Why Your Luggage Could Kill Someone

I was about to go kayaking on Long Island’s Nissequogue River eight years ago when I met a middle-aged couple gifted in the art of discovery. The two were eager to show me their marked-up and laminated map of New York state and walked me through their summer plans—which, as it turned out, involved journeying from one swimming hole to the next.

From major European cities to small US ports, coastal communities around the world are attempting to curb the number (and size) of massive cruise ships looming over their shores. 

When you choose a vacation destination, what’s your number one reason for going? Is it a cheap flight, the scenery, or the culture? Well, according to a new survey commissioned by Harry & David, most Americans plan their trips around food.

Seasoned American travelers often look to the Department of State for advisories about everything from natural disasters to labor strikes in unfamiliar places. But what hazards are foreign governments warning their own travelers about when it comes to visiting the States?

In 2015, flyers filed 15,260 complaints with the Department of Transportation. That was a 34 percent increase over 2014’s 11,365 complaints.

Warren Buffet is famous for being one of the world’s savviest investors, earning billions for himself, and plenty for his stockholders as well. As chief of the Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate, he’s been accorded the honorary title of the Oracle of Omaha.

How much is a monopoly worth? Plenty, for sure. But it’s no easy matter to precisely quantify its value in any particular situation.

The Zika virus continues to spread and is drastically affecting countries throughout Central and South America, as well as Mexico. At a press conference today, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that there is now a “public health emergency of international concern” over the clusters of microcephaly in Brazil and the suspected (although not scientifically proven) link to microcephaly and birth defects. It’s important to note that this is not a declaration for the actual Zika virus. WHO also stated that “there should be no restrictions on travel or trade with countries, areas and/or territories with Zika virus transmission.”

When legendary investor Warren Buffett began investing in airline stocks last year, it was big news in the investing community. Theretofore Buffett had been a staunch critic of the industry’s underlying economics, and regularly unleashed scathing takedowns of airline investments. Like this, from 2002:

When it comes to lie-flat luxury on planes, transatlantic long-haul airlines like Emirates, Qatar, and Virgin Atlantic dominate the market. But now JetBlue is upping its flatbed seat count on short-haul flights, raising the question: Could the airline be readying for its own transatlantic routes?

With the launch of many new direct flights from the U.S. to Cuba, it may seem like the door to the formerly forbidden country is wide open for Americans. Unfortunately, that’s still not quite the case. Right now, you’ll still need to travel under one of the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) 12 categories of travel, the easiest of which is a “people-to-people” Cuba educational tour.

If you live within driving distance of Boston Logan’s airport, you may be in luck the next time you search for a cheap flight out of town. A ton of new airlines and routes have landed here lately, meaning flyers will have more choices, more fare wars, and more direct flights.