blog:Four hundred years after the artist’s death, the much-anticipated Caravaggio exhibit will open at the Scuderie del Quirinale on February 20. Michelangelo da Merisi, dubbed Caravaggio, painted canvases for cardinals, popes, and nobles in the late 16th and early 17th centuries—when he wasn’t getting into brawls or fleeing from one Italian city to the next.
• Weekends from $31.99/night – Extended Stay Hotels – I found this article over on Road Warrior: Last minute deals for new bookings this weekend (stays 1/22 through 1/24) and next weekend (stays 1/29 through 1/31) at select Extended Stay Hotels(sm) locations. Visit our Weekend Deals section by clicking here. From there, you can book and save…Read the rest at www.roadwarriortips.com