How to Avoid Scams When Booking Holiday Travel This Year

It may be the middle of summer, but Club Med is thinking ahead to ski season and putting vacations on sale up to 40 percent off.

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The term “safari,” which comes from the Swahili for “journey,” is now used to describe ecotourism experiences beyond those in Africa. When English speakers adopted the term, it originally referred to bush hunting trips; as those waned in popularity over the 20th century, “safari” became less associated with hunting, and more associated with what professionals today refer to as photographic safaris. We now see the term “safari” apply to ecotourism experiences like tiger safari in the jungles of Ranthambore, India; puma safari in Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park; polar bear safari in sub-arctic Canada. And while I haven’t yet heard any Massachusetts locals explicitly use the term yet, I would like to proclaim here and now: a shark safari in the waters off Cape Cod—which is estimated to have the highest density of white sharks in the world—should now be counted on that list.

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has this week announced a year-long partnership with Mattel, Inc to coincide with Barbie’s upcoming 65th birthday. The hot pink-clad collaboration at Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth in Montreal will allow guests to experience a Barbie-approved stay at the downtown property.

Flying to the United Arab Emirates from the United States just got easier.  Etihad Airways, one of the national airlines of the UAE, just announced new service between Boston and Abu Dhabi, beginning on March 31, 2024.

This week, on March 22, American’s new AAdvantage award chart takes effect, the first in a two-step devaluation of the oldest and largest airline loyalty program.

This coming August, all eyes will turn to the beaches and stadiums of Rio de Janeiro, where the 2016 Summer Olympics will be in full swing. The Games are expected to bring athletes and tourists from across the globe to Brazil, and now for Americans, a huge hurdle has been removed. In a move to stimulate the Brazilian economy, the Brazilian government announced that it will waive visa requirements for citizens of the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japan.

It’s been a long time in coming, but PreCheck, the TSA’s trusted-traveler program, is now available to passengers flying on Frontiers Airlines.

Delta award discounts are becoming so frequent, if not exactly regular, that SkyMiles members may be left wondering which are the “normal” prices: the discounted rates, or the non-discounted rates. With the almost certain prospect of more award sales to come, it certainly makes ponying up the normal award price seem like an unnecessary extravagance.

Beginning on April 2, many travelers will be charged an extra $10 for their new passport books or cards.

“Best airport” rankings aren’t typically the most helpful in terms of travel planning: If I want to go to Boston, I’m not going to head for Las Vegas instead because its airport is better. But those best airport lists do come in handy in two cases—when you have a choice of airport for your connecting flight, and when you can choose between multiple airports within a single metro area.

Skytrax is out with its annual list of the World’s Top 100 Airlines, perhaps the most recognized worldwide ranking of best airlines. As usual, and to the chagrin of travelers here in the states, most of the top performers are not U.S. airlines. Instead, the list is dominated by Asian, Middle Eastern, and, to a lesser extent, European carriers.