Help The Middle ClassNews and Information For The Heart Of America
10 Good Reasons Not To Go On A Cruise (Smartmoney.com)
1. “Our engines break down all the time.”
In December 2009, engine problems caused the Regent’s Seven Seas Voyager to skip a scheduled port stop in Antigua, and instead head straight to San Juan for the engine to be repaired. And a propulsion issue on Carnival’s 2,124-passenger Legend ship last week affected its sailing speed, causing [...]
AIR TRAVERL SHOCKER: Airlines Continue To Fly Planes With Maintenance Problems (USA Today)
Alerted by a brake warning light in the cockpit, the captain on a U.S. airline flight last August warned passengers he was making an emergency landing and called for firetrucks to be standing by.
The trucks weren’t needed, it turned out. The Boeing 767-300 jet landed safely, the pilot said in his account to NASA's Aviation [...]
Cut Your Travel Costs In 2010. 10 Practical Tips (The New York Times)
LAST year was arguably the year of the travel deal, with resorts and airlines practically begging for bookings, and many travelers finding bargain airfares and hotel rooms as a result. But airlines have cut back capacity, meaning there will be fewer seats going unsold, and resorts may not be as quick to cut rates to [...]
Many Americans Staying Home This Holiday (USA Today)
More than half of U.S. residents who wanted to travel during the holidays have significantly cut back their plans or canceled trips altogether because of the fragile economy, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows.
Americans are suffering from high unemployment, income reductions and financial insecurity that continue to undermine the travel business, even as the economy shows [...]
100 Hotels Under $150
INITIAL signs were not promising. As I emerged from the Sant Antoni metro station on a warm Barcelona afternoon in search of the Market Hotel, a place I had booked a few days earlier on the Web, I was confronted by a busy commercial thoroughfare anchored on one corner by a ramshackle market selling everything [...]
The Next Hot Youth-Magnet Cities
If you were a recent college graduate in a recovering economy launching a career, looking for a mate or both, where would you choose to live?
Predicting cities that will emerge as post-recession meccas for the young is easy to argue about, but impossible to forecast empirically. Whether you prefer hip, casual Austin, Texas, over the [...]
Seniors Have Real Concerns Over Proposed Cuts In Medicare To Pay For New Program
Senator Bill Nelson of Florida desperately wants to expand health insurance coverage because one in five Floridians is uninsured. As a former state insurance commissioner, he wants to crack down on insurers. And as a member of the Senate Finance Committee, he can shape legislation to achieve both goals.
But Mr. Nelson, a Democrat, has a [...]
America’s Most Over-Rated Tourist Traps
We all know the feeling: Bound by a lemming-like sense of obligation, we drag ourselves to an important tourist attraction, stand in its presence for a few moments, then (if all goes well) leave as quickly as possible. Sometimes we’re pleasantly surprised; we linger and learn something new. But lots of times, we don’t.
Some of [...]
Airlines to Begin Asking Passengers for More Information
U.S. airlines on Saturday will begin asking travelers to provide their birth date and sex for the first time under a new aviation security requirement, federal officials said Wednesday.
The change comes as the Department of Homeland Security takes over responsibility for checking airline passenger names against government watch lists. The additional personal information, which airlines [...]
American Cities Giving You The Most Value For Your $$$$
Centuries ago, Native Americans discovered a pleasant spot on the banks of the Merrimack River. They called it “Namoskeag,” which translates loosely to “the good fishing place.”
The anglers have long since passed on, and the locality is now better known as Manchester, N.H. Time to add another title: best cheap city in the U.S.
The Manchester-Nashua [...]
