Though I meant to suggest a greater use by smart travelers of Southwest Airlines, I slipped into all sorts of hoary cliches in describing the pioneering, cost-cutting carrier: "crowded," "homey," "cattle-car," "unsophisticated," "inelegant"...you know the terms. Reader Ted Marcus has taken me to task for doing that, and his criticism is so apt that it deserves to appear here. He wrote as follows:Yo...

A British website read by travel professionals -- TravelMole (www.travelmole.com) -- is filled with dire predictions about how bad things will be in China when the Olympics have ended (August 24). The country is full of new hotels that haven't really been marketed for the post-Olympics period. And making things worse is a phenomenon that no one really understands: the fact that, historically, citie...

PantheonOriginally uploaded by travelingmcmahansEight different Internet services are currently advertising the availability of short-term (like a week) apartment rentals in Rome, Italy. If you ever needed proof of the explosion in European apartment rentals, you have it here.Note that far more than eight such Rome-renting companies are found on the Internet; these are simply the ones that advertis...

Andrew Jackson - SunriseOriginally uploaded by webbmbThe history of New Orleans is so very different from that of the rest of America, so exotic and -- to some people -- so weird, that it provides a unique travel experience. Its culture is a crazy amalgam of the French, Spanish, Creole, Cajun, African, Pagan and Gay; it was, prior to the Civil War, one of the richest cities in America; it developed...

I won't be blogging on the Fourth but will be back on Monday morning. Whether you're traveling or staying home, have a safe holiday.Write and read comments about this post....