CNN Money’s 5 Tips to Jumpstart Your Summer Vacation advises travelers to start thinking about summer trips now – even though summer seems impossibly far away. Here are the basic tips:

1. Think beyond Expedia

The jist: Deals on flights, car rentals and hotels can be found on tons of sites these days. Hotel sites offer car deals, airlines offer hotel deals, you get the point.

2. Getting there

Airfares are likely to increase at least 10 percent from last summer, according to Tom Parsons of Bestfares.com. And if you don’t book your vacation at least two months in advance, you may be paying double for that ticket.

3. Get a discount on vacation rentals

Hotel rates are projected to rise over 6 percent this year, so you may want to consider a vacation rental if you’re staying more than two or three days. In a vacation rental, you can get an entire house. And the discounts may even be better.

4. Do your hotel homework

AHA! I seriously didn’t realize this when I started this post, but the writer mentions TravelPost.com as a place to do homework on hotels. I concur.

5. Take to the seas

Today cruise discounters, cruise-only booking sites, booking sites and last-minute web sites are all fighting for your cruising dollars. And since cruise lines are all about loyalty and customer service, you’ll probably have more leverage if you’re dissatisfied.

Click through the link above for a full discussion of each tip.

Picture it: you, savvy traveler that you are, your personal travel blog and maybe even your insightful hotel reviews showcased on TravelPost.com for all to see. Suddenly, everyone looks up to you. You notice strangers gazing at you with admiration. If only they had been profiled on TravelPost.com.

In all seriousness, we’re looking for TravelPost.com members willing to tell us about their positive experiences using TravelPost.com. Has TravelPost.com helped you make an important decision about a trip you’ve taken or are about to take? Have your friends and family thanked you for setting up your travel blog and letting them keep up with your adventures? Have our hotel reviews helped you choose where to stay (and where not to)? If so, tell us about it!

In the coming weeks, profiles of TravelPosters with success stories to tell will grace special sections of the site. Hey, the next one may be you!

US Airways announced cuts to its pricing structure yesterday that will reduce flights to and from Charlotte and Philly by between 41 and 55 percent. Check out the press release to quickly scan the basic fares or visit US Airways to check more specific routes.

In case you hadn’t noticed, I love Top 10 lists. So I was especially intrigued by The Tablet Ten from Tablet Hotels. It’s a collection of hotel top 10 lists grouped under basic headings like “Best Spas” or “Best Service,” as well as some niche lists like “High Design Hotels” and “Seduction Hotels.” The site says all listed hotels have been anonymously visited by a Tablet Hotels representative.

Tablet Hotels only lists properties that “ooze personality and obsess on the details,” so you won’t find major chains or tourist traps on this site. For example, the room pictured above is from the Amanjena Hotel in Marrakech, Morocco, which Tablet Hotels ranks #1 on its Unusual Hotels list. So with these top 10 lists, you are, in effect, getting lists that feature the best of the best from around the world.

Amanjana official site

British Airways is offering up to two free nights in a London hotel when you purchase a ticket from the U.S. to or through London. To qualify for the London for Free promotion, travelers must purchase tickets and choose hotels by February 2, 2006 to get the free stay. Here are the hotels offered:

Royal National, Paddington Court, Hyde Park, Comfort Inn Kensington, Mostyn, Jurys Inn Chelsea, Corus Hyde Park, Rembrandt, Thistle Barbican, Shaftesbury Kensington, Radisson Edwardian Vanderbilt.

The promo offers one free night to solo travelers and two free nights when two people share the same room. You’ll also have to travel Sun-Wed to avoid extra fees.

British Airways official site

The Four Seaons Silicon Valley opened its doors today and has begun accepting reservations from February 1, 2006 on. One of the most interesting things about this hotel, IMHO, is the fact that it’s located in East Palo Alto, long known to be a struggling, poor community existing in stark contrast to the wealth and oppulence in nearby Palo Alto. In the last few years, though, East Palo Alto has been seen several businesses move in with great success. IKEA, for example, has a booming business there. And there are tons of techie companies nearby, including Sun Microsystems. As the area’s most upscale lodging option, the location will no doubt be popular among tech industry business travelers, Stanford University visitors (about 10 mins from the school) and other well-to-do folks exploring Silicon Valley.

The 200-room hotel has all the usual trappings of a Four Seasons property, as well as a rooftop pool and a fitness center (although that may not be open until later in the year, so check before you go if that matters to you). Rates start at $325/night.

Four Seaons Silicon Valley official site

I’m not a regular Continental passenger – I fly United and USAir more often – but I still had to read View From the Wing’s post Another Reason Why Continental OnePass is a Joke. The blog always has a solid take on frequent flyer reward programs. Here’s what the folks over at VFTW had to say about Continental’s mileage offerings:

An upgrade award to Hawaii from a discounted fare costs 17,500 miles now plus as much as $450 each way. That’s going to go up to 35,000 miles. Roundtrip that’s 70,000 miles and as much as $900 to upgrade.

In contrast, United offers upgrades to Hawaii from anywhere in the U.S. on any fare for 15,000 miles each way or 30,000 roundtrip. No fee is required.

One conceivable reason to accumulate miles with Continental did occur to me, but it’s a fairly limited circumstance. If you live in a Continental hub city and buy discount fares and fly just enough to make elite status and are able to buy your tickets online at Continental.com you’ll get full elite credit for those flights, which you wouldn’t get accumulating miles in the Northwest program.

So if accumulating miles with Continental makes the difference between elite status and not, and elite benefits are more important than awards, then accumulate those OnePass miles. But don’t delude yourself into believing they’re worth anything.

Good info for folks who fly Continental.

TravelPoster spriser has some advice for travelers to Japan: the Shinkansen high-speed train is a better and faster way to travel from Tokyo to Osaka than flying. From the blog post Shinkansen!:

It takes about two and a half hours to get from Tokyo to Osaka on the Shinkansen, so you might think it would be faster to fly. But you’d be wrong, particularly when you add in the time to get to Narita airport from Tokyo and the hassles of security. But here’s the other reason why it’s crazy to fly — the fastest Shinkansen line to Osaka (the Nozomi) leaves approximately every 10-15 minutes.

Other reasons to take the train? It’s a comfortable ride and offers service with a smile:

There are no rumbling wheels on tracks as in the States. It’s absolutely smooth as silk, even when going over 150 MPH, as registered by my GPS. Apparently the trains have no accidents in their entire history. This is particularly interesting when you consider how many earthquakes this country has.

And:

Within about five minutes of boarding the train, a perky, attractive train attendant comes by with a wet towel for you… A while later, another perky, attractive train attendant comes by to examine and stamp your ticket. Meanwhile, a perky, attractive train attendant (you’re seeing the pattern, right?) in a slightly different uniform roams through the car with a cart full of snacks for sale… The best part, though, is that whenever any of these employees enters or leaves the car, they bow. Somehow I can’t see that ever happening on the subway, commuter rail, or Amtrak in the U.S.

Thanks spriser!

Child magazine recently picked the top American Art museums for families. Here are the top 5:

1. Art Institute of Chicago
2. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
3. Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio
4. De Young Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
5. Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA

Reported in the Pittsburgh Business Journal.

The Getty Villa officially reopened yesterday in Malibu, CA. Closed in 1997 for renovations, the Villa originally housed the J. Paul Getty Museum. The building now offers a 44,000-piece permanent collection and changing exhibitions focused on ancient Greek, Roman and Etruscan art and culture. On the grounds, four sculpture gardens feature over 300 varieties of plants, as well as fountains and art.

While many people come for the arts and botanical displays, the villa’s location along the California Coast and its views of the Pacific Ocean make it a gorgeous place to visit – even if you are totally bored by art and plants.

Although admission is free, visitors have to reserve tickets for a certain entry time. According to the Getty Villa web site, there are no tickets available until May 2006.

The Getty Villa official site