7 small US towns that will make you feel like you're in Europe for the holidays — without the pricey airfare

Dec 19, 2024 • 10 min read

When Helga Crane, the main character in Nella Larsen’s novel “Quicksand,” walked through the streets of Copenhagen, people were amazed. “Her dark, alien appearance was to most people an astonishment,” wrote Larsen, an acclaimed Harlem Renaissance author. “Some stared surreptitiously, some openly, and some stopped dead in front of her in order more fully to profit by their stares.”

As horizon-expanding as travel has the potential to be, it’s simply impossible to go everywhere and see everything properly within one’s lifetime. There are a number of reasons for this sorry fact—time and budget, war and other tragedies. There’s also the reality that, no matter where you go and for how long, no matter who you pay, you’ll never quite experience a slice of life as a tourist in the way a resident does. For better and worse.

As the travel industry prepares for the busy winter holiday period, American Airlines announced that it would offer more than 118,000 flights that will carry an estimated 12.7 million customers between December 18 and January 6.

JetBlue Airways is redrawing its route network — and there is some good news for Europe-bound flyers.

More than 119 million travelers are expected to take to the skies and hit the roads for the December end-of-year holidays, capping a record-setting season.

Dec 11, 2024 • 5 min read

Extreme weather is happening more frequently across the country, as we have seen this year with Hurricane Helene’s catastrophic impact on Asheville, N.C., November’s wildfires in New York and New Jersey and this month’s fast-spreading Malibu fire. Nearly 20 percent of all Americans have had to evacuate their homes because of unexpected severe weather, according to a new study by the analytics firm YouGov.

I didn't grow up in a family that traveled. The first time I vacationed outside the US was on my honeymoon, and just a few years after getting married, our first child was born, significantly slowing down our travels. It's only been since my kids got older that I've been traveling to spots I've always wanted to visit, like Italy and Mexico's Baja California peninsula .

Fresh off a $1.9 merger with Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska Airlines has big plans for using its new widebody planes with new routes to Asia.

We’ve all gone gaga for eclipses. Whether total, partial, annular, solar or lunar, we want to see them all, preferably from the best vantage point. For some, that means planning a few days in a prime viewing location, while for others, that translates to booking a special eclipse flight like the ones Southwest and Delta organized for the April 8, 2024 celestial event. Some go as far as booking cruises like the sailings Princess Cruises and Holland America Line scheduled earlier this spring specifically for the phenomenon.

We are all dreaming of a White Christmas, right? While it’s impossible to guarantee a snowy holiday, some places in the US are far more likely to deliver on Christmas morning. To help you plan your winter getaway, car rental company SIXT, has analyzed historical weather data to identify the top 25 US destinations with the highest probability of a White Christmas.