Official Rules: SmarterTravel Summer Book Photo Contest

Labor Day is right around the corner, and what better way is there to kiss summer goodbye than with one last adventure? Right now, a handful of travel companies are coming in clutch with late summer deals, while others are looking ahead to fall, winter, and beyond to make sure you have something to look forward to when the temperatures start dropping.

Ottawa, the charming capital of Canada, is a cultural destination often seen as the city of museums. This makes perfect sense with so many unique and educational museums and galleries to explore. In fact, Ottawa is home to seven of Canada’s nine national museums and visitors can experience the entire country in one city and immerse themselves in Canadian history while exploring top attractions. Ottawa has now turned popular points of interest into 156 Unofficial Museums across the region to inspire your next trip.

Float to live Can you float on your back in a starfish shape, chin back, chest pushed skywards? Almost everyone can. “Float to live” reduces the accelerated heart rate and panicked breathing we suffer when we find ourselves in difficulty in water, including the effects of cold water shock. Thrashing around and taking in water is a recipe for disaster, whereas floating on your back buys you vital time in which to decide whether to signal for help or try to swim ashore, says the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s (RNLI) head of water safety, Gareth Morrison. He mentions the story of a 10-year-old boy rescued by the charity’s Scarborough Lifeboat in 2020 – he had been swept out to sea, but knew about float to live. “He floated for nearly an hour before rescuers reached him, which saved his life.” If you find yourself in the situation where you need to float to live, Morrison advises you tilt your head back with ears submerged, relax and try to control your breathing, and use your hands to help you stay afloat. “It’s OK if your legs sink, we all float differently,” he says.

Play it safe this summer: visit an RNLI-lifeguarded beach. If you get into trouble in the water, float to live, until help arrives.

There’s no shortage of restaurants, bars, and wellness destinations in the Hamptons, but every year there are some new locations shaking things up out east. From a re-imagined waterside hotel to an all out dinner to dance party spot, here are five new places to try.

Summer 2023 is turning out to be one of the wildest for tourists on record. 

Ask A Local is a new series where we ask clued-up insiders to share their top tips for the place they call home.

You’ve probably been warned to follow pedestrian signals in New York City if you’d prefer not to risk your life. But, you may not know the reason Manhattan’s summer streets routinely fill with crowds of people unapologetically snapping photos. For a few glorious moments twice per year, that rule of thumb is intrepidly ignored.

If “summer travel” triggers images of beachside idylls and Disney theme-park thrills, you likely drive rather than fly to your summertime vacation spots. Because summer air travel is a very different picture, indeed.

Long lines, full flights, niggling fees for everything: Welcome to the new normal when it comes to air travel. While the flights can’t get much fuller, and there are few new opportunities to charge extra for non-basic services, those long lines are going to get longer before they get shorter.

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.

Still haven’t booked a vacation, or curious about what other travelers are doing this summer? Synchrony Financial put together some initial data together on summer 2016’s travel forecast that might help.