And you thought your last trip to London was expensive. Try going to Bath, home to hot springs and ruins of Roman Baths some 2,000 years old. One TravelPoster’s photograph of the popular ruins is shown here. The Guardian reports that the town in the English countryside is the UK’s most expensive destination when it comes to average nightly hotel rates. The same story reports that average nightly rates in the UK exceed those found anywhere else in Europe.

UK Hotels are the most Expensive in Europe

Picture it. You’re on vacation, contentedly minding your own business. Suddenly, you turn and realize you’re sitting at the table next to Nicole Kidman. Or maybe you look up from your beach towel just as Cameron Diaz plunges into the waves with her surfboard in tow. And like any self-respecting celebrity-obsessed, tabloid-reading traveler, you do what travelers do best: you whip out the camera. You snap away like a paparazzo beside a red carpet.

Do that, as a recent Wall Street Journal story The Rise of the ‘Citizen Paparazzi’ points out, and you’re likely to end up with more than some shots to dangle in front of your envious friends. These days, you could end up cold, hard cash. Read the article to find out how travelers are selling their vacation pics to companies who thrive on celebrity photography. Not that we needed the WSJ to tell us that regular citizens are the new celebrity photogs of the day, but the newspaper tends to say everything so much better than everyone else….

More often than not, articles that purport to offer travel tips are really just filler stories offering up a bunch of common sense knowledge. But Heather Eng’s Budget Travel story Psst! Broadway Tickets For Cheap had some advice I’d never heard before. Granted, I’m no theater buff, so maybe this is the most obvious tip in the world for a regular Broadway show-goer, but I’m copying it here because I think it’s a really worthwhile piece of travel advice for anyone headed to NYC who wants to catch a Broadway show:

Crack the codes

When you’re buying tickets online, the major agencies — Telecharge and Ticketmaster — ask for a promotional code, which can shave between 25 and 50 percent off the face-value price. You can find one of these codes by visiting Playbill, TheaterMania, and BroadwayBox.com. These sites list promotional codes for many shows, including blockbuster productions like “Hairspray.” Playbill and TheaterMania are more comprehensive but require registration. BroadwayBox.com posts a more limited number of codes, but you won’t have to cough up any personal information.

Insider’s tip: If you buy directly from a theater box office, where you can also use a code for savings, you will avoid the fees that Telecharge and Ticketmaster slap on the tickets they sell online.

In a recent press release, Southwest Airlines poses the question, “Have you ever wondered what happens to the books left in seat-back pockets, the jackets found in the gate area, or the children’s toys left onboard the plane?”

Um, people steal them? Frankly, I assumed the policy of the friendly skies towards lost property was a strictly finders, keepers, losers, weepers sorta thang. But apparently, Southwest strives to return lost items (even, as the press release states) searching through electronic devices to find personal information to, um, reunite wayward items with their owners (….identity theft, anyone?…).

But when items are not claimed or returned, the official procedure was, until very recently, as follows:

Prior to The Salvation Army relationship, Southwest “salvaged” the unclaimed baggage and lost items to a warehouse facility. The new process provides a charitable way for the Airline to donate the items back to the community.

I should emphasize that the quotation marks around the word salvage were actually in the press release. How very mysterious. Was that “warehouse” by chance a landfill? Or perhaps an underground Southwest employee secondhand boutique? Will we ever know? The suspense.

Now, in what is, admittedly, an altruistic method for dispensing of lost items, the airline has partnered with the Dallas-Fort Worth area Salvation Army. Unclaimed items are donated to the evangelical organization, which uses the proceeds to fund its myriad religious and social service programs.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this announcement is that it came without any mention of a lost items phone number travelers may call to inquire about lost items. Yeah, maybe they can garner contact information our PDAs, but what about my stuffed bunny? He tends to be especially tight-lipped with strangers.

What does this mean for travelers besides an aw shucks feeling toward Southwest? Well, the next time you lose something valuable on a Southwest plane, you’ll be able to concentrate your seek and recover mission on a mere 11 Salvation Army thrift stores in the Dallas Fort Worth area.

Southwest Airlines Finds Salvation for Lost Items

In its ongoing efforts to go green, Fairmont announced this week that its properties in California and Arizona will begin offering free parking to overnight hotel guests who drive hybrid vehicles. That includes:

Fairmont San Jose

Fairmont San Francisco

Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa Resort

Fairmont Miramar Santa Monica

Fairmont Newport Beach

Fairmont Scottsdale Princess

We assume this applies even if you’ve rented a hybrid during your trip (not a bad way to offset the additional cost that comes with renting a premium vehicle). For hybrid drivers, this deal can amount to quite a savings - in San Francisco, for example, downtown hotel parking rates often climb higher than $30/night.

Hungry in NYC? Here are some great places to eat cheap (sorta) when you’re dining with five or more people:

How to See PB

San Diego has the Gaslamp clubs, 5-star hotels and mega tourist attractions like the San Diego Zoo and SeaWorld. La Jolla has slick restaurants, high-end boutique hotels, posh shops and fine art galleries galore. But nary a 15-minute drive away, the lesser-known enclave of Pacific Beach (“PB” to locals) promises the right slice of Southern California for travelers seeking a laid-back, sea salt-in-your-mouth adventure filled with mom ‘n pop eateries, quirky beachfront hotels, surf shops and – of course – bars packed with tan 20-somethings clad in uniforms of jeans and flip-flops.

Here are my picks for where to go and what to do in Pacific Beach, Calif.

Where to Eat

Late-night, dig into some seriously sinful Mexican from Ramone’s, an all-night joint that caters to the post-bar crowd with quesadillas, burritos, tacos, tortas – you name it.

I took on the Ramone’s Burrito and was bowled-over by the experience. Of course, this was 2:30am and five drinks into the hole. By I stand by my burrito experience, nonetheless.

Breakfast at Kono’s is a must. And if you happen to miss the breakfast hour, no worries. Kono’s serves breakfast plates and egg-filled burritos the size of newborn babies all day long. Be prepared to wait in line to order at the counter. Once you’ve paid, head outside to one of the two nearby decks and wait for the staff to ferry your food right to the table. The seating area across the sidewalk (behind the wind chime and hammock shop) has the best views of the beach and nearby pier.

Note that we stuck to bargain eats while we were in PB, and we recommend you do the same. They’re just to good to ignore….if you want to drop cash, head to La Jolla (more on that later this week).

Where to Stay



Eat cheap means more funds for a slick suite at Tower 23, the only trace of L.A.-esque glamour in the district. The boxy, stark-white hotel sits across a park-like lawn from the beach, right in the heart of PB and around the corner from Kono’s. Guests sunbathe on the private, second-floor Tower deck with views clear out into the Pacific, while hungry patrons dine on the oceanfront terrace at the onsite restaurant Jordan Surf, an all-day destination (brunch on the weekends) for foodie-friendly California cuisine and seafood.

Rooms outfitted with teak furnishings, private balconies, H2o bath amenities and modernist layouts are hard to score last-minute. Make sure to call early for weekends and during summer months.

Less than 100 yards away, the Crystal Pier Hotel promises a completely different, much more “PB” overnight stay. Located at the end of Garnet Street, this hotel is actually a collection of blue-shuttered, white cottages extending from the entry arch along the length of the wooden pier. Fall asleep each night of your stay (a minimum two-night stay is required) to the rumbling surf below. When the sun comes out, guests head to outdoor patio chairs and white recliners to watch wet-suit clad surfers catching waves just feet from the pilings below. The over-the-ocean location is the main draw here. Cottage interiors are no-frills affairs, despite their often-hefty room rates.

Where to Take Your Inner Frat Boy

Hey, sometimes we all have to let our inner frat boy out to play. It happens to the best of us. And when it does, there’s perhaps no better place to be in PB than the Pacific Beach Bar & Grill, home on the weekends to Club Tremors. This multi-level bar, restaurant and nightclub venue goes big on Friday and Saturday nights, when all the kids in the area come out to play. And by play, we mean guzzle shooters and check out members of the opposite sex (or same sex, as the case may be).

An alternative is the nearby Plum Crazy, a Philadelphia Eagles bar that likes to party. I think the sign says it all.

Where to Stick Your Toes in the Sand

While there are plenty of beaches in the area, one of the quietest and most emblematic of the PB vibe is Tourmaline Surfing Park and Beach, a one-mile swathe of sandy terrain located north of Crystal Pier. On hot summer days, of course, expect plenty of people to turn up on this stretch of sand. But outside of peak season, visitors often find this little gem to be emptier than its compatriots and peppered with sun-bleached regulars who hang out in the parking lot before heading into the surf with their boards.

Over the weekend, I checked into the concierge level of San Diego’s Marriott Mission Valley (anonymously, of course) to uncover the inner workings of this SoCal lodging option.

What Not to Miss

The most striking part of the hotel had to be the outdoor pool area when lit up at night. Set into a sunken deck area below the hotel’s lobby level and just off the fitness center, the pool is centrally located, but affords guests some degree of privacy. The hot tub, for example, is tucked into a nook at one end of the pool in such a way that you’d have to actually be on the pool level to see into it, and large hammocks set into concrete alcoves along one side of the pool deck await guests seeking shelter from the sun. Cushioned chairs and tables peppering the public courtyard that separates the lobby and the pool area below create an outdoor lounge of sorts that’s not only functional, but quite nice to look at as you’re cruising through the ground level.

Inside, the lobby impresses with its warm hues and colorful seating areas, while the restaurant and bar beyond are casual destinations frequented for business breakfasts and quitting-time cocktails.

An airport check-in computer is a perk for guests without checked luggage who want to hit the airport and avoid the lines.

Although I was disappointed to find the concierge level lounge closed on the weekends, that’s a fairly standard practice considering that the bulk of guests using the lounge are weeknight visitors. In lieu of the lounge amenities, the hotel offered me a choice of various beverages and snacks when I checked in. Soda, bottled water and fruit were among the offerings, but I opted for a half-bottle of wine and a cheese and cracker plate – both of which turned out to be nice perks during my stay.

In the Room

I’m always kind of working in one capacity or another, so even though much of my visit was more leisure than business, my inner workaholic was pleased to find ample in-room power outlets (notice the outlet by the bed, pictured here) and plenty of desk space for my laptop and tangled mass of cords and accessories (camera, phone, aforementioned laptop, wireless mouse, iPod, Apple Airport Express).

Bottled water and chocolates were welcome treats that appeared in my room each night, and I’m always happy to have a balcony (even if it looks out on the highway).

As for the bed, it was honestly more comfortable than my own (note: this may be due to the fact that I bought my mattress off craigslist in a frenzy of sleep-deprived panic after my dog ate a whole the size of her own body in its predecessor).

But what really impressed me about the sleep situation had to be the pillows. Most hotels load up their beds with pillows-on-roids, you know, pillows so puffed-up and bulbous you feel like your neck is positioned at a right angle to the bed when you lie down. And then you toss all night and wake up in the morning totally jacked. But this bed, thank the hotel gods, had at least two normal, malleable pillows that allowed me to sleep with just the right amount of angle.

The Lack Factor

So what was lacking at this hotel? Room service ends at midnight. Clearly, not a huge problem for mid-week travelers, but when you drag your wine-addled self back to the hotel after a night out in the Gaslamp (more on that later this week), you’re going to be S.O.L.

My room had one cramped sink and almost no surface space for toiletries. It was a makeup-meets-hot coffeemaker disaster waiting to happen, not to mention the site of at least two bathroom battles involving my husband and I jockeying to spit our toothpaste out in the sink. He won.

And if you want to get really picky, the television in my room was boxy and old. But it worked. Call me smitten with the flat-screen phenom, and you would be correct.

The Bottom Line

With a location near myriad office parks and big-box retailers (the Westfield Mission Valley Center is less than two miles away) instead of the tourist attractions that draw leisure travelers to the San Diego area, the hotel is an obvious choice for business travelers seeking solid accommodations during the week.

Fancy yourself a good shot? Well then you’ve probably got the photographs to prove it. Put them to the test by submitting them to Budget Travel magazine. The editors will sift through their piles of submissions and use their favorite shot for the cover of their 10th anniversary issue, out June 2008. By Dec. 1, 2007, submit any photo (not the original, nothing will be returned) taken since 1998 with a resolution of 300 dpi or higher. Read the complete submission guidelines at Take Our Cover Photo.

I recently had the pleasure of staying at the Fairmont Kea Lani Mauiin the island’s Wailea area. As you’d expect from a Fairmont property, the facilities were all quite well done, the grounds beautiful, the staff intent upon accommodating guests. But one area where this hotel surpasses many of similar caliber I’ve visited is with its environmental initiatives. All the rooms have both trash and recycling receptacles - ideal for all the water bottles I was going through each day. Another cool feature I noticed: the air-conditioning in our suite would not run when the sliding glass doors to the balcony were ajar. The closet lights also shut off automatically when you close the door. And like many hotels, the bathrooms are outfitted with little signs suggesting that guests use their towels more than once.