Top 4th of July holiday destination revealed

New Orleans' French Quarter is the most popular destination for July 4 weekend travelers, according to Priceline.com’s Top 50 Destinations list. The destination topped last year’s top spot, New York City’s Midtown West area, which came in at No. 3 this year, as well as Chicago's trendy North Michigan Avenue, which is No. 2 this year.

The list is based on more than 30,000 hotel room booking requests made by customers using the company’s Name Your Own Price hotel reservation service. The 2013 list is based off of credit card-backed booking requests on Priceline.com, revealing actual consumer travel intent for the upcoming holiday.

German Romantic Locations to Be Highlighted in Upcoming Bachelorette Episode

Romantic images of Germany will be on display in the upcoming 5th episode of The Bachelorette. The show will visit the country’s highest mountain, the Zugspitze, and will portray a romantic two-on-one date in Tegernsee Lake just outside of Munich; all with the newest Bachelorette, Desiree Hartsock. The episode is scheduled to air Monday, June 24, 2013, at 8pm Eastern on ABC.

Germany is a wonderfully romantic place and I encourage you to view the show! The sites and scenery should be spectacular!

I’ve never watched the show and having living in and traveled extensively in Deutschland I doubt that I’ll this episode. You all will have to fill me in!

Aloha cruising the Hawaiian Islands

Aloha!

The best way to see Hawai’i just got better. Pride of America’s unbeatable itinerary, named “Best Hawai’i Itinerary” eight years in a row by Porthole Magazine, packs in four islands with two overnights in Maui and Kauai in just seven days.

Her $30 million makeover also makes her the most modern ship cruising Hawai’i. It’s a sensational new way to complement traditional Hawaiian activities like luau shows, surf lessons, hikes through Volcanoes National Park and more. Nobody says aloha like Norwegian.

I've sailed the Pride of America and found this a delightful way to experience the islands! 

Ask me about special Aloha fares, upgrades & promotions! 

Happy Birthday Southwest Airlines!

They're turning the big 4-2 on June 18, and of course they are celebrating with awesome prizes just for you!

Enter to win an amazing ski trip for four to our 42nd destination, Salt Lake City. But that's not all! 42 lucky runners up will receive a fun party favor, better known as a Southwest Airlines bag of SWAg (aka: goodies from our infamous Marketing warehouse).

Don't miss this unique opportunity to win a collectible or two straight from the Southwest/AirTran vault!

On-line travel research

When you’re researching a travel supplier like Uniworld River Cruises or a destination like Hawaii how many of you click on the “locate a travel agent/find a travel specialist” link?

 Why do you or don’t you click on that option?

An airline first: $1.99 for coffee and tea

Remember when Southwest made waves by cutting out airline meals and just serving peanuts? Frontier Airlines is about to take things a step farther.

In a two-pronged approach to cutting costs and holding down fares, Frontier will do away with the ubiquitous free soft drinks and coffee, and also push travelers to book on its web site by increasing carry-on luggage fees when they don't.

Frontier announced this week that as part of its "transformation into an Ultra Low Cost Carrier" it will begin charging $1.99 for coffee, tea, soda, and juice, for passengers flying on Economy or Basic fares, effective July 1st.

To encourage customers to book through its website, Frontier will not charge for carry-on bags of customers who book on FlyFrontier.com. But those who book their flights through third parties will be charged $25 if they pay in advance, or $100 if they pay at the gate.

The fee for the first checked bag will remain $20 for tickets booked on FlyFrontier.com, and increase to $25 if booked elsewhere. 

United, Delta, US Airways, and American all raised their fees for checked baggage in the past two weeks.

Locally Frontier flies out of Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland OH.

Americans travelers to hit the road this summer

Half of Americans plan to take a road trip of more than 200 miles this summer, according to Expedia’s American Traveler survey. In addition, Americans are 14 percent likelier to take a road trip in 2013 than they were the year prior.

In other survey findings: 96 percent of Americans listen to music on road trips. Among the 50 percent of Americans planning a road trip this summer, half will travel with children. For both groups, the top iconic destinations are the Grand Canyon (with 22 percent citing it), Mount Rushmore (11 percent), the Statue of Liberty (10 percent), and Washington's National Mall (8 percent).

Where are your summer travel plans taking you to?