Last week, Daily Traveler reader bsaylor13 asked: As I recall, I saw somewhere that if there were no charges in place for an airline to charge for checked bags when the reservation was made, that the airline cannot charge when the flight is used if it occurs sometime after the reservation was confirmed.

Yes, bsaylor13, that is correct. Check out airline industry expert Barbara S. Peterson's story in Condé Nast Traveler's December issue, "Navigating Air Travel's New Reality". In it, she explains that the DOT had warned airlines not to charge the fee retroactively . . . apparently after one major airline had attempted to do just that.   

More questions? Ask away.

Further reading:
* Delta Baggage Fee Update
* Passenger Rights Bill Left at the Gate in Washington
* Airlines Embarrassed Over Bag Fee Brouhaha
* Luggage Fees: Watch the Deals . . . and Your Wallet
* Airline Fee Frenzy: When Will It End?
* On the Fly: The airline industry

The Wyndham Garden Hotel,
the only hotel in Manhattan
with PURE rooms.
Photo: Wyndham Hotels

by Julia Bainbridge

Wyndham Hotels has rolled out its ClearAir initiative, offering allergy-friendly guest rooms in eight of its hotels. By the end of 2009, 10 percent of all Wyndham rooms will be converted by PURE, making Wyndham the first national hotel chain to mandate allergy-friendly rooms systemwide.

This is no small deal. A number of Daily Traveler contributors and their friends have severe allergies, making their travel experiences less than glorious. Who wants chest tightness when seeing Gaudi's wacky Barcelona funhouse for the first time?

PURE's hypoallergenic bedding and pillows are mold-, spore-, dust- and dust mite-proof, and the rooms' surfaces are cleaned with a solution that nearly eliminates the growth of bacteria. Each room also has an air purification system--recognized as a Class II medical device by the FDA--that filters the air continuously. All of this means PURE rooms reduce particulates that can trigger allergies by 98 percent. (And the tea tree oil in the air filters smells yummy.) 

For an educated take on these seemingly magical rooms, the Daily Traveler turned to old pal Allergic Girl, a.k.a. Sloane Miller.

"Allergies are so individual: You can put someone in a vacuumed room and she'll sneeze from something and put that same person in the streets of Delhi and she's fine," she said. "I live in New York. I'm from New York originally--I was born and raised in this soot. I get allergic when I go to the country."

by Brook Wilkinson

I had the dubious pleasure of making my way through airport security three times last week: a round trip to see my family in New York, plus an extra trip to SFO thrown in when my original flight was canceled. Every single time, the TSA's "black diamond self select" program failed.

Security checkpoints at every major U.S. airport now have separate lanes meant to ease security bottlenecks. Travelers are supposed to be able to choose the family/medical liquids lane, the casual traveler lane, or the expert traveler lane, depending on their familiarity with airport procedures. Not so. Seeing that I'm a professional travel writer, I sized myself up for the expert lane. But every time I went through security, TSA officers hustled me into the casual traveler lane. The first time, I ducked under a cordon into the expert lane while no one was looking; the second time I questioned the TSA officer, who insisted that the lanes were assigned according to your boarding pass (what happened to the "self selection"?). When I flew home from Newark, there was a family traveler lane, a casual traveler lane, and a Continental EliteAccess lane. I strode up to the latter and asked the woman where the expert traveler lane was; she motioned me wordlessly into her line, even though I haven't achieved Continental's elite status.

If the TSA wants to institute self selected security lines, it has to play by its own rules. In my experience, the speediest checkpoints are still reserved for only the most frequent fliers and the upper-class ticket holders. Did anyone else actually find an expert line at an airport last week? Was I just unlucky?

Further reading:
* Bush Officials Claim a Kinder, Gentler Airport Security: Barbara S. Peterson on the "What's Your Lane?" program, plus an update
* Responsible Traveler: Making a difference

Woodberry Kitchen's farmhouse chic facade
Photo: Woodberry Kitchen

by Julia Bainbridge

Woodberry Kitchen looks like an English countryside stable and tastes like farm-to-table-inspired Seattle, but it sits happily in Baltimore's suburbs. This eco-friendly restaurant, Spike Gjerde's joint venture with wife Amy and Grand Cru wine bar's Nelson Carey, opened a little over a year ago to much fanfare.

Leading up to that highly anticipated opening date, Gjerde and Co. were busy fleshing out the bones of the nineteenth-century foundry in the Clipper Mill complex with stone floors, a woodburning oven (with an open kitchen and mile-high stacked logs to prove it), exposed brick, and a lofty ceiling. Its main dining room is handsome and comfortable, like that high school boyfriend who never knew how much the other girls stared (cue clips of handsome-but-bumbling Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral).

The food, too, is genuine and unpretentious: sea-salted popcorn is a must for pre-dinner nibbles, a cast-iron ribeye with cheddar potato gratin needs no explanation, and egg-and-bacon fried rice, although a departure from the mostly New American pub-style menu, does the trick. Bread is baked on the premises and locally sourced oysters come both on ice and oven-roasted in various fashions (Rockefeller; bacon and herb butter; spinach and smoked tomato). Desserts are sublime: The chefs make all the ice creams in-house, and the flourless chocolate cake is positively molten. 

Drink-wise, my Sazerac was a little anise heavy; perhaps better to go with a signature cocktail like the Headless Horseman (Maker's Mark bourbon, spiced pumpkin syrup, and citrus) or the Gov't Mule (organic vodka, house-made ginger beer, and lime-ginger syrup), both served in copper mugs. There's also an affordable wine list that hops happily from old world to new, along with a list of Chesapeake region wines and beers. It's good-looking, satisfying, and friendly--and everyone is looking.

Further reading:
* Woodberry Kitchen's Web site
* Maryland pride: Crabs, crabs, and crabs
* Catch of the Day: International noshables

The Eurail Group, owner of that post-college summer favorite, the Eurail Pass, has announced further expansions to its product range. As of January 1, 2009, the Czech Republic will be included in the Eurail Global Pass, and Bulgaria is a new option for the One Country Passes.

Introduced simply as the "Eurailpass" in 1959, the Global Pass has seen many extensions over the years, increasing from 13 countries to the 20 countries available today. We're told that, to mark a successful half-decade of rail travel, the Eurail Group will launch several anniversary specials in 2009. Details are yet to be announced, so stay tuned.

Our lady Misty, at a LUPEC
garden party last summer.
Photo: Matt Demers

by Julia Bainbridge

My partner in devoration, Mollie Chen, recently pulled up a barstool at Boston wonder-chef Barbara Lynch's new cocktail spot, Drink. Behind that bar was another wonder woman, cocktailian Misty Kalkofen, who a couple of years ago shook up some sumptuous flips and fizzes for me at Cambridge's Green Street Grill. (Note: Kalkofen is also friends with guest DTer Lauren Clark. Together, with the help of some spirits-minded women folk, they formed the Boston chapter of LUPEC, or Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails. After years of attending New Orleans' ultimate drink event, Tales of the Cocktail, Kalkofen knows the NOLA hot spots. She shared them with Mollie (along with the Fort Point, a "fantastic twist on a Manhattan"), and now we're sharing Kalkofen's top picks with you. She's thrown in a couple of activities to work off the whiskey:

* Favorite place for a cocktail: French 75 at Arnaud's on Bienville (between Bourbon and Dauphine). The person you are looking for here is Chris Hannah; enjoy one of his delicious drinks in a truly historic NOLA locale
* You must go to the Napoleon House for a Pimm's Cup...or three
* Tujague's on Decatur.  SRO bar.  Have a Sazerac.
* Brandy Milk Punch at Brennan's
* Swizzle Stick Bar at Café Adelaide
* Go to the Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleone and have a Vieux Carré, created at the Carousel Bar in 1937
* Bars to sit and drink a beer: Erin Rose (open 24 hours), the Alibi
* Music? The Maple Leaf uptown (take the trolley for a cheap ride), Vaughan's in the Bywater.  If you have a chance to see Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers or Rebirth Brass Band you definitely should!
* Bowling at the Rock-N-Bowl uptown
* Fried chicken: Coop's Place on Decatur or Mother's in the Bywater
* Burger and potato at the Port of Call is the way to go for lunch one day. Cheap and delish!

Further reading:
* Gourmet's first taste of Drink
* Lauren Clark's boozy tour of Boston
* The DT geared up for Tales of the Cocktail this year--we were there in spirit
* The LUPEC ladies blogged live from 2008's Tales of the Cocktail
* Catch of the Day: International noshables
 

A beachgoer in Tel Aviv
Photo: Yonathan Weitzman,
Reuters, on Concierge.com

Travel in 2009? With Wall Street and Main Street gasping, and paranoia rampant? Well, Daily Traveler Ondine Cohane can think of no better time to shut off CNBC and get a breath of fresh air. Here's a sneak peek from her 2009 It List on Concierge.com:

Tel Aviv, Israel: The Promised Land
Just in time for its 100th birthday, this newly hip city has plenty to celebrate, with a spate of new hotels and redevelopment, a happening contemporary art scene, and vibrant nightlife. Unlike more religious and conservative Jerusalem, Tel Aviv hasn't seen a serious terrorist incident in years, and is the poster child for a more modern Israel--teeming with the trendy and fashionable, and looking forward to a happier, more peaceful Middle East. On April 4, Tel Aviv's centenary festivities kick off with a huge concert in Rabin Square helmed by Zubin Mehta conducting the Israeli Philharmonic. Don't miss cutting-edge art collections at the Sommer gallery and the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, as well as the exquisite Bauhaus architecture that won the city a spot on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. (New buildings include skyscrapers from international heavyweights Philippe Starck and Richard Meier.) The city is also preparing for the unveiling of the first hotel by Nobu, the famed Japanese chef, and his longtime business partner, Robert De Niro, in 2010. It's located in the Tel Aviv suburb of Herzliya, itself newly dubbed the Israeli Riviera (but of course) for its pretty beaches and hot temperatures. There's a beachfront promenade that stretches over eight miles from here to Bat Yam, just south of the city, so you can even bike from your room right to the heart of Tel Aviv. Getting to the city also just got a whole lot easier with Delta's new nonstop flights from JFK to Ben-Gurion Airport.

Further reading:
* For more from Ondine's It List of 2009--the places that will make you feel all right about the world again--check here
* Ondine's 2009 Travel Wish List
* Word of Mouth: The buzz worldwide

Photo: Condé Nast Traveler

No one knows travel like the readers of Condé Nast Traveler. In the January issue, find out how 32,000 of said readers rated 710 of the very best hotels, resorts, and cruise lines on the planet.

Now in its fifteenth year, the Gold List covers everything from clifftop retreats on the Amalfi Coast to South Pacific resorts, contemporary urban hotels and more with reader ratings on rooms, service, food, location, and other criteria. 

Here's another sneak peek:

Mombo Camp, Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana
Overall score: 97.6
Raised tents with wood beams, canopied beds, outdoor showers, and private verandas are the accommodations at this Okavango Delta camp, the top-scoring property in Africa and the Middle East. "The views all around are truly of pristine nature," with vistas of floodplains and bush from rooms or from the plunge pools at Little Mombo. Game drives at both properties scour Chief's Island in all-terrain vehicles, and guests view wildebeests, lions, leopards, and a dense population of birds. Meals are served anywhere on the property, and the menu, customized to guests' preferences, consistently excels: "You don't expect food that good in the bush." $$$$; 12 tents; 27 11 807 1800; wilderness-safaris.com.

Image: How to Split An Atom

by Sara Tucker

Because way too many of us are checking our email at least once a day while on vacation (39 percent according to a recent survey); and because a guerilla insurgency is calling for a No Email Day; and because 46 percent of women polled say they'd rather give up sex than the Internet; and because Phoebe Gates gets only 45 minutes and the president of the United States gets zero; and because the news that Daddy Gates had clamped down made headlines around the world; and because Chinese doctors have spoken; and because boot camp is no fun; and because recent Google searches for information overload, information fatigue syndrome, and data smog generated an undigestible number of hits; and because the days leading up to the new year are supposed to be a time of spiritual, mental, and physical renewal . . . the Aggregator has only one word for its readers this week: Peace.

Sedona's Enchantment Resort
Photo: Craig Lovell

No one knows travel like the readers of Condé Nast Traveler.  In the January issue find out how  32,000 of said readers rated 710 very best hotels, resorts, and cruise lines on the planet.

Now in its fifteenth year, the Gold List covers everything from clifftop retreats on the Amalfi Coast, South Pacific resorts, contemporary urban hotels and more with reader ratings on rooms, service, food, location, and more. 

Here's a sneak peak:

Enchantment Resort, Sedona
Overall Score: 90.2
The 71 casitas sit among pine trees in "a truly breathtaking, almost magical setting." Rooms with Southwestern furnishings "make outstanding use of natural light"--"we loved the skylights in the bathroom."  Yavapai allows diners 180-degree views of teh surroundings and has a menu that includes buffalo tenderloin with quail sausage. $$$$; 220 rooms; spa; 800-272-6777; lauberge.com.

by Barbara S. Peterson

Hearing about the horrific crash of a Continental Airlines 737 in Denver this week brought back memories. Remember the Air France crash in Toronto three years ago, when an A340 careened off a slick runway and into a ravine? Or the British Airways accident in Heathrow last January in which the pilot crashed a 777 in a field just across the road from the runway he was heading for? In each of those cases, the 100 percent survival rate was described as "a miracle" or "amazing," although some of the hundreds aboard were seriously injured as they exited the planes on emergency chutes. But, as I wrote in a story about surviving evacuations, it's not a miracle; it's the result of many years of safety research, which have resulted in far more stringent rules covering everything from the flammabilty of seat fabric to aisle lighting.

Everyone is breathing a sigh of relief at the outcome in Colorado (whose cause is under investigation), but there are some worrisome details, including a report that some seats broke loose. In 2005 the FAA required airlines to install stronger seats, but it exempted older planes. Moreover, of the 115 passengers and crew aboard Continental flight 1404, five landed in the hospital and more than 30 others sustained injuries. I know firsthand how hard it is to scramble out of a plane on one of those evacuation chutes--I tried it myself during an evacuation safety training course at the FAA academy in Oklahoma City, and the results were not pretty. I actually bounced off the chute and fell off the side, sustaining rope burns and scrapes on my arms and legs. It's the evacuation that usually causes the bulk of injuries in a crash of Denver's kind, not the accident itself. And it's a reminder of why everyone should pay close attention to those snooze-inducing safety announcements at the beginning of their trips.

Further reading:
* More details from the Denver crash
* Tips for surviving an evacuation
* On the Fly: The airline industry

A new neighborhood for caroling.
Photo: Eyebyte, Alamy Images for Concierge.com

by John Oseid

This year I'm enjoying Christmas in the islands. Okay, I'm in Brooklyn staring at my ice-bedecked balcony, but the soundtrack to my Christmas is Caribbean. I hope it's not the eggnog talking, but I'm intoxicated by an unusual and charming Trinidadian music called parang. Who knew the English-speaking island's traditional Christmas carols are sung in Spanish?

The quaint numbers, "Palomita Blanca" (White Dove) and "Que Venga" (Come, My Love), on the CD Trinidad Parang Christmas Celebration hardly suggest we're in a country known for soca bacchanals and steel pan drumming. The flutes and guitars on the fast-paced, eight-minute "El Que Siembra su Maiz" (He Who Sows the Corn) puts you right into a reverie of the Cuban countryside. When you hear "Vamos a Tomar un Trago" by the way, you will want to do just that--take a drink.

The global economic slump means trouble for the travel industry with predictions that 2009 will see the lowest occupancy of U.S. hotels since 1971.  But out of this mess comes a golden opportunity.  There are travel bargains to be had, people!  Provided, of course, you approach your 2009 travel plans with some smarts.  To help you, the January issue of Condé Nast Traveler lists "25 Surefire Strategies for Saving Money and Traveling Smarter in 2009."  Written by CNT's very own Wendy Perrin the report covers everything from how to avoid currency exchange fees to how to find introductory hotel rates. 

Curious? Here's an example:

Strategy #14:  Turn the glut of new hotel rooms to your advantage by looking for low introductory rates.
The hotel construction boom (planned three to five years ago, when the economy was better) has unleashed an abundance of inaugural deals.  Read the fine print, though: Last fall, one brand-new property in Miami Beach was charging $129 for the first night and $279 for each night thereafter.  For the lowest price at any high-end chain hotel, use its Web site (as opposed to a third-party site such as Expedia or Travelocity). Remember that many chain-hotel sites now sell low nonrefundable rates the same way airlines do: they often require a 14-or 21-day advance purchase.  For the lowest rate at an independent city hotel, try Quikbook.com

Snag a copy today and then be sure to log on to Wendy's blog, the PerrinPost, for daily travel deals. 

Discover's new biodegradable credit card. 

by Brook Wilkinson

Discover has unveiled the first biodegradable credit card available in the U.S., which will begin to break down in landfill conditions and fully degrade within five years. It's also got some great perks for travelers: no foreign transaction fees, automatic car rental insurance, and no annual fee. The one major catch is that Discover cards are only accepted in China, the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, and parts of Europe. If those countries are among your frequent travel destinations, sign up for a biodegradable Discover card, the most eco-friendly credit card on the market. If not, take the advice of Condé Nast Traveler's Consumer News Editor, Wendy Perrin (our fellow blogger over at the Perrin Post), and opt for a Capital One card, the only other major credit card that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees.

Further reading:
* Warning to American Express cardholders: Starting Jan 1, 2009, the fee you'll be charged when you buy something in a foreign currency will be 2.7 percent (rather than the 2 percent it's been for years)
* Responsible Traveler: Making a difference

by Julia Bainbridge

Air France and KLM have just launched a social networking site for air travelers called Bluenity. I know what you're thinking ("Not another Facebook!"), but the cool thing about Bluenity is that if you're flying on either of these carriers, you can just enter your flight number and find out who's traveling with you. Maybe you want to share a taxi--or a cup of coffee; you can do it through Bluenity's "community" network by chatting and sending invitations. If you're not flying Air France or KLM, you can still use Bluenity's "travel tips" section for users' favorite Bangkok street food and the like.

I polled my friends who travel and use social networking sites (and really, who doesn't these days?), and they collectively responded eesh. "If you were interested in all that, wouldn't you have signed up for group travel?" one of them wondered. Another, a frequent business traveler, said, "I hate chatter boxes on a day trip to Dallas." General consensus: Bar meet-ups? Maybe. Airplanes? Thanks, but I'll opt for my iPod.

Would you use Bluenity, readers? We're interested to know.

Further reading:
* Oy vey! Wikipedia's list of popular social networking sites
* Amazing: Simple ideas done right

Chef Ciccio Sultano has made
Duomo one of the finest
restaurants in Sicily.
Photo: Rick Lew for
Condé Nast Traveler

Away from the island's familiar sweet spots, a new generation of Sicilians is reshaping its wine, food, and hotels. Here are five of Daily Traveler Ondine Cohane's top dining picks:

* Trapani's Cantina Siciliana, in the former Jewish quarter, this humble spot serves delicious pasta with swordfish and eggplant, and bruschetta with bottarga (36 Via Giudecca; 0923-28673; entrées, $11-$36)

* Ragusa Ibla's Duomo should be on any itinerary that takes you near Syracuse. In addition to Ciccio Sultano's innovative cooking, the wine list is impressive and a good introduction to the vintages of the region (31 Boccheri; 0932-651-265; entrées, $46-$55)

* Travelers with a sweet tooth shouldn't miss Caffé Sicilia, in Noto, known for its granita (125 Corso Vittorio Emanuele; 0931-835-013)

* La Conchiglietta, a simple trattoria on the waterfront in Marzamemi, has delicious spaghetti alle vongole and whole grilled fish (9 Via Regina Elena; 0931-841-191; entr&eaute;es, $31-$37)

* At Mount Etna, stop into Santa Venerina's Pasticceria Russo, a pastry shop that's been in the family since 1880, and try the fish-shaped marzipan candy (105 Via Vittorio Emanuele; 095-953-202)

To read more about the Sicilians who are lifting the art of fine living to new heights--and for more of the island's hot spots--pick up Condé Nast Traveler's January issue, on stands today.

Prague's Wenceslas Square, November 20, 1989. 
Photo: Peter de Jong / AP

by Guy Martin

As we have been experiencing lately--while putting the SUV up on blocks and chopping it into a big horse-drawn Christmas sleigh for the kids--history is a wild ride, a live run-through of chaos theory, starring, well, all of us. Whether we like it or not.

So this season, let's take a heartening cue from the roughly 80 million Eastern Europeans upon whom history rained down the amazing serial revolutions over the turn of the year 1989-1990. After a half century under the Russian boot, only a few--the nomenklatura--had anything left to lose. The 80 million had everything to gain by putting their civil courage and in many cases their lives on the line. And they did.   

The citizenry of Warsaw, Gdansk, Prague, Bratislava, Budapest, East Berlin, Leipzig, Bucharest, and Timisoara has very different holiday memories than those of us in the "complacent" West, as the legendary chronicler of the Soviet gulag Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn would have put it. These revolutions were the first. Bulgaria, the Balkans, the Baltics, the Ukraine, and Belarus would follow months, or years, later. But for a start, let's understand that for the first tier of former Soviet satrapies, December and January are a time of the anniversaries of complete political upheaval and, often, life-or-death decisions that altered those societies forever. 

Ondine looks on to 2009 

by Ondine Cohane

In my last post I wrote about some of my favorite things of 2008; now it's time for my 2009 wish list. This is not supposed to be definitive, but it is, as I look onto a snowy Times Square, a sampling of where I might go if I had unlimited time and more sizable funds.

This season always brings travel daydreams and brainstorms because of my annual "It List" for Concierge.com. Foremost on my mind: Rajasthan and Beirut. Le Gray and the Four Seasons Beirut are two new anticipated properties opening in Lebanon's capital this spring; I love the idea that you can ski or go to the beach within an hour of the city. (I have two very stylish friends from Lebanon whose travel judgment I trust implicitly, and they say that there are few more cosmopolitan places than Beirut.) As for Rajasthan, I just really want to get to India. There are a number of new hotels in this region of the country, and I would especially like to support tourism there after the recent tragedies.

Whistler Blackcomb
Photo: Kevin Arnold/Getty Images

Best ski resort according the readers of Condé Nast Traveler? Whistler Blackcomb. Best ski hotel? Post Hotel & Spa in Lake Louise, Alberta.  For the full list of the top 20 resorts and top 50 hotels plus a Q&A with former World Cup mogul pro Caleb Martin, pick up a copy of our December issue or view point your browser to cntraveler.com/skipoll.

Canon's Mark II 

You can't be too small, too thin, too fast.  No, we're not talking about Conde Nast's new venture dedicated to models who resemble whippets, we are talking about the key to successful travel tech and gear. 

In "The Future is Now" Condé Nast Traveler contributor Mike Haney gives the rundown on nine new travel technologies and services for 2009.  Pick up a copy of the December issue or read it here. 

Here's a sneak peak:

The first SLR camera to also capture full-resolution HD video, Canon's Mark II can store clips up to 12 minutes long in H.264 format, which is easy to edit and plays on iPods. The 21-megapixel shooter is also a pro-level still camera, with live preview on the three-inch LCD and ISO speeds up to 25,600 for amazing low-light shots (canonusa.com; body only, $2,700).

What was your breaking point?  Paying $5 for peanuts?  Seeing your local airline go the way of the dodo? Watching your bottled water get confiscated as you stumbled through security shoeless and belt-less?  "Navigating Air Travel's New Reality" in Condé Nast Traveler's December issue won't get your water back--we already asked--but it does offer seven solid survival tips (plus a report card on passenger rights groups) when dealing with the purgatory known as 21st Century air travel. 

Read it and then check out reporter Barbara Peterson's contributions here on the Daily Traveler.

Further reading:
* Condé Nast Traveler:  The December issue is online
* On the Fly: The airline industry

One more glass and I'll call
my lawyer

* Can you get drunk on a flight, then sue the airline for giving you the booze? (Chicago Tribune)
* Top 40 travel songs of all time (World Hum). We'll raise you 10: "Around the World in 50 Songs"
* He didn't find a soul mate, but writer Tony Perottet did find lots of ladies on his "Casanova Tour of Venice" (Slate). John Julius Norwich has a different take on the city
* On the bright side, inexpensive last-minute holiday airfares do exist (Gadling)
* Tyler Brûlé of the Financial Times judges a hotel by its sandwich (Gulliver). In other sandwich news, Daily Traveler Mollie Chen finds her soul mate

Aniston's lucky tie. 

by Beata Loyfman

Isn't it one of the cruel ironies of life that the worst gifts come from the people who can actually afford to spend a few bucks? Case in point: Scarlett Johansson recently appeared on Jay Leno and graciously presented the audience with...a used napkin full of her ScarJo kooties. She claims that since her cold is courtesy of costar Samuel L. Jackson, it has more value than ordinary snotty tissues and therefore people should bid to win this "prize" on eBay. Two words: Delusional... Hey, look at that, I only needed one.   

David Letterman was the recipient of another bad celebrity gift when Jennifer Aniston stopped by to promote her new film on Wednesday. Letterman received the tie from Aniston's recent photo shoot for GQ. Granted, the strategically positioned tie did play a key role in keeping the photographs from the slush pile of Playboy, but really, Jennifer, a used tie?

These celebs should take a lesson in gift giving. What do we all really want this holiday season? A fabulous getaway, of course. So in the spirit of all things warm and fuzzy, here are some fabulous travel deals that you can find right now (prices may be subject to change):

Costa Rica: The new Hilton Garden Inn Liberia Airport is celebrating its opening with special rates as low as $79.

Sheraton: For every weeknight you pay the regular rate, you can get the next night 50 percent off. The Sheraton Seattle Hotel rates start at $139.

Las Vegas: The economic downturn has crushed Sin City. But at least you can reap the benefits of its misery by snagging unbelievable deals! The swanky Bellagio has deluxe rooms for $129 midweek. Not to be outdone, Hard Rock Hotel has rates starting at $59, and the Venetian offers you the Suite Life for $199 per night (includes breakfast, SpaClub passports, and other amenities). Even if you don't gamble, it's worth the trip to see Vegas' bizarre snow storm.

Take note, gift-giving celebs!

Further reading:
* "Lordy Lordy, this woman is 40": Aniston's racy photo shoot--tie included
* Celebrity designers get the travel jones
* Boldface: Celebrity travel

by Sara Tucker

It's been a thrilling year for the world's taxonomists, the folks who find and classify new plants and animals. An estimated 10 million species are out there, they tell us, waiting to be discovered. But finding them has become a race against time.

Case in point: The Kalimantan jungle toad, first discovered in remotest Borneo 30 years ago. The lungless frog lives in rivers so cold that "after just 45 minutes of snorkeling, I would have to stop because I was shaking uncontrollably, my lips were blue, and my breathing became too labored," researcher David Bickford told LiveScience. No wonder that until recently, only one specimen had been found. "This is an endangered frog that we know practically nothing about," says Bickford, "with an amazing ability to breathe entirely through its skin, whose future is being destroyed by illegal gold mining by people who are marginalized and have no other means of supporting themselves."

The Laotian rock rat, on the other hand, was supposed to have been extinct for 11 million years when a researcher spotted one for sale in a food market in Laos in 2005. The rat is one of hundreds of finds that have been pouring out of Southeast Asia's Greater Mekong region at the rate of about two species per week for the past ten years. (Check out the above video for some more finds.) "We thought discoveries of this scale were confined to the history books," says Stuart Chapman, director of the World Wildlife Fund's Greater Mekong program. "This reaffirms the Greater Mekong's place on the world map of conservation priorities."

by Barbara S. Peterson

In what has to be the best news for air travelers we've heard in months, Southwest is coming to the Big Apple in 2009. Gary Kelly, CEO of the low-fare maverick, confirmed yesterday during an appearance at New York's Wings Club that the airline will offer flights out of LaGuardia Airport by next June. He hasn't revealed yet what cities the airline will fly to, but those who've followed the quirky carrier's progress for years know that the airline never tiptoes into a market; rather, expect a big splash, lots of flights, and rock-bottom fares. It's been dubbed the "Southwest effect" because when the airline swoops in, the existing airlines are forced to lower their fares to compete--and consumers benefit all around.

But wait: For years, didn't Southwest executives say that New York was the last place they wanted to pitch their tent, given the dismal operating conditions at all three of the city's major airfields? LGA, JFK, and Newark airports are known as the most delayed in the country. Indeed, New York's problems tend to cascade through the system: Last year, its airports were blamed for nearly 70 percent of all the late flights in the country. And Southwest, with its reputation for on-time service and quick airport turnarounds, had prudently avoided the risk of having that record sullied by getting stuck on the takeoff line at LGA.