Great Travel Links for 24 Nov 2008

Some travel news and ideas from around the Web:

• Big family travel news these days in Washington, DC:  the National Museum of American History, one of the most popular of the Smithsonian museums, reopened November 21 after an extensive renovation. Read the glowing reports about it on National Geographic Traveler’s Intelligent Travel blog and on Jaunted.   A new Capitol Visitor’s Center will open December 2, 2008, to better welcome the 3 million visitors per year who pour into the domed edifice.
• Budget Travel’s “This Just In” blog has published another one of their great menu decoders/translators: this one ensures that you can sort out Italian gelato flavors and pizza toppings.
• I wish we had better bus service between cities here in Texas, like Megabus or Bolt Bus (what, you think flying these days is any better?) Here’s a comparison of cheap bus services, how to tour Boston by bus and how to tour Manhattan by bus.
• The Jenss family is traveling around the world: check out their lively report from Thailand.
• Remember that video I did awhile back at the Little House on the Prairie in Independence, Kansas? It was a little rough, but it was one of my first efforts at video blogging….anyway, the UK’s The Independent newspaper has a nice travel article about the Little House.
• Have you been considering a South African safari? Kids Can Travel suggests the Kwandwe Private Game Reserve.

Now, here comes Thanksgiving and the holidays, so I found some pertinent links:

• First, get thee to Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts and debunk those Thanksgiving myths. Then, read the Traveling Mamas six holiday airport travel tips, and learn more about family lines at security checkin, which should help everyone to avoid losing their mind getting kids through airports. They are up and running here in Austin. Too bad so much of security still seems to be randomly bureaucratic.
• Tips for how to handle holiday guests.
• The tech site Mashable has a Holiday Survival Guide with 20+ tools for family travel planning, navigating, researching, etc. online.

And finally, a roundup of a wide variety of ski- and snow-related posts and articles:

• In the US, downhill economics spark big deals in ski country, plus cost-wise deals for family skiing (I like that both of these are from the Miami Herald.)
• The UK’s Guardian serves up the complete guide to family skiing by age group, plus budget skiing alternatives in Eastern Europe and Scotland, and the world’s most spectacular ice rinks.
• Consider a ski vacation with the kids in Austria.
• Here’s the latest from Sochi, Russia on their preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics.