Great Travel Links for 28 July 2008

Scooping up those tips around the Web…

• You’re not gonna want to hear this, but now’s the time to be nailing down fall and winter travel plans. Airfares are only going to go up, probably a LOT, and the desperate airlines are trying everything - a fee to buy a ticket on the Web, or how about removal from a search site like Kayak? So, get your tickets now if you plan to fly over Thanksgiving or any of the December holidays. This is also the time to make plans for one of my favorite lesser-noticed long weekends — take a look at my 2007 ideas for Columbus Day weekend over at Education.com, then check the sites for 2008 dates of annual events (Columbus Day 2008 is October 13.)

• A passel of Orlando and theme park tips - “only a chump” buys tickets at the park, says Arthur Frommer, and he’s not a fan of the Disney Dining Plan, either. Budget Travel has more expert theme park info.

• Ideas for travel with kids outside the U.S. — looking for the real Nemo on the Great Barrier Reef, what you need to know about taking kids to India, see the von Trapp family home near Salzburg, Austria made famous in the Sound of Music, my Perceptive Travel colleague Tim Leffel on Western Canada through the eyes of a child,  fun (and freebies) with children in Swedish Lappland, enjoying Frankfurt, Germany’s Palmengarten and the charms of Wasaga Beach - less than two hours north of Toronto.

• After my recent well-received rant about the sorry state of US travel, I’m pleased to see that bus travel is on the rise,  the Sunset Limited train gets a positive review from the UK’s Telegraph, and the Portland (Maine) to Boston Downeaster train is seeing a ridership surge. Still, one Dad still finds plenty of virtues in the Great American Road Trip.

• Coming over the transom:  Reader’s Digest keeps an eye on the budget with 25 trips you can afford and the infamous Traveling Mamas say, “Boycott the ’staycation!’”

• Finally, in the travel community, writer Pam Mandel of nerdseyeview fame has launched a new travel bloggers forum,  Debbie Dubrow pulled together an inspiring list of women travel bloggers (thanks for including Family Travel!) and Travel Savvy Mom launches with a bunch of, well, travel-savvy mothers posting like mad. Check ‘em out!

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