JetBlue brings Mint to Montana in rare move for this business-class product

The summer before my senior year of high school, I was standing in the middle of New York City's Times Square when I saw an advertisement that read, "Inspiration is everywhere."

As an avid traveler who traverses the Atlantic at least a dozen times a year and flies mostly in economy, one of my biggest comforts is airport lounge access.

Melissa Dewalt caught the travel bug a decade ago when she drove from her home state of Pennsylvania across the country to California to visit her then-boyfriend. She then road-tripped north to Seattle.

Holidays for 18-to-30 year olds have traditionally been the stuff of infamy, with young people heading to party spots like Magaluf and Ayia Napa, often to drink to excess and dance until the sun comes up. 

United Airlines restored its Los Angeles to Shanghai nonstop service on Thursday, becoming the only U.S. carrier to fly the route. 

Surprises can be great. But outside of an unexpected first-class upgrade, most of us prefer to know what to expect when it comes to travel.

Clarksville, a historic district of Austin, Texas, has lately emerged as a stylish dining and shopping enclave. Among the area’s most compelling new businesses is La Embajada, a design shop housed in a 1923 Craftsman bungalow. Combining the hospitality and interiors expertise of its founder, Raul Cabra — who has designed tableware for some of Mexico City’s most celebrated restaurants, including Rosetta and Pujol — La Embajada presents a refined, regionally diverse selection of Mexico’s artisanal offerings. A series of small rooms display vintage and contemporary furniture, from stately midcentury armchairs and 1970s glass sconces to a minimalist agave fiber rug by the Oaxaca-based textile artist Trine Ellitsgaard. The house is also an actual residence. Cabra often stays in the bedroom up the creaky stairs, and he’s recently made it available for short-term stays (bookings include a daily basket of baked goods from Austin’s Swedish Hill). Guests can purchase the room’s handmade décor, such as a pair of sleek bedside lamps in milky white onyx, a 1960s La Malinche dresser and a bedspread from a Michoacan manufacturer that once supplied Herman Miller. Downstairs, glassware, candles and gifts fill a section modeled after a typical general store in a small Mexican town. But La Embajada’s heart is its inviting kitchen, where visiting chefs cook elaborate meals and staff prepare ice cream and coffee. In another twist, every bespoke detail — including a hammered copper sink, caramel-colored tiles and waxed pine cabinets — can be custom-ordered for one’s own home.

Summer travel 2024, with its record-breaking crowds, is set to reach a fever pitch over Labor Day Weekend. The busiest summer season in recent history is set to end with a bang, as a historic number of people are expected to take to the roads and skies.

Getting to Big Sky Country in comfort and style will soon be easier when flying with JetBlue this winter.

Low-cost Icelandic airline Play is celebrating the unofficial end of summer with a Labor Day sale tempting travelers with 25 percent off flights to Europe.

As the summer travel season comes to a close, travelers have a new way to save on fall getaways. JetBlue recently announced the «Game On» fare sale, which offers flights as low as $49. The promotion is a nod to the fall football season, however the fares can provide an affordable options for early fall vacations, or last-minute trips.  As an example, JetBlue shows a fare of $49 one-way from New York's JFK airport to Nashville, Tenn. for travel in both September and October.

Get your poles, boots and sunglasses ready. JetBlue Airways announced it will add flights and its premium Mint Service each weekend to Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (BZN) during the height of the Montana ski season.