Portland or Seattle: where should you visit first?

Southwest Airlines is helping travelers take two vacations almost for the price of one with the company’s first-ever buy one, get one 50 percent off sale.

Walk into almost any newly opened restaurant or wine bar these days and you’ll find natural wines on the wine list. Even if they’re not actually described as natural, the chances are many on the list will be. If you’re wondering what exactly natural wine is, you’re not alone. 

Been on a full flight lately? Then you may have heard an announcement or seen an appeal posted on the monitor at the gate asking for passenger volunteers to check their bags at the gate for free.

Every now and then a lucky traveler discovers a far-off place that feels like home. San Franciscans might find comfort in hilly Lisbon; Dubliners have been known to flock to their unofficial sister city of Boston; and New Yorkers often find solace in bustling capitals like Tokyo and London. But it’s not often that two oft-compared destinations also share an identical name.

Say your bank sent you a credit or debit card with an embedded RFID chip. The idea sounds appealing: When you make a purchase, instead of slipping your card into a reader and waiting for a response, all you do is tap the card on a pad somewhere near the terminal. It’s the same sort of technology that many transit systems use for fare cards, where you just tap and go through the barrier.

Spirit’s widely disparaged leader, Ben Baldanza, may be gone, but the airline’s cheeky, cheesy marketing flies on without him.

Are you among the many travelers who believe that overnight red-eye flights in economy class constitute cruel and unusual punishment? On most routes to Europe, you’re largely out of luck in finding any other option—until now.

Getting old has few benefits, but the occasional senior travel discount is one of them. Senior travelers can enjoy a wide range of discounts, but both availability and value vary substantially among different travel sectors and in different parts of the globe.

Have you ever booked a last-minute trip because you suddenly realized you had a few days to spare? If you have, you’re not alone. More travelers than ever before are participating in the latest travel trend: Spontaneous vacations.

If you’re like most travelers, you’ve probably never considered shipping your luggage ahead of you instead of bringing it with you on a trip. Sure, over the holidays you might mail a few gifts to your destination to avoid having the TSA root through your suitcase and ruin your perfect wrapping job, but otherwise, it probably seems more practical, convenient, and economical to check your bags with your airline. But is this still the case? Have you ever wondered if luggage shipping is a better solution?

An airport connection (or two) is often the price you pay for service to far-off destinations. Unfortunately, a connection almost always complicates your travel planning, asking you to decide where to connect and how much time to allow for the connection. There’s no easy formula answer to those questions, but there are a few choice airports to try and avoid.

If you’re looking to find the least expensive accommodations in a destination regardless of what kind of accommodation it is, you might be surprised to learn that Airbnb isn’t always the cheapest. A new study from Compare the Market shows that hotels can sometimes beat Airbnb prices. The study covered the average Airbnb vs. hotel rates (per night) in 52 important destinations around the world.